Mini Reviews | Second Chance Summer, Me & Earl & the Dying Girl

Goodreads Summary

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

This is my first Morgan Matson book and it was a great reading experience, her writing was so unique and easy to read. I liked the sadness and realness of the book, it portrayed the devastating issue that Taylor and her family had to deal with perfectly. I didn't like how Taylor kept escaping every time she felt like the world is closing up on her or when she is face to face with something she wasn't ready to deal with.

I disliked the first half of the book and I found it hard to get through. I couldn't possibly understand why two of her best friends would hate her so much and the reason behind it is utterly stupid. I didn't like that part of the story, but I loved Taylor's relationship with her dad. Her dad is one of the most lovable characters in this whole book. The second half was definitely redeeming. I liked it A LOT and I cried A LOT as well. It was so emotional and beautiful in every way possible.

The romance was adorable and I found it to be so cute and not overdone, it wasn't an instalove as well which I appreciated. All in all, I would recommend this book to people who aren't sensitive concerning a certain topic - (maybe a tiny spoiler, but if you know what this book is about, it's fine) cancer so if you're sensitive to it, I wouldn't recommend this one to you. It's definitely a tear jerker.

Goodreads Summary 

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 DNFd this book. I don't like to talk badly of books, but this was SOO funny nonetheless. 

If you think I should give this book a second try, tell me in the comments down below. 

Have a great day!♥

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Goodreads summary:

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's not too pleased when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new friends, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken--and Anna might be too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's been waiting for.

I wasn't in love with this book as many others did. It wasn't the best I've ever read, but I totally related to some of the characters and issues addressed in this -not your average-contemporary book. First of all, I love Paris! It has always been my dream honeymoon destination and it will be. (hopefully). I laughed out loud at some of the situtations that occurred and I loved all the characters. Except for Amanda and Rashmi's sister. Ugh.

Secondly, Stephanie Perkins shed some light on some serious topics, like peer pressure, bullying, betrayal and even family issues. The fact that these problems still followed Anna in France.. it lets you know that you're not alone if you're facing any of these things and someone somewhere out there in the world relates to you. Also, these problems followed Anna in a different country, in a different continent. No one's life is perfect, even the handsome Etienne St Clair. I must say that the portrayal of friendships, relationships and "familyships" made me love the book more than I would have if it was just your typical romance. 

All in all, Stephanie shows you that happy endings are not always a cliche and you should wait for your happy ending. THIS BOOK MADE ME HAPPY, read it if you're in a pick me up mood, it'll definitely do the job perfectly. 

One thing that I want though is a story in Etienne's POV and his background. I'm more interested in his story and his relationship with his parents more than Anna's. It would've been better if he was the narrator instead of Anna and if they were together earlier in the book! I was waiting for it to happen the whole time and that's why I lowered my rating for this one.

It was very fast paced, the writing is extremely easy and beautiful. I cannot wait to read more of Stephanie's books. I literally was smiling and happy because their relationship is adorable that when I flipped the page and was met with the stupid acknowledgments I was like.. what NOOOOOOO

Now onto the spoilers!

Spoilers 

(Highlight to view)

Dear Etienne, where can I find a guy like you? Although I hated that you couldn't get your shit straight with the Ellie situation. Like come on St Clair, it was freaking obvious that Anna liked you back! I get that it would've been a mess if they were together though.. Mer is in between them and this to me, was the biggest obstacle standing in their way. I love how she was cool with it in the end, because it's good for her as well. 

My favorite part was when Etienne called Anna beautiful and she tripped. The scene went pretty much as follows.. 

Etienne: "You're beautiful." 

*Anna trips and falls down on the sidewalk* .. OMG I'M A FREAK. 

Hahahaha I died.. 

I loved the "you don't get to choose who you fall in love with" aspect. I totally agree with that statement.. 

I hope you have a great day guys, and if you read Anna and the French Kiss (which I'm sure you did), make sure to comment down below what you thought of it! Did it live up to the hype surrounding it? :) 

Top Ten Tuesday #4 | Ten Books I Think Would Make Great Beach Reads

TOP TEN TUESDAY is a meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

Whenever I think summer, I think contemporary. So here are some books that I'll be picking up this summer. 

