Book Review: One Night

One Night
Author: A.J. Pine
Series: Only You #1
Genres: Contemporary | New Adult
Release Date: 21st April 2015
Publisher: Intermix
Source: Review Copy - A.J. Pine
Rating:

Twenty-one-year-old Jess used to have everything - a loyal best friend, a boyfriend she loved, and a future that was right on track. But in a single night, her whole world changed.

Now, Jess lives for the impersonal connection of drunken hook-ups and to-go coffee cups in the morning. All she needs is one night to pretend everything is fine.. until she meets Adam.

Thanks to a sports injury, gorgeous, charming basketball star Adam Carson is stuck in physical therapy at the hospital where Jess interns - giving her the perfect opportunity to see his sweet, considerate nature and making her realize that maybe she does want something more.

But while Adam might be the best thing that's happened to Jess in a long time, letting him past her carefully constructed walls means letting him know what happened.. and why he'd never want her for more than one night.

The moment I found out Pine had another book set for release, I halted everything I was doing and rushed to find out more about it. That's one of the most wonderful things about having an author that you love, especially when you're almost completely certain that everything they write will please you. One Night, much like If Only and What If, isn't doesn't differ much from other New Adult novels in the genre, but there's something about Pine's characters and writing, I just can't get enough of it. One Night is special, and utterly broke my heart.

Book Review - Nowhere But Here

Nowhere But Here
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Thunder Road
Genres: Contempoary | Young Adult
Release Date: May 26th 2015
Source: Review Copy - Harlequin Teen
Rating:

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighbourhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home

When I heard about Nowhere But Here I was excited but also very cautious. Personally speaking I was in a love affair with Katie's writing at the start, but as the series went on I felt like we had become comfortable and I began cheating on it with more exciting, challenging and memorable contemporary books, while always going back for the happy memories we had (much like a marriage haha). I knew I would request Nowhere But Here, I knew at some point I would read it and experience new characters with different situations (hopefully). However what I didn't know was just how much I would end up loving it. When I decided to bite the bullet and just get the book over and done with, I wanted that spark I first felt when I picked up Pushing The Limits and I would be lying if I said I didn't think I would get that with Katie again, I'm so glad to say that I was wrong because from the first chapter my heart was not only fluttery but I was hooked!

Book Review - Because You'll Never Meet Me

Because You'll Never Meet Me
Author: Leah Thomas
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 2nd July 2015
Source: Review Copy - Bloomsbury Children's Books
Rating:

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.

A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, this debut is powerful, dark and humorous in equal measure. These extraordinary voices bring readers into the hearts and minds of two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine

Everyone who knows me will know just how much I love a good, well written young adult contemporary. I'm always on the look out for the next best thing in the genre ever since getting my first taste of Sarah Dessen and John Green, and once in a while I come across a book that is so different than I expected or I'm left speechless, this everyone is how I felt after I finished Because You'll Never Meet Me. The first time I heard about this book was when I received an email from Lovereading4kids asking if I would like to review it, I skimmed over the summary and thought that I might as well because at the worst way it would just be a quick read. I was wrong, so so wrong. It was a quick read, but I was never prepared for the attachment or emotions I would feel towards the characters.

Mini Reviews - My Secret Ella Remix

My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend
Author: Eleanor Wood
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: June 4th 2015
Source: Review Copy - Macmillan Children's Books
Rating:

Geeky girl meets famous boy.. what could go wrong?

Tuesday Cooper is happy being normal -doing her a-levels and indulging in her twin obsessions: buying weird vintage clothes in charity shops and writing her beloved music blog (which nobody ever reads). Her love for music started when she was thirteen and had a massive crush on Jackson Griffith, teen rock god and SUPER HOT LOVE OF HER LIFE. Now Tuesday's eighteen and has moved on to fancying boys in real life and Jackson went off the celebrity radar years ago.

So it can't be him that's messaging her on her blog, can it?

I think the thing that made me want to read this book is the fact that I just kept thinking about what I would do in the situation. When I was around 13 I was completely obsessed and in love with Marilyn Manson (he's gone downhill over the last few years but going back 12 years he was still good) and I had a blog where I would talk about my life and my 'struggles' as a teenager, I was pretty much the original emo, and I would mention him on there a lot because I listened to him all the time. Anyway I was trying to think what I would do and how I would react if I was Tuesdays (granted giving what Marilyn Manson was like I probably wouldn't sneak off to meet him because that would be silly, even at 18) so before I even read it I was already really intrigued with the storyline.

Book Review - Life Unaware

Life Unaware
Author: Cole Gibson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 28th April 2015
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - Entangled: Teen
Rating:

Regan Flay has been talking about you.

