Book Review: XOXO by Axie Oh

Book: XOXO by Axie Oh

Genre: YA contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I promise when I picked this one up to read I didn't know it was yet another kpop book! I just knew it was a contemporary romance. But then when I looked closer I was like... oh, seriously? So yeah, the kpop books are finding me now, I don't even have to go out and look for them! I don't think it's just me, I think they are becoming a thing. So interesting.

So this one is about a girl who ends up going to Korea with her mom for a semester of high school. She's a huge celloist and plans to get into a prestigious university, so to help her with those goals, she ends up enrolling in a performing arts high school in Seoul. And guess who else goes to performing arts high schools in Seoul... kpop idols!

Turns out that the guy she bumped into briefly and hung out with for an evening before she went to Korea goes to that high school! What are the chances! And yes, he's in a band, and yes the band is very popular. So they become friends, even though they try to keep it kind of secret. That's because one of the other band members has just had a bit of scandal himself. With the girl who is now our girl's roommate. Yes. The craziness!

Anyway, it was another fun look into the kpop industry, and what it might be like behind the scenes of a famous group... and how they are just regular guys trying to live a regular life and have regular friends, in between being extremely famous. It's seriously a crazy world for them.

I really enjoyed this one, yet again. This author knows her kpop and everything felt spot on for me and was presented in a good way and not a dumb "let's make fun of this" way. 

And now I have yet another fictional band to love.... XOXO! 

MINI BOOK REVIEWS! September 2021 to December 2021

 So... to catch up... I'm just going to list the books I haven't fully "reviewed" yet (from 2021) with a little mini thought, and then have a fresh start for the year.

Sunkissed by Kasie West: Fun, musically-themed story that includes a summer camp romance with a hot, long haired, sensitive guitar player. All while managing to fulfill one's own dreams. Cute and fun summer romance, and just what I'd expect from Kasie West. She remains one of my all time favorite comfort authors. Love her stuff so much!

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman: We read this one for book club and while I enjoyed the first page immensely (I have never related to something SO MUCH!) I was soon feeling...um.. anxious about the story. The character made me crazy, the premise made me crazy. But my buddies said... DO NOT QUIT... so I didn't and they were right. All these things redeemed themselves and everything made sense in the end. And the characters ended up being lovely and perfectly relatable. What a great premise for a story that really looks deep into stuff we all have to deal with in life. It was great. This author's writing is fantastic, as most of you know.  

Not Playing Fair by Terri Osburn: By an author friend of mine.. and I got to read this advanced copy. Fun romance about a baseball playing librarian heroine who is getting over being dumped when a new dude shows up to play ball.  She also has issues with her mom who she hasn't talked to for years when suddenly a letter from her shows up in the mail. Oh dear! Totally fun and fluff read!

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez: By a local author who, with this very book, was featured on Reese Witherspoon's Book Club! It's about a girl who's dream is to play soccer, but her family thinks it's crazy for her. She is out to prove them wrong!

You Have a Match by Emma Lord: This one is about what happens if you take a DNA test and get a surprise. Our girl realizes she is a perfect match to be sisters with someone who lives in her town, but has never met. So they meet up and decide what they will do from there. Confront their parents? Become friends? Or not? This one features summer camp experiences too, just like the book above. 

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey: I really loved this one (fantastic writing!) about a Cuban girl from Miami who is struggling with lots of things that have gone wrong in her life, so her family ships her off to spend the summer with her aunt in London. And how she finds herself there despite her best efforts to continue to hate life. SO MUCH FOOD in this book! I need all the recipes! (As if I could 1. actually make them and 2. actually eat them. Sigh.)

And those are all the books I read starting from when I last posted a review through the end of 2021. Not a whole lot I know, but I'm at least still reading!

Book Review: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

 Book: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★

This is quite the fun retelling of Goose Girl. The story opens when our girl is getting betrothed to the prince in the neighboring kingdom, who she of course doesn't know, but she is actually quite happy to go away because her own people in her kingdom treat her like crap, especially her brother who has abused her all these years. So she is actually kind of excited to be leaving.

