Book Review | The Boy Most Likely To | Huntley Fitzpatrick

Sep 14

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Boy Most Likely To | Huntley FitzpatrickThe Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Published by Dial Books for Young Readers on August 18, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Young Adult
Pages: 432
Format: eARC
Also by this author: My Life Next Door
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Surprises abound and sparks ignite in the highly anticipated, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To:
– find the liquor cabinet blindfolded
– need a liver transplant
– drive his car into a house

Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To:
– well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.

For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard.

Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted . . . but maybe should have.

And Alice is caught in the middle.

Told in Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this return to the world of My Life Next Door is a story about failing first, trying again, and having to decide whether to risk it all once more.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , ,

Book Review | Emmy & Oliver | Robin Benway

Aug 10
Book Review | Emmy & Oliver | Robin BenwayEmmy & Oliver by Robin Benway
Published by Harper Teeen on June 23, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Also by this author: Also Known As, Going Rogue
Source: a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!)
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-half-stars

Emmy’s best friend, Oliver, reappears after being kidnapped by his father ten years ago. Emmy hopes to pick up their relationship right where it left off. Are they destined to be together? Or has fate irreparably driven them apart?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life.

She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Readers who love Sarah Dessen will tear through these pages with hearts in throats as Emmy and Oliver struggle to face the messy, confusing consequences of Oliver’s father’s crime. Full of romance, coming-of-age emotion, and heartache, these two equally compelling characters create an unforgettable story.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , ,

Book Review + Giveaway | Jesse’s Girl | Miranda Kenneally

Jul 27

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review + Giveaway | Jesse’s Girl | Miranda KenneallyJesse's Girl by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #6
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on July 7, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Catching Jordan
Also by this author: Catching Jordan
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Everyone at Hundred Oaks High knows that career mentoring day is a joke. So when Maya Henry said she wanted to be a rock star, she never imagined she’d get to shadow *the* Jesse Scott, Nashville’s teen idol.

But spending the day with Jesse is far from a dream come true. He’s as gorgeous as his music, but seeing all that he’s accomplished is just a reminder of everything Maya’s lost: her trust, her boyfriend, their band, and any chance to play the music she craves. Not to mention that Jesse’s pushy and opinionated. He made it on his own, and he thinks Maya’s playing back up to other people’s dreams. Does she have what it takes to follow her heart—and go solo?

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Filed Under: Blog Tour, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Saint Anything | Sarah Dessen

Jun 19

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Saint Anything | Sarah DessenSaint Anything by Sarah Dessen
Published by Viking Juvenile on May 5, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Families, Relationships
Pages: 417
Format: eARC
Also by this author: The Moon and More
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Peyton, Sydney’s charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion’s share of their parents’ attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton’s increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , ,

Book Review | The Start of Me and You | Emery Lord

Jun 17
Book Review | The Start of Me and You | Emery LordThe Start of Me and You by Emery Lord
Published by Bloomsbury on March 31, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: a fellow blogger (thanks for sharing!)
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics, The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , ,

Book Review | All the Bright Places | Jennifer Niven

Mar 26

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | All the Bright Places | Jennifer NivenAll the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Published by Knopf on January 6, 2015
Genres: Contemporary YA, Mental Illness, Relationships, Romance, Suicide
Pages: 388
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Book Review | I’ll Meet You There | Heather Demetrios

Mar 5

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | I’ll Meet You There | Heather DemetriosI'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on February 3, 2015
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary YA, Disabilities, Military, Relationships, Romance
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: the publisher
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Blog Tour Book Review + Giveaway | In Some Other World, Maybe | Shari Goldhagen

Jan 17

I received this book for free from eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Blog Tour Book Review + Giveaway | In Some Other World, Maybe | Shari GoldhagenIn Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on January 13, 2015
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Relationships
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it’s a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he’s had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends—a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way.

Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.

A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.

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Filed Under: Adult, Blog Tour, Giveaway, Reviews

Book Review | Isla and the Happily Ever After | Stephanie Perkins

Oct 16
Book Review | Isla and the Happily Ever After | Stephanie PerkinsIsla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #3
Published by Dutton Juvenile on August 14, 2014
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Étienne, Lola, and Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love—set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris, and Barcelona—is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

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Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , ,

Book Review | Pushing the Limits | Katie McGarry

Aug 31

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Pushing the Limits | Katie McGarryPushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on July 31, 2012
Genres: Contemporary YA, Relationships, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 392
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 2012 Reading Challenge, Reviews, Young Adult Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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