Format: ARC

ARC Review: Fireworks

Posted April 7, 2017 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

Initial Excitement 99 DAYS is one of my favorite books, so I was eagerly anticipating the next story by Cotugno. (I still haven’t read HOW TO LOVE because pregnancies/babies in YA books isn’t my jam, but I will read it this year I hope!) I was such a huge fan of boy and girl bands back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, so this book was pushed up my TBR even further. I was ready to feel nostalgic and bask in the popstar goodness. Quick Summary Dana and Olivia are lifelong friends who suddenly earn the chance to be famous popstars. Olivia had been training for this her whole life by singing, starring in plays, and taking lessons. Dana, on the other hand, just went along to keep Olivia company for the audition in Orlando. She ends up being forced to audition and somehow makes it into the band. The girls hit rough patches in their friendship, find love, and try to get used to a new lifestyle. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels I was jazzed up about reading a “historical” book set in the 1990’s. I grew up during that time and haven’t really read any books set during it (aside from books written during that period!). I have to admit that I totally wish there were more 90’s feels. I appreciated the references to music of that time period (Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, TLC, etc.) but it really didn’t FEEL like it was set during a different period. I think this […]

Mini ARC Reviews: Letters to the Lost, Pretty Fierce, Zenn Diagram, and Done Dirt Cheap

Posted April 3, 2017 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

Am I the only one with a million ARCs of books releasing this month?! (Even this week in particular!) I wanted to bring together a few reviews here because there are just too many to include. I read some of these a long time ago and a couple of them more recently, but I’m going to pat myself on the back for getting a good portion of them done before their release date. All of these ones were mostly enjoyable – a few more than others – so be sure to read on! 😉 S H O R T & S W E E T A R C R E V I E W S I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Declan and Juliet were definitely interesting characters who were going through a LOT of shit. The premise of writing letters to each other was really sweet; I love the whole “hidden identity” letter-writing/online-chatting trope. There’s always the torturous waiting game to see when one or both of them realize who the other person is. In this case, it was fairly complicated as they grew to know each other IRL too. Like I said, both had a lot going on. Juliet was dealing with the unexpected death of her mother from earlier that year. Declan was dealing with community service requirements and big family-related issues. He was always angry and closed off from literally everyone, and Juliet was fairly similar except she was sad instead of mad. It […]

ARC Review: Alex, Approximately

Posted March 27, 2017 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Initial Excitement I was WAY too excited about this book and the amazing Nick sent it to me to enjoy early. I absolutely loved Bennett’s YA contemporary debut and had been eagerly waiting for her sophomore novel for a long time. I just knew I was going to love it based on the premise, early reviews, and my love for banter/hate-to-love romance. So many of the best ingredients for a Lauren book. Quick Summary Bailey has been talking to “Alex” on a film site for a while, going by the username “Mink.” He lives in the same town as her father, oddly enough, and he’s been asking her to come visit for a film festival that summer. Little does he know, Bailey has just moved in with her father and is waiting to make sure Alex isn’t some crazed serial killer before they decide to meet up. She’s quickly distracted by Porter, a hot and rude-but-funny coworker at the coolest museum ever, and new friend/coworker, Grace. Her and Alex’s conversations taper off as she gets closer to Porter. Little does SHE know, Porter is actually Alex. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels Oh man SO MANY THINGS. First of all, the story. I love the idea of them knowing each other without realizing who it is. It created so much fun tension for the reader and I kept wondering when they were going to figure it out. It did get a bit frustrating toward the end, but I loved watching them get to […]

Blog Tour Cover Colors | Chloe Snow’s Diary: Confessions of a High School Disaster

Posted March 15, 2017 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 0 Comments

Hello friends! I’m here today for my stop on the blog tour for Chloe Snow’s Diary: Confessions of a High School Disaster! I read the book in one afternoon and couldn’t put it down. I loved Chloe so much; she reminded me of myself in my freshman year of high school. Below you’ll see my Color Covers post for the book’s cover, as well as the outfit I made for Chloe that represents various aspects of the book. I also included a small review down below, near all of the blog tour information. Hope you enjoy and want to read the book ASAP 😉 It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Chloe Snow’s Diary: Confessions of a High School Disaster by Emma Chastain I have to say, this outfit below was probably one of the most fun to make! I put it together almost immediately after finishing the book so everything was super fresh in my mind. You’ll see a lot of different details below that directly correspond to things Chloe does, sees, wears, and receives. Some examples: the copy of Sense and Sensibility from Christmas […]

Review Roundup | PS I Like You, The Forgetting, Kiss Cam, and Reunion

Posted March 8, 2017 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 6 Comments

Before the regularly scheduled programming… Happy International Women’s Day! In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 backlist books I’ve read or listened to recently. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I think you’re aware of the fact that I tend to hoard my favorite authors’ books so I always have at least one to read when I REALLY need it. Kasie West is one of those authors. Sometimes I just need to read her words because I know she won’t let me down. For PS I LIKE YOU, my sister had been hounding me to read it and lent me her copy. I went ahead and got the audiobook from Hoopla to crank it out and MAN do I love Kasie West still. I read it just as BY YOUR SIDE was coming out and I was borrowing LUCKY IN LOVE from a friend. So, it was safe to read this one finally ? The story was cute, albeit incredibly predictable. I don’t mind the formulaic nature of many YA books because it’s comforting to get that HEA at the end. I knew who the secret pen pal was literally within the first chapter or two of the book and the rest of the story was equally predictable from there. I know my romance tolerance is lower than usual, so I tried to not let it sway my opinion of this fluffy book by a favorite author. There was […]

ARC Review: Rise of Fire

Posted February 9, 2017 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Initial Excitement The reviews for REIGN OF SHADOWS were incredibly mixed. I was very happy to fall on the “loved it” side of the spectrum. I was so addicted to reading it and was eager to read RISE OF FIRE. The cliffhanger from the first book was Cruel with a capital C. I loved the twists and turns and hoped for much of the same in book two. Needless to say, I hopped at the chance to read this one early… aka ASAP. Warning about this review: The previous book ended with a cliffhanger, wondering if Fowler was going to survive what happened to him. The synopsis of this book gives this away completely; you know before even starting whether he survives. My review is going to operate under the assumption you already know THIS because you read the synopsis. Quick Summary This book picks up right where the previous story left off. Thank god, after that cliffhanger! I actually did forget quite a bit that happened in book one, but the beginning of RISE OF FIRE did a great job of setting the stage and reminding you what just happened. The story follows Luna and Fowler as they travel away from the dwellers with a group of men that find them. Fowler is in bad shape and she decides getting him medical attention should be the #1 priority, so she decides to go with these men. The two end up in Lagonia with a king and his two children, caught […]

Review: Sometimes We Tell The Truth

Posted January 19, 2017 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

Initial Excitement I’ve been yelling about this book for a while. The Canterbury Tales is one of my all-time favorite classics. I love the book’s setup, how each character told a story that was some kind of lesson about what was currently happening at the time. I was hoping that this book would be a close retelling and use many of the same elements in each individual story. Andi let me borrow her copy because she’s the best, and I didn’t waste much time before starting! Quick Summary As I mentioned, this is a YA retelling and modernization of The Canterbury Tales. The teacher on the bus decides to make the kids tell fictional stories and whoever tells the best one gets an A in his class. Each student was pretty quick-thinking, which impressed me. I would have stood there like a moron with no story at all. I was curious to see how closely the book would relate. Would the setup be the same, but not the individual stories? Or would the author modernize each individual story from the Tales and spread them around to the kids? Well, from what I could tell, it was the latter… and I loved that! The first few stories were obvious, direct correlations to the originals. Even the in-between segues, prologues, and interruptions were the same. After finishing the book and reading the Afterword, the author explained all of the tales and how each kid correlated to them. I wish I flipped to the back to see the […]

ARC Review: Caraval

Posted January 12, 2017 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

This book was insanely cool. Completely lived up to the hype for me. I went in expecting an atmospheric, magical story, and that’s exactly what I got! I absolutely loved it. There were a few things that bugged me a little that prevent it from getting a full five stars, but I would still count this among my favorites. The plot, in a few words: Scarlett, our main character, had been writing to the creator of Caraval, an insane traveling circus (to put it mildly), for years, in order to try to get him to come perform. Her grandma had gone years ago and told her and her sister, Donatella, all about it. The girls finally receive invitations, plus one for her fiance, and decide to sneak away from her father before her wedding. A sailor named Julian comes along with them for the final ticket because Scarlett hasn’t actually met her fiance. Her sister essentially gets kidnapped when they arrive and the mission of this year’s game is to find her. Loved It Magical Setting and Atmosphere The setting was easily the best part of this story. I loved learning about Caraval and trying to understand how it all worked. They warn you that it often feels real – and it partly is – but it’s mostly a game. It was amazing to follow Scarlett along as she tried to figure out what in the fresh hell was going on up in there. The atmosphere and magic of the story was […]

ARC Review: History Is All You Left Me

Posted January 9, 2017 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

I’m not totally sure where to begin with this review, but let me just say – Adam Silvera is now on my list. (That sounds bad, but I obviously mean must-read-all-this-author’s-books list.) HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME is the first book I’ve read by him, but I’ll definitely be going back and reading his debut sometime soon. Do yourself a favor and do the same, if you haven’t read him yet. I’m already predicting I’m going to love that one too. The synopsis honestly wasn’t super appealing to me, compared to the books I usually read, but I decided to try it out for some reason. I’m obviously glad I did. Griffin has OCD (something I was kind of nervous to read about) and recovering from the sudden death of his ex-boyfriend/best friend (something I also don’t do as well with). I like reading books where characters are moving on from grief, but those books generally take place months later when the person has had to some time to cope. This book completely exceeded my expectations. Literally within the first paragraph, I loved his writing style. I don’t know why but there’s just something about it that clicked with me instantly. The rest of the book was very much the same – such an engaging style that’s easy and enjoyable to read. Griffin was an interesting character. His OCD was actually quite interesting to read about and wasn’t overwhelming *there* to make it feel like a book exclusively about […]

ARC Review: Replica

Posted December 7, 2016 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

I usually break these reviews out into my typical categories below, but I decided to divide my review into the two “books” within one book. You can read this book in multiple ways. You can read Lyra’s story then flip the book around to read Gemma’s, or you could alternate chapters between the two books (as if it were one book with two alternating points of view). I decided to read all of Lyra’s story then all of Gemma’s because it was frankly easier than flipping between the two sides each chapter. TL;DR? I’m happy with how I chose to read this book. It was really interesting as certain events happened and I thought about what happened on the *other* side of the book during that time, and it did make me wonder how it would have been reading the other way. I wish it were easier to do; maybe I’ll reread it someday. I knew that Gemma and Lyra met up for a portion of the book, but they weren’t always with each other. This was helpful because otherwise it would have been really repetitive to essentially read the same story twice! I liked getting inside both of their heads – in the order I read them – to piece it all together. There wasn’t too much overlap between each point of view. So many big reveals and connections came together at each story’s end! I loved seeing how all of their research would crash together. When I read Lyra’s ending, […]