Published: June 10th 2014
Pages: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Synopsis
When Alix's charismatic girlfriend, Swanee, dies from sudden cardiac arrest, Alix is overcome with despair. As she searches Swanee's room for mementos of their relationship, she finds Swanee's cell phone, pinging with dozens of texts sent from a mysterious contact, L.T. The most recent text reads: "Please tell me what I did. Please, Swan. Te amo. I love you."
Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life--secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.
Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to--but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too? (source)
Shocked and betrayed, Alix learns that Swanee has been leading a double life--secretly dating a girl named Liana the entire time she's been with Alix. Alix texts Liana from Swanee's phone, pretending to be Swanee in order to gather information before finally meeting face-to-face to break the news.
Brought together by Swanee's lies, Alix and Liana become closer than they'd thought possible. But Alix is still hiding the truth from Liana. Alix knows what it feels like to be lied to--but will coming clean to Liana mean losing her, too? (source)
Thoughts
I have read books by Julie Anne Peters before so I'm familiar with what she writes (which are LGBT related books) however, I liked her previous novels but I didn't love them. This book on the hand definitely took me by surprise. It was a lot better than her previous books (minus a few complaints I had about this particular book), but I really enjoyed this one better than I thought I would. This is a fast paced read, and it had a really cute and unexpected romance. So, if you guys are looking for a quick LGBT related read, then I suggest you pick this one up.
I did have a few issues with this book, which is why I didn't give it a full 5 star rating. My first issue, was the dialogue. I thought that the dialogue was very forced throughout the novel, especially in the beginning. It didn't feel natural to me and the dialogue was slightly off at times. My next problem was the unrealistic emotions through the main character (again towards the beginning). Alix and Swanee have only been dating for six weeks, and Alix pretty much mourns Swanee's death throughout the entirety of the novel. Now, I understand the sad, depressed emotions. I do.But lets say, if she were dating Swanee for 6 months to a year, then I could understand a little more as to why she reacted the way she did. But it was only six weeks. So, because of that, the emotions that Alix felt for the first few chapters of the novel felt very overdramatic for me. Joss on the other hand, was Swanee's sister. So, I could truly understand how Joss was feeling throughout this book. They were sisters, they practically spent their whole lives together and now their other half is gone. Joss had every right to react the way she did towards Swanee's death.
I loved the romance that developed between Alix and Liana. I thought they were so cute and some of things they did (like when they spent the day together at an art event), were so awesome. I felt that Alix and Liana were good to each other. However, I kind of thought that it was lacklustre a little bit. Now, I completely understand as to why this was the case (Swanee's death) but I still expected something more to come out of it.
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Genre: young-adult, LGBT, contemporary
Published: June 7th 2016
Pages: 248
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
I did have a few issues with this book, which is why I didn't give it a full 5 star rating. My first issue, was the dialogue. I thought that the dialogue was very forced throughout the novel, especially in the beginning. It didn't feel natural to me and the dialogue was slightly off at times. My next problem was the unrealistic emotions through the main character (again towards the beginning). Alix and Swanee have only been dating for six weeks, and Alix pretty much mourns Swanee's death throughout the entirety of the novel. Now, I understand the sad, depressed emotions. I do.But lets say, if she were dating Swanee for 6 months to a year, then I could understand a little more as to why she reacted the way she did. But it was only six weeks. So, because of that, the emotions that Alix felt for the first few chapters of the novel felt very overdramatic for me. Joss on the other hand, was Swanee's sister. So, I could truly understand how Joss was feeling throughout this book. They were sisters, they practically spent their whole lives together and now their other half is gone. Joss had every right to react the way she did towards Swanee's death.
I loved the romance that developed between Alix and Liana. I thought they were so cute and some of things they did (like when they spent the day together at an art event), were so awesome. I felt that Alix and Liana were good to each other. However, I kind of thought that it was lacklustre a little bit. Now, I completely understand as to why this was the case (Swanee's death) but I still expected something more to come out of it.
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Published: June 7th 2016
Pages: 248
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Synopsis
Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.
That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.
When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more. (source)
That is, until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.
When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other—and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more. (source)
Thoughts
I didn't have any intentions on reading this book for quite awhile. I most likely would've read this in the summer. But something just told me to read this book now. And I'm so glad I did. I can't believe I came across such a fantastic book at such a great time during the year. This book gave me all the feels and this was another book that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. I have read books by both of these authors before and they're great writers. However, I never thought that they would actually collaborate. But I am happy that they did because now I have this book to enjoy. I loved all the characters as they were very relatable. The pacing was great and it never got boring. This book is very heartfelt but it is also a light read. I would highly recommend this book to all of you.
I thought that Mark and Kate were very relatable characters and I felt like I could connect with them. They both had their own issues and they dealt with them in a realistic way. Mark had his issues of being in love with his best friend Ryan for years. While Kate has ran away from the potential girl of her dreams. Both Mark and Kate learn how to cope and learn from them as they ultimately makes things right with themselves and with their love lives. I also enjoyed the friendship aspect in this book. Not only is the romance important, but also the friendship is very significant as well. It made me realize that it's always good to have relationships that are just strictly platonic.
While reading this book, especially at the end, it gave me all the feels. I felt really happy for them as everything worked out well for all the characters in the end. And I can't even begin to describe to you all my feelings on this book.
Overall Rate
Both books: 4/5
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