Tag: contemporary fiction

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 […]

Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index by Julie Israel | Review

Posted February 19, 2018 in Reviews / 2 Comments

I’ll admit, even if it hadn’t been for my blogging bestie Lauren adoring this book, I was immediately drawn to Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index last year when I first heard about it because I fell in love with the cover. I’m generally not a fan of real people on book covers, but I loved loved loved the juxtaposition of the pink and festive confetti with Juniper’s facial expression- almost like she’s bracing herself for something. This juxtaposition of brightness with anxiety, surprise with resignation, is actually extremely relevant to the themes in the novel, which while functions as a coming […]

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 […]

North of Happy by Adi Alsaid | Review

Posted January 21, 2018 in Reviews / 2 Comments

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! As a reader, I’d been curious about North of Happy for quite a while. I hadn’t read any of Alsaid’s previous work, but I had heard a lot of buzz surrounding both Let’s Get Lost and Never Always Sometimes, so I was surprised that this one had seemed to fly under my radar. I’m also a HUGE fan of FoodNetwork, Chef’s Table, food blogs, etc. so seeing a YA book explore a protagonist with similar interests (and a great deal more talent than […]

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed | ARC Review

Posted January 11, 2018 in Reviews / 1 Comment

*Thanks so much to NetGalley and Soho Teen for providing an ARC copy for review! What a better way to start 2018 off than to receive one of those coveted emails from NetGalley that one of my “wishes” had been granted? I was jumping up and down with glee when I saw the email come through only a few days into the new year, as Love, Hate & Other Filters is no doubt one of the most coveted YA releases of 2018. I eagerly downloaded the title to my Kindle and read Maya’s story about love, family, fear and hope […]

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 […]

Dangerous Boys Aren’t Nearly As Dangerous As Girls

Posted August 21, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments

I have to admit, I bought Dangerous Boys several years ago and had been waiting to read it for a time when I really wanted a treat, as I loved Dangerous Girls so much that I thought another thriller by the author would DEFINITELY deliver. And while Dangerous Girls will still hold a place in my heart as one of the greatest YA thrillers of all time, I was just so disappointed by Dangerous Boys. Perhaps it was the lack of the courtroom drama/unsolved crime element to the book, or perhaps I was comparing it too much to the author’s […]

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith | Review

Posted August 14, 2017 in Books, Reviews / 14 Comments

I’ll admit I succumbed to major, major cover love with the purchase of Windfall. I had seen a LOT of mixed reviews, but the greens and blues were so my #aesthetic so I decided to buy it (I mean, if all else failed, I got a gorgeous Instagram photo of it). I was also intrigued to see how Jennifer E. Smith portrayed the winning the lottery premise, as another YA book released this year, Lucky in Love, also dealt with the same theme. There’s something so fun about wistfully talking about all of the things you’d do if you won […]

Hello, Sunshine by Leila Howland | ARC Review

Posted July 16, 2017 in Reviews / 14 Comments

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing a review copy! I have such a soft spot for Leila Howland’s Nantucket series, so I was thrilled to see a new book by her, although set on the West Coast. My NetGalley request to read Hello, Sunshine was approved with perfect timing as I had just listened to Leila’s podcast interview with Sarah Enni on First Draft, and learned about her time spent as an aspiring actress herself. It set the stage perfectly for my reading of Hello, Sunshine as I felt more connected and as though I had […]

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett | Review

Posted June 26, 2017 in Reviews / 6 Comments

It took me a while to get into this one, but when I finally did, I fell hard. I was actually feeling super into the romance, which let me tell you, is getting harder and harder for me with high school settings these days (#I’mgettingold). I will admit I pre-ordered this book mainly due to a combination of cover love and succumbing to the hype since EVERYONE seemed to have read it early, but I’ve never seen You’ve Got Mail (I know, I know) so I really didn’t know what to expect, or why people were flailing so hard. However, […]