Genre: Contemporary

The Astonishing Color of After | Review

Posted May 7, 2018 in Reviews / 4 Comments

The Astonishing Color of After caught my eye as it’s a mix of a lot of wonderful elements that I hadn’t quite seen put altogether before: magical realism, death & grief, mental illness, and an Asian protagonist. Excited by the synopsis and by the prospect of a setting in Taiwan, I dove into the novel curious to see how all of the elements meshed together. What I encountered was a beautifully written story with vivid settings and prose that was literary without being too weighed down or pompous. A longer contemporary (clocking in at almost 500 pages), there are quite […]

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch | ARC Review

Posted May 3, 2018 in Reviews / 7 Comments

*A huge thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review!* When I saw the corresponding cover of Love & Luck that matched Welch’s charming debut novel, Love & Gelato, I knew I wanted to read it. When I found it out was a spin off of Love & Gelato featuring the protagonist’s best friend, I knew I HAD to read it. I devoured Love & Luck quickly in one short weekend, and have officially decided that Jenna Evans Welch would be my ideal YA European tour guide, and I sincerely hope […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Results May Vary by Bethany Chase | Review

Posted March 19, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Perhaps I’m biased because I began my 2018 Hawaiian vacation with Results May Vary, but I immensely enjoyed my first Bethany Chase novel! Lauren had encouraged me to read it, stating that her books are like Taylor Jenkins Reid “light” (whom I love), and I’m finding myself more and more in the mood for adult fiction lately, so I figured, why not? I quickly devoured most of the book on the plane ride to Honolulu and promptly finished the rest on the beach, because I could not put down the story of Caroline and Adam. First and foremost, I found […]

Frat Girl by Kiley Roache | ARC Review

Posted March 15, 2018 in Reviews / 5 Comments

There’s no denying that Frat Girl is an addictive read. A girl rushes a fraternity at an elite university in order to unearth their secrets? I couldn’t hit “request” on NetGalley fast enough. As I predicted, Frat Girl left me reeling in many different ways, both positively and negatively, but I can’t deny that Kiley Roache’s writing style and ideas are right up my alley as an reader who puts the “adult” in “young adult.” First and foremost, I have to give this book major kudos for being set in college and COMMITTING to the setting. Often times college set […]

Without Merit by Colleen Hoover | Review

Posted March 12, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

My first and only experience with a Colleen Hoover book so far has been It Ends With Us which was a solid five star, highly emotional read, so I went into Without Merit equal parts excited + anxious, because I had such high expectations. However, Without Merit bore little to no resemblance to IEWU…in fact, it was pretty much unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and I’m not completely sure if that’s a positive or a negative thing. While reading Without Merit, I sort of felt like I was reading a satire or absurdist novel. The novel focuses on a […]

Mini Reviews | Hello, Sunshine and Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Posted February 26, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Every so often I get in the mood to binge some adult fiction to break up all of the YA fiction I read. Hello, Sunshine kept popping up this summer around the blogosphere and as a huge Food Network junkie I was really intrigued by the premise. I finished the book pretty quickly and then decided to dive into another book by the author since I needed another Kindle book to accompany me during my time spent on the elliptical at the gym, lol. Do you ever go through phases where you just want to read adult fiction? Hello, Sunshine […]