June 2020 – Page 5 – Jill's Book Blog

Review: How to Hack a Heartbreak

Title: How to Hack a Heartbreak
Author: Kristin Rockaway
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Graydon House
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 30, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Swipe right for love. Swipe left for disaster.
By day, Mel Strickland is an underemployed helpdesk tech at a startup incubator, Hatch, where she helps entitled brogrammers—”Hatchlings”—who can’t even fix their own laptops, but are apparently the next wave of startup geniuses. And by night, she goes on bad dates with misbehaving dudes she’s matched with on the ubiquitous dating app, Fluttr.
But after one dick pic too many, Mel has had it. Using her brilliant coding skills, she designs an app of her own, one that allows users to log harrassers and abusers in online dating space. It’s called JerkAlert, and it goes viral overnight.
Mel is suddenly in way over her head. Worse still, her almost-boyfriend, the dreamy Alex Hernandez—the only non-douchey guy at Hatch—has no idea she’s the brains behind the app. Soon, Mel is faced with a terrible choice: one that could destroy her career, love life, and friendships, or change her life forever.

Review:

Melanie Strickland works at the help desk for a company that works with startup companies. She is surrounded with men who don’t think she knows how to do her job. Even when she’s not at work, she encounters horrible men on the popular dating app, Fluttr. Melanie decides to make her own website to alert women to the disgusting men on Fluttr, so she creates JerkAlert. However, the start up entrepreneur who she starts dating, Alex, appears on her website. Melanie has to hide her identity as the founder of JerkAlert while also navigating her own relationship with Alex.

This story tackles sexism in the workplace. Melanie was treated horribly by the men in her office, and her male supervisors didn’t see a problem with it. It was actually upsetting to read at times, because the things they did and said were so inappropriate.

Even though Melanie had to deal with sexist men, she turned her life around. She worked very hard to push past the limitations that men put on her in the digital coding world just because she was a woman.

I really enjoyed this story.

Thank you Graydon House Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Top 5 Saturday – Books with One Word Titles

This is a weekly meme hosted Devouring Books. This week’s prompt is Books with One Word Titles. Here’s my list:

1. Smile by Raina Telgemeier

2. Romanov by Nadine Brandes

3. Followers by Raziel Reid

4. Parachutes by Kelly Yang

5. Thorn by Intisar Khanani

(All book covers from Goodreads)

If you’d like to do this list too, consider yourself tagged!

Did you make a Top 5 Saturday list?

Review: The Gryphon’s Lair (Royal Guide to Monster Slaying #2)

Title: The Gryphon’s Lair (Royal Guide to Monster Slaying #2)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Puffin Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Rowan is now the Royal Monster Hunter, and her twin brother, Rhydd, is destined to be king. But her mother’s cousin Heward is still determined that his children be the ones to inherit the titles, and will stop at nothing to show that Rowan and Rhydd are too immature to properly lead. After the gryphon that Rowan captured in Book One gives birth but then dies, Rowan is left with a baby gryphon she knows she cannot keep. And it grows faster than anyone can imagine . . .
In order to save face after an accident involving the troublesome gryphon, Rowan, with the help of her friends Dain and Alianor, along with an entourage of monstrous companions, must make a journey to the mountains to release the gryphon back into the wild. What starts off as a simple enough task soon becomes a dangerous quest, as the group encounters numerous rare and deadly monsters along the way, including wyverns and ceffyl-dwrs. Nothing is easy when you’re a “monster magnet” like Rowan.
Can she prove herself worthy of the title of Royal Monster Hunter? Find out in this exciting second book in the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying duology!

Review:

Rowan is training to be the royal monster hunter in her kingdom. She caught a gryphon in the previous book, and it was allowed to live because it was pregnant. Now the gryphon is having her baby, but the mother dies due to complications. The baby gryphon grows quickly and thinks that Rowan is her mother. When the gryphon goes to extreme lengths to protect Rowan, the kingdom decides that the gryphon has to be killed. Rowan convinces them to let her move the gryphon somewhere else. On Rowan’s new adventure through the country, she meets even more creatures than last time.

I really enjoyed this series. I just found out that this is the final book in this series. I would have liked to see more of Rowan as she gets older. She had to face some more mature issues in this book, such as potential suitors for her and her brother. I love how Rowan is such a strong female character. She heads right into danger to do the right thing, rather than what everyone thinks she should do. She is confident and independent.

I felt like some of the fight scenes were too long. They lasted for a couple of chapters, sometimes, and they became repetitive. One thing that could have made the fights more entertaining is if there were illustrations to go along with them. There are some illustrations of the monsters at the end of the book, but I think the story could have been enhanced with illustrations throughout the book.

This is a great middle grade book.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Other books in the series:

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying

Have you read The Gryphon’s Lair? What did you think of it?

The Friday 56 – How to Hack a Heartbreak

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice.

The Rules are:

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
Post it. And share your link.
It’s that simple.

Today I’m reading How to Hack a Heartbreak by Kristin Rockaway.

Here is my line from location 56% in my e-ARC:

“There you have it fools. Put your fears of eating beaver butt discharge to rest. Though the article said you can buy it on Etsy if you’re so inclined.”

Did you make a post for the Friday 56?

Blog Tour Review: Half Life

Title: Half Life
Author: Lillian Clark
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook, Paperback
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

An overachiever enrolls in an experimental clone study to prove that two (of her own) heads are better than one in this fast-paced, near-future adventure that’s Black Mirror meets Becky Albertalli.
There aren’t enough hours in the day for Lucille–perfectionist, overachiever–to do everything she has to do, and there certainly aren’t enough hours to hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble–all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing instead of preparing for a flawless future. So when she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, she’s intrigued.
The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it’s perfect: her clone, Lucy, is exactly what she needed to make her life manageable and have time for a social life. But it doesn’t take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window–a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucy does what she really wants to, not what she thinks she should want to, and Lucille is left wondering how much she was even a part of the perfect life she’d constructed for herself. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?

Review:

Lucille is a perfectionist. She has perfect grades, but she wasn’t accepted into the intern program she applied to for the summer. On top of that, her parents are getting divorced and her best friend has a new best friend. When Lucille gets an email about an exciting opportunity that is just for her, she decides to take a chance. The opportunity is to have a clone made of her. After the clone is made, she will have to join Lucille in her life to prove that they are the same. However, Lucille’s parents and friends don’t know that she is having a clone made. Lucille thinks this will be a great chance to do more things in life to be more perfect, but life with her clone isn’t as easy as she predicted.

I love stories about clones. When I was in middle school, I loved the novel Cloning Miranda. More recently, I was obsessed with the TV show Orphan Black. The idea is fascinating to me, and a little scary. I’ve heard of programs where you can have your dog cloned, so cloning humans doesn’t seem too futuristic anymore.

At the beginning of the book, I found Lucille annoying. She was very self-involved and pushed everyone away. When her clone was introduced to the story, she was a great contrast to Lucille. I was so glad that I kept reading, because the story became fast paced and suspenseful.

This is a great story!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About the Author:

Lillian Clark, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, grew up riding horses, climbing trees, and going on grand imaginary adventures in the small-town West. She’s worked as a lifeguard, a camp counselor, and a Zamboni driver, but found her eternal love working as a bookseller at an independent bookstore. Now living in Teton Valley, Idaho with her husband, son, and two giant dogs, she spends her time reading almost anything and writing books for teens.

Blog Tour Schedule:

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/04/tour-schedule-half-life-by-lillian-clark.html

Have you read Half Life? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – June 11

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.

My pick this week is Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: Followers

Title: Followers
Author: Raziel Reid
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A naïve teenager is thrown into the high-stakes, back-stabbing world of reality television.
After a disastrous date results in her arrest, sixteen-year-old Lily Rhode is horrified to discover her mugshot is leaked on a gossip website. Lily is the niece of Whitney Paley, a Hollywood housewife and star of reality show Platinum Triangle, a soap-opera-style docu-series in the vein of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Hills, revolving around several glamorous families living in the Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
When Lily’s mom kicks her out of their trailer home in the Valley, Whitney (Lily’s mom’s estranged sister) invites her to live with her, her movie-star husband, Patrick, and their daughter, Hailey. Lily is set up in the pool house and thrust into the company of reality-star offspring — kids who are born with silver spoon emojis on their feed. Lily’s cousin Hailey and the other teens have lived their entire lives on camera and are masters of deception, with Hailey leading the pack.
As Lily learns from the Paleys how to navigate her newfound fame, she finds herself ensnared in the unfolding storylines. What Lily doesn’t know is that she’s just a pawn being used on the show to make the Paleys look sympathetic to viewers while distracting from on-set sexual misconduct rumors surrounding super hero dad Patrick Paley . . .
Is Lily safe under Patrick’s roof? Or will Lily be Patrick’s downfall? If she isn’t destroyed by Hailey first. When Lily catches the eye of Hailey’s designated leading man Joel Strom — it’s war!

Review:

After Lily Rhode is arrested for grand theft, her aunt invites her to move out of Lily’s trailer park and into her aunt’s Beverly Hills mansion. The catch is that she will star on the reality show along with her cousin, Hailey, and various other famous families. Lily is just there to recover from her arrest, but her aunt Whitney positions her as the villain to her cousin Hailey. Hailey has a storyline going on the show with a romance between her and Joel, but when Joel sees Lily, he’s drawn to her. Hailey and the other cast members have to plan out their storylines for the season, and try not to be overshadowed by Lily.

Kens by Raziel Reid was one of my favourite books last year, so I was excited to read this one! The show in this book, Platinum Triangle, was like a combination of reality shows: The Kardashians meets The Hills meets The Real Housewives. There were some storylines that were straight from those shows, such as someone faking cancer and having a transgender parent. I loved this connection to real reality shows that I’ve watched.

There were some tough subjects in this book, which need some trigger warnings. There was lots of drug use, faking cancer, dog fighting, eating disorders, and an adult having a relationship with a minor. These things were told fairly early on in the book, so they aren’t spoilers. Even though these could be upsetting subjects, they were so extreme in this story that they turned into a parody of reality shows. One of the most shocking things is that some of these stories are taken right from reality shows, so they are an accurate representation of that world.

I loved this book! The ending was so shocking I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I had read it correctly. If you love reality TV, you’ll love this book.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – June 10

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1) by Romina Garber. The expected publication date is August 4, 2020.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Some people ARE illegal.
Lobizonas do NOT exist.
Both of these statements are false.
Manuela Azul has been crammed into an existence that feels too small for her. As an undocumented immigrant who’s on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family, Manu is confined to a small apartment and a small life in Miami, Florida.
Until Manu’s protective bubble is shattered.
Her surrogate grandmother is attacked, lifelong lies are exposed, and her mother is arrested by ICE. Without a home, without answers, and finally without shackles, Manu investigates the only clue she has about her past–a mysterious “Z” emblem—which leads her to a secret world buried within our own. A world connected to her dead father and his criminal past. A world straight out of Argentine folklore, where the seventh consecutive daughter is born a bruja and the seventh consecutive son is a lobizón, a werewolf. A world where her unusual eyes allow her to belong.
As Manu uncovers her own story and traces her real heritage all the way back to a cursed city in Argentina, she learns it’s not just her U.S. residency that’s illegal. . . .it’s her entire existence.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Twisted Fairy Tales: The Three Little Narwhals

Title: Twisted Fairy Tales: The Three Little Narwhals
Author: Stewart Ross, Chris Jevons (illustrator)
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 15, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this whale of a tale, the Big Bad Shark is looking for a tasty snack… when he comes across three delicious-looking narwhals! The loveable, pointy-horned creatures-show-off Spike, arty Spiral, and shy Stubby-discover a sunken pirate ship, and are using the parts to build their own homes. Now they are out of their depth, locked in a battle of wits with the munching, crunching villain.

Review:

This story is a twist on the tale of the Three Little Pigs. Instead of pigs, the characters are the three little narwhals. They decide to build houses out of the parts of a shipwreck. The first house was made of ropes and sails, the second was made of wood, and the third was made of metal. Their homes are then destroyed by the big bad shark.

Narwhals are a popular animal for kids books. They’re the unicorns of the sea. There were also dolphins in this story, which were so cute. The dolphins pointed out the problems with the narwhals’ homes before they were attacked, so they explained to the reader why the homes were flawed.

I liked the twist on the traditional big bad wolf, which is the big bad shark. He said “I’ll crunch, and I’ll munch, and I’ll have this house for lunch.” This was a great way to change the wolf into a sea creature.

I really enjoyed this retelling of the Three Little Pigs.

Thank you Arcturus Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’ve Added to My TBR, and I’ve Forgotten Why

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Books I’ve Added to My TBR, and I’ve Forgotten Why. Here’s my list: