Some of my favorite things: reading, writing, the two coolest guys on the planet (my husband and son), my bicycle (my husband built it for me), Facebook (I'm fairly certain it's an addiction at this point), iced coffee (hazelnut), and music (LOVE Sunset Sons, the 1975, Dredg, the xx, Balance and Composure, Teenage Bottlerocket, and Manchester Orchestra). I am so nervous because this is a book I really want everyone to try out, but I feel my soul will break if someone hates it. Kate was the “bright side” throughout the entire book, making friends with people who needed it, trying to help those who couldn’t be brave enough for themselves. My favorite part of the book was seeing all the lives Kate touched and brightened, and I say this with the most sincerity I have: I truly am looking forward to Gus’s story. I will say that the strongest part of the story was the last quarter of the book, which had me in tears.

Before you revoke my woman card or force me to burn my bra and roar, it's kind of a common occurrence with female heroines.

Before long, Keller has let Kate into the private aspects of his life that he doesn't share with others. And when it does, it feels less like facing a gust of wind on a winter day than getting swamped by a frozen wave in the dead of January. Kate Sedgwick has faced many adversities in her young life thus far; having a mother who was not so motherly and in addition a sister Grace, to care for all on her own. Not that I didn’t love how refreshing her character was but sometimes I felt like the author was laying it on too thick with all the sarcasm it became an overkill.

You know that feeling that you get when you read the first line or the first chapter of the book and you just know you are going to love what you're reading and never want to put it down? Having never opened his heart up it is unsurprising that Kate manages to break down his walls and defences. I inhaled Bright Side in one sitting and when it was over, I was left staring into space and I’m not really sure how to adequately convey my thoughts and express my feelings. And that is all I can say about this book…if I say anymore it will give too much away and that would be a travesty.Gus needed his best friend, he needed the push and she was always there for him, just like he was for her.

That they're never really standing still (I know that sounds kind of like a contradiction to what I said about pacing, but I swear it's not). If you're looking for a hit you in the feels yet highly uplifting read, I urge you to pick up Bright Side . Seriously, it was a day by day account of a 19 year old (overly positive) girl starting college in a new place. The writing was blatant and lacking in subtlety, the characterization was poor, and the entire thing was emotionally manipulative. When I got like 85% through this book I was worried that I was predicting so much was going to make it so I didn't cry, but nope it didn't/ I was a blubbering mess by the end.

Bad things in life happens to all of us, but all of this put together in the manner by which it was amounted to heavy-handed, artificial drivel. She makes it widely known that she doesn’t like “fancy coffee” and is a black coffee purist, judging all frou frou coffee drinkers.