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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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.
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IT COMES OUT TODAY! .

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Review: You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

Title: You Were Here 
Author;  Cori McCarthy
Expected publication: 
March 1st 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire
Goodreads  . Amazon
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First of all I want to point out that this novel is multicultural. Yes, you read that right so let's all give a big round of applause... keep going because it deserves it…

Okay that's enough, thank you.

So I sort of, kind of knew a little bit about what this story was about before I started it. I knew it was about a girl grieving her late brother in some rather dangerous ways. That's all I knew and that was enough to make me go, "yes! I need this!"

But like the song goes, if I had known then what I know now, I would have been ten times more excited because I think this just became my favorite novel of the year. You read that right, my favorite novel I read in 2015 (though is published in 2016) I loved it. I LOVED IT. I wasn't expecting so much more than just a tragedy, but it was MUCH MORE. The tragedy was just a vehicle for living and forgiving and finding love and reconnecting with new friends.

I loved that the story was told in five different points of view, from each of the five friends that made the story what it is. It never felt confusing or unrealistic, it was unique and it made me understand each of them and loved them individually. It added so much instead of taking away. I loved that they all had a different way to show me who they were. Cori did a fantastic job with these POV, I can't tell you how impressive it was how she managed to keep all the characters true to themselves and honest enough for me to care about and enjoy.

And that's just the writing. The setting was a whole other monster. I loved each different place she took her story to. I loved the graphic detail that took me there. Then there was the fun. This novel was so fun--sad, too, and crazy, and funny and romantic-- but fun above all. It reminded of one of my favorite books, Grafitti Moon by Cath Crowley for those interested, and that's always a good thing. It was amazing, even now, weeks after I first read it, it makes me crack a smile just to remember everything that happened. 

Now excuse me while I'm off to get me a physical copy of this one. It's one for keeps, folks. One to reread.

Review: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

Title: 99 Days 
Author: Katie Cotugno
Expected publication: April 21st 2015 by Balzer + Bray
YA Contemporary
Goodreads | Amazon

This book is so bad. So, so bad, but so good. So good you need to buy it as soon as humanly possible or else the world will spin off its axis and we will all die. That's how good it is.

You know how sometimes you are caught off guard by a book you expected nothing of? I love contemporary, I always will but this book's plot is a love triangle and I hate love triangles, hate them. So it was contradictory, I never ever thought I'd like it.

But this novel is everything. Everything I missed and everything I craved without knowing it. Every sentence was a pleasure. It was heartbreaking and gut wrenching and it was impossible not to be swept away by the beauty of the writing, the the realness of the story, the very, very flawed characters.

And the most amazing thing was this: Yes there is a huge, emotionally draining and deliciously heartbreaking love triangle but still, the two guys, Gabe and Patrick Donelly, they are both real. They are wrong and bad and real, and still somehow perfect.

But the excellence, the brilliant thing about this love triangle comes from Katie, who lets you choose. She doesn't resort to make one better than the other, she lets you chose. She lets Molly choose.

Molly who was impossible to hate and easy to relate. Molly who you had to cheer on and love. If there is one character who takes the prize on personal' growth and avoidance of mental instability. Even if I didn't approve or agree with her actions, I understood and loved her and her flaws.

The end, I have to admit, was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because there is so much building up to a final climax but the when we get there it just kind of ends. But I guess it fits the story, and the lesson is learned.

All in all, a gorgeous story that will take you in a roller coaster of emotions.

Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Title: Pivot Point 
Author: Kasie West
Published February 12th 2013 by HarperTeen
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depo
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So right now is Saturday, I have a huge exam on Tuesday, I just spend the whole night reading this book and I do not regret it at all. In fact, I want to re-read it again right now, it was so good.

I kick myself because Pivot Point spend months sitting in my bedside table feeling all lonely, all because of my prejudice against love triangles. But y'all know I absolutely HATE love triangles, so my heart was against liking this even though I LOVE Kasie West and I should've trusted her better.

Her story engaged me from page one, it was so incredibly easy to lost yourself in the story, even though it's all about future choices and paradoxes and it could have turned out to be a big confusing mess but it doesn't because it relies more in what the story itself makes you feel, in making you care for the characters and what happens to them.

