Small Favors by Erin A Craig

This year, all my book choices have been on a whim. I picked this up during my quick weekend beach trip and I’m so glad I did!

Thank you Delacorte for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Ellerie Downing lives in the quiet town of Amity Falls in the Blackspire Mountain range–five narrow peaks stretching into the sky like a grasping hand, bordered by a nearly impenetrable forest from which the early townsfolk fought off the devils in the woods. To this day, visitors are few and rare. But when a supply party goes missing, some worry that the monsters that once stalked the region have returned. As fall turns to winter, more strange activities plague the town. They point to a tribe of devilish and mystical creatures who promise to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires, however grand and impossible, for just a small favor. But their true intentions are much more sinister, and Ellerie finds herself in a race against time before all of Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves go up in flames.

Erin is such a beautiful writer. This story was gorgeous and captivating from the moment I started reading it. Oddly enough, I have had a dream that is somewhat similar to the relationship Ellerie has with her twin brother in this story. That made me swoon all the more for it. The characters are well developed and you feel so attached to them from the get-go. It’s unique yet I think will be loved by anyone who reads it! Highly recommended!

5/5 Stars

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

There’s something about reading a young adult fiction book in the summer that just completely captivates me. This one is no exception!

Thank you Delacorte Press for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: 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 he’s only just met. Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it’s that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?

THIS BOOK. ALL THE FEELS. I jumped into this one without having read the synopsis, and I think that made this book all the better. You’ll laugh, cry, swoon, and cheer throughout the whole book. It’s utterly beautiful and I wish more books were like this. I feel like Nicola is the Sarah Dessen of this generation! Also, be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end – it’s a tear jerker, but also wonderfully beautiful.

5/5 Stars

Again Again by E Lockhart

If you’re like me, it’s so exciting to see a new release from E Lockhart! We Were Liars is one of my all-time favorite books!

Thank you Delacorte Press for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: If you could live your life again, what would you do differently After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times—while finally confronting the secrets she keeps, her ideas about love, and the weird grandiosity of the human mind. A raw, funny story that will surprise you over and over, Again Again gives us an indelible heroine grappling with the terrible and wonderful problem of loving other people. 

Noooo 😦 I had such high hopes for this one! I think trying to make other books live up to it is just asking too much. This one was different in many aspects and really should never even be considered to compare to WWL. The book has parts where you can see the main character act a scene out in a few different ways to see the possible outcomes. This was just too much for me. There was no telling when it would happen or how many different outcomes you would read about, and they just didn’t make sense…it’s an interesting concept but it ruined the book for me.

2/5 Stars

Me Myself & Him by Chris Tebbetts

I was in the mood for a young adult fiction book and thought this was going to be really different and fun to read!

Thank you Delacorte Press for my gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: When Chris Schweitzer takes a hit of whippets and passes out face first on the cement, his nose isn’t the only thing that changes forever. Instead of staying home with his friends for the last summer after high school, he’s shipped off to live with his famous physicist but royal jerk of a father to prove he can “play by the rules” before Dad will pay for college. Or . . . not. In an alternate time line, Chris’s parents remain blissfully ignorant about the accident, and life at home goes back to normal–until it doesn’t. A new spark between his two best (straight) friends quickly turns Chris into a (gay) third wheel, and even worse, the truth about the whippets incident starts to unravel. As his summer explodes into a million messy pieces, Chris wonders how else things might have gone. Is it possible to be jealous of another version of yourself in an alternate reality that doesn’t even exist? With musings on fate, religion, parallel universes, and the best way to eat a cinnamon roll, Me Myself & Him examines how what we consider to be true is really just one part of the much (much) bigger picture.

I thought this was such a unique read! I was a little nervous that it would be hard to follow two different storylines at once, but it wasn’t so bad after all! I love being able to see the “what-if” of a character’s choice. It’s really unlike something I’ve read before! It’s a fun summer afternoon read for young adult fiction lovers alike.

4/5 Stars