REVIEW: Nothing Left to Burn by Patty Blount

(Summary from Goodreads). Reece’s father hasn’t spoken to him since the car wreck that killed Reece’s brother. Desperate for forgiveness, Reece joins the Junior Cadet program at his dad’s firehouse. But the program is grueling, and Reece isn’t sure he can make it through. Then he meets Amanda.

Amanda understands wanting to belong. As a foster kid, the firehouse is the only place that feels like home. She agrees to help Reece, but falling for him wasn’t part of the deal. And when a string of arsons suddenly point to Amanda, their relationship could go up in flames. 

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review. 

I read a couple chapters in this book and I just couldn't do it. I didn't feel connected to Reece or Amanda in any way. I'm not sure why I didn't like it. I really love reading contemporary books... especially sad ones, but this one was just overly sad. 

It just wasn't my cup of tea. I just couldn't get through the whole thing. I tried though. From the reviews I was expecting it to be really good. A lot of people enjoyed it... but it wasn't my favorite read. 

In the couple of chapters that I got through, I know that there's TONS of drama. Just... way too much for my liking. The story development was a tad slow for me too. 

I really wish I liked this book more than I did. I was really intrigued by the summary. I honestly wish I liked this story. I really do. 

Two out of five stars. 

REVIEW: The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

(Summary from Goodreads). Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

I was VERY excited to read Emery's latest book. I loved Open Road Summer so much. I really loved this story the same (it reminded me of Jessi Kirby's Things We Know By Heart). Paige had a boyfriend pass away unexpectedly. She had a rough time getting over something so tragic. She wasn't dating him for long, but his death had an impact on her life. His death made more of an impact because of the way that he passed. 

Paige is finally starting to live her life when she meets Max. Just being around him helps her to forget about what happened with her late boyfriend. Max is literally my dream guy. He is so nerdy, sarcastic, and watches TV/reads. It is a dream. Haha. I really loved getting to know Max.

I love that Emery's books focus on friendship. Realizing who your true friends are is an important part of growing up. 

I would *REALLY* love a story about Ryan and Tessa. Just saying. :) 

Five out of five stars. 

REVIEW: City Love by Susane Colasanti

(Summary from Goodreads). Sadie, a born and raised New Yorker, is hopeful and romantic and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. 

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources, looking for summer boy adventures. 

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC with a grand total of seventy-three cents so she can reinvent herself and forget about her past. 

Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives. Told from alternating points of view, City Love captures the moments in each girl’s life when everything is thrilling, amazing, and terrifying all at once…in a way it will never be again.

I was very excited for Susane's latest book and the fact that it's a TRILOGY makes me so happy. I have loved her books for years. She is one of my favorite authors. I started reading her books when I found Sarah Dessen's. Her books and writing style has definitely changed throughout the years. It's not a bad change either. :) 

I loved this book. Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna were such fun characters to read about. I loved that each girl was VERY different. They couldn't be more different from each other, but UNY brought them together. I have to say my favorite was Sadie. I have a soft spot for her since she was in another one of Susane's books. I love everything about her. The warm fuzzies, the soul mate talk, and the perfect moments. I really liked Austin at first... but then I realized there was something off about him and I totally guessed what happened! He just... ugh. He's so perfect for Sadie, but TOO PERFECT. 

Darcy's view of the summer wasn't that surprising. I know a couple people who liked to have fun during summer and not care what will happen after summer. I know she said that she just wanted to have fun, but deep down she didn't want to do that. She wanted to find a new love. I wish we got to see more of Jude. 

Rosanna though... I'm not sure about her. I just don't like characters who don't tell the truth. I'm not too fond of D. He's just... not my favorite character. Something seems off about him. I'm sure he's fine, but he's just not my favorite. Rosanna just needs to tell D the truth. 

I literally can't wait until the next book. I still can't believe that it's a trilogy! I can't wait to see what adventures the girls get into during the summer. :)

4.5 out of five stars. 

REVIEW: The Heatbreakers by Ali Novak

(Summary from Goodreads). "When I met Oliver Perry, I had no clue he was the lead singer for The Heartbreakers. Unbeknownst to him, I was the only girl in the world who hated his music."

Since Cara's health has been deteriorating, all Stella Walter can think about is trying to cheer her sister up. Her life revolves around Cara to the point where Stella drops out of one of the country's top photography programs so she can spend what little time she has left with her sick sister. 

With Cara's birthday around the corner, Stella wants to get her the perfect gift. An autographed poster of her sister's favorite boy band should do the trick. Sounds simple enough, right? But life isn't always so easy. 

Not only does Stella hate The Heartbreakers because of their terrible music, but when she realizes that the cute boy she met at Starbucks is really Oliver Perry, the lead singer of the band, her life seems to spin out of control... 

Will Stella be able to swallow her pride and get the autograph that she so desperately needs to make Cara happy? And will Oliver be able to show Stella how to live her own life again? 

Meet... The Heartbreakers.

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.

This was a really fun book to read. It was unrealistic... because who gets to be a photographer of a guy band and fall in love with one of the members? RIGHT? Well... I'm sure it could happen to someone, but yeah. It was unrealistic.

It was a really fun read though. I loved the narration of the main character and her relationship with her brother and sister. I also really loved her relationship with the members of the band. I thought that it would be confusing to distinguish each of the members, but after a little bit you are able to get each person's personality.

The development of the story was great. I loved every minute of it...and couldn't help but laugh out loud at some of the banter between the characters.

I really liked Novak's previous book (and can't wait for the sequel to that one). I was super excited when I saw this available to read! I really like this author's writing style.

Four out of five stars.

REVIEW: Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

(Summary from Goodreads). When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.

After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all. 

Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

This book though. It was so beautiful, heartbreaking, and fun to read. I really loved everything about this book. I honestly believe in kismet and it was fate that Colton and Quinn met the way they did. I loved that Colton brought Quinn a sunflower. It was like Trent was there… and was a part of Colton in more ways than one. It was heartbreaking what Quinn had to go to. I can't even imagine going throughs something like that. 

Jessi's writing was beautiful. It was just so perfect for the story. Everything about what was going on and what happened was so heartfelt. I felt for Quinn throughout the whole story. 

Everyone needs to pick up this book right away. It is a great read and definitely Jessi's best book so far. I want to read more about Quinn and Colton!

Five out of five stars.

YALLWest and Festival of Books 2015

April is full of book related events. This year was no different. YALLWest took place last weekend (April 11th and 12th). It was the first year of this particular event. There is also a YALLFest that takes place on the East Coast in South Carolina and I've heard that it is very unorganized. I have to say that YALLWest was no different. It was very unorganized. I go there at 11 AM and stood in line right away for Tahereh Mafi's signing. RIGHT after I got out of line for that I got in line for another signing… and then another. The signings were stacked one after the other with no time considered for super popular authors and the fact that they would need more signing time than others. I planned on getting to the EpicReads table to score an ARC of Emmy and Oliver by Robin Benway (but… the signing lines took too long so I didn't get one). I did get to meet a couple authors I really wanted to, but overall I found that it was not organized like it should have been. One of my complaints was that for some authors there was a three book limit to get signed and that wasn't mentioned at all until the actual signing. 

LA Times Festival of Books is my favorite book event to go to. It is WAY more organized and calm. This year I went on only Saturday (April 17th) and met TEN authors (compared to YALLWest where I met… 4?). FOB is always very crowded, but honestly it is so calm and more organized. Not only that but there are tons of authors that go… anywhere from Fiction to YA to celebrity authors. It is a wide variety of authors and exhibitors. There are booksellers from independent booksellers and independent authors/editors. There is a lot to see. 

I had TONS of fun this year. I met one of my favorite authors of all time (Sarah Dessen) and it was amazing. One of the ways to meet your favorite authors without a line is to go towards the end of the signing time. I went to one (I got the time mixed up) at the end of the signing time and was able to just walk up to the table to get my books signed. Authors that were my top priority to meet were the ones that I lined up for early… other authors it was totally casual and could just walk up to the table at the end of their signing time. 

I would honestly recommend to anyone to go to LA Times Festival of Books. It is a great way to meet authors who are local and who fly in for the event. There is a lot to do and see plus it is at a gorgeous campus (USC). You can bring as many books as you want and there is no limit to how many authors will sign. You get to talk to them in a casual way and not feel rushed… also no fangirls who are crazy. It's an event surrounded by authors and other people who have the same love for books. 

REVIEW: Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

(Summary from Goodreads). From the author of The Beginning of Everything: two teens with a deadly disease fall in love on the brink of a cure.

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it's easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down. Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

Thank you to Robyn and EpicReads for an ARC of this book. :) 

This was such a great read. I quickly fell in love with all of the characters and enjoyed reading about their adventure in Latham. It is a really funny, quirky, heartbreaking book about a group of friends who live in a sanatorium for teens with TB. 

The friendship between the group of friends is really interesting. I like that they are all honest with each other (in a way…) and want to make the most out of their time in Latham. They don't care what others think of them. They are a group of misfits who fit together in an unlikely way. 

I can't talk much about the story because spoilers… but I kind of predicted that it would happen. I wasn't surprised by the ending, but I also didn't want it to happen.

Honestly I really loved this story. It is a great read about friendship, love, and new experiences. And I really loved the talk of Dapper Day and the video about the guy who acts like various animals. 

Five out of five stars.

REVIEW: What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

(Summary from Goodreads). It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?

This was my first Jessica Verdi book. I have to say I really liked it. I would say that this book was not YA. It was more grown up in some ways. It was not a short book either. It took me a couple days to read and I didn't think I would like it. I slowly got sucked into the story and had to know what would happens with Ryden. I really wanted to know if he would ever find his father. His relationship with his moms as so adorable. I love how supportive she was of everything her son chose to do. She was such a strong character that provided endless support even if she knew that what he chose was the wrong decision. She wanted him to learn on his own, and that was just amazing. She wasn't upset with him for being a teenage father… and provided help when he needed. I love that. 

Meg's whole story was so heartbreaking. I feel like she did the right decision by choosing to leave behind something for Ryden. Yes, he's a teenage father, but in a way she left part of herself in Hope. She didn't just die without leaving anything behind… she left an actual person who was half of her. You know? 

The whole story was so sad. Ryden was holding a lot of grief even after Meg passed. He really didn't have time to grieve her death because he had a baby to take care of. 

This was just a different story to read. The narration from Ryden's perspective was a little weird. I honestly didn't think it was a guy at first just because the voice was so grown up… but still childish, in a way. It was just different. He definitely and to grow up very fast being a teenage father without having the support of the baby's mom. 

I loved the development of the story. It was slow, but there were points where the main character found stuff out about Meg that caused the story to pick up and move faster. It was just different.

4.5 out of five stars.

REVIEW: Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

(Summary from Goodreads). If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. 

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear

I literally LOVED this book. It is so beautifully written and amazing. Sam has OCD and it isn't what you typically think of when you think OCD (obsessively clean and tidy). She keeps her OCD from all her friends except Caroline. 

I love the friendship that she finds with Poet's Corner. They truly understand her even if they don't know everything about her. They want to be there for Sam whereas her real friends aren't there for her. I love that all the people in Poet's Corner are different. They aren't the popular people, but the people who need a place to feel accepted. I really wish everyone had a place like that in school. 

The fact that mental health is brought up in this book is why I love it so much. It isn't the typical story of mental health. This it not the typical YA book… honestly it is different. It is older somehow. There are some books that are for younger YA audiences, and I feel like this one is for everyone (if not the older audience of YA). 

Honestly an amazing book. Definitely one of my favorites of the year (tied with All the Bright Places). 

Beautifully written story with a powerful message. Everyone needs to read it. 

Five out of five stars.