Review: Well Met 🎈🍗🌹 by Jen DeLuca

Well Met by Jen DeLuca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was a ren faire virgin before this book. I had heard of them of course, who hasn't?, but I never considered them enough to hold an interest to me but this book looked so charming that I just had to dig in.

And cute this was *yoda voice*.

Emily Parker is freshly dumped and homeless, so she travels to Smalltown, Maryland to help her sister and niece get themselves together after a horrible car crash. There she finds herself signed up to volunteer at a local renaissance faire being a taver wench.

Everything goes wrong from the start since the one in charge is no other than English teacher, Simon Graham--who is super serious and uptight, thanks to a family tragedy but we don't know that right away.

This ensures that Simon and Emily start off of the wrong foot and snowball into a complicated mess. But you know what they say, love is not that far from hate, right?

I liked both Emily and Simon in their own personas. But were well developed and I totally got were they were coming from. I also liked the idea of a romance between them, but I somehow felt the actual development of a relationship somehow lacking. I don't know, I feel they so seldom interacted to really make me feel their mutual attraction. I mean there was attraction, and there was romance, it just felt to me like it was rushed and a little lacking.

There is plenty of romantic gestures *after* they decide they are in love with each other. And they were really cute and had me smiling for real. So I might be the only one who didn't feel the connection with Emily and Simon as a couple. So try for yourself! :)

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Review: Fight or Flight ✈️ by Samantha Young

Fight or Flight by Samantha Young
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was maybe half way convinced while reading this, still thought Caleb was a pretty shitty human being for saying service people shouldn’t get a “thank you” because they are doing their jobs. So I really had my reservations about this man, but then the author had to go and make *that* the conflict.

(*****spoiler alert******** that Caleb’s ex girlfriend had an abortion behind his back. Like whaaaaaat. Like Samantha Young knows how hard it has been to legalize a woman’s right to choose and then she goes and makes the woman a “villain” for “killing his baby”. It was unnecessary and backwards and gross. Like ugh. I can’t even.)

Just no. And don’t even get me thinking about the amount of people that have read this book and don’t find that whole plot bothersome.

Also, Ava seemed so much better than that! Like I remember how much it used to bother her at the beginning of the book that Caleb was a huge jerk but by the end she was like “Oh he is hurt on the inside that’s why he is mean.”

Get out of here.

*throws kindle away* *stomps away angrily at the amount of time I wasted reading this*

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Puck Buddies by Tara Brown ⛸👠

Puck Buddies by Tara Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a total surprise. I got it because it sounded fun and I am always up for some romance with a touch of initial hate, so I jumped right in.

It ended up being a mess. But in a good way.

So many messy feelings and situations. And messy people! I am not even sure I liked either of the main characters at first. Both Sami and Matt were huge snobs, the kind people inherently are when they are brought up in the world of the ultra rich and famous.

But they were also funny (Sami cracked me up so many times) and endearing (Matt could be such a romantic when he wasn’t so stupid). And I truly think both of them grew up and really saw their mistakes and their flaws and actively tried to change. That’s why at the end I could say that I liked the book. Even if I had to suffer through the crappy thing Matt did. ——-> spoiler alert —-> cheating, ugh.

Anyway, I don’t exactly regret the time I spend, but can’t say I am interested in reading more about these two. Though I have a feeling that they turn out alright in the future, the growth they showed during this story makes me believe they are in this for good.

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Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington 🌲🌊🏊🏼🏊🏼‍♀️

Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premise of this book is delightful. A prank war going on for the span of eight years that is suddenly ended by a third party who becomes the new enemy and forces the two previous enemies to be allies? Uh yes! Sign me the hell up!

The book is all about summer feelings of invincibility and being young and careless. Both our main characters, Asher and Sidney, are really invested in making each other suffer embarrassment, discomfort and the plain old feeling of loserdom. This is the last summer before college though, the last summer... and things don’t go as planned.

I liked the book. I thought both Asher and Sidney really captured the way teenaged minds work. They were both funny to read and a joy to watch as they slowly come to really know each other finally, after all the years of vacationing together and never really get to.

I am not sure I can pin point the reason I didn’t quite fall in love with the story. Though I did enjoy it, I can’t say it captured me enough to read nonstop, or to make me want to read it again. But that could be me.

So I totally would recommend it if you are in for some light, summery read that will take you back to the days we could still enjoy the outdoors.

Stay safe!

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Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord 🐦 💙

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am a hundred percent aware that the statement I am going to make has never been uttered in my blog or any of my reviews on Goodreads, because this is it:
Tweet Cute is the cutest Young Adult novel I have ever read. The end.

