So here's the thing, I loved how this book started off. My face was a mask of horror and laughter at the beginning. I loved Carlos and Nik. The biggest thing for me was the pacing which is why I didn't give this more than four stars. I think things moved way too fast. Maybe if we had everything unfold over three months I could see it, but this was in essence all done and dusted I think in about four weeks. Also I wanted an epilogue like how we got with "The Wedding Date." The ending was a little too abrupt for me. Guillory hits all of the romance boxes though, loved all of the secondary characters, and she manages to make you want to move to LA. We get appearances from Drew and Alexa (yes!) and the third book better showcase their wedding. Or I want a novella showcasing their wedding! Seriously!

"The Proposal" has Nikole Paterson (Nik) at a Dodgers game with her boyfriend of five months Fisher. We get insight into how Nik sees Fisher (just someone to pass the time with) and is horrified when she realizes that he put up a proposal to her on the Jumbotron (spelling her name wrong) and is one knee in front of her asking her to marry him. Did I mention this is in front of hundreds of strangers and Fisher's friends? Yeah. Poor Nik. At that point I was firmly on her side. When Nik rightfully says no (seriously I would have dumped beer on his man-bun) Fisher calls her names and she is left alone with hundreds of people staring at her. She's also getting tweets, text messages, and emails, and just like that, Nik goes viral. 

When Carlos and his sister Angela who are also at the game realize that Nik is about to get ambushed by a television crew, they pretend to be long last friends and haul her out of there. And just like that, wet get our meet-cute. Also don't get mad at me, this is the book's synopsis. 

From there though I really liked what Guillory does. We have Nik who is stunned and horrified calling her ride or die friends to meet at their favorite bar. She invites Carlos and Angela to thank them and though Nik isn't looking for someone new, her two besties encourage her to have a rebound with Carlos. 

Carlos who is attracted to Nik has enough sense to start hitting on her after what she has been through, but likes texting her. Soon enough they are talking all the time and then we get some sparks!

I liked the character of Nik. She's African American and I liked that a few times Carlos steps in it (she lets it go) with him not thinking she really knows about LA and good Mexican food. I think he's deceived she's bougie due to her dating a white guy with a man bun (we all make mistakes).

I think her being a freelance writer was interesting, but I really wanted to hear more about how she is able to pitch stories and get paid. Based on some of the black female writers I follow on Twitter, being freelance sounds hard as hell and you often deal with people stealing you stories/articles and not properly crediting you. 

I also thought at times, it was weird how very little Nik's parents are involved in her life. We also know Nik has two parents, but they don't even call her to discuss her viral moment. I would have had my aunt calling me in two seconds because my cousins can't help but run their mouths.

I also liked Nik's vulnerability about her writing due to her boyfriend from before being a jerk about it and constantly putting her down about it. I think Guillory taps into something about being an African American woman and not confident in yourself because you are constantly being told by society how you are not good enough. When we get to her and Carlos's first love scene and she is overwhelmed by how he is worshiping her body in essence made my toes tingle. Nik has messed up beliefs about relationships and love, so she is happy to just be friends who has sex with Carlos.

Carlos is a whole lot of complicated. He seemed like a know it all in the first book. In this one, he is a little uncertain and is doing his best to be there for his mother, sister, cousin, and aunt after the unexpected death of his father. Carlos feels like his family must be number one at all times, so he is not looking to date. He ends up becoming friends with Nik and starts seeking her out to just talk to and cook for when he's had a bad day.

I liked how Nik gets Carlos to open up about his dad and pushes for him to throw his family a bone and go to the doctor to get a check-up.

The cooking scenes were sweet to me and I loved how much pleasure he got out of giving Nik food and her appreciation of it made him want to do it more and more.

I also loved Nik meeting Drew and Alexa and both women going later, how could those two nit-wits not tell us the other women was African American. I know that some people who are not black won't get it, but that's always a question I am probing for when I ask friends who is going to be at this party, event, etc. I am still shaking my head at being the only black person at my friend's wedding two years ago. Somehow the photographer still managed to not get me in a single picture. Side-eye. 

The secondary characters are great, and I loved seeing Drew and Alexa again. 

The writing was really good and I have to say that I liked how Guillory works in how women are harassed on social media into why Nik decides to go out and take a women's self defense course with her two friends, Dara and Courtney.

The flow was good, but the pacing was off for me while reading this. As I said above, the book takes place I think over a four week period. I wish that Guillory had broken it into a 2-3 month period. It would have made more sense. 

The setting of the book is LA and Guillory has given us a LA that sounds genuinely fun to live in (cupcake shops, favorite bars, and taquerias oh my!).

The ending as I said above was a bit abrupt. This is a romance book though, so there is going to be a happy ending. 

ETA: I didn't realize this would fit a book task! Yes! 

Kwanzaa (December 26 - January 1): Read a book set in Africa or the Caribbean OR by an African, Caribbean, or African-American author OR a book with a green, red, or black cover.

Here we are again with body shaming, and shaming curly hair again as well (come on, what is so wrong with curly hair R.L Stine!?)

