test lol: April 2018

{ about the book }

Royals by Rachel Hawkins
Royals, book 1

Publishes May 1, 2018 by Penguin Random House
e-ARC received from edelweiss

goodreads

Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown—and the intriguing Miles—might be trying to make Daisy into a lady... but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

•´¨`•.¸¸.•´¨`•

{ my review }

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

I ADORE THIS BOOK. It was sooooo much fun and it was the perfect length and whew, did I love that romance!

I, however, did have one issue, which I will be getting to momentarily.

So why was this novel just so much fun? Well, I like to think it’s a classic Hawkins novel: funny main character with lots of sarcasm, a sweet romance (INCLUDING FAKE DATING AND HATE TO LOVE, goodbye!), and one additional thing: royal drama. It’s incredible. I want to read it again because why the hell not? It’s already one of my favourite novels.

I adored Daisy. Her sense of humour was great and the way she narrated made the book at least 87x better. I’m pretty sure she says the sentence “In the year of our lord 2018” as some point and honestly. I adore her. She’s fabulous and funny and I miss her a lot.

I was really worried about this book because it sounded awfully like Prince in Disguise—where the main character’s older sister was also marrying a Scottish prince. I mean, that book had a reality TV show thing going on and Royals and a ton of tabloid stuff, but still, both books were narrated by the younger sister and I feared a lot of things would be… the same, more or less.

But I’m glad to report that (if you’ve read Prince), besides what I’ve pointed out, the stories are incredibly different, and as are the characters. This just had more of a lightness and more of a fun atmosphere throughout… and I liked the romance a lot better.

Speaking of it! Gaaaaaaah. I was worried at first but Hawkins is like a pro at this. Hate to love? Check. Throw in fake dating? DONE. Daisy and Miles were so cute and literally every little interaction had me dying. I adore these two so much and hoo boy, the tension. It’s beautiful. Little bit angsty.

OKAY, NOW FOR THE THING THAT BOTHERED ME. At one point, there’s a scene where—and it’s a bit complicated here, bear with me—the younger brother of Daisy’s older sister’s husband-to-be (did that make sense? I hope so) (yes I realise I could use names but whatever) just kissed Daisy out of nowhere. Like. She clearly didn’t want him to and he misinterpreted and was drunk but nevertheless, that happens and I was not there for it at all. I really wish that wasn’t there because I honestly did not see a point to it.

Overalllll, despite that last thing I mentioned, Royals is a super fun, super light, and super short novel. And I really enjoyed it! 4 stars.

•´¨`•.¸¸.•´¨`•

{ buy the book }

No Comments

{ about the book }

All of This is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor
standalone novel

Publishes May 15, 2018 by HarperTeen
ARC received from my indie's ARC club

goodreads

Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.

Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.

Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’d known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined...

•´¨`•.¸¸.•´¨`•

{ my review }

♫ ♫ ♫

Honestly. This is not the book I would normally pick up. I mean, it definitely sounds intriguing, but this isn't the kind of thriller I'm drawn to.

I... did not like this, really. I thought it was unique and captivating, definitely, but I didn't like any of the characters. It was incredibly hard to feel anything for them, so I basically went the whole novel without caring. Part of it, I think, has to do with how the story is told: through interviews, blog posts, excerpts, and diary entries. Through each, you find out more about the overall, you know, thing that happened, but also about each character.

So, in a way, you could say this was character driven.

Too bad I just didn't like them. So.

I just kinda wanna focus on the media format of this book because that's really made this book more interesting. Basically, this is a book about a book about another book, which is extremely trippy but kinda cool. It really works here and it seems appropriate for the teens. For the interviews, you really hear the voice behind them. For the diary entries, you really get into the head of the writer. For the excerpts, you're sort of distanced from it all, unlike the other formats, but eager to find out how all of it ties together.

And the way it did... well it was definitely something to think about. After I finished it, the ending really bothered me, to a point where I struggled to voice my opinions on it to my friends. It wasn't what I was expecting but I'm still kind of... angry? bitter? annoyed? by it all.

OVERALL. My feelings, like many others—I've read a few other reviews that basically say it better than I do, lmao—are mixed. 3 stars!

•´¨`•.¸¸.•´¨`•

{ buy the book }