BBBC: The Rosie Project

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

 

If you are on the search for a book filled with humor, then this is the book for you. The book ends on an odd note, but if you enjoy dry sarcasm and want to root for an under-dog, then you will enjoy this book.

For the month of December, Heather over at Love To Be Busy, chose the book Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

 Now, head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book! 

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

Lisa - Uncommon Wife Life

Lisa P - Blush and Back Roads

Stephanie - The Wonky Brow 

The Beauty Blogger Book Club began in January of 2015! We currently have 6 Members with various blog content. Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members chooses a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month! The "Club" provides all of us bloggers an opportunity to network and read books outside of our comfort zones!

Michelyn Cynthia

 

BBBC: Orphan Train

Where is the mommy crying emoji? I desperately need to invent that because I can not believe that we are already in the month of September!

You know, I previously looked forward to months coming and going, especially the months that led up to basketball season. Well, now as a mommy, I must admit that time passing is not as joyous. Time passing means my little girl is getting older and I am content with keeping her little forever!

Unfortunatly, I am unable to stop the passage of time; instead, I am trying to live in the moment! So, with that, I must also apologize for the lack of posts the last few weeks. Yes, I have many excuses to give but the biggest is that I am just simply enjoying motherhood.

Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.

Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.

This book was a page turner, even while on the treadmill where I did the majority of my reading. I am realizing that I truly have a liking to historical fictions. In this book, I was introduced to little pieces of history I never known about. The Orphan Train is a real movement in which many orphaned children from crowded Eastern cities were boarded onto trains and taken to rural areas of the Midwest. Families looking for servants, farm labourers, or occasionally more children would come check out the orphans and see if they wanted to take them home. The 1920s/30s part of this book tells the story of Vivian's life, being moved from one family to the next in Minnesota. In the present, she is a 91 year-old woman with an attic full of painful memories. Molly, the present day orphan, is presently dealing with many turmoils of her own. As both characters lives cross, we see how they are both transformed. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to others. 


For the month of September, Stephanie from The Wonky Brow has chosen I Was Here by Gayle Forman.

 Now, head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book! 

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

Lisa - Uncommon Wife Life

Lisa P - Blush and Back Roads

Stephanie - The Wonky Brow 

The Beauty Blogger Book Club began in January of 2015! We currently have 6 Members with various blog content. Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members chooses a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month! The "Club" provides all of us bloggers an opportunity to network and read books outside of our comfort zones!

Michelyn Cynthia

Question of the Day:  I am slated to chose the October book for the club! Do you have any recommendations for the club?

BBBC: August Book

Hey guys! So you remember that book club that I started, Beauty Blogger Book Club?

Well, it did not vanish; rather, I just elected to not read the June & July books as I knew that my hands would be pretty preoccupied. Ha, and to think that I originally invited a blogger friend of mine right after she had a baby. She politely responded that she would be unable to join as her time was limited with a newborn, and I scoffed at her response and thought "How busy could she truly be?" Uhm, old Michelyn, she was busy! More on that in another post.

Well, the Beauty Blogger Book Club read two books "The Year We Left Home" and "Paper Towns."

If you are interested in learning more about either of these books, head on over to the other Members blogs to see what they thought of them!

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

Lisa - Uncommon Wife Life

Lisa P - Blush and Back Roads

Stephanie - The Wonky Brow

For the month of August, Lisa P of Blush and Back Roads picked "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker. We are driving to Washington, DC next week so I downloaded the book for our car ride. I am hoping that I can tackle a good portion of it while Coach drives, but who know since this will be our first road trip adventure - and by car. 

Michelyn Cynthia

BBBC: Where'd You Go Bernadette

It's June!!!!!!!! June means Little Miss Kemp shall be arriving shortly. Everyone in our family is beyond enthused for her upcoming arrival! My mother plans to arrive on June 18th, and she has firmly explained that no baby can arrive before then! We will surely try our best, lol! How fitting that last month's book included a mother-daughter relationship.

Ok, let's see what this book is all about.

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.

Such a witty and entertaining read! How Maria Semple weaves various formats ( e-mails, letters, F.B.I. documents, correspondence with a psychiatrist and even an emergency-room bill) for the background to a riveting story is beyond me!

Now, I must admit that the various formats at first made me so confused and perplexed, especially in the first chapter. My mother also read this book, in like 2 days, and she assured me that it all comes together in a marvelous way, and she was so right!

I must give this book high praise for Ms. Semple's writing, but also the message that I took away at the end. You learn about the suffering that Bernadette has faced for nearly 20 years, and I truly sympathized for her character. It made me step back and realize that everyone has a history with multiple dimensions impacting their present. An individual's present way of being has been molded from their life experiences, and we must keep this in my mind when judging others' actions, in my humble opinion :)

I too loved the mother-daughter relationship that is so present throughout the book!

For the month of June, Heather from Love To Be Busy has chosen "The Year We Left Home" by Jean Thompson.

Now, head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book! 