Okay, not the end, I still have a lot to gush about. First of all, in an effort to clarify my previous statement, cute in no way means it is fluffy or superficial. It’s all the opposite, is brilliantly thought-of, gloriously developed, deliciously romantic and mulled over to perfection by its author.

This is the kind of read that gives me faith that the genre is and will forever be vital to literature despite what snobs might say. Because it reminds me that the feelings that make us feel like outsiders in our youth are more universally felt than we sometimes believe.

Both main characters, Pepper with her over-achieving antics and sass; and Jack with his class-clown exterior and overwhelmingly caring interior; are the epitome of teenage endearment. I love each one to pieces and wished for them to realize their worth. The slowly built friendship was a delight, to the point that when things start to grow but them and myself were enormously invested.

And the rest of the characters were also fabulous. I could practically see their family and friends jump out the pages, they were so masterfully written that they added so much depth to an already amazing story.

And their respective restaurants? Good lord, I don’t think a book before this one has managed to get me salivating so much at the description of food. I got quite a few ideas for my own cooking.

All in all I am sure I just stumbled into quite a YA jewel. One that is moving straight to reside in my favorites shelf.


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Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did not know what to expect while I first picked up this book. Actually this is one of those few times that I just got it because of a recommendation, without even reading the blurb. Well, I think that actually worked in my favor, since I had zero prejudice and zero expectations.

Had I known what I was getting myself into, I would have picked it up sooner.

Eleanor Oliphant is a loner. Eleanor is a survivor. Eleanor is a lot of things, despite the fact that she believes there is not much to her.

Reading her thoughts made me painfully aware of how many people we pass by without a second thought, unconsciously ignoring their need for even a tiny interaction. Eleanor’s past had a lot to do with the way she is now, her lack of socializing skills, her lack of self-love; but I really feel like she didn’t give herself the credit she deserved. Thankfully, a couple of situations in her life now lead to an avalanche of change and growth.

I like that the book focused entirely on her journey into discovering who she is and what she is worth.

From the moment we meet her, though. It’s plainly obvious that she has a terrible past full of pain, and all through the book the build up to realize what it was was killing me! Well, my one complain of the book was that at the end the secret was delivered in a rather underwhelming manner. However that doesn’t take down from the rest of the story, whose whole point to me feels like a story of self discovery and self-love, which was greatly achieved.

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The Deal (Off-Campus #1) by Elle Kennedy 💋👩🏻‍🏫⛸

The Deal by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So this is the series that started the Briar University universe I believe, which got me really excited to dive into. These guys are the OGs, after all.

And I have to say I did like it. It was fun enough but also with glimpses of seriousness that brought the book a step higher. I liked both main characters, Hannah and Garret were broadly explored as individuals and I got a pretty good idea of their strengths and insecurities before they were even a couple, which was good. But while I liked them, I wasn’t crazy for neither of them and that makes me sad :C

The side characters, though, were all pretty meh. While I do know that they are going to be explored further in the next books, they were too many of them and there was too little about them for me to care.

I recently read The Chase, which is the first book in the spin-off, and thought that one felt a lot faster and funnier, but maybe it is because this one deals with pretty heavy topics that it felt a lot more somber.

I also think it dragged on some. It could have ended a few chapters before it did and it would have been better. But over all I did not regret it, and I plan on reading the rest of the books eventually. Especially because my friend is really vouching for them. Here’s hoping!

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Review: Cactus Jack A Novel by Brad Smith 🌵 🐎

Cactus Jack: A Novel by Brad Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is no going wrong with a good, old-fashioned horse novel. Even though, technically, this is not a horse novel. It is about a horse yes—Cactus Jack, a colt born of the greatest horse in the world, who might just be the next best horse in the world now. But it’s also about the past and present of the people around this horse. A band of mismatched characters that come together not-so intentionality to maybe witness the miraculous rise of an underdog.

From Will Masterson, the owner of Cactus Jack to his daughter Billie and everyone in between—Jodie, the ten-year-old neighbor with a soft heart for animals; Clay, the gentle giant/fierce lawyer; Marian, the kickass ex-girlfriend of Will Masterson; and Luke, scoundrel and horse trainer extraordinaire—I enjoyed everyone’s part on the story, their ups and downs and their ultimate redemption.

The pace was great, the drama was plenty. I liked that the intelligence on the characters shone through instead of being stated. And the build-up expectation on Cactus Jack’s performance as a race horse was worth everything. Very well accomplished novel in my opinion, enjoyable for a perfect rainy afternoon.

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You Say It First by Katie Cotugno

You Say It First by Katie Cotugno
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, there was that.

