Genre: Contemporary

ARC Review: Promposal

Posted February 11, 2015 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments
ARC Review: Promposal

I have some mixed feelings here. Promposal and I are not friends, but we’re certainly not enemies. There’s nothing really wrong with this book per se; nothing that got my blood boiling. But there also wasn’t really ANYTHING that made me smile, either. It’s one of those books that you read that just doesn’t affect you in any way. “Promposals” are the new phenomenon that involves asking people to prom as if they were proposing marriage, with big/extravagant gestures. These started to become big back when I was in high school and my boyfriend at the time actually did a great job of asking me to dances. We dated for three years so it wasn’t really necessary, but it was still thoughtful and appreciated  by me. When I saw this one on Edelweiss, I requested it immediately. I’ve always been fascinated by the different ideas people came up with and was looking for a book full of them. That’s not exactly what I ended up with. The book alternates points of view between two best friends, Camilla and Joshua. Camilla is pining over a boy in class who has never spoken to her, but ends up saying yes to an extravagant promposal from someone else. Josh is in love with his best friend, Ethan, but then Ethan asks him to plan a promposal… for another guy. I enjoyed the two separate (but connected) storylines, for sure, but it was like reading the same thing. The two characters were given absolutely no […]

Review: The DUFF

Posted February 4, 2015 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments
Review: The DUFF

OH MAN. This makes the second book by Kody Keplinger that I read in basically one sitting over the course of one day. I kept trying to put it down and go to sleep but I just couldn’t. Her stories just grab me in a way that makes me want to keep reading and reading until I reach the end. It’s basically a contemporary romance with the addiction level of a mystery/thriller. I had this book on my radar for a while, even before I heard there was going to be a movie. My dad got it for me for Christmas and I’ve been anxious to get started ever since. The Read The Duff Read-a-long motivated me to get my butt in gear after finishing up a few review books. BUT I DIGRESS. I seriously loved this book. I’m not surprised. It has everything I generally enjoy reading in a YA romance book: the banter, love-hate relationship, realistic main character, perfect writing and pacing, great friendships, family relationship building… the list goes on. I’ve found both books I’ve read by Keplinger to include all of these elements, which is why she is my queen. She just has an addicting writing style and compulsively readable storylines. Bianca is given the name “Duff” by the school’s playboy, Wesley. When he comes up to her and calls her that, she throws her Coke in his face. He wants to use her to get close to her friends. The nickname sticks with her for a long […]

Blog Tour Review & Favorite Quotes: Perfect Couple

Posted January 11, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
Blog Tour Review & Favorite Quotes: Perfect Couple

Review This was a cute read that I finished in a day – not too bad for kick-starting my year of reading! It was an “opposites attract” story, much like what I’m assuming the next book in the series will be, which is always kind of fun. Harper is a unique main character that dresses in homemade retro clothes, who is (at the time) dating Kennedy. I really hated him throughout the book and never understood why she stuck with him for so long. He was obviously the wrong person for her; it was frustrating to see that play out longer than made sense. The premise of the Superlatives series is that when the senior class votes on their superlatives, a ripple effect occurs among the winners. In this case, Harper and the popular football player, Brody, are somehow voted Perfect Couple That Never Was. They find themselves kind of drawn together after the vote and things kind of heat up. I loved watching the two of them develop a relationship and have Harper see that there’s much more to Brody than she thinks. The story definitely got steamy, much like the first book in the series. I absolutely love that Echols writes sex-positive characters and isn’t afraid to show that part of high school. Harper had some great lines (you’ll see below in my favorite quotes!) that supported the feminist aspects of the book. Going against that though, Harper decided to change her retro style and get contacts because […]

Review: A Midsummer’s Nightmare

Posted December 18, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments
Review: A Midsummer’s Nightmare

