Review: Hold Me Like A Breath (Once Upon A Crime Family #1) by Tiffany Schmidt

Book Title:  Hold Me Like A Breath

Author: Tiffany Schmidt

Published Date: May 19th, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's USA

Genre: YA Retelling

Series: Book One in Once Upon A Crime Family series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Penelope Landlow has grown up with the knowledge that almost anything can be bought or sold—including body parts. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families that control the black market for organ transplants.

Penelope’s surrounded by all the suffocating privilege and protection her family can provide, but they can't protect her from the autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise so easily.

And in her family's line of work no one can be safe forever.

All Penelope has ever wanted is freedom and independence. But when she’s caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence, she learns that her wishes come with casualties, that betrayal hurts worse than bruises, that love is a risk worth taking . . . and maybe she’s not as fragile as everyone thinks.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from Bloomsbury Children's in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I fell in love with the cover back in December when I was watching Bloomsbury's virtual event. It was a cover that stood out to me even days later. The synopsis also stood out to me because organ donation is one of the things I care a lot about and the idea that there is a black market for them is so interesting to me. There is a significant shortage of organ donors, so of course desperate people have to do desperate things.

Like buy a much needed organ off the black market.

That's where the Landlow's, Zhu's & Vickers' families come in. These three families control the black market.

This story is about Penelope Landlow. I liked her a lot in the beginning of the book. I could tell how frustrated she was with her life and the restrictions placed on her. I would have probably gone crazy myself if I were in her situation. I loved that she was close to her brother Carter, and her brother's friend Garrett. It was obvious early on that she liked Garrett and that the feeling was mutual.

As the book continued, I was expecting to be pulled deeper and deeper into this world, but I really wasn't. Things happened and then more things happened and before I knew it Penelope was on her own. I was expecting to keep liking her, but I wasn't fond of the decisions she was making. I wanted her to reach out to the one guy she claimed she wanted to see, but instead she was waiting on him to find her.

But this guy didn't know she was alive and she knew that. Was he supposed to just know that she was't dead?

Making questionable decisions is so common with teenagers that I didn't fault Penelope. As far as main characters go, I liked her and I was curious to see what would happen next.

It was the insta-love with Char that really drove me insane. I don't like insta-love, never have and I could not understand why Penelope was so interested in him. He didn't excite me, there was no chemistry between then. I actually found him to be quite boring and un-swoony. I think that was one of my issues.

Along with not liking Penelope's love interest, I didn't feel like the other secondary characters were developed well. I felt like there could have been better character development and I would have enjoyed the book much more than I did. Poor character development can ruin a book for me, and in the case of this book, I think that was my biggest issue.

But the ending was interesting and it left me quite curious as to what was going to happen to these characters next. I have a feeling things are far from over.

Unfortunately I ended up being pretty "meh" on the book overall. I am unsure if I will continue the series, but I most likely will because that ending was very interesting. I was so looking forward to this book and I hate that I was so disappointed in this book overall. I am going to give it 3 stars. It wasn't a terrible book, it was just a book that didn't work well for me.

Review: Apple & Rain by Sarah Crossan

Book Title: Apple & Rain

Author: Sarah Crossan

Published Date: May 12th, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's USA

Genre: YA Contemporary

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Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads

When Apple's mother returns after eleven years of absence, Apple feels almost whole again. In order to heal completely, her mother will have to answer one burning question: Why did she abandon her? But just like the stormy Christmas Eve when she left, her mother's homecoming is bittersweet. It's only when Apple meets her younger sister, Rain—someone more lost than she is— that she begins to see things for how they really are, allowing Apple to discover something that might help her to feel truly whole again.

From the author of the acclaimed The Weight of Water comes a beautifully-crafted, moving novel about family, betrayal, and the ultimate path to healing.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from Bloomsbury Children's USA in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

When I first saw the synopsis for Apple & Rain, I was excited and hopeful. Sister stories are some of my favorite things, and I was hoping I'd love the book as much as I loved the cover. Unfortunately I spent the majority of the book metaphorically banging my head against a wall. These characters all frustrated me in varying degrees.

Apple wanted her mom to come back. She held her mom up on this pedestal. Even when she did come back and make some extremely questionable decisions, it took a long time for Apple to even realize that just because her mom was back didn't mean everything was perfect. Apple was a very frustrating character, but she was also the one who had the best character arc. By the time the book ends, she realizes that her mom isn't perfect and that her grandmother was more of a mom to her than her own mom.

I felt terrible for Rain. Clearly she had a lot of problems and I hated how her mom handled them. Yeah she carried around a baby doll, who she swore was a real baby. Most moms would have been extremely concerned about that and would have done anything to get her the help she needed. Yet, Rain and Apple's mom didn't give a crap. All she cared about was her career and the parties she would have (which involved plying her oldest underage daughter with alcohol)

Apple and Rain's mom, Annie, was incredibly selfish. She didn't give a crap about how Apple felt about anything. She would randomly pull Apple out of school for the hell of it, or even to babysit Rain while she went on auditions. So instead of being selfless and focusing on what her daughters needed, Annie focused on herself. Her career seemed to be all that mattered to her. It was utterly infuriating.

As for Nan, Egan and Del and the other secondary characters, they were woefully underdeveloped, which bummed me out. I wanted to know more about them, particularly Del. I thought there was a lot more to him than met the eye.

The book definitely improved by the ending, and in fact I was able to bump it up one full star. I was excited about that because I had felt so frustrated by the book so far. I am definitely bummed that this wasn't an emotional read like I was expecting. I didn't laugh or cry at all and I think that was simply because I didn't connect with the characters. I'll be giving this book 3 stars.

Review: Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin

Book Title: Denton Little's Deathdate

Author: Lance Rubin

Published Date: April 14th, 2015

Publisher: Random House Children's

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

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Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Fans of John Green and Matthew Quick: Get ready to die laughing.

Denton Little's Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day they will die. For 17-year-old Denton Little, that's tomorrow, the day of his senior prom.

Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's hostile sister. Though he's not totally sure. See: first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters…. Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

Debut author Lance Rubin takes us on a fast, furious, and outrageously funny ride through the last hours of a teenager's life as he searches for love, meaning, answers, and (just maybe) a way to live on.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Random House Children's via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I don't know about you, but I've always been morbidly curious about death. I gotta say that if I got to find out when I was going to die, I'd be relieved. I mean as of right now, we don't know when our time will come. So, in that way, I was envious of everyone living in Denton's world. They all knew when they'd die.

The beginning of the story started off really interesting. We meet Denton the day before his deathday where he will attend his funeral and then the sitting, where everyone basically sits around and waits for the person to keel over.

Quickly, we realize that there's a lot of drama going on. Apparently Denton had sex the night before, for the first time. That in itself isn't drama filled, but the fact that it was with his best friend's sister is. Denton's been dating the same girl for awhile, but she isn't the one he had sex with. So there ya go, typical teenage drama right from the start.

Denton is quirky and unique, but as the book goes on, things continue to go from just odd, to absolutely outrageous, and inconceivable. Normally reading books about how shit hits the fan unexpectedly is at least mildly interesting to me. But this time it was just too much and too fast. I barely got over one surprise in the book before another one showed up. 

I liked Denton, his girlfriend and his best friend, they were usually pretty funny, and to be honest, they saved the book for me. The other characters felt very flat to me, which really bummed me out because that tells me the author didn't flesh them out enough.

The pacing was very uneven. Sometimes things would be going at a decent pace and then shit would hit the fan and it would speed up, only to slow back down a chapter or two later. I wouldn't say this was a bad book, but I was overall very indifferent to it. So I'm going to give this book 3 stars. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book.

Review: Dead to Me by Mary McCoy

Book Title: Dead to Me

Author: Mary McCoy

Published Date: March 3rd, 2015

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Genre: YA Historical

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Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

LA Confidential for the YA audience. This alluring noir YA mystery with a Golden Age Hollywood backdrop will keep you guessing until the last page.

