Category: Book Reviews

More A to Z! | Review: The Distance from A to Z

Posted January 16, 2016 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

I thought this book looked really adorable when it first came onto my radar, and I decided to preorder it. ($1.99? Why not?!) I ended up reading it right away because I heard so many awesome things from lots of blogger friends. Andi was talking about how she wanted more from the characters she grew to love, so she asked some of us to hop on and help out the author with a little review campaign. I take Andi’s book recs for me VERY seriously, so I was happy to come on board even before reading the book. After reading it? TOTALLY AGREE. Like I said, I started this right away when it was delivered to my kindle, and finished in the day. IT WAS SO CUTE. I absolutely loved the characters (main and side) and seeing their relationship grow throughout the summer. Why you should read this one: The main characters speak French to each other throughout the book, and that makes it pretty darn romantic. I don’t speak French and didn’t find myself confused. There’s a lot of baseball talk (which was fun, even for this football fan), but nothing that would make non-Sports-fans run the other direction. The book is an incredibly quick read. Once I started, it was really hard for me to stop. (And I didn’t! Totally finished in one day.) The best friend character has a real personality and is completely fleshed out. We know so much about her and can easily see why […]

Review: The Mistake

Posted January 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Clearly my book funk is making me bitter. I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t really ENJOYED a book in a while. As of the moment I’m writing this – early December, hello again from the past – I’ve had such a failure this month in terms of reading enjoyment levels. My rating average is a 3.25, which is incredibly low for me. I don’t know if I’m just pissed off about books and everything is weighing in on what I’m reading… but regardless, this book probably would have been enjoyed more if I read it at a different time. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll try to get into why this one wasn’t a favorite for me. I LOVED its predecessor and am still eagerly waiting for the next book, but there was just too much drama and angst throughout this one. I liked the family dynamics (well, the different kinds of family situations that were represented. I didn’t LIKE what Logan’s father was doing). Let me break it down, as I’ve been doing a lot lately. LIKED Grace + Logan overall – I totally shipped them. I loved their chemistry and banter. They were super cute. After ~the mistake~ happened, Logan was adorable. Even though this aspect of the book DID bug me a bit, there was a lot about it that was cute. He was relentless, but only because he could really see she was interested. Otherwise he would be stalker status, for […]

GIF Review: I Am Princess X

Posted January 9, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I’ve never done a full-on GIF review before, but I don’t think I have much to say about this book that can’t be said in GIF form… so here we go! I added this book to my TBR and thought it was some kind of paranormal, actual superhero book. Come to find out, it was just a mystery-esque book. Shelving it on Goodreads became an issue for a while because I was totally thinking it was something different. As I kept reading, I was actually pretty happy that it was more a mystery book. I was intrigued by the storyline even though it wasn’t what I expected at all. The story started coming together and the concept was incredibly cool. I liked following May and Patrick try to figure out clues from the comic and track down Libby, who she suspected was still alive. A lot of the clues were really unexpected and awesome. The more I kept going… the more far-fetched it got. They made a lot of obscure connections really quickly, as if they’d been cracking codes and finding murderers since birth, a la Nancy Drew. It kind of lost me for a little bit towards the middle-end. I mean, come on. I kept reading reviews from my IRL book club girls on Goodreads where they said it was far-fecthed and I didn’t think it was possible (back when I was convinced it was a paranormal book). Like, how could it be far-fetched? Well the amount of things […]

ARC Review: This Is Where It Ends

Posted January 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Whew, this book was not easy. I raced through it in one sitting on a Saturday night and was desperate to see how it all ended. Heartbreaking, terrifying, and real. This won’t be an easy review. I’m a Connecticut resident and live about an hour from Sandy Hook… plus I have a friend who is a teacher in that town. Needless to say, this book hit entirely too close to home (literally). School shootings are something that really scare me more than I can express. When I was younger I read books about Columbine and in high school I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I don’t know why, but these stories have always grabbed me. Maybe because it feels like your biggest fear realized. Aside from my personal connection and “interest,” this book was incredibly well-written and well-done. I sat on my couch and finished it within a couple of hours; I couldn’t stop. The book centers around an hour long period, from when the shooting starts until it ends. There are four main characters whose POVs get alternated between: Sylvia, Autumn, Tomas, and Claire. I won’t get too much into their relationships to each other and how they related to the shooter, but they were all definitely connected. I was nervous about all of these characters and their relationships at first, but I finally got the hang of it. Despite the constant POV changes, I really felt like I knew these characters. Maybe it’s because in your moments […]

Review: Firsts

Posted January 4, 2016 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

This book was definitely one of the ones I was most looking forward to for 2016. I saw countless early reviews of people who said “this book doesn’t sound like something I’d normally like,” but it sounded right up my alley. I like tougher topics in YA, especially if it tackles sex and slut-shaming and all that other realistic stuff. So, when I went to The Strand last week and saw an early copy on the shelf, I bought it immediately! And, of course, I read it immediately. I wanted to post this review also immediately because I figured I may as well treat it like an ARC and try to beef up the buzz for it right before it actually comes out this week. This book was everything I was hoping it would be, and more. The concept itself was really refreshing and different, and the execution was nearly perfect. A lot of things could have gone wrong with this plotline, but Flynn made it so easy to relate to this girl (that most people usually wouldn’t relate to). Mercedes’s actions made you feel more sympathetic to her than judgmental. There was definitely a sense of foreboding throughout – a sticky feeling that made you uncomfortable and nervous for when everyone inevitably finds out what she’s been doing. There were really a lot of different factors that probably impacted Mercedes into making this choice – a teaching service for virgins, to make sure their girlfriends have way better first times […]

