Genre: YA

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The Summer of Jordi Perez and Rashika’s Favorite Burger Place

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The Summer of Jordi Perez was everything you can ask from for a summer-y read. Romance, friendship, identity and just a little bit of food-fun, Jordi Perez was truly a package. Also Jordi Perez is the name of the love interest and she was delightful as well.

I always complain about this because I am a whiny baby but it is SO HARD to express feelings in a review for a book you really really enjoyed and Jordi Perez is SUCH A FUN READ. I’ve had a really rough month and a half and have read almost no books this month but Jordi Perez cheered me up when I needed it.

Summer is not going how Abby Ives had thought it would. It’s the summer before senior year and all Abby wants us to ace this internship and get the job in the fall so she can have it on her resume for college applications. Unfortunately, it turns out, she is going to have to share the internship this summer with Jordi Perez. And not only that, Abby is also going to have to share her best friend with her boyfriend because it turns out, they mostly only hang out together now.

I make it sound like this is the summer Abby learns to share things but THAT WASN’T THE POINT. The point is that Abby had a plan for the summer and things aren’t going according to that plan. Luckily, that isn’t entirely a bad thing because it forces Abby a little outside of her comfort zone. Over the summer, she makes new friends, meets the girl of her dreams and confronts some internalized stuff.

SO, ALL IN ALL, it is a pretty productive summer for Abby Ives. Plus she gets to eat her way through LA and decide on the best burger on town.

The Summer of Jordi Perez is sure to win over your heart and make you swoon a little. It is the summer read everyone needs to have on their TBRs and the summer read that should probably be turned into a movie. Basically, 10/10 would recommend.

Rashika’s Favorite Burger Place

I am vegetarian. This usually means that when I go to eat, I avoid burger places because they all have one vegetarian option and its usually something mushroom-y which isn’t my vibe. During BEA 2016 though, I discovered the best burger I would ever eat. I unfortunately do not have pictures of my meal because I gobbled it up, but… the internet has pictures.

Source

The Falafel Burger at Umami Burger is the best I’ve ever had and probably the best I ever will. I’ve eaten my fair share of veggie burgers and nothing will ever live up to this. I will probably be craving a bite on my death bed.

About the Book

I received this book for free from Thomas Allen & Son in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Summer of Jordi Perez and Rashika’s Favorite Burger PlaceThe Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding
Published by Sky Pony Press on April 3rd, 2018
Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary, YA
Source: Thomas Allen & Son
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-stars

Seventeen, fashion-obsessed, and gay, Abby Ives has always been content playing the sidekick in other people’s lives. While her friends and sister have plunged headfirst into the world of dating and romances, Abby’s been happy to focus on her plus-size style blog and her dreams of taking the fashion industry by storm. When she lands a great internship at her favorite boutique, she’s thrilled to take the first step toward her dream career. Then she falls for her fellow intern, Jordi Perez. Hard. And now she’s competing against the girl she’s kissing to win the coveted paid job at the end of the internship.

But really, nothing this summer is going as planned. She also unwittingly becomes friends with Jax, a lacrosseplaying bro-type who wants her help finding the best burger in Los Angeles, and she’s struggling to prove to her mother—the city’s celebrity health nut—that she’s perfectly content with who she is.

Just as Abby starts to feel like she’s no longer the sidekick in her own life, Jordi’s photography surprisingly puts her in the spotlight. Instead of feeling like she’s landed a starring role, Abby feels betrayed. Can Abby find a way to reconcile her positive yet private sense of self with the image others have of her?

About the Author

Amy Spalding has a B.A. in advertising and marketing communications from Webster University, and an M.A. in media studies from the New School. Amy studied longform improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. By day, she manages the digital media team for an indie film advertising agency. By later day and night, Amy writes, performs, and pets as many cats as she can. She grew up in St. Louis, but now lives in the better weather of Los Angeles.


Giveaway!

One (1) winner will receive:
One (1) hardcover copy of The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by
Amy Spalding
One (1) pack of FujiFilm Instax Mini Film
One (1) $5 gift card for Five Guys (Canada)

Giveaway Rules

-Canada Only (full rules found in the T&C on Rafflecopter)
-Giveaway ends Wed. Apr. 11th @ 12AM EST
-Winner will be drawn randomly through Rafflecopter, contacted via email and will have 24
hours to claim their prize

a Rafflecopter
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four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

Adventurous and Swoony: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Posted by on 03/30/2018 • 1 Comment

I’ve been reading Jenn Bennett for half a decade now and she’s been one of those authors I basically just read anything by. I don’t need a summary or acclaim, I JUST NEED BOOKS BY JENN BENNETT. This book had the added advantage of having an enemies-to-lovers/friends-to-lovers romance trope and an survival-esque story so like… yeah.

