Format: ARC

ARC Review: Heartless

Posted November 28, 2016 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

Initial Excitement I think it’s pretty obvious why I was excited for this one! I adored the Lunar Chronicles series by Meyer and was SO ready to see how she would work in a different world! I love that she is staying with retellings, because clearly she’s great at them, but I am definitely intrigued to see where she heads from here. Will she keep them going?! Anyways, I have been waiting for an Alice in Wonderland retelling that I’d love. I had super mixed feelings about the last one I read but I kind of loved that world. (I need to reread one other Alice retelling series again because I LOVED it back in the day.) So, in any case, you could say I was pumped for this book. I saw lots of people who were excited because of Marissa Meyer, but nervous because they don’t enjoy Alice retellings as much. Quick Summary Cath is just a normal girl in Wonderland when the King of Hearts sets his sights on her for marriage. She quickly determines she isn’t interested him and instead wants to open a bakery with her best friend/maid Mary Ann. She also (just as quickly) falls for the court joker, Jest. They have a bit of a secret love affair while the king continues to court her. She has to find a way to break it off with the king and make her ~dreams come true~ instead. BUT we all know how the Queen of Hearts turns out, right? Storytelling, Setting, and […]

ARC Review: The Sun is Also a Star

Posted October 24, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement Any book involving fate or destiny in some capacity will immediately make it onto my TBR. Of course, any book by Nicola Yoon was also going to make it onto my TBR right away as well. I loved her debut so incredibly much and remember blazing through it in one afternoon. She became an auto-read author after just one book. So, needless to say, I had high hopes and expectations for this book… and it didn’t let me down! Summary in a Second Natasha’s family is on the verge of being deported back to Jamaica. Daniel is headed to a Yale admissions interview because his Korean parents are forcing him down that particular path. The two meet by chance (or perhaps by fate) and spend a whirlwind day together in New York City. The story has countless instances where destiny brought them together; if certain things didn’t happen or happened a few minutes later, their paths never would have crossed. This is something I’m always interested in, but the concept usually is found in my favorite parallel life/universe books instead of straight contemporary stories. Storytelling & Setting The story alternates between Natasha, Daniel, and other people and concepts they come across. I loved reading random chapters here and there from other people involved, like the lawyer or their parents. There were even some chapters that were just about certain things, like African American hair care or scientific concepts. It all just worked together so seamlessly. I’ll be so sad if […]

ARC Review: If I Fix You

Posted October 17, 2016 / Book Reviews / 16 Comments

God I have so many thoughts on this book and no idea where to begin. I feel incredibly conflicted because there are some things I really loved about this book. But, unfortunately, there were MANY more things I was not a fan of. AT ALL. It definitely left a lot to be desired and way more angst than expected. Overall, ugh. The Good Main character who works on cars with her dad. I loved the father-daughter dynamics in this story. If all of the rest of the things in my “bad” section didn’t exist, this relationship alone would have made this a much higher-rated book. Jill works on cars with her dad nonstop in his shop. They have a really good relationship that was awesome to read about. Her mom left them after some THINGS went down that I won’t spoil. They had to try to move on and live their lives without her, which wasn’t easy, but they always had each other. I’ve always been close to my dad so I just love these kinds of relationships in books. No filter when it was needed. I know it’s never a great idea for a teen to mouth off at their parent, but I was rooting so hard for Jill when certain things happened. That conversation made me so angry I was literally gritting my teeth while reading. The Bad Terrible romantic prospects. Just… terrible. I don’t want to get into some of the nuances here because very spoilery, so […]

ARC Review: Gemina

Posted October 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement Unlike most people, I wasn’t utterly blown away by ILLUMINAE. I definitely REALLY enjoyed it and gave it four stars, but it wasn’t perfect like it was for so many other people. I was pretty excited for GEMINA when I saw some early reviews roll in and the lovely Wendy let me borrow her copy. Summary in a Second This book is a companion to ILLUMINAE and seems to take place right after the events of the first book. There are different main characters, which was sad at first but got much better. GEMINA follows Hanna, the attractive daughter of the ship’s captain, and Nik, a criminal from a criminal family doing criminal things a lot of the time. Their ship (Hypatia) is the next victim of BeiTech’s siege of all the ships and space things I don’t know how to describe. Storytelling & Setting Like ILLUMINAE, this book is told through various documents, files, IM chats, radio transmissions, and video camera footage (transcribed). Because I read an ARC, there were some final drawings and pictures missing from the book but it didn’t make much of a difference for the actual story itself. The space setting is really fun because it pulls me right out of my comfort zone. I don’t do a lot of sci-fi because I get confused, and honestly this series is no exception, but I just enjoy these more because of the format. The actual plot for this book was incredibly engaging. It featured […]

