It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

Another book review?

Don't mind if I do! 

Cover provided by Goodreads

This was ANOTHER ARC provided by the lovely wonderful people at Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It Sounded Better in My Head is the debut novel by Nina Kenwood. 

First of all - let’s think about this title. How many of us have said this in reference to something? I found the title to be perfection.  I also found the book to be perfection.

The book starts off with 18 year old Natalie on Christmas Day finding out that her mother and father have decided to get a divorce (after 20 years of marriage) - I think we all agree that is a pretty crummy Christmas gift. 

Kenwood goes on to present Natalie in a way that I found to be a little different from the norm.  Natalie is presented to us in almost a raw form- we learn that she suffers from cystic acne and the anxieties that are associated with her cystic acne, and who her best friends are (Zach and Lucy).  Right off the bat, we are introduced to Alex - Zach's older brother.   

Then as the reader, we get the see the relationship between Natalie, Zach and Lucy and how Natalie once fancied the potential of her being with Zach. 

I felt that Natalie was a character that we know.  Either we have felt like Natalie or we know a girl like Natalie.  As a reader, you could feel that her challenges and her feelings are very real.  These are feelings that aren't just felt in the beginning of the book - they are felt the entire way through.  Even in the characters of Lucy and Zach, there was honesty that was felt and they were relatable in their own ways.  Nothing that Kenwood wrote about in this book was less than honest.  

Would I recommend this book? 

You betcha I would! 

A huge thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to review this title (albeit super late!)

- Jillian

You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Can I just say that I have been a terrible blogger over the last few months? 

COVID-19 is doing a doozy on my passion for reading.  And by that I mean that it has taken any enjoyment out of reading all together. 

Blah. 

Cover provided by Netgalley

This book was sent over for review back LAST JULY (Yess... That's July 2020!!) and I'm sorry to the lovely people who gave me the opportunity!  As always with ARCs, they are sent over for an honest review.

Here. We. Go!

You Have a Match is Emma Lord's second book.  Her first book was Tweet Cute - which was a title that I reviewed in January of last year.  If you're interested in reading that you can click here. 

You Have a Match is a fun contemporary YA novel to read.  The story follows Abby Day, a 16 year old who is not only about to go away to sleep away camp that will prepare her for the SATs but she's going to spend the summer getting to know her older biological sister! 

The beginning of the book starts with an at home ancestry/DNA test.   Abby, Connie and Leo all each take a test with Leo, who is hoping to discover some of his biological relatives.  Unfortunately, Leo doesn't find any matches but Abby does... little does Abby know, her match is going to change her life. 

When a teenage named Savannah reaches out to Abby, Abby is shocked to learn that she has a full-blooded sister she doesn't know about! 

Now. 

I really liked this book in the beginning, and I was going to prematurely declare it a victory but as it went on, there were a few things I found myself not liking.  I liked the idea of the book, I thought that the concept of finding a full sibling with a DNA test was fun and I liked how they were going to camp together to know each other.  But all of that got lost! 

The focus of the book would be on Savvy and Abby but as it went on, it seemed like there was a lot of other background noise.  There was mention of Abby and Leo's relationship on the side, then there was mention of Savvy's relationship with Jo and Mickey. About halfway through the book, there was mention of matching Magpie keychains but then as quickly as that was mentioned, it was gone.  Then there was a guy named Finn, who was a little short lived.

Then about halfway through (give or take), Abby is out early morning and runs into Savvy's parents and then goes running back to the camo after they ask her if she's a junior counselor, all the while Savvy is running and they almost collide and they are trying to each other that the other's parents are here. 

It was a very Parent Trap moment. 

In my opinion, it took too long to get to the point. 

I want to thank St. Martin Press & Wednesday Books for the opportunity to review You Have a Match as an arc! 

- Jillian

Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka - Reshelved Books

Before we need this year I'm going to squeeze in one last review!

Using the cover of the book provided by Amazon!!

Then I would like to pose a question to everyone: 
Do y'all like it better when YA book reviews are posted to the blog? Or do y'all like it better when we post adult fiction/non-fiction book reviews to the blog? 

