Book Review Thoughts: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae

Book: Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This one is that same line up books that Not in the Script is in... remember that fun book from last year's reading?  It's about a girl who goes to Italy for the summer. She's supposed to go to Florence for an art program, but she decides to bag that and do her own thing... and not tell her parents. Turns out she befriends a local Italian girl working at a bakery and ends up going to Cinque Terre with her to live with her family and help in their restaurant.

The Italian girl has a beautiful cousin who sweeps our girl off her feet with his playboy ways. Our girl is all, wow, he's beautiful, but he's bad news. She tries to resist. It's hard.

But, it's made easier when an American guy, one she bumped into on her first day, shows up and invites her to go to Pompeii with him. Yeah. This boy is a much nicer choice.

So, all in all, it's a fun summer romance story, which is exactly what I expected. Very fun. But not too thought provoking or anything. The best thing about this book is having been to all the places mentioned (except Pompeii sadly) and able to picture everything, from the trails between the villages of Cinque Terre, to the train tunnels, to the gelato shops and trattorias, and finally the Colosseum and Pantheon in Rome. And when she said it was hot, I knew what that meant! Hot like no other hot I've ever experienced!

Bottom Line: Cute fluffy romance story. I enjoyed it!

Other Reviews:

It was a really good summer read that simultaneously cured and riled up the travel bug in me. From The Perpetual Page Turner

Fun, fanciful, and cute, Kristin Rae’s debut novel Wish You Were Italian is a story of self discovery, friendship and romance that would make the perfect addition to your beach bag this summer. From Pop Goes the Reader

It's one of those stories that wiill entertain; it's also a story that will proceed to make your wanderlust and desire to visit Italy grow in gigantic proportions. From Alexa Loves Books

It was a fun read for the description of Italy and gelato alone. From Book. Blog. Bake.

Utah Book Week 2016

In the past, some of us Utah Bloggers have set aside August to celebrate all things bookish in Utah. This year we've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with life and yet we didn't want to NOT celebrate, so we've decided to have a Utah Book Week, instead of month.

That week will be celebrated August 22 to 28! I plan to post a bunch of Utah bookish things here then including what Utah authors I've read this year... some reviews on Utah books I'm reading this month, and... I don't know what else yet. We'll see!

Anyway, if you want to help us celebrate, head on over to the main page and sign up with a linky to your blog. We'd love to have you. The more the merrier!

Sing Along Saturday: CORNY STUFF!

I've missed a few prompts for this fun meme and am quite behind with this one, but you know... I feel the need to share music regardless of rules!


This week's prompt over at Bookish Things and More is: A Corny Song!


I haven't shared kpop for a while so it's time again... and the first corny kpop song that came into my head is this one called Can You Feel It by Super Junior boys: Donghae and Eunhyuk also known as Super Junior D and E:




Just a bit of watching that you will have learned a new dance! And who cares if it's corny! So much fun!

Here's one you should all know. Corny but so good:





'Till  next week then! Enjoy music. Blast it loud. Dance. It's good for you.

The Latest Adventure in Pictures

Home from the latest adventure! This time a quick trip to California. Here's a recap in pictures in case you missed it:

The first selfie of the trip. We decided to embrace the selfie this time!

At one of our favorite places....we like to call it
The Crack.

A really cool tree at Balboa Park.

Selfie at Balboa Park

Took a bunch of plane pictures as they flew over our heads.
This was my favorite.

Balboa Park
I love how this one turned out.

Selfie at Coronado
It was cloudy and hazy.

We found our favorite greek place where
we eat every time we go to San Diego.

We drove to the observatory to see the Hollywood sign.
It wasn't too impressive in the end.

Found Korea town and truly felt like we'd stepped into another country.

Trying out Korean dumplings.

Too bad these boys weren't real, but we still enjoyed
seeing them!

Sitting on the beach with the Santa Monica pier in the background.
It was cold!

Some actually got in.
I wasn't one of them.

The sunset was pretty awesome that night.

Pony Express ride
at Knottsberry Farm.

One of the purchases at the kpop store in Korea Town.

And the back shows off her bias in this group!
Yay for Suga!

Our brave souls sitting in the front
of the scary roller coaster.
Two hour wait for a ten second ride!
Crazy!!

And that's it for the latest craziness! Home for a while now. But the adventures are not over!!!

Reading Recap June and July 2016

I chased this sunset down but still didn't get a great shot.
Anyway, it says summer to me!

