Can't Wait Wednesday #14 - Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen

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Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Wishful Endings. 

I've decided to switch to this since Waiting On Wednesday has been over for a long time now. But its basically the same concept. Books that I can't wait to get my hands on or am really interested in that are to be released soon.

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Why I Can't Wait:
This was another book that I voted for on Swoon Reads and I'm so happy that the cover I voted for ended up being the final cover. It's just so cute and bright. And I so want the story to be just as good.
😍😉

Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen

Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They’ve endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can’t stand to be in the same room together.

After Mia’s mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they’ve have had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time—and then they’ll be free.

The only problem is, maybe Jake and Mia don’t hate each other as much as they once thought...

Published by: Swoon Reads

The Release Date for the book is:

June 18, 2019

Goodreads    ||    Barnes & Noble    ||    Book Depository.   ||    Amazon

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The Bookish Island

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All I Need by Susane Colasanti | Book Review #144

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
All I Need by Susane Colasanti

Are there spoilers?

There's are some spoilers but then again its all in the synopsis.
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Title: All I Need

Author: Susane Colasanti

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Pages: 240

Publisher: Viking

Published: 2013

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Women's Fiction

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Date Read: December 22, 2018

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The last night of summer is only the beginning.

Skye wants to meet the boy who will change her life forever. Seth feels their instant connection the second he sees her. When Seth starts talking to Skye at the last beach party of the summer, it’s obvious to both of them that this is something real. But when Seth leaves for college before they exchange contact info, Skye wonders if he felt the same way she did—and if she will ever see him again. Even if they find their way back to each other, can they make a long-distance relationship work despite trust issues, ex drama, and some serious background differences?

Teen favorite Susane Colasanti returns to the alternating-voice style of her beloved debut When It Happens in this Serendipity-inspired story about summer, soul mates, and the moments that change our lives forever. 

The Rating:

My Review:

All I Need was a quick contemporary YA novel with a girl from a rich family and boy from a poor family who find each other during summer and fall in love.

The author doesn't seem to understand the differences between an Adult Romance and a Young Adult Romance because some things in her book seem out of place. Like the relationships between the main characters and how they think. It's like the situations she puts these characters in are meant to be in an Adult Romance rather than what it is. I often found myself thinking that if this was an Adult Romance I would have liked it better.

I had no feelings for this story or the characters. Mostly because of how the author wrote Sky and Seth's relationship and situations.

The insta-love between Sky and Seth was bad. I disliked every second. They would constantly tell each other and themselves that their love was forever and that they couldn't be apart from each other. But they didn't even know each other's last names or anything.
They meet one summer fall in love and on the last day of summer they arrange to meet and Seth doesn't show up. So they don't see each other since, again, they don't know anything about each other. And when they reunite it is as if they were covered in glue, cause they become inseparable. 

Still, it was an easy read with easy transitions and dialogue but the characters made no impact on me. At all. 

Goodreads   

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The Bookish Island
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My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal | Book Review #143

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal

Are there spoilers?

There's a spoonful of spoilers.
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Title: My Last Kiss

Author: Bethany Neal

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Pages: 368

Publisher: Square Fish

Published: 2015

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Ghosts

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Date Read: November 24 > December 26, 2018

Rating: ★★★☆☆

What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?

In Bethany Neal's My Last Kiss, Cassidy Haines remembers her first kiss vividly. It was on the old covered bridge the summer before her freshman year with her boyfriend of three years, Ethan Keys. But her last kiss—the one she shared with someone at her seventeenth birthday party the night she died—is a blur. 

Now, Cassidy is trapped in the living world, not only mourning the loss of her human body, but left with the grim suspicion that her untimely death wasn't a suicide as everyone assumes. She can't remember anything from the weeks leading up to her birthday and she's worried that she may have betrayed her boyfriend. 

If Cassidy is to uncover the truth about that fateful night and make amends with the only boy she'll ever love, she must face her past and all the decisions she made—good and bad—that led to her last kiss.

The Rating:

My Review:

My Last Kiss was a strange book for me to understand. But in the end, I truly enjoyed it. 

