Category Archives: Romance

Review: Even if the Sky Falls by Mia Garcia

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Evne if the Sky Falls by Mia GarciaEven if the Sky Falls
Mia Garcia
Katherine Tegen Books
Published on May 10, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Even if the Sky Falls
All she needs is one night to be anyone she wants.

Julie is desperate for a change. So she heads to New Orleans with her youth group to rebuild houses and pretend her life isn’t a total mess. But between her super-clingy team leader and her way-too-chipper companions, Julie feels more trapped than ever.

In a moment of daring, she ditches her work clothes for DIY fairy wings and heads straight into the heart of Mid-Summer Mardi Gras, where she locks eyes with Miles, an utterly irresistible guy with a complicated story of his own. And for once, Julie isn’t looking back. She jumps at the chance to see the real New Orleans, and in one surreal night, they dance under the stars, share their most shameful secrets, and fall in love.

But their adventure takes an unexpected turn when an oncoming hurricane changes course. As the storm gains power and Julie is pulled back into chaos she finds pretending everything is fine is no longer an option.

My Review
I’m a little torn in how I feel about this book. On the one hand, Julie’s story drew me in immediately. Obviously she’s recovering from something intense, but we don’t learn right away what’s happened to wreck her so deeply.

Then she gets this opportunity to escape her past completely for a little while. I loved the characters in the band she meets and especially Miles. It only took like half a second for me to start hoping Miles and Julie would get together.

The hurricane descriptions were pretty wild. As a Floridian, I’ve weathered several storms. I’m not sure I buy that so much happened from a Category 2 storm, but I’m sure it depends on a lot of factors, like which side of the storm hit them and that sort of thing. Certainly no matter what category it is, being outside in a hurricane is really dangerous!

What I really struggled with, though, is the ending. The romance gets resolved, and that was great. But all the way along Julie flashes back to what happened at home before the mission trip, and I think I wanted those two worlds to collide more completely. I was hoping her family or her brother would make an appearance at the end and we’d know she’d turned a corner even in her ability to deal with things at home. Not that everything had to be fixed, just some kind of scene tying things together.

Other than that, I’m glad I read it. I hate that Julie had such a bad experience on her mission trip, because I have such fun memories of my own trips. But considering what was going on in her life, it made perfect sense that she would feel alienated and unable to connect with the enthusiasm of the rest of the group.

The descriptions of New Orleans were fun and vivid – I felt like I was there, and I’ve been craving beignets since reading about them. Yum!

Even if the Sky Falls is a great pick for fans of The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith or Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett.Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Julie is Latina and talks about visiting relatives in Puerto Rico.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of extreme profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. At one point a boy and girl go swimming in their underwear. References to sex. One scene shows some nudity and lets us know the characters have had sex without any graphic details.

Julie’s mission leader clearly wants a relationship with her. He’s clingy and clearly makes her uncomfortable, since he seems willfully blind to her “no” signals. He doesn’t assault her or anything like that, but he does make her feel gross.

Spiritual Content
Julie’s family is Catholic and she’s on a mission trip with a church group, but it’s clear she has a lot of doubts in terms of her own faith. She’s bitter and depressed and feels like the church people don’t understand her and are too happy-happy.

Violent Content
Someone tries to choke Julie. She escapes.

The storm beats Julie and her friend up pretty badly. There’s one scene where they battle the elements, and things look pretty grim. Some details about injuries. It’s definitely a perilous situation.

Drug Content
Julie and her companion drink beer at a party and later share a bottle of wine.

Review: Bookish Boyfriends by Tiffany Schmidt

Book Review and Content, Magical Realism, Middle Grade 8-12, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Bookish Boyfriends
Tiffany Schmidt
ABRAM Kids
Published on May 1st, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Bookish Boyfriends
Boys are so much better in books. At least according to Merrilee Campbell, 15, who thinks real-life chivalry is dead and there’d be nothing more romantic than having a guy woo her like the heroes in classic stories. Then she, her best friend, Eliza, and her younger sister, Rory, transfer to Reginald R. Hero Prep–where all the boys look like they’ve stepped off the pages of a romance novel. Merri can hardly walk across the quad without running into someone who reminds her of Romeo.

When the brooding and complicated Monroe Stratford scales Merri’s trellis in an effort to make her his, she thinks she might be Juliet incarnate. But as she works her way through her literature curriculum under the guidance of an enigmatic teacher, Merri’s tale begins to unfold in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Merri soon realizes that only she is in charge of her story. And it is a truth universally acknowledged that first impressions can be deceiving…

My Review

A solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to four. When I started reading this book, I quickly lost interest and began to hate it. The characters (especially the main one) got on my nerves, and I found the writing style very irritating. I didn’t think I was going to finish it at all, honestly, but I made myself promise to at least read to 50% before giving up. Then, around the 25% mark, something changed. I’m not sure exactly what it was–if the author finally hit her stride, or if the characters improved or what–but suddenly, I found myself empathizing with the characters instead of berating them. I was pulled into the story (somewhat skeptically) until I was staying up late just to read a little bit more. Bookish Boyfriends, to my surprise, was suddenly good. Now, there was a few hiccups here and there (some of the characters still made horrible, face-palm worthy choices that I don’t agree with), but overall, I actually enjoyed this book. I would definitely be interested in reading a sequel, even a whole series with this theme. Overall ,it was a clean, pleasant read that straddles the line between middle grade and YA.

Some of the things I liked most included:

–Merrilee actually listened to her parents and made the right choice, at least once. You have no idea how satisfying it was to find a contemporary YA heroine being somewhat sensible for once.

–The story twist I didn’t see coming

–How the author incorporated the retelling aspect while still making the story her own

Some things I didn’t like:

–The lack of sensible adults

–Merrilee’s silliness at times

–The lesbian/bisexual couple represented and the mention of a homosexual customer. As a conservative Christian this was a red flag for me.

Recommended for Ages 12 and up

Cultural Elements
One character is described as being biracial, and partly Asian. One character is described as having brown skin. A lesbian/bisexual couple is featured, and there is a mention of a homosexual customer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some characters “curse,” but actual words are not given.

Romance/Sexual Content
Heavy kissing and embracing, semi-detailed. Describing how attractive male characters are (stays appropriate for age range overall).

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One character behaves threateningly towards Merrilee, trying to intimidate her into a relationship. One character is injured during sport’s practice.

Drug Content
Some reference to teen drinking at a party (no main characters participate).

Note: I received a copy of this book to review from NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review: Unbreakable by Sara Ella

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Unbreakable (Unblemished #3)
Sara Ella
Thomas Nelson – HarperCollins
Published May 1, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Unbreakable
Eliyana Ember is stranded in a foreign country in the Third Reflection with no passport, the inability to mirrorwalk, and zero clue where the nearest Thresholds back into the Fourth or Second might lie. Her mind is a haze, her memories vague. She knows a wormhole from the Fourth sent her here. She remembers her mom and baby brother Evan. Makai and Stormy and Joshua . . .

Deep down El realizes she must end the Void once and for all. Is there a way to trap the darkness within its current vessel, kill it off completely? To do so would mean sacrificing another soul—the soul of a man Joshua claims is a traitor. But he’s lied to her before, and even El senses Joshua can’t be fully trusted, but one thing is certain . . .

The Void must be annihilated. And only the Verity—the light which birthed the darkness—can put an end to that which seeks to kill and destroy.

My Review
I liked Unblemished, and I loved Unraveling, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately, it only earned 3.5 stars in my opinion. While it was still a solid finale, it didn’t live up to my (rather high) expectations.

We saw from a lot more perspectives in this book–Ky and Ebony along with Eliyana. While it was neat to get to see inside some of the other characters’ heads, it was a little annoying at times (especially with Eliyana and Ebony). The characters tend to ramble a lot, and it distracts from the story. It was hard to keep up with the switches between the present and flashbacks.

The plot didn’t really get going until the last quarter or so. For most of the book, the plot wanders hither and yon without a strong direction of what needs to happen next. A lot of what was supposed to be plot twists and revelations felt thrown in, without a whole lot of explanation. I wasn’t super happy with how the story resolved itself either–it was rather anticlimactic after the last book. Also, like Kasey mentioned in her review of Unraveling, the morality bordered on grey and tended to confuse the Christian themes with fantasy.

The world-building was excellent though, and I adore all the references to pop culture that Ella throws in. I won’t say too much about the Reflection(s) introduced in this story, as I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say some of them were familiar locations with a fresh twist.

