Weekly Wrap-Up April 18th-24th

I managed to finish six books this week. Two of them were audio and one e-book. And five of them were YA. Kind of breaking out of my very, very long NA kick.

If I Tell by Janet Gurtler ****
I really cannot recommend Janet's books enough. She can just write YA contemporary so well. There is a few cute moments, but mostly they hit on different themes. Like this one, the MC, Jasmine, is struggling with being bi-racial in a town that is pretty conservative. Her mom was 17 when she had her, so she's been raised by her grandmother. And her mom has been more like a sister. I felt a lot of rage in reading this one. Jasmine had closed herself off and could come across as unsociable. It was her coping mechanism. I totally understood why she'd be like that. Just another great book from Janet.


Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman *****
I reviewed this one this week. Find the review here.


I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler ****.5
I knew going in that this one dealt with cancer. So I was prepared for an emotional read. But I was not prepared for some heart punches Janet decided to toss in on top of everything else. I'm not sure, but this might be my favourite of Janet's books to date. The bond between sisters and how their relationship shifted and grew during a trying time was done so well. Tess had to be the rock and grown up of her family because her parents were assholes and couldn't deal with being there for their daughter in such a terrible time. Tess had to push aside her dreams to be there for her sister, which she didn't think twice about, but she shouldn't have had to. God, her parent's were just awful in every which way. Tess is super intelligent and art is her passion. They constantly told her to get over her hobby. I just can't even. But Tess was strong and would call them out on their terrible attitudes and actions.


Rites of Passage by Joy N Hensley *****
Never has a book made me feel so out of shape and sluggish. I had this one on audio and would listen to it well running and I just kept thinking this isn't enough. Such a good book though! Sam is the epitome of a kick ass girl. Not only could she out last and out perform most of the guys, she had a strong attitude too. Mentioning rage, this book! I cannot believe how much a man's club the military still is. Sam was one of the first girls to attend this military school and she was treated like absolute shit by 90% of them. Sam never let that get her down. She just used it to fuel her desire to show them up even more. The romance is far from the focus here, but of my heart. I sooo needed that ship to sale. Talk about tension. I also don't think I've need a sequel(that probably won't ever happen) to be in the works. A NA sequel would be perfection!


Beautiful Secret(Beautiful #4) by Christina Lauren ****
I listened to this on audio as well. I was a little apprehensive going that route because it's an adult romance with the sexy times. Better get my ear buds in... But I actually quite enjoyed it. The two narrators did a really good job. The Beautiful series is just fun. And Beautiful Secret saw Christina Lauren's two series' meet up with these two MC's, Ruby and Niall. Niall is a sexy Brit, but kind of an idiot. Being married for over a decade really emasculated him. I couldn't believe that Ruby being 7 years younger was kind of teaching him. He honestly was clueless with women. I did really like Ruby. She was smart and didn't hold much back. Ruby wants to talk everything through which I really appreciated because that's not the usual in romance. Usually feelings are so secretive. I did believe their relationship though. It was cute beyond Niall's idiotic thoughts. The best, and my favourite parts was when we say the previous characters. When the gang is together it is always hilarious.


Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley  ****
Review will be up on Tuesday.

How was your week? What did you all read?

Happy reading!

Brittany