Cookie O’Gorman’s fourth YA romance was the absolute perfect choice for my[image]
4.5 “Carpe freaking Diem” Stars
ARC provided by the author
Thank you!!!
Cookie O’Gorman’s fourth YA romance was the absolute perfect choice for my long bus drive. It was everything I needed and more swoony than I expected. It was damn hot, too.
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This author first made my go-to list when she released Adorkable back in 2016. If you haven’t read that book yet, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life, but you should definitely fix this problem and grab your copy.
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Now, four books later (I still need to read her third), I got all the same feels reading The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad as I did when I first read her debut. I’m one happy and highly satisfied reader, because this story made me laugh, swoon and fan myself countless times. This means Cookie O’Gorman’s magic is still very much alive!
While she gave me best friends falling in love in Adorkable, now we get enemies to haters with identical twins involved and those elements alone were enough to make me want to devour this book. That’s exactly what I did. The moment I was comfortable in my seat, I started reading and only stopped when I got my HEA.
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The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad is full of famous YA romance tropes: bucket lists that are actually called Carpe Diem lists (or Naught List); nemesis falling in love; hot identical twins; good girls wanting to be a little bad and enlisting a bad boy’s help. But that’s not a problem at all, because in the hands of talented writers, a story full of tropes can still be unputdownable. This one was.
I’m so in love with both Sadie and Colton. Their chemistry was exactly what I look for in romance books; their banter made me laugh and smile so hard; and the way they slowly fell in love filled my slow-burned heart.
Sadie was a likable goody two-shoes, because despite being almost too nice (so much so that she gets a little annoyed with it and decides to add a little more edge and excitement to her life), she was funny, loyal and lovable. It was such a delight to read about a teenage girl who wasn’t embarrassed to have a healthy relationship with her mother, based on honesty, freedom and trust. There’s this scene where she calls her mother to tell her about something “bad” she did, and it made me laugh so hard, but also made me fall in love with her all the way.
I was also 100% into how her best friends where two ladies who were old enough to be her grandmother. Their encounters were always funny, full of love and wisdom that you only get when talking with people who have lived full lives.
For his turn, Colton was the bad boy with a heart of gold. The way he stood up for his twin brother was proof enough that he was one of the nice ways, despite the bad boy image he tried to keep. He had the makings of a great love interest from the start and he didn’t disappoint me.
I feel like I'm already talking too much and I don't want to spoil anything because there's nothing like reading a great book for the first time, right? But be warned that the slow burn and the intensity of Colton and Sadie's attraction might set things on fire (like your reading device), so proceed with caution.
Joking aside, I highly recommend The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad (and the author's other books) to everyone who loves YA romance. If you're already a fan of Cookie O'Gorman, then keep an eye out for your favorites because there's a scene in this book that will make you want to go back and reread her previous stories immediately. ...more
You’d be Mine isn’t only a story for country music lovers, but for people that enjoy their YA romances with a little bit of drama and a lot of music.
Told from the POV of two teen country stars (even though Annie is just starting, it’s clear she’s always been one) and how they deal with life on tour while grieving their loved ones. Annie and Clay connect through their love for music (the author couldn’t be more right to say they speak the same language—music) and their pain for the people they’ve lost.
While Annie deals with the loss of her parents in a much healthier way, teen country superstar Clay drowns his pain in alcohol, women and even drugs. And though he’s clearly in a messed up phase of his life, I still ended up liking Clay’s chapters more than Annie’s. It was also true what Annie said about him—Clay just had that something extra, that magical quality that attracted my attention.
Not to say that Annie wasn’t a good character. She was a bit too good and a little bland at times, but she ended up growing on me toward the end. It also helped that I loved her relationship with her cousin, her male best friends and her grandparents. I appreciated the fact that was no drama between Annie and her cousin and no girl shaming in this novel!
The romance was cute, but I wished it had been bigger somehow. Clay and Annie’s individual paths and pain ended up taking more space then the romance, and while that’s not necessarily a problem, I felt like the book had been marketed in a way that made me believe the romance would be the main plotline and it didn’t exactly feel that way while reading.
Overall, I was happy with how the major and important themes were handled and with how I got a glimpse as the country music world. And while it took me a while to get into this book, once things got flowing, You’d Be Mine turned out to be a really fun read. ...more
I went into this knowing almost nothing about it, except for the fact that it was written by Erin Watt. [image]
3.5 “Grief and Forbidden Romance” Stars
I went into this knowing almost nothing about it, except for the fact that it was written by Erin Watt. It was almost enough to make me love it. Almost.
Unlike it happened with Paper Princess, I had a really hard time connecting with the main character here. Beth (Lizzie, or whatever the heck is her name) was the complete opposite of Ella from PP, who was strong and mature and didn’t let people walk over her.
Beth, on her turn, got on my nerves with her juvenile behavior. Everything about her felt immature to the extreme, even her insisting people calling her Beth when she went her entire life by Lizzie. Did I miss an explanation to why this was important? I mean, really important? Because the whole “Lizzie is a nickname for kids” thing was just silly.
Beth had no backbone.
I know she was underage and still living with her parents, but when their overprotectiveness crossed into borderline abuse, she didn’t do the responsible thing. She didn’t seek help. She didn’t even try to talk to her parents in a reasonable way, instead choosing to scream things at them. Sure she was screaming truths, but she wasn’t going about it in an effective way. Her parents needed help--therapy in the least, and Beth knew that. Instead of trying to do something that could maybe help them see the light, she washed her hands and chose the most immature path--lashing out. I’m not saying it’s her responsibility to be the grown up, but it made it hard for me to connect to her when she acted like such an immature kid.
To her credit, her parents were awful. Yeah, they were grieving, but really? Really? The things they did were extremely problematic and all we got in the end was a “they’re going to therapy”.
