Review: Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon

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katy cannonSecrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Stripes Publishing
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

When the chance arose to read the next book in Katy Cannon’s new YA series, I couldn’t contain my excitement. After loving the first book immensively (5 stars), I couldn’t wait to read about the same characters for a second time.

This book follows the perspective of Grace, probably the least prominent member of Bake Club during ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Pies’. She came off as a bit sour and pouty during the course of Lottie and Mac’s relationship, and because of this, I didn’t like her very much. However, after reading a book devoted to exposing what she’s really like, Grace really redeemed herself.

Instead of a baking competition, the plot revolved around the latest school play, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, my favourite Shakespeare comedy. Unfortunately, Grace didn’t receive the star role and she was lumped with a job backstage making and organising the costumes, which of course meant the existence of another after-school club, ‘Sewing Club’.

The new boy, Connor, enhances her love life, though they may seem like chalk and cheese to begin with, they are the perfect pair. Every good relationship starts with some ‘love-hate’, right? Shakespeare backs me up on this with Beatrice and Benedick.

What I thought was really original about this story line was that Grace actually changed. She wasn’t the drama queen or the queen of Drama and she certainly wasn’t the most popular. She wanted to become a more wholesome person and recognise her passion for working as a team instead of working in the spotlight. She didn’t revert back to her old ways, which was refreshing, and all her new friends accepted her for who she became, not who she once was.

Connor and Grace’s relationship held the same circular structure as Lottie and Mac’s, however, nothing terrible happened to them as a couple because they communicated with each other. Communication is something that Lottie and Mac lacked, so it was nice to see an author focus on this important aspect of a healthy relationship.

Of course, there was some family drama for Grace, along with friendship drama between Jasper, Ella and newly introduced Izzy, yet the play was the centre of the story.

I loved that Lottie and Mac were still a part of the group, but they played cameo roles compared to Grace, Jasper and Yasmin. In fact, I was really pleased to find out more about Yasmin and for her to become a more prominent character – perhaps the next book by Katy Cannon will be from her point of view?

All in all, Katy Cannon knows how to write a perfect contemporary novel, with an excellent mixture of romance, friendship and drama. I can’t help but give this novel 5 out of 5 stars as well, which is unusual, as sequels normally never parallel the debut. I look forward to everyone getting to experience this novel and hopefully enjoying it as much as I did!

Review: The Sound by Sarah Alderson

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15740944The Sound by Sarah Alderson
Genre: Mystery, Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 310
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I am so glad I picked this book up, because I’d heard absolutely nothing about it and just happened to spot it in the library. However, it’s also the kind of book that my conscience said ‘you shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as you are.’ I had some definite problems, but this book had everything, which almost made up for them.

Ren is an English girl who dreams of becoming a music journalist, she decides to take a summer out to nanny for a family in Nantucket, where she falls into a group of a preppy teenagers that warn her against Jesse Miller. So what does she do? She ignores them. I liked Ren as a character by the end of the novel, because she stuck up for her true friends and was ready to fight for justice, but she also lacked some common sense. As for her relationship with Jesse, it was very reminiscent of a Becca Fitzpatrick novel – actually extremely similar to the relationship in Black Ice. If you like Fitzpatrick’s writing, or the novels by Katy McGarry (very similar to Pushing The Limits as well!) I would definitely recommend The Sound!

If you’ve read my reviews on the books mentioned you will know that I really didn’t like Black Ice, and essentially The Sound is Black Ice, but it’s so much more engaging! The murder mystery and the truth about Jesse’s past isn’t really revealed until the last portion of the novel, and I was completely blown away by how thrilling the tense scenes were. The slow build up to the mystery really helped to make this book much more enjoyable. In the beginning I forgot that there was even supposed to be a murder mystery, I wouldn’t have known at all from the first 200 pages if I hadn’t read the blurb, but it was so well laid out that I didn’t see any of the plot twists coming.

As much as enjoyed the majority of this novel, I still had some issues. Here’s a list!

Problem Number 1: Girl on girl hate. Why? The word ‘slut’ and ‘skank’ appears every other page. It might be used jovially at times, but derogatory terms should not be used in jest, in any situation. As we all know, “If you call each other sluts and whores, it makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.’ There was also a lot of insensitive comments on body types and whether or not those girls deserved their relationships. No, no, don’t like that either. I probably would’ve increased the star rating had this not been completely distracting to the storyline.

Problem Number 2: The book justifies its ‘girl falls for ‘bad boy” plot line with other bad ‘girl falls for ‘bad boy” books. Twilight is referenced a bunch of times, and the characters are self-aware of their ridiculousness so justify their actions with something along the lines of ‘well, at least this isn’t Twilight.‘

Problem Number 3: Lack of common sense. There are literal murderers on an island who seem to only be targeting foreign nannies and Ren does’t immediately book the first flight back to England. What?

Problem Number 4: Kissing. All of the ‘preppy boys’ would kiss Ren on the cheek, and although it does foreshadow the reveal later on, it seemed so silly at the time. Almost every time Jeremy saw her he’d go straight for a kiss on the cheek. When you don’t know someone you don’t just kiss them on the second chance encounter, surely?

In conclusion, although I’m only giving The Sound three stars it’s also made it to my favourites shelf. It was fun and lighthearted whilst also being incredibly serious and tense. I’d recommend it to anyone who is willing to look over the problems list – but still acknowledge that there are obvious faults – and just wants to read something where they can get totally carried away with the story.

Review: Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon

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Love, Lies love lies and lemon piesand Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Stripes Publishing
Pages: 329
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I haven’t found a book that I’ve been completely in love with in a while. This is that book. I LOVED everything ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Pies’ had to offer!

First of all, the setting. It all took place within a secondary school and the majority of characters were in Year 11, so not too distant from my own year group and age. I really liked how natural everything was, and the personalities of the teachers, as well as the students were so believable.

This book reminded me of books written by Cathy Cassidy, because the main character, Lottie, was dealing with something difficult at home – her dad had died and her mum had taken to hoarding junk. I feel that in a lot of young adult books now, the focus is on the character’s romantic relationship, rather than any other relationship and parents are almost non-existent. LLLP had the perfect mixture of the two.

The romance between Lottie and Mac was endearing. I loved how we got to experience them as friends before we saw them as a couple – the romantic gestures of Mac were the most adorable things ever. Although their relationship could be quite circular, as neither participant was telling the truth about their home life or reputation, everything was resolved in a way that didn’t make me want to bash my head against a wall.

The minor characters, especially Jasper and Ella, were all significant, and it turns out that Grace stars in her own novel, ‘Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines’, the next book in this school club series. I’m excited to get to know more about her, as she was one of the less prominent members of the Bake Club. They all had their own stories to tell, after all, and I’m glad they all got exposure.

Which brings me on to the Bake Club in general. Over the last two years, I have been completely obsessed with The Great British Bake Off, so this was the perfect book to satisfy my love of watching people bake. It was so quirky that this book also included the recipes for everything the characters made, which I hope to try out sometime soon!

There’s nothing more exciting than a competition, especially if it involves baking, cakes and romance. Yay!

Gosh, I don’t know how I could give this book any less than 5 stars. It made me feel so warm and sparkly, with its cute couples and underlying messages of truth telling and supporting your friends. This novel delivered on all levels, and I can’t wait to see what Katy Cannon writes next! – Stay tuned for a review of ‘Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines’ soon!

Review: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

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The_Lost_Hero_210The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Published by: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 557
Format: Hardback
Rating: ★★★
Series: The Son of Neptune (#2) | The Mark of Athena (#3) | The House of Hades (#4) | The Blood of Olympus (#5)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

As you probably all know the final book in the Heroes of Olympus series was released earlier this year. Maddie has been a fan of Riordan’s writing for a long time, and now that she’s finished the HoO I was free to read it! I’ve tried to read The Lost Hero once before, and only got bout thirty pages in before I put it down to read something else, but now that all the hype’s died down a little but, I thought it would be best to give this series a second chance.

And, of course, it was amazing. LEO. Oh my goodness, Leo. Why did no  one tell me how great Leo was? Suffice to say he was my favourite character, but I also really liked Piper. She was kick-ass at the end there. I appreciate that. Jason. Sigh. I’d head all about him. Mostly that he’s no Percy. Although I agree, I didn’t find him as annoying as Maddie made out I would. His chapters where sprinkled in the middle of Leo and Piper so I just skimmed over our main protagonist and got straight back to my faves. It was so wonderful to have heroes of different godly-heritage, because we didn’t really get to hear much about Aphrodite and Hephaestus in PJatO.

It has been a while since I finished the Percy Jackson series, but it didn’t take me long to fall back into the comfort of Riordan’s writing style. It’s so engaging and so fast paced. The action heavy sequences are perfectly woven together with dream sequences and educational passages on Greek (and now Roman!) mythology.

I love that all the characters are 15/16, it means we got a little more romance, which I loved! Of course I missed Annabeth and Percy, but Maddie reassures me that the final three books in the series are couple-centric so no complaints here!

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the majority of the characters and can’t wait to find out more about the Roman sides of the gods in the next book. I only gave The Lost Hero three stars, however, because there were sections that I trudged through less enthusiastically, and I want this series to get better and my star ratings need to reflect that. If you are yet to read the Heroes of Olympus series, then I would seriously recommend it!

The Reading Hierarchy

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Having accepted our places at university, Bee and I were discussing the curriculum of university English Literature courses. Shakespeare is a staple of the syllabus, appearing in every course without fail, turning up like a bad penny. One of the Bronte sisters is also there, ready to throw some 18th-19th Century context your way.

But you’ll struggle to find books like ‘Anna and the French Kiss’ appearing at university level. Now it’s becoming more common for ‘Lord of the Rings’ to make it to the set list, with ‘Harry Potter’ almost getting there, skirting on the edge of the fantasy genre, struggling to gain prestige because he’s labelled as a ‘children’s book’.

Why is it that classics like ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Great Expectations’ are always given precedence over books like ‘The Raven Boys’ and ‘Under the Never Sky’?

When I told my English teacher that I primarily read ‘Young Adult’ fiction, she said I needed to ‘grow out’ of that stage before university, and start reading things like ‘The Shock of the Fall’ or ‘We’re Completely Beside Ourselves’ if I was interested in contemporary fiction, instead of ‘Lola and the Boy Next Door’. I should be moving on to ‘adult books’.

But if I told her I’d recently read ‘You’re the One that I Want’ by Giovanna Fletcher, that would probably be looked down upon too, because of its placement within the ‘Women’s Fiction’ genre, or ‘Chick Lit’.

It seems unfair that academics think more of you if you’re read the collected works of Charles Dickens over that of Rick Riordan, and there seems to be this invisible hierarchy of reading, with classics at the top of the pyramid and YA at the bottom.

YA is the one of the largest growing genres of literature. Publishers can’t publish YA books fast enough. There seems to have been a boom of teenagers that want to read something that’s more suited to their age group, like me! When I was nine, I used to worry what I would read when I grew out of Jacqueline Wilson books. Now there’s a plethora of choice and I have trouble deciding what to read next!

I think that, and be warned of the oncoming opinion, that we should all just be happy that people are reading. Just because the book was published a month ago by someone straight out of college doesn’t make it any less worth reading than if it was publish over one hundred years ago by someone in their late forties.

Let books be books, instead of instruments with which the reader’s are judged.

Review: The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

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The NigThe Night Itselfht Itself by Zoe Marriott
Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Contemporary
Published By: Walker Books
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This was a spontaneous read from my school library. I saw it displayed on the little plastic holders that just scream: ‘I’m new!’ and thought ‘Yep, I’ll read that’. As this was a completely unplanned read, I knew little about the plot or the author.

‘The Night Itself’ is about a girl called Mio who inherits this ancient sword. When she touches the sword, or katana to give it its proper name, she is drawn to it and finds that she can’t put it down. Some crazy stuff then happens because the sword has been unveiled, involving murder, kidnap and travelling into a different dimension. Great stuff!

The novel was really action packed – there was never a dull movement. I really enjoyed the relationship between Mio and her best friend, Jack, who was a girl and homosexual and that was not a big deal (it was lovely for this to be dealt with subtly.) When Shinobu arrived, an invisible boy who was trapped in the sword, romance is suddenly on the cards for Mio. This did feel quite rushed, but the author notes this herself, saying that Mio and Shinobu fell in love within 24 hours. Not completely unbelievable.

Basically, there were a lot of things I liked about this book. I thought that the Japanese mythology was woven in well, without alienating the audience with a lot of jargon. Things were explained in a way that was easy to understand. Excellent.

I thought that the ending was fairly rushed – I kind of lost my way a little bit, but I was speed reading, so this could have contributed to the struggle. I do love a good action scene, and I’m more than used to fight scenes because of my beloved Percy Jackson. In the end, though, I knew what was going on, which is the main thing.

I don’t know how many times I can say I enjoyed this book. One fault, however, was the borderline racist description of the main character’s eyes. Obviously, she and Shinobu were of Japanese descent but that was obvious because of their names. On the other hand, on GoodReads, the author did apologise for the description, and I’m sure has worked hard to correct herself in the sequel that came out in June this year.

Something different about this book was the female protagonist. After reading a lot of Rick Riordan, it was nice to see a girl take the lead role as a mythological descendant. I’d recommend this to anyone that does enjoy Rick’s writing, but is looking for a plot that is a lot less hard core.

Overall, I’d give ‘The Night Itself’ 3 stars. I was impressed, but it didn’t wow me. Compared to my favourite books that received 5 star reviews, this novel was exciting and kept me gripped but didn’t leave me wanting more after the final page. Perhaps if the library gets the second book in the series, I will continue to enjoy Mio’s world!

Reading Classics: Beginner’s Guide

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Over the last couple of months, Bee and I have really been trying to widen our reading pattern, and experience some of the great literature out there that wasn’t published in this century. We’ve had to do some reading for school, of course, but we’ve also been doing a lot of reading for our book club and just in general. I am in no way an expert on these classics, but I thought I’d give a few tips if you’re interested in trying out something new (even though the books are old!)

1. Read small books. This may seem like a cop out, but it is the perfect way to widen your reading without committing yourself to 800 pages of Charles Dickens. You really feel enriched afterwards, even if it’s only taken you three hours to read! Try: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (who also wrote Treasure Island?!) or Animal Farm by George Orwell.

2. Read books that you know something about. Everyone is familiar with certain classic tales, even if it is the watered-down version presented in the media. Try: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley or Dracula by Bram Stoker.

3. Read the books that have lots of adaptations. This can really help to bring a story to life with costumes, setting and lively dialogue! If you’re finding the content of the novel hard, as well, then an adaptation can really help to firm up your understanding of the text. Try: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

4. Don’t limit yourself to only the genre of novels. In order to really read widely, why not trying reading plays or poetry instead? This can be much quicker than reading a novel, but equally as enjoyable. Try: Any Shakespeare play (although I’d recommend the comedies!) or the poetry of the Romantic era, like John Keats. 

5. Finally, read classics with others. There’s nothing better to talk about than books, and to actually discuss the classic that you’ve chosen to read will further your understanding of the text to an even greater extent. Listening to what others think of the novel could possibly influence your opinion of it. Share recommendations and enthusiasm!

I hope this inspired you to go and try out classics, remember, they’re not as scary as they look!

Review: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

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Sweet Evil

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Harper Teen
Pages: 447
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I’ve had this book on the shelf for ages. AGES. Somehow, the cover just really put me off from reading this book. (I wonder why! Heh heh!) I didn’t know if I would like the concept, or the writing style, especially since the slogan was ’embrace the forbidden’. Not really something to live by.

It turns out that I was right. This book wasn’t my cup of tea.

I think I’m going to find it really hard to describe, just because this is a 450-ish page book and I think only two significant things happened:
1.) A road trip across country with Anna, the protagonist who’s a super religious half-angel, half-demon, and a boy, Kaiden, who’s a demon womaniser. Usually the rule is if you add a road trip to something, it can only get better. Take ‘Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour’ or ‘Paper Towns’ as examples. However, this was not the case. I didn’t really understand the mission of the trip (that was never even fulfilled) and how quickly Anna was willing to get close to her father whom she hadn’t seen in sixteen years. The pacing was really rubbish throughout this whole book. Days would pass in paragraphs, and between chapters, months would go by. It meant that the time periods that were written about seemed rushed, because the relationship between these two characters blossomed (and died) very quickly.
2.) Some sort of demon training. Anna is the daughter of the demon who had to entice humans to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and/or take illegal drugs. Yippee. I felt very uncomfortable reading these scenes, especially when Anna is dancing on top of a bar, trying to please a married man twice her age. It all just seemed very wrong. 

I didn’t like Anna and I didn’t like Kaiden on principle. I hate the ‘you shouldn’t be friends with me’ storyline, Stephanie Meyer already wrote that to death. If I wanted to read about a relationship that occurred regardless of the couple’s safety, I would just read ‘Twilight’.

I didn’t like that Kopano (odd name) was introduced as a point in a love triangle. It made NO SENSE. Since when did Anna harbour feelings for this other demon spawn? Why was there tension between Kaiden and Kope? I think authors need to realise a book can be good without a love triangle present. Actually, it would be refreshing!

I know that this series is a trilogy, and I’ve heard that it just gets better as it progresses. This is odd to hear about a trilogy, especially considering the outcome of ‘Allegiant’ or ‘Mockingjay’. Still, these books are cheaper on Kindle, so I may or may not complete the series. ‘Sweet Evil’ really hasn’t done much to motivate me to continue.

I’d give this book 2 stars. It wasn’t horrific enough to only get one, but there was nothing I especially liked about it to move it up the star rating scale.

Would You Rather (Book Edition)

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We already have a post for December 1st and 2nd, so Maddie and I decided to try and do Blogmas! So without further ado I have been tagged in the Would You Rather Tag that has been going around booktube and the blog-o-shere. I was tagged by Diary of a Booklover and I do believe that this tag was created by RayKayBooks on YouTube. (Original video here!) Would you rather…

1) Read only trilogies or stand alone novels?

I love a good stand alone novel, and I think it’s so amazing that an author can create a complete set of characters, perhaps in a new world and make us fall in love with the story over the course of only 300 pages. As much as I like trilogies, more often than not there tends to be the trend of the ‘not-so-great sequel.’ There are quite a few series/trilogies that I definitely would’ve happily left at book one. So stand alones for me!

2) Read only female or only male authors?

I don’t think the gender of the author matters when I pick out books. I am interested in women’s fiction, and would like to study it critically at university, but that won’t stop me from picking out books written by men – it’s important to read a mix of both. I know I’m supposed to come down on one side, and I’ll admit that the majority of the books on my shelf are written by women, so even though  this question is super tough, I’ll go with read only female authors because I read to read every single thing that Morgan Matson publishes.

3) Buy books online or in store?

I’m all for supporting book shops, but there aren’t any book stores closest to me, so I find myself buying online more. But that doesn’t stop me from being in bookshops as often as I can, even if I can’t afford to buy anything!

4) Have books made into movies or tv shows?

I don’t actually watch a lot of TV shows, and there is nothing I hate more that something being dragged out for a ridiculously long amount of time, so it really depends whether it’s a stand alone or a series. I’d like to see more book series being made into TV shows (I’m super excited for the TMI TV show, but I am NOT excited for the re-casting) but I live in the UK so even if they did make an AMAZING series adaptation of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, I’d have to wait, like, a million years before it became available for my region.

5) Read five pages a day or five books per week?

I’m off to university next year so five books a week would be great!

6) Be a professional reviewer or author?

AUTHOR. I have my ten year plan set out for how I’m going to get myself into the publishing industry and becoming a best-selling author is stage three. But I don’t think I’ll ever give up reviewing books as a hobby.

7) Read only your top 20 books over and overread only new books?

Here is a list of my Top 20 books. There’s no way I could give them up, but I would chose to only read new books so I could find new favourites, but have Maddie read my favourites to me. There, that’s not cheating.

8) Be a librarian or a bookseller?

A librarian, without a doubt. Unlimited books whenever I want? Yes, please!

9) Only read your favorite genre or all genres except your favorite?

YA is my favourite genre in broad terms, and I don’t have a favourite sub-genre, so I’ll cheat and say I’ll be forever reading YA. Because I will be. It’s stage two of the publishing plan.

10) Read only physical or only ebooks? If I had the money and space I would read only physical books, if I didn’t have unlimited funds or storage then my Kindle – called Roger – will suffice.

Thank you so much to Alma for tagging me! This was a really fun tag, and if you haven’t thought about these questions yet, then you definitely should!

Review: You’re the One that I Want by Giovanna Fletcher

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You're the oneYou’re the One that I Want by Giovanna Fletcher
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Penguin
Pages: 372
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘You’re the One that I Want’ was only my second New Adult book. I found it under the ‘Chick Lit’ section of the bookshop, however, due to the age of the characters moving from nine years old to twenty seven, its safe to say that the majority of the novel happens when the three main characters are in their teens.

I love Gi. I found her when she first started making videos on her channel, ‘Giovanna’s World’ and like to catch up with her blog posts for Hello! Magazine. She’s so bubbly and fun, and her personality really diffused into this novel.

There was nothing difficult about the writing style. I didn’t feel like I needed to be twenty seven to enjoy it. It was written exactly how a teenager, and how I imagine a university grad, would write and feel. It really just made for a quick and fun read that didn’t have me questioning the origins of the universe.

The novel focuses on Maddy, a bride to be, and Ben, her best friend but not her groom. These are the two perspectives of the novel, however we also get to experience the groom’s speech, written by Robert, the final point in our love triangle (or self-proclaimed love tripod.)

Main problem: will Ben pipe up at the altar and claim Maddy for himself?

After the first scene of the wedding, when Maddy is contemplating her romantic decisions, we are rocketed back to the past, when all three characters are nine years old. Until they are twenty one, we get to see the relationship develop between Maddy and Robert (who become a couple at sixteen) and Ben and Maddy (a relationship that never quite got off the ground.) I loved how Gi waited until they were twenty-one to get serious, because teenage relationships are meant to just be fun. It felt completely natural that Maddy and Robert would stay together if they didn’t have a reason to separate.

Only they did. Cue Robert doing something stupid. This led to the relationship between Ben and Maddy intensifying.

The one thing with this love triangle was that the novel knew that’s all it was focused on. I wasn’t annoyed by the backwards and forwards of will she love me or won’t she because I knew what I was getting, unlike in YA novels, when a love triangle is thrown at you for no reason. Also unlike with YA novels, I never knew which guy I preferred. They both did questionable things to Maddy, but both seemed to really care for her.

When they grew up some more, however, I thought that the relationship between Robert and Maddy was a compromise for their true feelings. It felt like they were staying together because they didn’t know how to be with anyone else. Of course, when their relationship went back to normal, I went back to shipping them, but a little piece of my heart would always tug towards Ben and how he drew the romantic short straw.

I really loved the ending of this novel. It wasn’t a cliched ‘speak now’ wedding, with lots of gasps and treachery. It was real. The epilogue gave me a good sense of closure for the three characters, and recognised that your first love doesn’t have to be your only love (even  though it was super cute that that was how it worked out for Gi and Tom, the most adorable couple ever.)

Overall, I’d give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Like I said, I knew what I was getting, and was ready for it. It captured me for the entire time I was reading it and had me immersed in the lives of Maddy, Ben and Robert. I look forward to reading Gi’s debut novel, ‘Billy and Me’ in the near future!