The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid | BOOK REVIEW

Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Pages: 388 pages
Release Date: June 13th, 2017
Source: Hardcover from Book of the Month
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5 stars

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn's luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn's story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique's own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Written with Reid's signature talent for creating "complex, likable characters" (Real Simple), this is a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.

Buy now! 

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I find it extremely refreshing to step away from the Young Adult genre I'm so used to reading. I always find it so comforting to come back to writing reviews after taking a semi-long hiatus. I don't think I'll ever forget how to write reviews, however, if I did I'd trust that you'd call me out on it.

I don't really know why I decided to start this book. I had heard a tremendous amount of buzz when it first came out, but it all kind of died down after that. Now this book is regarded as a cult classic and only those who have read it will ever know of its greatness. As soon as I started reading, I was captivated. I guess you could say I was as captivated with this book as the whole world was captivated with Evelyn Hugo (well in the book). Reid wastes no time getting into the story. This book is truly a testament to exquisite writing. I found it incredible how she could fit Evelyn's entire life story into 388 pages.

It's safe to say that this book has made me fall in love with historical fiction all over again. The last time I read historical fiction was when I read Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff, and that was at the beginning of 2017. I am a stranger to this genre. I don't know how Reid makes old Hollywood look so illustrious and also so mysterious like you desperately want to be a part of it. This book will have you panting for answers because the book hints at this massive reveal at the end of the book but it literally doesn't get revealed until the last few pages. I hate that I had to wait so long, but I love how a book made me feel that way; like I couldn't physically put it down. I was tortured every time I had an assignment and it kept me from reading. It's also the whole lure of entering the glamorous and secretive world of Hollywood. This book is incredibly addicting.

Evelyn Hugo is one of the most complex characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. At some points, I just wanted to scream through the pages and throw this book on the floor in frustration at her. In others, I wanted to console her. Either way, Evelyn Hugo is a fucking legend. She's a badass woman who was very misunderstood, but this book gives you all the information and lets you make the final call about what kind of person she was. I loved that!

Yes, everything that everyone's saying about this book is true. Don't you just want to read it and be apart of the club that has experienced this book's magic? With a dazzling and diverse cast of characters in a secretive world of Hollywood, this book is likely to change the way you think about historical fiction novels. To put it simply, if there was such a thing as the Book Oscars, this book would go home with Best Novel. I can't wait to see what else Reid has in store for historical fiction.

The Geography of Lost Things by Jessica Brody

Title: The Geography of Lost Things
Author: Jessica Brody
Pages: 458 pages
Release Date: October 2nd, 2018
Source: Hardcover from Simon Teen
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

After Ali’s father passes away, he leaves his one and only prized possession—a 1968 Firebird convertible—to his daughter. But Ali doesn’t plan on keeping it. Not when it reminds her too much of all her father’s unfulfilled promises. So when she finds a buyer three hundred miles up the Pacific coast willing to pay enough money for the car to save her childhood home, Ali can’t wait to get going. Except Ali has no idea how to drive a stick shift. But guess who does?

Ali’s ex-boyfriend, Nico. And Nico has other plans.

He persuades Ali that instead of selling the car, they should “trade up” the items they collect on their trip to eventually reach the monetary amount Ali needs. Agreeing with Nico’s crazy plan, Ali sets off on a unique adventure that is unlike anything she ever could have expected.

And it’s through Ali’s travels, through the strangers she meets and the things that they value—and why they value them—that Ali eventually comes to understand her father and how his life may not have been as easy and carefree as she previously thought. Because just like the seemingly insignificant objects Ali collects, not everything is exactly as it appears.

Buy it now!

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**I received an unsolicited copy of this book from the publisher. This has not affected my opinion of the book.**

Road trip contemporary stories are my kryptonite. This book tickled my desire to read a cute contemporary story about a road trip but also delivered in other aspects. I despise how I initially thought this was going to be yet another "road trip romance book", fitting the mold of all the road trip contemporaries I had read in the past. Beyond the surface, it is so much more. In fact, this book is one of the strongest contemporaries I've ever read.

I love contemporaries that are good at being cute and romantic, but I also appreciate when they succeed in teaching me valuable life lessons. I mean, going on a road trip with your ex-boyfriend? Straight from the start, I knew this book was going to be juicy! However, I did not think I was going to tear up, much less feel any emotional attachment to the characters in this story.

The relationships in this book are fragile and complex. In fact, there were so many relationships that could have each had their own books written about them! Ali and her father, Ali and her mother, Ali and Nico, Nico and his mother... Too many to name! I cared for these characters' well-being and carried their emotional burdens with me as I read on. I found the ex-boyfriend, Nico, to be especially interesting because from the start of the story he's introduced as this mystery.

There are some really small details in this book that I appreciated and GOD, THEY MADE ME LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH MORE. The story is so well thought out and the author pays so much attention to details like the information she puts in at the beginning of each chapter. You're going to have to read the book to find out what I mean. As you can see, I'm trying really hard right now to keep the spoilers out of this review!

There are so many beautiful things about this book, but mostly the true beauty lies in the lessons and message the book imparts. Messages about forgiveness and finding value in things and in relationships. This book isn't your typical road trip YA. It will tug your emotional heartstrings and possibly make you see the world in a new way. Although this book is nearly 500 pages long, it didn't feel that long. It was fast-paced and it almost felt like I was embarking on the road trip with these characters.

I was really nitpicky with my rating, which is perhaps the only reason I didn't end up giving it a 5-star rating. The book alternates from present to past with flashbacks, but I often felt it quite confusing determining whether we were in the present or the past. But overall, this book exceeded my expectations and I couldn't recommend it more. Brody's writing is reminiscent of a Morgan Matson book, which is probably why I flew through this one. For you die-hard contemporary readers, you will devour this book. For those who haven't read much contemporary, this one would also be perfect to start out with.

Notes On A Book: Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

"Notes On A Book" is new series on the blog hosted by blogger Gabrielle (Gabby). These post-it notes resemble real notes that she took while reading the book. This series will provide a quick, succinct review that will give readers insight into what Gabrielle was thinking at the exact moment of reading each page of the book. 

Title: Stay Sweet
Author: Siobhan Vivian
Pages: 368 pages
Release Date: April 24th, 2018
Source: Hardcover
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

A summer read about first love, feminism, and ice cream.

Summer in Sand Lake isn’t complete without a trip to Meade Creamery—the local ice cream stand founded in 1944 by Molly Meade who started making ice cream to cheer up her lovesick girlfriends while all the boys were away at war. Since then, the stand has been owned and managed exclusively by local girls, who inevitably become the best of friends. Seventeen-year-old Amelia and her best friend Cate have worked at the stand every summer for the past three years, and Amelia is “Head Girl” at the stand this summer. When Molly passes away before Amelia even has her first day in charge, Amelia isn’t sure that the stand can go on. That is, until Molly’s grandnephew Grady arrives and asks Amelia to stay on to help continue the business…but Grady’s got some changes in mind…

Buy it now!

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The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Title: The Astonishing Color of After
Author: Emily X.R. Pan
Pages: 480 pages
Release Date: March 20th, 2018
Source: ARC from publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Rating: 5/5 stars

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

Buy it now!

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** I received an advanced readers copy from the publisher. All of the thoughts and opinions stated in this review are my own. **

Everyone deals with grief in their own way. When her mother commits suicide, Leigh Chen Sanders refuses to believe that she's really gone from the world. She's sure that when her mother died, she took the form of a crimson bird. When Leigh receives a mysterious package that leads her to travel to Taiwan to meet her grandparents, she discovers a whole other side of her mom's life she wasn't aware of and even learns a thing or two about herself.

The writing was descriptive and gorgeous without being too flowery. Trust me, I'm a picky person when it comes to writing style. It kind of reminded me of the writing in The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee, which you must know is a book I could talk your ear off about. Pan does something completely unique, which is use color to describe emotion. Whoosh. Absolutely mind blown. It came so naturally and it wasn't like someone intentionally finding colors to match their emotions with. Read it for yourself:

"... I was colorless, translucent. I was a jellyfish caught up in a tide, forced to go wherever the ocean willed."

- Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Color of After 

The book followed a non-chronological sequence that was both entertaining and fulfilling. At first, it was a little disorienting to jump back two decades, but it's something you pick up quickly and the chapter titles make it even easier.

Before reading this book, I was convinced that magical realism was not my genre. The magical realism element was used as a coping mechanism for Leigh, so that she could remember her mother and learn how to live on with her life. There was symbolism that appeared in carefully constructed times throughout the story making it feel like an easter egg hunt. I don't think this book would have been what it was without that element, and I am grateful to this book for showing me a new side of this genre.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the exploration of mental illness and suicide. Some books stick to you years after you read it, and I can predict this being one of those titles. The author states in the author's note that her family previously lost one of their own to suicide. She partly wrote this book in homage to breaking the stigmas behind mental illness and suicide.

I don't mean to get personal, but there was once a time in my life when I felt like suicide was the only option. Just like it was hard for Leigh to understand why her mother was depressed, my friends and family would often ask me why I felt that way when I had such a good life. First of all, that doesn't help. Second, there doesn't have to be a reason to explain someone's depression. Leigh's mother, like so many people, fell victim to a terrible disease. Depression is different for everyone. When I noticed that this was a recurring theme in the novel, I appreciated it a billion times more. Yes, you probably would have guessed by now that I cried while reading this book.

In the story, Leigh struggles with blaming herself and the people around her for her mother's dead. I just wanted to crawl through the pages, enter the story and hug Leigh because she didn't deserve to be so hard on herself. Even though we follow Leigh as the narrator, we're not just simply following her actions through the story. We also get a glimpse of her motives and desires through her internal thoughts.

"Whose fault was it? That's the question on everyone's mind, isn't it? Nobody will ever say it out loud. It's a question people would call inappropriate. The kind of thing where everyone tells you, 'It's nobody's fault.'"

- Emily X.R. Pan, The Astonishing Color of After

Let it be known that I absolutely adored this book. It is everything I ever wanted in a Young Adult contemporary that not only entertains but teaches and promotes. Why read this book? It's hard to understand mental illness, depression, and suicide. Sometimes when we, as humans, don't understand something we automatically fear it. We need to promote books like this to end the stigma. Help people. Break the cycle.

BLOG TOUR | The One Memory of Flora Banks Guest Post + GIVEAWAY!

Title: Flora Banks

Author: Emily Barr
Pages: 303 pages
Release Date: May 2nd, 2017
Source: ARC from publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora's brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora's fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life.

With little more than the words "be brave" inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway, the land of the midnight sun, determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must "be brave" if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.

Get it now! 

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Hey everyone! Today I have a special guest joining me today on my Flora Banks tour stop. It's the one and only Emily Barr, author of The One Memory of Flora Banks. I'm sure you've all seen this book floating around the blogosphere, but if it still hasn't piqued your interest then I'm hoping this post will. In books, I am captivated with the idea of memory loss. A lot of the books I have read that include characters that lose their memories have been thrillers or mystery books. I've never seen a contemporary one. I took this tour opportunity to ask the author Emily Barr about the research that was required to write about a character with anterograde amnesia and how she was able to capture this essence in a young adult book. Here is her answer. 

Research About Amnesia
by Emily Barr

It sounds so easy to write a book about amnesia. In fact I’d wanted to write one for ages but had held back because the ‘knock on the head/ can’t remember anything’ trope felt so clichéd and I didn’t know anyone in real life who’d had anything remotely like that happen to them. It felt as if fiction-amnesia was a whole different thing from real-amnesia.


I did, however, have experience of older people with dementia, losing their recent memories while remembering things from long ago. I remember, as a young child, visiting my grandfather who had Parkinson’s with the associated memory loss. It was incredibly distressing. I also knew people with younger family members who had experienced different kinds of memory loss and I could see that brains were complex, incredible things.


When I started writing The One Memory of Flora Banks I knew I had to do everything I could to get it right. I read books by Oliver Sacks (who is an absolute hero of mine: The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is a brilliant starting point for anyone writing about anything brain-related). I read anything I could find about anterograde amnesia. I got in touch with an old university friend who works in this field, and he sent me all kinds of reading material, and looked over my plans for Flora to tell me what was plausible and what wasn’t.


I went through the book again and again, doing everything I could to make it logical. Because Flora can remember things from before she was ten she has the basics about how things work: I have a ten year old of my own and she certainly know about charging phones and laptops and those kinds of daily-life things. However, I kept catching myself letting Flora remember things she shouldn’t have remembered. In fact, I’ve never written so many drafts of anything.


I am left with the overwhelming feeling that the human brain is a remarkable thing, that memory is not a static objective thing, but a weaving together of impressions of sights and smells and sounds and tastes, and the way things make us feel. We can forget things, and we can remember them, and we can remember them wrong. A tiny change in those mechanisms can make an enormous difference to a person’s life, and that is, in the end, going to happen to a lot of us.

 GIVEAWAY! 

Enter for a chance to win one (1) of five (5) copies of The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr (ARV: $17.99 each).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on May 1, 2017 and 12:00 AM on May 22, 2017.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about May 24, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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Emily Barr

Emily Barr (www.emilybarr.com) began her career as a journalist at the Guardian before realizing that she was drawn more toward books. After taking a year to go backpacking for a column assignment, she returned home with the idea for her first book, the New York Times bestseller Backpack, and never looked back. She has since written 11 additional books for adults. The One Memory of Flora Banks is her young adult debut. Emily lives in Cornwall with her partner and their children. You can follow her on Twitter @emily_barr.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven | Mini Book Review

Title: All the Bright Places
Author: Jennifer Niven
Pages: 378 pages
Release Date: January 6th, 2015
Source: Hardcover
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

Buy it now! 

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I may not write a book review for every book I read, but I felt especially compelled to write about this one. Long story short, All the Bright Places moved me. It’s changed my perspective on life, and at some parts, I was able to relate to the story. Never before had I read a book that made me tear up, and want to bawl, while reading in a crowded subway car. Not even ACOMAF (I saved the tears for when I got home). Constant tears welled up in my eyes, and blurred my vision as I read through the last hundred pages of this beautifully written tale.  

But enough rambling about my reading experience, let’s get into the parts that made All the Bright Places so emotionally wrecking.

This is the story of Finch and Violet. Finch is a boy who thinks of suicide on a daily basis, yet wants to keep living. Violet is a girl who started considering suicide after a tragedy. The two meet unconventionally, and a sort of unreciprocated romance develops. Finch becomes obsessed with her, while Violet takes some time to reciprocate Finch’s love. But eventually they find each other, and their story is absolutely heart breaking. And I mean you’re gonna want to prepare a few boxes of Kleenex for this read.

I loved Finch and Violet’s wanderings. Their post-it notes. Their Facebook messages. All the Bright Places is a love story, that has that warm TFIOS feeling, but an ending uniquely it’s own. I can’t tell you the exact page when I fell in love with Finch, and consequently the story, but it was definitely within the first twenty pages. And I’ll be honest in this part of the review-and this is difficult to talk about, but I related to many of Finch’s inner thoughts. When Finch described being Asleep, I thought back to the times when I was physically alive, but felt dead and empty on the inside. When Finch talked about not mattering in this world, I remembered the times when I was alone in my thoughts, and didn’t think anyone would remember me if I simply disappeared, though suicide was never a thought that I fathomed. Regardless, Finch had insecurities and numerous flaws, and he was the first character I read about that reminded me of myself. He was a relatable character who opened my eyes to the gravity of suicide and the power of actually living your life.

So even though this story has utterly destroyed me, it's also made me stronger as a person. Jennifer Niven has inspired me to go out, and explore-to go out and wander. And having lived in New York City for nearly my entire life, it's occurred to me- for the first time- that there are so many hidden gems left to be seen in this bustling city and that I've taken so much of this special place on Earth for granted for the past decade. And NYC is special with its own secrets, but even if you don't live in a large metropolis, All The Bright Places shows you that there’s beauty everywhere you go, even in the quietest of towns; you just need to be willing to find that whimsy.

Whether you’re able to connect to this book personally, or are looking for a rather short, fast paced contemporary, I highly suggest All The Bright Places. I finally picked up this book (after being spoiled a year ago) since many of my non-reader friends became obsessed with it (one of them even reread the book three times). But if the topic of suicide is something you would prefer not to read about, that’s okay too. I know that for me, I had put off this book for so long because it dealt with suicide and insecurities and I was afraid to read it, and I regret that decision now. Finch and Violet go on the most incredible adventures, taking you along for the ride. The humor in this story is spot on, and Finch, ya gotta love Finch. So please, I encourage to pick up this book, and give it a try, it might end up being your favorite book of all time.

The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortunati | BLOG TOUR

Title: The Weight of Zero
Author: Karen Fortunati
Pages: 400 pages
Release Date: October 11th, 2016
Source: ARC from the publishers
Genre: Mental Health, Young Adult, Contemporary
Rating: 4/5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Cath knows Zero is coming for her. Zero, the devastating depression born of Catherine’s bipolar disease, has almost triumphed once, propelling Catherine to her first suicide attempt. With Zero only temporarily restrained by the latest med du jour, time is running out. In an old ballet shoebox, Catherine stockpiles meds, preparing to take her own life when Zero next arrives.

But Zero’s return is delayed. Unexpected relationships along with the care of a new psychiatrist start to alter Catherine's perception of her diagnosis. But will this be enough? This is a story of loss and grief and hope and how the many shapes of love – maternal, romantic and platonic – impact a young woman’s struggle with mental illness.

The manuscript was awarded the 2014 SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant in the Contemporary YA category, named a finalist in the 2015 Tassey-Walden Awards and won the Serendipity Literary Agency 2013 YA First Page/Novel Discovery Contest.

Buy it now! 

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**I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way.**

This is definitely one of the best books encompassing mental health I've read all year, if not the best. What sets itself apart from other similar books on the market is simply the perspective of mental health in which the author has decided to write about.

Catherine Pulaski is a 17-year-old girl who suffers from bipolar disorder. She spends her days living in fear that one day Zero will return for her. Zero, the devastating depression born of Catherine's bipolar disorder, which almost triumphed through her first suicide attempt. She knows Zero will come back for her, and she will take whatever time she has left before she ultimately decides to end her life when Zero makes its imminent arrival. But before that... she's got a bucket list of things to do.

Fortunati really emphasizes the longevity of Catherine's mental illness, something that is often neglected in most of the mental health-related books I've read. I feel like some books portray a character's mental illness as this hurdle to be knocked down or conquered and that once it's treated, it's gone forever. I believe quite the opposite actually. Mental illness is something that stays apart of a person forever and all one can do is not 'treat it' or 'extinguish it', but just to learn how to live with it. Even embrace it, in some cases.

Catherine may be one of the most compelling characters I've ever read about. Her perspective on her own life is so morose and grim. In the beginning of the book, she's literally just waiting for Zero to come so she can take her own life. She believes herself to be such an inconvenience to her teachers, her (ex) friends and to even her mom. These parts of the book were often most painful to read about, as I can imagine so many other teenager girls and boys feeling this way.

There was also some dark humor, which was pretty obvious through Fortunati's word choices. It gave the story this light-hearted sense and quelled the fact that, yes indeed, we're talking about mental illness and depression.

"It's actually a pretty easy decision when you get right to it. And honorable, I think. I'm intrinsically damaged, so I'll switch out my life for my mother's...."

"I will take whatever time I have left and kill myself when Zero makes Catherine-landfall. When he's entrenched in my head and has poisoned my world alien and gray. I will do it with the contents of tis shoe box. A conscious decision to refuse to live my life this way, under the conditions."

- The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortunati

I found myself marking the pages with the phrase '#relatable' on more than one occasion. As someone who has experienced mental illness, I found everything that Catherine felt to be true to my personal experience. Even the little things like how her throat would tighten to the bigger things such as how alienated she felt from the world. My ability to empathize with the main character made my reading of her all the more enjoyable.

The side characters played as big a role as the main protagonist did. This isn't a story about just Catherine's struggle, but the struggle of so many others she has touched and met along the way. For example, we learn a lot about her mother's hardship between juggling 2 jobs and worrying about if and when her daughter might try another attempt on her life. She's a single mom who is obligated to pay for all of Catherine's medical bills and put food on the table. I loved Catherine's mom so much! She was such a trooper and through all the sacrifices she made for Cath, I wanted to pat her on the back for being such a supporter. We also meet Kristal, who is a fellow patient at the St. Anne's support group. Kristal is a recovering patient of an eating disorder. Rarely do I read books where the side characters play just as an important role in the story as the main character.

I liked the symbolism scattered throughout the book. One really important symbol was her stockpile of meds she keeps in an old ballet shoe box. I thought they were a concrete visualization of her control of her own life. She had the power to take her own life in her hands, yet she refused on more than one occasion. If I were to reread this book, a closer analyzation of this symbol would have to be in order!

Catherine was such a complex and endearing character, who was in this constant battle with her depression. As the reader, you could see Catherine getting better with each visit to the support group and her interactions with her friends and family. Due to her grim perspective on her illness, however, Catherine fails to see that and plunges in further into the abyss of her bipolar disorder. It wasn't so much of Catherine using her strength to fight off her illness, but more like her having to find that strength through the duration of the book.

I've read a lot of books that romanticize mental health, and I'm so so so so so glad that this book wasn't one of them. There was a romance in this book, don't get me wrong, it's just that the romance wasn't the main focal point of this story. Catherine didn't find her strength through meeting and falling for Michael. Their relationship is even awkward at times, which I thought was very realistic and well-done. Yep that's right people, the princess saves herself in this one.

I'm surprised this book isn't getting more hype. It was beautifully written and such a great addition to the genre of mental health. I'm ready to jump into anything else Karen Fortunati has for me to read!! 

Books That Will Make (Or Break) Your Perfect Summer

Okay so maybe it isn't officially summer (according to Google) yet but the weather would say otherwise. It's been 80 degrees every day for the past week and if that's not summer, I don't know what is! If you haven't been following me elsewhere, you wouldn't know that I made it a goal of mine to read more contemporary books this year than any other genre. I know, I know. It's a little far-fetched, considering my reading tastes but I have no doubt in that I will success. I mean, just look at all these new contemporary releases. I'm tempted. 

Morgan Matson makes any summer reading list. After her most recent novel The Unexpected Everything released in the beginning of May, I'm still hearing so much about this book. I mean even if you read this book in the winter, you'll think it's goddamn summer because that's just the feeling her stories invoke.

The covers speak for themselves. IT SCREAMS SUMMER FROM THE COVER. LOOK AT THAT COVER!! Fun fact: The girls on the cover of Since You've Been Gone are wearing Morgan Matson's clothes!

My review → here!

Not only is this book set in the summertime but it also takes place on a cruise ship. The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone is about Maddie's summer on an eight-week cruise ship with her over-the-top family. However, this is no ordinary cruise. It's a death-with-dignity cruise her grandmother set up after she announces that she's terminally ill and wants to spend her last days on a ship made for people who want to have a last hurrah with their loved ones.

Sure, the story is pretty morbid, but every summer needs some tragedy.
My review → here!

"With time travel, quantum physics, and a sweeping romance."

I know I'm being predictable by choosing books with 'summer' in the title but this book brings both the elements of a YA contemporary romance and magical realism. The story follows a main character who is lost in time and has a particular love for space and physics.

From several written reviews, this book has been marked as confusing and random. Regardless, this book is high on my summer TBR as the cover is gorgeous and the time travel aspect strikes me as interesting.

Anthologies are all the RAGE nowadays. Summer is the season for readathons,which means you're going to need to lighten the load. Anthologies and collections of short stories are a great way to split up the reading. Let's say you're bored with one of the novels you're reading, you can always switch it up by reading a short story!

Summer Days and Summer Nights is a collection of short summer-y stories written by some of the most popular authors and edited by Stephanie Perkins. I plan on picking this up during the Booktubeathon.

 The summertime should all be about trying new things and discovering your options. I'm all for trying new things and moving into uncharted territory. LGBT is new to me since I didn't start out with reading books about these characters with different sexual orientations.

You Know Me Well isn't only a cute summer reader about two LGBT couples, but there is a strong stress on friendship. It follows Mark and Kate who spontaneously meet each other on a crazy night but find that they understand each other better than anyone else does.

 The best thing about summer- the amount of time you have to read!

I don't think I've ever heard one bad thing about this trilogy. Considering how each book is 600+ pages, I never really planned on picking it up. For some reason, I have the sudden urge to drop them in my Amazon shopping cart. War in Russia and an epic romance? SIGN ME UP!

Aestas from Aesta's Book Blog actually has a very convincing post on why you should read this trilogy → here!

You'll want to read something that'll mess with your mind so you have the entire summer to think about it.

