Popcorn Corner: A Royal Christmas (2014)

A Royal Christmas ou Natal na Realeza (2014)
Tempo: 1h30min
Direção: Alex Zamm
Elenco: Jane Seymour, Lacey Chabert, Stephen Hagan
Gênero: Romance, Comedia, Natal, Hallmark



Um impasse complexo gira em torno da realeza: Príncipe Leopold, herdeiro do trono de Cordinia, sonha em se casar com a jovem e bela Emily Taylor, uma humilde costureira da Filadélfia por quem é perdidamente apaixonado. Mas a mãe de Leopold, a rainha Isadora, tem outros planos para seu filho, e eles não incluem em nada Emily.





A Royal Christmas é exatamente o que parece ser: um clichê fofo sobre um romance entre uma plebeu que encontrou seu príncipe (literalmente). A história em nenhum momento é original com um roteiro batido desde a surpresa ao descobrir que seu namorado é um príncipe, a mãe malvada que não aceita uma plebeia como nora e a ex-namorada que não é nem um pouco sutil nas suas investidas, mas ela atende ao que se pede: entreter o público.

A história me lembrou muito O diário de uma princesa, desde o pequeno país na Europa que ninguém tinha ouvido falar, até mesmo ao romance surpresa da rainha, o que me agradou bastante já que amo os livros e os filmes, a falta de originalidade nesse filme me fez lembrar do meu afeto por essa historia me fazendo ficar mais investida nesse romance.

O romance em si foi muito gostoso de acompanhar, não foi um super ship, nível OTP de meu Deus preciso que eles fiquem juntos, mas gostei e torci para o casal. Uma coisa que me surpreendeu positivamente foi quão engraçado esse filme é, geralmente comedias românticas não são lá muito engraçadas, mas nesse filme vários momentos foram de rir alto ou pelo menos sorrir.

Super recomendo esse filme para quem gosta de comedias românticas e quer algo divertido, para sentar e assistir, também é ótimo de assistir perto do Natal, já que a história se passa no natal.

5 de 5 estrelas 

Remembrance - Meg Cabot

Remembrance by Meg Cabot
Series: The Mediator #7
Published on February 2, 2016 by William Morrow
[This book was given to me by the Publisher, this in no way affected my opinion.]

In REMEMBRANCE, the seventh installment of the Mediator series, all Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva).

But when she stumbles across an ancient murder, old ghosts—and ex-boyfriends—aren’t all that come back to haunt her.

REMEMBRANCE will be the first ever adult installment of the Mediator, published by William Morrow, the adult division of HarperCollins, the company that brought you the YA books in the series.

Remembrance was lots of fun for one side but on other points it kind of just reminded me of the weak spots of this series. I think I'll be better doing a list about this one:

• The mystery was pretty good on this one, it wasn't easy to guess how everything would fit together at first but the more the story progressed more you could see pieces fitting together and things getting pretty real, like dangerous real as it usually does with Susannah.
• But it did took a while for the mystery to take the front seat of this story and until there it was kind of hard to stick for more than a chapter or two, since my interested kept wavering.
• Also the resolution of this mystery is pretty unbelievable, like I said above things get pretty dangerous at one point and in real life there would be an investigation and probably some digital prints of Susannah would be all over evidence so I think is very unlikely things got resolved so neatly as it was on the book.
• But if this was included on the story it probably would be like 600 pages long and yeah, I can see why it wasn't for fiction purposes. 
• Other thing in the mystery that left me unsettled was the way Susannah dealt with a girl, Becca, that was cutting herself. It's pretty obvious since scene one that this girl is passing through some hard shit, but Susannah is completely clueless on how to deal with her, she was harsh and covered it up from any figure of authority what was happening with Becca and didn't even forwarded  her to a counselor, sure she suggest the idea for Becca's father at one scene on the end but she never clarifies why she thinks Becca needs help. I was chocked and angry with this, mental health isn't a side problem that can be dealt so easily as this made it look, a teenager cutting herself is room for hospitalization or at least a serious therapy treatment - with or without ghosts.
• So yeah, Susannah really disappointed me on this book, I was expecting you know an adult but she still has the same voice, the same impulsiveness that put her on so much trouble while a teenager, she kept hiding things from Jesse and trying to deal all on her own even thought it was clearly not the best idea I just, I expected more.
• Jesse too continues to be kind of the same, he still has some 19 century costumes and ideals which obvs comes in the way between him and Susannah, I also was hoping he changed a little bit more because I'm so not into this whole male alfa thing - even thought his is pretty down played close to others on characters on literature. 
• What was up with that whole mean girls show Kelly and Debbie are still putting on, like for real, you're like 25 years-old grow up. 
• Honestly the ones that more grew where Susannah's step brothers. 
• And how cute where the triplets right.
• I could have done this book without Paul, I honestly don't know why he was here except to cause the main couple some troubles, but like seriously each page this guy was I wanted to kick his ass so badly, he DEFINITELY didn't grew one little bit since high school, actually I would say he regressed even more on his terrible sexist ways. 

Overall thinking about this one it seems to have more negative than positive feels but that isn't true, this was a fun read and I'm glad Cabot is revisiting her series, I definitely wouldn't complain if this Mediator revival would last and bring us more books about this gang but I could have done with a bit more changes from these characters. This is a book that fans of the series can't pass out.

Calvin - Martine Leavitt

Calvin by Martine Leavitt
Published on November 17, 2015 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

As a child, Calvin felt an affinity with the comic book character from Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes.