So it was very hard for me to read it because I was so invested in what was happening that I could fantom the fact that what I was seeing might not become reality. And my worst nightmare became true.

I know I am not making a lot of sense but it's because this book made me feel so much that my head is still buzzing with energy. It's 2am and I can't sleep because I keep relieving the story and my heart aches and I figured it was good therapy to write my feelings down.

So here I am trying to make sense of what happened to me while I read this book and I can't, I do not know how to put it in words, I just have to tell you I became a mess of emotions and to me, that's the most important thing when I read.

Pivot Point happens to be a win in the parallel world and in the mortal world and in the realm of Young Adult fiction. It's been a while since I read a paranormal book that managed to be so real that you could almost swear it's a contemporary because for once, the story relies on the characters as people instead that on the claimed awesomeness of their powers. Completely captivating and amazing.

 

 

 

Review: Winger by Andrew Smith

Title: Winger
Author: Andrew Smith
Published May 14th 2013 by Simon & Schuster
Goodreads | Amazon
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I've been trying to write this review since the beginning of time* and yet I find myself unable to convert what my heart felt and turn it into words.

Because Winger will sure make you feel, a story of growing-up and going down and being lifted up and realizing you had a very wrong concept of how others perceive yourself.

I friggin loved Ryan Dean from the start. Even though my prejudice-filled mind was like "what the hell are you doing?! this is gonna be about a disgusting, hormonized boy your brother's age! abort! abort!" 

Well, Ryan Dean is a fourteen year old, and that's where my predictions ended because he is nothing like the cliché I imagined him out to be. BOY IS FREAKING AWESOME. No, seriously, you'll be cheering him up and rooting for him from page one. And then his comics (and his whole life basically) is hilarious. As in, get-me-some-diapers-I-might-lose-the-fight-with-incontinence funny. I was laughing so hard I forgot bad stuff happens in this world.

And I won't spoil you but let's just say I tried to hold back the tears...

but did not succeed...

* Meaning, since I read this book back in May.

Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Title: Dirty Little Secret 
Author: Jennifer Echols
Expected publication: July 16th 2013 by MTV Books
Goodreads | Amazon
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I can’t tell you for sure what I was expecting when I opened the first page of Dirty Little Secret. I mean, sure, it’s Jennifer Echols, a good time is for granted, but since she had 3 books out this year and I’ve read all her previous ones, I was a bit overwhelmed.

Turns out my worries were unfounded because she hits it out of the park again. Not only did she reminded me what made her so good and made me fall in love with her writing in the first place, but also I found improvement and evolution. Somehow this book felt even more young adult to me than all of her previous ones, maybe because the emotions Bailey was going through were so perfectly described and perfectly fitted with my own emotions as a confused and hurt teenager that I couldn’t help but be blown away by how much I could relate to her.

Bailey’s sister Julie got a record deal and is setting off to be country’s next Taylor Swift.

 

This would all have been great if Bailey hadn’t been the other half of the guitar and fiddle duo they had all through their short lives. Bailey is hurt and feels rejected now that her parents have removed her from anything Julie is doing so she wouldn’t mess things up, and that includes staying away from music.

But Bailey breathes music, and naturally she can’t let it go. So when she meets Sam, the son of a Johnny Cash impersonator, and possibly the hottest thing that had happened in country music since ever; she has to take a chance or forever wonder what if.

You guys, Sam was amazing. I think he’s probably the most upbeat boy Jenn has ever created (and that’s saying something because he has his fair share of brooding) because he talks really fast, says everything that comes to his head and dresses funky. I loved that he was straight-forward and obsessibly driven about music, he had this energy about him that was hard to ignore.

But then Bailey was my favorite part of the book. She was, like I said, flawlessly crafted into a perfectly real teenager. I got where she was coming from, and I rooted for her all through her story. I wanted to hug her and tell her that I know how she felt because I did too, all those feelings of not belonging and not knowing what you’re supposed to do or who you’re supposed to be, I loved that her problems were over-the-top fiction yet I, a simple chick from the suburbs, could relate to.

