Author: Sarah Billington

Review: That One Night by Sarah Billington

Posted September 10, 2013 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: That One Night by Sarah BillingtonReviewer: Rowena
That One Night by Sarah Billington
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: July 19, 2012
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First Person
Genres: New Adult
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three-stars

Can a friendship that lasts just an hour be completely perfect?

A year ago, Annie and Bree were best friends, then they graduated high school and it turns out a year is a long time.

When Annie shows up at her best friend's birthday hoping to slip back into the friendship that was, she discovers she's no longer a part of Bree's world and decides to slip out quietly without making a scene.

But a chance encounter on the way out means that sometimes you can find friendship when you least expect it.

This was such a short, that it felt more like a chapter of a story but even still, I enjoyed it.  It was a pretty damn good chapter.

This short story follows Annie.  Annie’s best friend Bree is having a birthday party of sorts and Annie goes.  She’s pretty excited about seeing her best friend again because it’s been a while since they had any best friend time and she misses her.  But Bree has gone to college and it becomes apparent that she’s pretty much moved on from her friendship with Annie.  Annie spends most of the night hanging out by herself and drinking by herself because Bree looks pretty content to hang out with her college friends.

Just when Annie thinks she can’t take anymore, she starts to head out and leave Bree behind once and for all but she ends up sticking around when she spills her drink on one of Bree’s college friends.  His name is Skylar and Annie remembers his name from when Bree used to talk to her about her college life.  He was the guy that Bree was in love with before she got with her boyfriend that she’s with now.  After Annie spills her drink on Skylar, they embark on a night of adventure…and that’s exactly what it was.  A one night adventure.

Skylar is going to Japan in the morning and it’s his last night in town and he spends it with a stranger who knows someone he knows.   And their night is filled with awesome and I liked it very much.  I just wish that it was longer.  That it was fleshed out more but for what it was, it was pretty great.  I liked Skylar and I liked Annie so overall, this was a cute read.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

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

three-stars


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Review: The Kiss Off by Sarah Billington

Posted December 19, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: The Kiss Off by Sarah BillingtonReviewer: Rowena
The Kiss Off (The Kiss off #1) by Sarah Billington
Series: The Kiss Off #1

Publication Date: March 1st 2012
Genres: Young Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When sixteen-year-old Poppy Douglas writes a song about her ex-boyfriend Cam and ex-friend Nikki, she has no idea that her heartbreak is about to go global. A local band picks up her song from Youtube and soon she’s along for the ride with her own fanbase as they blow up on the local club scene and hit the international charts. Though it turns out leaving Cam behind isn’t as easy as she had hoped.Tangled in a web of unfinished homework, ill-considered sexting and a new lead-singer boyfriend, Poppy has a choice to make between the ex that inspired it all and the rock God whose poster lines the inside of half the lockers at school. But as she struggles to keep her emotional dirty laundry private, she learns that the truth can be hard to find when your life is in the headlines.

After reading the blurb for this book, I thought it would be a light and fluffy read.  One that didn’t really take itself too seriously and while it wasn’t a deep read, it had some depth to the story and I really enjoyed it.

This book is about a young girl named Poppy Douglas.  Poppy’s boyfriend cheats on her with her friend and Poppy gets mad, writes a song about them and then posts it on YouTube.  The song really takes off when it catches the attention of a local band, who record the song and make the song into a smash hit.  Poppy’s life changes when she starts dating Ty, the lead singer of Academy of Lies.  Ty becomes an A List celebrity and he goes on tour and dating him becomes a lot more complicated than Poppy imagined.  To make things even complicated, Cam (the cheating ex) turns out to not be an asshole who might want to get back with Poppy and I really liked that there wasn’t a clear choice for Poppy.  Both Cam and Ty were good guys and I liked them both.  I liked one more but I thought the other one was a good guy too.

This book was too cute for words.  I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and even though there were times when I wanted to smack the crap out of Poppy, I really liked her in the end.  Poppy was your typical teenage girl who felt strongly and reacted heatedly and passionately.  She really cared about Cam and was really hurt by him and she handled it the only way that she knew how to, by expressing her feelings through song.  That song became a national hit and it changed her life.  It brought Ty into her life and it brought the band into her life and helped her get over Cam.  I liked seeing her come to terms with who she was and who she wanted to be but also who she wanted to be with.  She grew a lot over the course of the book and I really enjoyed reading about her journey.  I am not at all shy to say that I loved the choice that she made.  He was totally the guy that I would have chosen and not just because of, well…read the book and you’ll understand.  I really liked him more than the other guy.  He was too freaking cute.

I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend this book to lovers of contemporary YA books as well as fans of books by Sarah Dessen, Morgan Matson and Elizabeth Eulberg.  This was an enjoyable read and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

…and that’s your scoop!

This book is available from Billington Media. This book was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

four-stars


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