Tag: book reviews

Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon | ARC Review

Posted February 15, 2017 in Reviews / 12 Comments

Sometimes when you request an e-galley you really don’t know what you’re going to get, especially if it’s by a debut author or an author that you’re not familiar with. Done Dirt Cheap was a book that fit that criteria for me, but I felt drawn to it with its sassy cover and gritty synopsis. I’m happy to report that Done Dirt Cheap has 100% renewed my faith in trying out new authors and diving into unfamiliar plots, because it was a truly engaging and utterly fantastic read that I wish I could completely purge from my brain so I […]

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven | Review

Posted February 10, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments

I missed the All the Bright Places bandwagon, so Holding Up the Universe is my first encounter with Jennifer Niven’s writing. While it featured two interesting protagonists who had unique circumstances surrounding them, it was an enjoyable contemporary read that didn’t exactly blow me away in the sea of options available in YA. I remember when I first read the synopsis, I was sort of shocked, as Niven was using rather a rather extreme physical condition for her protagonist (Libby, who was at one point so overweight that she had to be lifted out of her house with a crane) […]

The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee | Review

Posted January 25, 2017 in Reviews / 14 Comments

Many thanks to the wonderful Lauren @ Bookmark Lit for this book! Stacey Lee has built herself a reputation of writing strong YA female protagonists with very distinct personalities, and The Secret of a Heart Note is no exception. The story follows Mimosa, one of the last living aromateurs, and her mother as they mix elixirs to help their clients win the affections of their crushes. The entire novel has a bit of a magical realism feel, with the beautiful and wild garden Mimosa and her mother cultivate, their rambling cottage they live in, and their seemingly magical sense of […]

This is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang | Review

Posted January 18, 2017 in Reviews / 4 Comments

“Miracles do not belong to religions. Miracles belong to the desperate, which is why every religion, every philosophy, and most importantly, every fairy tale always has a moment of salvation, a eureka, an enlightenment.” It’s rare that I don’t really know what I’m getting myself into with a book, but This is Where the World Ends can’t really be explained in any other way for me. Like everyone else, I had heard a lot of people rave about the author’s debut, Falling Into Place, so when I saw her second novel available immediately on Overdrive I thought it would […]

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell | Review

Posted January 11, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments

I love love love Rainbow Rowell, and Carry On was the last novel of hers I had left to read. I put it off for quite some time, I think mostly because I was a bit wary of one of my favorite contemporary authors writing in a completely different genre. I was scared I wouldn’t love it as much, and I’ll admit I did some skimming during the Simon Snow portions of Fangirl. While my feelings about Carry On aren’t as vast and burning as my love for Rainbow’s other novels such as Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, I’m so […]

To All The Books I Neglected To Review: 2016 Edition [Part 1]

Posted December 31, 2016 in Reviews / 11 Comments

Last December I compiled a post at the end of the month with mini reviews for all of the books I had read but never got around to penning my review for. Most of the time I try not to let the stress of missed reviews get to me, however I always seem to be hit with last minute guilt at the end of the year for those missed reviews. So I decided to turn this into an end of year tradition, and have compiled mini reviews for most* of the books I read but did not review upon finishing […]

The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick | Review

Posted December 28, 2016 in Reviews / 6 Comments

I think everyone goes into reading The Boy Most Likely To with two thoughts in mind: they can’t wait to see more of the Garretts, and they can’t wait to hear more of Tim’s cutting sarcasm. The novel definitely hits the mark on both counts- the Garretts are an ever present entity in Tim’s life as he tries to refocus and reevaluate his life. Huntley Fitzpatrick is so gifted at bringing such a large and vibrant family to life in her stories, and it juxtaposes so well with lost and lonely souls such as Tim, or Samantha from My Life […]

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater | Review

Posted December 21, 2016 in Reviews / 4 Comments

Oh dear oh dear oh deer (no pun intended.) There seems to be something peculiar about my relationship with this series, which is that I absolutely love and am consumed by the odd numbered installments, but the even numbered volumes are a bit harder for me to get through. I’ll admit I held off on reading this book for months because 1) I have to be in the right mood to appreciate Maggie Stiefvater’s paranormalcy and magical realism, and 2) because I was scared it wouldn’t live up to how much I adored Blue Lily, Lily Blue. I finally decided […]

The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia | Review

Posted November 7, 2016 in Reviews / 1 Comment

Technically, you owe my grandmother. She says people can learn everything they need to learn from life from a good telenovella. -pg 171 Oh gosh. For some reason I went into this book thinking I was going to 100% love it because of diversity! Hype! Pretty Cover! Beautiful Creatures! Sadly, The Lovely Reckless was, while still overall an OK read, a bit of a letdown in a lot of areas. This is what I get, once again, for impulse buying books off of Amazon (I’ve been burned before recently). The Good: Undercover cops: I thought the plotline with Frankie’s father […]

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon | ARC Review

Posted October 31, 2016 in Reviews / 8 Comments

Nicola Yoon’s writing contains a grace that I haven’t ever seen another author capture in quite the same way. She takes difficult, heavy, and at times overwhelming topics and manages to have her prose dance through them, keeping her characters challenged by not bogged down by them. Everything, Everything was a beautiful story of trust, deceit, illness, and physical and mental strength, and Yoon’s sophomore novel build upon its the expectations set by its predecessor with an even stronger delivery. First and foremost, the thing I adored above all else in The Sun is Also a Star was the narrative […]