ARC Review: This Adventure Ends

Posted September 26, 2016 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

Initial Excitement After loving FIRST & THEN to absolute pieces back when I read it, I was so eager to read THIS ADVENTURE ENDS. I loved Emma Mills’ style of storytelling and super charming, yet flawed, main character(s). I was so excited to end up with an advanced copy of this one and I’m surprised I waited until the end of August to finally read it. Summary in a Second Sloane and her family move to her childhood vacation town in Florida after living in NY. Her father is a famous author and he needs to get his writing mojo back, so the family opts for a change of scenery. Sloane quickly falls in with a pair of twins, Vera and Gabe, and their friends Aubrey, Remy, and Frank. When Vera/Gabe lose sight of a painting their deceased mother left them, Remy and Sloane make it their goal to track it down. This is a story about friendship, love, family, and fandom! Storytelling & Setting The whole premise behind this story was so intriguing. It had elements of my favorite tropes, like road trips, slow burn romance, friends-to-more romance, fandom/writing/reading, and strong, sassy main characters. I loved following Sloane on her journey with Remy to track down the painting while watching her friendships strengthen with the various people in the group. She was also a fantastic singer, so there were some elements of “will I be singing for the rest of my life and/or college career?” that were fun to […]

ARC Review: Cherry

Posted September 22, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement I was sooooo excited for this book when I saw the premise. American Pie for girls? RIGHT up my alley. Of course the lovely Andi let me borrow her copy and I embarked on it pretty quickly. I love stories with sex-positive themes, and this book was literally nothing but sex-positivity throughout. The entire theme of the book! Summary in a Second Four best friends – Layla, Emma, Zoe, and Alex – form a sex pact to lose their virginities by the time they graduate high school. They’ve got less than 200 days to do it and the book counts down with each chapter. The girls have different relationship statuses at the time and their stories unfold in very different ways. I loved seeing the various types of relationships, situations, and feelings regarding losing your virginity. Storytelling & Setting The story was told from each girl’s perspective but in 3rd person. It was hard to really get close to them even though we were kind of in their head a little bit? In any case, I liked getting all of their perspectives because they each had different approaches to losing their virginity. Each had a completely different experience as they all started losing it too. The story was pretty much 80% about sex and the other 20% was them talking about their friendship and moving on after graduation. I would definitely say romance/relationships weren’t even at the forefront necessarily. I loved that because each girl had a different experience, there […]

ARC Review: Diplomatic Immunity

Posted August 31, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

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) […]

Blog Tour Review: In Twenty Years

Posted July 25, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

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 […]

ARC Review: The Long Game

Posted July 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

You guys. I just can’t with this book. I was completely smitten with the first one and was SO EAGER to get my hands on the next. I was counting my lucky stars when I ended up with a copy from ALA Midwinter because I planned to read it ASAP after finishing the first one. However, in typical Lauren fashion, I ended up waiting until a few days before its release. I totally shouldn’t have waited because some of the previous book’s plot was a bit muddy in my head. Either way, it didn’t take long for me to settle back into this world. I absolutely loved Tess in this book. I didn’t think it would be possible, but the stakes were even higher. The twists were even twistier. The characters were even asdfghjkl-ier. Sorry, no words there. Just feels. So fucking many feelings about everyone and everything. In the first book, there was literally zero romance. The author hinted at two romantic prospects in general but there really wasn’t even any tension to suggest that necessarily. I won’t spoil anything for this one. Just keep in mind what I said. I love books where you think everything has settled after the main climax, and then the author manages to toss in a few more curveballs. Totally happened here. I read very few mystery/thrillers because not many work for me. Add in politics and I’m even less sure I’ll like it. This duo seriously has me adding political dramas to my […]

ARC Reviews: The Lost & Found and Defending Taylor

Posted July 4, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I kind of just sat here and stared at my screen until I thought of words. This book was really, truly fantastic. If you like character-driven novels with adorable side characters too, read it. If you love road trip stories, read it. If you’re a fan of light magical realism, read it. If you’re a book blogger who can relate to internet friendships becoming real, read it. Honestly… I could go on like this for days. Frannie and Louis are online pen pal-type friends who met on a virtual support group website. They both end up on trips to Austin, TX (for different reasons, but also to see each other for the first time). As a special note of magical realism, the two of them are constantly losing things. They literally just disappear. Frannie has lost letters, photos, super soakers; Louis has lost tennis rackets, fabric, money. They start finding each other’s items as they travel towards each other, as if by magic. The entire story was just so endearing. I LOVED Frannie and Louis, and I almost equally loved their “partners” in the story. Frannie travelled with her cousin, Arrow, and Louis went with his twin sister, Willa. They all had such interesting backstories. Plus, diversity! Arrow was adopted from Vietnam, Willa lost her legs in an accident, and Louis/Willa were half Indian. All of these aspects were so seamlessly integrated into the story and discussed organically; it didn’t feel like diversity for the sake of diversity. Each character was […]