Books – Page 2 – Pen and Page Gals

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June 30, 2021

June Bookclub Recap: People We Meet On Vacation

BY SOPHIA photo via @latestbookcrush June is here and summer has officially arrived!! Can't you just smell the sunscreen and coconut in the air!? 🤩 #swoon. In any case, in celebration of the chillest season of the year, we chose People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry as our book club pick of choice. In this month's podcast episode, we not only discuss gush about why we loved this book, we talk about our individual experiences at Disneyland in the past month and also swap our most embarrassing/worst travel memories with each other. I'll be hones[...]

Books

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June 14, 2021

Review: Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez

photo via @peacelovebooksxo Abby Jimenez has become an auto-read/buy for me now, and her last book, "The Happily Ever After Playlist", was one of our book club picks! So when my library hold for her newest came available, I immediately became unavailable for all my other plans. I DEVOURED this book in literally one sitting, maybe with 15 minute pauses to make my kids kraft mac and cheese. But in short, I love love love loved this third installment in the "Friend Zone" series. "Life's Too Short" follows famous vlogger, Vanessa, as she suddenly finds herself[...]

Books

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June 10, 2021

Sophia’s Summer TBR Stack

BY SOPHIA School is out and summer is finally upon us! For the moms who like to kick back and read when life slows down, I've got you covered with a list of what's in my immediate TBR pile for this summer. From non-fiction, to chick lit, I have a wide range of genres to please even the pickiest of readers. running for my life by lopez lomong Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike-sponsored athlete on the U.S. Olympic Team. Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic[...]

Books, Episodes

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June 3, 2021

May Book Club Recap: King of Scars & Rule of Wolves

We've winded down the school year and jumped right into all the summer fun with our families. This episode, we chatted Mothers' Day and all our grand plans to get out this season. Then headed into what we thought would be our last trip through the Grishaverse with the King of Scars duology (King of Scars + Rule of Wolves)... but little did we know... Overall Rating: 3.5/5 What We Liked: Nikolai. Period.Picking up from all the perspectives in the Six of Crows duology, there are even more storylines to follow here, and Leigh Bardugo keeps it tense and[...]

Books, Lifestyle, Travel

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May 20, 2021

8 Dreamy Bookstores to Find Your Next Escape

Books are the best because they transport us to the new and fantastical and the nostalgic and familiar, without ever changing out of our jammies or leaving the comforts of home! But as we start to explore more after a year of literally staying at home, we are dreaming of our next great escape, physically and bibliophile...y. ;) So join us as we take this bookshop tour across the states and bookmark your faves for your next trip! Bart's Books / Ojai, California Book/Shop / Oakland, California Blue Bicycle Books / Charleston, South Carolina[...]

Books

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May 13, 2021

review: a bridge across the ocean by susan meissner

BY SOPHIA Okay so, even though Jensine & I are both self-proclaimed YA lovers, I do tend to branch out once in awhile and read things outside of that genre (such as The Guest List, for example). This author, Susan Meissner, was mentioned by a different book blogger that I personally follow and that blogger said that this book was a beautiful historical fiction mystery that she really enjoyed. You might find it hard to believe but when I'm not reading about fae and wolves, I LOVE historical fiction. I probably get a bit of it from my dad who is a big hi[...]

Books, Episodes

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April 30, 2021

april book club recap: six of crows & crooked kingdom

BY SOPHIA Ah, April. This month there were so many things to celebrate and we spent a good chunk of our podcast girl chat discussing all the fun things we did in the month of April (especially considering how depressing last April was, we both felt like we had some make-up celebrating to do). We gabbed about Jensine's birthday, our girls' weekend away, and ALL THE THOUGHTS on the tv show Shadow & Bone on Netflix. For our book club pick, we continued in the Grishverse theme and moved onto the Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom duology by Leigh Bardugo. Thi[...]

Books

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April 23, 2021

Book to Screen Adaptions

All my book besties know, the book is ALWAYS better. But we're giving some merits to a few of our favorite stories brought to life, so here are some excellent book to screen adaptions for when you want the feels but can eat snacks with both hands free. To All The Boys I've Loved Before / We've gushed about this series before, but you know it's special when we considered calling our podcast To All The Books We've Loved Before. Hunger Games / Twilight walked so Hunger Games could run... and they raaaaaan. Cue *this girl is on fire*. The Longest Ride /[...]

Books

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April 15, 2021

Rave: finlay donovan is killing it

BY SOPHIA Guys. It's been awhile since I've read a book that felt refreshing and different and wasn't YA/fantasy so trust me when I say that I was SO happy to finally get my hands on a copy of Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano. This book is a murder mystery as the cover says BUT, it's not your typical John Grisham type of novel, or even a mystery in the way that The Guest List (reviewed here) is. There is an underlying current of dark comedy to this story - think Sophie Kinsella type of heroine meets a murder mystery that she unwittingly gets t[...]

Books

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April 9, 2021

Spring Fling Reads

Spring is in the air, and we're here with some of our favorite spring fling reads for you to enjoy this season. Some are new, and some are tried and true and surprise surprise, most are YA! Let us know if you've read any of these before and how you liked them! The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab Historical Paris in the spring. Modern New York in the spring. What is more romantic than that? Oh, poetic writing and rich imagery to boot?! Count me in... This story starts a bit slow but is still superbly imaginative, spell-binding and an amazing[...]