Beth also let her friends walk all over her. It took her forever to see how bad most of her friends treated her, especially Scarlet. And even when she finally did, she was too quick to forgive them. Honestly, I have little patience for girls like Scarlet and I needed more than that last chapter to get over the thing Scarlet did and said.
Don’t even get me started on Jeff. No. No. No.
The only character I didn’t dislike was Chase. He wasn’t perfect at all, but he took responsibility for his actions and he was way more mature than Beth. Even his inner struggle seemed more interesting than Beth’s. I wish we had chapters from his POV.
Despite liking Chase, I wasn’t sold on the romance. This is going to sound contradictory, but while this felt a little too much like insta love, it took Beth forever and ever to make a decision about Chase. I mean this in the sense that she didn’t stand up for Chase fast enough. She didn’t find her voice until almost the end of the story, and had she tried to make people listen to her, this story and the romance could’ve been a lot more interesting.
I have to give it to the authors, though, this book brought out feelings. Anger was the leading one, but, still, I can’t say I won’t remember the story in a couple of months....more
I think I loved this book even more than the first, if that's possible. Well, it is possible, because unlike wi[image]
4.5 “Adooorrrbbsss Part 2” Stars
I think I loved this book even more than the first, if that's possible. Well, it is possible, because unlike with When Dimple Met Rishi I have no major complaints about this story at all!!!! It was adorable and the character development was pretty stellar, too.
I was smiling so hard throughout the whole thing and got major swoon vibes from the romance, so yeah, I'm a happy reader!
First, hello first person narrative, you know I love you more than third especially in contemporary! Twinkle's voice was just perfect for YA and for the story itself. She was someone I could instantly connect with, despite my reservations about the decisions she was making along the way. But she was young and I could see where she was coming from, so instead of coming off as irritating, she was just slightly immature in a "I know this isn't the best idea but maybe it'll work out in the end because I have hope" kind of way.
She made some dubious choices and came really close to getting on my nerves like Dimple in her book, but unlike Dimple, Twinkle owned her mistakes and did her best to try to correct them. This was really what made this book extra special for me. As silly as this sounds, because I know that's not what happened, it still felt like the author fixed my biggest problem with her previous story.
Now, what didn't need fixing at all was Sandhya Menon's ability to write amazing love interests and swoony romance. She did it again!
Sahil was just... YEEEESSSSS!!!
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Freaking adorable. Nerdy. Cute. Romantic. And obviously the better twin. Fight me!
I loved that instead of having that perfect twin dynamic with his brother, he was actually trying to stay as far away from "perfect" Neil as possible. The inner conflict wasn't a huge part of the story, but it made it special, and it gave Sahil something to work on throughout the book.
Aside from the romance, the story also focused on Twinkle's relationship with her best friend (loved how complicated that situation was, and how both girls ended up realizing their mistakes and trying to fix them) and the funny and usual dynamic with Twinkle's grandmother (a positive relationship in a home that seemed so broken).
Overall, this book was all about positives to me. It was cute, heartfelt, romantic, authentic and diverse. Not only the protagonists were Indian-American, but we had gay, black, Japanese-American and more diverse group of characters represented in a positive light. More, please!...more
First of all, I'm a little late with this review, but I'm totally[image]
3.5. "KoBra" Stars
ARC via NetGalley.
Thank you, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
First of all, I'm a little late with this review, but I'm totally blaming life for that one. *hides behinds hands*
I was super excited to get a chance to read this book because OMG, a half-Brazilian main character. I didn't even mind that this wasn't written by a Brazilian author (at least I haven't found any info saying the author is Brazilian) because I thought the representation was pretty decent.
Clara and her parents had some moments that were just bold and loud and charming in a Brazilian way. Clara wasn't an easy character to get behind because she was a little extra, but she was full of life and had a bold sense of humor, which is something that immediately makes me think of my people. Plus, she ate fried-egg sandwiches and drank caldo de cana, which will always be a BR thing for me. I love those things and I'm hungry just thinking about them, by the way.
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As far as I'm concerned, the rep of different cultures was of this book's best features. Clara was half-Korean and, although I can't say I know much about Korean culture, I could still tell the elements were well represented. And the diversity didn't stop with the main character. We had a strong, smart and amazing young black woman with a beautiful and well-structured family. A cute Chinese guy who was an absolute dream. And smart talks about diversity and feminism. I really, really loved all of that.
Something I also adored was Clara's relationship with her Dad. They had a strong bond that was built founded in friendship and freedom and respect. Clara did break some of that respect toward the end, but it felt like a necessary step so she could see and appreciate her father, who was a great man. I'm a little in love with Clara's father and I don't care.
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My third favorite thing about this book was Clara and Rose's friendship. It started out with Clara annoying me for being unfair to Rose, but it developed into a beautiful bond between these girls that were nothing like each other. Rose learned how to let go a little with Clara, and she learned to take things a little more seriously with Rose. They complemented each other and I can see that friendship lasting for a long time.
As to Hamlet, the love interest, all I have to say is: ADORBS!!! TOTALLY ADORBS!!!
Now, to the thing I wished had been handled better: Clara's friendship with Felix and Patrick. I understand growing up and changing can lead people to drift apart from old friends and find new ones, but I didn't approve of the way Clara did this. It often felt like she was becoming "too good" for the guys who used to hang out with her before, and she treated them poorly instead of being honest with them. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
I also had a hard time buying how Clara's dad simply left two teenagers in charge of his food truck for so long without supervision after they had just started working there. It sounded a little immature and not believable, considering he had high hopes for his food business.
