Review-A-Palooza: Contemporaries

Good Bellamy in heaven, am I behind on reviews. I guess this is what happens when you travel for a month? And have a life? By which I mean, er, watch a lot of Netflix? I mean PARTY. I meant party.

So here are a bunch of books I read in the last two months (possibly more, let's not dwell on things like WHEN and WHERE and JUST HOW LAZY GILLIAN IS, okay) and what I thought of them.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
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Series: No
Release date: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte (Random House)
Length: 320 pages
Source: ARC from BEA

Great shirtless Bellamy Blake, I loved this book. I didn't think this would be my thing, because a book about a girl with "Bubble Baby syndrome"--namely, that she's allergic to the world so doesn't go anywhere, ever, living like Rapunzel up in her tower forever and ever--seems like it could have the potential to not be a Gillian book. But oh, it was. It was funny and poignant and I loved the main character tremendously, and I loved her with the boy. There's a twist in t his book that I'm still not sure I adore, for many reasons, but I loved the the characters and the voice and the style of this book so much that I sort of just rolled with it. Maddie totally found a way into my heart, with her cute illustrations and earnest desire to live. Plus the romance was adorable. Entirely different than expected. Highly recommended.



The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
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Series: Yes, companion to My Life Next Door
Release date: August 18th, 2015
Publisher: Dial (Penguin)
Length: 432
Source: borrowed ARC

Um, so, this book is IMPOSSIBLE to review honestly with tons of spoilers, and I don't want to spoil you guys. Basically, this book is about...okay, let's say, hypothetically, this book is about Tim growing a mustache. Now, no way did you expect Tim's story to involve mustaches. Like, it never even entered your head as a thing for Tim's life to involve, because honestly, Tim's a smooth-cheeked kind of guy, you know? But lo and behold, this story is all about Tim's mustache. And you're like, well, wasn't expecting the mustache, but omg, Tim looks so GREAT with a mustache! But maybe you didn't want to read about Tim learning how to grow his facial hair? But it's TIM! Your favorite character from My Life Next Door! You'd follow Tim anywhere! And I would. I would follow Tim anywhere, even into mustache land, even when I wish Alice had...um...facial hair of her own so that her POV could have more to contribute to this...beard party?

I think I'm losing this metaphor. Anyway, totally ship the ship, TIM FOR GOD DAMN PRESIDENT what a fucking PRINCE, Fitzpatrick is a stellar writer, this book made me feel all the things, but perhaps...mustaches...was an odd choice? Also the type of mustache wasn't exactly my sort of mustache? Like maybe it could have been a different style of mustache or trimmed a bit more or oh god, stop me.



Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian
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Series: No
Release date: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 352
Source: eARC via Edelweiss

I wanted to love this a lot. I was so excited to hear about a Big 5 book about a bisexual boy with scenes that didn't shy away from the realities of teen sexuality. On the plus side, that's what I got with this book. On the downside, that's ALL I got with this book. The MC has no personality, no character growth, no purpose, no plot, no... nothing. Besides sex. (Did I maybe bookmark the gay sex scenes for second or fifth reading? I will never tell). I didn't love the way the narrative treated the girl in the bisexual love triangle, Brandy, and her lack of development irked me. I didn't know Angus at all, even though he's Will's best friend and occasional fuck buddy (though I was rooting for him in the love triangle ish unresolved thing). And that's the biggest issue with this book: it is ENTIRELY unresolved. Not a single plot line is tied up in even the remotest sense. I'm glad this book exists, but I wish it had been executed perhaps a bit differently. Less flatly. Less pointlessly. Maybe with a little more depth and subtlety, less pretension, fewer stereotypes, MORE ENDING. Plus more dude sex I mean what



The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak
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Series: No
Release date: August 4th, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Length: 366 pages
Source: ARC from BEA

Well if this wasn't super duper presh adorable. Was it fluffy and silly and a wee bit underdeveloped? Yes. Did it totally skip the potential for a super adorb gay side ship that was TOTALLY HINTED AT AND SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED OMG I mean...yes.

But did I super ship this love story between a world famous boy band member and regular ole gal, aka my TROPEY KRYPTONITE? Hell, yeah. This book is an instant mood lifter. Famous guy, regular girl, they flirt LITERALLY USING DISNEY MOVIES, I mean, really. I had a blast reading this. It's a fast, zippy, delightful read, with a funny and bright voice and tone, and those are harder to pull of than you think. Maybe I need to fall down a 1D fan fic rabbit hole, or something (Bellamy help me don't let me do that) or something because this is my JAM, tropes and all.