BlogTour: Lucky In Love by Kasie West!

Lucky In Love
Author: Kasie West
Publication Date: July 25th 2017
Published: Scholastic
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

My Rating:

In this new contemporary from YA star Kasie West, a girl who wins the lottery learns thatmoney can cause more problems than it solves, especially when love comes into the picture. Maddie doesn't believe in luck. She's all about hard work and planning ahead. But one night, on a whim, she buys a lottery ticket. And then, to her astonishment --She wins! In a flash, Maddie's life is unrecognizable. No more stressing about college scholarships. Suddenly, she's talking about renting a yacht. And being in the spotlight at school is fun... until rumors start flying, and random people ask her for loans. Now, Maddie isn't sure who she can trust. Except for Seth Nguyen, her funny, charming coworker at the local zoo. Seth doesn't seem aware of Maddie's big news. And, for some reason, she doesn't want to tell him. But what will happen ifhe learns her secret? With tons of humor and heart, Kasie West delivers a million-dollar tale of winning, losing, and falling in love.

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Money doesn’t buy happiness, but unfortunately it makes the world go around. For Maddie, money isn’t something her family has much of. So, she works at the local zoo, which she loves, and works hard in school, to get scholarships for college. She’s constantly planning, and trying to make sure her life and the life of everyone around her is going in the right direction. On a whim, she buys a lottery ticket on her eighteenth birthday, and she ends up winning. Money isn’t a problem, and college doesn’t have to be defined by scholarships, and her family’s problems will all just go away. Or will it? Money is nice, but it doesn’t fix everything. Maddie, must learn that having it all, doesn’t mean people automatically change. Lucky for Maddie, besides money, she has a great friend and coworker, that is always a text message away to listen to all her problems, but she hasn’t told him about her lottery win. Will her rich status change his view of her?

I liked this story a lot, and I really liked Maddie as a main character. I thought she would become shallow once she won the lotto and everything she was passionate about, would just be past thoughts, but she really surprised me. She kept her job at the zoo, and stayed as humble as she could. I also liked Seth, he’s not the boy next door, but he’s the boy’s next-door brother you wouldn’t give a second glance too, because he’s a nerd. I would date him though, I have a thing for nerds.

There isn’t much I disliked, except Maddie’s friends. I feel as if they weren’t being fair to her and there was no real reason for them to be upset with her. No offense to Kasie West, but I feel as if she just threw in this little friend dispute, just for the sake of it. Also, the ending was predictable, and I dislike when I know the ending, but it’s YA so what more can I expect?

Overall, I love Kasie West, and I will always read her novels. This unfortunately wasn’t one of her best, but I enjoyed reading it. It’s a fun quick summer read, and I’m sure others will enjoy it as well. 3 stars!

I write YA. I eat Junior Mints. Sometimes I go crazy and do both at the same time. Mynov-els are: PIVOT POINT and its sequel SPLIT SECOND. And my contemporary novels: THE DISTANCE  BETWEEN  US, ON  THE  FENCE,  THE  FILL-IN  BOYFRIEND, PS  I  LIKE YOU, and BYYOURSIDE. My agent is the talented and funny Michelle Wolfson.

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Book Review: After You by Jojo Moyes!

After You (Me Before You #2)
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Published: Pamela Dorman Books

My Rating:

How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?
Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.
Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future...
For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

Is there life after Will Traynor? Not sure. It took a while for me to pick up this book, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard! (@victoriaaveyard)

Red Queen (Red Queen #1)
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publication Date: February 10, 2015
Published: HarperTeen

My Rating:

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart.

As if living in a world where the color of your skin could get you killed, now there’s a world where the color of your blood, is everything.

Book Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern! (@Cecelia_Ahern )

Flawed (Flawed #1)
Author: Cecelia Ahern
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Published: Feiwel and Friends

My Rating:

You will be punished…
Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.
But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.
In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.

Being imperfect isn’t a crime, but in Celestine North’s world, one little imperfection can literally brand you for life. Celestine, believes in perfection, and she believes she is perfection, considering she’s a straight A student and is the longtime girlfriend of Art Crevan, son of the famous Judge Crevan. She had it all, until one night...

Book Review: The After Party by Anton DiSclafani!

The After Party
Author: Anton DiSclafani
Publication Date: May 17, 2016
Published: Riverhead Books

My Rating:

From the nationally bestselling author of The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls comes a story of 1950s Texas socialites and the one irresistible, controversial woman at the bright, hot center of it all.
Fortier is the epitome of Texas glamour and the center of the 1950s Houston social scene. Tall, blonde, beautiful, and strong, she dominates the room and the gossip columns. Every man who sees her seems to want her; every woman just wants to be her. But this is a highly ordered world of garden clubs and debutante balls. The money may flow as freely as the oil, but the freedom and power all belong to the men. What happens when a woman of indecorous appetites and desires like Joan wants more? What does it do to her best friend?

Devoted to Joan since childhood, Cece Buchanan is either her chaperone or her partner in crime, depending on whom you ask. But as Joan’s radical behavior escalates, Cece’s perspective shifts—forcing one provocative choice to appear the only one there is.
A thrilling glimpse into the sphere of the rich and beautiful at a memorable moment in history, The After Party unfurls a story of friendship as obsessive, euphoric, consuming, and complicated as any romance.

