comedy – Book Dust Magic

Movie Monday: Me Time #MovieMonday #MeTime #Comedy

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

Today I want to talk about a comedy I watched two days ago. Me Time was so fun and I want to share my opinion and spread a word, so you can give it a go too.

Me Time

I am happy to announce that we have Netflix back again in our household and Me Time was the first movie my husband and I watched. We happened to play it two days in a row because the first day we were both too tired so giving it another shot the next day was a good move because we both liked it very much.

This was a perfect comedy to relax with, with great cast of characters and actors who played them. Some scenes were hilarious and I still laugh about them today.

My sister paid me a visit today and we ended up talking about Me Time as she watched it too and she and her husband also loved it. So when I do the math, it’s four of us who agree the movie is worth of checking.

I don’t have much more to say about it except that the music was also good. I mean, even Seal acted himself in a few scenes.

Overall, if you’re looking for a comedy to chill with, look no further: Me Time will give you an awesome me time (or time with a company, whichever you prefer better).

Movie Monday: The Hating Game #MovieMonday #RomCom #Comedy

Recently I watched a movie I was so thrilled with and I decided to write about it here on Book Dust Magic. What I was so surprised with was the realisation that Movie Monday, a feature here on my blog, was posted for the last time more than 2 years ago.

I know I didn’t have time to enjoy films after I gave birth, but I still can’t believe I just let go on this feature that I loved so much.

However, the good thing is I have more time to watch movies (which means I am lucky if I see one movie per week), so Movie Monday is officially back.
Every Monday, from now on, I will bring you my thoughts of movies and sometimes series/shows that I watch.

Today I want to talk about movie adaptation for one of my favourite books: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.

The Hating Game

Two years ago my life changed completely and it feels like for that time I have been hiding under a rock, when it comes to movies, tv shows and entertainment in general. It isn’t something I thought would happen and it seems like every day of my new life I am wishful for the way it used to be, for more free time just to absorb stories and enjoy myself time in front of tv (or computer).

I love movies, and I missed so much watching them. However, the good news is, life got little bit easier as my son isn’t an infant anymore, and we also changed our internet provider so we can again stream movies and tv shows without problem.

It is little embarrassing to say how I didn’t even know there would be The Hating Game movie until I saw reviews popping up on YouTube.

As the novel is one of my all time favourites (you can read my review HERE), I was more than happy to give it a go, and I am even more happy to announce that I really, really liked it!

This rom-com was everything I wanted and more, featuring beautiful Lucy Hale who portrayed Lucy so well. The actor Austin Stowell did also a very good job.

Because it has been five years since I read The Hating Game (I should really reread it at some point) I forgot so many little details from the story, so watching a movie felt like visiting a comfortable place, but not knowing what waits there exactly.
I am glad it turned out that way because usually, if I watch a movie when the book is too fresh in my mind, I end up comparing the two too much and my enjoyment is spoiled (this is why I choose movie before the book most of the time).

The movie was funny, relaxing, entertaining and I recommend it to everyone who likes to watch romantic comedies.

Sweet, fun and foody: A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee (book review) @STMRomance #BookLovers #Romance

a sweet mess by jayci lee book cover us edition

GIFTED / Today I am so happy to bring you my review for the first book in the series I fell in love with. A Sweet Mess came out long ago (actually, it was last year, but when you are a reviewer who should review books prior their release, a year is like a decade), and although I do feel sorry for being late when it comes to reviewing it, I am also glad I waited (even though I can’t call it a choice) because I could read the sequel right away.

A Sweet Mess came out on July 14th 2020 and it has 306 pages. I want to thank St. Martin Griffin and Netgalley for my copy.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Bake a chance on love.

