Author: Michelle Smith

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 […]

ARC Review: Play On

Posted April 16, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
ARC Review: Play On

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 […]