 

And then we have the country music. Seriously, who doesn't love a good ole' bluegrass music once in a while (or most of the time, if you're me). Country music is the equivalent of breakfast for champions, and this book's got plenty. You're in for a magical tour through the enchanting streets of Nashville, with its colorful folklore and incredible nightlife, where Bailey and Sam prove to us that dreams do come true.

 

Review: The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West

Published July 2nd 2013 by Harper Teen

Goodreads | Amazon

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Awwwh I've found a new book to put on my favorite's list. Because The Distance Between us couldn't be anything but, after all the swooning and the laughing it put me through. There was no way on earth I wouldn't fall in love with this book.

And I did. Hard. I love it enough to want to re-read it right now. Because it was a whole experience, more than just reading a story. It put me through the emotions of meeting an exciting new friend, of reconsidering options and choosing paths, of falling in love for the first time. It was the whole package. 

Caymen was the perfect heroine because we are all Caymens on the inside, hiding our insecurities behind our security blankets (in her case, her sarcasm) and trying to work out the courage to fight for what we want. I rooted for Caymen as soon as I met her, and my fist was up in the air when she got her happy ending. I laughed along her, got mad along her, I cared.

And then this sweet love story was pretty darn flawless. I fell in love with Caymen and Xander's relationship; their hilarious banter and the slow, almost painfully slow way it build up. I realized I was too invested when I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror and it had that glow only brides and new moms have. Unmistakably, I was in it too deep.

So seriously, y'all need to pick up this contemporary jewel and add it to our collection because this book will brighten your day and your mood, and it will warm your heart and remind you of the fairy tales that are so amazing, it's really a cruelty they're only fiction.

Ps. After this I am so picking up Pivot Point.

Review: Stung by Bethany Wiggins

 

 

 

 

Title: Stung
Author: Bethany Wiggins
Dystopian YA
Expected publication: April 2nd 2013 by Walker Childrens
Goodreads | Amazon
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Absolutely amazing and unforgettable. This book brought back my love for the dystopian genre. I haven't enjoyed a story so much since the hunger games, and believe me it's been a LONG time.

Everything about this book is nonstop action, and nail biting suspense. From the first page we are catapulted to a setting above our wildest dreams yet completely believable. The state of Colorado is a deserted land, where all your nightmares will come true, from awful men with no fear of God that will do anything to whoever they find wandering the streets, to the beasts, kids that have turned to monsters after a vaccination that went wrong. It's horrible and hopeless and Fiona woke up in the middle of it all, with no memory of why she's there or even how old she is.

My heart warmed for Fiona instantly. Amnesiac book characters can be a pain in the butt, they go on life endlessly feeling sorry about themselves. Not in Fiona's case, she barely had time to think about it when she was already struggling to survive. She was amazing, she was brave and strong but not so that she appeared unbelievable. She is a seventeen year old after all, and a girl, living in a world where there's only one woman to seven men. It was terrifying, but she never gave up and I loved her.

Dreyden Bowen was absolutely amazing too. He is only seventeen and you can feel that, it's hard to explain because he acts older than his young years but you still can't doubt he is only seventeen. I loved him so much, his fears and his braveness mend and stretched so often, he was just a kid trying to survive, and yet he always tried to help too. I completely fell in love with this vulnerable and strong character.

I cannot recommend you this book enough. So much to love here, the action, the characters, the plot! Simple yet complicated enough to make me lose myself in it. It didn't go for the insanely technologic and complicated world building that all the other dystopians go for, nor the stupid crazy names for every character, and definitely not the fancy love triangle. Oh how I loved the slow building romance and the surprises it brought to my life.

Speaking of surprises, I was shocked at how fast the story moved and the many twists in it. I was transfixed! Reading for what felt like seconds yet I've gone through 20% of the book without looking up.  I didn't expect it, like a ball to the face in elementary school kickball. I was shocked at how much I loved, and enjoyed it. Kudos, Ms. Wiggins, I am a fan.

I am completely in love with this book. I just wish it would get more attention, like the many mainstream dystopians coming out this year that aren't half as good (ouch! prejudicing much?) but really, I have a hard time imagining something better than this. 5 stars!

 

Review: Tempestuous by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

Title: Tempestuous: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare's The Tempest
Authors: Kim Askew & Amy Helmes
Expected publication: December 18th 2012 by Merit Press
Goodreads // Amazon //
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So once in a while something totally unexpected happens, like finding a ten-dollar bill on the street or discovering there’s only 2 girls in your class, both of them named Melannie. OR starting a book and loving it from page one, that’s what happen to me while I read Tempestuous, loved it from page 1 ‘till the very last one.

Miranda is an ambitious girl, who kind of has the power of getting people to do what she wants. She’s popular and beautiful yet the authors managed to make her likable. I loved her from the start because she’s so witty, and she means no harm, she’s just used to having people offering to do stuff for her but it’s not like she’s bossing them around. Well, at least not after that pesty situation that made her fall from grace at her private school and has her working for minimum wage at the food court in the mall.

Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Published May 21st 2011 by Feral Dream
Goodreads
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You guys remember the feeling, back in the day, when we all read The Hunger Games? Remember how it blew our collective minds and left us with the feeling of “Oh this is great, this will transcend”? I felt that again today as I devoured the first installment of the Penryn & the End of Days series, Angelfall.

Fast-paced, to the point, and packed of action and emotion, this book took me back to the days when I was genuinely excited about a story. It’s been a long time since I got this mentally invested in a dystopian book and I’m glad it happened because I needed a story that reassured me that not all of them are a marketing idea and a colossal waste of my time.

Penryn, our young heroine, is as amazing as they come. I absolutely loved how she was always either saving her own butt or saving the hero’s butt and that, my friends, in my book counts as a truly independent woman. Despite her young years she was so mentally ahead of many seventeen-year-olds I know, but when she broke down crying after seeing the destruction of what was left of her city nearly brought me to tears.

Now Raffe is a whole ‘nother train of thought. I loved him as the hero, I loved his mysteriousness and his loner boy attitude. I loved that he was never overwhelming in his need to be the savior, and instead let Penryn handle things on her own. I loved his sense of humor and most of all, I loved how he showed his true feelings at the end, it was so romantic and unexpected because I have grown accustomed of his hiding them.

The book is an action story but it hold much more, the love between sisters, the struggles to love a mentally-ill mother, falling in love for the first time and falling in love with someone you can’t have. So many feelings going on and it never felt crowded, Susan Ee masterly manages to craft a beautiful, complex story that still felt light enough.

I have to say though, that some part of me still feels unsatisfied. I see the potential and think this series can become something pretty amazing and I'm counting on it. I seriously cannot wait to see what happens next because even though SO MUCH happened in this book, it left room for so much more to happen in the next ones.

 

Review: A girl named Digit by Annabel Monaghan

Title: A girl named Digit
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Published June 5th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Add this book to your Goodreads shelves
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I wish this book could understand how much I love it, but since books have no brain I am going to tell YOU instead. I love this book! There, I said it, and I am so not ashamed because this book was amazing, it has everything I like: likable characters, fast-paced story line and some serious swoon-worthy scenes.

First of all I would like to point out how ingenious Annabel Monaghan is. I mean a character like Farrah (aka Digit) is not easy to create. Farrah is a genius, no kidding, she is so good at math she discovered a terrorist code hidden in MTV’s most watched show, and now her life is at danger. Enter FBI agent John, the one guy chosen to protect Farrah while the others catch the bad guys, Farrah might think he is really cute but he is older and not to mention he could lose his position so yay for forbidden romance!

I loved Farrah, she’s like Sheldon Cooper but a girl, and 17 years old, and less annoying. Farrah was incredible in the sense that she was so friggin intelligent yet she was just like any other girl, it was so funny to read about her cluelessness that unfortunately put her in the most embarrassing situations, but that was what made her so adorable, even though she had the weirdest habits. She was so hilarious and her voice was the best, exactly the kind of girl I like reading about.

Now while John Bennett was definitely swoon-worthy (more than that, really he was amazing) and the fact that he was twenty one was REALLY hot, like I-can-day-dream-about-him-without-being-creepy-cause-he-is-older-than-me hot; Farrah is the one that made the book for me (which rarely happens I always love the guy more) because she was made of awesome.

