Category: Reviews

I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios | Review

Posted March 9, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 7 Comments

“…as if my sorrows and joys had conspired to birth me.” I’ve seen a lot of readers project that 2015 was going to bring a shift in trends toward the popularity of grittier contemporaries, and I’ll Meet You There definitely proves such predictions. This book was darker than I anticipated, following the lives of two teenagers from a dead end town in central California, one a former marine who’s landed back where he started, the other a budding artist with every ounce of determination focused on getting out of the desolate area. This book is not just an extremely […]

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard | Review

Posted March 6, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 10 Comments

“I see a world on the edge of a blade. Without balance, it will fall.” There seem to be two kinds of readers when it comes to Red Queen: Those who unabashedly love the novel in all of its dystopian glory, and those who were severely disappointed, after such a hyped up marketing campaign, and found it to be laden with tropes from other popular YA series. Despite knowing how polarized readers are on this title, I couldn’t help but order it (I succumbed to the cover, let’s be honest) and after having a few days to digest it, […]

5 Reasons Why Fairest is Everything a Novella Should Be

Posted March 2, 2015 in Books, Five Star Reads, Reviews / 14 Comments

It’s no secret that The Lunar Chronicles is a fan favorite for most YA fans. After the perfection that is Cress, I could hardly contain my despair at having to wait for Winter’s release date. When Marissa Meyer (who is a literary goddess, I mean, she’s influenced by fairy tales AND Sailor Moon) announced that there would be a novella chronicling Levana’s backstory, I knew it would be fabulous. However, even I underestimated how #flawless it would be. Below are 5 reasons why Fairest is the standard to which I will forever hold all YA novellas up against. Villainous Characters […]

Book Buddies Review: Just One Day

Posted February 27, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Books, Reviews / 12 Comments

This month I’m partnering up with Lauren from Bookmarklit for Book Buddies, an every-other month feature where Lauren and I will choose a themed read to buddy read and then get together and discuss the things that stand out! You can see our review in a Q&A format with half posted here, and half on Lauren’s blog! Book Buddy Reviews are usually posted during the last week of the month. This month’s read Just One Day by Gayle Forman. Read the second part of our review at Lauren’s blog here. About the Book Just One Day by Gayle Forman My […]

I Was Here by Gayle Forman | Review

Posted February 25, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 10 Comments

“You had a pile of rocks, and you cleaned them up pretty and made a necklace. Meg got jewels, and she hung herself with them.” In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what to expect from I Was Here. It was my first time reading a novel by Gayle Forman and it dealt with the loaded topic of not just a suicide, but a suicide that already happened. So I embarked on this reading journey with a lot of curiosity and a dash of hopefulness, and I was a bit surprised by what I found. I Was Here was not romantic […]

Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke | Review

Posted February 23, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 8 Comments

“She inserts herself into the life that I’m barely living in the first place.” -32 There’s nothing that I love more in books than a good fairytale retelling, so when I came across Damsel Distressed I was so excited to read one that added a twist to the normal conventions. Damsel Distressed is not only a contemporary retelling of Cinderella, but it inverts the typical tropes of the story and has the ugly step-sister archetype as the protagonist, with “Cinderella” as the evil stepsister to invade Imogen’s life. I adored reading such a creative way to retell a tired-a-true fairytale, […]

The Princess Diaries Re-Read: Volumes 4-5

Posted February 20, 2015 in Books, Readalongs/Readathons, Reviews / 5 Comments

This is the second installment in my Princess Diaries Re-Read self-challenge in order to prepare for The Royal Wedding, which comes out in June! In this post I’ll be bundling my reviews for books 4, 4.5, and 5. Princess in Waiting (4)- This is the epitome of a bridge book. Taking place primarily over winter break while Mia’s stuck in Genovia, it’s mainly Mia obsessing over Micheal’s feelings for her. It reminded me of why these books can be slightly neurotic, but I also have to admit that at 14 years old I obsessed over rather inconsequential stuff myself. Some […]

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel- Review

Posted February 18, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 8 Comments

“Even if it won’t do any good, I will fight. I don’t know if that makes me weak or strong.” -pg 30 From the minute I saw the cover of The Book of Ivy, I was hooked. The premise seemed like an interesting twist on dystopian, and I was expecting an assassin-y, butt kicking heroine and a slow-burn yet inevitable romance that would have me drowning in delicious tension. After all, with a plot that includes the sons of the winning side of society to marry the daughters of the losers for the sake of “peace,” deep-rooted tensions and […]

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black- Review

Posted February 9, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 17 Comments

“We love until we do not. For us, love doesn’t fade gradually. It snaps like a branch bent too far.” I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering how in the heck I only gave this book 2.5 stars. You’re probably wondering if I even read the same book as you did. Well, full disclosure: It breaks my heart to rate this book so low, but it just didn’t work for me. I was so so excited to read The Darkest Part of the Forest, as it was the first novel I picked up by Holly Black. I had read […]

The Princess Diaries Reread & The Start of My YA Love Affair: Books 1-3

Posted January 28, 2015 in Readalongs/Readathons, Reviews / 17 Comments

If you’ve been visiting my blog for a while, you’ve probably heard me mention my love for Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series. When I found out that she was publishing a continuation, adult novel in the series, I knew it was time for me to revisit the series- and I do mean the whole series. I own all of the novels, all but one of the novellas (before e-books, when they used to be published in tiny little paperbacks) and all of the companion how-to guides. I even recently started re-buying the novels in the newer paperback covers because my […]