Books Review

A Book Review: S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On)

Feeling stuck in life? Paul McGee offers steps to move forward following the six principles in his book, S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On).  As an international speaker and performance coach, McGee is passionate about helping people change their mindset, choose to be more proactive, and create their own path to a better and more fulfilling life. McGee offers training to organizations and schools not only in Great Britain but also around the world. In fact, he visited 33 countries to spread the word about S.U.M.O. 

Takeaways

• It’s not the event, but our response to that event influences our emotions. We can choose to go ballistic when someone cuts the line or to take a deep breath and deal with the situation peacefully.

• S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On) has six principles:

 – Change your T-shirt. 

      Remove your victim mentality and wear accountability to forge ahead. 

 – Develop fruity thinking. 

   Be aware of every thought that comes to your mind and choose the ones that promote self-growth. 

 – Hippo time is OK. 

     When you don’t get the results that you want, it’s okay to feel “mad, bad, or sad” and wallow in negative emotions. Just beware in using this time. The longer you stay in it, the harder it is to bounce back. 

 – Remember the beachball. 

     Consider the different perspectives of other people. What you see from your standpoint may be different from what other people see on their end. 

 – Learn Latin.

      Remember the Latin phrase,  Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Don’t let procrastination stop you from reaching your goals. 

 – Ditch Doris Day

         Doris Day sang the popular song Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) which was released in 1956. The song is about leaving our dreams to fate, whatever will be, will be. But McGee disagrees. The quality of our life depends on our choices and we can choose a path to success. 

My Thoughts 

S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move on) can be summarized in five words: fixed mindset versus growth mindset. 

A fixed mindset is based on a belief that our skills, talents, and abilities are already pre-determined and can’t be changed. On the other hand, the growth mindset hinges on the idea that we can expand our skills, talents, and abilities. 

The six principles basically point to these two. Take, for example, the first principle – Change your t-shirt. A victim mindset is a fixed mindset while taking accountability for your future indicates having a growth mindset. 

Moreover, the fourth principle characterizes having a growth mindset. Remembering the beachball is all about respecting other’s perspectives, an acknowledgment that there are many possible sides to a story, not just our version. 

Lastly, seizing the day means grabbing the chance to do something for self-growth. With a can-do attitude, it’s possible to create a successful and happy life by choosing thoughts and actions that help us grow and move forward. 

The six S.U.M.O principles can easily be applied by asking yourself if the action you are going to take will make you grow or not. 

Furthermore, one surprising principle presented in this book is the Hippo Time, “ the bridge between Shutting Up and Moving On.” I thought wallowing in negativity after a failure is a bad practice but McGee encourages us to have a Hippo Time to experience “emotional lows and be honest about those feeling” which I think helps us to have clarity and insights that are essential in planning the next steps to take. 

For me, this book is for those who have just started delving into self-growth. The principles are easy to follow and the author also provides questions that would make you think about your life. 

3.5/5

Discussion Questions

1. When you first read the title, what came to your mind?

2. What are the six principles of S.U.M.O?

3. Which of the six principles speaks to you the most?

4. In what areas of your life would you apply these principles?

5. What questions would you ask the author?

Further Information

Title: S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On)

Author: Paul McGee

Genre: Self-Help

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Capstone; 10th edition (April 9, 2015)

Publication Date: April 9, 2015

Print length: 203 pages

ASIN: B00WBIA4JQ

Quotes

    “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”

    These words by Dr. Seuss flashed to my face the fact that I still don’t know the real essence of fun and the right ways to have fun. With my childhood experiences and challenges growing up, I became overly serious about life and work, leaving me exhausted and anxious, putting in motion the following questions in my head: How do people relax? Why do some people seem so happy despite hardship? How do we have fun? To get the bottom of it, I  perused The Power of Fun by Catherine Price. Even though I had to go through tons of anecdotes, I was still able to get the important lessons about true fun.

    Like me,  Price also wondered about the true meaning of fun, hence the book. She is an award-winning science journalist and speaker and the person behind ScreenLifeBalance.com which aims to provide people ways on how to lessen their screen time and increase their time with their family and friends. She also authored the book How to Break Up with Your Phone.