Also, each chapter started with a bumper sticker, some of them totally hilarious, and there were chasings and codes, and terrorists, and safe houses and guns and it was just so entertaining, I swear I was laughing out loud at pretty much every chapter, I can’t wait to read more from the series, I’ll be waiting impatiently for book #2!.
 

Hee-Hee this scene is when John and Farrah break into a school while running from the bad guys,
I thought it was hilarious that she totally consumed all those juice boxes and then,
well you don't see anywhere else where she can sleep but...

 

Oh btw, I went to a book fair last week and there were some teenage girls asking the salesguy for recommendations and after he finished giving them I totally shoved this book in their faces. There wasn't anything wrong with the other books except they weren't A Girl Named Digit.

Review: The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

Title: The Unquiet
Author: Jeannine Garsee
Expected publication: July 17th 2012 by Bloomsbury
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depo
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I was so surprised by this book, I started with the idea that this was a contemporary read (I love Contemps!) but it turned out to be more than that, it was paranormal and fantasy and a lot of things mixed in a bowl of awesome.

Rinn Jacobs is on medication because of bipolarity disorder (which by itself is such a complex illness) so that was definitely an interesting point for me. Rinn was part of the unfortunate incident where her beloved Grandma was killed, she of course felt very guilty so she tried to kill herself.

So as part of the treatment for her depression, suicidal thoughts and bipolarity; Rinn’s mom moves them away, to the tiny town where she grew up. But it doesn’t turn out the way she wanted it and now Rinn’s illness is getting worse or are the allegations of the evil entity a real thing?

That’s one of the most interesting concepts on this book. Are there such things as ghosts? Is it all in Rinn’s head? Would someone believe her theories? One thing cannot be denied, though; people are suddenly dying, horrible deaths that shock the whole town and that are difficult to understand.

I loved Rinn. That girl is as tough as nails, yes she might be sick but she’s not going to take shizz from anyone that wants to mess up with her. Most importantly, she believes in herself, of course she has some doubts about all the things she’s going through but she is not afraid to take chances and put herself at risk to find out some answers. The depth in her character blew me away, I didn’t expect her to be so likable (don’t judge me for thinking she was going to be all like: “I’m so bad, I hate myself, I should die”, she has some moments though but nothing annoying).

Also the guy she meets in this new town? He’s name is Nate, and he is amazeballs too. Nate is Rinn’s neighbor, and he’s a gentleman. I love him, I love the way he treated Rinn, not like she was sick but like he was utterly in love with her personality and charms. I was thrilled that he knew from the beginning about Rinn’s bipolarity and he didn’t run away.

Oh and every other character in this book is great aswell. They all show a 3-D realness and sport their own personality. And while I also really liked Rinn’s others friends, Tasha and Meg and Dino and Cecilia, and even Lacy, they were all a broad group that added different things to the table, all in all I thought they represented well the variety of high schoolers.

Dude, the mystery was killing me! Just when I thought I had everything figured out, something would happen and I’d be all like “hmm nope, opposite direction”. It was a thrill ride! Lots of twists that I did not see coming, and lots of chill inducing moments. The feeling and the intensity in all of the scenes make up for an amazing book that I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy.

Review: Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Title: Such a Rush
Author: Jennifer Echols
Published July 10th 2012 by MTV Books
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depo
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Amazing is not a strong enough word to describe this book, but all things considered I would say it’s the most fitting. Jenn Echols has delivered another great book that will sure make it to lots of people favorites list. Such a Rush is everything you hope a book can be: appealing characters, complex romance, fast paced and nail-biting drama.

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve been waiting for this book, but I tell you this: it was a long time, and everytime Ms. Echols talked about it I swear my toes curled; well, it was actually 1000x better than I hoped. How can you go wrong with such an interesting line of events and an equally interesting line of people?