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

Lisa - Uncommon Wife Life

Lisa P - Blush and Back Roads

We have yet another NEW Beauty Blogger Book Club member! Please help me welcome Stephanie from The Wonky Brow! Stephanie blogs about beauty products and sharing her #365DaysofEmpties with the world!

I honestly could not be more thrilled for our new members! I hope you check out their blogs!

The Beauty Blogger Book Club began in January of 2015! We currently have 6 Members with various blog content. Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members chooses a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month! The "Club" provides all of us bloggers an opportunity to network and read books outside of our comfort zones!

Michelyn Cynthia

Question of the Day:  What book have you recently read that you think the BBBC should read & review?

BBBC: The Book Thief

Happy May to you, and welcome Team Kemp to the 8th month of pregnancy! However, we are not here today to discuss my pregnancy, we are, instead, here to discuss the Beauty Blogger Book Club's April book of the month - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

 

Are you wondering who in the world would pick such a dreary book to read? Well, I am the culprit, but let me explain! I found this book listed on Business Insider's 100 books everyone should read list! It is actually ranked as #16, so I figured that it had to be good! Indeed, it was a good book, but not a mood lifter by any means.

Did I like the novel? Yes, though it was a little long, and very emotional in many areas. I mean it is the story of a foster girl living in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Though she is not Jewish, her foster parents do decide to give refuge to a young Jewish man hiding from the Nazi regime.  And then there is the story of her learning to read and then stealing books from the mayor's house! The novel is narrated by death which was a unique perspective in my opinion. Throughout the novel, the characters grow and change in horrible and beautiful ways; making this a fabulous read when you desire a riveting piece.

If you are searching for a light-hearted read, this is not the book for you!

For the month of May, Ashley from If You Give A Girl A Ring has chosen "Where'd You Go Bernadette" by Maria Semple. Have you read this book? I am really excited to delve into this novel because it is about a daughter searching for her mother. I know I have some time until Little Miss Kemp is an adolescent, but it will still be fun to read!

Now, head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book!

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

 

Before I go, I must also share that we have a new Member! Remember, Lisa Compton from my A-Game Attire series? Well, she has jumped on the Beauty Blogger Book Club wagon and I could not be more thrilled!  Make sure you check out her blog too, Uncommon Wife Life! She will provide her first book review in June.

If you are a blogger, and are interested in joining our book club, please Contact Me to learn more. If you do not write a blog that is ok, because you can still join in on the fun!

Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members will choose a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month!

Michelyn Cynthia

Questions of the day: What were your impressions of "The Book Thief?" 

If you did not read the book, have you seen the movie?

 

BBBC: One Moment, One Morning

It is April 1st! Later this afternoon, Coach and I head off to Indianapolis for the Final Four festivities! I truly can not contain my excitement to see some of my beloved coach's wives and to make new friends while there!

This year's show will not be going down like last year (Wednesday; Thursday/Friday) but we still have some fun days and nights planned. I guess I can ensure that I am the first one in the hotel gym, since I have no excuses, lol!

For the month of March the Beauty Blogger Book Club read One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner. This book was chosen by Rachel who blogs over at Love To Be Busy. Here is the synopsis of the book:

The Brighton to London line. The 07:44 train. Carriages packed with commuters. A woman applies her make-up. Another occupies her time observing the people around her. A husband and wife share an affectionate gesture. Further along, a woman flicks through a glossy magazine. Then, abruptly, everything changes: a man has a heart attack, and can't be resuscitated; the train is stopped, an ambulance called. For at least three passengers on the 07:44 on that particular morning, life will never be the same again. Lou witnesses the man's final moments. Anna and Lou share a cab when they realise the train is going nowhere fast. Anna is Karen's best friend. And Karen? Karen's husband is the man who dies. Telling the story of the week following that fateful train journey, One Moment, One Morning is a stunning novel about love and loss, about family and - above all - friendship. A stark reminder that, sometimes, one moment is all it takes, it also reminds us that somehow, and despite everything, life can and does go on.

 One Moment, One Morning is an emotional tale of love, friendship and loss as well as strength.Strength found within and between women, at that! The three women are involved in different emotional levels to the death, but in being brought together the incident allows them to examine their own lives in a different light and discover what is important and how they can make changes for the better.

Poignantly, this book had me mulling over so many things. First, it made me realize that I need to cherish those that I love on a more regular basis. Second, I questioned my calling in life, and my overall happiness in all the roles that I play. We only get one chance at this game called life, and I wonder(ed) how I may make my being more meaningful and support my family unit. Lastly, it made me think about becoming a mother and the struggles that will invariably ensue.  

This is no easy read, but it is one that I highly suggest. It will make you cry, laugh and rejoice. You will sympathize and pain for the three women, and then rejoice at the freedom that comes at the end!

Now, head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book!

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

For the month of April we are reading "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I chose this book after stumbling across Business Insider's "100 Books Everyone Should Read" list! This book is ranked #16 out of 100. I do see that it is a little long - sorry ladies - but it has received great reviews for many, many years! 

