Magnolia by Kristi Cook

Title: Magnolia
Series: –
Author: Kristi Cook
Language: English
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Number of Pages: 306
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date: 3 July – 4 July 2016
Rating on goodreads: 4 Stars

 

Why You Should Read This Book:
The story has great main characters and a very engaging plot. It’s the kind of easy summer read you just have to love. The events of the book were with me while reading (totally was convinced to expect a hurricane any second) and for several days after reading.
I don’t know how far I can judge as a European non-native speaker of English, but I found that there was a hint of the southern drawl in every spoken word and I thoroughly enjoyed that.
It won’t surprise anyone that it ended too early. Time to turn on the head cinema, because I’m not ready to let go of these characters and their story.

We were born exactly six weeks apart, a perfect match, agewise. You can imagine what it’s been like since our mothers first plopped us into a crip together, rubbing their hands in conspirational glee as they planned our wedding.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

Title: The Fill-In Boyfriend
Series: –
Author: Kasie West
Language: English
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Number of Pages: 343
Publisher: Harper Teen
Date: 2 July 2016
Rating on goodreads: 4 Stars

 

Why You Should Read This Book:
Maybe it isn’t the best idea to read three books by the same author within three days. It’s all just too close together, and you can’t help comparing, and you haven’t let go of the other characters yet, … Nonetheless, it was a very beautiful book.
I will admit, I had a hard time getting into it. This was due to the – I would like to say complexity of Gia Montgomery, but it was actually due to the superficiality of Gia Montgomery. Everything about Gia’s life is superficial: her family, which always appears to be perfect; her popularity, which is based on likes on Instagram and retweets on Twitter; her social interactions; her relationships. But then she is dumped by Bradley just because of that superficiality, but to keep up the image of her picture perfect life, she needs a new boyfriend. Enter fill-in Bradley.
This is as far as I struggled. I couldn’t understand this person.
After this fateful evening, as she gets to know fill-in Bradley better, Gia starts to question her life. This is a story about addiction to social media, about humanity, and, most importantly, it is a coming of age story. Towards the end, Gia is beginning her life as a completely different person, a person who is kind and fun and has as close a perfect life as she can have, without being inhumanely perfect, but with a lot of real happiness.

PS: When they first meet, fill-in Bradley wears a T-Shirt with a phone booth on it. Approved.

I’d felt weird since prom, like maybe for the first time I was really evaluating my life and discovering I came up lacking.

I disagreed with people in my head a lot but rarely out loud.

“My brother is extremely loyal. Sometimes to a fault. His loyalty can outweigh his reasoning.”

On The Fence by Kasie West

Title: On The Fence
Series: – (Companion to The Distance Between Us)
Author: Kasie West
Language: English
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Number of Pages: 293
Publisher: Harper Teen
Date: 1 July – 2 July 2016
Rating on goodreads: 4 Stars

 

Why You Should Read This Book:
Wonderful book.
On the Fence is a sequel that isn’t a sequel to The Difference Between Us. You are going to start by recognizing the descriptions of the setting and then suddenly a blonde with pinked tips will arrive and you know, you are back in Old Town. At first I was a bit annoyed at that, then amused, and finally really, really glad that, by some kind of twist of fate, I read The Difference Between Us first, because if I hadn’t, half a page would have been completely random, and some other characters thrown in and mentioned wouldn’t have really made sense.
Anyways, this book is about Charlie, a tomboy who grew up with her Dad and three brothers. Due to things that happen she gets thrown into a completely different world where things are girly and she has to decide who she really is. I loved that part. First, I got a bit worried when she kept changing, but hiding at the same time, but as the book developed, I thought the topic was very nicely dealt with.
This is entertainment at its best.
Read this book, because it has wonderful characters, who have to go through dealing with their past, present, families, and finding out who they really are. The topics are addressed sensibly and sensitively, it doesn’t go too deep, but is exactly right for this type of book and story.

Up for a fence chat?

