Kissing Frogs

by Rich Amooi

Summary from GoodReads

Summer is finally here and Geography teacher Sara Larson has exactly one month to find the perfect date for the wedding of a high school rival. The odds seem stacked against her, but the last thing she wants is to sit at the kids’ table again. Or even worse, the singles’ table. While trudging through an assortment of certified losers, Sara fights her attraction towards Ian, the irresistible guy next door. 

Art teacher Ian McBride has a dream of opening his own gallery, but for now he’s focused on sculpting a gift for his grandparents’ fiftieth anniversary and enjoying a relaxing summer. However, Ian is blind-sided when crazy, beautiful Sara and her giant dog move in next door and rock his world. Too bad she wants nothing to do with him. 

How can Sara avoid the attraction that sizzles between them and stick to her rule of not dating neighbors? As far as Ian’s concerned, the prince Sara is looking for is right under her nose. And one kiss just might change everything. 

KISSING FROGS is a fun, fast-paced romantic comedy guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Let the fun begin!

Thoughts on the Book

I bought this one for my kindle.  I thought it looked like a cute fairy tale retelling based off of the cover.

My Review

This book was not a fairy tale retelling, it was a contemporary romance about two neighbors.

I do enjoy contemporary romances, so even though it had nothing to do with actually kissing frogs who were princes in disguise I thought I would still like it.  The end of the summary calls it "fast-paced" which is no understatement.  It went too quickly to even enjoy any of the tension.  You never really got to know either of the characters, then other characters randomly showed up for no purpose at all.  I've read my fair share of romance novellas that have been amazing, this one definitely fell short of that.  It might have been better if the characters were actually hashed out and instead of the author telling you things he let you see and experience those things.  

There was a lot of stuff that was like really?  For example Sara's first date with the guy who brought his mother along.  Or her dog eating a small box of artisan chocolates and getting sick.  I'm guessing the box of chocolates weren't 100% cocoa and there weren't a hundred of those pieces.  If that's the case, her St. Bernard would be fine.  Maybe if she had a Yorkie that ate a large box of dark chocolate that whole rushing to the vet thing would have made sense.  Do you research before you jump on topics like this for the 'thrill'.

Overall I give this a 3/10.  It was a waste of my time to read, but I was able to get through it, I guess the "fast pace" was good for something...

Immersed

by Katie Hayoz

Summary from GoodReads

Forget petticoats and demure female behavior. Melusine Doré prefers armored corsets and knives and slays evil creatures for a living. The grim and gruesome don’t frighten her; she’ll take on a cyclops or a dragon and not even break a sweat. But when her rival, the charismatic Levi Cannon, comes to town, all her buried fears begin to surface. Melusine realizes she is in danger of something much more horrifying than facing blood-thirsty beasts – she’s in danger of falling in love. Because love alone has the power to reveal a secret terrible enough to completely shatter her world.

Set in the muddy streets of 1850s steampunk Chicago, Immersed by Katie Hayoz is a dark yet romantic fantastical romp. It is a stand-alone novella, but the first in a series of adventures that follow Melusine on her quest to rid the world of monsters…and her struggle to come to terms with every monstrous facet of herself. 

Thoughts on the Book

I got this book through NetGalley.  I thought the premise sounded very cool.

My Review

This book is about Melusine, a cursed monster-killer.  She gets forced into working with her arch enemy, Levi, a fellow monster-killer.

I loved the world Hayoz built.  It's a steampunk Chicago filled with mythological creatures.  I love the rivalry between Melusine and Levi, and the tension between them.  I really enjoyed learning about Melusine's curse as well and the reason behind it.  I want to know more about her family life!  

My main issue with this book is that it was too short, some things felt kind of rushed or glossed over.  If Hayoz had taken time to really draw out some of the stuff, especially between Melusine and Levi, it would have been so much better!  Which is saying a lot since it was awesome as is.

I give this one a 9/10.  I can't wait to read more from this world!

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between

by Jennifer E. Smith

Summary From GoodReads

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.

Thoughts on the Book

Yet another BEA pick.  I grabbed this book at the same time as The Thing About Jellyfish, I really wanted to read this one, I was in the mood for a good romance after the let down of City Love.

My Review

This book is about Clare and Aidan.  Clare wants to break up because they're going to opposite coasts for college, Aidan doesn't because he thinks they can survive the long distance thing.  The book takes place in their last night at home, Clare tries to convince Aidan to break up.

I don't like Clare, she's the stereotypical control freak girl who always gets exactly what she wants, no matter what anyone else thinks.  There was nothing redeeming about her in the story.  It starts with her making up her mind to break up with Aidan because it's the easiest thing to do.  She wants their relationship to remain perfect, they end it with a bittersweet goodbye before moving on with their lives rather than dealing with feelings and getting caught up in emotions and having it either fizzle out or explode in a horrible break up.  Because, clearly these are the only options for a long distant relationship.

Aidan, however, is much more normal.  He plans for things that he can plan for, but goes with the flow for other things, like his relationship with Clare.  He thinks that they should stay together for the simple reason that he loves her, and cannot imagine being without her, even if it's just being with her via talking and texting over the phone.

There are two other side characters that show up periodically throughout the night, Stella and Scotty.  They are Clare and Aidan's respective best friends.  Stella is about to leave for college as well, and Scotty is staying behind for community college.  They're both fun characters who are going through their own difficult goodbyes before the semester begins.

Now, I'm actually going to go a little into spoiler territory because it was the major issue I had with the book (aside from Clare). So I'm giving my rating before the end of the review so you can avoid accidentally reading the spoilers.

I give this a 7/10.  I mostly enjoyed it, three of the four characters were great.  Clare and the prologue at the end were what really bothered me with it.



***SPOILERS***

I liked that Aidan stuck with the decision to remain broken up after Clare finally admitted how she felt about him.  I like how they agreed on 'later' rather than be together or be apart.  I did not like how Clare decided that there can be absolutely no contact for three months.  How is that fair to Aidan?  It was easier for her, so that's all that mattered.  Then by Thanksgiving they were dating other people? What was that?  They needed to be with someone so badly that they dated some poor guy/girl while they were pining over someone else because being alone was too horrible?  Not to mention Aidan's dramatic kiss when he sees her again before the two of them were like, oh yeah, I have a boyfriend/girlfriend.  Way to treat your And their "later" was pretty crappy too.  Wow, 9 months.  I wish after Thanksgiving they weren't dating other people, but were able to become friends.  Then have the bowling ball thing happen into their senior year after they've actually had life experiences and seriously dated other people (or not, if they always felt like it was cheating), before coming back together.  It seemed more like they decided to get back together just before summer break so they could be together then.  It was almost a really great ending, but it just fell short.

Lord Fenton's Folly

by Josi S. Kilpack

Summary from GoodReads

Lord Fenton is a gambler, a dandy, and a flirt—and he must marry or else he will be disinherited, stripped of his wealth and his position. He chooses Alice Stanbridge for two simple reasons: he once knew her as a young girl, and she is the least objectionable option available to him.

However, Alice has harbored feelings for Fenton since their first meeting ten years ago, and she believes his proposal is real. When she discovers it is not, she is embarrassed and hurt. However, a match with the most-eligible bachelor in London would secure not only her future but that of her family as well.

Determined to protect herself from making a fool of herself a second time, Alice matches Lord Fenton wit for wit and insult for insult as they move toward a marriage of convenience that is anything but a happy union. Only when faced with family secrets that have shaped Fenton’s life does he let down his guard enough to find room in his heart for Alice. But can Alice risk her heart a second time?

Thoughts on the Book

I love a good romance novel.  Sadly it seems like a lot of them these days are all about the smut.  Which is fine, if that's what you're looking for in a book, but sometimes you just really want to read a romance that is actual about romance: two people falling in love with each other, and that actually has a plot.  At BEA Shadow Mountain publishers gave me this book to review and told me that this was what they call a proper romance (meaning a romance without the X-rated frivolity), so needless to say I was intrigued.  Especially when I got home and looked at the cover, it looks like a book full of heaving bosoms and loosening corset strings with no plot other than said corset coming off.  I was happy to find that the book did live up to its proper romance status.

My Review

This book is about a young man, Lord Fenton, who is over the top and ridiculous whilst discontent with his life.  His home life isn't ideal, his father is a jerk, but his mother is a wonderful person whom he loves greatly.  Lord Fenton ends up marrying Alice Stanbridge, a girl six years his junior and an old family friend.  The story is about why they marry and how they navigate said marriage.

Lord Fenton can be off-putting, he has this persona of a stupid careless boy who loves to dress in the most offensive manner (I cringed just reading the descriptions of his clothing, embroidered humming birds on his waistcoat, really?).  He's extremely unlikable when he's acting like this, but the first time you see him this way  you see how much he hates his persona and how sick he is with that part of society.  The shifting perspectives from Alice to Fenton is the only way that Kilpack could write him that made him even remotely likable.  By being able to understand his feelings and have access to his thoughts you were able to sympathize (or maybe even empathize) with him.  I definitely pitied him towards the end of the book

Alice on the other hand was awesome.  She stood up for herself, and while her curt responses to Fenton seemed improper for a girl of her standing, she did remarkably well keeping her socialite persona in place.  To anyone but Fenton she played the perfect demure high society girl.  She paid the correct amount of attention to the correct people, said the correct things at the correct time.  She even had all of the desired qualities of girls at that time, she sewed, she played the piano, and she sang.  The perfect British noble-woman.  However, it was away from society that Alice really stood out and shone.  Like Fenton that was just her persona for London, in reality she was just as caring and genuine, but she was a gardener, that was her passion.  She wanted, more than anything, to be elbows-deep in dirt planting things.  She also refused to be bossed around and told what to do by her husband.  She stood up to him and fought until she had her way, much to Fenton's chagrin.

This book was really character driven, I love the growth of Fenton, or perhaps the regression of Fenton back to what he was like at sixteen before he was exposed to the negative aspects of his family.  The other characters in the story didn't change much.  Alice just grew up, her childhood crush turned into more genuine feelings for Fenton and less romantic feelings for the idea of him.  But it was Alice which spurred Fenton into becoming the best version of himself

Towards the end of the novel things got a little predictable for me, but not completely.  There was still a surprise or two, mostly because I had forgotten a seemingly insignificant sentence from earlier in the book.  But the ending was perfect, all of it.  Fenton and his father, Fenton and Alice.  It was great.

I give this book a 8/10.  It was such a fun quick read with great characters.  I couldn't put it down!  There were some characters, like Alice's family, that should have made a reappearance at the end of the book, it felt weird that they weren't there.  And the end was a little too predictable for my taste.

City Love

by Susan Colasanti

Summary from GoodReads

Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives.

Sadie is a native New Yorker. She is hopeful, romantic, and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. Then she meets her dream boy: cute, funny, and quirky in all the right ways. The chemistry between them is unreal. Could he be the one?

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources. Moving to New York City is just another adventure for her. Darcy wants this summer to be all about boy adventures—nothing serious. But how much fun is too much?

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC so she can put her past behind her and reinvent herself. The only thing standing in her way is the grand total of seventy-three cents she has saved. Then she meets a guy who wants to show her the glamorous side of New York—a side that she would never get to experience on her own. If Rosanna doesn't resist, she may find herself in city love.

Told from alternating points of view, City Love captures the moments in each girl's life when everything is thrilling, amazing, and terrifying all at once . . . in a way it will never be again. 

Thoughts on the Book

Another book I got at BEA.  This book sounded really good, I love New York, I live NYC adjacent and I go into the city all the time, so a romance book that takes place there, awesome!  And the cover looked awesome, nice and pink with the skyline and a couple in the background (don't take the dust cover off though, without the pink overlay it just looks stupid).  So full of promise.

My Review

This book is about 3 girls, Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna, and how they find love in the city.  Each chapter is from a different girl's point of view.  It takes place in the girls' summer before freshman year of college at UNY (which, incidentally, doesn't exist, there's CUNY in NYC or one of the SUNY schools outside of the city, none of which are referred to as UNY).  Sadie is searching for her soul mate around every corner, Darcy is trying to hook up with as many boys as possible, and Rosanna is struggling to survive with only $0.75 in her bank account.  Oh, and the story takes place over 11 days.

All three girls are annoying.  Sadie and Darcy are 100% irresponsible.  Rosanna is better, she's more mature, she cares more about important things than the other two.  However all three girls are horribly naive and are unrealistically optimistic about life and the city.  And they're constantly having these "awesome adult conversations" about love.  They're all completely inexperienced in that department.  Disney movies and romantic comedies don't realistically portray love people, stop acting like they do.