Having said that, The Way You Make Me Feel turned out to be a fun read with a main character that is so out there she made me laugh out loud a few times; tons of Brazilian references that actually made sense (not something I see often in books); food that made my mouth water; amazing friendship and cute romance; and a father-daughter relationship that was goals and made me tear up. The book had a slower start, but after the 50% mark it really won me over. ...more
I'm still not caught up on Kasie West's books (Love, Life and the List is next), but after not feeling By Yo[image]
4 “Lake, Podcasts and Swoons” Stars
I'm still not caught up on Kasie West's books (Love, Life and the List is next), but after not feeling By Your Side as much as I wanted and being disappointed in Lucky in Love, I'm glad to announce I really liked this!
Listen to Your Heart had all the fluffy, swoony feels that makes Kasie West one of my go-to authors when it comes to YA romance. The main character, Kate was super likable and she had a great, almost sarcastic sense of humor. The love interest, Diego was adorable. And the side characters were well-developed.
I loved, loved, loved Kate's relationship with her best friend, Alana. Judging from the main romantic theme--falling in love with the best friend's crush, I was terrified KW would write one of those "girls fight over boy" scenarios. It was a happy surprise to read about two smart and mature young girls talking about stuff and finding a way to deal with their feelings without resorting to drama and shaming.
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Frankie was another favorite. I loved how once again KW didn't go the obvious way with him. It was amazing to see their rivalry turning into friendship, and there was even a moment or two there Frankie got me shipping him with Kate. Sorry, Diego.
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There were some pretty great moments with the advice podcast and with Kate's family, especially how healthy and absolutely adorable her relationship with her brother was. I felt so bad for him because of the things he was going through, but it was heartwarming to see how dedicated Kate was to making sure he felt safe and loved. Same goes for her relationship with her younger cousin.
Cute, light and swoony, Listen to Your Heart had all the elements that make Kasie West's books sucessful. No wonder I'm always excited to see KW announce a new book, even though it seems like she writes a hundred new books per year....more
Nice Try, Jane Sinner was the book I needed this week. It was fun, witty, deep and sort of unique.
The narrative[image]
4 “The best of Reality TV” Stars
Nice Try, Jane Sinner was the book I needed this week. It was fun, witty, deep and sort of unique.
The narrative choices were a little different from what I’m used to since this was supposed to be Jane Sinner’s journal, but I still loved it. I pretty much loved a lot about this book.
First, I loved Jane. She was such a fun and interesting character to follow. Even when she was struggling to feel anything, she still made me feel, which made the entire experience even more intriguing.
A teen expelled from school before graduation because of something she did (and you will only learn halfway through the book), Jane goes to a community college to get her degree. There, she signs up for a Big-Brother-like show produced by one of the students—the House of Orange.
The whole reality TV setting was amazing, and it served as the perfect background for this journey. It made Jane face the kind of challenges that were at times entertaining and silly, but allowed her to put herself out there and grow. It also introduced her to a bunch of people that helped her come into her own.
All the contestants were interesting and well-developed, but Marc and Robbie were definitely the ones I liked the most. That’s probably because they were the ones to interact with Jane for the longest period of time. Robbie was the friend, then not-friend, then love interest. And Marc...well, he was the subject of Jane's hilarious experiment, which was one of the funniest parts of this book.
Carol, Jane’s sister, was another favorite of mine. Her relationship with Jane was nuanced and made for some touching moments.
Like I said, there’s romance, but it isn’t the focus of the story. This book is all about Jane’s struggles and her journey to finding herself. There’s talk of religion, depression, suicide, mental health, sexuality and a lot of other serious things in a snarky, fun but also deep way. It’s hard to say much about this book without giving out major spoilers, but I can definitely say going into it knowing little about what the story was about made the reading experience better.
If you're looking for a humurous story with awesome characters and beautifully done on-page character growth, then this is definitely it....more
Yes, the premise of this book is similar to the last few YA contemporaries I’ve read this year, but I still love[image]
4.5 “Pandas are adorable” Stars
Yes, the premise of this book is similar to the last few YA contemporaries I’ve read this year, but I still loved it! In fact, I feel like the only reason this book wasn't as popular as others with the “girl wants to break free from controlling parents” trope, like When Dimple Met Rishi or Love, Hate & Other Filters, was because it was released after them.
As far as the overprotective-and-demanding-parents trope is concerned, American Panda showed my favorite approach.
In this story, we follow Mei, a Taiwanese-American MIT student who’s pressured by her parents to become a doctor, despite the fact that she’s a germaphobe and has always dreamed about opening a dance studio. Wishes and dreams aside, Mei is convinced she has to follow her parents’ rules and the path they have prepared for her. If she doesn’t, she will be disowned just like her older brother.
Two things immediately caught my attention about this story,
First, it’s set in college. Mei is still seventeen and her voice was perfect for YA, but I was so happy to see a YA Contemporary not limited to the high school experience. Please, gimme more of that!
Second, Mei’s struggle felt bigger and the stakes for going against her parents higher simply because I could feel her love for them. She feared hurting them, and that really touched me.
In the past, I’ve struggled with this trope because it often felt like the main characters didn’t care for their parents at all. The MCs were convinced of their choices and didn’t give much thought to why their parents acted the way they did. It was a “I’m right, they’re wrong, so I’ll do what I want no matter what” situation.
American Panda brings another perspective when it shows Mei’s parents under a different light, exploring their pasts and their own struggles. Mei’s mom steals the spotlight countless times. I could connect with both Mei and her mom, which made me wish that much harder for them to find some common ground.
I thought the way Mei went from agreeing with everything her parents wanted to finally finding her voice was perfect, because she remained respectful the entire time. She not only worried about her parents, but she tried to understand their culture and where they were coming from while also learning what it meant for her to be Taiwanese-American.
This entire plotline put a huge smile on my face.