Regan Flay is on the cusp of achieving her control-freak mother's 'plan' for high school success - cheerleading, student council, the Honor Society - until her life gets turned horribly, horribly upside down. Every bitchy text. Every bitchy email. Every lie, manipulation, and insult she's ever said have been printed out and taped to all the lockers in school.

Now Regan has gone from popular princess to total pariah.

The only person who even speaks to her is her former best friend's hot but socially miscreant brother, Nolan Letner. Nolan thinks he knows what Regan's going through, but what nobody knows is that Regan isn't really Little Miss Perfect. In fact, she's barely holding it together under her mom's pressure. But the consequences of Regan's fall from grace are only just beginning. Once the chain reaction starts, no one will remain untouched..

Especially Regan Flay.

Books are special. They're a mixture of 26 letters, jumbled up into an impossible number of variations, influencing us and our thoughts, our decisions, our emotions, changing our perspectives, our opinions, our attitudes, rearranging our point of view, how we see people and the world, but most of all, when they're good, connect and allow a reader to completely and utterly resonate with the story that's being told. When a book is that good that it takes a hold of your sensitive heart strings, those that feel, sometimes, just a little too close to home, and manages to make the world, in the time you're reading, less scary, and less intense, less, overwhelming, that's when you know you've got more than just a good book - it's perfection. Life Unaware, to me, was nothing short of perfection.

Book Review - Biggest Flirts

Biggest Flirts
Author: Jennifer Echols
Series: Superlatives #1
Genres: Contemporary |  Young Adult
Release Date: May 20th 2014
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Tia just wants to have fun. She’s worked hard to earn her reputation as the life of the party, and she’s ready for a carefree senior year of hanging out with friends and hooking up with cute boys. And her first order of business? New guy Will. She can’t get enough of his Midwestern accent and laid-back swagger.

As the sparks start to fly, Will wants to get serious. Tia’s seen how caring too much has left her sisters heartbroken, and she isn't interested in commitment. But pushing Will away drives him into the arms of another girl. Tia tells herself it's no big deal.. until the yearbook elections are announced. Getting voted Biggest Flirts with Will is, well, awkward. They may just be friends, but their chemistry is beginning to jeopardise Will's new relationship — and causing Tia to reconsider her true feelings. What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated..

Even though I don't like to be too negative in a review or start it of with negative thoughts I feel like the first thing I should tell you is how disappointed I was with this book. I think that's because of how much I was looking forward to actually finally starting a Jennifer Echols books, I know that in the young adult community she is like the go to for contemporary books along with the likes of Stephanie Perkins and Jennifer E. Smith, so I've been dying to try her for a long time, because well I'm a lover of contemporary. I've been drawn to her other stuff but Biggest Flirts just sound like such a great book that I thought it would be the first of many books I would read by Jennifer, and though I will read her other work before making my mind up completely about her writing, this book just didn't work for me at all.

Book Review - Killer Instinct

The Naturals
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Naturals #2
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 6th November 2014
Publishers: Quercus
No. Pages: 352
Source: Gifted
Rating:

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Hobbes has a gift for profiling people. Her talent has landed her a spot in an elite FBI program for teens with innate crime-solving abilities, and into some harrowing situations. After barely escaping a confrontation with an unbalanced killer obsessed with her mother’s murder, Cassie hopes she and the rest of the team can stick to solving cold cases from a distance.

But when victims of a brutal new serial killer start turning up, the Naturals are pulled into an active case that strikes too close to home: the killer is a perfect copycat of Dean’s incarcerated father - a man he'd do anything to forget. Forced deeper into a murderer's psyche than ever before, will the Naturals be able to outsmart the enigmatic killer’s brutal mind games before this copycat twists them into his web for good?

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

You know what makes reading books that don't quite hit the spot bearable? What makes those unimpressive, slightly uninteresting, or pleasant books worth reading through? There's a feeling that comes with anything you realise is perfect for you; the perfect clothes, the perfect shoes, the perfect bed, the perfect film, the perfect day out, there's something about the entire scenario that just feels complete, that just feels, beautiful and calming, like a trustworthy friend, like a blanket that's so comfortable, so snuggly, so warm and wonderful, there's nothing more made for you. That feeling, that is the feeling I have towards The Naturals, and each of it's instalments, Killer Instinct included.

Book Review - Love, Lucas

Love, Lucas
Author: Chantele Sedgwick
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: May 5th 2015
No. Pages: 208
Source: Review Copy - Sky Pony Press
Rating:

When Oakley Nelson loses her brother, Lucas, to cancer, she thinks she'll never recover. Between her parents’ arguing and the battle she’s fighting with depression, she feels nothing inside but a hollow emptiness. When Mom suggests they spend the summer in California with Aunt Jo, Oakley isn't sure that a change of scenery will alter anything, but she’s willing to give it a try.

