Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Current Goodreads Rating: 3.97

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

Characters: Honestly, the characters in this book are really boring and a little pathetic.  Beth and Jennifer have a few funny conversations via email about common girl things, but that's really the only parts I sorta chuckled at.  For the most part, I didn't like Beth because she stayed with her boyfriend who could not have cared less about her.  On the other hand, I didn't like Lincoln because he spent most of his time moping around his mom's house, pining for a girl he had never met in real life but only knew through reading her private emails.

Plot: The plot is quite interesting because it is about falling for someone who you can't see, so it's about liking someone for them and not their looks.  Meanwhile, the way in which Lincoln learns about Beth is pretty creepy, and I don't know how realistic this love story is.  That's like falling in love with your stalker.

Am I the only one who hates the endings of all of Rainbow Rowell's books?  Besides Landline, I've read them all and they all have left me disappointed.  It feels like they don't finish.  The books end too abruptly, especially Attachments.


View all my reviews

Oh, You've Done It Barnes and Noble...and NOT in the Good Way

I hope to never buy from Barnes and Noble again.  They messed up my order, and their customer service was useless.  Now, I will be making a conscious effort to buy books from indie bookstores.  I haven't always bought from them because of the smaller selection, but indie booksellers seem to actually care and are passionate about books.

So let me tell you how Barnes and Noble gave me the poop end of the stick...

Rainbow Rowell sent out this tweet, so I called one of he Omaha stores and asked for a signed copy to be shipped to me.  Of course, after being excited to open up my package, I found a naked title page!  It was not signed (insert angry emoji).

FYI, both Omaha Barnes & Nobles have signed copies of all my books, INCLUDING LANDLINE, right now. And they'll ship! pic.twitter.com/kp7bKnDfOt
— Rainbow Rowell (@rainbowrowell) July 2, 2014

The worker literally did an online order for me.  I could do that by myself and save a lot of time! Also, why would I call from across the country just for that?  Ugh, the incompetence!!

The mistake wouldn't have bothered me as much if I didn't have to pay for it.  Maybe the bookseller was in the middle of something and didn't hear me or was having a bad day.  I don't know what caused her to make the error, but I ended up having spend 10 minutes to reorder a signed copy, pay for shipping twice, and have to go to a store to return the first book.

The first time I ordered the book, I paid the online price, about $10 less.  The second time, I paid the in-store price since that specific store in Omaha was selling me the book.  That's understandable, but it really stunk.

I may have sent an angry tweet to Barnes and Noble customer service.  I deleted it, but they still saw it.  They told me to DM them the details, so I did--140 characters at a time.  What a pain.  As expected, which was why I deleted the tweet, they did absolutely nothing for me. 

So, after returning the first book, I'm out $10.  This isn't a huge amount of money, I know.  But it is the lack of customer service that makes me furious. 

I got the signed book today, so I'm done with that abominable company.

The funny part of this whole story is that the second book was addressed to my brother, Cory.  I guess people from Omaha can't understand my thick accent.  (Haha, in reality I have a Midwestern accent, which is considered the purest American accent.)

He often sends his mail to my house, but I looked at the return address and was like "Omaha? I'm getting something from there too!  Wait...Barnes and Noble?!?," and I ripped that baby up.  I can't imagine my brother opening up Landline. Hahahahahha

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Current Goodreads rating 4.22

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Characters: Cath and Wren really reminded me of myself and my sister.  No, we aren't twins, nor were we ever really best friends, but I relate to Cath's love for books and her introversion.  On the other hand, my sister is much like Wren, more social to say the least.  Initially, I wasn't a huge fan of Wren because she ditches her sister.  The two grow apart, and I felt for Cath.  I was delighted when Cath found Levi who makes her happy and is always therefor her.  I even loved Regan.  Her iciness thaws, and she is actually pretty cool.  Haha pun intended.   

Plot: I listened to the audio book (the narrators were great), and I'll admit that I checked out during the Simon Snow scenes.  Then, I was talking with my friends and found out that they completely skipped over the fanfic.  Aside from that, I loved this book!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved the evolution of the relationships between child and parent, sister and sister, girl and boy, etc.
I loved that Rainbow Rowell brings attention to mental illness and shows the importance of forgiveness.
I loved that this could be considered NA and it doesn't have any sexual content.
And I love the romance.

THE FEELS

GO READ THIS!!!!

This is the perfect read for the summer before entering college.  That's when I read it, and it has a special place in my heart now....(Awwww)

x Carly
View all my reviews

Isla and the Happily Ever After Signed Preorders

Have you heard that if you preorder Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins from 1 of 53 indie bookstores, it will be signed and you'll get swag?

I just ordered mine from my local store.  (Psst, I'm having it delivered even though I live a few miles away.)  This is a really awesome campaign because you get all that cool stuff no matter where you live.  Many of the stores ship.  And we are promoting indies!!!

Here's Stephanie's Tumblr post with the list of all 53 stores participating.  I am proud of Pennsylvania for having 3 participating stores:)

Who else CANNOT wait for this book to hit stores?

Awkward Photo Time: Book signing with David Levithan, Rainbow Rowell, and Lucy Christopher

Once we finished our froyo, Danielle and I made it back to the store.  Our timing was pretty fantastique because the line was coming to an end.  Danielle and I went together to see each of the authors.  Rainbow Rowell was funny and nice.  We got an Eleanor & Park and Fangirl button since we were at the end of the line.  Win!

I had more written, but it got deleted and I am not in the mood to rewrite so I'll just tell you it was fun and leave you to chuckle at these terrible photos.  Thank goodness for cropping!

Yogurt and Books

One missed turn can be a huge problem.

My friend, Danielle and I went to a Rainbow  Rowell, David Levithan, and Lucy Hale book signing in Haverford.  

Right now, Danielle is blowing on her phone playing "Dumb Ways to Die" in a frozen yogurt store across the street with our unsigned books sitting next to us.

It's 27 degrees.

Everything was good today.  It actually seemed perfect until my navigator Dani and I got a bit discombobulated. First, there was a trip to Barnes and Noble.  Next, a "study" session at the library across the street. It was open on a Sunday and closed when we needed to leave. Dinner at Panera was fine. Driving was fine until the exit.  One second, we were one point something miles aware from the next. After a heated conversation about a fellow classmate's questionable social skills, we were ten point something miles from the next turn.

We passed the exit. Our ETA was 7:30 something. The signing started at 7:00. So, we decided to take the next exit and turn around.

Less than five minutes late, Danielle and I were in the back of the tiny bookstore due to the crowd with books that we still had to purchase.  The event had already started. This is the first author event I've ever been to that started on time.

The authors read two sections from their books and the  did a Q and A. David Levithan and Rainbow Rowell were very funny, as expected. Lucy Christopher was sweet and super cute with her British- Australian accent! 

Every person received a number when he or she bought books. When the signing portion began, numbers 1-20 were allowed to stay in the store and everyone else had to wait outside since the store is so tiny. Let me reiterate that there is snow on the ground. It's cold!

Danielle and go are numbers 66 and 67, so here we are eating froyo across the street in a warm place. We're not getting home anytime soon, especially if we repeat getting lost!