REVIEW--Pushing the Limits

A few weeks ago I interviewed authors Katie McGarry and Lex Thomas (two guys) for a library conference panel.  And it was amazing!  I loved every minute of it!  They were all so gracious and just plain fun!  You can watch about ten minutes of the panel here:

Today I'm reviewing Katie's book Pushing the Limits.  My students have been obsessing about this book for the past few years and I loved it, too!  I'm not always a big romance fan, but this one was just so great!  Let's jump into the review:

• First book in the Pushing the Limits series
• Romance

The Gist:
Echo Emerson used to be super popular...but life has changed.  Her brother died in the Iraq War, her parents divorced and her father married Echo's childhood babysitter, and Echo now has horrific scars on her arms and isn't allowed to see her mother.  And she can't remember why.
Noah Hutchins lost his parents in a house fire and he and his brothers have been separated in foster care.  He would do anything to get his brothers back, but he most deals with it by using girls, doing drugs, and giving adults an attitude.
These two, who have so much to deal with in their own lives, find themselves together in a tutoring session.  And the more they learn about each other, the more they start to fall for each other.

What I Loved:

• Sure, this is a romance book, and sure, these characters are going to fall in love.  But there was so much depth to them!  This book wasn't the "fluff" that so many romance books get labeled.  I really appreciated that.
• The romance was good, too.  I mean, it is a romance book after all. :)
• When you read a romance book, you know the main characters will end up together, but in this book you just don't know how it's going to work out.  I liked that "suspense" part of the plot.
• I love that Noah told part of the story and Echo told part of the story.  You really get to know the characters intimately this way.

What I Didn't Love:

•  Noah's pet names for Echo were silly...and cheesy. 

A really enjoyable read and it made meeting Katie even more special!  Four heels for me!

Have you read Pushing the Limits or any of the others in the series?  I'm anxious to read more!

An outfit for Echo coming up tomorrow!

REVIEW--Since You've Been Gone

There are some authors that I just can't keep on the shelf in my library, and Morgan Matson is definitely one of them!  Amy and Roger's Epic Detour is NEVER in the library because word is always spreading about it.  But I recently read Since You've Been Gone and think it is my new favorite Matson book!  Check out my review!

• Realistic/Romance
• Standalone book

The Gist:
Emily and Sloane are a package deal.  But anyone will tell you that Emily rides on Sloane's coattails...everyone notices Sloane and then notices Emily behind her.  When Sloane and her parents disappear, Emily feels completely lost.  But then Emily finds a list of tasks that Sloane has left for her and she believes that if she completes the list, she will find where Sloane and her family went.  But the tasks aren't easy.  Skinny dipping?  Kissing a stranger?

What I Loved:

• The characters!  Frank, Collins, Dawn, Emily--there was so much depth to all of them.
• I loved the organization/chronology of the book.  The chapters are organized by tasks with various flashbacks thrown in.
• All of the characters were fully explored.  There were no "weak" characters.
• I was completely wrapped up in the plot.
• At first I didn't like Sloane, but her character pulled through for me by the end. 

What I Didn't Love:

• The title...Kelly Clarkson, anyone?

A really enjoyable read for me--so much to love in this one!  I don't always enjoy realistic but this one really grabbed me--5 stars for me!  And tomorrow I'm sharing a fancy pants outfit that Emily might have worn to a gala!

REVIEW and Outfit--The Bridge from Me to You

Happy Monday!  A new week...and a new review!  Today's review is one of my June reads--The Bridge from Me to You by Lisa Schroeder.  This was a super quick read for me--I read it in ONE day with my two boys at home (applause, please).  

I have so much I want to share this week--reviews, videos, an outfit--that I'm also sharing the outfit that I designed for this book in this post.  Bonus!  So let's jump right in!

• Standalone novel
• Romance/Realistic

The Gist:

Lauren has a secret, a secret that has taken her away from her mother and to live her senior year with her uncle and his family.  

Colby is a star football player and he doesn't know how he's going to tell his family that he doesn't want to play college ball.

Two lives that will intersect.  When maybe they need it the most.

What I Loved:

• This book is cute, wholesome, and hopeful.  Like a Hallmark movie in a book!
• The book is told through both poetry and prose.  Lauren's side is told through poetry while Colby's is in prose.
• Lauren's secret isn't revealed right away, which keeps you wondering why she's really living with her extended family.

What I Didn't Love:

• Ok, this book is pretty darn cheesy.  Now I know I compared it to a Hallmark movie above, and Hallmark movies are relatively cheesy.  But there were some eye-rolling moments.  I work with football-playing teens everyday...they don't talk like Colby.  A too-good-to-be-true story.
• What Colby's friend Benny was doing/what caused his accident was never explored.  This could've been an interesting side plot.
• We never see Colby and Lauren's lives in school, the football game details.  I just think so much more meat could've been added to the book.
• The cover--it carries from the front to the back...but what's with the fence?  They don't walk on a fence...
• Because of the different in voice (poetry v. prose), I felt like I knew SO MUCH about Colby's story but not nearly as much about Lauren's.  Prose just goes so much further than poetry and when it's divided, the attention between the characters is obviously different.

A quick read, yes, but a cheesy one that wasn't overly impressive.  Only 2 stars for me.

 

But even though this read wasn't at the top of my list, I DID want to design a great outfit for Lauren!  Lauren's cousins are known for their matching stocking hats that they wear to the football games and Lauren even herself joins in.  So this outfit is what I would wear if I were wearing a stocking hat to a game:

It doesn't scream football, right?  Lauren isn't a "yay go rah!" kind of girl, but she does join her younger cousins in wearing a matching ski hat to a game, so this outfit is a really trendy outfit to wear even when you have to match a crowd.

• Colby's school colors were blue and gold, so I made gold a main feature of this outfit.
• Plaid and quilted vests are staple items for Fall, and they are perfect for football games.
• Distressed skinny jeans and combat booties give an edge while the monogrammed earrings keep it girly.

I totally want to wear something like this to a football game--would you?

For details on this outfit, check here.

So much to come this week!  Check back for all kinds of book/fashion goodness!

REVIEW: Landline

Happy Monday, everyone!  I SO hope you are having the lovely weather that we're having in Indiana right now!  Our family spent the weekend exploring the creek behind our neighborhood, going on "tractor" (lawn mower) rides, and just soaking in that beautiful sun.  I feel refreshed and energetic to start another week.

Today's review is on Landline by Rainbow Rowell.  I met Rainbow at an author event a few years ago and she was exactly as I pictured her--both bubbly and quiet, appreciative, and genuine.  With a little bit of flower power mixed in. :)

Last fall, Landline was ALL that I was hearing about from so many readers.  Although it's one of Rowell's adult novels, readers of all ages were eating it up and singing its praises.  And that's what's so great about Rowell...she takes something like a magical yellow phone and turns it into an engrossing, can't-put-down story.  So let's jump right into my review!

 

• Standalone novel
• A mixture of realistic/fantasy/romance

The Gist:

Georgie McCool (yes, that's her real name!) has finally hit her big break in Hollywood--she is about to pitch her own sitcom to the network.  The only problem?  The network needs multiple scripts in just a few days and it's the week of Christmas.  The week when Georgie is supposed to fly with her husband Neal and two daughters to Omaha to visit Neal's family.  And even though Neal and the girls allow Georgie to stay behind in California, Georgie knows that this might be the one thing that pushes her marriage over the edge.  And that by gaining a sitcom, she might be losing a husband.

When Georgie tries to call Neal from her mother's old yellow landline phone, she gets Neal to answer.  But not present-day Neal.  Neal from their dating days, when his father was still alive and Neal and Georgie were in the midst of an argument.  And Georgie realizes--if she's talking to Neal in the past, she may have the chance to fix their later marital problems.

What I Loved:

• Like I said, this is a book about a magical phone.  So to most people, that might sound too silly to read.  But Rowell has a way of making this a nonstop read.  Her writing makes her characters (and even a magical phone) real.  I can completely picture this family living today.
• This isn't straight-up romance.  There's bittersweet moments, arguments, frustration, questioning...but there's also romance.
• I love the wittiness of the characters.  It makes me want to be friends with them in real life.
• The secondary characters are so good.  I want to work with Georgie's partner or eat pizza with her sister...maybe even babysit her mom's dogs!
• I had no idea how it would end...and it ended greatly.

What I Didn't Love:

• Like with so many other things, I think this book got hyped up to me SO MUCH that I expected it to change my life.  It was a great read, but I just know that I'm less enthusiastic about it than just about everyone else.
• I'm sad to say this...but I just wasn't in love with Neal.  He seemed so moody, and at times I felt like he darkened Georgie from her bright, bubbly self.  
• I couldn't stop picturing Georgie as Rainbow Rowell herself...is it just me that did this?  Every time I read about Georgie's physical description, I just kept thinking about Rainbow herself.  Hmmm.

Rowell never disappoints, and this was a great one!  A great read for teens and adults alike!

An outfit for Georgie coming up this week, a review and outfit for the book Belzhar (so good!), and I'll show you TWO ways that I recently styled denim and LOVED it! Catch you back here tomorrow!

REVIEW--Just One Day

Happy Monday!

We are straggling a little today due to Daylight Savings Time...I'm sure we'll be back to our energized selves within a few days!

Today's review is on Just One Day by Gayle Forman.  I read this for my monthly book club, but it had been on my radar for awhile.  I really enjoyed If I Stay by Forman (never got around to reading the sequel!) and had heard great things about this one.  So let's jump right in!

• First in the Just One Day series
• Romance/Realistic

The Gist:
Allyson is a good girl--she's a rule follower, a stand-on-the-sidelines and do-what-you're-told kind of girl.  When she goes on a tour of Europe with a Teen Tours! group (her parents' graduation gift to her), she's actually kind of bummed by it.  She's rushed from place to place on buses and just doesn't get to experience real European life.  So it is completely opposite Allyson to take on the name "Lulu," go to Paris for just one day with a guy named Willem (who she just met), and experience Parisian life.  But that's what she does.  And her one day in Paris not only has her falling in love but seeking her true self.

What I Loved:

• I thought this book was going to be predictable.  I had it all mapped out in my head.  And it completely surprised me!  It threw in a twist that I didn't see coming and I loved it.  Unpredictable yet very addicting!
• There is so much involving self-discovery and taking risks and going on a journey, and I think I needed to hear that in my own life right now.  I loved the themes of the book.
• There are some, albeit bizarre, great "family" groups.  Allyson finds identity with her co-workers at the cafe, her Shakespeare partner's family, another tour group, and more.  They all help her in different ways and act as her family when she needs one.
• The ending.  I'll say it--I liked the ending.  My book club disagreed with me, but I'll stand by it!
• I want to go to Paris, eat macarons, and read Shakespeare.  This book had me fully engaged.

What I Didn't Love:

• I really enjoyed Wren's story, but she appeared so late in the book that it almost seemed odd to have her at all.
• I don't believe an ER doctor would remember Willem so clearly a year later.  I don't believe an art squat owner wouldn't be freaked out by people sleeping over in his place.  I don't believe Allyson could run away from skinheads who live for violence.  Just some unbelievable parts for me.
• I found myself rooting that Allyson WOULDN'T get back together with Willem (and even found myself siding with her friend Melanie for part of the book).  So not as romance-y as I would have expected.

My favorite quote:  "'Look, no lenses.'  She pokes through the air right to her eyes to demonstrate.  'it's part of my whole punk-rock librarian look.'"

A great read--I definitely recommend it and can't wait to read the sequel!  Maybe it will make me like Willem more...?

Be back soon with either a Top Ten Tuesday or an outfit post...see you then!

REVIEW--The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Valentine's Day is so close...just a few weeks away!  Are you planning on celebrating with someone special, family, or friends?  Well why not add a lovey-dovey book to your reading list?  Today's review is on The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.  A sweet little romance that will only take you a few hours to read and will give you the satisfactory feeling of falling in love.  Let's get to it!

Isn't the cover adorable?

• Standalone novel
• Romance

The Gist:
Hadley is ticked off at her father.  He went to London to teach for a semester at a university, but while there he fell in love with London AND another woman.  So he's divorced Hadley's mom and is now getting married to Charlotte.  Hadley, unfortunately, is being forced to attend his wedding.  If that doesn't make her grumpy enough, she misses her flight by 4 minutes (4!!!) and is bumped back to a later flight.  But on that later flight she sits next to Oliver, a London boy (with a British accent!) who is able to distract her from her frustration with her father and her fear of flying.  But can you really fall in love with someone at first sight?  And how do you find them once you get separated? 

What I Loved:

• Jennifer E. Smith's writing style was so beautiful in this book.  So engaging, and the prose was just lovely!
• I loved the time frame of this book--it takes place within 24 hours only.  Most books take place in days, weeks, months, and even years, so this was an interesting twist.
• The book was very clean, sweetly romantic, and quick to read.
• It also evoked a lot of emotion from me--I was in love, then sad, and often annoyed. 

What I Didn't Love:

• Ok, let's be honest.  If two teens fell in love on a plane, they would get each other's phone number, become Facebook friends, follow each other on Twitter, or at least learn each other's last name.  Hadley and Oliver didn't do any of these things, which makes for a better story, but a more unbelievable story.
• Hadley's dad goes from being awful to great a little too quickly for me.

My favorite quote:  "That's why flying's so great," he said.  "You're stuck where you are.  You've got no choice in the matter."

A cute, sweet read for Valentine's Day...I give it four heels!

Check back for an outfit based off of Hadley's bridesmaid dress!  See you soon!

 

REVIEW--Eleanor & Park

Hi, friends!  I'm in West Virginia right now, en route to North Carolina to visit some family.  But even on the road I'm ready to blog!

Today's review is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (yep, her name is Rainbow!).  I'd heard a lot of buzz about this book for awhile and was excited when my book club picked it up for September.  So here's what I have to think!

• Standalone novel
• Realistic/Romance

The Gist:

It's 1986.  Park, a half-Korean, and Eleanor, a heavy red-head, meet on a school bus (Park lets her sit next to him when NO ONE else will).  This initial meeting starts a friendship over comic books and music; this turns into a relationship full of awkward moments but real feelings.  There are bumps in their way--her abusive step-father and his judgmental friends--but Park is determined to make it work.

What I Loved:

• This is so real high school.  I see this happen all the time--students falling for each other that aren't necessarily the "hot" or popular kids but the awkward teens with baggage.  This is real.
• I could relate to Eleanor.  She would let her circumstances affect her relationship with Park, and there are times where something that has upset me causes me to act angry toward Luke.  Poor guys--they're always getting the heat of our anger, even when they didn't cause it!
• The scene where Park's mom apologizes about how she first judged Eleanor--a really powerful scene!
• Park struggling with learning stick shift.  I totally understand, Park.  Again, another awkward teen moment.
• Park TRULY cares about the bullying Eleanor faces.  The way he treats her--giving her a necklace, opening her door, inviting her to dinner--so authentic and sweet.  
• I like the simplicity of the cover.  I know some people have criticized Park not looking goth enough (he goes through a goth stage), but I like it. 

What I Didn't Love:

• There's a lot of cussing.  I know, I know, teens cuss...but I don't.
• Eleanor's mother.  C'mon, stand up for your daughter!  Nope, she always chose Richie.
• The ending left me wanting more resolution.

My favorite quote:  "Seriously, Park, I'm never going to forget your phone number."

A really good read!  Authentic, sympathetic, romantic, heartbreaking.

I'll be back tomorrow with an 80s-inspired outfit!  See you then!