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ARC Review: The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (Thanks!) Rating: 4 stars I loved the emotional rollercoaster that was  Abby Jimenez 's first book,  The Friend Zone  so I was ecstatic when my wish was granted to read the ARC of  The Happy Ever After Playlist .  This book takes place after the events of  The Friend Zone  so I would recommend you pick that book up before this one (you just get a better emotional connection to all the characters, okay?). Sloane is a lot less wacky than the main character of  The Friend Zone , Kristen. Sloane is still grieving a year after the events of the last book when a dog suddenly jumps into her convertible when she's driving. When she meets the guy who owns the dog, she finds out he's a musician and they fall in love. This book is riddled with drama as the guy's popularity surges and Sloane still tries to deal with her grief.  I think I'm officially obsessed with  Abby Jimene...

ARC Review: The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren

I received this ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (THANKS!) Rating: 5 Stars I was over the moon when I got the ARC for this book. I devour every  Christina Lauren  book I can get my hands on and when I heard this book is about people who work for a home renovation show, I jumped on this ARC so fast.   I loved both the main characters and watching them fall for each other while also managing their respective difficult bosses was super fun. They are trying to manage a PR nightmare (a famous couple who want to break up when their brand is their love life) while on a book tour. I liked seeing the disability rep in Carey's character, who has a disability involving pain in her hands and witnessing her character arc in the story was inspiring. I also liked James, who is doing a job he is overqualified for (which is #relatable for a lot of millennials).  If you loved the Netflix movie Set It Up as much as I do, you will love  The Honey-Don't Li...

ARC Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (Thanks!)  Guys, this book is so freaking WHOLESOME. There are so many scenes where the characters are baking and there were so many good pop culture references (i.e., Mean Girls, Gossip Girl, Taylor Swift). This is a YA rom-com filled with sugary descriptions and memes (yes they fall in love while making MEMES. If this isn't so 2019/20, IDK what is). It is a very sweet PG romance (if you care about the steaminess of the romance).  While this is an adorable love story, it does focus a lot on the characters figuring out what they want to do after high school. It also deals with family issues (specifically feeling like you're living in the shadow of your sibling and how to deal after a divorce).  Overall,  Tweet Cute  is a wonderful coming of age story perfect for teens today. It perfectly encaptures the current online landscape teens face while creating an adorable teen romance.

ARC Review: Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (Thanks!)  I was really loving this book while I was reading the first half but then the second half happened...  This book is about Tate, the daughter of a famous movie star who has been in hiding with her mother and grandmother since she was little. At the beginning of the book, she goes on a vacation to London with her grandmother and meets a boy. The other half of the book takes place in the present day when she is reunited with the boy after they had a falling out. Now, Tate is a movie star and working with her dad on a movie.  The first half of the book was really cute because you get to see Tate and Sam fall in love. The beginning of the book also feels like a fun travel book since Tate is exploring the tourist sites of London. Then once you get to the second half of the book, it feels like a separate book. Now you're on the set of a movie and there's all this drama because Sam hurt Tate and he'...

ARC Review: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

Rating: 3 stars. I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thank you!) Stay Sweet is a book about ice cream, friendship and feminism. The main character Amelia is tasked this summer with keeping the town's famous ice cream stand open after tragedy strikes. She has to work with the owner's nephew, a cute college boy, and struggles to maintain her friendship with her best friend.  What I really liked about this book was Amelia's emotional growth. She starts the book almost kind of whiny. Amelia doubts her ability to be a leader, doesn't think that she's very fun, and is wondering why she was chosen to be the manager of the ice cream stand. As the book progresses, Amelia discovers her passions and becomes more confident, which I really loved seeing.  I also really liked the diary entries from the owner of the ice cream when she started making ice cream during WW2. I did feel like there was a point where there were too many, but I do real...

ARC Review: The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace

Rating: 4 stars!  I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks!)  I was a bit hesitant to read this poetry collection since I wasn't thrilled with her previous work,  The Princess Saves Herself in this One . But I do want to read more poetry so I went for it and I liked  The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One a lot more.  This collection focuses a lot on feminist themes, flame similes, and the archetype of the witch/ bad girl. I found that  The Princess Saves Herself in this One   was a bit too dark for me with all the themes of cancer, rape, and body issues, whereas  The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One  did have some dark themes but the main message was empowerment. I found myself bookmarking a lot more quotes and getting the chills while reading this collection of poetry.   I just felt so empowered while reading this collection of poetry. If Katniss Everdeen read poetry, I think she would be a hardcore fangi...

