Tag: Simon Pulse

Throwback Thursday Review: Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

Posted June 4, 2020 by Rowena in Reviews | 5 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Endless Summer by Jennifer EcholsReviewer: Rowena
Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: April 19, 2011
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 626
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four-stars

Two irresistible boys. One unforgettable summer.

Lori can’t wait for her summer at the lake. She loves wakeboarding and hanging with her friends—including the two hotties next door. With the Vader brothers, she's always been just one of the guys. Now that she’s turning sixteen, she wants to be seen as one of the girls, especially in the eyes of Sean, the older brother. But that’s not going to happen—not if the younger brother, Adam, can help it.

Lori plans to make Sean jealous by spending time with Adam. Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the air heats up, so does this love triangle. Will Lori’s romantic summer melt into one hot mess?

*** Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy! ***

This review was originally posted on June 4, 2010.

The Boys Next Door: This book follows Lori as she grows balls to finally go after the boy that she’s always wanted, Sean Vader. She grew up with Sean but he’s two years older than she is and doesn’t see her the way that she wants him to but she’s determined to change that. He sees her as her older brother’s little sister and she goes through this transformation in order to get Sean to notice her and when that doesn’t work, she concocts a plan to make him notice her. She also enlists the help of Sean’s younger brother and one of her best friend’s, Adam.

So the plan is to use Adam to make Sean jealous. You could just imagine the kind of drama that caused. I mean, Lori’s in love with Sean. Adam’s in love with Lori. Sean is just well, Sean. He’s a pain in the ass and I could not for the life of me understand why Lori liked Sean. From the very beginning, it was all about Adam for me. It was Adam that I wanted Lori to end up with. Never once did I want Lori to get with Sean and after something pretty big happens at the very first Vader boys summer party, I could not understand why Lori didn’t stop her whole plan to snare Sean because after that happened, I didn’t even like Sean.

He commits a cardinal sin and it took me a very long time to forgive him for it. Over the course of this story, Lori proceeds to drive me absolutely insane. She made one boneheaded mistake after another and I just could not for the life of me figure out how she thought any of her stupid plans would work.

By the time Endless Summer begins, Lori has finally ended up with the guy she’s supposed to end up with and on the night that they make it official, they get grounded. Their parents are livid with them and they’re not allowed to see each other anymore. It’s kind of hard because they live next door to each other and they work together but their parents mean what they say and date, Lori could not.

In the first story, we get to learn a whole lot about the kind of girl Lori is. She’s strong minded, she’s fearless and she does what she needs to do to get what she wants. In some ways, it was good. She didn’t back down from going after Sean when that’s what she thought she wanted and then with Adam, she went after trying to solve their problems by being this no-it-all pain in the ass that got on my hot damn nerves.

In Endless Summer, we get to know Adam more. Adam saved this whole book for me because I adored him. I felt and saw the changes and the growing that Adam went through in this story and it felt sincere and it felt real. In the beginning, Adam is immature and he lets his ADHD rule his life. In the Endless Summer, Adam does some growing up because if he wants that future with Lori, he needs to man up and be the kind of boy that Lori’s father would be okay with dating his daughter.

All throughout the book, we see everyone cracking jokes or picking on Adam for his ADHD. Sean teased him mercilessly about it and never once were any of Sean’s jokes funny. Adam had a lot to overcome between his brothers always picking on him, his parents never believing a word that came out of his mouth and Adam just kind of taking it. More than once, I was livid with Adam’s parents for being won over by Sean. He’s nursing this crush that he’s had on Lori for years and when he finally gets her, he can’t be with her because he’s once again messed things up.

Watching the growth in Adam Vader is what made this book for me. It’s the one thing that at the end of the book, had me closing the book with a smile on my face because I knew that Adam was going to be okay. I was happy for Adam.

I can’t say the same for Lori because at the end of the book, I was still pissed off at her for all of her stupid ideas. It really pissed me off that everyone, including Lori didn’t have enough faith in Adam to do the right thing. I didn’t doubt that Lori loved Adam but for me, she didn’t deserve him. Yeah, he was immature and he was hot headed but he was also so intensely sweet and so passionately in love with Lori and I adored it. I felt like Adam was short changed but because I knew that he was happy because he ultimately got what he wanted in the end, I was happy for him.

This book reminded me of when I read Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I was fiercely addicted to that series and when Eclipse finally came out, I couldn’t read it fast enough and while I was reading it, I kept wanting to throw the book at the wall because both Bella and Jacob were getting on my nerves. Edward too but in this book, it was Lori and Sean that got on my nerves. Too bad in Eclipse, there wasn’t anyone in Eclipse that could save that story for me. In this story, Adam saved the book for me.

