•Type Like A Girl•

.. a book review by me.

First let me say how excited I was to receive the reply email from Margo Candela offering me the e-book version of this book to review. I’m probably silly, but I am like star-struck whenever authors interact with me. Yeah, call me a groupie. Anyway, without further delay.. here is my first ‘official’ book review on this blog!

Goodbye to All That ~ by Margo Candela

How can you not fall in love with these characters!?

From the moment that Raquel opens the story with some behind the scenes of how to play the Hollywood game, through the ups and downs in life that we all face; I fell in love with her character.  Margo does an excellent job of making you really feel that you know the people in her story. She could be my best friend, hell she could be me! Well, if I lived someplace fabulous like Hollywood that is.

Raquel is a junior marketing executive and is devoted to her work. She wants to climb the ladder to make it to the top at the media powerhouse Belmore Corporation. And she is well on her way, until things start to unravel right before her eyes. Raquel has to balance playing the office politics, showing her loyalty, and how to stay strong for her boss, Bert – the feared Bert – who, by the way suffers a very public meltdown that spins his and incidentally Raquel’s future into frenzy.

In the middle of all of her professional troubles, Raquel also has to keep her family together. Her mother and father’s marriage troubles, her brother who seems to be in over his head and stuck in a marital rut. Raquel handles it all with ease it seems, with tons of humor spun in. And just when she thinks she’s in the midst of chaos and about to give up, she meets someone at a bookstore café that suddenly has her hopeful for a way out of this horror! Oh right, don’t forget to mix in some casual sex? Casual love? Or just casual encounters that change our lives.

I love the way that Margo writes. The book really was an easy read and I didn’t want to put it down! I could relate to the characters, and found myself many times laughing out loud as I read it. There were some parts that even had tears forming in my eyes. THAT is how I know that a book is great. I have to say that the book did not end how I thought it would be. So often, these books are easy to figure out how they will end. You can see the “happy ending” coming a mile away. Goodbye to All That, managed to give me an ending that I LOVE, without me knowing how it would play out. HUGE Kudos to Margo for that!! I mean, that, in itself, is something that drives my desire to read more by this talented author!

Go pick up your copy today! Borrow it, beg for it, BUY it! – you won’t be disappointed!

Overall Rating: 5/5

I know, I’m such a bad blogger. I’ve gone MIA. I fell off the face of the earth. I mean, seriously. Hey wait. Why haven’t any of you sent a search party for me??

Anyway, I’ve been lost in that sea of “Trying to put on a smile and forge that sometimes life sucks”. I’m not a sad person. I love my life, my family, my friends. But sometimes, God how it sucks. I’m learning to move forward, but I miss my grandma so, SO, much.

Anyway. So here I am.
I checked the mail today and I received a surprise! I love surprises. Only problem is, I’ve had a momentary lapse of brain activity and I can’t remember “why” I received the surprise. What is this surprise you ask? Well, it’s a book. We all know how much I LOVE books. Anyway, I received in the mail today — Good-bye To All That, by Margo Candela. It looks awesome! I can’t wait to read it. Only problem is… I can’t remember if I won it in a contest? Did I request it from paperbackswap? Did I win it in an ARC group I’m in? Oh man. :\

*DING DING DING* We have a winner. I just remembered!! I won it in a contest on Chick Lit Club! — So I’m only half losing it. This is a relief!

I’ve organized (most) of my books by author. Meaning that I’ve put all of the books by the same author together. Now, I’ve decided that I also want to semi-organize them by genre. Except, I don’t have enough shelves to do that. So, I’ve sorta done it… and sorta not. And, that’s okay with me. To take my OCD-ness a bit further, and I just went through ALL of my books (well the ones that are on the bookshelves) and made sure they were all logged on my Library Thing account. I’ve still got one more plastic tub of books to go through, and now that I type this, I think that there are a couple of stray books in my bedroom. So, promptly after I close this, I’ll be grabbing the ones from my room and placing on the shelf. Because, let’s face it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until those books are all in the proper place.

No, this is not a problem. And no, I don’t need a support group. Now therapy? That’s a whole different story.

xoxo
~stori

Okay, so… I’ve been very busy with reorganization, de-cluttering, cleaning, and all around sorting through the chaos of my home. See, I’ve been in this same apartment for 15 years. That’s right. FIFTEEN. YEARS. Do you know how much STUFF you accumulate in that time-frame?? Well, let me tell you how much. A LOT. That’s right, a lot. I have things (receipts) dating back to 1999. Why? Because when I first moved out into my own apartment, I was all about the independence. I remember, I was 17 and 1/2 and got my own apartment. It was awesome, to the finest degree. I didn’t move away to college, I moved out and treated the apartment like a dorm. Of course, one of the things my mom had told me was “Keep everything for your records’. What my mom forgot to tell me to do, was eventually, time to shred and get rid of those things. So, I had plastic boxes of things left over from utility bills, debit card purchases, and everything else you could possible think of. How, tack on 15 years of this, give or take, and you can only imagine. So, I’ve been in ‘that’ mode. Getting rid of the old, and preparing to bring in the new. And, I have to say… I feel very liberated. I’m debt free, with the exception of my car, and reorganizing and de-cluttering, really is helping me enjoy that feeling. DEBT. FREE. ME! How exciting is that??

Now, of course… Auzie (the most adorable puppy dog, EVER) is a bit — out of sorts. He suddenly has new places to explore, hide his toys, dig at the carpet (?), and run as fast as he can through the house. He’s happy, yet unsure. He keeps checking his toys, which now have this nifty blue basket to contain them. And while we are on the subject of containing, I’m working on teaching Auzie to put his toys back. I know, get ready to FAIL Stori. But, onward I go in teaching. Maybe this is how I will make it rich and retire.

More updates. The semester is over, and I’ve PASSED. I’m so happy to be over Math, that I can’t stand it. Sure, I use Math daily at work and in life, but — to be graded on it? DONE. Let’s take a moment to celebrate…. Thank you.

Now, onto the Laziness part. There are a few fellow bloggers, that I absolutely LOVE. I read their blogs often as possible. They inspire me in one way or another, and motivate me to want to write more. These are all good things. The thing is, I want to be lazy and sleep away a day or two, at least. But, I can’t. No, I sure can’t. These women post great things, and I just HAVE to read them instead of you know, that pesky sleep thing. So, I have to plug one of them here — and also to brag about how I’ve won TWO book giveaways from the wonderful MaNiC MoMMy. This lady is getting ready to move, across the country, and in the midst of all of this, has offered several Book Give-Aways. And, let’s face it.. Books + Free = Happy Stori. So, of course I’ve had to try to win every single one of them. Head over to her blog and check her out, she is funny and passionate. You will love her blog! So, thank you Stephanie for the great books! I can’t wait to read them!!

Okay, time to wrap up and get my booty in bed.

xoxo
~Stori

What is it about books? I find myself, almost, addicted to them. I mean, my “To Be Read” pile is huge. My “I really want to read these” pile is even larger. And, my “These are Next, honest” pile is the largest of all. It’s almost like I can’t help myself. I love going to Barnes & Noble and Borders. However, I think that I enjoy myself most when I’m inside the walls of used bookstores. They are my favorite places to drift off into a different reality. So many books, so many unusal topics, mixed with the classics, and all for a low price. I mean really, who else can have a discounted addiction?

It never fails, at least once (usually more) a month I find myself at each of the used bookstores in my area. There’s one more that I go to about once every 6 months (it’s a little further away). And, without fail, everytime I go to Texas to visit my aunt R, we always go to the Halfprice bookstore. It’s a blast! I think we finally have it set in our minds now, that the prices of those books aren’t marked with pretty colorful dots, nor complicated charts…. if you want to know the price of those books among the shelves, teh ones that aren’t marked? Well, you just simply look at the title of the store. Halfpriced Books. — I can’t tell you how many times the first couple of times we went there, that was the question that always seemed to come up. But now? Now, we are experts!

 Okay, I need to seek help. I apparently have an addiction.

See, I thought that it was just something like a deep desire. However, I’m realizing now that no — infact, it IS an addiction.

I can’t seem to have any control… It’s like I *HAVE* to have it.

What is it… you ask???

BOOKS.

That’s right… “Hello, my name is shannyn and I’m a bookslut.” Yes, see. I have TONS of books. Does this stop me? No. If I’m in a bookstore, I can’t leave without buying something. I swear, I hear those books calling my name! -lol- My “To Be Read” pile is towering. You would think that somewhere some common sense would kick in and i would STOP buying more books, until I’ve caught up reading the ones that I have. Of course, if that would mean that I probably couldn’t buy any books until I was about… oh I don’t know, 50? LOL

So there ya have it. I’m looking for a BookAholics Support Group. Who’s with me!?