Tag: book blog

Review: Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.
Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

This book had everything. It has beautiful characters, a lovely romance, a great setting, an interesting focus and passages that left me reaching for tabs. To put it simply – I adored this book.

Let’s begin with the characters. I adored Emi immediately. She’s smart, creative, enthusiastic and good at what she does. But she’s also humble, grateful and has her own faults. Throughout the book she is growing up and learning, finding her feet in the world of film and work. She goes through difficult challenges but learns from them, and in turn teaches the reader.

“”The best things aren’t perfectly constructed. They aren’t illusions. They aren’t larger than life. They are life.”

I also loved Emi’s family and her best friend, Charlotte. I wish their friendship was explored in maybe a little more depth, but that is the only tiny fault I could pick out from this book.

Emi is a set designer, and I can’t think of a better thing for a book to focus on. I’m a creative media student, and I also love interior design. Emi had a brilliant understanding of her industry and job, and the book talked in-depth about her life as a set designer. This is just so awesome. This book is a romance with a different focus. It’s not entirely about Emi and Ava. In fact, the plot follows her working on a movie, and Ava is involved.

“Part of me knew that all along, but I got it wrong anyway. What I’m trying to say is that I just want to know you.“

This book is set in summer in LA, and I found the setting worked perfectly. I wouldn’t say this is exactly a ‘summer read’, but I felt the underlying tones of school breaks and summer jobs.

Nina LaCour is a great writer of LGBTQIA+ books, and I really love how she approaches Emi’s sexuality. It’s not a big thing, she’s not treated differently..she just fits in. This book does tackle the subject but it’s not a main focus, and that works incredibly well.

“You don’t have to be at your best. We can’t all be at our best all the time. But”, I say again, “I just want to know you”.”

I’m happy to tell you I don’t have a bad word to say about this book. I just loved it, I felt utterly absorbed and I’m still feeling sad about having to say goodbye to Emi’s world. This is definitely one of the most enjoyable and well-written books I’ve read recently!

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: It’s About Love by Steven Camden

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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He’s Luke. She’s Leia.
Just like in Star Wars. Just like they’re made for each other. Same film studies course, different backgrounds, different ends of town.
Only this isn’t a film. This is real life. This is where monsters from the past come back to take revenge. This is where you are sometimes the monster.
But real life? Sometimes, only sometimes, it turns out just like in the movies…
… maybe.

I bought this book well over a year ago at YALC 2016 simply because I liked the synopsis, but I’ve only just got around to reading it now. I actually enjoyed this book quite a lot, and there were so many things I liked about it.

On a personal level, this book was pretty cool. For one, Camden is apparently from about 10 minutes up the road from me! And this book is set in my local big city – which I (for obvious reasons) really enjoyed reading about.

“Apology is pointless. Apologies are for when you forget something. Or bump into somebody. Apologies are for accidents.”

I loved a lot about this book. It really tackles some great (and difficult) topics, such as living with someone who has committed a serious crime, which I found really interesting to read about. I also felt (as a media student) that college was portrayed really accurately. I felt utterly convinced that Luke was a film student and Camden obviously knows a lot about scriptwriting. His knowledge really shines through in the book!

“You can’t apologise for something you chose to do. That’s like apologising for being you.”

Unfortunately I did have a few gripes with this book – and one of these was Luke. I was wondering why there was something not feeling right about this book, and I think it’s because of Luke. I just felt like he wasn’t the most likeable character at times and although his mistakes were real, they also made me dislike him.

I liked this book and I can’t really fault it – but I don’t think I connected to it as much as other readers did. It was just a little too gritty for me.

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Mini Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

As mentioned in my birthday wishlist and book haul, I’ve wanted to read this collection of poetry for a long time, actually since it came out. I was lucky enough to receive it from my lovely friend Amy for my birthday, and I finished it in less than an hour the other evening.