Leah Jones is the book narrator. At the beginning, she’s only 14, just moved to a trailer park next to a tiny small-town airport where she gets a job answering the phone and pumping gas for airplanes. Leah loves airplanes, so she saves up money for a flying lesson given by a local man, Mr. Hall, who runs a banner towing business. Mr. Hall has three boys, Jake the oldest flies a plane for the army, and twins Alec and Grayson are Leah’s age and they both want to be pilots too. The three sons are fun, adventurous, intense and panty-dropping handsome, from what Leah can tell from the distance, that is; she has never been close with them. But she watches them and wishes they would notice her, Grayson especially, the adrenaline junkie on whom she has developed a big crush.

When Jake gets killed in Afghanistan, Mr. Hall’s heart can’t take it, and soon he dies too. Leah is crushed; Mr. Hall was her was her friend, not to mention her only hope of ever becoming a pilot, because he had offered her a job at his banner towing business. But surprisingly, the twins come back to town to try to get the business going again. Even though Leah’s always liked the boys, they didn’t seem to like her at all, so she can’t believe Grayson, the black sheep of the family, is making her fulfill the contract she made with his dad about flying a plane for him. Leah’s not sure she can trust Grayson, but he has something on her, so she must do what he says or her dream of becoming a pilot won’t ever come true.

I hate love triangles, but the one in this book is kind of a love-triangle but not, you’ll see what I mean when you read it but I can assure you, you won’t be bothered by it, you will be too absorbed in the details of the story to even start to realize it’s a love triangle. I just love it when a book has an invisible hand coming out of it that takes me by the neck and doesn’t let go, that’s Such a Rush for you. It’s completely engrossing and it will have you at the edge of your seat. It’s so amazing to see how people can develop characters that are this deep, relationships that are so intricate a cobweb would be jealous.

Review: This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Title: This Is Not a Test
Author: Courtney Summers
Published June 19th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin
Goodreads | The Book Depository | Amazon
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Attention Please, we interrupt this program, with some disturbing news, world-wide evacuation, we're going to lose, they've pulverized our nation...

This Is Not A Test has been on the back of my mind for a long, long time. Ever since I first heard Courtney was writing this book, I kept thinking of the levels of awesome it could reach. The waiting was long and cruel, and everyone seemed to have read it already. My heart couldn’t take it much longer, and then suddenly the day was here. I DEVOURED THIS BOOK. And it’s been at the back of my mind ever since.

Since I was already a fan of Courtney, I knew what I was getting into but still, nothing can prepare you to the punch in the gut this book is. For real, it is an epic punch in the gut that extends for pages and pages of heartbreaking goodness. The story is simple enough: 6 teenagers are trapped in a high school building after escaped what seemed to be the end of the world as we know it. That’s the beauty of this book, simple story, incredibly complex characters.

Sloane Price is our main character; the end of the world seems to be happening the same day she chose to end her life. Bold and ironic, I was hooked. While everyone else is fighting to survive she is looking for a way to give up.

The rest of the cast is amazing too, these teenagers add so much to the story, each shining their own light.

·        Cary. He is the “leader” of the group, well for some of them, because after what happened at the start of this whole revolution, some members of the group want him gone for good.

·         Rhys. The careless guy that spend his high school days smoking at the back of the building. His locker was across from Sloane’s, and he has taken her under his wing.

·         Trace & Grace. Twins. They lost their parents and didn’t seem to recover from the blow, but they still have each other, that’s a thousand times more than any of the other teens have.

·         Harrison. No one knew him from “before”. He is a freshman that only seems to be dead weight. He cries a lot.

Each of these characters has their own personality, their own story, and their own uniqueness that made it impossible to confuse them. Each of them teaches you a different side of life, and makes you question what you would have done in their place.

I don’t want to say more, because it’s better if you experience this book going without knowing too much before. I can only say that it’s a sad yet hopeful ride. I loved the thrill I got all throughout and I loved the characters too much. Same beautiful prose that Courtney is known for, and perfect unraveling of an incredible story. I wish it hadn’t end!

I didn't see this coming.

A much needed spark of love.

We found love in a hopeless place (8)

On a sidenote: I loved this book, it was spectacular; however, it didn’t reach the level of love I thought it would. Some Girls Are & Cracked Up To Be are still my first and second in the Courtney Summers rank. Then Fall for Anything & this one tie for third.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts on it? Please share ;)