Publisher: Random House

ARC Review: A Short History of the Girl Next Door

Posted September 20, 2017 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary This book was added to my TBR the minute Laura announced it. I loved the premise and then, of course, the cover once it was released. Best-friends-to-more (especially if they were childhood friends and neighbors) is one of my favorite tropes. I was even more excited when I got approved on NetGalley for it and didn’t waste much time. (I read this back in July!) The synopsis shares that Matt has recently realized he’s in love with his best friend and neighbor, Tabby. This, of course, coincides with the time she finds an upperclassmen boyfriend instead. Matt’s still grappling with her new relationship and essentially pines after her for most of the novel. I can’t say much more, because spoiler city. Storytelling & Characters I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, because you assume the book may go two ways. Is there a happily-ever-after, where she realizes that Matt is the one for her? Or does he move on and this book isn’t considered ~romance~ at all? Well, I can’t really answer that question because spoilers. But let me tell you, it was a rough ride to get there. I did not see anything coming. And that’s all I’ll say on that. I really liked Matt as a character. I feel like everyone’s been in his shoes before, pining over someone who isn’t interested in you. He was really honest too; being in his head was refreshing. He would think of something fucked up […]

ARC Reviews: What to Say Next and Hello Sunshine

Posted July 4, 2017 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

OH MAN, I loved this book. I don’t think I have a lot to say about it because I can’t put the feelings into words. The setup is that Kit’s father died a month ago, so she decides to sit with David at lunch to get away from her friends. The two of them end up talking and she’s refreshed by his honesty and bluntness with her, since everyone else has either been tiptoeing around her feelings or acting like she should be behaving normally. David is on the spectrum and was really interesting to read about. I work with a pediatric neuropsychologist that specializes in testing for ADD, autism, etc. so I’m fairly well-versed in those areas. I liked being able to understand where David was coming from because of that, but I also think he was a character that anyone could really connect with. Buxbaum did an amazing job explaining how he was feeling or why he said certain things. I loveeeed the family relationships in this book. David is close with his sister Lauren, who was a cool girl in HS that no one messed with her (or him). They had a great relationship and she taught him some everyday “rules” for fitting in with everyone else. His parents were great and supportive too. On Kit’s side, she pretty much just had her mom. They were close throughout the grieving process but there were moments of tension in the second half of the book as well. I just […]

ARC Reviews: Cold Summer and Windfall

Posted April 24, 2017 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

I’ll be honest… I think three stars is generous for this one. I liked the ending, which does outweigh some flaws for me! I love second-chance-romance stories, especially when the two characters were best friends through childhood and reunite when they’re older. I also love anything involving time travel or alternate universes. In theory, this book is right up my alley! However… while the setup was interesting, SO much more could have been done with this premise. The biggest flaw for me – that can be applied to every single aspect of the story – is that the book lacked depth. It didn’t have any oomph to it. The romance was fine, the characters were fine, the time travel was fine… but that’s it. There wasn’t enough characterization for me to feel anything for the characters; I knew the bare minimum about them. Honestly, there were so many chapters where I forgot whose head I was in at the time. Characters (and their thoughts) should not be that flat and similar. I liked the side characters and their relationships, but they were even less developed. I don’t think we even know officially what happened to her aunt? And her relationship with her mom? I know the two things are related but the “closure” around those issues was either rushed or nonexistent. Time travel is a huge draw for me, but that was kind of boring too. Kale (yes I kept picturing the leafy vegetable) keeps traveling to the same time period for some […]

ARC Review: The Sun is Also a Star

Posted October 24, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement Any book involving fate or destiny in some capacity will immediately make it onto my TBR. Of course, any book by Nicola Yoon was also going to make it onto my TBR right away as well. I loved her debut so incredibly much and remember blazing through it in one afternoon. She became an auto-read author after just one book. So, needless to say, I had high hopes and expectations for this book… and it didn’t let me down! Summary in a Second Natasha’s family is on the verge of being deported back to Jamaica. Daniel is headed to a Yale admissions interview because his Korean parents are forcing him down that particular path. The two meet by chance (or perhaps by fate) and spend a whirlwind day together in New York City. The story has countless instances where destiny brought them together; if certain things didn’t happen or happened a few minutes later, their paths never would have crossed. This is something I’m always interested in, but the concept usually is found in my favorite parallel life/universe books instead of straight contemporary stories. Storytelling & Setting The story alternates between Natasha, Daniel, and other people and concepts they come across. I loved reading random chapters here and there from other people involved, like the lawyer or their parents. There were even some chapters that were just about certain things, like African American hair care or scientific concepts. It all just worked together so seamlessly. I’ll be so sad if […]

ARC Review: Gemina

Posted October 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement Unlike most people, I wasn’t utterly blown away by ILLUMINAE. I definitely REALLY enjoyed it and gave it four stars, but it wasn’t perfect like it was for so many other people. I was pretty excited for GEMINA when I saw some early reviews roll in and the lovely Wendy let me borrow her copy. Summary in a Second This book is a companion to ILLUMINAE and seems to take place right after the events of the first book. There are different main characters, which was sad at first but got much better. GEMINA follows Hanna, the attractive daughter of the ship’s captain, and Nik, a criminal from a criminal family doing criminal things a lot of the time. Their ship (Hypatia) is the next victim of BeiTech’s siege of all the ships and space things I don’t know how to describe. Storytelling & Setting Like ILLUMINAE, this book is told through various documents, files, IM chats, radio transmissions, and video camera footage (transcribed). Because I read an ARC, there were some final drawings and pictures missing from the book but it didn’t make much of a difference for the actual story itself. The space setting is really fun because it pulls me right out of my comfort zone. I don’t do a lot of sci-fi because I get confused, and honestly this series is no exception, but I just enjoy these more because of the format. The actual plot for this book was incredibly engaging. It featured […]

Blog Tour | ARC Review: Results May Vary

Posted August 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

My Thoughts Honestly I went into this book with pretty high expectations. I really loved THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY and had been anticipating Chase’s next novel ever since. After the end of her debut, there was an excerpt for her next story. It was slated to be a companion to THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY and I was soooo pumped. Later, Chase talked about how her editor fell in love with this story instead, and wanted to publish them in a different order. I was slightly disappointed but still VERY excited to read her next story… no matter which one it was! Turns out, I had absolutely no reason to be nervous; my high expectations were truly met and definitely exceeded. This book – almost instantly – became my favorite book of the year. No exaggeration. Within the first page or two, I just had this weird feeling come over me that this book was going to be fantastic. I was completely captivated from the first page and never wanted to stop reading. I could see SO much improvement between her debut and her sophomore novels. That’s saying a LOT though, because I was incredibly impressed with her debut as it is! I always think I’m more of a plot-driven reader instead of character-driven. I like the characters to have personalities and be fully fleshed out, of course, but I more want there to be action and a story. Some writers change that for me. This book was really […]

Review: Tell Me Three Things

Posted August 5, 2016 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

So yes of course I’m going to take the obvious review style here and tell you three things about this extremely wonderful book that landed on my favorites shelf… Thing #1: Super realistic and relatable While some things about the main character, Jessie, bugged me, it really felt like a realistic portrayal of the inside of a teenage girl’s head. She wasn’t perfect and was a bit too judgmental about those around her in her new school, a lot of it felt like a defense mechanism. She moved across the country essentially on a whim and was reacting honestly to what she saw around her. I usually like there to be some kind of character growth around this, but I have previously loved books where this happened too. I think it’s a story worth telling because some mean girl situations ARE real and the people DON’T change. Aside from Jessie’s internal monologue, I really just felt like the book was so enjoyable and, again, REAL. I loved her voice overall. Thing #2: Adorable romance I shipped her and SN from the beginning… and knew who SN was from the beginning. Jessie did frustrate me as it got further and further into the book and she STILL didn’t know. HOW? It was so obvious to me! It did involve some of those classic annoying things were she assumes it’s someone else with zero evidence and is a dummy about it for way too long. Oh well. Regardless, I LOVED reading about the […]

Mini Reviews: The Forbidden Wish and Just a Girl

Posted June 24, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

After I saw the early reviews for this book, I bumped it up even higher on my TBR. I requested from the library and decided to read it as soon as possible, even with a million other more priority books waiting to be read. Unfortunately I kind of wish I didn’t bother reading it right away, because it didn’t grab me like I expected it to. The story was really great and the writing was lovely, but I was left slightly disappointed. It took me FOREVER to read this book. I never really wanted to pick it up and read it, and my attention would wander while I was reading. Khara was a really interesting main character because of her strength, backstory, and magic. I just loved reading about her. Aladdin was also a fantastic love interest and I kind of loved him. I definitely shipped them. However, there just was a little spark missing. The other side characters (the princess and her watchmaidens) were amazing too! The biggest issue, for me, is the general lack of plot. I could summarize the book in a few bullet points and call it a day. The ending had a lot more action, so that was a great change of pace. Overall, this book didn’t really meet my expectations, but I really did enjoy it. The gorgeous writing, lovable characters, and ending definitely sealed the deal for me. Here’s a nice age-level switch for you – a New Adult book I finished but […]

Mini Reviews: Of Beast and Beauty and Second Time Around

Posted February 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

A couple of very random mini reviews for you! Both backlist: one YA retelling and one Adult “chick lit” type. Here’s what I thought of Of Beast and Beauty and Second Time Around.I definitely expected a lot from this book, and I think that wasn’t very fair of me. The biggest fault with this was comparing it too much to Princess of Thorns. The other story I read by Stacey Jay featured non-stop twists and new information and swoooons, even after a very slow beginning. With this one, there were less twists and turns and jaw-dropping moments…and I just expected too much. It started off slow but I kind of thought that might just be Jay’s style? But, it took about 75% of the book for me to really make me eager to keep reading. The ending was solid and interesting, for sure. If I try to be a little more objective, this was REALLY good. Same slow-burn, complex story with great world-building. I totally need more Stacey Jay in my life. I’m not sure if this was a case of the right book at the right time, or if I just really loved this one, but either way- so glad I read it. I needed something with no hype and non-YA, and this delivered in spades. I loved the cozy, college campus vibe (even though they were all 10 years out of college, just living somewhat on the campus) and the theme of second chances. There were four main characters […]

Blog Tour + Giveaway | Cover Colors: Arrows

Posted February 7, 2016 / Cover Colors, Features / 8 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk I love how simple this cover is! I’m a huge fan of ANYTHING with hearts involved. It’s a super cute cover and very representative of the book inside. The Cupid vibe is just perfect. I tried to capture that with my collage below. The shirt and skirt with the bow reminded me of the cuteness and color of the cover. I just kept picturing this big read heart-shaped bag, and I’m so glad I found such a gorgeous one. I also have some matching beauty products and a cute Cupid-y phone case! The jewelry features hearts and arrows. Arrows by bookmarklit featuring a crop top Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk Publisher: Delacorte Press Release Date: January 26th 2016 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Retellings, Romance A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom. People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter […]