[Late] February Wrap Up!
February was such a great reading month! I read a total of seven books - 3 ebooks and 4 physical books. I'm pretty proud of myself considering I started my last year of high school at the beginning of February (things are getting SO hectic already >.< ). Anyways, I read some great (and not so great) books this month, so let's get into them!
Playing for Keeps by: Matthewson R. L
Started reading: January 31st 2017
Finished reading: February 1st 2017
Summary:
Done with being the world's biggest pushover, Haley decides that things are going to change starting with the aggravating neighbor who has too much charm and not enough restraint. What she didn't expect was to be sucked into his world, but Haley has a game plan and she won't let herself forget just what the bad boy next door is capable of.
The last thing Jason expected was for his little shy neighbor to go Rambo on him over some ruined flowers. After he decides to take her under his wing he can't help but notice that she fits very nicely in his life. Now the only thing left is to convince her that this is anything but a game.
Rating: 1/5 stars
Thoughts:
Can we just talk about the cover for a second?! *dies*. The steam is rEAL :oops: . Sadly I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. I couldn't stop cringing at all the cheesy moments and banters. The characters were so childish and immature (they're grown ass adults working as teachers [at least I know Haley is. Not sure about Jason. Didn't care much for what he did to be honest], oh the irony) and everything felt like a spur of the moment thing. It was really hard for me to keep up with where the book was heading because irrelevant things just keep coming up. It's a pretty slow burn kind of love, which I appreciate, but that's the only thing I can root for.
Sway by: Kat Spears
Started reading: February 3rd 2017
Finished reading: February 5th 2017
Summary:
High school senior Jesse Alderman, or "Sway," as he’s known, could sell hell to a bishop. He also specializes in getting things people want---term papers, a date with the prom queen, fake IDs. He has few close friends and he never EVER lets emotions get in the way. For Jesse, life is simply a series of business transactions.
But when Ken Foster, captain of the football team, leading candidate for homecoming king, and all-around jerk, hires Jesse to help him win the heart of the angelic Bridget Smalley, Jesse finds himself feeling all sorts of things. While following Bridget and learning the intimate details of her life, he falls helplessly in love for the very first time. He also finds himself in an accidental friendship with Bridget’s belligerent and self-pitying younger brother who has cerebral palsy. Suddenly, Jesse is visiting old folks at a nursing home in order to run into Bridget, and offering his time to help the less fortunate, all the while developing a bond with this young man who idolizes him. Could the tin man really have a heart after all?
Rating: 3/5 stars
Thoughts:
I thought this one was really unique! The characters were really bleak and boring, not going to lie, but it took on a different view on love - high school love to be specific. The insta-love was hella annoying, but the way Jesse portrays his feelings towards Bridget was just.. I'm not quite sure how to put it in words, but in every Contemporary novel I've read the guy always try to get the girl's attention and vice versa. In this book? There was no spark, no chemistry, you'd find it hard to believe that Jesse has a thing going on for Bridget. It was all around emotionless. It's not something you come across in romance books (especially ones that look like it's supposed to be light and fluffy. I mean come on. That cover screams flowers and chocolates). It was refreshing and, in a way, a bit disappointing. I was expecting to dive into this feeling giddy and warm, but I came out of it feeling empty and isolated :lol: Anyways, it was really interesting!
You by: Caroline Kepnes
Started reading: January 4th 2017
Finished reading: February 6th 2017
Summary:
When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.
There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Thoughts:
This one was hella intense. The things Joe would do for Beck is just crazy! O.o I love the fact that this book is in second person. It's the perfect touch to a psychological thriller novel. Joe was soooo creepy and the things he did in this book was unimaginable, but I freaking loved him as a character. He's probably the most interesting fictional character I've ever come across. He's broody, smart and psychotic. The ideal combination. Is he an anti-hero? Crazy villain? Either way, I was rooting for him throughout the book. Love him. The pacing is a little slow, but will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat.
The Way I Used to Be by: Amber Smith
Started reading: January 4th 2017
Finished reading: February 6th 2017
Summary:
Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.
What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Thoughts:
I have mixed feelings about this book. Maybe it's cause I don't read very many books that highlights the issue of rape, but I wasn't very convinced with the story. The emotions seared right through me and the pain and grief was definitely evident in the story, but the victim portrayed can be a bit.. ah, what's the word.. unreliable? I don't know, I can't say much about this book because I guess I just can't quite grasp the reality a rape victim has to live. I'm not sure if it's just me being heartless, but I didn't feel it. There was a bit of sympathy going on for Eden at the first part of the book (Eden's freshman year), but when it got to her senior year everything just fell apart for me. If anyone could shine some light on this book for me, please do. I feel like I don't quite understand everything that went on in this book, and I would love to learn more.
Love, Lies and Linguine by: Hilary Spiers
Started reading: February 10th
Finished reading: February 19th 2017
Summary:
Having found, in Hester & Harriet, that sometimes opening your door to the unexpected has a great result, the intrepid sisters decide to further expand their horizons and book tickets, pack bags and venture forth to Italy for their annual holidays. With a huge secret hanging between them, an unlikely new love on the landscape for Hester and new beginnings also beckoning for Harriet, Italy is certainly providing more of those pesky open doors. But which ones will Hester & Harriet walk through? Meanwhile, back home in England, Daria and Milo are celebrating—they've received official refugee status with papers to confirm they can make England their home. And Ben is hurtling towards a different sort of celebration—one he's trying to backpedal out of as fast as he possibly can.
Rating: 3/5 stars
Thoughts:
Okay but the cover game is strong here. The colors always put me in a good mood, and so do the sisters <3 More on my thoughts of this book in my review here. Overall it was a really fun read!
Like a Memory by: Abbi Glines
Started reading: February 14th
Finished reading: February 19th 2017
Summary:
One memory.One special summer.The one thing Bliss had lost herself in when the fear and sickness were too much, moments never to be damaged by the harsh reality that followed… until now.
Bliss York didn’t live a normal teenage life. She didn’t go to Friday night football games, walk the halls with her friends every day, go to her prom or even walk to receive her diploma. It had all been taken from her the fall that she was fifteen years old and she was given the diagnosis no one ever wants to hear.She had leukemia.Seven years after spending a summer with a girl who he knew would always be his first love and the one who got away, Nate Finlay returns to Sea Breeze to help his fiancé open her new boutique clothing store. When the new employee walks in Nate is taken back seven years to the girl he thought he’d love forever. The one who never answered his calls or returned his text. The one who shut him out completely with not even a goodbye and broke his heart.They’ve each become someone different. No longer the young teens with stars in their eyes. But does that matter when your heart still says that’s the one.
Rating: 1/5 stars
Thoughts:
Gosh, I can't even look at this book. Horrible. It was the worse book I have ever come across in my life. I'm really sorry to any Abbi Glines fan out there. I'm a huge Glines fan myself (read her whole sea breeze and rosemary beach series), that's why when this book was nothing I'd hoped to be I was super disappointed. No, disappointed won't even cover how I feel about this book. Gosh, it's like Abbi doesn't even have the will to write anymore. Her books have been going downhill lately, but this one made me cross out her name in my auto-buy authors list. Her characters were weak. The weakest of the weak. Nate Finlay is nothing like his parents (whom I love reading about). I also really, really (I'm not going to use the word hate here but I'm so close to gosh dammit) don't like the fact that Abbi used Cancer to form a love story. Uh, news flash, using cancer to add angst into the story is not the way to go. Gosh, I'm just so frustrated and upset with this book. If anyone would like a full review to this book, let me know.
The Amateurs by: Sara Shepard
Started reading: February 20th 2017
Finished reading: February 4th 2017
Summary:
When Aerin Kelly was eleven, she idolised her seventeen-year-old sister, Helena, and they did everything together. They made Claymation movies and posted them to YouTube. They made fun of Windmere-Carruthers, the private school they attended, they invented new flavours for their parents' organic ice cream shop, and they dressed up their golden retriever, Buster. But when Helena went into senior year things started to change. Rather than being Aerin's inseparable sister, she started to push her away. Then, on a snowy winter's day, Helena vanished.
Four years later, Helena's body is found. Wracked with grief and refusing to give up on her sister, Aerin spends months trying to figure out what exactly happened to Helena and who killed her. But the police have no leads. A young, familiar officer named Thomas wants to help and suggests she checks out a website called Case Not Closed. Hesitantly, she posts, and when teenagers Seneca and Maddox show up on her doorstep offering to help investigate she accepts in desperation. Both have suffered their own losses and also posted to the site with no luck, so they are hoping this case might be the one they crack. But as their investigation begins, it seems that maybe it's no accident that they are all together, and that maybe the crimes have something - or someone - in common.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Thoughts:
This one was my fave for the month. Such a great read! I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this. I can't wait for the next book! The ending got me like :o O.o :?: :!: More of my thoughts can be found in my review here.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this post! How many books did you read in the month of February? And which book was your favorite? Let me know!
Have a great day everyone!
Cath xx