ARC Review: What If It’s Us

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Title: What If It’s Us

Author: Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Series: N/A

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s UK

Release Date: October 18th 2018

Rating:

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a show-stopping romance when you least expect it.

Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t quite nail a first date…or a second first date…or a third?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work…and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

–Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Emergency Contact

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Title: Emergency Contact

Author: Mary H.K. Choi

Series: N/A

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Release Date: March 27th 2018

Rating:

“Smart and funny, with characters so real and vulnerable, you want to send them care packages. I loved this book.” —Rainbow Rowell

From debut author Mary H.K. Choi comes a compulsively readable novel that shows young love in all its awkward glory—perfect for fans of Eleanor & Park and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

For Penny Lee high school was a total non-event. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch – via text – and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

Queens of Geek

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Title: Queens of Geek

Author: Jen Wilde

Series: N/A

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Release Date: March 14th 2017

Rating:

Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought. Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favourite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

Always Never Yours

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Title: Always Never Yours

Author: Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka

Series: N/A

Publisher: Penguin Books

Release Date: May 22nd 2018

Rating:

Megan Harper is the girl before. All her exes find their one true love right after dating her. It’s not a curse or anything, it’s just the way things are, and Megan refuses to waste time feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theatre, and fulfilling her dream school’s acting requirement in the smallest role possible.

But her plans quickly crumble when she’s cast as none other than Juliet – yes, that Juliet – in her high school’s production. It’s a nightmare. No—a disaster. Megan’s not an actress and she’s certainly not a Juliet. Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright who agrees to help Megan catch the eye of a sexy stagehand in exchange for help writing his new script.

Between rehearsals and contending with her divided family, Megan begins to notice Owen—thoughtful, unconventional, and utterly unlike her exes, and wonders: shouldn’t a girl get to play the lead in her own love story?

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

Autoboyography

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Title: Autoboyography

Author: Christina Lauren

Series: N/A

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Release Date: September 12th 2017

Rating:

Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community.

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar – where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester – Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

ARC Review: From Twinkle, With Love

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Title: From Twinkle, With Love

Author: Sandhya Menon

Series: N/A

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: May 22nd 2018

Rating:

The next heartwarming YA romcom from Sandhya Menon, bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi.

Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore—if only the world would listen. So when nerdy classmate and fellow film-obsessive Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a film for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle can’t wait.

The chance to showcase her artistic voice?

Dream come true.

The opportunity to get closer to longtime crush, Neil Roy—aka Sahil’s twin brother?

Dream come even truer.

When Twinkle receives an email from a secret admirer – the mysterious ‘N’ – she is sure it’s Neil, finally ready for their happy ending.

The only problem is that, in the course of their movie-making, she has found herself falling for Sahil—the wrong brother.

Twinkle soon realises that resistance is futile:

The romance she’s got isn’t the one she scripted…

But will it be enough?

Told through letters Twinkle writes to her favourite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, With Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review: Leah on the Offbeat

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Title: Leah on the Offbeat

Author: Becky Albertalli

Series: Creekwood, #2

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: May 3rd 2018

Rating:

In this sequel to the acclaimed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda – soon to be a major motion picture, Love, Simon – we follow Simon’s BFF Leah as she grapples with changing friendships, first love, and senior year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mum, and her life is decidedly less privileged. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realises she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review: The Exact Opposite of Okay

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Title: The Exact Opposite of Okay

Author: Laura Steven

Series: N/A

Publisher: Electric Monkey

Release Date: March 8th 2018

Rating:

Izzy O’Neill is an aspiring comic, an impoverished orphan, and a Slut Extraordinaire. Or at least, that’s what the malicious website flying round the school says. Izzy can try all she wants to laugh it off – after all, her sex life, her terms – but when pictures emerge of her doing the dirty with a politician’s son, her life suddenly becomes the centre of a national scandal. Izzy’s never been ashamed of herself before, and she’s not going to start now. But keeping her head up will take everything she has…

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

I received an ARC of this book free from Electric Monkey. It in no way affects my views on The Exact Opposite of Okay.

ARC Review: The Truth and Lies of Ella Black

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Title: The Truth and Lies of Ella Black

Author: Emily Barr

Series: N/A

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: January 11th 2018

Rating:

Ella Black seems to live the life most other seventeen-year-olds would kill for…

Until one day, telling her nothing, her parents whisk her off to Rio de Janeiro. Determined to find out why, Ella takes her chance and searches through their things.

And realises her life has been a lie.

Her mother and father aren’t hers at all. Unable to comprehend the truth, Ella runs away, to the one place they’ll never think to look—the favelas.

But there she learns a terrible secret—the truth about her real parents and their past. And the truth about a mother, desperate for a daughter taken from her seventeen years ago…

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com

I received an ARC of this book free from Penguin Platform. It in no way affects my views on The Truth and Lies of Ella Black.

The One Memory of Flora Banks

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Title: The One Memory of Flora Banks

Author: Emily Barr

Series: N/A

Publisher: Penguin

Release Date: January 12th 2017

Rating:

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumour that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora’s fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life.

With little more than the words “be brave” inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway, the land of the midnight sun, determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must “be brave” if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.

– Blurb courtesy of goodreads.com