Hello, everyone! Has anyone else’s life been in complete shambles? Covid, quarantine, financial issues, boy drama–it’s like 2020 is conspiring against us in every way possible! But we will prevail! And don’t forget, although we have to social-distance, we’re all still in this together. I will say, throughout this quarantine I’ve read sooooo many books,…
Summary by Goodreads: What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales? When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef…
Man, oh man. In this day and age it’s hard not to feel crushing sadness or pain or depression sometimes. We are surrounded by the influence of social media, the darkness of the news, and the ever-increasing mental illnesses. But that doesn’t mean we have to let it all consume us. I’ve been going through…
Summary by Goodreads: Three women—two sisters and their aunt—and the cliff house on the northern California coast that served as a beacon to them all… After the death of their mother, sisters Daisy and Beatriz Davenport found a home with their aunt Stella in the beautiful and welcoming town of Cape Sanctuary. They never knew…
Summary by Goodreads: Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasn’t like other people. But when he single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was. That tornado was the first of many strange…
1. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah When I found out this book was published in 2017, I was shocked! It received such hype towards the end of 2018 and all of 2019! You know what that means, don’t you? It’s going to receive the attention it deserves for many years to come. If there…
Summary by Goodreads: Hughes will fill your heart with the sights, sounds, and flavors of new love, glamorous fashion, and decadent holiday cuisine. Isabel Lawson is standing on the balcony of her suite at the Hotel Crillon as she gazes at the twinkling lights of the Champs Elysee and wonders if she’s made a terrible…
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious…
Wonder by R.J. Palacio I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary…
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when…
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash…
Summary by Goodreads: No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone…
Summary by Goodreads: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with…
Summary by Goodreads: One of 2014’s most original and masterfully reported books, A Deadly Wandering by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting-edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time: What is technology doing to us? Can our…
Summary by Goodreads: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has…
Summary by Goodreads: A grumpy yet lovable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict…
Welcome to Self Love Sunday! Here I will be sharing inspirational movies, podcasts, TV shows, articles, poems, personal essays, and other random thoughts that have lifted me up. Hopefully they have the same affect on you the next time you’re feeling a little down on yourself. XO – Alex “EVERY body is a swimsuit body.”…
Summary by Goodreads: Milk and honey’ is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. ‘milk and honey’ takes readers through a journey…
Summary by Goodreads: When her father is accused of being a serial killer, Bex becomes the ultimate bait in this game of cat and mouse Bex is ready to start a new life in foster care. There, she won’t be known as a serial killer’s daughter. Though her father was never tried for the murders…
Summary by Goodreads: Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . . The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck.…
Summary by Goodreads: For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it’s time to…
Hey, guys! It’s binge-watching season. But do you know what’s even better than binge-watching?…Binge-reading. It’s time to hunker down and get cozy with some YA series that are completely finished and ready for you to binge read. (I left out Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter because it’s obvious how amazing those are! So here…
Ladies…gentleman…we all get sad after a breakup or when we feel lonely or even when we just don’t feel good enough. But what do we do? Mope around? Drink wine in the bathtub? Not shower for three days? I’m guilty of all of those things. But you know what always helps to distract my mind…
Summary by Goodreads: If you’re tired of swiping through dating apps, ghosting, and hearing well-meaning questions about why you’re still single, it’s hard not to feel “less-than” because you haven’t found your soul mate. Until now. How to Be Single and Happy is an empowering, compassionate guide to stop overanalyzing romantic encounters, get over regrets or…
Summary by Goodreads: In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades. When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her–freedom, prison or death. With The…
Let your day be happy, inspired, and full of love for everybody and for yourself by watching these inspiring TED talks from women. Take some time out of your week for you. Allow these quick videos to fill you up with positivity and light. Rupi Kaur, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Caitlyn Roux teach us all about self-love, self-inspiration, and how to love others.
XO-Alex
Summary by Goodreads: In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “F**k positivity,”…
Summary by Goodreads: Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they…
Welcome to Self Love Sunday! Here I will be sharing inspirational movies, podcasts, TV shows, articles, poems, personal essays, and other random thoughts that have lifted me up. Hopefully they have the same affect on you the next time you’re feeling a little down on yourself. XO – Alex “Everyone needs a little magic even…
Summary by Goodreads: Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like…
Summary by Goodreads: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get…
Summary by Goodreads: Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a…
