Beautiful Bombshell by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Beautiful Bombshell by Christina Lauren

Reading Group Rating: M for Mature

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: A beautiful bastard of a groom-to-be. A bachelor-party-crashing bride. And one unforgettable night on the Vegas strip.

When Bennett’s friends steal him away from Chloe for a weekend of shenanigans and strippers in Vegas, their first stop doesn’t exactly go as planned. Their scheme for a guys’ weekend completely derailed, Bennett and Max take every chance they get to rendezvous secretly with the women they love. But when the persistently single Will Sumner catches on, the pair realizes they need to team up with him instead of butting heads if they’re to escape for more sexy Vegas hookups. 

Beautiful Bastard’s Chloe Mills and Bennett Ryan are back for one last blazing prewedding hurrah- but if what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they might not ever want to leave!


Cover: I'm assuming this cover is of Chloe, but it could be Sara.  My guess is Chloe because the book is about Bennett's bachelor party and he's marrying Chloe so it makes sense that she would be on the cover.

Summary: It's Valentine's Day! But Bennett is in Vegas for his Bachelor Party... oh... Bennet, Max, Henry, and Will are all very busy men and the only weekend they could all get away was Valentine's day weekend, which kinda stinks for Bennett and Max.  The novella starts with all of the boys in a club, one of Johnny's Clubs.  Remember him?  He's a friend of Max and Sara.  Anyway, Max arranges for Bennett to get a lap dance in one of the rooms.  Bennett complains and repeatedly sys he doesn't want to, but eventually gets peer pressured into going into the room.  He puts on a blindfold and gets a very uncomfortable lap dance.  THAT IS until he realizes that the dancer is actually Chloe. She and Sara came to Vega to crash the Bachelor Party and spend Valentine's Day with their boys.  Sara and Max also get it on in the club...A little bit different than Bennett and Chloe and with some viewers.  After that the night goes on with the boys doing whatever they can to ditch their two friends and meet up with the girls.  Bennett fakes a medical problem to have sex with Chloe in a casino bathroom.  Max steals a limo to meet Sara at a theater and have sex while the showgirls practiced a peep show.  Henry hardly notices because he spends his time gambling, but Will is a little sad that his friends are abandoning him to have sex with their fiancé/girlfriend.  Max decides that he and Bennett need to hire Will a prostitute to cheer him up, but a transvestite escort comes instead and Will is not exactly pleased.  The boys meet up with the girls at a casino and they all play the tables together.  Chloe even wins a few grand.  However, Will is still not over the whole being kissed by a transvestite thing so he hires some goons to make Bennett and Max feel like they're getting arrested, only coming clean when the boys are really sweating.  The book ends with Bennett coming back to his hotel room to find Chloe asleep.  They have sex, but they have a really cute conversation about how much they love each other and how excited they are to get married.

My Review:  Max and Bennett!!!  I love that it is only from their perspectives and neither of the girls.  This novella is so cute and simply funny.  These boys are the friends you want to have, always playing pranks on each other and having a good time.  I love that it takes place on Valentine's Day and that it's only on Valentine's Day.  The girls didn't crash the entire weekend, just one night.  I really liked that.  It would have been kind of annoying of them if they crashed the entire Bachelor Party.  The realisticness of Christina Lauren's characters is something I can't get over.  They're all normal people in love and they're all best friends.  I love it!


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Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren

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Reading Group Rating: M for Mature

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: A charming British Playboy. A girl determined to finally live. And a secret liaison revealed in all too vivid color. Book two in the NYT Bestselling series. 

Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon's moved to New York City and is looking for excitement without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night's fun. But the manner--and speed--with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.

The whole city knows Max Stella loves women, not that he's ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it's not until Sara--and the wild photos she lets him take of her--that he starts wondering if there's someone for him outside of the bedroom.

Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.

Cover:  This cover depicts Max Stella drinking his personal favorite, scotch.  He's dressed nice, but his jacket is slung over his shoulder.  I think this shows that he's more laid back than Bennett Ryan.

Summary:  Sara Dillon comes from a good family that owns Dillon's Department stores.  She was engaged to a Congressman Andrew Morton until that she discovered he had been cheating on her for their entire relationship.  She worked for Bennett Ryan in Chicago and is best friends with Chloe Mills.  After breaking up with Andy she decides to move to New York and work with them in the new building.  Once she is in New York Chloe and Julia decide to take her out.  They go to a club and Sara ends up having sex with a very attractive British stranger.  She soon discovers that this stranger is Max.  (Remember Max?  The Max whose estate Bennett used to propose to Chloe?  This is the same Max!!)  So they kind of pull a Bennett and Chloe and start having sex.  Surprised? No.  Except Sara likes to be watched when she's having sex...okay so not watched watched, but she likes having sex in places where they could be caught.  She also doesn't mind being photographed, as long as there are no faces.  So she makes a plan with Max that they can have sex every Friday anywhere Max wants to.  They have sex in a warehouse, a nightclub designed for people who enjoy being watched, lots of places except in a bed.  Max is a notorious playboy, but he falls in love with Sara.  When they have their arrangement, they're not dating, but they both have feelings for each other.  They have sex in Max's bed one night and declare that they love each other.  But then Max has to go on a business trip and his carryon is stole, containing his phone, computer, and SD card with photos of their naked body parts.  A photo is released to the press of Max and Sara having sex, but their faces aren't shown, and a photo of a different girl that was on Max's phone.  Sara, who just got out of a relationship where she was cheated on for seven years, doesn't really want to hear whatever excuse Max comes up with and she stops talking to him.  Bennett comes to Sara and tells her to hear Max out, remembering hat she was the one to not give up with Chloe when they were broken up and that just because Andy cheated on her doesn't mean that Max did.  The next week they go to a party at Max's and he and Sara talk.  The photo was a picture of Will's former lover.  Will is Max's business partner.  Will was making fun of Max because taking photos of lovers is apparently old news.  Sara apologizes, but Max dismisses her from his room, which is covered with the pictures he's taken.  She goes back to the party and wants to leave.  She feels awful for not letting Max explain earlier and thinks that she's ruined any relationship they could have had.  Max emerges from his bedroom and pushes Sara up against the wall to kiss her.  He then apologizes to the perry goers and says he hasn't seen his girlfriend in a while.  It's the first time they've introduced themselves as a couple.

My Review:  This novel is similar to Beautiful Bastard.  They meet, they have sex secretly, they fall in love, they decide to make it real, they get in a stupid fight, they breakup, they makeup, they get make together.  But they're not the exact same and I think it's because that is simply the storyline these authors like.  Plenty of other authors have tons of books with the same type of story.  I thought it was cute that Bennett was the one to tell Sara to go talk to max because Sara was the one who told him to get Chloe back.  I also like that they're only separated for a week, because Sara was overreacting a little so I'm glad she didn't shut him out for too long.  The storyline is cute and, if you're like me, you won't be able to put it down until you've read the last page.


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Beautiful B*itch by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Beautiful Bitch by Christina Lauren

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Reading Group Rating: M for Mature

Personal Rating: 5 out 5 Stars

Given Summary: A combative relationship. A red-hot attraction. And no time to be alone together. 

Just when Chloe’s career starts to take off, Bennett wishes it would all slow down long enough to spend a wild night alone with his intern-cum-girlfriend. Preferably one in which he can show her he’s still the boss. 

After her continued refusals to take time off with him, Bennett can finally no longer take no for an answer. And so the couple find themselves with two plane tickets, one French villa, and a surprising conversation that, predictably, leaves them wrestling under the covers.

Picking up where Beautiful Bastard left off, Chloe Mills and Bennett Ryan continue their fiery love-hate relationship . . . and take it to the next level.


Cover:  This cover features Chloe wearing a suit jacket and tie, but also it appears to me that she's wearing shorts.  I think this shows that Chloe is able to work her butt off and be taken just as seriously as any man, but she can still be sexy.  And due to the fact that her and Bennett often get themselves into steamy situations, I think she does this combo pretty perfectly.

