What-to-Read-Next #19

The month of June is almost here! And with this new month comes more great books such as DEADLY DESIGN and THE DEVIL YOU KNOW. Super excited to get my hands on these two books and the others listed below. What books are you looking forward to? Comment below about the books you're excited for!

Title: Deadly Design

Author: Debra Dockter

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Date: June 2^nd, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Genetically engineered identical twins Kyle and Connor McAdams were born two years apart. Their parents figured it was safer that way, to increase their odds of survival. Connor was born first, paving an impossibly perfect path for Kyle to follow. He was the best at everything—valedictorian, star quarterback etc. Kyle never thought he’d be able to live up, so he didn’t even try.
 

What-to-Read-Next #18

All of these books seem really good. P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU is the one that I'm looking forward to the most. P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU is the sequel TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE which was a great book. Hopefully P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU is as good as the first.  Hope you all look forward to these books as much as I am! Comment below with which of these books you're looking forward to! 

Title: The Cage (The Cage #1)

Author: Megan Shepherd

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/Harper Collins

Date: May 26^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

Title: The Awesome

Author: Eva Darrows

Publisher: Ravenstone

Date: May 26^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Maggie Cunningham is tough, smart, and sassy. She's also not like other girls her age, but then, who would be when the family business is monster hunting? Combat boots, ratty hooded sweatshirts, and hair worn short so nothing with claws can get a grip, Maggie's concerns in life slant more toward survival than fashion or boys. Which presents a problem when Maggie's mother informs Maggie that she can't get her journeyman's license for hunting until she loses her virginity.

Something about virgin blood turning vampires into pointy rage monsters. Blood and gore and insides being on the outside and all that. 

Maggie's battled ghosts and goblins and her fair share of house brownies, but finding herself a boy - fitting in with her peers - proves a much more daunting task than any monster hunt. Did you know normal girls don't stuff their bras with holy water balloons? Nor do they carry wooden stakes in their waistbands. And they care about things like "matching" and "footwear." Of course, they also can't clean a gun blindfolded, shoot a crossbow, or exorcise ghosts from a house. Which means they're lame and Maggie's not. Because Maggie's awesome. The Awesome, in fact. Just ask her. She'd be more than happy to tell you. 

After she finds herself a date.

Title: P. S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #2)

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Date: May 26^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.

She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.

When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of makes it so amazing.

Title: Tiny Pretty Things

Author: Sona Charaipotra, Dhonielle Clayton

Publisher: Harper Teen

Date: May 26^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.

What-to-Read-Next #17

Here's a new list of books releasing soon. MAXIMUM RIDE FOREVER is the book that I'm looking forward to the most. Sure, it might be intended for middle schoolers, but reading this series reminds me of how much I loved reading those books when I first read them. Hope you enjoy these books! 

Title: Maximum Ride Forever

Author: James Patterson

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date: May 18^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

THE NINTH AND ULTIMATE MAXIMUM RIDE STORY IS HERE! Legions of Max fans won't be disappointed by this encore episode in the beloved series about the incredible adventures of a teenage girl who can fly. As Maximum Ride boldly navigates a post-apocalyptic world, she and her broken flock are roaming the earth, searching for answers to what happened. All will be revealed in this last spectacular "ride"- a brand-new grand finale featuring all of the nonstop action, twists and turns that readers can rely on in a blockbuster Patterson page turner!

Title: The Choosing

Author: Rachelle Dekker

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishing, Inc.

Date: May 19^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—would end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority. 

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. The whispers contradict everything she’s been told; yet they resonate deep within. 

Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, but she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.

Title: From a Distant Star

Author: Karen McQuestion

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Date: May 19^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Emma was the only one who hadn’t given up on her boyfriend, Lucas. Everyone else—his family, his friends, his doctors—was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been answered.

As the surprised town rejoices, Emma begins to question whether Lucas is the same boy she’s always known. When she finds an unidentifiable object on his family’s farm—and government agents come to claim it—she begins to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Emma’s out-of-this-world discovery may be the key to setting things right, but only if she and Lucas can evade the agents who are after what they have. With all her hopes and dreams on the line, Emma sets out to save the boy she loves. And with a little help from a distant star, she might just have a chance at making those dreams come true.

Title: Hold Me Like a Breath (Once Upon a Crime Family #1)

Author: Tiffany Schmidt

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Date: May 19^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Penelope Landlow has grown up with the knowledge that almost anything can be bought or sold—including body parts. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families that control the black market for organ transplants.

Penelope’s surrounded by all the suffocating privilege and protection her family can provide, but they can't protect her from the autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise so easily.

And in her family's line of work no one can be safe forever.

All Penelope has ever wanted is freedom and independence. But when she’s caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence, she learns that her wishes come with casualties, that betrayal hurts worse than bruises, that love is a risk worth taking . . . and maybe she’s not as fragile as everyone thinks.

What-to-Read-Next #16

The magical month of May continues with the outstanding new books. END OF DAYS is definitely the book that I'm looking forward to the most from this list. The first two books of this series were terrific and I'm sure this upcoming book will be just as good. Comment below with which books you're looking forward to!

Title: End of Days (Penryn and the End of Days #3)

Author: Susan Ee

Publisher: Skyscape

Date: May 12^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

After a daring escape from the angels, Penryn and Raffe are on the run. They’re both desperate to find a doctor who can reverse the twisted changes inflicted by the angels on Raffe and Penryn’s sister. As they set off in search of answers, a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all.

