Month: July 2020

Blog Tour Review: More Than Maybe

Title: More Than Maybe
Author: Erin Hahn
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Growing up under his punk rocker dad’s spotlight, eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love isn’t in front of a crowd, it’s on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the locally popular podcast he co-hosts with his outgoing and meddling, far-too-jealousy-inspiringly-happy-with-his-long-term-boyfriend twin brother, Cullen. But that’s not Luke’s only secret. He also has a major un-requited crush on music blogger, Vada Carsewell.

Vada’s got a five year plan: secure a job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom’s boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil’s music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley’s prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check), manage Ann Arbor’s summer concert series and secure a Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So what if his self-deprecating charm and out-of-this-world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really, really wishes it was her? 

Review:

Luke Greenly is the son of a former British rocker. He hosts a podcast with his twin brother Cullen. Luke has a crush on Vada Carsewell, a girl who works at the bar where they record their podcast. When Luke and Vada get paired up to work on a school project, with Luke writing a song to go with Vada’s choreography, they realize they both like each other. Luke’s secret talent for music is revealed when he is recorded while composing, and the song is released online. Everyone wants to know who the mystery girl is in Luke’s song, and Vada hopes it’s about her.

This was a cute romance. It’s set in the same music world of Erin Hahn’s first novel, You’d Be Mine. A song by Annie Mather, the main character from You’d Be Mine, was mentioned in the book. I liked that the books were connected in that small way, though it isn’t a sequel. I actually liked this book more than You’d Be Mine. I think that’s because I could relate to the rock music references in More Than Maybe more than the country music in the previous book.

The characters were well developed in this story. Even the parents of Vada and Luke had lengthy backgrounds that influenced their children. These backgrounds, that went beyond the story, made the characters seem like real people. The backgrounds of the characters added to the story.

I loved this story! It had an adorable ending!

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

What to read next:

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

About the author:

ERIN HAHN is the author of You’d Be Mine and More Than Maybe. She teaches elementary, would rather be outside and makes a lot of playlists. So many playlists in fact, that she decided to write books to match them! She married her very own YA love interest who she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat named Gus who plays fetch and a dog named June who doesn’t.

Have you read More Than Maybe? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – July 22

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 When I Was You by Amber Garza. The expected publication date is August 25, 2020.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

You meets Fatal Attraction in this up-all-night psychological thriller about a lonely empty-nester’s growing obsession with a young mother who shares her name.

It all begins on an ordinary fall morning, when Kelly Medina gets a call from her son’s pediatrician to confirm her upcoming “well-baby” appointment. It’s a cruel mistake; her son left for college a year ago, and Kelly has never felt so alone. The receptionist quickly apologizes: there’s another mother in town named Kelly Medina, and she must have gotten their numbers switched.

But Kelly can’t stop thinking about the woman who shares her name. Lives in her same town. Has a son she can still hold, and her whole life ahead of her. She can’t help looking for her: at the grocery store, at the gym, on social media. When Kelly just happens to bump into the single mother outside that pediatrician’s office, it’s simple curiosity getting the better of her.

Their unlikely friendship brings Kelly a renewed sense of purpose, taking care of this young woman and her adorable baby boy. But that friendship quickly turns to obsession, and when one Kelly disappears, well, the other one may know why.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: 10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Dimple and Rishi #3)

Title: 10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Dimple and Rishi #3)
Author: Sandhya Menon
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The follow-up to When Dimple Met Rishi and There’s Something about Sweetie follows Pinky and Samir as they pretend to date—with disastrous and hilarious results.

Pinky Kumar wears the social justice warrior badge with pride. From raccoon hospitals to persecuted rock stars, no cause is too esoteric for her to champion. But a teeny-tiny part of her also really enjoys making her conservative, buttoned-up corporate lawyer parents cringe.

Samir Jha might have a few . . . quirks remaining from the time he had to take care of his sick mother, like the endless lists he makes in his planner and the way he schedules every minute of every day, but those are good things. They make life predictable and steady.

Pinky loves lazy summers at her parents’ Cape Cod lake house, but after listening to them harangue her about the poor decisions (aka boyfriends) she’s made, she hatches a plan. Get her sorta-friend-sorta-enemy, Samir—who is a total Harvard-bound Mama’s boy—to pose as her perfect boyfriend for the summer. As they bicker their way through lighthouses and butterfly habitats, sparks fly, and they both realize this will be a summer they’ll never forget.

Review:

Pinky is a rebellious, social justice warrior. She’s known for getting in trouble and dating delinquent boys. When the barn at their summer house burns down, her mom immediately thinks Pinky did it, rather than Pinky’s perfect cousin Dolly. To prove that Pinky didn’t do it, she tells her mom she couldn’t have been in the barn with a boy because she has a boyfriend. The only problem is that Pinky has to find a perfect boyfriend to keep up with the lie she told her mom. She invites Samir to stay with them for the summer, when she finds out he didn’t get the law firm internship that he applied for. In exchange for helping Pinky by being her fake boyfriend, Pinky promises Samir that her high powered lawyer mother will give him an internship next year. It all goes according to plan until Pinky and Samir develop real feelings for each other.

This is the perfect summer romance! Pinky was such a fun character. I loved her style, with her rainbow dyed hair. I imagined it as much more rainbow coloured in the story than is pictured on the cover. She was the opposite of clean-cut Samir, who was always dressed up. Even though they were opposites in looks and personalities, they made an adorable couple.

This is the last book in the “Dimple-verse” about these characters. Since Pinky and Samir were away from their hometown of San Francisco, the other characters from past novels didn’t appear in this novel, other than a brief appearance by Ashish. I usually don’t like it when books in a series don’t include all the characters, because they don’t feel connected. However, since Pinky and Samir were away from home in this story, it worked for the plot to not include their friends from home.

I loved this summer romance!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Love at First Fight (Dimple and Rishi #2.5) by Sandhya Menon

From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon

Other books in the series:

Have you read 10 Things I Hate About Pinky? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Book Festivals I’d Love To Go To

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 Book Events/Festivals I’d Love To Go To. I really miss going to book events during the pandemic! I have been to some of these book festivals, but others I would love to attend one day. Here’s my list:

1. BookCon

2. Montreal YA Fest

3. Rochester Teen Book Festival

4. YALC

5. YALLFest

6. YALLWest

7. Texas Book Festival

8. LibraryPalooza

9. New York Comic Con

10. Frankfurt Book Fair

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Review: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

Title: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation. 

Review:

Clary’s mother is still in the hospital in a magical coma, when the villainous Valentine strikes again. He starts killing members of each magical group in order to get another one of the Mortal Instruments. Clary and Jace are the ones who can figure out how to stop their father, Valentine, from taking over the Shadowhunters Clave.

This story had a faster pace than the first one. Each of the different kinds of magical creatures were introduced in the first one, so this story could jump right into the action. Every time the action started to calm down, something major would happen to disrupt their lives, which made me want to keep reading.

There was a lot of tension, especially with the final fight scenes. It didn’t seem like all of the characters were going to survive the end. There were also some hints as to secrets that will probably be revealed soon, to explain some of the plot points that didn’t make sense. I’m rooting for Clary and Jace’s romance, even though they’re supposedly biological siblings. I hope everything works out for them in the next book.

I love this story! I can’t wait to read the next one.

What to read next:

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3) by Cassandra Clare

The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1) by Renée Ahdieh

Other books in the series:

  • City of Bones
  • City of Glass
  • City of Fallen Angels
  • City of Lost Souls
  • City of Heavenly Fire

Have you read City of Ashes? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – July 20

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading 10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Dimple and Rishi #3) by Sandhya Menon.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – July 19

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 9 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… City of Ashes

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

What book are you in bed with today?

Six for Sunday – Favourite Books People Never Seem to Know

This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Overdone Tropes, but I chose an old topic: Favourite Books People Never Seem to Know. Here’s my list:

1. I Have No Secrets by Penny Joelson

2. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

3. Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

4. Kill Shakespeare, Vol. 1 by Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, Andy Belanger

5. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

6. Finding Fraser by K.C. Dyer

(All book cover images from Goodreads)

Did you make a Six for Sunday list?