Summary:  Bennett and Chloe are back!  It's been a year since Bennett showed up at Chloe's proposal and they got back together.  Now, they hardly ever see each other and Bennett doesn't like it.  He decides to take Chloe away to stay at a friend of his, Max's, estate in France.  However because of work and moving from Chicago to New York, Chloe decides to go a day later.  Well, a day turns into a few days when her flight gets delayed and they are forced to be away from each other.  They've spent days without each other before because they both travel for work, but this time feels different.  They discover that they don't like being away from each other.  They never want to be away from each other again.  Bennett had gone to his mother's house before he left so he could pick up his grandmothers engagement ring.  When Chloe finally figures out what plane she's on she decides not to tell Bennett and surprise him instead.  She goes to the jewelry store in the airport to buy him an engagement ring.  When she gets to the house Bennett isn't there.  The cook sent him down to the florist to get his mopey self out of the house for a while.  While he's at the florist he realizes the cook actually sent him to meet the female florist, not realizing Chloe was on her way.  He gets back to the house and sees Chloe's suitcases and finds that she is in the shower.  When she gets out of the bathroom, they reunite and the entire speech Bennett has planned to propose goes out the window and he just says he wants to be married to her.  Chloe shows him that she was going to propose to him and makes a comment about him taking her moment.  In the end, she says yes.
This novel also has many flashbacks about the year that has passed between this book and Beautiful Bastard, including a steamy scene where they get caught having sex in Chloe's childhood room by her father and when they go to Bennett's family home as a couple for the first time and his mom says she's been waiting for them to get together.

My Review:  I loved this book.  I liked how it went back and forth between past and present, filling in the year since they got back together.  The story is about them going on vacation to get away from all the chaos, but they are only in France for the last chapter of the novel.  It's more about their journey than their actual trip.  I liked that, it was very "it's about the journey not the destination."  Plus, it was so Chloe and Bennett.  Having to work extra hard to relax.  


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Beautiful B*stard by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

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Book Rating: Definitely M for mature 

Personal Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

Given Summary: An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling. 

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office. 

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win.

Originally only available online as The Office by tby789—and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites—Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.

te ne regrette rien...

Cover: This cover is much simpler than the Sublime cover that was essentially an entire summary of the book.  This cover has a drawing of Bennett Ryan, dressed to the nines of course.  I really like this cover.  It's classy.  I love when covers have people on them, but don't show their faces, I don't know why I just do.  I like coming up with my own vision of the character.

Summary: Chloe is interning for Bennett Ryan until she can get her Masters.  She has been his intern for a few months at the start of this novel.  The first chapter is where they have sex for the first time and it just continues from there; conference room, stairwell, changing room of a lingerie store, back of a car, cafe bathroom, Bennett's parent's bathroom.  However that's all their relationship is.  Chloe has been working for the Ryan's for years and Mrs. Ryan eventually tries to set her up with Joel, someone Bennett and his brother grew up with.  They never end up going out.  The relationship between Bennett and Chloe is a weird one, they are both somewhat possessive over each other, but they don't want to be in a relationship.  They both know that if they do and Chloe ends up rising in her career people will think it's because she slept with her boss.  They have to go to a conference together, where nobody knows about their strange relationship.  They end up spending a lot of time together in Chloe's hotel room.  They decide that they can make a real relationship work.  On the last day of the conference Bennett gets sick and can't go to a meeting.  Chloe goes for him and is really proud of herself.  Before they leave for the airport Chloe overhears Bennett talking to the man Chloe had the meeting with.  Bennett basically says that Chloe's meeting was just practice for her and he'll talk to the man professionally.  Chloe is humiliated, when they get back to Seattle, she quits her intern job and breaks up with Bennett.  Bennett finally comes clean to his father and brother about what was going on between them and is a wreck for the time they're broken up.  The day Chloe has to present her presentation to the board for her Masters degree, Bennett comes to the new company she works for and gives her the slides to the account she had when he was his intern.  They make up, Chloe gets her Masters, and then she is given a job by Bennett's father.       

Review: I read this book from cover to cover in 6 hours on a Thursday night.  I didn't even have time to put it on my BWTBR list.  I loved it.  The storyline was nice and the characters were hard not to fall in love with.  I liked how it started quickly, there wasn't a few chapters of them and explaining all the ways they didn't like each other, it was right iff the bat into their crazy relationship.  I love how it goes back and forth between Chloe and Bennett's point of view too, I love getting into the heads of both characters.  You definitely need to be mature to read this book, but if you are I think you will really like it.  It's a great story and it has a happy ending, I am the biggest sucker for happy endings!

