My Thoughts On "About A Girl" by Lindsey Kelk [Migrated Post]

“This will not be the first time anyone’s said this to you, but there isn’t enough time to waste in this life. So don’t.”

Blurb: Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider. After accidently answering her flatmate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right? But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run …

I first picked up this book for the two things I’m always looking for in a chick lit: 1) A light read that’s easy to get lost into, and 2) how relatable the protagonist seems to me. Post-reading About A Girl, I can testify that I’ve found a new friend on print.

Meet Tess Brookes, otherwise known as a deeply troubled control freak. The 25-year-old spends too much time trying to get ahead in her career, and she’s been suffocating for the past decade secretly loving her best friend. At the turn of events, she loses all control, faces an existential crisis, and has no choice but to avail herself to the myriad of possibilities life offers beyond her fishbowl world, which later led her to a self-discovery journey, specifically by stealing someone else’s identity (the last thing someone like her would do) and fly off to Hawaii (away from her tiny apartment in London). Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

I know the plot sounds formulaic, and yes, there are already plenty of other midlife-crisis-driven chick lits out there since Bridget Jones, but admit it: It’s why you buy the novel in the first place. You want a familiar adventure that takes you to places with the comfort of knowing everything will be alright in the end, just like in life. No matter how deep a sh*t you’re in, you can be reminded that we are all in the same boat out of a well-written book.

Now let’s get on with the review.

This is the first book I’ve read of the popular author of the ‘I Heart’ series and beauty blogger Lindsey Kelk, so I’ve got next to nothing to compare this book with in terms of its plot, characters, storytelling and other writing technicalities. But Kelk definitely has a way with words; I’ve got a massive list of highlighted phrases I love in this book, such as her vivid description of a “bright, Pepto-Bismol pink”, some funny choices of swear words like “F*** a duck, he was so handsome,” and a fresh simile she employed to exemplify a goofy dance: “… [it was] very Tom Cruise on the Oprah sofa”.

I especially love how straightforward her tone is and how natural her humor comes off. Kelk’s also maintained a good pace throughout the book and really made Tess a voice that speaks like a best friend to the reader. It didn’t take long before I was hooked, as I felt an affinity with her character and her struggles.

It was all well and good if you were one of those girls who slinks around starkers after sexytimes, but I wasn’t really a naked person. I was very much an ‘always sleep in a nightie in case the house burns down’ person.

It was clever for Kelk to throw in plenty of ‘you’s in the narrative to achieve this effect, whether it was a conscious decision or not. For example, Tess describing a rich and famous male celebrity in the book: “… he was clearly not a man who usually had his photo taken by a girl whose most recently photography experiment ran to Facebooking her dinner every night for a week and downloading apps that showed you what you‘d look like if you were morbidly obese.” The ‘you’s in most every clause, saturated by Kelk’s smart interjections of pop culture references, have clearly won my heart over, and together they’ve successfully made Tess so easy to empathize with.

I also didn’t see the twist at Chapter 20 coming, even though most readers have said it’s not that all surprising. I mean, for me, if you’re already losing yourself into the character you can relate with so much, it’s difficult to take a step back and look at the grand scheme of things. This may be a spoiler-free review, but the only thing I’d say I’ve learned out of this twist is this: Every character, no matter how minor they seem, still plays a role to support the protagonist’s advancements in the story. Trying thinking about the friends and acquaintances in your life who’s exerted differing levels of influence on life decisions.

Aside from Tess, the leading characters in the book are pretty 3-dimensional. Paige is easily the Serena van der Woodsen in your life, Charlie is the guy who doesn’t know what he wants, and Nick is the guy who needs you in his life in order to love again (don’t we all love feeling wanted and needed?). My only complaint is Amy and her lack of depth. It was blatant that her sole existence was for Tess to be able to cope with her secret love for Charlie in the last 10 years, which plays a big role in the plot, as well as for Tess to put up with the immense life pressures in her family. Our heroine is someone who places higher importance on people and things other than herself, so Amy’s unstable lifestyle was easily necessitated by Tess’s workaholic nature. Other than that, and this is just personal, I imagine the upcoming sequel can do just fine without Amy (yes I’m mean that way), unless Tess and Paige is about to get into some crazy b*tch fight.

