Review: Winner Take All by Laurie Devore

Title: Winner Take All 
Author: Laurie Devore
Published January 30th 2018 by Imprint
Goodreads
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I now see there are quite a few people who had problems with this book. I am not sure I am not one of them. But I give you this, it was entertaining from start to finish, whatever was happening: good, bad or worse, I was enthralled. And appalled. And confused. And most of all torn.

At the end of the day I think I did like it. There are lot of feelings I share with Nell. I think every girl has felt the same way once or twice too. Like maybe the rules of the world are never fair, because no matter how much we try, guys seem to have it easier.

I must confess, there were some parts when I really thought it was out of control. The relationship between Nell and Jackson, while passionate, seemed to be very toxic too. But this is good to read about, so you can identify if maybe you are in one too. The thing about this toxic relationships is that they mostly seem like both people are doing things out of love: THEY ARE NOT. LOVE IS NOT LIKE THIS. 

Nevertheless, it was heartbreaking to see the price they both had to pay. I kept wanting both of them to wake up already and realize they were not a good thing. They were so much better than who they were together.

One of the things I liked the most in this story were the friends of both Jackson and Nell. The Reagans, Colombus and Tristan, they were all AMAZING friends that sometimes neither of our main characters deserved. But that's the thing about friends, they stick with us.

So I don't regret this book one bit. And I hope that if you read it, you'll try not to judge either.

Review: The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

Title: The Simple Wild 
Author: K.A. Tucker
Published August 7th 2018 by Atria Books
Goodreads
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First of all, I hope K.A. Tucker is intentionally nodding at The Simple Life with that title, that would be just brilliant. #LongLiveParisHilton #NoShame

Secondly, after finishing this book I can say that I am pleasantly surprised.

Who is not into stories of city girls essentially tumbling out of their comfort zones? I mean it's basic human instinct to try and get a few laughs out of those hair and makeup predicaments. Though I must confess there were quite a few times I'd get annoyed at Calla, our Paris Hilton, for being maybe a tad too superficial and selfish. But that's okay, I can get over that as long as you show me some character development, and thankfully Calla showed some growth (but way too slowly for my liking if I admit). Even in the end, she seemed a bit reluctant to go and get what she wanted, but then again, some people take longer than others.

Then there is the Alaska wilderness and the AWESOME characters that lived there. I swear I lived everyone to bits, Agnes and her daughter Mabel, all the bush pilots, especially a certain hot viking named Jonah, and even Calla's dad Wren, who I think I could understand from the beginning.

This is the story about a young woman whose parents marriage seemed to fail thanks to Alaska. You can't really blame her for harboring less that good feelings about the land that she believes stole his dad away. But over some tragic circumstances she finds herself returning to her homeland, and finding out some hard truths.

I love books about second chances, and this whole story was about one. I appreciated the setting too, I am 100% sold on the beauty of a harsh, untouched place like Western Alaska, can't wait to get there sometime. And this novel delivered to all of my needs of an emotional yet hopeful and fun time. I believe K.A. Tucker did an beautiful job at making this novel memorable, which is why it has so many fans already. I think that when I am old, I'll probably still remember how I once read a book about bush pilots in Alaska.

A great, quick story to reconsider our life choices and how they affect those we love. 

Review: The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Title: The Boy Most Likely To 
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Published September 6th 2016 by Penguin Group
Goodreads - Amazon
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I read Huntley's first book, My Life Next Door, way back when it came out, and I remember loving it so I was excited to finally get around to reading another one of her stories. Now I am sad it took me so long.

This is a complicated story. From the start you know a lot of things about Tim's past, and how he's recovering from being a teenage alcoholic. How can you not root for someone who is trying to climb out of the hole they are in?

And I certainly couldn't stop myself from falling in love with Tim. I loved, loved that we got to see inside his head and it was honestly heartbreaking. It was so different, the kid he portrayed from who he really was, how he saw himself as basically worthless. I wanted him to be better, to get better, and to hope for something better. He is just a seventeen-year-old boy after all.

Luckily a lot of people around his life saw right through his jokester shield and into his real self. Alice Garret being one of those. 

Alice was so easy to sympathize with. I just could tell how torn she felt, she wanted to help Tim, help her family, and through it all stay true to herself and what she wanted. It's horrible, to be stuck between wanting to help others and help yourself too. 

