Waiting on Wednesday #44

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's cannot-wait book is:

Release by Patrick Ness!

Release

by Patrick Ness

Published by Walker Books

Expected publication: May 4th, 2017

YA, LGBT, contemporary

Inspired by Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever, Release is one day in the life of Adam Thorn, 17. It's a big day. Things go wrong. It's intense, and all the while, weirdness approaches...

Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything. It's a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won't come out of it unchanged. And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course.

Add on Goodreads

The cover is so gorgeous! The blurb also sounds good, and it's Patrick Ness is it should be good if not unforgettably great.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved But Never Wrote A Review For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!
Sometimes I feel like it's hard to write a review for a book I really loved - and there was a period of time when I was lazy and didn't write a lot of reviews. I have been catching up but there's still plenty of reviews I need to write and most of them are for books I have loved. So here's ten of those!

ARC Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited
by Becky Albertalli
Published by Penguin Random House UK
eARC (received via NetGalley)
Young Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

Right?

After Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda, which is one of my favourites, I had extremely high expectations. Albertalli did not disappoint with her amazing writing skills because I was almost clued to my Kindle. Albertalli also has a real skill to make it all seem so real and she knows how to capture the feeling of being a teenager.

The characters were on point. Molly was adorable and very easy to relate to; especially her unrequited crushes were something easy to identify with. It was also very lovely that Molly's family, including her mothers, were very present in the story. The chats and advice they offered were fabulous and the fact that the parents were present in young adult story was something that I don't often see. Cassie, Molly's twin, was the only character that kind of annoyed me a bit but that's because she was one of those people who seem to forget everyone else when they start dating someone, and I have never appreciated people who do that. But Simon made a small cameo! I was absolutely delighted about that because Simon is the best and I just need more him.

The romance was cute and lovely, and I absolutely love how diverse the book was. Albertalli did it all right because the diversity was basically the beautiful sphere of diversity that the real life is full of. Overall the story was very inspirational, adorable and truly enjoyable. It just didn't blow my mind the same way Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda did, which doesn't make this anything less but I guess my expectations were a bit too high.

Do I recommend this? Absolutely. Albertalli's books are not something to miss because they are so real, and basically have everything a good contemporary young adult story needs.

4 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Thank you, Penguin Random House UK, for giving me a chance to read and review The Upside of Unrequited!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Panic! At The Disco Book Tag

I saw this tag at Downright Dystopian some time ago, and I decided to do it myself.

Emperor's New Clothes - A book with a good cover change

I'm not usually in favor for cover changes, especially if I have purchased a copy and then the covers don't match at all. And I actually can't come up with any cover change that I've been thrilled about.

Girls/Girls/Boys - A book with your favourite LGBT+ character

I read a lot of LGBT+ books so I have plenty of favourites. I'm going to go with Damen from the Captive Prince trilogy because not only is he absolutely awesome, but he's also bisexual who don't get a lot of representation.

I Write Sins Not Tragedies - A book you didn't understand/finish

Guardian by Alex London. I absolutely adored Proxy but sadly, I DNF'd the sequel around the hundred pages mark because I could care less about the characters. The ones I loved in the first one either died or became irritating in the sequel, and the new characters I just couldn't care at all. I still love Proxy but I probably won't pick up the sequel ever again.

L.A. Devotee - A fictional place you want to live in

Hogwarts is the obvious answer but I wouldn't mind living in the Camp Half-Blood either - even with all the danger around there all the time.

Memories - A book that you attach to a memory

The Maze Runner because I read the whole original trilogy during a summer that I remember quite well, and because I loved the trilogy. And I was lucky enough to meet James Dashner and the movies are a constant remainder, and I just think I'll remember this one for a long time so yes, I attach this one to a memory,

Miss Jackson - Your favourite female protagonist

Scarlet from the Lunar Chronicles without a doubt. Scarlet's a badass but also a darling and she's my favourite female character from the whole series (and Wolf is my favourite male character and together they are perfect). I loved Scarlet's chapters more than Cinder's, Cress' or Winter's.

Northern Downpour - A book that made you cry

If you have read Half Lost, you know why I bawled my eyes out.

Sarah Smiles - Your favourite love story

This probably isn't a surprise because of how many praises I've song to The Song of Achilles. If you want details, my review was basically just singing praises for the book and the ancient love story it features.

This Is Gospel - A book that made your heart pound

Vicious because it was brilliant and I was on the edge of my seat.

Victorious - A book with the best battle

Basically I could name any Rick Riordan book because his battle scenes are absolutely brilliant. But I'm going to answer Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian because the finale was just so good, and it was the best battle scene.

 

Stacking the Shelves (57)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Purchased

Free 

 

For Review

Review: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between
by Jennifer E. Smith
Published by Headline
Paperback (purchased)
Young Adult, contemporary, romance

One night. A life-changing decision. And a list...

Of course Clare made a list. She creates lists for everything. That's just how she is.

But tonight is Clare and Aidan's last night before college and this list will decide their future, together or apart.

It takes them on a rollercoaster ride through their past - from the first hello in science class to the first conversation at a pizza joint, their first kiss at the beach and their first dance in a darkened gymnasium - all the way up to tonight.

A night of laughs, fresh hurts, last-minute kisses and an inevitable goodbye.

But will it be goodbye forever or goodbye for now?

I've quite conflicted feelings about Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between. I like Smith's writing style and the structure of this story and I have enjoyed some of her previous books. This was a fast read but the problem was the characters and their indecision, and the conflict of this story that didn't feel like a valid conflict for me.

The conflict and the point of this story is that Clare and Aidan are saying goodbye to each other. They've been together for two years and they are in love but they are preparing to leave for colleges in different states, and they are trying to decide whether to break up or not. Honestly, their reasons why they should break up were absolutely stupid because they were so convinced they loved each so much. It is like they had never heard of successful long-distance relationship, especially at the age of technology when you can be connected to people in different side of the world twenty-four hours a day. I have personal experience of long-distance relationship and it can work - sure, it is not for everyone but all the dramatic goodbyes felt like Clare and Aidan thought that there was no way to contact each other or visit once they moved out of their hometown. It was just frustrating and a bit too melodramatic.

I wasn't a fan of Clare because I couldn't connect with her. She was indecisive and dramatic, and most of the time, I couldn't get behind her reasoning. Aidan and Scotty were funny and intriguing enough, though.

This might well be a case of 'it's not you, it's me'. I just couldn't swallow the reasoning, constant goodbyes, and Clare's indecisive nature. I wanted to love this but my expectations were not met at all.

2 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

ARC Review: True Colors by Anyta Sunday

True Colors (True Love, #2)
by Anyta Sunday
Self-published
e-ARC (received via NetGalley)
New Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance

Oskar used to be Marco’s best friend. His everything. His sunshine yellow.

But that was before. Before Marco stopped being a hot jock. Before he learned to live with scars and pain. And before Oskar tore their friendship apart.

Now the boy next door has returned home, determined to rekindle his friendship with Marco, and Marco’s more afraid than ever. Afraid of getting hurt. Afraid of being humiliated.

Afraid of falling in love.

Can Oskar find a way through Marco’s fear, back into his heart?

True Colors was truly unique in some ways. I absolutely loved how the colors and what they represented were used, and what's even better, the design of titles were visually stunning (I can imagine that a paperback would be gorgeous).

Besides that, the characters and the development they went through was so good and captivating that the book was almost impossible to put down; I downright devoured it. There were so many characters who were easy to relate with and otherwise absolute sweethearts; Ben was just so nice, Elena so supportive, Zoe enthusiastic (and totally had a shipper heart), and Marco's family who were just so warm. And Oskar and Marco, oh did I love them, separate and together. Marco needs all the warm hugs and kind words because he's beautiful inside and out. He was deeply hurt and has a lot of trust issues. Oskar was a bit mystery at first but despite the mistake he made, he was a nice guy.

True Colors was a story of learning to forgive, learning to heal and to let go of the past. It was about friendship and enemies and the lines between those. It was about love and courage to be who you are, and accept yourself. In every way, the story was beautiful; at times it broke my heart, just to mend it back. It was so gorgeous because Marco and Oskar, and their relationship which was complicated, steamy, sweet, and just to stunning. I loved the book, most of the characters, and especially the relationship and the journey Marco (and Oskar) went through.

I highly recommend True Colors, because it was brilliant story that had everything; sadness, happiness, hate, love, frustration, fears and overcoming them, friendships and family dynamics.

5 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Thank you, Anyta Sunday, for giving me a chance to read and review True Colors!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Wrapping the Month: February

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

February continued to be as nice as January, and I basically did all the same things; somehow managed to fit studies, a bit social life, exercise, this blog and books in my life. I managed to read some brilliant books and updated my NetGalley account and got back into the habit of requesting and reading ARCs. The only thing I really need to brush up is answering comments! And try to come up even better ways to handle the uni stress because with assignments looming in the near future, the stress is going to double, Luckily there's plenty of books I can immerse myself in.

I got quite a few eARCs in February (seven to be exact) which I'm so happy about! Besides that I bought three beautiful paperbacks.

February's reviews:

In A Gilded Cage (3 stars)

Trailer Trash (5 stars)

Peter Darling (5 stars)

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer (5 stars)

Hard Wired (5 stars)

Insight (5 stars)

I Hunt Killers (5 stars)

This Is What Happy Looks Like (4 stars)

I'm very happy of the six books I managed to read - especially since four of them were ARCs. Even better, all six were so great reads, all five or four stars.

  

  

March is going to be extremely busy because of all the assignments I need to do for uni, but I've gotten back my drive to blog and write reviews, and I already have few regular posts scheduled and ready to go up, so I think the blog will be quite active during March.

Hugs,

Henna

(I got inspiration from Saruuh @ Dust Jacket Reviews to display the covers of books I read instead of listing them. So all the credit for her for inspiring me.)