This book is a retelling of the movie You've Got Mail, which is also a retelling of The Shop Around the Corner and Parfumerie . It's the first Jenn Bennett book I've read (although I received one of her books in a book subscription) and I bought it at a bookstore because the cover is cute.

Overall, I thought it was cute and light. I have it rated 4 stars although there were some things that annoyed me (the same things that annoyed Emma actually). 

I picked this up on a whim when I was in Dublin. It was a new, signed release and I had either missed a signing event or signed books had been delivered but I love a more personalized book. They were located prominently in Dubray (a book chain) on Grafton Street and I picked it up to flip through while I had tea and watched people shopping from the upper floor. I was hooked by the introduction and bought it to make the journey back across the pond.

Even though I don’t have a tangible connection to Ireland (no grandparents from Cork or Co. Donegal, etc.) I find myself following their politics quite a bit. This is because of Brexit. Brexit is stupid, of course, but Theresa May or whatever Tory figurehead that will replace her (Prime Minister of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and assorted territories) and the Tory party are staying the course. This bit of cretinism affects other countries, most specifically the border between Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland. You know, the two places that were fighting up until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998/1999.
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It probably won’t come to anything bad…but there’s a chance the border (which you can easily go across if you have a hankering to visit the whole island) will become a pain in the ass. 

Watching strange British politicians act like it’s no biggie is strangely warped.

Both of these books were ARC from NetGalley. I've been a slow reader with all these books because sometimes the format is not ready for commercial use yet.

A Few Right Thinking Men is a fictional book, set in Australia in the 1930s. It's by Sulari Gentill and is the first of her Rowland Sinclair series. The Last Stone is a true-crime book about a cold case investigation that was solved. ​

Yup, that's right. Two months that are not consecutive. That's what I'm doing. 

I'm the middle of a re-read because I finally received the last two books in this trilogy. I think I like them. They're high fantasy and interesting. The covers though...I kinda adore them more for the covers. ​

I have a box! It's the Spring PopSugar box. They've gone seasonal which is okay (I loved the monthly boxes) and I think the 'theme' was self-care. The box has gone more eco-friendly. It used to be the black box inside a standard shipping box but they switched up so the black box is the only box. Each quarter box costs $75 (plus shipping). I also kept everything in this box as it was more practical or even my style. PopSugar has a page about the unboxing, with better pictures than what I have. 

I am always down for modern adaptions and different interpretations of the classics, especially if they use transmediation. Movies like "10 Things I Hate About You" (The Taming of the Shrew) down to a modern vlog of the "Lizzie Bennet Diaries" (Pride and Prejudice).

This version takes a sideways step into graphic novels/manga in order to tell the story. The words are straight Shakespeare but the illustrations and layout move the story along like a visual play would. I'm sure there are people who prefer the original in all things but I think this would overlook the fact that things like this offer a gateway into intimidating literature.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's comedies and was probably written in 1598 or 1599. The option below does cut some of the play to work into the graphic format, but it's not super obvious to me. ​

Uppercase is a YA book subscription box that comes with a newly released, signed book, an interactive bookmark (sometimes with author interviews or forum like questions on topics from the books) and then extra goodies that are fairly high quality for a sub box.

I have the "Expert Plan" ($23 USD + shipping) which is the same as the "Book Plan" ($13.99 USD + shipping) except it includes the bookish items and access to the shop. I've had Uppercase for a long time (two or three years now?) and I really like it. To be frank, 90% of my YA books have come from Uppercase. ​

I think my book slump is over. I was struggling for awhile so I decided to re-read an Anne Stuart book as she's one of my favorite authors. I was hoping for a jump start and it worked because I read two books that have been sitting on my kindle for a month! 

Also, I got to hear the fabulous Maeve Higgins on NPR and about died from her quips on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Apparently urinal is pronounced differently in other parts of the world and now I know. ​

Mishibox is a long running box for me. It's a Korean skin care box based in the USA (I think they're on the Eastern Coast?). They also have an online website and store so if you really love something...you can easily purchase it. 

They tend to put items in my box that I can't easily find in Sephora/Ulta/Nordies/Macys etc. but their selection is more curated than say, Jolse. They also tend to be more level headed with pricing (some k-beauty shops have a high markup). 

I love the ritual of the multi-step methods but I'm not a dermatologist (just a skin-care junkie) but my dermatologist is fine with my fanaticism as it keeps me out of the sun without proper sunscreen. 

I'm going to go ahead and note that I don't get any kickback from this, all these links should go directly to the page without any other tracking links (like affiliate links). I buy this box with my own money because I like it. So, if that matters to anyone, all the links should be pretty straightforward. 

I read this book as part of a now-defunct book club. Book clubs never last long when I join, I might be bad luck. 

To be fair...I was one of two people who had actually read the book so perhaps that was some of the issue. 

I picked this book up at the same table with the Marie Kondo books and the books on Danish hyggie-ness. I suppose it was kinda self-improvement station. I'm not sure it was written with my age range in mind but I liked a lot of the simple truths that Magnusson brings to the table. 

I bought this book myself because I actually like Northanger Abbey more than any other Jane Austen works. Don't tell...

Val McDermid's version of Northanger Abbey is part of the Austen Project, a re-imagining of Jane Austen's work. They have four books out at the moment, I've read this one and Eligible, the Pride and Prejudice reworking. I enjoyed this one more than Eligible but it was because I couldn't get into Curtis Sittenfeld's writing although I did enjoy her taking Pride and Prejudice to Cincinnati. 

I was also excited to read something by McDermid, a Scottish crime/mystery writer who's written a book series I've enjoyed that features Dr. Tony Hill.    ​

I picked this book up on a whim and I am surprised by how much I actually  enjoyed it. I've also learned how to properly say "hygge."  I've been pronouncing it "higg-ee" which is incorrect, it is actually pronounced "hoo-ga." ​