Julie Murphy (2) (1985–)

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Friday, 26. January 2024 kalafudra
Ramona Blue (Julie Murphy)

Ramona Blue is a novel by Julie Murphy.
Finished on: 13.7.2023

Plot:
Ramona is almost done with high school but that’s the least of her responsibilities. She also has several jobs and her only slightly older sister Hattie is pregnant and Ramona is sure that she will have to take care of her instead of Hattie’s boyfriend who seems pretty useless. That’s when Ramona’s childhood best friend Freddie returns to town. As they rekindle their friendship, Ramona also rediscovers her love for swimming. And she kind of starts to have feelings for Freddie that go beyond the platonic which is extra confusing since Ramona is into girls and always has been. In short, Ramona has some stuff to figure out.

Ramona Blue gave me exactly what I hoped for from a Julie Murphy novel: a breezy read with engaging characters and nice romance, though the romantic part takes a backseat in the overall coming-of-age story. Absolutely lovely.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2024/01/26/ramona-blue-julie-murphy/… (mais)

Nolan Shaw is the former bad boy of a former boy band, attempting to rehabilitate his image - and make money to support his mom and younger sister - by starring in a Hope channel Christmas movie. Bee Hobbes is a porn star who gets her chance to break into mainstream acting when her producer taps her to fill in for the "wholesome" actress who dropped out at the last minute. Unknown to either of them, Nolan has been a longtime fan of Bee's (Bianca Von Honey) ClosedDoors account, and Bee had a huge teen crush on Nolan. On set in Christmas Notch, Vermont, they both need to maintain their squeaky-clean images, but they fall hard for each other. Can they keep their relationship a secret from cast, crew, and the world? (Spoiler alert: no.) When Bee's Bianca Von Honey side becomes public, will Nolan stick by her? Will the Hope channel scrap the movie?

The chemistry between Nolan and Bee is evident, and the authors are sex-positive; Bee/Bianca loves her job and doesn't necessarily want to leave it behind, and both her moms know what she does and support her. The movie's director Gretchen, a former child star herself, and her wife Pearl wind up supporting Bee, and after a media pile-on, there's a swell of excitement about the movie, which the Hope channel releases after all. Nolan's mom has bipolar disorder, which makes him protective of her, but he also respects her and wants others to see her as more than her diagnosis.

Three mistakes irked me: (1) sunset in Vermont in December is NOT 6pm; (2) "white with a brown belly" is NOT a horse color that I know of; (3) it's illegal to set off fireworks in California, which they do casually in the epilogue, because of the risk of wildfires.

Quotes

After all, how hard could it be to keep his two worlds separate? (Teddy, prologue)

Doubt washed over me the moment my brain began to quiet. This was an awful idea. I knew it deep down. My intuition was too good. I always felt the truth in my gut, even when it was the kind of truth I didn't want to face. And this was one of those truths. (Bee, ch. 1)

It was like everything had gone wrong today and I had no way to fix any of it. All I could do was hold this metal and glass rectangle and hope it eventually lit up in my hand. (Nolan, ch. 17)

Who would I be after the the knowledge that I could work in a mainstream movie, and as the leading lady too? ...But what if that wasn't possible? What if I had to choose? (Bee, ch. 22)

When all I wanted was...for this moment to fractal out like a snowflake and never, ever end? (Bee, ch. 22)

Love...always demanded sacrifice and risk. But whose risk? Whose sacrifice? Was that fair to ask of anyone? (Bee, ch. 22)… (mais)