BookAHolics Anonymous (My Name is ____, and I'm a BookAHolic): books read in 2017

Showing posts with label books read in 2017. Show all posts

Monday, June 19, 2017

Book Review: A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody

AUTHOR: Jessica Brody

PUBLISHED: August 2, 2016
PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

PAGES: 464

SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone

SOURCE: Bought
CHALLENGES: None

OUTLINE:

When I made the wish, I just wanted a do-over. Another chance to make things right. I never, in a million years, thought it might actually come true...

Sixteen-year-old Ellison Sparks is having a serious case of the Mondays. She gets a ticket for running a red light, she manages to take the world’s worst school picture, she bombs softball try-outs and her class election speech (note to self: never trust a cheerleader when she swears there are no nuts in her bake-sale banana bread), and to top it all off, Tristan, her gorgeous rocker boyfriend suddenly dumps her. For no good reason!

As far as Mondays go, it doesn’t get much worse than this. And Ellie is positive that if she could just do it all over again, she would get it right. So when she wakes up the next morning to find she’s reliving the exact same day, she knows what she has to do: stop her boyfriend from breaking up with her. But it seems no matter how many do-overs she gets or how hard Ellie tries to repair her relationship, Tristan always seems bent set on ending it. Will Ellie ever figure out how to fix this broken day? Or will she be stuck in this nightmare of a Monday forever?

Video

In a nutshell

I've read one other book by Jessica Brody (52 Reasons to Hate My Father) and really enjoyed her characters. They are the perfect blend of real, snarky, and ever changing. A Week of Mondays was no exception to this formula.

I'm not going to say I didn't go into this thinking it would be WAY similar to another book. I'd like to say that I don't think that after reading this. The only thing I can say that was more or less similar was the "reliving the same day day over and over again*

The book is broken down into 7 Mondays, and at the end of each Monday we get a chapter that takes us back to how Ellie met Tristan which I really found interesting because we learned how they became a couple.

Characters

As I said up top I love her characters. They are flawed, and that makes them a bit more relatable to me.

I believe that Ellie learns something new each Monday that she lives, and despite almost always getting dumped she becomes more aware of who she is and what she has.

Owen is that best friend who secretly has a crush on Ellie. I love these type of best friends because at first they may seem unimportant but in the end they become something. They sometimes have it harder then the MC and still remain grounded (usually).

Ending

I loved the ending it definitely had the HEA that I love to see, but it did it so easily after the the crazy week of Mondays Ellie went through. It wasn't explained as to why or how it happened. I know that sometimes it doesn't need that, but I'm curious.

My Journey through Goodreads

READING PROGRESS

May 2, 2017 – Started Reading

May 3, 2017 –

page 50

10.78%

May 5, 2017 –

page 151

32.54% "I love the way the author writes her characters."

May 5, 2017 –

page 222

47.84% "I'm the freakin' soft drink of girls- Ellie"

May 6, 2017 –

page 346

74.57% "I love it. the author added one of her other books into this one by making it a magazine cover that ellie picked up."

May 7, 2017 – Finished Reading

Monday, April 3, 2017

Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

AUTHOR: Erin Morgenstern

PUBLISHED: September 13, 2011
PUBLISHER: Doubleday

PAGES: 400

SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone

SOURCE: Bought
CHALLENGES: None

OUTLINE:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices plastered on lampposts and billboards. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within these nocturnal black-and-white striped tents awaits an utterly unique, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stare in wonderment as the tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and become deliciously tipsy from the scents of caramel and cinnamon that waft through the air.

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves.

Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is under way--a contest between two young illusionists, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in a "game" to which they have been irrevocably bound by their mercurial masters. Unbeknownst to the players, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

As the circus travels around the world, the feats of magic gain fantastical new heights with every stop. The game is well under way and the lives of all those involved--the eccentric circus owner, the elusive contortionist, the mystical fortune-teller, and a pair of red-headed twins born backstage among them--are swept up in a wake of spells and charms.

But when Celia discovers that Marco is her adversary, they begin to think of the game not as a competition but as a wonderful collaboration. With no knowledge of how the game must end, they innocently tumble headfirst into love. A deep, passionate, and magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

Their masters still pull the strings, however, and this unforeseen occurrence forces them to intervene with dangerous consequences, leaving the lives of everyone from the performers to the patrons hanging in the balance.

Both playful and seductive, The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern's spell-casting debut, is a mesmerizing love story for the ages.

My Review in Video