Dare To You (Review)

Dare To You

By: Katie McGarry

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all...

How I Lost You (Review)

How I Lost You

By: Janet Gurtler

There are a few things Grace Anderson knows for sure. One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who's always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected.

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

1. Pride and Prejudice

By: Jane Austen

Whenever I need a little Mr. Darcy in my life, I pick up P&P. It's a constant reread. It's my favorite Jane Austen novel.

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty

By: Jenny Han

This book and series starts off pretty light and simple and gets heavier as it progresses, but it's my favorite series. I love Belly and her stumbling along as she grows up.

3. Anna and the French Kiss

By: Stephanie Perkins

Etienne St. Clair, makes this book. This book is amazing! If you haven't read it yet, you need to get on it stat. I dare you to not laugh or smile while reading this book.

4. Major Crush

By: Jennifer Echols

This was my first ever Jennifer Echols book that I read, and it's why I continue to read her books. This book is light, but still touches my heart.

5. Wanderlove 

By: Kirsten Hubbard

I love this book, partly because of the writing itself, but also because the feeling that it inspires in me. It's amazing. 

6. Ten Things We Did

By: Sarah Mlynowski

Another teenage book about a teen making a mistake...but I love every minute of it. There are some real moments in this, but it won't break your heart in the slightest.

7. The Selection

By: Kiera Cass

I've heard this book described as the Hunger Games + The Bachelor...and it really is. I love it, plus America is a heroine after my own heart.

8. Thrill Ride

By: Rachel Hawthorne

A swoon inducing male romantic interest, plus some really romantical situations. Le sigh...what more do you need?

9. She's So Money

By: Cherry Cheva

This book makes me laugh, like, hold me side and struggle to breath laugh, and I love every second of it. 

10. Who's Your Daddy

By: Lynda Sandoval

Despite the pervy name, this novel is very tame. It's funny and tells the story of three friends trying to find a date to homecoming. I love Lila, but the other povs are almost as good too ;)

Going Vintage (Review)

Going Vintage

By: Lindsey Leavitt

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). 

The List:
1. Run for pep club secretary
2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree
3. Sew a dress for Homecoming
4. Find a steady
5. Do something dangerous
But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.

Book of the Week (2): Escape Theory

Book of the week is something new that I'm starting to highlight my favorite book of the week. It doesn't have to be a book that was recently published or that I've just read, but a book that I really liked and I think that you might also enjoy.

Escape Theory

By: Margaux Froley

Why I Love This Book?

It's a contemporary thriller and mystery that makes you keep asking "Who did it"? You don't find out until the very end and you'll definitely be surprised. It's really fast paced and makes you want to finish it in one sitting. 

Why You Should Read It...

I've never really read anything like Escape Theory, and the novels that were kind of like it, didn't compare. Plus there's a little something for everybody: a suggestion of romance, thrill, mystery. 

Aly's Diary #3: Book Buying Problems

Have you ever bought a physical copy of a book, and read it and loved it? Then you went traveling somewhere and wanted to read it but couldn't because you left the physical copy at home? This is what my life feels like right now. I love rereading books and specific quotes from books that I love, and I love having physical copies of my books. Don't get me wrong, I love ebooks, I think it's the story that matters the most, no matter what format, but I look adding new books to my bookshelf, and I love thumbing through the book.

I guess my issue is that, I hate having to choose. I've been studying abroad for almost a year now, and one of the things I miss about home, is having the option to walk to my bookcase and rereading any of my books whenever I want.

I just wish buying books was like buying DVDs that also come with a digital copy. 

I wish that when I bought a physical book, it could be a bundle too, so that I could have best of both worlds. Having the physical copy and a digital copy. I don't mind buying an additional copy when I see random sales online, when the ebook is about $5 or less, but buying the same story twice for the full amount just doesn't seem cost efficient. I need publishers to realize that I and probably other readers too would be willing to pay a little bit more for this option. I'm not one of those people who likes to read pirated books, but it's times like these where I understand the argument of: "I already bought one copy, but I just want to reread because I don't have my copy at hand".

Any thoughts, questions, or anything you want to contribute to the conversation?

Book of the Week (1): If He Had Been With Me

Book of the week is something new that I'm starting to highlight my favorite book of the week. It doesn't have to be a book that was recently published or that I've just read, but a book that I really liked and I think that you might also enjoy.

For my inaugural BoTW I present:

If He Had Been With Me

By: Laura Nowlin

Why I Love This Book?

It's heart-breakingly sad in the best way possible. I know some might not agree with me, but this book honestly reminds me of TFIOS. That's a huge compliment from me, because I needed a box of tissues after reading TFIOS. 

If He Had Been With Me breaks my heart, in a way that is very similar, because it feels so real, but at the same time, I love it that it broke my heart because now I want to protect yet but risk it for that love that I found in this novel. 

Why You Should Read It...

I feel like I grew a little bit after reading this book and I love books that make me a better person, without having been its intended purpose. I think I knew from the start that this book was going to break my heart, but I welcomed it, because it broke my heart in the best possible way. It gave me hope, it but it never shattered that hope and even afterward when I was crying, I loved every single moment of it. I even went back and reread it, hoping for a different outcome even though I knew there wasn't going to be one. 

Happy 2nd Blogiversary!

Happy 2nd Blogiversary (to Me)!!!

Guyzzz! I can't believe it's been two years since I've been blogging! I started this blog my freshman year of college and I can't believe that I'm going to be a senior in the fall. I can't believe that you guys care about what I think about books and that people give me free books so I can tell other people what I think about them. 

When I first started out, it was rough. I didn't know what to do and I had no followers for the longest time. I'm so happy that over 400 people follow this blog and care about what I think.

It's been rough lately with school and having so much homework (feels like more than ever) and I've been having a hard time trying to carve out some blogging time, but it's getting better and the summer is near.

Thanks again for hanging with me :)

If He Had Been With Me (Review)

If He Had Been With Me

By: Laura Nowlin (@Laura_Nowlin)

Throughout their whole childhood, Finn and Autumn were inseparable—they finished each other's sentences, they knew just what to say when the other person was hurting. But one incident in middle school puts them in separate social worlds come high school, and Autumn has been happily dating James for the last 2 years. But she's always wondered what if...

The night she's about to get the answer is also one of terrible tragedy.

My Life After Now Blog Tour: Review + Interview

My Life After Now

By: Jessica Verdi

Lucy just had the worst week ever. Seriously, mega bad. And suddenly, it's all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.

And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family?

Now her life is completely different...every moment is a gift. Because now she might not have many moments left.