Review: Before You by Amber Hart

Before You

(Before & After # 1)

Pub. Date: July 29, 2014

Publisher: K-Teen

Pages: 320

Source: Netgalley

Some say love is deadly. Some say love is beautiful. I say it is both.

Faith Watters spent her junior year traveling the world, studying in exquisite places, before returning to Oviedo High School. From the outside her life is picture-perfect. Captain of the dance team. Popular. Happy. Too bad it’s all a lie.

It will haunt me. It will claim me. It will shatter me. And I don't care.

Eighteen-year-old Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in. Nor does he want to. His only concern is staying hidden from his past—a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him everything. Including his life.

At Oviedo High School, it seems that Faith Watters and Diego Alvarez do not belong together. But fate is as tricky as it is lovely. Freedom with no restraint is what they long for. What they get is something different entirely.

Love—it will ruin you and save you, both.

I received this galley in exchange for an honest review.

The minute I saw this cover and read the blurb I knew I had to read it. I was so excited when I saw it on netgalley! Who doesn't love the idea of a good girl and a bad boy, but Before You definitely stood on it's own. There were some similarities to other contemporaries out there, but there were also a lot of differences.

Faith is a through and through a good girl. She makes good grades, listens to her father, who happens to be the local pastor, and never does anything that is against the rules. Turns out that is just one big facade, and I loved it! I loved getting to know the real Faith. Turns out she used to be into the party scene in a bad kind of way-even had to go to rehab. But the only people who knows this about Faith is her family and her best friend Melissa. She plays the part of a good girl good. It isn't until she is assigned to show Diego, a new student from Cuba around school that things start to unfold. Diego can definitely see the real her. Diego is full of tattoos and scars from his days running drugs for the gangs in Cuba. Him and his father has come to Miami for a better life and to get him away from all that. I really enjoyed watching Faith and Diego go from hating each other, to friends, to a relationship.

There were a lot of things that bothered me about Faith. Behind closed doors she and Diego were adorable, but at school she would ignore him and talk about him with her friends. I felt so bad Diego. Either way, the two of them had a really great connection, I just wish Faith was nicer.

I really loved the moments between Diego and his extended family. No matter where you come from, or what you have been through, you always need your family. I thought these moments were so special, and I knew they meant a lot to Diego.

I will never know what it's like to be in Diego's shoes, but the pain, anger and fear he felt, I felt it too. His story was heartbreaking, and even though he did bad things, I understood why he had to do them. I just wanted him to be able to get out of that life completely!

I'm looking forward to the next book featuring Melissa and Javier, Diego's cousin.

Review: A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley by Neal Thompson

A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley

By: Neal Thompson

Pub. Date: May 7, 2013

Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Pages: 374

Source: Blogging for Books

"A Curious Man" is the marvelously compelling biography of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley, the enigmatic cartoonist turned globetrotting millionaire who won international fame by celebrating the world's strangest oddities, and whose outrageous showmanship taught us to believe in the unbelievable.

As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley's life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world. After selling his first cartoon to "Time "magazine at age eighteen, more cartooning triumphs followed, but it was his "Believe It or Not" conceit and the wildly popular radio shows it birthed that would make him one of the most successful entertainment figures of his time and spur him to search the globe's farthest corners for bizarre facts, exotic human curiosities, and shocking phenomena.

Ripley delighted in making outrageous declarations that somehow always turned out to be true--such as that Charles Lindbergh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that "The Star Spangled Banner" was "not "the national anthem. Assisted by an exotic harem of female admirers and by ex-banker Norbert Pearlroth, a devoted researcher who spoke eleven languages, Ripley simultaneously embodied the spirit of Peter Pan, the fearlessness of Marco Polo and the marketing savvy of P. T. Barnum.

In a very real sense, Ripley sought to remake the world's aesthetic. He demanded respect for those who were labeled "eccentrics" or "freaks"--whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 1,615 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose.

By the 1930s Ripley possessed a vast fortune, a private yacht, and a twenty-eight room mansion stocked with such "oddities" as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices, and his pioneering firsts in print, radio, and television were tapping into something deep in the American consciousness--a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, dumbest and most weird. Today, that legacy continues and can be seen in reality TV, YouTube, "America's Funniest Home Videos, Jackass, MythBusters" and a host of other pop-culture phenomena.

In the end Robert L. Ripley changed "everything. "The supreme irony of his life, which was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual, is that he may have been the most amazing oddity of all.

Since I was a child I have been fascinated with Ripley's Believe it or Not. I remember going to his museums and loving every minute of it. I was so excited when I had the chance to read this book for review because I always wanted to know more about him and the interesting life he lead. While I learned a lot, and did enjoy the story as a whole, I found myself being bored too. It's definitely written in biographical format, and that has never appealed to me.

