Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone | ARC Review

The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 346
Source: Won Giveaway through the Novl Early Review Program
Find on Goodreads




Goodreads Description

Maddie has big plans to spend the last months before college tying up high school “loose ends” alongside her best friends. Then her beloved grandmother drops two bombshells: (1) Gram is dying. (2) She’s taking her entire family on a round-the-world cruise of dreams come true—but at the end, Gram won’t be returning home.

With a promise to live in the now without regrets, Maddie boards the Wishwell determined to make every moment count. She finds new friends in her fellow Wishwellians, takes advantage of the trip’s many luxuries, gets even closer to her quirky family, and falls for painfully gorgeous Enzo. But despite the copious laughter, headiness of first love, and wonder of the glamorous destinations, Maddie knows she is on the brink of losing Gram, and she struggles to find the strength to let go in a whirlwind summer shaped by love, grief, and laughter.

My Thoughts


Going into this book I had just finished reading the Gemina ARC and it was a big shift from a SciFi world to YA Contemporary. Although the concept sounded interesting, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Honestly I had to force myself through about the first 50 pages, up until they got on the ship. I don't think it was because it wasn't interesting. I just wasn't really in the mood to read it at the time. Luckily I really wanted to know how everything would work out or I might have put off reading it even longer.

"Not overboard, Mary. There's a cute little door they slide you through. You're so melodramatic."


The Loose Ends List is a unique contemporary. I love how the author was able to take such and kind of depressing topic and add some humor to it. This had a lot to do with the characters. I think the characters can make or break a story. Even though all the characters didn't stand out for me, they definitely helped take this story to another level. Every single person introduced had their own personalities, and that was consistent throughout the novel. Maddie's grandmother is an eccentric woman with wild stories of adventure and love and no filter. She's the grandmother everyone wishes they had and even though she's dying, she never loses that spunk. This carries through to the other patients, their families, and Maddie's family. I think learning about everyone is best experienced first hand so I will not get into details of everyone.

Now I want to talk about the romance. I didn't think it was necessary to have any romance. I honestly don't consider it more than a fling. It would have been possible for almost everything to still happen the way it did if the romance was completely taken out. Although it wasn't insta-love it wasn't developed enough for me and just didn't feel real. I hate to say but I feel like there was a relationship (and I'm mentally putting air quotes around that) was only there out of a sense of obligation to genre. I would have really liked if Maddie and her romantic interest could have started off as friends and it could lead to something in the future, after the book ends. I feel like I just said the same thing a bunch of different ways. Sorry!

We get a text just before sunset. It's time, my babies.


While this book was pretty hilarious at moments, I actually laughed out loud a few time, there were still some sad moments. Some scenes didn't hit as hard because I didn't feel as connected to some of the characters. But when the inevitable finally came I shed a few tears. Although it was a sad moment it still made me happy in the end because Maddie's grandmother brought some of her family closer together as well as give them an experience that will continue to teach them things.

Overall, I enjoyed The Loose Ends List but it wasn't my favorite. I think it did a good job of handling the sad topic in an interesting and entertaining way that I never heard of. As far as my rating, I took off a star because of the romance since it didn't feel real. I also took off a star because it was a little slow at moments. I think if you like YA contemporary that deals with these topics it's definitely worth checking out.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten eBooks That Have Been On MyTBR Since Before I Started Blogging


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

I started looking over my shelves while thinking about what books I could use for this week's Top Ten Tuesday. I realized that most of the physical books I haven't read I haven't had for a year yet. So in order to use books I own, I decided to focus on ebooks that fit into this category.













Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Waiting on Wednesday: The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Expected Publication Date: September 13, 2016
Pages: 416
Find on Goodreads


Goodreads Description

What isn't written, isn't remembered. Even your crimes.

Nadia lives in the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day of no remorse, when each person's memories – of parents, children, love, life, and self – are lost. Unless they have been written.

In Canaan, your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who hasn't written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who has never forgotten.

But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray, the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever. As the anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence – before the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her.