Unsurprisingly, I loved this book but I also got to buddy-read it with a close friend which made my experience reading it all the more better. But as anyone knows, loving a book doesn’t make writing a review any easier. It probably makes it a lot harder.

Zorie and Lennon used to be the best of friends and were on their way to becoming something more when something goes wrong. Now they go out…

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An Emotional 24 Hour Journey: I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

Posted by on 03/26/2018 • 0 Comments

I Have Lost My Way was my first book by Gayle Forman even though I’ve wanted to read a book by her for the past 5 years. I guess I am just going to have to go back and read more because I am in love with her writing style. I finished I Have Lost My Way feeling satisfied and warm gushiness from the good vibes in the book. However, upon hours of reflection, I can see that this book is not perfect for a number of reasons.

For starters, I was slightly uncomfortable with the way Forman wrote Harun’s story. Harun is a gay Pakistani-American. Throughout the book, we see his struggle with those identities and I felt like that struggle wasn’t really Forman’s to write about? I felt like she did…

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The Intersectional Feminist Anthology We Need: The Radical Element edited by Jessica Spotswood

Posted by on 03/09/2018 • 0 Comments

There was once a time when while reviewing an anthology, I would review every single story within it. I don’t do that anymore because 1. I am lazy but 2. I don’t think anyone really wants to read a review of EVERY SINGLE short story in an anthology because thats a lot to read and most people will pick an anthology up even if it has a couple mediocre short stories. Also, like, I do want to say I am definitely appreciative of the people who do review every single story and you guys are great. ANYWAY. The Radical Element is chockfull of some of the best YA writers right now and it ups the ante from A Tyranny of Petticoats. Tyranny certainly won my heart in 2016 but we still needed a…

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All Five Stars: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Posted by on 03/08/2018 • 4 Comments

I am a finnick-y asshole when it comes to rating books 5 stars which isn’t necessarily because I don’t love books but I want to reserve that 5 stars for a book that is something that I am going to remember for a long time after I close the last page shut. The Poet X is just one of those books you are gonna come out of feeling something. I don’t share the same identities as the main character and yet the way Xiomara navigates her diaspora completely moved me. The way her story was told made me feel seen and validated.

The Poet X is told in verse and yet it tells an overarching story that I am not sure prose could have done justice to. Acevedo is incredibly talented to…

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Blog Tour: Between the Lines by Nikki Grimes

Posted by on 02/23/2018 • 0 Comments

Occasionally, when a book is written in verse(partly in this case) and I need to review it, I break out my incredibly rusty poetry skills and write a review in verse too. I usually try to imitate the style of verse in the book but you know, it isn’t always successful.

This Book

Between the Lines follows the story

of eight teens.

It seems like a lot and is occasionally overwhelming 

and yet . . . 

Nikki Grimes has somehow found the balance so it isn’t

too much.

Between the Lines is so ordinary and yet extraordinary in the way it tells the story of

eight different children and how they come to embrace the power

of poetry.

The story of these eight different children is bound

to take you…

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Not What I Wanted: #PrettyBoy Must Die by Kimberley Reid

Posted by on 02/21/2018 • 3 Comments

I wanted to love #PrettyBoy Must Die and I did NOT. It’s not even entirely easy to pin point where it went wrong and why I am not here salivating over its goodness? It’s got a teen CIA agent who is undercover, a mystery and some twists. My issue was that even though so many exciting things were happening in the story. I was not invested in the happenings. I did not care about the main character or the secondary characters and I didn’t really care about what was going on.

I didn’t passionately dislike or like the book so I basically have no idea how to rate it. Objectively, its not a terrible book but I do think that the writing might be part of the reason why I…

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To Be Savored, Not Devoured: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Posted by on 02/20/2018 • 2 Comments

Tess of the Road is not an easy book to read. At 544 pages it is long and those pages don’t fly by. In the traditional sense at least. Here is the thing about Tess though, it is a long book, it is winded and yet, I wouldn’t really have it any other way. The slowness can at times be exhausting but the book isn’t really about a big adventure that Tess takes. It’s about Tess’s character arc and her trauma. This book would NOT work if it was a speedy read you could flip through. It is a painful read but there is so //much// that Tess has internalized that it makes no sense if we could uncover her and her experience in a mere handful pages.

Tess is not…

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