Hi there! I was tagged to do this tag by the lovely ladies @ Bibliophile Gathering, Taylor & Stephanie. I saw this tag around, and with the summer-y season here in Canada, this is perfect! Let’s get started!
1. Show a book with a summery cover!
There are so many to choose for this one! But I’m going to go with:
The Spring Court in Prythian would be a great summer vacation destination! It would be great to just relax and have fun there. Preferably with Feyre, Lucien and the rest of the ACOTAR crew. 😉
3.You’re about to go on a flight to your summer vacation. But you want to read a book that lasts for the whole flight, what novella do you choose?
I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t read many novellas. I suppose I’d probably go with a full-length novel like:
This book immediately comes to mind (probably because it was a very recent read)! This book was just so amazing and this is perfect for making a smile appear! (I’ll be posting a review on it tomorrow, keep an eye out for that!)
5.You’re sitting at the beach all alone…which fictional character would be your beach babe?
Hmm… I’m going to try and pick someone from a book I haven’t used yet (sorry, Lucien & Rhysand!) so I suppose…any of the characters from my (if I do say so myself) awesome list of book boyfriends I made for the Secret Life of a Book Blogger tag. XD Fine, fine, specifics, specifics.
I suppose I might choose Leo, or Percy, both from the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, or Levi from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, mostly because they’re all super funny and I think they would be great to have around on a beach to have fun!
6. To match your ice cream you want an icy cool sidekick! Which fictional side kick do you pick?
Arg, this one’s a hard one! I think I’m going to choose…
The Scions were the four richest, most powerful guys at Valesca Academy, and they ruled the school with iron fists. Everyone wanted to date them or be them…everyone, that is, except Maya Lindberg, who just wanted to avoid them until she could graduate.
She almost succeeded, until an ill-advised outburst on her part put her right in the Scions’ path. Just like that, one became her fake boyfriend, one her unwanted matchmaker, one her guardian angel, and the one she couldn’t stand the most? Yeah, he’s her new housemate.
A Young Adult romantic comedy that explores what happens when a girl gets everything she never asked for, including a puppy, a new wardrobe, and, possibly, even true love.
Welcome to my review tour stop of All I’ve Never Wanted by Ana Huang, hosted by YA Bound Book Tours.
Note: I received a free digital copy of this book for review purposes thanks to YA Bound Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book.
Boy, am I glad I read this! This was a great contemporary novel, full of humour, romance and simply wonderful characters! The book is actually based from the Japanese manga series named Hana yori Dango or Boys Over Flowers.
Quick Summary
All I’ve Never Wanted follows Maya Lindberg, a high school student who has no interest in the Scions, her school’s most popular guys; Zack Perry, Carlo Tevasco, Parker Remington, and their leader, Roman Fiori. But after an unintentional mistake, Maya now has so much more than what she’s ever wanted.
Plot
Oh my god, I just completely fell in love with this plot. It was simply so addicting, and I had so much fun reading it! There was plenty of humour, romance and simply that touch of special that made me want to keep reading, at all times. What I especially loved was the comedic aspect of it. The author has a great sense of humour! I usually don’t laugh out loud reading books (I do have a sense of humour though! Or at least, I like to think. LOL.) but I did reading this one. Not to mention the fake-boyfriend idea. I haven’t read many books with the fake-boyfriend thing, to be honest, the ones I mostly remember are To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han [review], and The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West [review]. But now I can add this one to the list! And this book put a twist on it too. Well, you can kind of expect the twist, but still. It was different. To me, anyway.
All in all, the plot was great! I loved it.
Characters
Ahhhh the characters were the best part for me, I think. I simply fell in love with each and every one of them! Although I have to admit, I did get a few Twilight flashbacks in how the characters were set up. The Scions are kind of like the Cullens, you know? Rich, attractive, mysterious and all. Not to mention Roman’s temper definitely matches Edward. And Adriana, one of the Scions’ sister, reminded me a lot of Alice Cullen.