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 […]

ARC Review: Truthwitch

Posted December 24, 2015 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

PHEW. That was quite a read. I honestly had no idea what to expect with this one, but whatever my expectations were – they were definitely exceeded. I should definitely preface this review with: I don’t read high fantasy. Like, ever. I’ve come to realize that I tell people I like fantasy, but have really read a small amount of the genre. I prefer lighter fantasy or paranormal reads. This book, which is definitely a high fantasy, was kind of a stretch for my brain. The world-building was very complicated. I was confused at the beginning, but some things started to click into place within the first 70-100 pages. I think that hardcore fantasy readers won’t have a problem with this. I liked being thrown into the action though; it was interesting to see the two girls kicking ass but wondering why they were on the run. The whole premise of the book was just too cool. Essentially, there are people in their world who have powers and people who don’t. Some powers are more valuable than others, so Safi, the Truthwitch, is hiding hers. There are so many twists involving people wanting her, chasing her, or trying to kidnap her. She’s best friends with Iseult, a Threadwitch (meaning she can see the threads that tie people together or make up their feelings). Again, it took me a while to figure out what certain powers were and how everyone came together. I don’t think I could even describe anything else about […]

Holiday Review: Decked with Holly

Posted December 23, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

This month I’ll be highlighting different holiday or Christmas-oriented books on the blog. I love reading based on the season, so stay tuned for more wintery reviews. To learn more about what’s coming and my holiday book rating system, check here! Buddy Read with Rachel from Go Read A Book When Rachel reached out asking if I wanted to Buddy Read, I happily agreed! Then, of course, I messed up the date we were supposed to post and we ended up just having a casual Google Hangouts chat! She’s posting her review today as well, and we wanted to keep it informal. We both agreed that this book wasn’t the best, but was cute enough to read. Rachel gave it 3 stars and I was a little more generous with 3.5 stars 😉 We started out with how we both generally liked Dominic, but I had some reservations. In hate-to-love romances, there’s always some tension and dislike towards the beginning. He took it a little too far, with commenting nonstop about her appearance. She looked bad when they first met because she was seasick. He also jumped to a lot of conclusions about her right away and didn’t strike me as the sharpest tool in the shed. Lauren: It kind of bothered me how he didn’t seem to like Holly and judged her appearance for a long time. I’m a fan of the hate-to-love romance trope, but I don’t like that he was kind of mean about her. It took adding […]

Reviews: Love Like Crazy and Hollywood is Like High School with Money

Posted December 20, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I saw this book pop up on Amazon when I wasn’t sure what to read and decided to use the Prime eBook borrowing feature. I didn’t look at the Goodreads page or ratings or anything – I just jumped in and started the book. I’ve been wanting to challenge myself to do more of that kind of thing. I follow GR and my fellow bloggers a bit too much sometimes. Did my little risk pay off? Not really. I’ve never read a book with such inconsistent dialogue. One minute, I’m rolling my eyes at the cheesiness. The next, I’m swooning or laughing or smiling to myself. I don’t know how it’s possible. It’s like half of the book is trying too hard to be John green, and the other half is perfect at being itself. I was able to handle it for most of the book, but towards the end it really started to wear on me. One of the biggest things that bugged me was the instalove. I don’t use that term as often as some, but this was instalove in the purest form. They knew each other for about a day or two when Eppie was thinking she wanted to spend forever with Lincoln. Like, that’s a bit quick for me. The cheese factor started too early as a result of that. Things like “every inch of you is artwork” don’t make me swoon; they make me roll my eyes. When her friend Sam starts seeing Dan, Lincoln’s friend […]

Reread Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Posted December 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

I remember getting this one in the mail as a preorder… and reading it right away! My parents were reading them after me, so they would always bug me to finish right away. Of course, that was never a problem. I usually raced through these! Ugh, the feels again. This book and the previous totally slayed me the first time around. I mean, honestly. I couldn’t believe that she KILLED THEM BOTH. So cruel. (It was so hard to keep this information to myself the first time I read them too… I kept being like MOM PLEASE FINISH I NEED TO DISCUSS THIS WITH SOMEONE!) I also remembered that this is the one where Harry finally gets an idea of what it will actually take to kill Voldemort. The quest for horcruxes kicks off. Can my answer still just be: Harry Potter + reread = DUH. I mean, really, who do you think I am? I’m pretty surprised I didn’t reread these sooner honestly. Jim Dale’s narrator voice is totally bae. SAD AS USUAL. Ugh. I have to say, it feels weird to finally be at this part of the reread! Only one book left. Unfortunately I remember not loving the 7th book much until about halfway through. That period of time where they’re literally walking around and setting up camp was so boring. ANYWAYS BACK TO THIS BOOK. So there were actually lots of things I forgot about! I didn’t remember that he and Ginny started dating in this book […]