Here are some insights I gained from The Power of Fun:

• There are two kinds of fun: true fun and fake fun.
• True fun has three elements: playfulness, connection,  and flow.
• Judgment gets in a way of having true fun.
• While technology has numerous benefits, it can be a tool of distraction especially now that we consume a lot of content from social media and other apps on our phones.
• We can have fun by making space for it.

    To illustrate her message, she shared stories of people from different walks of life from the beginning of the book until the last chapter. This is what I noticed about self-help books written by entrepreneurs, advocates, and speakers. They include a lot of studies and anecdotes in addition to their own stories that expand their books to hundreds of pages. I have to push myself to read these stories because I know they could help me understand what the author is trying to say but, honestly, it was not that fun at all. Good thing, I don’t give up on books for I know I could learn something from them.

    The Power of Fun did change the way I look at fun. Price said that true fun is the point where playfulness, connection, and flow meet. She encourages the reader to consider if the activity has these three elements to experience genuine fun. This is the most important message for me. She also has a lot tips on how to have fun and keep at it that I find helpful.I am thankful that I didn’t stop reading this book.

    What do you do for fun? 

Happy New Year! It’s January 1, 2025 and it means it’s time to set our reading goals. 

Over the years, the way people read has changed, especially when the Internet came. Reading books is even more memorable and exciting when reading websites and apps appear. One of them is Goodreads, a social cataloging website. Millions of readers worldwide use Goodreads to record their books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. One of its features is the reading goals: every New Year when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st (Pacific Standard Time), you can set the number of books you want to read for the year. 

My Reading Journey

I started reading books seriously in 2020 but it wasn’t until 2021 that I began setting reading goals on Goodreads. In 2024, I am grateful that I reached my goal of 50 books; in fact, I read more than 50 books. What I like about setting goals in Goodreads is that I can adjust the number of books I want to read that year without pressure and judgment. I changed my 2024 reading goals several times within the year, from 50 to 30, then 40, until I reverted it to the original number, 50. For the past 4 years, I’ve been hitting 40-60 books per year and if you told me about this before 2021, I wouldn’t believe you. 

I have loved reading books ever since I was a child and reading is like connecting with my inner child. I am so glad that I found my way to reading books voraciously again. But, reading 50 books and more can be challenging especially when the year ends in a few weeks, and the fear of not hitting my goal is bothersome. That’s why, I am changing my strategy this year.

My 2025 Reading Goals and Strategies

This year, I will slow down in reading books to enjoy the stories or the ideas more, have more time to gather my thoughts, reflect more on the lessons I learned, and curate my book reviews. 

Instead of 50 books, I aim for at least 25 books so as not to get pressured into hitting my reading goals by the end of the year. This is a great relief for me. However, I will still try to reach 50 books if I can. 

One of the things that I’d also like to do is to get to know the author of the book I am reading.  In this way, I can garner more insights about the topic or the story by knowing the author’s background, motivations, and any other interesting details. I think this will make my reading experiences more memorable and fun.  

Why These Goals Matter

Reading is an important part of life because it connects me to my past and guides me to the future. 

I grew up knowing that my grandmother had two big shelves of books in her living room. My siblings and I would grab any books even though we didn’t know how to read. We sometimes brought them home,  just looked at the pictures, and even drew on the pages, something I feel guilty about now as I look back on it. I also started loving stories at the time. My uncles and cousins who were active church teachers would read Bible stories to us such as Jonah and the Whale, Noah’s Ark, and Daniel in the Lion’s Den. Books and stories are close to my heart. When I read, I am connected to my inner child who enjoys literary activities. 

After I graduated from the university, got a job, and started a family, life became so hectic. Reading books was pushed down to the bottom of the list of things to do. Then, the pandemic happened in 2019 when my anxiety levels went through the roof and I needed something that would help me divert my attention from the things I couldn’t control. This was the reason why I went back to reading and dabbled in writing book reviews even though I was shrouded by doubts about how I could do it. Well, everything can be learned, can’t it? And I am not aiming for becoming an influencer–just a book lover and and risk taker. I learn a lot of things from books and I wanted to share my thoughts, hence, this blog. I also permitted myself to write badly and just be myself. In a natural progression of things, you get better when you keep doing one thing, and I could say, I write better now than before, and this is something that I am grateful for. There’s personal growth after four years of reading books and writing book reviews. 

Setting my reading goals every year helps me reach my other goals which are staying connected to my inner child, gaining knowledge on how to manage my thoughts and myself to combat anxiety, and improving my reading and writing skills. 

Staying Accountable and Realistic

Okay, now that I have set my goals, what would happen next? My response to this question is more of what I feel. I am a bit scared and doubtful. 

My life is not all about reading books, sharing on social media about my reading experiences, and writing reviews, I also have my responsibilities at home and work. But I am thankful to my 2020 self because she started the habit of reading that I couldn’t easily shake off. My day feels incomplete and uncomfortable if I don’t read for at least 30 minutes. It’s a balancing act that needs a lot of practice, which I have been doing since 2020, so I believe I could push through the challenges and reach my goals. 

This year, I will use two book cataloging apps, Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I am excited to try new things to enrich my reading life. 

For me, reading is fun, cathartic, and life-saving. I learned a lot of lessons from fiction and nonfiction books that offer different perspectives on life that could guide me to know myself more and teach me how to live a better life. This is one of the benefits of having a reading life and this can be sustained by setting goals every year. It can be challenging for me to reach these goals but, remembering the other reasons why I am doing this, I can make this happen. 

    Byrd Nash shows how three siblings got over their troubled past in her book, A Spell of Rowans, a mystic, magical realism about family, dark magic, and murder.   

    The author brings us to a small town unknowingly gripped by the surreptitious, evil business run by Rachel Rowan. When she died, the Rowan siblings returned, and this made the authorities questioned not only her death but also harked back to the issue of the old cold case murder of their father, Victor. It had been going around town that the three siblings had something to do with it. This aggravated the emotional turmoil in the family.    

    These many challenges that the Rowan siblings faced stirred a lot of emotions in me;  anger at how their mother treated them when they were still young; sympathy for the siblings who had to deal with difficult situations because of the death of their parents; fear that the justice would not be on their side; fascination about the power of an empath; curiosity about their neighbors’ reaction and reception to the siblings’ power;  and hope that everything would end up well for the family and for the town. With all these emotions that I felt while reading, I could say that the book is difficult to forget.    

    Another thing that I liked which surprised me was the romantic part of the story. We have this word in Filipino that describes romantic excitement or the feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you see your crush or someone being romantically sweet to another person. The word is “kilig”. The romantic story definitely has a kilig factor for me. The author was able to fuse this part into the main story well.   

    Also, the twist in the story was unexpected. I didn’t see it coming until the author revealed the person who started all the chaos in Rowans’ lives. 

    On the other hand, there’s one thing that I wished to know, the history of their mother. I wanted to understand why she became wicked not only towards her children but also to their neighbors. 

    I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book. If you are into magical realism, this book is for you.

    I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you Byrd Nash and Book Siren. 

‘

Title: The Sweetest Revenge

Author: Jennifer Ransom

Genre: Romance

Publisher: Jennifer Ransom; 1st edition (September 7, 2014)

Publication Date: September 7, 2014

Print length: 155 pages

ASIN:   B00NE8IWGE

    In Sweetest Revenge,  Jennifer Ransom, a writer and an editor who loves romance novels, attempts to weave a story about a woman’s vengeance on her cheating husband.  The world seemed to be against her as she lost her marriage after becoming two times bigger than she was on her wedding day fifteen years ago, and as she lost her job after not performing well at work due to her broken foot.  

    It all started when Kimberly Williams appeared in their town as a visiting professor at the university where Amy worked as a director of communications. She managed to organize Kimberly’s art exhibit without meeting her, however, her husband attended without her knowledge. Literally sick to her stomach,  she went home alone.

    Jimmy started to come home late from that time he met Kimberly, blaming it on his hectic schedule at work.  Amy accepted that they had grown apart because she had changed into somebody Jimmy didn’t fell in love with fifteen years ago.

