A Well-Read Tart

A Food and Book Lover’s Blog

RED, WHITE, AND ROYAL BLUE (DNF Book Review)

Unpopular opinion alert: I did not finish (DNF) Red, White, and Royal Blue. SO many people have raved about this book by Casey McQuiston, readers and bloggers alike. It was all over bookstagram when it published in 2019, and I'm still seeing it appear in bookstack photos of beloved books.   What's Red, White, and Royal Blue about? As a lover of rom-coms, I was eager to read this relatively new member to the genre: a queer...

WOW, NO THANK YOU Book Review

I knew I was going to enjoy Wow, No Thank You when I saw that author Samantha Irby also runs a blog called bitchesgottaeat.com. My enchantment with Irby only increased when I saw that she dedicated this book of essays to Wellbutrin, to which I, too, owe many a debt of gratitude. Obviously, Irby and I are kindred spirits.   Why I wanted to read Wow, No Thank You The reason I originally decided to read Wow, No Thank You is the...

I CAN’T DATE JESUS Book Review

Michael Arceneaux, author of I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé, may be my spirit animal. I can't even tell you how many times I emphatically nodded and shouted "Hell, yeah!" as I read his candid and moving memoir.  It's rare that I stumble across a writer whose wry sense of humor so closely matches my own -- or, at least, my own if I had the chutzpah to speak or write about things as...

THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO Book Review

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo wins the award for the best last sentence of a book, ever. No, don’t go look at it! Do not flip to the back of the book to read it, or search for it on Google books, or anything like that. You have to read the entire book in order to fully appreciate – and understand – that last line. Just know that it made me cackle happily, close the book with a great big grin on my face, and say, “Oh, Evelyn.”...

STRAY CITY Book Review

I won’t lie – I mainly picked this title because of the author’s name (shout out to the CJ’s!) and the fact that there is an adorable orange cat on the front cover that looks very much like MY adorable orange cat. I figured with the stars aligning like that, I HAD to read this book. Honestly, the book description didn’t intrigue me that much (mainly because it didn’t offer much plot reveal—more on that in a bit), but I usually...