I think that the answer to this question is YA book reviews but I'm not entirely sure...
I'm also not asking for the sake of this review, which happens to be YA, but out of curiosity.

Today's review will be on Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka! 

I stumbled upon this book by chance in Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago.  You know how it goes, you find a book on the shelf and you find the cover art to be pretty.  So you go and buy it and the result is that you're either happy with what you've purchased or you find it be just okay.

The story focuses on main character, Megan Harper, her trails and tribulations in being the lead in her school's production of Romeo and Juliet and figuring out whether she's "more Juliet or more of a Rosaline".

I'm gonna cut to the chase here: I found the book to be boring.  It was about Megan having to practice her acting, finding out that her father and her step mom plan on moving to another state, and her blossoming friendship with Owen. 

The book didn't pick up until the last 1/2.  When Megan found out her ex-boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend.  When her mother tells her that she's going to be staying for the birth of her new half sister.  Megan and Will also start to date. 

My overall feelings on this book? It's okay.  It's nothing to write home about.  I found it weird that Buzzfeed declared that the main character was "empowered"! But the girl is 17!! How could she possibly be empowering??  

I was talking to a girl that I work with and she said that sometimes YA authors write books seemingly forgetting that their target audience is teens and that these characters act very mature.  Some of the behaviors that Megan acted on, were too strong and some of the ways that she said things were also too strong.  (I thought that this behavior in an adult would be more "empowering" than it was in a 17 year old).

My final thoughts? 

Sad to say that this book wasn't worth it for me.  I didn't find the story to be all that great.  I feel a little unclear on what actually Megan was trying to learn or accomplish.  Yes, I get that having her be an actor in the play was to help her character "grow" but I didn't find there to be much character growth.  Yes, she had a fight with her best friend and she learned that she was lied to.  Yes, she got her chance with Will, where she saw that he went to spend time with Alyssa and not go to the Senior Showcase like he said he would. (I would like to point out that this doesn't work with the hypothesis that Megan is the girl all guys date before they find their girlfriends.  I don't think anyone would reason having a girlfriend in someone like this Alyssa character).

I give Always Never Yours 3 coffee beans out of 5. 

- Jillian

We are the Perfect Girl by Ariel Kaplan- Reshelved Books

Are you all ready for a YA review? 

I hope so!

Has anyone ever been in that position where you like this person (as does your best friend) and you feel that your best friend (or even a friend) would be a better fit for that person you like.  So, you do everything in your power to help get them with that person, all the while, you're getting closer to that person and it's starting to get harder to suppress the feelings that you have.  These feeling, of course, are getting more and more intense; which is only adding insult to injury. 

We are the Perfect Girl is about 17 year old Aphra Brown and her friend Bethany Newman and how when they join forces, they essentially create "the perfect girl".  

 Aphra and Bethany are TOTAL OPPOSITES; Aphra is loud and outspoken, witty and full of sass.  Bethany is quiet and timid, hesitant and beautiful.  This is how Aphra sees everything. 

At the beginning of the book, I didn't believe that Bethany was someone who was rather quiet and kept to herself.  

Bethany likes this guy named Greg.  Greg is like the total high school junior package.  He's very good looking, he's on the swim team, he's super smart and super linguistic.  Bethany is very taken with Greg but the problem is that she's shy! She can't bring herself to talk to anyone.  To help Bethany, Aphra tries coaching Bethany with what to say to Greg. 

While Aphra is trying to help Bethany get the guy; Aphra is working on her app for her computer class, which is slowly becoming a flop.  The coding for her app, isn't yielding the results that she was hoping for.  In an effort to save her project (which was 35% of her grade), Aphra starts to answer the anonymous advice seeker.  Before she knows it, Aphra is getting attached to this anonymous chatter and she quickly puts the pieces together and discovers that she's been chatting with Greg.

