Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
Source: Netgalley
ISBN: 9780374351380
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Pages: 287

Goodreads | Amazon | Chapters !ndigo | Kobo

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.

I absolutely loved this book. Right from the start there was something special about it. The first few chapters showed you how lonely and desperate Elise is for any kind of friendship. After yet another horrible day she decides to do the unthinkable....kill herself.

Elise's character was completely relatable. I wasn't the coolest kid growing up. I was socially awkward and never knew what to do or say. Luckily I did have some great friends. Elise however did not even have one friend. I can't even imagine what this would have been like. She eventually makes friends with Sally and Chava, but they weren't close or true friends in Elise's mind. They were just there. More friends of convenience than anything else.

When she stumbles upon Start she flees because why would Vicky and Pippa want to be friends with her? She was a nobody in her mind.

I don't belong here. I don't know how I got here, and I don't know how long I can stay before everyone else realizes that I am an impostor. I am a fraud.

Elise's relationship with Vicky blossoms into a true friendship. She finally found people who didn't see her as a weirdo or loser. But when she meets Char I just wanted to scream "YOU CAN DO BETTER!" Char was nothing but a douchebag, and when she finally gets a chance to do what she loves he is bitter and angry at her. The whole time she is becoming friends with Vicky and Char she still doesn't believe that they really want to be her friend. That it must be some kind of mistake. Elise cannot fathom why these people would want to be friends with her and she is constantly wanting for that other shoe to drop.

But I also felt like an eggshell that had gotten a tiny crack. You can't repair something like that. All you can do is hope that it sticks together, hope that the crack doesn't grow until all your insides come spilling right out.

I can see how some people found Elise to be pretentious, but I didn't see it. I saw a withdrawn and isolated young girl who was too smart for her own good. She thought the more extraordinary she was the more her classmates would like her. Only to find out that her being extraordinary was pushing them away. What Elise wanted more than anything was to fit in. To be accepted, acknowledged, not ignored or bullied. She tried to change herself. She spent a whole summer studying on what's cool and what the popular kids would talk about only to not even have the opportunity to try. This is what broke her. It wasn't that she had a monumental bad day, but it was just another crappy day after a crappy day.

Leila Sales wrote an extraordinary novel about growing up and learning to find that one thing you are truly good at. The scenes where Elise was DJing were the best. You could feel how much she loved it. She lived and breathed it.

My Rating:

Review: The Truth About Letting Go by Leigh Talbert Moore

The Truth About Letting Go by Leigh Talbert Moore
Series: The Truth #2
Publisher: All Night Reads
Source: Netgalley
ISBN: 9781482660395
Release Date: March 2, 2013

Goodreads | Amazon | Kobo

Ashley Lockett has always followed the rules. She's always done the right thing and played it safe until her ideal life is shattered when her dad dies suddenly.

Fueled by anger and grief, she vows to do everything opposite of how she lived before. Then she meets Jordan. He has big dreams, he's had a crush on Ashley for years, and he's a great kisser. But he's also safe.

Enter Colt. He is not safe, and he's more than willing to help Ashley fulfill her vow.

Ashley Lockett has recently lost her father due to cancer. She is alone in her grief. Her brother is away at college, acting like nothing happened, and her mother has buried herself in work, barely speaking to her daughter. Realizing playing it safe has not gotten her anywhere she decides to rebel.

I didn't love this book, but I also didn't hate it. I just found it somewhere in the middle.

I think the biggest problem I had with the book was Ashey. Why do Ashleys always have to be mean? They give a bad rap to our name. Ashley was kind of bitch and shallow. With Jordan, I didn't like that she had to make him more presentable before she would even consider talking to him in public. Here was a great guy who only wanted to protect her and help her through her grief, but she rebuffs him and goes to the jerk who attempts wrestling/rape because that's what he thinks girls want.

Jordan wants to keep me safe, to help me get through this. But I don't want to be safe. Safe is a lie. The safest person on the planet can still choke to death or trip over their dog or get cancer. I don't want that. Dreams and callings get you nowhere, and when you need them most, they disappear.

