Review: Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Published: September 12, 2017

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

My Thoughts

Autoboyography gives us the story of Tanner who is a bi teen living in conservative Utah. He has a best friend Autumn whom he thinks likes him but he doesn't see her that way. He is just waiting to go off to college and live his life the way he wants when he meets Sebastian. Sebastian is everything Tanner wants to be, he has just published his first novel and Tanner falls in love with him. Living in religious Utah he doesn't know if Sebastian is gay or not so he doesn't want to be too forward but soon he gets signals that make him think Sebastian feels the same way about him.

We slowly see Tanner and Sebastian trend the line when it comes to romance. Tanner is head over heels while Sebastian can't admit that he is bi or gay he just knows that he has feelings for Tanner but will never admit it to anyone. This story pulled at my heartstrings at times seeing how both of these guys are just trying to find their way in the world all the while trying to navigate the feelings of love. It's hard enough growing up but to come out in such a conservative city it took a toll on them both and their relationship.

This novel was all about love and coming to terms with who you are and being proud of it. The romance was cute and you rooted for them because you wanted them to be happy and have a chance to see what could be. I also enjoyed Tanner’s friendships and family, they offered him such love and support sadly something you don't see sometimes. This is a wonderfully written novel that will leave you with so many emotions in the very end.

Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Published: May 14, 2019

Publisher: Gallery Books

Format: via Overdrive

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

My Thoughts

After hearing so much about this one I finally decided to give this one a try and I’m so glad that I did! In The Unhoneymooners we have Olive and her twin sister Ami, who is about to get married. At the wedding, Ami and the whole wedding party and guests expect Olive and the best man Ethan come down with food poisoning, so instead of canceling the honeymoon Olive and Ethan go on the trip instead of letting it go to waste.

What comes next is just good all the way around. Olive and Ethan go from enemies to lovers, which is one of my favorite tropes and it's just a blast seeing it all blossom. I loved the banter between these two and I liked how they seemed to balance each other out. Olive is all about her goals while Ethan likes to have fun and the fact that he brings that out in Olive is so great to see. I also liked the little misadventures they had on the honeymoon they were so funny. However what I also enjoyed were the serious parts, like how they realize they have both liked each other for a while but just never acted on it and how they both misunderstood each other from the very beginning. While the story focuses mainly on Olive and Ethan I also liked the side story of Ami and her husband and how she finds out things she never knew. In the end, I was happy with how things played out. If you want something light and funny, something with some romance look no further than this gem from Christina Lauren.

Romanceathon TBR

Hi Everyone! Here is my Romanceathon TBR which is being hosted 

by Gabby from myficitonalworld and Jacqueline from We Be Book'n

It runs June 17-23 here are the challenges:

1. Read a forbidden romance

2. Read a new adult romance

3. Read a romance book with pink on the cover

4. Read a romance release in 2019

5. Read a romance book with a man on the cover

6. Read an LGBT romance

7. Read 7 romance books

Review: Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Published: September 4, 2018

Publisher: Gallery

Format: via Edelweiss

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.

Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.

Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them...right?

My Thoughts

There is just something nice and comforting when I read a really great rom-com book and this is my favorite one so far this year. Josh and Hazel meet in college under the most embarrassing way but it isn’t until years later that they become friends. Unknown to Hazel, Josh is her best friends brother and when they meet up again they soon become friends. After Josh breaks up with his cheating girlfriend Hazel decides that it is best that they try and hook each other up with dates and help each other out. These dates never end up well and Josh and Hazel just end up back together hanging out. 

We all know where is this going to end, it’s the most used toupe when it comes to books…friends that end up together in the end. However, I am not complaining because Josh and Hazel are so freakin’ adorable!! I loved everything about them and how they balanced each other out. You see Josh is so…perfect to say the least and Hazel is quirky and definitely moves to beat of her own drum, but they just work somehow. So when they finally get together I was so happy and cheering for them. I loved how Josh was so protected of her and how Hazel didn’t care what people thought of her, which I found so refreshing! So while I saw the outcome from a mile away I didn’t care because I loved seeing these two fall in love. Though I wish they would’ve admitted it to each other quicker, seeing them go from friends to lovers was so fun. This is definitely my favorite Christina Lauren book thus far it was fun, cute and utterly romantic if that is something you are looking for then look no further than this book.

Monthly TBR: August

Hi Y'all! Well, I’m here to check in and tell you how my July  TBR list went. This month was an awful reading month for me, I read only 4 books and 2 of those were from my TBR list. I’m also halfway through one of the reads so I say almost 3 books from my TBR isn’t bad. Well, here’s my list for August and come back next month to see how I did!