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Sublime by Christina Lauren | Book Review

Sublime by Christina Lauren

Reading Group/Who Should Read This Book:  This book is a young adult fiction novel.  I would say anyone older than 14 can read this book.  (The main characters are about 17-years-old)  

Rating:  I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, I loved it. 

Given Summary: When Lucy walks out of a frozen forest, wearing only a silk dress and sandals, she isn’t sure how she got there. But when she sees Colin, she knows for sure that she’s here for him.

Colin has never been captivated by a girl the way he is by Lucy. With each passing day their lives intertwine, and even as Lucy begins to remember more of her life—and her death—neither of them is willing to give up what they have, no matter how impossible it is. And when Colin finds a way to physically be with Lucy, taking himself to the brink of death where his reality and Lucy’s overlap, the joy of being together for those brief stolen moments drowns out everything in the outside world. But some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.

Cover:  The cover of this novel depicts Lucy and Colin.  This Lucy is the way Colin is able to see her, everyone else sees her with brown hair and green eyes.  By the look of their clothes, the cover depicts them being underwater in the lake, wearing the clothes that they wore on the day they first met.  They are holding hands, but barely.  You can also see that Lucy is pulling Colin towards her with her free had while Colin's free hand covers his heart.  She is wide awake and he seems to be unconscious. 

Summary:  Lucy was brutally murdered ten years ago.  Drugged by her headmaster, brought out into the woods, her throat cut, and her heart cut out of her chest.  Colin is the only surviver in his family.  His sister was hit and killed by a delivery truck and his mom went crazy saying she could see Caroline and drove her family off a bridge, killing herself and her husband, but not Colin.  Colin was also the last person who saw Lucy as she was being carried into the woods, if it hadn't been for him her killer never would have been caught.  Since then Colin has become somewhat of an adrenaline junkie, spending more time in the infirmary than his dorm room.  

When Lucy wakes up in the woods of her school, Saint Osanna's she doesn't know anything about herself.  She walks onto the campus and into the Dining Hall.  She instantly feels attracted to Colin, like metal to a magnet.  They become close and Lucy tells him that she is dead and doesn't exactly know why she's back.  Whenever they touch it feels like static, until one day when Colin takes Lucy with him and his best friend jay to go skating on the Lake.  Having made a jump out of snow, the boys take turns going off it as Lucy sits on the dock and watches.  On one of his jumps, Colin breaks through the ice and into the water.  Lucy jumps in to save him and as Jay scrambles to resuscitate him Lucy runs to get help.  As she's running, Colin appears behind her perfectly fine.  She runs and hugs him and he feels like her, no more static.  She quickly realizes that the Colin she's holding isn't the real Colin, he's still laying on the ice in front of Jay.  After that, Colin realizes that if he is in the hypothermic state he can be with Lucy for periods of time and they can touch and be together as equals.  They do it a few more times, but after the last time, Colin doesn't wake up.  He is rushed to the hospital and when he does wake up he promises Dot, his guardian and school chef, that he will not go back to the lake.

Lucy is not the only ghost at Saint Osanna's.  Stories had been circulating the school for years.  Maggie, the infirmary doctor, grew close to one when she was 19.  He came to her when she was doing drugs, made her feel like it was okay for her to be doing the drugs, and disappeared whenever she was clean.  Henry is attached to Alex, the way Lucy is attached to Colin.  Henry believes they came back from the dead to be Guardians over the people they attach to.  Alex had just been diagnosed with Leukemia when Henry came to him.     

Lucy sometimes disappears.  She doesn't know whys and she doesn't feel the time pass as she's gone. After Colin promised ti never go back to the Lake she disappeared fir almost a month.  When she comes back she can't find Colin.  She goes back to his dorm, but only Jay is there.  He says he's sorry to hear that Alex is dead, lying about being in remission.  Lucy freaks out, knowing that Colin must have gone into the Lake to find her.  When she gets to the lake she knows it's too late to save him.  in the epilogue Colin finds Lucy and the book ends with this sentence: When he saw Lucy, his face relaxed and he blinked once and then twice for her, the second one bringing with it a smile.

