Book Review: The United States of Us

Katie January 15, 2016 0 Comments

The United States of Us was a miss for me.  The book has an interesting approach to the narrator, as it is told by Robin who is dead and our main character Mia’s friend and first love. He is always with her, a ghost that she can’t seem to shake.  The story starts on Utopia Island in Italy where Mia is spending some time.  One day before she is set to leave, she meets Zak and they seem to have a connection.  Zak wants her to stay, but Mia can’t.  They end up keeping in touch through social media and emails.  Zak wants Mia to come visit him in the USA and Mia ends up working to save enough money to go see him and be reunited.  She goes to the USA to meet him and realizes that things are not what they seemed with Zak.  He is distant at times, has mood swings and seems to have email conversations with not only her, but many other girls encouraging them to come visit him.  With nowhere else to go, Mia stays in town.  I actually checked out of this book pretty early on, but really wanted to see if they explained Robin and how he died and why he was still haunting Mia.  That finally came about 75% in to the book.  I didn’t really like the writing style of this book and couldn’t really get myself as involved in the story as I would have liked.  I guess that is what I get for choosing a book because it had backpacks on the front cover and I just bought a new backpack. (I really should do a blog series on how I pick books to review and how it sometimes doesn’t work out! lol)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

A heart-rending story of romance and self-discovery

This is a story about soulmates, not where it began, but where it needs to begin: twenty-two year-old Mia pressed against the forest floor by a man shielding her from the crazed bear bellowing in her ear. This is a story about love and the power of actions over words. A story of how one day can change everything.

Mia Hart’s childhood sweetheart, Robin, has been watching over her ever since his death. Haunted by the devastating incident that killed him, Mia spends three years travelling the world.

Discovering the island of Utopia, a retreat in the sparkling Tyrrhenian Sea, Mia meets Zak, a dashing American musician. After a whirlwind romance, Zak asks Mia to come and live with him in the faraway Midwest. Swept up by infatuation and desperate to be free from Robin’s ghost, she accepts.

Braving a move to River Valley, a small town in the American wilderness, Mia soon discovers the fairytale Zak promised her is anything but. Worried she’s made a rash decision, but too proud to leave, Mia must confront her past before she can find true happiness.

Vivid, beautiful, and packed with unforgettable characters, The United States of Us is a riveting and intense tale of love, loss and letting go.

Book Review: YouTube Famous

Katie January 15, 2016 0 Comments

YouTube Famous is a book about, you guessed it, famous YouTubers.  The book has bios on 20 of the most popular people on youtube – only 2 of which I had ever heard of before! (But I don’t spend too much time on YouTube, so I figured I would have no clue.  Also missing from the book the 2 youtubers that almost got me stampeded at a concert a couple of years ago.)  The biographies are meant to inspire you so that you can do something similar to achieve your dreams.  If your dream is to also be on YouTube, throughout the book is tips on how to launch your own channel and build your own audience!  Good luck!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

YouTube has revolutionized the viewing habits of millions of people around the world and looks likely to continue doing so. YouTube Famous presents case studies of 20 of the world’s most successful YouTubers providing original content to inspire those who might want to set up a channel of their own – it’s also a book which will be enjoyed by fans. Complete with tips to produce your own programs, it shows how YouTubers built up their channels from scratch and developed content to please their growing fanbase. With a growing online world and more and more people tuning in to the internet, particularly young people, this is the book you need to read for the secrets of success.

Book Review: Not Okay, Cupid.

Katie January 15, 2016 0 Comments

Not Okay Cupid is about Hazel and Felix. Although, not at first.  Hazel and Jay have been high school sweethearts forever, they are going to go to colleges near by each other to easy transition their high school romance into a college romance and after that they’ll get married and start a family! It’s perfect!  That is until at lunch time Hazel sees Jay flirting with… HER BEST FRIEND!?

Enter Felix, Hazel’s best friend’s brother.  The two hatch up a revenge plan that has Hazel fake-dating Felix in order to make Jay and Kimmy jealous.  But it seems that Felix has actually had feelings for Hazel since they were kids!  Does Hazel feel the same about him or is she convinced he is a Man-Beep?

This book alternated chapters between Hazel’s perspective and Felix’s, so throughout you could tell that each were beginning to like each other for real, but weren’t saying anything to each other in order to finish up their revenge plan.  But throughout the whole book I found myself wanting to scream at them “JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER! TELL EACH OTHER HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!” which made it a bit frustrating to read through at times.  I can’t tell you how it ends and if I am happy with what happened or not… you’ll just have to read it yourself to figure that out.

This was a quick read and the events in the book only spanned about a weeks worth of time – though it seemed to be a lot longer than that.  It started with Hazel getting excited for the Valentine’s Day dance… and then realizing she no longer had a date, or did she? And it ends just after the dance.  But I guess a week when you’re in high school dealing with all sorts of love drama – it can seem like it’s a lot longer than a week!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Her wicked revenge, or his wicked heart…

Hazel McCallister loves her life. Perfect grades. Perfect best friend. Perfect boyfriend. Until her perfect boyfriend cheats on her with her perfect best friend. Now Hazel’s in free fall—until her best friend’s brother, Felix, gives her the perfect idea. Reclaim her power by taking revenge on her cheating ex.