Let's start with Darcy, she took a year off after high school to travel around Europe, and treats it like it's the most normal thing in the world to do.  Meanwhile she has a boyfriend who she's madly in love with, but who breaks up with her right before she flies to New York because he doesn't want to deal with the long distance.  I guess he was cool with a year in Europe being long distance, but New York was just too far?  So to retaliate Darcy thinks it's healthy to have as many hookups as possible with as many random boys as she can starting the day after the  break up.  How very adult of her.

Sadie grew up in the West Village.  Her parents aren't wealthy, but they're comfortable.  Sadie is sick of dealing with overprotective parents and wants to move away.  So she moves a few blocks over, still in the West Village, into summer housing provided by the school (for a fee).  Very practical.  Oh, and instead of saving money and doing laundry at home, she refuses and does it at her apartment.  She clearly doesn't understand what college is about, you plan your laundry so you can bring as much as possible home to do.  Ask anyone that's gone to college.  She's unrealistically optimistic about everything, how wonderful the city is, doing random acts of kindness, giving out "warm fuzzies" thinking that they'll make everyone just as happy as her!  If I ever found one of those I would wonder who would waste their time with such nonsense before throwing it in the nearest trash can.  And i'm not nearly as judgmental and cynical as most city people.  I really wanted Sadie to see one of her warm fuzzies trampled on the street just so it would completely shatter her world.  Then there's her whole "right around the corner" nonsense.  She's so obsessed with finding her soul mate.  She firmly believes that they exist.  She believes it so firmly that she is completely ignorant of all of the bad signs when she meets a boy.

Rosanna.  She's from a poor, large, family in Chicago.  Her whole life she's felt like she should live in NYC, so college, the first chance she gets, she moves to New York, with loads of loans and no backup funds.  To go into social work.  Very smart, cause, ya know, there are no good schools in Chicago to get a degree in social work without racking up tons of debt before moving to New York for her career, or internships.  She has a bit more depth of character than the other two, her horrible past is actually horrible, and worth her anxiety about things that remind her of it.  However, with her background, how is she so into New York and overly optimistic about every part of it?  It's completely at odds with her personality and past.  She claims that she's cynical, but I see no evidence of cynicism in her exuberance of being in Manhattan.  She's not even cynical of D or Darcy, who both flaunt money like the people she claims to hate.  I don't that word means what she thinks it means...

So, on day 2 for Sadie, she meets her "soul mate" at her internship.  She's an incoming freshman, Austin's an incoming senior.  Not a horrible age gap, but there's so much growing up she has to do during her first year or two of college that it's a little odd he's so into her and finds her completely mature and responsible.  But then again, he says that counting doors is "his jam", so I suppose he's at the same maturity level as her.  The "surprise" at the end regarding Austin went a bit to far, and like everything else in the story was over the top, so I guess it fit.

Day 3 is when Rosanna met her boy, D (or Donovan) at a party after a random girl decided she hated her and spilled her drink all over Rosanna's only good top.  This relationship progressed a bit more normally.  By day 11 they're not boyfriend/girlfriend, even though they are on track for it, they're taking things slowly and feeling each other out.  I foresee very bad things happening between them in book two (how is there a sequel to this?).  D is Rosanna's opposite in every way.  He's a son of a Wall Street investment guy, so he's following his father's path.  His parents bought him a crazy flat in Tribeca and paid for it to be renovated.  So much for letting your kids find their way in the world.  I guess it's easier to parent just by giving them everything.

Day 1 for Darcy, she hooks up with a random guy.  Keep in mind this is no more than 48 hours after her ex completely and utterly shattered her heart.  Day 2 for Darcy, she hooks up with a different random guy.  Day 3 for Darcy, she meets Jude, a street performer.  This is pretty much how her summer goes.  Or at least the first 9 days of her summer.  But no worries, because by the 8th/9th day she realizes that she's had enough of that life style and is totally over her ex.  Darcy is completely bankrolled by her father.  His only stipulation is that by the end of her freshman year she has a life plan.  Once she has that he'll buy her a great apartment in NYC and set her up there so she can life in total comfort.  What a great father, teaching his daughter proper values.

I give this book a 4.5/10.  It was sort of entertaining, but ended up just getting ridiculous.  Every character was unlikable, each one more than the next.  I think Jude and Rosanna were the only two even remotely likable/realistic.  That being said, I'm sure I'm going to read the sequel because I'm a masochist.  I sincerely hope this book doesn't get crazy popular with high schoolers who think it's awesome to give out warm fuzzies.  Stupidest idea ever.