Hi there and welcome to my blog! I'm 18, a biology student, and avid reader! I love reviewing YA books it keeps me sane from all the feels. I also love anything book related so there's a sprinkling of that nonsense around my blog as well. Hope y'all enjoy!
With her signature heart and humor, Julie Halpern explores a strained friendship strengthened by one girl’s battle with cancer.
Alex’s father recently died in a car accident. And on the night of his funeral, her best friend Becca slept with Alex’s boyfriend. So things aren’t great. Alex steps away from her friendship with Becca and focuses on her family.
But when Alex finally decides to forgive Becca, she finds out something that will change her world again—Becca has cancer.
So what do you do when your best friend has cancer? You help her shave her head. And then you take her bucket list and try to fulfill it on her behalf. Because if that’s all you can do to help your ailing friend—you do it.
Review:
I liked this book, I think it was funny, and light hearted and a quick read. Light hearted is kinda an odd way to describe a book about a girl who’s dad just died and best friend has cancer but it is and isn’t. It just has a lot of comic relief I guess you’d say. See our main characters Alex and Becca have been friends their whole lives, so when Alex’s dad dies in a car crash and Becca ends up sleeping with her boyfriend, Alex decides to take the summer away from people. Upon her return to school she discovers Becca has cancer and then things take an unexpected turn.
First off what I love is that just because Becca did something stupid like sleep with her best friend’s boyfriend, they didn’t end up hating each other because Davis (the boyfriend in question) and Alex weren’t really a wonderful couple and Alex was planning on dumping him. (That is a really long sentence, this summer vacay has eaten my writing skills. Anyways..) Becca has cancer but it’s not something fatal, her doctors are confident some chemo will cure her, but Becca decides she’s not gonna leave her life in the hands of fate and wants to complete her bucket list, just in case, you know she kicks the bucket. (My writing is fucking horrible I apologize) So she asks Alex for her aid since Becca can’t go around doing everything on there with the cancer and all.
Now this is where the mature thing pops up, there’s loads of cursing and sex is a big theme in the story. Matter of fact Becca is kinda a majorly perverted 17 year old girl, *cough*reminds me of someone I know.*cough*. First thing that was crossed of her bucket list, or as the girls decide to call it a Fuck it List? Flashing the boy who lives next door of course!
This isn’t something I’d count as a “cancer” story because it doesn’t focus on that, it focuses more on Alex and her learning to deal with bad things happening to others and not her. That feeling of helplessness when you’re friend may be dying and your dad is dead. Overall it’s a nice read for a sunny day and nothing to do.
And if you've made it this far I'd like to apologize for the horrible review, let's say I was blinded by my love for this book and couldn't see the keyboard?
Review: Toxic Heart (Mystic City) by Theo Lawrence
Title: Toxic Heart
Author: Theo Lawrence
Published: April 8th 2014 (US)
Good Reads:
A city in flames. A trust betrayed. A perfect love destroyed.
Has Aria lost Hunter, her one true love?
Ever since rebellion broke out in Mystic City, pitting the ruling elite against the magic-wielding mystics, Aria has barely seen her boyfriend. Not surprising, since Hunter is the leader of the mystic uprising, and he'll do whatever it takes to win freedom for his people—even if that means using Aria.
But Aria is no one's pawn. She believes she can bring the two warring sides together, save the city, and win back the Hunter she fell in love with.
Before she can play peacemaker, though, Aria will need to find the missing heart of a dead mystic. The heart gives untold powers to whoever possesses it, but finding it means seeking out a fierce enemy whose deepest desire is for Aria to be gone—forever.
Review:
Urrrrh wow I don’t wanna relive this book. Urkay, so yah Toxic Heart was a major flop, if you haven’t read the first book Mystic City you can check out my review here:
All the characters are ruined. Let’s start with Aria; gone is the girl who’s confused and lost, and in replace is a girl who’s in charge and going somewhere. Well that’s what she was supposed to be doing, it was more a jumble of stupid, she decides to go against everything everyone tells her and repeatedly ends up a damsel in distress. Which totally sets the scene for Turk (which is the only character I still like), now since Hunter is too busy trying to take his mother’s place as the Mystic leader. Turk is left to watch over, and save little Aria again and again which we all know where that ends up going.
As from the reverse character development the whole plot was just dumb. First it was Aria wanting to go help the Mystics and Hunter, then it was Aria needing to find Davida’s heart, then it was Aria saving the whole world. There was way too much going on, and the characters just jumped from one issue to the other without really resolving anything.
It was so predictable it literally hurt. I’m not saying I started the book knowing how it was gonna end, but it was so obvious at the start of each chapter what was gonna happen at the end.
Aside from the horrible characters that weren’t relatable or even likable at times, the wacked up plot, and annoying predictability, Toxic Heart was just boring. It couldn’t keep my interest and like I said, I was dreading picking it up, in fact I had to force myself to finish the story. I didn’t like it one bit, and the only reason I would consider reading the next book would be to see what happens with Turk, he is literally the only character I like anymore.
Oooo shiny. A book that's not yet released! I'm so excited!! Actually I honestly am to see how in the world this trilogy is gonna finish. I remember back in the day, waiting for Burn for Burn to be released cause I was cover obsessed. But after reading that, and Fire with Fire, I'm kinda like
Anywhos, I'm more than halfway there so why not finish off the trilogy? Ashes to Ashes comes out September 16th here in the US, so count the days I shall!
I love love love this cover, and I think it's all about the lights. I mean they're just so cute, and the design around the title, and the typography it just really all comes together and I lurve it. Let's not forget the little wing shadow on the side, the gorgeous model, and that amaze red dress. Totally cover love worthy, sadly the story seems a bit dry. Points for the cutest cover I could find this week!
After narrowly surviving two harrowing tragedies, Jules now fully understands the importance of the visions that she and people around her are experiencing. She’s convinced that if the visions passed from her to Sawyer after she saved him, then they must now have passed from Sawyer to one of the people he saved.
That means it’s up to Jules to figure out which of the school shooting survivors is now suffering from visions of another crisis. And once she realizes who it is, she has to convince that survivor that this isn't all crazy—that the images are of something real. Something imminent.
As the danger escalates more than ever before in the conclusion to the Visions series, Jules wonders if she'll finally find out why and how this is happening—before it's too late to prevent disaster.
Review:
A wild book appears!
And it’s awesome!
And this review contains spoilers for the first two books in the Visions trilogy by Lisa McMann. So if you’re not up to the last one, here’s my reviews on the first two!
So read on my fellow bookworms if, and only if you’ve read the first two. Or you like spoilers cause I know some of us do.
So here’s the dealio, Jules, Swayer, Trey, Rowan and even Ben are back and ready for more action. What I love first off about the Visions books is that they literally pick right back up, like within the week of where the last one ended. So we don’t miss any action in the characters’ lives. Bang ends off after the shooting at the UC campus, and you know Jules and Swayer and Trey saving the day, but Gasp picks up a week after that.
This time around the crew is faced with some more challenges; first of all they have to find out if anyone caught the vision thing, which means searching the UC campus for the kids who survived the shooting. Then there’s the whole, you know, solving the entire thing and saving a bunch of people while risking their lives.
Here are some things I liked about Gasp, first off it’s a quick read. Just like the first two, I got the book, planted my butt on the couch and didn’t go to sleep until I finished the story. Which I love to be able to do, another thing is that this time there’s more obstacles so it’s more entertaining. Not only do they have to solve the vision they have to go through a bunch of nonsense finding the person having them first. There wasn’t much character development I’d say, but I think it’s nice seeing all the characters work together, of course I could never get enough Trey. There should be all three books republished in his POV and I would totes read them. I also love that there’s a lot of things going on this time around, it’s not mainly focused on the vision which makes sense in their scenario, but still adds to the story.
Things I didn’t love about this book: first off things get a little too easy to solve, so it’s predictable at parts. There’s like a bumpy ride within a few chapters in the middle, I mean I loved all the different things going on to keep it interesting but there was a time where too much was going on at once. In the end there’s this climaxish thing, and I really didn’t fall for it. I wasn’t really into the story as much as I was with the first two. Also I feel like it came to a close really really fast.
Overall I really loved this trilogy and I’m so sad to say goodbye. Lisa McMann is an amazing author and I can’t wait to see what she puts out next!
Mystery is one of my favorite genres in the YA world, I love it soo much. So when I saw this little puppy I was all flavors of excited. It looks so creepy and cool and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Sadly, Trust Me I’m Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer (phew! long name..) doesn’t hit shelves here in the US till October 14th, that’s like only three months away, I can totally handle that.
I don't know why, but I really really like this cover. The book is Solitaire by Alice Oseman and I saw it pop up on my dash in a give away and just thought it was adorable. It's the UK cover, and I never heard of this book before but I looked up the US version and this ugly duckling is what we get.
and may I just say
But, yeah the UK is totes gorgeous and I love it. And another reason to like move out of the US already cause these book covers are getting gross.
Rule One—Nothing is right, nothing is wrong.
Rule Two—Be careful.
Rule Three—Fight using your legs whenever possible, because they’re the strongest part of your body. Your arms are the weakest.
Rule Four—Hit to kill. The first blow should be the last, if at all possible.
Rule Five—The letters are the law.
Kit takes her role as London’s notorious “Perfect Killer” seriously. The letters and cash that come to her via a secret mailbox are not a game; choosing who to kill is not an impulse decision. Every letter she receives begins with “Dear Killer,” and every time Kit murders, she leaves a letter with the dead body. Her moral nihilism and thus her murders are a way of life—the only way of life she has ever known.
But when a letter appears in the mailbox that will have the power to topple Kit’s convictions as perfectly as she commits her murders, she must make a decision: follow the only rules she has ever known, or challenge Rule One, and go from there.
Katherine Ewell’s Dear Killer is a sinister psychological thriller that explores the thin line between good and evil, and the messiness of that inevitable moment when life contradicts everything you believe.
Review:
I have like so many mixed emotions right now. I haven’t written any reviews in a while so I’m going to apologize in advance for this hodgepodge of words and emotions, I honestly don’t know where to start. I finished Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell and it was just amazing I love love loved it and it tore me apart but I still want more. The story is about a girl named Kit, who had a rather rare life. She’s an only child like many kids are, she’s got an absent dad like many kids do. Blonde hair, brown eyes, a London local going to a fancy school living a manicured life, besides the fact that you know, she murders people as a hobby.
The thing though this isn’t some gory book with nasty blood scenes and people pleading for their lives. It’s a really really interesting story about a girl who was raised to kill. Her mother was a murderer too, not just a random psychopath but a thought out, planned, and trained killer. She lived by letters random people would write to her, requesting that she do their dirty work and kill their spouses, bosses, enemies and the like. She was basically a hit man, and she taught that to her daughter Kit.
Now Kit takes over the killing in her mother’s place, she follows the rules her mother taught her, is always careful and never kills on her own judgment. It’s what keeps her sane, she isn’t playing God, she doesn’t get a thrill out of ending peoples’ lives, she just follows out requests. Until she gets a note from a kid in her school, it’s a note that changes everything because suddenly it’s personal.
Why do I love this story so much? It’s interesting, it’s original, it’s thrilling and the characters are all amazing. There are about four main characters and I don’t even understand how Katherine Ewell could write something so amazing with literally four characters. I will be honest the ending left me in shreds, and I’m not sure if there’s a sequel but there has to be. This story is actually gorgeous in its character development and I think that Kit really tries to find herself and all the struggles just show how hard she works to keep sane. I just love love love it soo soo much, it’s fabulous.
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