He was born on the day the last strip was published; his grandpa left a stuffed tiger named Hobbes in his crib; and he even had a best friend named Susie. Then Calvin’s mom washed Hobbes to death, Susie grew up beautiful and stopped talking to him, and Calvin pretty much forgot about the strip—until now. Now he is seventeen years old and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Hobbes is back, as a delusion, and Calvin can’t control him. Calvin decides that Watterson is the key to everything—if he would just make one more comic strip, but without Hobbes, Calvin would be cured. Calvin and Susie (is she real?) and Hobbes (he can’t be real, can he?) set out on a dangerous trek across frozen Lake Erie to track down Watterson.

It's been almost two months since I finished Calvin and I honestly can't say how I feel about it, I guess the good outweighs some of the problems I had with it and I would definitely recommend to some people but at the same time I don't know if I really liked it. Oh, well, let's make a list and see how this goes.

• This book is super short, like really short, my eARC version of it had about 70 pages and while reading/thinking back on my experience with this story I don't think such a short amount of pages is enough to deal with such a hard topic as schizophrenia, it doesn't give the author the time to really make the reader, that don't know about this decease, to understand how it works and the whys. 
• But still, the part that I thought most suffered from this shortage of pages was the ending, it was incredible rushed. I liked that this one ended in a happy tone since there was so many times where I thought things were going down but, since it's written on a letter format, we just get some pages of Calvin telling us what went down and how he is dealing with everything and them boom it ended, I don't know if it was the way it was told us and not showed us or if it was the number of pages that had to fit such a amount of information but things felt rushed and brushed off. 
• The romance. When it comes to books about mental health I'm always wary about the way romances are portrait, never in a million years I'm willing to accept the love interest as some kind of savior for the mental health problems but in this case it kind of did happen that, but it didn't at the same time. Okay, this is problem the part that most confused me if I enjoyed this story or not, I'll try to make myself clear but it will be hard. So Susie, the love interest, does help Calvin while he is at his worst and her help is a BIG part of why he gets better, but at the same time they have a good relationship dynamic, yes she helps him getting better but she isn't the whole reason why.
• Also, I was so happy with the way the ending showed how important it's to get proper help, like medication and doctors, and how that isn't a bad thing at all.
• This was funny, like laugh out loud funny at a lot of scenes.
• Parts of it is written on letter format, but most of it is on a kind of script way and this made it even more quickly to read since is basically only dialogues.
• The plot is totally insane, we have two teenagers crossing a frozen lake on winter and is cold as shit and is dangerous and as crazy as that may sound they find things and people on the middle of this crossing, so yeah, it was quite fun to read about Calvin and Susie adventures. 

Overall the good is bigger than my personal peeves and I think that maybe if you're looking for a book about mental health that isn't dark and heavy, but light and fun while still managing to create good characters dealing with their problems they you have found the right book, but if you want a deep look into schizophrenia I don't think this will be your best shot.

Faking It - Cora Carmack

Faking It by Cora Carmack 
Series: Losing It #2 
Published on June 4, 2013 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Mackenzie “Max” Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice, wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

I dived in Faking It right when I finished Losing It, its prequel, having heard so much praise for this one I was super excited to be getting into it, but unfortunately some parts didn't worked for me while others did. This one as its predecessor is a super funny and quickly read, these books are the perfect reads for when you want some brain candy but I for me Faking It loosed a little of its fun by giving their characters a complicated past, especially Max. Max is a supposed trouble maker because of *reasons* on her past and this weighted down my enjoyment on some parts of the story, this isn't a book problem more of a me problem, since I came into this one expecting only fun sexy times and got drama on a way that is pretty common among New Adult books.

Nonetheless this was still super enjoyable on its fun and sexy parts, I was super happy when I discovered this one was about Cade because he was such a good guy on Losing It and I couldn't wait to see him get his happy ending. The faking dating trope is something that always works for me, it's always fun to see the couple struggling to keep things on the fake side but you already know there is no turning back, and oh boy all the banter and hilarious scenes this leads us to.

In the end of the day this was a pretty good book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun, quickly and sexy read but be warmed this series does tend to be pretty predictable and more on the drama side at times.

Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer

Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer
Series: Twilight #5 
Published on October 6, 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Twilight! This special double-feature book includes the classic novel, Twilight, and a bold and surprising reimagining, Life and Death, by Stephenie Meyer.

Packaged as an oversize, jacketed hardcover “flip book,” this edition features nearly 400 pages of new content as well as exquisite new back cover art. Readers will relish experiencing the deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful love story of Bella and Edward through fresh eyes.

Twilight has enraptured millions of readers since its first publication in 2005 and has become a modern classic, redefining genres within young adult literature and inspiring a phenomenon that has had readers yearning for more. The novel was a #1 New York Times bestseller, a #1 USA Today bestseller, a Time magazine Best Young Adult Book of All Time, an NPR Best-Ever Teen Novel, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. The Twilight Saga, which also includes New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, and The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, has sold nearly 155 million copies worldwide.

I was extremely surprised when I heard about this book, I thought Twilight was over and buried we already got the series completed, a short story from a secondary character and all those movies but them, on the tenth anniversary Meyer completely surprised me with this announcement and it was a non brainier that I was going to read this. Back on 2008 I was a hard core Twilight fan, defending it from all the bad critics it got when the movies came out and reading these books over and over, they were my comfort when I was between 14-16, Edward was my dream boyfriend and this was series responsible to open the amazing world of YA for me.

So yeah, I had to read this book but it didn't really lived up to my expectations. Before I started reading it I already had see and read some bad reviews but I was expecting to love it anyway, mostly due to nostalgic feelings than by the story itself, I mean I knew I wasn't gonna be blow away by it since it was mostly the same story but still, I was hoping to relieve the attachment that I had created to this world so many years before, unfortunately this didn't happened.

My first problem with it was the fact that this is basically 99.9% of the same book, so yeah I knew it was the same story but OH MY GOD COULD YOU JUST AT LEAST TRY TO NOT CONTROL+C CONTROL+V SO MUCH???????? It was REALLY, REALLY hard to picture Beau and Edythe on my head when I could hear was the same lines from Bella and Edward, you can totally take the same bases to create a new story but you CAN'T just change the pronouns in a story and say these are new characters, because they weren't! They're the same fucking thing, on the same fucking story, passing through the same fucking situations and saying the same fucking sentences, this isn't reimagining anything. Maybe I went into this expecting to much, because I mean it's said that it was the same story but only switched genders, I read that on the letter/thing Meyer wrote at the start of the story but still in my head I was expecting a little bit more of changes, not in the story and facts itself but on the personality of those involved on it.

And I'm really pissed thinking about it you know, because if Meyer wanted to wrote something "new" on the Twilight world showing that Bella wasn't a damsel in distress as she said but a human in distress them why not write a short story them about Beau and Edythe? Or take a secondary female vampire of the series and create a romantic story for her? Or even take that female werewolf from the pack of Jacob and create a boy for her? Like seriously, 100 pages of a new work and this could have gone much better in showing what she wanted, without having copied 400+ pages of Twilight and just switching pronouns, it would have been so much more satisfying, she showed that on The Short Second Live of Bree Tanner, it was short and it still was a good read that made me care for Bree while reading it.

Also, she totally failed on her task to show that her books weren't sexist when she took the scene of attempted rape on Bella/Beau and when she totally changed the rape scene from Rosalie/Royal, breaking news guys are raped and sexual assaulted too, so there wasn't a good enough reason to make these changes. The writing continues the same, since it's basically the same narrative, still full of unnecessary information about Beau and Charlie diet and full of chopped sentences. The only big change is the ending, which it was changed to make this only one book and not a series, but I really didn't get what she tried to accomplish with the info dumping about the vampire and werewolf mythology, I mean I'm pretty sure that if you're gonna read this one you already read the rest of the series or at least saw the movies, it was completely unnecessary to have that part since it only showed how rushed this was done and it didn't really added to anything in the story.

Overall this was a disappointment, can't say I wasn't warned before but as a Twilight fan I just had to read this one and see for myself. I'm sad to say it didn't added anything to the world of vampires and werewolves that we already knew, it something it only took some of my enjoyment when thinking about this beloved series and made me agree with some hatters about the problems these books portrait. Honestly, if you're a fan of the series you will probably want to read this anyway but my recommendation is: just re-read your favorite book of the original series or watch your favorite movie of it and be happy with the nostalgic feels.

Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #2 
Published on February 5, 2013 by Feiwel & Friends

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Oh, boy this series is really growing on me, I still had some troubles with Scarlet but I enjoyed it more than Cinder and can say with 100% sure that I'm gonna continue with this series. The biggest development between Cinder and Scarlet was the writing and the pacing, this time around we have a clear build up to the ending despite it being pretty predictable still was much more enjoyable for me to see things clearly building the tension and getting to the final climax. The writing also improved on terms, especially, of info dump, when building the world on Cinder I often found myself thinking how conveniently everything was and how things are being underdeveloped but this time around I didn't had these kind of thoughts, the world Meyer created really started to have a more clear image on my head.

What made this book for me was its characters, I found the characters on Cinder pretty card board and one dimensional but now I don't really see them like that, Cinder and Kai have to face a more lot of challenges on this one, having to make hard decisions that not always will coincide with what they think is the best/right. The new characters Scarlet, Wolf and Thorne also have their time to shine, Scarlet is our main POV on this one (there are multiple ones) and I liked her, she is a fighter, even after everything she went through on this book she didn't back down and is more than ready to join this bigger fight that is building. Wolf isn't my fave, more on that later. Thorne <3 Oh, Thorne is just my kind of character, he is a jerk with a big heart and a even bigger repertory of snark comments.

Now, my problem on this one was with the romance, I just I couldn't guys, it was terrible and I wanted to punch the two of them on the face all the time. So yeah, Scarlet and Wolf  are the supposed couple of this one and first, it was completely instalove (as with was already on Cinder, but at least Cinder and Kai had a few talks and never declared their undying love for each other) but I could get past that, what I couldn't get past was the way Wolf treated Scarlet and how she continued to trust him even after everything, just no. He's violent, lies to her, betrays her, but even after she knows this what does she thinks? "Wolf is different, Wolf is only doing this to protect me, Wolf has something in him that makes me trust him despite everything" just ugh no, big giant no, I thought we had passed this with Twilight.

Overall I liked this one more than Cinder and now this is a series that I would recommend to more people looking for fun YA series, this is a fast paced read with characters that really grew on me and in spite of my reservations I would say for you to give this series a shot if the synopses intrigues you.

Losing It - Cora Carmack

Losing It by Cora Carmack
Series: Losing It #1
Published on February 23, 2013 by William Morrow

Virginity.

Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.

New Adult is a new territory for me, I think over all my life I read about 2 new adult books (now with Cora's 4) but I did heard a LOT of criticism about this gender, so it's fair to say that I entered this one wary. Shouldn't have worried, this was what I expect from a good romantic comedy but on the book format, it was light fluffy and with a good dose of romance.

The story stars with Bliss deciding to lose her virginity with a one night stand, enters Garrick, perfect male specimen with a British accent to complete the packet. I'll not give any further details, since I think the synopses already gives away enough spoilers for the start of the book but I do want to say that I really enjoyed their relationship, Bliss was always putting herself on hilariously situations and Garrick was pretty sweet most of the time.

If I have one complain is that it was that their characters weren't developed enough, I can't honestly say who Bliss was before this story or what Garrick likes besides being with Bliss, this didn't really took away my enjoyment while reading it but it does make the story much more forgettable among all the other books and made these characters not all that realistic.