For as much as I wanted to get annoyed with Aphra's character, I knew that I couldn't.  At the end of the day, she's very relatable.  She's a junior in high school, she's the middle child, she's on crew, she likes the same guy her best friend does.  Not only that but she doesn't think she's pretty.  Her nose is the elephant in the room for her.  She feels that it's nose better fit for a man. 

As crazy as it sounds, Aphra's nose is a topic that comes up quite frequently in the book.  Aphra's addresses that her and her sister looked identical to each other before she had her surgery.  She also went on to change her hair and that really made sure they didn't look alike any longer.  (I can see how that would hurt someone.)  It's an issue that Aphra had such a strong reaction to, that she ends up having to see a therapist. 

Adding to her dimension, she's also a funny character.  I found myself laughing out loud a lot.  The beginning scene in the book was hilarious.  A floating "chicken cutlet" in the pool, is pretty funny.  

But I'm telling you, how the beginning of the book is laid out, makes you feel like Bethany is the outspoken one and that Aphra is the introvert.  

All of this being said... I give this book 4 coffee beans out of 5. 

- Jillian

"Writing Realistic Teen Romances" by Haleigh Wenger- Guest Blogger

Writing Realistic Teen Romances

One criticism I hear a lot when referring to teenage romance novels is that it’s not realistic for love interests to always end up together and have a happily ever after. 

Here’s what I think: It’s absolutely realistic. Because when you’re a teenager, and when you’re in love in general, it feels like forever. I can so clearly remember being sixteen and in love, writing in my Live Journal about my intense feelings while waiting around for someone special’s name to pop up on my AIM. Even as a happily married adult, I still get butterflies thinking about those first crushes and how life changing they were.

Let’s give teenagers more credit. I think they understand that not all sixteen-year-olds have a happily ever after, the end, that’s it. But we should trust them enough to know for themselves what they’re feeling and how serious those feelings are. Teens should see healthy romantic relationships in the books they read. For some of them, it might be the only place they see that a happy ending is possible. 

In April a hashtag started by the #Novel19s made the rounds on Twitter. Young Adult writers shared pictures of their prom, with and without their dates under the tag #YAGoesToProm. What was interesting was the amount of people that are currently married to their prom date. But, even if teen love doesn’t turn out to be forever love, it’s still okay to write it like it could be. When we do this, we’re validating teenager reader’s relationships and telling them that, yes, your romantic feelings are real and big and important. We’re preparing them for future relationships that will last, and showing them positive relationship role models. 

If you are a reader of Young Adult fiction who supports happy endings, check out THE ART OF FALLING IN LOVE, out August 13 from Literary Crush Publishing.

- Haleigh Wenger, author of The Art of Falling in Love

The Art of Falling in Love by Haleigh Wenger - Book Tour

Hi guys, 

I'm excited to tell you about The Art of Falling in Love by Haleigh Wenger.  Haleigh reach out to us and asked us if we would in interested in reviewing her debut novel The Art of Falling in Love, which will be released on August 13th by Literary Crush Publishing.

We asked to participate in the book tour for this release and we couldn't have been more excited!  Part of the book tour involves a guest blog post that Haleigh wrote!  You'll be able to find that here.  As always, we were asked to read this book for an honest review. 


First things first, the cover of this book is adorable!  You will note that there is a sandcastle on the front of the cover.  The sandcastle is somewhat the main focus of the book. 

Claire is spending her summer in Florida like she does every year. Except is year is different because her Opa has passed away. Upon finding a filled registration form that he completed, for her to participate in a sand building contest. 
Claire is an artist, yes but she does her art in the form of sketching.  Sand is a new medium for her and it's taking her through uncharted territory. 

Soon after finding out about the contest, Claire meets Foster.  Claire doesn't know this right away but her and Foster are more alike than just sharing their love for art.  They know what it's like to lose someone who's close to them.  Foster lost his mother a couple years before.  While 
With the help of her new friend, Foster, Claire is determined to fulfill her Opa's wishes. When Foster's past and his present come to light, Claire learns that it's going to alter not only her present but their future.  

Foster is homeless. He’s hiding from his older brother, Johnny and from CPS. Foster and Johnny have a complicated and virile relationship; one that drives Foster to stay away. (Who could blame him??)

