Source: Owned

Book Buddies Review: Ruby Red

Posted March 31, 2016 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link below) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. What did you think about Gwen? Is she the kind of main character you can relate to? Do you feel like she was characterized enough so far? Kaitlin: I think she was a great character! I mean, I really liked how she reacted to the situation she was put in and I do really look forward to reading more about her because Gwen definitely seems like she has had an interesting past. She is kind of the main character that one could relate to. I mean, I know what it’s like to have that one crazy friend but I see her as someone who has kind of always been overlooked and I honestly have not been through that struggle but I do like that though, how people who do feel overlooked get to relate to her and see how it is when an overlooked character finally get’s the attention. I am excited for Gwen’s character development […]

Review: Liars, Inc.

Posted March 30, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I totally thought The Art of Lainey would be my first Paula Stokes book because, c’mon, it’s right up my alley. I ended up adding this one to the poll for my YA book club and it was chosen for March’s read. I finished the book within two sittings – it was super fast but unfortunately predictable for me. I always say that I’m terrible about guessing mysteries, but that’s changed recently. Maybe I’m reading too many books like this (even though it doesn’t feel that way) or I’m too comfortable with YA. All of the YA mystery/thrillers I read tend to follow a similar formula and I find myself guessing whodunit without much thought. I know I’m not the target age for them necessarily, so I hope teens have a better time with them! I said during my reading progress on Goodreads that it’s always hard to believe YA mysteries because it just doesn’t feel logical that teens are this involved in murder mysteries. Brittany said it better over here too. The story set-up was kind of cool too. The book started at the end-ish, then jumped to the beginning to backtrack, then went back to the end. I liked that it started the story with a “bang” (haha, literally). That always adds some intrigue to stories for me. Anyways, yeah – this one was too predictable for me. I skimmed a few reviews on Goodreads and it seems like most people were surprised by the ending. Don’t get me […]

Review: The Wrong Side of Right

Posted February 26, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

This book seriously made me feel ALL the things. So many different emotions at different times. It felt like I knew the characters and was dealing with them myself. I was enraged when Kate was pissed, I was happy and falling for Andy when she was, and I was confused and sad when she didn’t know what to do. That is definitely the sign of a fantastic book. A year after her mother passes away, Kate learns that her father is a Republican senator running for president. She is so quickly swept up into their house, the election, and their world. It’s not easy, as her political opinions generally differ from her fathers, but she adjusts faster than I would have in her situation. She just felt SO REAL to me. As for the political stuff, I liked that it wasn’t beat over my head. There was one key issue that they focused on and dealt with, but the Republican stuff didn’t bother me. If anything, I wish there was more politics! It would have been interesting for her to actually talk more with her father about her beliefs (because she clearly leaned left, although she hadn’t made a decision really). I loved the family feels in this one. Honestly, the stepfamily vibes were stronger than those with her father. I liked seeing them all get closer, but I wanted a little more from him. I won’t spoil anything. When they got into the inevitable first fight, I thought it was […]

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 […]

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Posted January 27, 2016 / Book Reviews / 13 Comments

I love the ideas of fate and destiny and coincidence and choices. This is something I actively want to read about and think about all the time. I thought this book could be a slam-dunk for me because of it, but I was left wanting more. I don’t know if I’m just a bitter reader these days, but my increasing ability to pick out plot twists ahead of time is starting to grate on me. Even smaller ones in contemporary novels become obvious and I get frustrated. I don’t expect every book to surprise me, but I want to at least be happy overall. This book shows Hadley heading overseas to her father’s wedding, to a woman she’s never met. There are admittedly a lot of family feels that most children of divorce (hi there!) can relate to (yep). I appreciated the honest thoughts Hadley had about her father and their relationship, but it seems unlikely that all of this would happen in a 24 hour period. This timeframe was another thing that led me to this book – I loved the idea of meeting in an airport and having a quick rendezvous, wondering if you’ll see each other again. The short timeframe of course can lead to a feeling of instalove, but I understand how a connection like this can be made in this kind of circumstance. It didn’t bug me too much. The characters were pretty good. It was definitely a character- and family-driven story, but I always feel like I’m […]

GIF Review: Jellicoe Road

Posted January 18, 2016 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

So, I finally did it. I asked Chris to pick my next book off of a certain shelf and he pulled this one off. I was kind of nervous but knew this was the motivation I would need to finally read it. I was mentally prepared for the confusing beginning. Every single review said that the first X number of pages would be hard to read or understand, but pushing through was worth it in the end. I read one review that said 80 pages was the magic spot where pieces came together. 80 pages came and went… and I was still incredibly confused. Intrigued, but confused. Another blogger told me page 125 was when it clicked for her. Nope, still pretty fucking confused. Still interested for sure, but very unsure of what was going on. Aaaand another told me 150 pages was when she figured this shit out. Again, that mark came and went. Things were KIND OF getting pulled together MAYBE… but I started to get frustrated. Everyone insisted that I keep reading, so I did. At this point, I was damn determined to make sure I wasn’t just an idiot. I read page after page until I was more than three-quarters through the book and still felt SO disconnected. It’s not like it was a bad book, I just was never surprised or shocked or impressed. I finally understood what was happening, but was completely disappointed by the lack of “AHA!” moment. There was no jaw drop. I […]

Book Buddies Review: The Raven Boys

Posted November 25, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link below) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! How did you feel when you started? Did the hype make you excited or nervous? Kaitlin: I definitely did not know what to expect from this book because the synopsis had been super vague about what was going down within this book. All I know was what happened in the beginning chapter and that Blue would eventually become attracted. I don’t think hype really affects my enjoyment for books too much. It motivates me to try to enjoy a book that has lots of love to it but other than that, I mostly enjoy the majority of the books I read so hype is never a huge problem for me when it comes to how I enjoy a book. Lauren: I know what you mean about motivating you to enjoy it! That was such a driving factor in my enjoyment of this book. I felt like I needed to like it because everyone else […]

The Nostalgia Project | Gallagher Girls

Posted November 18, 2015 / Book Reviews, The Nostalgia Project / 10 Comments

The Nostalgia Project is my way of revisiting and rereading old favorites from my young adulthood to see if they still resonate with me. Learn more here and read old posts or reviews here! My first successful series revisit within The Nostalgia Project has come to an end! Let’s be honest, I totally cheated with this one. I had determined last year that I was planning on rereading the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter because there were three remaining books I never managed to read. I started listening to the audiobooks back in October 2014 and steadily trucked through the series until December. I then bought books five and six to finish off my collection… and didn’t get around to reading them. I finally picked up book five to finish them off before the end of 2015. Because I individually reviewed the previous four books, I’m going to continue that here first. Then, you’ll see my thoughts on the entire series and what I learned at the bottom. This has to be one of my favorite books in the series. It’s hard to say that now, considering that all of the previous books blend together when you haven’t read them in a year, but I just feel it. I haven’t physically read a book in this series since the first few books came out and I forgot how addicting they are! It’s a totally different experience with the audiobooks. I thought that some parts of the book were frustrating because of the […]

THE ROOM in NYC | Review: The Disaster Artist

Posted November 15, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Alright friends – I’m going to go in a different direction today to introduce this book review, because it requires a backstory. I’m not sure if any of you are familiar with the cult classic movie called The Room, but if you are – please be my best friend immediately. I use the above line on my About page on the blog, because it’s too perfect. All images/GIFs in this post courtesy of Buzzfeed. What the hell is The Room? Good question. When I first started dating Chris, him and our friend, Chelsea, would always go back and forth quoting these terrible lines from a movie. They finally showed it to me and explained how bizarre the creator (and director, and producer, and actor, and writer) of the movie was. Tommy Wiseau is an enigma that refuses to talk about where he’s from (because of his interesting accent), how he got his money (he funded the multimillion dollar trainwreck of a movie by himself), and really anything about his history. He’s a creepy man of mystery. He wears more than one belt a time. He says things like “move on next question” WAY more than a person should, especially when the point of the thing is to be a Q&A. If you’re curious to read more evidence to show just how weird this dude is, read his Reddit AMA. Anyways, this movie is considered “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” The acting, writing, cinematography — everything — is […]

Review: Cinder

Posted September 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

Let me start out by saying, YES I finally read this book! Yes, for the first time. No, I’m not sure what took me this long. When Brittany mentioned a Lunar Chronicles readalong for this year, in preparation for the newest release, I knew that this would be my reason to finally read the series. I’ll say quickly: I’ve never had this much trouble coming up with a Friends connection for my GIF below! It usually takes me forever to find or create the right GIF, but the reference itself comes right into my brain. Regardless, I think this book is just so unique and hard to classify that – for once – my Friends-obsessed brain had some trouble! Well, what did I think? This was a really great series-starter! I’m so intrigued with this world and can’t wait to see what happens in the next installment. Cinder was an interesting character – she’s a cyborg who dealing with the prince’s sudden interest in her and her sister’s sudden illness, all while slowly learning some insane things about herself and her past. I didn’t fully connect with her for some reason, but that didn’t really damper my enjoyment for the book overall. It seems like her story is going to be the one carried through the rest of the series, all while highlighting new characters and, probably, locations. There’s this phenomenon that happens to me sometimes while I’m reading that I call being “mockingbirded.” When I was in high school reading To […]