Category: Book Buddies Reviews

Book Buddies Review: Snowed Over

Posted December 30, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Cristina’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Going off of your question about holiday books and novellas, how does this one compare to other holiday-themed stories? Have you read a lot of them? Lauren: I generally read a handful of holiday books each December! I’ve noticed that most of them are more adult stories instead of YA. As you mentioned in your post, My True Love Gave to Me featured a great bunch of stories, but there wasn’t enough time to really get to know the characters. I read quite a few holiday books this year that didn’t really hit the mark for me, and this one falls into the “generally positive” category; I’d probably recommend this one because of how quick it was! Cristina: Prior to this story I had only read two “holiday” themed books, and they were both YA anthologies: My True Love Gave to Me and Let it Snow. It was definitely a nice change of pace to have a cohesive holiday […]

Book Buddies Review: The Raven Boys

Posted November 25, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link below) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! How did you feel when you started? Did the hype make you excited or nervous? Kaitlin: I definitely did not know what to expect from this book because the synopsis had been super vague about what was going down within this book. All I know was what happened in the beginning chapter and that Blue would eventually become attracted. I don’t think hype really affects my enjoyment for books too much. It motivates me to try to enjoy a book that has lots of love to it but other than that, I mostly enjoy the majority of the books I read so hype is never a huge problem for me when it comes to how I enjoy a book. Lauren: I know what you mean about motivating you to enjoy it! That was such a driving factor in my enjoyment of this book. I felt like I needed to like it because everyone else […]

Book Buddies One Year Anniversary Review: A Madness So Discreet (and Giveaway!)

Posted October 29, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 14 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link below) It’s the one year anniversary of Book Buddies! Back in October 2014, I expressed an interest in finding a Book Buddy to read and review with each month. I just wanted to collaborate with one person by reading the same book and discussing it – like our own mini book club. I put out an “application” for people to fill out and see who had similar books to me on their TBR. Kaitlin and Cristina both stuck out to me right away, and I couldn’t choose between them! I ended up asking them both and deciding to alternate months, with different goals in mind for each. Kaitlin and I would be binge-reading book series together, while Cristina and I would read books based on the season or holiday. It has been such a fantastic experience reading with these ladies and getting to know them each month. I can tell I made the right choice! 🙂 We decided to ALL read the same book this […]

Book Buddies Review: The Remedy

Posted September 30, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link below) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! In the climax of the book, Quinn becomes too entangled in Catalina’s life and can’t remember who she is anymore. Did you feel for her in that moment, or did you feel like she was straight up deranged? Kaitlin: I obviously don’t understand much about this “being a closer” thing because I thought Quinn was overreacting a little. The thing is, it’s not like whenever you go into an assignment you’re brainwashed. It takes time to adjust to being a new person but over time it becomes easier to live the life of someone dead. Plus, she has been a closer for so long, you would think Quin knew how to pretend to be someone without actually thinking they were that person rather than themselves. I also had to consider the fact that she wasn’t “Quinlan McKee” for 2 weeks. That definitely could have messed with her head a bit. I don’t know! […]

Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Posted September 3, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Cristina’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. How did you feel about Cricket as a main character? Lauren: I had weird feelings about her at first, to be honest! She started out being very critical about the girls she knew, and there were some major hints of slut-shaming. I was hoping that wouldn’t continue! I also thought it was a bit odd how quickly she decided to go to Nantucket by herself, right after her friend said they wanted family only. At one point she wonders if she should have told her friend she was going first, and I thought “UM yeah of course you should have!” I questioned Cricket’s intelligence and maturity a bit at the beginning and occasionally throughout the rest of the book. I thought she had a weird attitude towards girls (not necessarily full-on slut-shaming, but certain bits and pieces of it). I don’t expect all books with female MCs to be […]

Book Buddies Review: The Treatment

Posted July 29, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! Do you agree with Sloane’s parting words at the end? She explains how the NOW is all that really matters; the memories don’t matter as much. Kaitlin: Well, I think this really depends on the person. I personally think that childhood memories are super important to have because they are the ones that are truly carefree and fun and happy. Sloane could have had a childhood that was happy and I would like to remember that stuff but if she didn’t have a good childhood then obviously you wouldn’t mind letting go of those memories. One important factor in her childhood though was Brady. Based on what I’ve read, Brady and Sloane have been pretty close for a lot of their years in her life and that’s something you don’t want to forget, especially because Brady is no longer around. She does have James and her parents to feed memories to […]

Book Buddies Review: Even In Paradise

Posted June 22, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Cristina’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. Do you see this as a Great Gatsby “retelling” or just a book that makes a few parallels to it? Cristina: For the first 80% of the book I thought it merely had some parallels to Gatsby (such as Charlotte paralleling Nick, the outsider looking in), but at the end of the book, especially with the twists, it seemed to become much more of an adaptation. I sort of thought the first big “twist” was a good nod to Gatsby, but the additional one at the end felt a little too excessive, like it was trying too hard to emulate the novel. Lauren: I agree. I think the book was trying a little too hard. I could tell that some kind of tragedy was brewing for the end, but I didn’t think it would so closely resemble Gatsby. I did like the parallels of Charlie to Nick, because I think […]

Book Buddies Review: The Program

Posted May 27, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! A lot of dystopia books seem to offer some kind of warning or moral about today’s society. Do you think this society, with The Program and the suicide epidemic, could happen in our world? Kaitlin: This is a question I tend to ask often about the society when reading a dystopian book. Honestly, yes I do think that this could be a possible outcome of our society in the future. Suicide and depression is what I believe to be a national issue that is in our society. People killing themselves due to bullying, mistakes, a mental disorder, etc. There are things like therapy but does that seriously help? Obviously, therapy and other things won’t prevent all suicide, With technology advancing more and more, the pills people took during the Program could be invented. It really intrigues me as well because in this book, it seems that the people that are causing depression […]

Book Buddies Review: These Broken Stars

Posted May 1, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. What past experience have you had with sci-fi books like this? If you’ve read some before, did you find this book easy to slip into, or was it a challenge from lack of experience? What did you think of the world-building? It felt a lot different than the world-building in fantasy books I’ve read. Lauren: I don’t think I’ve really read any book that falls into this category. I was kind of leery but extremely interested to see how it worked for me. To be honest, it took a while to get into. I was eager to see what happened with the characters but started off quite confused about their world. I couldn’t grasp the fact that (I think?) Earth didn’t exist to them. They were just floating around the galaxy on a ship and there were loads of other planets to explore. With fantasy books, they’re usually set […]

Book Buddies Review: Ruin and Rising

Posted March 25, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some decently big spoilers ahead regarding the ending and some plot points, especially if you haven’t read the whole series! Proceed with caution. Before starting this book, did you read any reviews on it? Do you generally read reviews before or after reading a book, and does it impact your reading if you read them before? Kaitlin: Usually I don’t read a review before reading a book. That’s what happens after I finish the book. If the person posts a review for a book plan to read then I’ll save it on Bloglovin for later. Other than that, no. Reviews are usually read after the book is finished. Same went for Ruin and Rising, I didn’t read reviews before I read it but since, now, I have already read it, I went ahead and let myself read reviews. My reason for that is usually to avoid spoilers. I understand that people don’t include spoilers […]