Publisher: Harper Collins

Review: The Heiresses

Posted August 27, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Review: I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “guilty pleasure.” That’s exactly what this book (and literally any and all other books by Sara Shepard are). I just wanted to get that out of the way first before you holler at me and say how shitty this book is. I’ve read the entire PLL series and I’m FULLY aware of Shepard’s writing style and plot devices and anything else you could think of. The thing is – I don’t care. I would read her grocery list because I think somehow she would manage to surprise me. Maybe you thought this book was predictable if you’ve read it. The thing is, I don’t try to predict anything when it come to suspense books. I prefer to be surprised. I may make a guess or two about things but never want to be right. I’m sure if I really sat hard and brought my thinking up just one more level, I would have been able to figure more out. I just don’t want to. I could make the jokes that everyone and their mother made in their Goodreads reviews, but I’ll resist the urge. (They are pretty funny though, you should look) Sara Shepard has been vague about if this is a series (although Goodreads suggests that it is).. I’ve gotta say that after that ending- there better be a second book. It kept me interested and intrigued throughout the entire thing, which is really what a good book boils down to. […]

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 […]

Review: The Distance Between Us

Posted August 14, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Review: This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a long time, but unfortunately was released before I really started getting back into reading like a crazy person. I can’t believe I waited this long because it was so, so cute. Character-wise, this book definitely had some winners. Caymen was hilarious with her sarcasm and dry sense of humor. I laughed out loud quite a few times thanks to her. She was definitely the kind of girl I wanted to be friends with. Caymen and her mom live above the doll shop that they own and work at, struggling to make ends meet. Her father isn’t in her life because he took off the moment her mom announced she was pregnant at a young age. Simultaneously, her mom’s parents disowned her. She used the “keep quiet” money from Caymen’s father to start up the doll shop and since then was not having the best time keeping up with her bills. Since her wealthy ex left her, Caymen’s mom has a lot of hatred towards rich people. We learn that there is a lot more to her story than that, which makes a lot more sense as to why she feels so strongly about it. Enter Xander Spence (excuse me as I barf at his name – really Kasie West? XANDER?), who is coming to the doll shop to buy a present for his grandmother. Caymen instinctively keeps her distance, but is inevitably drawn to him anyways. He has the […]

Review: September Girls

Posted July 29, 2014 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Review: Oh man. I have so many things to say about a book where barely anything happened plot-wise. Jesus. I saw this cover at the bookstore and the synopsis seemed like something right up my alley. I could see that it was a paranormal-esque book based on the description, but didn’t know what was up with these ~*girls*~ (wasn’t that supposed to be the point of the book? Figuring out the secret of the beach and the girls?). INSTEAD it was completely ruined for me by someones Goodreads shelf. Sad face. I also noticed people referencing it in their reviews, so maybe it was common knowledge and I’m just a little slow? Regardless, I went into this book already knowing what it was leading up to. There were a lot of mixed reviews…There was a pretty serious sexism-related debate between reviewers though, and oddly I agreed with both sides. Check here for a review that the book was sexist and here for one that didn’t think it was. Frankly, both perspectives are worth exploring–especially if for some reason you still want to read the book after this review. I absolutely never wanted to sit down and read this book because I dreaded it. I’m too stubborn to stop reading a book though. If it had been on my shelf for years, I may have stopped, but I JUST bought this one a few months ago and was determined to finish it. At any rate, this book was so effing slow. I’ve […]

Review: Before I Fall

Posted July 18, 2014 / Book Reviews / 16 Comments

Review: I haven’t had as many “holy shit that was an amazing book” books in a while. This book had me staying up late reading (which is something I haven’t been compelled to do in a long time either). And even after I decided to go to sleep, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book. It was truly the definition of a pageturner. I wanted to get all of that out of the way first. The plot of this book is that a popular teenager, Samantha, is killed in a car accident while driving with her friends. She wasn’t a nice girl to others in high school, which is pretty standard of “popular” girls nowadays. The book starts with her last day of life and outlines everything that happened leading up to the accident. When she inevitably dies, she wakes up in the next chapter and thinks the whole thing was a bad dream. Of course it wasn’t…she is actually dead and reliving the day over and over again, like Groundhog Day. She goes through the typical stages: disbelief, frustration, sadness, etc. Oliver does not try to make Sam a likeable character (at first). She’s a mean girl. Her friends are mean girls. As the book goes on, she tries to make amends for everything and live each day the best she can. She realizes what she needs to do in order to pass on to the afterlife. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book really had me […]