Category: Book Reviews

ARC Review: Diplomatic Immunity

Posted August 31, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
ARC Review: Diplomatic Immunity

I liked this one overall I guess. When I saw the synopsis, it definitely went onto my “jazzed up for this shelf” right away. I love reading about rich kids doing bad things, and this one held a lot of promise for those kinds of shenanigans. I was picturing some of my favorite old-school nostalgia-making books like Gossip Girl or Private. This didn’t exactly happen, but I think it’s okay. Piper was a hard main character to get close to. I could understand her motivations in a general sense but it didn’t make her any less difficult to vibe with. Her family was having money issues so she was determined to get a scholarship to cover the cost of college. She would really stop at nothing to get a good story for that reason. I definitely predicted how that plotline would go 100% so it was a little frustrating. It seriously made me cringe though because in terms of the “issue” or climax of the story, the stakes were really high for this one (compared to other contemporaries). Otherwise, Piper was kind of just weird? She blurted out whatever she was thinking most of the time and was incredibly awkward. She definitely grew on me a little bit throughout the story, but not one of my favorite main characters by any means. I was expecting a bit more of a Gossip Girl feel with parties and drugs and all sorts of things, but that was definitely understated. There was more development with her relationship(s) […]

ARC Reviews: Game On and Sweet Carolina Morning

Posted August 29, 2016 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
ARC Reviews: Game On and Sweet Carolina Morning

Southern Summer(ish)time Series ARC August was perfect for catching up on some books I’d been putting off for basically no reason. I recently was approved for both of these on Netgalley. While they’re for different target audiences – one is YA and one is Adult – they’re both set in the south and bring some major warm weather vibes. They’re also both second in their each of their series, respectively, and I generally enjoyed their predecessors (although not 100% loved).I hate to say it, but I have mixed feelings on this one as well. I found my attention wavering a lot in the beginning of the book and I don’t think I paid enough attention to what was going on for some reason. I liked Bri and Eric well enough, but don’t feel like I really got to KNOW Bri as much as Eric. I feel like there were significantly more chapters from his point of view and I missed out on Bri’s perspective at times. I was missing some friendship feels I would have liked, but the family parts were fleshed out pretty nicely on both sides. My favorite trope involves childhood-best-friends-getting-together, PLUS there was a slow-burn romance involved here. It sounded like such a win-win on the romance side for me. I liked when they reminisced on their childhood together, but this was a bit too slow-burn for me. I guess they were both protecting their hearts but I wanted to just do this so badly: Super slow-burn aside, some of the […]

Mini Reviews: The Islanders #1 and Nantucket Red

Posted August 25, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
Mini Reviews: The Islanders #1 and Nantucket Red

Beachy Backlist Reviews I wanted to read all of the books in THE ISLANDERS series this summer but… they weren’t binge-worthy. The characters weren’t so easy to relate to a lot of the time. I think I’d enjoy spreading them out a little more. I’m tossing in my review for NANTUCKET RED because I finally decided to catch up and finish this duo! I obviously needed at least one more ~summery~ book before the actual end of summer comes around!This book was legitimately exactly what I expected it to be. It reminded me right off the bat of the old books I’d read during middle school when hanging out at the library after school. I’d pull some teen drama from the 90’s off the shelf and love every dramatic minute. While I definitely loved the drama, it’s harder to stomach as an adult! In general I think books have come a looooong way since this series too. It has its insane amount of instalove (like, literally every single couple loves each other within the first day) and love triangles (yes, multiple – these kids change partners like nobody’s business!). I can’t deny that this book feels a bit realistic in that way. These kids live on an island with a total of 300 people and they’re the only teenagers. What more do you expect? I don’t have a favorite character. They all kind of blend together and there are quite a few people involved: Zoey, Jake, Lucas, Claire, Ben, Aisha, and Nina. Damn. […]

Review: Truly Madly Guilty

Posted August 22, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments
Review: Truly Madly Guilty

Initial Excitement Liane Moriarty is definitely one of my favorites. I’ve enjoyed all of her books so far and love them even more in audiobook form. When I saw that the same narrator was reading this one, I preordered the audio right away. I had just finished up an audio-binge-listen of a trilogy and definitely was ready to move on to something different. In other words… I started this book within the first week it was released, which never happens to me with audiobooks. Summary in a Second Six adults and three kids went to a random BBQ and clearly something happened to alter their lives forever. Much like BIG LITTLE LIES, this book went back and forth between the day of the barbecue and present day. The reader slowly learns about what happened that day and why everyone is in a tizzy. The book goes in between characters and hears their perspectives before and after the events of that day. Storytelling & Setting I love the Australian setting for Moriarty’s books (and especially because “Aussie author” is a square on this season’s Bookish Bingo card! Totally forgot!). My favorite thing about her books is her ability to go back and forth in time to create tension and suspense. I’m always wondering what the hell happened and can feel my curiosity and nervousness growing with each change in time or chapter. She’s a masterful storyteller, even if sometimes the end result doesn’t meet my expectations. Unfortunately, that was the case here. […]

Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Posted August 18, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments
Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

I feel the need to start this review with some general observations about the play/script itself and how people have reacted to its release. I absolutely understand the mixed feelings and reviews on this one, as well as the reasons some people won’t be reading it at all. There are some things I want to cover because I too had some mixed feelings about this that I literally had JUST spoken about. My thoughts changed at the midnight release, when I started reading, and while I was reading. Let’s get some shit out of the way If you asked me 10 years ago how I would feel knowing an “eighth Harry Potter book” would come out at some point, I would have shit my pants. (No pun intended with the title of this section.) As a kid/young adult, there was LITERALLY nothing I could have wanted more from the world of fiction. When I was older and especially within the last two years, that excitement kind of dwindled. I think we all can genuinely agree that a Marauders prequel would be unreal and amazing. Most people – even those against Cursed Child – seem to agree with this. I was definitely cool with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them because the world expanded to other people and wouldn’t “ruin” the magic of the original series. How could it? Harry’s not even there. But, for some reason, Cursed Child has gotten mixed feelings and negative pre-release commentary from bloggers. Clearly everyone has a […]

Blog Tour | ARC Review: Results May Vary

Posted August 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments
Blog Tour | ARC Review: Results May Vary

My Thoughts Honestly I went into this book with pretty high expectations. I really loved THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY and had been anticipating Chase’s next novel ever since. After the end of her debut, there was an excerpt for her next story. It was slated to be a companion to THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY and I was soooo pumped. Later, Chase talked about how her editor fell in love with this story instead, and wanted to publish them in a different order. I was slightly disappointed but still VERY excited to read her next story… no matter which one it was! Turns out, I had absolutely no reason to be nervous; my high expectations were truly met and definitely exceeded. This book – almost instantly – became my favorite book of the year. No exaggeration. Within the first page or two, I just had this weird feeling come over me that this book was going to be fantastic. I was completely captivated from the first page and never wanted to stop reading. I could see SO much improvement between her debut and her sophomore novels. That’s saying a LOT though, because I was incredibly impressed with her debut as it is! I always think I’m more of a plot-driven reader instead of character-driven. I like the characters to have personalities and be fully fleshed out, of course, but I more want there to be action and a story. Some writers change that for me. This book was really […]

Review: Tell Me Three Things

Posted August 5, 2016 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
Review: Tell Me Three Things

So yes of course I’m going to take the obvious review style here and tell you three things about this extremely wonderful book that landed on my favorites shelf… Thing #1: Super realistic and relatable While some things about the main character, Jessie, bugged me, it really felt like a realistic portrayal of the inside of a teenage girl’s head. She wasn’t perfect and was a bit too judgmental about those around her in her new school, a lot of it felt like a defense mechanism. She moved across the country essentially on a whim and was reacting honestly to what she saw around her. I usually like there to be some kind of character growth around this, but I have previously loved books where this happened too. I think it’s a story worth telling because some mean girl situations ARE real and the people DON’T change. Aside from Jessie’s internal monologue, I really just felt like the book was so enjoyable and, again, REAL. I loved her voice overall. Thing #2: Adorable romance I shipped her and SN from the beginning… and knew who SN was from the beginning. Jessie did frustrate me as it got further and further into the book and she STILL didn’t know. HOW? It was so obvious to me! It did involve some of those classic annoying things were she assumes it’s someone else with zero evidence and is a dummy about it for way too long. Oh well. Regardless, I LOVED reading about the […]

Rebel Belle Trilogy

Posted August 3, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments
Rebel Belle Trilogy

When REBEL BELLE was selected for the Make Me Read It Readathon, I was a little nervous. I planned to binge Hawkins’ HEX HALL series previously and was stuck after book one. I just never had the burning desire to pick up the second book. However, something about this particular series kept me reading. I started the first book via audio and then finished it up with my physical copy. I immediately went on to the audiobooks for the next two stories. There won’t be spoilers from the current book in the current review, but there will be spoilers for the PREVIOUS book(s) – so don’t read beyond book one below if you haven’t read the series!! The biggest thing I can say about this book and its plot is that it’s super unique. It doesn’t feel similar to other paranormal romances I’ve read before. First of all, I’d never even heard of a Paladin before. Second, the southern setting really enhanced the story quite a bit. It took me a VERY long time to get used to the setting though, to be honest, because it seriously felt like historical fiction. Anytime she referenced Marvel or something else that happens in “present day,” I was thrown a little. Like, oh wait, this isn’t taking place in the early 1900s or something. It just felt old-school because of the southern vibes, cotillion, and all of her manners/lady-like behaviors. Not something I’m used to reading outside of historical fiction! Expanding a little […]

Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend

Posted July 28, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments
Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend

Kasie West is one of my all-time favorite authors. She’s never let me down. I’ve loved her contemporaries as well as her paranormal duo. I always like to have one Kasie West book waiting for me so I can read it whenever the mood strikes… AKA, once her newest book published, I read her last previously published book. This just happened with this particular book as well, but I have to say… I’ve finally been slightly disappointed. Gia’s friends don’t believe she has a boyfriend because there’s a big ol’ bitch in their friend group that is poisoning everyone’s minds. When he breaks up with her on prom night, she asks a nearby guy to be Fill-In Bradley. Of course, she ends up falling for FIB and all the lies go a litttttle too far. I loved this book for quite a while at the beginning, but the mean girl shenanigans got to be a bit much for me as time progressed. The concept and fake dating trope is one of my favorites, so that was nice… but there was something missing to make it a favorite Kasie West book. The mean girl stuff and lies got out of hand. I can generally understand Gia’s motivations for wanting to keep her friendship intact but I also wanted her to trust that her friends would have her back. (More on that later in the spoilery section though.) Gia and her friends were known as popular mean girls and that trope got […]

Blog Tour Review: In Twenty Years

Posted July 25, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments
Blog Tour Review: In Twenty Years

A group of ex-college roommates returns to the house they lived in together, per the will of one of their friends who passed away. The group had been estranged since her death and things get ~uncomfortable~ as they confront the past and try to move on. The book alternates between each of their points of view: Catherine, Owen, Lindy, Annie, and Colin. The ex-friends are back near their old college campus, staying in the same house they once lived in. I love reunion stories so much, which is why this was quick to make it onto my TBR. The story itself was interesting because you get to see them all work through their issues – both personally and with each other – as they try to figure out why Bea wanted them to come back to their college home. Catherine is the creator a popular crafty blog and is married to Owen, her college sweetheart. She works a lot while he stays home with their kids. They’ve had quite a few issues lately. Lindy is an aging rockstar who doesn’t know how much longer she’ll be relevant. Annie is married to an unfaithful husband and is obsessed with showing off how “perfect” her life is on social media. Colin is a plastic surgeon in LA and still a bachelor. You slowly learn alllll of the complicated bits of history between each person: who loved who, who slept with who, who is fighting with who. It’s all really interesting because they’re […]