Author: Rachel Hollis Pages: 240 Overall: 5/5 Takeaways: 4.5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: I Ain’t Sorry - I think of the Beyonce song Sorry and I think it has a very similar vibe that Hollis was getting at with Sorry Not Sorry by Demi Lovato. This is one of my favorite juice combinations that I actually drink regularly. I put mine into a Starbucks to go cup and take it with me even. Also this is an alcohol free drink which is a nice change in pace. Hollis talks about taking responsibility for being healthy and making good decisions. Now I’m not saying this doesn’t have a lot of sugar, but everyone knows I have an obsession with juices. Ingredients 3 ounces Pineapple Juice 2 ounces Cranberry Juice 1.5 ounces sparkling water Ice Instructions
Step One: Measure out ingredients Step Two: Mix ingredients into a glass and enjoy Take a Shot: Rachel Hollis started out as a blogger that has built her media business into a multi-million dollar company. She’s now a New York Times Best-Selling Author and she’s a badass. She talks about topics from excuses we need to stop telling ourselves to skills to start helping yourself. This one is great for a wide range of ages which makes it super awesome.
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Author: Molly Blume Pages: 272 Overall: 3/5 Takeaways: 3/5 Cheers Factor: ⅗ Pairing: Reese’s Cup I love drinking this as a nice strong sipping drink. Not only is it delicious, but it’s perfect for feeling like a badass, but it tastes great. Molly drinks whiskey a lot and talks about doing so. I’m also inspired by the way Jessica Chastain drank it in the movie so here it is. Ingredients 1.5 ounces Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey ¼ cup chocolate chips ½ ounce Milk 1 Ice ball (cubes can work but a singular solid is better) Instructions Step one: Start freezing an ice ball at least a few hours before drinking Step two: Heat a pan on a stove on low and add chocolate chips and milk Step three: Stir often until melted consistency (add additional milk as needed) Step four: Add ice ball to a rocks glass Step five: After allowing the chocolate to cool, but not harden pour over the ice ball in the rocks glass. Just add enough to cover the ice ball Step six: Add whiskey to the glass and enjoy Molly Bloom, sister to Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom, ran one of the most exclusive poker games between LA and New York City. She herself was a skier and almost made it to the Olympics, but decided on a different path. Her players were celebrities, business tycoons, oligarchs and likely politicians. She had access to the exclusive on just about everything and had the ear of just about everyone who was an anyone. That is until she was indicted on mob charges and spent years trying to recover from the life she used to love so much. In this tell all book she takes readers behind the scenes to look at just what happened in her Oz while she was the Wizard. I read this book because I absolutely love the movie Molly’s Game. Jessica Chastain is absolutely incredible in that movie and she’s amazing. I think she is so damn talented and any movie she makes is great. However, obviously the movie version changes some events in order to spice things up that aren’t as Hollywood in the book. The movie takes place after the book was written and essentially explains how exactly she fell into becoming the Poker Princess. You essentially get a look into her lucky moments, her unlucky moments and the ones that you just can’t believe. She met the likes of Jake Gyllenhal, Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck. She got lucky with getting to take over what was just some guys playing poker and she turned it into an empire, but sadly it grew to be something she no longer could keep control of. Molly started taking a rake and that made her game illegal and she also had enough buzz that people wanted to exploit her multimillion dollar business and take advantage of her which led to some of her scary encounters. Overall, I thought the book was okay. It wasn’t really my cup of tea just because I don’t really read too many memoir type stories. I felt like, for me, watching the movie was better. Just give it a shot though if you like a life of glitz and glam and poker. “Although I had been told my whole life that money couldn’t buy you happiness, it was certainly clear to me that it could provide some desirable upgrades.”
Author: Sarah J. Maas Pages: 448 Overall: 3.5/5 Setting: 5/5 Characters: 3.4/5 Plot and Themes: 3.5/5 Cheers Factor: 3.5/5 Pairing: Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie My roommates and I are currently on a slight health kick so that means no alcohol and I have been good about it. We are holding out until around Christmas because two of us are going to be by the beach soon. This smoothie is one I used to make back when I was on a huge health kick. I make no claims that it’s crazy healthy, but I enjoyed it and used to drink it in the mornings. Plus this seems like something Celaena would drink because she loves food and sugar and all the decadence that is life. Ingredients 1 ½ cup milk (I use coconut so it’s not actually dairy) 1 tablespoon peanut butter 1 banana 1 cup of ice Instructions Step 1: Measure out ingredients and combine in a blender Step 2: Blend until combined Step 3: Enjoy This reminds me more of making flavored milk, but I really like drinking it and you get a serving of fruit and some protein from the peanut butter. Again, I’m making no claims that this is super good for you. There is a lot of sugar in it from the banana and the peanut butter, but it is a nice substitute for things like soda or juice which I drink lots of. Take A Shot: The Assassin’s Blade is a set of novellas that take place before the first book in the Throne of Glass series. There is popular debate about when it should be read and whether reading it entirely before the series is more appropriate or in publishing order. If you read it in publishing order then it comes after book 2, Crown of Midnight. However, the individual novellas were actually written around the same time book 1 was published so to each their own. I read TAB long after I had finished the entire series because I was impatient and wanted to know what happened and I didn’t want to go back in time. However, upon reading it I see how it could be important to read before Empire of Storms in that lots of characters are delved into in TAB that come back in EoS. That being said this series follows Celaena Sardothien who is Adarlan’s greatest assassin trained to be the heir to the Assassin’s Guild of Adarlan. She’s a ruthless character with a penchant for exquisite dresses and jewelry. However, there is so much more to her story than meets the eye and I’m not just talking about the men that fall in love with her. That’s about all I can give without spoiling anything, but just read her books, they are magnificent. I love this entire series.
