This book was…strange. I’ve always loved Scooby-Doo, so when I saw this book awhile back and clearly drew the Scooby-Doo parellels, I was over the moon excited. An adult version of Scooby-Doo where the gang has to confront their real life nightmares after the death of one of their friends? Cute references like the Zoinx river? Yes okay sign me up. Actually…no take me off the list because this was not for me. It was my first encounter with this writer and I have to admit, it was not very encouraging in terms of picking up any other of his works. First off, let me say it’s set in 1990 so obviously some things are going to be outdated, like the take on mental health, sexuality, and even POC characters. That’s not necessarily an issue. The issue is the fact that this book was written in 2017 and it was extremely hard to tell considering the way that the author wrote the female characters. I’m already weary of male authors writing female characters and the way Andy is written in this book confirmed that for me. I’m not sure if she was written the way she was on purpose, but her POV was just off for me. From the way that she presented herself, talked about herself and described Kerri, it just all seemed like a male interpretation and fantasy wrapped into one and I was not a fan.

As far as the book’s plot itself…things took a very strange turn about 40% into the book. From that point on, it felt like what I imagine it would be like to take some acid and read the adult version of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. The further into the book I got, the less sense everything seemed to make. This critique isn’t about whether or not the monsters were real, it’s more of how it the monsters and circumstances were written. Everything started to spiral writing wise and just got very confusing very quickly. I kept reading, hoping that things would start to make sense, but it never happened. In fact all sense and logic went out the damn window during the last 15% of the book and by then I was too far in to quit.

I don’t necessarily want to discourage anyone for reading this book because that’s not my style, but I was just very disappointed in the story that I read. In fact, half of this you have to read to believe because I can’t even fully describe what the hell was wrong with the book without completely spoiling it. Let’s just say you have to suspend your sense of belief and reality a whole hell of a lot to make it through this book.

If you’ve read this, please let me know your thoughts. If you haven’t and you still want to, remember me when you finish because I have to discuss this in detail with someone!!

My goal wasn’t to finish this book in a matter of a few hours, but somehow I did. I was so eager to find out what the hell happened that I couldn’t put it down. I liked this book, I just didn’t love it. Honestly I think that has more to do with the fact that the characters were so unlikeable for me and it was a bit of a distraction. Still, it’s a story that will suck you in until the very end.

3.5 stars. I received this digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the story of The Marriage Clock. While Leila wasn’t always a likable character, watching her move through the process of meeting her parents marriage deadline and witnessing her dating journey was definitely entertaining. Even though she didn’t realize it, all of Leila’s expectations about who her “soulmate” should be fell in line with her parents expectations too. Both were a bit rigid and unrealistic, but came from a loving (albeit slightly misguided) place. Romance is unpredictable and it’s a lesson that I think both Leila and her parents learned.

Just like romance is unpredictable, the ending of The Marriage Clock was too. I honestly thought it was going to be your standard, run of the mill romantic ending, but as Leila learned, not every Bollywood story ends the same.

This book was such a struggle to make it through. I thought Andrea’s friends in the movie were bad? HA! They had nothing on the ones in this book. I didn’t really care for her boyfriend Alex (big surprise there) or her best friend Lily. Getting mad because she could leave her job to come see an apartment? Mhmm yeah that makes sense. Throwing a fit because your girlfriend has to go to Paris instead of the college reunion so she doesn’t get fired. Yep totally understandable. Please note the sarcasm. Alex’s consistent whining and “holier than thou” attitude was just as irritating as Lily’s “oooh I’m a bad girl with a drinking problem and no real goals” shtick. Neither one had any development and we never really got an understanding of wth was going on with Lily to cause all of her issues and drama. Andrea did her share of whining and ramblings as well though and, unlike the movie, I just could not bring myself to care about the torture she was going through. The writing was jumpy and some of the details seemed completely unnecessary. The best part about this story is that it shows you there was nothing glamorous about life with Miranda Priestly or working for any other maniac but other than that, it let a lot to be desired.

First, thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic death, suicide, murder, drug use, destructive behavior, inappropriate age gap relationships, (unnecessary) animal abuse and death

A lot of people seemed to enjoy this book....I did not. The plot was entirely too chaotic for me and after awhile nothing was making any sense and honestly it felt like the goal wasn’t to tell a story, but to see what the author could write next to top himself. The premise was great and even the delivery was good for awhile. A boy on the run, framed for murder trying to figure out how the hell he got into this mess? Even the undertones of mental health, suicide, self destructive behavior gave the story an interesting take and some depth. I just think some of that depth ended up getting lost in the chaos, which is extremely disappointing. The shock and awe was not the way to go, in my opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Never Have I Ever is the story of your typical suburban housewife who turns out to be not so typical when a friendly adult version of Never Have I Ever on book club night is orchestrated by a new neighbor who is hellbent on turning our heroine's life upside down. Sounds interesting right? Right. Well, on the surface it should be interesting...it even is a bit interesting with all the twists and developments that the story takes. Where this book falls flat is in the pacing and the characters. Try as I might I couldn't connect with them, nor did I find myself liking them. You don't actually have to like a character enjoy a book, but you should at least be invested in what happens to them, especially in a story like this one where the entire plot hinges on the fact that the main character's life is threatening to implode. I honestly didn't care one way or the other what happened to Amy. Sure I wanted to see where the story was going and what exactly would happen, but I wasn't invested in a sense where I was rooting for Amy or rooting against her.

Because of the twists and in spite of the pacing and characters, this book was a solid 3 stars for me all the way up until the final twist. In very few words: WTH?! The final twist came completely out of nowhere and seemed completely unnecessary. The author could have gone in any direction besides the one that she chose and I have to admit it just made the story even weirder and really creepy. Obviously it's not unheard of and it happens and it's, unfortunately, a fact of life, but I just don't see why THAT needed to be the final twist in the book. A big turn off for me and honestly, it's unfortunate. I don't say this to discourage anyone from reading this because I'm sure some people would be really into the overall story, I just think I had different expectations.

I’ve always wanted to read the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but I hadn’t taken the chance to do so until now. I love the live action, but the animated version will always have such a big place in my heart because I watched it so much growing up. It turns out that they stayed amazingly true to the book itself. I was literally picturing the scenes in my head as I was reading. Love love love. Side note, I had no clue that The White Witch was supposed to be Lillith’s (Adam’s first wife) daughter.

I originally planned on making this a solid 4 maybe 4.5 rating. Starting off I absolutely loved this book. The meet cute in the elevator, the witty banter, the curvy black main character, and the premise itself were all amazing and sucked me in immediately. The more of this book I read though, the more frustrated I started to get. The cute scenes were cute, yes, but omgggg were the characters frustrating as hell. The whole “I don’t want to admit my feelings because I don’t want to be rejected or embarrassed” thing was fine for the first 1/2 of the book, but it got to be real old and real repetitive after awhile. Open your mouths and talk to each other!! Damn! I also didn’t like the scene after their first major fight (which I’ll discuss more on my blog because spoilers) and how quickly that was wrapped up and never really addressed. All in all, my love of the book did dwindle as I finished it, but I’m still interested in picking up another one because it wasn’t all bad.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been looking forward to Color Me In for awhile now. I was so excited when I saw it on Netgalley and just knew I needed to attempt to get the ARC so that I could read it as soon as possible. Well I didn’t exactly read it as soon as I got it, but ARC August certainly gave me a good reason to pick it up now.

Nevaeh is caught between two worlds, literally. Her parents have recently separated, causing her to have to split her time between her mother’s family in her grandfather’s brownstone in Harlem and her childhood home with her father in White Plains. Not only is she shuttling between the two homes, but suddenly she’s caught in the middle of a war she didn’t even realize existed. While her cousins and aunt are exposing her to her Black heritage and her mother has completely checked out of parenting and life itself, suddenly her father takes an interest in making sure she knows she’s Jewish as well. This doesn’t come from his desire to share his heritage with her, but rather prevent her from becoming a “black girl” since it’s clear he’s never seen her as one thanks to her fair-skinned complexion. To combat the influence of her Black Baptist family, he insists that she begin taking Hebrew lessons and prepare for her Bat Mitzvah, which is coming about 3 years too late since she’s turning 16 in a few months. As if this weren’t enough, her cousin Jordan is constantly reminding her that she doesn’t exactly belong in the Black community, at least from Nevaeh’s point of view, and it only gets worse when Neveah attracts the attention of Jordan’s crush Jesus. All of these events begin to swirl around Neveah in a way that suffocates her and the only way she can find solace is in the poetry she writes and her mother’s journal, which she discovers in her grandfather’s attic.

First off, I think it’s important for me to say that I absolutely loved this book. It wasn’t perfect and it certainly isn’t my story or experience, but it’s clear that the author put her own story, heart, and soul into this. You have to have a level of respect for someone willing to be that vulnerable in their work.

Second, I want to say that it’s clear along the way that Nevaeh is an unreliable narrator. Her experience is certainly hers and so the way she sees her mother, her cousins, her best friend and her new life in Harlem, is clearly biased. She’s never been confronted with her blackness or her privilege before by other black people or people of color and it puts her on the defense. She’s willing to swap places with those around her in an attempt to be accepted and have what she thinks is an easier life, but doesn’t exactly understand that her darker skinned family members or her best friend, who is also biracial (Chinese and white) have their own trials and tribulations because of the color of their skin as well. It’s not just her and it’s a lesson that she has trouble learning.

While it’s clear that Nevaeh is seeing her mom and black family members in a bit of a skewed light because of her experiences and insecurities, I think that for the first time in her life, she’s actually seeing her father very clearly. She’s realizing what a selfish and destructive man he actually is. I have to say that the scenes with her father were some of the most frustrating ones because he was just completely trash. Every self serving, ignorant white man who thinks he’s a savior can be seen in Nevaeh’s father. That’s clear through her mother’s journal and Nevaeh’s on experiences with him as the book progresses.

The other extremely frustrating piece of this book was the racism that Nevaeh faced at school, but let’s be honest, that was done on purpose. There’s one particular white girl at her school who says the most revolting things and I swear I just wanted someone to do serious bodily harm to her just to shut her up. Please watch out for that and protect yourself because when I say phrases like “nappy headed” and “thug” and “ghetto” are thrown around by the white characters in this book, I’m not kidding. It’s all done to show that despite the fact that Nevaeh is technically “passing”, anyone who knows her actual heritage makes it clear that it’s unacceptable and that even people who are “passing” experience racism from their white peers.

I won’t give away too much more about the book, though I will say that her mother’s journal depicts sexual assault so be careful of that if it’s triggering for you.

All in all, I think that Nevaeh’s story was a great one. She was frustrating, sometimes selfish and at times just plain ignorant, but as we move through this transition in her life with her, she begins to learn not only what it means to be Jewish, but a black woman in America as well. I think one of my favorite things about this book is that though there’s romance in it, it doesn’t overpower the rest of the story, but serves as just another new discovery and aspect in Nevaeh’s life.

Please be sure to go pick up Color Me In by Natasha Diaz when it’s released on August 20th and let me know what you think!

3.5 read and I’m actually excited for the follow up because I want to know what happens to Rosie and Dominic.

As far as this one goes, I think we’re all pretty familiar with the best friend’s little sister trope. It’s a classic and I liked it for this storyline. It was great to see how encouraging the two of them were with one another. The sex scenes were definitely steamy though, some of the banter was a little cringe, not because it was offensive but just because it was equal parts embarrassing and hilarious and ridiculous at the same time. Still, this was definitely entertaining.