Category: Book Reviews

ARC Review: Out on Good Behavior

Posted June 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I am too sad that this series is over. New Adult can be truly hit or miss for me. I find that I’m not a fan of a lot of drama and angst between the couples. I’m prettttty much here for the college-aged-setting and sexytimes. I really love Dahlia’s books in general, but she pretty much slays at NA. She has a great mix of the hot stuff, the relationship development, and most importantly – FRIENDSHIP. The saddest thing about this series is that I don’t have the ability to hang out with Lizzie, Cait, and Frankie anymore. I love them so much. Between the dirty jokes and the fact that they’re always there for each other, they are legit #squadgoals. I’m going to miss them. The previous two books had a lot of family feels and issues brought in, but this one had almost zero. It’s really not a big deal and I didn’t notice that much when I was reading… but it’s odd in hindsight. Samara had the issue of her parents and telling them she’s gay but that wasn’t at the forefront. We heard a little about Frankie’s parents but no interaction with them at all. The relationship between Sam and Frankie was really sweet. Frankie is known in the previous two books for doing whatever she wants with whoever she wants, so it was clear she’d need some character development for her to be monogamous. She didn’t change herself for a girl though – she made […]

Blog Tour | ARC Review: My Lady Jane

Posted June 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 13 Comments

I was so thrilled when Alexa invited me along for the MY LADY JANE blog tour! I absolutely adored this book and truthfully haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it so many months ago. (Get a taste of this novel by reading the prologue!) More places to find it: HarperCollins / Book Depository / iBooks / Indiebound / Chapters Indigo This book was absolutely unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it’s placed firmly on my favorites shelf. There were seriously SO many fantastic elements to this story – I’m going to have a hard time sharing just how fun and special this book is. Let me break it down as best as I can: Those narrators! I just have to mention the three amazing women who wrote this book together. They often had little asides where they would address the reader directly, and it was always so funny. It never took you fully out of the story – it really just added to its charm in ways I can’t explain. It was also super cohesive; it never felt like three different people wrote the book. Their voices and writing styles blended together perfectly and seamlessly. Pop culture references in historical fiction?? Yep. It was awesome. They made little remarks here and there alluding to things happening today (like a Red Wedding, referring to main characters as the Royal We, and quotes from Monty Python and The Princess Bride). Those examples don’t even scratch the surface; I would have to reread this book multiple times to pick up on everything, […]

ARC Review: True Letters from a Fictional Life

Posted June 1, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This one got me going in ways I didn’t expect. I don’t read a lot of coming out stories (and admittedly, unfortunately, few QUILTBAG stories in general). I loved Simon and hated Cut Both Ways. This book had whispers of both books, but luckily landed more towards the LOVED end of that particular scale. Right off the bat, I loved the characters. James and his best friends Hawken and Derek had such great personalities. They were all funny too. At times, laugh-out-loud funny. I particularly thought that Hawken was such an excellent, supportive friend. He did nothing but try to help James and understand his perspective… even at times where most friends would have been nervous or scared away. Derek had his own way of being supportive, but he was great too. I loved the various get-togethers they had and just observing them as a group of friends. While I did enjoy all of the parties and gatherings, some of them felt a bit unnecessary. There were lots of different events that didn’t necessarily advance the plot or character development. I did like that it felt like this book was a “slice of life” instead of only focusing on the coming out piece. We learned about his whole life and those more random events just fleshed it out, I guess. Some of the other important characters were the members of James’s family. I don’t want to spoil their ~feelings~ and reactions to the “coming out” part of the story, but I will say […]

