April Book Club: Must-read YA novels for the no-so-young adult

Get ready – your April book club reading recommendations are here!

In a teaser post two weeks ago, I mentioned that I’d be starting to give you recommendations for book club books, based on a different theme each month. This theme is my absolute favorite. Basically I think of myself as a teen in an adult body. Just ask anyone who attended my 13-year-old-girl themed 30th birthday party.

I think it’s because unlike a good majority of people, I loved high school (and I wasn’t popular, lol). Being a teenager growing up in small-town Wisconsin was a much less stressful time in my life. Friday night football games, crushing on all the cute boys, eating ice cream everyday at lunch and not gaining weight, driving around with friends listening to music and best of all, never having to do my own laundry.

If you’re anything like me and love an easy read that transports you back to easier times, or really liked reading the hunger games, I highly recommend reading some of these YA novels for your April book club:

  • Turtles All the Way Down Such a good book. Even though the plethora of Star Wars references were lost on me, the awkward teenage romance hits close to home.
  • Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda The book that inspired the new movie Love, Simon is a must-read. I cried, in a good way. A classic coming of age story with a twist that hasn’t been given the necessary spotlight before.
  • The Spectacular Now This book gave the teen girl inside of me hope that the most popular boy in school would one day ask me out.
  • Looking for Alaska By far John Green’s best book. That’s all I can say because I’m nervous I’ll spoil the ending for you. Read it. Trust me.

AV Monthly Book Club: Books for people who don’t like to read

S and I met some of our closest friends by starting a book club six years ago. I know, this sounds like something too refined or high brow for us. But guess what — we’ll take almost any excuse to get together with girlfriends, drink wine and eat cupcakes.

If you know me, reading anything longer than a gossip magazine has always been a chore. So we started our club with a very specific theme – books that have been turned into movies. It then spread into memoirs by funny women. Since then, our book club has become more of a “let’s get together and watch The Bachelor,” or “let’s meet for breakfast before work” club, and we’ve abandoned books all together.

But since I’m aging more toward 40 and further away from 20 – it’s about time I exercise my mind and reintroduce reading to my after-work hobbies. Starting this April I’ll be recommending monthly reads, based on a theme, for anyone else who wants to start or restart a book club. Don’t worry, I plan to focus on easy, entertaining reads under 350 pages.

Stay tuned for April’s suggestions coming in the next few weeks. I’ll give you a hint – one of the books may be based on a movie I recently saw and fell in love with…

-RC

Unexpected Crushes

I have several weird and unexpected crushes that my friends will never understand. I can’t even completely explain why I love these men so much, but I am oddly attracted to them for some reason. I think it’s that they are lovable, endearing, harmless guys that I can relate to. See for yourself:

Justin Long

Justin Long

Morgan

Morgan from The Mindy Project

Lord Disick

Scott Disick

Phil

Phil from Modern Family

Ryan-Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

CHRIS HARRISON

Chris Harrison

Andy Dwyer

Andy from Parks and Rec

What are your thoughts? Do you have any weird Hollywood crushes? Let me know!

10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Love LeBron

If you have ever met me, you know my obsession with LeBron James is just part of who I am. Yes, I went to his movie “More Than A Game” on opening night. Yes, I have jerseys and t-shirts I wear in his honor. And I may or may not have notebooks and pictures  in my office at work showing my undying support for the athlete…So it’s only normal I want to share his amazingness with the world. Here are the top 10 reasons (as of 2/4/13) why you should also love Lebron.

1. This happened last week:

2. He is awful at karaoke, but still enjoys singing

3. He gets hungover like the best of us

Lebron Tweet

4. His bromance with D-Wade is to die for, and probably Hollywood’s best love story yet

5. He has the coolest friends

Lebron Instagram

6. His style, duh #grownandsexy

Lebron Style

7. He is a great dad

Lebron and Kids

8. He’s a great player

9. He’s got jokes

10. Last but definitely not least, he’s got great moves

And if you don’t agree with this post – as cousin Dave would say, haters gonna hate Haters Gon Hate

xoxo R