The Story I feel…weird. This is probably an odd start for a book review that I rated four and a half stars. I am trying really hard not to feel somewhat weird about the ending of this book.  Sorry to kick this off with major spoilers, but that is truly the only thing I had reservations about. I wish it weren’t the case. ANYWAYS, onto the other stuff! Essentially this story is about Whitley, a party girl who wakes up in the same bed as her one night stand, and later finds out he’s her soon-to-be stepbrother. As the family tries to navigate a summer together, some major relationship-building and breaking happens. This story was much more than just a romance, or a friendship story, or a family-based novel. It was an amazing mix of everything I love in books. The characters were flawed and relatable. The feelings were raw and relatable. The entire book was just so damn relatable.  The Characters Main character: Oh man I LOVED Whitley. She was sassy and generally did not care about the haters. She loved tequila, which is what makes her even better . Even at the parts of the book where she was being melodramatic, she was the first person to admit that she was acting that way. Being a flawed character but KNOWING that you are is something I find interesting to read about. I hate the people that think the world is out to get them and refuse to admit that […]

Holiday Review: Ex-Mas

Posted December 5, 2014 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments
Holiday Review: Ex-Mas

I’ve had my eye on this book for a long time, considering how much I love Kate Brian. Up until this year, I never really considered reading holiday-themed books and just never picked this one up from the store. I’m glad I finally did! I sat down the day after Thanksgiving and read it in under two hours. Lila is a popular girl, dating her best friend’s older brother, and about to throw the party of the year while her parents are out of town. Her brother and his best friend decide that they need to venture to the North Pole to save Santa in light of global warming, and Lila is forced to travel with her ex-boyfriend (Beau,  her brother’s friend’s brother) to get the boys back before her parents come home. I absolutely loved the road trip that they took. It was fun reading about their mini-adventures and mishaps along the way. The book was predictable, but still had some cute, unique parts. Kate Brian is one of my favorite authors, so I wasn’t surprised that she crafted a well-written holiday tale. There is somewhat of a love triangle, but it was well-done in the sense that you know who she’s going to end up with It was a great story of second chances, both romantically and family-wise. Lila was kind of annoying at first because you can tell that she really had to prove herself and change herself to become popular. I didn’t like that about her […]

Review: Biggest Flirts

Posted November 28, 2014 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
Review: Biggest Flirts

What Worked I liked that Tia, our main character, wasn’t afraid to be herself. She would party, have fun, and not worry about what anyone thought of her. I’m not used to main characters that are more sexually experienced or open about hooking up. I prefer that in books and wish I could see it more often. I loved Will. As far as love interests go, he was so cute and great. He pretty much kept me going with his book and was the only reason I cared to finish because I wanted to make sure he ended up happy. And I liked his earring. I haven’t read any other books by this author, but I give her major props for this series. The Superlatives is such a cute idea! The next books in the companion series feature some of Tia’s best friends, who win other superlatives. Overall I’m excited for the series despite some of the reservations below. The ending was really cute.  It was very hopeful and not completely closed off. I like when endings leave something up to the imagination while implying that things are headed in the right direction. What Didn’t Work As great as Tia was in her sex-positive ways, she really annoyed me most of the time. My least favorite book trope is when the main character is emotionally closed-off and refuses to entertain the idea of a serious relationship. Normally it’s because they’ve been hurt in the past; in this case, Tia watched […]

Review: Yolo

Posted November 17, 2014 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
Review: Yolo

The Internet Girls/Winsome Threesome are back! I was so excited to see this book in Barnes & Noble a few months ago. I read the Internet Girls series back when the books first came out and loved the style. The books are written in instant messaging format, so they’re super quick reads. The first three books in the series were written over seven years ago and followed three best friends through high school. This follow-up book brings the three girls into college, where there are new forms of technology and social media to deal with. I loved hearing about their new college experiences but wish I remembered more about the previous three books. Since I read them so long ago, I didn’t remember much about the boyfriends or their social situations; I only remembered basics. Luckily that was enough to get me through the book without much confusion! I liked that this book was a realistic portrayal of college life and how it affects friendships and relationships. I had experienced almost everything these girls did when I went away to college. In some ways, their stories seemed a little superficial or stereotypical… but I still think they were realistic. It’s not that easy to fully explain what each character is thinking or going through when you’re only using IM format. Regardless, the three girls were dealing with very different issues, so it seemed to encompass the variety of “paths” people choose during college. Angela, at one point, had an experience […]

