Blog Tour Review: Secrets of a Fangirl

Title: Secrets of a Fangirl
Author: Erin M. Dionne
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sarah Anne loves lacrosse, and the MK Nightshade series that everyone was obsessed over in grade school. The problem is that she’s still obsessed, which is way too nerdy for a popular kid like her. So she hides her geekiness with a set of rules meant to keep her geek and jock selves separate. 

Except when she’s offered a spot in a Nightshade fandom contest, where the winner gets to see the new movie premiere in LA. No one seems to think Sarah Anne can win, since she’s up against a pair of guys in high school–but the more she’s called a fake fan, the more determined she is to wipe the floor with her competition. As long as none of her friends or anyone at school knows what she’s doing.

Can she keep her geek identity a secret, win the contest, and manage to keep her friends even though she’s been living a lie? Sarah Anne is going to have to make some choices about what’s truly important to her and which rules she’s going to break to stay true to herself.

Review:

I loved this book!

I could really relate to Sarah Anne, the main character. She was a huge fan of a series called Nightshade, but she had to hide it from her friends. Her friends no longer thought it was “cool” to belong to a fandom, so Sarah Anne had to pretend that she didn’t like it anymore either. When she enters a contest online and wins, entering her into a fandom challenge, her secret “geeky” identity is put on display. I could relate to this because I remember in middle school and high school when liking geeky things, like fantasy book series or video games, was uncool. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I chose to ignore the fandoms that I loved, so that I could fit in with the rest of my classmates and friends. Now that I’m older, I wear tons of fandom gear, and I’m not afraid for anyone to know what geeky things I love.

I kept cringing at Sarah Anne’s popular friends. They were mean to so many kids, just because they liked certain movies and fandoms. One boy even expected Sarah Anne to keep up her position on the lacrosse team, because he couldn’t be seen with her if she wasn’t the best. This was so sad to read about, but it is definitely a real part of school. There are always the mean kids who think they can control what everyone else does in the school. The important thing is to continue to stand up for what you believe in.

This was a great book!

Thank you to Scholastic for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Tournament Trouble by Sylv Chiang

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin Dionne

About the Author:

Erin Dionne’s latest book for tweens is Lights, Camera, Disaster (Scholastic 2018). Her other novels are Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies, The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, and Notes from an Accidental Band Geek.

Her novel Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking: A 14 Day Mystery, is based on the real-life Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist and was a 2014 Edgar Award finalist. The series continues with Ollie and the Science of Treasure Hunting. Her first picture book, Captain’s Log: Snowbound, illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler, was released in 2018 and received a starred review from Kirkus.

A graduate of Boston College (BA English & Communications) and Emerson College (MFA), she teaches at Montserrat College of Art and lives outside of Boston with her husband, two children, and a very indignant dog.

Blog Tour Schedule:

May 20th

Dazzled by Books– Promo + Bookstagram
Struck by Stories– Review
The Book Dutchesses– Review

May 21st

Kayla Reads and Reviews– Review
Musings of a (Book) Girl– Interview + Bookstagram
The Reading Corner for All– Review + Bookstagram

May 22nd

onemused– Bookstagram + Review
Kait Plus Books– Guest Post + Bookstagram
Rhythmicbooktrovert– Review + Favorite Quotes

May 23rd

The Clever Reader– Interview
Jill’s Book Blog– Review
Moonlight Rendezvous– Review + Favorite Quotes

May 24th

L.M. Durand– Promo & Bookstagram
Vicarious Bookworm– Review + Playlist
Bookwyrming Thoughts– Review

Thank you The Fantastic Flying Book Club and Scholastic for letting me participate in this blog tour.

Have you read Secrets of a Fangirl? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – May 23

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 Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1) by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the internationally bestselling authors of THE ILLUMINAE FILES comes an epic new science fiction adventure.

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

They’re not the heroes we deserve. They’re just the ones we could find. Nobody panic. 

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

Review: The Dark Beneath the Ice

Title: The Dark Beneath the Ice
Author: Amelinda Bérubé
Genre: Young Adult, Horror
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Something is wrong with Marianne. 

It’s not just that her parents have split up, or that life hasn’t been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital. 

She’s losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. 

Something is after her. But a first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. And Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it think it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

Review:

This was a suspenseful, modern ghost story.

This story was very creepy. It had a contemporary setting in the real world. However, strange things keep happening to Marianne. Things start spontaneously breaking in front of her, and she has gaps in her memory. These unexplained events built the suspense in the story. Since the setting is the real world, it was even more creepy to read and imagine it happening to myself.

There was some discussion about mental health in this story. Marianne is sent to a therapist for help after some unusual things happen with her, and her mother is admitted to the hospital because she thinks she is hallucinating. When Marianne takes some medication to help with her stress, she discovers that her aunt took the same pills years earlier. This broke down the stigma around getting help for mental health problems, since all of them sought out help without being blamed for their actions.

This is one of those stories where the ending can make it or break it. I won’t spoil it, but I can say that I liked the way the story ended. This is a great, spooky ghost story.

What to read next:

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Have you read The Dark Beneath the Ice? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – May 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 Ordinary Girls by Blair Thornburgh. The release date is June 4, 2019.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Mlynowski, this heartfelt and humorous contemporary take on Sense and Sensibility follows two sisters—complete opposites—who discover the secrets they’ve been keeping make them more alike than they’d realized.

