REVIEW: The Map from Here to There by Emery Lord

I LOVED The Start of Me and You, so when I heard that a sequel was coming I was very excited! I loved Paige and her girl friends and thought that she and Max had a very cute story. Luckily, those things did carry on into this book, though I felt there was a little more drama around both. In the last book, I remember really liking Paige, but in this book I found her to be a little bit annoying. Like…was she this annoying in the last book? I just had a hard time being patient with her.

Plot-wise, I didn’t feel like this book was strictly necessary. A lot of contemporary romance books are good left the way they are and I kind of felt that way with this story, but it was still pleasant to get a little peek at “after the HEA”. I thought Hunter was a really interesting character that I was glad was included. He was written in a way where in another book, he would definitely have been the love interest. But instead, Lord develops him as a surprisingly deep side character. Paige has a moment where she reflects on what that “other book” could have looked like, and I enjoyed that.

Overall, I thought this was a good book, but not quite as good for me as the original. Just a small spoiler, we don’t ever find out what college Paige picks (which annoyed me to no end). I would maybe be here for some of my other contemporary romance faves to get sequels, but then again…maybe not.

Preorder: Hardcover | eBook

Overall Rating: 3.5
Language: Moderate
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills [Review]

Sophie’s marching band has been invited to march at the Rose Parade. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’re going to be able to raise enough money to actually get there. That’s when Sophie comes up with a genius idea–if she can get hometown celebrity Megan Pleasant to come to a local festival, they might just be able to raise enough funds to make the trip. Sophie enlists her friends and newcomer August in this mission to get Megan Pleasant to come home at last.

TL;DR – Characters feel like characters rather than real people and the main character’s kind of taken for granted, but still a really enjoyable read.

Order: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook

I absolutely tear through these books. Emma Mills is really good at writing characters that are enjoyable to read. Even though her characters are a little too witty almost all of the time, I still find myself enjoying the banter. You kind of just have to accept that these are obviously characters–not real people. One thing I liked about this book is that Sophie already has an established group of friends. I’ve noticed a trend in YA Contemporary where the main character is kind of this misfit and/or a really introverted girl who gets absorbed into this quirky friend group and is handed a love interest. I thought Sophie’s group of friends was interesting and I felt that their shared history gave the group depth.

On the other hand, there were a lot of times when I felt like Sophie was being completely taken advantage of and the rest of the group was acting really selfishly. Sophie cares so much for other people–ESPECIALLY HER FRIENDS–and I felt like she was repeatedly getting trampled on (figuratively speaking). I mean, how hard is it for her friends to care about the Megan Pleasant thing for TWO SECONDS just because it’s important to Sophie?!? TWO SECONDS. I just wish they’d been more supportive of Sophie.

The plot takes some interesting turns, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I’ll just say that one of the twists had me bawling and the other seemed…a little bit of a stretch. How everything played out just seemed a bit questionable and maybe a tad too convenient?

Overall, I liked this book as much as Mills’ other ones and will definitely continue to pick up her stuff. I had some minor issues with it, but nothing that really prevented me from enjoying it.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Heavy
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Moderate

 

Top 10 finished series | Binge away!

Who else loves a good series binge??? One of my favorite things to do is to jump immediately from one book to the next in a series. No waiting, no forgetting who characters are or what happened to them. Just reading. So here are some of my favorite series that you can just BINGE.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys; The Dream Thieves; Blue Lily, Lily Blue; The Raven King

Why I loved it: Great characters, magic, treasure/scavenger hunt, deliciously evil antagonists

Wolf by Wolf duology by Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf; Blood for Blood

Why I loved it: Motorcycle race!, alternate history, STRONG female lead

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Cinder; Scarlet; Cress; Winter

Why I loved it: Strong women in typically “male occupations”, swoony romances, sassy robots, fairytale retellings

Crazy Rich Asians trilogy by Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians; China Rich Girlfriend; Rich People Problems

Why I loved it: SO MUCH DRAMA, some really likable characters, the food descriptions, depictions of extremely extravagant lifestyles

Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke & Bone; Days of Blood & Starlight; Dreams of Gods & Monsters

Why I loved it: Fascinating magic concept, fantastic world building, star-crossed lovers, beautiful writing, EVIL VILLAIN

Inkworld trilogy Cornelia Funke

Inkheart; Inkspell; Inkdeath

Why I loved it: Super readable, great characters, watching Maggie grow up

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows; Crooked Kingdom

Why I loved it: Heists!, complicated relationships, great friendships, worldbuilding

Finishing School series by Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage; Curtsies & Conspiracies; Waistcoats & Weaponry; Manners & Mutiny

Why I loved it: Great group of girlfriends, secret floating spy school, Sooties and Picklemen

The Madman’s Daughter trilogy by Megan Shepherd

The Madman’s Daughter; Her Dark Curiosity; A Cold Legacy

Why I loved it: Science-minded female protag, gothic classic retellings

Monsters of Verity duology by Victoria Schwab

This Savage Song; Our Dark Duet

Why I loved it: Monsters, broody violin player, tough-as-nails female protag, not-so-happy ending

What are some of your favorite finished series? Let me know which ones I should binge in the comments!

I find it weird that these books never mention Dylan Thomas once | This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back [ARC] by Estelle Laure

Lucille and Eden have been friends forever. But the summer before their senior year, Lucille’s mom decides to take off on a solo vacation. She promises to come back before school starts, but Lucille and her little sister Wren are left waiting long after that deadline has passed. Meanwhile, Eden is struggling to come to terms with her future in ballet and the new feelings that have arisen between Lucille and her twin brother, Digby.

