Friendships, Family, Food & Diversity | The Inexplicable Logic of My Life REVIEW

Hello and happy slightly-belated book birthday to this novel! I hope you’re all doing well. ❤ I wanted to have this review up yesterday when it was released, but unfortunately, life got in the way.

But anyway! It’s been a long time since I read something like this book. It was a really nice read. I finished it pretty quickly, as well, considering the fact that it had a very slow paced plot. But, despite the plot, what I loved most was the characters and how it focused on them. That was what made this book so wonderful to read. Although, the general consensus around this book according to other bloggers is that Aristotle and Dante was better–I can’t vouch for this, personally, as I have never read it, but if you have read Aristotle and Dante and loved it, your best bet is probably to go into this one with lowered expectations. Let’s just get into the full review, shall we?

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC thanks to Netgalley for review purposes! ❤ All opinions are my own. Oh, and all quotes mentioned are retrieved from the ARC, and may be changed in the final copy. Just a sidenote! 

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Publication Date: March 7th 2017
Publisher: Clarion Books
Genre(s): Contemporary, Young-Adult
Series Status: N/A–Stand Alone
Page Count: 464
Source & Format: Netgalley eARC

Synopsis from Goodreads:

From the multi-award-winning author of Aristotle and Dante Discover, the Secrets of the Universe comes a gorgeous new story about love, identity, and families lost and found.

Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican-American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it’s senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he?

This humor-infused, warmly humane look at universal questions of belonging is a triumph.

There were actually multiple mentions of food and TACOS in this book as well… Aka I am very hungry right now.

Features an AMAZING fictional father

“He said, ‘Every time I look into your blue eyes. Every time I hear you laugh. Every day, when I hear your voice, I thank God for you. Yeah, Salvador, I believe in God.'”  

I’m not exaggerating when I say that Sal’s father, Vicente Silva, is one of the best fictional fathers I have ever seen. He was an amazing father who had such a deep bond with not only his son, but everyone around him, and that was so beautiful. He was there for Sal the whole time, for Sal’s best friend Sam, for their new friend Fito. He was there for each and every single one of them, offering them comfort and discipline. And love, my god, so much love. My heart hurts from how much I loved his love for everyone. He shows strength, in who he is, who he believes, what he does, in everything he does but still had fears and uncertainty just like every person. His and Sal’s and his and Sam’s moments were truly amazing, along with pretty much everyone else he met. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say he truly is a notable father–and a notable person–that deserves all the recognition it can get. Because fathers like these, in novels? A rare gem. 

“I happen to be gay. I don’t think that makes me a faggot. I’m also a Mexican American. I don’t think that makes me a taco bender. I don’t think that makes a beaner. I don’t think that makes me a spic. And I don’t think that makes me an illegal.” 

CAN SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN AN AWARD PLEASE?

No romance, but lots of love.

Apologies to all romance lovers out there! No romance in this one, but that was one of its strong points. I’ve already mentioned before having more books with little to no romance and well, here’s this one! I think it’s really great what the author did here; not all teens find their soulmates in high school (ahem. Example: me), and focusing on aspects like love for family and friends, made this book refreshing and incredibly heartwarming. There was no shortage in love though; what this book lacked in romance, it more than made up for it with its focus on the love between Vicente and Sal, Sal and Mima, Sal and Sam’s platonic and wonderful friendship, Sal & Sam and Maggie, the dog, Sal, Sam and Fito, Sal and his uncle, and the list goes on and on. The family dynamics in Sal’s family was so beautiful, and I can not express how much I adored them. Family is SO important, and I loved the emphasis on that in this book. 

Speaking of non-romantic relationships; the friends in this book are actually #goals. Individually, my feelings on them vary, but Sal, Sam, and later Fito have such an adorable and supportive friendship that I adored. Sam and Sal’s friendship particularly stuck out to me; in them, I saw elements and phrases that I could either relate to with my own friends or just that I loved reading. And! They. Only. Stay. Friends!! NO I’M NOT JOKING. Yes, I’ve come to answer your prayers. Jk, but I’m a strong advocate for more female-male friendships, and this book featured one of the best ones I’ve read in a long time. Sam and Sal were so supportive of each other, so close and loving it made my heart hurt. Each of them had their own demons to battle, but they each had each other (among other people, of course) to push them to do so.

Sometimes family and friends are one of the best and biggest forms of love, and I loved how this book focused on those aspects of life. 

Other tasty aspects…

• THE FOOD. This is the only one that actually makes sense in relation to the above statement. There were much tacos and tortillas and enchiladas and…. now I’m hungry. Help.
• I didn’t get to mention my love for Fito!! Because I did love him. SO MUCH. He was so precious and did not deserve 90% of the things that happened to him. Probably one of my top favorite characters in this one, despite the fact that he isn’t exactly a main character until about halfway or something through the book.
• Oh, I also should probably mention Sal, the main character! I did like him as well, he was SO sweet, and I loved the love he had for his family and Sam, and Fito. His relationship with his Mima was very nice as well, along with him and his father. ❤ Though, I did get exasperated with his anger-related issues at several points, it was okay.
• Beautiful writing! It was simple but lyrical and it was lovely to read. I wouldn’t say I flew through the book because of it, but it did seem to make things seem less long, I think. Or maybe that was just me. Though, I will say, it’s kind of repetitive and the sentences can be pretty choppy. I don’t think this bothered me that much, but I know it can be a pet peeve for others aha.
• I adored the diversity!! The book is filled with POC and queer characters, which I loved! Sal is white, but his adoptive father is Mexican, and Sal basically identifies as a Mexican and that was so precious.

I’m trying to make the headers a bit more related to my blog title!! I TRIED, OKAY. 😛

•  Okay, so I mentioned I loved Sal and Sam’s friendship?? And I did, it was amazing. But Sam herself… eh, not as much. Sam’s development is great, however, I felt like her character the majority of the time tried too hard to not be like ‘other girls’. And that was annoying, because she ended up being a character who had no female friendships, instead calling them bitches, etc. *sad face* It was quite frustrating, really, because I really did want to enjoy her character more (she kind of shows up the entire novel, so like…)–and she had so much potential but… *sigh*
• Things were too… similar for all three of the teens. Specifically in the mom department, which seemed all too… I don’t know. Unrealistic? Unlikely? I mean, I suppose it is possible but it seemed all too convenient and more of a plot device to have the characters have something in common that I could not 100% buy. #Justamethingprobabaly
• Another thing that makes me quite.. conflicted, is the stereotypical and offensive statements in the novel. Things like “For a gay guy, my dad was pretty straight.” or “One thing about Sam was that she didn’t throw like a girl*.” and several other phrases. I just found them so unnecessary? Perhaps it was to show the naivety of the main character or something, I don’t know, but whatever the case may be, you could take those out and it would change nothing of the story, characters, theme, whatever. Nothing. It was just so unnecessary. 
  *Why is this still a thing?? Albeit in a fictional novel, but like still?
• NO PLOT. And I know, it’s a character-driven novel, which is great, but like, 400+ pages is a lot to go through with a slow-paced plot. I do think you should be prepared for that, or else you’re going to be quite bored and disappointed with the plot. I mean, you might still be bored with the plot, but still, it’s not terrible, just it might be easier if you’re prepared with that info, haha.

Overall…

An enjoyable read! I really did like it, problems aside. Though from what I’ve seen, this is a lot of a hit-or-miss situation, most reviews I’ve seen have either given this book 4 stars, or 2. So. A lot of people have also expressed how this book does not live up to Aristotle and Dante, so if you have read that book, just a heads up! For me, personally, I have not yet read Ari and Dante, and I think that helped a bit if only to have more reasonable expectations aha. As a recap: I loved the focus on non-romantic love such as friends and family, the diversity, the FOOD of course, and especially Sal’s father. It truly was wonderful to read about that. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sam’s, and there were phrases that were totally unnecessary, but overall, I do think it’s worth a read if you enjoy family dynamics, and character-driven novels. 

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Wow, that was a long review! I tried out a slightly different format for my review today and I think it caused me to revert back to my rambling review days…

But tell me! What do you think of this novel? Have you read Ari and Dante yet? Did you like it? If you haven’t read it, tell me so I don’t feel so alone haha. 😛 What are your thoughts on problematic phrases in books? Any other books you know of with strong family dynamics and/or friendship and diversity? Do you plan on reading this book? Let me know in the comments, don’t let my frantic 2AM typing go in vain aha. Hope you have a lovely day! ❤

The Book Blogger’s Guide: How to Not Go Overboard On ARCs and Review Copies!

Ahhhhh why does time fly by so fastttttt omg I can’t keep up. (!!) February is basically over, yet it certainly doesn’t feel like it. *SIGH* I’m growing old, people. With every day. *Moment of silence as I ponder the mysteries of time* *Awkward pause as you realize how weird and random I truly am* *And then some more awkward silence because this made no sense whatsoever*

HELLO everyone!! I hope you excuse my little weird… um whatever that was. Clearly I’m out of sorts today or maybe I’m always like this I dunno. 

Today I’m here with the start of a kind-of-but-not-really new feature as part of my Book Snacks Babbles discussion series; a book blogger’s guide on… [insert guide name here]. To start it off, I have for you a book blogger’s guide on how to not go overboard with ARCs! Come on, admit it, you’ve had to fight against going on major ARC-requesting sprees at least one time during your blogging journey. It must’ve been quite hard when you found yourself drowning in all the ARCs (or review copies), no? I speak from experience, aha, ’tis quite difficult to stay floating, I tell you.

However, lately I noticed I’ve been quite good at keeping my ARC and review copy count mostly low, which has been quite beneficial in terms of my busy schedule and, you the whole not drowning thing. But never fear, if your ARC and review copy count is rising too fast! I have come to your rescue with this post: you’re welcome. (And even if I haven’t, entertain me alright? Otherwise my reputation will be hurt. And my ego. Ehem.)

Note: I’m mostly talking about e-ARCs, to be honest? ‘Cause I haven’t yet requested books from publishers directly, hehe, sooo. Still trying to get up the nerve to do so! I think the ARC craziness happens more online anyway. But whatever. On to the (very helpful, if I do say so myself—which I do) tips! I accept your thanks in advance. Though you must give me chocolate, yes yes, thank you.

Image credit goes to Freepik, but all edits were done by me.

1. Stay away from the wickedly dangerous thing(s) called Netgalley  (or Edelweiss* and any other reviewing site).

VERY IMPORTANT!!! I cannot stress enough how important this is, for your quest on not to go ARC-and-review-copy-crazy. It can be incredibly hard to refrain from going ARC-overboard, when there are so many delicious-looking opportunities for tasty books. Believe me, I know. Hence, you stay away! Unless you have to submit a review of an ARC, don’t go surfing the site, with the excuse of “I’m just looking”, because you will most definitely cave and request at least a few ten or more ARCs/review copies. Which brings me onto the next thing…

*I’ve never actually requested on Edelweiss, but I’m presuming it works similarly to Netgalley? Correct me if I’m wrong.

2. Never request tons of review copies by making the excuse that you’ll only receive a few.

I did this so many times! Too many times to count, while on Netgalley, I told myself that oh, I probably won’t get any of these anyway, so what’s wrong with requesting them? Yeah. Can you guess what happened? I got bombarded with a bunch of books (…and one time they were all releasing in the same month?? Not my best move, oops.) Another time, something similar happened—I think this was back when I first started blogging—except with Xpresso Book Tours. So you see the pattern here!! DO NOT make excuses and think you won’t get approved—because you never know, right? Better not take any chances.

3. Only request books that are on your TBR, or books you really want to read.

I don’t know if this is the case for everyone out there, but a lot of the times, when I’m on Netgalley or something, as I’m browsing through my favourite publishers, I notice books that aren’t on my TBR, books that I find interesting, yes, but only mildly. And oftentimes? I end up requesting them. Nowadays I’ve gotten much better at being careful of which books I request. As in, I focus more towards books I’ve been eagerly anticipating, and books on my TBR, rather than any and all books that seem mildly interesting. Instead, I just end up adding said mildly interesting book on my TBR to think about another time, you know? (Unless you REALLY want to read ALL the books you find just a little interesting, in which case… uh, good luck with keeping that ARC count low!)

4. If you’re struggling against ARCs or review copies, consider the negative sides.

They do exist! Negative sides of requesting ARCs, that is. And I know it sounds weird, to think about the negative sides to try and stop you from going on a review copy requesting spree, but you never know! Maybe it’ll help your inner self to try and convince the ARC-hungry side of you to not become so hungry. Okay, lol that just sounded weird. Let’s move on, shall we?

