[REVIEW] The Season of You & Me

title: The Season of You & Me
author: Robin Constantine
genre: young adult, contemporary, romance
publish: May 10, 2016 by Balzer + Bray
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

Cassidy Emmerich is determined to make this summer—the last before her boyfriend heads off to college—unforgettable. What she doesn’t count on is her boyfriend breaking up with her. Now, instead of being poolside with him, Cass is over a hundred miles away, spending the summer with her estranged father and his family at their bed-and-breakfast at the Jersey Shore and working as the newest counselor at Camp Manatee.  

Bryan Lakewood is sick of nevers. You’ll never walk. You’ll never surf. You’ll never slow dance with your date at prom. One miscalculated step and Bryan’s life changed forever—now he’s paralyzed and needs to use a wheelchair. This is the first summer he’s back at his former position at Camp Manatee and ready to reclaim some of his independence, in spite of those who question if he’s up for the job.  

Cass is expecting two months dealing with heartbreak.
Bryan is expecting a summer of tough adjustments.
Neither of them is expecting to fall in love. 

fluffy, cliché romance.

YA contemporary romance is not my usual read. I got this book from Bookworms Unite 2.0 last year. But I was only able to read this last week because of #bookentine. Thank the stars for read-a-thons and reading challenges!

[REVIEW] This is Where the World Ends

title: This is Where the World Ends
author: Amy Zhang
genre: young adult, contemporary
publish: March 22, 2016 by Greenwillow Books
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 2.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

A heart-wrenching novel about best friends on a collision course with the real world from Amy Zhang, the critically acclaimed Indies Introduce and Indie Next author of Falling Into Place. 

Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt. 

Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang masterfully reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance in an astonishing second novel that will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver and Jay Asher.

this was an okay read.

This book has several disappointed and negative reviews that I pushed it down my tbr pile until #cramathon came. I read Falling Into Place last year and I fell in love with Amy Zhang's writing. I love her short and broken sentences and I love her non-linear writing.

[REVIEW] Twenty Questions for Gloria

title: Twenty Questions for Gloria
author: Martyn Bedford
genre: young adult, contemporary
publish: April 12, 2016 by Wendy Lamb Books
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 3 / 5 stars
goodreads

It started with an appearance, not a disappearance. 

Gloria is tired of her ordinary life. An unadventurous teenager, she barely remembers the free-spirited child she used to be. So when a mysterious new boy strolls into school, bent on breaking all the rules, Gloria is ready to fall under his spell. 

Uman is funny, confident, and smart. He does what he wants without a care for what anyone thinks. The only people for him, he says, are the mad ones, the ones who never say or do a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn. 

He is everything Gloria wants to be. He can whisk her away and show her a more daring, more exciting life—one in which the only limits are the boundaries of her own boldness. 

But Uman is not all he seems. And by the time she learns the truth about him, she’s a long way from home…and the whole country wants to know: Where’s Gloria?

runaway kids. then what?

I bought Twenty Questions for Gloria because of the blurb. When I read it, the first thing that came to my minds was my oh-so boring life and how much I wish I'd be more adventurous but too scared to actually make a move. And I am like, oh hey this book could be an exciting read -- this boring girl and this confident guy and a mystery.