As I sit here dumbfounded, I can’t help but reminisce about my first Katie Cotugno experience, 99 Days. Because after that masterpiece, I didn’t believe (though I really tried to) that she could do it again. But she did, and the giddiness I’ve been feeling since I first cracked this book open is proof.

I mean what is not to like about a couple of teenagers, total opposites in so many ways, coming together to realize their differences could make them better. I felt this book was important in so many levels. It’s about a lot of the current issues in the world: feminism, sexism, politics, depression, suicide, and so many feelings that keep our brains reeling. It explored both sides of every coin without being preachy, for all the Megs and the Colbys out there (and the ones like me, that alternate between both).

And like the mastermind that she is, Katie Cotugno managed to develop a nail-bitting, heart-racing romance in between all of that. The story is deliciously intricate, with twists and turns galore, so much so that I was glued to the pages from start to finish without stopping. And when I did, because the book ended, all I wanted to do was groan and ask for more.

I can’t wait for all of you to dig in and discover it for yourselves. Meanwhile I am going to be ordering a couple of copies for my shelves.

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Kissing Lessons 😘 by Sophie Jordan

Kissing Lessons by Sophie Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kissing Lessons

I can’t hardly believe it’s been like two centuries since I last read a book by Sophie Jordan. And I am pleased to admit we both have really grown into our better selves so far.

Kissing Lessons was so much fun. I mean, you can’t expect any less from a book that literally has the word kissing in the title. But it was better than just another summer read.

The story is about this girl Hayden, who everyone knows has a “bad reputation”, so naturally school-nerd Emmaline hires her to teach her how to seduce her brother Nolan’s best friend, Beau, who has been her long time crush.

As you can imagine this leads us to a couple of cringe-worthy moments of adolescence, but also lots of sweet interactions between two misunderstood girls.

I loved a lot about this book, but the thing I liked the most was the two main girls rapidly growing friendship. I loved how neither of them took the rumors for granted and instead made their own opinions about the other. They were good friends and it cemented the need we have for more girls building each other up in Young Adult Lit.

I thought the author did an amazing job developing Hayden. All her monologues reveled exactly who she was, and no one was surer of that than her. She was so tough and independent, yet her vulnerability was easy to spot too. After all she was just a kid living in the worst possible conditions, trying to convince herself she had accepted her fate. I loved her and wanted to hug her most of the book.

The guys were pretty fantastic too. Nolan was such a sweetheart—he was the only man in his household and had learned how to express his emotions without being ashamed of them. And Beau was the least developed character of the four main ones and still he was great, I could perfectly tell him apart of the rest and got to know why Emmaline felt so intensely about him.

Spoiler ahead—-> Maybe the only detail I can point out is the cheating. Which some people might not even consider cheating, but there was a kiss while one of the characters was in a relationship and that always feels wrong to me. But it was so very well acknowledged and not swept under the rug—I appreciated that. <—-end of spoiler.

Overall another great book that made me feel giddy and excited throughout. In a world of uncertainty, today after reading this book I can testify in favor of the fact that first love is still as delightfully glorious to read about as it is to experience.

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Review: The Chase (Briar U) by Elle Kennedy 🙂

The Chase by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a welcomed surprise! Very quick paced, laugh out loud funny, sexy, romantic, I quite loved it. Also I like that it tried to stay away from the jock cliche and made Fitzy out to be a cute, nerdy guy who was a hundred percent a believable introverted jock. And don’t get me started on Summer’s bubbly personality, I loved her! She has ADHD and the author’s approach to it is rather refreshing, it was part of her but didn’t define her.
I really want to read the rest of the series now, though I am not sure any of the other characters can be as endearing as these two. <3

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Beach Read by Emily Henry (!!!!)

Beach Read by Emily Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Woah. Just like wow.
This is how you want to write anything—with passion, with the belief that your words deserve to be heard, believing that your characters and their emotions are valid. I just want to say I am very glad Emily Henry woke up one day and there was confidence in her and that nothing stopped her from writing Beach Read.

I loved this book throughly. From start to finish, and every second in between. It caused me sorrow, it gave me laughter, and it inspired me.

Beach Read is written in the point of view of January Andrews, a publish author who by her own words has always looked at life with rose-colored glasses, but recently big cracks have devastated the perfect life she thought she had. Now January has been feeling like a new person, cynical and sad, trying to comprehend if she’ll ever feel like herself again or if this is who she is now.

Enter a summer spend in the little beach town her dad grew up in. She has plenty of reasons to despise being here but slowly but surely, she starts to discover a lot about the world, and herself, that she missed before.

