Month: April 2018

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory | Review

Posted April 30, 2018 in Reviews / 4 Comments

There’s been so much buzz around The Wedding Date for months now that I was certain it’d be a perfect read for me: diverse, set in California, adult fiction (which I’ve been craving more and more of these days). etc. I’m also 100% obsessed with all things wedding related since I’m in the midst of planning my own wedding, so I was thrilled to see the protagonists meet and bond over a ritzy San Francisco wedding. Unfortunately, The Wedding Date completely missed the mark for me, and has fallen to the bottom of my list of 2018 reads so far. […]

Eight Highly Rated Books I Was Underwhelmed By

Posted April 26, 2018 in Book Recommendations & Lists, Features / 17 Comments

I recently hopped on the “Low Rated Books I Loved” post bandwagon and had TONS of fun doing it, and was always curious as to how the inverse would work. What books are really hyped on Goodreads that I felt more “meh” about? I followed the same method as last time- I went to my Goodreads “read” shelf, sorted it by average rating (this time from highest to lowest), and chose the first eight books that popped up that received below four star ratings from me (only including books that popped up that I’ve read since I began blogging back […]

Valley Girls by Sarah Nicole Lemon | ARC Review

Posted April 25, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

*Many thanks to Amulet Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC for review!* I loved loved loved Sarah Nicole Lemon’s debut Done Dirt Cheap, which I picked up on a whim, knowing not much about but loving the girl power vibe of the cover and unorthodox name. I loved her ability to write resilient, strong female characters and went into her sophomore novel, Valley Girls, with similar expectations. What I encountered was a story that was much, much different than her debut, and that unfortunately failed to compel me the way Done Dirt Cheap did. While Valley Girls has a […]

Mini Reviews: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda & The Book of Broken Hearts

Posted April 23, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Ugh I can’t believe I waited so long to read this book because it was SO ADORABLE. I mean I actually know WHY I waited so long (I was extremely worried about the astronomical levels of hype this book received) but it was definitely worth the wait. Simon was everything you want in a high school YA: hilariously funny (sometimes at the protagonist’s expense), heartfelt yet cringey family dynamics, social structures that felt realistic, and just the lightest touch of teenage angst. Pair that with Simon’s completely and totally unique narration (I love the way he talks, I don’t even […]

Eight Low Rated Books That I Loved

Posted April 18, 2018 in Book Recommendations & Lists, Features / 16 Comments

After seeing Madalyn do this post a while ago (and since then a few other bloggers too!) I knew I wanted to jump in and do it myself! I followed Madalyn’s method: I went to my Goodreads “read” shelf, sorted it by average rating from lowest to highest, and chose the first eight (rather than ten- I wanted to choose relevant titles) books that popped up that received four- or five-star ratings from me. I’m only including books that I’ve read since I started blogging back in 2014. This post was actually a lot of fun to put together, and […]

Everless by Sara Holland | Finally Getting Back Into Fantasy!

Posted April 16, 2018 in Reviews / 2 Comments

I am thrilled to say that I think I’m *finally* getting back into reading fantasy (not that I completely stopped but my fantasy reading has definitely tapered off in the past few years) and Everless was another novel I really enjoyed that’s helping me slowly rebuild my love for the genre. The book came on my radar a few months ago when I keep seeing it featured on Instagram stories (the UK cover, which is super stunning and I’m using it in my post because I like it better lol) and the whole concept of blood as currency was really […]

YA Set In College | A Growing (& Needed) Trend

Posted April 11, 2018 in Book Recommendations & Lists, Features / 22 Comments

One thing that ALWAYS thrills me as a reader and blogger is coming across a YA books set in college. There’s just really not enough, and it’s such an important, formative time in the young adult experience. I’ve seen a lot of NA books set in college however they’re usually super romance focused and not as focused on the actual college transition. I decided to round up some of my favorite YA books with college settings and note some of the elements of the college experience they include. American Panda | Just One Day | Frat Girl | Fangirl While […]

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson | Review

Posted April 9, 2018 in Books, Reviews / 10 Comments

You know when you are so certain you are going to love a book that you break all book buying bans to pre-order it and already have a place of honor waiting for it on your shelves? That’s how I was about Truly Devious- I loved the Shades of London series by Johnson that I binged last fall and I was super excited for a novel that included mystery + boarding school so I was expecting it to be a 4-5 star read, easily. So you can imagine my disappointment when I was finding myself bored with the novel I […]

Monthly TBR Plan: April 2018

Posted April 4, 2018 in Features, TBR / 16 Comments

I’ve made a lot of reading resolutions, and one of them is to be better about cultivating a monthly TBR. I know so many bloggers do beginning of the month TBR posts and I always LOVE reading them, so I’ve decided to post my own as well! I will include my physical, e-book, and ARC TBRs as well as a status update of where I am prior to starting my upcoming month’s TBR. Reading Progress Prior To This Month: 25/80 Books Read You guys, a near miracle happened. I read EVERY book on my March 2018 TBR except one. I […]

Book Buddies ARC Review: Starry Eyes Gets ALL the Stars

Posted April 2, 2018 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 9 Comments

Book Buddies is a fun, collaborative review feature that I participate in once a season with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. We choose a themed book for the season, read it, and then answer fun questions that pertain to the book’s themes and each feature the book in our own way! Check out the second part of our feature on Lauren’s blog! I cannot even BEGIN to form coherent sentences about how much I LOVED Starry Eyes, the newest novel from Jen Bennett that is bringing swoon back to YA. Set in Northern California (already a huge […]