Review: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Expected Publication: September 15, 2015

Publisher: Balzer+Bray

Format: via Edelweiss

Challenges: 2015 NG/ED

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

My Thoughts

Oh the feels! I loved everything about this book! Willowdean has a special place in my heart because I can so identify with her. Like her I was “bigger” growing up and although I acted like certain things didn’t bother me when it came to guys I was self-conscious. However what I loved the most was how this wasn’t just a book about a big girl and her problems this book was about a girl who had problems just like any other teenage girl would.

We met Willowdean who is trying to cope with the aftermath of the death of her aunt. Her aunt was everything to her; she took care of her and was her second mom. She lives in a small town that is obsessed with pageants and pretty skinny girls and she feels like she doesn’t fit into that world but one day she decides to make it her mission to show everyone that it shouldn’t matter what’s on the outside but what's in the inside that matters most. It doesn’t help that she has a skinny best friend whom until recently were thicker than thieves but are now at odds. Willowdean and Ellen are pulling apart and after one awful fight don’t know if their friendship will survive this storm.

We see Willowdean fall in love with her long time crush/coworker Bo and when he returns her affections I couldn’t help but fall in love with him also. And while Willowdean is confident at times when it comes to love she doesn’t think she deserves it. She can’t understand why Bo would love and want her and I loved how Bo didn’t back down he pursued her and wanted to show her why he did and most importantly that she deserves love like everyone else. He lets her know that he’s the one that’s lucky that she loves him not the other way around. This book is one those that I instantly loved. I felt a connection and those are the ones that will always have my heart. I want everyone to read this and I dare you not to feel something. Do yourself a favor and read Dumplin’ it’s the best thing you could do.

Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Expected Publication: September 1, 2015

Publisher: Delacorte BYR

Format: via NetGalley

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW 

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house; have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My Thoughts

Oh the feels!! Yep that’s all I can say about this wonderfully written tale. No book has made me feel this way in a long time and to think I was thisclose to not reading it! Silly me!! However I am glad I did and I encourage everyone to read this if you can.

This is the tale of Maddy who is allergic to the outside world and who is all alone in her “world” she is just left with her mom, nurse and her books. She never thought of anything else until one day some new neighbors moved in next door and little did she know this one little action would change her whole world and most importantly her life.

Olly and his family move in and soon he is mesmerized by the girl next door. He doesn’t know at first why he never sees her outside but soon they exchange emails after some exchanges via their bedroom windows. Maddy for some reason feels like she can trust Olly right away and tells him that she isn’t like other people. Soon their emails are on regular basics and Maddy realizes that she is falling for him but knows that it can never lead anywhere; she knows she can never have a normal relationship with him. But none of that matters for either one of them because they can’t deny that they are falling for each other.

Olly has his own problems with a dad who is a drunk and is abusive. He is always hitting Olly and his mother and one day that action causes Maddy to do the unthinkable she bolts from her house and has to know if Olly is alright. Olly tells her to go back that he is ok and her mom pleads with her to go inside that she knows what might happen if she doesn’t. Her mother has always been so protective of Maddy, especially since it’s just the two of them after the deaths of her father and brother years ago. However after that night Maddy realizes she loves Olly too much and now that she has felt the outside world she knows she cannot live the way she did before, doing so isn’t living to her anymore.

What comes next sets off a chain reaction of things that I never saw coming. Maddy sets a plan to leave with Olly and live the time she has left with the person she loves and at least live for a bit. They set off to Hawaii and when she becomes sick she thinks that’s the end, but what happens next is something she could never imagine. I won’t spoil the rest for you but all I can say is WOW! I for one never saw the next things happening in my wildest dreams. We find out some truth and how some of them are just downright twisted and sad. I was heartbroken then mad talk about a rollercoaster of emotions! This is one book I totally recommend everyone reading. Maddy and Olly are so adorable and this read while emotional is totally sweet at the same time. I love when a read throws me for a loop and I’m so glad I took the chance on reading this one, and personally I think you should too.

Review: The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur

The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur

Published: August 4, 2015

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Format: via NetGalley

Challenges: 2015 NG/ED Challenge

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Jo has been hiding the truth about her role in her high school boyfriend’s drowning for sixteen years. Every summer, she drops her children off with her mother at the lakeside community where she spent summers growing up, but cannot bear to stay herself; everything about the lake reminds her of the guilt she feels. For her daughter Caroline, however, the lake is a precious world apart; its familiarity and sameness comforts her every year despite the changes in her life outside its bounds. At twelve years old and caught between childhood and adolescence, she longs to win her mother’s love and doesn’t understand why Jo keeps running away.

