The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris | Book Review

The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris

Reading Group Rating: Young Adult

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: According to the guys at Fairfield Academy, there are two types of girls: the kind you hook up with, and the kind you're friends with. Seventeen-year-old Alyssa Reed is the second type. And she hates it. With just one year left to change her rank, she devises a plan to become the first type by homecoming, and she sets her sights on the perfect date-Justin Carter, Fairfield Academy's biggest hottie and most notorious player.

With 57 days until the dance, Aly launches Operation Sex Appeal and sheds her tomboy image. The only thing left is for Justin actually to notice her. Enter best friend Brandon Taylor, the school's second biggest hottie, and now Aly's pretend boyfriend. With his help, elevating from funny friend to tempting vixen is only a matter of time.

But when everything goes according to plan, the inevitable break up leaves their friendship in shambles, and Aly and Brandon with feelings they can't explain. And the fake couple discovers pretending can sometimes cost you the one thing you never expected to want.

Cover: The cover of this book is very sweet.  It depicts two people, presumably Aly and Brandon, hiding behind a heart.  I like the cover because they aren't close enough to be kissing (unless of course they are half ducks, but that would be weird and probably mentioned in the book...hehe) so what are they doing?  Are they about to kiss?  Are they smiling at each other?  Are they in that awkward phase were they want to be friends, but only because they're afraid to be more so they aren't making eye contact?  I think judging by where their hands are they are probably at least being flirty with each other.

My Review: I loved this book because it was relatable.  I think it's normal for people to start thinking about ways to change themselves at the end of the summer.  To think This year is going to be my year.  And even making small changes.  Do I think most people try to change as drastically as Aly did?  No.  But do I think a few people do every year?  Absolutely.  Everyone wants to be noticed in high school.  So they make some changes, come up with a few lies, it happens.  But eventually the real you comes through and you'll realize that it's easier to just be you.  And maybe, in your mission to change you discovered some new things about yourself and that's great, but the lies just make life messier not easier.  I think this book describes this perfectly.  It was a great story and of course I loved it because it had the best friends turned boyfriend and girlfriend aspect in there too.  And that part was obviously a big part, but I don't think it took away from the fact that Aly did a lot of self discovery at the start of her senior year.  Brandon too.  He had to admit some things to himself that he never thought he would.  Coming from someone who has been through senior year I can tell you that you do learn a lot about yourself during senior year.  It's scary and exhilarating at the same time.

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FOUR: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth | Book Review

FOUR: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

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Reading Group Rating: Young Adult

Personal Rating: 5 Stars

Given Summary: Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. Tobias’s transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened “Four,” he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future—and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth comes a companion volume to the worldwide bestselling DIVERGENT series, told from the per-spective of the immensely popular character Tobias. The four pieces included here—THE TRANSFER, THE INITIATE, THE SON, and THE TRAITOR—plus three additional exclusive scenes, give readers an electrifying glimpse into the history and heart of Tobias, and set the stage for the epic saga of the DIVERGENT trilogy.


Cover: When I first purchased this book I thought the cover was so cool.  It's Chicago with the ferris wheel that Tobias climbs in Divergent even though he's afraid of heights.  I wasn't 100% sure why it was on fire, maybe just to show how scary something like that is to Tobias or just because the Dauntless symbol is flames.  However, after reading Four I'm not a huge fan of the cover.  The ferris wheel scene isn't mentioned in the book at all so there is really no point for it to be on the cover.  I think whoever came up with this cover could have come up with something that had to do more with the book itself and not just Tobias.  Maybe just flames for Dauntless or flames burning the Abnegation symbol or some other way to resemble his fears.

My Review: I have a thing for stories from multiple perspectives and I definitely favor the male perspective.  I don't know why, I just do.  So I was excited when I bought this novel to read from Tobias' point of view.  However, I didn't really like the ending of the Divergent series so my excitement to read this book wavered a little.  I did really enjoy Four though.  It was interesting to get inside of Tobias' head and see who he was before he met Tris.  I liked that this book was almost a prequel to the main series.  You get to learn how Dauntless was when Tobias was going through initiation versus Tris' initiation.  I just loved being inside Tobias' head because he was such an introvert in Divergent so it was nice to get to know him better.  I loved how in the back of the book there were three scenes from Divergent in Tobias' point of view.  Just three little scenes, not the whole book.  And how within Four these events had already happened, but they weren't elaborated on and then they were put in as little extras.

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Cover Reveal Reaction

Hey guys so if you saw my Kirsty Moseley Cover Reveal post that went live this morning you might be a little confused.  I mean it's kind of random for me to just throw an announcement from an author, so I wanted to talk a little bit more about it and react to the new covers. (If you haven't seen it yet you can click here)

So basically a little while ago I was on twitter and I saw that Kirsty Moseley was asking people to reveal her new covers on their blogs.  So I decided to sign up.  It was a very simple Google Forms sign up.  Then a few days ago I got an email with instructions on how to create the reveal post.  Again wicked easy.  I also found it really cool, like I want to do it again, but I don't really know how. I feel like this was pure luck.  Anyway, that's how it came to be and now I want to react to the new covers.

    

    

So for both books the new covers are very different.  And I absolutely love them!  I especially love the new Free Falling cover with Maisie underwater because the scene with water is so important in this novel.  I also love how on the Always You cover there are no faces and that you can't really make out Maisie's face on her cover.  I don't know why, but I have a thing about that.  I prefer when covers don;t have faces so that you can come up with the character in your head.  The little blurb of writing on them is nice as well.  Considering I have already read both of these novels I can appreciate the phrase chosen and know exactly what it means and it's importance.  I like the artistic choice of keeping the flowers on each cover.  I think it stands as a reminder that these are still the books we love the only thing that changed are the covers.  Which, obviously, are the only things that changed, but covers are a big deal.  If you picked up both cover versions for one of these books and they didn't have titles on them you could easily assume they were two completely different stories.  However, the flower stands as something to connect them together.  I am interested to know what the new covers are made out of.  If you own these novels you'll know what I mean when I saw that the original covers are very smudgy.  As in you can see your fingerprints similar to on your phone screen.  I don't really know if that makes any sense to anyone who hasn't held these books.  I love these new covers, I think they're absolutely beautiful.

And both of these books are on sale for only $0.99 but only until August 11th so if you haven't read them before I highly suggest you download them.  For less than $2.00 you get two complete novels, you can't do much better than that!  And you'll get sucked into both storylines so quickly you won't be able to put either of them down, trust me.

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I did do a book review for Free Falling and if you want to read it you can click here.  I don't have one for Always You because I had already read it before I started to do book reviews. :)

Kirsty Moseley New Cover Reveal

     

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Riley Tanner has a best friend, the best friend a girl could ask for. He’s supportive, loyal, honest, trustworthy, kind, and thoughtful. He’s also the biggest player in school. Their relationship has always been easy and affectionate, but after Riley’s month long vacation, things become a little strange. She starts to look at him in ways that go way beyond the ‘friend zone’. Add in her best friend’s rival, and things become a whole lot more complicated.

   

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They say that your school years are supposed to be the best years of your life, and that you should make the most of them because you’ll miss them when you’re all grown up. Up until Maisie Preston’s senior year, she would have totally agreed with that statement. Life was great; she had everything going for her, excellent grades, great parents, an annoying yet caring twin brother, and an impossibly sweet boyfriend. Everything was perfect — that is until the arrival of Zach Anderson. A misfit delinquent that seemed to bring with him a lot of bad karma. Is it just a coincidence that his arrival marks a significant change in Maisie’s life? Up until senior year, life was perfect, but things seem to be going downhill fast. This is a companion novel for ‘Always You’ — though this novel stands alone so there is no need to read Always You first.

   

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Kirsty Moseley has always been a passionate reader since she was a little girl, devouring books overnight, barely sleeping and paying for it at school the next day. Writing has come similarly to her and once she discovered Wattpad, she finally plucked up the courage to post one of her stories. Seven million reads later, she self-published her debut novel THE BOY WHO SNEAKS IN MY BEDROOM WINDOW, which later became one of 10 Finalists for the 2012 Goodreads' Choice Awards, Best YA Fiction. Shocked and overwhelmed by the response, she published her second novel ALWAYS YOU a few months later. If she had to sum herself up in one word, it would probably be 'daydreamer' - but unlike most of her school teachers, she doesn't necessarily view that as a bad thing. After all, she read somewhere once that books are like waking dreams.... She lives in Norfolk, England with her husband and son.

 

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The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle | Book Review

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle 

Reading Group Rating: High School

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: For eighteen years, Wren Gray has been the model daughter -- which in her family means all As, zero boyfriends, and early acceptance into a pre-med program.  But as graduation nears, Wren can no longer tell if her parents' ideas about her future align with her own.  She knows she needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn't even know what they are?

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, knows exactly what he wants.  A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the first day he saw her.  But a girl like Wren would never fall for a boy like him -- at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.  And yet, certain things are written in the stars...

With all the sweetness -- and steaminess -- of first romance, this gorgeous novel explores that time between high school and college when life seems to be just beginning, and everything -- including true love -- is impossible.

Cover: The cover of this novel is really cool.  It doesn't really have a deeper meaning like some other covers (like Sublime or Scorched) but I really like it.  It's nighttime, which I guess the characters do spend a lot of time together at night, but it's also just their silhouettes which I like as I'm not a huge fan of having real people on the covers of books.  However, it also has circles covering it and I have no idea why, but I think it adds a nice element to the cover. 

My Review:  This story is really good.  The reason I gave it 4 Stars versus 5 is simply that although I enjoyed it a lot I don't think it's going to be one of those books I go back and reread over and over again.  I liked this book because it was a little different than the teen romance books I usually read.  I don't think I've ever read a book about a foster child and with that comes a very complex character.  I loved Charlie, he is such a sweetheart.  And as Wren says in the book, he is a hero who helped the people around him whenever he can rather than going searching for people to help.  I liked that he was always there and that he was the kind of friend who once he's in your life, he stays.  Even if he doesn't really want to.  His and Wren's romance was adorable throughout the entire story.  It was clear that they both truly cared about each other.  Also, I think Wren's life at home is something a lot of people can relate to.  Our parents always want the best for us, but sometimes they use us to redo their lives and at some point we have to stand up to them and tell them what we want.  Overall, this story was very real and I think anyone can relate to some aspect of it.

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Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Book Review

Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Reading Group Rating: M for Mature (sexual content and sensitive subject matter)

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Given Summary:Sometimes life leaves a mark...

Most days, Andrea doesn't know whether she wants to kiss Tanner or punch him in the gut. He is seriously hot, with legit bedroom eyes and that firefighter body of his, but he's a major player, and they can't get along for more than a handful of minutes. Until now.

Tanner knows he and Andrea have had an epic love/hate relationship for as long as he can remember, but he wants more love than hate from her. He wants her. Now. Tomorrow. But the more he gets to know her, the more it becomes obvious that Andrea has a problem. She's teetering on the edge, and every time he tries to catch her, she slips through his fingers.

Andrea's life is spiraling out of control, and it doesn't matter that Tanner wants to save her, because when everything falls apart and she’s speeding toward rock-bottom, only she can save herself.

Sometimes life makes you work for that happily ever after...

Cover: I don't even know where to start with this cover.  So it's obviously Andrea, looking almost like she's in pain or frustrated or crying.  All of which could have to do with her depression and anxiety.  She is also on a bed so maybe she's trying and failing to fall asleep.  She does have trouble sleeping and has to take medication so that is possible.  Or maybe she never went to sleep at all.  There does seem to be a bright light coming in from her side.  Maybe it's the sun, coming as a way of saying that it's a new day, a new start, and everything is going to be okay.  Or maybe it's headlights.  There do seem to be little sparkles around the edges, maybe those are stars.  It could be representing her accident.  Also, really the only color on the cover is her red hair.  Red is a color to show love and anger, two things Andrea battles with when it comes to Tanner.  It also shows superhuman heroism to the Greeks.  Andrea was able to be her own hero when she finally agreed to get help and then stayed in her rehabilitation program longer than necessary to make sure she was okay.  Red is also the color of fire.  Which leads me to the title of this novel, Scorched.

Sorry about how blurry this image is.  That happened because it had to shrink to fit in the post.

Scorch means (1) burn the surface of something with flame or heat.  Andrea (not to be too cliche, but I'm going to be) was like an onion in this novel (*cringes*)  and every once in a while you saw through another layer.  A layer would burn away and you would learn something new about her.  However it was still only the surface compared to what was to come.  She didn't completely burn and shed her skin until she was in that car accident, until she was finally able to admit that something was wrong and she needed help.  You could look at it from her and Tanner's relationship as well.  Tanner had no idea what he was getting into when he fell for Andrea.  He knew who she acted to be, but he didn't know her thoroughly.  He had to scorch the surface of her to do that, which he did entirely wrong and induced a panic attack from her, but he had to know who she was.

Scorch also means (2) move very fast.  Everything Andrea did she did at 180mph.  She was constantly changing her house around.  She drank quickly so she could get drunk.  When a panic attack was coming she quickly put it out or it quickly tore her apart.  She was driving fast when she was in the accident.  Even her and Tanner, one second they're throwing insults at each other, the next second they love each other.

And also, when you think of the word scorched, you probably think of fire.  And Tanner was a firefighter.  He was trained to deal with fires and he knew how to put them out.  He is the only one who would be able to handle Andrea and love her for who she is, even if part of who she is involves some pretty pretty frustrating issues. 

My Review: You guys!  This book, let me tell you.  First of all I found it because of Amazon recommendations and when I read the summary I was like, okay it's your typical romance novel, boy and girl love each other but they don't tell each other until they've already broken up and then they live happily ever after.  WRONG!  So all of that stuff does happen in this novel, but it so much more than that.  This novel covers topics about depression and anxiety and alcoholism and how they all correlate and can be happening to someone who you love and you may not even fully understand the levels of it.  This book was amazing.  I read it from cover to cover without putting it down.   I give an accurate time it took me to read because for some of it I had the TV on so I was only reading during the commercials.
I think because so many people with serious issues like depression and anxiety and drinking, even if it seems only like binge drinking and maybe that's not as serious as all the time drinking (P.S. It is) this book can really hit close to home.  People also suffer with not being so secure about their bodies. And people suffer from massive crushes on people they think they have no chance with, even if they already are in the same friend group.  Those issues are real and sometimes one person feels them all at once, just like Andrea.  I think her story shows that it's okay if you have those problems, but don't wait until you almost kill someone or yourself to get help.  The people you surround yourself with care about you, they want what's best for you and for you to be happy and healthy.  And if they don't care, you deserve better people in your life.  Jennifer Armentrout does a beautiful job of relating sensitive topics to a normal girl in this novel while still being able to make it a funny, lovable book.

P.S. After writing this I went to put it on my GoodReads account and this is the second book in the series!  Second!  The first one is called Frigid and it's Sydney and Kyler's story.

Quotes:  Having depression didn't make me think less of her.  Honestly, if anyone thought less of someone because of that, they could go fuck themselves. 

The thing about alcoholism and depression, I was learning, was that it wasn't a one-person problem.  At affected everyone you came into contact with, sometimes in ways you didn't even know, and not necessarily negatively either.  People wanted to help you.  You just had to let them. 

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Frigid by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Book Review

Frigid by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Reading Group Rating: SM for Slightly Mature

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary:For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love. Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have. But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

Cover: I think this cover is pretty straightforward.  It's Syd and Kyler looking at each other lovingly while it snows.  I think the title of this story means a lot more.  There's the obvious reason: They get stuck in a  snow storm and lose power.  It's frigid.

However, I think the second definition is the more important one.  Frigid: (especially of a woman) unable or unwilling to be sexually aroused and responsive.  Sydney's ex-boyfriend called her frigid once and it stuck with her for years.  She was afraid she was frigid and that Kyler thought she was frigid.  Remember kids, words can be just as painful as wounds.  It's Sydney's major insecurity and it is referenced throughout the entire novel.

My Review: So I actually didn't read this novel until after I read Scorched.  It didn't make a huge difference in the series.  It was just that Kyler and Sydney's story happens before Andrea and Tanner's story.  It was actually kind of funny because there is a point where Andrea says that it's always the boys that mess up a relationship, when she was the one who made things a little rocky between her and Tanner.  And there's a part where Tanner says he'll never fall in love.  But anyways, I decided to post this review first because this is the first book in the series.

I loved this story.  It was a storyline I've read a few times where best friends love each other, but the boy is a man whore and the girl secretly wants him.  However, every time I read a story like that I get sucked in and every author has their own spin on it.  I loved that they were stranded in the blizzard and where almost forced to admit how they felt.  I loved that Kyler wanted Sydney to believe she deserved better from him.  I also loved Zach's character.  He was creepy from the start and he was scary, but I liked that he was stalking them and messing with their safety.  I just thought his character added more to the story and made it more interesting.

I think that if you are in love with your best friend, this story kind of shows you how much your relationship changes if you try to transition from friends to more.  Especially if it doesn't go well.  Everyone is effected because you hang out with the same people, you know some things from the past that you might not have shared with a boyfriend/girlfriend.  It's just different than meeting someone at a party or bar or being set up and living happily ever after.  However, if it does work out, it works out in the best possible reason because of the same reasons.  There's a reason it's the basis of a lot of books.