Books in Real Life, Episode 15: The Careful Undressing of Love

If this is the first time you've come across Books in Real Life, welcome! Rachel of Hello, Chelly & I created this collaborative feature as a way to encourage ourselves to actually do the things we've read about in books in real life. We've been at it for a little over two years now, and it has certainly resulted in some really fun adventures and memories we'll both cherish forever.

The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, and that means you'll be seeing a little bit more of Books in Real Life in the months to come. After we both read and enjoyed The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu, Rachel came up with the idea to do a couple of things inspired by traditions and situations in the novel for this month's post.

I find myself thinking about The Careful Undressing of Love now and again - it's just that powerful and haunting a story. (Here's my review and a guest post from Corey!) It's about a group of girls known as the Devonnaire Street girls, a group said to be cursed as the boys who love them die. Lorna Ryder has always been content to pretend to play along and 'believe' in the curse. But all that changes when her best friend's boyfriend dies, and the curse suddenly feels like something more real than it ever used to be. Will Lorna be able to figure out the answers to her own questions and find her own truth about the curse and about love? Like all other Corey Ann Haydu novels, The Careful Undressing of Love is a unique story, and a compelling one, and it will really invite the reader to aks their own questions about life, superstition and love.

Inspired by the novel, we visited the 9/11 Memorial. I personally find it to be one of the most beautiful, solemn spots in the city, and considering how many people arrive to pay their respects and to bear witness to the people who lost their lives in that great tragedy, that's no easy feat. We also ended up having honey cake, and made sure to wear our key necklaces - two other things that are featured in the book.

Rachel & I had a lovely day, and it felt like a very fitting experience inspired by a book that made us think! As always, here are the three questions we ask ourselves whenever we do one of these posts.

1. What was your favorite part or a memorable moment? I loved visiting the quaint little brunch place we went to, because there was a profusion of flowers outside and the inside was an explosion of a bunch of quirky, haphazardly-but-not-without-reason arranged knick knacks and it was kitschy and wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

2. Anything you wish you'd known beforehand? I wish we'd known where to get lavender tea! That would have been another fun nod to the book. But otherwise? Nothing really.

3. Would I do this again? Of course! I've already returned to the 9/11 Memorial since the time we went, and I'm sure I'd do it again. I wouldn't mind revisiting the restaurant either!