Why I'm Waiting


This book sounds so interesting! Can you imagine having everything you know be erased every 12 years? Can you imagine being the one person (or so it seems) who never forgets? I'm glad the description doesn't give too much away but it has left me with so many questions. How does this whole ting work? Who set this up and for what purpose? Why might the main character, Nadia be immune to forgetting? And if she is immune, there must be other others, right?

Like I said, I have so many questions! This book has definitely caught my interest. It doesn't hurt that the cover is beautiful too! I'm thinking about pre-ordering this one.


Have you guys heard of this one? Any thought about it? Are you also looking forward to it after reading the description?


*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking the Spine

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday Rewind: Books I Feel Like Everyone Has Read But Me


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

As you see from the title of this post, this week's Top Ten Tuesday is a rewind, meaning everyone gets to go back to revisit or complete a topic they missed/skipped. I wasn't even blogging at this point but I decide to go with the topic, Top Ten Books I Feel Everyone Has Read But Me.




I don't really need to get into this. I watched all the movies growing up but didn't read the books. Now I have read the first book and own a paperback box set, so I will be continuing soon.




If I'm being honest, I hadn't heard of this series until last year (I think). I have read the first two books in the series but I need to finish the rest so I can move on to the spin off YA series.




This book is a lot of people's favorite. I've owned it for months now but it has just been looking pretty on my shelf since I bought it.




I've read the first book in the series but I was underwhelmed after all the hype and never continued. After I finish A Court of Mist and Fury I might get back into it (starting with a reread of Throne of Glass) because I feel like I will want more of Sarah J. Maas's writing.




When this book came out almost a year ago, everyone was talking about it. I've heard nothing but good things and want to pick it up soon.




I heard a lot of people talking about this series. I finally picked up the books in the series not too long ago but I still haven't read them yet.




So many good reviews on this book. Another contemporary that I've been wanting to read. Plus I'm pretty sure this book takes place outside of the United States, so that's an added bonus.




Since the second book in this duology just came out, everyone has been talking about this. I keep hearing about how beautiful her writing is and I feel so left out.




I haven't heard a lot of detail about this book but everyone seems to have read it and most people think it's amazing.




I'm pretty sure everyone who has read the Vampire Academy series has read or at least started the Bloodlines series. I have plans to reread Vampire Academy this year and I own the first book in the series so I hope to at least start it.


What are some books your feel like everyone has read but you haven't? Do we have any books/series in common?

Sunday, August 7, 2016

July Wrap Up

I know I just posted a wrap up but I wanted to get this up before the end of August. I'm still getting back into the feel of blogging. I don't think I've posted a review in a couple months. I'm  working on it, I promise! I know you're here for the wrap up so I will stop talking about stuff you probably don't care about.

New to My Shelves


Like I said in the last wrap up, I'm going to film a video of all the books I got during the summer at the end of this month. If you guys would like to see a post of all the books I got during the summer, let me know. I will say, I got 15 books in July. I'm using the excuse that it was my birthday month for why I got so many.

Books I Read



Gemina (5 stars) | The Loose Ends List (4 stars)


Bad Romeo (5 stars) | Broken Juliet (5 stars)


Food Wars Volume 6 (4 stars) | I Hate Fairyland (4 stars)


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ( 4 stars) | A Court of Thorns and Roses (reread/buddy read with Teisha from Girl Writes Review)


To Come in August



I made an ambitious TBR for June but now that it's a week into the month I'm thinking about changing some of that. I really want to get to some of the books I agreed to review but I forgot about (sorry if that happens to be your books). I also have ARCs that I got at Book Con that are coming out soon that I would like to get to. I'm currently reading A Court of Mist and Fury and since I'm a mood reader I'm not sure how I will feel about reading those things once I'm done.


What did you read in July?

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books You Would Buy Right Now


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish


It was so hard to just choose 10, especially since I have over 700 books on my Goodreads TBR. So to help with that I chose some series too.



This is a hardcover Harry Potter box set with covers themed towards your Hogwarts house. I'm just going to leave the link here!










Bonus



I really want the UK hardcover of this book!