Now a Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy (ARC Review)

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Release Date: Tomorrow!!

Fandom and first love collide for Iris on the film set for her grandmother’s famous high-fantasy triology—perfect for readers of Fangirl!

Unlike the rest of the world, Iris doesn’t care about the famous high-fantasy Elementia books written by M. E. Thorne. So it’s just a little annoying that M. E. Thorne is her grandmother—and that Iris has to deal with the trilogy’s crazy fans.

When Iris gets dropped in Ireland for the movie adaptation, she sees her opportunity: if she can shut down production, the Elementia craze won’t grow any bigger, and she can finally have a normal life. Not even the rascally-cute actor Eamon O’Brien can get in her way.

But the crew’s passion is contagious, and as Iris begins to find herself in the very world she has avoided her whole life, she realizes that this movie might just be amazing…

I found myself quite witty in this so enjoy?

I’m so conflicted about this one, my bookish friends.

It had so many moments that I was dying/loving. But then there was so many moments that I just stared at the book, moved it slightly to the side, and side-eyed it.

I originally thought that Cori McCarthy jumped into my head like Osmosis Jones and somehow slithered down to my bookish heart and soul because this book is so me it hurts? Not only does it have two of my favorite Bastille songs in the after book playlist, it’s one giant ode to Florence + the Machine (another ultimate love) plus fandom life, an epic cover, FEMINISM, and an adorable ship, and IRELAND. Whenever a book is set/visits my home state or anywhere I have traveled, I instantly place it on my TBR at lightening bolt speed just like the Elementia book cover. This book went to literally all of the places I went in Ireland so I was one big blubbering Irish fangirl mess the entire book. I’m one of those sad little people that goes OMG I WENT THERE. I KNOW THAT DOLPHIN STATUE. So…imagine me doing this the entire book.

With all of this “omg, this book so Mandy” gushing, how did it go wrong? I think my issue was with the narrator, Iris. There was at times that I FELT for her. I got her, and I liked her. However, most of the time, I was like, omg, girl, chill. Her redemption arc took a bit far too long for me to get excited about her. She was Jaded Iris, and the things she was doing had me doing the buggy eyed, WHY, GIRL, WHY. She was so judgy of things -and yes, I get certain things since she did have something very traumatic happen to her and her brother- but I still feel like some of it was too much and I just got annoyed with her. Even when she made progress, it seemed like she took some steps back. I felt like she could have changed her mind about a lot of stuff a lot earlier on, and it just turned me off of her for a long time.

The side characters were good. I liked Ryder, and I felt he felt very realistic and had some deep psychology behind him. Eamon, Julian, and Shoshanna were decent side characters. Drunk Shoshanna was my favorite character of the entire novel. I felt they were all pretty dynamic, and they did feel realistic with their differences and flaws. They weren’t just 1D. Cate was interesting as well, and I think she provided a powerful, strong female role model in the novel.

The romance was cute. I dug the ship…although it was super instalove. I mean, it was intense, and it got a bit too into the cheese – even though I love me some cheese. There was so much doubting, too. I mean, I get you doubt the romance, but even when they expressing discuss the fact they’re in a relationship, I blink and Iris is all like, but wait, is he with me? I was like IDK. I THOUGHT HE WAS. IS HE NOT??? AM I ON AN ACID TRIP? It was quite cute, though, and there were some adorable feels to be had.

Let’s all take a moment and give a big hooray for the feminism that was broughttttttttttttttttttt in this novel. Okay, there might have been a few PSA moments, but Cori McCarthy BROUGHT THE FEMINISM. I love how she worked in the gender pay gap, how women do have to fight for work and roles that men get without an issue, and so much more. If fist pumps were a thing again and not used up all by the Jersey Shore peeps, I would be fist pumping here.

The plot was pretty fun. It’s a book of self discovery – about finding yourself, your passion, your voice, and who you can be. I love these kind of stories, and the movie set infused with parts of the story and adventures were fun. Sometimes, it did kind of feel all over the place and like, the book could have really ended in a few parts and then I looked up and discovered I had 100 pages to go. I loved the ending, though, and overall, it was a fun story of self discovery with some deep moments.

A book within a book? Yeah, Belle is all over this one.

McCarthy always has fantastic writing (um, please forever check out her book, You Are Here which is an ultimate love), and she infused so much goodness in this story. Although I kind of wanted a bit more description of the scenery since while I had it in my mind from seeing it, I’m not entirely sure that it translated as well. She has an ease in her writing, though, that makes her a true name in contemporary.

Overall, I did enjoy this story for the most part. The only real issue I had with the story was the narrator – but there really was so many great parts to the story. I don’t think I’m ever going to find a more me story again – although last year brought me Sasquatch, Love, and Other Imaginary Things – so I just got to soak this all in. Overall, I thought it was fun, and that outweighed the sketchy moments. Three crowns and a Belle rating!

UN Human Right #23: Workers’ Rights

Find out more about the #30daysofHumanRightsBPR Blog Challenge here!

Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for their work, and to join a trade union.

Lol, Sha apparently thought I needed the kids’ version of this website. XD

I wasn’t quite sure if this was going to work for this one, but Sha was like, well, they’re working on a movie set *shoves right at me* But it actually worked out perfectly, since McCarthy decided to take on the gender roles in the workplace (Sha saw thingsssssssss…guys, we might be dealing with a book psychic here). McCarthy especially brings up the fact that both the director, Cate, and the actress, Shoshanna, are passed up on jobs because of their gender and their sexual orientation. How many great female directors can you name compared to all of the men directors out there? She didn’t bring up gender pay gap, but she brings up some very interesting points about the different opportunities men and women are afforded in the workplace.

What do you think? Do you have any books that are just total ‘you’ books? What do you think about the right for today – what do you think about the way the book handled it? Let’s discuss in the comments below!