Summer Reads!

Summer is nearly over, and some of us still haven’t done quite what we hoped we would. Unfortunately, sometimes the summer of your dreams is unattainable… but you can still experience incredible summer adventures through the following books! With playlists, crazy summer to-do lists, time travel and foreign cities, this reading list will help you experience summer from the comfort of your own home. So grab some lemonade, put on some music, and start reading!

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Emily and Sloane couldn’t be more different. Eccentric, enigmatic and social Sloane knows how to make sure the two have fun despite Emily’s shy and introverted personality. Then Sloane suddenly disappears, leaving a crazy list of things for Emily to do during the summer, from kissing a stranger to apple picking at night. With Sloane gone, Emily begins to to discover herself and learn to live outside Sloane’s shadow. This book is also filled with playlists that the main characters listen to while running, which along with showcasing their personalities, are lovely to listen to while reading about Emily’s summer.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

A chance email about a pet pig brings together a typical small town girl and a movie star in this cliched romance. The novel itself is very light hearted; the characters are easily likeable and the relationship is cute and fluffy. The author incorporates some emails between the two at the beginning of each chapter, adding a quirky twist. A great light and fluffy read to pass the time.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

After her father passes away, Amy’s mother decides to move across the country, leaving Amy to take the car from California to Connecticut. Somehow, the drive becomes a giant road trip full of detours with Roger, whom Amy hasn’t seen in years. The book is full of sketches, playlists, and ticket stubs, making for a scrapbook feel. Nothing screams summer like an epic road trip!

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

This story follows Allyson Healey as she struggles to find herself while trying to please those around her. On the last day of her post-graduation European tour, she agrees to spend a day in Paris with Wilhem, an actor she just meets. The book describes travelling beautifully, making you want to leave everything and catch a plane to someplace far away. Overall, a good read for someone looking for contemporary, realistic fiction or an emotional romance, who doesn’t mind a bit of a slow read.

The Square Root Of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

When Grottie starts losing time, she’s pushed back and forth between the past and present. She’s forced to relive her past tragic summer, where her grandfather died, her best friend moved away, and she got her heart broken. The author weaves physics and math into a contemporary novel, making for an interesting approach to time travel from a reader’s perspective. On top of time travel, the novel deals with loss, friendship, family and heartbreak. The Square Root of Summer is the best of both worlds for someone who enjoys sci-fi and contemporary romance alike.

A Discovery Of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I was really looking forward to reading this book because the copy I was reading, the European version, was beautiful. I guess I shouldn’t have judged the book by it’s cover, because the front is basically the start and end of everything good about it. Perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration. A Discovery Of Witches takes place in modern day London, with Diana Bishop, a witch who has denounced and suppressed all magical aspects of herself. Instead she is a renowned scholar, but one day she stumbles upon an ancient manuscript. Little does she know that the manuscript contains secrets to the magical world, and soon the witches, vampires, and demons who want these secrets come into the picture.

The story had interesting concepts and nicely written descriptions, but was hard to get into. The first half of the book was slow and tedious, but eventually got better. An intriguing aspect of the story was how it used scientific evidence to back up the magic that existed in the world. I would have loved to read more about the scientific aspect throughout the book, rather than only in clumps once or twice.

I found Diana’s relationship with Matthew, scientist and vampire, rather troublesome. Firstly, there was no realistic progression in their relationship. Initially Diana disliked Matthew, and her eventual falling in love with him was a cheesy trope that I usually enjoy. Despite this, I disliked how it was written, making Diana fall so hopelessly in love with Matthew without substantial time or development. Furthermore, Matthew had incredibly old fashioned and misogynistic views, and expected Diana to abide them. Diana made it slightly bearable by calling him out on them, but eventually even that changed. Matthew is possessive and irritating, which in the story is seemingly made okay due to his dark predatory nature as a vampire, as well as his old fashioned upbringing. He is also secretive, not only about his past but about certain hindrances that come when loving vampire. I was keen to learn more about Matthew’s dark background, but not much was revealed.