    Just before spring break, Amy was excited to go home after a meeting. To her surprise,  she saw  Jimmy with Kimberly in their marital bed. Amy jolted out of the house, to the park. Jimmy called her many times but she was adamant. 

    Amidst the trouble, as the director of communications, Amy attended the funeral of the mother of their big sponsor, Mr. Keith Richmond.  Amy with her coworker approached him to say their sympathy after the service. A tear fell in Amy’s eyes which Mr. Richmond saw. He held her hand gently and looked her in the eye.

    Amy filed a divorce. After two months,  everything was finalized and Amy was single again. It was not easy for her though,  for she loved Jimmy and the house they built together.

    One day, while she was setting the house to be sold, she tripped on her cat and broke her foot.  For many months afterward, she was walking with a cane, affecting her work. Due to her poor performance, her supervisor fired her. Seeking justice, Amy filed a case against the university for wrongful termination.

    When she met with the president of the university, she was shocked to find out that they wanted her to come back with a higher salary and more benefits. Shocked, she asked the president why they suddenly wanted to have her back. The president explained that what the supervisor did was wrong, and they fired her; and, they want her back as requested by their major sponsor, Mr. Keith Richmond.

    As Amy started working in her new job, she got a call from Keith one day inviting her to dinner. They fell in love overnight. Then, Keith asked her to work for him, leaving her job at the university. Amy got angry because she didn’t want to be under his command; she wanted to keep her current job.

    After their big fight, Amy didn’t see Keith for a while; she was devastated.  Jimmy came to see her and was shocked to see that she transformed into what she was before,  but Amy said she’s in love with somebody else. For her, she already had her sweetest revenge.

    It was a bad idea to read this after reading Paulo Coelho’s Adultery.  Coelho’s novel is well-written that made me experience a wide range of emotions, making me understand what the character was going through, whereas, Ransom’s failed to let me experience the transformation of the character from the time she got divorced to the time she got her life back.  Aside from being ridden with cliches and plot holes, the story was more of a telling than showing.

    This is the first novel by Ransom that I read and I would never grab another one.

⭐⭐⭐🌠☆

INTRODUCTION

The Witch’s Tree is a tale of the deliverance of two women from the heartbreak caused by betrayal and loss. It is written by Judy Leigh under the pen name Elena Collins, the name of her grandmother whom Leigh described as a great storyteller. Leigh is a prolific writer from Somerset in South West England who writes heartwarming stories about older women and second chances. She also loves digging into history and incorporating historical details in her stories. In the Witch’s Tree, Collins gives us a picture of the lives of farmworkers in Somerset in the 17th century and how they were shaped by their beliefs in superstition and the supernatural. 

OVERVIEW

Selena’s world shattered to pieces after her boyfriend left her in the mud. Determined to heal her heart and soul, she found herself in a Sloe Cottage in Somerset village. The place was exquisite, perfect for healing and creative endeavors. The longer she stayed in the house, the more it revealed its secrets.

More than three hundred years ago, Grace Cotter resided in the same house, the Sloe Cottage, living a simple life, working on a farm, taking care of her father, and learning from her loving grandmother. There’s one wish that she held close to her heart, to marry the man of her dreams. When she got a chance to be with the man she loved, she gave her all, a decision that turned her fate into a dangerous turn.

Despite being born hundreds of years apart, their paths crossed, imbuing them with their own power to find healing and closure.

QUOTES

“Love is the way of the world, and it is natural to seek it.”

– Bett

‘There are all sorts of myths surrounding the blackthorn, from way back to the time of the Celts. Death, misfortune – some people call it the witches’ tree – it has a long association with witchcraft. It’s about opposites too: spring and autumn, blossom and berry. ‘

– Nick

‘Accusations of witchcraft were the go-to forms of misogyny and prejudice in those days. Women were persecuted for being too young, too old, too attractive, too lonely, a little bit different – one whisper of a problem in a community and people were calling some poor unfortunate woman a witch.’

– Nick

WHAT I LOVED

• The title made me expect to read about witchcraft and magick but I was surprised to find out that it’s more about revealing the truth about witchery. Witches were women who were victims of stories fabricated by those who wanted to blame them for sudden death, illness, or misfortune in the community. It’s an eye-opening story. Although it’s not a story about witchcraft in general, the petrifying scenes are haunting.
• Grace’s character is likable. She served her father and others with full of love. She was gentle not only with people but also with animals. Her sad story stemmed from her sincerity and competence mistaken for witchery.
• Collin packed the novel with historical details that bring readers to the 1600s. The voice of each character is distinct; the houses, farms, and places of work are described vividly.

WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE

• The story is slow because some parts provide too much information about the setting or the feelings of a character. At one point, I felt like giving up reading because my anticipation of the more exciting parts was gradually waning. Grace’s story was my redeeming factor.
• There are parts that could be omitted to sustain the general emotional charge that the whole chapter is expressing. There’s an argument between two characters that is very emotional but ended on a silly note, making the scene funny.
• The romantic story of Selena is not that convincing. I was surprised that they became an item towards the end of the story. This part of the story wasn’t able to release butterflies in my stomach.

SUMMING-UP

Elena Collins’ The Witch’s Tree intertwines two heartbreaking stories of women separated by time but connected by their search for justice and healing. It explores the veracity of the tales of witches and atrocities against women who were victims of hearsay and false accusations in the 17th century. While the story is laden with heavy themes, the intensity of the emotions conveyed is not overwhelming. 

The two worlds Collins created are realistic and appropriate. The language, clothing, and people’s interactions are cohesive to the setting and time, making the reading experience pleasant. The modern setting works but the 17th-century timeline is more interesting. 

Even though the story is slow and the highest point is less mind-blowing, it opens the eyes of the readers to see that allegations of witchcraft are what Collins called “go-to forms of misogyny and prejudice in those days”. Grace’s story is reflective of the lives of women who were used as scapegoats for the ill luck in the community. Justice was already out of reach after hundreds of years but the acknowledgment of her existence and history in the present brought healing. 

This book is great for those who are looking for a light historical novel about love, betrayal, loss, and deliverance. 

Thank you, Elena Collins, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for the ARC and the opportunity to share my honest review. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Judy Leigh’s Website 

Instagram

Facebook

Book Information:

The Witch’s Tree by Elena Collins

To Be Published on May 17, 2022, by Boldwood Books

401 pages (eBook)

Find it here:

Goodreads 

⭐⭐⭐🌠☆

INTRODUCTION

The Witch’s Tree is a tale of the deliverance of two women from the heartbreak caused by betrayal and loss. It is written by Judy Leigh under the pen name Elena Collins, the name of her grandmother whom Leigh described as a great storyteller. Leigh is a prolific writer from Somerset in South West England who writes heartwarming stories about older women and second chances. She also loves digging into history and incorporating historical details in her stories. In the Witch’s Tree, Collins gives us a picture of the lives of farmworkers in Somerset in the 17th century and how they were shaped by their beliefs in superstition and the supernatural. 

OVERVIEW

Selena’s world shattered to pieces after her boyfriend left her in the mud. Determined to heal her heart and soul, she found herself in a Sloe Cottage in Somerset village. The place was exquisite, perfect for healing and creative endeavors. The longer she stayed in the house, the more it revealed its secrets.

                                           

       Being a mother to a high school student made me wonder how I can help my child in becoming successful in school. Tons of readings, lessons, homework, and project can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, learning how to learn is not taught in the school, and students are left to their own devices.

       I wonder if it’s possible for a student, to accomplish all schoolwork with great success and without too much stress. I read Limitless hoping that I could find answers. 

       It is written by Jim Kwik, a famous brain coach who improved his mental performance using the strategies he created. He suffered from a brain injury when he was a young child making him difficult to learn in school. How he conquered his learning difficulties showed that it’s possible to improve how our brain functions.

       What stops us from advancing to a higher level higher than where we are now are the labels that we put on someone or something. I’m not smart. It’s difficult. It’s too late. Kwik said that learning how to learn unleashes our superpower to change the way we see these things.

