Read and Wright

Yesterday was a LONG day. It was a long weekend, honestly so that’s why posts have been going up late this week. I’m exhausted and trying my hardest to stay healthy and not get sick since this is my favorite month of the year!

I wanted to share some of the favorite books I’ve received as gifts throughout the years. I don’t know if anyone is interested in book gift guides, but I figure it can’t hurt! As I said in my post yesterday, I am happy to receive gift cards to book stores, but I always count the books I pick up with them as the actual gift from that person! 

But there are also times when people know me very well and have gifted me some of the most gorgeous books. Whether they’re physically attractive or filled with a magical world, there’s nothing quite like the gift of reading. 

Illustrated Harry Potter books: A given. I’ve mentioned them in previous gift guides but these are perfect for any HP lover in your life. I would never buy them for myself so I’m so grateful my brother has always gotten them for me! We used to read Harry Potter together before bed.

Hamilton: The Revolution-Another book I’ve mentioned in gift guides. Even if you’re not a musical theatre person, I still highly recommend it! And it looks gorgeous on a shelf.

One Line a Day: A Five Year Journal – I got this as a stocking stuffer 5 years ago I’ll finally finish it this year! Isn’t that crazy?

Stephen Sondheim Finishing the Hat- You probably have to be a musical theatre lover for this one, but it’s still very interesting!

The Bronte Sisters – I got this from a friend last year for my birthday and holy moly is it a big book. Great for any Bronte lover or supporter of female writers. 

Pride and Prejudice – My friend Anna gave this to me for Christmas last year and I loved finally getting to read it! Even more special, she wrote the most beautiful note in it. 

Ella Enchanted – My tenth birthday present from my best friend! My favorite story of all time. 

A Great and Terrible Beauty – Another birthday present from last year from my friend Megan and I loved reading it. Different from my usual taste, so I don’t think I’d have picked it out on my own! 

These are all books I’ve received in the past few years. Most of them are special because the people who gave them to me are special, but also because they offered a new perspective on things too.

What has been your favorite book to give or receive?

I have a lot of books on my list this year, which normally doesn’t happen, but I’ve learned I am not the person that people will buy a gift card for so I like to give a little guidance! 

I always try to make sure my list isn’t crazy. I don’t NEED anything really. I’d love an experience, like tickets to a show or sporting event. Last year I got Nick tickets to a Sabres vs. Rangers came at Madison Square Garden and it was so much fun! 

But books will always make me happy and as Nick and I are getting ready to really make a home together this summer, I’d love to actually have a library! Or the start of one at least 😉 

Becoming by Michelle Obama 

Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon 

Homebody by Joanna Gaines 

Cordially Invited by Zoe Sugg

Cravings by Chrissy Teigen 

A bath caddy 

Harry Potter Cookie Cutters 

Vinyl Records 

Tickets to Mean Girls 

We have so much coming up with our wedding, that I don’t really need to ask for the big things right now. And I don’t need anymore junk. I’m sentimental to a fault, so I already have a lot of STUFF. Gift giving is my love language for others so if there’s interest, I can share what I’ll be giving my friends and family this holiday season. What are you asking for? 

I had such a good week! Can you believe tomorrow is December? I feel like I say that every month, but it’s so true! I thought I was coming down with something Tuesday morning, but it ended up being fine! I worked ahead a lot this week because I want to enjoy the end of the year but also remain devoted to this project I’ve started! We’re having a quiet Friday night in because we have 6am flight to spend some time with my fiancé’s family since we won’t see them over the holidays. 

I spent a lot of time reading this week which was much needed. Sometimes in the evenings it’s easy to fall into a Netflix binge but I spent most night’s reading by my tree. The soft glow of the lights really bring such joy. There’s nothing like Christmas! 

Here’s what I’ve been reading.

Books Finished: Winter in Paradise and Winter Street

Currently: Winter Stroll and Circe

Next up: Winter Storms 

Recommendation: Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

Did you catch the premiere of the movie version of this on Hallmark over Thanksgiving? It was cute. I read it last year and enjoyed it enough. I love a good retelling of a classic, plus Darcy is the female character for once which is a nice twist. It stars Lacey Chabert, who was in Mean Girls. 

It’s probably gonna be a lot of Christmas books for the month of December, but I’m already gearing up for my 2019 reading challenge! 75 books in 365 days, so please I’d LOVE your recommendations! Have a great weekend and check back Monday to see my Christmas list! 

Happy Friday!

Okay, how sick are we of Elin Hilderbrand at this point? I hope not at all cause I have throwback review posts scheduled for the enter Winter Street Series…I mean I just love them! I can’t help it! I probably could, but I love Christmas and I love books about family traditions. I’m a December baby, what can I say? 

I read Winter Street for the first time the day after Christmas in 2014, the year it came out. I had given it to my mom as a stocking stuffer because I knew she loved Elin and she’s also a Christmas freak like me ( I guess that’s where I get it from). It tells the story of The Quinns, a blended and modern family. Kelley, the patriarch, runs The Winter Street Inn on Nantucket with his second wife, Mitzi. He has three children, Patrick, Kevin, and Ava, with his first wife, Margaret, who is the CBS Evening News Anchor. Think a younger, chicer Barbara Walters. Kelley also has one son with Mitzi, Bart. 

Still with me? It’s a tiny book that holds a lot of drama and holiday joy, told over the Christmas holiday from December 23-25, so it’s totally fun and kinda reminds you how long those days can seem. 

Mitzi is distraught because Bart has deployed with the Marines into Afghanistan and when Kelley discovers a secret between her and George the Santa Claus, all hell breaks loose. 

Ava just wants to get engaged, Kevin’s finally in love after getting his heart broken in his first marriage, and Patrick is in trouble with the law, possibly the worst trouble he could be in. 

Margaret comes to the rescue to remind her family they are the resilient Quinns and Christmas is Christmas and that a family, no matter how troubled, will always stand by each other. 

I love this book because all the characters are flawed yet so endearing. It’s a story that is so relatable, I can’t help but pick it up every year. Plus Hilderbrand writes about the island and FOOD with such beauty, you’ll want to book your spot on a ferry right away while drooling over the Quinn’s Christmas dinner. 

Margaret is my favorite character. She’s intelligent, successful, and motivated by love rather than revenge. She has a beautiful relationship with the father of her children that doesn’t include a marriage, but a deep friendship. It’s really wonderful to witness and I think can be a great reminder in 2018 that families are all shapes and sizes and colors. But the thing that every family has in common is love. 

Ugh, I was trying to avoid being so cheesy, but it really is the message I get from the book! It’s definitely not Hallmark Cheesy though, I promise. I saw on Twitter over the weekend that Hallmark actually turned down making it into a movie because it was “too racy.” So if you need another selling point, there you go! It’s juicy. 

I can’t recommend this series enough. And they just get better! But I do love the first one because of its structure, over the day before Christmas Eve through the 25th. It’s just so cozy and real. 

Have a great Thursday! 

Tonight is the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting so that means its officially Christmas in New York! There is nothing like Christmas in the city. I feel so blessed that I actually get to live here. And it’s been a good week for reading! I realized last week I structured this more like a Weekly Wrap Up…let’s blame it on the turkey, okay? Here’s what I’ve been reading. 

Currently: The Winter Street Series 

I’ve talked about this a bunch before. It is my FAVORITE series to read during the holidays. They are books of substance, not a cheesy Hallmark Christmas story. The Quinn family feel like dear friends and picking up this book is like coming home. 

Finished: I finished Winter Street which is the first one Monday night. A full review will be up tomorrow for my Throwback post! 

So I’m currently reading Winter Stroll, which is the second one and I’m listening to Circe by Madeline Miller. I know this was a big book this year, so I’m excited to check it out! I don’t know much about it, it just came with the highest of recommendations from my brother and my high school English teacher. After finishing Seven Days of Us, I think I may be back on the audiobook train…it’s just so convenient and really easy to enjoy “reading” while getting other things done! 

What are you reading this week? I’d love to know if you have any favorite holiday books! I can’t believe December is approaching so soon! 

Sometimes it’s crazy to me how fast a year can go. At this time last year, I was struggling to keep up with my reading challenge. 2017 was a hard year for me emotionally. I was going through some major anxiety issues and it made me put reading to the side. A year later, I finished my reading challenge over a month early and really figured out how to manage my anxiety. 

I read 55 books year. That doesn’t seem like a lot in comparison to some other people I follow on Goodreads, but I’m proud to have done it! And I’m continuing to read as we come to the end of the year, so I’m already at 58 finished. 

Here’s what I read this year. 

I loved 97% of what I read this year. Like LOVED. I big reason why I finished my challenge so early this year was because I read a lot of “can’t put it down” books. I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, discovered Overdrive so I could FINALLY read The Mediator Series ( I loved it), and discovered how important The Hate U Give is. I think that was my favorite book of the year because it was the most important book I read all year.

The book that surprised me the most was The Truth About Happily Ever After. It was such a cute book and since my best friend works for Disney, was fun to see a fictionalized version of the park. 

My least favorite of the year was Stranger than Fanfiction, just because it started out so strong and then just tapered off into being hard to read. Still, I think it’s an important story so I recommend it. 

I wish I could say I finished three series, but it’s only two as I am still waiting for a copy of Rich People Problems from the library. Sigh. But I did love The Mediator Series and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. 

I read so many great memoirs, I would recommend them all! The Hillbilly Elegy, I’ve Got This Round (if you’re going through a break up after a long term relationship, you need to read this!), Educated, Sex and the City and Us,Fierce (another incredibly important one. I love Aly Raisman) and Placed I Stopped on My Way Home. 

The book that disappointment me the most was The Perfect Couple. It just missed the mark for me and Elin Hilderbrand has written such show stoppers before, so this one was just kinda “eh” for me. But Winter in Paradise was a knock out! I loved it. 

It’s kind of crazy to see them all lined out on Goodreads. 55 sounds like a lot, but it certainly doesn’t look like a lot. I think I’m going to raise my goal to 75 for next year. Did you do a reading challenge? 

I’m having a harder time than normal getting back into the swing of things after the holiday! I took a nap…every.day. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was a kid! I guess I really needed it. 

However, I did finish Winter in Paradise over the holiday weekend and after a lack luster start (I fell asleep reading it by the fire…whoops) I was hooked. It was definitely different from any Elin Hilderbrand I’d read, since it takes place on St. John instead of on Nantucket, but I loved it and I can’t wait for the rest of the series to be released. It’s become a really nice holiday tradition for my mom and I to share a copy. She’s a ballet dancer, so she’s always inundated with Nutcracker this time of year. She usually saves it for the day after Christmas! 

Here’s what I loved about this book: it was suspenseful yet had rich, full characters. I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Perfect Couple when it came out this summer. And though I was slightly disappointed this one was as Christmas themed as The Winter Street Series, I fell completely in love with the characters! 

It’s New Years’ Day in Iowa City and Irene hasn’t heard from her husband. Since getting a new job a number of years ago, his travel schedule increased as well as their income. Quickly, we learn that Russell, Irene’s husband, is dead; a helicopter crash off the waters of St. John in the British Virgin Islands. What’s worse? No one will tell Irene what happened. A shroud of mystery surrounds her husband’s death so she and her two sons head down to the Caribbean to get some answers. 

I loved Cash and Baker, Irene’s two sons. They both have a lot going on in their own lives (divorce, bankruptcy, general sense of feeling unfulfilled) and prove that a sibling rivalry is not something you simply grow out of. I also loved Ayers, she was a great relatable character. 

I don’t want to share too many spoilers, but I think this is one of Hilderbrand’s best. It is rich, well thought out, and has a distinct clear voice. The Rumor is another of my favorites of hers and I would say that this is in the running to be on par with that. Since Hilderbrand generally writes in the voice of multiple characters, some can feel like they get lost. That is not the case in Winter in Paradise! 

This is a 5/5 stars for me and comes with the highest recommendation!

I’m a HUGE fan of Elin Hilderbrand. Have you read any of her books? Let me know down below! 

Happy Black Friday! Are you going shopping today? We don’t really do anything crazy but we will go out a little later. I’m also hoping to take advantage of the online sales!

Books Finished: Seven Days of Us and My Squirrel Days

Like I said on Monday, I ended up thoroughly enjoying this little book. I listened to it through Overdrive and I think I would have started enjoying it more if I had read a physical copy or even an ebook, but I am still very happy to have read it! 

It takes place during the Christmas week at a family’s estate in English countryside. Honestly, I first picked up this book because there was a character named Phoebe. That doesn’t happen a lot! Phoebe and Olivia are sisters but couldn’t be more opposite. Olivia, a doctor, has been treating children with life threatening diseases in Liberia for the last year. Phoebe has been building a social media business and getting engaged to her long time boyfriend, George. 

When Olivia is exposed to disease, she is sent home and into quarantine with her family for the Christmas holiday. What ensues is quite possibly biblical. A long lost love child brother, a run away fiancé, emergency hospital stays, and other familial drama. 

If you can get your hands on a hard copy or e-book, do it! I did not like the narration in this version. It kind of made it hard to listen to. But I’ll give it 3.5/5 stars! 

My Squirrel Days Mini Review

Any The Office or The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fans out there? I also listened to this book this week and loved it! I want to do a full review of it, since memoir is possibly my favorite genre. But this was a thoroughly enjoyable listen! Ellie Kemper reads the audiobook and it’s hilarious. I loved the stories she chose to share and it was great getting to know her better. I LOVE The Office (I watched it for the first time in fall 2017) so I knew her from Bridesmaids and Kimmy Schmidt first.

Currently: Winter in Paradise

Next Up: Winter Street 

Weekend Goal: Finish Winter in Paradise

Weekend Plans: Stay warm! It is so cold in the NYC area. My fiancé and I want to go see the Rockefeller tree but I just don’t know if were gonna be able to do it! It won’t be lit yet, but it’s still so fun to see! I feel so lucky to live in New York this time of year, especially since people dream of seeing the city at Christmas. 

Recommendation: Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

I read this last Christmas season and it’s being made into a Hallmark movie that premieres tonight! 

I hope you all enjoy your turkey coma if you celebrated yesterday! Check back in throughout the day with Black Friday deals. 

This has been an incredible year is so many ways but also horrible in others. It’s kind of crazy to think about all that has happened, but we do have so much to be thankful for: my mom’s health, our engagement, my brother’s engagement (it’s gonna be a fun wedding season!) and so much more. So this Thanksgiving, I want to focus on the positives and not the negatives. Everything happens for a reason I know there is a lot more happiness and success coming our way. 

I started this little community because I needed a creative outlet that wasn’t my job. Being a working actor in NYC can get exhausting, especially when things aren’t working out or you are feeling creatively drained. I am so thankful for my little corner of the internet. It’s been my little escape throughout the early mornings and late nights to connect with other readers.

In the spirit of thankfulness, I wanted to share a few books I am incredibly thankful for. 

Books I’m Thankful For

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

I was eight when I read this book for the first time and I will always credit it with introducing to me to the magic of reading. I was enthralled with it and I still am to this day. I think 2019 is going to start with a reread of all them!

Ella Enchanted 

I think I read this book for the first time when I was 9 or 10 and I’ve reread it almost every year since. My copy has yellowed and stiffened but it holds such wonderful memories. I think my favorite part about it is that it never tried to “dumb down” the feelings of a young woman. Everything was treated with respect and dignity. It taught me about love, partnership, and determination. 

Small Great Things

I’ve spoken about how life changing this book was for me. After the 2016 election, I sat crying and wondering, “How? How did we get here?” Reading this book opened my eyes to my white privilege in ways I hadn’t considered before. I think everyone should it read and follow it with the next book.

The Hate U Give 

You can read my full review of The Hate U Give here and also see my immediate raw reactions on one of the saved stories of my instagram. I’m so incredibly grateful that this book exists. 

The Catcher in the Rye

This is definitely a classic, but it is also my namesake! I’m named for Phoebe in The Catcher in the Rye. 

What are you thankful for this year? Wishing you and yours the happiest, warmest, safest holiday from me and mine.

Good morning from my parents’ house in Connecticut! It.is.so.cold. I honestly can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s been this cold for Thanksgiving in years! This post is going up a little later cause I actually slept in this morning and boy, did it feel good. I think I’m going to have to start scheduling my posts to go live at a certain time. Everything is pre-written 98% of the time, I’m just untrustworthy of technology, ha! 

Books Finished: Seven Days of Us

I actually ended up really enjoying this book. I wish I’d had the option of a physical copy or at least an e-book, but the story was worth plowing through the audio version. I finished in Saturday while I put up my Christmas tree and it was the perfect companion for decorating. A full review will. Be up during my Weekly Wrap Up on Friday! 

Currently: My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper and Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

There are two highly anticipated reads for me! Any of The Office fans out there? I never knew Ellie Kemper got her start there, since I watched The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt first but I think The Office is now my favorite show of all time. She reads the audiobook which is fun. I also started Winter in Paradise in the bath last night and ahhhh I am so excited to really dive into it (I was interrupted by a group Facetime with my two best friends, so worth it I think!). 

Up Next: Rereading The Winter Street Series by Elin Hilderbrand. This is my favorite non fantasy series of all time. It’s Hilderbrand’s best set of characters in my opinion and nothing makes me feel more festive!

New Releases: George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood came out this week! I actually haven’t read any of the Game of Thrones books, but I love the show! Are they worth the read? I’ve heard they can be tough to get through. But my dad has read them all and loved them! 

Weekend Goal: Finish Winter in Paradise so I can leave it at home for my mom to read! We both love her so much! 

Weekend Plans: I’m going to post a little more about our Thanksgiving tradition tomorrow, but on Friday my mom and I always do a little shopping. We don’t do anything crazy and usually tend to stick to local stores in our hometown! But since Nick started spending the holiday with us four years ago, he has taken to being our chauffeur that day so we don’t have to worry about parking the car. And he always brings treats between every stop! 

Black Friday deals: If you have the Membership at Barnes and Noble there is currently a 20% off a single item coupon out! And the whole store is mostly 20-50% starting today! 

Do you do Black Friday shopping? I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s gift guide! I’ll be posting more as we approach Christmas!