My Opinion/Review:  This is the first book by Christina Lauren I've read and when I first heard about it I expected it to be very similar to New Moon from the Twilight series.  Where a boy and girl are a couple, but one of them has to do adrenaline rushing tasks to see the other.  It wasn't and it was amazing.  Everyone can see Lucy, if they take the time to notice her.  I liked that, it was different from other ghost stories where only one person can see the ghost.  It also makes it somewhat relatable.  Someone's there if you take the time to notice.  I think everyone has a had moment where they feel invisible, but I also think there have been times where we think we're the only person who notices something extraordinary.  

I loved how this story was written, it's just real, I don't really know what that means.  I hate when authors try to write about teenagers, but they write as if they're living in their teenage years and not current teenage years.  These authors definitely don't do that.  

The ending of this story is one of those endings where it's happy, but it's not.  They end up together and Colin is happy, but he's dead.  He left his friends and future behind to be with a ghost he's known for a few months.  I liked it, but it's almost like you give a nervous laugh and question how you're supposed to respond. 

 Christina Lauren typically write adult novels, this is their first young adult novel, and I have read chapters of their other books.  They is quite a bit of "romance" ;) in their other novels.  This novel is definitely a love story, but it's not so graphic.  It's like they had to PG themselves while writing.  They did a very good job of it, hinting at curse words and sex, without actually having to write it out (except for a few curse words).  I will definitely be reading Christina Lauren's other novels.

Favorite Part:  I loved this whole book, and I'm not sure I have one or two favorite parts, because there wasn't a part I didn't like.  However, when they go to the dance it is really sweet.  It's Colin and Lucy's only official date and she is just so happy and alive during the entire time.  It was nice to see her acting the way a 17-year-old should act. 

Quotes:  In the last chapter of the novel Lucy thinks, "I'm no Guardian; I'm a lure."  I liked this quote because it makes you stop and think that maybe she's not so good.  However, it's also too late, for you and Colin.  It's on the last page before the epilogue and Colin has already drowned in the lake. 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (& A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving) | Book Review

Why I read these books/Why I stopped reading: I had to read a book for my Adolescents in Literature Class.  Both of these were on a list that was given to the class.  I started reading A Prayer for Owen Meany because I heard great things about it and I got pretty far into it before I stopped.  It was just too slow for me. The author would go off on these tangents and go from past to even further back past to present too much for me.  A Handmaid's Tale also goes back and forth between past and present, but that didn't bother me as much.  Maybe some of you have read Irving's novel and loved it and maybe you can tell me why you liked it, but I just couldn't get into it.  Maybe I'll try rereading it over the summer when I'm not on a time crunch and I'll have more respect for it. 

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 

Cover (Minor Spoilers): The cover of the book shown to you has an armadillo on it.  The armadillo is a representation of the boys friendship in the book.  He represents that even if something is not 100% how it used to be (the armadillo breaks) it can still be an armadillo  aka when a rough patch comes up in a friendship you can still be friends.

Back Cover: John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany is the inspiring modern classic that introduced two of the author’s most unforgettable characters, boys bonded forever in childhood: the stunted Owen Meany, whose life is touched by God, and the orphaned Johnny Wheelwright, whose life is touched by Owen. From the accident that links them to the mystery that follows them–and the martyrdom that parts them–the events of their lives form a tapestry of fate and faith in a novel that is Irving at his irresistible best.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Age for Reading: I would say at least Junior or Senior in High School so 16-18 years old

Stars: 3 out of 5

Cover: The cover shows two handmaids, Offred and Ofglen (I'm assuming), on their daily walk near The Wall. 