Just to start off, I really liked This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back was also enjoyable, but I didn’t like it AS MUCH. I just really had so many feelings about Lucille and Wren. Lucille has to be so tough and is put in this impossible situation. I noticed that some reviewers haven’t liked how mean she is to Eden and Digby after a little while, but I feel like I can understand it completely. She has to be so stressed out and she can’t REALLY talk to anyone about her situation. But one thing this book does do is make me believe in the kindness of strangers. So…there’s that.

The relationship between Lucille and Digby is…a little weird. It feels completely one-sided at the beginning of the book and it’s not completely clear what makes Digby have a change of heart. He’s got a girlfriend at the beginning of the book and he cheats on her with Lucille which is NOT OKAY. That being said, I did end up liking their relationship in the end. Mostly, though, the relationship that I really liked was between Lucille and Wren. I LOVE a good sister relationship and I felt that this book definitely delivered in that area. There’s a sizable age difference between the two girls, but they love each other and are there for each other through everything. My heart was seriously just breaking for these girls throughout the whole book.

There wasn’t too much of a plot beyond trying to survive while Lucille’s mom is gone, but I was okay with that. Again, there have been some reviewers that disliked how the first book ends because they felt like there wasn’t a resolution. I can definitely see that, but I finished the first book and immediately went into the second which picks up right where the first one left off so…I didn’t really mind the lack of a resolution.

The title is something that really drew me to this book initially. The poem it’s quoting is great (who doesn’t love it?) and the girls discuss it a little in the book. But then they never mention Dylan Thomas to my recollection. There’s no real reason why the NEED to talk about him, but perhaps it could have added an interesting layer or dimension to the book.

This is the point where I’m going to transition into my review of the second book, so if you don’t want some things spoiled from the first book, do not continue reading.

I didn’t like Eden as a narrator as much as I liked Lucille. There’s just something a little…chippy about her? I felt like she had this undercurrent of anger throughout a lot of her interactions with people. Then because Eden’s just woken up from a coma, there are some weird things that she sees that almost gives this book a magical realism feel to it where that was NOT present in the first book. It almost feels like a different genre.

The new characters that were introduced in the second book are interesting. I was a little confused, though, because apparently Eden has these two really good guy friends who are over all the time but who are never mentioned in the first book. I didn’t like the way that her new guy friends or even her parents and brother reacted to Eden at times. They got really angry with her when she didn’t want to do something–the girl just got out of a coma! I would think she’s allowed to not want to go to a club or party.

This book was interesting because we really get Eden’s point of view in the whole fallout between her and Lucille. Lucille really isn’t painted in the BEST light in this book, which was hard for me since I liked her so much in the first book. At the same time, I thought it was a great way of showing that there are two sides to every story, you know? I understood why Eden felt the way she did and ultimately why she reacted to Lucille how she did in the first book.

Overall, I thought these books were pretty great. I think it would make more sense to read them in order, but you could definitely read them separately and I think the second book would still make sense…mostly.

Overall Rating: 5 (TRL), 4 (BTICB)
Language: Moderate for both
Violence: Moderate (TRL), Mild (BTICB)
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate for both
Sexual Content: Moderate (TRL), Mild (BTICB)

Note: I received But Then I Came Back free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

HW Assignment: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Just a reminder that the giveaway I’m hosting is still going!

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Note: This post was used as a homework assignment and may contain spoilers.

Bullying is a topic near and dear to my heart. I know that this is an issue that children struggle with every day. I think this book is great for kids in every situation of life whether they’re the bully, the bullied, or a bystander. There are a lot of lessons that the author tries to teach in this book. By having Auggie be so disfigured, I think bullied kids will be able to think, “Well, if even Auggie can find a friend or two, I certainly can too.” His case is definitely the extreme and I think kids will be able to find comfort in the fact that their situation isn’t as bad as Auggie’s, but everything still turns out alright in his story. While I don’t know that this book is 100% realistic, I think bullied kids will be able to read this book and feel braver about their situation.

As I mentioned earlier, I also think this book would be good for the “bystander” kids to read as well. The way that this book switches between perspectives is great because it shows how some of the people in Auggie’s life feel about him. Perspectives range from very close (Via) to sort of close (Jack, Summer) to peripheral (Justin, Miranda). The Kirkus Review says about the multiple perspectives, “Palacio divides the novel into eight parts, interspersing Auggie’s first-person narrative with the voices of family members and classmates, wisely expanding the story beyond Auggie’s viewpoint and demonstrating that Auggie’s arrival at school doesn’t test only him, it affects everyone in the community.” I think this shows how everyone can have an impact no matter how close a child perceives their relationship to be with someone who’s bullied. They can step in and make a difference no matter how well they know the kid.

Lastly, I think this book would be important for bullies to read so they can see the other side of things. Not only that, but it shows that sometimes we don’t even have to try to be mean—sometimes our initial reactions to someone are enough if we’re not consciously being kind. Like Jack’s babysitter Veronica tells him, “‘Jack, sometimes you don’t have to mean to hurt someone to hurt someone. You understand?’” (pg 137). I think this book can help kids to be more conscious of their actions around other people.

In 2013, NPR did an interview with the author, R.J. Palacio, and it’s really interesting to hear what sparked this book. It’s actually based on a real experience that Palacio had. For those who enjoy reading books written from multiple perspectives, I would recommend the Gone series by Michael Grant. The books in this series are told from both the “heroes” perspectives as well as the “villains”. Another book about bullying that would be good for an older crowd is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher as it also deals with suicide.