Then seven-year-old Sara Starr goes missing from the community beach. Rescue workers fail to uncover any sign of her—but instead dredge up the bones Jo hoped would never be discovered, shattering the quiet lakeside community’s tranquility. Caroline was one of the last people to see Sara alive on the beach, and feels responsible for her disappearance. She takes it upon herself to figure out what happened to the little girl. As Caroline searches for Sara, she uncovers the secrets her mother has been hiding, unraveling the very foundation of everything she knows about herself and her family. The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur is a riveting novel that is impossible to put down and hard to forget.

My Thoughts

I was really intrigued by the synopsis and this read didn’t disappoint. I loved how this story was stacked with secrets so it never made you lose interest. It centers on Jo and her family who spend summers by the lake and once a little girl drowns that sends old memories and tragedies back to the surface.

Jo’s daughter Caroline knows something isn’t right her mom has never be close to her and she knows there has to be a reason why. Her parents are consistently fighting and her father is always working but she loves her summers with her grandma by the lake but wants to know the reason why her mother never stays. One day Sara a little girl drowns and when that happens she realizes that it not only affects everyone but her mom as well which sets off Carolina’s curiosity and she is determined to find out the truth.

With a little investigation she sees that Sara’s drowning is connected in a way to her mother’s past. Jo’s boyfriend when she was young also drowned and she has never gotten over it. Who knew that the drowning of a little girl could set in motion the uncovering of the truth of a mystery over sixteen years ago. We find out what really happened all those years ago that has made Jo never want to return and not only that but some other secrets that will change her family forever.

If you love a book that’s a bit of a mystery and with a great family feel this is the book for you. This book will have you glued to the very end until every secret is revealed the only bad thing is it will have you wanting more.

Blog Tour/Review: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published: July 7, 2015

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Format: Edelweiss

Challenges: 2015 NetGalley/Edelweiss

Rating: 5/5

Buy:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-a-Million / IndieBound / Apple / Blio / Google

Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of Forever, Interrupted and After I Do comes a breathtaking new novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold—with stunningly different results.

At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.

Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?

In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.

My Thoughts

Maybe in Another Life is another winner by Taylor Jenkins Reid! This novel is unlike any book I have ever read before. We all at some point in our lives have played that “what if” game in our mind. “What if” I choose that instead of this well now in this book we see what could’ve happened.

We met Hannah who has come back home to LA after years of bouncing all around. Her parents left to England to follow her younger sister’s ballet dreams and she was left in the care of her best friend’s family. She decides to come back after living in New York a few years and instantly reunites with her ex Ethan. On her first night back old friends met and catch up and at the end of the night one decision can change Hannah’s life forever. In alternating chapters we see two versions of Hannah’s life as it plays out. In one we see the life she could’ve had if she chose to go home with Ethan. In the other we see what happens if she chose to wait and goes home with her friend Gabby.

We see that one choice can drastically change one's life and not only ours but everyone else’s. In both worlds Hannah goes through life changing decisions some good and some bad but in the end both only made her a stronger person. This book was wonderfully written and I was truly torn in which life I thought was better for Hannah. Both had their ups and downs but the constant was always love, support and family. Taylor Jenkins Reid is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and this one read just makes me love her more. If you want a great read look no further than this one I promise you won’t regret it.

    About Taylor

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author, essayist, and TV writer from Acton, Massachusetts. Her debut novel, Forever, Interrupted, has been optioned with Dakota Johnson attached to star. Her second book, After I Do, was called a "must read" by Kirkus. Her most recent novel, Maybe In Another Life has been featured in People, Cosmo, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, PopSugar, USA Today and more. In addition to her novels, Taylor's essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, xoJane, and a number of other blogs. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Alex, and their dog, Rabbit.

Connect with Taylor

http://www.taylorjenkinsreid.com/ / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Review: The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis

The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis

Published: July 7, 2015

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Cape Cod summers are supposed to remain reassuringly the same, but everything falls apart when three sisters and their families come together for their annual summer vacation—and they are carrying more secrets than suitcases.

Maggie is the oldest. She feels responsible for managing the summer house and making sure everything is as it always has been. But she’s hurt that her parents’ recent divorce has destroyed the family’s comfortable summer routines, and her own kids seem to be growing up at high speed. Is it too late to have another baby?

Jess is the middle sister. She loves her job but isn’t as passionate about her marriage. She’s not sure she can find the courage to tell Maggie what she’s done—much less talk to her husband about it.

Virgie is the youngest, her dad’s favorite. She’s always been the career girl, but now there’s a man in her life. Her television job on the west coast is beyond stressful, and it’s taking its toll on her—emotionally and physically. She’s counting on this vacation to erase the symptoms she’s not talking about.

The Herington girls are together again, with their husbands and kids, for another summer in the family’s old Cape Cod house. When their mother, Gloria, announces she’s coming for an unscheduled visit—with her new boyfriend—no one is more surprised than their father, Arthur, who has not quite gotten over his divorce. Still, everyone manages to navigate the challenges of living grown-up lives in close quarters, until an accident reveals a new secret that brings everyone together in heartbreak…and then healing.

My Thoughts

The Summer of Good Intentions focuses on the Herington family and how one summer has changed their lives forever. When all three sisters and their families comes together for their annual summer getaway at the family house but this year feels and is very different from summers past. Their parents are recently divorced and they have to deal with having them there separately since their mother is bringing a new boyfriend and their father just isn’t acting himself these days. Plus they all have to deal with their own lives and families and how their choices will not only affect themselves but the family as a whole.

Maggie is the oldest the family’s rock. Her life and marriage is the most solid and she is the one who is determined that her family doesn’t fall apart, so much so that she takes on everything only adding more stress to her own life.

Jess is the middle sister who we discover is having an affair after she feels her life is boring and her husband doesn’t give her what she feels is missing. She takes this summer to discover if she wants to save her marriage or if she wants to see if this “affair” is really anything or just a fling.

And then there is Virgie. She is the baby of the family her father’s favorite who up to this point has put her career first and personal happiness second. She recently has met a nice guy who she is quickly falling for and for the first time she rethinks her decisions in life.

The Summer of Good Intentions gives us everything that makes it an amazing read. I loved this story of family and how while everyone has their own problems in the end it’s all about family. They are truly there for one another and this summer of the tragedies, illnesses and obstacles they face will truly test just that. This book defines a summer read. It gives you a nice summer background of sun and fun but it is so much more than that. I loved the family dynamics between everyone; however the bonds the sisters have with one another is so true to life. It isn’t perfect they fight and argue and I liked how the author didn’t try to sugar coat this family and showed them flaws and all. In the end this read digs below the surface and shows us that family is the most important thing, that you can have all the money, fame and career but nothing means anything if you don’t have that backbone of love and support behind you. This is one is a MUST on any summer reading list.

The Idea of Love by Patti Callahan Henry

The Idea of Love by Patti Callahan Henry

Expected Publication: June 23, 2015

Format: via NetGalley

Challenges: 2015 NetGalley/Edelweiss

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Ella's life has been completely upended. She's young, beautiful, and deeply in love—until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, but crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation are getting him nowhere. He's on the look-out for a love story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to.

When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina it feels like the perfect match, something close to fate. In Ella, Hunter finds the perfect love story, full of longing and sacrifice. It's the stuff of epic films. In Hunter, Ella finds possibility. It's an opportunity to live out a fantasy – the life she wishes she had because hers is too painful. And more real. Besides. What’s a little white lie between strangers? But one lie leads to another, and soon Hunter and Ella find themselves caught in a web of deceit. As they try to untangle their lies and reclaim their own lives, they feel something stronger is keeping them together. And so they wonder: can two people come together for all the wrong reasons and still make it right?

My Thoughts

The Idea of Love is a fun look at love through two people who initially lie about who they are. Ella is trying to recover from the shocking truth that her husband is having an affair with her best friend’s sister. She feels betrayed by her husband and friend and is heartbroken that no one told her the truth. Then she meets Hunter who isn’t very truthful either when it comes to who he really is and what he is really doing there in town.

