MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche

I love love loved this book. It really resounded with me, especially because all of my high school friends had moved away from home, and then I did, too, two weeks ago. So I find myself in a new city with like two friends besides my boyfriend, which lends itself to a pretty lonely existence, especially now since I am all graduated with my MLS from UNT and don't have homework to keep me busy. ALSO, my job just moved, and I was one of the last to come into this new coworker group, and everyone seems to have their own friends already and aren't interested in me, or making more, or something. ANYWAY, about the book and not ME, the author chronicles her year-long mission to go on 52 girl-dates, as she calls them. She goes through all the different methods and ways she used to meet people and make friends, and it is really comprehensive, going from friends of friends to rent-a-friend (which is crazy, IMO, and super sketchy). Also interspersed are factoids on the science of meeting and making friends, which was really interesting. I definitely recommend this!

A Little F'd Up: Why Feminism Is Not a Dirty Word by Julie Zeilinger

I must say, I am very impressed that Zeilinger is 19/20 years old and wrote this. I had to get that out of the way. So, basically, this book is a great overview of feminism, including a little more than an overview, but not in-depth, discussion of the history of feminism, like the first, second, and third waves and the big players of each movement. I personally really enjoyed that, even though I am not a big fan of history, but because I am pretty new to this whole feminism thing and didn't know the waves and what each one did, etc etc. I'd recommend this for anyone wanting to dip their toe into feminism or just wanting to know what it's all about. Unfortunately, I do have the same complaint about this book as I did with Jessica Valenti's: what is with all the cursing??? Are you doing it to be tough, or break gender roles, or what? It doesn't matter if it's a male or female or whoever, I just do not appreciate all the cursing in these books.

Hooked: A Thriller About Love and Other Addictions by Matt Richtel

I remember when this book was added to the library in Kelso (way back when in like 2006), but it was my first book to check out at Fort Vancouver! The cover was always alluring...maybe you can see why. So anyway, it is about Nathaniel ("Nat," a journalist) and how a mysterious lady who looks like his dead ex-gf (Annie) from 4 years ago passes by his table at a cafe and leaves a note warning him that it will explode soon and he must leave. He is more intrigued by the woman, since Annie's body was never found after she disappeared on a boat, than by the note, and ended up leaving the cafe anyway after her. The second he stepped out of the cafe, everything went boom, and he and a waitress (Erin) are the only ones to survive. Everything is super mysterious and Nat is desperate to find Annie (if she really is alive and who he thought he saw) since he is still deeply in love with her. Things turn sour quickly when he becomes friends with Erin and she tells him about one of her friends that died and his computer addiction. One thing leads to another, and soon Nat and Erin are the number one suspects of the cafe explosion while also trying to understand what is on Erin's dead friend's computer that made him lose his mind. The entire time I read this, I knew there was something I was missing...that the author was for sure holding something back from me! And of course there was. I won't spoil it for you.