Novel Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: Delacorte Press (Random House)

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

The Cover:

I actually really like this cover. It's simple and not at all embarrassing. The scene is fitting for the characters and the island they live on, and I think the blurring effect works really well with how the story goes.

 

Review:

I must admit, I didn't see that coming.

I knew that a big twist was going to come, but I didn't think that would be it. Literally not until it pretty much spelled it out. And even then, I didn't want to believe it. For one, because I didn't realize this was going to be that kind of book. But for another, because it's just so awful, and unfair, and sad.

It leads up to it really well. You get to know each of the characters, and there's some mixed feelings and some really close friendships. Slowly, the tension on the island grows, and slowly you discover why. Part of Cadence's brain was filling in the pieces of what she was missing, in odd ways and odd memories and stories. Looking back, I quite enjoyed the little fantasies she created and how it evolved into the truth. And how it all adds up makes perfect sense, and the events leading up to it were realistic. I was even behind the groups decision, up until we realize how wrong it went.

Even though this is “that kind” of book, I think it handled it really well. How it wraps up in the end, how the goodbyes are handled, I thought was really sweet. It, maybe, softened the blow a little bit.

I was surprised by this book, and I did rather enjoy it. Or, more accurately, I definitely think it was worth reading.

Manga Review: Ao Haru Ride, Volume 3, by Io Sakisaka

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: February 2019

Volumes: 13.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The popular shojo manga series that was adapted into the Blue Spring Ride anime!

Futaba Yoshioka thought all boys were loud and obnoxious until she met Kou Tanaka in junior high. But as soon as she realized she really liked him, he had already moved away because of family issues. Now, in high school, Kou has reappeared, but is he still the same boy she fell in love with?

Futaba Yoshioka has encountered her first love again in high school, but he seems different from the boy she once knew. She realizes her feelings for Kou are not because of who he was in the past but who he is now. When she discovers that her friend Yuri has a crush on him too, Futaba is unsure what to do.

Review:

Futaba tries to be in denial about her feelings, but that doesn't last very long. I really appreciate how maturely all of this is handled. Futaba accepts her feelings, and then she understands that she needs to be honest and upfront with Yuri. Despite how dramatic this could have been, it's handled in a really sweet manner. It's a little rough for both of them, but it ends up forming a nice friendship between the three girls.

Of course, it could go either way at this point. Love rivalry can be messy.

Despite how roughly the group started in the previous volume, they've somehow formed a rather close friendship, and they get together to try to help Kou up his grades, even if he protests and tries to keep them away.

It's a little iffy where this is going next, and we're close to where the anime ended, so I'm excited to see how it continues.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Novel Review: The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance; Family, Friendship

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Andie had it all planned out.

When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future.

Important internship? Check.

Amazing friends? Check.

Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks)

But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life.

Because here’s the thing - if everything's planned out, you can never find the unexpected.

And where’s the fun in that?

The Cover:

I really like the cover. I think it fits the book and the setting quite well, and I appreciate that the dogs are an important part of the book. It would catch my eye. Plus, the back cover, and the inside of the dust cover have different images, and I really like that.

Review:

Of course, I enjoyed this book. It took me a while to read, but it still pulled me back in every time I picked it up. A very fun read.

In the beginning, Andie is a little bit unlikable, with how set in her ways she is. How she treats boys, and how controlling she can be. She didn’t bother me too much, aside from a few of her choices in the later half, but she learned a lot by the end, and I believed it.

I didn’t expect the father-daughter relationship that was in this book, given the synopsis made me think he would be a much worse person. And he has his faults. But he’s also a great dad, and the close relationship those two re-form in this book was so enjoyable. They get along really well, and it was really fun to see their banter.

Andie also has a very close group of girl friends, and they are all there for each other in an instant. The conflict that happens there, while sad, is realistic and understandable. Sad, but it makes sense to me. They were still a lot of fun to read, their interactions and banter a lot of fun. Andie’s best friend and her boyfriend were also a solid couple through this entire novel, and they seemed the type that had met early and would be together until late in life. I really liked seeing that.

Now, the romance. Andie meets Clark, who is awkward and shy, but who turns out to be a best-selling fantasy novelist. And he’s great, I love Clark. The chemistry between the two was slow at times, but it was still very sweet, and I loved them. He fits in with her friends really well, and I enjoyed the bromance he formed with the other guy in the group. I love the honesty among the group, how certain ones had certain people they would go to to talk with.

There was also a second boy, a guy who Andie had fooled around with from time to time, and I thought drama would be caused because of it. I was pleasantly surprised when not only was there not drama, but that the other guy reacted really well. It makes me want to know more about him. I want him to have a book.

This was a lot of fun to read. Her books are always a joy, and I will be picking up anything she releases next.

Novel Review: Goddess of the Night (Daughters of the Moon, #1) by Lynne Ewing

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Paranormal

Publisher: Volo (Hyperion/Disney)

Release Date: 2000

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Vanessa, who has always had the special power to become invisible, discovers that she and her best friend Catty, a time-traveler, are goddesses of the moon who must fight together to overcome the evil Atrox.

The Cover:

I do not like this cover at all. The font and the set-ups I don't mind, but the image is terrible. The idea is okay, but the way the girls looks all shiny and wet from the bad makeup drives me crazy. It just looks cheap and weird and I hate it.

Review:

This was an average book for me.

Vanessa is an average heroine, wanting to be normal and not become invisible at times. Her best friend can time travel, and Vanessa gets worried when she disappears. This leads to Vanessa meeting some other girls who have magical powers.

The whole set up of it reminded me of Sailor Moon, which made me want to like it more. But the writing is very blah, went by fast but didn’t really keep me interested. I didn’t care for any of the characters, or their problems. They felt very one-dimensional, which made Catty’s disappearance that much more unexciting.

I was bored through most of the book, and was happy to be done with it.

Novel Review: The Book of Luke by Jenny O'Connell

Rating (Out of 5): ~2-2.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: MTV Books

Release Date: 2007.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Emily Abbott has always been considered the Girl Most Likely to Be Nice -- but lately being nice hasn't done her any good. Her parents have decided to move the family from Chicago back to their hometown of Boston in the middle of Emily's senior year. Only Emily's first real boyfriend, Sean, is in Chicago, and so is her shot at class valedictorian and early admission to the Ivy League. What's a nice girl to do?

Then Sean dumps Emily on moving day and her father announces he's staying behind in Chicago "to tie up loose ends," and Emily decides that what a nice girl needs to do is to stop being nice.
She reconnects with her best friends in Boston, Josie and Lucy, only to discover that they too have been on the receiving end of some glaring Guy Don'ts. So when the girls have to come up with something to put in the senior class time capsule, they know exactly what to do. They'll create a not-so-nice reference guide for future generations of guys -- an instruction book that teaches them the right way to treat girls.
But when her friends draft Emily to test out their tips on Luke Preston -- the hottest, most popular guy in school, who just broke up with Josie by email -- Emily soon finds that Luke is the trickiest of test subjects . . . and that even a nice girl like Emily has a few things to learn about love.

The Cover:

I rather like this cover. I think that it fits the tone of the book all right, and that it prepared me well enough for what I was getting in the book. I like the lowercaps for the title, too. I think it looks nice, and it works okay for the book.

Review:

Emily is forced to move back to her old hometown when her father gets a job transfer.  Her boyfriend breaks up with her that morning, and her father ends up staying behind.  Feeling wounded over everything and trying to go back to her old life, her and her friends decide to make a book about boys for their school's time capsule, only to try it on an actual boy along the way.

I thought this would be better than it was.

Emily and her friends start making a book of advice for boys, and then they decide to use it on Luke, the most popular playboy at their school and see if they can reform him.  Luke just broke up with one of her friends, and they’re exacting some revenge.  Only she starts falling for him.

I didn’t really care for Emily or her friends, or Luke.  I just didn’t grow very attached, and I really didn’t feel the chemistry.  It just read very one-dimensional to me.  Emily was also so stuck in the past—she moves back and wants them all to be exactly like they were three years ago, and it takes forever for her to realize that things change, if she even does.

My biggest problem with the book, though, was the clichéd, childish thoughts they all had on boys.  None of their thoughts were original, but they were all very hypocritical—like guys can’t talk about girls with each other, but girls can talk about guys all they want.  The entire plot line revolving around the book was stupid and shallow.  Then there were snippets of advice at the beginning of each chapter, and I don't think any of it was relevant.

The ending left me very unsatisfied, as well.  After the big fall-out and reveal of their plans, there’s a big fight, and all parties are jerks to each other.  But they make up way too fast.  In one scene, they’re fighting and apologizing and then joking around again.  It felt too fast, with too little resolve.

The writing didn’t keep me interested.  There was way too much words, paragraphs of thoughts, going on and on.  I was bored, and wanted it to be over.

Novel Review: The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Wishlist Thursday. Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. I think it's adorable, much like West's other contemporary covers. It gives the right fun-loving feel that the book has. And I like that the models have clothes fitting for the couple--Gia is more dressed up, while fill-in Bradley is much more relaxed, with a loose-fitting shirt. I really like it.

Review:

“‘Tomorrow we are all going to be better people.’” (Paperback, pg. 141)

       

I was a little wary going into this, because I’d heard iffy things. Especially about the ending. But I’m glad I went in optimistic, because I loved this book. It might actually be my favorite of hers’ so far, and even I’m surprised to say that.

Gia gets dumped on prom night, in the parking lot, right before her friends were going to meet Bradley for the first time. Afraid they’re going to believe she’d lied about his existence, she convinces the closest guy in the lot to pretend to be Bradley.

Gia is selfish, using people to get what she wants, but she’d never lied until Bradley. And then she has to keep lying to cover it up. I loved the way she grew—it was slow, but it progressed smoothly, and I could see it by the end of the book. And then when everything gets revealed, about her lies, but also with this fight with fill-in Bradley, it’s crushing. I understood her feelings at that point so well, that I almost cried it was so painful.

There’s also everything with her parents and her brother. Her brother is kind of terrible and unapologetic about it; her parents try too hard to put on a good face. It’s shaped her a lot, but I liked where they were going by the end. There's also everything with her friends, to which there's a lot of drama, and the way Jules reacted to everything really got on my nerves. But it's also possible that she had real reasons because of how Gia was before the book stared.

And then there’s fill-in Bradley (I won’t spoil his name, since there’s build-up, and it’s completely fitting). He is one of my favorite boys at this point. He’s funny and super sweet, caught between her and his friends at one point, but trying so hard to be a good guy. I loved the humor from the very beginning—the way he and Gia joke around is hilarious and adorable. And the swoons between them is intense, I love their chemistry, and I’m very happy with the way they made up at the end. It was kind of perfect.

There were a few strings left unended, particularly with Gia and Claire, but that’s okay. I would also be very happy with a spin-off featuring Bec, because she was a fantastic character, and I really liked seeing her and Gia get to know each other.

This might be my favorite West book yet, and I can’t wait to read the next one, whatever it may be.