The Royal We, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

I have been in love with this book for so many years that it simply feels natural for me to talk about it. My love for this novel is so deep that I can still remember the time that I first saw it at the Grove's Barnes and Nobles in California. Honestly, this book is much more than you think, when I was first reading it, I thought that this would be a simple romance novel, yet as I continued I discovered that this novel talked about so much more, which I will be talking about later on in this review. Also, I have been so obsessed with this novel that I have tried so hard to find similar novels, which have led me to novels like Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney and The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright, which have only made me realize that this novel is such a precious gem.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan tells the story of Rebecca Porter or simply "Bex," who is just starting the school year at Oxford, yes, England, after she decided to take a year abroad from Cornell, where her twin sister, Lacy is still at. On her first day, she meets a rather handsome young man that goes by the name of Nicholas, simply known as Nick or AKA Steve as his friends call him when they are in public. Both bond over a conversation about monarchs with syphilis before Bex realizes that Nick is the future heir of the country. In the place where she is staying, she meets the people that will end up becoming her best friends. There's Cilla, Gaz, Joss, and Clive, who also happen to be Nick's best friends. On the other hand, it is almost inevitable for Bex and Nick to fall in love with each other, I mean, they binge-watch a series together almost every night, yet their love is simply not meant to be because Nick's already dating India and of course, Bex has been snogging Clive, literally Nick's best friend. The group goes through so many adventures and creates so many memories that as the story goes, you will feel like you are part of the group as well. 
I want to start by talking about the characters because I simply loved them so much! I love how Bex is someone that really doesn't care about gossip or royalty because it creates funnier scenes, like the syphilis scene. Although I did hate whenever she was being impulsive. I loved Nick because he portrayed vulnerability in certain scenes, while he was also seen as a prize by girls and simply as a friend by the other main characters. I really liked how the authors really emphasized on Nick's background and lifestyle, even though he was seen as a normal person by the group of friends because they gave us so much more of the character, which made me love him even more! As much as I love Bex and Nick, my favorite characters were Cilla and Gaz because they were SO funny that I cried due to the laughter. I loved Cilla's stories and Gaz' comments. 
On the other hand, I absolutely loved how this is basically royalty. I loved how they truly portray the lifestyles and the people, like Nick's family, including his father and his brother, Freddie, who I also love very much! I adored how the authors touched a lot on the things that you would expect in a royal family, like the pressure and the useless things that people can do for show or drama. 
I truly think that this book has made me become obsessed with the royals as much as they are! (FYI: the authors run a site called Go Fug Yourself, which I am obsessed with now as well). In the beginning, I truly didn't care at all about royals, yet now I am simply fascinated by their lifestyle. 
Also, I believe that Nick, Bex, and Freddie being inspired by William, Kate, and Harry is just a plus!
Something that I was not expecting from this novel was the many topics that it covers. I loved how they really emphasize on family, enemies, dreams, friends, love, jealousy, expectations and the unexpected. Although the novel is really long, you will feel like the novel is so short because of the so many different stories that are included. 
From the first page all the way to the last one, I was hooked, so much that I became obsessed with the audiobook and I still listen to it all the time, although I will admit that I only replay the scenes that I like, like the karaoke scene and the one that they talk about seeing Cats! If you're going to read the novel, be on the lookout for those!
Lastly, I want to congratulate the authors because they did an exceptional job with this novel. They were able to take such a complex world and narrate it in an incredible and not only heart-warming, but inspiring because this novel really made me want to try the unexpected and new things, just like Bex did when she moved to the other side of the world, to be something that her sister wasn't and to find herself in the world. Also, this novel has really made me wish that college is as fun as they describe it here, although I believe that it depends on the friendships that accompany me. 
I truly recommend The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan because it is witty, smart, fun and includes charming characters that will enter your heart from the very first time that they appear on paper! 

