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Ashley’s Most Surprising of 2018

02.05.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

I read this one because the movie was coming out and I thought that I ought to read the book before the movie came out. I wasn’t expecting much because I was in this place where I wasn’t feeling YA contemporary, but this one just blew me out of the water. I was obsessed with the story and read it really quickly. I loved, loved, loved it. It was sooo cute and Lara Jean was a fantastic protagonist. It made me really rethink me thoughts on YA Contemporary, and made me open my mind a bit more!

Ashley’s January Wrap Up

02.01.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

I had a pretty good reading month to start off 2019, because in January I read 19 books. That was completely unintentional but seemed appropriate in hindsight. I really, really enjoyed almost all of the books I read this month. None of them were super disappointing. Additionally, I did really well on my TBR for the month of January. I read all of the things that I put on it, with several extras that weren’t on it. I even read a couple of brand new releases that I had been anticipating, which is always super fun. Most of the books I read were audiobooks this month, but I had several physical books along with one eBook and one graphic novel. Below is the list of books I read, and I’ll give you my rating, the format in which I read it, and a quick review. So without further ado… Here we go!

Ashley’s Worst of 2018

01.29.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I really enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird, and I know there are some issues with it and that it’s by no means perfect, but I really do enjoy this novel. I think it’s an important read, but to keep your critical thinking hat on as you do. So, after teaching it for the first time, I decided to read Go Set a Watchman, and boy oh boy, I did not enjoy it. I know it’s not truly a sequel and that certain parts of it are word for word from TKAM, but I really, really didn’t like the plot of Go Set a Watchman. I didn’t like the choices that were made with certain characters, and I just genuinely think it was a poor choice to publish it. (Again, I know there was some controversy when it came to publishing it at all.)

Ashley’s Best of 2018

01.22.2019 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

I read this on a whim after a recommendation of the librarian at my school last school year. I thought it would be a nice quick read, and it definitely was, but I didn’t expect it to really blow me away like it did. I find that modern poetry can be quite hit or miss with me, but I have also discovered that I really, really love modern poetry when it’s telling me a story. This was one of those ones. I absolutely loved the story, and it was deeply moving. I likes the way that Reynolds put a pause on the story, telling the basics of a trip down the elevator but drawing it out to teach his character a lesson he needed to learn. I always recommend this book to students now.

Review | You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn

12.31.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

**Disclaimer: I received a free copy of You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn through NetGalley for review purposes. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this opportunity.

You’d Be Mine is the story of Annie Mathers and Clay Coolidge. Clay is the quintessential country rockstar. He sings songs about beer, babes, and trucks; he’s a superstar. Annie, on the other hand, is an up and coming country star whose deceased parents are country royalty. Clay, who has a bit of a bad boy reputation, is charged with recruiting Annie, and her band, to play on his summer tour so that he can put himself back in his label’s good books. She reluctantly agrees and they end up touring the United States together. But while touring, country music isn’t the only thing that’s brewing. Could there be a bit of love in the air?

Review | Slayer by Kiersten White

11.28.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I received a free early access copy of Slayer by Kiersten White from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them!

I was late to the Buffy-verse. I never watched the show when I was growing up, and I still haven’t seen the movie. I started watching the show in university thanks to a friend who had all of the seasons on DVD and got through several seasons which inspired me to go out and seek the rest of the show myself. I still haven’t seen all of Angel, and I haven’t ready any of the comics, and I’ve only watched through the show once, but I loved it. I fell in love with the characters and the stories that they were telling, so when I heard that Kiersten White was writing a novel set in the Buffy-verse, I was super excited. When I saw it on NetGalley, requested it, and actually received an eARC, I was so excited.

Review | The Curses by Laure Eve

11.10.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I received a free, early advanced reader copy of The Curses from the publishers and NetGalley for review purposes.

This is going to be a different kind of review. The Curses by Laure Eve is the second novel in a series; it follows the events of The Graces, though it takes on a different point of view. This is not a review for The Graces, but as the The Curses is a sequel, and I don’t want to spoil any of the events of first novel if you haven’t read it, so I won’t be doing a synopsis like I usually do and I will try to be vague about textual details. I will admit that I was really excited to read this one. I finished The Graces in the summer and I was super impressed, so I wanted to read the sequel immediately. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that it wasn’t coming out until December 31st. However, imagine my excitement when I realized that I had been given permission to read the eARC. I was super happy.

Review | This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

11.03.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of This Lie Will Kill You from NetGalley and the publishers for review purposes. Thank you to them for letting me read the book.

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher is a YA mystery novel. The main characters are five teenagers: Juniper, Ruby, Gavin, Brett, and Parker, who are all in their final year of high school and who have all been invited to compete for a mysterious $50000 scholarship by participating in a murder mystery party. Each teen is asked to bring something to the party. The competition is held at a creepy semi-abandoned mansion. Pretty quickly it is revealed that things are not what they seem and perhaps this scholarship isn’t quite as legitimate as it might have seemed. Could it be connected to the fiery death of one of their classmates the previous year? Who knows.

Review | The Similars by Rebecca Hanover

10.14.2018 by Ashley // Leave a Comment

***Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of The Similars from Net Galley and the publisher for review purposes.

The Similars is a Sci-Fi novel set in the future of Earth. The story follows Emmaline who attends the prestigious Darkwood Academy. It is a boarding school for the elite of the elite. Each student is special in some way in that they have some talent that helped them get admitted past just being extra smart. Emma is returning to Darkwood for her senior year but there are two things she is going to have to cope with: the suicide of her best friend, Oliver, and the fact that six clones (the similars) will be attending Darkwood with her. This was fine until it turned out that one of the clones is Oliver’s. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the clones and initially Emma couldn’t be bothered about it. However, she quickly gets sucked into the conspiracy surrounding them and the school.

Review | Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams by Devin Grayson

10.07.2018 by Kari // Leave a Comment

doctorstrangefateofdreams The prose novel, Doctor Strange: The Fate of Dreams by Devin Grayson has made me a fan of her writing. It’s also wonderful that she was the first female to be a regular writer for Batman. I love seeing progress being made in a prominently male dominated profession because there are just as many female comic readers out there that can give an action-packed storyline.