The book MADE for you and me... BOOK LOVE by Debbie Tung!

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're shining the book spotlight on a title that if you haven't already read, and you're a book fan...which come on, we all know you are...you're gonna want to run out and get a copy ASAP!  Don't believe me?  Just wait.  The book of the moment is categorized under several genres, though most often found in Non Fiction Humor, or Graphic Novels.  The artwork will be something you're familiar with if you find yourself on social media, and though that could make it too known, it won't be...just trust me.  It will also be something you find yourself in, as in whoa, that's me, because let's face it...book love is a universal thing!  So, get ready...get set...here we go...

Book Love

by

Debbie Tung

9781449494285

Andrews McMeel Publishing

About the book...

Bookworms rejoice! These charming comics capture exactly what it feels like to be head-over-heels for hardcovers. And paperbacks! And ebooks! And bookstores! And libraries!

Book Love is a gift book of comics tailor-made for tea-sipping, spine-sniffing, book-hoarding bibliophiles. Debbie Tung’s comics are humorous and instantly recognizable—making readers laugh while precisely conveying the thoughts and habits of book nerds. Book Love is the ideal gift to let a book lover know they’re understood and appreciated.

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Just one of the MAGICALLY AWESOME AND ACCURATE
illustrations/pages in this book!

Honestly, this is a book MADE for book lovers.
It will capture your heart, your mind, your very essence, with the turn of every page.  It celebrates the love we share for books, reading, and the written word in every panel...showcasing the fabulosity that it is to be a true book lover.  Get ecstatic at the arrival of your newest MUST READ?  It's here.  Bring a book with you no matter where you're going JUST IN CASE?  It's here.  Think reading is the absolute BEST ACTIVITY no matter what the weather, day, or time of year?  It's here.  Trust me, I started reading it in company and I as all...oh, you have to see this...or...hey, look at this one!  It was getting to the point I was just going to have them the book because yeah, every page was share worthy.  Every page reminded me of myself, or my bookish friends...and I bet it will do the same for you.




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About the author...

Deborah “Debbie” Tung is a cartoonist and illustrator from Birmingham, England. Her comics are based on simple everyday life moments and her love for books and tea. She currently lives in Birmingham, UK, with her husband.

SITE  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM  |  TUMBLR

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Special thanks to me, myself, and I for deciding to purchase this little beauty from my local Books-A-Million store.  I didn't go in for it specifically, but once I laid eyes on it, there was no way I was leaving without it.  This title is available now via Andrews McMeel Publishing.  For more information on this title, the author, or her other works, feel free to click through the links provided above.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!



STILL ME by Jojo Moyes

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're finishing up our look at Jojo Moyes Me Before You trilogy with the final installment.  It brings the story of Will and Lou full circle, and don't roll your eyes at me because yes, there is still a way to do that with him being long since gone.  Ready to shed your doubt and reopen your heart to living in the moment?  Join me as we get to know...

Still Me

by

Jojo Moyes

9780399562464

Penguin Books

About the book...

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.

As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you find the courage to follow your heart—wherever that may lead?

Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she discovers who she is and who she was always meant to be—and learns to live boldly in her brave new world.

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I really felt like we had our old Louisa Clark back. I lost her in book two, but book three delivered her once again, even if it was in a newish light. I was curious to see how the paramedic and she survive her time away...I mean, he DID push her to do it...but there was so much more to discover, uncover, and survive that I didn't know where to turn! 

The quick version...

...initially the Gopniks are fairly sainted, but soon that golden sheen wears off and it actually lays bare a pair of total arses.  Really, I've never wanted to smack the face off someone so badly as these two!  They have the world at their feet and yet still with the secrets, and deviances, and bald face lies!  Ugh!  Next up, Dean Martin and Mrs. De Witt aren't what they seem.  I could see it from the start, even when she was berating Lou's very presence in the lobby, or going on about Mrs. Gopnik's piano playing, and what not.  There was definitely more there than met the eye and by book's end, I was proven totally right!  Continuing forward, Sam.  Oh Sam, our paramedic Sam.  You blew it big time...time and again.  It wasn't just once, it wasn't just twice, but the whole distance makes the heard grow fonder bit only works if there is TRUST on both sides and once things are muddied, it's REALLY hard to move beyond it.  Then on the other side of the male coin, we have Josh.  Yeah...he may seem like a blast from the past, and I admit, I was sort of rooting for him towards the beginning, but, yeah...those true colors.  Oye!  I mean let's just say most people don't want to become a Stepford Wife, okay...and expecting someone like Louisa to conform like that is utterly stripy bumblebee tights ridiculous!  Then we had the heartbreaking news that pretty much crushes our poor Louisa.  Just as we've gotten her back, she's ripped away again.  No, I'm not talking about the loss of that one, but of a different one that I can't really say, but trust me...it's big, it's sad, and you'll want to hug her through the page.

