ARC Review: Books, Blogs, and Reality by Ryan Ringbloom

Life can suck…

When reality becomes overwhelming, seeking comfort in fictional fantasies keeps hope alive. And while this escape may be a little delusional, it’s also therapeutic.

Sharing secrets is daunting, but virtual friends don’t often judge and they are always ready to share a glass of wine…or three…while typing out life’s latest endeavors.

Brooke believes obstacles only add to romance, not detract. Rachael longs for a more intense relationship, or so she thinks. Lizzie misses the excitement in her life, but sometimes new situations find you when you’re not even looking. And Jess believes a tiger can change his stripes. It can’t.

Bound by a shared passion for blogging about happily ever afters, these four young women use keyboard therapy to work through their expectations, anxieties, and inadequacies, all with the hopes of achieving the perfection found in romance novels.

Completely blinded by what they think life should be, they navigate their unique paths in search of what they envision is right. But when reality taunts them with persistent curve balls, will they be strong enough to choose wisely? Or will their happy endings escape them?

Review:

I recieved a digital copy via NetGalley through Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

I have to be honest – I didn’t even read the blurb before requesting the book. I just read the title and that was it! I just knew I had to read it.

I started my blogging journey way before I was even I had my blog! It started with my Bookstagram account @fortheloveoffictionalworlds and met amazing friends all over the world – I also found Lulu #mybooksoulmate, My other halves of Book Triplets – Audri @bakedbookpages – my absolutely first snail mail partner & the one who sends me signed books @alittlecuriousreader – my go to bookworm for a readalong 😛 and many other friends who have the ability to understand me in a way that my real life friends can’t.

And that’s exactly why I requested this book! Because I just knew, knew that It would be a representation of a part of me that no one really understands in reality.

“It’s not uncommon for people to have two sets of friends.”

The story is about four friends – four friends who share the biggest passion there is for them – books. They read together, they blog together, they even celebrate birthdays together. The only flip side – they do it while sitting in their own homes, behind their laptop screens. In short, they are internet best friends.

Lizzie is married with a child and at 24, she thinks she has become an old lady. Brooke believes that a romance is only a fulfilled romance if you overcome angst filled situations to persevere. Rachel longs to explore the edge of kinkiness, just like the books she reads. Jessica believes that bad boys can be changed by the love of a good woman.

I requested this book, ’cause I wanted a light, humorous read to bring me out of a funk and it did just that!

The whole book in itself talks about the underlying friendship that can occur on the internet. Friendships that make you feel loved, accepted, all with your quirks and insanity. Friends that accept a part of you that mostly people in real life don’t.

There were times though, when I actually had to grit my teeth at the obvious mistakes that I really really hope me and my book-blogging friends would never ever make.

While I didn’t like the predictability of the character’s actions, the characters themselves were reminiscent of me and my blogger friends, which endeared to me like anything ❤

It’s a book that every blogger needs to read, not for the real life choices, but for the online friendships and their support that gives us the freedom to be who we want to be, the freedom to act bat shit crazy for a fictional character, even if is behind the screens of our laptops.

Rating:

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ .5

Recommendation:

If you are a book blogger, read it. If you are crazy about books, read it. If you love your fictional boyfriends and take solace in them when nothing goes right in real life, read this book. It definitely worth a read, at least once.