Author: Lily Collins Pages: 228 Overall: 3.5/5 Takeaways: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 4/5 Cocktail Pairing: Effen On the Rocks Vodka, The Cosmopolitan I found this in my local liquor store and in true Carrie Bradshaw fashion had to try it. It comes in this totally cute bottle with a cork and all and I loved that it was pre-mixed. It was also petite and perfect for 1-2 people. This brand has a couple other options for types of drinks whether it’s Whiskey Sour or Margarita. Here is a link to ShopWine Direct where you can purchase it if you can’t find it in your local liquor store! https://www.shopwinedirect.com/on-the-rocks-effen-vodka-the-cosmopolitan-ready-to-drink-cocktail-375ml.html Mocktail Pairing: Non-Alcoholic Cosmopolitan This easy to make Cosmopolitan Mocktail is super yummy and can make you feel fancy too. Ingredients 3 ounces cranberry juice 1/2 ounce orange juice 2 ounces sparkling water 1/2 a lime ice Instructions Step One: Measure out cranberry juice and orange juice. Step Two: Combine cranberry juice, orange juice and lime juice in shaker with ice Step Three: Shake until cold and strain into glass Step Four: Top with sparkling water Take a Shot: In this book written by actress and producer Lily Collins she shares lessons and anecdotes from her own life on topics ranging from interpersonal violence to tattoos. It’s a quick read and can be done in a single day like I did. I already loved Collins, but this book just gave enough insight into her life thus far that was great. “I deserve to be loved just as I love others”
Ingredients 3oz Pomegranate Juice 1oz vodka ½ oz triple sec ½ lime A few pomegranate seeds ice Step one: Cut a pomegranate and take a few seeds and place in bottom of a chilled martini glass Step two: Measure out pomegranate juice, vodka and triple sec then combine with ice in shaker Step three: Use a hand juicer to juice half a lime into the shaker Step four: Shake until shaker is cold to the touch and ingredients are thoroughly mixed Step five: Strain into the martini glass and serve immediately Optional addition: If the pomegranate juice is too strong top with a little bit of club soda to give it a fizzy twist! Take a Shot: By now Twilight has been a best selling book series, an international blockbuster movie franchise and a cult classic to many. Since the story of Bella and Edward began in 2005 their endeavors have been inspiration for parodies, fan-fiction and memes alike. However, now 15 years later the Twi-hards have a brand new installment with Midnight Sun. This novel follows the events of the first book, Twilight, entirely from Edward’s perspective. After the original version of this story was leaked and Meyers simply published the few chapters on her website, many thought that was the end of our journey into Edward’s head. Meyers thankfully was not done with this story and released the completed novel this year. I don’t want to give too much away especially since most people already know the story anyway, but I will say read all of Twilight before reading Midnight Sun. This is mainly because that’s how we all (I myself am a Twi-hard so that’s who we implies) had to do it and plus it helps with consistency of understanding the perspective of Bella solely in her words and then understanding Edward’s in retrospect.
Step one: Pour ingredients into a mixer.
Step two: Shake with ice Step three: use a plate filled with a little water and dip rim of glass into it Step four: roll rim in plate with salt Step five: strain onto fresh ice in glass Step six: serve and enjoy
Take a Shot: Diana is a tenured professor at Yale who is currently doing research at Oxford. She’s also a witch but she refuses to use her powers. However, one day she’s able to call up an old manuscript that was thought to be lost and it just might be the key to the creation of witches, vampires and daemons. Matthew Clermont is also a professor at Oxford and a vampire and becomes interested in Diana for the purpose of obtaining Ashmole 782, but then he becomes interested in so much more than that.
Author: Sasha K. Shillcutt Pages: 230 Overall: 4/5 Takeaways: 4.5/5 Cheers Factor: 4/5 Pairing: For this novel my pairing is one of my favorites. I read this novel and it made me think about the strong women I have in my life and the community that they have given me. This pairing is for my roommates. I chose The Dreaming Tree Sauvignon Blanc because my roommates love The Dave Matthews Band and so it only felt fitting that I chose something to honor them. Thank you ladies for being badass strong women who make me a better badass strong woman. |
Cheers FactorEach book here at Cheers&Chapters is rated based off of certain categories that are genre specific, however every book will get a Cheers Factor. The Cheers Factor is how much we wanted to raise our glass while reading it. So get your glasses ready and cheers! Archives
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