Book Review: A Prom to Remember by Sandy Hall

Title: A Prom to Remember
Author: Sandy Hall
Publication: April 24th 2018
Pages: 320
Synopsis:

Seven seniors, seven problems, one senior prom.

Cora: Head of the Prom Committee (and basically every other club in school). Has been dating Perfect Boyfriend Jamie™ for approximately forever, and has NO IDEA how to break up with him….

Paisley: Sarcastic feminist who wants nothing to do with prom. Has somehow managed to nominate her anxiety-ridden best friend for prom king…

Henry: Quiet ballplayer who hates social situations. Invited to prom by the most popular girl in school. SEND HELP!

Otis: Charming, popular, and one half of one of the cutest couples in his class. Doesn’t know how to tell his boyfriend that he’s not quite ready for a post-prom hotel room experience…

Lizzie: A little bit shy, and a lot excited to finally get out of her comfort zone and go to prom. With a boy. Whose name she doesn’t know.

Cameron: Loner with two jobs and zero friends. Is so done with high school and this whole town: the only thing he still wants to do is meet the mysterious girl who’s been leaving him notes…

Jacinta: Unnamed Nerd Girl #3. Determined to become the star of her own life, starting with prom. Now if only she could find a date….

A Prom to Remember, the newest book from Sandy Hall (author of A Little Something Different) is a funny and cinematic look at the biggest dance of every high schooler’s life.

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MY RATING: 3/5 STARS

I received an ARC from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review.

I simply adore Sandy Hall’s covers. Her books are always gorgeous no matter what type of story she’s writing or the genre. Although I have a copy of her debut novel, A Little Something Different, I haven’t actually had the courage to pick it up. It’s not intimidating by the sheer size of it because it’s quite thing but I think I’m more intimidated by the development in the story and how it’s written. This is my second attempt at reading a book by Sandy Hall and I’ve seen a trend happening. Sandy really likes from writing books from multiple character point of views.

Book Review: Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Title: Moonrise
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publication: May 8th 2018
Pages: 400
Synopsis:

‘They think I hurt someone.
But I didn’t. You hear?
Coz people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.’

From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?

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MY RATING: 4/5 STARS

I received an ARC from Raincoast Books in exchange for honest review.

When my contact suggested me to pick up this novel, I was immediately drawn in by the beautiful cover. It looked like it was something right off an artsy Instagram profile from an artist who coincidentally worked for Pixar or Disney if you get my drift. However, I admit I never paid much attention to the synopsis until I buried myself into this book. First of all, this book is written in verse. I expected the book to be poetic but I’m really happy it wasn’t like that at all. I simply cannot understand poetry so I knew if it was poetry, I wouldn’t enjoy it. However, fear not my fellow like minded souls. This book is written in verse and it’s written in chronological order with few flashbacks and it’s easily understandable like reading a traditionally written book.

Book Review: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

Title: Stay Sweet
Author: Siobhan Vivian
Publication: April 24th 2018
Pages: 368
Synopsis:

A summer read about first love, feminism, and ice cream.

Summer in Sand Lake isn’t complete without a trip to Meade Creamery—the local ice cream stand founded in 1944 by Molly Meade who started making ice cream to cheer up her lovesick girlfriends while all the boys were away at war. Since then, the stand has been owned and managed exclusively by local girls, who inevitably become the best of friends. Seventeen-year-old Amelia and her best friend Cate have worked at the stand every summer for the past three years, and Amelia is “Head Girl” at the stand this summer. When Molly passes away before Amelia even has her first day in charge, Amelia isn’t sure that the stand can go on. That is, until Molly’s grandnephew Grady arrives and asks Amelia to stay on to help continue the business…but Grady’s got some changes in mind…

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MY RATING: 4.5/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

There are moments where you open a book and realize it’s going to be good from page one. I have to admit it started off with a little bit of a tumble simply because it started off with ‘handwritten’ letters from Molly, the owner of the legendary Meade Creamery, and gosh, I don’t know if the finished copy is going to keep the same font but the font was really hard for me to read. BUT once I could read the letters, the story flowed, and it was simply intoxicating and breathtaking.

Book Review: 9 Days & 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno

Title: 9 Days & 9 Nights
Author: Katie Cotugno
Publication: May 1st 2018
Pages: 272
Synopsis:

The irresistible sequel to the bestselling 99 Days.

Molly Barlow isn’t that girl anymore. A business major at her college in Boston, she’s reinvented herself after everything that went down a year ago . . . after all the people she hurt and the family she tore apart.

Slowly, life is getting back to normal. Molly has just said “I love you” to her new boyfriend, Ian, and they are off on a romantic European vacation together, starting with scenic London. But there on a Tube platform, the past catches up to her in the form of Gabe, her ex, traveling on his own parallel vacation with new girlfriend Sadie.

After comparing itineraries, Ian ends up extending an invite for Gabe and Sadie to join them on the next leg of their trip, to Ireland. Sadie, who’s dying to go there, jumps at the prospect. And Molly and Gabe can’t bring themselves to tell the truth about who they once were to each other to their new significant others.

Now Molly has to spend nine days and nine nights with the boy she once loved, the boy whose heart she shredded, without Ian knowing. Will she make it through as new, improved Molly, or will everything that happened between her and Gabe come rushing back?

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MY RATING: 4.5/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It’s been a hot minute since I read 99 days. I think it may have been released 2 years ago and if someone could fact check that for me, that would be perfect. To be honest, I don’t remember what happened in 99 Days. The facts are these. I knew I enjoyed it. I knew a bunch of readers got tired of Katie’s tales because it always seemed to involve a love triangle which can be boring at times. And I knew there was a lot of slut shaming involved. There were also a lot of angst, fluffy bits, and basically me appreciating the book for what it was.

Book Review: The Lies They Tell by Gillian French

Title: The Lies They Tell
Author: Gillian French
Publication: May 1st 2018
Pages: 304
Synopsis:

Everyone in Tenney’s Harbor, Maine, has heard of the Garrison tragedy. A mysterious fire. A family of five reduced to one. For people like Pearl Haskins—whose dad was the caretaker of the Garrison property when the house went up in flames—the whispers about that night are more than upsetting. They hurt. With her disgraced father now trying to find steady work in between booze benders, Pearl is stuck waiting tables at the town’s country club where the rich townspeople come in the summer to flaunt their money and gossip about one another.

This year, a group of privileged boys has made a point of sitting in Pearl’s section—throwing careless insults her way while also attempting to flirt. Though she’s repulsed by everything they stand for, she’s drawn to the quiet leader of the pack, Tristan—the last surviving Garrison. He wasn’t home the night a blaze took his entire family, and the sadness coming off him in waves is hard to ignore. Befriending the summer boys might irk her to her core, but inside their fold of elite parties and reckless whims could be answers to what happened the night of the fire. And that’s just what she finds.

Hidden beneath the glittering façade of wealth and luxury, Pearl discovers a dark and twisted web of lies and betrayals that, once untangled, will leave no life in Tenney’s Harbor unchanged. That is…if it doesn’t take Pearl’s first.

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MY RATING: 2/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book in a goodies bag from the publisher and thought that why I normally don’t reach for a YA thriller or a thriller in general, it wouldn’t hurt to give a book a try. The Lies They Tell by Gillian French start off the same way a typical thriller starts. It’s a slow build up with an air of mystery floating through the pages. A wealthy and successful and seemingly happy family are murdered in their beds. Their lovely home is set ablaze and their bodies are turned to ashes. Everyone is dead except for the eldest son or the black sheep in the family because he is sent faraway in another state to rethink his poor decisions.

Book Review: Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

Title: Love & Luck
Author: Jenna Evans Welch
Publication: May 8th 2018
Pages: 320
Synopsis:

Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way.

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MY RATING: 4/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Jenna Evans Welch book despite me having a copy of her famous novel, Love & Gelato that swept the nation and bookstagram feeds of all your friends. From my brief understanding of Jenna’s books is that it usually involves A LOT of travel, summer adventures, and the possibility of romance. Now don’t quote me but I think Love & Gelato includes more romance than Love & Luck.

Book Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

Title: All Your Perfects
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication: July 17th 2018
Pages: 384
Synopsis:

Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.

All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?

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MY RATING: 3/5

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Colleen Hoover’s writing, and her books. Majority of them end up to be my book of choice for a lazy afternoon because I know that if I read one page of her writing, I would want to binge the whole thing in one entire sitting. That’s the magic of Colleen. Ask her super loyal fan group on Instagram or Facebook and you’ll see the love they have for this writer. A fair warning for everyone reading my review is that while I’m not an obsessive fan of Colleen’s, I’m still a fan of her writing and All Your Perfects is one of my most anticipated July releases. The synopsis of the book didn’t tell much for readers and I find that thrilling because what was in store?

Book Review: Playing with Matches by Hannah Orenstein

Title: Playing with Matches
Author: Hannah Orenstein
Publication: June 26th 2018
Pages: 320
Synopsis:

In the tradition of Good in Bed and The Assistants comes a funny and smart comedy about a young matchmaker balancing her messy personal life and the demands of her eccentric clients.

Sasha Goldberg has a lot going for her: a recent journalism degree from NYU, an apartment with her best friend Caroline, and a relationship that would be amazing if her finance-bro boyfriend Jonathan would ever look up from his BlackBerry. But when her dream career falls through, she uses her family’s darkest secret to land a job as a matchmaker for New York City’s elite at the dating service Bliss.

Despite her inexperience, Sasha throws herself into her new career, trolling for catches on Tinder, coaching her clients through rejection, and dishing out dating advice to people twice her age. She sets up a TV exec who wanted kids five years ago, a forty-year-old baseball-loving virgin, and a consultant with a rigorous five-page checklist for her ideal match.

Sasha hopes to find her clients The One, like she did. But when Jonathan betrays her, she spirals out of control—and right into the arms of a writer with a charming Southern drawl, who she had previously set up with one of her clients. He’s strictly off-limits, but with her relationship on the rocks, all bets are off.

Fresh, sweet, and laugh-out-loud funny, Playing with Matches is the addictive story about dating in today’s swipe-heavy society, and a young woman trying to find her own place in the world.

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MY RATING: 4.5/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated by the cover of this book when I first saw it on the Simon and Schuster Instagram stories. Look how simply stunning it is! It’s pink! It features cartoons! Two of my favourite things to include in a cover for a book. I know I’m being shallow by judging a book by it’s cover but a girl just loves her pink. This book also screamed romance and the chick-lit type of story that the world is craving right now and it did. Not. Disappoint.

Book Review: Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

Title: Love and Other Words
Author: Christina Lauren
Publication: April 10th 2018
Pages: 432
Synopsis:

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first women’s fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).

The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother…only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

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MY REVIEW: 4.5/5 STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read every new book from Christina Lauren ever since they both decided to shift from writing erotica to more women’s fiction and this has been by far my favourite book from them. I enjoyed Roomies but if you were to compare it to Love and Other Words, it would be like drinking 99 cents coffee from the gas station and drinking a premium cup of coffee from a luxurious cafe in Paris and eating a buttery croissant on the side. Both are still coffee and both still get you through the day but Love and Other Words has the warm sunlight hitting your skin too while you’re sipping on it.

Book Review: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Title: Starry Eyes
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publication: April 3rd 2018
Pages: 432
Synopsis:

Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern day, Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.

But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.

What could go wrong?

With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.

And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

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MY RATING: 4.5/5 STARRY STARS

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Jenn Bennett book and it certainly will not be my last. Despite having Alex, Approximately and The Anatomic Shape of a Heart, I never read them because I’m a huge procrastinator but if they’re as good as Starry Eyes, then I’m bumping them up, up, up my to-be-read list.