Hello hello! Happy April!! Here’s a recap of my week:
Things I Read
Books
If you’re looking for a book to read, try this list of contemporary romance recs, this list of other fiction recs, or this list of non-fiction recs. I also track everything I read on Goodreads.
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez: I still cannot really focus on a book so I picked up a rom com, and I read this in two sittings so it kind of worked. I’ve read Abby Jimenez’s first three books and liked them, so I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while. It about Alexis, a career driven ER doctor carrying the pressure of a serious family legacy, and Daniel, the mayor of a tiny town his family has lived in for decades. They meet and like each other but know from the start they cannot be together because their lives are incompatible, and that’s the whole conflict of the book. I liked these characters and their relationship, though I did get sort of tired by the amount of time it took them (her, specifically) to figure out how to make their relationship work. This was perfectly fine, did the trick of getting me to finish a book. Now I’m gonna read her next book, Yours Truly.
Articles
Uncovering the higher truth of Jay Shetty: This may not be fair, but any time I see someone leveraging any type of religious related content to enrich themselves to the tune of millions of dollars, I am immediately skeptical. It just seems to me to be inherently antithetical to the principles of most religions to take money from vulnerable people in order to enrich yourself, but idk I’m not the Pope. I am also extremely skeptical of basically anyone in the “self help” space and any type of pop psychology. More often than not, I think these people take advantage of people who really need help and charge them way too much money to spew not at all useful “advice” (see also: Rachel and Dave Hollis charging people thousands of dollars for marriage classes and then surprise announcing a divorce out of nowhere). All that to say, I’ve never paid much attention to Jay Shetty but I wasn’t really surprised to read this article about how a lot of the stuff he says about his past is maybe not on the level. He’s always very vague in talking about religion, and I learned from this article that he grew up as a member of Iskcon/Hare Krishna. That’s a cult, babe! There’s all kinds of stuff in here about how the stories he’s told about his life don’t really make sense timeline wise, about how he’s charging people thousands of dollars for his “certification school” that’s structured very similarly to an MLM, about how a lot of his work is plagiarized, etc. This is not the type of person I will be looking to for life advice, but that’s just me.
Things I Watched
TV
If you’re looking for a show to watch, try this list.
Good Trouble (Hulu): This show recently ended after five seasons. I’ve been watching it for a few years and I really liked it! It’s about a group of twenty somethings who live in a communal living space. This show was so diverse— it covered so many different types of people and storylines and issues. This had the vibe of a frothy teen drama but a little more grown up. It’s technically a spin off of The Fosters, but I never watched that and it did not matter. This definitely went a little off the rails at the end, but I still would recommend overall. The ending was abrupt but satisfying enough, and I think this would make a great mindless binge. If you like shows like The Bold Type or were really into teen dramas in the 2010s then I’d say you should try this.
Young Royals (Netflix): This also just ended after three seasons, and I really loved this show. This is about the Price of Sweden getting sent to a boarding school, and what happens when he falls in love with another student. Each season is a quick six episodes and every time a new one came out I just binged it straight through. The music in this show was SO good, I discovered so many good songs from this. The central love story is very cute but there’s also a lot of fun and dramatic side plots and characters. This is like if Heartstopper was edgy, or if Sex Education was grittier. Just a very good teen drama. I recommend! It would be super quick to binge.
Movies
Runaway Bride (Paramount+): Continued my Julia Roberts bender with this, which I had not seen in years. This was a Julia and Richard Gere reunion (nine years after Pretty Woman), where she plays a woman who is famous for leaving men at the altar (a bit iconic of her honestly) and he plays a journalist writing a story about her. The plot of this is so absurd but this is still so fun. The small town they’re in has the best vibes and all the side characters are hilarious. Richard and Julia have insane chemistry, the absurd plot doesn’t even matter because they are just so good together. I like Pretty Woman more but this is still very good.
Mystic Pizza (Tubi): Continuing the trend!! I hadn’t seen this since I was in high school and I think it’s so fun. It follows Julia as Daisy, her sister, and their friend, through one summer after high school. This came out in 1988 and is one of the earliest movies in Julia’s career, which is crazy because she is just so charismatic. This is not my favorite of her movies but I do think it’s fun and worth a watch. It’s very 80s, in a good way not a problematic way.
Things I Bought
You can read about my full skincare routine and favorite products here. If you need a sunscreen recommendation, try this list.
Abercrombie jeans: It took me a few tries, but I found a pair of baggy jeans that I like. These are so comfortable and I love how they fit, and now that I’ve figured out my size I’ll probably buy more pairs in different washes. They’re on sale right now!
Gap trousers: I love these so much. They are SO comfortable, super stretchy and lightweight. I bought them in black and then liked them so much that I bought the green ones, too. They are great for work but also easy to dress down. Also on sale right now!
One Last Thing…
I loved this video essay about RuPaul’s disastrous attempt at running an online book store and his memoir and rainbow capitalism.
That’s it for me! I hope you all have a good week.
TTYL,
Emily