Overall, I was kinda disappointed in Unbreakable. It felt like a sort of bait-and-switch after the last book, although that might have just been because of how much I loved the last one. Fans of the series will definitely want to read this one to finish the story that started in Unblemished, though I’d caution them about going into it with too high expectations. This trilogy is great for fans of Anne Elisabeth Stengl and Nadine Brandes.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters appear to be white. Some secondary characters have darker skin tones.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Story-centric curses, like crowe and Verity or Void.

Romance/Sexual Content
Eliyana kisses both Ky and Joshua. She describes her clothing in one scene as being inadequate and describes her figure (not in detail). She is dressed in only undergarments and a slip in one scene. There is some non-sexual nudity in several scenes (relating to shape-shifting).

From the review of Unblemished: Kisses also create bonds and promises. A kiss to the heel of the palm can bind someone to a promise they’ve made, and cause their death if they break that promise. A Kiss of Infinity binds the soul of the giver to the receiver.

Spiritual Content
From the review of Unblemished: While the story flirts with some Christian concepts, occasionally referencing Proverbs or spiritual concepts, I wouldn’t say it holds a truly Christian worldview. The Verity represents light and good, and the Void represents darkness and sin, but each character who interacts with them makes choices based on his or her own strength to battle or join with those forces.

Many characters possess Callings, or special abilities, like healing or shape-shifting.

Violent Content
Injuries are incurred, though not described in detail. Flashbacks include dangerous situations and some injuries. One character is mauled to death, and the wound is semi-described. One character dies from a broken heart. A character uses his blood to heal.

Drug Content
Eliyana, under the influence of the Unbinding Elixir, kisses Joshua, and many of her memories are changed.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Every Day
David Levithan
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published on August 28, 2012

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Every Day
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

My Review
Conceptually, this is probably one of the most intriguing books I’ve read this year. It reminds me a tiny bit of the show Quantum Leap, except that we don’t ever learn why A travels from body to body. And of course, Every Day takes a lot more time for exploration of what this kind of existence would mean in terms of understanding gender and sexual orientation. On that topic, I felt like the story sometimes got a bit preachy.

I think my favorite character by far was Rhiannon. I liked that she’s obviously a good person even though she’s sort of blind to her boyfriend’s flaws and therefore flawed herself. She struggles to understand life around her and embrace the relationships in her life. I liked that.

A was tougher for me. I liked him a lot more at the beginning of the story than the end. At the beginning, he tries to be really respectful of the person’s life into which he’s trespassing. But as the story progresses and his obsession with Rhiannon grows, he takes bigger and bigger risks and soon pretty much hijacks the life he’s occupying in order to spend the time with her, regardless of the consequences to the other person. As the story resolves, A tries to be the bigger person and do what he sees as right, but even in that, I felt like he was a bit controlling. I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I don’t want to say more. I just felt like he again took the choice away from other people Even though it was well-meaning, it still felt selfish to me.

On the whole, Every Day is a truly unusual book that did make me think about relationships and the things in life we so easily take for granted, like actually being able to have relationships and even possessions from one day to the next. To be honest, I felt like while the story posed some interesting questions, the content and ideas might be confusing for younger teen readers. For me personally, this would be one to wait on introducing or to read together and discuss some of the ideas and what they mean in the context of faith. See below for more content information.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
A has no body and therefore no gender, though he still falls in love—once with a boy, once with a girl. A experiences life as straight, gay, and transgender teens. Sometimes A is white, sometimes Asian, sometimes black or Latina. At one point A is an obese teenager, and makes some disparaging comments about the person’s character because of his weight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A knows Rhiannon and her boyfriend have had sex. When A is Rhiannon’s boyfriend, they sit on the “make-out blanket” and kiss. Later, A and a girl plan to have sex, but A ends up feeling it’s not fair for him to take that experience from the person whose body he’s using. They do climb into bed naked and kiss one another. Some scenes show kisses between two boys or two girls or a boy and girl.

A believes gender is sort of meaningless and doesn’t understand why Rhiannon is more comfortable showing affection to boys than girls. The narrative occasionally gets a bit preachy about this.

Spiritual Content
A has some really negative feelings about Evangelical Christians in particular. One person A “borrowed” later claims he was possessed by the devil for a day. A pastor supports his theory.

Because A has experienced life as a participant in many different religions, he feels they’re all the same and ultimately share the same goals. There’s a short passage in which the narrative focuses on this topic and emphasizes a belief that all religions are essentially equal.

