Genre: New Adult

Review: The Deal

Posted October 21, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book was exactly what I needed at the time. I had recently finished a few “heavier” books with stronger sci-fi/paranormal or just plain crazy themes… so I wanted something relatively mindless and fun. I’m so happy that this book delivered that for me! Hannah is coerced into tutoring the school’s egotistical hockey star, Garrett, in exchange for his help in getting her crush to notice her. The two of them end up moving beyond the “fake relationship” stage into something much more. Two of my favorite tropes were here in full-force: slow-burn and hate-to-love. Garrett is cocky and annoying to Hannah at the beginning, but the two of them clearly have banter-filled chemistry. I loved getting inside both of their heads, as this book alternated between their two points of view. Some New Adult books with the guy’s point of view tend to annoy me, at least at first. Garrett was a typical NA guy in the beginning: very focused on how hot she was and all sorts of bullshit about her tits and ass. I generally don’t like reading it, but usually see some good character development that enables me to look past that stuff in the beginning. This book was one of those, thank god. As I said, the hate-to-love romance trope is usually full of banter, teasing, and sarcasm. Their chemistry oozed off the pages from the very beginning of the book. If you’re looking for a steamy New Adult that doesn’t have as much drama and has […]

Review: All Played Out

Posted June 26, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I really love this series. All three books so far have been incredibly fast, low-drama new adult reads. This was my BEA train read and I managed to get over halfway done during the two 1.5 hour trips to and from the city. Definitely the perfect read for that occasion! At first glance, the premise for this one seemed a little to similar to All Broke Down: the smart, good girl meets the bad boy player. This was true for most of the book, but they did diverge a bit after some time. Nell is Dylan’s incredibly smart and driven roommate, who has never experienced really anything college had to offer. Torres is the team’s overly confident wide receiver, who is known for getting what he wants from a lot of girls. When he discovers Nell’s end-of-college bucket list, he decides to help her check off the items. I really liked the two of them! No one compares to Dylan and Silas in my mind, but these two are a close second favorite. Torres managed to get Nell to open up and try new things, while she tried to…keep him interested in only one girl, I guess! Again, a lot of it was similar to book #2, where opposites are attracting and the main question is: can these two stick together even though they’re so different? As I said, it diverged away from that towards the halfway point. One trope that has been bugging me lately is the whole “I […]

ARC Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Posted April 29, 2015 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

This review was written immediately upon finishing the book (February 13th), so pardon any nonsensical flailing (AKA the whole review. Okay bye.) MY THOUGHTS? WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS, STUPID REVIEW GRAPHIC???? I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE WORDS. This was my first Sarah J. Maas novel (don’t yell at me) and I can certainly now see what all the fuss is about. I decided to approach this one before Throne of Glass because honestly the synopsis of ToG didn’t appeal to me NEARLY as much as this one did. I love faeries! Love, love, love. Always have. When the lovely Andi lent me her ARC, I started reading it immediately because I was just so in the mood for it. I finished it in three days, which is a little longer than usual for me… BUT not that long considering it was over 400 pages and I pretty much read it in a few loooong sittings. I could not stop reading, folks. Even when there wasn’t much happening as far as plot-moving action, I couldn’t stop. So damn engrossing. Fantasy books can be very hit or miss with me; for some reason they don’t hold my attention as much as contemporaries do. I find myself getting distracted. Nope. Not with this book. I was drawn in immediately as I learned about Feyre, her family, and their history. I despised her sisters right off the bat and was hoping that there’d be some redeeming qualities eventually. No matter how poorly her family members treated her, […]

ARC Review: When Joss Met Matt

Posted February 23, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Alright I am a big new adult fan lately, but this one definitely lends itself more towards the young adult side. Don’t get too excited about lots of graphic sexytimes, because it’s not gonna happen. This one is purely classified as new adult because of the age range. Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you how freakin cute this book was. I love Liz Czukas (here writing as Ellie Cahill) so I requested this one immediately when I saw it. It’s been sitting on my Kindle since October and I finally decided to dive in. I’m so glad I did because February is my big lame Valentines Day contemporary binge month, and this one fit right in. I absolutely loved the way this story was put together. It alternates between present day and some of their experiences during college. You essentially get to travel back in time throughout the various times they’ve called each other for some sorbet sex. It’s a bit unorthodox, though, to learn about all of their other relationships while you’re just kind of anxiously waiting for them to get together. It works for a lot of reasons, but mostly because you get to see how wrong everyone else is for them. It would have been cool to see Matt’s perspective throughout the book, but it definitely would have involved too much switching around (between people and timeframes). I found myself wishing it was from Matt’s POV a lot of the time because […]

DNF Review: Losing It

Posted February 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

When did you decide to DNF? I was at the 60% mark. I know, I know. I could have just finished. But I just got so frustrated! Why did you quit? Sigh. I really wanted to like this book, but I could almost tell from the first few minutes that I wasn’t going to. The characters were just so BLAH to me. Bliss was as annoying and stupid as her name. She continued to lie, lead on her best friend, and make dumb choices despite knowing that she was doing that. I just was not at ALL invested in them. I truly didn’t care about anything. Garrick was irritating and overly possessive for no reason. It struck me as insta-love the vast majority of the time and I didn’t feel the chemistry. There was a whole lot of nothing happening too; there were multiple chapters around Bliss getting drunk with her friends that seemed to drag on with little reason. The bottom line is that I just couldn’t make myself care. I can safely assume that Garrick and Bliss end up together… I’m just not interested in hearing how or why. Another huge aspect was the audiobook narrator. There’s a good chance I would consider returning to this book and read the physical copy. The narrator sounded like she was 12 years old and thus made Bliss sound WAY too young – especially when the topic of the book was losing her virginity. It felt creepy. What was the last […]

Review: All Broke Down

Posted February 2, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I honestly don’t have much to say about this book except for one word and any words that have the same definition as it: STEAMY STEAMY STEAMY Seriously though. People weren’t lying about this book. It was s-e-x-u-a-l. Aside from that, this book was a lot of great things. I really did love it more than the first book, and I think the main reason was the characters. Dallas was very meh for me in All Lined Up but Carson was the BEST. It was a little too unbalanced. (And even so, the fact that he was way to overprotective/territorial over her in this book bugged me. I’m NOT the kind of person who things that type of behavior is cute. It’s a bit too controlling when you flip out about anyone talking about your girlfriend. I get where he’s coming from, but let’s relax a little bit.) DALLAS AND SILAS THOUGH. I loved them. Both of them. For very different reasons. It’s a typical opposites-attract kind of story, and the main drama point of the book is obviously: can these two ever be a successful couple if they’re so different? Silas is a guy who was a major dick in the previous book but came a very long way in this one. He has a bad history with his family and feels like he’s constantly going to fall into bad habits. Dylan, on the other hand, is a part of a wealthy family that expects her to be a perfect […]

Review: All Lined Up

Posted January 12, 2015 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Review Honestly this one wasn’t what I expected. I should have known it wasn’t going to be the LOL-funny New Adult books I’ve recently come to know and love. It was a bit more angsty than that. There were definitely some funny moments that I enjoyed, and definitely a bit of steaminess, but a lot of the “emotional” parts had me rolling my eyes like nobody’s business. Dallas was a bit melodramatic a lot of the time. I get where she’s coming from: her dad doesn’t pay her a lot of attention, her mom isn’t around, and she doesn’t know who she is (apparently). I do enjoy some flawed characters – but only to a certain extent. They have to realize when they’re being weird and insecure in order for me to be semi-okay with it. Luckily Dallas does seem to realize it a few times… “I recognize the self-loathing because I’m a master at it.” – yeah, no kidding girl. A lot of the drama in this book was built on misunderstandings, which always annoys me. Dallas hung around being a whiny baby all the time and Carson remained perfect. (I love him, by the way.) The CHEMISTRY between those two… JESUS. Besides all of that self-pity, a lot of the dialogue (both inside her head and with her friends) just bugged me. People complain that The Fault in Our Stars has two teenagers with vocabularies that are “unrealistic” or too fancy for their ages? Well, I thought that the dialogue in this […]

Review: Scoring Wilder

Posted November 5, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The character development was pretty good. The main character, Kinsley, was honest and funny. I loved that the book started the summer before college when she had just moved into the Rookie soccer house on campus. The reader is able to watch her develop friendships rather than picking up in the middle of a character’s life/high school career. The humor between characters in this book was certainly my style. Like Boomerang, this was a fun and sexy New Adult book that I enjoyed. I don’t like the ones that are too angsty. Kinsley and Becca’s friendship was on point for me. I kept highlighting funny parts because they sounded exactly like my friends in all of their interactions. I loved the three main characters: Kinsley, Becca, and Liam. That dynamic really worked for me and we learned a good amount about each of their lives. There could have been a little more characterization but there was enough to work with and really enjoy the three of them. Yes, this book was sexual as hell. So much swooning over Liam Wilder, holy shit. I don’t normally read New Adult so I’m always surprised about how much sex is actually in the books, but this one wasn’t all about that. There was a good balance. The biggest thing I liked about this book was how readable and entertaining it was. I just smiled a lot and enjoyed myself. Sometimes that’s all you really need from a book! Some of the humor was kind […]

Review: Boomerang

Posted August 23, 2014 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

10% through Boomerang and already smiling to myself like an asshole. I love these characters already #boutofbooks — Lauren (@bookmarklit) August 18, 2014 Review: Okay so this is EXACTLY what I want from a new adult book. This story was so funny and cute; I couldn’t get enough of it. You can tell from the cover and the description that it’s just going to be a fun, light read. I didn’t expect to find a whole lot of heavy shit in it and luckily that was true. (I read Dangerous Boys after this… maybe I should have switched the order). Like the plotline, the characters were so fun. The characters were very likable and believable. I found that they talked and acted like most people my age; it was refreshing. I related to them in so many ways. Both of them had past relationships that fucked with their heads in different ways. Mia was in a relationship where she was under-appreciated and used. (Been there) Ethan was in a long-term relationship with someone who was the wrong fit for them; eventually things got too boring and one of them cheated. (Been there, too) Aside from their relationships, the characters had so many interesting pieces to their personalities. Mia was the definition of a “cool girl” who could get along with the guys and not get too bent out of shape about the little things. She was an aspiring filmmaker who wanted to get out of her photographer mother’s shadow. Ethan was…a different […]