Tag: Beth

NA Romance, Reviews, ya romance

Book Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Veronica Porras (TTB)

dareyouto

Goodreads Summary:

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. “Dance with me, Beth.”

“No.” I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again….

“I dare you…”

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk’s home life, they’d send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom’s freedom and her own happiness. That’s how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn’t want her and going to a school that doesn’t understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn’t get her, but does….

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can’t tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn’t be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won’t let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all.

My Initial Thoughts:

If I am completely honest, I didn’t want to read DYT because of Beth. She broke Isaiah’s heart and I couldn’t forgive her for that. Kayla kept telling me, Come on you’re gonna love it, and I refused until I finally caved on my own.

Review:

Why didn’t I read this sooner?! Honestly I’m kind of mad at myself it took me this long to kinda get over what Beth did to Isaiah so that I could finally read it. I’m glad that it finally happened though.

Date You To is Beth’s story right after Pushing The Limits. We saw Beth in PTL, and DYT is her and Ryan’s story.

Since I just mentioned Ryan can I just say I need a Ryan in my life. He is perfect. For me at least. He is a writer to begin with. I’m a sucker for those, and musicians too… and mechanic dudes like Isaiah. OMG, okay, a lot of guys are my type. Haha.

Anyways, Beth’s story surprised me so much. I did not expect her story to go like this. I personally think it sheds a light on her, and her very “tough” attitude. As a reader, we finally get a in-depth view of the circumstances in her life that made her hard and bitter. The beginning made me cringe a lot because of the effort Beth’s uncle was making to try to make her life better, yet he couldn’t really do much. The entire book is about her journey and how both her uncle and Ryan little by little start chipping away those walls she has built around her heart. Towards the end of the story, her walls hadn’t all collapsed, but she we can clearly see she is on the road to recovery (by that I mean her heart and mental state), and for those who have read Crash Into You, we know she is doing a lot better a few months down the road after DYT.

Ryan’s story made me cry a little. Okay, my eyes just got a little misty. The home he lives in is horrible. Can you imagine living in that type of hostile environment and having to be exactly what your parents want you to be 100% of the time? It made me upset that his father wouldn’t support his writing career. If your kid is good at something, I say support him in that. Don’t make him something he isn’t. Okay, I’m getting off my soapbox now.

I think the most important thing I learned from Beth’s story is the importance of realizing that our loved ones are not always how we picture them. We can’t make excuses for their bad choices. Beth’s mom didn’t learn her lesson and wasn’t going to either. Beth couldn’t see the damage and danger her mother is to herself and to Beth. When she realized that at the end, I finally exhaled in relief. Her mother needs helps, just not Beth’s help. If Beth wants her life to change, she needs someone else to take care of her mother.

Overall, I thought it was a great book, and I’m glad I read it.

(Reviewer note: Sorry Guys! I meant to post this review up like 3 weeks ago, but the job training I’m going through in Utah is intense and doesn’t leave me time to read or even write reviews, but I made time today! The blog will be back to regular schedule the month of August!)

Rating: 5/5

 

Adult Contemporary, Reviews

Book Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Veronica Porras (TTB)

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Goodreads Summary:

“Hi, I’m the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . ” 

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

My Initial Thoughts:

The only RR book I had read so far is Fangirl and I wanted to check out RR’s adult fiction work. I was expecting her writing to be similar to Fangirl, but still be different if that makes sense. I honestly did not know exactly what to expect.

Review:

Really, I can only fangirl in this review. I stayed up until 12:30am last night just to finish this book. The last time I remember looking at the clock was around 10:20ish. I said to myself I’ve got time to read a little more… and a little more turned into finishing the book. You all know how that works.

Back in late October/November I read about 30 pages in a span of a week and it depressed me a little so I stopped. It was nothing like Fangirl and I knew the next time I picked this book up I had to be in an adult fiction mood. And that mood hit me last night.

Here are some of the reasons why I loved Attachments so much.

#1 The friendship between Jennifer and Beth.

The bond between these two is perfect. The way the talk, their jokes, how considerate they are of each other, and how real they are. It’s just one of the best friendships I’ve seen on paper.

#2 The D&D Crew

I just really love this bunch of married nerds that play video games once a week you can say almost religiously. They always accept Lincoln into their gaming family. Seriously, they are this big eccentric and weirdly awesome family.

#3 Lincoln

Oh, Lincoln. What have you done to my heart. I’ll love you for who you are. I promise.

#4 Lincoln’s mom

Even though she is a bit quirky and odd, she is still one of the best moms I’ve seen in literature these days. So caring and nice. (although she is a bit too attached to her children.)

#5 Doris

This woman cracks me up! With her stories about her marriages and life, she was exactly what Lincoln needed to stay at The Courier long enough to… figure things out. Yes, let’s put it that way. I don’t want to spoil you all!

#6 The ending!!!

Oh Dear Lord, that ending was just… perfect. The ending of this book left me on Cloud 9. I felt weightless, happy, and content. Just picture this: you know that warm feeling you get when you eat a really good meal and it just sits right? And you feel full, happy, and content? That’s exactly how I felt at the end of this book. I need more endings like that in my life.

Rating: 5/5

NA Romance, Reviews

Book Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Veronica Porras (TTB)

pushing-the-limitsGoodreads Summary:

So wrong for each other… and yet so right.No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can PUSH THE LIMITS and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her HOW TO LOVE AGAIN.

What I liked:

Oh Boy, there is a lot I liked in this book! I liked that we had both Echo’s and Noah’s point of view. I also liked the way the background of the characters was presented in the book because it did not bore me. It didn’t feel like I was being given background information. What I mean by that is that sometimes in some books when the author is giving background information, it seems to drag on forever and I start getting impatient. Also, the pace of the novel was perfect. It wasn’t too slow or too fast. I also enjoyed that the characters in the book were relatable and I was able to empathize.

What I disliked:

The writing could have been a little better. It wasn’t bad, but some sentences felt awkward to me. I wish we would have known a little more about Echo’s mother and Beth. I know this will make me sound nit-picky but I didn’t like the font they used for Noah.

Overall:

I really liked this book. It got me out of the reading funk I was in. I had just finished Clockwork Prince and couldn’t seem to read anything else after that. I guess I was in a book hangover type of situation. Pushing The Limits wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t a light book either. As the tumblr book community would say, This book wasn’t too hard on the feels. I encourage you guys to read this book. You won’t regret it. 🙂

Rating: 4/5

Rating System:

1/5: I hated it.

2/5: It had some redeeming qualities but overall, not a good book.

3/5: I liked it (A fun read).

4/5: I really like it, but something was missing.

5/5: I love it! It’s as close to perfection as it can get!