Playlist For The Dead Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Playlist For The Dead

AUTHOR: Michelle Falkoff

PUBLISHER: Harper Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/27/2015

FORMAT: ARC

PAGES: 288

SOURCE: Amazon Vine

MY RATING:

SUMMARY (From Goodreads): Here's what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. And all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, and a suicide note: For Sam--listen and you'll understand.

As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it's only by taking out his earbuds and opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend's story. And maybe have a chance to change his own.

Part mystery, part love story, and part coming-of-age tale in the vein of Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Tim Tharp's The Spectacular Now, Playlist for the Dead is an honest and gut-wrenching first novel about loss, rage, what it feels like to outgrow a friendship that's always defined you--and the struggle to redefine yourself. But above all, it's about finding hope when hope seems like the hardest thing to find.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I had pretty high hopes for this book, but I was slightly let down. It didn't hold my attention as much as I wanted it to. I wanted to know what was going on and what was going to happen, but the book was so slow moving that I don't know if reading it was worth finding out what actually did happen. 

I think the ending was done nicely. For a book with this tough subject matter, I feel the book ended in the best way possible.

CHARACTERS: I liked Sam, the main character. I felt bad for him having to deal with the struggles of losing his only friend and having to come to terms with moving on with his life and putting himself out there.

COVER: The cover is amazing. I love the color and the silhouettes. 

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.**

Let's Get Lost Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Let's Get Lost

AUTHOR: Adi Alsaid

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 7/29/2014

PAGES: 352

SOURCE: Amazon Vine/Publisher

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named Leila. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

There's Hudson, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And Bree, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday--and a few stolen goods along the way.

Elliot believes in happy endings...until his own life goes off-script. And Sonia worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth--sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This was a really nice contemporary read. It was easy to read., it was quick to read, and it was really entertaining. I loved that the story was written in different parts where we meet a new character, but we also learn more about the main character. The ending of this book was perfect. This was such a feel-good book that made me smile.

CHARACTERS: I loved all of the characters in this book. I love the way Leila interacted with everyone and how she handled all of the situations she was thrown into.

COVER: I like the cover a lot. It completely represents the feel of the book.