The cons…

-How you might not have the time to read all your ARCs. Naturally, the more you request, the more you’ll have to read and so it might be difficult to read all of them—and then review them, too! It might be the better idea to keep the count low and not have as much pressure

-The pressure of meeting release date/deadline. Life happens! Things happen! And pressure happens, as you try to meet the release date for each review copy. If you have a lot of them, it might get difficult, particularly if your review copies are all slated for release around the same time. So you might want to keep that in mind!

-You might not get the chance to read as many books that you own/bought/borrowed/want to read—you know what I mean. As you spend more time on ARCs and review copies, the less time you have for books you already own! And it’s great that you’re spending time with those review copies (you kind of have to), but your other books need some love too. 😉

Okay, so there’s actually a lot more cons to requesting ARCs than you’d expect?? So really I could go on and on about this all day, but I might save that for another post. Right now my point is: keep in mind of the negative sides to ARC requesting as well as the positive sides! Sometimes it may help to dissuade you from going ARC-crazy.

5. If you receive review copy requests, remember you don’t have to accept ALL of them!

I don’t know if this is common among every blogger, but sometimes bloggers may feel that it’s an obligation to accept all or any of the requests they receive? So if you’re trying to stay on top of your ARC/review copy pile, accepting all your review copy requests (if you get any) is not exactly helpful if you’re already trying to juggle other things like Netgalley and your own books, you know? So don’t feel bad about saying no to requests! If it makes it easier, feel free to not allow any review requests, temporarily, if you wish. You do what’s good for you! Just remember that you don’t have to accept all the requests you receive.

6. Eat chocolate.

(Anyone have any for me? Chocolate, that is.)

Don’t you dare scoff at this! This is a perfectly valid reason. Hear me out here though. Maybe ‘eat chocolate’ is a bit too specific (hey, it’s what I do so don’t judge) but basically I’m trying to say occupy yourself with something else. Like eating chocolate. And some more chocolate (and hoping those extra calories disappear). And more—Okay, okay, fine; I mean, occupy yourself with other things like blogging, reading, dancing, or doing whatever else your favourite pass times happen to be. Instead of focusing on ARCs and review copies, and other temptations like Netgalley, etc. just concentrate on something else! It’ll probably help with the first tip I mentioned too.

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So, I think that sums this post up! Unfortunately this post has come to an end—but do let me know your thoughts and please don’t feel shy of joining in on the conversation! To help you out, here are some prompts:

• What are your thoughts on requesting ARCs and review copies?
• Do you struggle with keeping your ARC count low?
• Which of these have you tried before? (And if you have; how did it go?)
• What other negative sides have you encountered in ARC-requesting?
• Do you have chocolate?? (Er, of course this is valid. Why are you questioning this?? Also, which types of chocolate do you like?)
• And, um, anything else that came to your mind?

*Inserts British accent* Now, I must bid you farewell. Good luck on keeping your ARC count low! 😀 Happy reading!

The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling | Book Review

(Stand-Alone)

Published: June 12th 2015

Synopsis:

When Kat accidentally rips apart an old picture book, she’s magically transported into the world of Cinderella–as Katriona, one of the ugly stepsisters! Life turns upside down now that she’s a highborn lady and must learn how to survive the social season, including how to get through the door in a huge metal hoop skirt. To get back, she’ll have to complete the story, right to the end of happily ever after. But the odds are huge: the other stepsister is drop-dead gorgeous, the fairy godmother is nowhere to be found, and the prince, despite being insanely hot, openly dislikes balls. Can she ever return to the modern world?

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My Rating:  4.5/5 (Amazing)

Book Information

Genre(s): Young-adult, fantasy, fairytale retelling

Page Count: 452

Format: e-book

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Note: I received a free digital copy of this book thanks to Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Hello everyone! Today I have for you a review on The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling, an awesome Cinderella fairytale retelling. It is honestly one of the best and one of the most unique retellings I have ever read, and I loved it. After all those fairytale retellings out there, you’d think that there aren’t many new ideas out there, but this book definitely throws those notions out of the water.

Quick Summary

Kat is your resident bookworm who loves to read (obviously). One day, while cleaning her attic, she accidentally rips an old Cinderella fairytale book and is transported inside the story, where she is told that she is required to complete the story in order to get back home. Thing is, Kat isn’t Cinderella. Nope, she’s the ugly stepsister, named Katriona Bradshaw. She must get the prince to fall in love with Cinderella… but problems arise when she starts to fall in love with the prince herself.

Plot

Ahh this plot was simply wonderful! It was full of twists and turns that I loved and couldn’t get enough of. The pacing was fast, and I loved how everything fit together so nicely. There was the main plot (Kat trying to get the prince and Cinderella together so she could go home to where she belongs) and then there were various subplots, other things that happened along the way that made the storyline even stronger. The plot of the novel is just so unique in itself, it was double the fun in reading the book and trying to guess at what might happen.

The only thing I have to say is that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending. I totally understood why the author had to make it that way, but I couldn’t—still can’t—fully accept it. That being said, it’s a pretty bitter-sweet kind of ending and not exactly what I was hoping for, but the rest of the story still makes it worth reading. The journey more than the destination, you know? And it isn’t terrible ending, it’s quite subjective really. Overall, the plot was totally unique and an awesome adventure!

Characters

“Books open new worlds to me.”

Let’s move on to the characters. Kat, the protagonist, was amazing. Not only was she a totally awesome bookworm, she seemed realistic and it was just lots of fun seeing her attempt to adjust in a new world, and so easy to relate to her as she struggled to do so. I could also totally see a lot of my bookworm tendencies in her and that was a wonderful touch.

“Okay Kat. This is Story World, for heaven’s sake, so get a grip on yourself. You’ve no business drooling over storybook characters.”

Replace Kat with Analee and that’s basically what I have to tell myself whenever I’m transported into a wonderful story and fall in love with the characters. (AKA, all the time!) 😉

Apart from Kat’s general relatability and bookishness, I loved her development. From a shy but likeable and kind of awkward bibliophile, she becomes a strong, independant and confident female character who I not only liked, but admired. She becomes more outspoken, and more sure of herself, and I loved seeing that in her.

I also really liked the love interest, the prince, Edward. But, I won’t lie, not as much as I did Kat. But that didn’t make him a bad character. He liked to read and owned a huge library which he allowed Kat to use (which reminded me a lot of Dorian from Throne of Glass, lol.) He’s a really good person, but at first, I really had trouble getting the image of the Edward from Twilight out of my head. I mean, come on, I’m sure all of you reading this right now was thinking about it. I don’t hate Edward by any means, but I really didn’t want to associate this character with him, for which reason I’m glad that I was able to identify him as his own person later on in the book.

And although there are some similarities between the two (mainly the temper) I really liked seeing how the story wasn’t affected that much by it. He was caring and a really sweet guy, who I think I kind of fell for by the end of the book. 🙂 The romance between him and Kat was quite cute and well balanced; just enough of it to keep readers satisfied and wanting more at the same time. So, basically, I’m trying to say although there are similarities between this Edward and Twilight’s Edward, they’re not too many and overall I really liked him.

There are several secondary characters in this, but there isn’t much to say about them since we don’t get too much of them in-depth since the story is told mostly from Kat’s 1st person POV, which didn’t leave much space for other characters to be as developed as her and Edward. I did really like Henry and Elle (Cinderella) though, who both play important roles in the book and are quite nice.

Writing Style

The writing style is perfect for this story! The writing really reflected both Kat’s humor and personality, which was lots of fun to read. It was fast paced to reflect the pace of the story, but it wasn’t too rushed and was simple but still very significant and beautiful.

Overall…

This is a book you definitely can’t miss if you like fairytale retellings—and unique ones at that! I haven’t read all the Cinderella fairytale retellings out there, but this one is definitely unlike most of them out there, in a good way. I mean, how many times have you read a retelling told from the POV of the ugly stepsister? And although this book didn’t follow the original fairytale that much, it was totally able to pull off a fresh concept wonderfully. Though the ending is quite subjective, the plot itself is full of twists and turns and a great story with a cute romance. The main character Kat is relatable and a wonderful person who goes through a lot of development—which is great. Edward, the love interest, is quite sweet and likeable, and not a replica of Edward from Twilight, fortunately. (Although if you have a major hate thing going on with Edward, I suggest you proceed with caution.) The writing style is also spot-on for this story and I loved it! All in all, this book was fantastic and I really liked it. I imagine you would too if you like retellings and romance—but we’d never know if you don’t try! I definitely recommend you give this book a shot.