Its the author, Bethany Neal's debut novel which can explain why it was a little odd for me to get. The parts where Cassidy went between past, present and even between settings were -I don't even know how to explain it. It was just too much for a story that already has too much going on. Maybe thats just me who feels that way but- yeah.

My Last Kiss starts off great. Cassidy wakes up and realizing that she's dead. She just doesn't know how that happened. She goes through a shift in her being that shows her what exactly happened in the days leading up to her eventual death. It alternates between Cassidy now and what happened before her death. And along the way, she realizes that she had done some things she's not proud of. She ends up wanting to fix things for her friends and the boy she loved with the idea that it might help her pass on. Basically, the main character, Cassidy is dead and as a spirit is stuck among the living till she figures out what really happened to her. 

The version of Cassidy before her death did a bunch of things that hurt her friends and her boyfriend, Ethan. And the things she did were a bit much. In other words, she just wasn't the best. At times dumb and too selfish. And the way she treated her childhood friend, Caleb was too much. She basically used him until she didn't have a use for him anymore. 

And I don't even what to talk about her relationship with her friends. They couldn't be any more different and yet so similar. And the fact that none of them really talked or saw what was going on between them was shit. I wasn't that close with my friends from high school but I still knew them. Like knowing what was going on with them, whether it was physically, emotionally or in the family. Or maybe I was just a good listener. 😕

Also, the fact that you can be in a group of so-called friends and don't have the slightest hint of intuition that one of them, or more, are harboring ill intentions is just beyond my understanding. I know it's not like in telenovelas where the bad guys are too obvious with their evil faces but its still an intuition thing. Like an aura you just feel. That's why I always say, trust your instincts.

Goodreads    

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The Bookish Island
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Year of Mistaken Discoveries by Eileen Cook | Book Review #142

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Year of Mistaken Discoveries by Eileen Cook 

Are there spoilers?

There are some spoilers.

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Title: Year of Mistaken Discoveries 

Author: Eileen Cook

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Pages: 272

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Published: 2014

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

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Date Read: December 22, 2018

Rating: ★★★★★

As first graders, Avery and Nora bonded over a special trait they shared: they were both adopted.

Years later, Avery is smart, popular, and on the cheerleading squad, while Nora spends her time on the fringes of school society, wearing black, reading esoteric poetry, and listening to obscure music. They never interact...until the night Nora approaches Avery at a party, saying it's urgent. She tells Avery that she thought she found her birth mom, but it turned out to be a cruel lie. Avery feels for Nora, but returns to her friends at the party.

Then Avery learns that Nora overdosed on pills. Left to cope with Nora's loss and questioning her own actions, Avery decides to honor her friend by launching a search for her own birth mother. Aided by Brody, a friend of Nora's who is also looking for a way to respect Nora's legacy, Avery embarks on an emotional quest. But what she's really seeking might go far deeper than just genetics. 

The Rating:

My Review:

Year of Mistaken Discoveries was a part of my December TBR for 2018. It was such a good book. I read it in one sitting and cried a handful of times. Loved it.

Year of Mistaken Discoveries was a cute contemporary book. While the main character was going through some serious stuff, all throughout it was still too cute.

The main character Avery changed so much from the beginning of the book to the end. She was a popular cheerleader with a football player boyfriend and because of Nora's suicide she changes and takes life more seriously. And the change was done well not exaggerated or messy.  

There were parts that bothered me like how concentrated she was into getting into Duke rather than properly dealing with her emotions and what happened to her. but I get it getting into Duke was her life. Her way of establishing that road to her future and her education. Something like that is so important sometimes that you can't see anything but that goal.

In the end, it was good to see Avery growing up. Understanding what her friend had been going through. It was nice. I'm happy that Avery and Brody got together and sorted things out. But then again it was obvious they were going to end up together.

Avery and Brody were so cute together. Wonder Woman and Batman.

Goodreads  

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The Bookish Island
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The Firefighter Daddy by Margaret Daley | Book Review #141

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
The Firefighter Daddy by Margaret Daley

Are there spoilers?

