The Romance Bookie

Hey Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate) with loved ones.  Ours was very nice, one of the nicest we've had in a long time.  Our son is old enough now to get more into it, than he did last year (he was only 3 months old last year), and it was such a joy to see him get excited to open presents, enjoy food, listening to Christmas music, and spending time with family.   I ended up reading a quick read the other night, and thought I'd share my thoughts on it. Pumpkin Heads  by Rainbow Rowell, and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks. From Goodreads: Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world.  (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different --Josi...

 Hey Everyone! I am really excited to write this review.  I didn't think I would I would be able to read another book this year, let alone two, and then also have one of them be a favorite of the year!  I am on a roll this month and trying to keep the momentum going! For my review today I have an audiobook I got to listen to, for American Royals  by Katharine McGee. From Goodreads: What if America had a royal family? When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne. As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America's first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling. Nobody cares about the spare except when she's breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn't care much about anything, either...except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her. And then there Samantha's twin, Prince Jefferson. If ...

 Hey! So last book from my weekend reading binge, for now! This is for the novel I actually read this weekend.  Truly Truly enjoyed this one! My review for To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin! From Goodreads: Savannah is dreading being home alone with her overbearing mother after her sister goes off to college.  But if she can just get through senior year, she'll be able to escape to college, too.  What she doesn't count on is that her mother's obsession with weight has only grown deeper since her appearance on an extreme weight-loss show, and now Savvy's mom is pressuring her even harder to be constantly mindful of what she eats. Between her mom's diet-helicoptering, missing her sister, and worrying about her collegiate future, Savvy has enough to worry about.  And then she meets George, the cute new kid at school who has insecurities of his own. As Savvy and George grow closer, they help each other discover how to live in the moment and enjoy the here ...

 Hey Everyone! I finally managed to finish a book!  A lot has been going on, so I haven't had the time or the head to really get into reading recently.  But I found the manga version of Rainbow Rowell's novel Fangirl  at Barnes and Noble the other day, and had to pick it up.  I seem to really be into YA Manga Adaptations this year! Anyway, I finished it today! From Goodreads: The manga adaptation of the beloved novel by #1 Bestselling author Rainbow Rowell!  Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can't let it go. Now that they're in college, Cath must decide if she's ready to start living her own life.  But does she even want to if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? Cath doesn't need friends IRL. She has her twin sister, Wren, and she's a popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow community with thousands of fans online. But now t...

 Hello Everyone! It's been a minute! I have not been able to read much lately, but finally finished a book!  July was not a good reading month for me, hopefully this month will be a bit better!   I ended up finally finishing Tokyo Ever After  by Emiko Jean yesterday! From Goodreads: Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in -- it isn't easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, Northern California town.  Raised by a single mother, it's always been Izumi --or Izzy, because "It's easier this way" -- and her mom against the world.  But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father's identity... and he's none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess. In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the county she always dreamed of.  But being a princess isn't all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hung...

 Hey! I finally finished an actual novel this month!  It's been a rather odd month.  I'm feeling off at the moment, can't really explain it, but my head has been in the clouds so to say.   But anyway, finished an actual book in July, instead of another graphic novel. The Girl Least Likely by Katy Loutzenhiser was released on June 29th, so a new release! From Goodreads: To All the Boys meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (with a dash of Dumplin' ) in this funny, romantic, and heartfelt coming of age story about a teen stand-up comic learning how to be her truest self, from the author of If You're Out There . Gretchen has always been more of a "least likely" than a "most likely" kind of girl. So how does she somehow find herself living out every trope from her favorite rom-coms...? The Best Friend Crush: Why is it suddenly so hard to act normal around her childhood BFF, Samuel? Must be time for a -- Makeover(!): Black leather pants and some red lipstic...

 Hello! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I can't believe it is Monday again and that we are approaching the midway point for 2021 already!  It is seriously blowing my mind how fast time is passing by!   Last night I finished Nicola Yoon latest release Instructions for Dancing ! From Goodreads: Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore.  Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began...and how it will end.  After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually. As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance Studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X.  X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything -- including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl...

 Hello! Today's review is on Sophie Kinsella's Love Your Life ! Sophie Kinsella is also the author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and  Undomestic Goddess   (which I reviewed back in early 2011!) I hope everyone is having a good week so far!  It's been a little rough for me, but getting through it slowly.  Taking it one day at a time. :) From Goodreads: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Owe You One , an utterly delightful novel about a young woman who ditches her dating app for a writer's retreat in Italy -- only to find that real love ones with its own filters. Call Ava romantic, but she thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign.  She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a writer's retreat in remote, coastal Italy. She's determined to finish writing the novel s...

 Hey! Today's review is for Four Days of You and Me  by Miranda Kenneally! I am enjoying reading so much again, I am just on a roll!   From Goodreads: A new swoon-worthy romance following a couple's love story on the same date over four years. Every May 7, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip.  And every year, Lulu's relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated.  Freshman year, they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room.  It's been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since. Through breakups, makeups, and dating other people, each year's class trip brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection.  From the science museum to an amusement park, from New York City to London, Lulu learns one thing is for sure: love is the biggest trip of all.  My Thoughts: This one was cute!  I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite Mi...

 Hey Everyone! I finished another book! I'm on a serious roll, and I don't want to lose my momentum!  Three books in April, so far!  That's crazy, unheard of for me, in the last few years.  I'm really excited, to have possibly gotten out of this long a** reading slump I've been on for way too long!  And I finished a NEW Book!  Like from this year!!!  I know crazy, right?! 😄 I finished Crystal Maldonado's debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which came out in February.   From Goodreads: Coming of age as Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.  Harder when your whole life is on fire, though. Charlie Vega is a lot of things.  Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one.  Especially her mom.  Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help.  The world and everyone in it ha...

Hey Everyone! Finished another audiobook on my way to work!  This time it was Wonder  by RJ Palacio. I have been seeing Wonder  on store shelves for years now.  It caught my eye after a while, because I was just constantly seeing it everywhere! It's been on my radar for a while now.  I used to work at an elementary school, and one of the fifth grade teachers, read this book out loud to her class, so made me gain even more interest. It turns out this book has been popular for good reason! From Goodreads : I won't describe what I look like.  Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school.  Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid -- but his new classmates can't get past Auggie's extraordinary face.  WONDER, now a #1 New York Times Bestseller and included on ...

I haven't done a book tour in quite some time.  I would say it has been at least a couple of years!  But when I was given the amazing opportunity to be a part of Colleen Hoover's latest release, It Ends With Us , I knew I had to be a part of it!  Especially since it is summer, I am home more often than during the school year, and it just couldn't have worked out better! So time for the review! :) Description From Goodreads : Image provided by Publisher for Blog Tour Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most. Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants.  She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up -- she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business.  So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubb...

Hello Everyone! I've got another review for y'all! I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an advanced copy of Run  by Kody Keplinger when I went to YALL West in May, and have been reading it slowly over the past couple of months.  It was really good, but it was a book I needed to be in the mind set to read, so that's why it took me a while.  Plus a lot of things have been going on in my life lately, it's been both an exciting and yet very sad year so far. But anyway, finally got it done!  So here's my review of Run by Kody Keplinger! Note:  This is an ARC review! From Goodreads : Bo Dickinson is a girl with a wild reputation, a deadbeat dad, and a mama who's not exactly sober most of the time.  Everyone in town knows the Dickinsons are a bad lot, but Bo doesn't care what anyone thinks. Agnes Atwood has never gone on a date, never even stayed out past ten, and never broken any of her parents' overbearing rules.  Rules that are ...

Hey Everyone! While my life was pretty crazy last year, it is nothing compared to this year.  Taking five classes in a university, while working two jobs is no joke!! And while yes, I'm still technically on hiatus, that doesn't mean I can't post a review here and there, when I actually do find the chance to read, right?? Well, last week I had been so fed up with homework, and work, that I literally just went into the office in our house, where my single book shelf is (the majority of my books are in storage, until my boyfriend and I can get a bigger place to live), and picked up a book I've been meaning to read for years now.  In fact, since high school!  I've seen this book many many time, both in libraries and book stores, but just never have gotten around to picking it up...why? I don't know!  But it's finally happened, and I have joined the Georgia Nicolson band wagon! A little late? you may be thinking? ;), the book did get released in the year ...

So I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I am out of my reading rut...and it's all thanks to Gayle Forman. I am a big Gayle Forman fan!  I've read all of her YA novels, and just absolutely love all of them!  They are all so powerful and beautiful, and impossible to put down! I Was Here , her latest release, was one of those books that I actually wanted to pick up every chance I got to read a bit.  I would have finished it sooner, but I went on vacation to San Diego for a days this past weekend, and I couldn't make my boyfriend sit there, as I read for hours, especially since we had a lot of exciting things to do! But anyway, this one really stuck with me...and for some tough reasons. From Goodreads : Cody and Meg were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Until . . . they weren’t anymore.   When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared ever...

Hey Everyone!! So this marks the last day of #ReadTheDUFF Read-a-long! I am currently in Florida, enjoying a much needed vacation with my amazing boyfriend at Walt Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but I still wanted to share with you guys once again, a book that is very special and close to my heart! So this is the first time I've ever done this, but for the first time ever I, The Romance Bookie, will be RE-Reviewing a book!!!  Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this! But when you feel so passionate about a story, and it's been years and years since you've reviewed it, why not?! Anyway, I reviewed Kody Keplinger's debut novel, The DUFF back in 2011 ( HERE is that review), shortly after it first was released, and it was one of my very very first reviews! No joke! One of the reasons, why I'm Re-Reviewing The DUFF , is because back in 2011, The DUFF did not get a proper review on it's own.  It was put together with a bunch...