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Speaking of smiling, I absolutely adored the voicemails and messages Mei’s mother left on Mei’s phone. The woman was hilarious! Despite how suffocating the woman was, I was in love with her the entire time.
The romance wasn’t my favorite—it was as bit too quiet, but Darren was respectful and, if we’re being honest, I didn’t get the vibe that the romance was supposed to be a big thing in this book. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t mind it.
For me, American Panda was a story about family. About how Mei realized she could love those that were closest to her, but still disagree with their choices, as long as they all learned how to respect each other. Not everything went the way she wanted, but I loved the not-perfect-ending....more
I wanted to love this book, but I ended up having problems that I can only describe as a “It isn’t You, It’s Me” so[image]
3.5 “More #OwnVoices” Stars
I wanted to love this book, but I ended up having problems that I can only describe as a “It isn’t You, It’s Me” sort of thing.
First, let me just say that this book made me feel a lot of things—they were not all good, but feelings are feelings, and lately not a lot of stories have managed to give me that.
During the first half, I mostly went from really liking the voice to getting my hopes up with the romance to getting annoyed by the romance and the protagonist (Maya). Anyone who knows me is aware I will hardly ever complain about a book being romance-focused, but in this case, the romance didn’t work for me at all.
There’s a love triangle for a few chapters, but it doesn’t last. My problem, though, is that this triangle only served to introduce a character I liked as a LI a lot more than Maya’s pick. For me, the author gave Kareem, the Indian guy who gets all Maya’s jokes and references, a lot more personality than she gave Phil, the white guy Maya has had a crush on since forever. The first scenes between Maya and Kareen had chemistry and built a connection that the rest of the book didn’t achieve for Maya and Phil. Honestly, I’m still wondering why Maya liked Phil in the first place. What was so appealing about him other than the fact that Maya seemed to make it her life’s mission to like everything her parents disapproved of?
Phil wasn’t a remarkable enough character and the two of them seemed to have no common interests beside him teaching her to swim.
And, the most important thing of all (for me, at least), Phil was taken. Yes, Phil had a girlfriend, not that Phil or Maya seemed to care too much about it. I honestly don’t understand why the author chose this specific “obstacle” for the romance. They had other things going for them, mainly the fact that Maya’s parents would never approve of Phil. Still, the girlfriend trope was thrown in there and both Maya and Phil didn’t react in a nice way about it.
I’ve talked about this over and over. When I read about a protagonist who’s hoping to be kissed by a boy who has a girlfriend, I tend to immediately dislike said protagonist because of her lack of respect for other people’s relationships. I understand having a crush on someone who is in a relationship. I understand struggling with those feelings and daydreaming about what could’ve been. What I don’t understand is openly flirting and leaning into a possible kiss when the guy is still dating someone else. Same goes for the Love Interest who’s flirting with someone else behind his partner's back. Get your act together, people!
So, yeah, the romance did not work for me. And the problem is, the romance was a HUGE part of this book. Like, much bigger than I expected it to be. From the blurb, I’d hoped to see a deeper approach on the islamophobia aspect, since it’s such an important topic. It was there, but it wasn’t as deep as I’d hoped.
That is also kind of sad because the little we got from this was so well-done. Everything about the attack, the mistaken identity, the consequences to both Maya and her family broke my heart. There was suffering and hatred and doubts. I understood Maya’s point of view and her parents’ worry, and it was so sad that those good people had to go through that.
Speaking of Maya’s parents, this was another aspect of the book that made me dislike Maya. I’m not Indian, but when it comes to overbearing parents, it seems our cultures are similar. In Brazil, parents also act as if their children are small kids no matter how old they are. They want to have an opinion on everything and sometimes it feels like teens/young adults/even adults can’t breathe. So I got Maya’s struggle with wanting to follow her cinematography dream and going to NYU while her parents wanted her to stay close to home and become a doctor/lawyer/etc. Having said that, Maya dealt with this whole thing in a very immature way.
I wasn’t a fan of how she disrespected and disregarded her parents’ feelings at every turn. Does that mean I wanted her to give in to what they wanted? Of course not, but I also didn’t see how being rude to them constantly would help her case. Maya needed a lesson on how to pick her battles. It seems like she wanted to fight her parents in every aspect of her life, and it didn't seem productive. She hardly ever used reason to talk to them (leaving that job to her aunt, who was a saint). She pretty much refused any show of affection from her mother, which broke my heart. She pushed away their worries over her well-being even when it was obvious any parent would worry. And her little disappearing act? *rolls eyes* Maya could’ve handled the whole situation a lot better, in my opinion.
So, despite my lack of connection with the romance and some of Maya’s choices, I enjoyed the cinematography approach, the immersion in the Indian culture and the approach on important subjects, like islamophobia. Love, Hate & Other Filters was worth the read. ...more
After reading and loving the first book in this series, I was anxious to ge[image]
3 “Team Gordon FTW” Stars
ARC via NetGalley
Thank you, Entangled Teen!
After reading and loving the first book in this series, I was anxious to get my hands on this!
With one of my favorite romantic tropes, Love Between Enemies shares a parallel timeline with Love in the Friend Zone. Like the first book, the story of Gordon and Zoey start at graduation day and stretches into the grad party, where we get most of the interactions between the two main characters.
I know not everyone is a fan of this format, but I think it works well for this series because these characters have all known each other for a really long time. They’ve seen each other almost every day for years, so I can’t really classify their feelings as “insta”-anything, even when it only takes one night for them to realize those feelings exist. You know what I’m saying?
Here, Zoey and Gordon have been each other’s closest competitors. This competitive dynamic makes them work harder every time to try to win/be the best student/get the prize or whatever is at stake. So though they aren’t exactly enemies, it’s clear they’re nemesis. Until Gordon loses a much-needed prize to Zoey and decides to act stupid because of it.
