Month: April 2015

Blog Tour Review: 99 Days

Posted April 20, 2015 / Book Reviews / 15 Comments

Learn more about the author and enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post! I’m very particular about writing my reviews essentially right after I finish the book. I can’t let my thoughts just sit around in my head, because I will inevitably lose them within a day or two (sometimes much sooner). This book, though, is one that took me longer to digest. I didn’t have mixed feelings on it or anything, which is sometimes the reason I need a few days, but I knew I really appreciated what this book did and how it made me feel. It’s a really hard topic and situation to get involved in, but I think Kate Cotungo did an absolutely amazing job. The general love triangle topic/trope can be VERY polarizing with readers. If it’s something you’re not opposed to in general, I urge you to try this book out. (I’m not one to discount a love triangle as long as it’s believable, well-done, and involves no insta-love. More on that later.) I couldn’t stop reading this. Occasionally there are books where I can say “yep, I finished this in two sittings” but that’s just because I had a lot of time on my hands. This is a book where I could absolutely not stop reading and was determined to see how it all ended. So yes, I totally read this in two long sittings. I couldn’t get enough. I want to compare it to that metaphor where it’s like a […]

ARC Review: The Pretty App

Posted April 17, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The fastest and easiest thing I can say about this book is this: if you read The Boyfriend App, imagine that you took that book and stripped away a layer or two. Take away some of the cute romance, some of the charming characters, and some of the deeper meanings and morals. Voilà! You have The Pretty App. That sounds harsh, but notice I said the word SOME a lot. I don’t think its a lot worse by any means, I just think it’s a more superficial version of the same book… and it still happens to be damn enjoyable! I was interested initially to get inside Blake’s head. In the first book, she’s the school’s mean girl and doesn’t seem to have many, if any, redeeming qualities. It was kind of exactly what I predicted. She views herself as just a pretty face, she has issues with her family, and she puts other people down to feel better about herself. Cue the character development into a glowing, respectable young woman by the end of the book. (Kind of. She always said she would still have a bit of a “bitch” in her, which I actually appreciated; it was more realistic that way – saying that she could never change some parts of who she is.) It did bug me HOW OFTEN they talked about how she was soooo pretty and had nothing else going for her. She constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY talked about her looks being her only good quality; she’s not […]

Reading Recap #2

Posted April 16, 2015 / Features, Reading Recap / 8 Comments

Because my reviews are usually posted at least a month after I finish the book, I never really talk about what I’m currently reading or just finished reading. This Reading Recap feature will let you know the the books I just finished reading and listening to, as well as the books I’m currently reading and listening to. Past recaps here! Split Second by Kasie West | I’m officially done reading all of Kasie West’s published books and it’s making me very sad. I absolutely love her writing – and this book was no exception! I was really just in the mood for it and finally decided to read it. It’s been sitting on my shelf since February. If you haven’t read this duology, I HIGHLY suggest you try it out! All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven | This book messed me up, dude. I was convinced that I wasn’t going to like it for some reason (maybe because it was blurbed with Eleanor & Park + John Green and that bugs me to no end). I couldn’t stop reading it even though it felt like not much was actually happening… then, the last fifty pages BROKE ME. I’m no longer a functioning human. The Pretty App by Katie Sise | I kind of rushed to finish this book and post the review right around the pub date. It was cute enough, but didn’t blow me away. I honestly don’t have much to say about it… I liked its predecessor a bit more! When by Victoria Laurie |Yep, this one was not enjoyable at all. […]

ARC Review: Play On

Posted April 16, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I really liked this one for the most part! It definitely was different than I expected in a lot of ways too. I think the best way to break it down is in a what worked/what didn’t kind of format. My rating is rounded down just because I did roll my eyes at the cheese more often than it made me swoon, as well as the first reason listed in the negatives section below. Overall I would recommend this book (especially if you’re a baseball fan!) because it was a cute, quick story. What I Liked The main character was a nice perspective to hear the story from. I liked reading a male POV in a contemporary, because it doesn’t happen too much. It was nice to see the more emotional side of himself and having him admit to having feelings for Marissa. There’s a lot more about the voice that I need to go into (on the negative side, unfortunately) but OVERALL I did like Austin as a main character. The book was deeper than I expected. It had cute elements that I expect from contemporary YA, but it also had some darker themes that I didn’t see coming. The issues with Austin’s dad and Marissa definitely took up a lot of the book and I liked having something different and difficult to read about, while still getting an adorable story. There was a good balance between lighter and darker themes. I’m really starting to enjoy books set in […]

ARC Review: Things We Know By Heart

Posted April 15, 2015 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

I am actually pretty bummed about this book… which you would never guess, based on the decent rating. I had to break it down with my rating report, below, in order to sort my feelings out. If there was a way to give this 3.75 stars, I would. [EDIT: Upon further reflection, my rating has come down quite a lot. The issues I explain here have only bothered me MORE with time.] This book was easily at the top of my most-anticipated list for this year and the lovely Brittany let me borrow it ahead of time. There was just something about the topic that really drew me in. I expected something very heavy and sad, yet emotionally gripping and (hopefully) uplifting/ inspiring by the end. That’s not exactly what I got. When I first started the book, I was immediately drawn in. I wanted to know exactly what happened with Trent, how she tried to move on, and her experiences with the other organ recipients. Again, I didn’t exactly get that. The timeframe of this book starts a year after Trent dies and after she’s already met every other organ recipient. The boy who got the heart, Colton, never wrote back to her. She takes it upon herself to track him down and accidentally gets involved with him. Of course, you can immediately tell that this is going to be one of those books where she holds out until the last second to tell him the truth about how she […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #36: Inspiration

