The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls Spoiler Free Review

The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls 
by Jessica Spotswood

Release Date: June 5th, 2018

Synopsis:

One summer will challenge everything the Garrett sisters thought they knew about themselves—and each other.

Kat lands the lead in the community theater’s summer play, but the drama spills offstage when her ex and his new girlfriend are cast too. Can she get revenge by staging a new romance of her own?

Bea and her boyfriend are heading off to college together in the fall, just like they planned when they started dating. But Bea isn’t sure she wants the same things as when she was thirteen…

Vi has a crush on the girl next door. It makes her happy and nervous, but Cece has a boyfriend…so it’s not like her feelings could ever be reciprocated, right?

As the oldest, Des shoulders a lot of responsibility for her family and their independent bookstore. Except it’s hard to dream big when she’s so busy taking care of everyone else.

My Thoughts:

I Received an ARC for an Honest Review

I gave this book 4 stars. If you want to read a good coming of age book, this is for you. If you want to be happy at the end of a book, this one is for you. If you are a teenage girl trying to figure out where to go from there, this book is for you.

I’ve never read Little Women, but I feel like this is what it would have felt like with the four sisters who are all completely different. I loved how they all had names from Shakespeare plays, Desdemona, Beatrice, Katharina, and Viola. I think it would be so cool to have cohesive names like that. 

I loved how each of the sisters was going through a different and realistic struggle. Des was trying to get out of the box because she was tired of people thinking she was boring. Bea is afraid of going along with the plan she’s had for the past 3 years because that’s no longer what she wants. Kat has a lot of self-esteem issues and thinks she can change her cheating ex. and Viola has a crush on the girl next door and is terrified her feelings won’t be reciprocated. 

This book is around 300 pages, but it reads so quickly. Despite the characters going through some heavy things, the novel is actually really light. It’s a very Summery contemporary.

What I love is that this book is going to be released just in time for the Summer. This will be the perfect book to read on the beach.

Rave: Friendships

Happy Chinese New Year to all my fellow Chinese out there! This post is going to be primarily gifs of Friends because I have an obsession.

Everyone loves to have friends. It doesn't matter who you are, you don't like being alone. Just as long as there is that specific person you like being around is there, you don't mind what you guys are doing. Connection makes people happy, and sometimes we have to get that sense of connection through novels as we can't get any in real life, therefore friendships in books are really important.

Friendships in books are probably the most important thing in the characters life. Not only is it good for the reader to see the protagonist making connections, it also makes the reader feel more connected to the characters.

When an author wants to make you and the protagonist feel sad and isolated they take away their friends and family, leaving them completely dependant on themselves and that in turn makes the reader feel how much those friends and family members are important to the protagonist.

I find that if I'm reading a book and the protagonist doesn't have many outward connections, it can make the story feel isolated and I know that sometimes that is exactly what the author is trying to do. they are trying to make you feel the isolation that the character feels. Whenever I read a romance I like to look for a friendship somewhere in there as I feel like a lot of the time the romance authors can just forget about building up any relationship that isn't part of the love story. I've read so many romances where the protagonist wither doesn't have any friends or just ditches their friends to hang out with the super hot guy they barely know. This makes the story feel really flat to me.

When you're reading a book and the protagonist is in a sticky situation and they don't know what to do and they feel very alone, there needs to be that perfect character to help them through it. Maybe they don't know what they're doing but they make the protagonist not feel so alone. They create a support system which infinitely makes whatever the protagonist has to do that much simpler.

Friendships are also important because I feel like without them characters can make really bad decisions, with a friend they will have someone to bounce ideas off of or have someone to tell them when something is a terrible idea. It adds another layer to the story because you know that the protagonist will probably be okay because they have a good friend standing by them.

It's really just the best aspect of a characters life to have those they love. Love interests will come and go, but as Phoebe Buffay says, friendship is forever.

Thoughts?


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Clashing Colors Spoiler Free Series Review

Clashing Colors
by Elin Peer

I never actually know how to set up my series reviews, so I feel like they will all be very different. So I'll try something a bit new with this one, see how it goes.

