Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Without the dead sister and being transgender, its a cute summer romance. With it though it becomes something extraordinary.

Told from both the POV's of Maia and Chris we get to see their romance blossom and hide their secrets. I loved getting in Chris's head, I don't really know all that much about being transgender. I also liked watching Maia take her sister's camera and try to see what she saw, in an effort to feel closer to her.


View all my reviews

The Gamer's Guide to Getting the Girl by Kristine Scarrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Despite the title, the romance is only secondary to the plot. He's trapped in a mall with other people and he spends most of his time trying to make sure everyone else is safe. I guess thinking about it that makes sense? In a game like Mario he spends most of his time jumping over things or trying to vanquish his enemies, it isn't til the end he saves Princess Peach. So I guess you could say its following video game conventions instead of novels? Mario doesn't try to bill itself as a romance though. It is fun to see the main character work out problems like its a video game though.

View all my reviews

Akela by Ryan Uytdewilligen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm not sure where to start so I'm just going to spit it out: some of the things that happened were unbelievable and the constant philosophizing annoyed me.

After being separated from the love of his life, Akela spends a good portion of his life trying to get back to her. The things that happen to him get more and more fantastical as the story goes on. Am I really supposed to believe he caused Watergate? Also, there are animals that have sworn off eating meat.

Akela has way too much self reflection. Dropping wisdom every page isn't really needed and gets tired at times. Just telling his story is enough.   His constant pining for his love doesn't come across as romantic, its just whiny.

The cast of characters is excellent though. I loved getting to know all the people and animals he met.





View all my reviews

When Summer Ends by Jessica Pennington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm really glad I was reading this when we had some rare sunshine because it made it feel like summer.

It was a cute romance and would make for a great summer read.

View all my reviews

Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*is wondering why she thought this was going to be a lesbian romance*

*is thinking about Zoe possibly being asexual*

Zoe doesn't think about sex or how attractive she finds somebody while talking about how much she loves romance. That's what allosexual people do, right? I might be reading into it though.

*is wondering why she didn't see the thing coming*

*is thinking about Zoe being adopted and her feelings about it*

My dad was adopted and never wanted to meet his birth parents. I understand that its his decision to make but I always felt like there was a piece of me missing. Its my history too. For Christmas, I got myself a DNA kit. The ethnicity results were enough to fill the hole that was missing. (99.3% european). I've never actually stopped to think what actually being adopted would be like.

*is glad at all the Doctor Who references included*

*likes seeing 2 teens whose home lives are far from normal*

*likes that it was set so close to home*








View all my reviews

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure if I read it in a day because it actually was unputdownable or because it became available from the library on the day I felt like crap.



It was great sick day read. Instead of focusing on how crappy I felt I was immersed in the world of rock'n'roll. I actually felt like I was right there with Daisy Jones partying and trying to put an album together.

However, about a quarter of the way through I realized that it was reading like The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band and I couldn't stop the comparisons once I made the connection.

While Daisy Jones makes for an interesting read at the end of the day its just a story. The Dirt had me feeling every emotion from queasy to heartbroken and is a true story. If you want to read about a rock band I would recommend The Dirt over this.





View all my reviews

Pride by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This has to be the best P&P retelling I've read yet.

A couple of days ago I read that P&P was meant to be more of an anti-romance. Usually someone's a jerk and she finds another dude who doesn't like him and they run off together. That's not what happened. The other dude ends up being the jerk and the first guy's the hunk. That's exactly what happened in this novel.

At the beginning Zuri was put off by Darius and was getting it with Warren instead. I was totally shipping Zuri and Warren for a hot minute.

While staying true to the source material, it managed to make it feel fresh, like I was reading a new book. Almost, I still knew how it was going to end.

View all my reviews