I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter ~ Erika Sanchez

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. 

Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?

Book Review:

Recently, I have been really into contemporary books with a deeper message than your typical fluffy contemporary; therefore, I was excited to start this book. I was interested in learning about the Mexican familial culture a bit more closely than what I've learned in Spanish classes. I always find contemporaries dealing with immigration to be very interesting as well, like American Street by Ibi Zoboi. Needless to say, I went into this book expecting it to be amazing. However, I was let down. It was by no means a bad book. I still really enjoyed it. It just wasn't what I wanted. 

I felt that Sanchez did a really good job at portraying Julia's family in a realistic way. However, Olga's character, although told through 2nd or 3rd person accounts, was a bit disconnected. That may have been what Sanchez wanted as it lent to the aspect of Julia having to figure her dead sister out for the readers as well as herself. Nevertheless, even when Julia began to understand her sister more, I still felt disconnected. 

Julia was also a really annoying protagonist. I really wanted to like her and I did feel connected to her as she tried to figure out her worth. There just wasn't a lot of character development for her until the last few chapters. 

Even though I had various problems with the story, I can not deny that Sanchez depicted the culture and family in a realistic way. You could tell how the immigration process that the parents experienced left its mark on them. It also made sense that familial obligation was a sentiment forced on Julia, as it was forced on her parents as well. 

Pages: 344                                                                                                                              Rate: 3/5

Girl Online: Going Solo ~ Zoe Sugg a.k.a Zoella

The third novel in the New York Times bestselling Girl Online series by the award-winning YouTuber and blogger Zoe “Zoella” Sugg.

Penny’s life is back to normal.

As Penny starts the school year she’s ready to face the world—alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early, and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when she accepts Megan’s invitation to visit her performing arts school, it seems like an opportunity to make some new friends.

Helping everyone else seems to be the right remedy—Elliot needs her friendship more than ever, and she meets Posey, who she can really help with her stage fright. But is charming Scottish boy Callum the right kind of distraction? And can Penny truly move on when Noah’s shadow seems to haunt her around every corner?

Book Review:

So, it has been about a month since I finished this book, I just haven't had time to blog anything really. College is so crazy. 

Anyway, the book was a great ending to the trilogy. Sugg, ended it beautifully, it made my heart flutter. The book was a bit slow going at first, it took me a bit to really get into. For some reason, I felt that I couldn't really resonate with Penny as much as I previously had in the first two books, but that just displays her character development. I missed the old banter between her and Elliot, there wasn't as much, but when it did show up, I was so happy with it. 

As this is the last installment in a trilogy, it is hard to say much without giving anything away, but I will go my best. The character development for Penny is phenomenal. She is so much more confident in herself, she knows what she wants and she goes for it. She is okay with being independent and she is even helping other people. I see a lot of Sugg's personality within Penny. I really love that. I really did miss Noah and you could tell that Penny did as well, so his reentrance was incredible. I loved how their storyline ended. Sugg did a brilliant job!

Pages: 352                                                                                                                          Rate: 4/5

Someone Like You ~ Sarah Dessen

The world is a terrible place not to have a best friend.
 
Scarlett was always the strong one.
 
Halley was always content to follow in her wake.
 
Then Scarlett’s boyfriend died, and Scarlett learned that she was pregnant.
 
Now Halley has to find the strength to take the lead and help Scarlett get through it.
 
Because true friendship is a promise you keep forever

Book Review:

This is one of the oldest books that I have ever read by Sarah Dessen. It was published the year that I was born, so in all honesty, I wasn't expecting it to be her best work. Now, although it wasn't her best, it wasn't terrible either. I actually quite liked it. Now, many of you wouldn't know, but I am obsessed with youtube and lately with teenage parents or young parents who daily vlog, I was hoping for this to be an interesting spin on teenage pregnancy but it wasn't. The story mainly revolved around Halley finding herself, like most Sarah Dessen novels, and around the relationships that aspired. Nevertheless, it was a great read. 

The character development was a bit lacking in description, in my opinion. You knew that it was there, you understood how it was coming about, but you never really received any further information. The family dynamics were intriguing and a bit cliche but that is exactly why I loved those scenes. I really loved the friendship between Halley and Scarlett and I also really loved how the grief process was portrayed through Scarlett's character. The book portrayed so much pure honesty that I couldn't have disliked it in any way. It really was beautifully written. 