I had no idea how messed up Robery Ripley really was. He was so sheltered and socially awkward that it amazes me what he was able to accomplish in his life. I loved learning about his adventures, and the pictures were great!

As I said, I loved learning about his life but at the same time, once he started traveling there were just way too many things happening. It was hard to keep up, which made me not want to continue. But my need to want to learn more is what kept me reading. I think I would have been so much happier with the book if it was a 100 pages shorter.

Either way, Ripley lived such an interesting life and his story should be told. I would recommend this book to those who do want to learn more about him.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review. 

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. 

Purchase the book here!

Learn more about the author here!

Review: Pretenders by Lisi Harrison

Pretenders

(Pretenders # 1)

By: Lisi Harrison

Pub. Date: October 1, 2014

Publisher: Poppy

Pages: 293

It takes place at a high school in New Jersey. Summer is over. Sophomore year begins tomorrow. Outfits are being planned. Lunch buddies are being secured. Texts are flying. All seems normal when…ping! Everyone in the sophomore class gets an email.

SUBJECT: The Phoenix Five: License To Spill.

Attached is a mega document.

A letter from a mysterious student starts the book. It explains that at the end of each year the school yearbook- The Phoenix- names the five most outstanding freshman. She (or he) always suspected that last years’ five (3 girls, 2 boys) were phonies. She (or he) always thought they tried too hard to be popular. But she (or he) never had the proof. Until now. She (or he) stole the secret diaries they were asked to keep by their English teacher. She (or he) has compiled them into a book.

This is that book. 

I received this galley in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved the concept of this book so much, but there was a few things that disappointed me. For one, I hate that this was turned into two books. I think one book would have been absolutely perfect. I actually didn't even know the book was going to end until I turned the page and it was over (I was reading an e-ARC and the formatting was all off-it told me I had another 60 pages :/).

The story is told through the journal entries of five teens-Lily, Vanessa, Sheridan, Duffy and Jagger. I started the book really enjoying everyone's POV, but as the story went on, the only one I really cared about was Jagger. While everyone else was complaining about stupid things and being overly dramatic, Jagger was the only one who really was dealing with things. If I do choose to read the second book, it will only be because I want to know more about Jagger and get resolution for his story.

I will say that having five point of views can be extremely difficult-not just for the author, but for the reader as well. But Lisi Harrison pulled it off wonderfully. I could clearly see the differences between the voices. They were all very unique. I definitely have to give her props for that.

Review: Some Boys by Patty Blount

Some Boys

By: Patty Blount

Pub. Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 352

Source: Netgalley

Some boys go too far. Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole.

When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own.

But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love?

A gut-wrenching, powerful love story told from alternating points of view by the acclaimed author of Send.

I received this galley from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really love Patty Blount's books. Her characters go through really tough things that are so realistic to today's teenagers, and Some Boys is no exception. Told in the POV of both Grace and Ian, the reader gets an inside look how hard it is too be a teenager, especially a teenage girl in today's world.

Almost two months before, Grace was raped by the towns golden boy, Zac, who also happens to be Ian's best friend. When Grace names her rapist, no one believes her. Zac said she wanted it and she enjoyed it, and Grace was deemed the town slut. She went from being popular, to not even being able to walk down the hall without being taunting by everyone. Even parents have something to say about it. This is something that happens too many times in real life, and its sad and horrible and I don't understand how it keeps happening. I don't understand how people, knowing what they know, can still automatically blame the victim. It's very hard for me to read. Blount did a good job with Grace's voice. I really felt her pain and anger and I just wanted her to be ok.

Ian automatically believed Zac. He's his best friend so why should he doubt him. But when he and Grace are forced to clean lockers in detention he starts to see a side of Grace that tells him maybe Zac is the one whose lying. I liked Grace and Ian together. It definitely wasn't easy, but it was real. Ian was in a rough place because he wants to believe his best friend, but he sees Grace isn't the slut everyone says she is. I thought he was a very well written, realistic boy that many people could relate too. He wasn't perfect, he made mistakes, but he was a good person.

Some Boys is a really important story that I think people should be more aware of. Even though it is a very hard topic, I still really enjoyed this story and I highly recommend it. 

Review: Magnolia by Kristi Cook

Magnolia

By: Kristi Cook

Pub. Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 384

Source: Edelweiss

In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are southern royalty. Neighbors since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when a baby boy and girl were born to the families at the same time, the perfect opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.

Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen, for goodness’ sake, not to mention that one little problem: They hate each other! Jemma can’t stand Ryder’s nauseating golden-boy persona, and Ryder would like nothing better than to pretend stubborn Jemma doesn’t exist.

But when a violent storm ravages Magnolia Branch, it unearths Jemma’s and Ryder’s true feelings for each other as the two discover that the line between love and hate may be thin enough to risk crossing over.

 I received this galley from edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I've always been obsessed with life in the South, from their old plantation style homes and histories to their way of life in modern times. I was really looking forward to reading Magnolia for this reason.

Magnolia deals with two families, the Cafferty's and the Marsden's. They have been best friends since the Civil War. For over a hundred years the families have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to blend their two families together through the marriage, and it finally looks like it can happen with Jemma and Ryder. The problem is that these two can't stand each other, or more appropriately, Jemma can't stand Ryder and we don't know why. We know it has something to do with a high school dance a few years earlier. I really wanted to know the history between these two, because they had excellent chemistry.

I really loved the two of them together. They were just so cute! Their story really picked up for me when they were forced to stay together during a terrifying hurricane. It was so adorable how scared Ryder was and how protective Jemma got of him.

I totally understand why Jemma's parents weren't able to come home before the hurricane, but I don't understand why Ryder's parents just told him to stay with her, alone, during the hurricane. They said it was because of the pets that Jemma's family has, but they couldn't make an exception for one night? It was a freaking hurricane! They could have just locked the pets in one of the rooms in their plantation home. Then at least two teenagers wouldn't have to be alone during a hurricane with multiple tornadoes.

Except for that one issue, I really enjoyed Magnolia and I absolutely loved the cover. This was my first Kristi Cook book, and I am excited to read more from her.

Blog Tour: Review: The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

The Girl from the Well

By: Rin Chupeco

Pub. Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 304

Source: Netgalley

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night. 

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret - one that would just kill to get out.

The Girl from the Well is A YA Horror novel pitched as "Dexter" meets "The Grudge", based on a well-loved Japanese ghost story.

 I received this galley from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't really know what to expect from The Girl from the Well. I knew there was a ghost, a boy with secrets and I knew it was being described as similar to the movie, "The Grudge". I read the first chapter, had no idea what was going on and decided to stop. A few days later I was still intrigued, picked it back up, and ended up loving it! So definitely give this book a chance, it's totally worth it!

What makes this book so interesting is the POV it's in. Okiku was murdered hundreds of years ago, and spends her afterlife killing those who have killed children. She walks the earth alone, but she has a purpose. I loved her voice and her descriptions of things. Even though she has been around for over 300 years, she is so detached from people, which made her POV so much more interesting to read. Everything changes for her when she meets Tark. A strange boy with creepy, moving tattoos on his arm.

I loved Tark! What a sad, broken, funny, sweet guy. All we know from the beginning is that his mother put those tattoos on him when he was very young and that she tried to kill him. We have no idea why. He had so much love for him mom, even though she has done nothing but hurt him. The whole situation was so hard to read. I also loved Tark's cousin, Callie. She was so supportive of Tark and I loved their relationship.

I don't know much about Japanese supernatural culture, so I really enjoyed learning about all of it in this book. You could tell that the author did a lot of research for this story, and it paid off! I was turning the pages so fast to learn more about all of this.

I really enjoyed The Girl from the Well. I thought it was interesting, fast paced and highly original. I will definitely read more from this author!

Despite uncanny resemblances to Japanese revenants, Rin Chupeco has always maintained her sense of humor. Raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. She’s been a technical writer and travel blogger, but now makes things up for a living. The Girl from the Well is her debut novel. Connect with Rin at www.rinchupeco.com.

Free Preview Review: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After

(Anna and the French Kiss # 3)

By: Stephanie Perkins

Pub. Date: August 14, 2014

Publisher: Dutton

Pages: 339

Source: Free preview provided by Netgalley

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.

I received this free preview from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I've waited forever for a new Stephanie Perkins novel, so I was so excited when I saw a free preview on netgalley for her latest book, Isla and the Happily Ever After. From the few chapters that I read, I think Isla and Josh are going to be fantastic contemporary characters. In true Perkins fashion, Isla and the Happily Ever After seems like it's going to be a fun, sweet and amazing story that I am so looking forward too.

I am also excited about the setting. I love that we will be back in Paris again, but the two characters live in New York City, so scenes will also take place there.

I am already so intrigued by Isla. She seems like she is going to be so realistic and fun. I think a lot of teenage girls (and even adults) can relate to her. I can't wait to learn more about Josh. There definitely seems to be an interesting story there!

August 14th can't come fast enough!