“you tell me to quiet down cause
my opinions make me less beautiful
but i was not made with a fire in my belly
so i could be put out
i was not made with a lightness on my tongue
so i could be easy to swallow
i was made heavy
half blade and half silk
difficult to forget and not easy
for the mind to follow”

Milk and Honey is everthing I expected and more. This book is just so raw. It is a complete outpouring of emotion and it made me feel so many too. I cried at the amount of herself Rupi has thrown into this story. I admire her for opening herself up so much to us.

Although this is a collection of poems, it also follows a simple storyline – the journey of Rupi’s self-acceptance and healing. It also includes some gorgeous little simple illustrations which fit perfectly with the poems.

“you were a dragon long before
he came around and said
you could fly
you will remain a dragon
long after he’s left”

Overall, this book is tender, raw, sensitive and emotional. It is heart breaking and heart warming. It is brutal and healing. It is beautiful.

(I don’t to ruin my no doubt 5 star thoughts with this, but the only niggle I had is the lack of capitalisation in this book. Although I actually felt like it worked, I simply can’t be swayed in my opinion of capitalisation. Sorry.)

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.
Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.
Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.
And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.

I’ve been so distracted by life recently that even reading has taken a backseat. Yep, even reading. But honestly, I’m not too bothered. I’m ahead of my Goodreads goal, and I only need to read a book every week and a half to complete that!

Okay I don’t even know where to start with this book? Did I like it? I have no heckin’ clue. Was it good? I don’t know. It was weird, I’ll give you that. It was unlike any book I’ve ever read before, and that’s kind of…impressive.

But I unfortunately can’t say I enjoyed it. First of all…I didn’t really like Greg. I found him really insensitive, annoying and just plain weird.

“There was just something about her dying that I had understood but not really understood, if you know what I mean.”

One of the best parts of this book has to be the humour, but I even found that really off and insensitive. Sure, I laughed, but it also felt wrong. Jesse has the perfect opportunity to make this a deep and meaningful book about friendship and death, but most of it felt so off the mark for me.

Let’s talk a bit about the film part of this book. Greg and Earl were ‘filmmakers’, which should be great, make them rounded characters with genuine interests and make me (as a media student) very happy. But these guys didn’t have a clue. They literally had no idea. If someone has a genuine interest in film, they should know a bit about lighting and camera angles and shots and ideas. But they had made and edited several films and I wasn’t impressed by the sound of any of them. Frankly, they all sounded awful.

“I mean, you can know someone is dying on an intellectual level, but emotionally it hasn’t really hit you, and then when it does, that’s when you feel like shit.”

Greg was actually the biggest thing I had wrong with this book. He was also extremely annoying in the way he judged girls on the size of their boobs and kept complaining about how unnattractive people were. Like what? Really?

Before I stop ranting, I have one more thing I have to say. This book seemed so pointless. Like, the title literally happened. That was about it.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Sing by Vivi Greene

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Multiplatinum pop icon Lily Ross’s biggest hits and biggest heartbreaks (because they are one and the same):
1. AGONY. (That feeling when her ex ripped her heart out of her chest and she never saw it coming.)
2. GHOSTS. (Because even famous people are ghosted by guys sometimes. And it sucks just as much.)
3. ONCE BITTEN. (As in: twice shy. Also, she’s never dating an actor or a musician ever again.)
But this summer’s going to be different. After getting her heart shattered, Lily is taking herself out of the spotlight and heading to a small island in middle-of-nowhere Maine with her closest friends. She has three months until her fall tour starts-three months to focus on herself, her music, her new album. Anything but guys.
That is . . . until Lily meets sweet, down-to-earth local Noel Bradley, who is so different from anyone she’s ever dated. Suddenly, Lily’s “summer of me” takes an unexpected turn, and she finds herself falling deeper and harder than ever before. But Noel isn’t interested in the limelight. She loves Noel-but she loves her fans, too. And come August, she may be forced to choose.

Ah I’m back with another review! It’s been a crazy few days and the only thing I seem to be able to do is read, I’m finding it so hard to focus on anything other than a good book.

I liked this book a lot, but I feel like I actually shouldn’t. This one feels like such a guilty pleasure! It’s somehow addictive, and I had no idea I would be so invested in the story.

Books about singers tend to always be cliche, and this one sounds no different. And in a way, it was cliche…but like I said, it was also a guilty pleasure and one I couldn’t put down.

“We don’t get to be normal.”

The things that really stood out about Sing are the writing, the characters and the setting. The small island where most of this book is based was absolutely perfect, and it complemeneted the story really well. In fact, I really love how Vivi included the location and intertwined it in the story. It really made the book feel summery and like a vacation!

I have to admit I adored Noel and found him very honest and a total sweetheart. If I have any gripes with this book other than the cheesiness, it’s how Lily treated him sometimes and how he would just jump straight back to her.

“I’m just the fool who keeps trying.”

The only other issue I have with this book is the whole pop-star-on-vacation thing. Like, it’s not like actual people in the industry can just do that, have their best friends work for and live with them or have managers that just…accept everything. Frankly, it doesn’t work like that. But then again, this is fiction…and Lily is one ficitional character who is just incredibly lucky.

I did find the plot very simple, but I think that’s actually exactly what this book needed. As long as you go into it knowing it’s going to be totally cliche but utterly heartwarming, this book is everything you could want and more.

So this book might not be the most exciting, action-filled or fast paced. It was completely predictable and not the most complicated out there. But all of this cheese worked together and made for an easy-to-read, addictive novel.

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: All the Wicked Girls by Chris Whitaker

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she’s a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama – especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine.
Then Summer goes missing. Grace is already simmering, and with this new tragedy the police have their hands full keeping the peace. Only Raine throws herself into the search, supported by a most unlikely ally.
But perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye…

Thank you to Bonnier Zaffre for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I can already tell this one is going to be really hard to review – because I have really, really mixed feelings about this book.

It would be easy to say I disliked it, but that wouldn’t be true. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. The easiest way to describe it would be confusing, because my head is still spinning and I don’t know where I stand. I don’t know how to even begin.

Let’s start with my dislikes, because unfortunately there are a lot of them. For one, there are so many freaking characters and I don’t even know why. Like, I understand we need a lot of characters for the story to progress, but I literally didn’t understand who half of these people where. Like, we had cops that acted like cops but weren’t actually cops? And then we had actual cops that didn’t seem to do much? And then it feels like I met every single person in the town in which this book is set.

“There ain’t a reason for everythin’, some things just were and are and will be.”

This book flicks between so many viewpoints, and authors have to really be skillful to be able to do that without confusion. I can see how it could have worked, but I really needed more depth of character for me to truly enjoy the book.

I also unfortunately found this one a bit of a tough read. One, because it is incredibly depressing and two, because it just read like that. In a weird way, I felt like I was reading a classic or something, because it really dragged. Also, is this book YA? I mean, it’s a mix between adults and teens and it confused me so much. I didn’t even realise Noah and Purv were teens until near the end of the novel.

“We are passengers trapped. If you trust, if you truly believe, then you’re immortal.”

Okay, so what did I even like? Well, I can’t lie, Whitaker really does have a talent in creating atmosphere. I felt fully absorbed and immersed in the dark world of Grace and what was happening there. I also really enjoyed the writing and especially Summer’s chapters.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I didn’t love it, but I would recommend it as a great thriller mystery.

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um…
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane’s list. Who knows what she’ll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait…what?

This wasn’t my favourite Morgan Matson book (Amy and Roger definitely still holds that title!), but I did still really enjoy it. I loved a lot about this book – but some things did disappoint me. For one, I kind of knew everything that was happening. Nothing shocked me or made me think Matson had written outside of her comfort zone – but I did find it very comforting to read.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was a great contemporary summer read, but I did unfortunately have a few issues with it.

“Real friends are the ones you can count on no matter what.”

So let’s start with the good stuff! The whole friendship and mystery I really loved. I don’t think I’ve read a book with a list to complete like this one did, and it definitelty made for good plot development.

I also loved the friendship between Dawn, Collins, Frank and Em. It felt really cute and real. I also think Em’s family offered something we don’t often see in YA, and I do love books with great relationships with family. Beckett made for such an adorable little brother!

“The ones who go into the forest to find you and bring you home.”

Unfortunately I did have a few tiny niggles about this book, as I did with The Unexpected Everything. For one, the ending! As cute as it was for two characters, what happened to the others? Without spoilers, is Em forgiven by a certain girl? Or the other friend?

Another thing I have to mention is Slaone. As close as her and Em were, I have to say she just kind of…annoyed me. Like, she literally abandoned Slaone and Em just forgives her when she manages to get new friends. I felt like the ending of the book, and the whole road trip (without giving any spoilers), should have been…more important. Bigger, somehow.

“And real friends never have to tell you that they’re your friends.”

Other than that, I really loved this book. The love interest was really good, and even though it was predictable as I mentioned before, it was also relaxed and comforting. If you love a good summery contemporary or anything by Morgan Matson, I’d definitely recommend it!

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name.
When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex?

I knew I would like this book. It has everything I look for in a good YA summer contemporary. I had no idea that I would absolutely adore it. Okay, so I picked this one up yesterday and I finished it this morning…literally because I could. Not. Put. It. Down. This means I’m now forced to queue 2 reviews 2 days in a row – because I’m reading so much!

Okay so on to my actual thoughts of the book, which I don’t honestly know how to put into words simply because my mind is still in the crazy, beautiful and incredibly chaotic world of Bailey. I’m now going to go through every single thing I liked about this book (which let me warn you, is a lot)…so we may be here a while…

“He looks toward the ocean, dark purple with the last rays of light. “My mom says we’re all connected–people and plants and animals. We all know one another on the inside.”

Let’s start with Bailey. She made for such an awesome main character, although I have to say I didn’t like her right away. She seemed kind of…stuck up. Superior. But that soon fizzled out as we discovered more and more about the mystery of Bailey. Above all, I found Bailey real. She was a real teenager with real (a lot) of real struggles – and I found her voice perfect for the story. I loved a lot about Bailey, especially her love of film. It showed real depth of character and I felt really connected to her. She also suffered a lot with her nerves and even PTSD at some points, which I found very relatable. I’ve unfortunately suffered with anxiety in the past and panic attacks, and I found Bailey’s very real and well described. She was also funny, quick witted and sarcastic, which made for an entertaining read.

Alex, Approximately also has a great collection of side characters. Porter is the perfect love interest – someone the reader can grow to adore as Bailey does. He can be a little bit of an asshole at times but he is so sweet and loving that I didn’t care after a while. Grace makes a great best friend, and a great first best friend for Bailey. Bailey’s dad is honestly a lovely parent figure, and Wanda becomes one too. All of the other characters – the other security guard, Patrick and even Davy, built the book up to be something I loved. The characters all bounced off each other and aided each others paths, and I think that’s simply genius.

“It’s what’s on the outside that distracts. Our clothes, our words, our actions. Shark attacks. Gunshots. We spend our lives trying to find other people.”

There are so many other things I loved about this book that we may, quite honestly, be here all day. But I’m ploughing on, because I just need to write it all down.

So, I also adored the location! This book actually made me fall in love with California, and it’s suddenly so much higher on places I would love to visit. I also felt like the location worked really well with the romance – because without the vivid, real descriptions of the setting…the romance would have been to unreal. Too fairytale-ish. But nope, even though the beautiful romance is totally unrealistic in real life, the setting made it seem possible. It made anything seem possible.

There are also so many random things I adored about this book. The museum(s). The way random characters appreciate cars and scooters. The surfing. The lines from movies at the start of every chapter. The fact Grace is in a long distance relationship and *whoops* it SURVIVES THE SUMMER. Patrick and his boyfriend. The complete adoration Porter has for weather. The scenes on the lifts, on the front porch, in the *ahem* back of Porter’s van. I could literally list things all day.

“Sometimes we get confused and turned around by the distractions.” He smiles at me. “But we didn’t.”

Before I go, let’s just talk about Alex for a moment. I’m not going to say much, but can I just mention I knew who he was from the moment Bailey started that job. But even that, I don’t really care about. Because even though I knew all along, I still found it the most amount of fun to watch play out in front of me.

Okay, so I loved a lot about this book. But the thing I adored most is how it all worked together. See, many books have awesome things. But the perfect book has all of these awesome things and makes them bounce of one another in such a way, us readers just fall head over heels for them.

Jenn Bennett, how I admire you right now. I can safely say that Alex, Approximately is possibly my favourite read of the year so far. And I just hope that somehow I have thrown enough love into this review that someone here picks up your books. You have stolen my heart with your beautiful words.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Marly’s Ghost by David Levithan

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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When Ben’s girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over and the prospect of Valentine’s day without her fills him with bitterness. But then Marly arrives – or at least, her ghost does – along with three other spirits. Now Ben must take a journey through Valentines past, present and future – and what he learns will change him forever.

I have to say, this book really shocked me. I’m not the biggest fan of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens or even David Levithan, but I was a fan of this book.

For a start, I started this book last night, and finished it this morning. I wanted quick read to finish before the end of the month, but I didn’t expect to read half of it in an hour. This book just flew past!

“When the heart stops, you die. Love is everywhere that life is, and if there is no love for life, you die.”

I actually thought the whole Valentine’s themed retelling of A Christmas Carol was really clever. It had a familiarity to it I liked, but the Valentine’s theme kept it really fresh and interesting.

I adored Ben and the other characters – I felt like his grief and how it affected him was explained really well. He was really bitter over the death of Marly, but that’s not how he was like inside nor how he wanted to be. I really felt like I had a close connection with him.

There was also an adorable gay couple called Tiny and Tim who I loved! They gave a whole new element to the story and I like how they were included. I also loved Ben’s group of friends and how sweet they were in trying to support him.

“Giving up on love is the same thing as giving up on life itself.”

However, I can’t lie when I say I didn’t have issues with this book. It felt a little…weird in places. Some of it felt very wintery, some summery, which kind of reflected Ben’s mood but in a strange way! Also, the voices of Ben and his friends were definitely not teenage. In fact, I just felt like they fitted more in A Christmas Carol itself than in this modern day retelling. Another problem I had is just that this book isn’t really my thing. But that’s just personal, and I still enjoyed it!

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Summer Days and Summer Nights

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

With this one being a collection of stories, I honestly don’t know how to review it. I think I’m just going to have to go one by one – because this book is so diverse!

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail by Leigh Bardugo – 4 out of 5 stars

“The person she liked best didn’t like her enough to want more of her, and she didn’t want to pretend that wasn’t awful.”

I really enjoyed this start to the book, and it genuinly surprised me! Leigh Bardugo has a great way of interspersing romance and fantasy, and I honestly didn’t expect it to work as well as it did.

The End of Love by Nina Lacour – 5 out of 5 stars

“As much as people want to look on the bright side, skip straight to the future when everything will be okay, the truth is that there is this time, where you sometimes have trouble breathing, and you feel powerless.”

I would say that The End of Love was possibly my favourite of all the 12 stories. It had a great summery feel and the love was adorable. I totally related to the main characters love for school and I liked the way it included difficult topics such as her parents divorce. The camping off summer vibes perfectly.

Last Stand At the Cinegore by Libba Bray – 3 out of 5 stars

“I get it’ Dani said, suprising me. ‘When you watch one of these old movies in a place like this, you’re connected to everybody else who’s ever watched it. You can practically feel them around you.'”
I liked some parts of this story – especially the appreciation of film! – but it was just so weird. The whole thing is about this creepy horror movie that like, comes out of the screen and turns everybody to demons. And the whole demon attacking thing seems so damn unrealistic. What’s summery about that? That said, I liked the characters and the concept was very unique!

Sick Pleasure by Francesca Lia Block – 2 out of 5 stars

“Love can be so sttange and sad. It can be hard to understand why we run toward certain people and away from others at different times in our lives. Why we search so hard for that thing we are looking for, and the run so fast when we find it”

Unfortunately I am giving this one such a low rating for two reasons.

