Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between - Jennifer E. Smith

Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between  by Jennifer E. Smith
Published by Poppy on September 1, 2015
[This book was given to me from the Publisher and in no way this affected my opinion.] 

On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan only have one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they'll retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night will lead them to friends and family, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

This new must-read novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that must be made when life and love lead in different directions.

It was a no brainer to download this book when was up on Edelweiss as it is a Jennifer E. Smith and I know she can always give a cute couple to swoon over (or at least like), also I was on a contemporary streak at the time and this sounded like the perfect cute read to continue with my streak. I was right, after reading this on a night and a half I can assure you that this brings a lot of what I like most on Smith books.

The only pet peeve that I have is the fact that Aidan and Clare didn't really stands out for me as separated characters, this is a book all about the romance but still it wouldn't have bothered me to get a little bit more of a glimpse on their lives, without the romance involved. They do have distinct personalities, and friends and family but yet all this was such a small part and all the parts that were show had also a big role on their own involvement and problems as a couple, so it kind of made everything feel like it was all about the romance.

And it truly was, since we get to spend only 12 hours with the two main characters and figure out with them what is the best decision to make: stay together or separate during college. I really liked the construction of this part, Clare made a "scavenger hunt" of all the important places for they relationship and at first I was like "why these two are even thinking on break up?? They are perfect together!" but then we get to know more and more about their relationship and see that not everything is perfect and all that. The romance was so well handled, it really is a big deal to decide whether you stay together with a boyfriend when leaving for college, even if you're not going to so far apart colleges like Aidan and Clare it is a difficult decision to make, and I liked the way Smith dealt with it showing that they both had to take that time apart to grown and change, and how they still were able to come back to each other, as different people but still loving each other. Also it wouldn't have hurt to the epilogue to be a little bigger.

Recommended to all lovers of contemporary romance and who already loves/likes/enjoy Smith other books. 

That Other Time When I Was Too Lazy #2

Hey guys, today I'm here with more mini reviews because this is really more easy than setting up a whole review to one book at each time and I'm lazy so let's just roll with this. This time around we have two contemporary reads one that is out for some time already and that gave me mixed feelings and another that just came out and it's totally amazing and you NEED to check out if you like contemporary reads

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Published by Headline on April 2, 2013

Ellie is a (almost) regular girl from a small town of Maine and one day an e-mail about taking care of a pig comes for her, it turns out it was an accidental error from movie star Graham Larkin and everything changes from them on, on both of their lives. 

This is my second experience with Jennifer E. Smith and I have to say that she is great for when I need a good chill romance read - this book is as cute as you can imagine, it was all teenager girl dream of a romance between a regular girl and a super start in all the right kinds and the best parts are definitely the talks between Ellie and Larkin, it was really easy to get lost on the story when they were together and read tons of pages on one sitting. 

That being said I did had some problems with this one, the main issue is that this book is cute and light and fun to read but that is all, really. I never felt head over heels for the romance between Ellie and Larking, I felt like the ending was so abrupt for a book of 416 pages - there should have been at least one talk between Ellie and her dad, there was pages enough for that to happen but it did, which kind of let me down, I really would have liked a more clear resolution for this part of the story - also there was some small issues with the plot, like how they when things get hard, Ellie push Graham away, forcing them to stay most of the book apart and when they do get back together they never really talk about what drove them apart, like the problem didn't existed at all anymore (except that it totally did), soon after that Graham makes some poor decisions that can make them drive each other away, again - it's just I don't have any problems with cliches, but moderation please. Oh, also (spoilery things ahead, not that much but yeah) Ellie has money problems and always says no to help but them in the end she is totally fine with the situation Graham put her on (at the restaurant, if you read you probably remember) and if some guy/friend/whatever person made me that thing of proposition when I clearly had not been comfortable asking/getting their help before I would have been so pissed and not all happy like Ellie was. 

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

Published by Simon Pulse on March 3, 2015

[This book was give to me from the Publisher and in no way this affected my opinion.]

Etta isn't a regular girl meaning she isn't white, straight, skinny and definitely doesn't fit her small Nebraska town - specially after the fall out with her ex-group of friend, the Dykes, but then she meets new friends, that were completely the opposite of the Dykes, like Bianca who doesn't eat, and can sing, and is Christian and straight, and new things that Etta never hoped for start to happen.

I just... I don't know what to say about this book because he is so damn amazing. At first look I hated the cover and was thinking on passing it out, but then I saw some early reviews really positive and read the synopsis and found out it was about a bissexual girl and well, it's pretty rare to read about bisexual characters so I couldn't let this pass. And I'm so glad I took a shot.

Etta tells her story on a stream of thoughts and at first I was uncertain if it was for me this kind of writing, even so that I read the first 10% on one day and then stayed without continuing for ten days BUT when I did picked up again I finished the others 90% on one night, so that tells you something. Also Etta = Queen, I came to this conclusion very early on the book, on a particularly scene when her ex-girlfriends prank her and she just roll with it on such a way that made me smile (it's the condom scene for those of you who already read this). 

Basically this is a book about finding yourself and being true to it, despite your friends/parents/relatives/boyfriend-girlfriend, it's a powerful story that made me ugly sob from the 70% until the end not because it was super sad but because it was so damn true, I'm not from a small town, I don't have religious parents/friends and still managed to connected so much with all that Etta was going through. So if you like contemporaries that are touching, and emotional, and a little bit romantic and sexuality positive, and diverse and funny too you need to read this. 

Ps.: Oh, I also loved the way religion/religious people were portrayed. Seeing Bianca's journey was pretty cool too.