May: Never Have I Ever (Tristinn's Review)

"All good things must actually start in order to come to an end"

Okay, so that's not exactly how the famous mantra goes but it's how I feel at the moment in regards to this blog. My life since May has been embarrassingly busy, especially for one who believes in taking a moment here and there to stop and enjoy life. I would, however, like to defend myself by saying that since May I have: graduated from my Master's Program, traveled to Brazil for the World Cup, started a new job, gone to two weddings (one of which I was in), and am preparing to be gone the next two weekends on family vacations. I have also managed to keep up with my Monthly Reading during that time, just not my Monthly Blogging. But I am here today to fix that!

May's book was a delightful comedy that was pretty timely since it chronicles a 25-year-old who has never had a boyfriend. Katie Heaney's semi-autobiography, Never Have I Ever: My Lie (So Far) Without a Date, is part whimsical, part ridiculous. She spends the book charting her love life, beginning in first grade and moving through to graduate school. As we watch her grow up, we enjoy learning about all her crushes and loves, although if I'm being honest, we love the nostalgia she evokes by describing a quintessential 90s childhood even more. One of my favorite laugh-out-loud moments was when she described her deep crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas only to find out that he was NOT the voice of Simba on the Lion King, as she had once thought. If that reference doesn't make sense to you, don't worry. All it means is that you probably weren't a girl growing up in the 90s.

Katie's ups and downs as she battles boys and her own self-doubt are truly roller-coastery. A favorite low point in the roller-coaster ride was when Katie and her friends decided to sign up for online dating. Once her profile was up and active, she began to categorize the types of atrocious emails she received. Bad, bad online dating emails make for some pretty funny reading.

At the end of the book, Katie says that she doesn't really know what's going to happen in the future, whether she will date or not and what that will actually look like. She does, however, acknowledge that she is in a place where she truly enjoys herself and wouldn't want to be any other way. That is about as good as it gets - being your true self and being HAPPY with that true self.

WILLIAMS SCALE RATING: Pop Rocks {Lots of sparkling, giggling, and pzazz}