If You Could Go Anywhere.. By Paige Toon

You all know that anything Paige Toon writes, I will read. I feel like she could rewrite the phone book and I'd have it on the top of my list. With the announcement of Paige's newest release Only Love Can Hurt Like This next year, I thought I would share this review I wrote a couple years back for If You Could Go Anywhere.

The blurb:
How do you find where you're going, if you don't know where you're from... 

Angie has always wanted to travel. But at twenty-seven, she has barely stepped outside the small mining town where she was born. Instead, she discovers the world through stories told to her by passing travellers, dreaming that one day she'll see it all for herself. 

When her grandmother passes away, leaving Angie with no remaining family, she is ready to start her own adventures. Then she finds a letter revealing the address of the father she never knew, and realises instantly where her journey must begin: Italy. 

As Angie sets out to find the truth - about her family, her past and who she really is - will mysterious and reckless Italian Alessandro help guide the way?


My thoughts:
Anyone who has read a post of mine for one of Paige's previous releases, or follows my Twitter, will be expecting this to a gushing review. They are not wrong. I honestly can't pinpoint what it is about her writing that has me staying up to 2am every time, but once again that is exactly what happened. Maybe it's the fact I've always wanted to visit Australia and feel a strong connection to the country (this story and many others are partly set in Australia). Whatever it is that Paige does - for me, it works.

This story is based around Angie and her quest to learn more about the father she never knew. Her grandmother passes away leaving her alone in the world and just at that time, she learns her father is an Italian man who still lives and works where her mother met him 27 years ago. So of course she sets off to find him and all the drama that comes with a new family in Italy.

If I'm really honest, the plot didn't go where I was expecting it to but I think it turned out so much better than originally anticipated. It was lovely to watch the relationship between Angie and Gulio, her father, grow throughout the book but the most intriguing relationship was Angie and Allessandro. I couldn't tell where they were going to end up by the end and usually I have quite good instincts for how things will work out. I really like how we, the readers, were kept on our toes throughout!

I loved getting to know Angie and following her adventure around Italy! I particularly enjoyed the development of her character - she starts off quite timid and lacking in confidence, and it really was a pleasure seeing her grow into a strong, confident woman.

Once again, Paige has knocked it out of the park. Not that anyone should be surprised. You can pick up a copy of If You Could Go Anywhere here and follow Paige on Twitter and Instagram.

Breathless... By Jennifer Niven

One of my favourite books of all time is All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I have never read a book that left me in pieces and yet whole at the same time. Once I finished ATBP I told everyone I know to read it, I signed up for GERM newsletters, I spend hours listening to the song All The Bright Places by Haley Jonay who wrote it based on the book. I even contemplated getting a Finch and Violet tattoo (I'm kind of still considering it). When I followed Jennifer on social media and saw that she loves Harry Styles as much as me, I was destined to buy and read every book she would ever write. So here I am, I've finished Breathless and have become an ever bigger fan. 

Blurb:
Before: With graduation on the horizon, budding writer Claudine Henry is making plans: college in the fall, become a famous author, and maybe--finally--have sex. She doesn't even need to be in love. Then her dad drops a bombshell: he's leaving Claude's mother. Suddenly, Claude's entire world feels like a lie, and her future anything but under control.

After: Claude's mom whisks them away to the last place Claude could imagine nursing a broken heart: a remote, mosquito-infested island off the coast of Georgia. But then Jeremiah Crew happens. Miah is a local trail guide with a passion for photography--and a past he doesn't like to talk about. He's brash and enigmatic, and even more infuriatingly, he's the only one who seems to see Claude for who she wants to be. So when Claude decides to sleep with Miah, she tells herself it's just sex, nothing more. There's not enough time to fall in love, especially if it means putting her already broken heart at risk.

My thoughts:
To be completely honest I don't really know where to begin. I loved All The Bright Places and I thought I would enjoy Breathless, however I didn't think it would impress me as much as it did. 

The story is mostly based on a small island off the coast of Georgia, just turned 18 year old Claudine Henry moves to an island for the summer with her mum after her dad drops the bombshell that he no longer wants a family. Cue the heartbreak and confusion. Claudine would rather be literally anywhere else but preferably on the road trip she had planned with her best friend Saz. 

Not long into her stay Claude makes friends with a few island workers and becomes interested specifically in Jeremiah Crew, who is also eighteen and screams bad boy. Claude and Miah embark on a summer romance, typical in that they both know there is an expiration date, non-typical in that it completely changes the both of them forever. The connection they have is one that stays with you and has you wistfully dreaming to be a teenager again and falling in love for the first time. Of course things aren't simple and don't come easily, both have major issues they have to deal with personally before being in a healthy, functioning relationship. But isn't that always part of the charm, when you find someone who is as broken as you are?

Claude talks a lot about the concept of 'virginity' and what it means to have sex for the first time. I think how Jennifer wrote about having a sexual relationship for the first time and the pressures of that (particularly for girls) brilliantly. I would have loved to read this story as a young adult and be presented with an alternative idea of virginity, rather than it being something you give to someone and taking a piece away from yourself. Obviously first time sexual experiences are different for everyone and mean different things to people but to have a young protagonist talking about it so openly with her peers and her partner was refreshing. 

One thing I related to throughout was Claude's struggle to deal with her parent's impending divorce. Although my parents' divorce didn't happen in the way Claude's did and I have a great relationship with both parents, I still felt a comradeship with her and understood the protection she felt towards her mum at different parts of the story. The feeling of partnership they had with each other in their heartbreak was familiar. 

I've seen some mixed reviews on Goodreads for Breathless and I'm not sure if they read the same book I did because I adored it. I thoroughly recommend for everyone to read it if they enjoy themes such as coming of age, feminism, family and sex. 

While I'm off planning my move to an island off Georgia's coast you can buy Breathless here and learn about Jennifer's other stories here. 

Blog Tour: One Summer in Italy (A Review)

Blurb:

When Sofia Bianchi’s father Aldo dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life – and to fulfill some promises she made to Aldo in his final days.

So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered. There, Sofia also finds Amy who is desperately trying to find her way in life after discovering her dad isn’t her biological father.

Sofia sets about helping Amy through this difficult time, but it’s the handsome Levi who proves to be the biggest distraction for Sofia, as her new life starts to take off…


My thoughts:

It's been a while since I've been a part of any blog tours but when Sabah at Avon reached out about this one, I knew I had to take part. I had read The Wedding Proposal by Sue a few years back and really loved it, so this was the perfect excuse to dive back in. 

One Summer in Italy did not disappoint. I did start this book with quite high expectations and I was hooked straight away - Sue writes the characters so well and you really do feel like they could be walking in the street beside you. 

Sofia's story appears quite simple from the beginning - going to Italy to honour her father - but it soon becomes more complex when other characters are brought in. When Sofia befriends Amy, she becomes protective of the attention she receives and I think we all know someone like Amy - a typical teenager who is kind hearted if not a little naive to the ways of the world. 

I did become quite fond of Levi, so gentle and loving yet strong and masculine. I find sometimes it can be difficult to feel as attached to the male interest as the female protagonist but I found myself being won round by Levi and rooting for him!

Sue really makes you feel like you have traveled it Italy with Sofia, I almost felt like I was sitting next to her. If you need a summer beach read, a pick-me-up or just want to jump into someone else's life for a while, this is the one for you. 

Special thanks to Avon UK for sending me a review copy. You can buy One Summer in Italy here, follow Sue on Twitter and pop over to say hello!

Talking As Fast As I Can... Lauren Graham

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with Gilmore Girls, like weirdly know scenes inside out kind of obsessed. Having watched it for the first time at 22 I found myself relating more to Lorelai and belly laughing at her one-liners and many, many mishaps. I even have a video saved on my phone of Lorelai falling on a table in Luke's diner after being so embarrassed at kissing Luke - you can't hear the scene in it though, all you can hear is my cackle laugh and snort. So you can imagine how happy I was when Lauren Graham released a memoir - I snapped it right up!

The blurb:

In Talking As Fast As I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, "Did you, um, make it?"

 She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood ("Strangers were worried about me; that's how long I was single!"), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge onProject Runway ("It's like I had a fashion-induced blackout").

In "What It Was Like, Part One," Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay "What It Was Like, Part Two" reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she's aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls ("If you're meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you've already set the bar too high"), and she's a card-carrying REI shopper ("My bungee cords now earn points!").

My thoughts:
I always thought that Lorelai's humour and wit came from great writers of the show but I think it might have come from Lauren - she is hilarious. Like, laughing out loud at 1am kind of funny. 

There was a lot about Lauren that I didn't know as she is quite a private person in comparison to other lead actresses, especially in the age of social media, and I felt that she shared a lot more than I was expecting. It's clear from the beginning that Lauren has had a very colourful life and it's no surprise really that she has ended up being the smart, successful woman she is now. 

Obviously as a Gilmore Girls fan some of my favourite chapters were the ones which she focused on that period of her life, both the original and A Year in the Life. I loved that the relationships we saw onscreen were clearly similar off screen - Lauren speaks highly of all her co-stars both in Gilmore Girls and Parenthood (which she also starred in for five years). I also found it interesting to learn about the struggles Lauren faced as a young actress, as I think most people assume it is always a glamorous job, when in fact it is mostly the complete opposite. 

Overall, I found this a really fun read and definitely learned quite a bit along the way. It also made me go back to Netflix and flick through my favourite Gilmore Girls episodes. No shame here.

You can buy Talking As Fast As I Can here, and be sure to follow Lauren Graham on Twitter for some good laughs.