I do wish her relationship with Charlotte was expanded more because I actually enjoyed those parts. Charlotte was bitter and angry at Ashley for having a perfect life and Ashley was too shallow to think about anyone but herself. They could have become great friends if they had the chance to talk more instead of just bits and pieces.

I also like how Ashley was having difficulties with her faith. She lost her father and now she doesn't think she believes in God anymore. This was completely realistic to me. When you lose someone you are bound to be conflicted with your faith.

Overall, The Truth About Letting Go was mediocre for me. Perhaps if I connected to the characters more I would have like the book better, but that was not the case.

My Rating:

Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria Books
Source: Bought
ISBN: 9781476743554
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Pages: 406

Goodreads | Amazon | Chapters !ndigo

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies. In this #1 New York Times bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover, author of Slammed and Point of Retreat, Sky meets Dean Holder, a guy with a reputation that rivals her own. Holder has the ability to invoke feelings in Sky she's never had before. In just one encounter he leaves her terrified yet captivated and something about him brings up a rush of memories from the past that she’s worked so hard to bury away.

Sky knows Holder is nothing but trouble and tries to keep him at a distance, but he is adamant about learning everything he can about her. Sky finally caves to his unwavering pursuit, but she soon finds out that Holder isn't the person he's been claiming to be. When the secrets he's been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky's life changes forever.

Hopeless took me by complete surprise and engulfed me in the story. The prologue blew me away. I needed more and couldn't put the book down. This was one of my late night just a "few" more pages reads. I just couldn't stop reading I needed to know what happened next. It was beautifully written and ripped my emotions to shreds along the way.


I loved Sky. She was real. She wasn't flighty or weak. She was strong and brave. She was weary of happily-ever afters and believed in real endings.

It's real, Six. You can't get mad at a real ending. Some of them are ugly. It's the fake happily-ever-afters that should piss you off.

The amount of stuff that she goes through in the novel was crazy, and in such a short time period too. Sky had this innate ability to let the mean girls' insults roll off her back. When the bitchy clique girls filled her locker with dollar bills I was cheering for her to pocket the money and flip them off. And did!

Holder was her downfall at some points. She knew he was intense and didn't know if she could trust him. After Six, Sky's best friend tells her that Holder apparently went to juvi for beating up a boy that was gay, Sky still lusts after him. This is questionable of her judgment and Holder as a person. Luckily, Holder completely redeems himself and the rumor was greatly exaggerated.

Dean Holder was a mystery for most of the book. He was intense, scary, sweet, funny, a bit of everything. Sometimes you didn't know what you would get next from him.

I hate that I can't read him. Most people are easy to read. They're simple. Holder is all kinds of confusing and complicated.

Holder confused and excited Sky at the same time. But when she needed him, he was there. Supporting and protecting her.

The last half of the book I read in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. Everything that I thought I knew in the book changed so quickly. It took me for surprise after surprise. The prologue is a chapter later in the book and with more information it comes across in an entirely different context. I just did not see the reveal coming or what happened afterwards. There were parts where I was just stunned and I had to stop reading and breathe in order to comprehend what just happened.

I do wish Six was in the book more as her friendship with Sky was so strong. They had such a solid relationship, but she had to go through her journey alone and it wouldn't have been them same if Six was there.

My Rating:

Review: Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls

Secret for a Song by S.K. Falls
Source: Negalley
ISBN: 9780991789726
Release Date: June 3, 2013

Goodreads | Amazon


Saylor Grayson makes herself sick. Literally.

She ate her first needle when she was seven. Now, at nineteen, she’s been kicked out of college for poisoning herself with laxatives. The shrinks call it Munchausen Syndrome. All Saylor knows is that when she’s ill, her normally distant mother pays attention and the doctors and nurses make her feel special.