"Don't believe anything they say."

Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace. Alice spent four years waiting and wondering when the impossibly glamorous sister she idolized would return to her--and what their Hollywood-insider parents had done to drive her away.

When Annie does turn up, the blond, broken stranger lying in a coma has no answers for her. But Alice isn't a kid anymore, and this time she won't let anything stand between her and the truth, no matter how ugly. The search for those who beat Annie and left her for dead leads Alice into a treacherous world of tough-talking private eyes, psychopathic movie stars, and troubled starlets--and onto the trail of a young runaway who is the sole witness to an unspeakable crime. What this girl knows could shut down a criminal syndicate and put Annie's attacker behind bars--if Alice can find her first. And she isn't the only one looking

Evoking classic film noir, debut novelist Mary McCoy brings the dangerous glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age to life, where the most decadent parties can be the deadliest, and no drive into the sunset can erase the crimes of past.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Disney-Hyperion via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book intrigued me right from the start. From the moment I saw it on Netgalley, I wanted to read this book. It was kinda out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to give it a shot. It was a quick read, but unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of it.

I need to talk about the pacing first because that was my biggest issue with this book. It started off really well. I really liked it and Alice was interesting to me. I wanted to see how things played out with her and her sister. Sister stories are usually some of my favorite things. Especially if they are done well, which I initially felt this one was.

Unfortunately around 25% the pacing slowed down considerably and I started getting really frustrated with what Alice was doing. I started to question everything she was doing because she wasn't being smart about things. Especially when she started to uncover things about what her sister had been into while she was gone. She was making stupid decisions, and I gotta say that if it was MY sister in the hospital, nothing would have pulled me away from her. 

The pacing sped up a bit around the halfway point of the book, and for the rest of the book, the pace was very jerky. There were fast paced moments here and there, but those were vastly outnumbered by slow paced, boring parts of the book.

There were too many characters to keep track of and I don't feel like they were fleshed out well at all. I struggled to care about any of them, including Annie. If there had been less characters, I feel like they could have been fleshed out so much better.

So all in all, this book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing either. I was left feeling kind of meh about it. That really bummed me out as I had high hopes for this book. I'll be giving this book 3 stars. I am unsure as to whether or not I would recommend it because I seem to be in the minority with this book. So many other people loved it, but not me.

Review: Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman

Book Title: Alex As Well

Author: Alyssa Brugman

Published Date: January 20th, 2015

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.

Genre: YA Contemporary 

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Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Alex is ready for things to change, in a big way. Everyone seems to think she’s a boy, but for Alex the whole boy/girl thing isn’t as simple as either/or, and when she decides girl is closer to the truth, no one knows how to react, least of all her parents. Undeterred, Alex begins to create a new identity for herself: ditching one school, enrolling in another, and throwing out most of her clothes. But the other Alex—the boy Alex—has a lot to say about that. Heartbreaking and droll in equal measures, Alex As Well is a brilliantly told story of exploring gender and sexuality, navigating friendships, and finding a place to belong.

Disclaimer: I got this e-ARC from Henry Holt & Co. via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I was really, really excited about this book and I had high hopes for it, but I ended up being really ambivalent to it which really disappointed me. I wasn't sure if this would be a straight up transgender story or if it was due to a congenital issue. I could never imagine feeling like I was born in the wrong body so I knew I wouldn't be able to relate to Alex the way others could, but I really wanted to see how it turned out for him.

Her parents really were crappy. I know it probably wasn't easy for them when Alex began dressing in women's clothes and professing that he was a girl, but instead of working to support what their child wanted, they were holding on to the boy that he was made into as an infant. I so wanted his parents to get over it and embrace the child that they did have.

The best part of the book was Alex herself. She was equal parts awesome and brave. She was going through so much and it hurt me that she had no one else she could talk to about this. Belonging is such a big deal, especially in cases like this, and Alex definitely struggled with the desire to belong. She didn't feel like she belonged anywhere and it was difficult for me to read about that, because I too struggled with not really belonging anywhere.