Guys, there's a couple of shocking things happening that had me wrecking my brain (and my heart) because I just couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But I shouldn't need worry because everything turned right at the end (maybe a little too prettily wrapped with a big bow, but that is the reason I love all this contemporaries, so I'm good here). So though I suffered from watching my dearly loved characters get tangled in a mess that kept getting bigger, I can testify that these are the books that I love the most, the ones that make me so invested. 

Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Title: Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)
Authors: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Published October 20th 2015 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Goodreads - Amazon
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I have a question. 

To myself.

"Why did it take you so long to pick up this book?!"

Honestly, if I'd known what I was getting into, I would have read Illuminae a long time ago. I guess my reasoning was that it is just so massive that I figured I needed a lot of free time when I finally started it... WRONG. It was a breeze! 

Once you start you can't stop, and it's so action-packed and written in such an entertaining way that it never feels like a long story.

I loved it, if you can't tell by now. I loved Kady and her personality, she is going through the end of her world and you can see her vulnerability bleeding through her words, and yet, so much strength. She doesn't sit around to take a chance to grieve, instead turns to what she knows best: hacking. She was an amazing character. I had my doubts of really getting to know the characters with this format, but these authors are geniuses. 

Then we also had Ezra, who I loved too. He is the yang to Kady's ying. He's always trying to find the bright side and trying to make her laugh. He always made me laugh. He has a huge, warm heart and is basically a dreamboat.

What I really liked about this book is that it showed that in life not everything is black and white. It kept me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was going on all the time. From the start you think you know who the villain is, bit then turns out it was just a pawn, and then there is the real villain, but wait, no, he isn't really a villain, now that's the villain, or is it not? and basically you are kept on your toes all the time.

Can't wait to continue reading this trilogy, I hope it only gets better.

Review: Together at Midnight by Jennifer Castle

Title: Together at Midnight 
Author: Jennifer Castle
Published January 2nd 2018 by HarperTeen
Goodreads / Amazon
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I think this book was definitely a good start for the new year. Together at Midnight was a fun, fast read, even though it is not exactly supposed to be that. It starts with our two main characters, Max and Kendall, witnessing a terrible accident and practically doing nothing to stop it from happening. The guilt of what happened makes them accept a dare in which they have to perform seven acts of kindness. It turns out harder than expected.

I like the realness of this book. In real life not everything is what’s cracked up to be, and Maxie and Kendall learn that through it all. I was immediately attached to both of them, since we share a lot of character traits, and I wanted them to keep going and I shipped them so hard. And yet. Yet I was totally okay with that ending. Oh yes, even old hopeless romantic me thought there was not another possible way to end the book, because of reasons you have to read for yourself.

The one thing, though, that I can complain about, is the lack of development of secondary characters. Some of them we got a glimpse of, like grandpa big E, who I absolutely loved because he reminded me of my own grumpy grandpa. But there were several characters who I felt lacked a purpose. For example Ari, who is supposed to be Kendall’s best friend but apart from Kendall always mentioning that I didn’t get to see much of a reason for the apparently amazing friendship. And the practically nonexistent older brothers, the parents, and pretty much all family members except for Kendall’s brother Emmerson.

But oh well, I could live with it. And it didn’t affect my reading experience (much).I still raced through the book in a few hours and honestly had some laugh out loud moments and the obvious cringe of the youth, which is basically an all around win.

Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen

Title: Love and Other Train Wrecks 
Author: Leah Konen
Published January 2nd 2018 by Katherine Tegen Books
Goodreads / Amazon
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Love and Other Train Wrecks has a lot of reasons not to work out. Surprisingly it does. I mean we are talking about two teens meeting and falling in love in the course of twenty four hours, some of you may say—oh dear, insta love. Not at all. Yes, it turns out to be a romantic story (after a while) but I wouldn’t even throw the word love—yet.

Noah and Ammy find themselves stuck in an unmoving train during a heavy snow fall. They both have places to go, and fast. And although they didn’t hit it off right away, they come up with a plan so together they can get where they are going.

You can imagine all sorts of trouble gets in their way, and it is good, ‘cause otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten to know each other that well.

I had a couple of problems with Ammy at the beginning. I just thought she was being so rude to Noah. And I get it, everyone can have a bad day, and she was having a really bad one, but I would never be nasty to anyone no matter my own condition. I also thought she was like that at the start because Noah was a stranger, but at the end when the trouble rolls in paradise, she went back to being mean. But I guess that’s just her personality, you’re forgiven Ammy.

In the end, I had fun even though I figured out the twist from the start and I wish I hadn’t. But it was a good way to spend a rainy afternoon inside.