This book brought out all of the emotions in me. It made me smile, it made me laugh, it made me mad, annoyed and livid at times but it did entertain me as well. It’s also made me very anxious for more Jennifer Echols because I ate this book up, this book is weighs more than my nephew Luke but I inhaled this book in a day.

Kudos, Jennifer Echols for writing a complex character that I will remember for always…Adam Vader.

Grade: 4 out of 5

four-stars


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Review: 26 Kisses by Anna Michels

Posted June 15, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: 26 Kisses by Anna MichelsReviewer: Rowena
26 Kisses by Anna Michels
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 24, 2016
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 304
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three-half-stars

Kasie West meets Morgan Matson in this hilarious and heartwarming debut about a girl’s summer mission to get over her ex-boyfriend by kissing her way through the alphabet.

Getting dumped by her boyfriend is not how Veda planned on starting her summer. When Mark makes it clear that it’s over between them, Veda is heartbroken and humiliated—but, more importantly, she’s inspired. So she sets out on the love quest of a lifetime: use the summer to forget about Mark, to move on, and move up. All she has to do is kiss twenty-six boys with twenty-six different names—one for each letter of the alphabet.

From the top of the Ferris wheel at her hometown carnival to the sandy dunes of Lake Michigan, Veda takes every opportunity she can to add kisses (and boys) to her list, and soon the break-up doesn’t sting quite as much. But just when Veda thinks she has the whole kissing thing figured out, she meets someone who turns her world upside down.

This was a quick read for me as most contemporary YA’s are. If I had to describe this book in two words, they would probably be cute and fluffy.

Veda’s boyfriend Mark broke up with her right before summer kicked off and she’s heartbroken. She was expecting to spend this last summer with Mark, before he heads off to college but Mark made it clear that he wanted a clean break and so she was single for the first time in a long time. As soon as crying herself to sleep gets old, V is inspired to get over her broken heart by kissing 26 different guys throughout summer. One guy for every letter of the alphabet. The best way to get over a guy is to find a new one, right? With each passing kiss, V learns something new about herself.

As I said before, this was a quick read and I found myself curious about this book after reading the blurb. Kissing 26 different boys in one summer is a lot of boys to kiss and I wanted to see how that would all play out. It’s not exactly the wisest message to send to young girls and I was a little disappointed in the way that it played out. Mostly because I thought the kissing challenge went on for too long and then when Killian was helping her at the end? I wanted to smack some sense into him. You don’t encourage the girl you’re dating to go out and finish kissing more guys so that she’ll get over the last guy. I mean, seriously.

In a way, I guess I understood why Veda decided to go through with the kissing challenge but I guess when she was over Mark and started things up with Killian, I kind of hoped that she wouldn’t need the kissing challenge anymore. I hoped that she would respect Killian’s feelings and not need to finish the challenge.

Veda’s character felt real to me. She acted and reacted the way that normal teenage girls would (and I’m surrounded by teenage girls on the daily). I liked that she really learned about herself and really grew into the person she wanted to be in the end. She had a great support system in her friends and her Mom. I even liked seeing her relationship with her father and younger brother evolve.

Killian was cute and everything young girls would like in a love interest. I liked that he was who he was, liked what he liked and was trying to be okay with everyone not understanding him. The feelings he had for Veda felt real and I liked seeing him fit himself into her life and I liked that he stuck around even when things got hard.

Overall, this book was cute and while I didn’t enjoy every part of the book, it was still a solid read. Perfect for a lazy day at the beach read.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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Review: The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Posted June 13, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: The Unexpected Everything by Morgan MatsonReviewer: Rowena
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 3rd 2016
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 528
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four-stars

From Morgan Matson, the bestselling author of Since You’ve Been Gone comes a feel-good story of friendship, finding yourself, and all the joys in life that happen while you’re busy making other plans.

Andie has a plan. And she always sticks to her plan.

Future? A top-tier medical school. Dad? Avoid him as much as possible (which isn’t that hard considering he’s a Congressman and he’s never around). Friends? Palmer, Bri, and Toby—pretty much the most awesome people on the planet, who needs anyone else? Relationships? No one’s worth more than three weeks.

So it’s no surprise that Andie’s got her summer all planned out too.

Until a political scandal costs Andie her summer pre-med internship, and lands both she and Dad back in the same house together for the first time in years. Suddenly she’s doing things that aren’t Andie at all—working as a dog walker, doing an epic scavenger hunt with her dad, and maybe, just maybe, letting the super cute Clark get closer than she expected. Palmer, Bri, and Toby tell her to embrace all the chaos, but can she really let go of her control?

