4/28/2017

You Looking for A Book With A Bisexual Protagonist? // Blog Tour: How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (Giveaway!)

4/23/2017

Summer Read With a Super Cute Disabled Love Interest! // Sunday Street Team: Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman

Hey everyone welcome to my stop for the Sunday Street Team tour for Girl Out of Water. I am super excited for this post because I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to share my thoughts on it. I hope you enjoy and if you're interesting, make sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post.

Girl Out of Water

Author: Laura Silverman
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: May 2nd 2017
Format: eARC
Rating:
| Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository |

Anise Sawyer plans to spend every minute of summer with her friends: surfing, chowing down on fish tacos drizzled with wasabi balsamic vinegar, and throwing bonfires that blaze until dawn. But when a serious car wreck leaves her aunt, a single mother of three, with two broken legs, it forces Anise to say goodbye for the first time to Santa Cruz, the waves, her friends, and even a kindling romance, and fly with her dad to Nebraska for the entire summer. Living in Nebraska isn’t easy. Anise spends her days caring for her three younger cousins in the childhood home of her runaway mom, a wild figure who’s been flickering in and out of her life since birth, appearing for weeks at a time and then disappearing again for months, or even years, without a word. Complicating matters is Lincoln, a one-armed, charismatic skater who pushes Anise to trade her surfboard for a skateboard. As Anise draws closer to Lincoln and takes on the full burden and joy of her cousins, she loses touch with her friends back home – leading her to one terrifying question: will she turn out just like her mom and spend her life leaving behind the ones she loves

Goodreads

I think the thing that really intrigued me about this book was the fact that the love interest for the Anisa, Lincoln, is disabled! I honestly don't think I read enough books with characters who are disabled so I was super excited to read this book. Also, it seemed like a super cute summer read so I was pretty excited for another summer-y read. All in all, I really enjoyed it. I think the book had a few flaws but it's a super cute read. Definitely a great read if you're looking for a book with summer vibes.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the characters. Not only do I really love the main character, but also the side characters. I think Anise had really great dynamics and relationships with the side characters: her cousins, her aunt, her dad, Lincoln, and other characters. I really admired how persistent and competitive she is and is kind of a perfectionist. Also, she really cared about her friends and owned up to her mistakes, which I also really liked about her. I definitely think there were so many facepalm moments in this book and I liked how Silverman wrote her as a flawed character who later realizes the mistakes she makes.

4/16/2017

Ya Like Films? (And Beaches? And The Enemies Turned Lovers Trope?) // Thoughts on Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

Alex, Approximately

Author: Jenn Bennett

Release Date: April 4th 2017

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Format: eARC

Rating:

The one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet. Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush. Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it is she’s starting to feel for Porter. And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.

Goodreads

If it's anything I love reading, it's a great cute contemporary. I don't know, there is just something so great about contemporary novels and it's even better when they're hella cute. I most definitely turned to Alex, Approximately for a cute summer read and the story definitely delivered. The plot is super addicting to read about and the characters are so enjoyable. I loved reading about the whole "Porter is Alex" part of this book and the whole book sends such great summer vibes. (Especially considering it's not summer vacation. *tear*) If you're looking for a super cute summer read, Alex, Approximately is most definitely one of them.

The first thing that I really want to get out of the way before talking about this book is the fact that the synopsis for this book kinda sucks. I think they summarize the premise of the book really well but all that is ruined because they reveal the big plot twist-like thing at the end of the synopsis. Okay, I admit, the whole Porter is Alex thing is one of the reasons I wanted to read this book but I think there is a way to get readers to read this book without revealing the whole ending. I don't know, it may be different for everyone but personally, I think I would have enjoyed the big reveal of this book if I hadn't previously known who Alex was.

4/08/2017

An Important Book With A New Perspective on Being Black in America // Thoughts on The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give

Author: Angie Thomas

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: February 28th 2017

Format: eBook

Rating:

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Goodreads

Going into this book, I had such high expectations and I am so glad to say that they have definitely surpassed them. I don't think I really did much research about this book before I read it, so I had a vague gist of what the plot was about. Even without reading the book yet, I knew it was going to bring up and confront many racial issues our society is facing today. Let me just say, Thomas beautifully confronts and handles different issues of our society and gives a whole other perspective on what it is like to be a black person today.

The Hate U Give is written by an #OwnVoices author, which means that the story and characters are written by an author who has basically experienced the same things the characters may have experienced. (Disclaimer: I don't know if that's the exact definition but that's how I interpret the term) The opinions regarding racism and racial equality that comes from this book aren't from some white person trying to understand what it may be like to be a black person in our society, no. They're based off (what I'm assuming are) experiences. The Hate U Give confronts may issues of our society: racial profiling, stereotypes, police brutality, gang violence, drugs, white-privilege, so and so on.

4/01/2017