Hunter isn’t really a tourist in town but in fact a screenwriter and is in search of a new movie idea. He meets Ella and thinks her story of being a widow and how her husband died is a tragic love story, just what he is looking for to make it to the big screen. Little does he know her "story" isn't what it seems. However the lies are soon exposed and feelings are hurt but can love real love and feelings be stronger than all the lies? Can they make it past everything and start something real once the truth is revealed? Can love really conquer all? Overall I really enjoyed this read it was funny and I loved the characters, even though both lied about who they were I felt both never did it to be mean or hurtful. In my opinion I felt they were just putting up walls, protecting themselves from getting hurt again.

This is a quick love story that is a bit unconventional but one that delivers all the romance that one would expect from a great read. This makes a great summer read, it’s the perfect escape on a hot summer day.

Review: The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

Expected Publication: June 16, 2015

Format: NetGalley & Audio Book via Hachette Audio

Publisher: Little Brown & Co.

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW and 2015 Audio

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Nantucket writer Madeline King couldn't have picked a worse time to have writer's block. Her deadline is looming, her bills are piling up, and inspiration is in short supply. Madeline's best friend Grace is hard at work transforming her garden into the envy of the island with the help of a ruggedly handsome landscape architect. Before she realizes it, Grace is on the verge of a decision that will irrevocably change her life. Could Grace's crisis be Madeline's salvation? As the gossip escalates, and the summer's explosive events come to a head, Grace and Madeline try desperately to set the record straight--but the truth might be even worse than rumor has it.

My Thoughts

First things first I love Elin Hilderbrand’s books! It’s not summer unless I read a book by her. The Rumor is everything a summer read should be. This one focuses on a set of friends Madeline and Grace who with their families are the subjects of rumors around town. However at times the truth is way worse than any rumor could ever be.

Madeline is a writer and she must come up with a draft or return her advance. She is suffering from major writers block but when her best friend Grace confesses to her she is having an affair she decides to use that as her book. Meanwhile as Grace is falling in love with a man who isn’t her husband, her husband is in serious financial trouble. Blind to the fact she must decide if she wants to leave her husband or follow her heart. The towns folk start rumors about Madeline and how they think she is the one having the affair with someone is close to her, they have no clue on how wrong they have it. When these rumors come to the surface and she is in danger of losing her family and friendship once Grace discovers she is writing her story for the whole world to know. I also love the second storyline that of their children. We get to see the children’s aspect of their lives and how they see their parents.

This book continues Elin Hilderbrand’s reign as the queen of the summer reads. It has everything that makes a great book, gossip lies love and relationships. We get to see how others might perceive us and then how things really are. Anyone can be a victim of rumors but its how we deal with them that really shows us what kind of person we are. This is definitely one I recommend everyone to read this summer, do yourself a favor and read this you will be highly entertained.

Review: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Expected Publication: June 23, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: via NetGalley

Challenge: 2015 NG/EW

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life. She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents’ relentless worrying. But Emmy’s parents can’t seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart.

He’d thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing and his thoughts swirling.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy’s soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

My Thoughts

I just loved and adored this book! While the subject matter –kidnapping- might seem grim this read isn’t all about that. It focuses on the friendships and relationships that were put on hold for 10 years until the day Oliver is found and returns. We get to see and hear both sides of the outcome when Oliver is returned to his mother. Everyone seems to think that everything will get back to normal but to Oliver these people are the strangers. He comes back to a mother whom he thought abandoned him and a stepfather and twin sisters. He also has friends who have been waiting for him especially his best friend Emmy. She has been waiting and hoping that her friend would come back one day and never lost hope.

Oliver isn’t the only one who has suffered during his kidnapping. Emmy has been subjected to her parents being overbearing and fearing that she will be kidnapped as well. So what is a girl to do? Lie of course. However she lies about the simplest thing such as surfing and applying to college. When Oliver comes back there are a few bumps but their friendship comes back seamlessly. And of course friendship soon turns to romance, they are two pieces that just click together time nor could distance change that.

While the book is about Emmy and Oliver I love that we get the whole backstory of his kidnapping. I started out feeling one way about his father and by the end my opinion did change a bit. Loved that this read is just easy breezy and I mean that as a compliment. This is one of those books that you simply don’t want to stop reading. It’s cute funny and one I highly recommend to anyone who wants and needs a good read.

