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Book Reviews

The Heartbreakers – Book Review

The Heartbreakers - Book Review

Plot:

“When I met Oliver Perry, I had no clue he was the lead singer for The Heartbreakers. And he had no idea that I was the only girl in the world who hated his music.”

Stella will do anything for her sick sister, Cara—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD…for four hours. She’s totally winning best birthday gift this year. At least she met a cute boy with soft brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes while getting her caffeine fix. Too bad she’ll never see him again.

Except, Stella’s life has suddenly turned into a cheesy love song. Because Starbucks Boy is Oliver Perry—lead singer for the Heartbreakers. And even after she calls his music crap, Oliver still gives Stella his phone number. And whispers quotes from her favorite Disney movie in her ear. OMG, what is her life?

But how can Stella even think about being with Oliver—dating and laughing and pulling pranks with the band—when her sister could be dying of cancer?

Review

The Heartbreakers was one of those books where when I was reading it, I was constantly smiling at how cute the story was. Not only did I enjoy it, but I actually wanted the book to have the stereotypical happy ending, which isn’t often the case with me, I tend to want more out of the box, unexpected endings.

Throughout the book, Stella, the main character, really develops from a girl who is afraid to try anything new than what she already knows to a girl who is willing to take risks even though she might get hurt in the end. With the help of her brother and sister, she realizes that things are not always going to be exactly the same, that the three of them aren’t always going to be living at home together and that eventually Stella needs to spread her wings and try to fly.

Stella meets the lead singer of The Heartbreakers—basically this book’s version of One Direction—at a Starbucks. If only things like this could actually happen in real life, am I right? But Stella, who hates the band solely on principle, has no clue who he is, and flirts with him because she finds him attractive. Later on, she discovers that the boy she is crushing on is Oliver Perry, the same boy who fronts the band she despises.

As fate would have it, through an interesting series of events, Stella begins working for the band as their photographer and blogger. As time passes, Stella not only becomes more confident in her photography, but she starts to become friends with the guys of the band and realizes that just because they sing “bubblegummy” music doesn’t necessarily mean that that is who they actually are.

I thought that this book was a really entertaining read, and it had me rushing to get through it to see how it was going to end. I love to guess how books are going to end, and while I wasn’t completely right, I did get a lot of the main things down. I was really excited when I discovered that this book is part one of a series, wherein each of the four books will chronicle the story of one of the four guys who make up The Heartbreakers. Needless to say, I am looking forward to reading the rest of them.

I give this book 5/5 stars for being cute and making me not want to put it down.

The Heartbreakers goes on sale August 4. You can preorder it by clicking on the book’s cover image above.

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Categories
Book Reviews

Pixelated – Book Review

Pixelated - Book Review

Plot:

Senior Year. 
Middle of nowhere.
What’s the new girl to do?

For Piper Marks, the answer is simple. She’s determined to have her photography rock the cover of National Geographic someday, and moving to Clarkton, Iowa for her last year of high school is not going to stop her. Even if her usual subjects have changed from bright lights and skyscrapers to fields, cows…and more fields.

But when photographer at the local paper quits in a huff, she steps into his spot. Her new job keeps Piper busy capturing tackles, and zooming in on first downs and end zone dances, not to mention putting her directly in the path of varsity football star Les Williams IV. Her new friends warn her off, but she can’t resist the pull she feels toward this mysterious country boy. But this small town is keeping a secret, and it’s one that could destroy any chance they have to be together.

It’s up to Piper to decide what to do with the distorted truth. Can she risk exposing her heart? It might be worth it, ’cause Les is about to change her world from black and white to fully saturated color.

Review:

For me, Pixelated is one of those books that just caught my attention from the beginning and kept me all the way until the end, to the point where I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it. And yes, while I found a lot of the story to be predictable, I still wanted to keep reading on to see if I was right, which doesn’t always happen in those situations.

The main character, Piper, is less than pleased when she has to relocate from St. Louis, MO to a small town in Iowa for her senior year of high school, leaving everything she loves behind. Not too long after moving to Iowa, Piper blows a tire on her way home, about halfway down the barren 10 mile stretch of road between her home and the main part of town.

Miraculously enough, someone comes along and is able to help Piper change her tire, and as luck would have it, her savior, Les, is incredibly handsome. Piper immediately falls for this guy, who she later learns has a girlfriend—sort of. The only problem is, no one really knows the truth, so everyone starts to label Piper as a home-wrecker and a slut.

One thing that I particularly loved about the book was the amount of detail that was given to the things that Piper enjoys as hobbies. For example, Piper loves photography, so whenever it is brought up that Piper is taking photos, the descriptions that are given are very similar to the actual thoughts that might be running through a photographer’s mind while they are working. Another example would be that Piper knows absolutely nothing about football when the book begins, but is required to learn about it by her mother for work, so after Piper has had some assistance (from Les!) with learning about football, her descriptions of the game become more vivid and actually use football terminology to describe plays.

The ending of the book was definitely a little bit of a surprise to me, but I won’t spoil it. At first things seemed to be pointing to one conclusion, but then everything was shaken up and I didn’t know what to expect anymore, which I really enjoyed. I give Pixelated 4/5 stars.

Pixelated goes on sale June 30. You can click the image above to order it.

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.