When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. As unlikely alliances form and strategies shift, who will emerge victorious? Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

Title: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (Medieval Fairy Tale Romance #1)

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Date: May 12^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Jorgen is the forester for the wealthy margrave, and must find and capture the poacher who has been killing and stealing the margrave's game. When he meets the lovely and refined Odette at the festival and shares a connection during a dance, he has no idea she is the one who has been poaching the margrave's game.

Odette justifies her crime of poaching because she thinks the game is going to feed the poor, who are all but starving, both in the city and just outside its walls. But will the discovery of a local poaching ring reveal a terrible secret? Has the meat she thought she was providing for the poor actually been sold on the black market, profiting no one except the ring of black market sellers?

The one person Odette knows can help her could also find out her own secret and turn her over to the margrave, but she has no choice. Jorgen and Odette will band together to stop the dangerous poaching ring . . . and fall in love. But what will the margrave do when he discovers his forester is protecting a notorious poacher?

Title: Making Pretty

Author: Corey Ann Haydu

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Date: May 12^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Montana and her sister, Arizona, are named after the mountainous states their mother left them for. But Montana is a New York City girl through and through, and as the city heats up, she’s stepping into the most intense summer of her life.

With Arizona wrapped up in her college world and their father distracted by yet another divorce, Montana’s been immersing herself in an intoxicating new friendship with a girl from her acting class. Karissa is bold, imperfectly beautiful, and unafraid of being vulnerable. She’s everything Montana would like to become. But the friendship with Karissa is driving a wedge between Montana and her sister, and the more of her own secrets Karissa reveals, the more Montana has to wonder if Karissa’s someone she can really trust.

In the midst of her uncertainty, Montana finds a heady distraction in Bernardo. He’s serious and spontaneous, and he looks at Montana in the way she wants to be seen. For the first time, Montana understands how you can become both lost and found in somebody else. But when that love becomes everything, where does it leave the rest of her imperfect life?

Title: Velvet

Author: Temple West

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Date: May 12^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

First rule of dealing with hot vampire bodyguards? Don't fall in love.

After losing both her parents before age seventeen, aspiring designer Caitlin Holte feels like her whole world has been turned upside down, and that was before the terrifying encounter with a supernatural force. Then, she learns that her hot bad-boy neighbor, Adrian—who might have just saved her life—is actually a half-demon vampire.

Suddenly Caitlin is stuck with a vampire bodyguard who feels that the best way to protect her is to become her pretend boyfriend. Trouble is, Caitlin is starting to fall in love for real, while Adrian can never love a human. Caitlin trusts Adrian to keep her safe from his demon father, but will he be able to protect her heart?

Title: The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1)

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Date: May 12^th, 2015

Goodreads Blurb:

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

Book Review: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han (4/5)

Title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) 

Author: Jenny Han

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 288

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Romance, Young Adult

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Blurb:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

This was a chick-lit, a total light read for the beach: it was all romance. So if you like dystopian books, this might not be the book for you. Just a fair warning. But even though I like books that are dystopian or have fantasy creatures I absolutely enjoyed this book. Of course there were a few small things here and there that I didn’t like, but on the whole, this was a truly enjoyable book.

So, first with the pros of ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’.

One thing that I enjoyed would be the characters, more specifically Lara Jean’s character. She was absolutely adorable. The way she acted made her seem younger than her 16 years would lead you to believe – she was innocent. Lara Jean had never truly fallen in love, and now that the letters were out it was as if her soul was bared to the boys who received the letters. Reading about how she dealt with the love letters was funny – this heroine definitely wasn’t above lying to escape with her honor intact. Besides that, she was kind and smart, definitely not like a typical ditzy high school girl.

But though I liked Lara Jean, she wasn’t the best part of the story. No, it was the romance plot that truly stole the cake. It was sweet, fantastic, and extraordinarily romantic. As mentioned in the Goodreads Blurb, this was the first time Lara Jean had ever dealt with someone she liked face to face. And reading how she fell in love with one of the boys she had written a letter to was interesting, but not as interesting as it was to read about how she dealt with her newfound feelings while being in love with another boy – a boy who’s completely off limits. Talk about a serious love triangle! And the guys she’s in love with? I won’t mention any names, but though they were absolute polar opposites of each other, they shared one thing: they were both absolutely gorgeous.

And then, the final thing that was good about the book: the ending. It was fantastic. There’s that moment when the whole romance plot becomes clear to Lara Jean: she knows who she loves, she knows who she wants. This was the moment when she was supposed to do something daring and get the guy. But instead, guess what happens? A CLIFFHANGER! This was the best and worst place to put a cliffhanger. Best because this was the most strategic place to end the book to leave the reader waiting eagerly for the sequel. But it was the worst because I want, no, I need to know what happens with Lara Jean! Dealing with the awe I have with Ms. Jenny Han for planning this book out perfectly and the frustration of having to wait for the second book are two emotions that I‘m struggling to contain. Just give me the second book. I can’t wait.

Now onto the things that I didn’t really enjoy about this book. First was the language. It just seemed extremely basic. I guess, sure, chick-lit books have basic language that is easily understood, but even then, the language used in this book is incredibly simplistic. The second thing I didn’t really like about this book was that it was so short. Honestly, ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ could have been easily expanded to include more of the things that Lara Jean did before she realized which boy she was in love with. I wasn’t ready for this book to end so soon.

‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ is the epitome of swoon-worthy books. Lara Jean’s life is about to change in a crazy way – her new life would be one she never would have expected. Read this book, a book that proves that love is where you would last look for it. If you’re searching for a light, romantic read this is definitely the book you should take a look at. And don’t miss the sequel to this book, ‘P.S. I Still Love You’ releasing May 26^th, 2015.