       In Part I, Kwik talks about the brain and how it works. Our brain has superpowers but we are knocked out by 4 big villains of advanced technology, which are digital deluge, digital distraction, digital dementia, and digital deduction. There’s just too much information and notifications that distract us from doing what matters. In remembering things, we rely too much on applications to remind us of birthdays, things to do, and other events that weaken our muscle memory. Aside from that, we also rely on the opinions of others that we couldn’t make our own. Social media also gives rise to a comparison culture that causes depression in some people.

       Amid these challenges, change is possible throughout our lives, and so our brain is not fixed. Although our brain can be influenced by our genes and our environment, we can choose to change the way how it functions. 

         Another important point raised in the book is the importance of our digestive system which is the second brain of our body as it has nerve cells in its walls.  Our mood, health, and thinking are affected by our digestion. That’s why we need to eat well by choosing the right kinds of foods to consume. Kwik included foods and recipes that are good for the brain.

        In the last three parts of the book, Kwik talks about the three-part limitless model (mindset, motivation, and methods) that can help us rewire our brain to become limitless.

       Our mindset is our mental attitudes and tendencies that influence our responses to whatever happens to us.  One way of changing our mindset is to challenge our beliefs by naming them, getting the facts, and creating new ones.

        Motivation is the second element in the limitless model that includes purpose, energy, small simple steps, and flow. Our purpose makes us understand the reason for our goals. Paired with energy and small steps and habits, our purpose propels us to move forward despite the challenges along the way until we reach the finish line.

       One important thing that increases our motivation is to reach the flow state. Flow happens when you are comfortable and feeling rewarded as you concentrate on your tasks that are not too challenging or too easy. Time flies so fast or slow as actions unfold naturally and effortlessly. This is one way of getting things done. 

      The methods are the last element of the limitless model. Kwik talks about the science of accelerated learning and meta-learning that increase your focus, how to study better, how to memorize effectively, and how to read fast. 

     All in all, this book contains tips that are easy to understand but somehow difficult to do. For example, to read fast takes a lot of practice and I wonder when do we develop this skill? Does it take days, months, or even years? But then, if a student starts doing it not, after a few years, becoming a fast reader is not far from reality. On the other hand, I like the memorization tips. One example is making a story out of the information to make it easier to memorize. We applied this technique in remembering the different scientific attitudes. 

       It was fun creating Zombie the Scientist, the details in the drawing and their meanings:

1. halo – angel =honest
2. open skull=open-minded
3. critical situation = critical-minded
4. rashes= rational
5. big muscles = work hard
6. magnifying glass = curious
7. sound block [we should’ve drawn a gavel on it] = suspend judgment
8. innovative car = innovative
9. paints = creative

       With the right understanding of our mind, motivation, and methods, anyone, not just students,  can accomplish a lot of things without too much stress and frustration. It’s just a matter of getting a hang of it and this book, Limitless,  teaches you how. 

    Hopeless by Colleen Hoover explores the resolution of the past trauma of a teenage girl who fell in love with a reputed bad boy.

    Even though she’s rumored to be a promiscuous girl,  the seventeen-year-old Texan continues to just make out with boys to make rumors stay as rumors, enjoying the numbness she felt from their kisses and touches. None of the boys she made out with gave her butterflies in the stomach until she met Holder, the hopeless boy whom she fell in love with and became her boyfriend.

    From the moment she met him at the grocery store,  she saw the different sides of him including his short temper. Holder went ballistic when Sky couldn’t say who gave her the bracelet she wore one day; for a month, they didn’t talk. She only remembered it when she came by Holder’s house after they patched things up.  Her painful past unraveled as she found herself in the room of Holder’s twin sister, Lesslie.  They were best of friends from childhood. It was Lesslie who gave her the bracelet.

    Sky didn’t only find out who she really was but also the dark past involving her adoptive mother and biological father. Facing her past led to her father’s tragic ending and her hopeful new beginning with the family she knew and Holder.

What I Love/ What I Didn’t Love

    I loved how Hoover painted the scenes and the story as a whole with specific descriptions of the places, characters and their thoughts and feelings, and events. The dialogs made me feel the intensity of the character’s emotions. The twists toward the end tore down the guesses I made in the beginning,  which made reading Hopeless an even more surprising experience. 

    The double meaning of  Holder’s tattoo is a little awkward for me. Tattoos are permanent and having the word hopeless tattooed on one arm is too negative for me.  After he found Hope, and after everything went well, Holder was not hopeless anymore, I hope so.  It would’ve been nice if the word “hope” is tattooed on one arm, and “less” on the other,  or hope and less are separated by a star. In this way, the tattoo would imply the two important people in his life. The star also refers to the sky that Holder thought about whenever he was sad.

Discussion Questions

1. Hopeless is the combination of the two important people in Holder’s life, Hope and Less. How do you relate this title to the larger theme in the novel?

2. Holder has a short temper. What do you think shaped this side of him? What made Sky continue to spend time with him despite his personality?

3. The novel touches on sensitive topics of self-harm and sexual abuse. Describe how these affect Sky, Holder, and their respective family.

4. What does Hopeless tell us about secrets and lies?

5.In the end, Sky learned who she was. What future do you think is in store for her?

Quotes

Further Information

Title: Hopeless

Author: Colleen Hoover

Genre: Romance

Publisher: Colleen Hoover (December 18, 2012)

Publication Date: December 18, 2012

Print length: 418 pages

ASIN:   B00AQ3K8IU

Sophie Ranald, a novelist who is based in London  and who already published twelve romantic comedy novels, offers another feel-good read that tells the story of  Natalie who got engaged with Archie after a year of being together. Although she was not certain whether she’s ready to get married, she knew one thing for sure and that was to spend the rest of her life with Archie. A grand wedding was out of the question but when she’s pitted against her future sister-in-law and mother-in-law for the wedding decisions, she’s not a hundred percent sure anymore. Would she have a simple and intimate or an elaborate and publicized wedding? 

***

He’s Cancelled is a bowl of annoyance with a dash of fun. Please don’t get me wrong. The writing was good as revealed in the characterization of the people in the story that evoked annoyance, my main reaction to Nat’s people-pleasing, Yvonne’s and Daisy’s insensitivity, and Archie’s nonchalance. 

Even though the story focused more on the wedding preparation, the author was able to illustrate the reasons why Archie was canceled. His constant disregard for his fiancée’s issues with his family and his best friend who drove herself up the wall revealed his lack of importance on Nat as his partner and as a woman. This is such a deal-breaker for me.

The side stories featuring Nat’s mother, grandfather, and friends created heartwarming interludes between stressful wedding planning and couple arguments. 

In the comedy area, the novel fell short of my expectations. I was bracing for  laugh-out-loud moments but they never arrived. There were parts that were funny, though,  but only elicited chuckles. 

This book is for those who are looking for a light romcom that is about an uncertain bride, wedding planning, and bridezillas. The story is a nice read with its comprehensible and well-paced plot.

Discussion Questions

1. How would you describe the protagonist?

2. If you were in her shoes, would you accept Archie’s proposal? Why or why not?

3. What do you like and dislike about Archie?

4. How did you feel about the wedding preparations?

5. What are the implications of the involvement of Archie’s mother and sister in the wedding planning?

6. Who was Billy in Archie’s life?

7. Was Archie’s explanation enough to let Billy get away with what he did to Nat?

8. If you were Archie, what would you have done differently?

8.Was the author able to achieve her goal to make you laugh out loud? Explain more.

9. What do you think about the ending?

10. What questions did you have after reading the book?

My Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you, Sophie Ranald, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy for the chance to review this book. I understand that I would give it an honest review.

Further Information

Title: He’s Cancelled

Author: Sophie Ranald

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Bookouture (June 23, 2021)

Publication Date: June 23, 2021

Print length: 281

ASIN: B091348SF3

Quotes

First Line:

“Archie had been my boyfriend for just over a year, which was more than long enough for me to have learned that – although he was a wonderful person and my ideal man in almost all ways – romance was not his strong point.”