BOOK REVIEW: Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

MY SYNOPSIS

Juniper has a chaotic life at home in Springfield, Massachusetts. She lives in a multi-generational household and yearns for the freedom an out-of-state school would provide.

Fitz lives in New Hampshire with his mom and feels a great deal of pressure to take care of her (she carries the gene for early onset Alzheimer's). Although he's resigned himself to a future attending a nearby college, he begrudgingly agrees to tour several universities in the northeast to appease his mother.

Juniper and Fitz meet each other while on their college tour and wonder if their friendship could turn into something more.

MY THOUGHTS

GENRE: Young Adult

POV: Alternating 1st Person

SETTING: Mostly NYC

TROPES: College, Coming of Age, Family Life, Love Triangle, Opposites Attract

STORYLINE: ⭐⭐💫

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 🧑🏽🧑🏽🧑🏽

ROMANCE: 💑💑

TIME OF OUR LIVES had so much potential but fell far short for me. There are several plot holes and too few romantic moments to qualify as Young Adult Romance. The focus is much more on the family dynamics of each character (which is okay!) than I was expecting. 

 

Perhaps, I would have found it more enjoyable had I not been expecting an adorable, feel good romance. But I chose to read this particular book, at this particular time, because I believed it would be similar to the YA romance stories previously published by this author duo and that isn't the case.

To read my full review (spoilers included), you can find it on Goodreads >>> here.

BOOK REVIEW: Admission by Julie Buxbaum

ADMISSION is a fictional story about the very real college admissions scandal that sparked outrage and passionate debate across the country. With sensitivity and grace, Julie Buxbaum has woven a tale about the forces that perpetuate elitism and white privilege and the destruction those forces leave in their wake. 

Chloe Berringer is living the good life in sunny, southern California. Well... she was living it before the FBI showed up with guns drawn and a warrant for her mother's arrest. 

Until that fateful day, Chloe had lived the most uneventful life that ever existed. Nothing bad ever happened, and senior year was shaping up to be the best yet! An acceptance letter from Chloe's dream school had just arrived (despite her mediocre GPA and the school's notoriously selective acceptance policy), and her lifelong crush had finally asked her to Prom.

In the blink of an eye (or the clink of her mom's cuffs), Chloe's good fortune makes a complete 180 before nosediving straight into the ground. Unable to return to school and with her best friend MIA, Chloe is forced to face some hard truths alone.  

MY THOUGHTS

I found myself captivated by Chloe's story. Indeed, I read this ARC from start to finish without putting it down. Despite a few (very minor) holes in the subplot of a secondary character, I thoroughly enjoyed ADMISSION and think it's an important story worth telling.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it's also irresponsible. 

OVERALL RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 👩‍⚖️👩‍⚖️👩‍⚖️👩‍⚖️👩‍⚖️

STORYLINE: 📚📚📚📚

Scheduled Release Date: December 1, 2020

*A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

BOOK REVIEW: Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit that I have a serious affinity for super cute YA novels. And, in the young adult world, West is king! I absolutely loved The Fill-in Boyfriend, but LISTEN TO YOUR HEART might be my new favorite.

It's just the adorable kind of read that makes ya feel good! Yes, it's somewhat predictable. Some might even say it's too cheesy at times. Well, I don't care. I really and truly loved it! (Not in spite of those things, but because of them.)

Side note: Queen's "Under Pressure" was playing on a loop in my brain as the background score music for the last few chapters. Which can only mean ONE thing: it would make a fabulous coming-of-age movie!

PSS. I don't know why my brain finds the need to create a soundtrack for books, but I kind of love it.

View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW: When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer

A heartwarming coming-of-age tale about mental illness, tolerance, and the beautiful bonds that can form between animal and human. WHEN ELEPHANTS FLY, at its heart, is about the importance of fighting for what you believe in, living in the moment, and never giving up hope. 

Lily Decker has spent most of her life fearing the day she becomes her schizophrenic mother. The same mother who attempted to kill her when she was 11-years-old. 

Because schizophrenia is largely genetic and deeply ingrained in her family's lineage, Lily lives life by a specific code of conduct. It's what she refers to as her "12-Year Plan". The plan consists of living life by logic rather than emotion and adhering to a clean living lifestyle, to avoid the well-known triggers of schizophrenia -- stress, lack of sleep, hormonal changes, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, alcohol and drug use. To implement her plan, Lily runs three miles every day, meditates, and avoids parties and high-stress situations. The only problem with Lily's plan -- it's BORING.

Lily is nothing if not apathetic about life. That is, until an internship at her local newspaper brings her to the zoo, where she bears witness to an elephant trying to kill its three-week-old calf, Swifty. (Ya know, like Lily's mother once tried to do to her.) She can't bear to turn her back on the news story, or the baby calf, but Lily knows she'll need to abandon her "12-Year Plan" if she wants to help. So, when she learns that Swifty is dying from grief, Lily makes a life-altering decision that could not only break her sanity, but also, her heart.

Life may not always be a fairy tale, but there are many forms of happily-ever-after. This story was inspiring, heartfelt, and adorable.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

*A big thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. The thoughts expressed in this review are my own personal opinions and have been written in my own words.

Publish Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Harlequin Teen