She has a companion girl going with her, this girl wants to take revenge on our girl, and that opportunity comes when a sorcerous wants to use the situation to get back at the king and the prince. So, as you might remember from the fairy tale, she switches their bodies, and the companion is now the one going to get married and our girl ends up becoming the goose girl and the stable girl for the castle.

She actually loves this life and makes all sorts of friends, but she needs to warn the prince of this magic lady who wants to kill him. But how to do that? Hmmm....

Anyway, and so it goes and there's lots of crazy things that happen and great characters and mystery and... yeah...  it's pretty good all in all. It bogged for a me in parts, but I really quite enjoyed it. 

Book Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Book: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Genre: YA contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

So yeah, this is totally my kind of book. I really really enjoyed it, everything about it. 

A quick summary: We've got our girl whose family runs a very popular famous burger store... and our guy whose family runs a tiny local deli. When the burger people tweet that they are doing a new grilled cheese sandwich, the deli store gets upset because it appears to be a recipe someone stole from them!

And so a twitter war ensues. And our guy and our girl are the ones doing the tweets. But they don't know that each of them are... until they do of course.

Meanwhile, they are getting to know each other at school and they are intrigued. Our girl has always thought the guy was just a doofus goof off, but she is starting to learn otherwise. Our guy has thought the girl was just a "robot" going through all the motions and blending in way too well for a new girl... but he is starting to learn otherwise.

Yeah, it's one of THOSE kinds of stories! 

Scattered throughout are awesome descriptions of crazy baking things our girl comes up with... because she also runs a baking blog with her sister. And wow, but I wanted recipes to be included! Even though there is no way I could ever eat this stuff and stay on my dumb diet! 

So yeah...there's lots of underlying craziness and interesting twists to go along with this basic story. And I loved it. The banter, the social media aspects, the food... everything. So much fun.

And relatively clean too. Sheesh, I feel like YA books these days think they need ALL THE THINGS to make it... I don't know... competitive? Edgy? Relevant? Whatever. This one didn't need it and I especially loved that about it. 

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

 Book: Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Genre: YA contemporary

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the story of Frank Li (frankly... get it?) who is dealing with the dilemma of being Korean, but also being American. He has Korean parents who have come over to the US to live the good life here. They run a store and all is well, and yet... it is not. Frank, as many kids do, feels torn between the two cultures. 

They have "gatherings" with other Koreans in the area, his parents friends, and he has grown up bonding with the kids... who he calls the Limbos. They understand each other well, experiencing all these same things. And yet they are only friends at the gatherings.

He has to deal with the racism by people toward him, but also with the racism his parents have toward others. And when he falls in love with a white girl from school, he decides to hide this from his parents, especially considering what happened with his sister. (She married a black guy and his parents disowned her.)

In order to "hide" his girlfriend, he and one of the other "limbos" decide to fake a relationship. Because their parents are SO HAPPY at the idea that THEY are dating. Yeah. 

And then everything just really gets messed up and complicated!

Meanwhile, he's trying to bond with his dad, and that also gets messed up and complicated. 

It's such a heartfelt book...very funny in parts, very sad in other parts. It covers all the range of emotions for sure. I loved his parents...and fell for them hard despite their issues. Of course I loved seeing the Korean culture so readily displayed, and I even learned more Korean! Bad words even! LOL!

Yeah, this book has quite a pile of cursing. As I've mentioned before, I can usually handle it, if the character seems to warrant it. But sometimes I felt like it was way over the top for these characters. Almost like they were trying to prove their American-ness or something. Sigh. 

But despite that, I really enjoyed this one. I wanted all the best for the characters. I got weepy at the end. I ached and rejoiced with everyone!

(PS. I tried to picture one of my kpop idols in the lead role, but alas, it didn't work. Frank just took on his own form. Speaking of, kpop and kdrama and other such things were mentioned here and there in this book, but still in a degrading way I felt. Maybe I'm just defensive, but why can't people mention this stuff without putting it down? Why? I guess our character Frank didn't want people to think he would stoop so low as to enjoy this stuff himself. And our author probably looks down on it like everyone else. Whatever.)