Posted April 14, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 17 Comments

Top 10 Inspirational Book Quotes Things Books Have Inspired Me to Do Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Links go to Goodreads or my review. Since I recently posted a list with some of my favorite quotes, I decided to repurpose another post I had planned for May. Oddly enough, the topic is kind of similar! I’ll be doing a spin-off of today’s TTT with another kind of bookish inspiration… Today’s List: Ten Things that Books Motivated Me to Do Do you ever finish a book and just feel really… inspired? Whether it’s to travel to a new place, take up a hobby, or learn more about something, I’ve found that certain books have motivated and inspired me to do something different. Today’s list features ten different things that certain books have gotten me in the mood for! Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver inspired me to start my book blog { Goodreads / Review } This was the first young adult book I read when I decided to get back into reading. I had joined a book club but was reading adult fiction and memoirs (clearly I didn’t stick with that group for long…). I missed YA, because that was my go-to for so long. I […]

Inside & Out #4: Cristina from Girl in the Pages

Posted April 13, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 2 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Cristina from Girl in the Pages Twitter: @girlinthepages | Instagram: @girlinthepages Tell me a little about yourself: Hi I’m Cristina and I run the Young Adult book blog Girl in the Pages! I was an English major and college and wanted to create a space where I could keep writing after I graduated, and so my blog was born! My love of reading started before I could even read (I used to flip through picture books and make stories up out loud) and my love of YA started around age 8 when I discovered Harry Potter and The Princess Diaries. I finally got to merge my love of scholarship and YA literature together by writing my senior thesis on Harry Potter! When I’m not blogging or reading I’m traveling, watching the Food Network, going on adventures with my boyfriend, or planning some sort of Disney trip! Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): My blog was mainly created as a space where I could merge my love of Young Adult literature and academic scholarship, which for some reason many people find mutually exclusive! I think there’s so many fantastic […]

Organization Part Two: My Traveler’s Notebook

Posted April 12, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 13 Comments

Inspired by my recent organizational acquisitions (and posts by Hannah), I wanted to share some information about how I keep myself organized – primarily for blogging and reading, but also a little about my personal organization, too. Part Two: What’s Inside My Traveler’s Notebook In the first part of this series, you saw what’s inside my book bag. Today I’ll give you a little tour of what’s inside my Foxy Fix traveler’s notebook! (The company was previously referred to as Foxy Dori, but she recently posted on Instagram that she’s hoping to keep her brand away from the original company name – Midori – and go by Foxy Fix.) Again, Hannah’s post is probably the best overview you can get, but I’ll try my best to include what’s in my notebook. I know they can kind of be confusing. Ordering a Foxy Dori After seeing Hannah’s post, I bought one within days. I wrote up what I purchased in my last post, but here’s a refresher in case you’d like to know: Colorful Foxy Dori in Dragon Fruit | Wide Size | Quadruple Binding | Black Strap | Stamp #13 (Heart) What does that mean? I ordered the “Colorful Foxy Dori” option, which is made of leather and available in different colors. I chose Dragon Fruit, which is a pretty pink (of course). I got the wide size because it can best hold May Designs notebooks, which is a popular insert option. The quadruple binding means that there are four elastic bands […]

ARC Review: Dream a Little Dream

Posted April 10, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

The Story The main premise of this story revolves around Liv and her extremely vivid dreams. Her family, which consists of her mother and sister (Mia), has moved around quite a bit over the recent years to follow different university jobs for her professor mother. They make their “final” move to London because her mom has landed her dream job at Oxford. Enter her mom’s new boyfriend, Ernest, and his two children, Grayson and Florence. The new blended family joins together in Ernest’s house and adjust to their lives together. Meanwhile, Liv’s dreams are getting crazy. She’s seeing people from school, including her new stepbrother and his friends, and they seem to recognize her too. I was a huge fan of the different worlds going on in this book: the dreams and reality. I didn’t expect some of the events or main parts of the plot to be as dark as they were, though! That was a bit much for me but I’m excited to see what happens. The book itself was VERY introductory. I cut the first book in a series some slack because it often is more informational than action-packed, but this was definitely an extreme example of that. This book was purely setting the stage for the other two books in the series. I enjoyed reading it but felt like nothing was happening. There wasn’t a lot of action at all; it was mostly explaining how things worked and learning about the characters. The Goodread synopsis doesn’t […]

Cover Colors: The Start of Me and You

Posted April 9, 2015 / Cover Colors, Features / 10 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord Ironically, my favorite thing about this cover is the gorgeous pink shade. It ended up being a little difficult to locate because it’s so specific, so I had to go with the rest of the colors for my outfit. Not only does this book have a gorgeous cover, it’s an AMAZING book. You can check out my review here! I would definitely wear this outfit (maybe not all together, if I’m being honest – because I HAVE to match everything I wear). It’s nice and spring-esque without trying too hard 😉 The Start of Me and You by bookmarklit featuring blue jeans