Pages:  281                                                                                                                                Rate: 3/5

Favorite Quote:

“You can't just plan a moment when things get back on track, just as you can't plan the moment you lose your way in the first place.” 

PS I Still Love You ~ Jenny Han

Lara Jean didn't expect to really fall for Peter.

She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren't/ Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.

When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean's feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once.

Book Review:

The sequel to To All The Boys I've Loved Before, is just as wonderful as the first if not better. Jenny Han is an impeccable writer, I loved her The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy and her co-written series with Soiban Vivian called Burn For Burn.

Contemporary young adult fiction is one of my most read genres and this book is at the top of my list for the genre. I preferred how Lara Jean and the other characters were portrayed in this  novel. They talked and acted a lot more their age than in the first book, in my opinion. 

The inner conflicts that Lara Jean has because of her knowledge of Peter's previous relationship, I feel is very common amongst people who are in their first relationship with someone who was previously in a very serious relationship. The bit of cyber bullying, I feel was also well done because it is so common today. Even when you think you are alone, you rarely are. And I also loved Peter's relationship with Lara's little sister Kitty, which we saw more of in the first book but was just as important in this book. What I didn't like was how Josh was practically nonexistent throughout this book. 

Pages: 352                                                                                     Rate: 4/5

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

Lara Jean's relationship with Peter, started in To All The Boys I've Loved Before, as a way for her letters to seem like they were nothing  and for Peter to show that even after Genevive he was fine. But it began to be something more, more real. Then it was ruined because Lara Jean thought that Peter was telling everyone that they had had sex while on a ski trip in a hot tub, when they didn't. He actually never told anyone that and Lara and he get back together in the beginning of this book.

So from the very beginning these two have had their ups and downs but in this book their biggest issue within their relationship is Genevive. Peter and she are still friends, even though Lara knows that she is the one who posted their make out video on Anonybitch. He won't tell Lara why he has been hanging out with her, other than that she has family problems and he is just trying to be a good friend. This causes a lot of insecurities on Lara's part and for them to argue, which never really happened with them before.

Then enter, John Ambrose McClaren. Lara Jean had a crush on him in eighth grade, before her crush on Peter started. He moved away and her letter only recently reaches him in the book. They begin writing back and forth and he comes to her Tree House party with the rest of the group who were friends in eighth grade, including Genevive who tagged along with Peter. This is where a childhood game of theirs comes into play. It's like an intense version of tag. School and their homes are safe places but other than that everywhere else is fair game. Lara Jean never won and she is set on winning this time.  Eventually after she has tagged out John they team up for her to tag out Peter. She does this and they break up because she saw him comforting Genevive. She and John hang out more at the nursing home where she works and is friends with his step grandmother. Eventually she and Peter work things out and get back together and she and John remain friends, because it's not their time yet.

So in my review I also mentioned Peter's relationship with Lara's little sister Kitty. We see much more of that relationship in the first book, because this one focuses on Lara's feelings for two different people but Kitty is still important. She may only be 9 years old but Lara confides in her often and Kitty is a little schemer herself. But when Peter and Lara break up, Kitty is upset because she loves Peter to pieces. He was always so good to her and made her just as important to him as he would have done if she was his own little sister. So I loved to see that even after Lara and Peter broke up and were not talking to each other he made time for Kitty. He took Kitty ice skating and everything. And I loved that Lara allowed that. We don't see that much in young adult novels, but when someone is in a relationship their family tends to form relationships with their partner too and those relationships sometimes last longer than the romantic relationship.

Josh, Margot's ex boyfriend, Lara's first real crush and best friend, just stops coming around. He was always around in the first book. He and Lara hung out often. He and Kitty were so close. And he even hung out with their dad. But after he and Margot break up he just stops coming around, even though he was friends with all of them way before he and Margot began dating. That just really bothered me, because I know how strong of a relationship they all had with him and he just walked away from it. It shows a big difference between him and Peter and it makes me really glad that Lara ends up with Peter. 

The book was just great!!!

Favorite Quote:

"Us." Peter corrects. "I did it for us." He links our fingers together. "It's you and me, kid."