Morgan Matson wrote one of my favorite contemporary YA books a few years ago (Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour) and I have been reading her ever since. Every couple of years, she releases a new book and I have to read it. I always enjoy her books but I haven’t loved any the same way that I loved Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour but they’re all still damn good reads. This was one of those.

Andie Walker has always had a plan. She’s got summer plans that include a pre-med study program but when a scandal involving her politician father derail those plans, Andie’s summer is up in the air and she’s without a plan for the first time…ever. Growing up as a politician’s daughter, Andie had to make sure that she stayed out of trouble, out of the spotlight and out of the media because her life could affect her father’s political aspirations. She’s a good girl and plays by the rules but when her father’s scandal starts to bleed into her life, she’s not at all happy about that.

Spending the summer with the father that has been largely absent from her life takes a lot of getting used to and Andie is in for one heck of a summer. On top of living with her father for the first time in years, she got a job as a dog walker. The very last job she’d ever thought she’d have but the upside to all of this was she could also spend her summer with all of her friends. It was the first summer that all of the girls in her foursome were together in the summer and that was something that she was looking forward to.

Then she meets Clark and her summer really starts looking up. He’s different from anyone that Andie has ever dated before and when her usual three week ending point comes around, Andie is surprised at how much she doesn’t want to end things with Clark. Things certainly are way different than Andie had originally planned for her summer.

There’s a lot going on in this book and I thought that was good because it kept the flow of the story going. Andie was dealing with getting to know her father again but she was also learning how to walk dogs and keep their leashes untangled and everyone happy, she was learning all there was to know about this new boy that she really likes and reading his books but she was also hanging out with her friends and getting grounded for the first time.

I really enjoyed Andie’s character. She was very mature for her age. She was smart and she was determined to succeed in life. She was also trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her future and figure out the kind of person she wanted to be. She was getting to know her father and all of these things were helping her really come into her own.

I loved Clark. I thought he was such an adorable love interest and so very perfect for Andie. I loved the way that he brought the real Andie out and showed her that being real didn’t mean losing herself. I loved getting to know him and my heart hurt for him where things were concerned about his father and his writing. He was a great book boyfriend!

Her friends were a lively bunch that I really enjoyed getting to know. They were all distinctively different from each other and yet together, they all made sense as a group. The whole Bri and Toby thing was disappointing. I was sorely disappointed in Bri and then later on Andie for her suggestion on how to fix everything but mostly with Bri because she tried to justify her relationship by belittling Toby’s crush on him. She kept saying that what Toby and Wyatt had wasn’t real, that they only kissed and maybe it was true for Wyatt but it wasn’t true for Toby and Toby was her best friend. Her feelings for him were completely real otherwise she wouldn’t have been as hurt as she was. But Bri’s whole, “Toby always came first when it came to Wyatt with you guys but what about me?” mentality drove me crazy because hello??? She had dibs on him, she spoke up about wanting him and if Bri wanted a chance at a relationship with him, she should have been upfront about it with Toby…from the beginning…or at least the night of the scavenger hunt. So in that whole debacle, I was Team Toby. It really sucked for Bri too because I wonder if she thought that whole summer and all of the lies were worth everything in the end considering how things end with Wyatt. I couldn’t help but feel like that was such a waste.

The way that the summer wraps up was interesting and yet very real. I loved that Toby chose herself and that not everything ended with a cookie cutter ending and bow tie. I’m kind of interested in a story with Toby at the center and a love interest named…Topher? Haha, that would be great cause I can totally see it. Toby choosing herself, spending a lot of time alone and then she runs into Wyatt months and months later and in her rush to get away from him, she runs into Topher and they strike up a conversation. She’s not a fan of him, he doesn’t really care for her but there’s something different about her these days and he finds himself intrigued so he turns on the charm. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him because she’s not going to be another of her friend’s sloppy seconds and he doesn’t want to miss out on another girl so they bicker their way toward…a love match? Haha, I need to cut it out but that would be awesome!

Anyway, this was a great book with a charming cast and a lovely protagonist. Though it’s not my favorite Morgan Matson, it was still enjoyable.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

four-stars


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Review: Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

Posted August 28, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Until Friday Night by Abbi GlinesReviewer: Rowena
Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines
Series: Field Party #1

Publication Date: August 25th 2015
Genres: Young Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The first novel in a brand-new series—from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Abbi Glines—about a small Southern town filled with cute boys in pickup trucks, Friday night football games, and crazy parties that stir up some major drama.

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…

Abbi Glines writes the kinds of books that drive me crazy. Her love interests start off as complete pricks but if you can get past their punk ass attitudes and shitty behavior in the beginning, they really turn their shit around. That was the case with West Ashby.