Aubrey Choi loves living in her small town nestled in the foothills of California, running her highly successful bakery away from the watch of her strict Korean parents. When a cake mix-up and a harsh review threaten all of her hard work and her livelihood, she never thought the jaded food critic would turn out to be her one-night stand. And she sure as hell never thought she’d see her gorgeous Korean unicorn again. But when Landon Kim waltzes into her bakery trying to clean up the mess he had a huge hand in making, Aubrey is torn between throwing and hearing him out.

When she hears his plan to help save her business, Aubrey knows that spending three weeks in California wine country working with Landon is a sure recipe for disaster. Her head is telling her to take the chance to save her bakery while her heart—and her hormones—are at war on whether to give him a second chance. And it just so happens that Landon’s meddling friends want them to spend those three weeks as close as possible…by sharing a villa.

When things start heating up, both in and out of the kitchen, Aubrey will have to make a choice—to stick it out or risk her heart.

Review:

I think it’s a good thing to go into books with low expectations, because then you might end up really liking it.

Let me tell you a story about my reading experience with A Sweet Mess.
Months and months ago, I saw it on Netgalley as READ NOW. Then life got in a way and blablabla, and I picked it up a year after it’s release (feel free to judge me, I don’t mind) when the reviews were already out there, and many of them weren’t so generous.
I picked up the book with low expectations, thinking I would be bored most of the time, and boom, I was having an awesome time, fell in love with the writing style (especially with dialogues between characters which I found meaningful and deep at times, but more often just entertaining) and I got attached to characters whom stories made me understand where they came from.

This is a romance in which characters get together and then separate because if conflicts and miss communication (or lack of it to be fair) so I do understand why it wouldn’t be appealing to a part of romance audience. To me, it was done right and I enjoyed following their journey to each other.

There were some smut scenes but they weren’t too explicit. However, I wouldn’t recommend this to minors.

Right after finishing A Sweet Mess I went into The Dating Dare, and guess what: I loved that one even more!
I guess Jayci Lee should find her spot on my list of authors who’s work I am eagerly anticipating.

Hate to love in costumes: Well Met by Jen DeLuca (Book Review) @PRHGlobal #partner #WellMet #Comedy #Romance

GIFTED / Today I bring you my review for the romance novel that became pretty popular after it was released. This comedy was published by Berkley Publishing Group on September 3rd 2019 and it has 336 pages.
I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / All’s faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author, Jen DeLuca.

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon’s family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn’t have time for Emily’s lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she’s in her revealing wench’s costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they’re portraying?

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can’t seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon, or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

Review:

Well Met was pretty popular even before it came out. Booktubers talked about, had showcased their proof copies they were very lucky to get, many of my Goodreads friends also read it, and everyone seemed to love it.

“The best romance comedy of 2019, new hate to love story you will fall in love with” is what they said.
And how it affected me? I expected just that, but in the end I didn’t fall into the wagon of people who loved it oh so much.

To me, it was funny and entertaining book, but nothing more then that.

Maybe it was the Renaissance Faire setting the thing, because we don’t have them where I live, and I found everything about it in this story a bit silly.
I couldn’t understand how characters were taking it so seriously and how big of the deal it was for their town, but I also could not get my head around how everyone was doing all this work for free.
But if I’m being fair, that speaks more about me then about them. I guess they are better people then I am.

The main character Emily was good narrator, but I couldn’t like her as much as I wanted to.
From my perspective, she looked down on so many other characters that it turned me off from appreciating her, and that is where my disconnection from the story began.

I also thought that the love interest, Simon, was ungrateful, so he wasn’t in my “characters I like” circle either.
I mean, all these people were volunteering to make his event happening, and at times he acted like a mean CEO towards them.

I also didn’t get all that love/hate situation, because I didn’t understand why our main characters hated each other in the first place.
It was like they were fighting just for the sake of fighting.

One more thing: characters they were playing at the faire acted so disconnected from their real personalities, that I just couldn’t buy it.

So now when I told you everything I wasn’t a fan of, let me tell you that despite it Well Met was one really entertaining and funny novel and I do see why many people like it.
The writing style was simple and the book can easily be read in one day.

As for me, I read it in 5 days because I picked it up during my reading slump, so maybe that is also why I didn’t love it as much as others did.

However, I don’t regret reading it and I would recommend it to readers who are looking for their next fast paced comedy. I would just warn them not to take it seriously.

Movie Monday: A Christmas Detour – Sweet,festive daytime movie #Christmas #MovieReview #Monday #Festive

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

Today I want to talk about a Christmas movie I’ve watched yesterday on tv. I enjoyed it and thought it would be a good idea to put some spotlight on this title.

A Christmas Detour

I did not plan to post Movie Monday feature today, because I haven’t watched any movie I wanted to talk about, but then yesterday I stumbled on one festive daytime movie that was showing on our local tv station, and I happened to like it and wanted to put some spotlight on this movie.

Since it is a picture from 2015, and it is a tv movie, I believe it’s available on most streaming services. You’ll have to forgive me, but I didn’t do a research for that.

While I was watching A Christmas Detour I had a feeling I was watching a Hallmark movie, but according to IMDb, it’s from another production.

However, if you enjoy Lifetime and Hallmark movies, you will love this one too.

The story follows four strangers who end up stuck together because of the storm. They all wanted to be in New York for Christmas but their airplane got cancelled and they ended up in a whole another country, snowed in.
As they get to know each other they also discover their own secret wishes they didn’t even know they had.

I liked the festive vibe through the whole movie. It was my favourite part.
Also, the characters were really likeable and I enjoyed watching them on their adventure.
And in the end, as a cherry on top, the love story was cute and just done right.

If you’ll have a chance to watch A Christmas Detour this season, I highly recommend you to do so!

Movie Monday: The Hustle – Oh so funny! #HustleMovie #MovieMonday #MovieReview #Comedy

Movie Monday is a feature here on my blog, in which I’m rambling about movies I’ve watched lately.

Today I want to talk about a comedy I watched this weekend, that was recommended to me by my frined.

The Hustle

I remember when The Hustle was in teathers and I was interested in it, but missed it because there was some other movie I decided to watch instead (don’t quote me on that, but I think it was Annabelle Comes Home).

This movie was recommended to me by my friend Monika who really enjoyed it, so I knew I’d see it at some point.

I love good comedy from time to time. It is actually my second favourite genre when it comes to movies (horrors being no 1).

The Hustle was really funny and enjoyable. I laughed at so many scenes while watching and there was one particular trick main characters used to escape that I haven’t seen before, and I thought it was so original! It still makes me smile when I think about it!

The main actresses were amazing, as it was expected from two established women in this industry.
Anne Hathaway looked so beautiful to me, I just have to mention it.

I like how the movie was not too long (1h and 33 min according to IMDb). I feel like these days most movies are at least 2 hours long, so everytime there’s a shorter one, I appreciate it.

Overall, I think The Hustle was an interesting and funny movie to watch which fulfilled it’s purpose, and that was to entertain the audience.

Books I read in October (Monthly Reading Wrap Up) #BookBloggers #BookLovers #Reading #October

Hi Guys,

October was not the best month for me reading wise. The reading and reviewing slumps got me and I managed to finish only 6 books.
It wouldn’t be that bad if I didn’t have all the time in the world to actually read, but it is what it is now. I guess my brain just needed some time off from reading and to focus on other things.

Since then my reading slump has passed and I hope to read 10+ books in November.
This is the last month I’ll be focusing mostly on my Netgalley eARCs because in December I want to read all the books I didn’t get into this year, and of course, my festive novels.

You can expect the reviews for the books I’ve read in the next couple of weeks.

Here are the books I read in October:

Favourite book of the month:

That is it!

Tell me how many books have your read in October?
What was your favourite one?

Feel free to leave links to your wrap ups, so I can visit you.

Books, love and new-discovered family: The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman (Book Review) @PRHGlobal #partner #BookLovers

GIFTED / Today I decided to talk about one book that I read recently, that was, in my opinion, written for book lovers all over the world. It is a comedy about girl who is a true lover of books, and who discovers she has a big family she didn’t know about, and her struggles to bond with the guy she likes.
I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).
The book was released on July 9th 2019 by Berkley Publishing Group, and it has 352 pages.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.

When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They’re all—or mostly all—excited to meet her! She’ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It’s a disaster! And as if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn’t he realize what a terrible idea that is?

Nina considers her options.

1. Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)
2. Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee).
3. Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Already doing it.)

It’s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page.

Review:

I feel like The Bookish Life of Nina Hill took the bookish community by the storm, and it looks like with time it’s getting more and more fans.
I completely understand why’s that: it has the main character Nina who is completely in love with books so it makes her relatable to so many book lovers all over the world.
With her geekiness and particular sense of humour it’s no wonder she got under the skin of so many readers.

So when it comes to objective side of me, as I already stated, I understand why this book is so big (and trust me when I say, I wish it becomes only bigger with time, and I hope it will be translated to many languages so people all over the world could read about Nina).
However, when it comes to subjective side of me, I have to admit that I did not click with Nina’s sense of humour, didn’t understand reasons behind her behaviour at time, and I also am not a fan of pub quizzes so therefore this novel wasn’t my favourite.

What immediately won me, when it comes to the story, is it’s interesting narration. It was the highlight of the book.
It reminds me of old movies and I could hear the narrator’s voice in my head while I was reading, imagining it’s movie adaptation.
I think this book should have it’s adaptation one day, and I bet the movie will be better then the book itself (yes, I know how rare that happens, but sometimes it does).

I liked the family aspect of the story the best. I enjoyed reading about Nina’s new family and how she got to know everyone, her ups and downs when it comes to certain family members and overall how she found her place in this new to her world.

Of course, everything book related was a pleasure to read, as one would assume would be to a hardcore book lover.

However, as I already stated, I didn’t click with Nina nor did I care about pub quizzes and that (big) aspect of her life, which made me like this book less.
I understand it is 100% “It’s not you, it’s me” case here, but it is what it is.
I also didn’t swoon over her love interest (who’s name I already forgot even though I finished this book recently, which speaks for itself (and also tells you that my memory suck)).

Overall, this book was enjoyable ride that I would recommend to book lovers and readers who like to read about geeky characters.

The one for hopeless romantics: The Summer of Chasing Dreams by Holly Martin (Blog Tour) #BookReview #BlogTour #Romance #TheSummerOfChasingDreams

Today I am proud to be the host in The Summer of Chasing Dreams blog tour.
I want to say thank you to Holly Martin for inviting me.
I enjoyed reading Eva’s story and now I’m ready to tell you all about it.

About the book:

Eva is quite content with her life in London. In her job as a cover designer, she works at home, and often in her cosy pyjamas. She’s happy to stay in her safe little world and not explore much outside of it.

She is the opposite of her mum, a free spirit who craved finding adventure and thrills in all corners of the world. But on the day her mum’s will is finalised, Eva finds a list of all the dreams her mum wanted to achieve in her life. Things she never did because she fell pregnant with Eva.

Eva decides these dreams will not go unfulfilled — she is going to be brave and complete them for her mum. As Eva has no experience travelling the world, she hires a guide to go with her on this holiday.

Gorgeous but rude Thor Anderson is not the person she would choose to accompany her on this journey, but somehow she gets stuck with him. As they discover the world together Eva starts to think he might not be as bad as she first thought. She is swept away by Thor’s kindness and mischievous sense of humour. But will it be a simple holiday romance or could this wonderful adventure lead to so much more?

My Review:

Holly Martin is one author I always like to support. Her books are always uplifting, perfect to made a stormy day brighter, or sunny day even more shiny. In other words, they radiate happiness, and The Summer of Chasing Dreams was no exception.

The story follows Eva Blue (who’s name reminds me of Beyonce’s daughter) who, after her mother’s death, goes on an adventure to chase dreams her mother never had an opportunity to experience.
Her company is a tourist guide called Thor (and yes, that is his real name).
They go on that adventure alone, because Eva paid for the private tour, and the more countries they visit, the stronger their connection is.

I was never the one to enjoy road trip books, so the main reason why I decided to read this book is the author.
I would probably never pick it up based on synopsis.
However, now I am glad I did, because I really enjoyed it.

I love the way the connection was built between our main characters. I, as a reader, could sense it immediately, but it took some time until Eva and Thor recognized it too.
They tried to resist it at first, but with time, it was impossible for them.

The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was how Thor was an unrealistic character. I don’t think any kind of man would talk about his feelings so openly from the very beginning and I don’t know… He just seemed like a character girls dream about, but I don’t think there are those kind of men in the real world.
Everything about him and his behaviour was… Like he was pulled from someone’s imagination (and in reality, he was: from Holly Martin’s imagination).
Most women will probably like him for that, but I had to say how I feel…

The writing style was great. Easy to read and enjoyable.
The story is written in third person, and it mostly follows Eva’s POV, with some small parts with Thor’s POV.

The end was predictable (as it usually is in romantic comedies) but I wouldn’t change anything about it.

I would recommend The Summer of Chasing Dreams to everyone who likes to read romantic stories, but also to those who enjoy reading about adventures around the world.

Follow the tour:

Book Review: A Year of Being Single by Fiona Collins #BookReview #WomensFiction #AYearOfBeingSingle

Title: A Year of Being Single

Author: Fiona Collins

Publisher: HQ digital, Carina

Date: April 21st, 2016

Pages: 260

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Review:

This year I made a decision to clear out my Netgalley shelf, so there are lots of backlists reviews coming your way, so be prepared!

A Year of Being Single is the one title I had on my tbr for the longest time, and there are really no excuses why I haven’t picked it up before. I could bore you with me whining how I didn’t have time to read all the titles I wanted to, how I was in a reviewing slump that lasted for almost a and all that jazz, but I won’t.
The one important thing is, I am reviewing it now, so I’ll just say “Better late then never”.

My expectations for A Year of Being Single weren’t too high to begin with, but I did expect it to be better then it was.

The story follows three friends, Imogen, Frankie and Grace who all decide to spend a year as single ladies. This sounds like a good premise for fun, right?
Well, the story itself wasn’t fun at all.
I am not sure if the sense of humour in this book was very different for my own, so I didn’t laugh at all while reading, or is it the fact that this book actually wasn’t funny.
I know there are so many books out there that are masterpieces and they don’t have any jokes in them, aren’t funny at all, but if you promise me a laugh-out-loud story in your premise, then I expect to smile at least once!

Also, I expected that A Year of Being Single would be a novel about friendship and relationships friends have with each other, but what we really got in this book were three different stories to follow, about three women who decided to be single, but are kind of desperate about it.

I didn’t like how they lied to each other about men they were hanging out with. I mean, if you’re singe, you can still mingle!
It’s like these characters “decided” to do a year of celibate, not of being single. I mean, you don’t have to whore yourself while being single, but we all know that being single does not mean not even talking to guys or having some fun while building relationship with yourself.

What I also didn’t click with is how these women had a need to change guys.
It is very different from my point of view on relationships. I believe that you have to find yourself a person you like, to be with him/her, and not someone you would like if only this/that was different about them.
People are not projects, and there is a reason why there are so many of us. If you constantly have to change people around you, ask yourself whether the one who needs to change is you!

The story is written in third person, following perspectives of Grace, Frankie and Imogen.

Out of all of them, I liked Frankie’s story the best, even though I still don’t understand how could she just leave her four children because she had enough.
I still wonder if I misunderstood that part!

Overall, this was a quick read and I would still recommend it to women’s fiction lovers.