The After Party was a fast read. I got through 100 pages in a day easily - which was a plus.

They story was entertaining in a Real Housewives of Houston way, only set in the 1950's. The women take care of their families, go to social functions and gossip.

My thoughts on the two main women:
Cece, given her childhood and family life I get her attachment to Joan, but it crossed over into a self-destructive obsession.

The secret Joan withheld was easy to guess before it was revealed. While it was tragic I didn't feel overly sorry for her. Perhaps because she was spoiled. I guess, though, that her decisions are more true to life. Not everyone gets to pick themselves up when they hit rock bottom. In a more inspirational story she would have achieved her dreams to "go where the ideas are."

I loved the descriptions of the fashion of the day. DiSclafani painted a clear picture for my mind to imagine the glamour and elegance. I thought of fashion sketches and illustrations of the 1950's.

Overall I was luke-warm about The After Party. I liked it well enough, especially that I finished it in 4 days, but it's not added to the favorite list.

3 out 5 cocktails.

Blog Tour: The Way With You by Anne Mercier! - Review

 

Title: The Way With You
Series: The Way #2
Author: Anne Mercier
Genre: Coming of Age/New Adult Romance
Release Date: May 23, 2016

My Rating:

Finding a "happily ever after" was hard enough. 

Keeping it is even harder.

Olivia Brennan and Cameron Stone have both gone through Hell and back to finally find their way to each other.  With obstacles set against them, the struggle to stay connected is harder than ever.  Between their academic schedules, Olivia's newfound campus infamy, and a conniving ex stirring up trouble, Liv and Cam begin to struggle to keep what they've worked so hard for.

But when something unexpected fractures their trust, they must decide if they can repair what's left of their fragile love or will they discover that "happily ever after" is just for fairytales?

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I'm walking back to the dorm after class when someone bumps into me—hard. I look over, biting back a curse, and when I see it's Alison, I wish I'd let it out.

"What's your problem?" I bark.

"You. You're my problem," she sneers.

I roll my eyes. "Why is that? Because you want to screw Cam but he's with me? Because Cam made me his girlfriend when all you were to him was a piece of ass? Both of you," I correct when I see Brittany standing beside her.

"You little bitch. I'm going to ruin you," Brittany shouts.

I'm so afraid right now. I know what Alison is capable of—but with Brittany by her side? I can't even imagine. I swallow that fear and pretend. I'm good at that—pretending I'm okay.

"Could you be any more dramatic?"

Alison steps closer. "Watch yourself, Muppet. You're overstepping."

"No. I'm not. I'm minding my own business, living my life, and you nut jobs start with your threatening and bullying. What are you—twelve?" I mock.

Alison's nostrils flare. It reminds me of a bull in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. You know the one? Where the steam comes out of the bull's nostrils because Bugs keeps taunting it? That's the one. I smirk at the thought and Alison's hand comes flying at my face before I can even think.

She slaps me and she slaps me hard—not just once, but twice. The burn, the sting of the slaps hurts like a mofo. I won't cry, but I can't stop the tears that fill my eyes. Damn it. I hate showing her any signs of weakness.

"Feel better now?" I ask, lifting my chin.

She hides the shock well, but I still get a glimpse. I am not the same girl I once was. I'm not sure who I am, exactly, but I'm no longer weak.

She cocks out a hip. "A little. But Muppet? There's a lot worse coming."

I was really really looking forward to this book. I wanted to see the relationship between Cam and Olivia grow. They have gone through so much not only with one another but alone as well.

Book Review: Not That Easy by Radhika Sanghani! (@radhikasanghani)

Not That Easy (Virgin #2)
Author: Radhika Sanghani
Publication Date: November 3, 2015
Published: Berkley
Source: NetGalley

My Rating:

Ellie used to be a virgin, but now she’s a woman with sexual experience. Well, some sexual experience. She also has debt, an unpaid magazine internship, and three flatmates who left her with the single room to match her single status.
That’s okay. She doesn’t want a boyfriend anyway—she wants several. And if the sex is exciting enough, her ruthless magazine editor boss can exploit her dating life for a column.
After countless hook-ups, a disastrously fiery encounter with some heat lube, and one orgasm class, Ellie is faced with the sad reality of her sexual ineptitude. But when she starts to witness the emotional wreckage she’s leaving in her wake, Ellie realizes that sex can be hard, and there’s a down side to giving it up too easy.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re sleeping with number 2 or 222, or whether they’re The One or just a one-night stand - the only important thing is that you actually enjoy the sex and feel comfortable.”

This is a completely different Ellie than the one we met in VIRGIN. She’s moved on from her virginal days and is ready to explore her sexuality, and when I says explore, I mean Ellie wants to bang everything in sight, referring to this as her “slutty phase”, which I'll touch on in a bit.

Book Review: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke (@apriltucholke)

Wink Poppy Midnight
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Publication Date: March 22, 2016
Published: Dial Books

My Rating:

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.
Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.
What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.

I’m not strategic in my reviewing process. I sit at the computer, in front of a blank doc and try to form enough of an opinion to push out a few words. But, with Wink Poppy Midnight it’s taken me ten minutes to get to this point because only one word springs to mind when I think about this title: weird.

Good weird or bad weird?