Young Adult Book Review: Everything Leads to You

Weekly Reads: Everything Leads to You

Everything Leads to You is the newest book by Nina LaCour. I had read, and enjoyed Disenchantments, so I was excited to pick this one up as well. Both books I've read by LaCour have focused on that summer post-high school, pre-rest of your life, and I think that's such a great time for a YA book. Teens look at that summer as a summer of greatness, and the characters in her books always seem to excel at that.

Everything Leads to You is a love story that's wrapped up in a mystery. Her writing style is so magical that you will see every movie scene described in the book as if you were viewing it on film, and you will feel like you're falling in love for the very first time.

Just a beautiful book.

My rating: 5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.
 
A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.
 
Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Adult Audiobook Review: Dark Places

After listening to, and loving the narration in Fangirl and Eleanor and Park, I looked up all the books that Rebecca Lowman had narrated, and up popped Dark Places, that has been on my to-read list since I read the disturbing psychological thriller Gone Girl . I've heard that Dark Places and Sharp Objects are both even more disturbing. On one hand, that makes me super excited to read them, but I feel like I have to be in the right "mood" ya know? So I picked up the audiobook, and was hooked immediately.

The narration is great, told by three different narrators, as it's told from multiple character's perspective. I found myself leaving for work early and sitting in my car to spend more time listening to the story when I arrived at the library. In typical Gillian Flynn fashion, it was awesome and I wanted to devour it.

My rating: 4 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ."

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club… and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

Adult Book Review: Big Little LIes

I received an e-ARC of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies in exchange for an honest review. I've heard of The Husband's Secret by her, but I've never read it. This book was humorous and also pretty twisted and heart wrenching. I couldn't put it down and had to find out about who gets murdered and why. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes intrigue and humor told in a unique way.

My rating: 4 stars







Summary from goodreads:

Sometimes it’s the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal. . . .
  A murder… . . . a tragic accident… . . . or just parents behaving badly?  
What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.   But who did what?
  Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:   Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?). 
Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.   New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.
  Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.  

Young Adult Book Review: Noggin

Noggin was one of my most anticipated young adult books of the spring, and I actually shrieked outloud when it came in for me at my library. It's currently my favorite book cover of the year (so far). It's fabulous right?? It's also on the list of Mock Printz books that my book club is reading in anticipation of our Mock Printz discussion in July.

This book read as a realistic fiction book (minus the whole cryogenically frozen head attached to another person's body). But seriously. It dealt with typical teen issues--relationships, family stuff, just existing as a teen. It was a really great read.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

Adult Book Review: The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker is the newest book from author Elin Hilderbrand. I received an e-ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. I enjoy Hilderbrand's books for light, vacation reading. I always want to book my next vacation in Nantucket while reading her books. The month of June I had a Beach Read display at the library and her books made up a bulk of the selection, and I couldn't keep the display stocked! They flew off the shelves. Yay successful display!
 
While her books are light reads, they tend to have more depth then just a regular chick lit read, do you know what I mean? This one was no different, and may be my favorite book of hers so far. There were a few sub-plots going on throughout the story, but they weren't distracting and really added to the story. I have a hard time reading books that have three best friend female characters, and each chapter is told from their individual perspective, BUT I CAN NEVER REMEMBER WHO IS WHO, because the stories aren't told in a way that makes me actually care. Does that make sense?

Anyway, this is a must read this summer.

My rating: 4 stars

Summary from goodreads:

A touching new novel from Elin Hilderbrand in which a dying woman sets out to find love for those closest to her - before it's too late

Dabney Kimball Beech, the 48-year-old fifth generation Nantucketer, has had a lifelong gift of matchmaking (52 couples still together to her credit). But when Dabney discovers she is dying of pancreatic cancer, she sets out to find matches for a few people very close to home: her husband, celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech; her lover journalist Clendenin Hughes; and her daughter, Agnes, who is engaged to be married to the wrong man. 

As time slips away from Dabney, she is determined to find matches for those she loves most - but at what cost to her own relationships? THE MATCHMAKER is the heartbreaking new novel from Elin Hilderbrand about losing and finding love, even as you're running out of time.

Adult Book Review: Landline

 Landline is the newest book by one of my favorite authors, Rainbow Rowell. In Landline, she is going back to where she started with an adult novel (Eleanor & Park and Fangirl were two of my favorite books of 2013, and are YA books). I received an ARC of this book for review and had to hold off from reading it asap, as I wanted to read it at the same time as my co-worker to discuss. And then I went and jumped the gun anyway. Oops.

I wasn't as immediately wrapped up in this story as I have been with some of her other books. But to be fair, while I was reading Fangirl, I didn't want to stop reading because I actually felt like I was a part of their world and didn't want the spell to break, and I realize that's pretty darn rare.

This book will definitely resonate with couples that have been together for a long time, and above all is a really great love story.

Also, there were pugs. Did I mention there were pugs??  Because OMG PUGS. She didn't even need to include pugs for me to like the story, but she did anyway. This is true author/reader kinship, for sure.

Read it. Now.

My rating: 4.5 stars.

Summary from goodreads:

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Adult Book Review: The One Plus One

 One Plus One is the latest book from one of my favorite authors, Jojo Moyes. Previously I've fallen in love with her books The Last Letter from Your Lover and Me Before You so I was ecstatic to get my hands on an e-ARC to the book this spring. Jojo Moyes is great at telling a love story with so much more dimension than your typical love story, and this book was no different. However, it lacked some of the greatness of the previous two novels. Don't get me wrong, it was still an excellent read, but compared to the others, just wasn't as great. Still certainly worth a read!

My rating: 3.5

Summary from goodreads:

One single mum
With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't. Because you have to . . .

One chaotic family
Jess's gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone. 
Sometimes Jess feels like they're sinking . . .

One handsome stranger
Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . .

One unexpected love story
The One Plus One is a captivating and unconventional romance from Jojo Moyes about two lost souls meeting in the most unlikely circumstances.