In California, Oakley discovers a sort of safety and freedom in Aunt Jo’s beach house. Once they're settled, Mom hands her a notebook full of letters addressed to her - from Lucas. As Oakley reads one each day, she realizes how much he loved her, and each letter challenges her to be better and to continue to enjoy her life. He wants her to move on.

If only it were that easy.

When it comes to the summary of Love, Lucas, I like many other I'm sure, were completely and utterly in love with the premise of how good this book could be. Just going on the fact that its a story about a young girl who has 1) lost her brother to cancer and 2) is left with a notebook that he wrote in while in hospital, is enough to interest you right? Well it was for me. When I saw this on Edelweiss for direct download I would be lying if I told you that my original intentions of downloading it were pure, they weren't. I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to review some books for Edelweiss, thus boosting my feedback rating (I know I isn't the same as Netgalley, but there must be something keeping score). That might be my reasons for wanting to download it, however after I read the summary I was just thankfully that would I expected to be a heart wrenching book was available without the hassle of requesting. I wouldn't say I had any expectations as such before I started reading Love, Lucas, but sadly I was hoping for more.

Book Review - The Last Summer of Us

The Last Summer of Us
Author: Maggie Harcourt
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary, Road Trip | Young Adult
Release Date: 1st May 2015
No. Pages: 295
Source: Review Copy - Usborne
Rating:

Limpet, Steffan and Jared. Three best friends crammed into a clapped-out rust bucket of a car on a whirlwind road trip to forget their troubles and see out the end of the summer.

But no matter how far they drive, they can't escape the hidden secrets and slow-burning romance that could upset the balance of their friendship..

..perhaps forever.

Before I saw this book available for request from LoveReading4Kids I hadn't heard of it. I loved the cover and did a quick research on what the book was about and after being intrigued, I decided to request it on nothing more than a whim. I'm a big sucker for a good contemporary and when road trips are added into the mix it is more often than not a recipe for success right? Regardless of how much I was looking forward to the book I was somewhat cautious, there really wasn't much about the book anywhere and because the review had to be in by the end of the month I was worried that it wouldn't be as good as I expected, leaving me in a situation where I would have to try and write a less than positive review, something I struggle with from time to time. However I tried my hardest to keep my expectations low and was just happy to be reading more UKYA. Though it took me a few chapters to really get into the book, as I feel it started of slow, I became hooked and devoured it in a few hours.

Book Review - Perfectly Ella

Perfectly Ella
Author: Candy Harper
Series: Strawberry Sisters #1
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 23rd April 2015
Source: Review Copy - Simon and Schuster
Rating:

Meet the Strawberry Sisters!

Oldest sister Amelia wants to be left alone to have deep thoughts, so she's grown a fringe to hide under. Second up is Chloe who's sport-crazy and in training to be a wrestling star (this week anyway). Littlest sister Lucy is the cute one who's training an army of earwigs.

Then there's Ella. The middle one who's still trying to work out what makes her 'Perfectly Ella' and how to stand out in a house full of big personalities.

And now there's a new Strawberry Sister.
Baby Kirsti who lives with Dad and his Finnish girlfriend.

Along with her sisters and one very tired Mum who's struggling to keep it all together, Ella's small home is crammed with almost-finished homework, nearly-clean jumpers and a vampire bunny called Buttercup. With so much going on, life can sometimes feel totally crazy but the Strawberry sisters have a secret weapon against the craziness of the world they live in, each other.

Candy Harper is what I would call one of my 'staple authors'. She's an author whom, whenever I see or hear of new work to be released by her, I'm on edge, watching and waiting, researching and stalking, ready to snap up advance copies of her work and every time, I'm impressed. With every new release, harper creates youthful characters I fall in love with, relationships and family connections that just turn my cold heart in a warm slushy goo, and stories that tug on my heartstrings and remind me of my own childhood. Perfectly Ella is absolutely no different and was beautiful to read.

Book Review - We Are All Made of Molecules

We Are All Made of Molecules
Author: Susan Nielsen
Standalone
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th May 2015
Publishers: Anderson
No. Pages: 336
Source: Review Copy - Anderson
Rating: 

Meet Stewart. He's geeky, gifted and sees things a bit differently to most people. His mum has died and he misses her all the more now he and Dad have moved in with Ashley and her mum.

Meet Ashley. She’s popular, cool and sees things very differently to her new family. Her dad has come out and moved out – but not far enough. And now she has to live with a freakazoid step-brother.

Stewart can't quite fit in at his new school, and Ashley can't quite get used to her totally awkward home, which is now filled with some rather questionable decor. And things are about to get a whole lot more mixed up when these two very different people attract the attention of school hunk Jared..

Book Review - I'll Give You the Sun

I'll Give You the Sun
Author: Jandy Nelson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: April 2nd 2015
Publishers: Walker Books
No. Pages: 412
Source: Review Copy - Walker Books
Rating:

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking.

Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways.. until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else — an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

So to say this book was very high on my wishlist would be nothing short of an understatement. The minuet I first heard about it I knew that I had to have it, even before I put two and two together and figured out it was the same author who did The Sky is Everywhere. Though that book had sat on my TBR list from many years and I had no previous experience with her writing, I was excited. However when it came out I completely forgot about it, I kept forgetting to buy it and it seemed like for a while it was going to just pass me by, until that is I got an email from Lovereading4kids offering me the opportunity to read it (I should note too that it was them that gave me the chance to read The Sky is Everywhere haha). Obviously I jumped at the chance and though I had to wait a few weeks due to issues, my excitement just grew and grew. I dived straight into the book the minuet it turned up at my house and right from the beginning I could tell that I was going to love the story.

Book Review - Flirty Dancing

Flirty Dancing
Author: Jenny McLachlan
Series: Ladybirds #1
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 3rd July 2014
Publishers: Bloomsbury
No. Pages: 300
Source: Purchased
Rating: 

Bea Hogg is shy but fiery inside. When national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It's just a shame her best friend agreed to enter with school super-cow Pearl Harris. Bea will fight back!

But when school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl’s boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea, she will have more than a fight on her hands..

Book Review - The Naturals

The Naturals
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Naturals #1
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th November 2013
Publishers: Quercus
No. Pages: 315
Source: Gifted
Rating:

Cassie Hobbes is not like most teenagers. Most teenagers don't lose their mother in a bloody, unsolved kidnapping. Most teenagers can't tell who you are, where you're from and how you’re likely to behave within moments of meeting you. And most teenagers don't get chosen to join The Naturals.

Identified by the FBI as uniquely gifted, Cassie is recruited to an elite school where a small number of teens are trained to hone their exceptional abilities.

For Cassie, trying to make friends with the girls, and to figure out the two very different, very hot boys, is challenging enough. But when a serial killer begins recreating the details of her mother’s horrific crime scene, she realises just how dangerous life in The Naturals could be..

Book Review - The DUFF

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend
Author: Kody Keplinger
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th September 2010
Publishers: Little Brown
No. Pages: 277
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush, who calls Bianca the Duff--the designated ugly fat friend - of her crew.

But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Book Review - Love Bomb

Love Bomb
Author: Jenny McLachlan
Series: Ladybirds #2
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 12th March 2015
Publishers: Bloomsbury Childrens
No. Pages: 304
Source: Review Copy - Bloomsbury Childrens
Rating: 

Betty Plum has never been in love. She's never even kissed a boy. But when H.O.T Toby starts school it's like Betty has been hit with a thousand of Cupid's arrows. It's like a bomb has exploded – a love bomb!

More than ever Betty wishes her mum hadn't died when Betty was a baby. She really needs her mum here to ask her advice. And that's when she finds hidden letters for just these moments. Letters about what your first kiss should feel like and what real love is all about..

Is Betty ready to fall in love? Will she finally have her first kiss?

Book Review - Cruel Summer

Cruel Summer
Author: James Dawson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: August 1st 2013
Publishers: Indigo
No. Pages: 324
Source: Borrowed
Rating:
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones

A year after Janey’s suicide, her friends reunite at a remote Spanish villa, desperate to put the past behind them. However, an unwelcome guest arrives claiming to have evidence that Jane was murdered. When she is found floating in the pool, it becomes clear one of them is a killer. Only one thing is for certain, surviving this holiday is going to be murder..

Book Review - Apple and Rain

Apple and Rain
Author: Sarah Crossan
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 12th February 2015
Publishers: Bloomsbury Childrens
No. Pages: 330
Source: Review Copy - Bloomsbury Childrens
Rating:

When Apple's mother returns after eleven years away, Apple feels whole again. But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bittersweet. It's only when Apple meets someone more lost than she is that she begins to see things as they really are.

A story about sad endings.
A story about happy beginnings.
A story to make you realise who is special.

Book Review - All The Bright Places

All The Bright Places
Author: Jennifer Niven
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 7th January 2015
Publishers: Penguin
No. Pages: 400
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

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

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

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

Book Review - How to Love

How to Love
Author: Katie Cotugno
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 1st October 2013
Publishers: Balzer + Bray
No. Pages: 389
Source: Borrowed
Rating:

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated - and pregnant - Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena's gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she's finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn't want anything to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said Sawyer's being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?