UK Recap Fit For a Queen // Books Abroad

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

While I didn't read that much while I was away, I did manage to get a few books read via planes, trains, and late nights. I'm also very happy to report, with the exception of one, all the books I read were freaking great! When I travel, I tend to load my kindle with fun romances or adult contemporary or review books from fav authors I've been saving which did not changed for this trip. My first choice books for this trip were STILL ME by Jojo Moyes, HOW TO WALK AWAY by Katherine Center, MARRY IN SCANDAL by Anne Gracie, FATAL THRONES by an assorted array of authors, and some Julie Garwood rereads!  Hope you enjoy!

Jumping For Jojo// One Plus One

If you've been to this blog before you know my deep, deep love for Jojo Moyes and her books. Her writing and her stories gnaw at the deepest part of my soul and her characters burrow their way into my heart and take up residence. There is not a Jojo Moyes book that I have met that I haven't wanted to be BFFs with. I can honestly say I love each and every one of them but in a different way and that is the magic that is Jojo to me. Each book is so uniquely different yet amazing in its own special way.

My stop on the Jump for Jojo week of love highlights One Plus One. While I said above I love all her books, One Plus One struck a chord with me that buzzed pleasantly for a long time after finishing the final page. Jess is such a fantastic character and mother and her children are on another level of love. While I love Jess, and Ed isn't too bad himself, it was Tanzie and Nicki that stole my freaking heart. There is a beautiful message of accepting yourself, finding your tribe, and letting your freak flag fly...and all this is learned on a down and dirty road trip. So to honor my stop on the Jojo Express, I'm talking about road trip necessities. 

Many of you know I'm a travel nurse and have worked in California the last year-ish and because of this I have driven across the country...twice. So here are my Road Trip Must-Haves

1. Epic Playlist

Whether you jam out to Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Carrie Underwood, or Britney Spears, have your favorite pumped up songs ready to go. The right music makes everything better.

 My road trip to Cali was all about Lorde's album and my journey home was all things 1989 :)

2. Snacks

My personal favorite must-have is Diet Coke, Strawberry Crystal Light packets to mix with water, and Cheetos. I have zero room to eat healthy and sorry not sorry I consider it a free pass to eat like garbage.

Ok fine, I do sometimes supplement with bananas, too.

3. A Map

Now let's say you're driving through Colorado and the ONLY road that travels East--West is closed for 9 hours...a map would be helpful to find an alternative route...or to realize there is no alternative route and to find a cafe to fall asleep in *cough* sit in for the foreseeable future.

I still hate you Colorado highway system.

4. A Companion

Not a must-have but a nice addition. My first cross country excursion I went with my good friend Tre and I would have rather gone by myself. This fucking fool was a series of unfortunate events and I wasn't afraid to tell him. The fact that we are still friends today shows how close we are because anybody else would have dropped me like a bad habit and vice versa. 

The fact that we're still friends is a miracle on its own

5. Indulging in Local Cuisine

Don't forget to take advantage of your surroundings and eat at a small town diner or some dive off the highway. More than likely it's great food...or it's awful and you have a good story to tell. Win-win either way.

Massive waffles in the shape of Texas and In-N-Out immediately after crossing the Cali border

6. An Open Mind

More likely than not, shit will hit the fan. I had better luck on my second cross country excursion than my first but an open mind is your best friend when things don't go as planned. Like when you're travel companion forgets his wallet back in Wisconsin; when the only highway in Colorado shuts down for 9 hours, when your (dumbass) companion books the hotel in Vegas for the wrong night, stuff like that! I am not the best at this and had more than a few rage-worthy meltdowns so...do as I say, not as I do.

Relaxing aka falling asleep at a cafe in the middle of nowhere Colorado

And don't forget to check out my reviews of all of Jojo's other books!

One Plus One

Me Before You

The Last Letter To Your Lover

Ships of Brides

Silver Bay

The Girl You Left Behind

AND don't forget to check out all the other stops on the Jump For Jojo Blog Event!

April 13 - Me Before You - Hello, Chelly

April 14 - One Plus One - Belle of the Literati

April 15 - The Girl You Left Behind - So Obsessed With

April 16 - The Last Letter From Your Lover - Paperiot

April 17 - Ship of Brides - The Casserole

April 18 - Silver Bay - Alexa Loves Books

But that's not all!! We also have a giveaway for one lucky winner and their choice of Jojo book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Importance of Timing Part II

You guys...YOU GUYS. You all KNOW how much I LOVE all of Jojo Moyes books, right?! So imagine my surprise (more like utter shock) when the amazing Jaime over at Fiction Fare made me aware of a signing that was taking place no more than 20 minutes from where I'm living in San Diego. OH MY GOSH LET THE FREAK OUT BEGIN. Never in my life did I think I would ever have the opportunity to meet her because she is legit one of my all-time favorite authors. Her books touch me on a level that is always personal in some way no matter what the story is. Her stories are magic and she weaves the ordinary into the extraordinary and I cannot ever get enough of her books.

SO! I wanted to do a fun recap of the event at Warwick's Bookstore in La Jolla, California and give a quick and dirty break down of some of the fun facts I learned about Jojo Moyes. Oh, and in case you were wondering...her accent is absolutely lovely and she is so kind in real life. Really. 

Fun Facts I Learned About Jojo Moyes

Why did she write ONE PLUS ONE? 

Reason 1: She wanted to write a story about a good mother. She said literature has too many bad examples or they treat mothers horribly. Such as fairy tales (The Moms are always dead), Harry Potter (Harry's Mom is dead), The Goldfinch (The Mom is dead), and Pride and Prejudice (the Mom in meddling). 

Reason 2: She also wanted to write a "dirty, sexy, funny, great road trip story." Direct quote. I absolutely loved this because the words dirty and sexy to describe a road trip makes the story sound illicit...then you realize they have two children and a big, dirty dog with them...maybe THAT'S why dirty was an adjective...

She Listens To Input From Her Fans

MILD SPOILER ALERT FOR ONE PLUS ONE

When debating the fate of Norman, she tweeted wondering if she should kill the dog and the overwhelming response from Twitter the next morning was NO…she found it ironic that nobody cares when she kills a human (save one human) but they all care about the dogs. In fact, she once got an email from a reader stating she would never read her books again for the demise of a dog in SHIP OF BRIDES (she promises that isn't a spoiler) 

Her Inspiration For ME BEFORE YOU?

She has personal experience with the question of quality of life thus pushing her to write ME BEFORE YOU and a young athlete recently had befallen a life-changing injury and opted for physician-assisted suicide.

How did she write MBY?

She said ME BEFORE YOU was the easiest book she ever wrote. 

I love that.

Will (see what I did there?) there be more MBY?

Yes, kinda! It's going to be a movie!!! AND it had a female director AND producer AND A-list actors reading for the role of Will...EEP!

Where Did the Story for THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND Came From

The Girl You Left Behind was inspired by a true story of an American reporter who was asked to watch over  a warehouse that contained 1/3 of Europe's stolen art during the liberation of Dachau. So that part in the book? True story.

The Ending of an Era?

She wanted to write The Last Letter To Your Lover because a younger friend or family member (can't remember) never received a love letter and she thought her generation might be the last of the receiver of love letters 

True Life Inspiration...

Jojo says she gets up at 6 am to write every morning...her husband wakes up at 5:55 am every morning to make her coffee, prop her head behind a pillow, and plop her computer on her lap…if that isn’t true love…no wonder she writes such great love stories. 

My favorite fact of the night AND the reason why I absolutely love all her books?

She could get a novel out of any human being she talked for a short amount of time. She says that we all have a story to tell...isn't that just lovely? Ordinary into extraordinary, what did I say?

Seriously though, this was one of the best nights ever and such an amazing event. It was well-organized and just such a great signing. I'm not lying when I say Jojo Moyes is such a nice person to meet and it was an amazing experience to tell her in person how much her books mean to me...even if I was spazzing...just a little. Thank you so incredibly much to Warwick's the event and I can't wait to come back for some more books :)

If you haven't read any of her books yet (what in the actual hell are you waiting for?)
don't forget to check out my VIP reviews for...

The Last Letter To Your Lover
Me Before You
One Plus One
The Girl You Left Behind

The 'Right Thing' Is Never Black and White

"Just for carrying on, really.
Sometimes, my darling girl, that's heroic in itself."

--Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction and Contemporary

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Pages: 384

Publication Date: August 20th, 2013

Source: Bought

Find on Goodreads

Previous Books in Series: Me Before You & One Plus One

Goodreads Description

 What happened to the girl you left behind?

In 1916, French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything - her family, reputation and life - in the hope of seeing her true love one last time.

Nearly a century later and Sophie's portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting's dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened...

In The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for the thing they love most - whatever the cost.

The Story 

YOU GUYS!! Jojo Freakin' Moyes. I just can't! I KNOW she was an auto-buy author for me before but this cements it even further! The overall story is just amazing! I don't even know how to accurately describe how f'ing great her book is. The flow of the story and the characterss roles and interactions are just this perfect ebb and flow of storytelling. When I think back on this book I just want to have a big sigh. Like, 'ah' this is just such a good story.

The Characters 

Once again, Jojo takes seemingly ordinary people and turns them into something extraordinary. This is my absolutely favorite trait of hers as a writer. She makes the norm into something unique and amazing. She writes real people and real stories that could happen to people. Granted, the situations they are put in do not happen to everyone but that is what is so great. Crazy stuff happens to normal people and she takes these situations and explores it into these epic stories of conflict, love, morality, choices, EVERYTHING! Liv and Paul and Sophie are people that are living their lives just trying to do the right thing and make the best of their situations. The characters are complex and layered and I want to know these people in real life. They are simply amazing.

The History 

Sophie's part of the story takes place in France in WWI and it grabbed my attention immediately. It is laced with tension because German soldiers have taken over their small town. Sophie is a woman running a hotel and just trying to survive. She makes the choices she does in order to protect herself and her family and it is not an easy choice at all. Her story broke my freakin' heart and I love love LOVE her. She is strong and capable and a really tough heroine. She is a pillar of courage and I love that she always strives to do the right thing.

The Romance 

While I loved what we get from Sophie and her husband Edouard, Liv and Paul stole the show for me. I loved that they were both people who were starting over. The build-up during their courtship is subtle and slow-burning and tension-filled and I just LOVED it. I was rooting for these characters from the very beginning.

The Morals 

Jojo Moyes can't write a book without making you think. She takes subject matters that are controversial and discussion-inducing and makes you look at your own thoughts and beliefs. No spoilers but let's just say the topic of this book really made me question my own thoughts on the topic and what I believe is right or wrong. You'll just have to read it to know what I'm talking about. Sorry...or am I?...

The Behavior 

Again, this is not really a 'Beast' because I really loved everything in this. So I'll make the behavior of the people are Liv a critique even though it was realistic. I hated that people treated her like a thief. This poor woman was trying to get over the death of her husband and wanting to keep a happy memory. Even the people who were supposed to be her friends turned their backs. It broke my heart but made me love Liv even more. She, like Sophie, is a tough cookie who doesn't take any shit. Y'all know how much I love this in a female.

VIP

I am foaming at the mouth for the rest of Jojo's books to be published in the States so I can own all the pretty paperbacks to display on my shelf. Jojo Moyes=Auto-buy author. Hands down.