Review: Catching Jordan

Posted October 27, 2014 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments
Review: Catching Jordan

HOW have I gone so long without reading a book about football? The only hobby/interest I have outside of reading? JESUS. Catching Jordan was always kind of on my radar but I literally purchased it on a whim when it was on sale for Kindle. I also decided to read it on a whim because my library books didn’t sound appealing at the moment. I absolutely loved Breathe, Annie, Breathe even though I wasn’t expecting to (not sure why, most likely because running = death)… so I knew that reading a book by Miranda Kenneally about FOOTBALL would be even better. I was right. This is a story about a Jordan, a female quarterback for her high school team. She’s the daughter of some football prodigies but doesn’t get as much attention from them as she’d like because, of course, she’s a girl. She has dreams of playing football for Alabama and won’t let anything stop her… not even when a swoon-worthy, incredibly talented QB moves to to town and joins the team. It was so great watching Jordan find herself and learning about her friendships. There were so many instances where I expected her to keep her feelings bottled up but she surprised me every time; this book had so many opportunities to slip into the predictable YA books I’ve become all too familiar with. You know, the MC refuses to share their feelings or lies about them when people close to her try to help. This book was […]

Review: Just Like the Movies

Posted October 24, 2014 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment
Review: Just Like the Movies

A lot of bloggers I follow weren’t super impressed with this one, but it seemed too cute for me to pass up. I think a lot of them expected this book to be movie reference after movie reference, with constant tie-ins or conversations. Luckily I read a lot of their reviews before reading this so I knew NOT to expect that. I think there was a perfect amount of references that were pretty easy for most people to follow; it used a lot of classic romantic comedies with pretty obvious scenes. Lily and Marijke live in different social circles at school but find themselves coming together to make their romantic lives better. They plan how to make these “movie moments” for themselves: Lily wants to get the crush she’s been pining over and Marijke wants her boyfriend of a year to finally say those three words. Their friendship developed kind of quickly (almost like insta-love but for best friends), but I really liked it. They felt natural for some reason. The characters in general were kind of stereotypical versions of high schoolers. Marijke was sporty, Lily was nerdy, Joe was a badass, and Tommy was in a band. I wish they were characterized a little more than that, but I did like watching the relationships develop. The whole book was full of cliché movie moments, whether they were referencing them or they were happening naturally. It felt very “high school” to me, also. I understand that this book took place […]

Review: Famous in Love

Posted October 22, 2014 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
Review: Famous in Love

EDIT: Well I’m a big butthead and didn’t realize this book was a FREAKIN SERIES. I thought it was a standalone and let myself get so pissed off about the ending that it affected my entire review. Here’s my review with some edits and changes. Same overall score (because I somehow rated it much higher than my review made it seem.. just a nicer review) The first half of the book was good. It really worked for me. I was interested to see what happened to Paige, how her life changed, and what it was like on a movie set. I think the premise was really spot on with the kind of books I enjoy. The main character had some realistic emotions and actions. When she learned what was going on with her friends from home, she reacted selfishly… but I think most people (including myself) would have that same reaction. It kept me interested. Despite the flaws I talk about below, I enjoyed getting lost in a fluffy story about a girl becoming a movie star and dealing with her first real acting gig. I liked some parts near the middle/end of the book. I thought the real reason Jordan and Rainer were enemies was interesting and understandable. I was happy to see Jordan get explained out a little better and see that his “bad boy” persona wasn’t exactly true. I think, honestly, he was the most characterized person in the book somehow. There’s a really cool book-in-a-book concept going […]