Review: Loud Is How I Love You by Mercy Brown

Loud Is How I Love You by Mercy Brown - Twenty-one-year-old front girl Emmylou knows that getting her band noticed in the ‘90s indie rock scene will be no easy task. She definitely knows better than to break the number one rule of the band: Don't sleep with your bandmates! But after she ends up having the best sex of her life with her guitarist, Travis, she finds following that rule is a lot harder than it sounds.

When the band gets the gig of their dreams, making it big seems just within reach. But Emmy’s inability to keep her hands off Travis threatens everything they’ve worked for. Can Emmy find a way to break the rules and not blow the chance of a lifetime? From Goodreads.

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Review: What We Left Behind by Robin Talley

What We Left Behind by Robin Talley (proof) - From the critically acclaimed author of Lies We Tell Ourselves comes an emotional, empowering story of what happens when love isn't enough to conquer all.

Toni and Gretchen are the couple everyone envied in high school. They've been together forever. They never fight. They're deeply, hopelessly in love. When they separate for their first year at college—Toni to Harvard and Gretchen to NYU—they're sure they'll be fine. Where other long-distance relationships have fallen apart, their relationship will surely thrive.

The reality of being apart, however, is a lot different than they expected. As Toni, who identifies as genderqueer, falls in with a group of transgender upperclassmen and immediately finds a sense of belonging that has always been missing, Gretchen struggles to remember who she is outside their relationship.

While Toni worries that Gretchen, who is not trans, just won't understand what is going on, Gretchen begins to wonder where she fits in Toni's life. As distance and Toni's shifting gender identity begins to wear on their relationship, the couple must decide—have they grown apart for good, or is love enough to keep them together? From Goodreads.

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Characters Abroad!

Characters Abroad

Not going on holiday this year? Travel with the help of a good book!
I recently finished This Is Not a Love Story by Keren David, which is set in Amsterdam, and it got me thinking about YA/NA books I have read of characters abroad. As Summer is just around the corner, I thought I'd share with you these books set in holiday destinations!

Florence, Italy

One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart - Something is not right with Nadia Cara. She’s become a thief. She has secrets she can’t tell. And when she tries to speak, the words seem far away. In Florence, Italy, with her epicurean brother, professor father, and mother who helps at-risk teens, Nadia finds herself trapped by her own obsessions and following the trail of an elusive Italian boy whom no one but herself has seen. While her father researches a flood that nearly destroyed Florence in 1966, Nadia wonders if she herself can be rescued—or will she disappear?

Set against the backdrop of a glimmering city, One Thing Stolen is an exploration of obsession, art, and a rare neurological disorder. It is about language and beauty, imagining and knowing, and the deep salvation of love. From Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this book! Florence sounds so beautiful, and a wonderful place to explore, but it's also a really poignant story. My review.

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Review: Just One Night by Gayle Forman

Just One Night by Gayle Forman - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Everything will happen in just one night . . .

After spending one life-changing day in Paris with laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter, sheltered American good girl Allyson "Lulu" Healey discovered her new lover had disappeared without a trace.

Just One Day followed Allyson's quest to reunite with Willem; Just One Year chronicled the pair's year apart from Willem's perspective. Now, back together at last, this delectable e-novella reveals the couple's final chapter. From Goodreads

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Review: Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (review copy) - Naomi loves Ely and she's kinda in love wih him. Ely loves Naomi but he prefers to be in love with boys.

Naomi and Ely have been friends forever. Best freinds. Soul mates. And just to be sure, they've created NO KISS LIST - their list of people who are absolutely off-kissing-limits for both of them.

And this works fine - until Bruce.

Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But then Ely kisses Bruce - and the resulting fallout is going to shake up the world! From the blurb

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Review: Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer

Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer (eProof) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

One misstep and they lose it all. For the last time.

Michael Merrick is used to pressure.

He’s the only parent his three brothers have had for years. His power to control Earth could kill someone if he miscalculates. Now an Elemental Guide has it out for his family, and he’s all that stands in the way.

His girlfriend, Hannah, gets that. She’s got a kid of her own, and a job as a firefighter that could end her life without a moment’s notice.

But there are people who have had enough of Michael’s defiance, his family’s “bad luck.” Before he knows it, Michael’s enemies have turned into the Merricks’ enemies, and they’re armed for war.

They’re not interested in surrender. But Michael isn’t the white flag type anyway. There will be blood on the ground tonight... From Goodreads

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Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

If you had a second chance at first love... would you take it?

It's been three years since Adam's love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it... and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future-and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, powerful prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance. From Goodreads

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Review: Breakable by Tammara Webber

Breakable by Tammara Webber (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

He was lost and alone. Then he found her.
And the future seemed more fragile than ever.

As a child, Landon Lucas Maxfield believed his life was perfect and looked forward to a future filled with promise — until tragedy tore his family apart and made him doubt everything he ever believed.

All he wanted was to leave the past behind. When he met Jacqueline Wallace, his desire to be everything she needed came so easy…

As easy as it could be for a man who learned that the soul is breakable and that everything you hoped for could be ripped away in a heartbeat. From Goodreads

**Although Breakable is a companion novel, and technically could be read as a stand alone, I'm talking about it in relation to Easy, and so there will be some spoilers of Easy in my review. If you haven't yet read Easy and don't want it spoiled for you, please read no further.**

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Didn't Finish: The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer

The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer - Where does friendship stop and love begin?

At just 19, Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet with the world at her feet – but behind the glamour and designer dresses is a girl who longs for normal.

Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life.

With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved.

Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…

The Gravity Between Us is a daring, romantic, emotional story about friendship, love, and finding the courage to be yourself in a crazy world. From Goodreads

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Blog Tour Review: Deeper by Robin York

Deeper by Robin York (review copy) - When Caroline Piasecki's ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn't look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear; hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defence and punches her ex to the ground.

West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he's shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger - even after promising her dad she'll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.

They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they're 'just friends,' their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself - and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.

When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper. From Goodreads

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Review: Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Just One Year by Gayle Forman (eProof) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Twenty-four hours can change your life . . .

Allyson and Willem share one magical day together in Paris, before chance rips them apart.

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents life throws at us.

But is one day enough to find your fate? From Goodreads

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Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Just One Day by Gayle Forman (review copy) - Allyson Healey’s life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the “accidents” of fate, Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know. From GayleForman.com

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Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (review copy) - WARNING! Some might consider this review to have minor spoilers (though I don't really think so.)

Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She's horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life.

Without Wren Cath is completely on her own and totally outside her comfort zone. She's got a surly room-mate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words ...And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realizing that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible ... From Goodreads

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Mini-Reviews: Going Too Far and Forget You, both by Jennifer Echols

Two mini-reviews together of Jennifer Echols' novels Going Too Far and Forget You.

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Review: Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky

Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky (review copy) - "A new boyfriend is the quickest way to recover from losing your old one."

Or is it? Still healing from her first relationship, college freshman Dominique Baylor is looking ahead to a guy-free summer. But in this sequel to Anatomy of a Boyfriend, author Daria Snadowsky takes Dominique through an entirely new crash course in love and sex, and what it really means to move on. From Daria-Snadowsky.com

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Review: Here Without You by Tammara Webber

Here Without You by Tammara Webber (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Reid Alexander, Hollywood’s hottest young actor, is completely distracted. And this time it isn’t his latest co-star or a major new film role that’s demanding his attention but something far more life-changing... From Goodreads

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Review: Good for You by Tammara Webber

Good for You by Tammara Webber (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Teen screen idol Reid is in deep trouble. Dori, a community service supervisor, is determined to set him a good example - and romance is the furthest thing from her mind. Or his. But there's something irresistible about Reid that not even good girl Dori can ignore . . . From the blurb.

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Review: Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky - Before this all happened, the closest I'd ever come to getting physical with a guy was playing the board game Operation. Okay, so maybe that sounds pathetic, but it's not like there were any guys at my high school who I cared to share more than three words with, let alone my body.

Then I met Wes, a track star senior from across town. Maybe it was his soulful blue eyes, or maybe my hormones just started raging. Either way, I was hooked. And after a while, he was too. I couldn't believe how intense my feelings became, or the fact that I was seeing—and touching—parts of the body I'd only read about in my Gray's Anatomy textbook. You could say Wes and I experienced a lot of firsts together that spring. It was scary. It was fun. It was love.

And then came the fall. From Goodreads

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Review: Where You Are by Tammara Webber

Where You Are by Tammara Webber (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Emma, Reid and Graham's story continues in this sequel to Between the Lines, by bestselling author of Easy, Tammara Webber. Emma has pursued her dream - she's trying to live a normal life and attend university. But when a twist of fate means she encounters Graham again in New York, life promises to be anything but ordinary . . . From Goodreads

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Review: The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines

The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Lana has lived her life in her cousin’s shadow. Ashton always made perfect grades, had tons of friends, and looks model-perfect. And she’s always had Sawyer Vincent—the only boy Lana’s ever wanted—wrapped around her finger. But now things are different. Lana has a chance to make Sawyer see her, and she’s taking it. If only he’d get over Ashton—because Lana is sick of second-best.

Sawyer’s heart is broken. He’s lost his best girl to his best friend. And then Lana comes to town. Ashton’s cousin has always been sweet and soft-spoken, but now she’s drop-dead gorgeous as well. Sawyer doesn’t know if Lana can heal his broken heart, but spending time with her might at least make Ashton jealous.

What starts as a carefree fling becomes a lusty game of seduction. Sawyer and Lana may have different motives, but their scintillating hookups are the same kind of steamy... From Goodreads

I really loved The Vincent Boys, so I was really eager to read The Vincent Brothers, sure it was going to be just as amazing. Unfortunately, although I enjoyed it, I didn't love it as much as I hoped. I'm not going to be able to talk about my problems with this book without spoiling certain things, so you've been warned.

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