Have you read this book? Let me know what you thought! And even if you haven’t, I’d love to know what you think of this book; want to read or not interested? Have you read any retellings told from the POV of the stepsister? (‘Cause I honestly would love to know! :P)

A tasty meal for sure! Gobble it up. 

 

Your Voice is All I Hear by Leah Scheier | ARC Book Review

(Stand-Alone)

Expected Publication: September 1st 2015

Synopsis:

Everything about Jonah is unexpected. On the first day of school, he sits next to April, when he could have chosen to sit with the popular girl. He turns down an invitation to join the school team and declares he’d rather paint. He encourages April to develop her musical talent and shrugs off the bullies that torment them.

April isn’t surprised to find herself falling for Jonah. The unexpected part is when he falls for her too.

But the giddy happiness of their first romance begins to fade when Jonah’s unpredictability begins to take a darker turn. April understands that her boyfriend is haunted by a painful memory, but his sudden mood swings worry her. She can’t explain his growing fear of cellphones, electric keyboards, and of sounds that no one else can hear. Still, no matter what happens, April is sure that she’ll always stand by him.

Until Jonah finally breaks and is committed to a psychiatric ward.

Until schizophrenia changes everything.

Though everyone urges her to let him go, April stays true to Jonah. But as the boy she adores begins to disappear in front of her, she has to face her worst fear: that her love may not be enough to save him.

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My Rating:  4/5 (Really Good)

Book Information

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Genre(s): Contemporary (Mental Illness), Young-Adult

ARC Page Count: 336

Format: e-book

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Thank you Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley! This did not affect my review in any way. Any of the quotes used are from an uncorrected proof and may be changed in the final copy.

Hello, today I have for you an ARC review on Your Voice is All I Hear by Leah Scheier! This book is a contemporary novel that covers mental illness (schizophrenia). I honestly haven’t read many books of this topic, one of the reasons why this book caught my eye, especially after reading (and enjoying) Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, the one book of schizophrenia I’ve read recently. This book turned out to be way different than what I expected—way different than Made You Up (in case some of you were wondering), generally in a good way. If you’re into mental illness in YA (and by mental illness, I mean, a true, realistic portrayal of it), I urge you to pick up this book.  The schizophrenia was shown for what it really was, not sugarcoated, and it was clear the author did her research, which is fantastic. My main problem with this book, however, was the fact that I wasn’t a big fan of the main character. Actually, I wasn’t a fan of almost all of the characters in here. The secondary characters came off as stereotypical and the main character herself was a bit too bland and needy for my taste. But by the end of the novel, I was able to look past all that to say that I still enjoyed this book.

Plot

My feelings on the plot varied throughout the story. At the start the plot generally annoyed me, mainly because the characters all got on my nerves and I couldn’t get into the story. I didn’t like April much (she was extremely judgmental, and quite naive, which just didn’t work out with me), and it definitely didn’t help when she went ahead and instantly fell in love with the new guy in her class. I’m not completely against insta-love, I know it can definitely work for the better at times, but this book was definitely not one of those times. I just wasn’t feeling it.

Luckily, as I continued through the story, the plot got better, in that we started to get introduced to the symptoms of schizophrenia. I started to look past the characters into seeing more of the schizophrenia’s effects, and it was truly heart-wrenching seeing the denial the characters went through, seeing the tougher, grittier side of schizophrenia, which, trust me, isn’t pretty.

Near the end of the novel (maybe after 60 or 70% read) I really started to get emotionally attached to everything. The feels! There starts to have so much going on, and my emotions just kind of all explode all over the place. I absolutely loved that! I would even go as far as to say that this almost got me to shed a tear, which doesn’t often happen. Although the plot isn’t the best right from the get-go, it’s definitely drama and emotion-packed!

Characters

“I was the one he trusted. I was the one he loved, the only one who believed him, even when his own mother had locked him away and thrown away the key.”

I wasn’t a big fan of April, I’ll admit that. For a good part of the book I found her to be bland, selfish, naive and even a bit needy as well. It just wasn’t my favorite combo, but I will admit that in some ways you can consider her to be a realistic portrayal of how a lot of people would act in her shoes. And perhaps for some of you April will be a great protagonist, but for me, she just wasn’t the best. However, that being said, once I got near the middle-ish and the end, I started to really care for her. What she went through, must’ve been torturous, and my heart honestly hurt for her by the end. So, I guess these two opposing sentiments kind of just cancel eachother out, and to put it simply; she was an okay protagonist. Her character is pretty easy to sympathize with, even if she wasn’t the most likable person at the start. I ended up genuinely rooting for her, which is great.