Okay, well that was precisely MORE than a quick version, but there you have it.  All in all, it was a marvelous way to draw everything to an end...and what's more in many ways it's really a beginning! I so enjoyed catching up with Louisa once again, and commend her emphatically for her courage, drive, and HUGE HEART! I adore her from her innocent please others first ways to her gorgeous stripey tights. The lives she touches along the way are made the better for knowing her, just as she is them. ♡  I was really teetering on the edge of hope with the ending because I wanted her happy, but I wanted her loved, and I wasn't so sure that the one was for her, but the other had done some stomping of their own, and well, really...the final scenes were PERFECT.

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About the author...

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

SITE  |  TWITTER

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Special thanks to me, myself, and I for the review copy as I repurchased this as one of the titles for the rebuild of my personal library.  Same said title is available now via Penguin Books, so feel free to scoot out to your local bookshop, box store, or click over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today!

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!



AFTER YOU by Jojo Moyes

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

A quick BOOK BIRTHDAY shout out to author John Herrick as his latest release Mona Lisas and Little White Lies hits bookstore and virtual shelves today.  (Woot woot!)  If you don't have it on your radar, I highly suggest you change that status in a hurry because it was REALLY good, just as his others works have been, but I digress...

Today, we're continuing our exploration of the Louisa Clark trilogy by author Jojo Moyes available via Penguin Books.  Now, it's a commonly known affliction with trilogies...the second book is a connector and often times fails to shine as brightly as its predecessor, or its follower.  Did that happen here?  Um, well, you know...there's sort of more to my opinion than a simple yes or no, so let's get this show on the road as we catch up with Louisa Clark post Will in book two... 

After You

by

Jojo Moyes

9780525426592

Pamela Dorman Books

About the book...

You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just live. Love, Will.” 
How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.

Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

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First reaction...

Oh, Louisa. You're not who you found yourself to be with Will, and yet you don't seem to have figured out a new version of yourself. ...I'm worried and a little heart broken.

Final thoughts...

Reflecting back on the story after turning the final page, I can appreciate it more than when I first started, but that's about as far as I get.  I suppose I didn't feel as secure in Lou's world when she truly lost sight of herself, not to mention the fact that the teenage interloper and instant reminder of Will was so much more than a handful I quite literally wanted to put her out on her rump!  By book's end, I'd made a sort of peace with her, as with so many characters her story actually runs deeper than the shaken snow globe version she presents, though I wouldn't go quite as far as to say I was fond of her.  I accepted Sam for the person he was and respected his openness with Louisa, though I was a bit concerned (while still touched!) by his ability to just let her go.

All in all, a lovely bridge between our initial meeting and the grand finale, but still it rates lesser on my totem pole of book love.  I missed her brilliant nature.  I missed her personality.  I missed her being her without a care nor a second guess...and that loss felt too personal...which actually speaks to the author's ability to draw us into her worlds (nice job!).

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About the author...

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

SITE  |  TWITTER

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Special thanks to me, myself, and I for the review copy as I repurchased this as one of the titles for the rebuild of my personal library.  Same said title is available now via Penguin Books, so feel free to scoot out to your local bookshop, box store, or click over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today!  Stay tuned for more fun with Louisa Clark as we explore the third and final installment VERY SOON!

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!



ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes

Hi there!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

So, today we're talking about an "oldie" but goodie...oldie as in came out a while back, goodie because it is SUCH a great read.  Yes, we're flashing back to a 2013 release that I just now got around to reading and may I just say that I was not disappointed in the least; in fact, I think I fell in love with it just a bit more.  How so?  Oh, well now, it happened to be turned into a fairly popular movie that went by the same name (and which I adored!), and might I just say that the interpretation from page to screen was spot on.  Ready or not, don your own version of stripy bumblebee tights and join me as we discover...

Me Before You

by

Jojo Moyes

9780143124542

Penguin Books

About the book...

Louisa Clark is an ordinary young woman living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

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Honestly, it was just as enchanting, moving, and heartbreaking as the film...and that's saying something because Hollywood does not always get it right!

