Tag Archives: Contemporary

These are the books that fall into the contemporary novel genre.

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Review: Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Title: Breaking Beautiful
Author: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Rating: ★★★★

Breaking Beautiful has one of the most heartbreaking characters I’ve ever read and it has nothing to do with the accident that took her boyfriend’s life.

Going in, I knew this story would be tough. To see the contrast between the life everyone thinks Allie has and the one she’s truly living is astonishing. To the world, Allie is the perfectly happy, spoiled girlfriend. Trip gives her everything she could possibly need, acts the part of loving boyfriend. Sure, she has some enemies in town because Trip dumped the popular girl in favor of Allie, but that’s a minor problem. What everyone doesn’t know is what happens behind the scenes, what Allie is too ashamed to face.

Trip’s abuse has left Allie paranoid and broken. She doesn’t think of herself as worth anything because that’s what Trip beat into her. It’s all her fault and if she would only change, then everything could be perfect. That’s the mindset Allie has, even after the accident. She’s broken in nearly every way she can be.

This book could have easily become depressing, but it didn’t. Even as you read about how hurt Allie is, her strength comes through. She is still going on with her life, trying to find a new way to live. She hides away at times, but that’s only because she doesn’t know how to be Allie; she doesn’t know if just being Allie is good enough.

Blake. I loved Blake. He knew enough about Allie to try and find her whenever she’d lose herself to her own thoughts. He plays the tough, bad guy, but he’s got a couple soft spots. Both he and Allie have skeletons in their closets when they start their relationship, but they work together to make it work. Blake finds a way to give back to Allie the pieces of her life she needs and shows her it’s okay to let other pieces go.

Breaking Beautiful is a heartbreaking story while being heartwarming at the same time. It shows that you can make it through the toughest times and come out stronger on the other side. It says that it’s okay to become lost sometimes; you can find a way out. I’m incredibly glad I decided to read Breaking Beautiful and it’s definitely a must read, if you ask me.

If Breaking Beautiful sounds like your kind of book, you can purchase it here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

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Where You Are by Tammara Webber

After finishing Between the Lines, I decided to give Where You Are a try, if only for a continuation of Graham and Emma’s story. To be honest, the plot didn’t really appeal to me. I’m not a girl that goes for the twisted, manipulating revenge kind of story. In the end, this book was about what I thought it would be. I loved the parts that dealt with Graham and Emma and loathed the parts that were about Brooke and Reid.

This is written from four different points of view. Brooke, Emma, Graham, and Reid all get to tell their own story. It did feel a little bogged down at times, but it wasn’t too bad. I think all sides were necessary to know everything going on, even if Reid and Brooke’s views got a little repetitive and overworked at times.

Graham and Emma are perfectly sweet. They’re a wonderfully written couple in the early stages of a relationship. There’s a little bit of confusion rolled around with a lot of happiness. If the story has simply been about them, I think I would have enjoyed it more. A book about trying to find their footing in a new romance while one starts college and one finishes and enters the next stage of life, not to mention Graham’s daughter, would have been a syrupy sweet read.

The problem comes in with Reid and Brooke and their “plan” to win back the relationships they never had. Brooke starts everything, coming to Reid with a plan to help him get Emma back. From there it just spirals. It felt too childish for me to actually enjoy. It took away from what could have been a good story.

There’s not a lot of secondary character action. Emily shows up occasionally, but there wasn’t enough to make up for Reid and Brooke. They were extremely secondary and I wished there could have been more.

Overall, Where You Are was a bit of a let-down from Between the Lines, even if I was kind of expecting it, based on the novel description. I’m glad I got to read a little bit more of Graham and Emma, but I could have done without the backstabbing pettiness of Reid and Brooke. Unfortunately, I think this is where I’ll bow out from the series. Emma and Graham were the people keeping me reading, and even with Reid’s slight redemption at the end, it’s not enough to keep me reading this series. I’m not ready to give up on Webber, though, so I will give her other book, Easy a try.

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Between the Lines by Tammara Webber

I honestly thought this would be a quick read that was a little enjoyable, a lot cheesy, and nice filler between other books. I really didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

It’s a book about teen movie stars. That’s why I wasn’t really sure about this book. I’m not really one for celebrity drama in real life, so why would I want to read a book about it? Turns out, the celebrity doesn’t play a huge part. It does come into play, but it’s basically a book about teens and their lives.

Emma is thrown into the world of the famous, but she’s trying to maintain her ties to home and as much of a regular life as she can. So when she starts to fall for one guy meanwhile having the hottest actor of the moment after her, life gets a little complicated. I liked how Webber kept Emma just outside the full celebrity life. It made her likable and a little bit relatable. She’s living the life a lot of people would love to have, if only for a day.

The two guys in this book are likable in their own way. Reid is a bit of a “bad boy,” but he’s also got a bit of a heart. Graham is a little mysterious, but always a gentleman. Webber managed to write the two types of guys most girls want to date at least once in life. I know who my favorite is, but it’s not hard to root for both.