Of course Zoey can’t let it slide, so she comes up with a revenge plan of her own. But her revenge involves distracting Gordon, a.k.a. spending too much time with him, and that’s when things start to turn from hate to something else entirely.
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Here’s the thing, though…. Gordon’s little revenge started the whole thing, but I still rooted for him the entire time, mostly because I could understand why he did what he did, but I couldn’t connect with Zoey’s reason…or how far she took her revenge plan.
The author did an amazing job establishing Gordon’s motivations and building a heartwarming relationship between Gordon and his dad. I was drawn to him instantly, and a few chapters in I was already tearing up reading scenes between those two. The love and respect in that relationship was beautiful and real and warmed my heart.
I also loved how hard Gordon worked to get the things he had and how serious he was about school and the family’s business. They weren’t exactly poor, but they were hard-working people, and that always gets to me.
Zoey, on the other hand, came from a place of privilege. Her family was wealthy and, despite my admiration for how hard she worked to prove herself, she had her future set for her. I’m not saying she should’ve have been upset at how people thought she had everything handed to her and judged her for it. Or that she shouldn’t be proud of herself for working just as hard as Gordon for her academic success. But she still needed to acknowledge her place of privilege. I understood her intentions and motivation, but I was annoyed that she didn’t see there were people who needed that prize a lot more than she did.
And here’s the thing, Gordon was wrong to do what he did, but his actions didn’t have half the consequence as her revenge plan did. She was plotting to ruin a person’s academic future and that was seriously messed up. Her revenge plan could also lead to much bigger problems for Gordon and his father—legal problems. There was simply no way I could get behind her and what she was doing.
I also expected Zoey to come into her own and do something about that terrible revenge plan much earlier, but things didn’t go exactly that way. For me, Zoey went too far into the bad side and took too long to come out of it. And even when she did, she didn’t exactly acknowledge her place of privilege. In the end, she did the right thing, but even that left a bad taste in my mouth, because it ended up making Gordon look like he only got the things he did because she interfered.
So while Zoey didn’t do it for me, Gordon was the real star of this story. I loved everything about him, especially the way he owned up to his mistake and immediately sought a way to apologize for what he did. And even if he didn’t get his happy ending the way I wanted him to, I was still thrilled for him....more
While The Heartbreak Cure was just as cute and sweet as most of the YA romances published by Entangled Crush, it stood out to me because it did a great job building relationships that made me feel aside from the romance.
Using a mix of friends to lovers + fake relationship + bad boy tropes, the romance was swoony from start to finish, especially because I learned early on Alex had a thing for Cat. I'm all for the "boy secretly likes girl" thing, and it worked really well here. But, yeah, like I said, I'd come to expect adorable romance arcs from this publisher, and while I'm super happy this wasn't an exception, I'm also glad we also got to see good family and frienship bonds.
The relationships between Cat and her mother and Cat and her best friend brought a much needed lighteness to the story, which balanced well Alex's much heavier side. Cat's mom was pretty awesome, and I truly enjoyed seeing those two being respecteful and having a healthy mother-daughter relationship. As to Cat and her best friend, there was no unecessary drama or girl hate, which YAY!!!! Those two seemed to really enjoy each other's company, and I loved how her friend was the sassy one while Cat was a little shy and more reserved.
While Cat's arc was more focused on the romance and her passion for writing, I thought Alex had the biggest and heavier arc. Poor guy had a dark past that dragged him down and made me feel like he was unworthy of love, which broke my heart. Alex was a great guy: honest, hard-working, respectful, so he deserved to let go of those ghosts and be happy. I loved how he got to that happy point by noticing that he wasn't alone (and in truth hadn't been for a while). His relationship with his boss, his grandmother and with Cat were huge influnces and helped him underestand that there were more than enough people in his life that believed in him and saw the good in him.
The Heartbeat Cure was a little heavier on the internal and emotional arc side of things, but it was still a cute and fun read. ...more
I’ve been on a BFF-to-more trope vibe lately, and t[image]
3.5 “Science, Friendship and Love” Stars
ARC via NetGalley
Thank you, Entangled Teen (Crush)!!
I’ve been on a BFF-to-more trope vibe lately, and this is probably the one with one of the most unique premise I’ve read lately. That’s because of Nora Reid’s obsession with the first kiss hypothesis and finding true love.
While with the BFF trope we normally have characters fighting their attraction to each other because they’re afraid to lose their friendship, here we have Nora refusing to move her hot best friend Eli past friend-zone because their first kiss back when they were eight years old didn’t make her heart stop and the earth move under her feet. Nora seriously believes that for each person in the world there’s only one other person and that they’re able to see they’re soul mates from their first kiss. Since her first kiss with Eli was too wet and not all that life-changing, she ruled him out as her soul mate, even though she still has a huge crush on him.
Eli, on the other hand, is tired of seeing Nora test her theory and ignore him as a viable candidate to love of her life. He then decides to make a move and prove Nora’s theory wrong.
Despite the whole theory being a little out there, it works in this context because of Nora’s relationship with her grandmother and the disease that is slowly taking her grandmother away. Implausible as it was, it felt like a link between Nora and her grandmother, and it worked well to build tension between Nora and Eli. And as I said before, it served its purpose as a different and fresh reason for the best friends to hold back on moving into romantic zone.
The chemistry between Nora and Eli was pretty great, and I also appreciated that Eli had an arc aside from the romance, even though the solution to his problem felt a little too easy.
Overall, the romance worked really well, and this turned out to be another cute read. ...more
As a huge fan of the BFFs falling in love trope, I was eager to rea[image]
3 “Virgins & BFFs” Stars
ARC via NetGalley.
