Tag: book reviews

Mini Reviews: My Life Next Door and What Happened to Goodbye

Posted August 12, 2015 in Reviews / 9 Comments

Feeling like one of the only bloggers who had yet to read and love Huntley Fitzpatrick’s debut novel, I eagerly started it while on my vacation this summer. I expected a light, fluffy read with perhaps some slight shades of dysfunction, similar to a Sarah Dessen novel. However, I found My Life Next Door to be much more nuanced than I anticipated and found it really lived up to the hype and expectations I had for it. While the book is often primarily seen as a romance, and the romance is very present and very well done, this book managed […]

Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly | ARC Review

Posted August 10, 2015 in Reviews / 6 Comments

My Review When I was pitched Trouble is a Friend of Mine at ALA, I was pleasantly surprised to learn in was a YA mystery. I am a HUGE Nancy Drew fan, and when I began the book and it took place in a town called River Heights (that’s Nancy Drew’s iconic neighborhood from the famous series) my expectations were set high. Instead, I found this book to be ridiculous and zany, full of plot holes and irritating characterization. Let’s start with the obvious thing that needs to be addressed: Digby. Digby is supposed to be the enigma of the […]

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle | ARC Review

Posted August 5, 2015 in ARCs, Reviews / 16 Comments

So let’s raise our glasses to the accident season, To the river beneath us where we sink our souls, To the bruises and secrets, to the ghosts in the ceiling, One more drink for the watery road. If there’s one word to describe The Accident Season, it’s atmospheric. Set in Ireland, it follows a family that suffers unfortunate events (everything from scrapes and bruises to deaths) every October, despite their best precautions. It’s a refreshingly unique premise for a YA novel, and while I was anticipating horror, what the storyline evokes instead is a unique sort of whimsical eeriness. The […]

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | Boyfriend Book Reviews

Posted July 29, 2015 in Boyfriend Book Reviews, Guy in the Pages, Reviews / 7 Comments

Boyfriend Book Reviews is a feature where my book-loving boyfriend, Max, reads and reviews YA that I either haven’t yet read or is outside of my current TBR. If you want a thorough and thoughtful perspective on a guy’s take on YA, keep reading! “Three hidden keys open three secret gates Wherin the errant will be tested for worthy traits And those with the skill to survive these straits Will reach The End where the prize awaits” –Cline, 6. As someone who represents himself as an avid gamer, I confess I felt remiss in not reading this book sooner when […]

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski | Mini Review

Posted July 27, 2015 in Reviews / 11 Comments

“If you won’t be my friend, you’ll regret being my enemy.” This book took me a month and a half to read, and another month to muster up the motivation to write a review. If you know me, you know this amount of time and procrastination is unusual; however, my feelings for this book ended up being so completely opposite what I thought there were going to be that I dreaded revisiting them during the review-writing process. Don’t get me wrong, this novel was filled with Rutkoski’s beautiful writing style and lyrical way of describing everything from settings to emotions. […]

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia | Review

Posted July 22, 2015 in Reviews / 6 Comments

“There is no force in high school more powerful than one person’s blunt disagreement.” Made You Up was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year. I envied those who won ARCs of it at YALLWEST, and read many, many reviews raving about the story. However, I found that this novel was another victim of hype. While Alex’s story and disease captivated me, the plot, setting and circumstances were often so absurd and caricaturized that I found it hard to follow along. It’s no spoiler to mention that Alex has schizophrenia; it’s one of the major plot points […]

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan | Review

Posted July 15, 2015 in Reviews / 9 Comments

“A wave of intense happiness washed over me, and I told myself to carry this moment as a talisman of a time in my life when I was both truly content and lucky enough to realize it.” Do you like reading about royalty? Do you like witty, edgy, sometimes bordering on scandalous humor? Are you completely and unapologetically fascinated by the idea of a commoner and a monarch, an average person and a celebrity? If so, The Royal We is the perfect transcontinental novel for you, and you should be ordering it ASAP whether it’s delivered to you by USPS […]

Book Buddies Review: Even in Paradise

Posted June 22, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 4 Comments

Cristina & 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)Did the Buchanans charm you? Do you think the author achieved the desired effect of making them a […]

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway | ARC Review

Posted June 18, 2015 in ARCs, Reviews / 10 Comments

*Thank you so much to HarperCollins and Epic Reads for this review copy! Emmy & Oliver holds a special place in my heart. The author, Robin Benway, is a wonderful, lovely human being and I found out from her via twitter that there was going to be an ARC giveaway of her newest title at the Epic Reads tent at YALLWEST, so it became one of my top priorities during the festival. I was so intrigued by the synopsis, as so often kidnapping is perpetrated by parents in a custody battle, and though the cover seemed like a YA romance […]

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen | Review

Posted June 16, 2015 in Reviews / 3 Comments

“There has to be a middle. Without it, nothing can ever truly be whole. Because it is not just the space between, but also what holds everything together.” *Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for the review copy! I’m no stranger to Sarah Dessen novels. Back in my much younger teen years, I devoured Sarah’s first seven novels, chronically checking them out from my local library every summer. The release of Saint Anything had me nostalgic for Sarah’s quietly profound contemporaries, and within one week I aquired three of her novels, fully intending to make my way through as […]