Felix James loves his life. Casual relationships. Loads of surfing. He’s as drama-free as they come. But he can’t stand by when his sister steals her best friend’s boyfriend, and the dude insists it was Hazel’s fault. So Felix vows to help turn Hazel into a girl her ex can’t resist—so then she can break his heart.

With an alliance in place, Hazel’s revenge is all but assured. But with each piece of payback, she feels a stronger attraction to Felix, even though revenge will turn her into a girl Felix could never be with. And soon Hazel has to make an impossible choice: revenge…or Felix, the boy who’s stolen her heart.

WARNING! This book contains betrayal, revenge, and that most tempting vice of all, the bad boy you know you can’t have.

Book Review: Kiss Kill Love Him Still

Katie January 15, 2016 0 Comments

Kiss Kill Love Him Still is a mystery novel, which I certainly like to throw in the mix here and there.  Online reviews said it was similar to Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, etc which are a few of my favorite TV shows so I figured it would be an enjoyable read for me.  The story is told from the perspective of 4 girls – all of whom were having some sort of a relationship with Jackson Landis who has wound up dead and no one is sure why.  Since Jackson knew secrets from all 4 of the girls – any of them could be a suspect and they aren’t sure if he took their secrets to the grave with him or not.  There is Val – who is dating Jackson’s roommate Paul, is always drunk and once had a threesome with Jackson and his girlfriend – which was recorded and Jackson has been blackmailing her over the video.  There is Livie who is Jackson’s girlfriend and also a kleptomaniac and once again Jackson has some videos of her stealing.  There’s Haddie – the chubby girl from the library who wears a purity ring but wrote papers for guys in exchange for sex. And finally, Reggie, the campus drug dealer who gives Jackson drugs for free and then they have sex.  All 4 of them are trying to piece together what happened with 2 of them pretty sure it was not them who did it and 2 of them not really sure what might have happened that night.

The book was a pretty quick read and I got into it, despite pretty much hating all the characters in the book.  Only one problem – this is the first in a series so the end of the book has a theory as to who might have done it – but the book doesn’t end so there is no closure!  The next book won’t be out until Spring and I bet that whatever theory they had working near the end of this book will be thrown out the window in the beginning of the next… (especially if it takes the Pretty Little Liars route – the books could go on forever!)

I did enjoy the book enough and the crazy characters to give the next book a try in Spring.

I received an e-copy of this book through Kindle Unlimited (despite requesting it through NetGalley where it expired on me and Tomoson where I was never sent a copy – I wanted to read it that badly) in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Jackson Landis kept secrets. It’s how he got girls into bed, the grades he wanted, and a reputation for being the life of the party.

But now he’s dead, and no one knows how or why. Especially not the four girls whose secrets he protected. Secrets so scandalous they could cause each girl to lose something valuable. Secrets so dark, someone may have killed for them.

The four girls – a campus drug dealer, an overweight bookworm, a closeted lesbian, and a spoiled princess have one thing in common – they’re terrified the things Jackson knew may not have died with him. As Reggie, Haddie, Val, and Livie try to piece together her own role in Jackson’s death, each girl realizes Jackson had some not-so-pretty skeletons of his own.

Which makes a girl wonder, who really wanted Jackson Landis dead?

Book Review: Firsts

Katie January 8, 2016 0 Comments

I found Firsts to be almost 2 stories in one. I guess I picked the right spot to stop after one reading session and pick up again (just about half way through the book).  In the first half of the book, Mercedes who is 17 has been helping boys at her high school lose their virginity so she can give them tips on what to do and what not to do when they finally decide to have sex with their girlfriends.  Mercedes swears that no one will ever find out, but has been keeping track of all her secrets so far.  At first she had just wanted to pay it forward and help 5 guys, but the number keeps increasing 7, 10…

I was a bit disturbed that this was the subject matter for a young adult book, although I am sure that stuff like this does really happen in high school.  The second half of the book made it out to be more of a cautionary tale.

Mercedes best friend Angela is waiting until marriage and thinks that she has the perfect boyfriend who also wants to wait.  But when he finds out about Mercedes services, well – there’s a lot of drama and I’m not sure I could even recap it if I tried – and it’s worth reading the book to find out how everything unfolds for yourself. But Mercedes finds out that this guy is not at all what he says he is, but isn’t sure how to let Angela know.

Eventually ALL Mercedes secrets come out and she has to figure out how to recover from it all.  But she tries to get by with a little help from her friends.

Overall this was a good book, well written, and you couldn’t help but feel for Mercedes, who was certainly acting out due to the situations she had been in earlier in her life and her home life with her parents.  Although I thought I figured out part of what had happened to her while it was happening, turns out there was a lot more going on than I had even seen coming.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time-the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy – so far. Her mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn – or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her own reputation -and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn‘s Firsts is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.