Then she meets Drew Dean, the leader of a local support group for those with terminal diseases. When he mistakes her for a new member, Saylor knows she should correct him. But she can’t bring herself to, not after she’s welcomed into a new circle of friends. Friends who, like Drew, all have illnesses ready to claim their independence or their lives.

For the first time, Saylor finds out what it feels like to be in love, to have friends who genuinely care about her. But secrets have a way of revealing themselves. What will happen when Saylor’s is out

Saylor Grayson thrives on attention and makes herself sick in order to get it. She wears illness as a badge of honour. The sicker she can make herself, the happier she is.

This was a very unusual book. It was really something I would not normally pick up, but something in the synopsis intrigued me.

This book is not for the skirmish (myself included). The author does not shy away from some of the truly disgusting ways Saylor used to make herself sick. She has swallowed needles, imbibed fecal matter, poisoned herself with laxatives, injects saliva into her chest vein to create abscesses, etc. Saylor herself is ill. Her Munchausen Syndrome is a psychologically disorder and she never really received the help she needed. Her parents were more worried about how others would perceive them with a "crazy daughter" then making sure Saylor received the proper help instead of just looking the other way when she did something.

One problem I had with this book (and probably the only problem I had with it) was that I just couldn't relate to Saylor. My first impression of her that she was just another rich child deprived of her parents attention, but as the book progressed my impression changed. Throughout the book Saylor is sarcastic and careless. She would say outrageous things to her mother to provoke her, but would hardly get a response.

I'd learned it was nearly impossible to predict my mother's feelings or behaviours, but it never prevented me from trying. She was my Everest.

The book was very well written. Saylor's relationship with her mother was interesting. They both had their own issues. Each would lie to the other and pretend that the other didn't know. The Grayson household felt very cold and unwanted.

Overall, I thought this book was unique, but there was something missing. I wish I could have related more the main character, but it just fell short too me.

My Rating:

Review: How My Summer Went Up In Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

How My Summer Went Up In Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Edelweiss
ISBN: 9781442459397
Release Date: May 7, 2013

Goodreads | Amazon | !ndigo

First she lost her heart. Then she lost her mind. And now she’s on a road trip to win back her ex. This debut novel’s packed with drama and romance! Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

This was truly a fun book to read. I absolutely loved it. This was the author's debut novel and it makes me want to read more from her in the future. I love road trips. There is something special about them. My most memorable vacations were all road trips. I loved how Spencer planned the trip with such detail (and multiple itinerary printouts).

Rosie Catalano is heartbroken. Her boyfriend cheats on her while she is away with her family and starts dating the other girl. I can't blame Rosie for losing her mind a little. Who hasn't had their heart broken and wanted to burn their exes stuff? While devastated she is forced to go on this road trip with her neighbour and his two geeky friends.

Rosie was a great character. She is someone you would actually want to be friends with. She is impulsive, passionate, and quirky. Being on a long road trip with three teenage guys cannot be easy, but Rosie bonds with each of them in different ways. I loved how she had her mother put the phone next to her dog so she could talk to him. I felt like each guy was in love with Rosie, even Spencer.

Logan was not easy to like when he was first introduced. He seemed bossy and egocentrically. But slowly he began to relax during the trip and became lovable. But, by far Spencer was my favourite. He was such an adorable friend to Rosie. He supported her when she and Matty fought and tried to be the peacekeeper between them at times.

Throughout the whole book I couldn't decide who she was going to end up with. Yes, I knew who I wanted her to, but couldn't figure out which way the author was going to end it.

My Rating:

Review: If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

If You Can Find Me by Emily Murdoch
Series: N/A
Source: Netgalley
Release Date: March 26, 2013

There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

If You Find Me is a heart-breaking novel about two young girls who must learn to cope with civilization and learn to deal with their past. This novel was brilliantly written. It brought me to tears imagining what they went through to survive on their own. Carey not only had to survive, but raise her young sister and protect her from her meth addicted mother and predatory men.

My Rating:

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing The Limits #1
Source: Bought
Release Date: June 1, 2012

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

I recently read the second book in this series, Dare You To, and honestly I liked the second book better. Beth was a much more interesting character in the second book compared to Echo. I didn't have either negative or positive feelings towards this book. At times I was just a little bored and skimmed parts.

Noah Hutchins, is your typical bad boy. Bad attitude, bad grades, messy family life, etc., but when Echo Emerson starts to tutor him, he starts to change. His grades improve, attitude gets better, etc. Echo became an outcast of her friends after her "accident." Pretty much all of her friends eventually abandoned her, except for Lila. Lila was her only friend that I could actually tolerate in the book. Grace and Luke were both terrible friends and once Echo decided she could confront her scars and wear short sleeves in public, they both abandoned her again.

You can tell when reading this book that both characters honestly do care for each other, but both have crazy stuff going on in their lives. This might have been why the book was depressing at times. Even though Echo's secret was tragic, I found Noah and his brothers the more compelling story in the book. Echo's lack of memory did provide a unique spin to the good girl vs. bad boy storyline.

My Rating:

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing The Limits #2
Source: Netgalley
Release Date: May 28, 2013

Beth’s the bad girl that no-one wanted, not even parents.

Ryan’s the high school hero that everyone wants a piece of – even if no-one knows the real him.

Their paths should never have crossed – now they’re each other’s only life line.

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk’s mum they’d send her mother to jail. So seventeen year old Beth protects her mum at all costs. Until the day she can’t. Suddenly sent to live with her uncle in a small town Beth’s now stuck with an aunt who doesn’t want her, and at a school that doesn’t get her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn’t go anywhere near a girl like Beth. . . .

Ryan Stone is gorgeous, a popular jock and the town golden boy—with secrets he can’t tell anyone. Even his friends. As Ryan and Beth dare to let each other in, they’re treading on dangerous ground – and the consequences could change their worlds forever.

I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read the first book in this series, so I didn't really have a lot to connect with Noah and Isaiah. I liked how Beth slowly opened up to people in her new life. She was tough, but vulnerable at the same time. Even in the end she didn't lose herself and become someone fake. She was just a better version of herself.

Beth did not have an easy life. Her mother is either strung out on drugs, drunk, or being beaten by her douche-bag boyfriend. Beth's mother is the opposite of what a good mother should be. What kind of mother would allow her teenage daughter to take the fall for her and be arrested? Or let her boyfriend beat up her daughter? A really shitty one. That's who. The only thing that frustrated me in this book was that Beth wouldn't let go of her mother. But she had to overcome that and the guilt she felt about her father leaving her mother. No matter how many times Beth found her mother drunk, she would help her home, clean her up, make sure she had food, and that her bills were paid.

You could tell her Uncle Scott was really trying. He wasn't perfect, but he was working with what he had.

Usually, I don't like split POVs, as I find they disrupt the flow of the book. In Dare You To the story is written in both Beth and Ryan's points of view. The author wrote the split very seamlessly and it almost added to the storytelling.

As I stated I did enjoy this book, but I couldn't give it four stars. It was definitely a solid three star book.

My Rating:

Review: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker
Series: Ten Tiny Breaths #1
Source: Netgalley
Release Date: December 9, 2012

Four years after losing her parents, best friend, and boyfriend in a drunk driving accident, twenty-year-old Kacey Cleary runs away to begin a new life in Miami. Hardened by the tragedy, she's determined to keep everyone at a distance—until she meets an irresistible and mysterious neighbor who is determined to melt the ice over her heart.

This book was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. After reading the prologue I was immediately hooked and devoured the rest of the book. Kasey is a strong, but fragile and broken young woman. After surviving a car accident which took the lives of almost all her loved ones, she is broken both physically and emotionally. Eventually, after a year of intensive physical rehabilitation her body recovers, but psychologically she is damaged. She aptly describes herself in the novel:

“I’m seven layers of fucked up with a side of batshit crazy.”

