ARC Reviews – Page 6 – Zakiya N. Jamal

Book Review: Smart Girl

Posted on January 28, 2016March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Amazon:

Brilliant designer Miko Jin is a hopeless romantic. She’s spent most of her life falling in love over and over again…with the men she finds in the pages of her favorite novels.

When Miko meets Liam Ashton, it’s love at first sight. At least, for her. Sure, the two of them are polar opposites, and yes, he seems to be dating someone new each week. But Miko knows what true love is and that you can’t rush it—after all, what she lacks in real-world experience, she makes up for in book smarts. With novels as her guide, and her best friends by her side, she knows she can get Liam to love her back. But just like any good romance novel, fate has a few plot twists in store. Will Miko get her own happy ending? Will she find the strength to stand up for what she deserves even if it means breaking her own heart?

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Lake Union Publishing. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel was released on January 26, 2016.*

Full disclosure, I didn’t read the first two books in this series before I dived into Smart Girl. Party Girl has been on my wish list for way too long and when I saw the opportunity to read Smart Girl I just had to read it because it sounded so good. And it was!

If you’re like me and haven’t read the first two books in this series, don’t worry. You don’t have to. You should, and I have every intention of going back and reading them as soon as possible, but you definitely don’t have to read them to dive into this novel. The author, Rachel Hollis, writes these novels in a way that they can also be stand alone books. Of course if you do choose to read this before the other two there will definitely be spoilers for the first two books. But it’s not like you need to know what happens in those books to read this one. Got it? Good.

Moving on, I absolutely loved this novel! The main character, Miko, is every fangirl’s dream. She references so many books I love like The Lunar Chronicles, The Hunger Games, and classics like Emma and Sense and Sensibility. But not only does she reference them she actually uses them to try to get the guy of her dreams, Liam, to love her back.

As one could expect this has varying results creating the perfect combination of hilarity and heartbreak when Miko’s plans occasionally failed. What’s more, though, is I just loved Miko as a character. I think anyone can relate to loving someone, especially for a long time, and struggling to find out if they feel the same way or if you should just call it quits. Unrequited love is the worse but sometimes getting what you want isn’t always what it seemed and Miko figures this out the hard way.

I really loved this novel, which is why I know I have to read the first two books. Smart Girl was funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and filled with so many life lessons about friendship, family, and love. It took me about a day to finish this novel because once I started reading I was immediately hooked. Miko is a great narrator and I loved her sense of style and the way she got so into her designing.

I also really liked the side characters as well. Landon and Max were perfect, as were Miko’s assistant, Casidee, and her brother, Tosh. Also, although I think this is the perfect end to this series, I’d be interested in seeing two more books about Casidee and Liam and Max’s younger sister, Malin, finding love. Hollis kind of left that open ended in the epilogue, which jumps three years forward, so I think there’s room for that but I’d be totally fine if the series ended here. It’s a really great ending.

Last quick thing but did anyone else notice that Party Girl and Sweet Girl are amongst the pile of books on the cover of Smart Girl? I just noticed them and that’s so cool! Such a nice touch.

Borrow or Buy: Buy! Buy all three books. I plan to.

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Book Review: Enter Title Here

Posted on January 19, 2016March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Book Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Goodreads:

I’m your protagonist—Reshma Kapoor—and if you have the free time to read this book, then you’re probably nothing like me.

Reshma is a college counselor’s dream. She’s the top-ranked senior at her ultra-competitive Silicon Valley high school, with a spotless academic record and a long roster of extracurriculars. But there are plenty of perfect students in the country, and if Reshma wants to get into Stanford, and into med school after that, she needs the hook to beat them all.

What’s a habitual over-achiever to do? Land herself a literary agent, of course. Which is exactly what Reshma does after agent Linda Montrose spots an article she wrote for Huffington Post. Linda wants to represent Reshma, and, with her new agent’s help scoring a book deal, Reshma knows she’ll finally have the key to Stanford.

But she’s convinced no one would want to read a novel about a study machine like her. To make herself a more relatable protagonist, she must start doing all the regular American girl stuff she normally ignores. For starters, she has to make a friend, then get a boyfriend. And she’s already planned the perfect ending: after struggling for three hundred pages with her own perfectionism, Reshma will learn that meaningful relationships can be more important than success—a character arc librarians and critics alike will enjoy.

Of course, even with a mastermind like Reshma in charge, things can’t always go as planned. And when the valedictorian spot begins to slip from her grasp, she’ll have to decide just how far she’ll go for that satisfying ending. (Note: It’s pretty far.)

In this wholly unique, wickedly funny debut novel, Rahul Kanakia consciously uses the rules of storytelling—and then breaks them to pieces.

*I received a free advanced reader’s copy of this book from Disney Hyperion. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale on August 2, 2016.*

What’s great about this novel is from the beginning you’re told the protagonist, Reshma Kapoor, is unlikeable. This at least makes a little less surprising when you discover that she’s really unlikeable. She has a few redeeming qualities but for the most part Reshma’s that girl in high school that always raised her hand in class even though she’d answered the last five questions correctly. In other words, she’s the girl you couldn’t stand.

But that didn’t stop me from loving this novel. In fact, I’d say it helped. Rahul Kanakia writes this novel in a meta way that makes you feel like Reshma is a real person trying to write her own novel. It’s written in diary style so we get all of Reshma’s real thoughts but just as I think anyone does in real life there’s a lot Reshma keeps hidden from the reader until she has to tell us the truth.

What I liked most about this novel is that it kept surprising me. Because it’s written as if Reshma is trying to write her own novel she discusses all the tropes of a typical young adult novel and what she believes her story needs to succeed. She then proceeds to do all these things in her day to day life so her novel will be good. For example she believes her novel will need a love interest, friends, a party scene, and other life experiences so she sets out to do these things.

Based on many YA novels I expected this novel to go one way and then it went totally left. Nothing about this book was predictable and although I wanted to be on Reshma’s side, I just couldn’t but I also don’t think Kankia expects you to be. I felt sympathetic towards Reshma but mostly I just wanted her to get help because she obviously has some issues she needs to work through.

There were two characters I ended up really liking though: George, the boy who lives in Reshma’s house illegally and Alex, the girl Reshma decides to make her friend. They both had interesting influences on Reshma. I won’t spoil it but I like how Reshma interacts with both of them.

Overall, I’d say this book is worth a read. It’s different than a lot of other YA novels I’ve read in the past and I’m always in support of a YA novel that has a person of color as the protagonist. I also appreciated the discussion of race, privilege, and culture in this novel and how they all played a role in the plot of this story but weren’t the main focus. Definitely check it out!

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

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Book Review: Seven Ways We Lie

Posted on January 7, 2016March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Book Reviews, Books to Buy

*I received a free advanced reader’s copy of this book from Amulet Books. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale on March 8, 2016.*

Synopsis from Amazon:

In Seven Ways We Lie, a chance encounter tangles the lives of seven high school students, each resisting the allure of one of the seven deadly sins, and each telling their story from their seven distinct points of view.

The juniors at Paloma High School all have their secrets, whether it’s the thespian who hides her trust issues onstage, the closeted pansexual who only cares about his drug-dealing profits, or the neurotic genius who’s planted the seed of a school scandal. But it’s Juniper Kipling who has the furthest to fall. No one would argue that Juniper—obedient daughter, salutatorian, natural beauty, and loyal friend—is anything but perfect. Everyone knows she’s a saint, not a sinner; but when love is involved, who is Juniper to resist temptation? When she begins to crave more and more of the one person she can’t have, her charmed life starts to unravel.

Then rumors of a student–teacher affair hit the fan. After Juniper accidentally exposes her secret at a party, her fate falls into the hands of the other six sinners, bringing them into one another’s orbits. All seven are guilty of something. Together, they could save one another from their temptations—or be ruined by them.

When I was first told about this book I was very interested in the concept. Add in the fact that the author, Riley Redgate, is still in college and this book instantly became a must read for me.

Why does the author’s age matter, you ask. It’s simply because I love YA novels that are written by people who are young adults themselves. Don’t get me wrong, adults are great YA authors, obviously. But there’s something so open and genuine about someone who’s a young adult themselves writing about young adults.

Going into this book I didn’t have any expectations other than I liked the concept and I was excited to read it. Therefore when I did read it I got so sucked in that I finished the whole novel in a day.

The novel follows seven high school students: Olivia, Juniper, Matt, Valentine, Lucas, Kate, and Claire. Each of these students represent one of the seven deadly sins in some way. First, I just want to share who I think each one represents and I’d love to hear your opinions once you read the book.

Olivia = Lust
Juniper = Gluttony
Matt = Sloth
Claire = Envy
Kate = Wrath
Lucas = Greed
Valentine = Pride

Honestly, I have no idea if these are correct. Valentine threw me off a bit because he doesn’t seem to represent any of the sins to me. Still, this is my best guess.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the novel. I really enjoyed this story. I liked the mystery of the whole teacher-student sex scandal (you don’t discover who the teacher is until close to the end). Although I guessed correctly pretty early on who it was but it wasn’t so blatantly obvious to me that I was 100 percent sure and the story behind the scandal was unexpected.

Additionally, I really liked that this book wasn’t all about the scandal. Don’t let the synopsis fool you. For one thing all these characters don’t really come all together until closer to the end of the book. There’s so many things going on before they end up keeping a shared secret.

Olivia, Juniper, and Claire’s friendship is on the rocks because they all have issues and secrets they’re not sharing with each other. Olivia and Kat are twins who are barely speaking and have serious familial troubles. Speaking of familial troubles, Matt’s household isn’t fairing that well either. Lucas has a big secret that could change his whole world if it comes out. And Valentine…well, he was probably my favorite character but he has his own issues as well.

The plot of this novel was well driven and the changing of point of view between the seven characters was very well done. Redgate skillfully changes the voice of each character so they all stand out. This is especially seen in the way she writes Juniper’s POV, which to me read kind of like an Ellen Hopkin’s novel, in that it was less prose and more poetry.

As much as I did enjoy this book, I still had some issues with it. First, unless I missed it, we don’t discover Valentine’s gender until page 110. Up to that point in my head I thought Valentine was a woman and so when it became evident he wasn’t I was a little shocked and had to change my whole perspective.

Secondly, although I liked that each character had their own voice I couldn’t stand the overuse of “like” in Matt’s POV. Also, in his sections all conversations were said in whole paragraphs. For example, rather than splitting up lines of dialogue someone would say, “Hi,” and then I was like, “Hi,” and then he says,”What’s up,” and I’m like, “Nothing. You?”

I don’t know why but that infuriated me. Especially the “likes.” I know we use it in normal conversation but I hated reading it in a book when it wasn’t part of the dialogue. Speaking of dialogue, Matt and Olivia’s use of “Yo,” didn’t sit right with me. It always seemed out of place every time they said it.

Lastly, Claire does something in the novel and we don’t really know if she gets punished for it or not. I wish that could’ve been resolved more. Also, I just genuinely didn’t like Claire as a character and couldn’t muster any sympathy for her.

Still, despite these very small things, I was totally sucked into this novel and couldn’t put it down. I’d say it’s a must read!

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

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Book Review: What Was Mine

Posted on December 29, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Book Reviews, Books to Buy

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Gallery Books via NetGalley. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale on Jan. 5, 2016.*

Synopsis from Amazon:

Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends.

When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution. What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood.

Honestly I requested this book on a whim and when I got it I had forgotten what it was about. Despite this I immediately dived in and I was hooked from the very first page.

Told in various point of views, including Lucy’s, the baby girl she kidnaps, and the woman she stole the baby from, Marilyn, you get every angle of this story. There was one quote I loved from this novel about how Lucy doesn’t see things black and white and constantly lives in a gray area. That’s how I felt about this book.

Helen Klein Ross doesn’t choose a side in the novel. She doesn’t tell you who’s right and who’s wrong. She let’s you decide that for yourself. For me, I couldn’t decide. There’s so many aspects to this story and although obviously kidnapping is wrong and doing it was a terrible thing, Lucy was still a good mom who loved her child, and how she came to have her didn’t change that fact.

I really appreciated the little stories and side notes we got in this book as well. Because we’re given so many point of views you really get to see how this kidnapping affects everyone, not just Lucy, Marilyn, and their daughter. Ross also shows us the girl’s nanny’s backstory and both Lucy and Marilyn’s husbands get a chapter or two. We even get a little tidbit from the detective on the case and some chapters from Lucy’s sister, Cheryl.

Although at first I was worried that having all these point of views would make this story confusing and hard to follow it actually did the opposite. By changing the point of view Ross added to the story, filling in blanks the reader didn’t even know needed to be filled. Ross could’ve written this story in third person but instead she gives a first person view of characters that readers may have otherwise ignored but now see how they play a role, whether it’s big or small, in the bigger story.

What Was Mine is definitely a must read. It’ll keep you hooked until the very end and you may even find yourself wanting to know more. Make sure to pick a copy when it’s released on Jan. 5, 2016.

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

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Book Review: Not Okay, Cupid

Posted on December 24, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Borrow

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Entangled Publishing via NetGalley. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale on Jan. 11, 2016.*

Synopsis from Amazon:

Hazel McCallister loves her life. Perfect grades. Perfect best friend. Perfect boyfriend. Until her perfect boyfriend cheats on her with her perfect best friend. Now Hazel’s in free fall—until her best friend’s brother, Felix, gives her the perfect idea. Reclaim her power by taking revenge on her cheating ex.

Felix James loves his life. Casual relationships. Loads of surfing. He’s as drama-free as they come. But he can’t stand by when his sister steals her best friend’s boyfriend, and the dude insists it was Hazel’s fault. So Felix vows to help turn Hazel into a girl her ex can’t resist—so then she can break his heart.

With an alliance in place, Hazel’s revenge is all but assured. But with each piece of payback, she feels a stronger attraction to Felix, even though revenge will turn her into a girl Felix could never be with. And soon Hazel has to make an impossible choice: revenge…or Felix, the boy who’s stolen her heart.

This book had the potential to be great if Hazel and Felix’s “revenge” wasn’t so ridiculous.

First of all, there was no evidence to prove that Hazel’s boyfriend, Jay, was “perfect” to begin with. Literally, the first time Jay shows up he’s flirting with Hazel’s best friend, Kimmy. On a similar note, I have no idea how Hazel and Kimmy are BFFs. Other than the fact that they’ve been friends since they were kids, it seems they don’t really know that much about each other.

Moreover, Kimmy and Jay didn’t even try to hide the fact that something was going on. They were caught in the lunch room. I don’t even think the word “caught” qualifies here because they were flirting out in the open.

I just think if I’m supposed to believe Jay is a “perfect” boyfriend and Kimmy is Hazel’s best friend there should’ve been more build up to this whole thing. Jay and Kimmy should’ve at least tried to keep this a secret and then be more apologetic about it happening.

Instead, Jay doesn’t seem to feel sorry at all and Kimmy, for reasons I couldn’t understand, seemed to think she was in the right.

Also, don’t worry about spoilers. All of this happens in the first three chapters or so.

Then we have Felix who of course is great but he’s a “bad boy” who dates multiple girls instead of settling down. And why is Felix so repulsed by the idea of getting close to anyone and being in a serious relationship you ask? Because he had his heart broken…IN FOURTH GRADE! Yes, that’s right. Felix has sworn off commitment because in the fourth grade a girl broke his heart.

I’m sorry but that’s some nonsense. Seriously? The fourth grade. I’m supposed to believe that a heartbreak in the fourth grade makes a guy give up on love completely. That makes no sense. And I’m not saying you can’t have your heart broken when you’re that young. I still remember the crushing feeling of having the boy I liked in kindergarten tell me he didn’t like me back. Those feelings are real and valid.

But I also remember quickly getting over it because I was young and I was still at an age where there was recess and another boy would give you flowers soon after and everything would be right in the world again. I can’t honestly understand how a heartbreak at the age of nine could make someone swear off love and I didn’t buy it in this book at all.

Lastly, of course readers are meant to come into this novel expecting Hazel and Felix to end up together. That’s a given. But at least build up to that. In the first chapter rather than seeing Hazel with her “perfect” boyfriend, it’s Felix she’s talking and joking around with. They even have pet names for each other. How am I supposed to believe they hate each other and don’t get along when they have cute little nicknames for each other?

I think if this book was developed more and things took more time and were drawn out a little bit I would’ve liked it more. But Hazel and Felix’s whole revenge plot seemed absolutely ridiculous to me and I just had trouble believing anything the author was trying to sell me with this book.

Still, Hazel and Felix were really cute and I think if this novel was sold to me as a “they’ve been friends for a long time and when Hazel’s boyfriend cheats on her Hazel suddenly realizes the perfect guy for her was there all along” kind of story I would’ve like it a hundred times more. But the way it stands now I didn’t believe it and I also kind of didn’t like that the book is told in Hazel and Felix’s POV. I didn’t want to know how Felix really felt about Hazel. I wanted to me surprised just like Hazel was. Instead, I just wanted to slap both of them and say, “Open your eyes. You’re in love idiots!”

Honestly, if you’re looking for a quick romance this will do but it’s not the best.

Borrow or Buy: Borrow.

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Book Review: The Girlfriend Request

Posted on December 17, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Borrow

Synopsis from Amazon:

Emma has been best friends with Eli since she moved to his neighborhood ten years ago. Tired of being cast in the role of the girl next door, Emma creates a fake Facebook profile in the hopes of starting an online friendship with Eli, which would hopefully lead to more. Like…way more. From friend request to In a Relationship–it all seemed so completely logical when she’d planned it.

Eli can’t figure out what Emma is up to. He’s pretty sure she’s the one behind the Facebook profile, but then again, why would she do something so drastic instead of just admitting she wants to be more than friends? And who the heck is this new guy he saw her with? Eli starts to think that just maybe…he missed his chance with the girl next door.

Two best friends, one outlandish ruse. Their status is about to become way more than It’s Complicated…

I have so many mixed feelings about this book.

First of all, when I read the synopsis I was hesitant because in my head I already knew Emma’s plan was terrible and destined to fail. However, I figured I’ve read a bunch of good books where the protagonist doesn’t have the best plan but that’s what makes it funny and interesting and I was curious how this would all play out.

Before I go into what I didn’t like let me say what I did. I liked how the author, Jodie Andrefski, decided to write this in both Emma and Eli’s point of views. Granted it’s mostly Emma’s point of view but we also get chapters of Eli’s perspective. I thought that was a great way to do it because that allowed this story to go in a different direction than I was expecting.

Moreover, I liked the addition of another love interest for Emma. I thought that was another good twist to an otherwise cut and dry romance novel because, let’s face it, we all know how this story ends based on the blurb.

And that’s about it, unfortunately.

I really wanted to like Emma because I get it. It’s hard to tell someone you’ve been friends with for a while that you have feelings for them and on some crazy level I understood her whole “fake profile” idea. I thought it was a bad idea, but I understood.

But Emma just made way too many mistakes for me to forgive. And then on top of that I was excited to get Eli’s point of view but it turns out I don’t actually like Eli. I don’t understand why Emma went through all this trouble to “take their relationship to the next level” because he’s not that great. He doesn’t handle things with Emma well at all. Instead of being clear about what he wants he’s very cryptic about his feelings and yet somehow expects Emma to just know how he feels.

Truthfully, I liked Emma’s other love interest better until I didn’t because his personality suddenly took a nosedive for what I can only assume to be plot reasons.

Overall, I honestly think the concept of this novel isn’t as bad as I’ve seen others make it out to be. Yes it’s crazy but that’s what makes fiction great. Fiction’s allowed to be crazy. If you don’t believe me just read Fake Boyfriend by Kate Brian. That’s a good crazy book.

I was more disappointed in the characters and how they were developed. I also didn’t really believe Eli and Emma’s relationship and found it confusing. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been in love but I can’t understand how Emma believes what she feels for Eli is real love when it’s really just a very long, drawn out infatuation, which at one point she does say but then dismisses the idea entirely.

I wanted to like this book because it seemed like a cute, simple romance. Sadly, although it was simple and took me less than a day to read, it didn’t leave me with the butterflies in my stomach that I have come to expect from a good romance novel.

Borrow or Buy: On the one hand, this book is only $2.99 on the Kindle. On the other hand, you probably won’t be rereading it. Borrow it.

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Book Review: Remembrance

Posted on December 15, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Buy

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from William Morrow Paperbacks via Edelweiss. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale on Feb. 2, 2016.*

Synopsis from Amazon:

All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva).

But when she’s hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn’t all that’s coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn’t only because she’s a mediator, gifted with second sight.

From a sophomore haunted by the murderous specter of a child, to ghosts of a very different kind—including Paul Slater, Suze’s ex, who shows up to make a bargain Suze is certain must have come from the Devil himself—Suze isn’t sure she’ll make it through the semester, let alone to her wedding night.

Suze is used to striking first and asking questions later. But what happens when ghosts from her past—including one she found nearly impossible to resist—strike first?

What happens when old ghosts come back to haunt you?

If you’re a mediator, you might have to kick a little ass.

I was so excited when I received the ARC for this novel because I loved the Mediator series when I was in junior high/high school. I read the whole series at least twice and it was always my go to series when I was in a reading slump.

It was so great to see Suze and Jesse again, especially now that they could really be together. It was also interesting to see so many familiar characters, including Father Dom., Debbie, Kelly, all the step brothers, and of course, Paul Slater.

I really liked how Meg Cabot set up this sequel. It was crazy seeing how all the stepbrothers turned out and what they’re doing in the present. A lot of it was unexpected and some of it didn’t surprise me at all.

At first I was worried I wouldn’t like Suze and Jesse as much as I used to. I forgot how old fashioned Jesse is and how stubborn Suze could be. But as I kept reading the traits that I loved about them shined through and I remembered why I fell in love with this series in the first place.

Jesse is just as sweet, overprotective, and a gentleman as he always has been and Suze is just as smart, kind, and kick ass as always. I loved getting to see them in the present and being in an adult relationship.

This is a very cute and fun read, and I wouldn’t mind another book about these two. I definitely think there’s room for at least one more book and I’d love to read that but I am also very satisfied with this ending.

If you loved the Mediator series anywhere near as much as I did then you definitely have to pick up this book. If for no other reason than for nostalgia. But honestly, it’s a great read on its own.

Borrow or Buy: I know I want a copy of this for my own shelf so I guarantee you’ll want one on yours. Buy it!

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Book Review: Christmas Cravings

Posted on November 24, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Borrow

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Bastei Entertainment via NetGalley. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel is now on sale.*

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

How could everything that seemed so right suddenly have gone so wrong for Mia? Snow is on the ground and Christmas lights twinkle in the German Christmas market. The warm, spiced wine is just right, but there’s still one key ingredient missing from her romantic dream. Will Mia’s Christmas turn out to be sugar and spice and all things nice – or a deflated soufflé of loneliness and regret?

Christmas Cravings is a festive romance standalone episode from the Greedily Yours series.

Even though this book is part of a series it’s supposed to be a standalone novel, however, it did not feel that way at all. I couldn’t really get into the story because I felt like I was starting in the middle of a story.

For example, I had no idea who the character Holly was until much later in the novel. I assume she appears in the other books in the novel but because I was under the impression that I could read this as a stand alone I didn’t know that.

I think if you read the other books in the series first you’ll like this book a lot more than I did but I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t understand why Mia loved Tom so much or why Tom pulled away the way he did. I didn’t get Mia’s connection to Tom’s father. There were just so many plot holes that I don’t think this novel should be promoted as a stand alone when it obviously is not.

Additionally, I personally didn’t care for Mia’s obsession with food. It’s one thing for the plot to center around one’s love for food in terms of it tastes good and you like to eat it. It’s totally different when there were huge chunks of this book where the narrator just described in detail what kind of food Mia was making and how she was making it.

Honestly, this novel just wasn’t for me. I think it was fine writing and the romance could’ve been cute if I knew Mia’s and Tom’s background together so I’d have a reason to actually root for them. But in the end I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Borrow or Buy: Unless you’re going to buy all the books in this series, it doesn’t make sense to purchase it.

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Book Review: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss

Posted on October 6, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Buy

Snyopsis from Amazon.com:

The odds of Dahlia successfully navigating adulthood are 3,720 to 1. But never tell her the odds.

Meet Dahlia Moss, the reigning queen of unfortunate decision-making in the St. Louis area. Unemployed broke, and on her last bowl of ramen, she’s not living her best life. But that’s all about to change.

Before Dahlia can make her life any messier on her own she’s offered a job. A job that she’s woefully under-qualified for. A job that will lead her to a murder, an MMORPG, and possibly a fella (or two?).

Turns out unfortunate decisions abound, and she’s just the girl to deal with them.

*I received a free digital advanced reader’s copy of this book from Redhook via NetGalley. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be on sale Oct. 20, 2015.*

First, in all honesty it takes a lot for me to step out of my reading comfort zone and read a book by an author I’ve never heard of before. Say what you will about me but I’m the type of person that once I find an author I like I stick with them (if you need proof just look at all the Cassandra Clare books I just read).

This being said, when I heard about The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss from a NetGalley email I had my reservations. Even so, the description of the book sounded amazing and I decided to take a chance on it. Thankfully the publishers decided to take a chance on me and let me read this book and it was AMAZING!

The perfect combination of nerdy and mystery I absolutely fell in love with this book. Max Wirestone gets the voice of Dahlia down perfectly. She’s funny and witty and also a little judgmental. She’s a nerd that’s very in tune with geek culture but sometimes tries to pretend she’s not that geeky.

I found myself trying to see how many references I’d get (for example, I totally got all the Pokemon references) and also looking up a lot of terms I didn’t understand. The only thing this book truly lacked was a glossary. Besides that, this novel gave me great jokes, good mystery, a little bit of romance, and action. What I found really amazing, however, was the detail.

I’m the type of reader that skims the details. I hate long paragraphs that describe someone’s house to me or what someone looks like. With this book it was the total opposite. I lived for Dahlia’s descriptions of her crazy roommate, Charice, and the live theaters that often happened in their apartment. I loved how Dahlia would compare people to different things in her mind and the little tidbits of information that she’d warn you beforehand wasn’t necessary to the story but then proceed to tell you anyway.

The book reads as Dahlia’s recounting this story to someone. I read it as if Dahlia actually wrote this book of her crazy adventure that happened in her life, which is why she was allowed to skip some details and literally star out words she didn’t feel the reader needed to know. Wirestone’s form of writing the story as if Dahlia was the true author worked perfectly in this case. Honestly, if there’s a sequel, and I really hope there is, I’d love to read it. Wirestone has got me hooked and begging for more.

Borrow or Buy: Definitely buy. I could see myself reading this again when I wanted something light and that would make me laugh. Fantastic!

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Book Review: Traffick

Posted on September 1, 2015March 22, 2016 by Zakiya N. Jamal in ARC Reviews, Books to Buy

Synopsis from Amazon:

Five teens victimized by sex trafficking try to find their way to a new life in this riveting companion to the New York Times bestsellingTricks from Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank.

In her bestselling novel, Tricks, Ellen Hopkins introduced us to five memorable characters tackling these enormous questions: Eden, the preacher’s daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue; Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body; Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined in a heroin haze; Ginger, who runs away from home with her girlfriend and is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop; and Cody, whose gambling habit forces him into the life, but who is shot and left for dead.

And now, in Traffick, these five are faced with the toughest question of all: Is there a way out? How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade. Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home.

*I received this book as a digital ARC from Simon and Schuster. This did not influence my review of this book in anyway. This is an honest review of the novel as I saw it. This novel will be released on November 3, 2015.*

I first fell in love with Ellen Hopkins’ writing style in high school when I read Crank. Since then I’ve read every single one of her books (including the adult novels) except one. I’m still waiting to get my hands on Smoke.

The point is I’m a huge fan and Traffick did not disappoint. If you haven’t read Tricks yet be warned there will be spoilers from that book here. I’ll try to keep it minimal but it’ll be hard not to mention a few key points.

If you’re like me it may have been a while since you read Tricks and therefore I urge you to reread it, or at least look up a summary because when I first started reading Traffick I thought everything would just come back to me but I was very mistaken. I had to read up on Tricks to remember all the crazy that went on before I could dive into the sequel.

Traffick begins pretty close to where Tricks left off. We start with Cody who wakes up from a coma after being shot and then move through all my favorite characters from the first novel.

Seth is still struggling on his own, not being able to return home since he came out to his father. Ginger, Whitney, and Eden are all recovering from their life of turning tricks and trying to figure what will be next for them although they all handle this in very different ways.

I found this novel very interesting because it shows what happens after being trafficked. Seth is the only main character in this novel who’s still turning tricks. Everyone else is dealing with the repercussions and effects of what happened to them.

What Hopkins does very well is show the variety of ways in which a child could end up in this life and unfortunately often do today. There was no stereotype of all these kids coming from a bad home or a poor neighborhood. Of course that was the case for some but not for all. Each of these characters were different with different stories and experiences and I think Hopkins demonstrated that well.

This book took me through a roller coaster of emotions. When one of the characters succeeded I cheered with them. When one failed I cried along with them. I thankfully can’t say I know what living a life like this is like but I can only imagine how difficult it would be to get out. Hopkins doesn’t sugar coat her characters’ struggles but she also showed their triumphs.

My one issue with the book was the typical description of a person of color in reference to food, i.e. using words like “chocolate” and “espresso”to describe skin color and eyes instead of just saying dark skin and brown eyes. But because this book was excellent overall I’ll give Hopkins a pass although really you don’t have to describe us like food. Just say our skin tone color. It’s fine, really.

Moving on, this was an excellent novel and I urge you all to pick it up. If nothing else it made me want to learn more about sex trafficking, and specifically, child trafficking and what I can do to stop it. Hopkins brought light to a real issue and although I know sometimes people look down on YA fiction, Traffick just goes to show that any book, no matter the genre, can have a real message and an even more real impact.

Borrow or Buy: Buy! And while you’re at buy Tricks too.

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