Genre: Contemporary

Review: If I Stay

Posted August 9, 2014 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Review: My expectations were too high with this novel. Everyone constantly raves about it and I’ve seen countless 5 star reviews. I’m not sure why, but it just didn’t hit that level for me. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this book. I can see why it’s so popular and I’m really glad I read it, but I was expecting to be blown away. This tweet kind of sums up my reaction: I gave 'If I Stay' 3 stars immediately, got off the couch, thought about it and let it really sink in, then bumped it up to 4 stars lol — Lauren (@bookmarklit) August 8, 2014 When I finished the book, I was really surprised. I was like “that was it?” — but that was mostly because there were a million fuckin pages at the end of the book for discussion questions and author questions and other shit. I was totally caught off guard; I thought I had a good 30 pages left to read. In other words, I wasn’t mentally prepared for the book to end. It sounds stupid, but it completely threw me off and made me think “wow I don’t know if I liked this book that much.” After getting off the couch for a few minutes and coming back, I started to let the book sink in (like an ending normally would have). I’m pleased with the way it ended, after a lot of thought. This is definitely the kind of book that resonates with […]

Review: Since You’ve Been Gone

Posted August 8, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Review: Okay, first let me get out my feelings about audiobooks. I don’t like them. I love the idea of them, but really can’t stand them as I’m listening. They really impact the novel for me. I can’t separate the narrator’s (often annoying) voice from the characters and the story. I want to hear the characters as I hear them in my head, instead of from some actress who thinks she knows what the author intended. I absolutely love being able to “read” while driving or taking a shower or getting ready in the morning. I suffer through audiobooks for that reason alone. I am slowly but surely getting over this aversion, because I find the only way I can “read” two books at once is if they’re in these two different formats. Anyways, in spite of the audiobook, I really enjoyed this one. This has been on my to-read list for a long time. I love the cover and thought the premise sounded really cute. Other bloggers seemed to love this one too, so I decided to use my Audible credit on it. The story follows Emily as she checks of items on the list that Sloane left her. She becomes friends with two people from her school and the girl who works at the pizza shop in the meantime. It was really nice to watch shy Emily come out of her shell and develop her own personality separate from Sloane. As the novel went on, I decided I really […]

ARC Review: Can’t Look Away

Posted August 4, 2014 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Review: This book definitely hit me harder than expected. Based on the synopsis, I could tell I was going to possibly get misty while reading this one. My sister is about the same age as Torrey’s sister in this book, so I had a feeling I would be projecting some of the traits of their relationship onto my own with my sister. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by the topic of this book. Beauty vloggers are a newer trend and something that I watch pretty frequently on YouTube. Comments and criticism run rampant online, because it’s so much easier to talk negatively about someone through a screen instead of face to face. When Torrey’s sister dies, some followers offer words of sympathy while others blame her for the circumstances of Miranda’s death. Torrey is forced to move with her family from Colorado to Texas because they all need a fresh start, but her online fame follows her to her new school. Throughout the book, Torrey reflects on memories of Miranda and wonders “if only” about every event from that fateful day. If only she hadn’t rushed her during breakfast; if only she hadn’t forced her to come with her at all; if only, if only. The guilt she was feeling throughout the majority of the book made me so sad for her and her family. When you read a story like this, you start to reflect on your own life. I would think of my little sister and start to regret the times I […]

Isla Is Coming Readalong / Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Posted August 2, 2014 / Book Challenges, Book Reviews, Features / 5 Comments

The Isla Is Coming readalong kicked off on the last day of July and I decided to take part! Unlike most people participating, I’m reading the series for the first time. (Click on the picture on the right to read the informational post). I started reading Anna and the French Kiss on Friday, when the readalong started, and I basically haven’t stopped it reading since. I just finished the book (WAY too early!) and now I’m going to wait another few days before starting Lola and the Boy Next Door with the rest of the readers. It’ll be hard to resist but I really want to keep pace with the readalong. Of course, the point of the readalong is to gear up for the third book’s release – Isla and the Happily Ever After on the 14th. Judging by how much I absolutely loved the first book, I’m sure I’ll really enjoy the next two in this totally adorable trilogy. So now here’s my review for the first book in the Isla Is Coming readalong! Review: This is exactly what I’m looking for when I read a young adult romance. All YA authors should read this book before writing one of their own. I feel like I smiled to myself like an idiot throughout the whole book; it was just so damn cute. Anna was one of the most relatable characters I’ve encountered. Her experiences completely mirror those of the average teenage girl: getting screwed over by a best friend, falling for a boy […]

Review: The List

Posted July 18, 2014 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Review: At first glance, this book seemed like it may be a little too “young” adult for me. I don’t discriminate though; any book with an interesting enough plotline is worthy of my attention. The basic plot summary is as follows: at some random high school, each year some unknown person makes The List. It includes the ugliest girl and prettiest girl of each grade level. So in total, eight girls’ lives are changed because high school is a place where only appearances matter. Sounds like a great premise. They each struggled with different (pretty serious, at times) issues. Let me tell you a little about each girl and their story, because it was kind of hard to keep up with the changing perspectives. Yes, of course this was one of those books where the author rotates through each girl’s story in different chapters…for eight characters that can be a bit challenging. The story follows these girls over the course of a week. Danielle is named ugliest freshman because apparently her swimmer’s body is a bit too big for some people. She has a boyfriend that she met at camp over the summer, and she wonders how he’ll react. Their story was comparatively boring, but I ended up liking her a lot in the end. Abby is named prettiest freshman and is a little bitch to her older sister about it. She sucks at school and her sister is smart and they’re just SoOoO different. She was pretty annoying but whatever, freshman usually are […]