Overall, I had high hopes but was disappointed. Without its initial bore and its emphasis on Diana’s relationship, it could have been a good read, and I feel there was a lot of lost potential. I hope more of the science, a concept I have nearly never seen before combined with magic, is explored further in next installments, but I doubt I will continue the series.

2.5 Stars

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Taking place twenty years after the Selection trilogy, The Heir follows the story of Princess Eadlyn, daughter of King Maxon and Queen America. Previously, in order to find a suitable match for the Prince of the country, a selection would be held, where randomly selected contestants would all try to win the Prince’s heart. However, the selection process was abolished during King Maxon’s rule, and Eadlyn, future queen, has no interest in romance just yet. She has high expectations set out for her, and she has no intent but to meet them. However, trouble in the kingdom ensues and turns out Eadlyn has to have a selection after all.

Firstly, I felt I was missing out on fully experiencing this book since I didn’t remember the previous stories of characters clearly. Many past characters were shown again, or referenced, and had I read the first trilogy more recently, I might have been more excited to be reading this book. I didn’t care enough about it to reread the selection, but I did end up searching things up on the book’s wiki in order to understand it better.

Eadlyn is incredibly annoying and spoiled. I understand that her being spoiled was important in order to make a point in the story, but nonetheless she was also insensitive and oblivious to the point where it was cringeworthy. An example of how she annoyed me (one of many), was how she continuously insulted Kile, another inhabitant of the castle, on his bookishness. Not only did she never have a reason for these insults or her disliking him, but this also pissed me off on another level, being a bookworm myself. Eadlyn also turned a complete 180 in the way she dealt with a character I will not specify, which was annoying since it had no substance whatsoever. It would have been better if she was eased into it, slowly, or at least given a valid reason too. The only good thing I could say about Eadlyn’s personality was how it was different from most protagonists we read about, who are typically insanely kind and “good” as a whole.

The other characters weren’t so bad. I particularly liked Eadlyn’s carefree and lovesick twin brother, Ahren. However, most of the selection participants just didn’t appeal to me. I never found myself rooting for any of them more than others, and the reader barely gets to know them in the first place.  I think the entire selection aspect is written better through the perspective of a participant, like the first trilogy. There are so many participants in this process that it was confusing and hard to keep track of individual characters.

The entire political aspect was, simply put, lame. It seemed Kiera Cass just wanted to write another romance book surrounding the selection. When she clearly couldn’t, after the selection process was supposed to be abolished, she came up with a bad “political” excuse. I would have rather she wrote a pure romance book than one with a weak political subplot.

Overall, this book was missing both interesting characters and a well written plot line. The original selection trilogy, of which I wasn’t a huge fan of to begin with, was much better and I’m not sure if I will continue this series.

2.5/5 Stars

Kaleidoscope Hearts by Claire Contreras

It’s been a year since Estelle lost her fiance, Wyatt in an accident. She is trying her best to move forward, yet she is still haunted with his memories. When Elle moves in with her brother, Victor, new problems arise since his best friend, Oliver, is also Elle’s ex-lover. Elle and Oliver had a troublesome relationship that was hard on them both.  Elle can’t deny the comfort and attraction Oliver brings along with him, as well as how he is the only guy who’s able to make the ghost of her fiancé disappear for a while. With the high possibility of their history repeating itself, would Estelle give her heart ―the broken pieces that she rebuilt as a kaleidoscope― back to the guy who broke it for the first time?

This story is told from dual POVs. I loved how Elle’s POV in the present and Oliver’s POV in the past, because the story you hear from Elle is very different than that Oliver’s. From Elle, you get the impression that Oliver is a selfish guy who used her like he does with the other women in his life. However, in reality, that isn’t the case. Oliver may have had been a player in the past, but I had no doubt in mind what his feelings were for Elle in the present. This book deals with different types of love. A first love, young, passionate and in this case, forbidden; a comfortable love, a type of love that gives you security and settles you; a love that changes you, that makes you want to change; and a love that puts together the shattered pieces of your life and heart [1]. Through the story we find out how Elle experiences it all. This book is about a second chance romance.

