June 2016 Book Wrap-Up

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and it is that time of the month again where I post my monthly wrap-ups. Now comparing last month to this month, there is definitely a difference on the quantity of books I have read. The total books I've read in the month of June are 7 books. 7 BOOKS?! Like what?! I don't think I've ever read that many books in a month, and it feels pretty good to have read this amount. This is because I have been spending a lot of time in school, and I haven't had the opportunity to read for pleasure (well I technically have), but I always had something else to do for school and that got in the way of reading for me. Anyways, onto the books I have read this month.

The first book I stared in May but finished this month was How My Summer Went Up In Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski. If you want to see my full thoughts on this book, I have a full review up on this blog so make sure to check it out. I thought this book was entertaining and enjoyable for a road-trip themed summer read, but it didn't blow me away as much as other books have. There are also some elements in this book that I really enjoyed, like the friendships that were made within the book. However, it just wasn't the best novel I've ever read but it was still good nonetheless. I rated this a 3.5/5.

The second book I again started in May but finished this month was Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer. Once again for my full thoughts on this book, I have a full review on this blog so please check it out. And for the remainder of all the books (with the exception of one) I already have full reviews on them on this blog. I thought this book was different from a typical summer read. I loved how there was the sic-fi element of time travel and that's something you don't normally see in a contemporary. So, that was a unique twist to this type of story. I also enjoyed the romantic and friendship aspect to this book. But my only issue, was that there to much of the romance and not enough friendship between the four main characters (for why read my full review). But overall, it was a different kind of summer read that I really enjoyed. I rated this a 4/5.

The third book I fully finished in June was Pretenders by Lisi Harrison. She is the author of the Clique series, which I have heard some mixed reviews on. But I still wanted to give her a chance by reading some of her work, and I thought this would be a good book to start with. I originally started reading this book because I was reading another book (that I also finished this month) that had more heavy content involved. So by reading this, I wanted to balance out the heavy with light content. Anyways, I thought this book was a very quick and quirky read that kept me entertained all the way through. My biggest complaint with this book was the characters. They were way to self-absorbed and immature for my liking, despite them being freshmen in high school. Besides that, I still enjoyed the book enough to read the second one and that's exactly what I did. I rated this book a 4/5.

The fourth book I read this month was License to Spill also by Lisi Harrison. This is second and final book to the Pretenders duology. Like I previously mentioned I enjoyed the last book so much that I decided to get my hands on a copy of this book right away and I am very glad I did. I enjoyed this book a lot better than the first one. There were more things that happened in the book and more character development. I still disliked the characters for the selfishness, and immaturity. And lastly, I didn't enjoy the ending. I felt like it didn't give the series the proper closure it needed. But it was still a very quick and entertaining read. I also rated it a 4/5.

The fifth book I read in June was Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. This was the book I was reading along with Pretenders, and it was the only book I read this month that dealt with heavier subjects. Plus this is the only book that I don't have a full review. This is because, I didn't have enough thoughts about this book to write a whole review on it. But I will mention, that this wasn't a bad book and I expected to really enjoy it, but I just didn't. I also had a really hard time getting into it, and because of the controversial content it was difficult to read at times. But I got through it and managed to read it all in good time. I recommend this book if you want a different kind of love story that's intense and deep. I ended up rating this book a 3/5.

The sixth book I read this month was The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine. I have read previous books by her, so when I heard that this book came out I was so excited to get my hands on a copy and devour it. And I am very glad I did (do both of those things, and I didn't literally devour the book but you get my point). All of her books were amazing and this one is no exception. I love them all equally so I can't decide which one is my favourite. Anyways, this was an amazing summer contemporary that just made me get all the feels. I mostly enjoyed the slow romantic development between the two main characters and the positive family dynamics within the two characters as well. It was just an amazing read. I rated this a full 5/5.

And the final book I managed to squeeze in during this last week was Watch Me by Lauren Barnholdt. I have read books before by this author and they are usually hit and miss for me. And this one was a bit of a miss, because my main dislike for this book was the main character. She was very over-the-top, dramatic (at times) and naive. But the minor characters and the concept of reality T.V is what made the book interesting for me. Anyways it was very fast paced, and entertaining despite my dislike for the lead character. I gave this book a 3/5.




Well that is finally it for my monthly wrap-up, and I hope you all enjoyed. So this month was a pretty good reading month for me considering I read a ton of books and most of them were pretty great. I am very happy that I get the summer off to read all the books I can, and I'm glad I can share my thoughts on this blog with you all. Until my next post good bye for now.

Watch Me by Lauren Barnholdt

Genre: young-adult, contemporary, romance, academic (college), new-adult)

Published: July 6th 2010 (previously published June 20th 2006 as Reality Chick)

Pages: 304

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Synopsis (from book)

She thinks she has nothing to hide...

Ally has everything under control. She's about to move into a house full of strangers and have her life broadcasted to the world, but as long as she still has her long-distance boyfriend, Corey, nothing can go wrong. Nothing, that is, until Ally starts spending time with her housemate Drew, the hot and sensitive guy who always seems to be around when she needs someone the most. 

     As suspicions and lies start pulling Ally and Corey apart, she's not sure if she can trust anyone--not even herself. Ally is about to learn the hard way that life is what happens when everyone is looking, and it doesn't always capture her good side.  

Thoughts 

This book was a very quick and entertaining read that I liked but didn't love. I have read books by Lauren Barnholdt before, and for me I have a hit and miss relationship with them. So as a result, I have loved some of her books (like a lot), but there are others where they are very flawed and I just don't enjoy them as much. The number one thing I didn't like about this book was the main character. She was just annoying and naive, and it made me enjoy the book less. The concept about reality TV was interesting, plus the other supporting characters were decent and that's what kept me reading (honestly). Overall, it was just an okay read for me, it wasn't the best book by her but I would still recommend it if you want something light and quick to read. 

My number one problem with this book was the main character, Ally. I didn't like her at all. I found her to be extremely annoying, over-the-top dramatic, and clueless. Now that I think about it, I find that all of Lauren's characters tend to be like this, and I wish that they weren't all the same. But instead there be a variation within all of them. Anyways with this book in particular, I thought Ally was very naive about certain situations. Multiple times throughout the book, I thought "Ally, OMG how did you not know that!?" It was ridiculous thinking how many times I thought that exact sentence. *sighs* *shakes head*  But despite my dislike towards the character, I personally thought the tone and style of how Ally was portrayed to be mostly realistic for the demographic (which in this case is teenagers). I say this because, I sometimes find myself acting this way (like Ally) and in the end I learn from it, similar to Ally in the book, and the same goes for other teenagers. 

My other issue with this book is the ending. It is not that big of an problem in Watch Me, but in her other books they just end. There are never proper resolutions and so with that, it just leaves me very confused and not satisfied like an ending is supposed to do. 

I don't have other main thoughts on this book, so that is it for this review. I know this review was more so disliking the book than loving it, but sometimes my reviews are going to be like that. There not always going to be the most positive reviews but it's important for me to share my thoughts on books. Anyways, one thing good I will say about this book, is that I like the writing style. I enjoy Lauren's books mostly because of the style of writing. The style is always quick and easy to read. But it is also realistic that teens can relate to. This is why my rating is slightly higher than it normally would be if I didn't enjoy a book as much. So that is it, and until my next post goodbye for now. 

Rate 

3/5

Currently Reading

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here, and I'm currently reading Watch Me by Lauren Barnholdt. As per usual I was in the mood for something quick and entertaining. I have read Lauren's other books and I (sort of) have a love-dislike relationship with them. Sometimes I love her books then other times I don't. Anyways, this is one of the books that I enjoy so far. It is still flawed like all books are but for me, it's an decent read. Just because I say that it doesn't mean that this is one of my favourite books by her. In fact, there are books (by Lauren) that are better than this one. Despite everything I just said, I still find this book to be very amusing; from the concept and to the characters.

The overall synopsis is pretty straight forward, as it is about a girl named Ally who is just starting her freshman year of college, and she gets the opportunity to be on a reality show for the first semester of the year. But she soon realizes that being on a reality show (broadcasted to all of America) is harder than it seems, and she must face the consequences of it all. Like her long distance boyfriend, her developing feelings for one of her roommates, and the struggles of having a normal college life now that she's pretty much a celebrity.

I am more than halfway done this book so I'm pretty sure I'll finish this by tomorrow. I will explain more of my thoughts on the full review I'll for sure be posting by the end of this week. So, that is it for this post and until my next one, goodbye for now.