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

Practice Makes Perfect, Julie James

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

Just as expected, I loved this book. It is a romantic comedy novel and it was written by Julie James, the author of The Thing About Love, which I LOVED! I aspire to become an attorney, so when I read the synopsis for this novel, I knew that I had to read this novel, and I liked it!
Payton is a successful attorney, in fact, she is extremely good at her job, but so is JD, the one person that she hates the most. They are always competing day to day in simple tasks like who gets there first in the morning, but they will soon face the biggest competition that they could ever expect. They both want to become a partner at the law firm that they have been working on for years. Truly, there is no difference between who has worked harder, both have worked until late and both have succeeded in trials, but regardless, they still have to prove who will be better. And of course, when both Payton and JD are presented with the opportunities to sabotage the other, they will take, leading us to hilarious scenes that will make you have a good and hearty laugh. 
I know that the summary that I am providing this time is really short, but this novel doesn´t really have much to say about. I mean, its plot is very limited and the book itself is pretty short. Yet, that doesn´t make it bad, if anything, it actually made it better because it was a quick read, simple, easy to comprehend, very thorough and it was charming in its own way without dragging the plot too much. 
I do want to point out that I had very high expectations for this novel because I have read The Thing About Love by the same author, Julie James, and I loved it! So much that I have already read it several times. And I will say that this novel didn´t disappoint. This book will have a lower review, but that´s just a matter of me not staying with the novel so much because this novel delivered every aspect that it was wanting to portray and show. 
Regarding the characters, I really liked them, but they didn´t really feel special like the others. I liked that they were pretty human-like. The characters truly brought a different aspect of life that at this age, I think is very important, but people don´t seem to mind, which is the whole topic of college and money. I really liked that the characters came from different financial backgrounds and brought different mindsets. 
Another thing that I thought was very interesting was the way their relationship was. I think that the characters don´t really mind the other character like some characters do in some novels, which lead us to characters that connected after a while and not right away in the assignment as the others. 
The only thing that I disliked was the way the scenes felt and the nature of the things that were happening. I thought that some parts were very forced.
On the other hand, my favorite part of the novel was how funny it was! I am still laughing about some of the scenes while I am writing this review. I honestly laughed so much that I still remember them and I even laugh in the middle of the night. So, truly brace yourself because you are going to be dying of laughter with this one!
I also loved that she displayed the hardships of being a certain gender because even today, I know that being a female that aspires to become an attorney is seen as different since it is still a career that is considered for men. S, it was interesting to see something so close to me represented in this novel, which was shocking given the fact that this novel was published in 2009, almost ten years ago! It was truly interesting to see how little the field has changed in all these years.
Lastly, regarding the writing. I just absolutely love James´ writing because she has this amazing way of combining hilarious, dramatic, melancholic and even powerful scenes to create a true masterpiece.
I apologize that this review is so short, but I truly recommend Practice Makes Perfect because it is a short novel that will make you laugh and cry, both at the same time! I´m warning you! You will have to pick up this novel when you have a free schedule because you are not going to be able to put down this novel!

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

How (Not) to Marry a Duke, Felicia Kingsley

How (Not) to Marry a Duke by Felicia Kingsley

First, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this novel. This is one of the first NetGalley books that I have received since I have started to blog. And, I would also like to apologize for giving such a low rating for this novel.
As unexpected as it might sound, I was unable to actually finish this novel because I was too stressed and bored to continue and this novel.
This is a story about an arranged marriage. Well... sort of. Jemma Pears is the daughter of a hippie couple and by hippie, I mean that they are always naked in the house and they believe that they are spiritually connected to each other. So, yeah. Jemma´s grandmother has refused to be a direct part of the family, but she did leave certain instructions before she passed away. Jemma was to inherit billions, yet she could only get the money by marrying a man with a title, which is going to be extremely difficult for her since she isn´t the normal type. She likes hot salsa dancers and she is never holding back with her words.
On the other hand, Ashford, the Duke of Burlingham, is now in a big financial trouble. He has just inherited the family name, yet he barely discovered that he is to pay millions and if he doesn´t soon, he will be arrested. And he won´t let his mother, the crazy noble-woman, know because she will DIE.
So, Jemma and Ashford are united by a common friend/worker that they have and they are to get married just for the money.
When I first requested this title, I was sure that this was the type of novel that I would love. I mean, they are obviously going to hate each other because they are completely different and of course they were going to fall in love and of course there was going to be a lot of drama, especially because there was a crazy old woman that was going to hate Jemma so much.
But, honestly, this novel didn´t meet my expectations.
First, I want to talk about the things that I actually enjoyed about this novel.
As I stated before, the plot promised me that it was going to be a fun and refreshing story, one that would make me feel good and happy. I think the plot itself is extremely fun and it is a good one, it´s just that the way it was executed was bad.
Another thing that I liked was that it included the two points of view, which allowed each of the characters to have a voice and it also made the story much more special and funny in different aspects since the characters were different. 
On the other hand, there were many things that I disliked. For instance, the start is rather slow to be considered a short, romantic comedy novel. It literally took me like 30% of the novel to get to the part where they have to start living together. Yet, on top of that, the start is very boring. Imagine if the story is both boring and slow! I had to force myself to continue the novel and I told myself that I would do so at least until I reached the part where they were forced to live together since it was going to be inevitable for them to be together and of course, that would´ve led to some character and relationship development. 
In addition, the characters were really annoying to read about because they are literally walking stereotypes. In this world, Ashford is cocky and a horrible human being just because he has some money and a title, Jemma has a horrible fashion sense because she was brought up by hippie parents, and of course, because Jemma´s parents are "hippies," they walk around the house naked and of course, Ashford´s mother is completely horrible because she only knows about class and ranks. 
Also, I really want to mention how the characters are annoying in the sense that their tones are always extremely childish and that they don´t really care about anything else rather than themselves. 
Lastly, I think that since they were obviously depending on each other, Jemma and Ashford could´ve handled the situation better, keeping in mind that they are adults that have more than 25 years.
I have given this novel a very low score, but I want to mention that it is because I highly disliked this novel, yet I did keep in account the good things or the things that I enjoyed about this novel.

1 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Murder, She Sent (Subscription Box)

I have been wanting to review things related to 
books for some time now, but as a high school student, I don´t really have the funds to get several things to start reviewing, so I was incredibly lucky to be able to work with Murder, She Sent to get this month´s box to review!
I want to give them my most sincere thank yous for trusting in me for this review. I think the way they were able to help me really displayed how much they care for the customer service and how much they are willing to help book lovers, this was also displayed with the meticulous way the box was prepared.









        


First of all, the box is beautiful! When I first got it in the mail, I was so excited to open it and be able to see which exciting things they had packed for me! I truly believe that if I were to get boxes like this every month, I would always be looking forward to them because they are the happy kind of surprises. 

I really liked the way this box subscription worked because what they do is that they find a theme for the box, which has to do with the book that they sending that month and then they find items that could go along with that theme. So, for instance, for the August box, the theme was S´mores and in the box, I got all different kind of cute items. 

My box included:

• A super cute handmade and delicious-smelling, soap.
• Adorable s´mores keychain.
• A patch that has made me like patches. 
• Super cute bracelet
• A S´mores survival kit, which is adorable, that includes a small kit to make some s´mores.
• The novel: S´more Murders, by Maya Corrigan 
• A signed bookmark by Maya Corrigan 

So, as you can see, the small box includes a lot of things and I overall very impressed with the box. 
the box costs $35, which can be a little more expensive than other boxes, but they do include a lot of things that are hand-made and you can clearly notice it once you get the box.
I believe my favorite thing about it was the shredded book pages that they had in each box! I thought that it was super creative and at the same time adorable! 
 I truly recommend this suscirption box because their items truly show that they care about what they do in every item that was sent and they are very easy to be in contact with, which only demonstrates that they really care about their customers. 

4 1/2 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

The Thing About Love, Julie James

The Thing About Love by Julie James

I don´t know why, but I have always found the FBI world so fascinating! I believe that it all started when I read Beautiful Redemption from the Maddox Brothers by Jamie McGuire.But besides my weird fascination with the FBI, I have always wanted to read more romantic comedy novels, so after reading Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren and The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, I started looking for them as a crazy lady and of course, after digging the internet for weeks and months, I came across with Julie James, the greatest writer of attorney/FBI romantic novels.
The Thing About Love tells the story of FBI agent Jessica Harlow, who moves to Chicago, her hometown, looking for a fresh start after a divorce from a famous Hollywood producer in Los Angeles. On the other hand, we have John Shepherd, who decides to start working in Chicago, his hometown, before going to the privileged Hostage Rescue Team after he was cheated by his girlfriend.
Agent Harlow and agent Shepherd are introduced in a meeting with their supervisor, where he tells them that they will be working in an undercover assignment to trap a Florida politician. But there is so much more to their relationship. They already met in the Academy, where they started hating each other. Yet, regardless of what happened in the past, the two agents must work together to bring the politician down and get their assignment done.
Okay, so I want to start talking about the plot. The story of characters falling in love after they have hated each other for many many years has been used a lot! In fact, I literally stumbled upon this novel after reading one that has the exact same development, yet this novel brings me such joy as it is being told. I loved how the one thing that makes it different, literally takes the story to a whole new level, that being that they are both FBI agents. I admired the way James was able to find a balance between relationship progress, action/FBI scenes and of course, hilarious moments. The Thing About Love narrates so many different stories as it goes on that it is really easy to be hooked. I mean, the backstories of the characters are great and the way their relationship started in the Academy is entertaining as well. On the other hand, the current story regarding the politician project is even more exciting because they will take you throughout the action-packed investigation, all while including their hilarious bickering in almost every scene. A promise that I can make is that you will find this novel super interesting and it will keep you entertained for hours.
Another thing that I absolutely loved about this novel is the characters because of course Jessica and John were incredible and love both very much, but the surrounding characters are also great and they create even funnier scenes, like how they are always fighting over their law schools. As I said, I really liked the way John and Jessica were created, meaning that I loved their backstories and the way that they acted because they were so logical and perceptive, like I want for characters. 
Also, I loved their relationship and the way that James exhibited a relationship with people that wanted more for the other than for themselves and the way that she truly showed the ways that people lie and sacrifice things for the other person really made this relationship much stronger and even a little more realistic. It was very entertaining to see how their bickering turned into interest and then into the eventual relationship that they have. 
A bonus point for this novel was the way that they talk about genders in their work field because I believe that it is something that is relevant that would happen in real life and seeing it portrayed in the novel made it much more realistic and created more well-rounded characters. Also, it was very funny the way they mocked FBI novels because they were literally in one. 
Julie James truly took all the funny scenes and the action scenes and turned them into so much more and into things that really had a purpose for the story development. 
I 100% recommend The Thing About love by Julie James because it is funny, action-packed, realistic, romantic and it truly takes the reader to a crazy FBI journey. 

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 

This is the third time that I have the first novel of the series. I read it for the first time a couple of weeks after it came out and I completely fell in love with it, I was charmed by the different abilities of the characters and by the simple, yet different welcoming that the author offered us from the very beginning. The relationship that I have with this book made me go above and beyond that, I completely fell in love with the way the three main characters worked and progressed throughout the novel. A year afterward, Glass Sword came out and I read the first book once again before reading the new installment and once again I was completely lost in this dystopian, yet fantastical world. So, two years forward, I have decided that since the series ended, it was time for me to take the time once again and re-enter the world that became so dear to me. Now that I read it years later, I did notice different aspects of it that have made me simply enjoy more the story. 
Red Queen happens in a country that we come to know as Nortia, its society is divided in two: Silvers and Reds, these being the color of the people´s blood. Yet, Silvers have different abilities, some families are able to control fire, enter people´s minds or even control metal. Our main character, Mare, is a Red and as a consequence, her family is extremely poor, which is the common life for Reds. All of Mare´s brothers have been sent to war as a consequence of them not being able to find a job and Mare is sure that her fate is the same since she wasn´t able to get a job and cooperates to her household by stealing from other people, specially Silvers. By her desperate attempt to save not only herself but her best friend, she makes the choice to connect with people that are working in the underground market and she soon realizes that there is a whole new world out there that is trying to make a change for the society. Yet, Mare moves on with her life and her life completely changes when she meets a young man that she was about to steal from. After somehow getting a job at the palace, Mare´s life changes when she realizes that she is completely different from what she was thinking. She has the complete power to control lighting.
First, I want to talk about Aveyard´s incredible way of narrating and writing a novel. The first thing that has caught my attention every single time that I have read this novel is the intricate way in which she describes and exhibits, not only Nortia but the society that they live in. She is able to take this complex bubble, which holds a whole world, and presents it in a way that every single detail seems fascinating, and I truly believe that it has nothing to do with the story being super creative, which it is, but it has to do completely with the fact that her writing is just so incredible because the words that she uses makes it seem as if it was real. 
Also, I loved the perfect mix she was able to get between romance and action, meaning that it wasn´t just too full of action or dramatic scenes like most dystopian novels do, but it had several romantic scenes that made me swoon over the two princes that I absolutely love at the moment. Something that I want to point out is that since she was able to reach a balance between the different type of scenes, we did get only a few scenes for each prince, but those were just so memorable and showcased them greatly that I believe that any more scenes would have been too much. Also, Aveyard did a great job giving the stepbrothers a distinction because every word and movement that was narrated matched the character, which I thought would be very hard to achieve in a novel that is so complex as this one.
Red Queen is pretty fast paced and I really enjoyed that because I don´t like following the same problem over and over again, so Aveyard was always able to keep my mind going and wandering around the different problems and important scenes that were happening throughout the novel. 
I think the only thing that I felt a little disappointed with was that it followed the typical dystopian pattern. In the sense that it first introduced everything and then, problems and more problems happened and several of them were pretty easy to predict beforehand and the surprise factor was not always present, but I do understand that dystopian novels are harder to write and therefore, the similar pattern is usually the easiest way to get the novel done. 
On the other hand, I want to discuss the characters. I am not going to talk a lot about them since I preferred to discover different aspects of their personalities as the story went on since they all have only small scenes throughout the novel that truly make them shine. But I would like to mention that I absolutely adored the different powers that each house had and the way those powers changed their personalities and the way they acted regarding their surroundings. 
I think I didn´t hate Mare, I just disliked her because she is like other dystopian female leads. She acts without thinking about things and later blaming herself and she is too headstrong, which causes her to get into trouble and get emotionally hurt. Yet, I highly enjoyed her personal comments because they were usually funny and it felt nice to be able to laugh after going through so much with the characters and the atmosphere.
Lastly, I want to mention how I found it so detailed the ways that the characters were planned because every single detail about each one of them was so intricate that it truly enhanced the reading experience for me. 
Overall, Red Queen is a super creative, fun and swoony first installment to a series that will take you to another world, which you will find fascinating and inspiring after following characters that are sometimes heartwarming and other times heartwrenching, all while delivering to give you laughs and tears. 

