Posts Categorized: Review

Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Book Aesthetic: Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourne

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I received this book for free from Swoon Reads in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Aesthetic: Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer HoneybourneWesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourne
Published by Swoon Reads on July 18th, 2017
Genres: Chick Lit, Comedy, YA
Source: Swoon Reads
Buy on Amazon
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three-stars

Sixteen-year-old Quinn Hardwick’s having a rough summer. Her beloved grandmother has been put into a home, her dad’s gambling addiction has flared back up and now her worst enemy is back in town: Wesley James, former childhood friend—until he ruined her life, that is.

So when Wesley is hired to work with her at Tudor Tymes, a medieval England themed restaurant, the last thing Quinn’s going to do is forgive and forget. She’s determined to remove him from her life and even the score all at once—by getting him fired.

But getting rid of Wesley isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. When Quinn finds herself falling for him, she has to decide what she wants more: to get even, or to just get over it.

***images courtesy of Pinterest***

If you’re expecting this book to change your life, you’re probably going to be disappointed but it IS a perfectly, enjoyable summer book and not everything we read needs to revolutionize our lives. I, for one, have been too tired and too overheated lately to read books that will change my life so Wesley James Ruined My Life was the perfect read for me.

Is Quinn Hardwick stubborn as fuck and will you want to shake some sense into her? For SURE but the book also has so many feel-good vibes and part of the fun is when she does realize she is in the wrong. Quinn is stubborn and holds grudges for all the wrong reasons but we can all be stubborn sometimes and I for one am still angry at that person who never gave back my mechanical pencil back in 10th grade. IT WAS A NICE MECHANICAL PENCIL, okay??? 0.7 and everything.

Wesley James is the real winner of the show and is incredibly pure and precious. He does fuck up once or twice but you know what? It’s okay because he is an adorable cinnamon roll.

Wesley James Ruined My Life features some family relationships, a hate-love romance, good friends, and some geeky band goodness so really, it’s ~just~ the read to blow off some summer steam with!

three-stars

3 Hot Espressos

A Powerful Novel about Grief: The Girl with the Ghost Machine by Lauren DeStefano

Posted by on 06/30/2017 • 2 Comments

Back in the day, everyone would rave about DeStefano’s YA series but I never really got around to reading the Wither series. Years later, here I am raving about DeStefano’s middle grade series. I honestly cannot imagine if her YA books could be any better or honestly, if any YA book could even tackle grief the way DeStefano does in every single one of the middle grade books I’ve read by her.

So probably there is some book out there that does grief better BUT THATS NOT THE POINT OF THIS REVIEW. The point of this review is so that I can sing The Girl with the Ghost Machine praises because series, this book hits you right in the fucking feels.

Emmaline Beaumont’s father starts building a ghost machine when her…

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A Poignant Novel That Deals With Immigration: The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Posted by on 06/16/2017 • 2 Comments

Maybe you know or maybe you have no idea who I even am or how you ended up on this site but Randa Abdel-Fattah changed my life when I was a kid. On more than one occasion, I’ve talked about how Does My Head Look Big In This is one of the three most important books in my life that helped redefine how I felt about my identity and about myself as a human being. So, when I heard that she had a new book coming out, I was over the moon. Of course, this was ages ago and this was when the book was coming out in Australia and I was all the way here, sad because I didn’t think I’d get to read the book. Then I found out…

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For the summer feel-good vibes: I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Posted by on 06/15/2017 • 1 Comment

I honestly cannot believe I haven’t seen more hype for I Believe in A Thing Called Love because it is one of my favorite books of the year (out of the 100 I’ve read so far.) It’s charming, a little unrealistic but PACKED with fun, joy, and general happiness.

Those are very general, descriptive terms that could describe any fluffy book that some people might write off all together but you know what? They would be missing out. For one, ‘fluff’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Charles Dickens wrote commercial fiction (and while it wasn’t fluff, he was getting paid by the sentence so those painfully boring pages weren’t because he was being ~literary~), Shakespeare’s works were definitely mean for entertainment, etc etc.

On the surface, I Believe in a Thing Called…

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Explores the bizarre & complex social environment of high school: Say No to the Bro by Kat Helgeson

Posted by on 05/18/2017 • 3 Comments

Doesn’t this book have the best title ever? If a title alone had the capacity to sell a book to anyone, it was be the title to this book. I was certainly sold before I even saw the cover or read the blurb for the book because who can resist a book titled Say No to the Bro?

Does the book actually live up to its amazing title? I don’t really know how to answer that question and should probably not start all my paragraphs in this review with a question because I am told that is bad writing. Say No to the Bro was not at all what I expected and I don’t know if I mean that in a good or bad way. It is somewhere in the middle to be…

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Review: The Go-Between by Veronica Chambers

Posted by on 05/17/2017 • 2 Comments

The Go-Between is part fluff and part social commentary. It is this incredible feel good book about a girl has to leave her home country behind to move to America because her mom has landed a roll in American TV. What The Go-Between really tries to break down intersectionality and explore various privileged and oppressed identities.

How does Cammi’s life change when she moves from Mexico City to LA? Her family still has enormous socio-economic privilege but her life does change. The way her classmates interact with her changes and the way she is perceived and stereotyped by her classmates completely changed. Without even getting the chance to introduce herself, her new rich, white classmates craft an identity for her based on racist stereotypes.

And yet even though for the first time…

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Heartfelt Coming of Age Novel: That Thing We Call a Heart by Sheba Karim

Posted by on 05/12/2017 • 1 Comment

Sometimes there are books you read and you love and then sometimes there are books you read and FUCKING LOVE. As you might be able to gather given my subtle opening line, That Thing We Call a Heart falls into the latter category for me.

I honestly don’t even know how to express all the love I feel for the book into this review because I doubt that is even possible. Perhaps I might use this gif:

Or I could use words but as I told my prof the other day when he suggested I do a creative writing project, I am not a writer so if this review is completely incoherent, know that I honestly tried.

That Thing We Call a Heart is a book that needs to be in…

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An Adventurous Middle Grade Novel: The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi

Posted by on 05/10/2017 • 1 Comment

5 Things You Need To Know About The Gauntlet

1. It is a great book for kids who love games and kids who love RP games. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were made a character in your fav game? WELL THIS BOOK ANSWERS all those questions and more.

2. Friendships are a huge deal in this book. Farah and her friends grew apart when she moved and as they are forced into The Gauntlet, they reconnect and work together to rescue Farah’s brothers. Lots of cutes to go around.

3. It is fast paced. While I do enjoy a fast paced book, I did feel like it was a little rushed in terms of development and transitions from challenge to challenge.

4. FOOD PORN. Lots and lots of…

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