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

Title: The Distance Between Us
Series: –
Author: Kasie West
Language: English
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Number of Pages: 312
Publisher: Harper Teen
Date: 30 June 2016
Rating on goodreads: 4 Stars

 

Why You Should Read This Book:
This is going to be the shortest review I’ve ever written.
Read. This. Book!
It’s got a super sarcastic (the kind of sarcastic everyone shy wishes they were) main character. A really sweet book-boyfriend, who is actually a good fit for Miss Sarcastic. The book has a good storyline, stretched over a few weeks, with little meetings, time to get to know one another, making it a believable romance between these two. I will admit, there is a bit of coincidence and convenience, but that’s just part (of the charm) of these stories. Plus, there was far less drama and tragedy than I expected when I decided to read this book, making it the perfect read for a quiet Friday night.
100% entertainment value.
And did I mention that Miss Sarcastic is a really strong, confident character who leads women into a new age of lady scientists?

“Because that’s my life: Screaming without making a sounds.”

Would that statement send him running? Probably. So why didn’t I say it out loud?

Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis von Douglas Adam

Buchtitel: Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis
Reihe: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #1
Autor: Douglas Adam
Fiction/Non-Fiction: Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Seitenzahl: 202
Verlag: Heyne
Datum: 13. Mai – 15. Mai 2016
Bewertung: 3 Sterne

Ich habe beschlossen dieses Buch ohne mein Book Journal zu schreiben. Keine Notizen, keine Zitate. Es hat sich als schwerer herausgestellt, als erwartet. Vor allem aber, weil mir so viele Dinge bekannt vorgekommen sind. Das Buch muss am laufenden Band zitiert werden. Also hier doch ein Zitat, wenn auch die englische Version:

 So long, and thanks for all the fish!

The Epilogue by Kiera Cass

Book Title: The Epilogue
Series: Selection #3.1
Author: Kiera Cass
Fiction/Non-Fiction: Fiction
Genre: Romance
Number of Pages: 6
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date: March 9, 2016
Rating: 3 Stars

This is, so far, the only extra chapter I’ve read. I couldn’t help myself, I had to know a little more about the future for these two. (Yes, yes, without reading books 4 and 5.)

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

He loosened his dagger in its sheath, tightened his belt, and went on.

I would like to state that this wasn’t the first time I read this book. Not this late in my life, no. But it has been a while, and it was in German, and it was from my school library, and now I own a copy and it is in English.

Eternity – Ewig ist zu lang von Andalie Herms

Buchtitel: Eternity – Ewig ist zu lang
Reihe: –
Autor: Andalie Herms
Fiction/Non-Fiction: Fiction
Genre: Romance / Fantasy / Crime
Seitenzahl: 278
Verlag: [self-published]
Datum: 21. Mai – 22. Mai 2016
Bewertung: 3,8 Sterne

 „Zu Zeus‘ Töchtern gehören die neun Musen“, fuhr der Wanderer unbeeindruckt fort. „Eine davon, Euterpe, ist die Muse der musikalischen Künste.“

Sea to Sky: Ein Hunter Rayne Highway-Kriminalroman (Hunter Rayne Highway Mystery #3) von R.E. Donald (4 Sterne)

Das Buch

Hunter Rayne ist ein ehemaliger kanadischer Polizist, der nach seiner Scheidung das Leben des einsamen Wolfs bevorzugte und beschloss, Fernfahrer zu werden. Während seines Wochenendurlaubs im Skifahrtort Whistler wird Mike Irwin umgebracht – mit dem Hunter am Abend zuvor öffentlich aneinandergeraten war. In einem Versuch von der Liste der Verdächtigen gestrichen zu werden, schließt sich Hunter mit der örtlichen Polizei und einer Mike separat ermittelnden Privatdetektivin zusammen, um den Mörder zu finden.

Blood Will Tell by C.S. Donnell

Book Title: Blood Will Tell
Series: –
Author: C.S. Donnell
Fiction/Non-Fiction: Fiction
Genre:
Number of Pages: 242
Publisher: Createspace
Date: May 23- May 24 2016
Rating: 3.4

“But he never forgets. You know that.”
“And he never forgives.”

Thank you goodreads and C.S. Donnell for this giveaway! Thank you also for signing this copy! Here is your well-deserved review!