Tag: romance

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim | ARC Review

Posted May 27, 2019 in Books, Reviews / 2 Comments

Thank you so much to Berkley for providing a review copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! From the moment I heard of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, I KNEW I had to read it. Set in San Francisco, centered around food, with a dash of magical realism? Yes, please! Then the cover was released and was (and is!) absolutely adorable, and once I saw it on NetGalley I hit that “request” button SO FAST. Though not slated for release until June, I eagerly started the book in February and found it to be a heartwarming […]

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren | Review

Posted April 8, 2019 in Books, Reviews / 2 Comments

Over the course of the past year or so I’ve fallen in love with Christina Lauren’s romantic comedies, enjoying the witty banter, the impossible situations, and the laugh out loud moments. So you can imagine my surprise going into Love and Other Words expecting another fun romance novel and experiencing instead a much more emotional, heart-string pulling book, and by far the most painfully evocative novel by the duo that I’ve come across so far. Love and Other Words captures the painful, isolating feelings of first heartbreak so viscerally that readers won’t be able to read Macy and Elliot’s story […]

The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting | ARC Review

Posted July 30, 2018 in Books, Reviews / 8 Comments

You know when you never knew you needed something in your life, and then once you’ve experienced it you don’t know how you managed to live without it? Well that’s pretty much where I’m at with hockey player centered romances, thanks to The Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting. Two days after finishing and I still can’t stop thinking about it, despite not knowing a single thing about hockey or having ever really read this genre of romance novel before. The Good Luck Charm has a second chance romance at its center, following Lilah, a nurse in her mid twenties […]

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 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 […]

The Crown by Kiera Cass (Selection Series #5) | Review

Posted May 23, 2016 in Reviews / 10 Comments

I think it’s clear to everyone that this series has stunning covers and an addictive presence, and therefore makes many a reader and blogger hit the “purchase” button even if we’re on the fence about this series. This has both served me well and disappointed me depending on which book in the series I am reviewing, as some of the books (The Selection, The One, The Heir) I’ve found decent, quick reads, while others (The Elite, the novellas, etc.) were a chore to read. I went into The Crown with high hopes, seeing as I much preferred Eadlyn to America […]

The Science of Swooning

Posted March 28, 2016 in Discussions / 11 Comments

Like most YA book bloggers, I read a LOT of books within the same genre. Sure, I read a lot of sub-genres within Young Adult (fantasy, paranormal, contemporary, etc), but the I read so much from the overarching Young Adult genre that sometimes I worry that I am becoming desensitized to certain elements, particularly my level of investment and intrigue in the romantic relationships. I feel like lately I tend to miss out on the emotions that these relationships are supposed to evoke, and I had come to the conclusion that I either: Was outgrowing these relationships now that I’m […]

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West | Review

Posted March 21, 2016 in Reviews / 4 Comments

The Distance Between Us came highly recommended to me after my first, rather lackluster, experience with a Kasie West novel, The Fill In Boyfriend. There seems to be a consensus that The Distance Between Us is the best of West’s contemporary novels, so I decided to assign it my “lunchtime read” at work (which is where I choose a short novel to keep in my desk and only read exclusively on work breaks). I didn’t go into the book with that many expectations, and found it to be a cute and quick read with some plot holes and characters who […]

Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Posted September 3, 2015 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 3 Comments

Cristina and 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) How big of an impact did the romance aspect of the book have one you? […]

Relationship Role Models: Jase & Sam from My Life Next Door

Posted July 30, 2015 in Features / 15 Comments

Relationship Role Models is a new, original feature where I highlight YA couples that portray happy, healthy, realistic and/or constructive relationships. I look at what less than desirable YA romantic tropes they don’t subscribe too, how they function, and how they example healthy, respectful behavior toward one another. This may contain mild thematic spoilers for the novel the couples appear in, but they are kept at a minimum! If you’ve read My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick, chances are that you know how perfect of a YA summer contemporary read it is: adorable, heartfelt, compulsively readable and with just […]