Month: Jun 2019

America’s Geekheart (Bro Code #2) – Pippa Grant

by melissay1, posted in Book Review

Good morning from a very sunny Glastonbury Festival! Most normal people when they go to a festival probably at the very least go and see some obscure band at night or explore the other areas then nurse a hangover in the morning. Me? I’ve been getting up and sitting reading books. My favourite that I’ve read so far this week is America’s Geekheart by Pippa Grant.

America’s Geekheart tells the story of Sarah and Beck. Beck is a celebrity, he’s a former boy band member, he’s an underwear model and now owns a fashion empire. Sarah on the other hand, is Miss Normal. She likes geeky tv shows and has a soft spot for animals. But mostly Sarah hates publicity – for reasons that you’ll find out by reading the book! Beck and Sarah’s lives become more connected when he accidentally tweets her a rude message he was supposed to private message to his sister. Now, he’s begging her to pretend to be his girlfriend to try and divert attention from him being public enemy number one. Little do either know that pretending is tough especially when sparks fly between them and when Sarah is hiding a big secret.

This book makes my heart so happy. It’s such a cute romantic read and I loved reading about Beck and Sarah. I never wanted it to end! To be truthful, it took me a while to get addicted to this book. I kept picking it up reading the odd chapter and then before I knew it at every single gap between performers this book was straight out my bag as I needed to know what happened! So, if you find you’re like me please keep reading this book and the pay off at the end is totally worth it.

I adored all the characters in this book. With the chapters being told from Sarah and Beck’s perspectives you get a different look at the characters, in particular Sarah’s parents who I thought were fantastic characters. Beck and Sarah were both likeable too and I really enjoyed the fact that they both were more than the stereotypical character types. Beck wasn’t just the arrogant celebrity, he’s grounded and has real good family and friends around him who he completely and utterly adores. Then Sarah is presented as a geek, but underneath that she knows all about how to portray herself in a celebrity setting.

The story was so good too. The fact that all this story escalated from a tweet too is great and so very current to today’s society, it’s absolutely something you can imagine happening. I also really enjoyed Sarah’s obsession with watching a livestream of a pregnant giraffe as I think most of us can relate to obsessively watching April the giraffe. The relationship between Beck and Sarah bloomed so naturally and it was portrayed so wonderfully in the story. It also provided some very funny moments throughout which only adds to how good this book is.

I loved this book! I’ve read a couple of books this trip and this is the one I’ve loved the most. It’s been a while since I’ve read a real true, makes my heart happy as it’s such a cute romance novel and this book certainly is that! If you like this type of book this is truly one of the best you can read!

Synopsis –

Remember that time you accidentally sexted your in-laws?

Yeah. I just did that. Except worse. Now my million social media followers are reading and sharing the rude, smartass message I meant to send privately to my little sister…and I’m officially public enemy number one.

I’m Beck Ryder. Former boy bander. Underwear model. Fashion mogul. And I just buried my entire leg in my mouth—not just my foot—modern internet style, and publicly insulted my sister’s neighbor.

Sarah Dempsey.

Also known as the woman of my dreams, who loves geeky TV shows, baseball, and giraffes, who’s just as turned on by food as I am, and who has a huge secret that I didn’t see coming.

Now it’s time to grovel and apologize publicly on social media and hope that those same followers who helped start the raging shitstorm will help calm the waters.

Because Sarah doesn’t want the spotlight. For very good reasons that I can’t tell you right now and trying to convince her to be my fake girlfriend to fix this mess and make me look like less of a jackass is worse than taking a kick to the nuts by Jackie Chan.

And I thought modeling underwear made me feel naked.

Trying to start a relationship in the era of the twitterazzi isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

America’s Geekheart is a rockin’ fun romantic comedy featuring a billionaire fashion mogul who got his start modeling underwear, the geeky girl next door with a secret the size of California, and more superstitions and secrets than you can shake a baseball bat at. It stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers.

