Genre: Contemporary

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Review: I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest

Posted by • 8 Comments

I received this book for free from Arthur A. Levine Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: I Am Princess X by Cherie PriestI Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
Published by Arthur A. Levine Books on May 26th, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, YA
Source: Arthur A. Levine Books
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure.

Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window.

Princess X?

When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon - her best friend, Libby, who lives.

Reasons to read I Am Princess X

1. All about the friendship. Seriously, who doesn’t love a book that focuses on friendships of all relationships. Friends are important!

2. If you like books involving scavenger hunts, this book is for you. In the book, May has to put together a bunch of clues to find out what happened to her friend and how she might be able to find her. YAAAS.

3. The mystery. It comes with the scavenger hunt aspect of the novel but the book kept me on my toes. At one point while I was reading, my phone buzzed and I almost jumped out of my skin because I was so absorbed by the novel and the mystery.

4. The images. The comic strips with Princess X are amazing and I have so much love for the way they are weaved in throughout the story. I love the parallels. I love the illustrations. I LOVE PRINCESS X.

5. May has a good relationship with her dad. Her dad may not be on board with everything she says but he listens to her and doesn’t dismiss what she says. It’s kind of amazing, really. Who doesn’t love a good parent-child relationship?

6. Diversity. FUCK YEAH TO DIVERSITY. I love me some diversity.

7. All the characters are amazing. No one is a caricature and the characters are just well rounded. May is a fantastic female lead. Trick is a great friend, who is smart but not ultra smart and makes mistakes all the time. There is another character we meet who I absolutely adore and want to hang out with. Okay I’ll stop with the listing every single character thing.

8. I Am Princess X’s dress. Okay maybe that’s just me. Ever since I finished this book, I am kind of obsessed with it and want to own something like it. HALP.

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Review: Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly

Posted by on 12/10/2015 • 7 Comments

If you like your Sherlock re-tellings full of lots of wit, humor and fun; Trouble is a Friend of Mine is for you. This book was SO MUCH fun to read. I was giggling most of the time, I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I liked the relationships. This was a great brain candy book  but my problem with the book was how ignorant and privileged the characters were.

We are constantly reminded that the characters live in a very white neighborhood with no diversity and I would assume that that would at least mean that the MCs weren’t completely ignorant and flippant about certain issues but that’s sadly not true. Even though Zoe moved from NYC, a very diverse city, to a white suburban neighborhood. It isn’t…

Continue Reading »

Review: Consent by Nancy Ohlin

Posted by on 11/18/2015 • 4 Comments

This book was a bit tough for me. It was a good book, and I knew what it was about going into it, but reading it made me feel a bit icky at times. I liked the MC and her best friend was pretty good too, but Dane just gave me the creeps. I thought that it was a well done story though, and of course it isn’t unheard of to have student/teacher relationships. Besides the relationship aspect though, it really goes into family issues as well and I really liked that.

Bea is a senior in high school and thinking about her future. She has a super smart best friend and she has these grand plans for Harvard. It’s not an unlikely dream either. They are both smart, and…

Continue Reading »

Review: Calvin by Martine Leavitt

Posted by on 11/13/2015 • 2 Comments

This book, though short packs quite a punch. It’s fun and quirky, but also serious as well. It follows Calvin who has schizophrenia on an extremely dangerous adventure. I enjoy reading books about mental illness when they are told in the POV of the person who has it. It is a scary and sad thing to know what they are going through, but my curious mind is always interested. I work in a field that deals with mental illness, so I am no stranger to it, but I am fascinated with how the brain works and I really do love books like this.

Calvin was a really great character in so many ways. He is smart, funny, and determined. Yes, he may have schizophrenia, but that is just one…

Continue Reading »

Review: Captive by A.J. Grainger

Posted by on 11/12/2015 • 4 Comments

I always find it hard to review books that I have no strong opinion of either way. I didn’t really like this book, but I didn’t dislike it either. It was readable, but it didn’t make me NEED to keep going. The main character wasn’t all that interesting, but I did kind of like her… sometimes. As you can tell by the title and synopsis, this book is about a girl who is kidnapped because she is the Prime Ministers daughter. She is the leverage to get what they want. So of course, she is being held captive and we learn about her history through her wandering thoughts. We also learn about the conspiracy that got her to this place by one of her kidnappers. The book opens pretty cool,…

Continue Reading »

Review: The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

Posted by on 11/10/2015 • 14 Comments

I adored this book! It wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it and didn’t want to put it down. I loved the main characters, but beyond that, I wanted so bad to learn their story. I was instantly drawn into this book and it was like I was there with them on their journey. It was great watching their romance form, and it was so heart breaking when they were going through awful things. I was very invested in them and where life would take them, and especially the past that had made each of them who they were.

Bex was an interesting character. She doesn’t have a whole lot of friends because people find her a bit weird. By weird, I mean morbid. She is fascinated by anatomy….

Continue Reading »

Review: We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Posted by on 11/09/2015 • 4 Comments

I’m always up for a book that is creepy and messes with your head, and this sounded like it was perfect for that. Sadly, it really fell short for me. It’s supposed to be a mind fuck, but it was too predictable. It was supposed to be creepy, but it just wasn’t. I didn’t really like the main character much because she was kind of boring. Even though she is breaking all the rules and is out for murder, she just seemed a bit blah for me. And the love interest… there always has to be one of those right? He didn’t do much for me. He’s the one who is supposed to be all dangerous, but helpful, and really a sweetheart. Yeah, he met all those stereotypes on the…

Continue Reading »

Blog Tour: Review – We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Posted by on 10/28/2015 • 4 Comments

When I received the email for the blog tour for this book, upon reading about the book was very excited to read it. Of course I had to be part of this blog tour! The book was really great and I am so happy that I said yes to this. It was a quick read with a lot of important topics. It is told from both Stewart and Ashley’s POV’s. Stewart is a really smart kid. Or as he likes to say, gifted. He felt that his life was pretty great with his just him, his mom, and his dad. Then, his mom dies and things get tough. They learn to cope though and eventually start to move forward. Especially his dad who is dating someone and they are moving…

Continue Reading »