Jonah, April’s love interest, is the one suffering from schizophrenia. He is definitely my favorite character in the book, it didn’t take me long ’till I fell under his spell and was rooting for him completely. We don’t see right away the effects of the schizophrenia; we get the time to get to know him, see what he’s like. Which, ultimately, meant that my heart broke even harder when we start seeing the symptoms, because I had already grown attached to him. It was so heartbreaking to see how damaging the effects of schizophrenia can be, although I praise Leah Scheier for doing such a wonderful job on it. There was no sugar-coating, and although seeing it through April’s eyes didn’t allow for us to see what Jonah himself was thinking, it was clear how much he was struggling. Honestly, I’m rendered speechless just thinking about it all, because my words cannot do justice to express how heart-wrenching it was, reading what Jonah went through.

Writing Style

The writing is very pleasant, it had a conversational style to it, with a more serious mood underlying it. The pacing was relatively fast (to reflect the nature of schizophrenia, I suppose, what with its unpredictability, etc.) It really suited the story and was intriguing to read. The story is written from the first-person perspective of April, which, I suppose is fitting and also did its part to have me sympathize with her character.

Overall…

I really enjoyed this novel, despite not being a fan of April for a good chunk of the first half of the novel. April, really is what prevented me from rating this book higher, but overall I consider this to be a heart-wrenching novel that you should definitely not miss if you’re looking for a well-written portrayal of schizophrenia. The plot had me absolutely all over the place in the end; my emotions ranged from despairing to desperate and so much more. I loved Jonah so much, and I praise Leah Scheier for being able to bring out such strong responses from me (and other readers, I’m sure). The ending was lovely, in a kind of heartbreaking and bittersweet way. I’m not usually a big fan of open endings (as there is in this book) and wasn’t a big fan of this one at first, but overall, I found it to be quite fitting for the story. All in all, Your Voice is All I Hear is an emotional read that is not afraid to show the true effects of schizophrenia—and how it can change the lives of so many in the matter of seconds. A wonderful story!

What you do think of this book? Have you read it? Let me know in the comments below!

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Hungry? Well don’t worry, you’ll get your chance to gobble this up when it releases tomorrow! 😉

The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak | ARC Book Review

(The Heartbreaker Chronicles #1)

Expected Publication: August 4th 2015

Synopsis:

Stella will do anything for her sick sister, Cara—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD…for four hours. She’s totally winning best birthday gift this year. At least she met a cute boy with soft brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes while getting her caffeine fix. Too bad she’ll never see him again.

Except, Stella’s life has suddenly turned into a cheesy love song. Because Starbucks Boy is Oliver Perry – lead singer for the Heartbreakers. And even after she calls his music crap, Oliver still gives Stella his phone number. And whispers quotes from her favorite Disney movie in her ear. OMG, what is her life?

But how can Stella even think about being with Oliver — dating and laughing and pulling pranks with the band — when her sister could be dying of cancer?

Ali Novak wrote her debut novel My Life with the Walter Boys when she was just 15 years old, and has since penned her next book, The Heartbreakers. First a hit on the online community Wattpad, her second novel has over 38 million reads and is loved by readers around the world.

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My Rating:  4/5 (Really Good)

Book Information

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Genre(s): Contemporary Romance, Young-Adult

Page Count: 336

Format: ebook

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Note: I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hello! Today I have for you a review on The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak. This book was amazing! I had to stay up late to finish this, it was that good. And I’m glad I did! This book is the perfect summer read, great to simply have fun, relax, and just get caught up in a cute romance.

Quick Summary

Stella would do anything for her sister, Cara, who is dying from cancer. Even standing in line for a signing from a world-famous band whose music Stella hates, The Heartbreakers, since her sister’s a die-hard fan. Stella had no idea when she met a cute guy in Starbucks that he was Oliver Perry, the lead singer of The Heartbreakers, and he had no idea that she was one of the only people who hated his music. As they get the chance to get to know eachother, Stella finds he’s not a bad guy. But how could Stella think of dating and spending time with Oliver when her sister is dying?

Frankly TWISTED by Kevin Eleven | ARC Book Review

(Tales of the 23rd Precinct #2)

To-be Published on: July 21st 2o15

Synopsis (provided by author):

Many often think that they know the characters and as well as motives behind Brooklyn’s own 23rd precinct. Well the fact of the matter is that they don’t as detectives find that scratching your head may be the key to figuring out where exactly it could have all went wrong. Moreover, this just so happens to be the dilemma of Parkside avenue’s finest as they now find themselves entangled within a twisted end at every single corner. However, what they haven’t realized is that someone amongst their own ranks has been leading them astray and is the cause of them backtracking as a result.

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My Rating:  3.5/5 (Pretty Good)

Book Information

Publisher: Flowered Concrete

Page Count: 175

Format: E-book (PDF)

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Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the author, which doesn’t affect opinion of the book. I was not compensated for this review. 

After enjoying Tales of the 23rd Precinct, I was interested in finding how I would enjoy this one. I’m happy to say I found Frankly TWISTED just as enjoyable as its predecessor.

Quick summary

Readers delve deeper into the world of the 23rd Precinct, and follow different detectives as they pursue the guilty. Little did they know the guilty was among them… and right under their noses.

My Review

The plot for Frankly TWISTED is a bit similar to Tales of the 23rd Precinct in theory, however in reading the whole story itself, the novel is assuredly different from the first. The same cliffhangers are there, along with different character POV that kept the novel diverse and interesting. There were several chilling, ‘dark’ moments in the novel, which were interesting and had me continuing the story as well.

The characters remained mostly the same since the previous novel, in that they were well-written and had several different layers to them that were interesting to read into throughout the novel. Each character had a distinct voice to them, and so it wasn’t hard to distinguish between the POV’s, which I appreciated. I was also able to keep better track of the characters this time, and was familiar with them as well, a plus to reading Tales of the 23rd Precinct.

As for the writing style, there were no dramatic changes in comparison to the style in Tales of the 23rd Precinct, so there’s really nothing new to say. Like the previous novel, the writing style suited the story and gave a good look into what was happening in the story in a clear and effective manner.

Overall…

If you have read Tales of the 23rd Precinct and enjoyed it, Frankly TWISTED wraps up things nicely (which is why I’m intrigued as to what could happen in the next book), and is an interesting novel. Overall, this books is a solid 3.5 stars. If you’re more of a contemporary, paranormal, dystopia and fantasy kind of person, I can’t guarantee you’ll enjoy this, but if you’re interested, there’s no harm in trying it out when it’s released.

Happy reading!

-A

Tales of the 23rd Precinct by Kevin Eleven | ARC Book Review

(Tales of the 23rd Precinct #1)

Published: January 13th 2015

Synopsis:

It is well documented that despicable acts in the form of murder, bank heists, snitching, and drug trafficking happen in the heart of New York City daily. However, no borough is more adept to the turmoil of the inner city streets than Brooklyn. In a unique presentation, readers will be able to follow the stories and individual background surrounding Detectives Deborah Lane, Luke Fisher & Frank Matthews. The three detectives must use their wit, competence, persistence and sly capabilities to maneuver throughout Brooklyn and wherever crime may take them. No matter what misguided notions they act upon or crossfires they may encounter, it is quite odd and compelling that each of their stories correlate into something frankly twisted. This project compares to the substantial work of great writers in the Detective Fiction genre such as Ed McBain & Clark Howard. Once the book is devoured in its form, readers will hope for a time portal hoping to transport them back to where it all began.

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My Rating:  (Pretty Good)

Book Information

Publisher: Flowered Concrete

Page Count: 174

Format: E-book (PDF)

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Please note: This book was sent to me by the author for review purposes, a fact which does not affect my opinion on the book. I was not compensated for this review, and all opinions stated are honest and my own. 

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve posted a book review (or it seems to me, anyway) and so here I am with a review on a book I’ve been given for review. I had finished this book for quite a bit of time now, but hadn’t gotten the chance to post a review on it. So here I go!

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this book, but as I wanted to try something out of my comfort zone, so I accepted the offer and kept an open mind as I was reading the book. I’m happy to say I had an enjoyable reading experience! It was definitely nothing like I expected, and I have to admit, this is one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read, but overall it was an interesting read.