  1. The characters names are literally letters. Like M, L, J and A. Oh, and I. What could possibly be more confusing than naming the narrator I? It might seem like a small thing, but it annoyed me from the off.
  2. I literally don’t remember anything happening in this story. Maybe nothing happened, maybe it was just really not memorable. Either is pretty bad.

In Ninety Minutes Turn North by Stephanie Perkins – 5 out of 5 stars

“The person she liked best didn’t like her enough to want more of her, and she didn’t want to pretend that wasn’t awful.”

I have a feeling that Stephanie Perkins has this amazing secret ability where she can just put anyone under a spell that makes us fall in love with her writing. Because this story is just so goddamn cute, and I love it so much. The whole location gave it a unique feel, the speech was adorable and omg, even the title is so cute. Yes, it may not be the most summery story, but I don’t even care.

Souvenirs by Tim Federle – 2.5 out of 5 stars

“What is life, it comes to me, without the occasional risk of pizza?”

I didn’t dislike this story – I just had…issues with it. Keith for a start was not the best love interest, and I felt like he was quite inconsiderate of Matt’s feelings. However, I did like the setting being in a theme park and it gave off a summery vibe! The narrative was pretty unique as well – it reminded me of David Levithan actually.

Inertia by Veronica Roth – 2 out of 5 stars

“Some people might leave you,’ he said, for once ignoring a joke in favor of something real. ‘But it doesn’t mean you’re worth leaving. It doesn’t mean that at all.”

The first thing that stood out about this one is that the technology they use is so damn similar to that in Divergent. Like come on, I want something new. This story also had nothing to do with summer, but I guess the concept was pretty cool and I felt for the characters.

Love is the Last Resort by Jon Skovron – 4 out of 5 stars

“Because if we are all fools, then perhaps there is some wisdom in falling in love.”

I actually really liked this one – it shocked me quite a lot! The whole summer resort gave the right vibes and I loved the varying characters. I definitely thought Skovron pulled off having a number of characters in a short story, and even though it was pretty predictable and unrealistic, I enjoyed watching this story play out. It even made me laugh out loud at points!

Good Luck and Farewell by Brandy Colbert – 3 out of 5 stars

“I think maybe saying good-bye isn’t bad at all. Maybe it meabs I’m making room for someone new.”

I remember enjoying this one a lot at the time, but the reason I’m giving it such a low rating is because I really can’t remember it very well. And what I do remember, I don’t really think much actually happened. However, I did like the representation, LGBTQIA+ relationship and the fact this story tackled grief.

Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare – 2 out of 5 stars

“I snuggled into his arms as the last of the fireworks faded, and high above, Mephit flapped across the sky, his wings silhouetted against the moon.”

This story was just weird. I’m not one for demons or dark magic etc, so I honestly found it quite hard to grasp. I don’t think that’s just me though – going in depth about magic and demons might be a little too much for such a short story. I also didn’t get the summery vibes I was hoping for, and I actually had a problem with…incest. Like, I know the people aren’t actually family..but they are by marriage. I just found that a bit weird.

A Thousand Ways this Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E. Smith – 5 out of 5 stars

“He was a mystery that—for reasons I didn’t quite understand—I felt desperate to solve.”

Oh my, here we go. This is exactly what I was looking for. For one, the love interest is goddamn sweet and has a love of kids. The main character works in a summer camp, giving off the perfect vibe for summer. Also, back to the love interest again – he is on the autism spectrum! And it doesn’t change the way she feels for him! Just yes, omg. This one was so good. Maybe my favourite?

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things by Lev Grossman – 5 out of 5 stars

“Probably falling in love is always a little like that: You discover that one other person who understands what no one else seems to, which is that the world is broken and can never, ever be fixed. You can stop pretending, at least for a little while. You can both admit it, if only to each other.”

Okay so I actually really liked this one and I actually thought the concept was pretty original compared to some of the other stories. It gave a different vibe, but I still found it pretty summery. Also, the love interests were both interesting and had good character depth. The plot was interesting, and left some intruige for the reader.

So overall, I did enjoy this book. There were plenty of stories I didn’t like, but the ones I did really brought my rating back up and made me love this novel a lot!

★★★★

-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

 

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