The only issue I had with this book was with the way the conflict was laid out. Much of the book was Elle and Oliver trying to figure out where they stood as a couple. While I didn’t want to put the book down because of their addictive chemistry, the lack of a strong conflict slowed the pace of the book down. The whole book they were hiding their romance from Elle’s brother because they were worried about his reaction, but upon finding out, his reaction didn’t further the plot in any way. It just negated the whole build up to that moment. Despite my issues, I still enjoyed this book. This story is skilfully written, and flows from past to present, capturing the story of two souls who everyone tried to keep apart, but in the end, were always meant to be together. I also liked the way the author wove art into the story. I’m also super interested to see what will go down with Mia and Jensen…

3/5 stars

[1] https://thebibliotheque.wordpress.com/tag/claire-contreras/

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson ~Contemporary September Day 8

Emily and Sloane have always been different, yet their mutual interests make them best friends. Emily and Sloane have gone through everything together, from disastrous haircuts to outlandish conspiracy theories. When Emily is with Sloane, she suddenly becomes another person, and feels secure only with her. Sloane knows Emily’s weaknesses and that she is dependant on her for lot of things. One day Emily wakes up to find her best friend gone. There’s no trace of her except for one last crazy list, that seems like a parting gift and a ridiculous last wish at the same time. It’s a check list full of things Sloane wants Emily to do, everything from dancing til dawn to skinny dipping.

Through reminiscing about Emily’s friendship with Sloane, we get to know about Sloane’s personality. Sloane is the complete opposite of Emily. She is fun, enigmatic, and a social butterfly. Emily has always remained under Sloane’s shadow. Emily is a fun character to read about and is very relatable if one is introverted or shy.  She can be awkward and is often unwilling to interact or approach with people, but with the help of the list she is able to break from her isolated life. As the story progresses, Emily, in the absence of her best friend, shows tremendous character growth. During this enthusiastic journey, she finds new friends as well, including Frank…

Frank is a supporting character who plays his part very well and helps Emily to complete her tasks. Frank is funny, charming, and adorable. Emily and Frank’s relationship starts on a very nice note as well. Matson has incorporated a number of playlists that they share with each other into the book very cleverly, which makes them even more prominent as a couple.  

Probably the best element in Since You’ve Been Gone is the friendship that Matson has projected so wonderfully and smartly. This book is not only about Emily discovering herself, but also focuses on friendship; instead of the plot surrounding relationship troubles, like a first glance at the title led us to believe, what really started everything was based on a wonderful friendship. Although Sloane is gone, it is fun to read Emily’s recounts of their friendship, and through these we feel the utter confusion and sadness she feels due to Sloane’s abandonment. We also learn through the stories of how Sloane and Emily compliment each other through their opposing personalities, bringing out the best in one and other. Their trust with each other sets a great example of true friendship.

The book is also filled with cute, creative, and original concepts that make the book so much more interesting and entertaining to read. The hardcover book jacket is beautiful to look at. At first glance it’s pretty normal, although nice looking. However, once opened the jacket has a whole enlarged picture on the entire inside, capturing the perfect summer moment. As mentioned before, there are also multiple playlists recorded at intervals in the book that the characters have created themselves. Through these, or listening to these, we really get a deeper understanding of the character. It’s also fun to compare your own music taste to the characters’. In addition, the tradition of Emily and Sloane leaving each other to-do lists is a wonderful concept itself. After seeing this, we as the readers were pushed into doing something similar, and living life to the fullest. It makes you want to make sure you complete everything on your bucket list as well. In fact, after reading this book I have my best friend a list of things to do when she went on a trip to New York.