For two sisters as different as Plum and Ginny, getting on each other’s nerves is par for the course. But when the family’s finances hit a snag, sending chaos through the house in a way only characters from a Jane Austen novel could understand, the two drift apart like they never have before. Plum, a self-described social outcast, strikes up a secret friendship with the class jock, while Ginny’s usual high-strung nature escalates to pure hysterics.

But this has always been the sisters’ dynamic. So why does everything feel different this year? Maybe because Ginny is going to leave for college soon. Maybe because Plum finally has something that she doesn’t have to share with her self-involved older sister. Or maybe because the girls are forced to examine who they really are instead of who their late father said they were. And who each girl discovers—beneath the years of missing their dad—could either bring them closer together…or drive them further apart.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Top 5 Wednesday – Emerald Covers

This meme is hosted by Lainey from Thoughts on Tomes. The Goodreads Group for Top 5 Wednesday can be found here.

This week’s prompt is Emerald Covers, because the birthstone for May is Emerald. Here’s my list:

1. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

2. Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon

3. The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay

4. Father Christmas and Me (Christmas #3) by Matt Haig

5. Harry’s Christmas Carol by Mark Andrew Poe

What are your favourite books with Emerald Covers?

Review: The Beauty of the Moment

Title: The Beauty of the Moment
Author: Tanaz Bhathena
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

Susan dreams of being an artist. Malcolm wants to move him and his sister out of a bad living situation. Sparks fly when the two teens meet at a fundraiser for Syrian refugees. A Canadian YA romance for fans of The Sun is Also a Star.

Susan is the new girl — she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy — he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since. 
Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants — until he meets her. 
Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are. 

Review:

I really enjoyed this story.

I liked the dual narratives of Susan and Malcolm. It was great to see both sides of their romance. They come from different backgrounds, yet they had many similarities. Malcolm’s father was remarried and Susan lived just with her mother, so they both only had one of their parents in their daily lives. However, they are in different positions in their school. Susan is new to the school and she has trouble making friends. Malcolm has a lot of history at the school, including a jealous ex-girlfriend. I saw the world through Susan’s new eyes, yet I also saw the history of the characters through Malcolm’s perspective.

Though there were fun parts of the story with their budding romance, there were serious issues addressed as well. Malcolm was abused at home by his father. Susan discovered problems in her parents’ marriage. They also reference the Syrian refugees in Toronto and Mississauga, because Malcolm’s sister organized a fundraiser for a Syrian family. These parts were educational and informative for young readers who may not know about these issues.

This story was set in Mississauga, which is a city in the Greater Toronto Area. I could picture most of the locations mentioned, which was so great! Though I couldn’t relate to the characters because they have different backgrounds from me, I felt connected to them through this setting.

This was a great story.

What to read next:

A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

Have you read The Beauty of the Moment? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books That I’ve Loaned to Other People

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 That I Don’t Let Anyone Touch. However, I do share my books quite often, because I love recommending books, especially to non-readers. My friends and I would often share books when I was younger, too. I changed my list to Books I’ve Loaned to Other People. Here’s my list:

1. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

2. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

3. Shadowland (The Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

5. The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

6. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

7. Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson, Jenn St-Onge

8. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

9. Kens by Raziel Reid

10. The Child by Fiona Barton

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

Review: Beauty Queen (Whatever After #7)

Title: Beauty Queen (Whatever After #7)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

The magical seventh installment in this NEW YORK TIMES bestselling series!

This time, the magic mirror sucks Abby and Jonah into the story of Beauty and the Beast. When Jonah angers the Beast by picking flowers from his garden, he becomes the Beast’s prisoner! Abby has to save her brother by finding Beauty, whom the Beast will surely fall in love with, right? NOPE. The Beast doesn’t like Beauty, so it’s up to Abby and her brother to match-make this reluctant pair and fix this fractured fairy tale before things get pretty ugly!

Review:

This is another fun fairytale retelling!

In this story, Abby and Jonah have to fix the Beauty and the Beast fairytale. Abby also has to find a way to get Jonah’s memories back. His memories were wiped at the end of the previous novel so he didn’t remember any of their other fairytale adventures. There were many twists throughout the story, including Abby being turned into a beast!

As the series progresses, the characters are becoming more developed. Abby and Jonah’s lives outside of the fairytale adventures was shown at the beginning of the story. Abby has trouble with her friends at school. She becomes jealous when her friend makes a new friend. However, she learns how to fix the situation while in the Beauty and the Beast story.

The Whatever After series is great! I highly recommend it!

What to read next:

Once Upon a Frog (Whatever After #8) by Sarah Mlynowski

Have you read Beauty Queen? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – May 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 The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo.

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

Review: The Way You Make Me Feel

Title: The Way You Make Me Feel
Author: Maurene Goo
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 8, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

goodreads-badge-add-plus-71eae69ca0307d077df66a58ec068898

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn’t so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? 

With Maurene Goo’s signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look. 

Review:

This is a fun summer story!

I loved the character Clara. She was carefree and took risks. At her junior prom, she reenacted Carrie by having fake blood dumped on herself after winning the title of prom queen. It was a dramatic moment, and ended up earning her the punishment of working on her dad’s food truck for the whole summer. She was a fun character to read about because she is so different from me.

I also loved the mix of cultures in the book. Clara was born in America to two parents who were both born in Brazil to Korean parents. Clara’s father’s Korean and Brazilian heritage was explored in his fusion food truck called KoBra. I didn’t know there was a Korean population in Brazil before reading this book, so that was fascinating to learn.

This was a great story! It would be a perfect read for the summer!

What to read next:

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Have you read The Way You Make Me Feel? What did you think of it?