Maggie Carleton doesn’t talk. She hasn’t said a word in years, communicating through pen and paper. She hasn’t talked since her father was put away for killing her mother. A murder she witnessed. As you can guess, that whole situation has traumatized her and she survives by not speaking. She doesn’t want to talk about that night, she just wants to move on and she doesn’t want to become a burden to anyone so she keeps to herself. When she moves in with her Uncle and his family, she knows that her cousin (who is the same age as her) isn’t going to like having her tag along everywhere he goes. He’s a total dickhead to her when she first comes around and Brady (that’s his name) really got on my nerves throughout a whole lot of this book. He warns his friends off of his cousin but mostly because she’s “not right in the head” as he tells them. There were so many freaking times when I wanted to punch Brady’s lights out.

West wasn’t safe from my rage too. When we first meet him, he’s a complete asshole and his father having cancer and him being scared about all of that didn’t excuse his behavior for me. Oh hell no. I’m not even sure why I continued reading this book but more than anything, I was curious. I was curious to see when and how and why Maggie would start talking again and I wanted to see how far Logan would grow on me.

Abbi Glines did a great job of turning things around because I was invested from beginning to end…even when I was pissed to high heaven at West for being such a complete jerk. Brady too.

I liked that despite not talking, Maggie is portrayed as strong. She’s a survivor and her story was one that pulled at my heart strings. I loved the connection she formed with West and I loved seeing her stand up for herself when things between her and West weren’t to her liking. I loved seeing West grow from the asshole jerk in the beginning to the guy he was in the end because he ended up being a real one.

There’s a lot of growing in this book and I’m glad that I finished it because this book made me mad, it made me sad and it made me laugh. All things that I love while reading a book. This is a book that stayed with me after I finished the book and I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get more from this group of characters. I’m looking forward to seeing the other boys stories, especially Brady.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse. 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: After Hours by Claire Kennedy

Posted July 20, 2015 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: After Hours by Claire KennedyReviewer: Rowena
After Hours by Claire Kennedy

Publication Date: June 16th 2015
Genres: Young Adult
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one-star

Scandals and hook-ups abound in a summertime restaurant drama where four teens are all willing to do whatever it takes to make it through the workday…and hopefully to win the money in the after-hours dare-based game of Tips.

Isa, Xavi, Peter, and Finn know that a job at the high-end Waterside Café isn’t just about waiting tables. It’s about the gossip, the hook-ups, the after-hours parties, and, most of all, it’s about Tips.

Tips—the high-stakes game based on dares. Whoever completes the most dares wins the collected money. A sum that could change a wasted summer into a Summer to Remember.

Isa is the new girl with an embarrassing secret, and as long as she stays on top of her game, she sees no reason why anyone could ever find out.
Xavi will do anything for the money…absolutely anything.

Peter, Xavi’s stepbrother, has been in love with her for years, and he thinks the game is the perfect time to confess his feelings.

Finn is in the game just for the thrill. He has enough tips coming in to keep him happy…even if those tips come with some conditions.

From seduction to stealing to threats, the dares are a complete free-for-all, and only the best can win.

I had high hopes for this book because it’s set in a restaurant, around a group of employees of the restaurant. The premise sounded interesting and I was mighty curious about the game that they play called Tips but I’m sad that this book just didn’t work for me.

It’s a book that is character driven and I can’t say that I liked any of the characters. This is the third YA book that I read this week and I have not liked any of the books that I read, including this one.

Anyway so this book follows a group of employees of the Waterside Cafe who are playing in the restaurants after hours game called Tips. You pay in to the game, everyone shows up after hours on the roof and dares are issued and if you complete the dare, you stay in the running for the pot. A bunch of kids are playing this game and the shit that these kids go through to win that money is disturbing. Blackmail, seduction, a whole lot of dirty shit and it was a struggle to continue reading because I felt like as dirty and yucky as their shady as shit boss Rico.

The four main characters are Finn, Peter, Isa and Xavi. They all have their reasons for playing the game and each of them will do whatever it takes to win the money. Each character drove me a little crazy. My thing with Finn – I kept reading to find out what his other side business was and when we find out, meh. Then there was Isa, the new girl. When we first meet her, she’s a total bitch to Finn but over the course of the book, she just got on my nerves. She wasn’t very likable to me. Then there was Peter and Xavi. Peter has a serious thing for Xavi, who is younger and his step-sister. sigh He liked Xavi before their parents got married but still, their whole relationship and story line was very “meh” to me…and Xavi got on my hot damn nerves too.

I’m really sad that the driving force behind me reading this book, wasn’t explored enough. It was more of a background thing and while I liked the restaurant time, the rest of the book fell completely flat for me. I just…didn’t like it.

Grade: 1 out of 5

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

one-star


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