Here are the playlists which are included in the book, we suggest listening to them whilst reading the book to enhance the experience.

http://8tracks.com/oficexndfire/run-emily-run

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-4

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-7

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/music-better-for-running-than-observational-comedy

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/pick-up-your-pace-porter-more-songs-about-trucks

http://8tracks.com/lucy-hollow/mix-14

4/5

Fangirl ~Contemporary September Day 7

Cath and Wren have been attached at the hip since birth. They have always been major Simon Snow fans; reading, writing fan fiction, and spending time on forums. All of this helped them get through their mother leaving their family. But when they move to college, Wren announces that she does not want them to share a room together, which pushes Cath completely out of her comfort zone. The problems in her life start to mount, which leads Cath to question whether or not she can actually fit in and make friends, like everyone around her. Cath has to challenge herself to find her own individual identity. 😀

Cath is a character you can easily fall in love with, and relate to. She’s quirky, cute, and fun to read about. What makes her so relatable is her introverted personality and social anxiety. We have this university freshman who is surrounded by outgoing and socially active friends, yet she would rather stay in her dorm and write fan fiction than go to a party. Speaking of fanfiction, yet another thing we have in common with Cath is, of course, fangirling. The way Cath can relate to the characters in her books, and use make-believe fantasy worlds as an escape from reality, is something I’m sure all of us book lovers have done many times. To see this brought up constantly in this book, and to see a character obsess over fiction the way we obsess over her, is itself something to fangirl over. Cath gets Regan as her roommate, who, along with her friend Levi, are her polar opposites as they are very out-going and open to changes. They seem to be the yin to her yang and fit her personality well.

The idea of this parallel universe Harry Potter was very amusing. We enjoyed comparing and contrasting everything in the Simon Snow universe to the world of Harry Potter. How Cath loves the Simon Snow characters and books intensely; how they’re always on her mind, even after she’s done reading the next book; how she can’t wait for the next instalment in the series, all takes us back to when Harry Potter was still being released. The way it felt to know that there is a community out there that feels exactly the same way as you do, who turns to the same characters and the same world for comfort, is a wonderful feeling which is what is expressed in this book. It makes it so easy to see the world through Cath’s point of view. The book left us feeling nostalgic and happy, which we think makes this book a perfect recommendation. 😊

4.5/5

The Edge Of Never by J. S. Redmerski ~Contemporary September Day 5

Life has been hard for Camryn, in more ways than one. Her parents are divorced, her brother is in jail, and her boyfriend passed away in a car accident. Following the death of her boyfriend, Cam loses her purpose in life. After an argument with her best friend pushes her over the edge, she’s finally had enough. Camryn ends up boarding a bus going to nowhere in particular. Little does she know, her life is going to change forever.

Camryn is an interesting character. She is depressed at first and doesn’t know what she wants from life. She goes through hard times and the decision she makes, to escape her hometown, is understandable. Due to this, we as the reader, get to see her daring side. Cam does a great job of managing herself strongly and through her adventure discovers so much more about herself. She was relatable in so many ways and her story is encouraging. Andrew, who doesn’t seem so at first, is actually not so different from her and harbors his own dark secrets. He is very confident and charming, despite his own heart-breaking backstory. He has a quick temper and he is very protective. Once he notices Cam, he is instantly intrigued by her.

This book is written in a dual point of view which gives us more insight on the two main characters individually. Both of them are trying to escape their problems. Andrew’s relationship with Cam makes him come to peace with a lot of things in his life, and how to react calmly in difficult situations. She fills holes in him he never knew existed, and she becomes a strength in the hard times he is experiencing. He and Cam complete each other and together they make each other better people. As her relationship with Andrew develops, you slowly see her empower herself and become a whole new better person. She is shy to be herself, initially, being afraid that others won’t accept her, but with Andrew’s help she is able to overcome her fears. The wonderful thing about Andrew and Camryn is how they are realistic whilst still having a romance you can fantasize about. When they meet, there is no instant connection and no butterflies. Instead, there is animosity, which is soon replaced by small talk. The conversations were interesting while still remaining normal enough to be something we’ve likely conversed about. The relationship grows slowly yet steadily and the book still leaves plenty of time to focus on the romantic aspects. The author kept a wonderful balance between the sad, the mundane, the romance and the fun. Another aspect of the book that we truly enjoyed was the humor. It came out at the right points and nearly made us laugh out loud. The author placed the humor so perfectly; it doesn’t take away from the story or its occasional seriousness, instead it brings out some of the best parts in Andrew and Camryn’s relationship. Andrew was silly and risk-taking, and through his careless character he brought out the best in Camryn. And of course you could always count on her for a sassy backlash. The dynamics and dialogue in their relationship was incredibly entertaining to read.

While this book was fantastic as a whole, there are small things about this book that weren’t so great. Right from the first chapter, some of Camryn’s inner dialogue can come across as pretentious, and in turn rather annoying. She thinks of herself as a deep, insightful person, but only comes across as thinking she’s better than the girls around her, as if they are inferior to her for thinking more about boys. In fact, going through some of the dialogue again actually left us laughing because it was slightly ridiculous. This new adult book had some sexual scenes as well, which is often a given with this genre. However, Andrew has an odd view in terms of “owning” or belonging to one and other. Aside from this, we absolutely love Andrew as a character, and we love how he truly cares for Camryn. Despite this, his stance would sometimes come across as slightly misogynistic. While some people might have found the nature of this appealing, we found it slightly gross and unnecessary, and at the very least out of place where the author had it written.

In The Edge of Never, you have two young people who felt completely lost until fate brings them together and they learn to complete themselves. A story of two strangers who lose themselves in new experiences and find out what they truly want along the way. The love story was beautiful and watching it unfold through the pages was an unforgettable experience. The characters were amazing and we can’t wait to see where their journey takes them in the sequel. Suffice to say, we enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of New Adult Contemporary books.

4/5

Landline by Rainbow Rowell ~Contemporary September Day 2

Georgie McCool is in a marriage that is breaking apart at the seams, despite the fact that both Neal, her husband, and Georgie still love each other. Georgie has a tendency to put work before her family and just before christmas, when they are supposed to leave for Omaha to visit Neal’s family. When the opportunity of a lifetime comes up at work, that she can’t afford to miss, Georgie decides to skip the trip. She knows that Neal will be upset with her; she doesn’t however, think that Neal would pack up and go on the trip with their daughters, leaving her behind alone. She feels as though not coming along on the trip is the last straw in their marriage breaking down. She is desperate to find a way to connect to Neal, and finally she does through the old landline she has in her old room. However, she realizes this landline has actually connected her to Neal in the past; Neal from 19 then she finds a way to talk to him, except it’s Neal from the past due to a very special Landline.

Neal often left me feeling conflicted. At times I thought he was so sweet; behind the scenes he did so much for Georgie, their daughters, and the family in general. At other times he seemed rather bland. I realized I liked the cute, past Neal better; the one who was in Georgie’s flashbacks and phone calls. I also often felt bad for Georgie as a result of Neal’s actions. Georgie was such an outgoing and open character, and I felt like she needed that openness in response. However Neil always came across as rather closed off and slightly cold. As a person who can relate to Georgie’s personality, I feel like trying so hard to get through to someone, and trying get something out of them, only to have them be so unresponsive, must have been extremely hard. I understand that we can’t change Neal’s personality or who he is, but I feel that he still could have put in the extra effort for Georgie once in a while. It doesn’t take much to show you care, especially to someone who is trying so hard to make things work. In general, I feel like Georgie was the only one trying to make their marriage work out, while Neal had practically given up. Watching Georgie suffer like this, with Neil being so unresponsive, left me really frustrated. I think it would have been interesting to know Neil’s thoughts on their relationship and marriage as well. However in general present-day Neil did not play a large part in a majority of the book.

The ending of Landline left me wanting more, just as most of Rowell’s books do. She tends to end them at points in the story that leave you wanting more, especially as seen in Eleanor and Park. There is no definite closure and the reader is unsure of the direction in which the story will go, and if that ending will truly be happy.

The landline concept added a touch of magic, which I think is really original and interesting to read about, especially in a contemporary novel. However, the reason for this was never explained and I would’ve liked an explanation.  The dialogue in the book was cute, quirky and funny, just like our character Georgie.  The fact that she was a comedy writer made itself quite evident through her inner thoughts and in her interactions with other characters. It was a fun read, as Rainbow Rowell’s books always are.

4/5