Review Catch Up: May

I told you I would be back with my reviews for May releases and here we are. May was one of the best months for releases and I read some favorites. I have three good ones to tell you about.

Nantucket Red by Leila Howland
Release Date: May 13th, 2014
Received from Disney-Hyperion at TLA 2014
Cricket Thompson's lifetime of overachieving has paid off: she's headed to Brown University in the fall, with a spot on the lacrosse team and a scholarship that covers almost everything. Who knew living in the dorm cost money? An Ivy League education seems to mean living at home for the next four years.

When Cricket is offered the chance to earn enough cash to afford a real college experience, she heads back to Nantucket for the summer. But the faraway island challenges Cricket in ways she hadn't anticipated. It's hard to focus on earning money for next year, when she finds her world opening up in entirely new ways-to art, to travel, and, most unexpectedly, to a future completely different from the one she has been working toward her whole life. A friendship blossoms with Ben, the gorgeous surfer and bartender who encourages Cricket to be free, even as she smarts at the pain of seeing Zack, her first love, falling for her worst enemy.

But one night, when Cricket finally lets herself break all her own rules, she realizes she may have ruined her carefully constructed future with one impulsive decision. Cricket must dig deep to fight for her future, discovering that success isn't just about reaching goals, but also about listening to what she's been trying to ignore-her own heart.

I read Nantucket Blue last summer and absolutely loved it. It was the perfect summer read, short and sweet. I loved the setting and the romance. In this one the setting was the same, but the romance wasn't.

It's the beginning of summer and Cricket just wants to get through it. Zack and her are on the rocks and she doesn't want to spend the summer in Nantucket without him. She just wants to fast forward to Brown, but first she has to figure out how to pay for it. When an opportunity to do just that opens up she finds herself spending the summer in the last place she wants to be. She ends up making new friends, watches Zack maybe falling in love with someone else, and maybe starts falling for someone else herself.

I think that was why I didn't like this one as much as the first one. I really enjoyed seeing Cricket's character growth and seeing her discovering herself and where she wanted to go. But maybe she could have done that without finding another boy? I didn't really see the point of him. And I missed Zack. But I still loved how it ended and getting to see more of the characters. I actually wish I could see more. Stupid duology.

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Release date: May 6th, 2014
Received from Simon & Schuster at TLA 2014
The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.

But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend.

Apple Picking at Night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a Stranger? Um...

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Wait ... what?

I'd been hearing amazing things about Morgan Matson's books for years. So of course I was super excited to get my hands on this at TLA. After reading this, it's safe to say that if I didn't already want her other books I'll definitely be buying them soon.

Emily and Sloane are best friends; inseparable. Or so it would seem. But then Sloane disappears at the beginning of the summer with no word-except for a crazy list of things for Emily to do over the summer. Emily, used to being in Sloane's shadow and following the leader, is apprehensive. But she sees it as the only way to get her best friend back so she tries a few. As she begins doing the more daring things on the list, she starts to come out of the shadow that Sloane left behind. As she grows bolder she makes new friends-and a new more than friend-and really comes into her own. Her character growth was amazing. I loved that she had new sidekicks and I especially loved Frank. They had great chemistry and I loved that their development wasn't the main part of the story, it just made it that much better.

Since it was a book with best friend struggles,  I was expecting all the flashbacks to be about how Sloane wasn't really that good of a friend. Pretty Little Liars style. Their friendship wasn't perfect, but that wasn't the case. The story was more about Emily developing as a person separate from Sloane before she could try to find her. And that's an important thing to read about (sorry Jasmine).

This book went places I didn't expect-and I loved it even more than I expected. Since then I've read two other Morgan Matson books and can now say those are some of my favorites, too.

Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu
Release date: May 13, 2014
Received from Katherine Tegen Books at TLA 2014
Some secrets are too good to keep.
Tabitha might be the only girl in the history of the world who actually gets less popular when she gets hot. But her so-called friends say she’s changed, and they’ve dropped her flat.

Now Tab has no one to tell about the best and worst thing that has ever happened to her: Joe, who spills his most intimate secrets to her in their nightly online chats. Joe, whose touch is so electric, it makes Tab wonder if she could survive an actual kiss. Joe, who has Tabitha brimming with the restless energy of falling in love. Joe, who is someone else’s boyfriend.

Just when Tab is afraid she’ll burst from keeping the secret of Joe inside, she finds Life by Committee. The rules of LBC are simple: tell a secret, receive an assignment. Complete the assignment to keep your secret safe.

Tab likes it that the assignments push her to her limits, empowering her to live boldly and go further than she’d ever go on her own.

But in the name of truth and bravery, how far is too far to go?



As soon as I read the synopsis for this I knew it sounded like something I'd like. While I did like it, some things didn't quite work for me the way I wanted them to.

Tabitha is just trying to get through the daily dramas that come with being a highschooler. Plus dealing with a new sibling and a secret boy. She discovers the LBC and it becomes a relief and an escape. As the assignments get more and more difficult to fulfill, her life gets crazier. In the end, she has to come to terms to what is really important and how far is too far.

While I did like the idea of the LBC, that was pretty much all I liked. My main problem was Tabitha. I found that at times she was a complainer and naïve. Especially, when it came to Joe. I didn't like him from the beginning. That made me see right through him the rest of the novel and I couldn't believe that Tabitha couldn't. I did really enjoy how it all fell apart and worked out. There was some things I didn't expect and I liked how it ended.

In the end, my interest with the idea didn't go past that. But that doesn't mean it won't for you.  

Those are the May releases that I read. I had a pretty good month. June was pretty great, too, and I'll be getting to that later in the week.

Waiting on Wednesday: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

****"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.****

My pick this week is:

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Expected publication: March 10th 2015 by HarperCollins

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

So I don't know much about this story but I don't really need too. Lauren Oliver is amazing! I think this pretty sounds fabulous and I cant wait to read it!

Top Ten Tuesday (80)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists

This weeks topic is Top Ten Favorite Heroines from Books. I'm going to try and pick from like more recent books instead of any books I've read. Just to keep things interesting! 

1. Blue from The Raven Cycle. Blue seriously has the best personality! She's very good at keeping her Raven Boys in check!
2. Kami from the Unspoken series. I have so much love for Kami. Not only does she have an amazing personality but she's also incredibly strong and determined. 
3. Tris from Divergent. Okay this is an older pick but I promise I have a good reason. Tris showed so much character growth throughout the series! She had to be included. 
4. Mara from the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer series. Literally Mara went through hell but she still kept going. 
5. Ruby from The Darkest Minds series. I feel like even though Ruby had a softer personality , she had a lot of strength too. 
6. Elisa from the Girl of Fire and Thorns series. I will always remember how amazing and unique this character was. 
7. The girls from the His Fair Assassin series. Okay this one is kinda cheating but seriously those girls are badass. 

Alright that's all I've got! Let me know what you guys would pick in the comments! 

The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan Review

Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte
Source: Conference
First book in the Dispossessed series
After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.
In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.
And Grayson has gone missing.
No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.
Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried.

Review
I had a really hard time getting into this story. By the time I reached about halfway I still wasn't into it. I'm glad I continued reading though. The last half made it worth the read. 

This tells the story of Ingrid and Gabby. Their trading the life they knew for a new life in Paris. When they discover their brother missing the uncover some dark secrets about the streets of Paris. 

The characters were my favorite part of this book. Ingrid and Gabby were fantastic. Ingrid had a softer but still strong personality. I loved how she stood up for herself. Gabby was like a firecracker. She was stubborn and high but I still loved her. This story has some great boys. Luc was great but a little standoffish. I understand his reasoning for pushing Ingrid but he came across badly at times. 

This has a like gothic storytime. I've never read a gargoyle story before. It's always been a concept I was interested in. It was a tad hard to follow. It kinda took a while to get going. That's why I had such a hard time getting into it. I loved how dark and mysterious it was. I thought it was very unique. Overall I thought this was a good read. It had some great aspects. I'm excited to continue the series. 

Review Catch Up

If you couldn't tell by the title, I'm trying something new. It's a big understatement to say that I haven't been the best blogger about writing reviews. I've been absolutely awful about it, really. I've wanted to do something about it for quite a while now, but I just didn't know how. Since I'm tired of feeling bad for having books from publishers that I've never reviewed, I'm starting with those.

So here's the plan. In the (8) weeks leading up to TLA this year I'm going to be posting a sort of monthly wrap up for the months April-November. These will have reviews for all the ARCs I read that came out that month. They will also have a review for my favorite book or series that I read in the month. Does that make sense? Well, I hope so because I'm starting with April right now.

I only have one ARC to review this month, but that's okay because I loved it.

Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release date: April 15th, 2014
Received from Disney-Hyperion at TLA 2014
Samantha is a stranger in her own life. Until the night she disappeared with her best friend, Cassie, everyone said Sam had it all-popularity, wealth, and a dream boyfriend.

Sam has resurfaced, but she has no recollection of who she was or what happened to her that night. As she tries to piece together her life from before, she realizes it's one she no longer wants any part of. The old Sam took "mean girl" to a whole new level, and it's clear she and Cassie were more like best enemies. Sam is pretty sure that losing her memories is like winning the lottery. She's getting a second chance at being a better daughter, sister, and friend, and she's falling hard for Carson Ortiz, a boy who has always looked out for her-even if the old Sam treated him like trash.

But Cassie is still missing, and the facts about what happened to her that night isn't just buried deep inside of Sam's memory-someone else knows, someone who wants to make sure Sam stays quiet. All Sam wants is the truth, and if she can unlock her clouded memories of that fateful night, she can finally move on. But what if not remembering is the only thing keeping Sam alive?

This book proved to me that Jennifer L Armentrout can write just about anything and I'll love it. She's done greek mythology, hot aliens, New Adult, hot gargoyles, the list goes on. Now she's written a murder mystery and of course I absolutely loved it.


I love mysteries and really don't read them enough. Mainly because I tend to ruin them for myself. I spend so much of the book trying to put together all the pieces to see the big picture. I don't always figure it out-I'm not that smart-but I'm not always surprised, either. That wasn't the case with this twist. I had a fleeting what if in the middle of the book but then discarded it and thought something else was going on. Turns out I should have stuck with that. So even though it sounds like I figured it out, I didn't think that was really what was going on. When I found out it was, in a way, I was blown away.


While I love mystery, I'm not a big fan of memory loss stories. But this one was done wonderfully. I loved how Cassie didn't just have to figure out what happened-she had to figure out who she was. As she started getting her memories back she really had to figure out who she wanted to be. She wasn't the nicest person and seeing her get a second chance was refreshing. Being a JLA book it of course had a great romance. I liked seeing Sam's other relationships, too. It was nice to see the people that were still there for her.


I don't know why I was surprised, but this blew me away.  It was so much more than the usual murder mystery story and I never saw anything coming. Like I said Jennifer L. Armentrout can do everything. If you want another book by her or are just in the mood for a crazy ride, you should pick this up.

So this is what these posts will (hopefully) look like. I'm excited but nervous at the same time. I just hope I can keep it up. I'll be back next week with plenty amazing books that came out in May.

Waiting on Wednesday: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

****"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.****

My pick this week is:



P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Expected release date: May 26th, 2015
from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers


Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.

She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.

When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of makes it so amazing.  

Not gonna lie, I checked goodreads probably once a week waiting for this cover to come out. It was worth the wait.

I'm used to my contemporaries getting all wrapped up with a pretty bow by the end. To All the Boys I've Loved Before didn't do that and it's really messing with me. Even though I'm not excited about this "other boy", I'm still really, really excited for this book. My birthday might be almost as good as last years. At least as far as book releases go.

Top Ten Tuesday (79)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists

This weeks topic is Top Ten Book Related Problems. I know at first this seems crazy. How could you have problems with books?! But once I started thinking about it, I actually had plenty.

• Finishing books-This is without a doubt my biggest problem. And it's just getting worse. Once I get really into a book I just can't put it down. It doesn't matter what time it is or how much is left, I have to read it all. I always get this feeling when I know I'm going to read until it's over. Whether it's from the first page or over halfway, I know after I get that I can tell myself to put it down-but it just won't happen.
• Staying up way too late-Because of what I just said, this picture is literally my life.
• Reading instead of _______-I never like starting a book when I know that I have a lot of stuff to do. Not because I neglect the book, but the opposite. Papers won't get written, showers untaken, dirty dishes everywhere. Then when I actually do something else, like go to school, that book is all that I can think about and reading it is all I want to be doing. It's problem.
• Too many books/not enough space-I'm constantly in need of more bookshelves. Almost as soon as I get a new one it's already full. I'm forced to get pretty crafty on fitting as many books as I can on one shelf, but then I'm sad because some books get covered up. It's the struggle.
• Wanting all the editions-Despite not having any shelf room, not only do I want more new books, I want other copies of the ones I already have. My favorite series all have other editions that are so gorgeous and for each John Green book I own there's about 3 other ones I like, too. And have you ever seen the Penguin Classics? Ugh.
• Crying-You wouldn't think it was a problem, but with me it is. I cry in like every book I read. Sometimes my eyes just get a little misty, but other times I'm basically sobbing for the entire book. Clockwork Princess, anyone? I love those ones most but still.
• Reading in public-Does anyone else have problems with this or just me? I'm always nervous someone will ask my what the book is about and I'll have no idea what to say. Or even worse, I'll say I'm a reader and then they will ask me what my favorite book is and I'll just look at them like they're crazy. Just me?
• Writing reviews-This is more of a blogger problem, but I think it still counts. I'm working on it, I promise. Just you wait.

Wow, it's nice being honest about how crazy reading books makes me. But I still love them. That might be the first problem...