I am pretty ambivalent about this book. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. Unfortunately Alex was not enough for me to enjoy the book. So I'm giving it 3 stars. I think I would recommend it though, as it was an important read for many reasons.

Review: The Memory Key by Liana Liu

Book Title: The Memory Key

Author: Liana Liu

Published Date: March 3rd, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: YA Science Fiction

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Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In a five-minutes-into-the-future world, a bereaved daughter must choose between losing memories of her mother to the haze of time and the reality-distorting, visceral pain of complete, perfect recall.


Lora Mint is determined not to forget.

Though her mother’s been dead for five years, Lora struggles to remember every detail about her—most importantly, the specific events that occurred the night she sped off in her car, never to return.

But in a world ravaged by Vergets disease, a viral form of Alzheimer’s, that isn’t easy. Usually Lora is aided by her memory key, a standard-issue chip embedded in her brain that preserves memories just the way a human brain would. Then a minor accident damages Lora’s key, and her memories go haywire. Suddenly Lora remembers a moment from the night of her mother’s disappearance that indicates her death was no accident. Can she trust these formerly forgotten memories? Or is her ability to remember every painful part of her past driving her slowly mad—burying the truth forever?

Lora’s longing for her lost mother and journey to patch up her broken memories is filled with authentic and poignant emotion. Her race to uncover the truth is a twisty ride. In the end, Liana Liu’s story will spark topical conversations about memory and privacy in a world that is reliant on increasingly invasive forms of technology.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book had a lot of potential to be something truly thought provoking and interesting, and for the most part, I was definitely intrigued and interested in what was going on and what Lora remembered about her mother.

The idea of Verget's being a viral form of Alzheimer's was very interesting to me. I wasn't exactly sure how it would work, but I was definitely fascinated by the possibility of it. We think of Alzheimer's as something that old people get, and that there's no real virus or bacteria that causes it. Having Verget's changes all that.

Lora has never doubted the fact that her mother died in a car crash on her way to work. That's what she's always believed and she's trusted her father and Aunt Austin to have told her the truth about everything. When she gets a minor injury though, things go haywire and suddenly she's forced to examine the idea that her mother's death was no accident and that it was probably caused by the people at Keep Corp.

Then the questions continue to fly around her head, and she wonders who she can trust? Can she trust her longtime best friend Wendy and her brother, Tim, who Lora has had a crush on for years. Can she trust the new boy, Raul? Can she even trust her family? As the book continues on, she gets answers questions.

This book really could have been awesome if it weren't for the very choppy pace of the book. The first 50% I found to be really slow and I nearly decided not to finish it. I was intrigued, but I wasn't intrigued enough. Now the 2nd half of the book was a little better for me, but it was also increasingly choppy. Some parts were really intriguing and some parts were very boring which lead me to skim the book a little bit.

My feelings about this book are very conflicted. It wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't read it again. It was intriguing for a one time read. So I'm going to give it 3 stars. Maybe that's a bit lazy, but I can't give it anything else because it doesn't fit any other rating. I would recommend it because the science fiction parts are interesting, but if you aren't patient or if you hate books that are very choppy, then I'd skip it.

Review: Every Ugly Word by Aimee L. Salter

Book Title: Every Ugly Word

Author: Aimee L. Salter

Published Date: July 29th, 2014

Publisher: Alloy Entertainment

Genre: YA Contemporary

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Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

 When seventeen-year-old Ashley Watson walks through the halls of her high school bullies taunt and shove her. She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.

Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

Disclaimer: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I'm not even sure how I feel about this book. Was I enjoying it and was I excited to pick it back up whenever I could? Yes. Did it confuse me and frustrate me to the point of wanting to yell at the book? Again, that's a yes. 

This book massively confused me. The timeline would jump from present to past and then back to the present again. I was never sure if Older Me was something Ashley really saw or was she exhibiting symptoms of psychosis that no one caught. I was never really sure if the way her mother treated her was really what happened or if it was just Ashley's perception. 

I was never really sure about Matt either. He was inconsistent, not swoon-worthy and I never felt romantic sparks between him and Ashley. I actually felt them more with Dex, even though Dex turned out to be a ginormous creep. I didn't like how Matt continually tried to force Ashley to hang out with his friends, the very friends who tormented Ashley every single day. He didn't seem to care much about her feelings. He was being selfish and aggravating.

The ending was also confusing. I didn't know what was happening. I still didn't know if Older Me was real or a figment of Ashley's imagination. I didn't doubt that she went through the incident as she did have the scars to show for it. I really did wish the epilogue was longer as I don't feel like I got any of my questions answered at all. I'm going to go against my initial instinct and give the book 3 stars. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. As I reflect on this book, I realize that I was really confused by this entire book.

Review: The Fine Art of Pretending (The Fine Art of Pretending #1) by Rachel Harris

Book Title: The Fine Art of Pretending

Author: Rachel Harris

Published Date: September 30th, 2014

Publisher: Spencer Hill Contemporary

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Series: Book one in The Fine Art of Pretending series.

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you're friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date—Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy’s biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school’s second biggest hottie, and now Aly’s pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from “funny friend” to “tempting vixen” is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable “break up” leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can’t explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Spencer Hill Contemporary via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Okay, so by now you guys should know that I generally don't do light and fluffy. Light and fluffy normally bores me and I usually need depth to really enjoy the story. However, I had seen this cover awhile back and I fell in love with the cover. So when I saw it up on NetGalley, I decided to give it a shot, hoping desperately that I wouldn't be disappointed.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. One of the biggest predictors of whether or not I'll like a book is how the character development is. If it's strong and I see a great character arc with tons of growth and I know what makes these characters tick, I'll like the book. Unfortunately, with this book, the lackuster character development, particularly for Aly, was what ruined the book for me.

I think Gabi had the right idea here. She was the only sensible girl who insisted on questioning Aly's reasons for doing it. Gabi knew that changing your whole look just so guys will see you in a different light was insane. Yet Aly had been so sick of watching the boys pass her over for some other hottie, that Gabi's words didn't sink in like they should have.

Look, I'm not hating on Aly. Really, I'm not. I remember how it felt in high school to have all the boys see you as just a friend. It was incredibly hard and it does do a number on your self esteem when you see all the hot girls having dates constantly and no guy will even look your way. It sucks. I think it was just hard for me to relate to her as I would have never changed myself for a guy. When I was in high school (10+ years ago) I was definitely a tomboy and boys generally didn't look my way. Was it hard? Yes, of course it was, but it never occurred to me to change myself just so boys would like me.

I never really felt "it" between Aly and Brandon. They didn't sizzle off my Kindle like I was hoping they would. In romance books, chemistry is key and I just never felt like Aly and Brandon really had chemistry. I did like the tension between them, but I definitely felt like the chemistry was lacking between the two of them. Now friendship chemistry was absolutely there and I felt like they would have made better friends than romantic partners.

All in all, this book wasn't bad, but it wasn't one I enjoyed either. I'm pretty indifferent to it actually, which really bums me out. The lackluster character development and the romantic chemistry were both major disappointments to me. For these reasons, I have to give the book 3 stars. I would recommend this book to a younger reader. I think the tone of this book is for a younger reader. I was never able to connect with it.

Review: Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

Book Title: Never Knowing

Author: Chevy Stevens

Publish Date: July 5th, 2011

Publisher: St. Martins Press

Genre: Adult Mystery

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The second novel by Chevy Stevens, author of bestseller STILL MISSING.

At thirty-three Sara Gallagher is finally happy. Her antique furniture restoration business is taking off and she’s engaged to a wonderful man. But there’s one big question that still haunts her — who are her birth parents? Sara is finally ready to find out. 

Sara’s birth mother rejects her—again. Then she discovers her biological father is an infamous killer who’s been hunting women every summer for almost forty years. Sara tries to come to terms with her horrifying parentage — and her fears that she’s inherited more than his looks — with her therapist, Nadine, who we first met in "Still Missing." But soon Sara realizes the only thing worse than finding out your father is a killer is him finding out about you. 

Some questions are better left unanswered. 

"Never knowing" is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand where she comes from. That is, if she can survive…

Disclaimer: I got this book from the library.

Review:

I was really excited about this book when I first started it, but that excitement waned as I read the book which really bummed me out. I was excited about this book because I love stories about adoption. Plus I knew very little about my own father so I wanted to see how Sara's story played out.

I feel like I've said this multiple times recently, but I don't have to like the characters in order to like the book. However, Sara was obnoxious. I get wanting to know about your biological parents. I get wanting to know where you came from, but clearly Sara's birth-mother didn't want to talk to her and after finding out that her father was the infamous Campsite Killer, Sara should have just dropped it. 

I found her to be very selfish and I completely agreed with Evan, her fiance, the entire book. She didn't know how to just let it go. She put her fiance in danger, she put her daughter in danger. Not cool and she definitely was not protecting Ally even though she swore up and down that protecting Ally was her priority.

The character development was lacking pretty much across the board, which bummed me out.  as I put very high emphasis on wanting well developed characters. The most well developed character I thought was Ally. It's hard for children to be well developed characters in books, but that was one thing that Stevens did well in this book.

The pacing was great and I did enjoy the ending of the book. It was exactly how I would have ended the book if I were Stevens. However the character development and most specifically, Sara's actions throughout the entire book really ruined the book for me. So that is why I am going to have to give the book 3 stars.I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it.

Review: That Night by Chevy Stevens

Book Title: That Night

Author: Chevy Stevens

Publish Date: June 17th, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre: Thriller

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

As a teenager, Toni Murphy had a life full of typical adolescent complications: a boyfriend she adored, a younger sister she couldn't relate to, a strained relationship with her parents, and classmates who seemed hell-bent on making her life miserable. Things weren't easy, but Toni could never have predicted how horrific they would become until her younger sister was brutally murdered one summer night. 

Toni and her boyfriend, Ryan, were convicted of the murder and sent to prison.

Now thirty-four, Toni is out on parole and back in her hometown, struggling to adjust to a new life on the outside. Prison changed her, hardened her, and she’s doing everything in her power to avoid violating her parole and going back. This means having absolutely no contact with Ryan, avoiding fellow parolees looking to pick fights, and steering clear of trouble in all its forms. But nothing is making that easy—not Ryan, who is convinced he can figure out the truth; not her mother, who doubts Toni's innocence; and certainly not the group of women who made Toni's life hell in high school and may have darker secrets than anyone realizes. No matter how hard she tries, ignoring her old life to start a new one is impossible. Before Toni can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out what really happened that night.

But the truth might be the most terrifying thing of all.

Disclaimer: I received this print ARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I was unbelievably excited to receive an ARC of this book. I fell in love with Chevy Stevens' books last summer so I was eagerly anticipating her newest book. I got a major surprise when I got a package from St. Martin's Press with this book inside of it. I hadn't emailed a request or anything, so it really was a shock to get it.

The first 80 pages were really slow and I was upset about that because it was a far cry from her previous books that had just jumped right into the twists and turns. This book spent more time setting the scene. Actually the readers were being told too different scenes. Toni's jail time and what happened before she ended up in jail. Thankfully, it was written so that there was no confusion on the timelines. I knew exactly where she was in each of the flashbacks.

I felt it hard to drum up any sort of sympathy for Toni. Plus I really didn't like Ryan either. I actually liked Nicole best, even though we didn't get to see much of her. Shauna was an awful girl. Both in the flashbacks and in present day.I did get the feeling that Shauna was the ringleader of the "Mean Girls" and that the other girls were probably afraid of her.

I did feel a bit of sympathy when it came to Toni's parents.I mean, holy crap, her mom was awful to her and I actually found myself defending Toni when it came to her mom. I mean, yes it's got to be awful to have your youngest daughter murdered, but why turn your back on your oldest daughter? I mean favoritism was clearly shown in this book and that made me angry.

Ryan was so underdeveloped as a character. I wanted to know more about him, his time in prison and who he thought really murdered his girlfriend's little sister. I think Ryan really got the short end of the stick when it comes to character development. We only heard about Toni's time in jail, when I know that Ryan's imprisonment must have been even harder.

Ashley's appearance felt random. I mean, I know how she was supposed to be connected to the story, but it felt too convenient. I liked her, but I didn't really understand why she was necessary to the story. At times, it kind of felt like she was an afterthought.

The twist at the end seemed cliched. It felt like it was a twist that I had seen in a dozen other thriller books. So I wasn't shocked or surprised by it. Actually I was annoyed that the author chose to make this the twist, rather than think outside the box. So I'll be giving this book 3 stars. It wasn't terrible, but it definitely was not her best book.

Review: Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana

Book Title: Summer Of Yesterday

Author: Gaby Triana

Release Date: July 8th, 2014

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre: YA

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Link: Amazon 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Back to the Future meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Haley’s summer vacation takes a turn for the retro in this totally rad romantic fantasy.

Summer officially sucks. Thanks to a stupid seizure she had a few months earlier, Haley’s stuck going on vacation with her dad and his new family to Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead of enjoying the last session of summer camp back home with her friends. Fort Wilderness holds lots of childhood memories for her father, but surely nothing for Haley. But then a new seizure triggers something she’s never before experienced—time travel—and she ends up in River Country, the campground’s long-abandoned water park, during its heyday.

The year? 1982.

And there—with its amusing fashion, “oldies” music, and primitive technology—she runs into familiar faces: teenage Dad and Mom before they’d even met. Somehow, Haley must find her way back to the twenty-first century before her present-day parents anguish over her disappearance, a difficult feat now that she’s met Jason, one of the park’s summer residents and employees, who takes the strangely dressed stowaway under his wing.

Seizures aside, Haley’s used to controlling her life, and she has no idea how to deal with this dilemma. How can she be falling for a boy whose future she can’t share?

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Simon Pulse via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I love a good time traveling story and it's even better when it's a YA time travel story. Initially Haley bothered me. A lot. Her attitude was terrible and I felt sympathy for her dad & stepmom who had to deal with her. Seizures are a big deal and while I can understand Haley's reluctance, I can also understand how her dad wants to keep a close eye on her.

When she travels back in time, everything is different. All the things that she has grown up with don't even exist. There is no Google, no iPhone or any of the technology that she has always known. Stranger yet, she meets her parents the summer they fell in love. But it's cutie Jason who makes the most impact on her. He takes her under his wing,and doesn't label her crazy when she drops a bombshell on him.

Yet, I didn't feel the chemistry between Jason and Haley. Their kisses didn't make my Kindle sizzle like I was hoping they would. Maybe it's because I never completely warmed up to Haley. I ended up liking her a little bit, but I didn't love her. I think more character development for Haley would have helped.

The plot was jerky. In some places it was slower than a turtle and in others, it zoomed by like a racehorse. I think a little extra time to work out the pacing would definitely have been beneficial to the story.

The ending was confusing too. I don't think the author was really committed to the end of the story as it felt rushed and unfinished.There was one last bombshell at the end that surprised me, but didn't shock me or fill me with feels.

So I'm kinda iffy on this one. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Between an underdeveloped protagonist and a rough ending & a jerky paced plot, I'm giving this book 3 stars. Maybe someone else will like it, it just wasn't one of my favorites.

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Matheiu

Book Title: The Truth About Alice

Author: Jennifer Matheiu

Release Date: June 3rd, 2014

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Genre: YA/Contemporary

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Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

Disclaimer: I received this e-galley from Macmillan via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

Ever have really high hopes for a book and then you read it and find yourself really bummed by a lot of parts in the book? Well that was me with this book. I was about 40% of the way through it and I was so frustrated and angry at so many characters. These characters thought more about being popular than about being a good friend.I mean all of these rumors were swirling around Alice and not once did these kids stand up and stop the rumors. Nope they continued to trash her and spread increasingly horrible rumors about her.

It absolutely killed me to see that no one was willing to forgo their popularity to stand by Alice. It was heartbreaking to see that the only one who was on her side was nerdy Kurt. He was on her side from the beginning. Not because he wanted to sleep with her but because he knew she needed someone to be on her side.

Ugh Kelsie was a terrible person & friend. She valued popularity over friendship. I mean I get it, in high school popularity is the ultimate goal but I was so frustrated by her actions (she was the one who bothered me most) I really wanted her to have some character development but she didn't really. I mean she sort of did, but the author kind of half-assed it at the end.

I loved Kurt and his interactions with Alice were so sincere and they weren't forced at all. They were my favorite part of the book and honestly the only reason that this book wasn't a total miss with me. His friendship was exactly what Alice needed so she would know that she still had friends. Yes Kurt had his secrets and yes he didn't exactly tell her them at the right time,but he did tell her.

I do think Alice may have forgiven him just a tad bit too quickly. I mean the secret that Kurt had was a major one and it threatened to turn everything around. Yet, Kurt didn't say anything sooner. If he had, Alice would have gotten her life back a lot sooner.So I was a little mad at Kurt for that.

What really made me mad was the bathroom stall where people would just write terrible things about Alice. Things that were totally untrue, but definitely hurtful. As a former victim of bullying, that part was really hard to read.Bullies tear other people down because they want to feel better about themselves. That's not the way to do it people. 

Overall I didn't love the story but I didn't hate it either. Alice was a big plus in the book but she wasn't in it enough which is why I didn't enjoy a lot of it. Plus I really wanted her to have a voice in the story. She didn't really have a voice until the very end. I think the book would have been much stronger if they eliminated some of the other voices in the story and made more of an emphasis on Alice's story.

The character development was not as strong as I was expecting in this book which really bummed me out. The author had a chance to really go for it and I don't think she did that as well as she could have. Kurt and Alice were my favorite parts of the book (and the only two characters that I actually liked) So this book will be getting 3 stars from me.

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Book Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Release Date: May 13th, 2014

Publisher: Delecorte Press

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This book has been very highly regarded among my fellow bloggers so when I was granted access to this title, I was excited. I had very high hopes for this book. Upon finishing it, I felt let down in a big way.It wasn't this amazing book that had reduced me to tears. It was a pretty "meh" book for me overall.

From the beginning, I knew that this book was going to be different. I hated the writing style. It was lyrical and it bored me. I thought the male love interest was a colossal jerk and I couldn't understand what Cady saw in him. Also I really didn't like Cady all that much. At times, I felt sympathy for her, but I never really warmed up to her the way I wanted to.

Through the first 70% of the book, I was bored. It seemed like the book was too long for not much to happen. Maybe it had to do with the insanely slow moving plot that only picked up in the last 30% of the book. Maybe it had to do with the characters. There seemed to be too many of them and not enough time was devoted to really developing them the way I would have liked.

Now the last 30% was like someone completely different wrote the book. The writing was less lyrical and more straightforward and the feels were there in a way that they hadn't been in the first seventy percent. It was like it was a totally new book. That was really disconcerting to me.This book lacked fluidity throughout.

I'll admit that in the last 30% I teared up. I didn't full on sob like a baby, but tears were produced. In the interest of not spoiling things, that's all I'll say about the ending. Oh and that things aren't always how they seem.

If I was rating just the first seventy percent of the book, it would get only one star. If I was rating just the last 30% of the book, it would be getting 4.5 stars. I'll average it out to three stars. I hated the first seven-tenths of the book but I loved the last three-tenths of the book.Overall I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either.However, I know many other people loved it, so some of you may as well.