Book 1: Black

Synopsis:

Can a man who gives and takes orders for a living help a rebel who lives to break all the rules and answer to no one? 

Twenty-one-year-old Black is a homeless "Goth-rebel" who has broken laws to survive ever since she ran away from home seven years ago. When she is arrested for shoplifting, she's forced to reach out to the father who never wanted anything to do with her.

Gabriel is a decorated war hero who just returned from duty in Afghanistan. When he overhears his stepbrother having a phone conversation with a secret daughter that the family never knew about he is shocked to hear the hard rejection she gets. Since his stepbrother won't do the right thing, Gabriel steps up, committed to help his new step-niece get back on her feet.

But what happens when Black is forced to go into drug rehab with an unorthodox therapist whose methods are bat-shit crazy.How far is Gabriel willing to go to help her and can someone as cynical as her learn to trust anyone but herself?

Black is the first book in Elin Peer's Clashing Colors series. Elin Peer offers a new fresh style and a unique talent for developing characters that you will come to love. If you like fast-paced stories with quirky flawed characters, and you don't mind an emotional roller coaster, then this contemporary romance is for you. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4.5 stars. Looking back at all the books, this one is probably my favorite of the entire series. I loved Black aka Cia. In a lot of ways, we have the same personality. She's very vengeful and cranky and that's how I feel every day of my life, so it wasn't hard to relate to her. The story itself was so uncomfortable at times that I couldn't look away. I just meant to read a few chapters but then I couldn't stop because it weirded me out in the best way possible if that makes any sense.

Book 2: Violet

Synopsis:

"Ever since I fell in love with Jake as a child, I’ve thought of him and me as opposites that would complement each other. 

Unfortunately, adulthood has only increased our differences and to everyone around us we’re more like clashing colors, that should avoid mixing. 

I’m a psychic medium who works with spirits and tarot cards while Jake is a scientist who only believes in things that can be proven with hard data. 

It seems unfair that I can clear a house of spirits, but I have no clue how to clear my heart of Jake."

Violet is called upon by a group of scientist to investigate supernatural phenomena in their lab. It could be her chance to prove to Jake, her longtime crush, that what she does is valid. But can she produce evidence strong enough for the biggest skeptic to believe that all psychics aren’t frauds and that she doesn’t belong in an asylum for mentally unstable people?

My Thoughts: 

I gave this book 4 stars. Every time I think about this book I get so mad at Jake. He was just such a douchebag to violet, she deserved better than that. Violet is an amazing character. When I read that she was a psychic, and quirky, I immediately just thought of Phoebe Buffay from Friends, that's definitely not how she turned out, she was actually very down to earth and reasonable. Other than the psychic thing, she didn't really do anything that weird. As mad as I was at Jake, I'm glad that their relationship played out the way it did, Violet deserves someone who will appreciate her and treat her right. 

Book 3: Green

Synopsis:

How dare he? How dare he come into my store, The Green Vegan Shop, with a t-shirt saying: I didn’t claw myself to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables? 

I get it. He’s a chef and meat lover, but does he have to flash it in my face every time he shops here? Honestly, I try to be nice to everyone. I’m a vegan after all. We’re nice people… but this guy gets under my skin. Like a tick. And he brings out the feisty redhead lurking inside me. He is easily the most infuriating, selfish, and cruel bastard in the city of Seattle.

Melody is proving to herself and the world that she has what it takes to run a successful business, based on sustainability and fair trade. 

Her family thinks she should be focusing on starting a family since she’s already thirty-two, and she is trying. But even with the help of an agency, it seems impossible to find a decent man who matches her criteria and has what it takes to excite her. It’s not that she’s frigid, it’s just that she’s attracted to the wrong man. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 stars. This book was where the hate to love trope came in. I've talked about this before, but it's the one trope I can't seem to hate. There is always so much chemistry where there is a hate to love relationship and Melody and Christian definitely had the heat. This book made me dislike the character Darren (a reoccurring character from the first two books) a lot more, he was an incredible douche to Melody for no reason and he didn't apologize for a single shitty thing he did to her. 