I had high hopes for this one after my love affair with the film.  I mean, I couldn't really see it being any better than it already was, but feeling the magic of the story, the connection of the characters, and weight of decisions made long ago by those that would forever stand firm...why, it was like reading a play by play of the theatrical production and yet still something more.  Author Jojo Moyes does a wonderful job of giving the everything such intense emotional depth.  When I read this one, it was so long after the storm-that-shall-not-be-named paused by rabid reading appetite.  My mood had been down, life certainly not as rosy, but I actually laughed out loud when I was reading this one...most unexpectedly.  There's a scene on page 67 that's really of no big consequence, but it just struck me as immensely funny and I just started laughing...it was my first since the storm, and a moment I won't forget.  If you have a copy of this one, turn to that page and have yourself a giggle.  Go ahead...

In the end, it's not this glorious tale filled with love, romance, and second chances that ends in a happily-ever-after...no certainly not anything that rudimentary. It is heart wrenchingly real, soul crushingly sad, maddeningly frustrating, and unequivocally inspiring despite it all.  For fans of the author, this is definitely a book for you.  For fans of the film, run out right now and grab yourself a copy.  For newbies to this author's work, do yourself the favor and get acquainted because the heart that beats here is true, the feelings more complicated than you'd expect, and the outcome so much greater than the painful loss endured.  Oh yes, there will be tears, but there is still the potential for love to come again.

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About the author...

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist.

Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist.

Moyes' novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004.

SITE  |  TWITTER

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Special thanks to me, myself, and I for the review copy as I repurchased this as one of the titles for the rebuild of my personal library.  Same said title is available now via Penguin Books, so feel free to scoot out to your local bookshop, box store, or click over to your favorite online retailer to snag your copy today!  Stay tuned for more fun with Louisa Clark as we explore the second installment VERY SOON!

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!



The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're diving between the pages of a story that I should have read a long time ago because...well, just because.  For those of you that HAVE read it already, you'll know what I mean...for those that haven't, prepare to get to your favorite book retailer STAT because yeah, it's definitely a MUST READ.  Ladies and gents, join me as we discover the amazingness that is today's book of choice...

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

by

Gabrielle Zevin

9781616204518

Algonquin Books

About the book...

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over -- and see everything anew.

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This is honestly one of those books that I just sat back and said...

...where have you been all my life?

Seriously.

Why did no one, once upon a time, drag me by the hand, pull me to the shelf on which this was housed, and say read it, you won't regret it, and you'll thank me for it?  Because, yeah...I totally would have done it and NOT have waited ALL this time to get between its pages.

I've read a few of this author's other works previously, and while I enjoyed them immensely, it was nothing compared to my love of this book.  It's not that it's a light piece of fiction fluff to wile away an afternoon.  It's not that it's full of happiness, and rainbows, spouting messages of good will to all, and a dozen books for every shelf.  In fact, the lead character is rather curmudgeonly, set in his ways, and unlikely to change any time soon.  He's been touched by life and not always in a good way, so the store he calls his home is his domain; all others that don't care for his way of "ruling" know where the door is and to avoid it hitting them on the backside on their way out.  He often oversteps the bounds of propriety, thus his favorite flavor ought to be foot, and yet because of his lack of caring about socially acceptable behavior...it's not.  He's just off the wall enough to make you care, and the changes he goes through (however unwillingly) as his heart opens up (thanks to a rather smart little cookie dropped inside his door) and his world is changed for the better (in part thanks to a not so accurately penned worked and the fab lit agent that turned his attention towards it and her), are remarkable enough to make it stick with you long after the final page is turned.

Suffice it to say, if you've not read this one and you're a book lover, don't wait any longer.  It's not worth putting yourself through the strain of doing without it in your life; it's just not.  Oh and by the way, he's not the only character to love...and the inclusion of his thoughts about certain works along the way was fabulous...and the way the story connects by book's end is wonderful...and speaking of the end, OMG...no words.

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About the author...

Gabrielle Zevin is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Her eighth novel, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, spent more than four months on the New York Times Bestseller list, reached #1 on the National Indie Bestseller list, and has been a bestseller all around the world. She has also written books for children and young adults, including the award-winning Elsewhere.

SITE  |  FACEBOOK  |  INSTAGRAM

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This is a title from my personal library...one of the first I purchased since the storm-that-shall-not-be-named took my original copy along with so many other paper souls...and I don't regret a penny spent on its purchase.  It's available with several covers, though I particularly like this one with his actual story pictured in the bookstore window (go ahead, scroll back up and take a look), via Algonquin Books, an imprint of Workman Publishing, and is available now, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!