Publisher: Harper Collins

Review: How to Be Bad

Posted October 5, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Just take a look at the rating report below and you’ll know how I feel about this book: very mixed. On one hand, it was kind of a fast, friendship-packed story that had a great road trip premise. On the other hand, the characters were terrible at their worst and annoying at their best. Let’s see if I can explain the pros and cons of this one. What worked The road trip premise is something I’ll ALWAYS be interested in reading. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I read this outdated road trip right after reading another outdated road trip book. Both were written around 2007 so the technology and social media aspect was totally dated. Not a huge deal, but still worth mentioning. I loved the setting (Florida) and the reason for the trip (visit Vicks’s boyfriend at his college in Miami). I also liked that the book switched between three perspectives: one for each girl, written by each author. The girls and their reasons for going on the trip were very different, so that was pretty cool. I liked Mel the most out of the three girls, I think. It was engaging and easy to read. I also am kind of obsessed with the fun cover and am still glad I bought it for my shelves. What didn’t work Man, these characters didn’t work for me. Jesse was judgmental (about everything and everyone) and incredibly religious. Mel was self-loathing and self-conscious. Vicks was the typical bad girl who made terrible decisions. Well, […]

Review: The Night We Said Yes (+ Bonus Novella)

Posted September 16, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I don’t really know where to start with this one! I enjoyed it overall but I don’t think it’s a book that will stick with me very long. The characters were pretty good, the style of storytelling was excellent, and the overall concept was cool. I think my biggest issue is that I took a break in the middle to read something else and when I came back, it just wasn’t the same. The story alternates between “then” and “now.” In the “then” chapters, it shows the night that Ella met Matt, and they went out with another couple on a night where they said yes to everything. The “now” chapters are a year later, when Ella runs into Matt again for the first time in about six months. The synopsis makes it seem like the two of them had a magical night together and then he took off for a year. In reality, though, they dated for six months and then he left without a word. I had to adjust my expectations a bit once I realized that. Anyways, in the “now” chapters, Matt is trying to win Ella and her friends – Meg and Jake – back, when he returns to their town for college. He tries to recreate the night with Ella from a year before. I loved the alternating chapters with the two different times. It was fun because they lined up nicely with each other. Each one ended on a mini cliffhanger, so I was […]

ARC Review: Dumplin’

Posted September 9, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

I have no idea why Dumplin’ didn’t sound that appealing to me when I first heard of it. I mean, really, it has a lot of elements I’d be interested in. I almost didn’t bother requesting it through the ARC tour, but I couldn’t be happier that I decided to go for it. First of all, the cover is amazing and minimalistic and absolutely perfect for the story. Second, the story was fucking amazing. Dumplin’ honestly blew me away. I wrote down so many powerful quotes that I don’t even how to share them with you. All I know this, this book was extremely perfect for me. I feel like all girls (at some point or another) struggle with their appearance: whether it has to do with their weight, their legs, their hair… anything. I’m constantly self-conscious about how I look and my weight. I wish I was half as confident as Willowdean is in her skin. Girls of all sizes and appearances will appreciate the message of this book. Willowdean, as confident as she is, even has some moments of doubt – between her relationship with Bo, her feelings about her mother, and the pageant, even some things can bring her down momentarily. I loved her right away, starting from the moment she distracted Millie from the taunting of a dickhead guy at school. I completely understood SO many of the things she was going through, from growing apart from her best friend, to being jealous of new friends, to […]

ARC Review: Mirrored

Posted September 7, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I definitely have some mixed feelings on this one. I’m tempted to lower the rating because of all the things that bugged me, but there were quite a few things I liked as well. The overall story behind this one was really cool, from a retelling standpoint. All of the elements that actually connected to Snow White were really well-done. Some of them made you think a little bit, and I bet I even missed some of the references to the original story. The plot was a really interesting take on that story and didn’t seem too similar. I have to give this book points for that. It was also cool to have the three different perspectives in the story, starting with Violet’s backstory, how that impacts Celine in her part, and how Goose finishes off the book. The characters were pretty good. Again, I liked getting a glimpse at Violet’s backstory so you could really see how and why she got to be the way she was. It was a little bit easier to be KIND OF sympathetic towards her when she starts being insane. Celine was a nice enough main character but was really just (1) smart and (2) obsessed with a singer named Jonah Prince. We don’t get too much more than that. Goose was probably my favorite but even then he wasn’t super memorable. The pacing and writing style really bugged me. There were a few (okay, a lot) of places in the book that draaaaggged on […]

ARC Review: Cut Both Ways

Posted August 27, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Sigh. I don’t know. This book had the potential to be really interesting and thought-provoking, but it felt too much like an “issue” book. I don’t mind reading books with clear messages, but it tried to be a lot of things at once. Will’s parents are divorced, his dad’s an alcoholic, he discovers that he has feelings for his male best friend, and he gets his first girlfriend. Lots of drama. It really felt like he was a trainwreck and didn’t help anything with his blasé attitude. Faves The opening of the book was interesting and I completely agreed about his thoughts on divorce. I could relate to him and his feelings about his parents. Beyond that, this book was fairly addicting and fast to read (for the first half). I can’t think of much else that I liked. Oh, he always made fun of Joe Buck and his football announcing. I liked that too. Flaws I didn’t like the choppy, fragmented writing style. I feel like it only added to the fact that Will didn’t have a lot of legitimate thoughts on anything. He was so detached! There was SO much going on in his life, and he didn’t feel connected to anything. His voice was just… not there. He had no interests except from sex. It was LITERALLY all he thought about. Even when shitty things were happening to the people in his life, he still thought about having sex with them. It reminded me of the miserable main […]

Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Posted August 17, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

This was so cuuuuute! AH. I finally see what all the hype is about (to an extent…). I started listening to the audiobook of this but eventually decided to finish it up with my copy from the library. I’m so glad I did because I was ridiculously excited to find out who the eff Blue was. So, this book was chock-full of adorable and realistic moments about relationships, friends, and family. I’m SO SO glad I finally read it. It centers around Simon, who has been emailing with a mystery guy named Blue. They know that they both go to the same high school and neither one of them is openly gay. I won’t spoil too much about how things progress, but UGH THE FEELS. “People really are like house with vast rooms and tiny windows. And maybe it’s a good thing, the way we never stop surprising each other.” I started off literally loving this book but my obsession waned a little in the middle. I liked it, but I wasn’t getting the same off-the-charts level of feels as everyone else. That changed back again towards the end! I can’t really count this as an all-time favorite for some reason but it comes super close. This is such an important story about coming out, being yourself, dealing with friends, communicating with your parents… you name it. It was such a realistic story about high school; I felt like I was back there dealing with all of the same issues. […]

Series Review: The Lying Game Books 4-6 + Novella

Posted August 7, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

So, as you saw in my previous post, I went on a little binge. It was a very spur of the moment decision and I figured I’d just work through the audiobooks for these ones over the course of the month…. but, I couldn’t stop. It ended up being a full-on series binge-read, which fits nicely in my Summer of Series Challenge! I didn’t put it on my TBR, but oh well. I should have known Sara Shepard would make me turn the pages nonstop until I was finished with the series. The Lying Game: Books 4, 5, and 6, plus the other novella I won’t spoil each individual book in the reviews, as usual, BUT each review will likely have spoilers for the previous book(s)! So, beware. To be honest, this rating is probably a little too high. The ending definitely didn’t surprise me but it did make the book a bit more interesting. I’m getting sick and tired of the same plot in each book: Emma learns a piece of information, aggressively suspects someone the entire book, chases down dumb leads and assumes the worst without thinking first, and refuses to think it could be anyone but the person she chose as the latest suspect. She spent the entire book being an idiot and jumping to conclusions. It was just SO convenient that the person she suspected just so happened to be doing sketchy things while she suspected them (when they never really had before). The TV show made me suspect […]

Series Review: The Lying Game Books 1-3 + Novella

Posted August 5, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

So, I went on a little binge. It was a very spur of the moment decision and I figured I’d just work through the audiobooks for these ones over the course of the month…. but, I couldn’t stop. It ended up being a full-on series binge-read, which fits nicely in my Summer of Series Challenge! I didn’t put it on my TBR, but oh well. I should have known Sara Shepard would make me turn the pages nonstop until I was finished with the series. The Lying Game: Books 1, 2, and 3, plus the prequel novella I won’t spoil each individual book in the reviews, as usual, BUT each review will likely have spoilers for the previous book(s)! So, beware. WOO that was really good! I shouldn’t say that I’m suprised at how good it was, but I kind of am. Sara Shepard is known for writing the same kind of books over and over again. I think most people admit that, even her big fans (like myself). There’s just something about her writing style that works for me and keeps me engaged, even if some of it feels like deja vu. THE GOOD NEWS IS: this book was actually not like her other books/series at all. It felt like a completely fresh story, which is definitely what made all the difference. Instead of following a group of girls around trying to figure out mysteries and/or murders (Hi, Pretty Little Liars, The Heiresses, and The Perfectionists), this one involves long-lost twin sisters. […]

Review: Get Dirty

Posted August 3, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I had suuuuper mixed (okay, fine, more negative) feelings about the first book, but was absolutely determined to read this one. All other issues aside, I NEEDED to know who the killer was. I had a few people in mind after the first book… and that cliffhanger GOOD GOD. I figured I should give this one a slightly better rating than the first one because for some reason I kind of liked it a bit more, but it technically all comes down to the same issues. The pacing was still an issue, the girls still felt like cardboard cut-outs of typical high schooler stereotypes (except maybe even worse this time around because there was pretty much no personality at all), and… the worst thing of all… my theory was correct. If you know me at all, you’d know that (a) I don’t read a lot of mystery/murder/thriller books and (b) I am ridiculously AWFUL at falling for red herrings and can literally never figure out who the killer is. Ever. Well, except in this case. In summary, if I’m able to figure out who the killer was in your mystery book, then it wasn’t that great of a mystery. I liked how everything wrapped up but essentially everything else from the book wasn’t very memorable. I just finished the audio this morning (July 2nd, at the time of writing this DUH) and I can’t even remember what the fuck happened throughout the book. I feel like there was even LESS of […]

Mini Reviews: Magonia and The Good Girls

Posted July 3, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

I don’t really even know what to say about it, except that it was incredibly unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I actually HATE birds and am very afraid of them, so I’m surprised this book worked for me at all. We chose this one for my book club and pretty much all agreed with that. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I did have a few major struggles: It was hard to picture Magonia and the bird people. I feel like most fantasy books have the issue of too much description, but this one could have used a bit more. When writing about a land that’s technically an ocean with ships and different bird-creatures, people are going to have a tough time picturing it. I needed more detail overall. I know that Aza was trying to learn what the issues were in Magonia, as well as her reasons for being there, but it was hard to grasp. They didn’t really tell her anything, and thus the reader didn’t know anything. It would have been better to have a bit more information and explanation. Aza’s reaction to Magonia was not believable. Obviously most of the book is pretty unbelievable, but what struck me the most was that Aza just accepted it. She literally learned that she was basically a bird person in this crazy place above the clouds… and she just went with it! I would have been screaming “what the fuck” repeatedly. Same with Jason. How did […]