3 stars This is a book that’s been getting a lot of great buzz, a lot of my book friends really loved it and I’ve been hearing good things all around. I was a fan of Julia on the show Once and Again and I had the pleasure of meeting Julia at another author event for a book she narrated and she’s absolutely lovely. All those things combined, I was very eager to read this book and really wanted to love this book and I had high hopes. And while I didn’t love it, I enjoyed it and I think this was a

But the hardest thing is staying. The hardest thing is living with dying. Loving with dying. The hardest thing is love, with no expiration date, no qualifiers, no safety net. Love that demands acceptance of all things I cannot change. Love that doesn't follow a plan. — Julia Whelan, My Oxford Year..This is a command, add this to your tbr list ASAP!!! Please, please don’t let the year pass without reading this book, please! You’ll not regret it. I freaking love this novel so much. As soon as I fi...

I have never been able to write the following statement in a review before ... “This was an unputdownable listen !” Having going in blind, of course, I had no idea what to expect, but I can tell you I would have never guessed what unfolded before me. The storyline is not just about the romance. There is real substance, real meat on the bones, which I crave. To say this was captivating is an understatement. I completely fell in love with the charming, disarming, Brit named Jamie. He hooked me

Why did I choose this book to read- simple: location, location, location. I have been to Oxford a few times now and I love the city and all that it represents-higher learning and history. What I like best about this book was revisiting the streets and places that I knew and had been to.The bad news- I really did not care for anything else in this book. The main character, Ella, totally annoyed me. She was just too immature for words, but supposedly she was advising the next presidential candidat...

Title: My Oxford YearSeries: StandaloneAuthor: Julia WhelanRelease date: April 24, 2018Cliffhanger: NoHEA(view spoiler)[HFN (hide spoiler)]Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about a book, and that's what happened when I came across My Oxford Year. After seeing the adorable cover and reading the blurb, the entire package was calling to me and screaming READ ME in neon lights. I'm usually hesitant with new/unfamiliar authors, but I instictively took the leap of faith in this case, and it paid o...

Audiobook...read by authorJulia WhelanJulia is terrific with a slight detached sound to her voice. Other times she has a kick-ass attitude which comes across in her sounds...always changing her voice range & emotional manifestation to fit the prose she wrote. She does this well.The book has some intellectual academic charm...with love in the Oxford air. Heartwarming!3.5. I enjoyed it...not Earth Shaking — but enjoyable!!!!

I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.I had really high hopes for "My Oxford Year," but upon finishing it, I really can't bear to give it more than a single star. Where do I even begin?So much of this story is unbelievable, and not in a good way. I wasn't convinced that the main character was (A) a Rhodes scholar, (B) 24-going-on-25 years old, and (C) being recruited by an American presidential candidate's team based on a single article she wrote for The Atlantic. So much of her back...

Worth the attention in my opinion. A frenemy-turn-lovers story written underneath Whelan's love note to Oxford. So glad I finally decided to read it! ...and I heard this was becoming a movie! My favorite quote:“Losing someone is hard enough. But death without the process of dying is an abomination. It takes nine months to create life; it feels unnatural, a sin against nature, that the reverse shouldn’t also have its time. Time to let go of the known as we take hold of the unknown.”

My Oxford Year is a first person narrative of Ella from Ohio, a Rhodes Scholar, spending her allotted time at Oxford. Already at age 24, she has an impressive resume in the political sphere, yet chooses to study literature during her time in England. Ella is immediately swept up in the rich, historic tradition of Oxford. One of her classes is taught by a young, handsome Englishman, Jamie Davenport. She tries to balance classes with a pending job back in the U.S. for an upcoming presidential camp...

loved the oxford setting of this and overall it was well-written and alright, but i went into this totally expecing lighthearted and it was anything but. i didn't deduct any stars for that, but i just thought i'd warn others lol. also there's no smut sooooo

lol @ me for thinking this was a light, fluffy romcom and then staying up till 1am sobbing I was feeling really audiobook slump-y for the past bit (and that usually never happens. audiobooks are usually my way of unslumping myself) and so I picked up this book in hopes of breaking that feeling (i chose this book specifically bc the narrator read Evvie Drake Starts Over and I LOVED her reading of it)and honestly thanks past may for being a genius bc i literally couldn't stop listening to this boo...