Enchanted Starfury Convention

by melissay1, posted in Other, travel

Diverting from my usual Sunday book blogging because to be perfectly honest, this week I’ve not read a single book. I’ve been stressed out to the max and to top off a bad few weeks Be More Chill has shortened its Broadway run which I had tickets to see in September, so now I’m super sad that I won’t see that show. So instead of not writing anything at all this week I’m going to write about something pretty exciting I did recently!

Last weekend I attended Starfury’s Once Upon A Time convention called Enchanted at Birmingham’s Hilton Metropole Hotel. For those who have never been, a convention is a gathering of fans of say a television show, in this case Once Upon A Time, and some of the cast attend the event and they do talks and q&a’s about the show as well as offering autograph and photograph opportunities with them. The convention then goes on into the evening with themed parties which include (optional) fancy dress theming

I’ve attended many a convention, from the big London Comic Con to the smaller events at my local venues. I have even been to a Once Upon A Time convention before and although it was fantastic to be able to meet some of the cast, the company who ran the event basically did some shady things so doesn’t exist anymore. It’s for that reason alone I’ve always been a little reluctant to go to another Once Upon A Time convention even if it was by a different company. However, when Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin, who play Snow White and Prince Charming on the show, were announced for the Enchanted convention it was a no brainer for me – I had to go.

I don’t usually write blogs raving about a certain company but as this convention was the best organised one I have ever attended I needed to write up about how wonderful Starfury’s conventions are. From the smooth registration process, to the ease of collecting preordered photos / buying more to the well organised photo and autograph lines – everything about the weekend was fantastic.

The weekend can be quite jam packed if you buy multiple photos. However, staff members (many of whom were volunteers) were super friendly and eager to help direct you to which photo to do first / fast track you to the front if time was running short. They were even asking you as you went in which photos you had to ensure you were in the correct location first. As far as finding where / when you needed to be at certain places for autographs / talks / photo opportunities, the staff again where more than happy to direct you to where you needed to be but the hotel was well signposted to each room anyway. However, the whole event was live tweeted so you knew when your badge number had been called up to go into autograph sessions. If you didn’t have Twitter that wasn’t an issue either, the Twitter feed was on multiple screens in the talk hall and various whiteboards were dotted around with the same information on it.

For me, the lineup at this convention was one of the best I’ve ever been to. Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin were my top people from the show that I wanted to meet but prior to this, they just didn’t do conventions. Honestly, they didn’t disappoint in the slightest! They are both the most loveliest people and even though they had some of the biggest queues of the weekend they both spent time speaking to every single person. I couldn’t afford photos with both sadly so I only met Ginnifer Goodwin in her autograph session and she spent time saying hi to everyone and making a small conversation which really made my weekend. I had a photo with Josh Dallas and normally with photos at conventions you’re in and you’re out within seconds, but he shook hands with every single person and introduced himself and even asked what my name was and if I was enjoying the weekend. I’ve never had a photo at a convention where the guest made so much conversation with every single person who was waiting in line. I really hope they’re both invited to a UK convention again because they are absolutely some of my favourite people I’ve ever been lucky enough to meet and if you’re a fan of Once Upon A Time I couldn’t recommend meeting the pair more.

Every ticket to the convention came with free autographs with many of the guests. The guests all had pretty big roles at certain points in the show too so it was fantastic to get these included in my ticket price and get my DVD cover signed by them. I could write quite a long post how my experiences were each guest but I feel no one want’s a too fangirly post! However, every single guest was absolutely lovely and spent time chatting with everyone, although this did leave to having to queue a little while, I feel like everyone would agree that it was worth it to get the chance to have a conversation with the guests once it was your turn. My personal favourite from the free autographs was getting the chance to meet David Anders as he is a pretty main character in one of my recent favourite shows, iZombie.

I sat through panels with every guest over the weekend. Panels are where the actors of the show are on stage and the audience are able to ask questions for them to answer. My personal favourite panel of the weekend was the one with Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White), Josh Dallas (Prince Charming) and Colin O’Donoghue (Captain Hook) as they all were clearly friends in real life and they provided an entertaining hour long chat which revealed some facts that had never been told before – like what prop Ginnifer Goodwin stole from the set without anyone ever knowing. What’s great about all the panels are that although you may not know the guest that well, they all provided interesting stories and were happy to talk about other projects they’ve been in.

Starfury do other conventions as well as Once Upon A Time so if that show isn’t to your liking its worth checking out what else they do as I’m sure the rest of the events that they run are just as well organised and an all round fantastic weekend. The ticket prices are fairly expensive but you do get the entire weekend of panel talks included as well as the autograph sessions with many of the guests. I only had a regular ticket for Enchanted as it was all I could afford, and I didn’t feel like I really missed out on anything so don’t let not being able to purchase a gold ticket put you off going!

My one bit of advice? Stay in the convention hotel! For money reasons we stayed at a hotel about a mile away and although it wasn’t far, I feel like the luxury of not having to carry your coat all day and to have five minutes chilling in your room between photos and panels starting would’ve been worth it if you can afford the hotel price.

Click here for more information on upcoming Starfury events – including Enchanted 2020!

Musical Influenced Tour Of New York

by melissay1, posted in Theatre, travel

I’m pretty sure I get subconsciously influenced by things more than the average person. The episode of Hannah Montana where Billy Ray is typing gr8ted cheese, I ran to Tesco to get grated cheese for about a month after that, in Keeping Up With The Kardashian’s they had bowls full of Nerds out the entire series…yep you guessed it I became addicted to them for a little while when I was binging Kardashian episodes. So it’s no surprise when at the moment I have songs from musicals playing on repeat and I’m watching too many YouTube videos of the cast performing them that I’ve started to build up quite a weird itinerary of things to do when I visit New York based on things I’ve heard in musical theatre songs. So without further ado, here is my musical influenced itinerary so far!

7/11

Freeze Your Brain – Heathers The Musical

More Than Survive – Be More Chill

I have to visit a 7/11 and get a slurpee. I’ve heard that 7/11’s aren’t the nicest of places in America but when JD In Heathers sings an entire song about having a Slurpee in 7/11 and Be More Chill’s Michael mentions going too – I have to go. Slurpee’s look like a Slush Puppy or a Tango Ice Blast but times hundred and I’m so insanely excited to try one. They look huge! To top off my 7/11 experience I need to have a Red Vine and hope that a guy dressed head to toe in black is wondering the aisles singing whilst drinking a Slurpee…

A La Mode

For Forever – Dear Evan Hansen

For the longest of time I thought that A La Mode was a place and it was put into Dear Evan Hansen is contextualise it and I just didn’t get the place reference because I’m British. I recently googled it and couldn’t believe it was an actual ice cream shop and New York has one! I’ll definitely be going to grab a scoop at A La Mode! I’m already eyeing up the pink sprinkle flavour.

JonnyPops

Jared Kleinman – Dear Evan Hansen

Jared Kleinman wears a JonnyPops shirt in Dear Evan Hansen and for that reason alone I need to have something JonnyPops when I’m in America.

Pinkberry

Sync Up – Be More Chill

I hope it’s warm when I go to America because this is the 4th frozen item that I’ve decided that I need to have when I’m there. Be More Chill mentions Pinkberry a couple of times but my favourite is in Sync Up. I will be going to Pinkberry and I will be that loser saying Jeremy’s exact line and asking how was Pinkberry and if no one answers with Brooke’s reply I’ll be very disappointed…at the moment they have a special Be More Chill based one to buy too so if they would like to extend that to when I go that would be fantastic.

Mountain Dew

Be More Chill

The short version of this is that in Be More Chill, Jeremy gets a pill which controls his mind and Mountain Dew activates it and Mountain Dew Red deactivates it. So naturally I need to have Mountain Dew. The musical also says Mountain Dew Red was discontinued in the nineties and I’m not sure if it just doesn’t exist in England or if it is actually discontinued but either way I need to have some kind of Mountain Dew whilst in America.

Corn Nuts

Heathers

Although lots of food is mentioned in Heathers, Corn Nuts are the ones that stick in my head the most – after the Slurpee of course! Probably due to the fact Heather yells the word repeatedly! I’m pretty sure I wont even like Corn Nuts but I’m dying to try them

Does anyone have anymore suggestions of musical related food places I need to try whilst in America? Let me know in the comments!

Only Love (One and Only #3) – Melanie Harlow

by melissay1, posted in Book Review

Only Love tells the story of Stella. She is completely and utterly convinced that her boyfriend is going to propose to her…except the reality is that he actually was planning to dump her on her birthday. When Stella’s Grandma rings up asking for help getting to appointments Stella somewhat jumps at the chance to get away from life for a little while. Little did she know that her Grandma was planning on meddling and introducing her to her super attractive, single neighbour…

I actually really liked this books story. Stella is broken hearted and Ryan is a somewhat tortured soul – and they align on the same page over a lot of things including the instant attraction to one another. Overall it was a cute, romantic read and I liked that.

Unfortunately, I had a real love hate relationship with this book’s characters. Grandma was an instant love character from start to finish, her short chapters scattered throughout were always entertaining. I find her hilarious and I love her meddling ways to try and matchmake her granddaughter and neighbour. Sadly, it was Ryan that I had the issue with. Personally I’ve never met anyone in the military before so I don’t know how they act. I truly appreciate why Ryan is so disturbed but for me I just couldn’t connect with him. I just found his constant reluctance to fall in love irritating. I really do understand why he is like he is, but for me I just didn’t enjoy his character.

The book is written from multiple perspectives, Stella, Ryan and Grandma. Grandma’s were a real surprise treat. I found reading from her point of view her motives and for me whenever her chapters popped up they were always my favourite. Stella and Ryan’s also worked well giving you as a reader an insight into what they were thinking and why they act as they do.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Ryan’s military background meant that he had issues that came from that and I think if you’re ok with that as his feelings that come from that are a major part of the book that you will love this book. I did enjoy watching the relationship grow between Ryan and Stella and I absolutely loved scheming Grandma!

Synopsis – 

A gorgeous former Marine with a tortured soul.

The beautiful, compassionate therapist living next door.

A meddlesome grandma determined to get them together.

From USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Harlow comes an all new standalone romance that will make you believe in the redemptive power of love.

I was expecting a proposal on my birthday, and I got dumped instead.

How could I have been so clueless?

Grams knew exactly how to distract me.

The “cute boy next door” who’s been helping her with yard work clearly needs a little therapy. Who better to call than her new single therapist granddaughter?

She even fakes dementia to get me to visit, and now that I’m here she’s doing everything in her power to throw us together.

Not that I’m complaining. Ryan is the sexiest man I’ve ever met – I mean the full package, from the chiselled jaw to the massive shoulders to the rippling abs. (And yes, his package is full, and he knows exactly how to deliver it). He makes me want to get out of my head and follow my heart. He makes me want to take chances I never thought I’d take.

He also makes me want to take my clothes off. A lot.

But he’s moody and challenging – one minute he’s an open book, and the next he’s completely closed off .He holds me like he’ll never let go, but insists he wants to be alone.

Some wounds are so deep, only love can heal them.

How can I convince him to let me try?

Be More Chill Broadway Cast Recording

by melissay1, posted in Theatre

As far as bad weeks though this got to be up in one of the worst ever – think bank fraud, coming home daily with stress related migraines and filling out thousands of job application forms kind of bad week. So to counteract the bad week my brain (or is it my squip…) decides it would be a great idea to write about something I’m absolutely obsessed with at the moment – Be More Chill.

Sometimes in life you become so obsessed with some music that it’s all that’s going around in your head, I sit at work thinking it, it’s the last thing going around in my head before I sleep, it’s the first thing I think of when I wake up in a morning…you get the idea I love the songs from this musical. The fact that I actually get to see the show when I go to America in a few months too is only heightening my love of these songs right now. Though Joe Iconis, who has done the music for Be More Chill is blooming amazing and I’m pretty sure everything he’s ever done is great, so its no surprise that these songs are so good.

I didn’t get into Be More Chill the same way as 70% of its fanbase did as the show has a massive online following and I didn’t find it that way. Truthfully I only heard of the show very recently when I saw some of my favourite Broadway performers tweeting about the show then when I found out Will Roland was in the show it fully got my attention. I’ve been a fan of Will Roland for quite a long while now so I’m very used to hearing his singing voice and all the tv appearances and promos I’ve chosen to watch are of Will Roland playing Jeremy. Plus I read the Be More Chill book before even looking at anything musical related so I’m basing my idea of Jeremy in my head from book Jeremy. Due to this I have quite a different perspective of the Broadway recording to most comments I’ve seen online, as for me although both recordings are great, I personally prefer Will Roland as Jeremy over the original cast recordings, Will Connolly. I think that’s quite an important thing to know as most of my song opinions revolve around how well cast I think Will Roland is for the role.

So without further ado, todays post is my thoughts on some (and by some I mean most…) of songs on the Broadway Cast Recording of the musical Be More Chill!

More Than Survive

Everything about this song is a complete upgrade from the original cast recording. More Than Survive is the perfect introduction to Will Roland’s portrayal of Jeremy and although I have no clue how any actor has played Jeremy on stage I feel like Will Roland’s version you can really can tell how much of a geek he is whereas I get the impression from Will Connolly’s version in the original cast recording that his Jeremy seems more of a middle ground kind of guy, absolutely no where near popular but feels relatively ok about how he is. The Jeremy in the novel is a complete and utter loser and Will Roland has such a knack for being able to capture this kind of character and portray it by a song alone.

Bit of a weird one but I’m slightly obsessed with the way Will Roland sings the last minute of the song compared to the original cast recording, again I feel like this section alone really captures the character of Jeremy and this is something I’m very looking forward to seeing live when I see the show! This song is a perfect opening song with Jeremy explaining his position in life to the fun introduction of Michael! This might actually be one of my favourite first songs from a musical!

The Squip Song

The Squip Song was one of my instant love from first listen songs from the original cast recording. Gerard Canonico is incredible on this song and I feel like the music on this song (and on the entire recording for that matter) has completely stepped up a notch. I also prefer Will Roland’s version of Jeremy in this song too as he has more vulnerability towards Rich which makes more sense to me given how they aren’t exactly friends.

The song itself is quite weird really as it completely changes throughout the song but that reason is absolutely what makes the song as good as it is and you as a listener completely buy into wanting a squip!

Two Player Game

It’s no wonder than Will Roland and George Salazar recently won the Broadway Choice Award for favourite on stage pair when you get songs like this. I think this song just capture the quirky nerdiness of the musical perfectly. You really see Jeremy and Michael’s friendship in this song as they discuss their position in life whilst playing a video game. Two Player-Game is my go to first song to play on the album or what song I tell people to listen to if they’ve not heard of Be More Chill, I just love it! Based on the performances the pair have done of this on television, I am ridiculously excited to see this one performed in the show!

Also, if you like this song check out The 8-Bit Big Band’s version too which also has George Salazar and Will Roland singing on it!

The Squip Enters

This song is 1 minute 17 seconds of pure screaming craziness. You know those little songs they always have in musicals but when you go and listen to the cast recording they’re never on the cd? Well, Be More Chill has scrapped that and put The Squip Enters on the recording. It is literally an entire minute of Will Roland screaming as the Squip takes over Jeremy’s brain and I feel like this is one of those songs that I am going to listen to once I’ve seen the show and be replaying the entire scene in my head as I listen. Its also the Squip and Jeremy’s first encounter together and I think it’s demonstrates Jeremy’s character well as you can hear that he’s somewhat in awe of the Squip and just the sheer confusion that the Squip is stood in front of him and is actually real, plus you also get to hear first hand how much work the Squip is going to have to put in to Jeremy!

Be More Chill Part 1

Will Roland is so unbelievably well cast for this song. I can completely imagine his face when it’s performed on stage and he has such an expressive voice which makes this song so good. When I listen to the Broadway version I hear Jeremy being quite ok and relatively proud at points over who he is and what he does in his spare time and then the Squip points out all of his flaws and you can hear the change in the voice as it dawns on him that every single thing he does contributes to why he’s a geek, whereas for me I don’t really get that in the original recording.

This song is the squip well and truly in dictating mode trying to make Jeremy cool and Jeremy just so naively goes along with it and it’s so, so good! Jason Tam as the Squip is another fantastic addition to the cast. Again this is just from the soundtrack alone but for me his Squip seems to come across much cooler than in the original cast recording and for me this Squip is someone even I would listen to every word of! Whereas I’m not going to lie the original cast recording sounds abit scarier!

I also love how the Broadway Jeremy talks to girls, I think its absolutely hilarious and truly demonstrates why he’s a loser even when following the Squips instructions, whereas original cast recording Jeremy comes across as being so much cooler! The last minute of so when the Squip is really instructing Jeremy is unreal and Will Roland and Jason Tam’s voices blend so well together.

I honestly didn’t care for this song much in the original cast recording but thanks to a combination of Will Roland and Jason Tam, it makes me love this song so much its now one of my favourites from the Broadway cast recording.

Sync Up

Again, yet another ridiculous catchy song! I swear, lines from this song have been going around my head on loop for the past week. “How was Pinkberry? Scary” is currently going around my head at least a million times a day! It’s also the first song in which we see Jeremy seeing the flaws in his peers that he didn’t notice when he didn’t have the squip which I find interesting.

Also, Jeremy and Rich’s squip’s syncing up…they’ve done it in such a way anyone whose ever played a video game can relate to and I think that its such a clever way to represent them syncing.

Loser Geek Whatever

Although this song is briefly sort of incorporated into the song Upgrade on the original cast recording it was never actual a full length song. Again, I have to admit that I know very little about Be More Chill pre Will Roland but I can only assume this song was added in for his Jeremy which for me is a fantastic addition and this song definitely deserved to have been a part of the show from the start.

This song is absolutely incredible and I can’t believe it ever wasn’t a part of the show. I think it is the perfect act one ending song and you really get to see Jeremy fully succumb to the Squip as it dawns on him that he now stands a good shot at being cool. The internal battle throughout this song is portrayed incredibly and its for that reason that this is one of the songs that I’m most excited about seeing performed. As a song it definitely stands up with some of theatres more iconic act one ending numbers and I’m very excited to see it performed on stage.

As an aside an acoustic version of this song is also out and if you thought this song couldn’t get any better then download the acoustic version, its amazing!

Michael In The Bathroom

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned this on my blog before but Michael In The Bathroom is one of my favourite songs from a musical. This song seriously needs more hype as for me it is just as good as popular hits like Wicked’s Defying Gravity. Continuing on my theme of how well cast the Broadway show is, George Salazar is unreal and I just can’t imagine anyone else as Michael. Somehow even more emotion comes across in the Broadway recording and I think anyone whose ever had had even the slightest feeling of anxiety can relate to this song (I mean I know I have definitely made an excuse to go to the bathroom to avoid being in an awkward situation) and it’s the relatability and the sheer vulnerability of Michael that helps to make this song so good. Is this song going to make me and 90% of the audience cry when I go and see the show Probably…maybe…definitely…

If you watched the Tony Awards recently and saw James Corden singing James In The Bathroom and wondered what show that was from? Yep, it was a parody of Michael In The Bathroom!

The Pitful Children

This song was one of my favourites from the original recording and the Broadway version yet again doesn’t disappoint. When it’s asked what it is and Jeremy says it’s a supercomputer is hilarious. The Pitful Children is the song that I’m looking forward to seeing performed as I have such a clear version of what it could be like in my head. This song, like most of the songs on this recording, is insanely catchy and I just can’t want to see the production of it on stage.

The Play

First of all, Will Roland’s acting when Jeremy’s squip is glitching in this song is unreal. I’m so intrigued about if this part is actually in the show at all and if it is, is this part done live? I have so many questions about this part of the song!

Jeremy’s Squip is fully aiming for world domination in this song and he’s well on its way to achieving it, the cast all have squip’s and it seems like all hope is now lost. That is until Michael appears back on the scene! I love the part when Michael make’s his entrance and him and Jeremy do another small rendition of Two Player Game! The squip taking over everybody is something I can’t wait to watch on stage, I think it’ll be fascinating to watch the cast performing as they’re being squip controlled.

