Friday, May 1, 2015

Books, Blogs, & Reality by Ryan Ringbloom

Books, Blogs, & Reality by Ryan Ringbloom
Publication date: October 24th 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Goodreads

Synopsis:
Life can suck…

When reality becomes overwhelming, seeking comfort in fictional fantasies keeps hope alive. And while this escape may be a little delusional, it’s also therapeutic.

Sharing secrets is daunting, but virtual friends don’t often judge and they are always ready to share a glass of wine…or three…while typing out life’s latest endeavors.

Brooke believes obstacles only add to romance, not detract. Rachael longs for a more intense relationship, or so she thinks. Lizzie misses the excitement in her life, but sometimes new situations find you when you’re not even looking. And Jess believes a tiger can change his stripes. It can’t.

Bound by a shared passion for blogging about happily ever afters, these four young women use keyboard therapy to work through their expectations, anxieties, and inadequacies, all with the hopes of achieving the perfection found in romance novels.

Completely blinded by what they think life should be, they navigate their unique paths in search of what they envision is right. But when reality taunts them with persistent curve balls, will they be strong enough to choose wisely? Or will their happy endings escape them?

MY REVIEW:

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but I ended up really enjoying it! I liked the use of chat, blogging, and regular chapters. There are four main character's which I thought would be difficult and I wouldn't be able to keep track of them. But what I found was that once I read about each character once, I could just read and automatically know who was talking without looking. I enjoyed seeing what the girls went through like when Rachel started finding books untrustworthy. Each girl found in their own way that you can't believe everything you read and that guys are not going to be like what you read in books. Books are meant for escape, not for trying to match your real life, too. Jess, one of the MC's talked about how we all focus on the guy in the book but we never look at how many people he actually hurt - we just like that he's the bad boy who is trying to become good, etc... So much talk about how books have affected the way these girls view romance. Very interesting points to think about after reading this book. 

Rating: 4/5

Quotes/moments I liked:
"Lizzie1214: Yes, of course we have pubes in the UK. LOL. And yes… I agree, ew to pube talk. 
Rachael-XXOO: I just thought maybe you guys called them something different over there, like Prince “Hairies” or “Hairy Potters” or some weird shit like that. 
Lizzie1214: Rachael, for the millionth time, we don’t reference Harry Potter or The Royal Family here in the UK quite as often as you seem to think."
(p. 50)
"But it was okay. 
Everybody gets one big fuck up."
(p. 134)
"In books it only takes a few pages to fix the difficulties in a relationship. But real life is a whole other ball game. What happens between the pages? After the pages end?" 
(p. 135)
"Life is never boring in books, but that’s only because they skip over those parts. No author ever writes about the day the washing machine broke down and the couple had to wait all day for the repairman to come. Or how long the line at the grocery store is, and how the heroine waited forty minutes in line reading a gossip magazine only to realize when it came time to pay that she had left her wallet at home.
Every person, every couple, every relationship is vulnerable to a little boredom every now and then. Ebbs and flows. They ride high, they roll low. Real life is learning how to deal with them. Find balance and never cower from difficult situations. Be brave and attack them head on.
If life becomes a tad tedious, turn to a book for drama. Never go searching for it in your real life."
(p. 137)
"When you’re reading about the latest bad boy with the amazing body and string of bad behavior, what makes you fall for him is the change in those bad boy ways. And there isn’t one fictional bad boy who hasn’t changed his ways by the end of the book. He may make a few mistakes along the way, but he fights hard to make up for them.
Now enter real life. That bad boy you fall for, how many chances does he get before realizing that good inside may be staying buried for an awful long time? ...Sometimes it’s hard when you finally realize that you’re not the heroine, and the guy you thought was the hero couldn’t be farther from it.
...maybe sometimes it’s best to start off looking for the good guy instead of waiting for a bad one to 'change.'"
(p. 138)

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