5+ stars!!! “The hardest thing is love, with no expiration date, no qualifiers, no safety net. Love that demands acceptance of all things I cannot change. Love that doesn't follow a plan.” My Oxford Year by Julie Whelan is a real gem of a book! It took me by surprise in the best way! I’ve listened to many audio books narrated by Ms. Whelan (she is an amazing narrator) and I’m happy to report that her writing is amazing as well. I listened to this in audio, it was narrated by her of c...

3.5 STARS I've just lived years of my life in those eyes. Soooooo . . .Unpopular opinion ahead. . .Here's the premise: "You're the hypercompetitive American, a Rhodes scholar no less, who sees Oxford as a series of hurdles to clear like levels in some video game, and I? I'm the hypocritical poetry scholar, espousing grand theories of love whilst shagging a different wench every night." Sounds so good, right? Unfortunately, despite being well-written, despite being polished...

You know how our expectations are sometimes too high? Or, you expect something completely different and get something else and it's even better than what you were anticipating? It's the best feeling when a book does that. My Oxford Year surprised me, it totally blindsided me. Although I read the blurb it kind of slipped that it was compared to JoJo Moyes and Nicholas Sparks. Anyway, let me tell you about this sparkling little gem that is My Oxford Year.When Ella arrives in Oxford, jetlagged and,...

An unexpected enjoyable story, heartbreaking at moments but also heartwarming. I went into this book completely blind and it ended up being something I did not imagine.Ella has temporarily moved to England to attend Oxford, as soon as she completes her studies she plans to go back to the States to fulfill a promising career. However, her plans are trumped when she meets the intriguing Jamie Davenport. What follows is a story of love, pain, and new beginnings.I enjoyed the setting and learned a b...

Can’t quite put my finger on what exactly about this didn’t work, but something about this just.. didn’t sit well with me???? Also, *cries in fade to black* CW: fatphobia, food restriction, death of a loved one, terminal illness

Favorite Quotes:His voice is so melodious, so low and soothing, it should be accompanied by choral music. Everyone else looks very British about it, like this is where fun comes to die.“Given the lovely turn of your figure, it’s quite gratifying you’re not one of those dreadful American girls who subsist entirely on lawn clippings and glacier water,” Charlie says. My mouth is too full of scone to reply. He has this ability to go still, as if he’s stopped breathing. Like a vampire. Which makes me...

****4 STARS****I went into this book completely blind. I didn’t even read the blurb. Someone on Facebook stated this novel was on sale for $1.99 so I brought it. Nothing more, nothing less.My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan had been sitting on my kindle for about 8 months or so before opened it up. I wish I would have read it sooner.I’m going to keep this one pretty, pretty.Click the link to read more here. Remember to follow all things messy. . . Subcribe...

There's a sentence in the blurb that's wholly responsible for landing this book on my Do Not Read list. I'm not going to divulge it—in case you're considering going in blind (which I recommend). I took said sentence as a warning, and while I appreciated being "warned," I almost missed out on a fantastic book because of it. Sampling the audio is what changed my mind. It's stellar...and narrated by the author herself who was an actress and narrator long before she was a published writer.Don't be l...

This book was....ok. I think that’s the best way to describe it. There were parts that warmed my heart and parts that made me feel, but for the most part? Pretty mediocre. Which is pretty disappointing because this book seemingly ticked all my boxes. ESPECIALLY AN AMERICAN IN OXFORD.I never felt attached to any of the characters, and I think this is in part because of the odd pacing of the book. Instead of us watching the two main characters fall in love, we are told that they start to in a weir...