Publisher: Scholastic

Review Round Up | Not If I Save You First and A Court of Frost and Starlight

Posted May 18, 2018 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 4 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I’m a big fan of Ally Carter… clearly, if you look at all the reviews up at the top there. She writes some of the most fun and engaging “light mystery” kinds of books. I love all of them for different reasons. I was pretty excited to explore a standalone too! This was a first for her. The whole Alaskan survival thing didn’t exactly appeal to me but I can’t resist her stories, so I dove in soonafter it came out. I enjoyed Maddie and Logan, and the complexities of their relationship. I’m a huge fan of childhood-friends-to-more, especially if there’s hate-to-love involved. This checked off a lot of boxes for me in terms of tropes I love! There was a decent amount of build for their relationship and understanding where they both were coming from. I shipped them but not to OTP levels. The survival aspects were nicely done and not overkill, considering that I don’t love that genre/topic in general. The journey was really quick (the book itself is quite short and I listened to the audiobook, which was only around 6 hours). I think I would have liked a little more to the story? It was kind of simple, if that makes sense. I […]

Bite-Sized ARC Reviews: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You & The Knowing

Posted October 5, 2017 / Bite-Sized Reviews, Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I know I have full reviews and I have mini review round-ups, but there are some books that could be reviewed in just a few sentences. This is mini round-up I’ll have sometimes for books that really don’t need much more than my small Goodreads review and progress updates say. First up, we have a pretty disappointing reality check for a book I was really excited about. I’ve heard about the 36 question study where people develop a connection by the end of it and the thought always fascinated me. When I saw a book based on that study, I immediately requested it. I wish I DNFed because it was not nearly as good as I expected. 🙁 Next, a companion novel I was SO excited for! I loved THE FORGETTING and was so excited to learn more about Canaan. I didn’t realize it was a companion novel at first, but I’m happy to report that it was as good as expected. Many thanks to Ellice for letting me borrow this one <3

Bite-Sized Reviews: The Last of August & Lucky in Love

Posted July 10, 2017 / Bite-Sized Reviews, Book Reviews / 10 Comments

I know I have full reviews and I have mini review round-ups, but there are some books that could be reviewed in just a few sentences. This is mini round-up I’ll have sometimes for books that really don’t need much more than my small Goodreads review and progress updates say. First up, we have the sequel to A Study in Charlotte. I enjoyed the first book but it wasn’t a favorite. I felt really disconnected from the characters and those issues definitely continued in book two. I’m still intrigued by the “retelling” of Sherlock Holmes vibes, so I will probably read the next book. Next, the newest Kasie West book! She’s clearly in my top three favorite authors. I always love her stories and have not rated one less than four stars. This wasn’t my favorite by her, but it was a solid story about winning the lottery and finding your own way.

ARC Review: Dark Breaks the Dawn

Posted May 22, 2017 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Initial Excitement I haven’t read Larson’s other series (yet) but this one really intrigued me. I do have a tendency of requesting books or signing up for ARC tours even when they’re not exactly in my wheelhouse. Regardless, I started this one pretty quickly once I received it to see how it would work for me. It was nice that there were almost no reviews to go on so I could form my own opinion. I didn’t even realize it was a Swan Lake retelling either, so that added to my excitement when I noticed! Quick Summary The Light and Dark kingdoms have been at war because the King of the dark kingdom wants to rule them both. Evelayn is the Princess of Eadrolan, the Light kingdom, and suddenly has a lot of power thrust into her lap. The goal is to get to King Bain of Dorjhalon and make sure peace is achieved in any way necessary. I don’t really want to say anything else because honestly this book could be summed up in three sentences and be over. All the Things So… yeah. I’m struggling to remember much about this one and I finished it a day ago. I think it’s kind of a mixed bag for me. There wasn’t a lot of plot at all but it was incredibly easy and quick to read. I usually find fantasy books with complex magic systems to be very slow-going for me, but this one was fast. There were LOTS of elements involved […]

Review Roundup | PS I Like You, The Forgetting, Kiss Cam, and Reunion

Posted March 8, 2017 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 6 Comments

Before the regularly scheduled programming… Happy International Women’s Day! In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 backlist books I’ve read or listened to recently. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I think you’re aware of the fact that I tend to hoard my favorite authors’ books so I always have at least one to read when I REALLY need it. Kasie West is one of those authors. Sometimes I just need to read her words because I know she won’t let me down. For PS I LIKE YOU, my sister had been hounding me to read it and lent me her copy. I went ahead and got the audiobook from Hoopla to crank it out and MAN do I love Kasie West still. I read it just as BY YOUR SIDE was coming out and I was borrowing LUCKY IN LOVE from a friend. So, it was safe to read this one finally ? The story was cute, albeit incredibly predictable. I don’t mind the formulaic nature of many YA books because it’s comforting to get that HEA at the end. I knew who the secret pen pal was literally within the first chapter or two of the book and the rest of the story was equally predictable from there. I know my romance tolerance is lower than usual, so I tried to not let it sway my opinion of this fluffy book by a favorite author. There was […]

Review Roundup | Take the Key and Lock Her Up, One Paris Summer, and Hope Was Here

