Category: Books

Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu | Review

Posted March 9, 2016 in Reviews / 6 Comments

*Many thanks to Macmillan and Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide for my copy of Devoted! Jennifer Mathieu has managed to write a stellar sophomore novel that, like her debut The Truth About Alice, provides a riveting view into a social issue that might make most uncomfortable to look too closely at. While The Truth About Alice focused on slut-shaming and bullying, Devoted addressed modern day religious fundamentalist communities, and as a religious studies major I have to applaud Mathieu’s handling of the topic. Devoted focuses on Rachel, a nearly 18 year old living in a Christian fundamentalist community (the […]

Book Buddies Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Posted February 24, 2016 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 2 Comments

Cristina and Lauren Read: Book Buddies is a discussion style review I participate in every other month with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. We choose a themed book for the month, read it, and the have a discussion where we both discuss themes and aspects that really stood out to us. Book Buddy Reviews are posted during the last week of the month.You can see our review in a Q&A format with half posted here, and half on Lauren’s blog! 1) Throughout the book, the impression is given that “Old Alice,” the 29 year old version of […]

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton | In Which I Trust NO ONE

Posted February 22, 2016 in Reviews / 7 Comments

“The Sugar Plum Fairy has the farthest to fall.” Tiny Pretty Things had all of the makings of a book that I thought would greatly polarize me into the camp of loving it for its darkness and beauty or abhorring it for its drama and pettiness. While the novel definitely did both, I found Tiny Pretty Things to eventually win me over as a compulsively readable story that featured a form of art so often associated with beauty, delicacy, and primness and contrasted it with its harsh realities of its demands, pressures, and feats of athleticism. Charaipotra and Clayton built […]

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio | Review

Posted February 17, 2016 in Reviews / 8 Comments

“The biggest difference between boy and girls is how people treat them” None of the Above is one of those books that I had on my radar constantly in 2015, but never got around to reading for some inexplicable reason. When I saw that my close friend Lauren from Bookmarklit was reading it this month, I figured it was the perfect time to move it to the top of my TBR. I found it to be an incredibly fast and easy read to finish while in my wisdom teeth recovery, which focused on the issue of intersex with what seemed […]

The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong | A Psychological Thriller Worth the Anxiety

Posted February 8, 2016 in ARCs, Reviews / 5 Comments

In the YA genre, it’s rare that you get a thriller that’s grueling and graphic, one that makes you wince as you turn the page because you’re not quite sure what you’re going to encounter and how it’s going to affect you. Yet that’s exactly what The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong offers. It’s a story that isn’t bound by genre in it’s realistic portrayal of the realities of a hostage situation, and doesn’t sugar coat the fate of most of its characters. While I times it may be an intense read, I am always one to appreciate when a […]

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater | Review

Posted February 1, 2016 in Reviews / 10 Comments

“You can be just friends with people, you know,” Orla said. “I think it’s crazy how you’re in love with all those raven boys.” I think I am about as short as Blue and this makes me identify with her on a spiritual level (no pun intended). That’s the beauty of this series: Maggie makes you feel so intricately connected to the characters in small, intimate ways, and sometimes silly ways, whether it’s through a Ronan’s cynicism and snarky remarks, Gansey’s obsessive behavior and paralyzing fear of bees, or Adam’s deep and dark desire to be better, stronger, to matter. While […]

The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty |Review

Posted January 20, 2016 in Reviews / 8 Comments

“This Thursday night felt like adolescence: exquisitely painful and sharply beautiful.” -297 A few weeks ago I posted about craving some adult fiction to break up the mini-slump I felt I had fallen into with YA books, where many of them felt as if they were blending together, and the themes and characters were becoming monotonous to read. The Husband’s Secret was at the top of my adult fiction TBR list, and it’s the first book I chose to pick up in 2016 from my Christmas book haul. I read a majority of this book in a small handful of […]

The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright | Review

Posted January 11, 2016 in Reviews / 8 Comments

One of the most coveted items I received in my Christmas Haul, I was so incredibly excited to get my hands on The Heir and the Spare as I am a total sucker for anything featuring the modern-day-royalty story line. Two of my favorite reads from 2015 were The Royal We and Royal Wedding, so I was sure this was going to be another book that I could indulge in. In fact, it’s the first book from my Christmas Haul that I dove into. However, I wound up being extremely disappointed by the quality of the writing, predictable plot elements, […]

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West | Mini Review

Posted January 4, 2016 in Reviews / 10 Comments

I picked up my first Kasie West books in the hopes that it would add some levity to my reading schedule. I was in the middle of slogging through Illuminae (which is very good, but also very depressing) and needed something easy and fun to read- you know, something I could read in the bathtub or while waiting for an appointment. While The Fill-In Boyfriend definitely was fun, fluffy, and quick, I felt like I missed the rave-worthy aspects that I’ve heard so much about regarding West’s writing. The best and worst thing about this novel was the character development. […]

Book Buddies Review: Snowed Over

Posted December 30, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 1 Comment

Cristina and Lauren Read: Book Buddies is a discussion style review I participate in every other month with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. We choose a themed book for the month, read it, and the have a discussion where we both discuss themes and aspects that really stood out to us. Book Buddy Reviews are posted during the last week of the month.You can see our review in a Q&A format with half posted here, and half on Lauren’s blog! 1) Do you feel this really fell into the “New Adult” category? Why or why not? C: […]