"Adam & Evie" Book Review

My Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3 Stars 

Digital copy received in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

 Adam & Evie was one of that cute, high-school, I-have-a-crush-on-my-best-friend kind of feel-good book.

Evie Chase is the quiet, nerdy but cute girl who is in love with her best friend Adam Fields. The mean girl (because let’s face it, there’s always a mean girl) humiliates Evie in front of the entire student body. Evie not only loses what little confidence she holds dear, but she loses trust in her best friend and ultimately the friendship ends.

Fast forward to 3 years, and Evie & the rest of the Chase family are living it up in LA. Evie is a famous pop star and older sister is an actress. But now Evie has to return to her hometown where she will face Adam once again, as well as the mean girl who took Adam from her. The only twist is – Evie is returning in disguise to finish up her senior year at Roosevelt High.

I am always, and I truly mean ALWAYS fascinated when famous people (albeit movie characters) take on a disguise to mask their true identity and no one figures out who they really are - Batman, Superman, Supergirl.

Come on! You couldn’t possibly be that dumb/oblivious right?

Overall, it was a good book. It was not an original plot, but find me an original plot in this day and age out of the millions/billions of published books.

I found the book having way too much drama at times as well as unnecessary teenage angst.

Pretty early on in the book Evie’s identity was revealed and I appreciated that. We got to know the real Evie, more or less. It felt like the book was plot-driven with a lot of fillers, rather than being character driven, which is not necessarily a bad thing, its just that I didn’t get to really know the characters.

There wasn’t much of a character arc for Evie & Adam; however, one particular character displayed some noticeable character development toward the end.

I would recommend this to teenagers who fall within the 13-16 year old range.

"Little Monsters" Book Review

My Rating:  ★★★★☆ 4 Stars

It’s the cover. Something about that darn cover reeled me in; I can’t put my finger on it because it’s such a simple piece of art! But reeled me in it did and I am glad that (sometimes) I judge a book by its cover.

Kacey is the new girl who has recently moved to Broken Falls – to a charming life with her father’s family; one that has proven to be much different from the one she had led up to that point. 

Broken Falls is the kind of town where everyone is nice and welcoming. To her surprise, Kacey is inducted into a petite circle of two – meet Bailey and Jude.
The duo makes Kacey feel included in everything that they do – sneaking out at night, parties etc. however, Kacey is left out of one of the biggest parties of the year, causing her to feel completely left out. She wants answers, she wants to know why they are all so suddenly acting strangely distant toward her but Kacey will never be able to ask Bailey why because Bailey doesn’t return home that night. 

Awesome premise. Equally awesome delivery.

Little Monsters was a deliciously, mystery-laden book you can’t help but love because of the page-turner plot. The plot and execution was inherently satisfying due to its puzzle feel. I wouldn’t refer to this little gem as compelling, but it was sure gripping! 

I could feel the near-splitting tension, the back and forth speculation of whether Kacey played a part in the disappearance of Bailey. Whether Bailey was truly missing or just seeking attention. Whether Andrew was the killer. Whether Whether Whether.

No matter how many conclusions I came to, I did not arrive at the conclusion that the author presented. I did not foresee the twist until the author began the big reveal. 

And THAT, is what I love about books – the unpredictability, the guessing, the rollercoaster ride, the complexity of twists to the point where you give up guessing. 
I found myself speed reading to get to the end of many scenes; I haven’t speed-read in a while! 

A note those out there: Be careful who you call your friends.

Digital copy received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

"Restart" Book Review

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 4Stars


Really exciting premise which delivered! The writing style was clear and crisp with a perfect selection of words and metaphors. The choice of alternating views was the best approach and the author was able to tell this story in detail with distinctive character voices and personalities.
I loved how the book preaches that someone can really change, albeit the main character had to get amnesia to actually change, but still, I loved the lesson and some of the themes. What I did not like, and that’s something I never like, is bullying. I do not condone bullying, I do not like to read books or watch movies in which humans are so wicked and unfair. No matter what goes on in your life, there is NO excuse for bullying.

"The Fed-Up Cow" Book Review

My Rating: ★★★★★ 5 Stars

What a delightful read! 

This little treasure here, and yes, it is a treasure, was written in fun rhymes that any child could easily read.

It was well-illustrated with such bright colors bursting out on each page.

The fed-up cow, in my opinion, is easily relatable to both children and adults, because at some point in time, we all think things could be better if we could simply become someone else; however, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

I absolutely adored that this book could be read by children and that the lesson is plain as day – just be who you are, stop trying to be someone/something that you are not.

I highly recommend to parents and teachers of toddlers.

Digital copy received from Author in exchange for an unbiased review. 

"The Unhappiness Syndrome" Book Review

My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 1 Star

I really enjoyed this book in the beginning. I had high expectations being that it was a self-help piece speaking about habits that may potentially make us unhappy. 

I delved in expecting to discover some solutions for fixing habits which are possibly inviting unhappiness into my life. What I got though, was a beginning with potential then a few remaining chapters of unrelatable advice and scenarios. 

The relatable/Good:

“Ultimately, happiness is determined by your mental landscape” Ok, I can agree. 

Let’s see the next ↓

“First, accept that your feelings of envy are indications that show where your interests lie. Second, understand that the people you envy are not your enemies or rivals, but your ideals”. Yup, I can totally understand and remember this piece of advice whenever I feel envious of someone else. Thank you for helping me understand my envious tendencies. 

The fact that I found it unrelatable in the section in which religion was introduced could have been attributed to my difference in belief; however, I am usually unbiased and can choose to learn from other religious teachings and advice. This time I could not connect.

The section which spoke of bad habits in marriage left me angry at the author for condoning sexism:

• “Play the role of a delightful and attractive wife”. This statement right here had me reeling. Not once did the author mention that the husband is possibly frustrating the wife or ill-treating the wife or that the wife is exhausted. Or the fact that laundry is piling and the sink is filled with dirty dishes is because he depresses her, or some external factor is upsetting her and causing her to shut down, or that she just wants a BREAK to relax. 

• And why can’t the husband genuinely ask his wife what’s going on and get to the root of the problem when he sees dishes being piled before feeling entitled to a clean house and perfect wife.

• She DOES NOT NEED to put on makeup to make her husband want her. Why can’t her husband want her in her natural state? Why does she have to put on a mask? 

Look, I understand that sometimes it’s good to make a little effort, but since when is taking care of your husband, the kids and the house not enough for him. Have we gone back a few decades/centuries to days of slavery? 

DO NOT put the blame on women for the fact that their husbands cannot maintain their feelings of love and affection.

And women, DO NOT ever feel the need to play Cinderella or Snow White just so your husband can feel a slither of love for you. Because chances are, if he feels something just because you play this role, it isn’t love.

And DO NOT ever feel that it’s enough for your husband to simply be the breadwinner. That can’t be his only role. Oh, I get that it’s a tough role to play, believe me, but it’s not enough. And he shouldn’t be worshiped just for that while you are being drained.

Another issue I had was that this author speaks of some women who have too-high expectations and that they should “feel grateful for any offer that may come”. I do not believe in this piece of advice. It could be the culture difference but I believe this to be unhealthy and the only outcome is unhappiness – the very same thing this book is trying to steer us away from. 

Look here, as a human with emotional ups and downs and external stimuli and triggers and mental issues and I could go on and on – Happiness isn’t as simple as it is portrayed in the book. We are complex beings. Yes, we do have habits which birth unhappiness, but these strings of advice are unhelpful. No one is happy all the time. No one can even attempt to be happy all the time because that in itself conjures unhappiness lest you fail. 

Digital copy received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.