Also, there wasn't really any obstacles to their relationship, this is a romance focused book so you know the couple will met, like, fight drama, surpass said drama and have a HEA but the whole drama of this story is basically created by Bliss and Garrick, yeah there is room for a good drama like with the teacher-student relationship but it was never explored.

Overall this was a really fun, quickly and sweet read, I would recommend as a brain candy for when you don't really want to think about anything and just sit back and relax.

Until We Meet Again - Renee Collins

Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins
Published on November 3, 2015 by Sourcebooks Fire

They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time.

Cassandra craves drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on their private beach claiming it's his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.

As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence's life—into jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever.

Until We Meet Again wasn't in my radar until some glowing early reviews started to appear, reading the synopsis I was more than intrigued by it a romance with time travel AND a mystery, hell yeah sign me up. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases of it's not you, it's me books.

The thing that most worked for me was the writing, despite I knowing very early on that this would probably not be a me book I still kept reading and never really felt an urge to DNF it. The pacing of the story also worked really well, we have a murder mystery and a romance to be developed and Collins manages to gives us enough information so to keep us interested on the story and eager to get to the ending to figure everything out.

We have two POV's, Cassandra's (which is the main one) and Lawrence's (usually really short and occasional). Cassandra is a typical angst teenager until she sees a stranger on the beach (Lawrence), them her life gains a purpose (with the mystery to solve) and I just can't, using romance as character development just isn't enough, she supposedly was so many depth to Lawrence because she is "different" and I didn't get, was she different because she was bored? And Lawrence, wow that boy was overdone on the perfect boyfriend machine, he comes from a rich family but isn't a snob and doesn't want to follow his father footsteps, oh no he wants to be a poet! And guess who his muse is? That's right, Cassandra! Maybe this sounds like a perfect romance to you, and it was quite nice but that is it, it was nice and fluffy and extremely cheese - so much that sometimes I thought I would be sick. The secondary characters were just really black or white, if someone was bad (we have some mob and really bad guys here) you could see from a mile afar.

The way everything happened in this story also made me question either this was really an YA book, because everything was so... Childish and predictable. There was things, like the last few chapters, that I think were supposed to be life or death, heart pounding scenes that ended up just reading like a dramatic telenovela (well, I think all telenovelas are dramatic).

Overall this wasn't a bad book, I think it can be perfect to some people and/or depending on your humor, for me this was a disappointment - I think the story could have worked a little bit more on bringing more flawed characters and realistic scenes so that this would have felt more like a story being told and not just a entertainment read.

Dumplin' - Julie Murphy

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Published on September 15, 2015 by Balzer + Bray 
[This book was given to me by the Publisher, this in no way affected my opinion.]

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Every book that talks about body image is a personal book for me because this is something that I've struggled with all my life, not just weight but everything involving self esteem and the way you see yourself. I've been overweight since childhood, I remember when I was about 9 years old looking into my moms diet magazines so this is an old struggle and is pretty obvious that Dumplin' was bound to hit me hard on the feels and I'm so glad I read it, because it did hit me on the feels but it also passes an incredible positive message about accepting yourself.

Willowdean was an easy character to like, I'll try to explain her with a scene from the book. She and her friend go to a public pool and Will uses a bikini, her lema is if you have a body you can wear a bikini but at the same time she is overly conscious of the people that are on pool, who is looking when she is getting out/in and her first reaction is to search for a towel to cover herself. So you see, Will is confident and she doesn't have a problem with her body, that doesn't mean she doesn't struggle and have insecurities, she is aware the ideal body to be on a bikini according to general society isn't the one she has and that not every one is cool with her defying this standards.

Basically this book tells the story of Will growing out of her insecurities not just with herself, but with those around you. Like Boo, a boy which she is crazy about and likes her too, I was never head over heels with the romance but it was realistic, in my view, for her to have insecurities around him and I really loved the way it was handled, Boo is basically the sweetest boy ever. Will also gets in a fight with her best friend and ends up joining the most unique group to join the pageant with her (even if that wasn't her intention), I loved their dynamic and their moments where probably the ones that more made me laugh.

But what really made me emotional was Will's relationship with her mom, I cried on so much of their interactions, it really saddens me because there was times when her mom would do or say something hurtful without even realizing thinking it was for the best of Will and just ugh. Also, the grief that Willowdean still has because of her aunt's passing away at such a young age, it touched me and I was happy to see that she found ways to be connected with her aunt and honor her memory even if she wasn't with her anymore.

To say that I enjoyed this book is an understatement, it was a beautiful story told from a unforgettable character and I think everyone can enjoy this story, because it isn't just about weight - it's about acceptance, overcoming insecurities and finding happiness on being who you are without asking for permission or making limitations based on what others tell you is right.

The Scorpion Rules - Erin Bow

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow 
Series: Prisoners of Peace #1
Published on September 22, 2015 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
[This book was given to me by the Publisher, this in no way affected my opinion.]

A world battered by climate shift and war turns to an ancient method of keeping peace: the exchange of hostages. The Children of Peace - sons and daughters of kings and presidents and generals - are raised together in small, isolated schools called Preceptures. There, they learn history and political theory, and are taught to gracefully accept what may well be their fate: to die if their countries declare war.

Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan-Polar Confederation, is the pride of the North American Precepture. Learned and disciplined, Greta is proud of her role in keeping the global peace, even though, with her country controlling two-thirds of the world’s most war-worthy resource — water — she has little chance of reaching adulthood alive.

Enter Elián Palnik, the Precepture’s newest hostage and biggest problem. Greta’s world begins to tilt the moment she sees Elián dragged into the school in chains. The Precepture’s insidious surveillance, its small punishments and rewards, can make no dent in Elián, who is not interested in dignity and tradition, and doesn’t even accept the right of the UN to keep hostages.

What will happen to Elián and Greta as their two nations inch closer to war?

When I first heard about The Scorpion Rules I thought it was a cool concept but dystopia never was a favorite gender of mine so I was almost passing reading this until I saw a very positive review from a trusted reviewer - I'm so, so, so glad I saw that because this book completely won me over and I can't wait to read more books from Bow.

This book started slow for me, I think the first 30% or so where really slow moving. Greta's voice sounded really dry and it made me think that I wouldn't care enough about these characters but I kept reading because the concept of this world is so different from any other dystopia that I ever read, also I needed to know Talis because he's what everyone was talking about. But them, THEM at about 40% *things* started to happen and suddenly I was crying and there was so much pain and so much love and UGH FEELS WHERE FELT WITH INTENSITY and that was the moment I knew this book had won me over.

Basically when these *things* happen Greta passes for a change on her ways and this translated to the writing since it's on first person POV, so from them on I connected really deeply with the characters and this made this book pure torture. Greta started of as a perfect example, she always followed the system, never questioned anything and also had shut herself from the world so to not feel and/or notice what her friends and her are going trough. But them Elián surges, he wasn't created on a Precepture and is completely the opposite of Greta since his desire is always to challenge the system, he is the major reason why Greta "wakes up" and start to really think about what is happening to her and her friends.

The friendships on this story where just so beautiful, these kids grew up together, passed for some hard shit and always stick together I cried so hard on times that they showed this unwavering link between them, a lot of the secondary characters don't have much time on the story but they still touched me. The ones that I really, REALLY cared about where Greta, Elián and Xia, they are my babies and if they hurt I hurt too, so reading this was pure torture. We do also have some kissing and romance and I loved every second of it, the romance is a lesbian ship that was just so utterly amazing but we also have some straight kissing and all of it isn't exactly a love triangle but like I said before these kids have such strong links with each other that is kind of hard to really define they relationship as "just" a romance.

Another character that I ended up caring about was Talis, yeah I know the dictator and possible villain of the story and I liked him. But the thing is that despite Talis being a dictator and a machine he is also humanized, we see parts of who he used to be and I wondered how he got so far from his human self, this added a whole new depth to this world - is pretty easy to want to take down the system when we have someone like, let's say Snow on the power, he is a clearly villain but what when the dictator seems to be actually doing the best possible of this torn world? So yeah, things are really complicated in here, also Talis was such a stress relief - I laughed at so many of his quotes, which was good because this book was intense.

So in case you didn't noticed yet I absolutely loved this one, I couldn't recommend it enough. It's intense, original, dark and bloody but also full of heartfelt moments and even funny ones, I think that there is something for everyone on this so if you got curious by the synopses do not pass this one, read it I think you'll not regret it.

Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinsella

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella 
Published on March 23, 2004 by Dell 

Emma is like every girl in the world. She has a few little secrets.

Secrets from her mother:
1. I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom to Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben Hur.

...From her boyfriend:
2. I'm a size twelve. Not a size eight, like Connor thinks.
3. I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.

...From her colleagues:
4. When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day)
5. It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.

...Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world:
6. My G string is hurting me.
7. I faked my Maths GCSE grade on my CV.
8. I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is...

...until she spills them all to a stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger...

 So I guess I've been in a re-reading mood late since this one is my third re-read of the month, unfortunately this one wasn't all the good I thought it would be. I remembered reading this book on the beach at 2013, it was cold and raining so I devoured it on one night, in my mind I still had this idea of this being my favorite Sophie Kinsella and one of my favorite chick-lits overall but this re-read kind of dismissive my love for it.

There isn't anything wrong with it really, it was still a funny read and a quickly one but a lot of little things kept me annoying during the read. Like Emma for example, she has a problem with lying but I never really understood why she lied most of the time, 100% of the times she would create this super dramatic situation on her head when in reality really wasn't even close and everything could get resolved so much easily if she just said the truth, so this resulted in a lot of frustration from my part and I would just want to scream and shake her.

Other thing that didn't lived up to my memory was the romance, I remembered it being super sweet and cute and oh my god, I love Jack! But this time around everything seemed really... Rushed, kind of. It wasn't instalove exactly but they do have this "connection" since their first meet because of Emma blabbing all her secrets and this made them already like instafriends and them something more, it wasn't bad just not really swoon worthy. Also, that *thing* that happens on the final half.

Some other things annoyed me, like Jemima's character was such a lifeless character, her one goal on life is to get a rich husband and this is brought up on the story every time she is on the scene, it was funny at first but it got annoying really fast since it was her sole purpose on the story. Actually most, if not all, of the secondary characters have this defining quality to them that is basically they only trait.

Overall this was a regular Kinsella read, it was funny and cute enough but never really got more than that. I would recommend it to lovers of her other books that have yet to read this, but wouldn't really recommend to new chick-lit readers.

The Boy Next Door - Meg Cabot

The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
Series: Boy #1 
Published by Avon on October 11, 2012

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Subject: This Book

Dear Reader,

This is an automated message from the Human Resources Division of the New York Journal, New York City's leading photo-newspaper. Please be aware that according to our records you have not yet read this book. What exactly are you waiting for? This book has it all:

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*Romance
*Cooking tips
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I entered the re-read challenge at the start of this year and so far have been failing miserably, but I have found myself coming back to old favorites from time to time when the mood strikes and this time was the chance for "The Boy Next Door". I have to say that I was very nervous about it, because this is an old favorite of mine, I think I read it the first time when I was about 11 or 12 and re-read it obsessively during my teen years so to say that I was desperate to it to hold up my good memories of it is an understatement. Of course, this being one of the old Meg Cabot books I had nothing to worry about.

This book is a perfect one sitting reading since is wrote on the form of e-mails, making the reading experience very easy to follow and engaging. One think that surprised me was how hilarious I thought this was this time around, I found myself laughing out loud at so many times - I don't know if I just didn't remembered this aspect or if I didn't understood a lot of these passages when I was younger.

Mel is definitely one of my favorite heroines by Meg, she is smart and funny and wit, also obsessed with celebrity and always search for a excuse to buy new clothes, she knows shit about coking and drink bears and just and all around person - I really love how feminist her character sounds without ever being preachy. Actually all this book has such a feminist tone, I just love how I could see on this re-read how much Meg Cabot influenced on my way of thinking when I was growing up with her heroines without me ever noticing, just flawless.

The romance is just as cute as I remembered. John is such a sweet guy and I loved everything about him and the build up of their relationship, from their insta-attraction to their actually being together was just completely cheese and I loved every second of it.

We also kind of have a mystery on this one, but let me tell you it's very subplot and only at the start and the ending that it really matters to the story, this is mostly a romance but still it was nice to have the mystery to break from it at times.

I'm glad to report that "The boy next door" is still a favorite of mine and I think it will continue this way for a very long time. Super recommend this one if you like sweet romances, is looking for a book wrote on a different format and/or is looking for a quickly funny read.

Looking for Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta 
Published on October 5, 1992 by E-Penguin

For as long as Josephine Alibrandi can remember, it’s just been her, her mom, and her grandmother. Now it’s her final year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn’t be any stricter—but that doesn’t seem to stop all kinds of men from coming into her life.

Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free.

Told with unmatched depth and humor, this novel—which swept the pool of Australian literary awards and became a major motion picture—is one to laugh through and cry with, to cherish and remember.

So I finally gave in and read a Marchetta book, usually when I start reading a new author I try to read by publication year, from the oldest to the newest, I think this is a safe method because obviously authors grow and  if I read their latest works there is a bigger chance that when I get to their first works it will be underwhelming. Anyways, about Looking for Alibrandi, so, this one was a mixed one for me.

On one side I really get why people obsess over Marchetta, this is her first work and the writing is already so beautiful - I highlighted so many quotes on my Kobo! It has that way of just putting philosophical thoughts on life, growing up and finding yourself in such a natural way that is also very truthful which made me really emotional at some parts. It was incredible to get to know Jose and I was so proud of her on the end, like seriously this is a coming of age story where we actual see, REALLY see the main character change and grow so much.

But at the same time this book kind of... surprised me, maybe, I don't know, at times. Jose and her family and the characters of this book shout and cry and fight a lot, like they will be talking something completely ordinary and suddenly someone will start shouting and there is some big fight and I was like "what". I get that this was on purpose because Jose Italian family and stuff but still, I mean I know this happens, this happens on my family all the time, still, it was weird.

In the end I enjoyed this book more than got bothered by its explosions of feelings. I think that if you enjoy a funny but also meaningful story you will love this one, Jose kind of reminded me of Georgia Nicholson and Ruby Oliver so if you liked those main characters highly recommend this one too and of course to every lover of contemporary and coming of age fiction.

Vengeance Road - Erin Bowman

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman 
Published on September 1, 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers
[This book was given to me by the Publisher but this in no way affected my opinion.]

When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.

In the spirit of True Grit, the cutthroat days of the Wild West come to life for a new generation.

When I first picked up Vengeance Road I didn't knew what to expect, I'm not big into historical fiction and had never tried a Western book but I had nothing to worry about. This book turned out to be a page turner for me and I was captivate by its characters since the beginning.

Kate is an amazing lead to this book, she starts the story searching for vengeance but the good thing is that she is talking seriously about revenge - you know how there is some books where the MC is gonna be like "I want to kill them all" but will actually not do anything, well Kate doesn't thinks about killing people she goes and shot them straight in the head (or hearth, she isn't picky) - I loved her determination and strength since chapter one and getting to know her more through the book made me like her more and more.

Other characters that won my heart were Will and Jesse, these stubborn brothers that ride with Kate and made the story lighter a lot of times making me laugh, but also adding a more emotional tone to the story at a lot of times. We do have a romance between Jesse and Kate but it was a slow burn, full of a funny banter between them before they released they didn't actual hate each other (yes, it is a kind of hate-to-love thing) and it was a welcome thing in the middle of all the killings and quests and desert roughness.

We also have an Apalache girl, Liluye, that rides with their group for a time and let's say the relationship of her with the others was hard. Liluye comes from a different culture, a culture that Kate, Will and Jesse do not understand and it's show on the book a lot of the prejudices there was at that time between these two races. One thing that really bothered me on this front was the fact that Kate keeps calling Liluye as Lil', even thought Liluye keeps asking her to not call her that way - this bothered me so much because it was such a lack of respect from Kate's part! I guess it was supposed to seem that way to show their differences maybe, I don't know, but each time Kate said Lil' I would cringe.

But taking that away Vengeance Road was a compulsive read for me right from the start, the vengeance quest and the later on mysteries kept me wanting to read more and more, its characters were complex and well developed and that ending, guys I think I said about 1 gazillion of "shits" and "what" on the last 30% or so of this book, it happens so much stuff and god the action scenes!

So yeah, you should definitely check this one out, it's an great read if you like adventure or historical fiction.

The Heartbreakers - Ali Novak

The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak 
Series: The Heartbreakers Chronicles #1
Published on August 4, 2015 by Sourcebooks

"When I met Oliver Perry, I had no clue he was the lead singer for The Heartbreakers. Unbeknownst to him, I was the only girl in the world who hated his music."

Stella will do anything for her sister—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD... for three hours. At least she met a cute boy at the Starbucks beforehand. A blue-eyed boy who looks an awful lot like...

Oliver Perry. Of course Starbucks guy is the lead singer for her least favorite band. Thanks, universe. But there may be more to Oliver than his world-famous charm, because even after she insults his music—to his face—he still gives her his number. Seriously, 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?

I started The Heartbreakers expecting a cute romance, full of cheese (yes, I wanted the cheese) and even tropes I wouldn't mind, I wanted a brain candy read - a book to just read on the weekend, that didn't made me think about anything and just enjoy myself. At first I thought this would fill the spot but them things started going down hill and they never came back up.

First on the good stuff, I did enjoyed the bones of this story and the banter of the characters. This book has a unreal plot, that's true and we get in expecting it but still the things that led to Stella and Oliver to met are... If not real, at least believable on a romantic comedy kind of sense. And also at the start I was whiling to play along with the story because Stella does have other interests besides the new cute and famous boy and because the banter between Stella and all The Heartbreakers and The Heartbreakers with The Heartbreakers were great, I laughed out loud so many times that I can't count.

But them small things started to bug me and start to build up, and them something happened and this book was basically over to me. One thing that bothered is that this story is like a feverish fangirl dream and I'm not talking about the celebrity falls in love with a regular girl - this is definitely the least of my peeves. At start I was rolling with the unbelievable circumstances but it came to a point where I couldn't just overlook it - each problem that Stella had were easily resolved, the story goes kind of like this Problem 1 happens, them someone magically appears with Solution 1 and them we get Problem 2 and them so on ALL. THE. BOOK. IS. LIKE. THAT. This made the pace weird and resulted on my second problem.

For the sake of focusing on let's say Problem 2 we would ignore Problem 1 or at least the aftermath feelings with Problem 1 for a good chunk of the book, this really bothered because there would be parts of the book that Stella was like really focused on her family but them she would get closer to Oliver and them we would pass times and times with very little focus on the family and them after we would get back to it being the focus - it just no, it felt weird and made the narrative irregular.

Now, let's talk about my third and probably biggest problem with it - the romance. I was super into getting along with it at first, it instalove but okay. Them started being the kind of hot and cold, full of drama romance, I wasn't shipping it like WHOA but I was okay, they had some cute moments to make me keed reading. But them the cold stuff went to far and *something* happened and I started unshipping like there was no tomorrow and yeah, this book is heavily focused on the romance so this basically ruined any chance of salvation this book could have with me.

Sigh. I'm still on the hunt for the a romance between a celebrity and a regular girl (or boy) that makes me feel head over heels, unfortunately this wasn't the one. Recommended, maybe, to readers who really, really like this trope and don't mind angst on their plots.

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. 

Highly Anticipated: The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens

Hey guys, today is the day for another take on Highly Anticipated. As the name says here I'll talk a little about new tittles that are still months away to being released and were highly anticipated by me - so much that I couldn't help myself and read them way before the released date. Hope you enjoy these "sneak peeks" of some new books!

The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens
To be published on November 3, 2015 by HarperTeen
[This book was given to me by the publisher but this in no way affected my opinion.]

Sadie Kingston, is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max.

As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she's unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him — even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she'll always be trapped in the past.

I absolutely loved this book. It dealt with heavy themes, like grief and changing (physically and emotionally) in a way that was really sad at some parts but it had an overall hopeful tone for me - this isn't a story about a sad girl, but a story about a sad girl trying to change her reality and find some happiness after a traumatic accident.

Sadie has to overcome the trauma of the accident, but also deal with her physical appearance after that - this part of the story was really touching and personal to me, I never passed trough a accident like her but it was easy to connect with her insecurities and a lot of times I cried with and for Sadie.

The relationships here are very complex, the car crash changed the dynamic of their group and no one really knows what to do with themselves and with each other, it was nice to see their working their way back together; the romantic aspect was really sweet, I loved Max and he was basically perfect, but what I really liked was that the book never, ever showed this relationship as the salvation for Sadie, yes it was something that helped her but ultimately her changes were for herself; the parents are very present on the story and I loved Sadie's parents, specially her relationship with her mom, who always seemed to know the right way to comfort her, when get involved and when just be there for her.

This was an amazing read, I think that every lover of contemporary about personal growth and overcoming stories will love this book as much as I did.

Map To The Stars - Jen Malone

Map To The Stars by Jen Malone
Published on July 14, 2015 by Harper Collins/Harper Impulse
[This book was given to me by the publisher but that in no way affected my opinion.]

Author Jen Malone draws on her real-life experiences as a movie studio publicist to bring you an insider peek at love, Hollywood-style.

The California dream was supposed to give seventeen-year-old Annie Shelton a fresh start far removed from her dad’s unusual betrayal. But when things don’t go according to plan in La La Land, Annie’s mom snags a last-minute gig as makeup artist to a teen movie idol and finagles a spot for her daughter on his European promotional tour.

Down-to-earth Annie would rather fangirl architectural sights than an arrogant A-lister. That is, until behind-the-scenes Graham Cabot turns out to be more sweetly vulnerable than she could have imagined.

Too bad falling for a poster boy isn’t all red carpets and star treatment, especially when you factor in obnoxious fans, an overprotective assistant, a stage mom/manager, and a beefy bodyguard.

But it isn’t until the paparazzi make an appearance that things get really sticky…

Map To The Stars and me had a rough start, I didn't had very great expectations to it (I'm still to find a celebrity falls in love with a regular girl romance that makes me fall head over heels) but it seemed like a cute romance and light read. But right from the start we have shit ton of tropes trow at our faces and with very little to care it was hard to not DNFed it, still I continued and am glad for that decision since about 30% I started enjoying parts of this story.

