Source: Around the World ARC Tours

ARC Review: Unrivaled

Posted May 9, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

This was a super super super addicting read! I don’t know how else to explain it, except I’ve never said “okay just one more chapter” more times in my ENTIRE life. I planned to read up to the 200 page mark before bed and ended up staying up for 2 more hours to just finish. I kid you not, every. single. chapter. I kept saying I would quit and I couldn’t. I needed to see what was going to happen! So aside from the addictiveness, there wasn’t a heck of a lot of substance. My gut reaction is to give this book like 5 stars because I was so enthralled while reading, but I can’t ignore some major issues. First of all, I didn’t like the characters at all. None of them had any qualities or personality traits that resonated with me and they absolutely felt like cardboard cut-outs. I don’t need to LIKE a character to like a book, but I at least need to understand them and feel like they’re more than a stereotype. These people were walking stereotypes of a wannabe journalist (Layla), wannabe actress (Aster), and wannabe musician (Tommy). I liked the chapters with Madison the best because she had a secretive, mysterious past that I was determined to figure out. Overall, they weren’t great people. They were all attracted to fame and fortune, plus winning the competition… so yeah. Not perfect. AGAIN this is fine for me usually, but they were too blah for me to care […]

ARC Review: The Way Back to You

Posted April 28, 2016 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

So this is a really strong 4 stars for me. Sometimes I think I could round it up because I really loved it so much as I was reading it! The only issue I’m finding is that I finished the book last night and don’t feel as much of an impact as I expected. The book is about some generally heavier topics so I expected for the ~feels~ to last me a few days. I know my bookish memory is not great at all, but still. I don’t know what it is. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the many, many things I LOVED about this book: Characters I loved learning about Cloudy and Kyle. I thought they had an interesting dynamic and I was really interested to see what transpired between them (that led to their current non-friendship). I wish more was fleshed out surrounding that, or at least about their relationship before Ashlyn and Kyle started dating. I guess I just wanted all that spoiler-y stuff to be beefed up more. I didn’t feel some of it as much as I’d like to in that situation. Lots of telling and not showing. Road trip I love books involving road trips and journeys of any kind. This one had a unique reason (more on that in a second), so I was even more excited. There’s just something about being on the open road with someone, going from place to place, that makes me wanderlust-y. What […]

ARC Reviews: The Epidemic and Dream On

Posted April 25, 2016 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I was SO excited to grab this one from ALA back in January, but OF COURSE I waited forever to finally sit down and read it. There’s something wrong with me, okay? But after the cliffhanger at the end of THE REMEDY, I knew I had to get to it as soon as there was a break in my reading schedule. Honestly, I kind of created a break in my schedule; I knew this book was one I could finish in three sittings or less because I get sooo addicted to Young’s writing. This was definitely the case with THE EPIDEMIC! It took a few chapters for me to be reminded of what happened in the previous book. Thankfully, there was a pretty solid amount of recapping THE REMEDY without feeling like too much information. I still loved Quinn and was wondering what would happen with Deacon, after the previous book’s major cliffhanger about him. The biggest question I had throughout the story was HOW. How is all of this happening? Does Virginia have something to do with it all? How is it possible that suicide became an epidemic – something contagious – instead of something just related to groupthink. I was so eager to get to the end see everything tie into THE PROGRAM and THE TREATMENT. It’s weird reading a prequel series because you know how the world ends up afterwards… and it’s not a pretty place to be. I knew that my final rating for this story […]

ARC Review: Queen of Hearts

Posted April 21, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

This was overall an interesting retelling set in Wonderland, from the perspective of the soon-to-be Queen of Hearts, Dinah. Something happens very early in the book that still feels like a spoiler (it’s not said in the synopsis), so I won’t mention it… although it’s central to the rest of the plot. Anyways, I have mostly mixed feelings about this one? It’s kind of hard to explain this story… mostly because not much happens. I was about 60% of the way through and was able to explain the entire plot to my boyfriend within three sentences. Part of this is because it’s very info-dump-y in the beginning. There were little conversations where side characters would be explaining something to Dinah even though she already knew these random facts about Wonderland. I know these existed to cleverly explain things to the reader, but it felt SO forced. It really just read like an info-dump about the world. A lot of the early chapters involved this so the book had not a lot of action for a loooong time. Along those same lines, the pacing felt weird. The story seems to happen over the course of a year. The first scene happens, then the next chapter is six months later. Then another scene happens, and it jumps ahead a month or two. I don’t know why this was necessary because I feel like everything could have just happened in a more natural timeline? I saw Khanh’s review where she says the book feels like […]

