Book Review: The Girl on the Train

Today I'm reviewing The Girl on the Train by British author Paula Hawkins. The novel is a psychological thriller revolving around a murder case, and many have dubbed it "the next Gone Girl." What's more, it spent 13 weeks as the number one book on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list.

I actually listened to the audiobook version of this novel, but it still counts, right?

Overview:
Rachel is an unemployed, divorced alcoholic in her 30's who pretends to take the London train to work during the week. One day, she sees something suspicious out of the train window. This occurrence lands her smack in the middle of a murder mystery case full of love, jealousy, and mystery.

The Girl on the Train  has three separate narrators: Rachel; her ex-husband's new wife, Anna; and the victim of the murder, Megan.

Opinion: 
For the most part, The Girl on the Train was exciting, suspenseful, and mysterious. I was completely drawn into the story and kept trying, unsuccessfully, to predict the results of the murder investigation. Since I listened to the book while driving, I actually found myself sitting in my car at rest stop parking lots because the plot was too good to turn off. That said, some pieces of the story were also dry and uninteresting. The first couple of chapters were especially hard to get through because they seemed to drag on.

In addition, all three narrators (Rachel, Anna, and Megan) are completely unreliable. I've never read a novel with so many unreliable characters, and it's a refreshing new angle that kept me on my toes. However, the unreliability made me dislike all of the characters in one way or another. I didn't feel emotionally connected with anyone, which made it hard for me to care what happened to them.

Another drawback is that the author jumped between characters and dates in order to advance the plot. In other words, the novel constantly went back-and-forth in time. This scattered timeline didn't bother me too much, but I read other reviews that said the skipping around confused them.

Finally, I never actually read Gone Girl (it's on my list!) so it to The Girl on the Train.

The Audiobook experience: 
I wanted to download an audiobook from Audible for a long car ride and decided on The Girl on the Train – partly because the plot seemed interesting, and partly because the 11-hour runtime would keep me occupied throughout the drive. Since the novel has three narrators, the audiobook has three separate speakers. Each one had a British accent because the novel takes place in England.

This was actually my first time listening to an audiobook, and I was quite impressed. My car ride flew by because the story managed to entertain me for hours. All in all, I had a nice audiobook experience.

Rating: 3.5/5
I enjoyed the idea behind The Girl on the Train, and the storyline completely engrossed me. However, I had problems with certain aspects of the book mentioned earlier: the unlikeable characters, the dull moments in the plot, and the skipping around between time and characters. I feel like the author could've told the same story in half of the amount of pages. Therefore, I give The Girl on the Train 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Have any of you read the book? What's your opinion?

Photo from Amazon 

Review: Eat Nakd by Natural Balance Foods

Natural Balance Foods, a UK-based company that embraces the wholefood movement, recently reached out to see if I'd like to try their Eat Nakd granola bars. Given my love for quick snacks, and the promising ingredients in the Nakd bars, I thought I'd take up the opportunity.

(Note: Natural Balance Foods sent me these bars for review, but all opinions are honest and completely my own.)

Eat Nakd bars are marketed as raw, natural, and unprocessed snacks. They have no added sugars or syrups (dates serve as a sweetener), and they're completely free of GMOs, gluten, wheat, and dairy. What's more, they're 100% vegan. The bars are simply made of cold-pressed fruits and nuts "smooshed" together. Also worth noting, the dried fruit and nuts are very iron-rich foods.

I'm really trying to improve my health and fitness this semester, so the nutritious benefits of the bar really excited me. 

Natural Balance Foods sent me an sampler kit with tons of yummy flavors, including...

• Cocoa Mint
• Cocoa Orange
• Pecan Pie
• Ginger Bread
• Cocoa Delight
• Cashew Cookie
• Caffe Mocha
• Berry Delight
• Rhubarb and Custard
• Strawberry Protein Crunch
• Banana Protein Crunch
• Apple Protein Crunch
• Cocoa Protein Crunch 
• Bakewell Tart

I tried most of the flavors, and I couldn't believe how great they all tasted! The texture of the Eat Nakd bars is soft and chewy, and I would describe it as cake-y and dense.

Since all of the bars contain similar dried fruits and nuts (mainly cashews), each flavor has only minor differentiations in taste. My favorite flavor so far is Cocoa Delight. The ingredient list is simple: dates (48%), cashews (29%), raisins (17%), cocoa (6%), and natural flavor. That's it! I could taste the chocolate undertones, but it didn't overpower the flavor of the dried fruit and nuts.

Some other especially tasty flavors were Rhubarb & Custard, Cocoa Mint, and Strawberry Crunch. 

However, I have one minor complaint about the Eat Nakd snacks; I encountered something hard about halfway through my Rhubarb and Custard one. The package warns that some bars may contain the odd shell or pit piece, and I immediately knew the object was part of a pit. I simply tossed the piece aside, which was a minor inconvenience but also testifies to the freshness and purity of the ingredients in the Nakd bars.

Overall, I would recommend the bar to anyone looking for a healthy snack. Natural Balance Foods As of now, they are available to American customers at www.eatnakd.com and www.amazon.com. 

Healthy Almond Butter and Banana Smoothie

I've never been a breakfast person. Throughout high school and college, I'd simply grab a granola bar as I headed out the door and eat it en route to class. Not surprisingly, the hunger pains would hit well before lunchtime. I knew I needed more sustenance in the morning, but couldn't bring myself to wake up earlier and whip up some scrambled eggs or a yogurt parfait.

The solution came when I got my NutriBullet and discovered breakfast smoothies. I bought a bunch of ingredients and came up with a smoothie recipe I love. Not only is the drink deliciously addictive, it also couldn't be simpler to make – all you do is throw the five ingredients into a blender and mix them together.

THE INGREDIENTS 

• One tub (about 5-6 oz.) of yogurt. I prefer Greek, but feel free to use any type of yogurt you want
• One medium-sized ripe banana
• 2 tbsp. almond butter or peanut butter
• 1 cup of milk (or milk alternative, like almond milk) 
• Ground cinnamon 

You also need a blender or NutriBullet. Once you mix the ingredients together, the final result is a sweet, tasty, and somewhat thick drink. 

This smoothie keeps my hunger pains away until lunch, which is one reason I rely on it every morning. The almond butter and Greek yogurt pack on the protein, and the yogurt also provides calcium and probiotic cultures. The tasty cinnamon is loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, the banana adds sweetness, and the almond milk makes the mixture more liquid-like.

Perhaps the best part of the smoothie, though, is that it takes less than five minutes to prepare! 

Tell me: What is your go-to healthy breakfast?