Thank you, Entangled Teen (Crush)!
As a huge fan of the BFFs falling in love trope, I was eager to read this book from the moment I saw the ARC. It didn't wow me as much as I'd hoped, and I ended up having similar problems with the story as I did with Monica Murphy's other book, but it was an enjoyable read.
One of the things I liked most about Saving It was how real Eden and Josh's friendship was. I truly felt like they knew each other and had been close friends for a long time, which made the scenes between them much more enjoyable.
As it happened with Daring the Bad Boy (another book by this author I read recently), the male POV worked better than the female for me, but I still liked Eden enough. She was fun and I enjoyed how worried she was about not coming out as a pimp while she helped Josh find the perfect candidate to lose his virginity with.
Eden and Josh took their time figuring out their feelings for each other, and most of their scenes were super cute. I also liked how realistic the portrayal of first time was here.
My biggest complain is probably the repetition. Eden and Josh's chapters could get really repetitive, which took me out of the story from time to time. And even though the romance was cute, I still wanted to see more chemistry between the two of them.
Overall, Saving It is a nice read for fans of the BFFs falling in love trope....more
Even though I should've expected it, this book still took me by surp[image]
3.5 “Fighting with Humor” Stars
ARC via NetGalley.
Thank you, Entangled Teen!
Even though I should've expected it, this book still took me by surprise by its funny approach on such a serious topic--and I say surprise and funny in a good way.
Comedy was the theme for A Messy, Beautiful Life. From the main character's voice to the way she dealt with her diagnosis, there was a light vibe the story maintained from start to finish.
Since Ellie and her friends were a part of an improv comedy group, the book introduces humor right from page one. I was immediately drawn into Ellie's world by her voice, her group of friends and Jason, the love interest. I loved that they met during an improv show and that they were in sync from moment on. There was enough chemistry to make me want them together from moment on.
The entire improv comedy scene made this book fresh and entertaining. I can't remember reading anything with this theme, and while some of the scenes were a bit of "fade to black" (for a lack of a better term), there were a few other that showed the jokes and they were pretty funny.
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But the things I liked most about this story were Ellie's relationship with her friends, parents, Jason, and the way she dealt with her disease.
This was a character-driven story that worked because the characters were interesting. Ellie's two best friends could've used a little more work, since they didn't have different enough personalities to set them apart, but they were still amazing friends to Ellie. There was none of the unecessary girl-hate drama.
But the star of friendships for me was the one between Ellie and her stepbrother. I loved how Craig came out of his shell and showed Ellie how important she was and how great of a big brother he could be. Every scene between Ellie and Craig was awesome.
Ellie's relationship with her mother was another plus, and even the drama with her father was handled well.
Now, as for Ellie and Jason, like I said before, I felt their chemistry from the start and I liked that Jason's past was connected to Ellie's present in a sad, but still meaninful way. I also liked how they worked through it and found a way to be happy.
When I say A Messy, Beautiful Life handled Ellie's diagnosis in a funny way, I mean funny as in a "this won't get me down and I'll keep fighting" approach and not as in "I'm making fun of something serious." Even Ellie's stand up comedy show focused on her cancer was tasteful.
In the end, I think this book succeeded in bringing a different, light and funny way to deal with such a serious topic, and the good dynamic between the characters and cute romance acted as a bonus....more
I try not to get mad at books, but I have to say I’m pretty[image]
2.5 “Almost Book Boyfriend” Stars
ARC via NetGalley
Thank you, Entangled Teen (Crush)
I try not to get mad at books, but I have to say I’m pretty mad at this one, because I was so close to finding a new book boyfriend and he practically got ripped out of my hands last minute.
Like I mentioned in my last review of an Entangled Teen (Crush) title, I can often count on them to bring me sweet and cute YA romance stories. This started out like that. Boomerang Boyfriend attracted my attention with the “falling in love with my best friend’s older brother” trope, and kept it when I first met Jack.
Jack-the-Jerk, like the MC Delia called him, wasn’t a jerk at all (not until the 85% mark, at least). Sure he had the brooding teen thing going on, but I love that, so I didn’t mind. But most of all, Jack was a dog person. A true dog person. His actions and thoughts when around Rocky, his best friend’s dog, was just too adorable. Right from the beginning I saw Jack was a boy after my heart.
I squatted down and rubbed Rocky’s ears. “I bet you were framed, huh, buddy?” He leaned into the ear rub and sighed. “I bet it was the cat, wasn’t it?” He sighed again like he was agreeing with me.
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Then came the whole story with his grandfather and his father, and the way he thought he was losing his mother, too, and I was ready to hug him because my heart hurt for him.
Up until the 85% mark, I was in love with Jack. So in love with him that I found it easy to ignore how unlikable Delia, the other main character was. I was in it for Jack and nothing mattered. But, then…the jealousy/pettiness plot kicked in and Jack lost major points with me. Worst of all, it felt so out of character. He hadn’t come across as the kind of guy that would throw a hissy fit over something so small as Delia refusing to share a secret that wasn’t even hers with him. I honestly thought the whole thing felt contrived and ruined his character, which was a shame.
I still like Jack, but it’s disappointing to go from love to like here because of something so silly.
As for Delia, I can’t say I felt as bad for my change of heart. I thought she was an interesting character in the beginning, because she had the “I don’t care what other people thing” attitude and she even made it sound genuine. But then she turned into a little monster early on, and she completely lost me.
I went from annoyed to mad with Delia pretty fast. She came across as selfish and immature when she poorly dealt with the situation with Aiden. The guy was sharing a huge secret with her, and explained why it was a secret, and instead of being a friend, she was only worried about herself. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had been so in love with him that his rejection really hurt her. It was just a crush. So get over it already, girl! Maybe I could’ve forgiven her if she had shown Aiden a little more support as the story progressed, but in all honesty she only got worst.