There’s a book club in there, run by ladies who love spy novels and bad cocktails. There’s a best friend who hits all the marks for a true best friend. There’s a family tragedy, painful and raw. And there’s an old school rival and fellow writer next door who sees life the opposite way she does and through a spontaneous bet between them the summer becomes a learning experience.

I have so much love and respect for book’s who develop characters and relationships as delicately and precise as this one does. Nothing about January’s relationship with both her parents, with her best friend, with her neighbor Gus, or the ladies at the bookclub felt untrue to her character. Her personality shone through all her interactions with everyone the same way. I believed who she was, therefore I believed all her actions and the course of her thoughts.

All the characters were perfectly drafted too, no one felt like a side character to me. Instead they all added depth and their own uniqueness to the story. I could reach out and touch them through the pages as if they were real.

Some of my favorite moments, and there were a lot of them, where the times January spend loving her dad. It made me understand her heartbreak so much better, because my own heart felt positively broken too. The author nailed the feeling of unending love between a father and his daughter.

And of course I can’t end this review without nodding to the perfectly imperfect Gus Everett, who grew as much or maybe even more than January. Who every time that he showed a real piece of his heart made me want to jump into the pages and kiss him. The times he opened up to reveal who he was felt like little prizes I have earned. The way he declared his feelings so bravely even though he was scared—he was a writer, alright, no one has a gift with words quite like him.

It’s an all around gorgeous book. Perfect in all the ways that matter. I wish for you all to realize this for yourselves. I’m glad I did.
___________________

IT COMES OUT TODAY! .

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Slammed by Colleen Hoover 🍎

Slammed by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took a while for me to get through Slammed. And by a while I mean actual years (decade?). And it’s all because of its premise. No matter how tastefully you do it, I am programmed to cringe at the idea of a teacher-student relationship.

Layken and Will did not know they were about to be teacher and student when they went on a date. They were super into each other and are crushed to find out their relationship is clearly forbidden.

Now, I tried to get into this, but it was hard, I’m telling you. I mean they went on *one* date and suddenly they were everything to each other. I’ve never been a fan of instalove and this book didn’t convert me.

The rest of the book didn’t do much for me either. The conflict was so over the too and the drama was plenty, but always very convenient to the story. Parts of the book felt like they were there only to fill in pages and didn’t feel creative.

But what I did love. And I love it a lot, was the poetry. Man, there were some brilliant poems in here. And Mr. Cooper the poetry teacher was amazing too. One of my favorite high-school subjects was poetry and I am sure that if I had a teacher as passionate as him, I would have loved it even more.

So while I do not regret reading this, I don’t think I’ll find it in me to continue with the series (though if any of you want to spoil me in the comments I will read them heehee).

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Rules For Being A Girl by Candace Bushnell

Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved it. Review closer to pub date.
__________________________

Rules for Being a Girl

I had high hopes when I first started this book, I mean the premise sounds intriguing enough: a girl whose teacher tries to take advantage of her and the aftermath of no one believing her, it’s relevant and it’s true and it’s happening. I was hooked.

I can tell you this book did not disappoint. It met my expectations and then some. Marin, our girl, was one of the most intensively relatable girls I have ever read my while life. I suffered and rejoiced along her throughout. Mostly I just wished this book had been around when I was seventeen.

The novel is not only gorgeously written and hugely captivating—it’s a painful reality we girls recognize. I thought every plot point was managed masterfully and taught a great lesson about empowering oneself but also learning that there are people out there who get it, and people who will fight along us to make things better for the girls of the future.

A story not to be missed.

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You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was very excited to dig into You Deserve Each Other, so much so that I preordered it even though I haven’t read anything by Sarah Ogle before. But with all those blurbs, can you even blame me? I mean they make the book sound like a real fun ride. So I was like, Duh! Sign me up.

And I mean I liked it. I think the author did a great job of telling a story, and honestly, by the end of the book the love between Nicholas and Naomi was basically palpable, sweet and bursting off the pages like one of those 3D cardboards inside a kids’ book. I loved the ending.

But the first half was me pretty much cringing and feeling sorry for either or both of them (mostly Nicholas). Though I felt like Naomi had very valid reasons for her hurt feelings, I just got sick of everything being a huge misunderstanding that kept on going and going without not even a tiny amount of effort into righting wrongs. I mean I understand why this could be a good plot resource but in my opinion, it just felt endless, I was tired of it by the first quarter.

Anyway, it’s better if you form your own opinion, I have seen a great amount of reviews that seem to love this book. And maybe it’s wonderful and lovely, and maybe it is just me who wanted something happier for these uncertain times.

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