But Maya, while she’s technically in the role of Bella, she wasn’t. At all. Maya was totally awesome; smart, sarcastic, witty and rebellious, and she just cracked me up! She made stupid mistakes, sure, and her jealousy in some parts of the book might get on your nerves, but she’s not one of those girls who just let people (the Scions) push her around, and I loved her strong nature. It was great to see her develop over the course of the book, and it was so easy to connect with her, even though we don’t actually have as much in common. Maya was simply likeable. You just had to like her. At least, I did.
The Scions were awesome too. I especially liked Carlo and Parker, as well as Roman and Zack. Carlo was simply so nice and sweet! I can smile just of thinking of him, he does such nice things for Maya and is simply great. Parker… he’s one of those guys. The players. But he’s still super awesome, and I loved how he just went along with everything, no questions asked. I smile just of thinking about him too. Really, I smile thinking of all the Scions, but that’s besides the point. Roman is a jerk, I’ll tell you that. We get chapters in his POV, and at first, I really felt like chucking him with a baseball bat all the way to… Africa or something. Or maybe Antarctica. We’ll see how he survives there. His temper sometimes got on my nerves, and his jealousy was kind of annoying… but still sweet too. But by the end of the book, I’m happy to say I really liked him! It was great seeing him change his attitude. Lastly, Zack! He was really funny, his light, care-free personality really made me smile, almost all the time.
As for the other characters, I just loved Maya’s grandmother! She was hilarious, I burst out laughing in several of her scenes. She was just too funny. XD Maya’s friend Venice was great too, I liked how supportive she was of Maya.
Writing Style
All I’ve Never Wanted is in 3rd person, generally in Maya’s POV. There are also some chapters in several of the Scions’ POVs. I liked this set-up, as it kind of gave different perspectives that were both interesting to read. I wouldn’t say the writing style is for everyone, but I did really enjoy it, it was easy to read, flowed nicely and kept me hooked into the story. I will definitely be looking into more stuff from this author! 🙂
Overall…
All I’ve Never Wanted was such a great contemporary story! I haven’t watched the Japanese manga series this book was based on, (called Hana yori Dango, or, Boys Over Flowers) due to lack of time, mostly, but I’d really like to! Although I’m kind of glad I didn’t, as it gave me a chance to read this book without having my mind automatically compare to it. I loved the fake-boyfriend idea in this book, along with the awesome characters. This book did give me some Twilight vibes, but I assure you, for Twilight-haters, it wasn’t bad at all. Maya was a wonderful protagonist; witty, smart and sarcastic, what more could you ask for? The writing style was really good too, which was an added bonus. All in all, if you’re looking for a book with humour, a witty protagonist, great characters and a cute and hot romance, this book is definitely for you. I’m so glad I read this book!
Hungry? Well you should be! You simply have to gobble it up, it’s all you’ve ever wanted.
About the Author:
Ana Huang, better known as ACRL37 on Wattpad, primarily writes Young Adult and Romance. She started writing her first novel, All I’ve Never Wanted, when she was sixteen; it was originally inspired by the Asian manga Hana Yori Dango (also known as Meteor Garden and Boys Over Flowers). Her second novel, If We Ever Meet Again, was loosely based on her own study abroad experiences in college. Her stories currently have a combined view of over 20 million on Wattpad.
Besides reading and writing, she also enjoys politics, brunch, and traveling.
I was tagged to do this tag by Poulami @ Daydreaming Books! I was interested in this tag for a while, and I was super happy when I found I got tagged to do it! ❤ So, here are the rules:
1) Pick any five books randomly (or not randomly, your choice)
2) The first name you see when you flip open the book on a random page, will be the person who is the answer to the question.
Hiya! Time for an Exploring My Bookshelves post, a meme hosted by Victoria @ Addlepates & Book Nerds. It’s lots of fun, and all you have to do to join in is:
1. Post a picture of your bookshelves (preferably literal, but e-book shelves work too)
2. Follow the theme/question about the books on your shelf that Victoria will have set out for us for that week. (Eg. favourite author, cover, etc.)
3. Include the cover and what you thought of it (if it’s read).
4. Link your post!
Last week’s theme was: books you bought the instant they were released
Cover links to Goodreads
Cover links to Goodreads
You know what’s sad? Even with all my bookish fangirling and obsessions, I can’t name a book I bought the instant they were released. The earliest I would buy a book released would be maybe within two or three days of its release? Does that count? I’ll say it does, ’cause technically it’s still pretty close to when the book was released. I believe I bought The Heir by Kiera Cass within 3-5 days of its release, and bought The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West 2 days from its release. I think. Not sure. But pretty sure. So yeah!
This week’s theme is: books you want to keep for your kids (or have kept for you kids)
Ha ha I really can’t say! I suppose any of my favorite books. Simple answer, but it’s true! Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, for one. Roald Dahl’s books for sure. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, a book for when they’re older. Those kind of stuff! 😀
What have you answered for this week’s/last week’s Exploring My Bookshelves themes? Let me know in the comments below! I love to compare choices.
When Gia Montgomery’s boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she’d been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.
The problem is that days after prom, it’s not the real Bradley she’s thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn’t even know. But tracking him down doesn’t mean they’re done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend’s graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.
Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.
Hey there! I should’ve posted this review (along with, like, 8 more) way before, but for some reason I haven’t been able to write good reviews the past weeks. Hopefully this is passable. 🙂
The Fill-In Boyfriend was an amazing contemporary read. It was, without a doubt, fun, enjoyable and hooking, while being based on a plot of being superficial and a girl fight, basically.
Quick Summary
Gia, the main character, just had her boyfriend break-up with her. On prom night, no less. The biggest problem with the break-up is that Gia’s friends will see her dateless. Jules, a girl in Gia’s friends group, is constantly trying to out Gia, beat her somehow, and thinks Gia was lying about her boyfriend. Not wanting to lose her friends’ friendship, Gia brings in a fill-in boyfriend, who acts as if Bradley. As Gia starts to care about fill-in Bradley, Gia’s lies and friendships all threaten to come apart.
So, for this week’s That’s What HE Said Thursday (a meme hosted by Chapter Break), I have brought to you a quote from The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West. 🙂
“Well, if you’re a mess then I’m a natural disaster.”
“The cutest natural disaster I’ve ever seen.”
-The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West, Gia to fill-in boyfriend
I would say who the fill-in boyfriend is but it might be a spoiler for some of you, so I’ll be leaving it a mystery! ❤
What do you think of this quote? Isn’t it just so cute? 😀 Let me know in the comments below!
Hey there! It’s Wednesday, everybody, and you know what that means: WWW Wednesday! WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. We simply answer three questions:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Currently reading
I am currently reading Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi, Ghost Story by Peter Straub & my e-ARC of Frankly TWISTED by Kevin Eleven.
I don’t really remember the other books I’ve read recently. Oh well. These are the main ones. (Notice a theme?)
Oh wait, there’s The Heir by Kiera Cass that I finished recently too. 🙂
Reading Next…
I still haven’t gotten around to Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern unfortunately, so I will definitely be getting to that soon, and am looking forward to it. I’m also going to read Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi, (the novella in between the second and third book in the Shatter Me series) as soon as I finish Unravel Me, and will probably then move on to Ignite Me, the last book in the series. Of course, I will also be picking up End of Days by Susan Ee as soon as I can get my hands on it, and along with that I will be getting to Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Finally, I will then read my review copy of Animal by Nikki Rae.
Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
So that’s it for this week’s WWW Wednesday! What are you currently reading? Recently finished? Will read next? Let me know in the comments below or link your post! I’d love to read your answers.
A book you can finish in a day: The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West
A book with a love triangle: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A book set in the future: Flash Point by Nancy Kress
A book set in high school: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A banned book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Looking at this, I can see how much I’ve been lagging behind on my book reviews. Better get to that! Hopefully I can have reviews up for (almost) all these books before or by next week’s update. On the bright side, my reading has been more active this week compared to the last week’s, even with all the work and things I’ve been busy with! 🙂
How is/are your challenge(s) going? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to know whether everyone else is lagging too or I’m just special. 😉
Have a wonderful Monday! (Although small chance of that happening. It’s Monday. :/)
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Book Snacks 