Source: Purchased

Comic Reviews: Saga #1-2 and Saved by the Bell #1

Posted October 3, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Aside from a random Adventure Time comic I read at one point, Saga is really my first foray into this… genre? medium? Either way, I’m so glad I randomly decided to read it. I was sitting at Books a Million with Chris and he decided to read a little comics before we left the store, to make sure he wanted to buy it. He’s been getting into graphic novels and comic books lately. I decided to pull Saga off the shelf for literally the millionth time and read the first chapter. I wanted to see if it was for me or not, once and for all. Well, I ended up reading the entire first volume while sitting there in the store. I couldn’t stop and didn’t want to stop. I’m not experienced at all with what makes a good comic, but this story was SO cool and SO bizarre… I loved it. It took me a long time to fully understand what the fuck was going on. I mean, they’re on a whole different planet (literally) and there’s some intergalactic war going on. It was a bit confusing at times because you’re kind of thrown right into the action, but I’m not complaining. I can’t give this volume a perfect score because I’m still not 100% sure if I understand it, but it’s pretty damn close. Overall, Saga has some really cool art, fun characters, and LOL-worthy moments. I’m excited to see what happens next in Volume 2 and will […]

Review: Two-Way Street

Posted October 2, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

For an outdated road trip book with characters I barely liked, this book wasn’t bad. It was a really quick read and perfect for Bout of Books (when I read this back in August). I’m glad I finally read it but it’s definitely not a new favorite. This had alllll the makings for a book I’d love. I read Ex-Mas back during the holidays last year and loved the concept: exes taking a road trip together and falling back in love. In this book, Jordan and Courtney are taking a road trip from their hometown in Florida to their new college in Boston. They broke up a few weeks earlier but decide to make the trip up together still. The gist of the story is that Jordan says he dumped her for some girl he met on MySpace (yep, this book is old) but really that’s a lie. He’s covering ~something~ up that I happened to figure out within the first few chapters. I really, really didn’t like Jordan that much. He made CONSTANT sexist references to girls, their clothing, their habits, and their bodies. I rolled my eyes and/or cringed at something he said or thought in literally all of his chapters. He’d talk about girls like they were crazy, generalize all of them into one big group, and talk shit about their “slutty” clothes. He even said Courtney looked like a tramp at one point! All of that macho bullshit is SO not okay with me. Otherwise, I did […]

Review: The Night We Said Yes (+ Bonus Novella)

Posted September 16, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I don’t really know where to start with this one! I enjoyed it overall but I don’t think it’s a book that will stick with me very long. The characters were pretty good, the style of storytelling was excellent, and the overall concept was cool. I think my biggest issue is that I took a break in the middle to read something else and when I came back, it just wasn’t the same. The story alternates between “then” and “now.” In the “then” chapters, it shows the night that Ella met Matt, and they went out with another couple on a night where they said yes to everything. The “now” chapters are a year later, when Ella runs into Matt again for the first time in about six months. The synopsis makes it seem like the two of them had a magical night together and then he took off for a year. In reality, though, they dated for six months and then he left without a word. I had to adjust my expectations a bit once I realized that. Anyways, in the “now” chapters, Matt is trying to win Ella and her friends – Meg and Jake – back, when he returns to their town for college. He tries to recreate the night with Ella from a year before. I loved the alternating chapters with the two different times. It was fun because they lined up nicely with each other. Each one ended on a mini cliffhanger, so I was […]

Book Buddies Review: The Treatment

Posted July 29, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 0 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 at the bottom) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead! Do you agree with Sloane’s parting words at the end? She explains how the NOW is all that really matters; the memories don’t matter as much. Kaitlin: Well, I think this really depends on the person. I personally think that childhood memories are super important to have because they are the ones that are truly carefree and fun and happy. Sloane could have had a childhood that was happy and I would like to remember that stuff but if she didn’t have a good childhood then obviously you wouldn’t mind letting go of those memories. One important factor in her childhood though was Brady. Based on what I’ve read, Brady and Sloane have been pretty close for a lot of their years in her life and that’s something you don’t want to forget, especially because Brady is no longer around. She does have James and her parents to feed memories to […]

Novella Reviews: Harmonic, Happy Again, Secrets and Lies, and Just One Night

Posted July 24, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I’m usually not a huge novella fan, but I really enjoyed all four of these! I figured I would share some very brief thoughts on each novella, so you can judge if they’re worth the time. THIS WAS SO GOOD. I absolutely loved reading from Del’s sister’s point of view for this 100 page novella. It was nice because it felt really like a mini book, instead of just a few pages. Addison’s story picks up right where the previous book left off and gives us a little taste of what’s been happening recently. I suspect that some of the issues from this book will continue into the next one, so I highly recommend reading this. Beyond that, I looooved Addie’s relationship with Laurel. Yay, for LGBTQ! This was a perfect thing to hold me over until Resonance‘s release. (At the time of writing this, it hasn’t come out yet.. but at the time of this is posting.. YAY IT’S HERE) Honestly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first book. When I saw this novella was coming out, I was actually pretty excited! I actually ended up liking the novella even more than the original story. It was a super cute, quick read. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking to know what happened next with the characters. I shipped them way more the second time around. I definitely wish I took a few notes on this one before deciding to write my review much, much later! Oh well. This […]

Review: Full Frontal Feminism

Posted July 10, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I don’t know if I can adequately express how important I think this book is. I started reading it on International Women’s Day back in March, and have sloooowly been picking away at it since. I’m not good with nonfiction usually, so I wanted to space it out. It’s the kind of book that’s simultaneously funny and informative; it’s not like I was bored or dreaded reading it. I think maybe I just wanted to savor it a little bit? Anyways, I would highly recommend this book to any woman in general. If you don’t consider yourself a feminist, this book explains exactly why that needs to change. If you’re already a feminist, this book helps summarize some great points, if you’re ever in a situation where you need to tell misogynists to fuck off. I haven’t done a lot of women’s studies reading since college, so it was great to get a “refresher” about why I fell into the feminist category a few years ago. This book will be absolutely eye-opening for some people, but for others it will just confirm a lot of things you already know. Regardless of which category you fall into, you should read this book. Valenti’s casual, humorous writing style makes the book engaging and easy to understand. It’s not an academic feminist textbook that will confuse the shit out of you.

Review & ARC Review: Daylight Falls Series

Posted July 8, 2015 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments

I bought this book a loooong time ago and totally forgot about it. When I got approved for the second book, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I already owned the first one! I was a big fan of Jen Calonita’s series about a girl in Hollywood, so this one seemed to be right up my alley. I was right that the Hollywood setting is kind of like book crack for me. I definitely want to read more books like this and will be rereading Calonita’s series again at some point! It was interesting to get the perspective of the best friend to the Hollywood star, who doesn’t want anything to do with it. Honestly I wasn’t the biggest fan of Ally, compared to the other characters. She had a lot of moments that made me want to punch her. Like, A LOT of moments. She was super self-conscious and self-loathing, no matter what Liam said to her. She was incredibly jealous and let her emotions get in the way of any sound decision-making. Aside from all that, I really loved her friendship with Vanessa though; I could see that they had a solid foundation that Hollywood couldn’t fuck up for them. I’m SO EXCITED to read the next book for more Van. The relationship with Ally and Liam happened kind of quickly and was pretty cheesy in the beginning. I definitely rooted for them throughout though. I didn’t really see what Liam saw in her, because of her […]

Mini Reviews: Magonia and The Good Girls

Posted July 3, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

I don’t really even know what to say about it, except that it was incredibly unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I actually HATE birds and am very afraid of them, so I’m surprised this book worked for me at all. We chose this one for my book club and pretty much all agreed with that. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I did have a few major struggles: It was hard to picture Magonia and the bird people. I feel like most fantasy books have the issue of too much description, but this one could have used a bit more. When writing about a land that’s technically an ocean with ships and different bird-creatures, people are going to have a tough time picturing it. I needed more detail overall. I know that Aza was trying to learn what the issues were in Magonia, as well as her reasons for being there, but it was hard to grasp. They didn’t really tell her anything, and thus the reader didn’t know anything. It would have been better to have a bit more information and explanation. Aza’s reaction to Magonia was not believable. Obviously most of the book is pretty unbelievable, but what struck me the most was that Aza just accepted it. She literally learned that she was basically a bird person in this crazy place above the clouds… and she just went with it! I would have been screaming “what the fuck” repeatedly. Same with Jason. How did […]

Review: Stealing Parker

Posted June 29, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I adored the first two books I read by Miranda Kenneally: Catching Jordan and Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I read BAB first because I didn’t think it was included in the series. (At that time, it didn’t have the Hundred Oaks name next to the title on Goodreads!) I absolutely, unexpectedly LOVED it. I decided to go back and read her other books in the series, especially because CJ was about FOOTBALL which, as you know, is my entire life. Also loved it. So why the major hesitation to embark on the rest of the series? Religion. Gah. I don’t want to be divisive on here, but I will say that I was raised an atheist and continue to strongly hold those beliefs. As a result of that, it’s extremely hard for me to enjoy books that feature religion, praying, church, etc. in any way, shape, or form. This book wasn’t completely about church, but it was pretty strongly included. Definitely enough to make me roll my eyes a lot. I feel kind of bad saying this, because people are certainly free to believe whatever they believe, but it just doesn’t work for me. Did it dampen my enjoyment of this book? Yeah, definitely. Did I still really enjoy the book overall? Yes. I thought that Parker was kind of annoying at first and I was very excited for the impending character development that MK is famous for. Although I will say, I don’t understand what she meant by the fact […]

Review: All Played Out

Posted June 26, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I really love this series. All three books so far have been incredibly fast, low-drama new adult reads. This was my BEA train read and I managed to get over halfway done during the two 1.5 hour trips to and from the city. Definitely the perfect read for that occasion! At first glance, the premise for this one seemed a little to similar to All Broke Down: the smart, good girl meets the bad boy player. This was true for most of the book, but they did diverge a bit after some time. Nell is Dylan’s incredibly smart and driven roommate, who has never experienced really anything college had to offer. Torres is the team’s overly confident wide receiver, who is known for getting what he wants from a lot of girls. When he discovers Nell’s end-of-college bucket list, he decides to help her check off the items. I really liked the two of them! No one compares to Dylan and Silas in my mind, but these two are a close second favorite. Torres managed to get Nell to open up and try new things, while she tried to…keep him interested in only one girl, I guess! Again, a lot of it was similar to book #2, where opposites are attracting and the main question is: can these two stick together even though they’re so different? As I said, it diverged away from that towards the halfway point. One trope that has been bugging me lately is the whole “I […]