Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York-and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari's family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. 
When misfortune befalls Blake's family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

                                                                                 -Chapters Canada

What first attracted me to this book, not to seem too shallow, was the cover. I love me a good cursive font, which this one showcases beautifully, and I love the juxtaposing images of those swollen lips and the faded retro cityscape. I think this evokes exactly what the book is about. It captures the vulnerable concept of love that this book offers in spades, and also the cool 80's setting that the book takes place in.

I love that the book was set in the 80's. I feel like I haven't read a book in this seemingly forgotten era, and it contributed a retro edge that was just noticeable enough.

But that is not really what made this book a 4. This book encompasses love in all aspects. It is just so genuine, and even when it was heartbreaking, this book spoke the truth about love in all forms: love between sisters, enduring love in a stressing marriage, hard love from a mother to her daughters, complex love between a father and his daughters, first-time love, skanky love, unconditional love, love between friends, and unrequited love. The heart-wrenching love stories that make this book amazing are so true and bittersweet. They kind of broke my heart, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I couldn't think of a more perfect title for this book, and I think the only complaint that I have about it is that the summary doesn't quite do the story justice.

This is an adorable book that can be enlightening for young adults and also reminders for adults. I think that it is a adorable, and worth everyone's time :)

Spoiler Alert: Don't read past this point if you don't want to know specific book details!

First things first: the love story between Ari and Blake makes me want to swoon and cry at the same time. It was definitely my most favourite of the many complex love-related plot lines going on in the story. Ari was so young and innocent and perfectly characterized to meet experienced, smart, sexy Blake who showed her love for the first time, and then breaks her heart. Which broke my heart. When all was said and done though, I loved the bittersweet ending, with Ari's heartache not only leading to growth within herself, but also growth within all of her other relationships. It was such an accurate portrayal of young love, and an awesome example for young adults trying to get through something similar.

The other relationships that we see throughout the story are also so genuine and important, and I love them all. Even the creepy crush that Ari has on her older sister's husband. I mean, ew. There are some things that are just pushing it, and I'm really glad that she got over it! And when she did, it was really cute, because then he got to help her learn about her relationship, and he became the older brother figure to her that he always should have been. As we saw said hot firefighters relationship with said sister struggle, endure, and flourish, it was so hope inspiring and cute. Just showing how not every marriage is perfect, and not to give up even though things aren't perfect. 

That relationship also brings in the love that is shared among Ari's whole family. Her mother's tough love, that was sometimes hard for even me to take, but ultimately the kind of all-knowing motherly love that can straighten out any situation. Unconditional. Just like that of Ari's father, even though he was typically less outward with his affections.

Ari's relationship with her friends was also constantly evolving and truly deep. I learned so much from her shallow best friend, even though I wanted to kill her half the time. The dynamic that we saw when her new friend Leigh was introduced was also enlightening and showed a whole different side of love, along with Leigh's own struggles with love and fitting in.

Overall, I really think that this book deals with so many important teen issues and captures every emotion perfectly. It is not only a cute, genuine read, but also a life-lesson wrapped up into booky-smelling beautiful-cover-toting perfection. I really just keep thinking about all the different aspects of this epic book, and I can't help but smile.

Oh, the power of books--Cheers & Enjoy♥

(Related) Reminiscent Reads (7)

Reminiscent Reads is a feature that Cait at A Life Like Mine and I started recently to showcase the books we have read before starting our blogs. From time to time we will choose a few, good/bad, related/not, and do a mini-review explaining a little bit about the plot and our overall opinions.

Since someone was so kind enough to lend me Sisterhood Everlasting, the new book by one of my favourite authors, Ann Brashares, I think it is only fitting that I showcase one of my all-time favourite series' before I delve into what can only be a delight in book form! I present to you: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! 

Also, since I will be talking about all the books in the series, this review could be a tad bit spoiler-y...

THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS
by ANN BRASHARES

♥♥♥♥♥

I remember absolutely loving this book. I read it so long ago, but I remember the feeling like it was yesterday: perfection. It was the perfect book for a girl my age and everything was just so right. Out of the four girls, there was always someone for any teenage girl to relate to, and all of the letters and escapades were so coming-of-age yet fun and light. This is was the first novel in a series that would change my life, and the lives of young girls everywhere, forever. The pants were so magical and symbolized something so much more than fitting into denim; fitting into life.

THE SECOND SUMMER OF THE SISTERHOOD by ANN BRASHARES

♥♥♥♥

In the second installment in the series, we pick up right where we left off with Lena, Bridget, Tibby and Carmen. The girls continue on the journey with the pants, finding love in unexpected places, and learning about everything that they went through last summer. We see the girls grow, change and mature, which makes this book so much more than just the enjoyable, fun read that I saw it as when I read it so many years ago. This book is about love, loss, family, friends, life, and learning to get through. Truly amazing.

GIRLS IN PANTS by ANN BRASHARES

♥♥♥♥½

In the third book, we see the girls in the summer before college starts. This book really contributes to the versatility of the series, as we see the girls growing and learning their identities through all different experiences. We see that the girls are still connected, even though their experiences take them physically and mentally far from home. Lena is still experimenting with life and love, and learns volumes about family and loss. Tibby is also struggling with new romantic endeavors, and blame and depression from anxiety about her family and changes that she is going through. Bridget revisits issues from her past and learns more about herself and love. Carmen struggles with her family life and starting a new endeavor in college, and also about herself and her ability to love selflessly. This third touching book in the series sets us up beautifully to experience the last book, and left me wanting more and more of these wonderful girls and all of their stories.

FOREVER IN BLUE by ANN BRASHARES

♥♥♥♥♥

Entering into the last book in the Sisterhood series, it was almost as if the magical pants themselves have gone unseen for a while, just becoming a metaphor and catalyst for all of the life altering experiences that we see our four favourite girls endure. The book brings us full circle, though, when we are brought back to the magic of the pants and everything they represent. I love how Brashares incorporated that special, magical feeling that we started off with right in the beginning. We see how the girls end up, and everything wraps up nicely, bittersweetly, and perfectly. Brashares writes beautifully and magically in this heartfelt ending to an iconic series.

3 WILLOWS by ANN BRASHARES

♥♥♥

So this isn’t actually part of the original series, but is a continuation or sorts, with cameos from the original Traveling Pants girls. I really didn’t enjoy this book. I found that I was too mature too understand the struggles of the girls, and to relate to them. I also just felt myself longing for the original girls, which is a void that is not easily filled. Having said that, the key plot ideas and themes of this book were equally important as those in the original series, and I found that a new generation of young readers could benefit and love this continuation of a wonderfully epic series.

If you haven't read this series yet, or anything by Ann Brashares, I seriously urge you to, since her writing is beautiful and timeless. Her stand alone novel The Last Summer (Of Me & You) is also amazing, and I can't wait to read both Sisterhood Everlasting (seeing the original 4 girls as adults) and her newest novel Her Name Is Memory. There has also recently been cover-redesigns for the original series, which are gorgeous, and I might just do a Covergasms♥ post on them soon!

Reminiscing--Cheers & Enjoy♥

Fishbowl by Sarah Mlyknowski

Allison, Jodine and Emma set their apartment on fire. No, they didn't do it on purpose. What kind of lunatics do you think they are? And don't go worrying. No one got hurt, although they did go to the hospital. Unfortunately, there was no one in white yelling stat!, no one climbing aboard a gurney to thump life back into someone's heart and no hot paramedic performing artificial respiration.


What they do have now is one giant repair bill and no money. Problem? No way! Not for three bright women with a great fund-raising idea—they'll organize swanky soirees and dating seminars.

Perfect. How could this possibly go wrong…?

                                                                                                                      -Chapters Canada

This book has been on my list for a long time (like seriously more than 5 years, I swear), and I decided it was just time to buy it already, so I could cross it off my list. Also it is set in Toronto, CANADA! Wooo-hooo!

It did not disappoint. I was again surrounded by the author's witty humour throughout, and love this about Sarah Mlynowski.  Just like her other books, this one was very light and fun, definitely for those who enjoy devouring chick-lit. This book was very directed toward college/university students, and I think was very relatable. The only thing I found myself being a little disappointed with was the ending.  Somehow it just didn't seem to sit well with me. There were some parts that were predictable and some that weren't, so I'll give her that.  But I still wasn't completely satisfied with how the girls ended up.  Having said that, I guess that the ending was very realistic though, and what I imagine would happen in this type of situation. So kudos on that....

Something that I cannot really decide if I liked or not was the omniscient narrator that we got to see a few times.  Can't decide if this was genius, or just plain confusing and unnecessary... Overall a pretty good read, for something light and funny.

Spoiler Alert: Don't read past this point if you don't want to know specific book details!


So the book is based on three girls who are just entering adulthood, and are moving in together without knowing each other first. Allie, Emma, and Jodine are all very different, so right off the bat there is tension and humour. All of the girls have boy issues, which do seem to be annoyingly predictable, but do not really end up that way.

Jodine just kind of ignored me with her woes about Manny, and because of this, I wasn't really sure if I was rooting for him or not. When George the bartender was introduced, I thought for sure he would end up being her prince charming and curing her of her obvious psychopathy. But this was so far from what happened, and she didn't end up with anyone. I was kind of hoping she would. Emma was pretty much just a slut. I mean we obviously knew she wasn't going to end up with 'Nick the Prick', who was hot, but that was the only thing going for him. What Emma does to Allie, though, is completely unforgivable. Which brings me to Allie. I felt sorry for her the whole time, even though it was so obvious that she would end up with the cute handy-man with the undying love for her.

The main conflict though: the girls completely scorch their kitchen, and none of them have insurance.  So they have to come up with $10,000 to cover the damage, lest their landlord finds out. Although this is supposed to be the focus of the book, I found that it didn't really read like that to me. I found the dynamic between the girls to be the most interesting, which is why I was slightly disappointed in the ending, because it was just kind of anticlimactic for me. And I found myself really pissed at Emma (and still do) because of what she did to poor innocent Allie.  And she really didn't even feel that bad. But I will say again, that however lackluster the ending was to me, it did ring true with how I imagine this scenario would play out in real life.

Not epic or extraordinary by any means, but worth picking up for light entertainment.

Hitting the books--Cheers & Enjoy♥