(PPS. David Yoon is the husband of Nicola Yoon who wrote Everything, Everything, another very popular YA book. This is his first book.) 

Book Review: Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

Book: Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★

It looked like it would be a cute fun quick read written in email form. But...

It wasn't at all cute or fun. It was a stressful hard painful story. It's about a girl who suffers from all sorts of things, mostly that her brother ODed and died and her mom and step dad are monsters and she is in "remedial" studies at school after once upon a time being an honors student.

For an assignment, she writes to her celebrity idol, Rachel Maddow, and pours out her heart. Which becomes so cathartic to her that she continues to do it but  never sends them. So instead of feeling like emails, it's more like a journal.

And this girl is very angry about life and her language is very harsh... this book had f bombs filling every page... along with all the other cuss words you can think of. It got old I must say.

I wanted to feel bad for this girl, but it was hard for me to muster that up. I'm so so sorry!!!

She ends up running for a position on the school government that will help select the school superintendent or something. And then later she actually runs for student body president. Against a guy that gives her all sorts of grief, and her former girlfriend which also causes her all sorts of grief.

And so she struggles. A lot. And life is really crappy for her. But in the end, things do look a little better, and it ends on a note of hope. I almost didn't finish it but since it's such a small book, I just pushed through and wanted to see if there was hope in the end. Thankfully, there was a little.

But it was stressful reading.  And will not be a favorite for this year!

Book Review: The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby

Book: The Other Side of Lost by Jessi Kirby
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★


I really enjoyed some parts, and was quite bored in other parts. How to rate? But in the end, I could find lots to talk about regarding this book. Probably because I have arguments! LOL! Sigh.

So it's about a girl who made big plans with her cousin that is the same age as her. But they grow apart when she (our girl Mari) decides to do different things with her life. And then when her cousin dies suddenly, Mari feels like her own life is meaningless and she decides to fulfill a big dream of her cousin's, namely, hiking the John Muir trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney.

So, it's great as far as our girl finding herself and becoming more fulfilled and happy. She felt her life before was fake, but in hiking this trail she grounds herself again. I enjoyed the parts where she finds friends and there is interaction and etc. But the introspection parts when she is alone and just staring at a beautiful view and suddenly life is great.. I just... I mean.. I get that beautiful views and hiking can make people feel good, but...

My problems happen when I think that people think that there are certain activities more worthy than others. And hiking is one of them. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT HIKING?????? Why can't a person find themselves and feel fulfilled oh, say, sitting in front of a computer blogging about books and discussing the love of books with others? Just for starters...

I guess people feel like getting OUTSIDE and doing something PHYSICAL trumps pretty much every other endeavor out there. I see it all the time and I always want to argue about it.

So in my mind, I think the fact that she fulfills the dream of her cousin by doing the hike is cool. But the fact that she has to dump her entire other life in order to do it, is stupid. She can do both. She can do her creative instagramming without being fake. She can hike AND youtube... both. Know what I mean?

Also, is it realistic that she can at the drop of a hat, just up and do this hike?  And she doesn't even call her mom and say what she's up to?  Like I found that to be so maddening. Every now and then she was like... oh man, I should call my mom. But.... I really don't feel like it now... so... maybe later. Let me just keep going on this 200 plus mile hike that's going to take many weeks that I just ran out the door to do without telling anyone and... I'll call later. UGH!!!

Okay. I ranted. It happened. I hope you enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, I guess we all need to get out and hike or something. And then life will be so much better! But ALSO, let's not be fake in what ever endeavor we DO end up doing, right? Let's embrace it and be REAL and just enjoy life no matter what we choose to do.

Book Review: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

Book: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the story of three kids who find out that they are biological siblings. Two of them, the sisters, were adopted to different families, but the brother bounced from foster home to foster home all his 17 years.

The story starts out with one of the sisters, Grace, having a baby herself and giving it up for adoption. This instigates her desire to find her siblings and her birth mom. But when she does find her siblings, they have no desire to help her search for their birth mom.

But they do all become friends. And we learn all the different things they are dealing with. Alcoholic mom, gay relationships, bi-racial issues, going back to school after giving birth, parents who are divorcing, foster parents who want to adopt you.. etc. Basically, everything crazy thing a kid could deal with. It was overwhelming at times.

But I bonded with them all and began quickly to care what happened, especially with the brother who seemed to be hurting the most.

In the end, I was sobbing...so despite the fact that I sometimes get frustrated with authors packing everything single hot button topic thing into a book... I was moved and touched. But yeah, I've said it before, anything to do with mom/dad/parent/kid emotions... I will break down... and this was pretty much ALL about that.

If you are love adoption stories, this one is for you!

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan

Book: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Genre: YA magical realism
Rating: ★ ★ ★

This is the story about a girl who's mom suffered from pretty severe depression and when the story begins, we know she has just committed suicide. Our girl is now trying to deal with it all. She is feeling very guilty because she was hanging at her friend's house the moment it happened and in fact, was kissing said friend for the first time, something she had dreamed about for years. She thinks it wouldn't have happened had she been home.

And so now the mom is appearing to the girl as a big red bird and is encouraging her to go visit her grandparents. Well, it just so happens that our girl has never met these grandparents, and that the mom was estranged from them her whole life.

The grandparents live in Taiwan and so her dad takes her there and they meet. During her visit, she learns, through magical means, the backstory of her mom... her dad... and her grandparents. She also remembers the progression of the crush she has had on her friend over the years... so we get that little bit of romance too.

It's a beautifully written story, full of magic and memories, Chinese culture and romance. It addresses the trauma of depression and suicide in a straight forward and tasteful way. It's all quite heart wrenching really.

The colors come in, if you are curious, because she and her friend see emotion as color and are talking about what color they are feeling all the time. Color plays a very important role in this story.

I totally enjoyed it. I did find some parts a bit long and descriptive and my patience was tested a few times. I really enjoyed all the back stories... the present day story of dealing with the suicide and getting to know the grandparents was where it drug out a bit for me. But in the end, I totally enjoyed it.

Book Review: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant

Book: 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant
Genre: YA contemporary romance
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This one has a very fun premise. Some college psychology kids are conducting an experiment and the idea is that if they put two strangers in a room with each other and have them ask and answer these 36 questions, that by the time it's over, they will be "interested" in each other. They aren't claiming that they will actually fall in love, but that they will help get something started.

So our girl comes to participate and she actually finds out what the above idea is and almost backs out but then decides what the heck. She is a chaotic mess, but a fun one. Our guy comes to do this just because he wants the $40 they say they will pay. He has no idea what it's all about. He seems closed off and mean and sullen.

So they get in the room with each other and clash right away. The guy comes from a less well off background and he thinks the girl is some spoiled rich snob right from the get go. But they start answering the questions and start learning about each other. And while they don't really connect, they do start opening up a bit.

However, things are cut short because the girl gets mad and storms off. But as we would expect, they find each other again ( at first easily, and later not so easily) and continue with the questions.

Do you think they fall in love by the end?

Well, you'll have to read it to find out!!

I thought it was very fun. I felt like it was borderline NA and not YA... these kids felt much older than high school. (Yes, the ones starting the experiment were college, but the participants were high school.) I'm not sure why, but it does have an older age feel to it. It felt a little surface-y and I was left wanting more... more.... character development maybe? More interaction? I'm not sure what more of... but something more. More actual romance? LOL.

Still, I breezed through it and really enjoyed it! Fun idea this one!

(This book is on the long list for the Beehive Book Awards.)

Beehive Book Award Reading

As most of you know by now, every year at the end of the year, I love to participate in reading books from the Beehive Award Long List  and review them in order to help the judges whittle them down to a short list. Once the short list is figured out, then everyone gets to read and review!

Here's the short list from last years reading.. up for the 2019 award:
(copied from the Beehive Award web page) 


Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Eliza is the anonymous creator of a wildly popular webcomic, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything begins to crumble.

Ever the Hunted (Class of Kingdoms) by Erin Summerill
Britta is the outcast daughter of a bounty hunter who must use her powers to track her father's killer in a world of warring kingdoms, and dangerous magic.

Exo by Fonda Lee
Earth has been a peaceful colony of an alien race for a century, but then Donovan is captured, and killing him might be the incident needed to overthrow the alien rulers.

Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry
When her mom breaks up with yet another boyfriend, Calliope meets Jinsong, who becomes her friend despite her Tourette Syndrome and the embarrassment it causes.

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kremmerer
When Declan finds a haunting letter Juliet left beside her mother’s grave, he writes back. Soon, he is sharing his pain with a perfect stranger. Then real life interferes.

A Taste for Monsters by Matthew Kirby
In 1888, disfigured Evelyn is hired as a maid to Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. When the Jack the Ripper murders begin, they are haunted by the mystery.

Scythe (Arc of a Scythe) by Neal Shusterman
Disease has been eliminated, and the only way to die is by professional “scythes.” Two teens are forced to compete for the job, to the death, though neither wants it.

Starflight by Melissa Landers
Former high school enemies, Solara and Doran must team up when they find themselves aboard a renegade spaceship.

Warcross by Marie Lu
When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths.

Wingsnatchers (Carmer and Grit) by Sarah Jean Horwitz
A Magician's apprentice and a one-winged princess must vanquish the mechanical monsters that stalk the streets and threaten the faerie kingdom.

I read and loved the first six on the list (with Eliza and Letters being my favorites) and would love to catch up with the other four. In the meantime I'm digging into the long list for the NEXT short list! AH!!

Up first:  

Anyone read it already? I'm enjoying it so far, though it feels more new adult than young adult so far to me.

Book Review Discussion: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Book: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating:★★★★★
For: Beehive Award long list
From: The library

Short Synopsis: Maddy has a disease that forces her to stay inside her air sealed house. If she is exposed to germs at all, she'll get deathly sick and probably die. It's just how it is. Then one day when she sees the new guy move in next door, she is fascinated and for the first time, she wonders what life is like outside and feels bugged by all the stuff she's missing.

My Response: I'd heard so much about this one! So it was with great anticipation that I dived into it! And let's just say I read it pretty much in a day. Very engaging and romantic and fun! A few nail biting moments and a lovely twisty ending. And yet another awesome book boy to love. I don't know what else to say except that it pretty much lived up to all the buzz I've seen!

Let's Talk About: I'm giving it five stars because of the "read it in a day" aspect, and how engaged I was. Some of us have had talks about this, about what merits a five star rating or not. I tend to think that it's not that big of deal and if I really enjoyed a book, might as well show it! Put my stars where my review is! Or something. Do you agree? Or do you feel that five stars should only be reserved for those books that are, like, out of this world mind boggling amazing?

Other Reviews:

It will take hold of your soul, I guarantee, leaving you with a sense of hope, of inspiration and joy. From Jenn's Book Shelves

Wow. People have been saying all sorts of great things about this book, and I have to agree. This was fantastic! From Sarah Reads Too Much

And all I can say in conclusion is read this book. And when you're done, read it again. From I'm Lost in Books

Enjoy–I envy anyone reading it for the first time! From Reading Rants

Book Review Discussion: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Book: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Genre: MG
Rating:★★☆☆☆
For: Beehive Award long list
From: The library

Short Synopsis:  Six grader Ally struggles in school, especially with reading. This is the story of how she got a new teacher who helped her to overcome and learn that even though she has a hard time with letters, she is smart in so many other ways.

My Response: I mean, it was okay. I liked what it was trying to do, but it did get a little overly agenda-y for me. And I kept thinking... would kids who struggle with reading actually read this to get something out it? And would kids who enjoy reading, enjoy this book about a kid who struggles with reading? I really doubt it. Because I must say, it was a bit on the boring side. Buy maybe someone would READ it to kids who struggle to read, and then they'd have hope and feel uplifted by this story. Maybe?