R.L Stine is huge with rape culture in his teen books. Yikes. I did not notice this when I read them as a preteen/teenager. It happens three times in this book. With the boys in the car, two guys in Chelsea's workplace and that scene with a drunk Sparks. (more details below) These are terrifying real-world situation that no person wants to be in. There is also an instance where they call another girl a tramp, so we've got slut shaming, too.

Body shaming:

Rape culture:

Slut shaming:

I still love these books; yeah, I have a blind spot for them. I know they are outdated and problematic by today's standards. I'm reading them through nostalgia-colored glasses.

Afterthought: I just want to point out that the main character is mentioned as being "chubby" and the bad guy says she is "dark and chubby. Not real pretty but she's okay." The book talks about "fixing" her up by straightening her hair, wearing makeup and losing a few pounds.

These 80s & 90s teen books probably made a lot of people feel bad. Or if you were like me, you would just overlook the problematic stuff; it just went right over my head.

The Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE is looking forward to release 10^th class exam routine in some days. Last week the board released a notification that the 10^th class exams of vocational subjects will start in February 2019 and the exam of core academic subjects will be held in March month. The exact date of exams has not been released yet and it will be available soon after release of CBSE 10^th Date Sheet 2019. The CBSE 10^th Time Table 2019 will be available only on board’s official website I.e. cbse.nic.in. In this session, the board is looking to conduct the 10^th class exams 15 days earlier than previous years. Usually the board start conducting exams from March 1^st week but this year it will start the exams from 2^nd half of March 2019. It releases Class 10^th exam schedule in December/January month every year but this year we are expecting that the CBSE 10^th Board Date Sheet 2019 will be available in October/November 2019. Students should prepare themselves for exams and visit official web portal of CBSE in routine.

The CBSE conducts exams of 10^th class every year and a large numbers of students appear on various examination centers in all over India. They all want to pass the examination and get promoted to next level. They know the value of class 10 marks because the score obtained in this class will help them to get admission in further courses. As per latest updates, near about 30 lakhs students filled the 10^th and 12^th class examination and looking forward to appear in exam.     

CBSE 10^th Board Time Table 2019 Download    

Visit official web portal of CBSE i.e. cbse.nic.in

Visit ‘Announcement’ section and search for CBSE 10^th Exam Schedule 2019 link.

Click on the time table link after finding it.

The CBSE 10^th Date Sheet 2019 will be in front of you on your device’s screen.

Download the time table and take a hard copy of it.

CBSE 10^th Date Sheet 2019, Class X Exam Routine

Students who are pursuing class 10^th from CBSE board will able to check CBSE 10^th Board Date Sheet 2019 in October/November month of this year. The exam schedule will also be updated here for students who filled 10^th examination forms from CBSE board. If you face any problem while checking CBSE 10^th Time Table 2019 then please visit us at https://sarkariresult.app/

Some of you might have seen in previous posts me talking about a "Blind Date With A Book," and a video showing me unwrapping them. In this post, I will post pictures and more details about the banned books! Some I might have talked about before, some might also prove hard to find reasons it was banned.

Here is the group photo. Were you surprised by any of them? I am not surprised they all turned out to be classics or that several were school read in my time (probably still school reads today?)

 Of Mice and Men

Two migrant field workers in California on their plantation during the Great Depression—George Milton, an intelligent but uneducated man, and Lennie Small, a bulky, strong man but mentally disabled—are in Soledad on their way to another part of California.

Banned or Challenged:

The Red Pony

The Red Pony is divided into four stories. Each story centers on a boy named Jody; the four together show him in a critical time of his childhood. In the first story, Jody is ten years old.

Banned or Challenged:

I had trouble finding out why other than what the paper says in the picture.

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

On its surface, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a straightforward story about a boy and a runaway slave floating down the Mississippi River. But underneath, the book—which was published in the U.S. on February 18, 1885—is a subversive confrontation of slavery and racism.

Banned or Challenged:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

An imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment on Saturday.

Banned or Challenged:

I had trouble finding more reasons, but it is probably clear that the reasons are similar to Huck Finn.

The Canterbury Tales

At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a company of twenty-nine pilgrims. The pilgrims, like the narrator, are traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host.

Banned or Challenged:

I couldn't find much info other than language, sexual innuendo, critical of powerful constituencies (the church)

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels Summary. Gulliver embarks on four separate voyages in Gulliver's Travels. There is a storm before every journey. All the four voyages add new perspectives to Gulliver's life and also give him new opportunities for satirizing the ways of England.

Banned or Challenged:

 Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck.

Banned or Challenged:

Le Morte d' Arthur

Le Morte d'Arthur is the tale of King Arthur. It begins with the formation of the Knights of the Round Table and follows the rise of King Arthur and his tragic fall. The story begins with Uther Pendragon, the King of England who lusts after Igraine, who happens to be the wife of the Duke of Tintagil.

Banned or Challenged:

I had a hard time finding more reasons other than what the paper in the photo says.

The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while he's telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium.

Banned or Challenged:

 To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout Finch lives with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. Scout spends her summers playing with Jem and their friend Dill, who visits his aunt in Maycomb each summer. The children become obsessed with Boo Radley, the reclusive neighbor rumored to have stabbed his own father in the leg with a pair of scissors.

Banned or Challenged:

The Reveal! Please excuse how awkward I am! Also I had some technical diffuculties at the end, so I am sorry that the video cuts off.