Tag: Poppy

Review: Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Posted September 13, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. SmithReviewer: Rowena
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Publication Date: September 1st 2015
Genres: Young Adult
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four-stars

On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan only have one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they'll retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night will lead them to friends and family, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

Charming, bittersweet, and full of wisdom and heart, this new irresistible novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that arise when life and love lead in different directions.

I haven’t read too many books by Jennifer E. Smith but I was pretty excited to jump into this story. The premise was really interesting and I thought Smith did a great job of telling Clare and Aidan’s story. The pacing worked for me and the characters were interesting and the story itself was mighty compelling.

So, Clare and Aidan are getting ready to head off to college on different coasts. Clare is heading to the East Coast and Aidan is heading to UCLA in California. This story takes place over the course of their last night together and a whole lot of things happen. The plan was for them to take a walk down memory lane, remember their history and then decide whether to do the long distance thing or not. Clare thinks they should break up because logically, things were bound to change and they would drift apart so they should end things on a high note but on the other hand? She doesn’t want to. Aidan just flat out doesn’t want to. He loves Clare and he wants them to make it work but Clare is dead set on ending things now before they grow to hate each other later.

As they hit up each stop on Clare’s list, things just don’t go the way that Clare was hoping they would. Tensions are high, memories are only half remembered and the night gets away from them but I really enjoyed Smith’s writing style with this book.

This book was a lot deeper than I was expecting but Smith really dug into the heart of what Aidan and Clare was going through. The story is character driven and even though there were times when I rolled my eyes at Clare, I finished this book having liked what I read. Smith had thinking about what I’d do if I was in their position…would I stay together or would I let go? What’s the smarter choice? I thought the story ended on a high note and being the romance loving person that I am, I appreciated the story all the more. This is an enjoyable read and I definitely recommend.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Poppy. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars


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Review: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Posted March 3, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

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Rowena’s review of The DUFF by Kody Keplinger.

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

I read this book right before the movie came out in theaters because, well, that’s just something that I like to do. I finished the book and thought it was pretty good. The difference between the movie and the book was that the movie focused more on the label DUFF than I thought the book did. The book, to me, was more of a contemporary YA romance between Wes Rush and Bianca Piper and that’s fine. I enjoyed their romance.

So this book follows Bianca Piper as she tries to deal with problems at home. Mainly, her Mom being away for a long time and her Dad struggling with trying to stay sober when the love of his life (her Mom) wants a divorce. Bianca isn’t equipped to deal with her Dad’s alcohol issues and what she feels at first as her Mom’s abandonment so to escape her problems, she jumps into a f*ck buddy relationship with the school man-slut, Wesley Rush. The guy that called her, The DUFF.

I call it a f*ck buddy relationship and not a friends with benefits relationship because Bianca HATES Wes. She hates that he’s a man-whore and she hates pretty much everything about him but when she kisses him and then continues to kiss him and then sex him, it allows her to escape everything that waits for her at home. So she does him every chance that she can and in between all of the sex (there’s a lot of sex in this contemporary YA book), they get to know each other and as much as Bianca wants to fight it, she develops feelings for Wesley and that screws her all up because her real crush, the guy that she absolutely loves? Toby Tucker? Yeah, he starts showing interest in her.

For a DUFF, she sure did get a lot of action in this book. Ha.

This book was well written and it was mature (what with all of the casual sex being had throughout the book) but still a lot of fun. Bianca was a great main character with a very likable voice (even when she was getting on my nerves) and I thought that Wes was a total dick but he completely grew on me as the story wore on. It was a quick read and it was a lot of fun too. I liked it but if you watched the movie and want to read the book, don’t expect the same story because you aren’t going to get it.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Poppy. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.


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