In fact, I was way more into Jack’s chapters and his interactions with his best friend and the dogs (plural, because he adopted one for himself) than anything about his relationship with Delia. It simply didn’t work for me, because I had no sympathy for Delia at all.
I truly enjoyed all of Jack’s scenes with Trevor, Rocky and Buddy (the puppy), and I wish the book had been about those two best friends and their amazing dogs being adorable together. Someone write me this book:
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If it had been, and if Jack hadn’t been ruined at the end, I wouldn’t rated this book higher (even though the writing was too simplistic for my taste) and added Jack to my book boyfriend list. ...more
I'm hardly ever disappointed by Entangled Teen, and Breaking[image]
3.5 “Twins & Summer Camp” Stars
ARC via NetGalley.
Thank you, Entangled Teen (Crush)!
I'm hardly ever disappointed by Entangled Teen, and Breaking the Rules of Revenge was another good example of how cute their contemporary romance titles can be.
A fan of everything twin-related and the hate to love trope, I was immediately drawn to the premise. In Breaking the Rules of Revenge, we have Mallory and Blake, twin sisters who swap roles so invisible Mallory can fulfill her wish to be popular Blake for a few weeks, while her sister gets away from going to summer camp.
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One of the things I liked about this story was the twin's relationship. It wasn't the cliché I sorted of expected it to be. Blake and Mallory weren't the typical inseparable, best friend's forever twins. Neither were they enemies. While it became clear early on that Blake was the selfish person who was used to getting her way and having people follow her lead, she wasn't portrayed as a villain. It would've been easy to make her this super nasty person who bullied her bookworm sister, but I didn't get that vibe from the story. What I got were two flawed teen sisters.
Since this is told from Mallory's POV, we get to see her grow a lot more than her twin, although Blake gets to redeem herself a little in the end. For Mallory, acting as her sister provided her the opportunity to find herself. I liked how she slowly grew comfortable in her own skin, and even though the romance was a big part of the plot, I still didn't feel like she came to accept herself because of someone else (a boy). I think it had more to do with the fact that she realized being her sister wasn't as easy or perfect as she thought it would be.
As to the romance, I liked Mallory and Ben together, but I almost wished there had been a little more drama. With the hate to love thing going on initially, all the pranks and the secret Mallory was keeping, I expected a little more angst than I got. They were cute and sweet together, but I still expected more chemistry.
I also wish we would've seen a little more of Zoe and George, because I loved how they were such good friends to both Ben and Mallory.
Overall, this proved that whenever I'm in a mood for some teen romance I can count on Entangled Teen Crush to give me something quick and sweet....more
I'm going through a BFF to lovers phase, and as soon as I soon this book on NetGalley[image]
3 “BFFs and Book Tropes” Stars
ARC via NetGalley.
Thank you!
I'm going through a BFF to lovers phase, and as soon as I soon this book on NetGalley (the cover is pretty adorable) and read the blurb, I wanted it.
For me, this was supposed to be the story of how Macey, bookworm and one of the smartest girls in school, started using her romance-book-tropes expertise to find herself a boyfriend, but instead ended up falling for her best friend. Two things to get me salivating: a romance-loving main character and BFFs falling in love.
Those two elements were present, but I didn't love the execution.
I thought it took way too long for Macey and her BFF, Cam to go from friends to more. For 70 or 80% of the book, Macey had shown no signs of romantic feelings for Cam, because she was too busy going through her romance-tropes list, making silly choices or worrying about something else entirely. There was too much going on.
I understand the entire point of this story was to focus on book tropes, but I was expecting a more critical approach or at least something more refreshing. I didn't like how a lot of things were handled here.
First, I didn't approve of how the author tried to insert diversity, but didn't do a good enough job staying clear of poor, cheesy characterisations and, at times, got a little too close to offensive. Wen Li's character was probably the worst one.
I also wasn't a fan of how Macey called out the girls Cam dated and dumped, or how all the guys she dated ended up being horrible. What? None of them could be nice? It felt like a way to ensure the only decent romantic interest was Cam, and he wasn't all of that, either, but Macey didn't have a problem with it.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike Cam. He was okay. I felt for him when his family problems came to light. I thought he was adorable when he interacted with his sister. And I loved how he cared and respected Macey, but he had his problems, and since Macey seemed to find a problem with every other guy she dated, it would've been a little more believable if she had been able to see Cam's problems, too.
Since the romance kicked in so late, we got to see a lot of the frienship between Cam and Macey, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. They were fun together and they gave off that vibe only long time friends could, which means the author did a good job building their friendship.
Their dynamic as friends and the fact that this was a quick read was probably why I'm giving this a positive rating. The lack of romance and the representation issues are why I'm not rating it higher....more
Sometimes a story will just get under your skin and t[image]
4.5 “Crying on the bus” Stars
ARC via NetGalley
Thank you, Crown Books for Young Readers!!!
Sometimes a story will just get under your skin and tug at your heart. Sometimes you won’t even see it coming. That’s what happened with Mr. 60%.
First, let me say I love this title. It’s unique, memorable and it has an important meaning to the story, which always makes me happy. A title that has a clear connection to the story is one of my favorite things ever!
When I started reading Mr. 60%, I was immediately hit by a sense of familiarity. I’ve recently finished another YA book that had a teen drug dealer and an overweight girl as the two main characters, Trust by Kylie Scott. Soon enough, though, I learned these two books were worlds apart. They were both great, but the tone and narrative were completely different.
While Trust is a clear romance-focused book, Mr. 60%’s message is more about dealing with loss, finding hope and surrounding yourself with good people. And, dude, this book is filled with genuinely good people as characters.
The school counselor, Mr. Marsh, for example, is a good, good man. I wish there were more people like him in the world. More people like him working at schools all over the world. The way he didn’t push, but was still there for Matt was brilliant. He’s a clear example of a person who isn’t willing to give up because he wants to make a difference, and he knows how to make a difference. People often get themselves lost in their need to help because they don’t know what to do, but I believe there are many folks out there that are level-headed like Mr. Marsh, and those are the people who should be around teenagers and helping them find their way. Mr. Marsh was a side character, but the amount of love and appreciation I have for him isn’t small at all.
I think I only loved him less than I did Amanda, because there’s no competing with that girl. Amanda will be a phenomenal nurse one day—and yes, I’m talking about her as if she was a real person. Deal with it. I absolutely loved how good and pure and genuine and pretty much perfect she was. She didn’t have anything to gain by helping. There were no promises. No guarantees. She simply did because she wanted to and because she saw someone in need of help. I loved how easy it was for her to fit into Matt and Jack’s life, as if she belonged. And she did. It was all so cohesive and easy and warm. THE FEELS!
Now to Matt and Uncle Jack. Man. The tears. The freaking tears. I have to say that one of my favorite things about this was how these two characters were flawed, but they still charmed me and made me feel so much for them. Uncle Jack wasn’t this perfect father figure, but he was still a father to Matt. A good father and a good uncle and a good man, even though it was implied he’d done some shady things in the past. Same for Matt. He was a freaking drug dealer, so he was far from a conventional good guy. He broke the law left and right, and I’m not even sure if it was all because of his uncle’s situation or if he would’ve gone down that path anyway. But Matt was a lost kid who’d gotten the short end of the stick when it came to life in general, and it seemed like Mr. 60% only needed a little bit of light (Amanda) and guidance (Mr. Marsh) to find a way out of that hole.
While Matt did questionable things, I still wanted to hug him. I wanted to be Amanda’s mom and hug him real tight because he gave me something I need when I read books. He gave me the kind of priceless dynamic I want to see in every story when it came to his relationship with his uncle. I want to see characters who care about each other even when they’re not throwing I love yous around. People who’ll care for each other and be there when needed. People who’ll sacrifice and hurt and make me cry. I’m not a crier, but this book reduced me to a crying mess. I should’ve known better than to read the final chapters on the bus.
So while this was a quiet read with no romance (yeah, sorry, but Amanda and Matt are perfectly platonic—yeah, I said perfect, and I’m the biggest romance fan ever), it gave me more than I needed. More than I expected when I started reading. It gave me hope that somewhere out there “Amandas” and “Mr. Marshs” will find their “Matts” and help them out of the dark....more
I started this book one day after I was done reading Just Friends[image]
4 "BFFs & Graduation Party" Stars
ARC via NetGalley
Thank you, Entangled Teen!!!
I started this book one day after I was done reading Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock, and the fact that I adored Love in the Friend Zone says a lot about how amazing this book is. Why? Because Just Friends and Love in the Friend Zone have the same vibe (sweet and romantic) and premise (best friends falling in love), but they still felt different enough to stand on their own.
In Love in the Friend Zone we have best friends since they were kids, Bray and Fynn. Bray is in love with Fynn. Fynn has no clue because he's a guy, and you know how guys can be clueless sometimes. #sorrynotsorry
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It's graduation day and while all Bray wants is for her BFF to finally realize she's the girl of his dreams, so they can go off to college together as more than just friends, Fynn is stuck on the idea of someone else entirely. He wants popular girl, Katy. But don't judge Fynn just yet. The boy isn't interested in Katy because she's popular and pretty. No, he thinks she's more than just that, and he was charming enough to wait a few months since her break up to actually make a move. Very prince-ly of him. He's also interested in Katy because falling for her might be the safest route. See, Katy is going to college much closer to home, than, let's say, his best friend Bray, who's moving across the country. And if there's something Frynn wants is to stay close to his parents because they're close and happy. You see my problem here? Fynn makes it very hard to stay mad at him for the bad choices he's making. LOL
And being mad at Fynn should be easy, because he has the coolest girl right there and he doesn't even see it. Like Fynn, Bray is so likable I couldn't help but feel for her. Girlfriend broke my heart more than once with the whole "I love my best friend" drama. Every time she saw Fynn and Katy together, every time she put her own feelings aside to make sure Fynn got his happiness, every time she thought Fynn was rejecting her, hurt me as if I were her. I both loved and hated how Bray's drama made me feel. Kudos to Molly E. Lee (a new author for me) for putting me right there with Bray every step of the way.
Like most BFF to lover stories, fear and miscommunication ruled the story here, but not in a bad way. This reminded me of another favorite YA Contemporary about BFF falling in love, Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman. These two authors shared the ability to make the story interesting using miscommunication as a plot device in a way that didn't seem cheesy or annoying. There was reason and logic behind Bray's decision to keep quiet about her feelings for her best friends, and Fynn's denial was also understandable. He had weaker motives than Bray, but he wasn't the only one who had always known he was in love with his BFF, so I could buy that.
Something I also adored was how this story was pratically told in a span of a day, or better yet, a night. Most of the story was set in a graduation party, and dude, I so wanted to be at that party because there was so much going on. The fact that Fynn and Bray were BFF allowed for that to happen without it feeling like insta-love.
Speaking of that party, I was super super excited about all the people we met there. There were all these side romance stories going on between Bray and Fynn's friends, and I need to read about them. I need.
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I seriously need Molly E. Lee and Entangled Teen to tell me there will be more books in this series. And I need them to be out soon. Like, yesterday.
So, I guess what I'm saying is this book was freaking adorable and great and super my thing, and I simply cannot wait to read what this author writes next. Give. It. To. Me....more
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