ARC Review: Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen

Rating: 5 stars! I received an ARC on NetGalley. (Thanks!) I've loved every one of  Sarah Andersen 's comic collections and  Herding Cats  is no exception. They are always laugh-out-loud hilarious and relatable. Her art style is adorable and I always read these books in one sitting because I get addicted to the laughs.  Highly recommend to anyone looking to get into graphic novels. You can start with any one of  Sarah Andersen 's collections! My Reviews of: Adulthood is a Myth Big Mushy Happy Lump Save Save

ARC Review: American Panda by Gloria Chao

Rating: 4.5 stars.  I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks!) I will admit, this book did stress me out a ton. Mei's life is quite stressful. She skipped a year in school, so she's a year younger than everyone else and is now starting college. Her parents want her to become a doctor but Mei loves dance and secretly dreams of running a dance school. She doesn't try to pursue this dream because her brother is a disappointment to her parents since he is going to marry an infertile girl. But when Mei meets Darren, he challenges her parents' ideas and encourages her to pursue her dreams. 

ARC Review: Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

Rating: 4.5 stars.  I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks!) I love this new wave of YA books set in college, mostly because I'm currently in university.  Emergency Contact is about these two college students who are each other's go-to person for random or deep conversation (i.e. Emergency Contact). Penny is just starting university and is distancing herself from her trying-to-be-cool mom. Sam just found out that his love-hate ex-girlfriend is pregnant. Penny and Sam meet when Sam has a panic attack and they both realize that they need a friend they can tell anything to. 

ARC Review: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

Rating: 4.5 Stars I don't read a lot of adult books. It's mostly because I'm  worried I will be bored or the language would be too overbearing. But I was too intrigued when I read the synopsis to not pick this up. Plus, I've been eyeing other  Gabrielle Zevin  books for a while now and a lot of reviewers I follow love her work. (She also writes YA which definitely helped with my decision.) Young Jane Young  is about a series of women affected by a political scandal. A twenty-year-old woman has an affair with a prominent political figure and this story tells of the effects this scandal has had on the woman herself (Aviva/Jane), her daughter (Ruby), her mother and the wife of the politician.  I have never read anything like this book and I loved every second of reading it. At first, I thought we were going to alternate POVs between Aviva and her mom, so I was a little disappointed when that didn't happen (because I loved Aviva's POV). But I got over it ...

ARC Review: Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle

Rating: 3 stars.  I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks!) Maybe I don't read enough about goblins, but this was an interesting read. Please note that this is a New Adult book, so there is some explicit sexual content. 

ARC Review: The Way It Hurts by Patty Blount

Rating: 3.5 stars.  I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (Thanks!).  This is my first  Patty Blount  book and I really liked it! The Way It Hurts  is about Elijah, who wants to take care of his sister who has special needs, and Kristen who wants to get into a competitive musical theatre program. Elijah sees Kristen in a school production of Cats and wants her to join his metal band. Kristen thinks this band could be the edge she needs to get into the previously mentioned program. But when Elijah starts a social media war that goes viral, Kristen starts to fear for her safety. 

ARC Review: The Hanging Girl by Eileen Cook

Rating: 3 stars I received an e-copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Thanks!) I've heard of this author before; she wrote With Malice . When I read the synopsis for this book and found out that the author is Canadian, I knew I had to request it on NetGalley. All in all, I did like what the author was trying to accomplish with this book but I found the end product to have fallen a bit flat.  The Hanging Girl is about Skye Thorn, a girl who needs money to move into an apartment with her high school friend in New York. Skye pretends to be a psychic to make her way through high-school. She agrees to help someone in school fake a kidnapping and keep the police investigation going with her psychic skills so that they can get the ransom money and do what they want. But it all goes wrong and Skye is stuck with the aftermath.

ARC Review: Welcome to the Slipstream by Natalka Burian

Rating: 1.5 stars.  I received an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. (Thanks!) You know that feeling you get sometimes when you are watching a foreign film? The feeling that something of the importance that is happening is a bit lost on you because you're missing that context? That's sort of how I feel about this book. I would say that this novel was definitely unique, but I just wasn't knocked off my feet by it. I'm sure some people will like it, but I just don't think the writing was for me. Welcome to the Slipstream is about Van, a girl who moves a lot because of her mother's mental illness. Van's mom is a genius, but her mental illness makes her a bit difficult for people to deal with so she constantly changes jobs. The constant in Van's life is her surrogate grandmother, who helps to keep her mother sane. They move to Vegas, where Van discovers her dream of being in a band. But when her mother goes off to a self-help cult,...