Back Cover: Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

Summary (Spoilers): Offred is the main character in this story and she is the narrator.  The story goes back and forth between past and present.  
One flashback story is from before the formation of Gilead:  Offred used to have a pretty normal life, she was married, she had a daughter, she had a job.  However, one piece of her story is that when she started dating her husband he was still married to someone else.  Her friend Moira from college didn't really like that Offred was doing that, but Luke does divorce his first wife for her and they have a very happy life together.  when the government starts taking away women's rights and putting weird restrictions on stuff, they try to escape to Canada.  they get caught at the border and attempt to make a run for it, but get caught.   
The second flashback story is the beginning of her life in Gilead:  When the United States fell apart and Gilead was created all divorces prior were nullified so Offred and Luke aren't legally married and their daughter is thought of illegitimate.  The daughter is given to a loyalist family and Offred must become a Handmaid (I got that part from Wikipedia, it makes sense, but I didn't figure that out just from reading).  Before she can be a full on handmaid though she has to go through training and the school is nicknamed The Red because Handmaid's must wear red.  While she's there she meets different people and is reconnected with Moira.  However, Moira can't really handle the circumstances so she escapes.
The present:  Offred is a Handmaid to the Commander (whose name I'm guessing is Fred because she's "Of Fred" and all the other Handmaid's are "Of Someone").  The Commander is married to Serena Joy who isn't very keen on the Handmaid (obviously) because the Handmaid's are trying to get pregnant.  That's their main job.  All they do is go on one walk a day to get groceries and try to get pregnant.  They have to preform "The Ceremony" which is just a fancy way of saying they have to have sex with whoever they are assigned to.  But the wives are there too.  the wife lies down, then the handmaid lies down between her legs with her head on the wife's stomach, and they hold hands as the commander has sex with the Handmaid.  It's supposed to show that they're all in this together.  
The story goes on and describes how life is for the Handmaids.  They're not allowed to read, they have to have a buddy when they go to town, they basically have no rights.
A main part of the story is that Offred becomes friends with the commander, which she isn't supposed to do.  They hang out in his study and play scrabble, he lets her read a magazine.  One night he brings her to some nightclub/stripclub place and they have sex, they don't have feelings for each other or anything though.
As Offred is becoming friends with the Commander, Serena Joy is also trying to help her out a little bit.  A Handmaid only has three chances to become pregnant.  Three chances as in she can only go to three different households and this is Offred's third household.  If she doesn't become pregnant, they government people will kill her or send her away.  Because of this Serena Joy has her have sex with Nick, the chauffeur.  It's illegal, but one of those things that all the wives do because they're not exactly keen on their husbands having sex with someone else literally right on top of them.  Offred doesn't have sex with Nick until after she goes to the nightclub (just to give you a timeline).  Offred does actually have feelings for Nick though and starts sneaking out to his room above the garage almost every night.  She feels she is pregnant with his baby, but before anyone else knows she's pregnant Serena Joy finds out about the nightclub and gets wicked mad.  The "police" come to get Offred, but Serena didn't call them and Nick says it's the activist group and they're going to take her to safety.  The book ends with her getting into the back of the"police" van and you don't know if it is or is not the activist people.  You have to make your own interpretation of it I guess.

My Opinion: This book was okay.  It was interesting, but there were just so many unanswered questions.  Mainly how do the women become what they are.  Like how does Offred become a Handmaid (I guess wikipedia gave us the answer to that one) and not a Martha (which are the cooks and cleaners) or a wife or an aunt (Those are the teachers at The Red).  How do those women become those different things?  An interesting part of the book is that her real name is never said.  She talks about it and she says that Nick calls her it and she has flashbacks of her husband calling her it, but it's never said.  Neither is her daughters.  I'm assuming it's to show something, maybe that she is no longer that person or something.  It sounds like something someone would write their essay on doesn't it?  Also, what happened to Luke?  He's never in the present, but I don't think they killed him, so maybe he's just hiding out somewhere.  I know the author didn't want Offred to get any information about him, but it was annoying as the reader to not know.  The Ceremony was just as awkward reading as it probably would be to experience.  You just felt awkward for everyone involved.  
A fun fact about this book is that the setting of the book is supposed to be Boston.  If I had known that before I started reading I probably would have picked up on it better.

Favorite Part: I liked that she and Nick got together.  She was still in love with Luke and waiting for him, kind of using Nick as a rebound, but I was happy that she was able to have someone because Luke didn't come find her or anything and it's not like she was really cheating on him.  She needed to get pregnant to stay alive and whatever.  I mean I know she was cheating on Luke, but I think he would have understood is what I'm trying to get at.  Plus, Nick seemed cute and he was nice to her.

Have any of you read this book?  What did you think?  What was your favorite part?