May Book Wrap Up

June 1, 2014May 31, 2014Leave a comment

Books Pledged to Read in 2014: 150 Books

Am I On Track: I am actually 2 books ahead right now. This is the first time I’ve been on track all year haha.

Books Read So Far: 63

Total Books For May: 20

Remember, viagra buy as always, try to click the book title in order to read the review!

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Re-Read)

In Honor

Free to Fall

The Prince and the Guard

Noggin

Don’t Look Back

The Truth About Forever (Re-Read)

City of Heavenly Fire

(You can also watch my spoiler FILLED vlog here)

Shadow and Bone (Re-Read)

Rules of Summer

Just One Night

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Book Review: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

May 22, 2014August 17, 20184 Comments

Genre:

Young Adult, Romance

Pages:

368

Part of a Series?:

Yes, the second one is titled P.S. I Still Love You, and will most likely be released in 2015

Release Date:

April 15th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control in this heartfelt novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series.

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once?

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

My Review:

Sometimes giving an author a second chance can be the best decision that you make. You can’t always judge an author by one book. Just because I particularly didn’t enjoy her novel, Burn for Burn, didn’t necessarily mean that I wouldn’t enjoy other novels from her and when this novel was released, I had a high desire to read it. After meeting her with Morgan Matson just a couple weeks ago, I knew I had to read the book. I bought it at the signing and read it just a few days later and I am so so so so glad I did.

First off, the idea of writing letters to the boys that break your heart…that’s brilliant. I absolutely love it. Even if you have no desire to ever send them out, the way Jenny Han or Lara Jean did, I think that’s incredible. It sounds…liberating and it was great to read the ones that Lara Jean sent out. You learn so much about her, and her family and her relationships and the way she feels about love from these letters and I loved the incorporation of them into the story and how important they are to the relationships and friendships that Lara Jean creates through out the novel.

Secondly, I really love the boys that are introduced in the novel, all of them. Without getting into too many spoilers, because I try to be as spoiler free as possible in my reviews, I really did not know who to root for in this book. You begin the novel rooting for one boy and then halfway through, you’re questioning it and rooting for someone else, and then crazy enough, you go back to boy number one. Then there are the boys that are in the letters that Lara Jean simply becomes friends with and you can’t help but love those as well. Jenny Han creates such different boy characters but they’re all so great.

I also just loved the character of Lara Jean. She’s so real and fun, and she wears Harry Potter costumes on Halloween and she just cracks me up. She’s so fun, and I love that about her. I love that when her letters get sent out to the boys, she just goes full force into recovering them and saving face. She’s weird and quirky and I love everything about her. And oh god, every time she gets behind the wheel of a car, I just found myself laughing out loud so hard because I’ve just never read a character so afraid of driving before.

Lastly, I love the dynamic between the three sisters: Margot, Lara Jean and Kitty. I’m a sister, the oldest of three. (I have brothers as well, we’re kind of a big family). That was a huge part of the appeal of the story to me because that family relationship felt so real. The responsibility that Margot feels for her sisters, the way she takes care of them, and feels like she’s abandoning them by going to college…that all felt so familiar. The way she probably needed that freedom and yet felt unneeded without them, again, felt so familiar. The Song sisters love each other so much and they fight with each other and have adventures with each other and it reminded me so much of my own sisters, and that made me super happy.

Basically, Jenny Han is awesome, and I’m super glad that I decided to read her again, after being less than impressed with Burn for Burn. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before had quirkiness and a memorable main character, a fun family dynamic and a ton of cute boys and kissing and it made for SUCH a great book. I was incredibly happy to hear that there was a sequel because what a cliffhanger. I eagerly await to find out what happens to all the characters in the book and to get more of the fun and quirky and cute boys and kissing ;)

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

September Book Wrap Up!

October 2, 2013October 1, 20136 Comments

Okay, viagra approved I totally copied this from my fangirl best friend, Sylvia, from FanGirlFeeels, so I want to show her much credit. Check out her own September Book Wrap Up here!

I think I want to start doing this every month because I read a LOT of books in a month and I want to be able to share at the end of the month, all the books I’ve read and reviewed in one spot. Click on each book title to read my review of it!

So here we go!

Books Pledged to Read in 2013: 200 Books

Read so Far: 150

On Track?: For once, yes!

The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

The Transfer by Veronica Roth

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Half Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Saving Raphael Santiago by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan

3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Elixir by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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What books did you read in September? What were some of your favorites, and which ones fell flat? As always, share in the comments!

Burn for Burn Book Review

September 19, 2013September 18, 20132 Comments

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY…
THEY GET EVEN.

Lillia has never had any problems dealing with boys who like her. Not until this summer, purchase when one went too far. No way will she let the same thing happen to her little sister.

Kat is tired of the rumours, about it the insults, the cruel jokes. It all goes back to one person– her ex-best friend– and she’s ready to make her pay.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. And she’s ready to prove it to him.

Three very different girls who want the same thing: sweet, sweet revenge. And they won’t stop until they each had a taste.

My Review:

I felt like this book left a lot to be desired. This was the first book that I had read from either author. I have heard good things about both of them, and just haven’t really had the chance to read either one of them, so when I saw this book, I decided to pick it up.

I felt like there was a story there. Obviously there’s a lot more going on under the surface than we just think. At first, Jessica Brody’s The Karma Club came to mind, and I had preconceived notion that it was a contemporary novel about three girls ready to get even with those who have harmed them in the past, but as the story went along, I started to see that there was more to it, especially with Mary, something a bit supernatural. Unfortunately I just didn’t get to see much of that in the actual story and it left a lot to be desired. Obviously Mary is struggling with something but we don’t really get to see what’s she struggling with. I think they wanted to leave it as a sort of mystery, but its so mysterious that’s its almost bewildering. I am kind of wondering how that plays in the story and whether it’ll be important because it really doesn’t seem to be important in the first book in the slightest.

The characters also felt very one-dimensional to me. i didn’t really get the feeling that they were real people. They just felt too…typical to me. You had the popular, smart, pretty Lillia. The punk, poor, outcast Kat. The once-fat, shy, lacking of confidence Mary. But there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to those characters. You can definitely have those archetypes and still create characters that are memorable and still create characters that a reader can fall in love with. In fact, I think with writing YA, all or most of your characters fit some sort of archetype because in high school, its like you’re always trying to fit into something like that. You haven’t quite figured out that you are so much more than a simple label. But I feel like neither Han or Vivian really gave these characters depth. You can *kind of* understand why they want the revenge but not fully. All the reasons seem sort of superficial. Mary gets a little more depth than the other two, but we really don’t get a real story out of it, and I felt myself wanting to know more about these characters that I didn’t get.

I didn’t think that either Han or Vivian were bad writers. In fact, I was impressed that a book that was written by two authors had a nice flow to it. Sometimes you can tell the difference between the two writers while writing a similar story but it didn’t seem that way. I don’t know if that is because I haven’t read either author before so I don’t have previous experience with their “voices” but that part seemed to be done with ease (though I know it probably wasn’t). I feel like it could be one of those sort of easy reads, an enjoyable light read but it was TOO light. There just wasn’t enough story, enough background for me to really be invested in this book. In a week or so, I probably will have forgotten a lot of the book, and maybe some of the characters’ names. Overall, I just wasn’t overly impressed.

Rating:

3 out of 5 stars