ARC Review: The Leaving

Posted May 30, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

Wooof I haven’t been THAT addicted to a book in a long time! I sat down at 10:30 PM on a Friday night to start this book and finished it three hours later without stopping. I’m not a huge mystery/thriller reader but some of them just speak to me. This was definitely one of them. Six kids went missing eleven years ago, and then five of them randomly return. None of them remember what happened. MEEP. I didn’t have any theories while reading (for the most part) so that made it even more fun. I had no idea what was going on. This was the epitome of a page-turner. I sat and literally could not stop reading. I tried to stop when I got tired and ended up reading through bleary eyes for an extra two hours. I loved the style of the story; the chapters were super short and alternated between three characters. Avery is Max’s younger sister (the only person who didn’t return), and Lucas and Scarlett were two that returned. Lucas and Scarlett had some cool effects with the writing style. Hers were kind of written like poetry, with different symbols and text effects. Lucas had some parts (memories) that popped onto the page in black boxes. It’s hard to explain, but it was cool. It added to the effect of the memory loss story. The characters were interesting because they don’t know who they are or what they’re like. They don’t remember anything about their lives, […]

ARC Reviews: Meet Me Here and Autofocus

Posted May 26, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I love books that take place in one night. The character just graduated or has one night left before college or is leaving for some reason, and they spend all night with their friends making memories. It’s just a fun plotline to me and definitely read-bait. This book definitely had that element. On the other hand, it had some military plotlines that don’t resonate with me as much. I loved one book involving PTSD and loved it, but read another with someone in the military and didn’t enjoy it very much at all. They can be hit or miss I guess but it’s just not a topic that interests me. So, you could say I went into this book with mixed expectations. Thomas is shipping out the morning after graduation, to follow in his brother’s and father’s footsteps. It’s something he’s kind of always wanted to be a part of but also feels forced into because of the familial expectations. The story takes place the night of/after graduation and kicks off with him coming back into contact with his childhood best friend, Mallory. She has some complicated things happening on her end, and the two of them set off to complete some childhood missions. The book travels with them (and other friends, relatives, and new acquaintances) across town. Thomas is planning on running away by morning instead of shipping out because he doesn’t want to be “messed up” like his brother is now that he’s home from the war. I’m […]

ARC Review: Wanderlost

Posted May 23, 2016 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

What an adorable, swoon-filled read this was! I have loved international-travel-oriented books in the past because it usually gives me insane feelings of wanderlust. (Meant to Be and Just One Day/Year to name a few highly recommended reads!) I’ve actually never been out of the country and this book definitely got me thinking about it. Amsterdam sounds particularly beautiful and luckily that’s at the top of Chris’s travel list too! Anyways, back to the book… I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really wanted a nice fluffy contemporary involving cool places in Europe. That’s exactly what I got! There were a few main elements of the story that led to some predictability (basically the big ol’ lie to everyone), but the cute/swoon factor completely overpowered any qualms I had with cliches. The story centers around Aubree, who is the reason her sister (Elizabeth) got arrested and can’t take a group of senior citizens on a European tour group. She fills in for her, lies to her parents about where she is for the summer, and pretends to be her sister all around Europe. She also meets a VERY CUTE BOY who happens to be the tour company’s owner’s son. You can assume from this description what will end up happening, but it’s the journey of the whole story that makes it great. I loved reading about the different countries and getting to know the 6 seniors onboard. They were all fantastic and had such distinct personalities. I wish there […]

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

Posted May 19, 2016 / Book Reviews / 15 Comments

I was able to attend the ACOMAF tour stop in Warwick, RI, which was moderated by my friend and former Secret Sister Sarah! Both Sarahs were so fun to listen to. Seriously, seeing SJM and hearing her talk about Throne of Glass makes me want to hop on reading those books ASAP! It was also great to see Sarah and catch up about everything. It definitely was worth the 1.5 hour drive! Plus, it was near my old college and I had all the nostalgic feels. Here are a few photos from the event before I kick off my review: It took me a very long time to read this book. I have trouble with fantasy sometimes and I remember having the same issue at the beginning of ACOTAR as well. I just needed time to settle into the world, but everything picked up so much after the first couple hundred pages. This makes it sound like those millions of pages were boring or not good. Believe me, that’s not the case. I found myself reaching for lighter, faster reads in the middle of ACOMAF because I just needed a break. I know I could have sat and read forever if I had the time, but I just needed to take my time and savor it. ACOTAR was also one of those books I felt slightly disillusioned with over time. The more I thought about Tamlin, the more he bugged me. The ending of ACOTAR was an absolute fucking whirlwind […]

Revisiting A Series of Unfortunate Events (Part 2)

Posted May 18, 2016 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

As you saw in Part One on Monday, I planned to reread the Series of Unfortunate Events at some point in my life. When I saw all of the books on Hoopla, I decided to start right away. The first audiobook blew me away and the rest were pretty great too. Here I’ll continue reviewing the second half of the series and give you my overall feels about the whole reread. The Ersatz Elevator • Book 6 Liked it: Jerome totally meant well, but he was kind of an idiot. I don’t blame him for being tricked, but god – he had no backbone. He hated arguing (which was really his defining trait) and refused to help the kids just for that reason. Overall though: one of the better guardians the kids have had so far. I also like seeing the different ways Olaf is going to disguise his two defining traits, as well as how the kids end up revealing him at the end. Not a fan of: It’s funny that the kids are able to tell who Olaf is right away, but never his henchmen. It’s always obvious (to me) when random side characters have covered their hands or faces that they’re involved somehow. Otherwise, I really don’t have much to complain about for this one. Major feels: The fact that VFD is slowly becoming a major plot point makes me giddy. I’ll admit, I don’t even remember what it ends up standing for (or how the series ends at all, for that […]

Revisiting A Series of Unfortunate Events (Part 1)

Posted May 16, 2016 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

I always knew that I would, at some point, reread the entire Series of Unfortunate Events. It was a huge deal for me back when I was a kid and I think I read each one as they were released, starting with the very first book back in 1999. When I saw them on Hoopla at the end of March, I knew I should get started on the audiobooks. Chris had listened to a few of them while working but never finished the series. I remember him saying how crazy the audiobooks were because they had different voice actors. I didn’t realize they also had actual sound effects. It’s literally like listening to a movie for the first few books. Most of the books are pretty short, and the audiobooks range from 2.5 hours long to 6.5 hours. All of them in general are much shorter than any other audiobooks I’ve experienced. It was super easy to breeze through them, one after another. The entire process took me about a month and I loved every second of it. I don’t want to bore people with individual review posts for all 13 books (especially because most people probably read them as kids), so here I’ll chat a little about each book: my rating, overall feels, what I remembered, etc. As I mentioned, I started these probably right around 1999 when they came out. I had no idea it was going to be a huge 13-book series at the time, but I remember […]

Blog Tour | Cover Colors: Ask Me How I Got Here

Posted May 13, 2016 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 6 Comments

MORE LINKS: Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository Cover Colors I ended up doing two different book-based looks here. I couldn’t resist doing my usual one based on the cover of the book. She’s on the beach and it has that great red color. I chose a beachy look using those colors first. Outfit based on the cover Ask Me How I Got Here Beach by bookmarklit featuring John Robshaw Outfit based on the character Then, the main character runs cross-country in the story and decides to stop running after her experience. I’m not a runner by any means, but I knew I needed to make a cute running/workout outfit for her when I saw those SHOES. Loooove. (She references purple Sauconys in the book but I loved these too much!) Ask Me How I Got Here Run by bookmarklit featuring flower pattern shoes Mini Review I was so excited about Poisoned Apples last year and it truly didn’t disappoint. Clearly I can count on Christine Heppermann to write stories and poetry that appeal to my feminist soul. This story, written in verse, definitely did. Abbie is a cross country runner who gets a new boyfriend, gets pregnant, and decides to have an abortion. Pretty heavy stuff! Abortion is not a topic discussed often in general, let alone in a YA novel. I would love to see this told in a standard novel format instead of verse, but I think she did such a great job with it regardless. I never […]