If you are a blogger, and are interested in joining our book club, please Contact Me to learn more. If you do not write a blog that is ok, because you can still join in on the fun!

Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members will choose a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month!

Question of the Day: What did you think of "One Moment, One Morning?"

Michelyn Cynthia

BBBC: Beautiful Ruins

Wow! another month has passed which means, another book placed back on my bookshelf; technically archived on my Nook!

I was not surprised by the selection of this book, "A Beautiful Ruins," by Ashley of If You Give A Girl A Ring! See, she and her husband are avid travelers who recently returned from a trip to Italy! If you desire to visit Italy, head on over to her blog. Here are a few of her specific Italy-related posts: Food Lover's Guide to Rome; Being Venetian in Venice!; and Capri.

Ok, back to the book!

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot—searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and his idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion—along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow. 

Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

I will be really honest, at first I was not loving this book because it jumps between various story-lines which Jess Walter beautifully weaves together. This pregnant lady was merely overwhelmed with the various story-lines, but eventually got to a point where I could NOT put the book down; or rather, my Nook!

In tracking their journey, while also hopscotching through time and place, Jess Walter skillfully fills in the lives and loves of the characters we’ve met. I interpreted the title of the book, Beautiful Ruins, to mean that although life brings about many hardships, in the end they come together for a true purpose. Jess Walter does a fabulous job balancing his writing style with a mixture of pathos and comedy which seemingly stirs the heart. The amusement also rescues us from the all too human pain that is the heart of this complex and ever-evolving novel - and life, in general.
Now, go on and head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book!

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

For the month of March we are reading "One Moment, One Morning" by Sarah Rayner. This book was chosen by Heather. I really look forward to reading this book. The BBBC has really widened my bookshelf - especially with books that I most likely would not have chosen on my own!

If you are a blogger, and are interested in joining our book club, please Contact Me to learn more. If you do not write a blog that is ok, because you can still join in on the fun!

Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members will choose a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month!

Question of the Day: What did you think of "Beautiful Ruins?"

Michelyn Cynthia

BBBC: A Mad, Wicked Folly

It is the first of the month which means only one thing - Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) January Review!

 

 Oh boy, now I may be slightly biased since I picked the first book in this new series, Beauty Blogger Book Club, but "A Mad, Wicked Folly" did not disappoint. Honestly, I read this book in 3 days!

Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.

After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

I adored every single moment and page of this book! If you enjoy historical pieces or even smitten with Downton Abbey, then this is a book for you!

Vicky Darling, the protagonist in this story, embodies so many fabulous qualities - drive, determination, and a touch of naivety - that has you squirming in anguish for her given the times.  As the summary above states, Miss Darling gets thrown out of boarding school for posing nude in an all-male art class she's not supposed to be a part of. Her parents swiftly bring her back home, only to marry her off which is not part of her life plans. Miss Darling has desires to enroll in art school in hopes of becoming a famous artist, not merely a wife! Oh, and this is where the plot thickens because she falls in love with a working-class male and even joins the suffragettes, aka the female protestors endeavoring to win the right to vote.

I feel like I have spilled the beans about this story, but honestly have not. Obviously, I loved this book! Ending I will share that Miss Darling does claim her independence, by not marrying her parents' chosen husband and confessing her love for the commoner! Now, did she ever get into the art school?

Read the book to find out!

Now, go on and head on over the the other Members' blogs to see what they thought about the book!

Ashley - If You Give A Girl A Ring

Heather - Love To Be Busy

Jennifer - All Dressed Up in Love

For the month of February we are reading "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walters. This book was chosen by Ashley

If you are a blogger, and are interested in joining our book club, please Contact Me to learn more. If you do not write a blog that is ok, because you can still join in on the fun!

Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members will choose a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month, we each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month!

Question of the Day: What did you think of "A Mad, Wicked Folly?"


Michelyn Cynthia

Beauty Blogger Book Club

Happy New Year's Beauties! I have started yet a new series for you in 2015 - the Beauty Blogger Book Club!

After graduate school, I dived into reading for pleasure which was so pleasurable given five years of scholarly reading consuming my life. During that time, I honestly could not pick up a book for pleasure without my eyes crossing! I know, it is horrible to admit, but honest to goodness truth. Instead, I read many magazines and blogs for pleasure.

Well, it has been two years since I received my doctorate, and I have read many books for pleasure but I still desire to read even more books.

So what better way to accomplish this goal than to start a blogger book club!?!

I have recently teamed up with two of my blogger friends, If You Give a Girl A Ring and All Dressed Up in Love to launch this new series.

For our inaugural book I have chosen, "A Mad, Wicked Folly" by Sharon Biggs Walter.

If you are a blogger, and are interested in joining our book club, please Contact Me to learn more. If you do not write a blog that is ok, because you can still join in on the fun!

Each month, one of the Beauty Blogger Book Club (BBBC) members will chose a book for the Club to read. At the beginning of the following month,we will each write a book report/summary for our readers to enjoy and share the book for the following month!

Michelyn