Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced audio copy of this book.

Josh and Gemma grew up next to each other and have periodically had a thing for the other.... unfortunately those times never overlapped. Gemma is now 32, divorced, infertile, out of shape, and looking for something more. She's always wanted a baby and decides that now is the time-- she doesn't need a man to fulfill this need in her life. She'll do IVF and have a baby on her own. There's only one problem. She needs a sperm donor. Who better to step up to the plate than her childhood neighbor who is best friends with her brother? Thus ensues a sweet love story about second (and third) chances and creating a family in whatever way will work for you.

Gemma is a fun main character who has a lot going for her besides Josh and IVF. She makes new friends, has a career she loves, and has a family that truly loves her. Sometimes I felt like she was a little.... TOO obtuse, but that didn't really detract from the overall cuteness of the love story and Gemma's spunkiness. She is smart, driven, and knows what she wants. I love seeing that kind of heroine in any kind of story, so I was prepared to forgive her some of her other faults.

Josh was such a sweet love interest, and I adored the pining. I mean, he wrote a webcomic for years about being in love with her-- come on! My one gripe with him is that he never said or did anything to let her know about his feelings. I know that miscommunication is a huge trope in the genre, but we couldn't even get a TRY?

There's also a subplot of a potential romance with Gemma's boss and his connections with Josh that are really interesting. It added some color to a romance that could have been average and really elevated the overall story. I was *really* into this story and listened to the entire 9+ hour audiobook in one day.

The audio narration was superb and I would definitely recommend the audio version.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fine. Nothing exceptionally horrible; nothing exceptionally great. I didn't realize it was a novel specifically for teens with lower reading comprehension or I wouldn't have requested this book. It was written in such a way that our main character Jaylin is 17, but sounds like she is 9-11 years old. It was disconcerting for me and made me have a hard time suspending disbelief.

The mystery of this story is perfectly acceptable, but I didn't really understand *why* Fatima would come back to get Jaylin to set the record straight. There wasn't a good reason to prompt Jaylin's investigation in my opinion.

All that being said, this is a perfectly fine hi-lo book and does have dyslexia rep which you don't see often.

Eh

2/5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Becca is a 17 year old farm girl whose best friend, Rose, just died of apparent suicide. She's devastated and grieving, and that is only exacerbated by Rose's brother's return to town. Becca has had a crush on Ben for years now, but when she tried to make her move 2 years ago, Ben rebuffed her. She's hated him ever since. Ben always viewed Becca as his little sister's friend... until that night 2 years ago when he realized he had feelings for her, but wasn't nearly good enough to be her guy.

Now years later, they're both struggling to believe that Rose died by suicide. Surely something else must be going on. From here, Becca and Ben strive to figure out what could have happened to Rose that night while also struggling with what they feel for one another.

This book..... didn't do it for me. I felt uncomfortable with how romance-heavy it was. I mean, Ben-- your sister just died for goodness sake. Stop thinking about kissing her friend and focus on grieving in a healthy way. The mystery itself was *fine*. Nothing too horrible; nothing too special. But it did seem to have entirely too many twists and turns that just didn't really make sense or feel necessary. I wanted to know how the story would end, but I didn't really enjoy the journey to get there.

**SPOILERS*****

I also had a hard time suspending my disbelief at just how ridiculous everything is. Rose gets into an affair with Becca's ex-boyfriend's dad (Leaf)? But gets knocked up by Becca's ex? Because he was blackmailing her??? And this all just goes unnoticed by every single person in town?

Plus let's not forget Leaf trying to kill Becca and then just... running away? And then her getting beaten up several times for a warning? And her ex's best friend just randomly getting killed? And Ben getting amnesia?

It's all just too absurd, even for a YA novel

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange my an honest review.

I did not understand most of these stories. They genuinely didn't make sense to me. I don't know if I'm just too dumb? Or if these weren't written well. I did enjoy "The bear" from the collection, but that was the only story I liked.

The art style is very cute and I did like the drawings throughout. However I really only liked the art and one story in this whole collection.

I really loved this until the ending.... It was a 14 hour audiobook and I was completely in love with it until about the last 1 1/2 hours :/