Violent Content
A boy punches another boy in a school gym.

Drug Content
A, as a sixteen-year-old girl, watches her brother smoke a joint in the car on the way to school. She helps him lie to their parents about his drug use so he doesn’t get into trouble.

Teens drink alcohol at a party. A doesn’t drink because the boy whose life he is in wouldn’t do so.

A boy makes a comment about how much he enjoys using his girlfriend’s mom’s pills.

Review: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

To Kill a Kingdom
Alexandra Christo
Feiwel & Friends
Published on March 6th, 2018

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About To Kill a Kingdom

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

My Review

This was a very different look at The Little Mermaid tale. And by different, I mean on the complete opposite end of the spectrum compared to the Disney version we are familiar with. This tale pays more homage to the Brothers Grimm than it does to Andersen.

Setting: The world-building was neat, and I’d like to learn more about the various countries represented in the story. I especially liked how the royalty of each country had their own unique myth or legend that made them stand out compared to the rest of the citizens.

Characters: The characters were entertaining, on the whole, even if they did fall a little flat. Lira’s character arc stuttered a bit, and I struggled to understand and empathize with what she was going through. I felt like she changed a lot without enough description of what was going through her head to make it believable. Elian, on the other hand, was more enjoyable to read about; however, I felt like he was two different characters, depending on if I was reading from his perspective, or Lira’s perspective. I get the author was doing that on purpose, but it just made it harder to connect with him.

Plot: Nothing special here. It’s a typical band of YA characters going on a mission to save the world from an oppressive ruler. Read it for the retelling, not for the plot.

Overall: I didn’t like this one. It had waaay too much violence (it really should have been a DNF), and the characters weren’t especially endearing. If you like brutal, bloodthirsty fairytales, then this book is for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something with a little less content, and a little more a unique plot, then I suggest checking out The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble.

Recommended for Ages 16 and up

Cultural Elements
Some characters are described as having brown skin. Some characters are described as being pure white, with blue lips. One lesbian couple. Sirens seduce both men and women. 

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Frequent profanity, and some innuendo. 

Romance/Sexual Content
One heavy, detailed kiss. A monster forces a kiss. Sirens kiss seduced sailors. Some innuendo, and veiled mentions of castrating people. One royal family has the power to seduce anyone they touch.

Spiritual Content
A goddess, Keto, is frequently mentioned and referred to. Magic is attributed to her.

Violent Content
There is a lot of graphic violence in this one. Torture, beatings, attacks, blood, wounds, burns by acid, etc. Very gory.

Drug Content
A brief mention of using poison/sedative to get what a character wants.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: For Love and Honor by Jody Hedlund

Book Review and Content, Historical, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

For Love and Honor (An Uncertain Choice #3)
Jody Hedlund
Zondervan
Published on March 7, 2017

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About For Love and Honor
Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?

Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?

As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise?

My Review
Confession: this is totally not my preferred genre, but I’ve ended up reading this series because it’s the type of book my daughter enjoys.

As with An Uncertain Choice, the story follows characters who must marry but dread it. I liked Sabine’s character and the way her interest in art drives her and Sir Bennet together. The scenes from Sir Bennet’s perspective weren’t my favorite. He spent a lot of time agonizing over Sabine’s feelings and his own, which felt a little overly girly to me (not that men can’t be sensitive) and seemed similar to the voice in scenes from Sabine’s point-of-view.

While the characters are young—I think Sabine is seventeen—I would describe the story more as an adult romance with young adult crossover appeal. (As I mentioned, my daughter loves this kind of story right now.) It does make a great romance for younger readers who want that happily-ever-after story without the sexual tension or graphic descriptions.

On the whole, I enjoyed reading the story of Sabine and Sir Bennet in For Love and Honor (though I’m still team Derrick!) and think it will appeal to early young adult or late middle grade readers looking for a light, clean medieval romance.

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Cultural Elements
All characters appear to be white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a man and woman. Some descriptions of wanting to kiss.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer. Bennet values Christian artifacts and artwork as holy things because of his faith and what they represent.

Violent Content
A couple battle scenes in which soldiers become injured. Men attempt to burn a woman at the stake after accusing her of being a witch. A man throws a woman into a lake to prove she’s a witch.

Drug Content
Bennett and Sabine occasionally drink ale or wine, usually with a meal.