Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme was book titles that are single words, which I found to be really fun and unique! Especially since many books have titles with formulas along the lines of: BLANK of BLANK and BLANK.
Here are some of my favorite books featuring single word titles!
Title: Foul Is Fair
Author: Hannah Capin
Rating: ★★
ARC provided by the publisher.
What is this book about? The premise is amazing. This is a story about a group of teenage girls enacting revenge on a group of prep boys after one of the girls was assaulted at a party. The book is a loose retelling of Macbeth, which happens to be one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, with a little bit of inspiration from Heathers.
What did I like? I really loved the Macbeth retelling angle. The nods to original play are subtle, but so extremely well done. I also really liked that Jade and her friends were unapologetically the mean girls and owned it. There was no apologies for their behavior and they didn’t have a holier than thou attitude.
What didn’t I like? The first major issue I had with the book was the writing. To put it plainly: I couldn’t stand it. The scenes were very abrupt and the way the dialogue was written felt so stilted and unnatural. My other problem with the book was that a lot of the things that happened felt very far-fetched and unbelievable. I’m supposed to be believe that a group of (barely) sixteen-year-old girls were the mastermind behind multiple murders within the span of a week? That the main character would be able to successfully manipulate a boy into doing whatever she asked of him after one meeting? If the time frame had been extended or the criminal acts less severe, I think the story would have been more impactful to me. Yes, it’s fiction, however as a reader I can only suspend my belief to a limit.
Overall thoughts: The plot is a very clever retelling of Macbeth, but considering I almost DNF’d this like three times because I couldn’t stand the way it was written, I definitely did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped.
February was a pretty good reading month! Because of the holiday and my participation in the Bookish First’s Valentine’s Day Bingo, I read a lot of contemporary romance and I believe that’s why I had such a great time with books this month.
ALL THE STARS AND TEETH: This a fun, adventurous story about the heir to a kingdom joining a cast of vastly different characters in order to prevent an evil force from destroying their world and regaining what they’ve all lost. This book was not short on action, that’s for sure. And the pacing was executed perfectly. It never felt like the plot was stalling or that unnecessary pages were spent on passages of time. ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. [review] ★★★½
THE BEST LAID PLANS: Ladies and gentleman, I don’t believe it’s too early to say that I have found one of my favorite reads of the year. The Best Laid Plans was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. Basically, all you need to know is that it contains best friends-to-lovers, unrequited pining, delicious drama and lots of angst! ARC provided by the publisher through BookishFirst. [review] ★★★★★
ALWAYS NEVER YOURS: Wherefore art thou, Romeo? I loved that Megan was unapologetically flirtatious and “boy-crazy”. Every relationship she’s been in ends with her boyfriend finding the love of his life while they’re dating, and instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, Megan is carefree and just has fun with her dating life. Which makes it even more special to see the bond that develops between her and Owen. [review] ★★★★
EMBER QUEEN: This was such a great finale to a series that I have absolutely loved. The hard part about trilogies is that many times one of the books either lags or weakens, but that never happened with the Ash Princess trilogy. The third book finished strong and wrapped up the plot in a way that felt complete yet realistic. For a book that is 500 pages long, I was actually surprised as to how fast the plot moves. If you haven’t read this series yet, I highly recommend it. ★★★★
UNDERCOVER BROMANCE: As with The Bromance Book Club, the idea of a book club for men who unashamedly enjoy romance novels and use the “knowledge” they learn from said romance novels to better their love lives is amazing and Lyssa Kay Adams knocks it out of the park. This story totally changed my opinion about Braden Mack: there’s definitely more to him under the surface of easy-going charm and we need more men like him in the world! ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. [review] ★★★★
THE WILL AND THE WILDS: This was such a unique fairytale fantasy story! After enlisting his help, a young woman works together with a demon to break the magical pact they had created to save both their lives. I flew through the pages. I loved the built up romance between Maekallus and Enna and how it stemmed from the trust and understanding they had to slowly develop first. I think this is my favorite Charlie H. Holmberg book! ★★★★
THE STARS WE STEAL: My favorite thing about this book is the sci-fi retelling of Jane Austen’s novels. I have to admit that I’ve never read Persuasion, but that didn’t stop me from understanding the plot of this story or the nods to the original. I think that Alexa Donne did a fantastic job writing a unique and clever twist on the classic novel and making the story her own. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys subtle Jane Austen retellings. ★★★
CHASING LUCKY: Usually I really enjoy Jenn Bennett’s books, but this one was very disappointing. I didn’t like any of the characters, the plot failed to keep my attention, and I found parts of the story a little ridiculous. Some parts were still really cute and I enjoyed, which is why I didn’t completely hate it, but it was definitely not my favorite and fell short to the other stories I’ve read by this author. ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. ★★½
THE UPSIDE OF FALLING: This book is about two teenagers who decide to fake being in a relationship for their mutual benefit. I mean, is there anything better than a fake-dating that turns into real feelings kind of book? Unfortunately, although I loved the premise of the story, the rest of the book didn’t do it for me. The first major issue was that the pacing was extremely fast, especially for such a short book. My other issue was there wasn’t enough to convince the reads as to why they need to be in a fake relationship. It happened just for the sake of the book. [review] ★★½
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Title: The Upside of Falling
Author: Alex Light
Rating: ★★½
What is this book about? The Upside of Falling is about two teenagers who decide to fake being in a relationship for their mutual benefit. I mean, is there anything better than a fake-dating that turns into real feelings kind of book?
What did I like? Obviously, given my track record with other YA contemporary books, I am trash for any story featuring a fake-dating trope. So the concept of The Upside of Falling was fantastic. I also really loved that there was no unnecessary drama that moved the plot backwards or in redundant circles. Everything that happened had a purpose plot-wise.
What didn’t I like? The first major issue I had with this book is that it moves way to quickly. The plot was very, very rushed and not as flesh out as I would have like it to have been. Because of this, the story felt very superficial to me and the characters lacked depth. The book is only 280 pages which is where I think the problem lies. It really could have benefited from another 100 pages to help flesh out the story and slow down the plot.
The other problem I had with the book was that I couldn’t quite figure out the point behind the fake-dating scheme between Brett and Becca. There wasn’t ever really a good reason given on either side: the choice to pretend to date each other occurs so suddenly and randomly which made the story feel very unbelievable and pointless.
Overall thoughts: The Upside of Falling centers around two teens who decide to pretend to date each other to fool their peers. I love a fake-dating trope, and while the concept was good, the execution was poor.
Title: Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2)
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Rating: ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
What is this book about? Undercover Bromance is the companion novel to The Bromance Book Club which I absolutely adored last year! Basically, these stories center around a group of prominent men who like to read romance novels and form a club to help each other with their love problems.
What did I like? As with The Bromance Book Club, the idea of a book club for men who unashamedly enjoy romance novels and use the “knowledge” they learn from said romance novels to better their love lives is amazing and Lyssa Kay Adams knocks it out of the park each time. I also really liked how the topic of masculinity and societal expectations is mentioned and talked about in this book!
I was pretty unsure about Mack’s character in The Bromance Book Club but I’m thankful that Undercover Bromance was his story because it totally changed my opinion about him! There’s definitely more to him under the surface of easy-going charm and we need more men like Braden Mack in the world 💕
What didn’t I like? I know she’s written to be this way for characterization purposes, but I could not stand how stubborn Liv was at times. Girl, I know you want to be independent and self-reliable but there is nothing wrong with asking for help when you need help, instead of constantly trying to do things yourself and ending up in even deeper trouble.
Overall thoughts: I highly recommend these books to any fan of romance. Undercover Bromance is a spectacularly follow-up to The Bromance Book Club and I look forward to reading whatever shenanigans these men end up getting into in the future.
