Source: Overdrive

Warcross by Marie Lu | Review of Possibly the Most Hyped Book of 2017

Posted January 17, 2018 in Reviews / 5 Comments
Warcross by Marie Lu | Review of Possibly the Most Hyped Book of 2017

In some ways I don’t even know how to begin reviewing Warcross, because there is SO MUCH going on in this book, and it was quite possibly the most hyped book of 2017. It was EVERYWHERE, at every bookish event, conference, or festival people were going crazy trying to get their hands on an ARC. I’ll admit I was wary because I’m not the biggest gamer (I enjoy the Sims, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Nancy Drew, etc. but not really games in the vein of WOW, LOL, etc.) so I didn’t know how much would go over my head. Luckily, Max […]


Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin | Review

Posted January 3, 2018 in Reviews / 7 Comments
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin | Review

“I refused to be shamed.”- Kindle Edition, Location 3718 Young Jane Young was my first read of 2018, and I couldn’t have asked for a better book to kick off the year with. Funny, feminist, and surprisingly poignant, Young Jane Young is a story about defining oneself, reinventing oneself, and embracing oneself at different points in a woman’s life. Borrowing heavily from the Monica Lewinsky scandal of the 1990s, Young Jane Young focuses on a political scandal with a young 20 year old Jewish intern, Aviva Grossman, who is caught having an affair with the Congressman she interns for (who […]


Far From the Tree by Robin Benway | Review

Posted December 22, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments
Far From the Tree by Robin Benway | Review

There’s a reason Robin Benway seems to be winning ALL THE AWARDS this fall for Far From the Tree– it’s a brilliant, emotional, evocative novel that takes a simple yet vast question from its dust jacket- “What does it mean to be a family,” and builds such a beautiful and layered world around exploring the answer, or many different answers between siblings Maya, Joaquin, and Grace. The novel begins with a brilliant parallel foundation of protagonist Grace following the fate of her family pattern and giving birth to her daughter as a teenager. As Grace struggles with the cascade of […]


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez | Review

Posted December 11, 2017 in Reviews / 3 Comments
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez | Review

*Warning- this review will contain some mild spoilers.* I will be 100% honest and say that this book was not what I was expecting. With the Jane the Virgin reference in the synopsis and the “laugh out loud” funny claim, I was expecting something heavy but with moments of levity and a strong thread of self aware humor throughout, much like the 2018 release American Panda, which also focuses on a protagonist who is a child of immigrants navigating two cultures. However, I found I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter to actually be quite heavy, and at times hard […]


Black Dog Bay Series Review | My Obsession with Idyllic New England Coastal Towns Continues

Posted November 13, 2017 in Reviews / 8 Comments
Black Dog Bay Series Review | My Obsession with Idyllic New England Coastal Towns Continues

I 100% blame Lauren for this binge read, as she recommended this series to me knowing my obsession with small, adorable New England Coastal towns (having lived my entire life on the West Coast, East Coast beach towns fascinate me). I found these books through my library’s Overdrive (hallelujah) and they proved to be the perfect books to binge toward the end of the summer, as a ridiculous heat wave (I am talking 113 degrees F) rolled through California and made the Labor Day weekend definitely feel like an extension of summer. The first book in the series started out […]


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas | Review

Posted August 7, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas | Review

I’ll be totally honest with you. I think I put off reading The Hate U Give for quite a while because I was intimidated by all of the hype. Diversity is such an important and such a needed topic in YA right now, and I wanted to go into The Hate U Give when I 1) Had enough time to devote to reading it in as few sitting as possible and 2) When the hype had died down and I could really focus on it. This course of action proved fruitful because I finished The Hate U Give in less […]


Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch | Review

Posted July 31, 2017 in Reviews / 19 Comments
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch | Review

Love & Gelato is one of those books that always caught my eye during my trips to Barnes & Noble because the cover was so pretty in its simplicity. Yet I never pulled the trigger on purchasing it because the cover also made it seem like it might be too young for me (I have a lot of thoughts regarding the large age range YA covers, and don’t usually enjoy books geared toward the younger end of the spectrum). However, I was looking for a book to borrow on my phone via Overdrive (I always like to have a book […]


City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson | Mini Review

Posted April 24, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments
City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson | Mini Review

2017 seems to be a year rife with diverse titles, and one of my reading challenge goals has been to read more widely and diversely this year. City of Saints and Thieves seemed like a great way to expand my reading horizons as it’s a book featuring diverse characters, set outside of the United States (in Kenya) and deals with many political and humanitarian rights issues. What I also didn’t glean until I started the book and paid attention to the synopsis more closely is that it’s a thriller, with the protagonist on the hunt for revenge for her mother’s […]


The Hating Game by Sally Thorne | Reviving My Faith in Romance

Posted March 20, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne | Reviving My Faith in Romance

It was a tortuous two month wait until my library hold of The Hating Game finally arrived. Yes, I had heard all the good things about it, but as a book blogger who has been burned by the hype monster one too many times before, I wanted to try this book out first before I committed to purchasing (especially since I’ve been underwhelmed by romances lately). I was thrilled to have my doubts proven very, very wrong in the best hate-to-love romance story I’ve ever read. I first knew this book would capture my interest when I heard it was […]


The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney | Mini Review

Posted March 15, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney | Mini Review

I remember being initially really jazzed up for The Nest last year when it released because it had the making of so many story elements that I loved: New York, trust funds, large family drama, and a fantastically mint colored cover. I had to talk myself out of buying it from Costco on many trips (they seemed to always have it last year!) since I’m trying to be more selective and intentional with the books that I buy, especially if it’s an author I haven’t read before. While I did enjoy the author’s writing style and wouldn’t mind eventually trying […]