1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

2. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

3. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi (#3 Shatter Me)

4. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

6. Wonder by R.J Palacio

7. Every day by David Levithan

8. Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern (Review book)

9. The Last Time We Said Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

10. Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Taryn Fisher (oops I have the part two cover, but I'll be reading part one).

11. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Is it cheating if I have 11 books? No. I'm sure it's not.. It's just an extra book that I def will be reading this summer..

Are there any books on the list you REALLY want to read or excited about? Tell me in the comments below. 

Book Review | Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Goodreads synopsis:

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn't think it's love at first sight. They wouldn't even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn't want love, she doesn't have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past. 

Don't expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can't handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated. 

Promises get broken. 

Rules get shattered.

Love gets ugly.

3.5 stars out of 5

The freaking frustration that I faced by reading this book.. AGH! 

Where do I begin? Oh Tate, I HATE YOUR GUTS. Throughout this whole book I was grossed out and disgusted, many many things went wrong and no one was trying to fix them - and not in a tolerable way. I'll talk about this more in the spoilers section. 

As all of you might know, this book is being turned into a movie starring Nick Bateman who suddenly became instagram famous because of his beauty. He was actually my incentive to read this book, I liked his face as Miles in my head. (Yup, you need to google him or check out his instagram profile..)

Did I mention that this book has been on my TBR for the longest time? It was probably the number one Colleen Hoover book that I was eager to read after Confess. And that was why I was incredibly disappointed with this book. Firstly, I was so blown away by the ending that I initially gave this book 5 stars! How crazy is that? It was an impulse rating. If the whole book was as emotional and amazing as the last couple of chapters, it would have topped all of Colleen Hoover's books, but no. I decreased my rating to 3.5 stars after a whole lot of thinking. 

I'm a huge fan of Colleen Hoover and her writing as well as most of her books (or the ones that I've read so far were amazing). Her books are usually a mix of art or any form of it and a tragedy, this book only incorporated the tragedy element and I LOVED IT. 

If you don't mind overly done sex scenes and terrible female protagonists with absolutely no dignity, then this book is for you, but I highly doubt it. Well don't get me wrong, most people actually really enjoyed this book and it was their favorite Colleen Hoover book ever, so don't let my judgement cloud yours. 

Movie still.. Yup, Miles' a pilot.

SPOILERS - RANT

(highlight to view)

Tate, you are a disgrace to women everywhere. She constantly let Miles walk all over her and she refused to stand up for herself. She was stupid and let Miles use her for sex in a disgusting manner and she lacked self-worth. I was so uncomfortable while reading this whole thing because I haven't seen Tate once defend herself and she always kept going back to him like a lost puppy. 

The part where I was like NO, I can't continue reading this book is when he called her Rachel. THIS WAS A HUGE RED FLAG and what was Tate's reaction?! "Just finish." FINISH?! FINISH WHAT?!!!!! This is stupid, how could you accept such a thing?!!! 

Aside from Tate being a worthless human who is nothing but a sex toy, we knew nothing of her past or of her story. We know nothing about her except for the fact that she likes orange juice and she's a nurse, and we didn't get to see the nurse side of her life either. 

 I didn't once blame Miles for anything, because he was always straight up with her. He told her many many times that he wanted nothing but sex, but little Tate had this stupid thought at the back of her mind that someday he'll fall in love with her. His background story wasn't enough of an excuse to treat her this badly and it wasn't a justification to his actions, I must at least say that, but he was always honest with her about his feelings. I never actually sympathized with him -except for the ending. 

I liked the POVs of both Tate and Miles, although the reminiscence of Miles from 6 years back was a tad bit creepy with how he was with Rachel and his "I'll love you forever Rachel", "You'll love me back forever Rachel". WHY MILES WHY.. but in the end, it wasn't all that creepy when I found out how adorable they were together and how they chose to stand in their parents' way for their love. So cute.

One of the main reasons of not giving the book a much much lower rating was the ending, it blew me away! And the tragedy reveal was totally unexpected. Throughout the whole pregnancy thing, I thought Rachel was going to die while giving birth, when she was okay and had her baby I was so confused. Also, I didn't quite believe his death until they acknowledged it because I was so in shock .. that is one terrible ending to a baby's life, I couldn't imagine. Something that I haven't noticed until after reading a review online somewhere, in the book Tate mentions that Miles had a scar on his jawline or below his jawline and I didn't once correlate it to the accident. GREAT foreshadowing on Colleen's part, I haven't paid much attention to the details, but that was genius. 

 ---- Side note, did anybody else think of that episode with Elena from TVD? I think it was the finale of season 3 or something. RIGHT??----

But kudos to Colleen for having a perfect cover that resembles the story so perfectly; with the tragedy and the fact that Tate kept saying that she's liquid and liquids flow, something of that sort. 

Finally, the ending with the proposals, the moving in with him and the marriage proposal had me so emotional. THE BABY AS WELL and when he met up with Rachel and figured out that her child's name is Claire. That whole part was beautiful and it was the reason why I initially gave this book 5 stars. I was so caught up in the spiral of emotions that I forgot about how Tate is a clueless, stupid main character. 

I hated Corbin, Tate, Rachel and Miles. They weren't faulty characters that were intended to be hated, they were just stupid... all of them. The only two characters who I actually enjoyed were Ian and Cap. I loved Cap and his connection to Miles. I was shocked by the fact that he practically raised Miles as well. 

Great story line, provocative characters.

Have you read Ugly Love? Do you want to? Comment down below telling me what you think! 

Have a great day or night, bookworms! 

Book Review | The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Goodreads Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face. 

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Bianca Piper was a strong character that didn't take anybody's bullshit. That was probably one of the main reasons that made her my favorite character and unlike other people, she didn't annoy me.. maybe a little bit?.. and I have my reasons that belong in the spoiler section. Wesley is a man whore, but the fact that I started liking him in the end kind of took me by surprise, it showed how much of a good writer Kody Keplinger is.

DID YOU KNOW she wrote this book when she was seventeen years old?! The thing is, this was extremely relatable and knowing that it was written by somebody who were the same age as the characters (and myself) was very refreshing. I also felt bad for being 18 now and haven't done something as great as write a book. The writing style and the pace of this book were incredible; the writing was easy and simple. The words flowed quickly and I had absolutely no trouble understanding the words, the language used was exactly the language that teenagers use (full of cursing and stuff, that didn't once tick me off). I really think this book is targeted towards high-schoolers and they would greatly enjoy this! Not to mention how fast it will take them to get through this book. 

Don't you just LOVE relationships that start out with the love interests despising each other? It reminded me of Kat & Daemon from the Lux Series [My all-time fictional OTP], it made me giddy how much they were attracted to each other and trying to deny it because of the hate that has been brewing between both of them for the longest time. I liked the aspect of not making this an insta-love, because I hate that about most comtemps and is simply a turn off. The romance was developed nicely and I was eagerly waiting for them to be together, just like Anna and the French Kiss. 

Aside from being a contemporary, this book dealt with some serious topics like family issues, body-image problems and a lot more. I liked the greater picture that is being painted of loving yourself and that it's completely normal to dislike something about your body because everyone in the world goes through this. I especially liked that that something you utterly dislike, can be someone else's favorite thing about you. It's a matter of opinions. 

I recommend this book to everyone pretty much, it's VERY relatable, but it is a little bit on the cliche side, so if you don't like that, then you will not like this book. I also mentioned that this contains a lot of cursing, so if you are easily offended by curse words, (nothing too drastic) then don't bother.

ALSO, this book is now a movie, and I loved the trailer. I don't see why most people say that it deviated from the book (maybe because I watched the trailer before reading the book). We'll see how this turns out though.. 

SPOILERS 

(highlight to view)

Onto the things that I didn't like about this.. I didn't like that it took Bianca a guy for her to realize her self-worth. I despised the thought of a man boosting up her self-esteem, but Bianca has grown A LOT by the end of the book and it just wasn't an issue anymore by the end of it. 

I disliked the excessive objectifying of the female body, but I must say that this is EXACTLY the way that high-school kids think, so it just portrayed real-life situations. On the other side, I fell in love with the "not calling anybody a whore" part, I don't exactly remember where it was actually located in the book, but I took note of it and wrote down that it was a very good call. 

I loved the journalism aspect, because in fact, it's my dream to major in journalism and become a journalist one day :) 

Have you read The Duff?! Comment down below if you did and how excited you are for the movie. 

Have a great day everybody!