Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend Review

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TITLE: Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend
AUTHOR: Louise Rozett
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/25/2013
PAGES: 279
MY RATING:

SUMMARY (From Goodreads): Rose Zarelli has big plans for sophomore year--everything is going to be different. This year, she's going to be the talented singer with the killer voice, the fabulous girl with the fashionista best friend, the brainiac who refuses to let Jamie Forta jerk her around...

...but if she's not careful, she's also going to be the sister who misses the signals, the daughter who can only think about her own pain, the "good girl" who finds herself in mid-scandal again (because no good deed goes unpunished) and possibly worst of all...the almost-girlfriend.

When all else fails, stop looking for love and go find yourself.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I didn't know that this was the second book in a series when I got it. I don't have the first book and I don't really plan on reading it because I have too many books in my TBR pile, but I figured I'd give it a shot and try to read it anyway.

In the opening scene, I feel like there's way too many characters. I don't know if they're in the first book, but when reading this I got a little lost. I'm assuming that we gradually meet these characters in the previous book and if I had read that one first, I would be able to keep track of everyone. 

The book was okay. Not one of my favorites, but I did read through it pretty quickly. I just feel like nothing really exciting happened in the story line.

CHARACTERS: I feel like there wasn't a lot of character development or growth with any of the characters.Also, Robert is so annoying and when reading any scenes with him in it, I just wanted him to go away.

COVER: The cover is fine. I like the blue streak in the model's hair.

**I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Dare You To Review

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TITLE: Date You To

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: May 28, 2013

PAGES: 456

MY RATING:

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: 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? Ask 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...

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book was amazing. I loved every bit of it. I read the first book in the series and while back, so I didn't remember a whole lot about what happened in that book, but this is a completely different story. This book follows two other characters, and you could easily read this book without having read the first one. 

This book was so emotional and I love reading books that can make me feel something.

CHARACTERS: Beth and Ryan are both really great characters, but I really enjoyed reading about Beth's story. It is so heartbreaking, and I feel all of her joy and devastation as she struggles to find herself throughout the book.

COVER: The cover is great! I love that the image from the book jacket is printed under the cover directly on the book too. It looks like it should be a poster!

**I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Ink Review

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TITLE: Ink
AUTHOR: Amanda Sun
ILLUSTRATORS: Petra Dufkova (cover), Ross Siu (interior)
PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen
PUBLICATION DATE: 6/25/2013
PAGES: 326
MY RATING: 

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene must move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn't know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks and she can't seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school's kendo team, she is intrigued by him...and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they're near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings come to life.

Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan--and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I had some trouble connecting with/concentrating on the story because of the Japanese words mixed in. There's a glossary at the back of the book which helps, but it's a little annoying having to flip to the back and search for the word every couple of pages -- I would have loved to see footnotes instead, because I really did enjoy seeing the Japanese words - they added to the authenticity of the story/setting.

A little less than halfway through, the book really picks up speed and got me extremely interested.

I liked the ending of the book. It set us up for the next book in the series, but made me feel good about the ending at the same time.

CHARACTERS: Yuki (a friend of the main character) seems like a really good friend, but I don't really know much about her. I'd really like to learn more about Jun and find out what his plans are.

**I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Tackle Your TBR Readathon Final Results

I started out really strong on this Read-a-thon, but the further along into to it I got, the less I read. I honestly think it was just because I flew through the books that I really really wanted to read, and then I was left with the books that I've had forever that I want to read one day, but I'm just not crazy excited to read them RIGHT NOW. Anyway, here's my results:

SUNDAY 9/8/2013

Books Read: Dare You To (Pages 319 - 456)

 Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend (Pages 1 - 115)

Pages Read: 252

MONDAY 9/9/2013

Books Read: Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend (Pages 116 - 279)

5th Wave (Pages 1 - 36)

Pages Read: 199

TUESDAY 9/10/2013

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 27 - 208)

Pages Read: 181

WEDNESDAY 9/111/2013

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 213 - 361)

Pages Read: 148

THURSDAY 9/12/2013

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 362 - 457)

This Dark Endeavor (Pages 1 - 17)

Pages Read: 112

FRIDAY 9/13/2013

Books Read: This Dark Endeavor (Pages 18 - 38)

Pages Read: 20

SATURDAY 9/14/2013

Books Read: This Dark Endeavor (Pages 39 - 93)

Pages Read: 54

SUNDAY 9/15/2013

Books Read: None

Pages Read: 0

MONDAY 9/16/2013

Books Read: This Dark Endeavor (Pages 94 - 221)

Pages Read: 127

TUESDAY 9/17/2013

Books Read: This Dark Endeavor (Pages 222 - 298)

The Diamonds (Pages 1 - 14)

Pages Read: 90

WEDNESDAY 9/18/2013

Books Read: The Diamonds (Pages 15 - 97)

Pages Read: 82

THURDSAY 9/19/2013

Books Read: None

Pages Read: 0

FRIDAY 9/20/2013

Books Read: None

Pages Read: 0

SATURDAY 9/21/2013

Books Read: None

Pages Read: 0

TOTALS

Total finished books: 4

Titles of finished books: Dare You To

Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend

5th Wave

This Dark Endeavor

Pages Read: 1262

Tackle Your TBR Readathon Update #3

For some reason I've been slowing down a lot on my reading these last few days. I think it's because out of all the TBR books that I own, I'm not super excited to read them. I do want to read them all eventually, but none of them are pulling at me very strongly at the moment. But, here's my update from the last few days.

WEDNESDAY

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 213 - 361)

Pages Read: 148

THURSDAY

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 362 - 457)

This Dark Endeavor (Pages 1 - 17)

Pages Read: 112

FRIDAY

Books Read: This Dark Endeavor (Pages 18 - 38)

Pages Read: 20

TOTALS

Total finished books: 2

Titles of finished books: Dare You To

Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend

5th Wave

Pages Read: 902

Tackle Your TBR Readathon Update #2

MONDAY

Books Read: Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend (Pages 116 - 279)

5th Wave (Pages 1 - 36)

Pages Read: 199

TUESDAY

Books Read: 5th Wave (Pages 37 - 208)

Pages Read: 171

TOTALS

Total finished books: 2

Titles of finished books: Dare You To

Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend

Pages Read: 622

Tackle Your TBR Readathon Day #1 Update (Sunday)

SUNDAY

Books Read: Dare You To (Pages 319 - 456)

                                                             Confessions of an Almost Girlfriend (Pages 1 - 115)

Pages Read: 252

TOTALS

Total finished books: 1

Titles of finished books: Dare You To

Pages Read: 252