Novel Review: In Trouble by Ellen Levine

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Historical

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab (Lerner Publishing)

Release Date: 2011

Spoilers?: No.

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

Goodreads Synopsis:

In Trouble is a novel born of author Ellen Levine's interviews with women who came of age in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including those who knew what it was like to be a teen facing a horrible choice. In the decades before Roe v. Wade, a young woman "in trouble" had very few options and all of them meant shame, isolation, and maybe much worse. Jamie and Elaine's stories are just two among the thousands of stories of teenagers facing unplanned pregnancies.

The Cover:

While not particularly eye-catching, I do think that the cover works for the book, and I like it's subtlety.

Review:

This book was just depressing.

It’s set in the 1950’s-1960’s, about two teen girls, and what happens when they get pregnant. The author did a lot of research, and it’s definitely true that it was very hard at that time, with little options and a lot of shame on the girls for it.

While I wasn’t terribly impressed with the writing or the characterization, I do think that the subject was handled realistically.

It just depresses me.

Novel Review: The Boy Most Likely To (My Life Next Door, #2) by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Dial (Penguin)

Release Date: August 2015

Spoilers?: No.

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

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A surprising, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door—great for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han 

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house

Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To . . . well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.

For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard.

Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted . . . but maybe should have.

And Alice is caught in the middle.

Told in Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns.

The Cover:

I do really like this cover. I think it gives a good feel for what you're getting, and the models' positions work for the characters. It's not my favorite of her covers, but it's good, and it's nice for the book.

Review:

I don’t even know where to start with this book.

I mean, I expected to love it for reasons. I didn’t expect this…

Tim is on his way toward being a better person. And then his parents kick him out, and Jase’s family takes him in. Can I just say I love the Garrett family? Because I love every one of them.

Tim and Alice clearly have feelings for each other. Tim flirts with her always, even if he believes he has no chance with her. Their relationship developed slowly, although it was apparent through the whole book.

The biggest part of the book was not their romance, though. I won’t spoil what it was, because it was a huge surprise. And then it totally worked its way into my heart and I loved it completely and it broke me in the end.

The ending is what has me so conflicted with this book. Because I wasn’t expecting it to be so heartbreaking in the end, with that ending. It makes sense, because I guess it wasn’t his time for that, he still needed to grow… But it was so good and sweet and also kind of what he needed? I loved it completely. It just upsets me how sad the ending was for him.

I like where Tim and Alice were in their relationship by the end, but I didn’t like where that big plot ended. It makes me want to sob and throw the book. It depresses me terribly so and I hate it.

This book broke my heart, to sum it up.

I will definitely be reading any book Fitzpatrick releases ever, I’m sure. I just hope that her next one has a better ending.

Novel Review: Be With Me (Wait for You, #2) by J. Lynn/Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: William Morrow (HarperCollins)

Release Date: February 2014

Spoilers?: Not really.

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

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Teresa Hamilton is having a rough year—she’s in love with her big brother’s best friend, but he hasn’t spoken to her since they shared a truly amazing, mind-blowing, change-your-life kiss. She got out of a terrible relationship. And now an injury is threatening to end her dance career for good. It’s time for Plan B – college. And maybe a chance to convince Jase that what they have together is real.

Jase Winstead has a huge secret that he’s not telling anyone. Especially not his best friend’s incredibly beautiful sister. Even though he and Teresa shared the hottest kiss of his life, he knows that his responsibilities must take priority. He certainly doesn’t have time for a relationship. But it doesn’t help that all he can think about kissing the one girl who could ruin everything for him.

As they’re thrown together more and more, Jase and Tess can’t keep denying their feelings for each other. But a familiar danger looms and tragedy strikes. As the campus recovers, the star-crossed couple must decide what they’re willing to risk to be together, and what they’re willing to lose if they’re not…

The Cover:

I'm not really a fan of this cover. It just doesn't look very pretty to me, the colors don't really work, and it just doesn't feel right for the book. I don't know, it just doesn't work for me.

Quotes:

•  "'Actually, it’s experience. Things come along you don’t expect all the time, Tess. Trust me. Things that change everything about your life—about what you thought you wanted, who you thought you were. Things that make you reevaluate everything and even if it doesn’t sound like a good thing in the beginning? […] Sometimes they turn out better than you could’ve ever imagined.’” (Paperback, pg. 87)
• "'Silence is not a fucking virtue. It’s a disease—a cancer that eats away at you and fucks with your head. I know that now.’” (Pg. 90)
• "Both of them deserved the kind of love they shared, but I wanted to know what that felt like. To know firsthand the kind of love that healed instead of harmed.” (Pg. 131)

Review:

I was actually surprised by how much I liked this book.

I rather enjoyed the first one in this series, but there was a lot of drama and woe-is-me moments. In this one, there was more smut, a lot of nice attention to the romance, but also enough focus on the family relationships and serious stuff.

The chemistry between Teresa and Jase was hot. They were really cute together, but also very steamy. And the steamy stuff was very nice. There was also quite a bit of it, definitely more than in Wait For You, and I liked that. It was definitely my favorite part of the book. Jase was frustrating several times, because he kept trying not to like her way too hard, but he got better about halfway through.

I liked seeing Cam and Avery again, as well as seeing Cam as the big brother, even when he was frustrating and overbearing and a bit of a jerk. And those two are very cute together, and it was funny seeing them from Teresa’s eyes.

The serious stuff also got some really good attention. Teresa is a dancer, but she hurt her knee, and that caused her to re-think her future plans. I think she handled it pretty well, and came to a good conclusion for herself. There was also some domestic abuse stuff, and those were depressing and rather horrible, but I think handled relatively well. There was also a surprise from Jase that I wasn’t expecting and so won’t spoil, but I think it was going in a good direction by the end of the book.

Overall, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I wasn’t expecting to like it so much more than the first one, but now I’m really glad that I picked it up. And I hope to pick up another of her books when I get the chance, especially the next in this series.