It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse: And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Nicole Maines

It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse: And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Nicole Maines-214 pages

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Nicole Maines played Dreamer on The CW's Supergirl TV series. Here, she writes about her journey as a transgender person growing up in Maine. She endured bullying and ridicule as a child. A male classmate went into the girl's bathroom to stalk her because he felt she was using the wrong bathroom. After that incident, the school Nicole was attending at the time forced her to use a separate bathroom and did nothing when she was bullied. Nicole and her family would later sue that school district and win, but that did little since it was years later and she was attending a different school that accepted her. Nicole also discusses her years on Supergirl, moving to Los Angeles, and her political views (briefly) among other things. This is a really good read, especially in regards to her perspective as a trans woman. 
 

Beyond the Bright Lights by Settle Myer

Beyond the Bright Lights by Settle Myer, 417 p.

"My name is Lana Young and I’m not okay. I’m 40 years old and still grieving the death of my fiancé, 18 years later. Tyler Taylor died of cancer and he spent his final days helping others. He was an inspiration, enough that his sister wrote a book about his life. Now that book is becoming a movie, and the actor portraying Tyler on the big screen just walked into the bar I own. He's begging me for help. "Help me become Tyler Taylor." There’s one problem: Mylan Andrews is battling his demons, and I’m worried he can’t win.

My name is Mylan Andrews and I’m not okay. I’m a 25-year-old alcoholic and addict. I just got out of rehab and this movie is my last chance to save my career. Lana agrees to work with me on becoming Tyler Taylor and every day we're together, my attraction to her grows stronger. Could she be the one to help me win back control of my life? For her to consider me for her future, she must first move on from her past."--Goodreads blurb

This was a fun and steamy romance. A quick read that was a good palette cleanser after some long series.  

 

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, 320 p.

"Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done."--Goodreads blurb

While I did enjoy this book, I didn't enjoy it as much as other contemporary romances I have read this year. This was so very predictable, but the characters and story were fun. 

 

Take a Chance on Me by Kathryn R. Biel

Take a Chance on Me (A Center Stage Love Story #1) by Kathryn R. Biel, 404 p.

CW: Sexual assault, mental health

"Moving to Hicklam is the last thing Gloria Benedetti wants to do, but it's her final hope at having a normal life. After spending almost a decade as a near recluse and virtually paralyzed by crippling panic attacks, an alternative therapy might be her only shot at regaining her life after trauma. Trauma that forced her to give up everything, including a promising career on the stage.

Staying in Hicklam is the last thing Grayson Keene planned on doing, but The Edison Theater has been in his family for generations, and he can't let it sink on his watch. Unfortunately, things with The Edison have gone from bad to worse, and Grayson needs all the help he can get to save the old girl. He needs one successful season to make things work, and then maybe, just maybe, he can get his life—and his Broadway career—back. As Gloria's on the verge of the health and healing she's been working toward, the one thing that will save The Edison may just break her once and for all. If she protects herself, it'll cost Grayson everything. This may be the one chance that's too big to take."--Goodreads blurb

What a hidden gem this was. I've never heard anything about these book or Biel, and this was a well-written, fun yet serious contemporary romance. I think there could have been some more development in Grayson's character especially, but in general I could have used a bit more backstory. I'll probably put this series on my to-read someday list. 

 

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1) by Olivia Dade, 416 p.

CW: Theme of body image issues

"Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster.  Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.

April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.

Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her. With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?"--Goodreads blurb

This was a fun summer read with some really serious talk within it. You really cheer on Marcus and April, but know there is that one issue that when found out, everything will blow up. And yup, it does. But true to the genre, things may just end up alright. The cover of this was a favorite of mine of the contemporary romances I've read!

 

 

C'mon Get Happy by David Cassidy, Chip Deffaa

 242 pages

"Barely out of his teens, David Cassidy landed a role on a new sitcom about a musical family that toured in a psychedelic bus. The critics blasted it—but TV viewers loved it! And the young female audience especially loved Keith Partridge. Not only did they tune in each week, they bought The Partridge Family’s hit single, “I Think I Love You,” in the millions, and plastered David’s image on their bedroom walls. Throughout the early seventies, David Cassidy was a phenomenon."         --from the publisher

It seems the purpose of the book is to obliterate the idea that David Cassidy is similar to the clean-cut, all-American character he played on The Partridge Family. Over half the book is dedicated to his drinking/drug use and sexual exploits. A secondary purpose of the book seems to be to explain how he was taken advantage of and ended up broke at the end of his popularity. As I read, I just kept thinking, "Where were your parents?" Stepmom Shirley Jones seemed to be the only adult in his life who tried to be there for him. Heavy sigh. I give this one two out of five stars, and that may be generous.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, 389 p.

"Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways."--Goodreads blurb

 This book has been on my radar for many years now and boy do I wish I'd read it sooner. I loved this book. So well-written, emotional, and engrossing. This was my first book by Reid, though I see her name everywhere. I will definitely be trying some more of her books, as she is phenomenal. 

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

 Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey -- 308 pages

From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights—and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck. 

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting -- 370 pages

Talk about an embarrassing introduction. On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran - quite literally - into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either...

Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can't help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn's new celebrity client, there's even more at stake than Dax's custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she'll be promoted to partner.

The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive the mistakes of the past, or will one betrayal lead to another? 

Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham, 224 pages

In this fun and funny autobiography, Lauren Graham gives us the good stuff about what it was like filming Gilmore Girls the first time, and then going back to the same character many years later. Well, maybe not ALL the good stuff. Graham's casual writing style and injected jokes make this a quick and breezy read, yet so interesting for us fans of both GG and Graham in general. 

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb

Witness in Death by J.D. Robb - 357 pages

Detective Eve Dallas is enjoying an evening at the theater with her husband Roarke when the lead actor is killed onstage during the final act of the play.  Now Eve must determine which person associated with the play wanted him dead the most.  Everyone has a reason to kill him, but who actually did it?

Another great entry in the Eve Dallas mystery series.  Although I guessed the killer early on, the motive was a surprise until the end.

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston, 327 pages

A fantasy romance about a long lost fae and the human-changling that falls in love with her (and of course she with him) while trying to save her life. Kelley is a wannabe actress that finally lands a leading role as Tatiana in an off-off broadway play when the main actor she's an understudy for disappears. She doesn't question things that would make normal people go 'hmm' and pretty much accepts everything she is told. So it's not too surprising that Kelley doesn't realize she is fae and only discovers that fact after one of the Janus guards, a mortal named Sonny, reveals her true identity. (Sonny is the human-changeling I mentioned in the first sentence). Then all hell breaks loose (literally) and more than just Kelley's life is in danger as the Wild Hunt is sent after her (and any human that stands in their way). I thought for sure the book would pick up at that point, but it stayed tepid. I think I struggled through it for the most part because the main character is so absurdly clueless. I am really disappointed that this wasn't an excellent read. The storyline sounded so good.