Kendra C. Highley Archives

Mini Reviews: Unconventional Families and Baseball Romance

Apr 16, 2017

Today, I thought I would share a couple of mini reviews for books that I’ve read recently. Sometimes I can’t write a full review for a book simply because I don’t have a lot to say. Both of these books share some of the same themes of family, friendship and coming of age.

The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares

Pages: 304
Publish date: April 25th, 2017
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385736894
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Summer for Sasha and Ray means the sprawling old house on Long Island. Since they were children, they’ve shared almost everything—reading the same books, running down the same sandy footpaths to the beach, eating peaches from the same market, laughing around the same sun-soaked dining table. Even sleeping in the same bed, on the very same worn cotton sheets. But they’ve never met.

Sasha’s dad was once married to Ray’s mom, and together they had three daughters: Emma, the perfectionist; Mattie, the beauty; and Quinn, the favorite. But the marriage crumbled and the bitterness lingered. Now there are two new families—and neither one will give up the beach house that holds the memories, happy and sad, of summers past.

The choices we make come back to haunt us; the effect on our destinies ripples out of our control…or does it? This summer, the lives of Sasha, Ray, and their siblings intersect in ways none of them ever dreamed, in a novel about family relationships, keeping secrets, and most of all, love.

The Whole Thing Together:

I received an e-arc of The Whole Things Together by Ann Brashares from Delacorte via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I hadn’t heard much about The Whole Things Together when I picked it up. There weren’t many reviews on Goodreads, but it seemed like something that I would enjoy reading. It seemed like a summer book that explored family, friendship and romance. And it was those things, but it just wasn’t my read.

The Whole Things Together follows protagonist Sasha and Ray who have shared almost everything but have never met. They share siblings, but they are not related by blood or even by marriage. It’s all a little confused actually.

The family tree per say – just confused me the whole book. I couldn’t remember who was related to who. Who was from which family? Who was blood-related? I forgot half the time who was who just by their name. There was just far too many characters to keep track of, especially because they all come from the same by different families.

Because of this, it was hard to get to know the protagonist and even the characters. I was just trying to keep track of everything the whole point and I couldn’t connect.

However, I did like the notion of these families coming together for different reasons. Some beautiful and happy, while others were heartbreaking and torn me. It was nice to see a family who is normally very apart come together.

Overall, The Whole Things Together is a poignant novel that just didn’t hit the right spots for me. With far too many characters and storylines to keep track off. I was confused most of the time. It explores the notions of romance, family and finding yourself.

Swinging At Love (Suttonville Sentinels #2) by Kendra C. Highley

Pages: 240
Publish date: March 13th, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
ISBN: 1682814491
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Outfielder Tristan Murrell has a problem. As the number two slugger for the Suttonville Sentinels, his team is counting on him to make their very first run at the state championship. But he has a secret–his swing has totally deserted him. As in, he can’t hit anything. He needs to fix the issue, and fast, but how?

Ballerina Alyssa Kaplan has a problem, too. The shiny new sports complex in town has left her family’s batting cage business on the verge of going under. Nailing her audition for a prestigious dance company is everything, but there’s no way she’s letting her some shiny big-box company destroy her family’s livelihood.

Tristan needs a miracle. So does Alyssa. And maybe, just maybe, Tristan’s secret weapon might be the girl of his dreams…

Swinging At Love:

I received an e-arc of Swinging in Love by Kendra C. Highley from Entangled: Crush via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I am not sure why I picked this one up. I read book 1 in this series and really didn’t like it. But, this one sounded more like my thing and thought I should give it a go. And even though I liked it more than The Bad Boy Bargain, I still didn’t love it.

Swinging in Love follows protagonists Tristan and Alyssa who come together and are in for one hell of a ride. Tristan is an outfielder for his baseball team, but something is wrong. His swing is off and if he doesn’t fix it – he will be off the team. Alyssa gave up softball for ballet and she is great at it. But ball is still in her blood and with her father’s batting cage falling to pieces, so is she.

I enjoy the romance aspects of Swinging in Love. Tristan and Alyssa were adorable together and I like how they had some downfalls, but they were there for each other. However, I felt that both protagonists didn’t have a great arc and I wanted more from them as a whole.

Family was a big theme in Swinging in Love. While Alyssa’s family would give up anything for each other. Tristan’s was a lot harder to get around. I really enjoyed seeing these two different views on families. And that is what we need in YA. Yes, some families are great, while there are others that have trouble.

Overall, Swinging in Love was an okay read. I read it over a couple of hours, but I didn’t really get anything out of it. I didn’t feel that the protagonists had a great enough character arc. And while I loved the romance and family aspects, the story feel flat for me.

Have you read any of these two books? What did you think of them? Are you planning on reading these books? Have you read any books by these authors before? Let’s Chat!

Mini Reviews: Assassins and a ‘Bad’ Boy

Nov 10, 2016

I haven’t done mini reviews in quite a while now, and I thought that it was the right time to do some. Sometimes I feel that I don’t have that much to say for a book, so instead of not writing something, I wrote quick little reviews for you.

Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Pages: 242
Publish date: August 22nd, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 9781489210944
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

Assassin’s Heart:

I received a copy of Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers from Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

There isn’t much for me to say about Assassin’s Heart other than I didn’t like it very much. The world at first captivated me and I wondered what the possibilities were. But that soon turned to disappointment and confusing.

Assassin’s Heart follows protagonist Lea Saldana, who is a highly-skilled assassin from one of the nine families. But she holds a secret – she is totally in love with her enemy. Val De Vias has swept Lea off her feet. He is charming, beautiful and knows the right things to say. When she wakes to find her family home burning to the ground she questions her love for him.

For the first 50 pages, I was swept up into the world where assassin’s and forbidden love reside. Turning page after page, I was excited and wanted to know more and then something happened. Assassin’s Heart took a 360 and turned into something completely different. I felt like I was reading two books, two worlds together and they were both fighting each other to be on top.

Lea was a very difficult protagonist to ‘get along’ with. She was childish at times and always changing her mind. Grief and self-blame I would handle – that would totally be accountable, but then other things started to fall in and I was totally confused. There wasn’t really much of a character arc for Lea either. There was some progress yes! Yet, I was left waiting for more.

The romance – do we even need to talk about it. I was looking forward to forbidden love, secret kisses round the corner – instead, I got something that I didn’t expect at all. I understand Lea’s hatred and disliked – but that made sense, and then other things happened. However, I did somewhat like the other romance in the book. But, I am not sure if I liked it because of the other half of the relationship.

The writing wasn’t horrible. It was easy to read and easy to understand. It was pulling me in for more when I really wanted to stop reading.

Assassin’s Heart was also far too long. It was like event one after the other, but none of them made sense. I felt like there was something there and I continued reading hoping that it will get better.

Overall. Assassin’s Heart was not for me. Firstly I was intrigued by the end, I felt like a fish out of water. I felt there was no arc in both the protagonist and the plot. There was so much potential to make such a good read, but it didn’t reach that for me.

The Bad Boy Bargain by Kendra C. Highley

Pages: –
Publish date: November 14th
Publisher: Entangled Crush
ASIN: B01M7TPAAZ
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Baseball player Kyle Sawyer has many labels: bad boy, delinquent, ladies’ man, fearless outfielder… Only one of them is actually true. But then sweet ballet dancer Faith Gladwell asks him to help wreck her reputation, and everything goes sideways.

Faith knows a thing or two about love, and what she had with her cheating jerk of an ex wasn’t it. When he starts spreading rumours about her being an Ice Queen, Faith decides it’s time to let a little bad into her life.

Lucky for her, Kyle Sawyer—dark, dangerous, totally swoon worthy Kyle Sawyer—is landscaping her backyard over Spring Break. Shirtless. And if she can convince him to play along, “dating” Kyle will silence the rumours.

But Faith’s plan threatens to expose Sawyer’s biggest secret of all…and that’s a risk he’s not willing to take.

The Bad Boy Bargain:

I received a copy of The Bad Boy Bargain by Kendra C. Highley from Entangled Crush via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I love books with bad boys, they are fun to read and always entail an adventure or shit going down. That is why I was disappointed with The Bad Boy Bargain.

The Bad Boy Bargain follows protagonists Faith as she deals with the fall out of her ex-boyfriend cheating on her and Kylie Sawyer who has been defined by labels. When Faiths’ ex, starts a rumour that she is an ‘Ice Queen.’ And what better way to get revenge and prove them wrong, then date the bad boy.

Faith was a pretty easy protagonist to get along with. I enjoyed being inside her head, finding out how she felt and going on this journey with her. Faith is one of those people that I might just be friends with. I loved her family and friends dynamic. It’s not often that you see a protagonist get along with their family.

I found Faith very sweet and not ‘innocent,’ which is a rare thing in YA. It’s not often, especially in contemporary, that you have a sweet protagonist that isn’t innocent about everything in the world. And that stood nicely for me.

On the whole, I enjoyed Kylie. But he wasn’t the bad boy, plain and simple. The Bad Boy Bargain is one of those books where the bad boy is only pretending to be bad. People assumed he was this bad boy, so he wore it like a mask.

There were some adorable moments and my smile was from one side of my face to the other. And Faith and Kylie were totally sweet together. But, it was far too cheesy for my liking. I like romance and some cheese, but this was overboard. All these ‘romantic’ scenes had been pulled together. One of my most hated scenes had to the end sequence. I just can’t. That does not happen. And I know that some of you will say, it’s fiction – but no.

I felt that at times we skipped time without being told and there was nothing going on. I felt lost in the timeline.

Overall, I loved the positive family and friend vibes that The Bad Boy Bargain portrayed. I enjoyed the protagonists that they wanted me to keep on reading. However, it was too cheesy and not enough bad boy for me.

So there are my two mini reviews! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them Are you planning too? Have you read similar books that you think I might like? Let’s Chat!