Bottom Line: Very slow,  and too much of an agenda for me to totally enjoy it.

Let's Talk About: There are LOTS of middle grade books out there that are most awesome, but books like this are the reason I tend to stay clear of them for the most part. Sigh. I wanted to like it better. What's your feeling about middle grade? Do you find that there's almost always a "lesson to be learned" in them?

Other Reviews;

An incredibly strong novel, this one belongs in every library and will be inspiring to students and teachers alike. From Walking Brain Cells

Hunt provides an encouraging story for both children and educators. Caring teachers can indeed make a difference in the lives of their students. From Reading Junky's Reading Roost

My students keep recommending this to one another, especially to friends who like stories that really reach your heart. From Great Kid Books

Book Review Discussion: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Book: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating:★ ★ ★ ★ ★
For: Beehive Award long list
From: The library

Short Synopsis: From the view points of both Finch, a boy who struggles with bipolar disorder, and Violent, a popular girl who struggles with the death of her sister a year before. One day, they are both at the top of the bell tower at school as if they might jump. It appears as if Finch saves Violet, but really it's Violet who saves Finch. From there, they develop an intense relationship and as Violet learns more and more about Finch and his issues, she hopes more and more that she can help him. One thing she knows, is that he has already helped her a ton.

My Response: Wow, I was wrapped up in this one quickly! And again, sort of like another recent book I read, I had a feeling that direction it was headed and hoped that somehow, it wouldn't go there. It's a powerful story about suicide and the struggles with what both the person suffering with depression deals with and the what the people around him deal with. Though I don't think it meant to leave a helpless hopeless feeling, I still felt that way. And yet, at the same time, I loved it and the message it's sending. Yeah, it's really one of those books that's hard to review, because it's so so good, and yet, so so hard.

Bottom Line: I enjoyed it. I'm better for reading it. I wish we didn't have to deal with this stuff in life.

Let's Talk About: If suicide has been a part of your life, in any way, would you want to read a book about it? Would it help you deal with your issues? Or would it just make things worse? I struggle with this question a lot when I'm reading books with such painful subjects and I always wonder if they help or hurt.

Other Reviews:

Those readers who are quick to shed tears should have a box of tissues ready to hand, and even those readers who are usually tougher to crack might also want to have one or two tissues in the vicinity of their seat. From That's What She Read

This book, which I found on a list of “Best YA Books of All Time” is thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and definitely lives up to the standard suggested by Franz Kafka, that “A literary work must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” From Rhapsody in Books

Lastly, All the Bright Places almost glamorizes suicide. Yes, we need to be sympathetic and offer help and not stigmatize those are mentally ill or those who are victims of their own suicidal thoughts. However, the other extreme is to make suicide look good, so cute and quirky. From Semicolon

Above all, I just plain loved the story. It has some hope, some sorrow, but I think it leaves the reader with a lot to think about. I, for one, was reminded that behind every smiling face, there is a deeper story. From A Literary Odyssey

Book Review Discussion: Kissing in America by Margo Rabb

Book: Kissing in America by Margo Rabb
Genre: YA romance
Rating:★★★☆☆
For: Beehive award long list
From: the library

Short Synopsis: The guy that Eva has liked forever suddenly takes an interest in her. But then he moves to the other side of the country. So now it's her mission to go visit him. She ends up getting her friend accepted to a girls quiz show and they somehow get permission from their parents to ride the bus to get there. (She's terrified of flying because of how her dad died.) So most of the story is the experiences they have getting there and the things they learn about themselves and life and people as they go. She loves romance novels, so everything she sees and does is compared to them. Which is quite fun.

My Response: I ended up being a little bit disappointed in this one. I expected it to be a more fun sort of book, but it was actually a little depressing and sad. The title is definitely misleading. There's hardly any kissing in this story!  I mean it's pretty good for a coming of age, life learning story, but I was totally not in the mood for that at the time. But I enjoyed it anyway, for its characters, its look at the personality of the country, and its bittersweet ending.

Bottom Line: If it crosses your path, go for it! It's a sweet story.

Let's Talk About: If you saw this cover and this title, what do you think it would be about? Does it bug you if a title doesn't quite match the story?

Other Reviews:

If you love quirky road trips, you might want to try this out. From YA Romantics

...readers will experience the highs of infatuation and the lows of heartache as Eva contends with love in all its forms. From Cynsations

At its core, I suppose it’s a novel about grief, family and friendship, but considering I started the novel thinking the author had something really important to say, by the end I was still unsure what it was. From Words Read and Written

Considering our MC loses her father at 14, she feels such a wide array of emotions and Margo Rabb does an EXCELLENT job of portraying those feelings because at times while I was reading I had to put the book down because it was so emotionally draining to read. From Flying Through Fiction

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall TBR (Possible Beehive Books)

Here in Utah we have the Beehive Book Awards, which I've talked a bit about before, And this year I get to help read and review and rate a bunch of books that have been suggested for this award. I think from this list they come up with the actual list of nominees, and then from THAT list... the reading public reads and votes.

Here's what it actually says on the site: "The award winning book in each category is chosen by the children and students of Utah who read ten to twelve books and vote on their favorite. The title with the highest percentage of votes from the children wins the award. In order to prepare the lists of the ten to twelve books members of CLAU create a long list of books which though a committee process is then whittled down to the top twelve. "

Yes! I get to help with the whittling! I've already read a bunch from this list, but I hope to read a bunch more. So I thought I'd list ten from this list that I hope to read by the end of this year. Please let me know if you've read any and if you loved them or not.

1. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
2. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
3. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
4. West of the Moon by Margi Preus
5. Divided We Fall by Trent Reedy
6. Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
7. The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise
8. Love by the Morning Star by Laura Sullivan
9. All Our Yesterdays by C Terrill
10. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

I'm a little late to the Broke and Bookish party today, but if you want to see other Fall TBR lists, you can see the huge linky here!

Beehive Award Nominees 2013

Every year when the summer program at the library starts, they kick it off with talking up the books that have been nominated for Utah's Beehive Award. Actually, there are many categories, but they talk up the YA ones to the teens.

Here's what made the list this year:

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury
Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
Welcome Caller This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Legend by Marie Lu
Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Pretty awesome list, eh? Which one would you vote for as your favorite? I don't think I could do it! And also, I've only read five of these! I need to get busy I'm thinking!

2012 Beehive Award Nominees

Every summer the teen summer reading program at our library kicks off the summer by promoting the books that are nominated for the Beehive Award, an award sponsored by the Children's Literature Association of Utah. The library encourages the kids to read these books and then vote (on a ballet they provide and can turn in when they return the book) on whether or not they liked the book. 


The list always has some really awesome books on it. Check out this year's nominees:

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys: WWII and Holocaust
Blood Red Road by Moira Young: Hunger Game-like dystopian
Death Cloud by Andy Lane: a young Sherlock Holmes
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan: suspense
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt: historical fiction
The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal: fairy tale
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen: for sports and non sports fans alike
Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt: romantic comedy
Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell: a band geek book
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore: historical fiction/ghost tory
Variant by Robison Wells: a bit of a science fiction dystopian sort of book
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier: time travel


I've only read two of these! I have two more on my shelves waiting, and I have added at least two or three more to my mental list.


Which ones would you suggest to read first?

Beehive Award: 2011 Nominees

Every summer the teen summer reading program at our library kicks off the summer by promoting the books that are nominated for the Beehive Award, an award sponsored by the Children's Literature Association of Utah. The library encourages the kids to read these books and then vote (on a ballet they provide and can turn in when they return the book) on whether or not they liked the book. It's really quite and fun, and the list is quite consistently comprised of some pretty cool books.

Here's what's been nominated for the 2011 YA Award:


Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Compound by S.A.Bodeen
The Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger


Have you read any? What did you think?