Drabble Geeks

Geeks…Being Total Geeks.

Tag: romance

The Circus Life is Not For Me

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I tried my hand at another book centered around the circus. I thought it would be decent, seeing as there was a movie made based on the book. I thought it would be a cutesy romance, because that was what I saw in the movie trailers. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was an experience that will be hard to replicate.

This books shows what is portrayed by the author as a true experience behind the circus in the 30s, I think. (I don’t remember if we were given an actual date.) It’s not the glitz and glam that is often portrayed in stories, although there is a nostalgic factor coming from the protagonist flowing throughout. From many of the characters, the circus is truly a horrifying experience, but it’s the only thing that they have. The romance sprinkled throughout is the only light at the end of the tunnel. But that’s what I think makes it more satisfying in the end. I was honestly cheering at the end.

This book is more on the mature side that I was expecting. There is lots of offensive language, some explicit sexual content, and animal abuse (hey, it’s the circus). Do take care while reading. And then please tell me who is your favorite character and why it is Rosie.

A Romantic Cop Drama?

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I’ll admit, I may have a problem with constantly reading Nicholas Sparks novels. I found two I loved to death, to the point where the covers are falling off. Now, I’m treating his books like Pokémon, and I need to read them all, for better and worse. This book, A Bend in the Road, falls squarely in the middle. Reading the description, I was expecting an adorable romance about two people from previously failed relationships, for very different reasons, coming together and finding love again. That was true for the first half of the novel. The second half was a terribly written cop drama that made no sense.

The second half of the book was a beautiful description of police brutality when of course, the only recourse for the protagonists’ actions was suspension with pay. Other things could have been happening, but I was just so mad. A message to Sparks:

Stop writing cops! You are terrible at it! Just because you made the cop the main protagonist doesn’t mean we will forgive his insane actions!

And by trying to make us forgive him, he did try by having our cop protagonists do a cute flashback to when the book was a romance novel. I one hundred percent support just stopping and the middle and pretending that the ending didn’t happen; you will be much happier that way.

This is Romance? Pt 2

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After reading The Wedding, my faith in Nicholas Sparks as a writer has been renewed. This time, instead of trying to believe that relationship can take place within the span of a day, we are taken through the last year of what should be a dying relationship. This time, there is something worth fighting for.

As I mentioned last time, romance without some conflict is boring. This is sequel our conflict is time itself and people getting comfortable with how the relationship has been for the last however many years. Yes, the relationship from the previous book is brought to the forefront several times. Still, this rendition is a lot more realistic, letting the readers know it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as we were led to believe previously. There will be fights and disagreements, but love is hard work, and it’s best to always remember that.

This is Romance? Pt 1

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I’m a sucker for romance. That being said, I have some standards. Such standards include having some kind of conflict, whether an external force causing friction in the relationship or some internal conflict of not feeling good enough. That being said, The Notebook is the worst romance novel I have ever read.

For years, I was told that The Notebook was the most romantic movie ever made. In my thinking, the book should be better. It wasn’t. Now, I have adored other books by Nicholas Sparks, such as Safe Haven and The Lucky One. There was just literally nothing going on in this book. Our couple spent a day together, and we’re just supposed to believe in happily ever after? Yes, they grew old together, but their relationship, in essence, amounted to nothing. I honestly expected more from this novel. There is a sequel, and I don’t know what it will entail, but I’ll read it. See if this relationship gets any better.

Be Your Own Fairy Godmother

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To be completely transparent, I watched the movie based on this only about a dozen times and then found out that there was a book attached. There is very much fairytale element that, in ways, could have been a lot better, especially given the title. The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer tries really hard at being a fairytale but fails in a couple of ways.

The story follows a woman named Nola who has an alter-ego named Belinda, who everyone just loves. Unfortunately for Nola, “Belinda” wrote a magazine column on losing weight, so Nola’s friends make a pact to lose weight once and for all. The typical story happens where love is maybe found if only Nola would stop lying. This is one of the few cases where I feel prepared to say that the movie is better than the book. The movie “Lying to be Perfect” takes out all the things that were just annoying: counting Weight Watchers points, shaming other women for their appearance and perceive sexual activities, and uninteresting random characters that get inserted into the story for… reasons.

It’s a cute little story that you can get invested in but won’t really take anything away from it. It’s pretty much a feel-good story about a woman who struggled with her sense of self-worth. I still say watching the movie is better, though.

Dating the Same Girl

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I’m really late to the John Green bandwagon, but here I am. This is actually the first book of his I’ve read, but I don’t really know what I think about it. An Abundance of Katherines features our protagonist, Collin, who only dates people named Katherine. I’ve never heard of a name being a person’s type, but here you go. While Collin is a genius who drops random facts here and there, which I personally found interesting, other pieces of dialogue felt like inside jokes that went on for way too long. Every other sentence either included the word “fug,” mention of a “Jew-fro,” or what seemed to be an Arabic slur. It was bizarre, and I could have done without a lot of it. Other than that, it’s the typical “boy is broken up with an is super mopey for the majority of the story” story. If this sounds like your kind of thing, you may like it. Personally, with all the hype I’ve heard around John Green, especially with some of the books being turned into live-action media, I was not impressed. I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible.

Rescue all the Puppies

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One of my favorite genre of mobile games is something that I like to call Soap Opera Games. These are simple games, mostly pressing different things on the screen, and for some reason, they have the most outrageous plot lines, a complete contrast to the gameplay. This time, I played the wonderful Dr. Cares: Pet Rescue 911. I originally wanted to play this game because of all the cute puppies, I will admit, but then a bought the rest of the game because of the storyline that started to unfold. I didn’t think that a romantic subplot was going to reveal itself, but there it was. I was playing this because of the love of animals, but then cute love interests revealed. It was unexpected, but I was not disappointed. I’ll admit, I was rooting for another love interest over another, but I’ll leave that for you to decide.

You can find this game iOS, Android, KindleFire, and Steam.

Dating Parody

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I decided to start this month by watching a comedy all about dating. I especially wanted to watch this because it was written in part by a couple of my favorite writers from College Humor, Emily and Murph. This particular show is Hot Date. I’ve been meaning to watch this for a while when it was announced on YouTube, so I’m happy to have finally gotten around to watching it. The two of them are absolutely hilarious together. It was also hilarious that the majority of the characters are portrayed by the two of them. All of these characters would be a part of the same friend group, but somehow never showed up in the same place at the exact same time. For no reason what so ever, I found that the funniest part of the entire show. I also played a bit on popular culture and “standards” of dating and bringing it into the millennial culture. It’s a short 10 episode series on Netflix so you can make an afternoon out of it. I think the only thing you will regret is not watching this show sooner.

Not How You Start a Romance

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In my desperate attempt to feel something, I decided to read a sappy romance that I had read before. I choose The Lucky One by Nickolas Sparks (because his writing is the definition of sappy romance). For those of you who have not read the book or seen the movie, The Lucky One is a story about a marine who finds a picture of a woman while out in Afganistan and ends up believing that it kept him alive. After coming back from tour, he goes on a hike across the country looking for this woman. Let me start by saying that this would only be possible in a romance novel. In real life, this would get you arrested, but when you suspend your disbelief and is a really interesting way to develop the relationship. You see the majority of the relationship building from the marine’s point of view which, giving him some props, his thoughts on everything was not creepy. He just felt the need to help her out after she “saved” his life. He was not expecting anything to come out of it. For this one reason, it’s kind of cute, especially in comparison with another male character in the book. After reading the story from the other guy’s point of view, I felt the need to take a shower. This was definitely a book that you cannot over think too much. You just have to take in at face value. If you think about it realistically, the entire story is a plot hole, but a fun read either way.

Werewolves and Humans

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In a world where werewolves and humans can live in harmony, everything isn’t as great as it could be. In Days of Hana, you are introduced to the human Hana and the werewolf Haru. They have been best friends since they were children. In this society, werewolves are seen as pets to most human families. After a werewolf attacks another human after their human was attacked, werewolves are not required to go to school alongside their humans. This is when the trouble truly starts, especially when Haru realizes that the feelings that he has for Haru aren’t exactly kosher. This webcomic is one of the cutest that I’ve read. Every chapter sends me on a rollercoaster of emotions that I didn’t know this would make me feel. The second season of this webcomic just started so it would be a great time to get on the feel-train with me.

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