The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine

Genre: young-adult, contemporary, romance

Published: May 10th 2016

Pages: 352

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Cassidy Emmerich is determined to make this summer--the last before her boyfriend heads off to college--unforgettable. What she doesn't count on is her boyfriend breaking up with her. Now, instead of being poolside with him, Cass is over a hundred miles away, spending the summer with her estranged farther and his family at their bed-and-breakfast at the Jersey Shore and working as the newest counsellor at Camp Manatee.

Bryan Lakewood is sick of nevers. You'll never walk. You'll never surf. You'll never sow dance with your date at prom. One miscalculated step and Bryan's life is changed forever--now he's paralyzed and needs to use a wheelchair. This is the first summer he's back at his former position at Camp Manatee and ready to reclaim some of his independence, in spite of those who question if he's up for the job. 

Cass is expecting two months dealing with heartbreak.

Bryan is expecting a summer of tough adjustments. 

Neither of them is expecting to fall in love. 

Thoughts 

When I heard that Robin Constantine was coming out with another book, I was so excited; I jumped at the chance to buy it. So, as you can tell from that statement, I read her two previous books and they were both amazing. There were so many elements to this book that I really enjoyed, and all of these elements are in her other books as well. The elements are: the romantic and character development with the two main characters, and the family dynamics. This book was a fluffy, light-hearted and quick read that I genuinely enjoyed. I recommend this book to all of you if you want something quick, light, and cutesy for the summer time.

The first thing I want to mention is the slow romantic development between the two main protagonists. I loved how the romance slowly progressed throughout the book, and it wasn't all "insta-lovey" but it grew as it continued. I love it when contemporaries have this because that's pretty much the realistic approach to relationships, and it grows with time as you get to know one another. So it's like you become friends first before you start dating and that's exactly what happened in this particular book. Lately I have read books where to me, the romance felt too fast. That's why I say that's it has been refreshing to read these kinds of book with relationship development.

 I also loved the character development between each of the characters as they grew with each individual chapter. Cassidy was going through a heartbreak after recently breaking up with her boyfriend. While Bryan was struggling with his accident that left him wheelchair bound the year before. So both characters have to go through a series of adjustments in order move on and have the best summer of their lives. For me, I didn't necessarily emotionally connect with Bryan, as I have never been in his situation and I don't know anyone who is going through the same thing. But he was the stronger character out of two protagonists. With Cassidy, she came across as trying to run away from her problems, but as the book progressed I believed that she was slowly moving on from her boyfriend (and falling for Bryan as a result). Also, I want to add that the minor characters in this book  were great as well and I really enjoyed them as friends and family.

Speaking of family, I want to address the family dynamics with Cassidy's and Bryan's families. I thought it was refreshing to see that the relationship with the two separate families being a positive one. This is true especially with Cassidy's family. They were all so kind to one another despite that her dad married someone else and she has a half-brother. I loved how Cassidy makes the effort to spend time with Hunter, and she is also treats Leslie well, plus Cassidy and her dad have a good relationship. With Bryan's family, my thoughts are the same. They were good to one another as they genuinely cared for Bryan and loved him for who he has become. To me, it's just refreshing to see a positive family dynamic as you don't really get to see that in some (or most) contemporaries.

So those are all of my thoughts on this book, I hoped you like it. I very much enjoyed this book as it was a entertaining, feel-good, lighthearted, fluffy, summer-romance. I recommend this book as a quick summer read that has pretty much everything I just mentioned.

Rating 

5/5

Books I Have Read So Far This Year (1)

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and this blog post is going to be a little different. It is something that I have never done here before. And since it is almost the end of June (and it marks half of 2016 gone), I thought that now would be the perfect time to do it. So without further ado, let's get into analyzing.

Now I am not entirely sure on how you do this correctly. But I am going to try my best and see how this works. So I looked on my Goodreads account and it tells me how many books I read; plus some details on the longest book I read and my most popular shelves. How many total pages I read and the publication year of the books I have read.

To start off my analysis, I have read a total of 21 books (so far). I rated a total of 7 books 5 stars, 10 books, 4 stars, and 4 books 3 stars. Meanwhile the longest book I read this year thus far was Carry On by Rainbow Rowell with a total of 522 pages. As for my top shelves, here is the full chart:

goodreads.com

As you can see, my young-adult shelf is the most popular. My from the library shelf comes second and the shelves that are tied for third are my own and cute romance shelves and so on and so forth. 

The total pages I have read with the combinations of all the books I have read are: 7,096. That's not too bad so far, but I definitely want to read more books to get the page count higher.  

In terms of publication year, most books I have read were published from 2006-2016. While others are classics that were published in the 18-1900's and/or 1950's and 60's. Based off of this, I don't really read enough classics, so I feel like I should read more of them to give them a chance. It's just that I never found most of them interesting which has caused me to not enjoy them so much. For example Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen was not very enjoyable as it was very bland and dull. However, this year is the year that I read more classics that are (hopefully) to my liking. 

I believe I covered all of my analysis that I needed too and I hope you enjoyed this post. It is for sure something different from what I normally do, but I wanted to change it up and try something new. I hope I did good considering it was my first time trying this kind of thing. That is it for this post and until my next one, goodbye for now. 

Currently Reading

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here, and as you can pretty much tell from the title I am currently reading a summer contemporary called The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine. Now I previously have read other books by this author and they were both amazing. So I thought that now would be a good opportunity to read her next one. I am less than halfway done and I have to say that it is a really good book so far. From the characters, to the romance, it is all well developed.

The main synopsis is about a girl named Cassidy and a boy named Bryan, and they both have different issues that they must overcome. Cassidy and her boyfriend just broke up, so she goes to spend the summer with her dad at his bed-and-breakfast in order to get over her boyfriend. But she never expected to fall for a boy in a wheelchair. Meanwhile Bryan is wheelchair bound from an accident that happened the year before and is now working as a camp counsellor not expecting for fall for anyone, but he does. So it's all romance and self-discovery with these two during the summer months.

Anyways I think this book is amazing so far, and I recommend it to you all as a light summer read with a little bit of depth in the storyline. I will have more of my thoughts on this book in the full review to come. But speaking of reviews, I am still finishing  Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. So once I am done with that book, I will be giving you guys a full review on that one as well. It's just a very difficult read to get through (even though I can't put it down), but I will finish it sometime soon.

So that is it for this post, and until my next one good bye everyone.

License to Spill by Lisi Harrison

Genre: young-adult, realistic fiction

Published: June 24th 2014

Pages: 256

Publisher: Poppy

Synopsis

Three girls, two guys, five secret journals. 

The five most popular students in Noble High have secrets to hide; secrets they wrote down in their journals. Now one of their own exposes the private entries. 

When our parents were growing up they were encouraged to make mistakes. That's how they learned. But us? Our mistakes go viral. There is no delete button on the internet. What kind of future do we have if we can't escape our embarrassing pasts? I must come off as quite the hypocrite; complaining about our overexposed lives in a book of secret journals I have leaked. But these pages hold proof of how this pressure holds the "best" of us...so until the heat's turned down keep reading. 

Thoughts

So my initial thoughts on this book are pretty much the same as the first book Pretenders. However, I will say that I enjoyed this book slightly better than the first. Reason being is because, the character development was more balanced, there was a lot more drama that went on, and there were some more funny and quirky elements that I loved. The one thing I didn't enjoy too much was the ending, I believe it did not give a proper closure to the series and it made me want to read more (except the series is over and there will be no more, so why end off on a cliffhanger?) The synopsis is very vague so based off that, it is best to go into this book not knowing a lot about it and discover it for yourselves. 

All five main characters were still the same as they were in the first book (immature, self-absorbed and naive). However, I do understand that they are freshmen and with that in mind I say that they still have a lot of learning and growing up to do. So I don't feel too bad for slightly disliking them. But I still have my least favourites and that would be Vanessa and Lily. Vanessa was your typical 'overachiever' and I can't say why because of spoilers but, she was the most naive out of all the main characters. Some of the things she did to achieve what she wanted just really pissed me off like when she falsely accused Lily for doing something ridiculous (again can't say what and why--spoilers). Speaking of Lily, she was another least favourite. To be honest, I didn't really like reading any of her entries (or Vanessa's for that matter), they just didn't intrigue me like the rest of them. 

The last thing I want to talk about is the ending. I was disappointed because it ended so abruptly with a cliffhanger. Since it is the end of a duology, I didn't think there needed to be a cliffhanger; instead it just made me want to read more of the series. I wish there was a third book, because I think there should be one in order to give the series the proper closure it really needs. 

So, those are all my thoughts on this book, I hope you guys like it. Even though this book has some flaws, it was still an entertaining read that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. This was a also a quick, and funny read I recommend. Until my next post, goodbye for now. 

Rate 

4/5