Filled with many up and downs, the reader gets to see Claire learn to live this summer without her Opa. We also get to see the now challenging relationship Claire has with her sister, Livvy. Livvy is a few years younger than Claire but up until this summer, they had always gotten along. 

That being said, Haleigh wrote a book dealt with realistic topics. Everyone at one time or another had lost someone close to them and had to navigate grieving.  Anyone with who's close to someone, has siblings, etc; knows what it’s like to hit a rough patch and feel distant from them and like something has changed.  Even homelessness is something that's ever present in today's society; individuals and families are struggling everyday.  Even the topic of falling in love.  Sometimes that becomes all consuming and the emotions that the reader saw Haleigh have toward Foster were relatable. 

The way that The Art of Falling in Love ended, at least to me, felt like it too was realistic.  Not every relationship is meant to last.  Sometimes they hurt but you come out stronger in the end and you end up finding yourself. 

The Art of Falling in Love gives you major feels and for that, I happily give this book 4 coffee beans out of 5.  Why, you may ask?  Well.  I actually didn't like Claire's character! (I saw some of myself in Claire with how she felt toward Foster and I think that's what got to me.  Mind you, this is me knowing what I know now at 29 and not what I knew at 18).

~ Jillian

After the Game (The Field Party #3) and Losing the Field (The Field Party #4) by Abbi Glines - Reshelved Books

Hi everyone!

I’m sorry that I didn’t get to post this week before today. I’ve been busy with reading some new books (getting ready for some reviews to post before my vacation in a couple of weeks) and studying for the GRE (which I took this week!)

As we all know, because I’ve been pretty vocal about it, I’ve been really enjoying The Field Party series by Abbi Glines. I said it on an IG story last week that I was reading through these books like I don’t know what!

I’m sad to say that I really didn’t care of these last 2 books.  One was underwhelming and the other was totally off the wall! (Feel free to disagree with me on both books). 

Ready to see why? 

After the Game Review: 

After the Game is the 3rd book in The Field Party Series.  This is the book where we learn more about what happened to Riley and if the Lions when this season.

It was briefly mentioned in the second book, that Riley was driven out of Lawton because she was raped by a Lawton.  That Lawton would be Gunner's older brother, Rhett.  For the short interaction the reader saw of Rhett in Under the Lights, we can see that Rhett isn't all that he's cracked up to be... 

As I had done before, MB is such a trooper and he was willing to give 
"Riley is trying to get acclimated back into school with the help of Brady...” and that’s as far as I’m going to put because I don’t think the book is worthy of the MB reviews. I’m sorry. 

I'm a little sad to say this but... I didn't like this book as much as I did the first and second.  I felt that it didn't live up to the others.  It was a little blah. 

After the Game shows the reader the story of Brady and Riley.  Brady is taking a huge risk by befriending Riley (you can read why above).  With us knowing that, there wasn't much conflict from anyone.  West was a little leery but there wasn't a TON of the drama that the reader would have initially assumed. (Why the title? Brady wanted to see Riley "after the game").

A blah review for a blah book. Sad to say, I give this book 3.5 coffee beans out of 5. 

Losing the Field Review:

As we saw with the first 3 books, they took place during Brady, West and Gunner’s senior year. I didn’t know when I was reading those books that Nash, Asa and Ryker weren’t part of that class. These guys, at the time, were juniors. 

 Losing the Field follows Nash, who is now a senior and Tallulah and is the fourth book in the Field Party series. (Why "losing the field"? Nash was upset about his injury caused him to "lose the field").

This. Book. 

UGH! 

As I was reading the book, I was a little worried that I might be one of two people who didn’t like it. But upon reading other reviews at Goodreads, I saw that I wasn’t the only one and that there were other readers out there who had the same opinions I had on this book. 

Where to start....

This book was awful. I hate saying that about a book but oh yuck.  I don’t even think you can say that the story had promise or even that it stood the chance at some point. It was just that awful.  The book starts off with acknowledging a negative experience for Tallulah: Nash “betrayed” her by laughing at her body at the end of their junior year. This motivated her to the point where she walked everyday over the summer and ate better. Nash, on the other hand, was dealt his own blow when he was hurt playing a game of backyard football with his family. He sustained an injury so devastating, that he wouldn’t ever be able to play football ever again.  You know what algebra says, two negatives make a positive, right? 

Well not in the book! 

I felt that there was an amount of animosity in the book that didn’t need to be there.  Tallulah hated Nash. Nash hated everyone. 

Two new characters were introduced, one of them was a teacher who was around our (Jessica and I) age and a famous internet blogger. Both of these characters had a negative influence on Nash and Tallulah. 

Without giving the whole book away, let’s just such say that tragedy strikes yet again to our characters and someone faces some serious legal trouble. 

The book was too much. There was too much going on. If you had one bad character, you didn’t need the other.  The hate that was between Nash and Tallaluh went on for so long in the book that their “relationship” and any feelings that they had for one another didn’t even seem real. 

For obvious reasons, I’m giving the book 2.5 coffee beans out of 5. 

Final thoughts on this series? 

I really enjoyed the first ones. (Reviews can be found here and here for those). I would say that those two are worthy of reading. If you were curious to know what happened with Brady, since he is a pretty big main character given how much interaction he has between the three books, I would suggest that one... if you’re borrowing it from your local library...though you might feel a little let down. I do NOT recommend the fourth one.  I’m torn on whether or not I want to buy the fifth one when it comes out next month or if I want to see if my library consortium acquires a copy that I could borrow (I’ll probably do that). 

See ya all next time! 

- Jillian

Under the Lights (The Field Party #2) by Abbi Glines - Reshelved Books

Hi Guys!

Did you happen to see my quick review about this book on IG?! You should check it out if you haven't all ready.

I wanted to review the 2nd book in The Field Party series- Under the Lights.  I think that I liked the 2nd book more so than I liked the first one. (If you'd like to read that review, click here)

Just like the first book, MB took a stab about what the book was about.  His prediction: "Our lovers from the previous book are continuing their strong bond. This next chapter introduces a few new characters that are through some hardships as well. The new male character, is an underclass man that some issues at home with an alcoholic father. Another character new to the story is a girl that has an issue with PTSD from watching her friends die in a car accident. The four characters have mixed love affair which ends in all four characters alone at the end of this book; hopeful for the next school year."

MB was not wrong with some of these guesses, some of them were not correct either.  If we read between the lines with what he said we can make a solid argument.

In 3, 2, 1...
Unlike the first book, that focused on the two main characters, Under the Lights focuses on THREE main characters and flips between them.  In the first book, we were introduced to Brady and briefly introduced to Gunner.  There was mention of West and Maggie from the first book, but there was little to no interaction; they were just mentioned in passing basically. 

Willa was affected by tragedy but I wouldn't say that it was something that caused PTSD.  I feel that she had more of a guilt that she couldn't stop what had happened and she was terribly upset that it caused the ending that it did.  While, Gunner isn't an underclass man and his father isn't an alcoholic, there was a a lot of resentment that he had toward his father. 

There wasn't a love affair between West, Maggie, Willa, Brady and Gunner BUT there was a small love triangle between Willa, Gunner and Brady.  (Spoiler alert: Willa does kiss both boys)

Based on the cover art and the titles, these two books aren't what they seem.  They're more than that.  They're intense but at the same time, they're easy to read.  I didn't get that book hangover feeling with these.  It's the opposite, I can't wait to read the next 2!  I also am developing a soft spot for Brady (sorry MB: I think I'm quarterback kinda girl).  I'm super excited to read the next book, which will focus on Brady.

Like the first book, there is a reason for the title: Gunner and Willa used to say that one day, Gunner would be under the lights (meaning under the stadium lights, playing football)

Also like in the first book, we met the characters of the next book.  Under the Lights does a better job of introducing Riley and setting the stage for what the audience will be introduced to in the next book.

I can confidently say that this book deserves 5 coffee beans out of 5. 

- Jillian