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Mini Book Reviews: Bad Boys and Messy Love

May 16, 2015

Mia and the Bad Boy by Lisa Burstein

Pages: 181
Publish date: May 19th
Publisher: Entangled: Crush
ISBN: –
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

This good girl’s about to meet her match…

Ryder Brooks is living the dream—he’s famous, loved by millions of girls, and miserable. All he really wants is to write his own music, not Seconds to Juliet’s sugary sweet pop. In order to do that, though, the “bad boy” of the band will have to play by the rules. And that includes behaving with his new—and super cute—über-good-girl tutor.

Mia Reyes is in fangirl heaven. Tutoring her favorite member of her favorite band? It’s a dream come true…until it turns into a complete nightmare. Ryder is nothing like she thought. He’s crude, arrogant, and pretty much a total jerk. And the worst part? She’s roped into pretending to be his girlfriend so that no one finds out he’s being tutored. Fake kisses, plenty of PDA, and even sharing his hotel room…

But sometimes even the baddest of bad boys needs a little redemption.

Mia and Bad Boy:

I received a copy of Mia and the Bad Boy from Entangled: Crush via Netgalley in exchange for a review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

Mia and the Bad Boy is the companion to Aimee and the Heartthrob and the second book in the Backstage Pass Series, however it is not written by the same author as Aimee.

Lisa Burstein is the author of Mia and the Bad Boy and I quite enjoyed here writing style, it’s very similar to the author of the previous book but still has that same vibe. I also think this works since the book isn’t about the Amiee and Miles but his band mate Ryder Brooks.

Ryder is quite different from Miles, like the title says, his is the bad boy of the group, but he has his secrets and one of them is that he didn’t pass high school and to pass them he is in need of a tutor. The fact is that Ryder has gone through tutor like he has girls.

Then Mia comes into the picture. Mia is the female protagonist of Mia and the Bad Boy and while she says she is this good girl, the way that she acts is quite different. Mia wasn’t as ‘innocent’ as she was made out to be. For not having a boyfriend or even a first kiss, she knew how to flirt and so it didn’t make sense that she was placed as this ‘good girl.’

The chemistry between Mia and Ryder was really well written, expect for that fact that they pretty much fell in love in a month. So the romance moved quite fast, but they were cute together. Ryder brings out the ‘bad side’ in Mia and Mia brings out the good in Ryder, their dynamic was fun to read.

Overall, yes the romance moved fast and Mia wasn’t your typical bad good, but it was fun to read. If you like some cheesy romance and everyone does, then you will like Mia and the Bad Boy. It is also such a quick read that I finished it, in one sitting.

There are many ups and downs, but then again, there is also fun moments and certain moments that you might not expect. I hope that there will be additional books in this series about the other bad member of Seconds to Juliet as like I said they are fun reads.

Those Girls by Lauren Saft

Pages: 336
Publish date: June 9th
Publisher: Poppy (Little Brown)
ISBN: 0316403660
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US

Some girls will always have your back, and some girls can’t help but stab you in it.

Junior year, the suburbs of Philadelphia. Alex, Mollie and Veronica are those girls: they’re the best of friends and the party girls of the school. But how well does everybody know them–and really, how well do they know one another? Alex is secretly in love with the boy next door and has joined a band–without telling anyone. Mollie suffers from a popular (and possibly sociopathic) boyfriend, as well as a serious mean streak. And Veronica just wants to be loved–literally, figuratively, physically….she’s not particular. Will this be the year that bonds them forever….or tears them apart for good?

Those Girls:

I received a copy of Those Girls from Poppy via Netgalley in exchange for a review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts on the book.

Okay before I start, for me Those Girls should not be classed as YA and if it was, it should be aimed at the older spectrum of YA and there also be some sort of warning for language and sexual content.

I would not normally say this, however when I started to read Those Girls I really did get the shock of my life. I had to step back for a minute and re-check that it was a young adult book because wow the language that was being used was a slap in the face.

Those Girls follows three girls Alex, Mollie and Veronica through their lives in junior year who seem to be best friends on the other hand, throughout the story the reader gets an insight on how they feel and exactly how bitchy they are.

Alex would be my favourite of the girls. While my dislike for Mollie and Veronica are probably person dislike of their life. It’s all about sex, sex and more sex. With boyfriends and sometimes with others.

The one thing that I disliked about the book was all the bitching. By the end of Those Girl I just wanted to slam my phone against my head. I really had enough. These girls were supposed to be best friends and all they do is talk behind each other’s backs or even if they don’t speak to someone about them they were thinking it.

The sexual content was a little too much for me, considering it was a young adult book. It wasn’t fully graphic, but way more than a young adult book has to be.

Those Girls is like Gossip Girl on steroids. Yes I didn’t like a lot of what the book was about and things that happened. Nonetheless it was still fun to read. If it was classed as a new adult book, I don’t think I would have such a problem with it, but hey.

Lauren Saft is an intriguing writer and some pretty interesting characters that were fun to read about, then again, I wouldn’t want them to be my best friends in real life. From boy trouble to family trouble to very creepy teacher trouble, Those Girls was an interesting read and if you don’t mind the language and content then I think you will enjoy it.

Book Review: Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

May 12, 2015

Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry

Pages: 496
Publish date: June 1st 2015
Publisher: Harlequin (Australia), TEEN
ISBN: 9781743690956
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU –Harlequin Books

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she’s curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn’t mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They’re the good guys. They protect people. They’re…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club’s most respected member—is in town, he’s gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it’s his shot at his dream. What he doesn’t count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home.

Nowhere But Here:

I received an e-copy of Nowhere but Here in exchange for an honest review from Harlequin (Australia), TEEN through Netgalley, this has in no what influenced my review.

If you know me well, you would know that I love Katie McGarry and I haven’t even read all her books yet. But when I saw Nowhere but Here on Netgalley I requested it right away because come one, anything Katie McGarry writes is pretty awesome.

I adore Nowhere but Here. It was brilliant and different to other McGarry books but still has the emotions and intriguing writing style of McGarry. Let me just say this, I want to have physical copies of all her books but I have no money and I want to cry and just, frustrating but anyway back to the review.

“Our fears are what strifle us and we’re only scared of what we don’t understand. Fear can be handed down generationally, kind of like eye colour. I love your mom, but I also love you. I don’t want to see your mother’s fears turn into chains that drag you down”

Nowhere but Here follow like all McGarry books two protagonist and I love them both. Emily is shy however has a devious side to her. She is timid but stands up for what she believes is right, Emily seems one dimension the outside but once you dig deeper into the book, you see that she has many layers to her.

Oz is my new book boyfriend. Holy hell. Oz is quite different from other Katie McGarry book, his family isn’t that dysfunction, and he loves them to pieces. He is caring, loving and would do anything for his family. Oz can be a hard head at times but that’s because he cares so much about his family that if anyone messes with them he wants ‘revenge’ in a way.

Emily and Oz come to together when, Emily and her family arrive in snowflake after an email from her biological father, which invites them to her grandmother’s wake. But everything is not what is seems.

It is quite rare when I love family in young adult novels. Everyone seems to be from a dysfunction family, or controlling parents but I adored Emily’s father’s side of the family.

“Because nobody deserves to be thrown into the middle of a tornado”

They all might not related by blood but they all treat each other like they are blood related and it’s so eccentric to see. I quite enjoyed Eli, Emily’s father. At the start you want to hate him for what he did to Emily and her mum but after things start to unfold the reader is able to see that he loves Emily with everything he has. I also liked the contrast of what Emily things of her father and what Oz thinks of him. It’s wired to see but it’s awesome as well.

I loved so many characters throughout the book that we would be here forever with me naming them all.

Katie McGarry hit a new high with Nowhere but Here, since it wasn’t just about the romance of the protagonist but more about family and finding yourself. We don’t see that a lot in young adult and it’s refreshing.

McGarry’s writing is as always brilliant, you just want to read page after page and not put it down. It’s simple and not difficult to read but has so much power and drive to it that it would appeal to both young adults and adults as well.

McGarry also knows how to write steamy characters, come on the tension between Emily and Oz was dazzling. Anyone could see it and it was awesome.

Another thing that I adore about Katie McGarry is that she knows how to break my heart and rip it in a thousand pieces.

Nowhere but Here is another stunning piece of work from Katie McGarry and I’m so excited to read more of this steamy, family orientated, beautiful series. If I could give it more than five stars I would.

Have you read Nowhere but Here yet? Are you going to do so?

Mini Book Reviews: Poppies and Neverland

May 7, 2015

Poppy in the Field by Mary Hooper

Pages: 288
Publish date: May 7th 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s
ISBN: 1408827638
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

When Poppy learns that the love of her life, Freddie de Vere, is to marry someone else, she knows her heart will break. Devastated, she volunteers her nursing skills overseas to take her away from the painful reminders at home. But things are about to get much worse for Poppy. The journey to the hospital in Flanders is full of horrors, and when she arrives it is to find a spiteful ward Sister and unfriendly nurses. Despite her loneliness and homesickness, the dangers of frontline warfare soon make her forget her own troubles and Poppy finds that comfort for a broken heart can be found in the most unexpected places.

Brilliantly researched and inspired by real-life events, big and small, Poppy in the Field is a story about the forgotten bravery of women on the front line, told through the eyes of a young woman determined to play her part.

Poppy in the Field:

I received an e-copy of Poppy in the Field by Mary Hooper through Bloomsbury from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my review.

Since ANZAC Day just passed I actually wanted to read a young adult novel set in around a time of war. So when I saw Poppy in the Field on Netgalley I requested it straight away and it was only when I finished it that I realised it was a sequel. But in saying all this I wasn’t confused one bit.

I quite enjoyed Poppy in the Field, I haven’t read many war time books before so it fresh and different to what I have read before. It was also quite different because, standard war books are about the men on the front line however this is more about the nurses, the women and men who made a vast difference. These people saved so many lives.

Poppy is a certainly interesting character, she was intriguing nonetheless at times quite annoying. Especially when she keeps on going about Freddie de Vere, oh I wanted to just smack her out of it. It was really annoying, even after she hadn’t thought about him in a while, then something happens and she starts talking about him again – maybe because I didn’t read the first book, I don’t know how their relationship worked or anything. Then again it was annoying, that all she was thinking about for a great deal of the book was Freddie.

When Poppy transferred to ‘hospital’ further in the front line, it was quite interesting. It’s different hearing the experience of war from a nurse rather than a veteran of war. However it wasn’t resembling what Poppy imagined. It wasn’t the gore of war that startled her, but other nurses. Especially her head nurse who does not think she is capable of doing what ‘qualified’ nurses can. However Poppy struggles with loneliness and homesickness but the dangers of the frontline soon distract her.

Mary Hooper captures imagery throughout her writing in a way that enables the reader to put themselves into the story and ‘be there.’ At the start I didn’t believe that I wasn’t going to cry because Hooper’s writing didn’t seem fully emotional nevertheless as time went on, I could feel that my heart was going to break and at times it did.

Tough I did feel that the ending was quite rushed and it was more of a summary then a novel. It gave me a sour taste in my mouth.

Poppy in the Field remains an intriguing piece of work that not only captures the reader but gives an insight on war that readers don’t always see or acknowledge. Poppy in the Field isn’t as raw as I thought it would be or hoping that it was but it had just enough that reminded as that, Poppy was in the middle of war. I laughed, I cried and I swooned.

Neverland by Shari Arnold

Pages: 358
Publish date: April 7th 2015
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781508846482
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

It’s been four months since seventeen-year-old Livy Cloud lost her younger sister, but she isn’t quite ready to move on with her life — not even close. She’d rather spend her time at the Seattle Children’s hospital, reading to the patients and holding onto memories of the sister who was everything to her and more.

But when she meets the mysterious and illusive Meyer she is drawn into a world of adventure, a world where questions abound.

Is she ready to live life without her sister? Or more importantly, is she brave enough to love again?

Neverland:

I received an e-copy of Neverland by Shari Arnold from Create Space through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my review.

I haven’t read many re-telling’s before and Neverland is the first ever Peter Pan re-telling that I have read, I was quite captivated by the premise of the book. It sounded like something that I was going to like and I was a little let down.

In saying that, I did like it. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. When I started it, I was turning pages after page and I was fully immersed, then after maybe 30% in, I was deflated however I kept on pushing myself as I truly wanted to like the book.

Livy the protagonist of Neverland was quite a decent character to get along with. She wasn’t annoying to me on the other hand I can see that some might find her annoying, however to me, she felt like an older sister. And though her family is in pieces, she still holds strong in my opinion. The thing that made me love Livy the most is her determination to save her sisters best friend, oh my heart.

At first Neverland was quite confusing. I didn’t get what was going on, names were getting pulled from here and there and things just happened far too quickly for my liking. It also felt at times that I skipped something then again in reality I didn’t.

It was at part two that I began to feel intrigued again, maybe it’s since it was when the re-telling truly started to take place. There were little hints here and there of the re-telling in the first part, however at part two it certainly kicked off.

Shari Arnold writing is beautiful and the emotions that she can pull from the reader are spot on. Maybe it is because I have younger siblings that I felt a real connection to Livy.

Meyer can have my heart any day. Man this boy is beautiful, though at times I hated him for being so mysterious but hey it all payed off at the end.

Neverland took me on journey through high and lows. It made me smile and definitely made me cry. The world of Neverland was simply gorgeous and put a massive smile on my face and the ending was pure brilliance. Arnold knows how to wrap up a story nice and tightly, but then again leaves enough room to create your own journey.

Have you read any of these books? Did you like it? Are you going to pick any of them up?