ARC Review: Dreamology

Posted April 7, 2016 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

I knew I needed this book the moment I saw it – starting with the cover and ending with the synopsis. It sounded right up my alley because it seemed parallel universe-ish and dreamy and did I mention that cover?? I somehow didn’t grab it at ALA because I’m a chicken about talking to publishers, but luckily I was able to grab it from an ARC tour. I seriously seriously loved this book. The concept and storyline was incredibly unique. Basically, Max and Alice have been dreaming about each other since they were kids. Then, she moves to Boston, finds out Max is a real person, and things! develop! I shipped these two literally immediately, during the first dream we got to see. The characters were just SO funny, adorable, and charming. Alice and Max were cute cute CUTE. I loved all of the secondary characters as well: the humor that Oliver brought to the story, Alice’s friendship with Sophie, the inclusion of Celeste, and Jerry the awesome dog. The story definitely had some sciencey elements because obviously these two are legit sharing dreams, but I like that it didn’t get too bogged down with the details as they started figuring THINGS out. It’s very much a contemporary romance – not a lot of sci-fi or paranormal as you may think. A few other things I loved? They were teens who sometimes went to a party and had some drinks. I always think it’s refreshing when there are party-like scenes that […]

ARC Review: Wink Poppy Midnight

Posted March 11, 2016 / Book Reviews / 18 Comments

I’m the kind of person who usually writes reviews immediately after finishing the book. I just really don’t even know what to say about this one and decided not to write the review right away, just in case it would come to me or something. This was a mistake because I’m struggling to even remember anything besides: this book was really fucking weird. While my rating report below leans strongly towards 2.5, I just can’t bring myself to do it. It’s been a couple of days since I finished the book and (a) I barely remember what happened and (b) I don’t like anything that I do remember. Within the first handful of pages, I could see the comparison to We Were Liars. As we all know by now, that book didn’t work for me in any way. I should have DNFed this one once I saw the comparison but something compelled me to keep going. For a while, I was glad I did! Things got really creepy and interesting for a handful of pages. But, then the end disappointed me. As I said in my Goodreads review (at the bottom here), the entire first half or so of the book felt incredibly pointless. We learn a bit about the characters and their weird relationships, but that’s about it. There were short, easy “chapters” to highlight each character, so that helped with being able to read it quickly, but that was the only thing that kept me going for a while. Things […]

ARC Review: The Word for Yes

Posted February 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

Warning: I am going to probably have a few spoilers in this review. I just… can’t do it without them. Trigger warning: Book is largely focused on a date rape and its aftermath I didn’t like this book and I kind of feel uncomfortable reviewing it. I feel weird about saying that a book with SUCH an important topic… felt pointless. I actually haven’t read a lot of books that involve date rape or anything similar, but I know there are powerful ones out there. How can something like this be breezed over, when it’s meant to be the point of the book? Let me back up a little bit. The synopsis says that three sisters try to move on from the aftermath of something that happens at a party. I mean, sure, that happens? But it wasn’t what I was expecting. They all kind of hate each other and – spoiler alert – that doesn’t really change at the end. In fact, NOTHING changes at the end! Melanie is raped at a party by a guy who is one of her best friends. This impacts her family and her in different ways, but no one is changed by what happened. By the end of it, Melanie kind of moves on and forgets it happens in some ways. She has ONE conversation with a guy she likes and just feels completely better. It’s like in the books where the main character’s depression is ~cured~ by a boy that comes into […]

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 […]

ARC Review: This Is Where It Ends

Posted January 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Whew, this book was not easy. I raced through it in one sitting on a Saturday night and was desperate to see how it all ended. Heartbreaking, terrifying, and real. This won’t be an easy review. I’m a Connecticut resident and live about an hour from Sandy Hook… plus I have a friend who is a teacher in that town. Needless to say, this book hit entirely too close to home (literally). School shootings are something that really scare me more than I can express. When I was younger I read books about Columbine and in high school I read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I don’t know why, but these stories have always grabbed me. Maybe because it feels like your biggest fear realized. Aside from my personal connection and “interest,” this book was incredibly well-written and well-done. I sat on my couch and finished it within a couple of hours; I couldn’t stop. The book centers around an hour long period, from when the shooting starts until it ends. There are four main characters whose POVs get alternated between: Sylvia, Autumn, Tomas, and Claire. I won’t get too much into their relationships to each other and how they related to the shooter, but they were all definitely connected. I was nervous about all of these characters and their relationships at first, but I finally got the hang of it. Despite the constant POV changes, I really felt like I knew these characters. Maybe it’s because in your moments […]

ARC Review: Truthwitch

Posted December 24, 2015 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

PHEW. That was quite a read. I honestly had no idea what to expect with this one, but whatever my expectations were – they were definitely exceeded. I should definitely preface this review with: I don’t read high fantasy. Like, ever. I’ve come to realize that I tell people I like fantasy, but have really read a small amount of the genre. I prefer lighter fantasy or paranormal reads. This book, which is definitely a high fantasy, was kind of a stretch for my brain. The world-building was very complicated. I was confused at the beginning, but some things started to click into place within the first 70-100 pages. I think that hardcore fantasy readers won’t have a problem with this. I liked being thrown into the action though; it was interesting to see the two girls kicking ass but wondering why they were on the run. The whole premise of the book was just too cool. Essentially, there are people in their world who have powers and people who don’t. Some powers are more valuable than others, so Safi, the Truthwitch, is hiding hers. There are so many twists involving people wanting her, chasing her, or trying to kidnap her. She’s best friends with Iseult, a Threadwitch (meaning she can see the threads that tie people together or make up their feelings). Again, it took me a while to figure out what certain powers were and how everyone came together. I don’t think I could even describe anything else about […]