Ok, so my problems with this one were mostly the romance and since this is a contemporary novel heavily focused on the romance that was an issue for me. My problem was that its 100% instalove and it doesn't even try to hide it, since their very first interaction Annie is already obsessing over Graham (and of course, he is obsessing over her too) and this just isn't my kind of thing. But to be fair, that was my only problem with this romance, with the time I did enjoyed their interactions and it was cute to see their plans to spend time together without the paparazzi and fangirls all over them.

But the real reason why this book never really crossed the barrier of mildly entertainment for me was its characters, they just felt too much cardboard cutouts. Annie was an extra super regular girl on the meaning that she never was boy-crazy (until Graham), her favorite clothes were jeans and shirt and she really doesn't care about all this Hollywood things. Graham is the perfect boy with the perfect looks and perfect ways, that screw up a few times but all justified with something that we can all forgive him. It just... We all have seem this before, on basically all celebrity falls in love with regular girl story, and while it didn't annoyed me it also made this book not stand out on the other million of similar stories.

We do have some other things other than Annie and Graham romance; Annie and her mom have some problems that they are running away from and oh god this annoyed, because we only see what this is all about in like 70/80% in on the book and it was a quite quickly resolution in my opinion. None of the secondary characters are all that memorable for me, Annie's best friend was cool, with her apparition at the ending (her speech to Graham was just djvidojviosdji).

So yeah, honestly this book wasn't bad but it also wasn't the exactly kind of fluff that I enjoy. I would recommend it to people that love the trope of celebrity falling in love with a regular person (also for those who still dream of finding their own celebrity!) and the younger public of YA, maybe even some middle grade readers.

Better Off Friends - Elizabeth Eulberg

Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
Published on February 25, 2015 by Point

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Better Off Friends tells the story of Macallan and Levi, how they got to know each other and become friends to the point until the point where they start to question if they are really just friends or if there was something more. I really enjoyed this one, it was a fluff contemporary read with a cute as hell romance and that had some deep moments.

The story is told both from Macallan and Levi POV's so it was easy to get to know them and understand their motives and feelings through all the story. I specially liked Macallan's POV because it was really easy to see my teenself on some of her actions, her way of being more closed out and only really counting on Levi too is something that I could relate to; Levi's POV was interesting, it was very different from Macallan's (which is always something hard for an author to pull off) and I felt like it was nice too see how Levi struggled, specially during the teen years, with having a girl as a best friend and understanding his feelings on all this.

The romance is kind of a sensitive topic on this one for two reasons. One, is that before reading this book I felt kind of betrayed by its title but them I started reading it and didn't mind at all because I was already on board of this ship since day 1. Two, is that the teen years bought a lot of unnecessary drama - in my opinion - and I just don't really like this much melodrama on my romances, it just felt like they were always on the wrong page with each other just to stretch the book. But overall I really liked them together and it was just so cute and like I said before I was on board with this ship since day 1, I specially liked them because first of they are (and always will be) friends.

The story isn't ALL about the romance either, since we follow Macallan and Levi since childhood until their adulthood (kind of) we got to know a great deal of their lives, their family issues and personal insecurities, friendships and past romances, it all had a room on the story. Of course, most of it was just showed the parts that mattered to build Macallan and Levi relationship but still, it was nice.

I really enjoyed reading this story, it was quickly and easy to get involved on their lives and their relationship. I think that everyone that likes a good contemporary romance will enjoy this one, as well as fans of romantic comedies looking for the trope of friends-turned-to-lovers.

The Wrath & The Dawn - Renèe Ahdieh

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renèe Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath & The Dawn #1
Published on May 13, 2015 by Putnam Juvenile 
[This book was given to me by the Publisher and this in no way affected my opinion.]

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

It has been a month since I finished reading this book and I still don't know how to put my feelings on words - honestly I don't think it's even possible but I'll try to say what I liked about it.

The best thing, by far, is Ahdieh's writing, she has a way of telling the story as it was a old magic tale I felt like a kid again watching one of my favorite Disney movies for the first time - that feeling of awe and that magic is not only possible but real. Also I had an urge to pick this one back up right when I finished it (and a lot of other times this past month).

I can see the story told in this book not being to everyone but for me it worked since the first page. The first thing that you need to know about this is that the feelings here are <i>intense</i> and they're intense right from the start, so this can be a down side to some readers if they don't get suck into the story right away. There is also some things that you have to hold your disbelief, like the reason why Khalid doesn't kill Shahrzad right away as his other wives, for me this didn't took my enjoyment away at all but just saying.

But I think that even if you don't exactly love these things above, this book has a lot more to offer. Like for instance this is probably one of the best culture diverse books that I have read in a lot of time, this is one rare YA book where we have a different setting than USA and it also doesn't have the other culture making use of american things to make the reader more ~comfortable on the different setting - I felt really immersed on the Arabian culture since there is a lot of words and cultural elements (don't worry, there is a glossary by the end of the book if you don't know the meaning of something).

The other thing that I loved where the characters and their relationships. Shahrzad is an amazing character, she can be totally wrong for the historical accuracy of this story but I say fuck accuracy, I want a strong, kick-ass female lead and that she definitely is. Khalid was an amazing character too, you know he will be a complex one since from the start and it was oh, so good to get to know him. Their relationship doesn't disappoint either, it was intense and gave me feelings since their first interaction and this only grew to epic proportions, I honestly can't even say how I got to this level of shipping, is like I need to create a whole new scale (seriously, I'm not exaggeration, there was one scene that was even before the 30% mark and I was already deep on feelings).

So yeah, I really think you should read this book because it's awesome and there is an epic romance, a intrinsic story that will remind you of classical tales and one of the best writings.