Posted February 2, 2017 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 7 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-3 backlist books I’ve read or listened to recently. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I’m a big Ally Carter fan… You can tell from all the books listed above that I’ve read by her. While the Gallagher Girls series is one of my favorites, Embassy Row didn’t really disappoint until this final book. Many people were annoyed with Grace before but I kind of liked her closed-off ferocity. She had been through SO much; I really understood why she was so hardened to the world and how she didn’t trust easily. That was a non-issue for me in the first two books, but really took a turn in TAKE THE KEY AND LOCK HER UP. I will admit that SO much of this had to do with the audiobook narrator. She over-acted and over-exaggerated her reactions to everything, so Grace was even more whiny, irritating, and hardheaded. The story itself was lacking in some areas, but my issues with Grace really distracted me from anything else going on. She jumped headfirst into really stupid things… and then didn’t understand why certain people would be mad at her for them. Seriously, such a moron! Her selfishness in this book astounded me. I don’t know why it surprised me so much, but it did. I thought the first half of the book dragged on a little bit because they were essentially on the […]

Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Posted August 18, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

I feel the need to start this review with some general observations about the play/script itself and how people have reacted to its release. I absolutely understand the mixed feelings and reviews on this one, as well as the reasons some people won’t be reading it at all. There are some things I want to cover because I too had some mixed feelings about this that I literally had JUST spoken about. My thoughts changed at the midnight release, when I started reading, and while I was reading. Let’s get some shit out of the way If you asked me 10 years ago how I would feel knowing an “eighth Harry Potter book” would come out at some point, I would have shit my pants. (No pun intended with the title of this section.) As a kid/young adult, there was LITERALLY nothing I could have wanted more from the world of fiction. When I was older and especially within the last two years, that excitement kind of dwindled. I think we all can genuinely agree that a Marauders prequel would be unreal and amazing. Most people – even those against Cursed Child – seem to agree with this. I was definitely cool with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them because the world expanded to other people and wouldn’t “ruin” the magic of the original series. How could it? Harry’s not even there. But, for some reason, Cursed Child has gotten mixed feelings and negative pre-release commentary from bloggers. Clearly everyone has a […]

Blog Tour | Review: Run

Posted June 14, 2016 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

MORE LINKS: Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository I am super impressed by this book, friends! I have been known to be a bigggg Kody Keplinger fangirl so I was absolutely excited to be a part of this blog tour. She just writes the best stories: usually a nice mix of fluffy and serious, with great strong leads and friendships. This book definitely had all of those things, but it struck me as very different from her other books right off the bat. I wasn’t sure at first, honestly, if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I love her backlist titles so much – would a “different” book by her work for me? The answer is definitely. Let’s chat about how great this book is. Her other books may have slightly higher ratings than this one but that’s completely my personal preference. This book is probably her best book – the most well-written, at the very least. She’s grown quite a bit as a writer and I love that she told this story. It’s about two friends, Agnes and Bo, who essentially run away from home. Bo has a messed up family life and Agnes is blind; the two make an unlikely pair but their friendship has grown to be something strong. Bo doesn’t treat Agnes like she’s fragile because she’s blind, but still helps her when she needs it. They just had such a sweet, caring friendship! There wasn’t much romance at all and I generally […]

Reviews: Blue Lily, Lily Blue and The Raven King

Posted May 6, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Despite the fact that this book ended up with the same rating as the first two, it’s definitely my favorite of the bunch. This is absolutely a series that gets better and more interesting with each installment. I spent most of the first two books confused and then completely enamored because of the ending. This book was actually opposite: I loved the entire thing, but was confused towards the end instead. I loved reading the Recaptains for the other books as I read, but this one didn’t exist when I read it 🙁 Regardless, I went surfing around Tumblr to get myself ~IN~ this fandom, now that spoilers aren’t an issue. It was a lot of fun and definitely helped clear up some questions! I don’t exactly know what to say about this series – or this book in particular – that hasn’t already been said by SO many trusted friends and reviewers. Some highlights? Blue + Gansey FEEEELZZZ Ronan + Adam (even though I don’t really like Adam) Piper – what an interesting, weird character Persephone 🙁 Some questions being answered or at least kind of explored THE ENDING CLIFFHANGER WHAT EVENNNNnnnnnNNn I am overwhelmed. I felt overwhelmed through every single page of this final book. I don’t even know if there are other words to describe how I felt. I cannot think of a time in recent memory where I’ve been so emotionally involved in every single character – their feelings, actions, futures.. everything. I just felt things so […]

ARC Review: Two Summers

Posted April 15, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

I really enjoyed this one. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting in a lot of ways, but it was a super fun and summery read. I love parallel life books SO much. Just waiting to see what happens at the end is my favorite part. You always wonder – will the two lives/paths/choices leave them to a different result? Will their life end up the same in the end? Every book has this question and I’ll admit, I haven’t read many that led to two very different outcomes. No spoilers here though. I definitely didn’t LOVE this as much as I hoped. It sounded right up my alley and I’ve enjoyed Aimee Friedman’s books in the past, so it was nice to be with her writing again. The premise is that Summer is planning to go to Paris to see her dad for the summer. She’s having second thoughts and then her phone rings with an unknown number the moment before she steps on the plane. Her life splits into two different directions – what happens when she answers, and what happens when she doesn’t. Like most parallel life books, the story alternates between the two choices and how her summer turns out. Summer in Paris vs. Summer in New York Instead of switching between the two parallel storylines every other chapter – like most books do – this one has longer “parts” so you only switch between the two a handful of times. In some ways, I liked […]