After the accident her and her younger sister goes to live with her aunt and creepy uncle. When her pervy uncle tries to sidle into bed with her younger sister Livie, she makes the decision to take her sister start over in Miami, where she meets her hunky neighbour, Trent.

I enjoyed all characters in the novel and thought they were very well developed. I liked how Kasey was tough and wasn’t a pushover. When Trent disappears for weeks, she just doesn’t take him back. She is pissed as she should be and tells him so.

I thought I had Trent figured out after he was asking Kasey about the accident, but I thought no that would be TOO crazy, but a few chapters later and BOOM crazy hits the fan. In the end this book is really about overcoming a tragedy many may think is unforgivable.

My Rating:

Review: The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen
Series: The Secret #1
Source: Bought
ISBN: 9781939045010
Release Date: October 2, 2012

Ella and Micha have been best friends since they were kids. But one tragic night shatters their friendship and their lives forever.

Ella used to be a rule-breaker with fiery attitude who wore her heart on her sleeve. But she left everything behind when she went to college and transformed into someone that follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. But now it's summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home.

Ella fears everything she worked so hard to bury might resurface, especially with Micha living right next door. If Micha tries to tempt the old her back, she knows that it will be hard to resist. 
Micha is sexy, smart, confident, and can get under Ella’s skin like no one else can. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. And he’s determined to bring his best friend, and the girl he loves back, no matter what it takes.

"It was one of the things that made me fall in love with her; the fire, passion, and the need to stick up for the outcasts, even if it meant being an outcast herself."

Micha Scott has been in love with his best friend Ella, since he was sixteen, but one night on a bridge changes everything. Ella used to be brave, fiery, all-round badass, but after that night she bolts and doesn't want to be found.

When she returns to their hometown, she's changed. Gone is the brave passionate girl who Micha grew up with, now replaced with a reserved quieter version.

This is the third novel by Jessica Sorensen that I have read and the second New Adult/Young Adult novel of hers. I read The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden earlier this year and absolutely loved it. I read it in one sitting, staying up half the night to read it. For some reason I thought this book would be similar to it, and it is in someways. But I just didn't connect to the characters as much. I found the whole badgirl/badboy characters too much and they almost ended up as caricatures.

My Rating:

Review: Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillians) by Laurie Boyle Crompton
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Netgalley
ISBN: 9781402273438
Release Date: February 1, 2013
Pages: 309

Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines.
All she wants is for Mark the Soccer Stud to notice her. Not as Josh's weird sister who drives a turd-brown minivan. And not as that nerdy girl who draws comics.
What she gets is her very own arch-nemesis.


Name: Mark Deninger, aka Mark the Shark
Occupation: Soccer star and all-around lady killer
Relationship Status: Serial dater
Group Affiliation: No loyalty
Known Superpowers: Anti-girlfriend force field, breaking hearts

Mark may have humiliated Blaze supervillian-style, but what he doesn't know is how geek girls always get revenge.
#GeekGrlzRevenge

This was a great debut novel. The main character, Blaze, named after Ghost Rider's Johnny Blaze, is very likeable. She makes the mistake of falling for Mr. Popular, aka Mark the Shark. Only to have him betray her after losing her virginity to him, and then he posts a sext she accidentally sent him on the Internet.

I think a lot of young girls will relate to the main character even if they aren't die hard comic book fans. As she is your average teenage girl with regular problems (douchy absent father, a crush who has no idea she is alive, annoying sibling, etc).

At times it was a bit predictable, but it was the predictability that resonated with me. While her crush on Mr. Popular, aka Mark, was obvious, I feel it was more the second male love interest, Mr. Comic Book Guy, that was the most predictable. The fallout of her sext becoming public showed who her friends were. The meek boy who was crushing on her even becomes one of the bullies insulting her in public.

I really enjoyed the banter between Blaze and her younger brother's soccer team, the Cretins. Even as much as they annoy her throughout the novel they came through for her in the end.

The ending wrapped everything up nicely, but not too perfect.

My Rating: