Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

BETTER OFF FRIENDS

Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Publication Date: 02/25/2014

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary, Romance

 

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

 

Picture and Summary from Goodreads

 

 

REVIEW

 

 

This book was so cutesy and fun to read.  Ive decided that cute and fluffy are how I prefer my contemporary romance reads.  Not that serious issues deter me but real life has enough issues without me reading about them.  Of course Better Off Friends does have a major issue it is centered around...Do Macallan and Levi belong together as more than just friends?  I was really impressed with how well the author stretched out the story and still kept me guessing as to what would happen in the end.

 

The story is told from both Levi and Macallan's POVs with back and forth commentary in between chapters giving off the feeling that they're telling us their story through their eyes while sitting side by side. I thought that was a pretty great idea and really enjoyed it.

 

The only reason this book is a four instead of a five is because of some formatting issues.  I read this on my NOOK and all of the commentary in between chapters was poorly formatted making it hard at first to tell who was talking and what was going on. I eventually figured out how it was supposed to read and was able to look past it until the final chapters when things were coming to a head.  I could tell it was supposed to read like Macallan and Levi were talking over each other in their narratives but it just seemed really sloppy and confusing. I'm hoping it was just my format.

 

Other than some tiny things I really had no issues with this book.  The characters and storyline really had me hooked and invested in the story. It made me wish for a friendship like theirs.

~ Goodreads ~

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

OF BEAST AND BEAUTY Author: Stacey Jay Publication Date: 07/23/2013 Audience: Young Adult Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance  

 

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

  Picture and Summary from Goodreads     REVIEW

 

This book is absolutely beautiful.  It didn't start out that way...during the first few chapters I struggled to find my groove and it really wasn't until the middle of the book that things started to speed up for me.  By the end though I was completely captivated and found myself tearing up during the epilogue.

 

The idea behind the story is a classic, Beauty and the Beast, but it's totally transformed into something original and set in a world that is described in amazing detail.  I had no trouble envisioning the society and world that the characters found themselves in.  There are these humans that have been corrupted and deformed and have become nothing more than beasts in the eyes of high society.  I could almost see where the nobles are coming from because the monstrous are truly terrifying.

 

The narration is mostly split between Gem and Isra which was fine but every once in a while we get a chapter from Bo. This makes sense in a way because it helps readers connect with him but I don't know that it was necessary.

 

Overall I enjoyed this twisted version of Beauty and the Beast and I feel it will stick with me for a while.

 

  ~ Goodreads ~

Panic by Lauren Oliver

PANIC Author: Lauren Oliver Publication Date: 04/04/2014 Audience: Young Adult Genre: Contemporary, Romance    

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

  Picture and Summary from Goodreads     REVIEW  

Ooookay so I'm pretty sure I went into this with the wrong expectations. I'm not really even sure what I was expecting but what Panic ended up being was not what I thought. That being said it was still an ok read. For the people comparing this to Hunger Games, you guys didn't read the same book that I did. Panic is really more a coming of age, rite of passage type of book. It's gritty and surprisingly real life, a story set in poor town USA with a cast of teens dealing with their own issues. The...more Ooookay so I'm pretty sure I went into this with the wrong expectations. I'm not really even sure what I was expecting but what Panic ended up being was not what I thought. That being said it was still an ok read. For the people comparing this to Hunger Games, you guys didn't read the same book that I did. Panic is really more a coming of age, rite of passage type of book. It's gritty and surprisingly real life, a story set in poor town USA with a cast of teens dealing with their own issues. The game of panic is something you would hear about happening in the real world, a group of kids performing dangerous dares for an endgame prize. The pacing at times was slow and for me kind of dry but it still had heart racing excitement and suspense that kept me turning the page. Overall while I did enjoy parts of Panic, there were still moments where I was easily distracted from the story. Could be that it just wasn't my cup of tea. ~ Goodreads ~

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN #1

Author: Ransom Riggs

Publication Date: 06/07/2011

Audience: Young Adult

Genre: Paranormal, Mystery

 

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

 

Picture and Summary from Goodreads

 

 

REVIEW

 

All you need to know about this book is that there was no main focus on romance and yet I was captivated by the story every time I sat down to read....which is saying a LOT. 

 

The story itself is absolutely brilliant and mystifying.  The pictures just made it that much more real, so much so that it is my opinion that you should own a physical copy rather than an ebook of it.

 

Really, that is all you need to know...it's one of those things that unless you have read it you wont truly know if you like it or not.  You just have to take a risk on it.  In my experience I was not disappointed.