It sucks right now that I still have to wait until July 17 to get my hands on What A Girl Wants. More than the romance she’s about to embark upon at the end of About A Girl, I’m more interested about how Tess would eventually resolve the rough patch with her family. It’s probably going to be tough for her overbearing mother to learn that the new Tess is less than the perfect girl she used to throw her implicit demands at, and I can’t wait to see if Tess is going to retreat from her newfound courage or to stand up even taller for who she really is.



Love, Stace

Perks of Dating A Guy Who Reads [Migrated Post]

10 and I are currently reading Dan Brown’s latest opus, Inferno. We’re late, we’re aware of that, but it doesn’t make the book any less interesting.

This is not the first time he and I read something together. Toward the end of our LDR, we read the Fifty Shades trilogy together. We’d catch up on each other to see whether we’ve reached a particular point in the plot, and we’d share our opinions on the characters involved. He’d wish he was Christian Grey on his helicopter ride to SF, and I’d bitch about Elena. It was fun.

On this retrospect, I am blessed to be with a guy who reads. I ruminate upon past prospects who either don’t read, refuses to, or just can’t appreciate good literature, and I’m thankful for where I am today. I can’t imagine a relationship without the kind of connection and level of intimacy 10 and I have today. It’s deep, visceral, very much in touch with our instincts and complete with plenty of room to connect, relate, grow and love.

Growing up as an avid reader, I thought books are precisely the stuff I should be spending less time with in order to score that cool, sensitive guy ideal in my head. But according to new research, I’d have to thank my Hemingways, Orwells, Kafkas, Coelhos and the rest of the gang for my social life.

I know the Fifty Shades fluff and kink won’t exactly improve your smarts, but it doesn’t mean you should stop reading contemporary literature. Turns out it’s a great idea to finally get your hands on that reading list your English Lit teacher has bestowed upon you: Reading literary fiction, as opposed to pop fiction or serious nonfiction, really does cultivate better social skills (check out this NYTimes report). It just seems natural because you are following strong, three-dimensional characters around rather than sticking with a formulaic plot, enabling you to be more sensitive to the emotions of others around you:

The researchers say the reason is that literary fiction often leaves more to the imagination, encouraging readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuance and complexity.

It took some time for 10 to discover the secret I’ve withheld from every guy I’ve dated – the secret that I read like a starving man eats burgers and that I have a fetish for talking nerdy. Instinctively I hide this side of myself from everyone, not just guys I have crushes on, because of the conventional wisdom that’s always stated that the bookish girls are straight losers. The stigma portrayed on popular media has stuck on to my psyche so strongly from such an early age that it’s still with me up to this day.

Thank God times have now changed, as nerds are now in (Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Larry Page, and other billionaires, to name a few). Slowly I let it loose and reveal the fact that I spend my downtime reading the latest research on neuroscience, watching documentaries on quantum physics, trying to understand the human experience and consciousness. It’s a lot for one guy to take in, but it didn’t happen overnight. 10 started it all when he casually told me he stayed up all night every year to watch the E3 Expo live. We’ve gone a long way from there. By now he’d already seen every bit of my nerdom and I his, and I learned that there’s nothing to hide about when in fact, there are many things to be thankful about.

Whether your crush, date, or husband collects the Everyman’s classics or thinks he’s the next Zuckerberg, here are some reasons why he’s the keeper for you:

He’s into you for the whole package – not just for the cover.

A cliche, I know, and okay, so maybe it all did start from the cover. Unless you’re a robot or a zombie, everyone has preconceived notions about a book by its cover. The design of your book jacket may be the first thing he saw at the storefront, but it’s your story that won his heart over. Sure, there’s the saying that goes all guys are visual creatures. Stories may come in intangible forms, but they’re treasures that contain life’s most valuable lessons. If there aren’t any, your story won’t be published in the first place. Chances are, the guy who reads is a lifelong learner. Whether you’re 116 pages long or 9,998, he’ll still carry you around to be his pillar for support, strength when he needs it, and a confidante when he filled you in on his Princess Leia fantasy.

He doesn’t objectify you.

When you thought he’s just another guy who only wants to get physical with you, he reels you in, cuddles you, and starts a debate that probes the validity of male chauvinism. He’ll make clever references to support his proposition from the stuff he’s read, seen or heard, then he asks for your take on the subject – even when you’re without your clothes on.

He preserves his inner child.

I’ve met a guy who outwardly has the whole package – i.e. ideal physical proportions (tall, dark, handsome and all) – but who refuses to watch a Pixar movie and other “kiddie movies” when he was out on a movie date with me. Of course, that was way back before Pixar was cool. Last I heard of him, he’s stealing girlfriends and has accumulated the beer belly.

No matter how tough life can get, it’s hard to knock down the guy who grew up with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that men who take pride and stay in touch with their boyhood tend to be the ones who hold fast to his faith, still believing in miracles, and enjoy the wealth he’s accumulated later in life.

He’ll make the best partner in crime.

Uh huh, you’ll be the annoying couple who seems interested in just about everything from the sci-fi section all the way through the magazine rack, whispering sweet nothings to each other, coming up with ideas about your dreams, your passion, your future and all. You could make such a wonderful world together.

He doesn’t invade your privacy. 

… provided it’s just as you respect him and his manhood too. He understands how a person can be so engrossed in a Playboy issue, or Maxim, or Sports Illustrated.

No, seriously. Everybody needs space to recharge sometimes, perhaps with a good book or a bubble bath. Most guys haven’t the slightest clue when it comes to being protective of your feelings. Just because he’s an open book to you doesn’t mean you are ready to reciprocate, and of all people, he understands that takes time.

You’ll be surprised how much he knows you better than you think.

So you have a weird thing for vintage paperbacks, or perhaps a really soft spot for minted hot chocolate. Maybe it’s just the way you titter whenever he blows hot air to the nape of your neck, or the way you beam and curl your lips whenever he’s fed you something delish. He notices those things. ALL of them, especially the things you try hide. No matter how hard you work to project yourself as a non-weird, ladylike image, the guy who reads is bound to pick up the subtlest emotional nuances of the people around him.

{ For when he sees your face, he would be inventing ways to tell you how you complete him, or create scenarios of how life would be so wonderful with you. Thought Catalog }

He knows what he has.

That said, you’re the lost star of his nightstand, the book from his childhood he’s been looking for since forever, and that’s never going to change unless you tell him to.

… and he wants you to be you.

Either you spend the rest of your life trying to become the second-rate version of an existing bestseller, or you vow to be a kickass author of your own, it’s up to you, but if you must know, you are his muse, and he wants nothing more than you to write your heart out and ooze every iota of awesomeness you have onto the pages that lie ahead of you. Live out your fiction, for his wits, his charms, and everything else about him are the things he do in the hopes of becoming a big part of your book.

He’s never too tired run the extra mile just to figure you out.

No man ever walked on this planet has fully understood the “mechanics” of his other half – not even Einstein, not even Hawking. That’s because women weren’t made to be understood, but loved.

“Some men spend a lifetime in an attempt to comprehend the complexities of women,” said Einstein. “Others preoccupy themselves with somewhat simpler tasks, such as understanding the theory of relativity.”

Great men of history taught us that the well-read guy would go extraordinary lengths to cover all 9,998 pages of you. He’d be going word for word, searching for meaning and connecting the dots, only to find that the missing piece of his work is keeping you close to his heart.

He’ll be glad to spend the rest of his life trying to figure you out.

If after some years the guy who reads is still by your side, you’ve got yourself a keeper. By then, he knows it’ll take more than a lifetime for him to finish peeling those layers of you, even after your last pages has drawn to a close. In all the world’s irony, it’s the discovery, the unraveling, the amusement along the way as well as the onion tears from peeling all that tingling layers of you that drives the guy who reads to always come back to you and finally, settle for you.

Anything else I missed? Do share your thoughts below. Oh, wait. Do check out @HotDudesReading before anything else ;)



Love, Stace