Tag: books

The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory | ARC Review

Posted October 29, 2018 in Reviews / 8 Comments

*Huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an review copy free of charge!* If you know my reading tastes at all, you know that word “royals” in a contemporary novel hooks me every.single.time. That’s why I’ve had my eye on The Royal Runaway for a while now, and it’s comp titles are The Princess Diaries and The Royal We (two of my favorite contemporary reads EVER) so I screamed when I was approved for it on NetGalley and immediately dove in once I knew I had some good, solid uninterrupted reading time. The Royal Runaway features a […]

Sadie by Courtney Summers | ARC Review

Posted August 20, 2018 in Books, Reviews / 9 Comments

I literally just finished Sadie about ten minutes before writing this review, and all I can say is…damn. What did I just read? My mind is reeling from the ending and the unsettling nature of the story and the desperation that pervaded the lives of all of the characters…It’s hard to find a book that not only offers something new in terms of plot but also in terms of format, and Sadie does both. Unafraid to tackle terrible, disturbing circumstances, the narrative is brought to life not only by chapters in Sadie’s point of view, but by a mixed media […]

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 […]

Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin | Review

Posted January 29, 2018 in Reviews / 10 Comments

Aftercare Instructions is the book we need in YA. It’s an honest, vulnerable, frank, and succinct story about family, relationships, and yes, abortion. But it’s not an issue book about abortion. It’s a book about the aftermath, or aftercare, about the thousands of decisions that happen in a family, in a friendship, in a relationship that lead to a single moment or pivotal point. It’s about a person being made of so much more than one action that defines them. It’s a true coming of age novel that’s somehow extremely quick yet tells an extremely in depth story. The story […]

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm | ARC Review

Posted December 4, 2017 in Reviews / 8 Comments

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with contemporary books that feature royalty (an obsession likely starting with my love of The Princess Diaries series and continued currently by the Netflix drama, The Crown). So when I saw this at the Disney-Hyperion booth at YallWest I KNEW I had to grab it despite knowing literally nothing about the plot or premise, but the cover and title were enough to know it would firmly fall into my modern day royal obsessed brain. Couple that with the recent news of Prince Harry’s engagement and I couldn’t have read Prince in […]

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh | Review

Posted October 23, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments

So I promised myself that this fall I would make more of an effort to read fantasy books, especially ones that I own. I decided to start this initiative with a book that’s been on my radar for years, The Wrath and the Dawn. Armed with the paperback that I had preordered over a year ago and the First Draft podcast featuring the author, I embarked on a journey into Eastern fantasy and folklore and indulged in this A Thousand and One Nights retelling. Now, I was saving this book in a sense, as literally almost every single one of […]

Made for You by Melissa Marr | This is How You Put the Thrill in Thriller

Posted September 25, 2017 in Reviews / 4 Comments

I’ve been really let down with thrillers lately. The Girl on the Train almost bored me to tears, and I felt like I kept waiting for the “thrill” to kick in with Dangerous Boys. I LOVE reading thrillers, especially in the fall, so I’ve been on the hunt for a quality thriller to kick off my fall reading. I thankfully found it in a book that’s been hanging out unread on my shelves for a while now, Made for You by Melissa Marr. I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical going in, because the only thing I had read by […]

Pre Order Priorities [4]: Fall 2017 Edition

Posted September 18, 2017 in Features, Pre-Order Priorities / 20 Comments

Pre-Order Priorities is a feature that highlights all of the books that I’ve recently pre-ordered and am anxiously awaiting to arrive at my door! September is finally here and despite the 113 F degree weather, I’m just as anxious for the fall season as any yoga-pants-ugg-wearing-pumpkin-candle-burning basic blogger. Some of the BEST books are coming out over the course of the next few months, and here are some that I’ve already pre-ordered! Release Date: September 26th, 2017 Max and I only received samplers of this at YallWest, so we’re eager to get our hands on a full copy, especially in […]

Haunting the Deep (How to Hang a Witch #2) by Adriana Mather | ARC Review

Posted August 30, 2017 in Reviews / 8 Comments

One of my favorite things in the YA genre has always been paranormal stories, especially ones focusing on good, old fashioned witches. It seems like the genre has moved passed paranormal in many ways after the “Twilight” years, so I was excited last year when I found out about How to Hang a Witch, which focused on a witch and ghost story set in the infamous Salem and inspired by the Salem Witch Trials. The book gave me so many Halloween-town esque vibes (albeit much darker). When I found out that the author was writing a companion novel about the […]

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney | Mini Review

Posted March 15, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments

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 […]