The secondary characters in this novel are fantastic. Emily, Emma’s best friend, is one of the best. She doesn’t let Emma get away with anything. She may be a bit starstruck, but she’s still there for Emma. The people Emma meets on set are interesting and I liked that they kept Emma from getting completely wrapped up in the guys in her life. They may not be able to keep her grounded, but they were able to keep her head on straight.

Between the Lines is a book that surprised me. It was sweeter than I thought it would be, and not as cheese-filled as I expected. It was a quick read, but sometimes those are what you’re looking for.

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Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

I’m not the easiest to impress when it comes to Young Adult romances. I typically like a little something else to go with the romance, something to keep my heart racing and keep me turning the pages. That’s why I expected to enjoy Catching Jordan, but not really love it. But as I got further and further into the story, I found myself loving it.

I think one thing I liked most about Catching Jordan was the lack of the typical teen “Queen Bee.” Yes, there were girls that got on Jordan’s nerves. But they weren’t out to destroy her, or at least, that wasn’t what the story was about. Kenneally kept the story focused on Jordan and the boys in her life.

That’s another thing that really worked. Yes, this is mainly a teen love story. But there’s also a team full of guys that respect Jordan as their team captain, but also look at her as the little sister they have to protect from all world evils. I liked that once the boy drama started, the rest of the team wasn’t ignored. The other guys had as much of a place in the story as Jordan did.

As for the romance, I loved it. It wasn’t overly cheesy and it didn’t feel like Kenneally was trying to fit an adult romance into a teen book. It was what high school love should be: sweet, wonderful, but not all-consuming. It also wasn’t insta-love, but rather the much more acceptable instant attraction.

Catching Jordan is a book that sneaked up on me. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. I was prepared for a bit of cheesiness with a side of fluff, but Catching Jordan is a lot more. I’ll be checking out more of Kenneally’s books for sure.

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Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

I haven’t read anything of Jio’s before. Blackberry Winter was a Kindle Daily Deal and the description sounded interesting. At worst, I’d be out three dollars. At best, I’d find one of those gems that sneak up on you. Blackberry Winter is definitely a gem.

Blackberry Winter weaves together two different tales of struggles and loss. Vera heads to work one evening and when she leaves there is snow blanketing the ground and her son is gone. Claire’s life is in pieces and it takes a snow storm to put her on the path to fixing herself. The stories are beautifully interwoven, constantly pulling at my heart and never giving a moment of rest.

I did figure out early on most of how the characters are connected. I initially thought that knowing the big mystery would take me out of the novel. It didn’t at all. I still needed to know how things got from point A to point B and all the little pieces in the middle.

Vera’s story had me in tears. The pain she went through is something no mother should ever have to go through. And to have it set in 1933, when times were dire or times were fantastic, all depending on how much money there was to your name. She worked hard to make life as good as she could for her son, and it was so easy to feel the love she had for him.

Claire is going through her own heartache. Her world has been broken to bits and she’s not sure how she’s supposed to put it back together. When a May snowstorm hits and she comes the story of Vera and Daniel Ray, something in her compels her to dig the truth out. She needs to find out how Vera’s story ends and I loved going on that journey with her.

Sarah Jio is an author that hadn’t been on my radar before. But after reading Blackberry Winter, I will definitely be reading more of her writings. She wove a breathtaking story through these pages and had me tearing up at the end. This is a book that needs to be read.

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Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

This wasn’t a bad book. It wasn’t a great book, either. I just wasn’t as in love with it as I wanted to be. The characters don’t feel real and while I liked the ending and it made up for most of the book, it wasn’t enough to save it.

When I read a book about teens, I want to read a book about teens. Not adults packaged in teen bodies, and that’s what Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares is. I’m all for reading about teens that don’t quite fit in, that are a little quirky. I think that can make a good book great. But there’s a fine line between making the characters enjoyably quirky and a little too pretentious. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares starts off cute and sweet, heads into pretentious, and ends on the last couple pages sweet again.

I could have liked Dash and Lily. Lily even felt like the book version of me for a while. It was just that part in the middle, where Cohn and Levithan seemed to be trying to prove to me how smart Dash and Lily are instead of letting the characters show me how smart they are. I don’t need to be impressed with their knowledge of obscure literature and poetry in order to believe a character is smart. For a while, it felt like Levithan and Cohn were trying to shout out, “Look how intelligent and well-read we are! We know more than you!” instead of trying to make a great story.

I will say that the ending, once the pretension left, was exactly what I hoped the rest of the novel would have been. It was sweet, made me sappy, and nearly perfect. It just came too late to save the rest of the book.

I had hopes for Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, and they just weren’t met. The beginning and end were exactly what I was wishing for, but the middle was too much. Too much adult for a book with teen characters, too much pretension, just too much. I’m disappointed with this book, and that’s not a feeling I enjoy having.

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Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

I had never read a book written in free verse style. It’s not really my thing. I prefer my poetry to be poetry and my novels to be novels. That said, there is no other way this story could have been told. I simply don’t think all the emotion and passion and heartbreak could have gotten across any other way.