This song has abit of everything in it and I think everyone will love at least one section of this song. Songs from throughout the musical are so cleverly woven together to make The Play, which just makes this song the perfect climax to the musical.

Voices In My Head

Voices In My Head is quite possibly the catchiest song on the planet and if iTunes sold it, this song would absolutely be my ringtone. For that reason I couldn’t imagine a better song to be the ending to Be More Chill as I can guarantee every single person who leaves the Lyceum Theatre will be humming this song! Not only is the song catchy, I also think the lyrics to this are fantastic. The perfect ending to a musical.

If you’ve read this far as you can tell I just really love this cast recording and I can’t wait to go to America to see this show. Its very rare that I listen to a cast recording of a show and absolutely love every single song, particularly when I’ve not seen the show first! I’m loving these songs just for pure good song value at the moment. They are catchy, the music orchestration has completely stepped up since the original recording (not just in the songs but I need to mention how incredible the instrumental songs on this cast recording are too!) and the lyrics are fantastic. Top that off with a brilliant cast and I think this show has one of the best cast recordings on Broadway at the moment.

Have you seen Be More Chill, if so what did you think? I would love to know what other people think of the show and the music from it!

My Virtual Prince Charming (Geeks Gone Wild #2) – Maggie Dallen

by melissay1, posted in Book Review, Uncategorised

On paper, school geek Suzie and Mr Popular Luke Warner, couldn’t be any more different. The pair never really had anything to do with each other until the day an embarrassing photo of Suzie was circulated around the school, since then Luke has make it his personal mission to annoy her. Then Suzie and Luke are paired together for a programming competition and now neither can avoid the other. The only thing that helps Suzie get through the day is knowing that when she goes home she can play her favourite video game online and talk to her online friend who despite being a complete stranger is Suzie’s perfect match and she is a tiny bit in love with him. The only problem is Luke’s secret. Luke is in fact the ‘stranger’ Suzie talks to online and he knows that Suzie would most certainly flip out if she ever knew the truth.

My Virtual Prince Charming is book number two in the Geeks Gone Wild series. I really enjoyed book one, Love At First Fight – click here to read my review. Despite this book being a series, My Virtual Prince Charming can be read as a standalone with no issues, however I did feel that I benefitted from having read book one first. I feel like the knowledge of the viral geeks gone wild photos and how the geeks got involved with the popular kids does help with your enjoyment of this book as events that happen in book one are revisited in book two. Also, as much as I enjoyed My Virtual Prince Charming I did prefer Love At First Fight so that one is well worth reading but if you do plan on reading this series read book one first as book two does contain spoilers.

My Virtual Prince Charming is stereotypical geek falls in love with popular guy kind of story but it really works in this book series. The popular kids aren’t the standoffish wouldn’t talk to anyone but the people in their inner circle type of character and the geeks are somewhat open to talk to the popular kids but that’s probably mainly due to events that happened in the previous book. Although some parts of this story are over exaggerated (I mean what is the chances that Suzie and Luke were talking to each other) they are still believable story lines which the reader enjoys from start to finish. They are the type of stories that you start reading and before you know it you’ve finished which only demonstrates how good of a book series this is.

What I like about this book is that although Luke is hiding his online gamer secret, the geek character Suzie, is also somewhat hiding that part of her life. Luke had no idea how much of a gamer she was until he stumbled into her bedroom and saw it decked head to toe in varying game posters. I think both characters are just normal, relatable characters and I don’t think anyone who read this book wouldn’t like them. Suzie although a geek, is feisty and is always willing to speak her mind and stand up for herself and her friends and Luke has a damaged home life but he doesn’t take this out on others, he’s actually really kind and friendly even when he’s teasing Suzie. I think far too many book characters with a troubled home life take it out on the people around them and it’s nice that despite this Luke has remained relatively normal

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but finding a good young adult romance novel is so hard and this book series ticks all the boxes. If you’re looking for a cute, romantic young adult novel you really should add the Geeks Gone Wild series to your list. It is one of the best young adult romance book series I’ve read in a long time.

Synopsis –

Gamer vs Player

Some girls have a dream guy, but Suzie’s ideal boyfriend is totally real. He’s just…virtual.

Suzie doesn’t need to see her online gaming buddy to know that he’s her perfect match. The problem lies in reality, AKA high school. Ever since a humiliating photo of her surfaced on the first day of senior year, she hasn’t been able to escape the attention of Luke Warner, the hottie player who’s apparently made it his mission to annoy her. Now that they’re paired together in a programming contest there’s no way she can avoid him…or their chemistry. His unexpected kisses might be earth shattering, but he’s so not her type.

Luke’s got a secret, and it’s one that could change everything between him and his new computer science partner. Suzie thinks he doesn’t know her at all, and she seems convinced that she doesn’t like him. But what if she knew that he was her online BFF? That would change everything. But will sharing his secret bring them together or tear them apart?

If We’re Not Married By Thirty – Anna Bell

by melissay1, posted in Book Review

All I seem to do lately is download / read an excessive amount of books from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited – If We’re Not Married By Thirty was one of these. What I didn’t realise when I downloaded this was the fact that I’ve read many a book before by author Anna Bell and loved every single one. If We’re Not Married By Thirty didn’t disappoint!

If We’re Not Married By Thirty is a story about Lydia who has just recently turned thirty. Lydia had recently broken up with her long term boyfriend, she is in a job where she is never going to get any kind of promotion and when she’s looking around at her friends lives she see’s them all winning at life. Her family are obviously seeing how fed up she is with her situation so book her a holiday to Spain during the festive period. What she didn’t expect is her childhood friend Danny, to gate crash her holiday. They’ve both had an attraction to each other but time has never been right for them to try and be together. Now they find themselves both single at the same time and all they can both hear is the promise of a pact they made when they were younger where they agreed to marry each other if they were both single when they turned thirty…

I’m not thirty but I am at the wrong side of twenty five now so I could definitely relate to Lydia! I’m already starting to look around and see my friends perfect lives, promotions, weddings, holidays…I feel this is something that most people can relate to particularly with people only posting the good parts of their lives on social media. For that reason this story and Lydia is so relatable and I think so many people will be able to draw parallels with Lydia and her situation.

All the characters were great to read about. Lydia is just completely normal and down to earth and as mentioned before she is relatable. Danny is an interesting character but in completely a good way! He’s great to read about as a person, he just comes with more baggage than Lydia he does – his friendships are interesting to say the least! Lydia and Danny’s family members are fantastic to read about too, particularly both of their mums who provided humour / outright cringey moments from start to finish.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story too. I found the idea that these two friends made a pact when they were at a wedding when they were young that they’d get married to each other if neither of them were already married by thirty and them actually following through with it such a brilliant idea for a book. I think a lot of people probably make these kind of pacts when they’re younger but I would imagine very few people actually go through with it. It’s interesting to read, particularly seeing how both of their families and friends react to the news, as you can imagine it comes with varying different reactions! But that is actually why this story is so good, I feel like everything that happens is quite realistic and its completely believable and those two points really help me to enjoy a story.

Author Anna Bell has produced yet another fantastic book. Each of her books always seems to have a real charm about it, likeable characters, realistic story, a good romance element, some hilarious moments and some moments where you just want to die with embarrassment. I think If We’re Not Married By Thirty is actually my favourite of the books that I’ve read by her so far and for that reason alone I couldn’t recommend picking up this book more. I loved it!

Synopsis – 

Lydia’s not exactly #LivingHerBestLife. She never imagined she’d be here at thirty – newly single, a job that’s going nowhere and her friends all winning at life when she’s still barely taking part. So she jumps at the chance of a free holiday and jets off to sunny Spain.

Then, out of the blue, she bumps into her childhood friend, the handsome and charming Danny Whittaker. She’s always had a crush on him and they soon enter into a passionate holiday romance.

But this relationship could be more than just a fling. Years ago they made a pact that if they were still single when they turned thirty they would get married. But no one really follows through on these pacts…right?

Could Lydia’s back-up man really be her happily ever after?