Books, Blogs, & Reality | Ryan Ringbloom
Pages: 202
Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary, Chick Lit
Published: October 24th 2014
Format: E-Copy
Source: IndieSage
Life can suck…
When reality becomes overwhelming, seeking comfort in fictional fantasies keeps hope alive. And while this escape may be a little delusional, it’s also therapeutic.
Sharing secrets is daunting, but virtual friends don’t often judge and they are always ready to share a glass of wine…or three…while typing out life’s latest endeavors.
Brooke believes obstacles only add to romance, not detract. Rachael longs for a more intense relationship, or so she thinks. Lizzie misses the excitement in her life, but sometimes new situations find you when you’re not even looking. And Jess believes a tiger can change his stripes. It can’t.
Bound by a shared passion for blogging about happily ever afters, these four young women use keyboard therapy to work through their expectations, anxieties, and inadequacies, all with the hopes of achieving the perfection found in romance novels.
Completely blinded by what they think life should be, they navigate their unique paths in search of what they envision is right. But when reality taunts them with persistent curve balls, will they be strong enough to choose wisely? Or will their happy endings escape them?
A Book About . . . Book Bloggers?
That's right, you heard me correctly, a book about book bloggers! I've been jumping up and down, squealing like a horny school girl with anticipation to share this review with you guys. Books, Blogs, and Reality is more than what it's title is presenting to us. We dive into the story of 4 young women, as they take us on a quick journey through their experiences with life, new love, current relationships, online friendships, and of course, their love for books!
Characters That Represent YOU
I can't think of a novel where I related to more than one character. Maybe one or two at the least, but definitely no more than that. One of the best things about this book was that I was able to truly connect and relate to not one, but ALL of the characters.
Brooke was a young businesswoman who found love in the workplace. We follow her story as she embarks on a fast-pace romance with someone who should be completely off limits especially at work . . . her boss. They mesh so well together, and soon we're rooting for the new couple. I can definitely relate to Brooke's situation! 3 years ago I met my bae in the Outside Lawn & Garden Center of Lowes. I was asked to train him on how to receive trucks and drive the forklifts in our department, and he hasn't left me the hell alone since. Romantic story right lol?
We dive into Rachael's story just as she's ready to add some " spice " into her sex life. She's very much into BDSM, (if you don't know what this means, think of 50 Shades of Grey. * shivers *) and wants her boyfriend Kevin to up his ante and get in on the fun.
I will admit that Rachael definitely has my personality! She's wild, fun, and down-right crazy, but was into a whole nother world, that I dare not enter. As I read through her chapters, she really started to remind me of my close blogger friend Blessie from Mischievous Reads. Both have this fire in their personalities, and absolutely love them some smutty reads aka romance novels.
Next we have Lizzie. She's 24 years old, married to her high school sweetheart, and is extremely unhappy. She feels her husband is being distant. They have little to no conversation, and even less intimacy, causing her to have some self-esteem issues.
I was truly able to connect with Lizzie (not completely). We're both stay at home mothers, with boys around the same age. Reading her perspective really shined a light on what it truly means to be a stay at home mom. The constant cooking, cleaning, etc. It can definitely take a toll on your mind, body, and soul, and even though I'm not entirely going through her situation, it was good to know that I could not only sympathize, but completely understand what she was going through.
Last but certainly not least, we have Jessica. Now, Jess was the character I have the least in common with. She was young minded as all out doors, but weren't we all at that age?!! Okay maybe not, because I know I wasn't lol, but I must say I've made some pretty dumb mistakes back then, so yeah we relate somewhat. Jessica was the youngest of all the characters, and it definitely showed. She had a huge crush on some asshole, missing out on an amazing guy who truly had her best interest at heart.
Struggling to realize her self-worth, she continued to make stupid decisions all to appease her crush. Thank goodness she finally opens her eyes to the bs, but sadly it was a bit too late. She didn't end up with who I thought she would, which completely took me by surprise. Shout out to Ms.Ringbloom for not going the predicable route!
The Complete Package
The author brilliantly wrote a realistic story about what it truly means to be a book blogger, while balancing our regular lives and all the issues we may encounter. She displays how blogging becomes an outlet for us, and how our blogger friends become shoulders to lean on, and ears to fill with secrets. Secrets we may not even share with our close in-real-life-friends. She puts so much thought into these stories, mirroring the exact thoughts of a book blogger. For example, for the first 4 chapters, we are presented with brief bios of all the characters, very reminiscent to what our blog bios look like.
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But that's not all! Throughout the story, there are actual book reviews on books, that are in correlation with the character's story. So basically, each book that was reviewed has some sort of connection to that particular chapter. Cool right?
In conclusion I absolutely adored this book. It was so fun reading the alternating POV's of the very different characters, and their lives outside of the blogging community. It definitely showed how we all can have so much in common with one another, other than our love for books. I encourage every, and I mean every book blogger to read Books, Blogs, and Reality. It's certainly a must!
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