Whoa I almost forget or the second month in a row to list of ALL THE MANY books I've read this summer!

Here's what I read in June:

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: The girl who was shot by the Taliban and lived to tell about it.

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han: The continuing story of Lara Jean and her boy troubles... and I didn't like how things went down much.

Here's what I read in July:

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater: The conclusion of this fun series though it was a bit strange for me and some stuff happened that I was like... wait what?

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella: Audrey is suffering intense anxiety and this is the story of how she overcomes... and it's funny!

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky: In which four crazy fan girls kidnap one of the boy band members and then things get worse from there. 

Guys... something has to change! But life.. life is just TOO CRAZY right now! 

Plans for August:

• Finish Wish You Were Italian
• Read One Dead Spy for book club
• Read P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
• Read at least on Utah author for Utah Book Month that really isn't happening but maybe Utah Book Fortnight might, but maybe not, but even if not, I will still try to read some/one Utah author... besides Nathan Hale which is our book club book

So yeah, I'm not reading much, but I've uploaded 50 videos to the kpop channel. And driven across the country and back. So there's that.

Kdrama Review:Kill Me, Heal Me

Drama: Kill Me, Heal Me
Genre: Drama
Starring: Ji Sung, Hwang Jung Eum, Park Seo Joon
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤


So my sister Megs has been begging me all summer to watch this one. But first, we watched Healer and I thought nothing could compare to that one, and anyway, when it was over and I needed something to watch next, she convinced me this one was it.

And let me just say, it came close to or even maybe surpassed the intensity and drama that was Healer! Whoa, two in a row that good? This stuff is crazy!

This one is about a guy who is suffering multiple personality disorder. He hires this new doctor to help him get a rein on these personalities. Together, they investigate his past and before long, all is revealed. His memories he has been suppressing come back and whoa, they aren't quite what he expected!!!

And of course, in the process, they fall madly in love.  I mean of course they do! Ah, it's the best!

The subject matter of this one is pretty intense and sad and traumatic. And yet, with this guy having to act out several personalities, there's a lot of moments of some very funny stuff and comedy. It's a great mix of both.

If you've seen She Was Pretty, this one stars the same girl and the same guy, but in this drama they are brother and sister, so that's a little weird at first. She is a lot the same, but he plays a character that's completely different from She Was Pretty. (In fact, his character reminded quite a lot of Siwon's character in She Was Pretty... which meant.. I loved him completely! He is ten times cuter in this drama than he is in She Was Pretty! How can that be???)

Park Seo Joon is perfect in this one as the loving big brother.

But... let's talk about the main dude in this one... oh my goodness! He can jump from personality to personality with this most amazing acting ability that is just something you have to see. It's just... the best ever. And he has his "good" side personality... and his "bad" side (among many others) and that bad dude... wow. Just... how he can get you to be so so sympathetic to him so so fast. It's crazy!!

Ji Sung as sexy "bad" guy Shin Se Gi

Crazy good!

I loved it. I was sobbing through many scenes toward the end. And giggling so much during others. I just... I have no words.

And now I'm in a drama funk and think that there's nothing that can compare to these two... so... what's a drama addict to do?

Here's a tiny little trailer that introduces you to all the personalities:




Here's the most awesome theme song along with more clips from the show:



And for those of you who know this guy from She Was Pretty where he acted like he was a terrible singer, see for yourself how he was faking it big time! Here he is singing another song from this drama:



So... bottom line... WATCH IT! :)

Fancasting Prince/Emperor Kai Kpop Style

So we thought it would be fun to try do a "mash up" of our two fandoms... the booksish and the kpop....and thus the "which kpop idol would make a good Prince Kai"  video was born!

Yes, we are talking about THAT Kai, the one who features in the Lunar Chronicles books by Marissa Meyer. The prince that befriends and falls in love with Cinder. The leader of the Eastern Commonwealth. The guy who is being manipulated by the evil queen.

Since becoming fans of kpop music, it's only natural that we start fancasting certain music idols into the roll of Prince Kai. In fact, some of them would make a perfect Kai. And so we couldn't help but share our thoughts.

So, watch our latest video here where we present to you our suggestions... taken from various kpop groups... and let us know if we came close to how you envision this character:




We would love to know what you think! Let us know with a comment here... or there! And if you have your own ideas of who would make a good Prince Kai... let us know that too! Also, what other Asian characters should we fancast? This video was too much fun to make so we need to do it again!