Review: Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Expected Publication: June 2, 2015

Format: NetGalley

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW and 2015 SRC

Rating: 4/5
Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide…

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets…

My Thoughts

I love this tale of Georgia who with a week before her wedding comes home to the family vineyard when she realizes her life is falling apart at the seams. What would you do if as you are having your wedding dress fitting you look out and see your fiancé with a famous actress and child? Going down the street in full gown she finds out he has a child he never mentioned. Mad and upset she goes back home for comfort and hoping for support from her parents when she is hit with another surprise…her mother with another man. Georgia just keeps getting hit after hit with family secrets that are about to boil over and change everyones lives. Her parents’ divorce is just the tip of the iceberg.

She soon learns that her beloved family vineyard is being sold to big corporation the one thing her father never wanted. She is torn between her job and her passion for the vineyard she is the only one besides her father who doesn’t want to part with it. Now she is determined to go head to head with the owner and not surprisingly there is a little underlying attraction. She must decide what direction she wants her life to go. Will she go with her heart or do what is expected of her? This is the story of secrets and how while some can destroy things sometimes they can bring amazing results in the end. I fully enjoyed this story of family and realizing what you truly needed and wanted is right there in front of you all along.

    About Laura
Laura Dave is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The First Husband, The Divorce Party and London Is The Best City In America. Her novels have been published in fifteen countries, and three of her novels, including Eight Hundred Grapes, have been optioned as major motion pictures. She resides in Santa Monica, California.

Connect

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Review: The Grown Ups by Robin Antalek

The Grown Ups by Robin Antalek

Published: January 27, 2015

Format: via Edelweiss

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Challenges: NetGalley/Edelweiss

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads / Amazon

Synopsis

The summer he’s fifteen, Sam enjoys, for a few secret months, the unexpected attention of Suzie Epstein. For reasons Sam doesn’t entirely understand, he and Suzie keep their budding relationship hidden from their close knit group of friends. But as the summer ends, Sam’s world unexpectedly shatters twice: Suzie’s parents are moving to a new city to save their marriage, and his own mother has suddenly left the house, leaving Sam’s father alone to raise two sons. Watching as her parents’ marital troubles escalate, Suzie takes on the responsibility of raising her two younger brothers and plans an early escape to college and independence. Though she thinks of Sam, she deeply misses her closest friend Bella, but makes no attempt to reconnect, embarrassed by the destructive wake of her parents as they left the only place Suzie called home. Years later, a chance meeting with Sam’s older brother will reunite her with both Sam and Bella - and force her to confront her past and her friends.

After losing Suzie, Bella finds her first real love in Sam. But Sam’s inability to commit to her or even his own future eventually drives them apart. In contrast, Bella’s old friend Suzie—and Sam’s older brother, Michael—seem to have worked it all out, leaving Bella to wonder where she went wrong. Spanning over a decade, told in alternating voices, The Grown Ups explores the indelible bonds between friends and family and the challenges that threaten to divide them.

My Thoughts

I truly enjoyed this coming of age story of a group of friends whom we meet as teens and span the years to adulthood. While we meet a series of friends most of the book is focused on Suzie, Bella and Sam. We see how sometimes kids are forced to grownup and deal with issues that adults don’t realize affects them. We meet Sam and Bella who are neighbors and friends who lean on each other while both of their home lives are on the brink of disaster. They form a bond but is it really love? Or is it just two young people whom are drawn to each other because of what is happening between their families?

I love seeing each of them find themselves and come into their own. I like how everything doesn’t come easy and they don’t instantly know what they want and who they want to be in life. Sometimes in books we see everything so nice and wrapped in a bow but life isn’t that way and the fact that it takes Sam forever to find his true self I personally found that refreshing. This is one of those books that you just have to read to get. There is the story between Sam and Suzie, then the story of Sam and Bella, the friendship between Bella and Suzie not to mention the story and love between Suzie and Sam’s brother Michael [yep I said Sam’s brother!] There is just so much that I really couldn’t do it justice without having this review be like 10 pages deep. Just trust me when I say that this one is an amazing read, it gives you everything love, loss, laughter and friendship. I also have to mention my other favorite thing is the dynamics between the parents and their children. I sense that these parents weren’t really parents with the exception of Sam’s father who I will say that in the last scene of the book he made me ball like a baby!  These parents seemed so selfish to me, it just felt at times they were the children and not the parents. Like seriously they needed to grow up! All in all this book is simply geat! I love a good book that can span the years and shows us the growth in the characters. Everything was seamless and you can’t help but to invest in these characters, they are utterly unforgettable.

     About Robin
She is the author of The Summer We Fell Apart (HarperCollins 2010) which was chosen as a Target Breakout Book. The Summer We Fell Apart was also published in Turkey by Artemis Yayinlari. Her non-fiction work has been published at The Weeklings, The Nervous Breakdown and collected in The Beautiful Anthology, Writing off Script: Writers on the Influence of Cinema, and The Weeklings: Revolution #1 Selected Essays 2012-1013. Her short fiction has appeared in 52 Stories, Five Chapters, Sun Dog, The Southeast Review and Literary Mama among others.  Robin has received three honorable mentions in Glimmer Train's Family Matters and New Fiction Writer's contests as well as an honorable mention for the Tobias Wolf Fiction Award.

Connect with Robin

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Review: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Published: May 12, 2015

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: NetGalley

Challenge: 2015 NG/ED

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

HER PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE.

As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve. But Ani has a secret. There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears. The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

My Thoughts

Wow this book is like nothing I had read before. When we first met Ani she is a girl who wants the perfect life. She works at a high class magazine, she has the perfect fiancé and is living the perfect New York life that people could only dream of. Then slowing peeling back the layers we see her dark thoughts and we realize that Ani isn’t Ani at all. She is TifAni and we learn the story that brought us Ani.

As I was reading this I was just thinking this is just a girl who needs to be brought back to reality. Then I thought she’s simply a sick and twisted person who likes to degrade people for her simple amusement but then we learn everything that happened to her. And my opinion was changed in an instant. The things that happened to her I couldn’t believe. How could anyone gone through what she has and not change? She has taken on this persona to simply hide her pain in a sense wearing a costume so that she would never be that person she was…ever again. She thought that by “playing” this part she could reinvent herself and basically change her past but as we all know the past will always come back to haunt you. Only when she reveals her secrets and those involved are accountable for what they did will she be truly free.

This is the most original, twisted and freshest story telling I’ve read in a LONG time. While some might be taken aback by the realest of her writing, Knoll is very blunt sometimes but that's what makes it so amazing. Somethings just have to be told straight up and never sugar coated. Although some of the subject matters might be strong and shocking they must be told so that we are able to know why Ani has become the person she is today. Beneath it all Ani is just that young girl who has always wanted to be accepted, all while slowing losing the person she truly is. She is definitely one of my favorite characters in lit this year. She is strong yet broken. You hate and love her. She is victim yet a survivor. So I thank you Jessica Knoll for giving us this character who is so complex that we will never know who she truly is and that’s what makes her the perfectly flawed character that I yearn to find in books and who makes reading that much more enjoyable.

Review: The Summer's End by Mary Alice Monroe

The Summer’s End [Lowcountry Summer #3] by Mary Alice Monroe

Published: May 19, 2015

Format: via NetGalley

Publisher: Gallery

Challenges: 2015 NG/ED

Rating: 5/5

Pre-Order: Amazon / BN

Synopsis

It is summer’s end and Sea Breeze, the family’s beloved estate on Sullivan’s Island, must be sold. It is an emotional time of transition as Mamaw and the three sisters each must face loss and finds a new place in the world. Harper, the youngest sister, arrived at Sea Breeze intending to stay only a weekend, but a rift with her wealthy, influential mother left her without direction or a home. During this remarkable summer, free from her mother’s tyranny and with the help of her half-sisters, Harper discovered her talents and independent spirit. But summer is ending, and the fate of Sea Breeze hinges on Harper’s courage to decide the course of her own life. To do so she must release her insecurities and recognize her newfound strengths. She must accept love fully into her life—the love of Mamaw, Carson, and Dora, the love of Sea Breeze and the lowcountry, and most of all, the love of a Wounded Warrior who has claimed her heart. The third book in Mary Alice Monroe’s trilogy that brims with “stories that touch the mind and heart of her readers” (Huffington Post), The Summer’s End follows three half-sisters bound by love for their grandmother and the timeless beauty and traditions of the lowcountry.

My Thoughts

The Summer’s End is the final book in the Lowcountry Summer series. I love how this book perfectly wraps up each sisters story. Dora finds love again with an old boyfriend and her son finds comfort and stability in his new surroundings. Carson finds herself dealing with so many emotions that who can blame her for doubting herself and her sobriety. This book continues seamlessly where the last one did this time focusing on the youngest sister Harper. Harper has always been the sister who has had the easiest life. Her mother is a book publisher and her grandparents are very rich. She has never to struggle or want for anything in life as her older sisters have. And while from the outside it might seem she has had it easy it is quite the opposite. She has always lived under the thumb of her mother who in returned has never showed her true love but in a sense has always treated her like an employee instead of her daughter. Harper’s dream has always been to be a writer, like her father and her mother will do whatever it takes so that she doesn’t follow in his path.

Her first act of defiance is to tell her mother she will not go back to New York but will spend the whole summer with her sisters and Mamaw. She is determine to help fix up the old house before it is to be sold and then one day she meets an old friend of her sister Dora and let’s just say its love at first sight. She realizes she is meant to be there with her family, in that state, in that house and with that man. I love that she finds unconditional love with someone who loves her for her and not her money. Although the romance part is great what I enjoyed most was that each sister truly found themselves. They found their inner peace and independence.

This book was the perfect send off to characters that I have grown to love and will miss deeply. Mary Alice Monroe has given us the gift of the perfect summer trilogy and I highly encourage everyone to dive into this series I promise you will laugh, cry and most importantly fall in love this family as much as I did. 

Review: Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook

Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook

Published: April 21, 2015

Format: via Edelweiss

Publisher: HarperTeen

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Every Last Promise is a provocative and emotional novel about a girl who must decide between keeping quiet and speaking up after witnessing a classmate's sexual assault.

Kayla saw something at the party that she wasn't supposed to. But she hasn't told anyone. No one knows the real story about what happened that night—about why Kayla was driving the car that ran into a ditch after the party, about what she saw in the hours leading up to the accident, and about the promise she made to her friend Bean before she left for the summer.

Now Kayla's coming home for her senior year. If Kayla keeps quiet, she might be able to get her old life back. If she tells the truth, she risks losing everything—and everyone—she ever cared about.

My Thoughts

Every Last Promise was a great story dealing with growing up and dealing with issues no one should at a young age. Kayla was your avenge teen who spent her weekends with her best friends having slumber parties, hanging out and going to football games. All of this came to a halt when one night at a party Kayla was a witness to something that not only affects her but also someone she loves not to mention the whole town. After the tragedy that took a life, which changed another and one that could have ruined their future. Not really remembering what happened Kayla was sent away to recover and deal with what happened that night, once home she realized that everything has changed. She comes home to no friends and even worse that everyone blames her for what happened. Life is hard but Kayla is determined to move on and not let the town and her ex friends ruin her life. She knows what happened was wrong and wants those to pay for what they did even if that means having literally the whole town hate her. But first she must find out what exactly happened and most importantly talk to her friend Bean and honor what she wants.

This book deals with some serious issues and I felt that it dealt with it in a good way. It shows us that we should stand up for what is right and that people should pay for the wrong they do. Though it is hard to stand up for yourself sometimes it will only make you stronger. You might feel that your power has been taken from you but it takes a real strong person to make those responsible for what they’ve done. While this read has some serious issues there is a little romance but what I love most is the friendships and although there are bumps in the road when it comes to that, you always find out who your real friends are when the chips are down. Anyone can be around when it’s all fun and games but those who stick by you otherwise are the REAL friends.  

Review: Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

Published: April 21, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Format: Edelweiss

Challenges: 2015 NG/EW

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.

After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all.

Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

My Thoughts

In this novel all the story is laid out for you from the start. We know Quinn is trying to recover after the loss of her boyfriend Trent and that she has been trying to contact those who received his organs. All have contacted her expect one, the one who has his heart. She then learns that person in Colton and she sets out to at least see who he is since he doesn’t want to meet those in Trent’s life.

While this story could’ve been a loss since we know just about everything it isn’t by far! Although we know the main plot what we experience is...excuse the pun…the heart of the story. We learn what happened and we get to experience Quinn coming to terms with her loss, and maybe just maybe learning and wanting to love…again. And while all things don’t go according to plan for instance, falling for Colton and most importantly starting their whole friendship off with lies. But can both of them move on after everything is revealed? Or is all this just too much?

Things We Know by Heart is a wonderful written tale that will make you realize what is important in life and also shows us to love and live life to the fullest. Sometimes we are blessed to find that one love that we all dream of and if we are really lucky we find that again someday. Although this tale could have been tragic and sad it focuses on the healing power that is love.