I have to start off by saying that I was a tad bit hesitant to begin reading this book. It's just not my usual genre, but I was still interested in reading it. 

As I mentioned in my last review, a few other navy wives and I have created a casual book club. We decided to use the BuzzFeed article, 35 Books You Need to Read in Your Twenties as our guide. As many do, we started at the beginning and this is book number two.

I have never read a celebrity's book before, but I am happy that this one was my first! I have seen  Amy Poehler in many movies and I always liked her and the character she played. I have never been an actor, or a very good liar, so I have to give her props for the work she does! Especially, because she has to make some of it up on the spot. My top 3 Amy Poehler movies have to be, in no specific order, Sisters, Inside Out, and Baby Momma. Of course I can't forget Mean Girls either, I bet you forgot she was in that one! 

I can honestly say, and you might hate me for this, I have never watched SNL and I have only watched a few random episodes of Parks & Recreation. I really only watched it when there wasn't anything on; I just didn't give much thought to it. I do think that after reading her book I would like to try and watch it from the beginning sometime soon. 

Synopsis: 

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners?

If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All" Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by.

Review:

To begin with, I absolutely loved the part in the beginning when Poehler talked about the book writing process. It was nice to hear an author talk about honest and personal experiences and feelings. She stuck with the same honestly throughout the rest of the book. 

I do have to say that I was not expecting a lot of what I read. Of course, I didn't know too much about Poehler before reading her book; so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised. 

I think this was the perfect book to read following Wild. There were a lot of aspects that I didn't like in Wild and you can read about them in my review. Luckily, Poehler avoided those fabulously in her writing. 

My favorite part of Yes Please was the actual book itself. I absolutely loved the look and feel of the book. My copy was made with quality paper and quality photos. The use of glossy paper just added something special to the book for me. 

Yes Please was well written, but better than that it was easy to read. Poehler writes in small sentences,  making it easy to follow along and move through chapters quickly. It also helped that she wrote, for the most part, short chapters. I also liked that the book was organized into parts.

I have to give props to Poehler for being so honest in her book. She shares her struggles and you can really connect with her when you're reading. Its easy to see that she's a real person and she goes through some of the same things that we do. 

Something that surprised me is how recently she fulfilled some of her dreams. She discussed how things "steadily moved along" since she was on SNL. She goes on to describe how her theaters and schools have progressed since 2005 and it was enlightening to know that it's ok if we don't make it big right in the beginning. For example, In 2014 "she opened a new UCB Training Center in New York with fourteen classrooms and a picnic table, and a big new theater space in Los Angeles." That was just 2 years ago! We hear a lot about people becoming pop stars after being found in a barber shop; so it's just nice to know that this isn't always the case. Poehler truly inspired and encouraged me when I read this chapter. 

The synopsis was definitely correct when it said it is, "Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous, Yes Please is full of words to live by."

I really liked that in between Poehler's stories and comedy, there were a lot of wise words. I even wrote some of them in the notes section of my phone, but I'll share those with you another time!

I think that there was only one thing that I didn't like about Poehler's writing. She does a great job about transitioning stories in her chapters, but sometimes the circle back was a little awkward. I understand that she is bringing the chapter full circle, but it throws me off transitioning back to the old story from before. I think that if she hadn't done that, the book still would have made sense and succeeded. By the time we get to the end of the chapter we've already forgotten, or at least I have, the story she told earlier. When Poehler transitioned to something new, I thought that was the end of the story and I didn't expect anything more on the subject. 

Overall, I really liked this book. I would 100% recommend reading it and I think BuzzFeed did a great job including it on their list. 

I'm glad that I read this book because it has opened my eyes to a new genre. My mother-in-law likes to get me celebrity autobiographies & memoirs, and I think I'm finally going to start reading them. Now, if I can just find where we put I Am Malala!

Have you read this book? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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