4 1/2 out of 5 Stars 

Love, Sua

The Hating Game, Sally Thorne

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Once I was obsessed with Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren, I started looking for other books that were similar to that one and I found out that there was a whole world out there of romantic comedy books that I still had to discover, and once I did, I was charmed and completely fell in love with them.
The Hating Game tells the story of Lucy and Josh, both are executive assistants to co-CEOs and we could say that they are complete opposites. They were working for different publishing houses before both companies decided to merge. Lucy is always full of life, she does everything to really create good relationships with people and she is always called nice, she also very much enjoys wearing bright colors and is often very bold with her color choices for clothing. On the other hand, Josh is extremely good with numbers, which makes others see him as brutal when it comes to the reports that he often receives and sends back because of the many mistakes that other workers make, he can be described as cold and lonely, always believing that relationships with others aren´t as important as one´s job. As you can clearly notice, their personalities are bound to clash. It is clear that Lucy and Josh absolutely hate each other, yet everything in their lives seems to circle around the other. For instance, they are always so anxious to make the other suffer without making the other co-workers notice, they are always planning to get in the plans of the other and they are always looking for ways to make the other stress, which is why when the announcement regarding the new position as CEO is made, Josh and Lucy are more than ready to compete against each other. Yet, both seem to know so much about the other that it may seem like they have spent a lifetime together, although they do utilize that information to make fun of the other.
I just loved everything about this book! I fell in love with the plot, the scenes, the words and the characters!
I want to start by talking about the book overall. I loved how funny it is! Everytime that I read it (which I have done about four times now), I laugh so much that my family thinks that I am crazy since they were quite used to me crying all the time while reading. The way the scenes are constructed are brilliant, they are so easy to imagine and be part of and you are able to feel all of those crazy emotions, like the shame, the warmth, and the laugh.
I mean, the plot is one of those that most of us have either seen or read already several times because it follows the usual romantic comedy storyline, yet the way everything is narrated is so fun that I didn´t even mind the fact that I knew how things were going to be, I was so trapped in this story that I was simply lost in this world.
Regarding the characters, I was simply charmed by both. They were so good at their jobs, yet they were so childish, and from time to time they were so cruel to each other, yet they were so humane and they had such a heartwarming relationships with themselves that it really made them seem real and overall well-rounded characters with whom who could cry and laugh. I loved reading about their struggles, especially with family, and the way they reacted to those problems. I believe that by having such traits, the characters really reminded me that even people in real life have personal struggles that they hide and that those could be potentially limiting them in some sort of way.
One of the things that I liked the most about this novel is the way the relationship progressed as a whole. It was interesting to understand how their feelings started changing with each other and how even though we don´t get to read both points of view, we can start noticing their changes in character, which made their relationship more significant and in this case, Josh´s actions and words much more special. Also, I loved how slowly things changed, in the sense that they didn´t just become friendly with each other from night to day. 
Lastly, I absolutely loved the details! The small things were what really made this novel outshine others because it truly demonstrated how much the author cared and how much thought she put into the story. For instance, I absolutely loved the shirt´s pattern and I still think about it almost every day. 
I can truly recommend this novel because it will bring you a lot of laughter, yet it will also bring you a little bit of warmth in your heart. Sally Thorne truly takes the rom-com genre and takes it to the next level in this hit-novel.

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Second Chance Summer, Morgan Matson

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

I believe that Morgan Matson is one of my favorite authors, in fact, I was so excited for her new book Save the Date, which came out this year and hopefully I will get to post its review ASAP. This is the last book that I needed to read to complete my collection of her books before Save the Date. I have reviewed all of her other titles and I absolutely love them and fangirl every time that one of her other characters are mentioned in one of the novels, like in this one, although I will address that later. 
What I absolutely love about Morgan Matson is that she is always able to balance family relationships, friendship, romance and personal reflection for the main character perfectly, which creates the most enjoyable novels and stories with unforgettable characters and this time, it wasn´t different. 
Second Chance Summer narrated the story of Taylor, a teenager from Connecticut, who lives with her mother, father and her two siblings, Warren and Gelsey. It has been years since she has visited Lake Phoenix, in fact, the family hasn´t gone for such a long time that they have rented their home until now. 
Taylor´s family decides it is important to spend time with each other after they realize that her father is ill and he asks for another summer at Lake Phoenix, where they were once the happiest. But when the family arrives at their home, Taylor starts to get memories of the life she left behind her. For instance, she remembers how she fell in love with Henry and how close she was with Lucy, her best friend, but she also remembers how bad everything ended and how coward she was. 
Once the Edwards family gets settled in their home at Lake Phoenix, Taylor suddenly realizes that too many things have changed. For once, Henry is now her next door neighbor and they will have to meet even when they don´t want to. On the other hand, when Taylor finally gets a job at the beach snack bar, she realizes that Lucy, her former best friend, works there too, which puts them in an awkward situation since they will have to eventually talk to each other. 
Now, Taylor has to make the most of her summer with her father while accepting her mistakes and moving on from them and cherishing her memories with friends and family. 
I want to start this review by mentioning that I have always spoken about how much I love Matson, in fact, I even mentioned it at the beginning of this review, but I would like to say that this is probably my least favorite novel from her, not because I didn´t like the characters or the way the story was balanced, in fact, I absolutely loved those points about this story, but what I didn´t really like was how after finishing the novel, I was craving more for character and story development, including Henry´s character and story. I liked how some stories had an ending and how the story actually showed development, especially in the relationships. I absolutely loved how each relationship in the story evolved as the pages passed by, I specifically loved Taylor and Lucy, Taylor and her father and Warren and Wendy. But after ending the story, I didn´t feel satisfied with the story as I was with her past novels. I believe that maybe I had too many expectations for the author since I have read more of her newer novels and just like every other author, she probably evolved and learned how to communicate her stories better. 
Now, going back to the relationships in the story, I absolutely adored how natural they were. I liked how Matson was able to craft a story where the characters weren´t forced to be in a certain place to meet, the characters were actually crafted to interact with each other and move from there. For example, Lucy and Taylor work together, which makes them notice each other and realize that there are many things that could change between them. The relationships were my favorite thing in this novel. 
On the other hand, I liked the characters. I enjoyed Henry, although not as much as I enjoyed other Matson´s male characters, like Roger, Clark, and Frank. I just wanted more from him. Besides, he smells like bread and frosting, I want a boyfriend that smells like a cupcake too! As mentioned before , what the story was lacking in my point of view was progression for each story, it just seemed like we only saw how the characters were guided to the beginning of very large paths, like their relationships, and I didn´t really like that. 
But I did enjoy reading about the Edwards family because they just seemed very normal and each of the members were different and brought something new to the story. Also, it was interesting to read the story from a character that didn´t consider herself special at all within her family because it definitely brought a new point of view. 
In addition, I just want to mention the dog because it was so cute and refreshing to read about. 
Something that I really liked was the way that the summer was portrayed because everyone created their summer lives in a small bubble where they knew that there was nothing outside of that since they were all holding onto something that was so precious that was going to be taken from them, but never returned, which was their father. I think that story itself was very emotional because the presence of her father always brought a certain bittersweetness to the stories, but it actually led to the beginning of so many things. Yet, at the same time, I didn´t like how these gave the freedom to the characters to do whatever they wanted because it created so many stories that at some point, the reader had so many things to focus on when there were really important things happening in another side of the novel. In addition, I felt like at the end of the novel, I didn´t really know Taylor because there was nothing that was said about her other side of life in Connecticut, which I think would have helped us understand our narrator better. 
However, I really liked the writing because Matson gave us the perfect combination of past and present in their Lake Phoenix bubble, which helped us understand what really happened and how the characters developed in order to get to that point. 
Lastly, I really liked the character development from Taylor because she grew up in the short time that we got to know her, she realized what she was lacking and she changed it. This was something that I really liked about the main character. 
Overall, Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson is a refreshing summer romance novel, where you will be able to immerse yourself in a story surrender by the beach with childhood friends while shedding a couple of tears while understanding that the line that separated a human being from life and death is very, very thin. 

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Beautiful Disaster, Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Abby Abernathy starts her college life at Eastern University with her best friend America, and one of the first things she´s dragged to is a fight, where Shepley´s, America´s boyfriend, cousin will be fighting. A guy that goes by the name of Travis Maddox. That´s the first time Abby meets Travis, a hot and swoony guy known as Eastern University´s Walking One-Night Stand. Then, Abby meets Travis again Monday morning at the cafeteria, where she´s trying to have lunch with America and Shepley, and Travis decided to follow Abby until she finally accepts being around him because he has NEVER been rejected. So, a fun "game" begins between the two of them. After a little bit of knowing each other, yet still bothering, they become friends and extremely close. But both of them decide to make a bet, if Travis wins the fight, Abby will have to stay at Travis´ apartment, yet if Abby wins, Travis will have to remain abstinent for a month. Although it is really predictable what will happen, the two characters become really close and soon they fall in love, yet they cannot believe it themselves, so they start telling themselves that they don´t like each other. But before they can know it, they are deeply in love with each other and there´s nothing that can hold them back anymore.
The first time I read this book I was just SO in love with it! It was like I was getting to know this new type of characters because this novel was one of the first books that I read, therefore, I had only been exposed to characters like Patch, Daniel Grigori, Cam Briel or Maxon. So, reading about a character that was way more realistic in the sense of not having powers or a title, made me realize that even though, it felt weird for me to read New Adult books being only like 12 years old, I could really enjoy it and I was soon in love with way more mature characters instead of teenagers. Also, I loved the characters so much! I loved the way Abby was because although she was a little stressful with the whole Parker thing, it was still logical why she would act the way she did because whenever you are put in her shoes, you don´t have much of a choice, especially because personally at first glance, I would go with Parker instead of Travis. I mean, Parker seemed more like my type of guy, he was going to study at Harvard Med School, he drove this fancy car, he was sweet, his family had an Italian restaurant and he would treat Abby "right." So, even though, as a reader I loved Travis and I wanted to punch Abby in the face, I still understood her. 
Yet, Mare was my favorite female character because she was the type of friend you just need. She is understanding, loved Abby and always protects her because she knows her the best. Also, seeing the relationship she had with Shepley was beautiful. 
Shepley is that character in many novels, where you end up loving a male character almost as much as you love the main one because they are caring, sweet and just lovely, and in this case, it was Shepley. He fits the typical Maddox style, yet he´s super sweet and nice, which really makes you naturally love him!
On the other hand, Travis Maddox is just AMAZING! He´s charming, arrogant, has a killer smile, has a dimple, everyone wants to sleep with him, has several tattoos, smart and wins EVERY fight. In other words, he´s like the type of guy every girl needs by her side. But, that´s not it, he gets really jealous and he´s extremely caring and sweet when it comes to his pigeon. Also, he´s very protective of the ones he loved, something that is normal for the Maddox family.
Aside from the characters being amazing, I loved the way the story was written, it was very fun and clever. The story would have been great without the brothers, but they made it so special, they made me love the story more because they are so amazing! You just have to read all of their stories. 
A thing that I absolutely loved about the writing was how much the author thought about Abby because she totally skipped a chapter because Abby hates that number! So, it was very refreshing to see an author that really tried writing with the main character´s personality.
I really recommend this book to anyone that is not very picky in the sense of mature content because it did make me feel shocked to read certain parts being only 12, but if you are willing to read amazing characters and a beautiful story about love, friendship and family with mature content, this book is right for you! And I guarantee that you will end up falling in love with the Maddox Brothers!

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Changes in Latitudes, Jen Malone

Changes in Latitudes by Jen Malone

I have read all of the three published novels by Jen Malone and I love her writing because it is sweet, adventurous and at the same time, very deep. Also, I love summer romances because they are the sweetest readings you can find! So, when I heard that Jen Malone was going to release a new YA summer novel, I was super excited and eager to read this new story, and I´ve got to say that although I fairly enjoyed this reading, it is my least favorite from the author.
Changes in Latitudes tells the story of Cassie, who is dragged to a ship during summer by her mother and her younger brother, Drew, to bond with the family all the way from Oregon to Mexico. But she is so pissed at her family because she had already made plans with her best friends to tour the country visiting universities, besides, she has been mad at her mother ever since the divorce, which left her father all the way in Hong Kong. So, when her mother makes her get on the boat, she is ready to ignore everyone and live her days in the small room she has, which has a refrigerator underneath her bed. But that is until she meets Jonah, a charming and funny 18-year old that is ready to make Cassie blush. After a fateful meeting with Jonah, she returns to her ship, to find that Jonah will be joining them during her whole trip. In the beginning, they are glad to be around each other because they are the only teenagers on the trip, but suddenly, the friendship they share starts turning into something else. 
Jonah and Cassie will be running around cities and islands riding roller coasters, watching birds, eating the most delicious food and most importantly, falling in love with each other. 
Cassie will get the chance to discover herself in the ocean with her loved ones.
One thing that I really liked about the story was that it was unique, you don´t really read summer romances that take place on a boat. So, I definitely give credit for that because it gets tiring to read a novel with similar settings. I enjoyed the story in general, but I did think that it was a bit slow, I remember that Jonah doesn't even appear for the first 100 pages of the novel, which for me is a lot of time, so it is a novel that goes by slowly.
I loved the adventures that it included because they were sweet and funny, but I think that during the novel there wasn´t a lot of them like I expected because I love reading about adventures and funny moments. 
And although the novel didn´t really meet all of my expectations, I will admit that the story is really fun to read and there were moments that I was about to laugh out loud and the small moments that the characters shared made me smile like a crazy girl during class.
On the other hand, I really liked the characters. 
Jonah Abrahamson is definitely a character that I would categorize as swoony, he is a gigantic flirt and he is funny and sweet. So, yes, he is like the perfect boyfriend you can imagine. Also, he is so philosophical about everything that you will end up learning and discover new things about our daily lives. At first, I didn´t really love him, I mean, I just liked him because he was funny and stuff, but after reading the novel and keeping up with Jonah, I started to get used to him and finding him more normal and natural, kind of like in real life. There are many people that at first, you are not so sure about, but you kind of start getting used to them and how they act that some of the little things they do start to feel part of them and somehow part of you, so I really liked how Malone portrayed him since he felt very human-like, which was a very different aspect in a summery YA novel.
I liked Cassie because she is the type of person that keeps all of her emotions bottled up inside and I believe that most of us are like that too, so Cassie was a character that most of us could relate to, at least a little bit, and I think that´s a very good point because many of us will start liking the story more once we start identifying ourselves with a character. But at the same time, I found her a little bit annoying because she was too negative about everything, which made her a very immature character in my opinion. I mean, I can totally understand why she feels like that, but she had to realize that people around her were making an effort and I didn´t see that in her, so, I was a bit annoyed with her throughout the novel.
As I said before, I love Jen Malone´s reading in this novel too because she gets to mix dramatic moments with adventures and sweet characters that create a very comfortable atmosphere for readers. 
I apologize for not having a lot to say about this novel, but I honestly believe that this is a very quick reading and that there are many sub-plots that I don´t want to give you spoilers! 
But in general, Changes in Latitudes is a fun, flirty, dramatic and adventurous reading that will fill your heart with philosophical whispers.

3 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

The Light We Lost, Jill Santopolo

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

I recall that when I first saw this book at my bookstore, I fell in love with the cover. Although I love books, I am a terrible bookworm and I admit that I tend to judge books by their covers. The Light We Lost was a story that I knew from the beginning that I had to read because it was going to be emotional and very fun and intriguing at the same time, and I was right.

As soon as I started reading, I was hooked and I was unable to stop reading. The way the memories were narrated and the way the narrator was recalling everything that she was feeling and seeing was empowering and it really dragged the reader for the journey that she was about to tell to the world.

The Light We Lost tells the story Gabe and Lucy, two college students from Columbia University that meet in a class on September 11, 2001. We all know that our world drastically took a turn that day, but for Gabe and Lucy, 9/11 not only signifies a day where the world surrounding them changed, it was the day they fell in love and understood and maybe the love of your life is not meant to be with you.

After our main characters meet for the first time in class, they spend the day together and they even kiss, but everything goes downhill when Gabe receives a phone call from his ex-girlfriend and before Gabe and Lucy can understand and figure out that what they have or what they would have had was special, Gabe and his ex are back together and our two main characters are forced to say goodbye to each other and not meet again until their graduation day, where they simply congratulate each other and Gabe refers to Lucy as a simple “friend.”

Years pass and our characters meet again a year after their encounter at the graduation. Their relationship is fast and surprisingly steady and before they can understand what they are doing, they decide to move in together. That choice may seem very immature and maybe even a little too fast, but Gabe and Lucy are certain that no other feeling could replace what they feel for each other and it seems to be proven true as the novel goes on.

Although their relationship is great, our characters are still young and trying to discover themselves and as a consequence, Gabe decides that he really wants to start taking pictures. Pictures that evoke an emotional reaction, pictures that would make anyone change their perspectives over something, pictures that could change the world. Lucy is extremely happy for Gabe, who even gets his pictures at the New York Times, but his dreams don’t seem to stop there. He wants to change the world, not get his name famous, so he has to take the most important decision in his life. Gabe is asked to go to Middle East and take pictures of the war and he is forced to choose between his dreams or his true love, and as an aspiring photographer, he chooses his dreams and as a consequence, he asks Lucy instead to forget about her dreams and go with him, but Lucy being an aspiring TV producer is unable to let go of her aspirations and is forced to let Gabe go.

The novel continues more about the lives of the main characters, we learn how Gabe is doing through phone calls and we even meet Darren, Lucy’s husband, and as readers, we are able to understand the feelings that Lucy is feeling along the way.

As you can notice, The Light We Lost tells a very emotional story. It was interesting for me to read a book where characters are forced to choose between their dreams and love because that is something that is affecting a lot of people in real life today. Young people, especially women, don’t want to stay home, they want to work and hold very prestigious positions in their industries. I thought that by having characters forget about each other and choose their dreams was very realistic and this novel was able to portray the harsh reality and how people are still able to move forward, unlike some books or movies where characters are simply caught up in their broken love story.

On the other hand, I loved the plot! I loved how to it follows its main characters for a long time and how we are able to notice their developments and how they are feeling from time to time. I also loved how it told the story of a love that someone can’t forget and that holds their memories as if they were something sacred and extremely powerful, which they are.

As you can notice, I really liked the characters because they were very realistic, each of them went through the things that many of us go through in our lives and they were people that were really strong while trying to hold onto the reality where they were now living in and also, the way Lucy doubts and asks herself these series of questions that anyone asks to themselves in life was very empowering. I LOVED Gabe! Gabe is one of the characters that I am never going to get over because I found him to be very precious. He is a character that has a lot of scars and at the same time he was someone that didn’t like being associated with others and could totally understand that. In addition, I found him to be adorable with the way he was never able to forget about his love for Lucy and it was interesting to see how he moves on, but goes back to the same place, like Lucy. Now, I just had to mention that I absolutely hated Darren! And that had nothing to do with my love for Gabe. Darren was just too annoying and he was sexist. All of the small comments he makes and the way he acts as if he was the big person in the relationship was absolutely disgusting for me! I can understand that Gabe left Lucy and that he was selfish, but I believe that every human being in selfish in a way and there was absolutely no reason for Lucy to be spending her life with Darren, who was only holding her down.

With The Light We Lost, I absolutely fell in love with Santopolo’s writing. She has a way of writing this love story like no one else. It was absolutely beautiful and I truly believe that one of the main reasons why this novel was so special was because of the beautiful and empowering writing.

This novel includes a lot of drama and it will take you on a rollercoaster of drama and emotions. And The Light We Lost will make you cry a lot. Honestly, I started crying since the beginning because it was very emotional and I couldn’t take it anymore.

The Light We Lost is a novel that will have you hooked since the beginning and it will make you feel all sort of emotions and it will inspire you to get out there and find someone that is special just like Gabe or Lucy. You will be charmed by the characters and the writing and you will feel the desire for more inspiring and empowering stories of love like this one.

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua