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Blog Tours Book Reviews contemporary ya fiction

When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes – Book Review and Giveaway

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Summary

Title: When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes

Author: Rayna York

Pages: 316

Genre: Contemporary, YA

Publisher: Toad Tree Press

Pub Date: July 2, 2020

What if losing everything you have is exactly what you need?

Kylie’s summer after high school graduation was supposed to be celebrated in Europe, not some podunk town in Ohio. But when the FBI shows up at her parents’ California beach house looking for her father, the life she’s known, suddenly disintegrates.

With the family assets frozen and her father on the run, the only place left to go is a dilapidated house that once belonged to her great-grandmother. Now her family is broke, her social status is in ruins, and the only internet access is at a café where a nerdy barista boy wants to be her new best friend.

But life has a funny way of teaching its lessons, and being catapulted into this new reality might be the help she needs to learn that sometimes you have to let go of everything you know to discover what is real.

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You can purchase When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes from Amazon by clicking HERE.

(This is an affiliate link. I will earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.)

Continue reading to see my review of When Life Gives You Lemons Instead of Lattes.

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews contemporary romance ya fiction

The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig – Blog Tour and Book Review

Title: The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig

Author: Don Zolidis

Pages: 352

Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pub Date: October 2, 2018

Summary

1994 – Janesville, Wisconsin (cold in the sense that there is no God)

The worst thing that’s ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should’ve gotten together. Craig is an awkward, Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school.


Yet somehow they did. Until Amy dumped him. Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over.


Unfolding during their senior year, Amy and Craig’s exhilarating, tumultuous relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future-and adult responsibility-loom on the horizon.


Craig fights for his dream of escaping Janesville and finding his place at a quirky college, while Amy’s quest to uncover her true self sometimes involves being Craig’s girlfriend, and sometimes doesn’t.

Seven heartbreaks. Seven joys.Told nonsequentially, acclaimed playwright Don Zolidis’s debut novel is a brutally funny, bittersweet taste of the utterly unique and utterly universal experience of first love.

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Continue reading to see my review of The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews mystery thriller ya fiction

Watch You Burn – Blog Tour and Book Review

Summary

Title: Watch You Burn

Author: Amanda Searcy

Pages: 352

Genre: YA, Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pub Date: October 23, 2018

Jenny didn’t want to move to the creepy, possibly haunted town with her dad. But the cops are on to her, and the only way she can protect herself is by moving as far away from her hometown as possible and staying out of trouble.

But even after she moves, Jenny still gets the itch. The itch to light a match and then watch it burn.

It’s something she hasn’t been able to stop, ever since an accident years ago. Now, in a new town, Jenny has the strange feeling that someone is watching her every move. Will her arsonist ways be exposed? Or is the burning truth deep inside her a greater danger?

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Continue reading to see my review of Watch You Burn

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Blog Tours Book Reviews

Little Women—Blog Tour and Audiobook Review

Summary:

Following the lives of four sisters on a journey out of adolescence, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women explores the difficulties associated with gender roles in a Post-Civil War America.

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Narrator: Andrea Emmes

Length: 17h 36m

Buy: Amazon

 

Review:

This was actually my first experience with Little Women, be it reading or listening, so I was pleased to be introduced to this beloved book. There were times when the narration really had to work to keep my attention, but then again I am usually doing something else while listening to an audiobook, and can easily have my attention pulled from what I’m listening to. I think this is because so many years of listening to music in the background just to have some noise.

This book really pulls the reader into a different time, and Andrea Emmes narration helps to really transport the reader to the world of Little Women. I give this audiobook 4/5 stars.

Click below to read about the narrator and see what other blogs are featuring Little Women on this tour.

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Blog Tours Book Reviews

Dragonkyn—Blog Tour and Book Review

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Dragonkyn - Blog Tour and Book Review

Summary:

Marc used to think he was pretty ordinary, but he also used to think ice cream trucks didn’t sell ice cream and dragons were just fairy tales. Now he knows better. With skin that can’t be burned and strange powers he can’t explain, Marc soon discovers the truth: he is part dragon. And as he joins his fellow dragonkyn, his closest friends could quickly become his greatest enemies.

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Review:

 

This book was a fun and unique read. I found myself laughing throughout the book, and I rather enjoyed the dynamic between the characters. One of the best parts about the book was the witty chapter titles, which kept me in suspense of what was going to unfold throughout the pages. Some chapter titles include: “Ditching Death is Difficult” and “How to Embarrass Your Spanish Teacher”. The short chapters made this book an absolute breeze to blow through/

I give Dragonkyn 3/5 stars.

 

 

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews

A Fantastic Mess of Everything—Blog Tour and Book Review

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Click on the tour banner above to see the list of the other great blogs that have featured A Fantastic Mess of Everything on this tour!
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Summary:

Millie Alvarez is a college senior with dreams of being a best selling science fiction writer like her favorite author, sci-fi mastermind Luke Danielson. She fantasizes about dating Rod, her handsome, young writing professor, who has a fan base of his own.

Of course no one knows this but her two best friends, Fran and Mike. In the real world, Millie is anything but a success. She always gets casted in the worst roles in her college’s musical productions, has a single subscriber to her writing blog, and struggles to be with anyone but Fran and Mike. She even avoids meeting Trent, an exchange student from London who matches with her on the dating app Charmed. Sam always wants to hang out with Millie, but he isn’t her type; he’s too skinny and happy and won’t stop asking Millie about all her favorite things.

But things spiral out of Millie’s control when Fran moves out of their dorm room to live with her sister and her estranged dad won’t stop calling her to make amends. To top it all off, the pain inside of Millie’s chest is worsening. Millie must decide if she’s ready to face everything head on. Can she do it? Is she stronger than she thinks she is? All Millie knows is that her life is one big mess that she cannot seem to escape.

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Review:

 

Have you ever read a book that you can relate to almost every single aspect about it? Well for me, A Fantastic Mess of Everything is that book, except the whole crush on a professor thing. College stress, maintaining a blog, a (formerly) strained relationship with my father, I was almost convinced I was reading a book about myself, and not a fictional character.

This was a sweet, fun New Adult read that was different from most other NA books I’ve read, which was very pleasant. Most NA books border on scandalous with their romance, which A Fantastic Mess of Everything was not. It was a refreshing change.

I give A Fantastic Mess of Everything 4/5 stars. You can purchase it from any of the following places:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Story Cartel

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews

The Alienation of Courtney Hofman—Blog Tour and Book Review

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Click on the tour banner above to see the list of the other great blogs that have featured The Alienation of Courtney Hofman on this tour!

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Summary:

Fifteen year old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there’s something frighteningly different about her—and it’s not just the mysterious tattoo her conspiracy-obsessed grandfather marked her with before he disappeared. She’s being visited in her bedroom at night by aliens claiming to have shared an alliance with her grandfather. And imaginary or not, they’re starting to to take over her mind. “Mental illness is a slippery slope,” her mother warns her.

The last thing Courtney wants to do is end up crazy and dead like her grandfather did. But what about the tattoo? And the aliens trying to recruit her? With her new alien-savvy friend Agatha and her apocalyptic visions, Courtney begins connecting the dots between the past, present and future—of her bloodline, and the ancient history that surrounds it. Is she going insane, like her family claims her grandfather did, or is she actually a “chosen one” with ancestral connections to another world? Either way, Courtney has a mission: untangle her past, discover the truth, and stop the apocalypse before it’s too late for everyone.

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Review:

I feel like this is a perfect strange, funky, interesting book to read in the month of October, as it gave me a spooky, Halloween-y vibe. I never really know what books to read in the month of October, but this one fit great with what I look for.

As far as I can remember, I’ve never read a book about aliens, but i really enjoyed that aspect of this book. It was something new and unique for me, and in a world where everything feels like it’s already been done, it was refreshing to see something new.

 

I give The Alienation of Courtney Hofman 3.5/5 stars. You can purchase it from any of the following places:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

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Blog Tours Book Reviews

Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend!—Blog Tour and Book Review

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Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend! is the second book in the Confessions series. If you’d like to read my review of the first book, Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist!, you can do so HERE.

Summary:

So, I’m no longer a virgin sex columnist—thank you, Ollie—but if I thought that was going to make my life easier, boy was I wrong! John is back in town determined to win my forgiveness. Blythe is more ready than ever to take me down. Bridget is totally onto the new twinkle in my eye. And, well, Ollie is just as distractingly delicious as usual.

So, naturally, I have a few more confessions to make.

Confession #1: I came up with what I thought would be the perfect plan to keep my relationship with Ollie a secret—pretend to get back together with John!

Confession #2: It backfired. A lot.

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Review:

I was looking forward to this book from the second that I finished Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist! so you can just imagine how ecstatic I was when the author contacted me about joining the tour for the sequel. And boy, was I not disappointed by this book at all. It was everything I wanted and needed, and then some.

Skye has good intentions, she really does. But no matter how hard she tries, she always seems to mess things up in one way or another. She’s finally with the guy of her dreams, and while everything is going great, she’s still afraid to let anyone know that she’s dating Ollie. So Skye gets this *brilliant* (a.k.a. not so brilliant) idea to pretend that she had gotten back together with her cheating ex-boyfriend. Needless to say, things backfire a LOT, and Skye’s best friend Bridget stops talking to her.

I was especially pleased by the development of Skye’s relationships with her coworkers, as it was something that I didn’t see coming, but it was a nice twist. It brought a whole different side to the story that I wasn’t expecting to happen, and I think it really shows Skye’s character growth.

This story has great pacing and an amazing plot. I could not stop turning the pages, and finished it in a day. The characters are so real and relatable, and they have real problems and issues. They don’t always know the right thing to say, their lives aren’t always glamorous and they experience real human emotions.

I give Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend! 5/5 stars. You can purchase it by clicking HERE. You can also buy the first book, Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist! HERE.

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews

One Night—Blog Tour and Book Review

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Click on the tour banner above to see the list of the other great blogs that have featured One Night on this tour!

One Night

Summary:

Thompson may be only seventeen but he knows he’s just checked into Heartbreak Hotel for good, now that his girlfriend, Caroline, has put an end to their burning love. Since then he’s been sleepwalking through his summer job at Super Kmart while desperately dreaming of ways to win her back. He even drops by the Tiki House on Elvis Presley Night hoping that she, a diehard fan of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” will be there as well. That’s when he meets Johnny Lee Young—real estate agent by day, Hawaii’s Favorite Elvis Impersonator by night—and the lovesick teen’s world suddenly takes a wild and unexpected turn.

As luck would have it, Johnny needs a temporary assistant to help with equipment and social media and Thompson eagerly accepts the offer, hoping it will distract him from his painful and lingering romantic issues. But like Thompson, Johnny is nursing a secret heartbreak and pining for his own lost love. So the new roadie starts making plans—with a little help from his friends Ronnie and Greta—to accompany the counterfeit King on an odyssey of a lifetime that will take them far from their island paradise home in search of true love.

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Review:

I thoroughly enjoy a good coming-of-age story, and One Night is just that. It is a fun, well-written story that kept me turning the pages to find out just where the story was going to take me.

There were so many fun interesting characters in this book, that really helped to round out the entire story and make it even more enjoyable. There was a lot of adventure and fun places in this book that really made me want to hop on a plane and travel somewhere new and exciting.

I give One Night 4/5 stars. You can purchase it from Amazon by clicking HERE.

Categories
Blog Tours Book Reviews

Legacy – Blog Tour and Book Review

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Click on the tour banner above to see the list of the other great blogs that are featuring Legacy on this tour!

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Summary:

How do you want to feel today?

In 2041, the choice is yours.

San Francisco is deserted, the Bay Bridge bombed, and the BART subway trains grounded. The Guardians, members of an elite and mysterious government-appointed military police force, are maintaining order at all costs—thanks to emotion-altering drugs like Emovere that suppress fear and anxiety. Lex Knightley, daughter of a prominent forensic psychiatrist, risks entering the devastated city to partner with the Resistance, a group of rebels intent upon exposing the dangers of Emovere. Lex discovers an ally in Quin McAllister, a magnetic Guardian Force recruit with a haunting past that binds them together. As she uncovers the secrets of the Guardian Force and confronts the truth about her family, Lex begins to realize that even those closest to her are not quite who they seem.

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Review:

I love dystopian novels so much. There’s something about the world as we know it being gone that is simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. I would love to see the world change in some ways; who wouldn’t? But what if those changes set in motion something that was irreparable? I get the chills just thinking about it.

This book was such a fast read for me. I just couldn’t put it down! Everything from the setting to the plot to the characters had me hooked from the first page. As someone who lives in San Francisco, reading books that are set in my city always excite me. It’s interesting to see what SF looks like in someone else’s eyes.

The whole “take a pill and change your emotions” thing was very intriguing to me. At first, it seems like a great idea. Goodbye PTSD, just take a pill and it’s gone. Bye bye depression, another pill and you’re gone too. Who wouldn’t want such a simple fix to their problems? But then once the dark truth about these pills is discovered, some people don’t feel as positive about the pills as they once did.

In the ever-growing collection of dystopian books, I felt that this book was original and unique, which I loved. I am definitely looking forward to getting my hands onto the next book in the series.

I give Legacy 4/5 stars. You can purchase it from Amazon by clicking on the book’s cover image below: