Red, White and Royal Blue

I loved everything about this!!! The witty banter, the slow burn romance, the politics, the friendships. All of it! It was so well written! The quick and dirty summary is that the president of the first female president ever hates the stuffy, pompous grandson of the Queen of England. When they are forced to be in each other's presence for Henry's older brother's wedding they get into a scuffle and nearly start an international incident. They have to pretend to be best friends now to save face and in the process of being friends Alex decides that maybe.... Henry isn't all that bad after all. Adorable, super witty, emotional, and all around fantastic. I will read anything this author writes now. Instant fan!!

This Is Where I Leave You

I dare you to find a more dysfunctional family then the one Jonathan Trooper lovingly paints a portrait of in this zany and ingenious novel. It's a funny and brutally honest read.

Judd Foxman has hit a bit of a rough patch. His wife of ten years has been cheating on him with his boss forcing him to move out and live in a  damp basement, and his father just died. To top it all off, his father's dying request had been for his family to sit Shiva for seven days, so now Judd is stuck with his crazy family for a full week. Between his three siblings, mother, extended family, and constant stream of mourners it will be a miracle if they make it out alive.

Jonathon Tropper does an amazing job of bringing his quirky characters to life, and even though you hate their flaws, you end up loving them all for their downright craziness. This is a family you wish you would have lived by, they're so dysfunctional, they're fun.

A witty read, recommended to all.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Stop whatever you're doing and GO GET THIS BOOK!!! Hands down the most intriguing, morbid, hilarious, insightful, and absorbing nonfiction book I may have ever read!!!! This book was impossible to put down. I never thought I would have any interest in reading about human remains, but holy hell, now I know everything there is to know about them. Who knew cadavers could be soo interesting?

Mary Roach takes a seemingly dull and morbid topic and spins it into the most intriguing journey imaginable. Mary researched the many uses and functions of cadavers, and fills you in on everything you ever wanted to know about what really happens to our bodies when we die. Embalming, decomposing, cremating, organ transplants, crucifixion, cannibalism, donating your body to science, composing, melting, and soo much more.

Mary Roach has a great sense of humor and I was often laughing out loud at her witty stories. Some of my favorite parts were: the debate on whether you die when your heart stops or your brain stops, the fact that men are more likely to survive a plane crash, heads that still twitch up to 10 seconds of being guillotined, eating butt-cheeks, that's just to name a few. I really loved it all!

I'm a very squeamish person but I was able to handle this book pretty well there were a few parts I cringed (all the animal testing stories and the embalming process got to me) but overall I was too intrigued to be grossed out.

Seriously a must read. I loved this!!!!

James Bond for Moms

I'm not going to lie, it took me a hot second to get into this book. I was like "A former spy that's now a mom has to get back into the game to confront an old supposedly dead enemy?!?!? really?!?" Thankfully the book turned out to be pretty awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As previously mentioned, Lucy (formally known as Sally Sin) has retired from her long and successful career as a spy and settled down with a husband and toddler, a job she finds nearly as difficult as taking out terrorists in foreign jungles and dodging death at every turn. After a few years of retired bliss however, she is suddenly called back to duty when her former nemesis, Ian Blackford, has "come back from the dead." Ian Blackford was a former spy for the US government that went rogue and no matter how many times Sally Sin tried to capture him, she was always the one who got kidnapped. It almost turned into a cat and mouse type of game between the two although Blackford never really harmed her (he was too intrigued, oh and did I mention he resembles James Bond!??!). Now that Ian Blackford is back into the picture Lucy (Sally) must step her game up to protect her three year old son, Theo, against whatever he has up his sleeve.

This novel was witty and magically made motherhood comparable to being a covert agent (nearly as deadly, especially when it comes to bathtime). The story picks up after the first few chapters and the end leaves you thirsting for more. I definitely can't wait to read the next in the series. Bravo Beth McMullen on a superb first novel, I hope there are many more to come!

I received this book for free from GoodRead's Giveaways in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.