Book 4: Blue

Synopsis:

Have you ever told your darkest secrets to a stranger? What if that "stranger" was no stranger at all?             

Logan MacKay's sexy Scottish accent can drop panties on both sides of the pond.

But he's a shy tech-savvy introvert.

Complicated.

Logan's confident and flirtatious hiding behind his phone, but gloomy and withdrawn in the flesh.

And that compelling stranger he laughs with on the phone? Mary?

It's me.

But to Logan, I'm Faith. The vivacious cheerleader who sheds unwelcome light on his dark and debilitating anxiety when exposed to beautiful women. 

And I don't want a relationship with him.

No. Damn. Way.

I just want to help him get past his ridiculous and unfounded beliefs about the opposite sex.

You see, Logan MacKay has scars. Physical and emotional marks that he thinks make him undesirable. But he's not. Not by a long shot.

Damaged people like Logan inspired me to enter the mental health field. He's one reason I'm studying to become a psychologist.

With my eternal optimism, I can fix Logan. I know I can.

If only he would stop scowling at me and say yes to my brilliant idea of taking me in as his roommate. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 3.5 stars. This book felt a lot slower to me, I read it in about the same time it took me to read the other three books, but it just felt a lot longer. For the first half of the book, there isn't that much going on plot-wise, just a bit of character development. Faith was a very pushy and hilarious character, she definitely pushed Logan right out of his comfort zone. What I really want to read is that Highlander romance the characters kept acting out. I'm intrigued by the story there and I would like to read that. 

Book 5: Yellow

Synopsis:

“If you were a color, what color would you be?” he asked me. 

“I would be a rainbow of colors. Whatever color people wanted to see, I would be it.” 

“I’m not asking what color you think other people want to see. Tell me what color you are – at your core?” 

And then it hit me. I had absolutely no idea because I didn’t know who I was at the core. 

Twenty-six-year-old Chloe Olsson, aka movie star “Cleo,” is caught in a toxic world of fans, paparazzi, and a money-hungry agent. Being the girlfriend of pop star Niko is no dream either, and his constant jealousy has caused her to go into hiding for a time. 

Two weeks in the forest with famous Native American healer Onava was supposed to be a wonderful and relaxing detox. But when Onava is called away and her grandson Adam moves in to the small cabin instead, Chloe’s peace is over. 

Adam is rude and unimpressed by her fame. And what’s worse is his ridiculous idea that she’s in this mess because she doesn’t know how to set her personal boundaries. 

With only eleven days to teach her, he seems determined to give her plenty of opportunities to practice on him. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 stars. In my opinion, Chloe was the most rounded character in this entire series. She was the girly girl who could be incredibly glamorous and a tad bit fake at times, but she also loved outdoors, she had no problem being without a lot of basic modern technologies while she was out in the woods. She even enjoyed it. Also for all her confidence, she could be a complete doormat, which was very surprising. 


If you've read this series I'd love to hear your thoughts!


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Top 5 Bromances

I am completely cheating with this list, three of the five probably shouldn't even be on this list, but I'm keeping them because it's my list and I can do what I want.

5. Fear Me

My first cheat: The "bromance" in this book is actually between three characters, Dash, Kieran, and Keenan. They are a trio of awesomeness and I couldn't just pick two of them, it would be wrong.

4. Corrupt 

My second cheat: This is between four characters, their chemistry is as a friend group is unmatched. I want to be a part of it. 

3. Arin and Roshar

This one isn't a cheat! The witty banter between these two simultaneously brought life to the story and lightened the harsh mood. It was one of the greater aspects of the series.

2. Chandler and Joey 

This is probably my biggest cheat, but I don't even care. If you didn't know, Chandler and Joey are from the TV show Friends and they are the epitome of "bromance". I just couldn't make this list without putting them on it, the fact that they are from a  show and not a book is the reason that I didn't put them down as number one. 

1. Will and Jem

Who else would be number one on this list? These two friends are more like brothers and would gladly die to protect the other. Honestly, in comparison everyone else on this list look like very distant relatives that have never even met. Heronstairs for life.

What book bromances are your favorites?

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