Tag: YA Book Blog

Book Review: Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: Alice Bell has one goal: to play for the elite junior hockey team the Chicago Falcons. But when she’s passed over at tryouts for being a girl, she’ll do anything to make her dream a reality…even disguising herself as her twin brother. With her amazing skills on the ice, Alice is sure she’ll fit in easily. That is, until she starts falling for one of her teammates…

Hayden Tremblay, star of the Falcons, can’t keep himself out of the penalty box. Constantly living in the shadow of his older brother, Hayden’s losing his passion for hockey. But when he gets shown up on the ice by the Falcons’ new rookie, Hayden’s determined to teach the kid a thing or two. Little does he guess that “Al’s” surprises on the ice are just the beginning…

Review: Cute. Amazing. Gripping. All these words I would use to describe this book. Just one of the boys uses a topic in books that I love, a girl affected by gender inequality by defying the rules and pretending to be a boy. For some reason, I just love this type of book and with just one of the boys, it has to be the best one I have ever read.

Continue reading “Book Review: Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper” →

Book Review: Friended by Kilby Blades

Rating: ★★★ and 1/3 or 3.5 stars

Synopsis: Compared to life on tour with her wannabe rock star mother, finishing high school in Rye is a snooze. At least Roxy has her best friend, Zoë, her dad, and her music. When her standoffish Civics class partner, Jag Monroe, breaks ranks and randomly friends her on Instagram, Roxy swiftly declines.

Jag is Roxy’s total opposite: stinking rich, conceited, and hot in that obvious kind of way. Roxy’s sure that his repeated friend requests must be a joke. Then Zoë does the unthinkable: snatches Roxy’s phone, accepts Jag’s latest friend request, and follows him back.

As the posts (and sparks) fly, Roxy begins to suspect that Jag may not be as shallow as everyone thinks, and that he may be into more than just her music.

Review: Ooh this book is so cute! The characters were very lovable and the addition of music for each chapter actually helped make the book more immersive if you will.

Continue reading “Book Review: Friended by Kilby Blades” →

Book Review: The Wrong Bachelor by Alexandra Moody

Rating: ★★★★ or 4 stars

Song that reminds me of this book: Perfect Strangers by Jonas Blue ft. JP Cooper

Synopsis: Bachelor: A desirable potential boyfriend. AKA not Cole Kingston.

Seventeen-year-old Madison (Madi) Matthews wants nothing to do with the dating competition her school is holding to raise money for charity. She’s never been interested in chasing a guy before and she certainly isn’t interested in competing for one in front of the whole school.

But, when Madi is voted as one of the ten “lucky” contestants, she’s given no choice but to vie for the heart of Lincoln High’s most eligible bachelor. The problem is, they’ve chosen the wrong guy.

Cole Kingston might be good looking, great with a football and practically the king of Lincoln High, but he’s also cocky, arrogant, a serial flirt and Madi’s sworn enemy.

Will she be able to resist him though when the competition heats up and he turns his charms on her?

Review: Oooh this book was great! It is a YA contemporary romance that I actually enjoyed which is pretty unusual but the whole story was interesting enough to keep me hooked as well as build up tension.

Continue reading “Book Review: The Wrong Bachelor by Alexandra Moody” →

Book Review: #TheRealCinderella by Yesenia Vargas

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis: A modern-day teenage Cinderella. An all-star varsity basketball player. Will the chemistry disappear when they go from anonymous to face-to-face?

Geeky Ella Reyes is at the bottom of the totem pole at Westwood High. Her ultra-popular stepsisters refuse to be seen with her at school, and every day she comes home to a mountain of chores.

Ella’s only friend (and maybe crush) lives on the other side of her phone’s screen. She and Baller929 know everything about each other, except their real names.

When they have a chance to meet at her school’s Halloween ball, Ella must figure out a way to get there without her stepmom or stepsisters finding out.

Is revealing her identity to Baller929 worth risking the one good thing left in her life? Or is he too good to be true?

Review: Another Cinderella retelling!!! This one is a modern retelling and I really liked it! So the main character named Ella (Daniela actually) has the whole Cinderella package,evil stepsisters, demanding stepmother and an online crush named Baller929.

Continue reading “Book Review: #TheRealCinderella by Yesenia Vargas” →

Book Review: The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel

My Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.  This year, it is my turn.  My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and restore the Westfall family to power.  But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy. Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…

Review: This is one of my top ten books even though I read it pretty recently. I was saving this book for when I went on holiday but I couldn’t wait and read it before I went. It was incredible. I love dystopian YA books that focus on romance as well as the actual book plot and this book balanced them perfectly. Continue reading “Book Review: The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel” →

Book Review: The Until Midnight Series by Erin Bedford

So I’m going to review all 3 books in this trilogy in one review because why not. Obviously, there are spoilers in review for book 2 and 3 for the previous book(s). My reviews are also going to be a tad shorter than usual.

Until Midnight

My Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: This fairy tale has no happy endings only dark beginnings.  They call them the Crimson Fold. High up in their castle they look down on my little world and wield a silent control. That is, until the invitations are sent out.  I never dreamed I’d be selected. They tell me it’s a privilege. I should be honored. But the fear in their eyes doesn’t lie.  If I refuse to go, my family will be shunned. If I go, my life and my body will no longer be mine. It’ll be theirs.  At midnight it will be over. At Midnight I’ll be his.

Review for Until Midnight : Oooh!!!!! This book was amazing! This is my first time ever entering the vampire genre (books and films, I’ve never read or watched them as they are always mainstream and I don’t want to follow the crowd). This book mainly focuses on vampires near the end but don’t worry we have a lot of drama before that! Continue reading “Book Review: The Until Midnight Series by Erin Bedford” →

Book Review: Callum & Harper by Fisher Amelie

My Rating: ★★★★ and 1/2 or 4.5

Synopsis: Life sucks for orphans Callum Tate and Harper Bailey.  Kicked out of their foster homes because they suffer the ‘eighteen disease’ with nothing but a hundred dollar check from the government and a pat on the back, they’re forced to rely on a system that failed them miserably.  So they sit. They sit inside Social Services, waiting for their social workers to call their names and offer them the miracle they know will never come but they sit anyway because they have nowhere else to go, no other options on their very literal and figurative empty plates. But as they sit, they notice the other. Although captivated, they each come to the conclusion that life is complicated enough without throwing in a boiling tension that can’t ever be acted upon because they’re both too busy thinking about where their next meal will come from but when their names are called and both are placed on a year long waiting list for permanent housing, suddenly relying on each other seems like a very viable plan B.  And, oh, how lovely Plan B’s can be.  Well, except for the psycho from Harper’s past that haunts her and, oh, yeah, there’s the little issue that neither of them knows they’re in love with the other.  Needless to say, Callum & Harper’s life just got a bit more complicated.

“One day, you and I are gonna’ wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day. One day. I promise you.” – Callum Tate

Review: This book killed me. I don’t know how I didn’t die from heartbreak! Callum and Harper was so emotional but also shows the strength in the main characters. There was definitely a lot of suspense and tension in this book but my almost heart failure was worth it. Continue reading “Book Review: Callum & Harper by Fisher Amelie” →

Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano

My Rating: ★★ and 1/2 or 2.5

Synopsis: By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.  When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out? Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Review: Oh this book messed me up… some parts of it irritated me so much. There are part where I was shouting (in my head) “IT MAKES NO SENSE!!”. This book is also intense (and I mean intense, there is kidnapping, child brides and probably some Stockholm Syndrome). I feel like this is probably for the older tier YA readers because it will probably scar younger teens. Continue reading “Book Review: Wither by Lauren DeStefano” →