'Worth the Trouble' by Jamie Beck, a Book Review

Everything's okay. That's the summary of my reaction to this romance novel. Two good-looking, decent people struggle with their mutual attraction, have sex that is enjoyable without being explicit and eventually find a good middle ground with a happy ending. It's okay.

Thoughts

1. I cannot think of anything to write for a joking article titled, "How to Prove to Coworkers That You Are, In Fact, Not a Cat". I haven't yet been able to turn out something like this.

2. Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I've watched the now-defunct show "Magic City" because of him. Love him. And I want Steven Strait. That said, the show, which unfortunately was cancelled in 2013, was just pretty good. It contains things I find compelling, but...it was sometimes as if I was drawn up to a front row seat and left...disappointed, shifting in my chair, reaching for my phone. To help alleviate my guilt about saying that, I have to mention that Danny Huston was awesome, playing a self-centered murderer for whom torture came as naturally and mundanely as blinking, with more screen time, and possibly more darkness, than the Axe Man he played on "American Horror Story". Also, Jessica Marais was both a survivor with an ugly past and a ridiculously attractive manipulator who broke a young man's heart. Elena Satine was magnetic as a self-respecting working woman and embodiment of female sexual empowerment, and Olga Kurylenko, played one of my favorites - a well-meaning, talented, bighearted stepmother in love with her husband. That said, yeah, I'm sorry, but it was mediocre.

3. Saw the movie Steel Magnolias for the first time recently and liked it more than I expected to. After all, it ends with the Easter Bunny riding on a motorcycle.

Stacey Ballis' Writing

I'm having thoughts about a novel I read, Off the Menu.

I Just Watched "Stoker"

I recently watched Stoker for the first time.

I was excited about the 2013 film as soon as I saw the cover. I mean, the colors, the tree branches around the title, the font, and the main character, India's odd expression...Also, the cover stated that the film had been directed by Park Chan-wook, the director of Oldboy. This was such good news that I was excited to see it!
So I had a movie night with my roommate and felt permanently changed by a flick they said depicted how "Everybody's crazy"...at least on screen.

'The Hook Up', a Book Review

I've been having a summer fling with literary works and it's time to have something online to show for it!

I recently read The Hook-Up by Kristen Callihan for the second or third time since buying it in July.

‘Friends Without Benefits’, a Book Review

               This is my fourth Penny Reid novel, and I appreciate how she adds depth to story lines and to main characters. Her books do not settle for having either of those key story elements be dumb and two-dimensional.

                                                         

'Thirty-Two Going on Spinster', a Book Review

I’ve recently finished reading the novel Thirty-Two Going on Spinster, about a thirty-something self-proclaimed “spinster” named Julie who keeps living in the apartment in her parents’ basement for ten years after college graduation, working the same corporate assistant job she doesn’t like, reworking mathematical formulas and gossiping on the smokers’ balcony with her work friend Brown.