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Title: All the Things We Lost

Author: Kayla Tirrell

Page count: 186

Published: July 2017

Publisher:  n/a

Genre:  Coming of Age

Received: From Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Rating:   3/5

Summary:

After her mother’s death, eighteen-year-old Katie finds herself in a town she never thought she’d see again. Lost in turmoil and sadness, a ray of hope shines brightly when she comes face to face with Julian for the first time in years.

However, he isn’t the same boy she left behind. Reserved and covered in bruises, everyone in River Valley avoids him. Rumors of his activities run rampant.
Despite his cold attitude toward her and her own sadness, Katie can’t keep her thoughts from straying to her childhood friend.

Julian is barely keeping it together. He’s the sole provider for his family after his dad leaves. His dreams to go to college are ruined. Even his relationship with his older brother leaves its mark.
But, Katie’s back in town and is stirring feelings in him he thought were lost forever.

Can they find hope and love in each other, or will the struggle to survive their desperate situations prove too much?

My Thoughts:

This book was a super quick read for me. The synopsis of the book really intrigued me but, it did fall flat for me a few times which was a bummer.

 

Katie and Julian have been friends forever, until she moves away. Then one day Katie and Julian meet up again years later.

 

Katie’s mom passes away and she moves back with her dad in Idaho to help re connect with him.

 

Julian becomes the man of the house when he has to provide for his family because his dad leaves.

 

Julian and Katie have both experiences loss and they need to learn how to deal with her losses.

 

While I was reading this, I did feel like there could have been a little more character development, that could be due to this story being less than 200 pages though.

 

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Title: Making Faces

Author: Amy harmon

Page count: 405

Published: October 12, 2013

Publisher: N/A

Genre: War, Coming of age

Received: Bought my self

Rating:   4.5/5

Summary:

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She’d been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have…until he wasn’t beautiful anymore.

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl’s love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior’s love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beastwhere we discover that there is little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

My Thoughts:

I did read this book a while ago and this was the first book that I have read by Amy and after I read the blub an how it had a reference to Beauty and the Beast (happens to be my favourite movie) I knew I had to read it.

 

This book follows Fern an the insecurities that she has at seeing that she is beautiful. She has red hair, freckles, glasses and braces. She loves to read and she also takes care of her cousin Bailey. Fern has also been in love with Ambrose for as long as she can remember but he has never really taken notice of her. Until one day that everything changes when there both in High school.

 

Baily is a strong, full of life and laugher character he was so funny. He also had a special relationship with Ambrose which I thought was good.

 

Ambrose is a popular guy in school he is the star wrestler and has gotten a full scholarship to collage. He writes these letters an he has no idea that Fern is the one that is replying to him. He tells her things that he hasn’t told anyone. Then one day he finds out that is her and he isn’t sure what he should do. One day he decides after 9/11 he wanted to do something to help out. So he and his four friends decided to enlist in the Army. When he comes he is a different guy because of the things that he had gone through.

 

Fern wants to help Ambrose but he is so down on himself that he isn’t the same but Fern doesn’t give up on him.

 

This was such a beautiful story, you all should check it out.

 

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Title: Drilled

Author: Jasinda Wilder

Page count: 262

Published: September 14, 2018

Publisher: N/A

Genre: Contemporary

Received: From the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:   4.5/5

Summary:

IMOGEN: Jesse says you better know what you’re doing with Franco.
ME: Dude, I’m scared.
IMOGEN: !! What? Tell me!
ME: He makes me FEEL THINGS. It’s icky and I don’t like it.
IMOGEN: You’ve known him what, a few hours?
ME: I’m telling you, he scares the sh*t out of me. But he’s so good I can’t stop myself.
IMOGEN: Audra, seriously. Chill. It’s been a couple hours. It’s just insta-lust.

I send Imogen another selfie, this one of my face—I’m biting my lower lip, eyes wide, glancing to the side at Franco laying next to me—his mouthwatering and lust-inducing body is on full display from the waist up. I send a caption a second later:

ME: YOU DONT UNDERSTAND!!! HE’S GOT A MAGICAL D*CK AND I’M FEELING THINGS!!!
ME: Uh-oh. He’s waking up. Time for round…3? 4? I’ve lost count. Tell me I’m a cold-hearted man-eating b*tch with no soul. Tell ME!
IMOGEN: You’re a cold-hearted man-eating bi*ch with no soul? Only, you’re not. So…you’re on own with this one. Except if you need me of course. I’ve got All Thai’d Up on speed dial, three bottles of Josh in the rack.
ME: if this goes south—or anywhere except nowhere, you’d better make it four. Or six. Because we’re either going to be incredible together, or we’ll destroy each other. There will be no in between.

I set the phone aside as Franco’s stunning blue eyes open and fix hungrily on me. He reaches for me, and all thoughts are banished except one:

God, I hope I know what I’m doing…

I laugh internally at that, because does anyone know what they’re doing?

I know I sure as hell don’t.

My Thoughts:
Oh wow! I really don’t know how Jasinda does it. Her books are just amazing, they just suck you in and you don’t want to leave the world that your reading. It happens every time I read a book by her.

This book it is hot and steamy to say the least. It also has a great humour to it. I love that the characters in this series are in there 40’s yet when reading it, it feels like there younger.

I loved the back and forth with Franco and Audra. Although some times I could have bopped her on the head.

I can’t believe that this is only the second book in the series. I can only imagine what is going to happen with the next one.

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Title: The Fill-In Boyfriend

Author: Kasie West

Page count: 357

Published: May 2015

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: Teen

Received: Bought myself

Rating:  3.5/5

Summary:

When Gia Montgomery’s boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she’d been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend—two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it’s not the real Bradley she’s thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn’t even know. But tracking him down doesn’t mean they’re done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend’s graduation party—three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship

My Thoughts:

I was able to read this book in one sitting I did find that it dragged at some parts and I found the ending to be rushed a little bit. I would have loved to see more of there relationship. I did find it to be really cute.

When we first meet Gia, she gets dumped by her boyfriend on the night of prom, that’s kind of a dick move imo. In the beginning when we first got to meet Gia I did find her to be a little on the annoying side but as the story went on I did like the way the way her character developed.

The fill in Bradly (Hayden) he was swoon worthy, I loved him and his little sister. I also liked the way he was able to get Gia to stand up to her friends because when she didn’t it drove me a little mad.  Getting to know more about the fill in Bradly he was a cute dork, and extremely sweet when it came to Gia.

 

If you are a fan of Kasie West, you should defiantly check this book out.