The characters in Exposed are amazingly well-written. They aren’t really black and white, but I felt for them in some way in every poem. The story is told through Liz’s point of view, and her aching was completely visible and palpable. It oozed off the page and crawled under my skin until I was a teary mess because it was horrible, and yet the book was so good.

The way Marcus didn’t really give a definitive answer on the major plot point was genius. I didn’t need to know the yes or no answer. Either way, it was a horrible situation and an answer wasn’t going to solve it. Too much hurt had already happened for any result to heal the wounds.

There honestly isn’t anything else I can say about this book, except that people need to read it. It is so incredibly raw and powerful that there aren’t words that adequately describe how stunning this book is in its heartbreak.

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The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

I’m not sure I have enough words to adequately express how much this book moved me. Usually, a book that feels slow to start and has slightly confusing chapters doesn’t affect me this much, but The Paris Wife slowly tore me to pieces with its heart and pain, and at the very end, I was reading through tears.

The Paris Wife tells the story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley, and the beginnings of his career. No one seems especially thrilled at the start of their relationship, but they were in love. It was easy to see, even through the very end. And I think that’s why it hurt so much at the end. It wasn’t hatred that I felt, reading those last chapters. It was Hadley’s love; so much love that she knew she had to let it go, or it would destroy them more than it had already.

It’s easy to see the Ernest Hadley fell in love with. But as he gained success, he began to lose himself to his work, and in turn, losing his wife and family. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to read, because as much as you want it to turn out, you know it doesn’t. Each little piece of love and adoration I read was like another tiny needle poking me; simply because I knew their happiness wouldn’t last forever.

The novel does start of a little slow, and some of the vacation chapters where lots of people are mentioned got a little confusing, but all of that pales in comparison to how fantastic the rest of the novel is. It will make you feel, it will hurt, and the ending breaks your heart, but it is such a fantastic, amazing, wonderful, splendid novel that you can’t help but keep reading. This has easily become a must read book, and one of the best books I’ve ever read.

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Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Nothing makes me happier when reading a book than when that book is able to completely shock and stun me. Speechless is one of those books. I figured it would be a good read, maybe a little preachy, and ultimately get a message across. What I got instead was a book that was real and twisted my heart in one of the best ways possible.

After what she says nearly gets someone killed, Chelsea takes a vow of silence. In the beginning, her silence feels more like an attempt to make herself feel better about what happens. She realizes that words can have an impact, but it didn’t feel like she really understood that. By the end, though, she understands how her words can and should be used. She grows from a typical teen obsessed with social ranking and the latest clothing trend to someone comfortable being herself and understanding how important her words can be, in both using them and being silent.

Harrington’s ability to create real people out of book characters is fabulous. Aside from a few of the secondary characters, everyone feels like a real person. Kristen and some of the jock boys fall a little flat, but I didn’t mind that. This story wasn’t about them. I wasn’t expecting them to grow. It wouldn’t have been real if everyone had come to the same conclusion about the events in the book.

This isn’t a book that will blow your mind. It’s not a book you have to think deeply about in order to understand. But it’s a book with an impact that still leaves you with a little smile at the very end.

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The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory

Here’s the thing. I love history. A lot. I love when Philippa Gregory novels. A lot. The fact that her books are historical novels makes me nearly giddy. I might love Gregory’s novels to the point I almost hate them just a little bit, too. The Kingmaker’s Daughter was no exception.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the story of Anne Neville and her road to becoming queen. It starts when she is 8 years old and ends when she is 28. She starts off as her father’s pawn, a way to move higher in importance by marrying her off to the best offer. Her father uses her to try and win back his power over the king after King Edward’s (of the York side) wife and her family steal his influence away. She is married to Prince Edward of the Lancaster side as a way to buy a tie to the kingship. After her husband dies and the Lancaster line is officially ended, she loses nearly all her potential power and influence.

It is at this moment she starts to make choices for herself. She knows there are very few options to gain independence for herself, so she takes the next best road and marries someone she cares a great deal for, and eventually loves. Richard. I never doubted for a second that they came to love each other. To begin with, it almost feels as though the marriage is one of purpose. She wants to leave the house of her sister and brother-in-law, and Richard wants access to the land, wealth, and power her name brings. But by the end of the novel, there was love there.

The princes in the tower are touched upon, and yet nothing is definitively said about their fate. I like that Gregory doesn’t try to take a side. She keeps that mystery going and I appreciate that.

In the past 3 novels, I had come to form an opinion of Anne Neville and it wasn’t the greatest. Even though I saw her as a product of those around her, I wasn’t overly fond of her character in the last three books. However, when it’s finally her turn to tell the story, I fell in love with her and started to despise characters I had loved previously.

This is what I love most about The Cousins’ War series. In one novel, a character is painted as horrible, but the next makes him or her lovable. There isn’t one “villain” you can root against. They are all good and bad. Gregory has taken the stories we read in history books and made them into people. I can’t get enough of it.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is yet another brilliant addition to The Cousins’ War series and I’m hopelessly upset I have to wait another year to hear Elizabeth of York’s story.