There's a pinch of spoilers.
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Title: The Firefighter Daddy

Author: Margaret Daley

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Pages: 224

Publisher: Love Inspired

Published: 2016

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance 

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Date Read: January 10 > January 13, 2019

Rating: ★★★★☆



From Bachelor to Father


Firefighter Liam McGregory is used to staring down five-alarm fires—but becoming a father to his two little nieces has him sending out a call for help. When the girls return a lost pup to its beautiful owner, Liam thinks widow Sarah Blackburn is just the person he needs—or who the children need. He's promised to never marry again. ' Sarah takes his deal: she'll watch his kids and he'll watch her menagerie of pets—but the new father is off-limits. But two determined little matchmakers can be hard to resist when they need a mom to make one big happy family…

The Rating:

My Review:

The Firefighter Daddy was just like I thought it would be. It's a natural story that did have a lot of drama or an unnecessary love triangle. I actually liked it. It was a quick read that had the nicest slow burn romance between a firefighter who had to take care of his brothers two daughters after his death and is dealing with fatherhood as a single man and a woman who has been through tragedy and loss. And how the both of them find each other thanks to a cute dog and the two girls love for him.

Liam was just like a character out of Chicago Fire. In my opinion. And the way he cared for Maddison and Caddie was too cute. He really loved them and cared for them as his own. And Sara was a cool hairdresser dog mom who took care of her Nana with her mom.

I really can't think of much since I dd read the book really quick. It only took me two days because I had to stop reading it to take care of some things around the house and forgot about it till the next day and even then it took me an hour to finish the bit that was left. But a lot of thins had happened that I can't remember what I wanted to say. I even forgot to jot down notes.


Having read this book I can now tick off one book read in the Romanceopoly. As a part of my 2019 Reading Challenges.

Goodreads

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The Bookish Island
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Can't Wait Wednesday #13 - Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

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Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Wishful Endings. 

I've decided to switch to this since Waiting On Wednesday has been over for a long time now. But its basically the same concept. Books that I can't wait to get my hands on or am really interested in that are to be released soon.

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Why I Can't Wait:
I loved both Gilmore Girls and To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Plus it's a latina who wrote it. I gotta represent. And it sounds like a good love story.
🙋😄

Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno 

For fans of GILMORE GIRLS and TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE, this effervescent love story from debut author Nina Moreno will sweep you away.

Rosa is cursed by the sea--at least that's what they say. 

Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat.

But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about.

As her college decision looms, Rosa collides—literally—with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

Published by: Disney

The Release Date for the book is:

May 14, 2019

Goodreads    ||    Barnes & Noble    ||    Book Depository.   ||    Amazon

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The Bookish Island

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Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb | Book Review #140

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb 

Are there spoilers?

There's a pinch of spoilers.
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Title: Cures for Heartbreak 

Author: Margo Rabb

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Pages: 256

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction 

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Date Read: January 20, 2019

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Margo Rabb’s critically acclaimed debut novel Cures for Heartbreak—a somber yet humorous depiction of love, loss, and new beginnings—has been reissued with a stunning new look.

Less than two weeks after fifteen-year-old Mia Pearlman’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, she dies, leaving Mia, her older sister, and their father to face this sudden and unfathomable loss. As Mia struggles to navigate her grief, she’s also forced to examine the truth about her parents’ rocky marriage, her unexpected feelings for a guy with leukemia, and the nagging health phobias that plague her on a daily basis. Ultimately, her journey down this road slowly paves the way for hope amid immeasurable loss.

In this heartfelt novel that Michael Chabon called “sad, funny, smart, and endlessly poignant,” Margo Rabb dives deep into the complicated emotions that befall a family after the death of a loved one.

The Rating:

My Review:

Cures for Heartbreak was read I one day. Mostly because I wanted to read a book that day since it was so cold and nice that I felt like reading it in one sitting. 

It wasn't at all a story that was represented in the cover. Like AT ALL. It's so weird because I thought it was going to be a fun book. Yeah, I knew that it was about a girl whose mom dies but I thought that after she'd made some friends that would help her cope. But it was not like that. I repeat. AT. ALL.

It was a good book. I liked the part where her love interest shows up. And I say. "shows up" because he was barely in the story. But he was cute and smart and I was rooting for him to be happy. 

Our main character, Mia, in this was so young and childish but the fact that she was going through so much without someone actually fully understanding what she was going through, made her so mature. Like she was much older than she actually was. 

And I kind of wish her sister was there for her but that's what happens when the age difference between siblings is big. You kind of don't understand each other a well as siblings that have a shorted age difference.


Having read this book I can now tick off one book read in the Romanceopoly. As a part of my 2019 Reading Challenges.

I decided to not add the amazon, and barns & noble links because its unnecessary. I was just adding them in case some of you were interested in the book and wanted to find out or get one for yourselves.

Goodreads 

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The Bookish Island
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Top Ten Tuesday #17 | Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.



January 22: 
Books I Meant to Read in 2018 but Didn't Get To 

I made a big list with a bunch of books I wanted to read from my shelves and others I wanted to read. But out of the 71 books in that list, I read 36. And I started this list in October so I didn't have high hopes to read all these books in those last few months. Mostly because even if I would have a set TBR pile I just wouldn't read those books because I was in the mood for something else. Which is exactly what happened with the books in this list. I had them in my TBR for whatever month but would read something else first until the month or the year just ended.

But out of those 35 books, I couldn't get to really wanted to read the ones below.

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Killer Within by S.E. Green

Goodreads

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The Shining by Stephen King

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California Summer by Anita Hughes

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Rules of the Ruff by Heidi Lang

Goodreads

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Goodreads

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Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

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Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

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The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis

Goodreads

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Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Goodreads

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The Lost Season of Love and Snow by Jennifer Laam

Goodreads

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The Bookish Island
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Round 3 of 2019 Reading Challenges

Four books read!!!
Woohoo!

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Week 2 Wrap Up

In the second round of my reading challenges. I have rolled for Firestation and Cozy Corner. I picked The Firefighter Daddy and A High-End Finish.

I have finished reading The Firefighter Daddy and A High-End Finish.

Next week I will write a review of both books. But who knows. A lot has happened in these two past weeks and I think its best to take a break from reading to sort out my real life.

The Firefighter Daddy by Margaret Daley

A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle

With The Firefighter Daddy

• I completed the Firestation square in Romanceopoly. 
• Read A book about a family for the PopSugar Reading Challenge. 
• And  #21 - Book Bought/Borrowed in 2019.

With A High-End Finish

• I completed the Cozy Corner square in Romanceopoly.
• Read A book with a plant in the title or the cover for the PopSugar Reading Challenge. 
• And doesn't really go for any of the challenges.

I want to add that I do know that reading one book and saying it completes challenges in different reading challenges is cheating but that's just me reading one book that could go for multiple challenges and then the ones that don't I'll read a book for each. It's just so that I don't take on so much work and then stress out when I can't find one book for each challenge

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This Week

I skipped a week because I wasn't in the right place to read anything. So no Week 3, but now I'm going to keep going. And will change the title to Round instead of Week.

Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

 X-Files: Agent of Chaos by Kami Garcia

Romanceopoly

Since I didn't do anything last week I decided to roll three times. 

With my first roll, I landed on Alien Avenue. The second roll was Library or Free Choice.

The third roll landed me on Women's Avenue which meant I had to go to Dungeon since I had already been in Women's Avenue.

Out of the books I had to read for this round of rolls I had two out of the three books already on my shelves. Though for Library it was easy since I could have picked any book. 

The books I will read are: 

Alien Avenue > X-Files: Agent of Chaos by Kami Garcia

Library > Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder

Dungeon > First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

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PopSugar.
For this challenge, AoC doesn't really qualify for any of the challenges. And I think that Girl Runner can go with A book with a two-word title. FGR could also go with A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover.

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Reading Woman
Girl Runner goes with #10 - About a women athlete since the main character is a runner.
#1 - Mystery/Thriller by a WOC for X-Files: Agent of Chaos. Kami Garcia is latinx and I haven't read it yet but I think that this is going to be like the tv show which was always a mystery/thriller. I don't know about First Grave on the Right though.

That's all I have for this but I'm going to put this reminder up. I am posting my rolls in Instagram and will also include photos that have to do with Romanceopoly or the other challenges.

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The Bookish Island
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