The Darkest Corners is a relatively new physiological thriller release about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become. There are many mixed reviews on Goodreads but that isn't stopping me from checking out the madness behind the pre-release promotional hype.

What are your ideal summer reads?

ARC Review: The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone + My Loose Ends List

Title: The Loose Ends List
Author: Carrie Firestone
Pages: 352 pages
Release Date: June 7th, 2016
Source: ARC from TheNOVL
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 4/5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Maddie O'Neill Levine lives a charmed life, and is primed to spend the perfect pre-college summer with her best friends and young-at-heart socialite grandmother (also Maddie's closest confidante), tying up high school loose ends. Maddie's plans change the instant Gram announces that she is terminally ill and has booked the family on a secret "death with dignity" cruise ship so that she can leave the world in her own unconventional way - and give the O'Neill clan an unforgettable summer of dreams-come-true in the process.

Soon, Maddie is on the trip of a lifetime with her over-the-top family. As they travel the globe, Maddie bonds with other passengers and falls for Enzo, who is processing his own grief. But despite the laughter, headiness of first love, and excitement of glamorous destinations, Maddie knows she is on the brink of losing Gram. She struggles to find the strength to say good-bye in a whirlwind summer shaped by love, loss, and the power of forgiveness.
 

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**Thank you Little, Brown for sending me an advanced copy. This has not affected my opinions for this book**

I thought I would pick this up after the publishers so kindly sent me an unsolicited advanced copy. I must say, the cover is the most stunning thing I've ever seen but what's underneath is even more glamorous. The synopsis sounded promising, filled with love, laughter and loss.

Maddie's summer is about to be completely turned upside down when her grandma announces that she's terminally ill and wants to spend the entire summer with the family on a 'death with dignity' cruise ship, the Wishwell. She's doomed to spend the next eight weeks with her not-so-tight-knit family to bid her grams adieu. What she doesn't expect is getting closer to the members of her family and meeting a boy who's also going through the same thing - saying goodbye to a dying family member on the cruise, that is. SO maybe this wasn't the summer Maddie was expecting, but is it that bad in comparison to what could have been?

The family in this book is very different, to say the least. When the synopsis said over-the-top I was thinking over-the-top as in a family that likes to humiliate and prank each of its members. In no way was I thinking straight-out-of-the-loon-bin-over-the-top. This family is seriously CRAZY, but for the best of course. I'll admit I thought they were a tad obnoxious in the beginning, but they really begin to grow on you like moss on a tree. They aren't so tight-knit but we see as the each day on the cruise passes, they begin to appreciate their quirks and even the members who don't see eye to eye begin to look past differences.

But I'm also not just talking about Maddie's family, I'm speaking for everyone. All the Wishwellians- those are, people who attended the cruise. Loss and tragedy, that's expected. So you could sort of see the appeal in meeting a new character after someone passed away. For some reason, it felt right (and in no way am I saying dead is right).

Maddie's grandma was a character that I appreciated. She was not only a wise role model for Maddie and her family, but for me as well. Her take on life was what I valued the most. Sure, she knew she wasn't going to make it off the cruise alive but she took life by the balls and said, "I'm not spending the last weeks of my life strapped up to an IV in a white room." Let's just say she's not your average grandma and it gave the book that wow factor. The fact that this old woman who's about to die is so happy about life just makes you want to get up every morning to see what you're missing.

The humor played a huge role in keeping me on top of my reading game, and I found myself wanting to jump into the story when I was preoccupied by other less interesting things. It's hard to find humor when you're on a boat of people who are going to die soon but Carrie Firestone somehow made that very possible.

The whole point of the cruise wasn't just a way for family to say goodbye and have their last hurrah, but it was also the beginning of their lives. They would leave the boat knowing they had no regrets with the ones they loved. Maddie's grandma made sure of that. It's a message I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

The one thing that I couldn't handle though was the ending. I felt it was a bit unfinished and it left a huge gaping hole in my heart. Yes, going into this book I knew there was going to be heartbreak but the end really leaves me to question whether the author plans to write a sequel a few years into the future of Maddie and her family's life.

Sure knowing your expiration date may be scary, but it pales in comparison to knowing and not spending the last of your days doing the things you've longed to do with the people you love. Don't take life of family for granted because just like that, it can end just as quickly as it began.