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Regretting You: A Book You Won’t Regret Reading

Title: Regretting You

Author: Colleen Hoover

Published December 10th 2019 by Montlake Romance

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, YA, New Adult

“Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.”-Goodreads

My Review:

Colleen Hoover is never going to disappoint.

I have read a few of her books before and saved a few more after this book and they are always great.

This books takes two POVs, a daughter and her mom’s, and navigates their life after the deaths of the their husband/father and sister/aunt. I am notorious for not reading synopsis of books, so I was totally thrown at the fact that two of the main side characters in the story died.

And than the juicy stuff started to reveal itself. There was so much tea being spilled in this book, I felt like I was in high school all over again.

I love the story and how it was a plot that could have actually taken place. Seeing the humanity written out in the character was exciting. Most books always write the characters making the best decisions they can. This book had the characters f*cking up all over the place.

Clara was as unlikeable as she was relatable. I loved the YA romance with her. I loved her counterpart Miller. But she was one stupid mofo. I am sorry to bash on the girl like that. but, seriously, some of her decisions were S-T-U-P-I-D (and obviously relatable af to younger girls like myself). She took out her anger on everyone else other than the person she was really angry at most of the time. She just was really unlikeable no matter how hard I tried to like her.

But there has to be some characters I hate.

Morgan and her counterpart were extremely mature…NOT. A food fight in the kitchen is their peak maturity, but hey, what else are you supposed to do when your world is falling apart. All jokes aside, I honestly loved them. They were rocky in the beginning with the whole baby and not admitting feelings, but by the end they had me swooning. Morgan sacraficed her good mother face for her daughters emotional state (no matter how bad that kind of ended up on the daughter’s side also). I loved Morgan, no matter how many times I wanted her to throttle her to tell her daughter the truth.

I cried more time than I would like to admit to this book. But it is important to cry during a book. If a book doesn’t make you tear up at least once, it probably wasn’t that good (or that sad, which honestly are the same thing).

That being said it did leave me with this warm, ooey, gooey feeling all over that made me text the guy I am talking to and tell him some weird, mushy stuff.

It was good to read a book that was so warm and fuzzy and also so gut-wrenching at the same time. If you have not yet, check it out. Colleen Hoover will never be a disappointment. I finished the book in a day or two, so it is a quick and easy read.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3.9

Fence, the Cutest Book Ever!

Title: Fence: Striking Distance

Author: Sarah Reese Brennan

Illustrator: Johanna the Mad

Creator: C.S Pacat

Series: Fence #1

Published September 29th 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary, YA, LGBTQ

“The boys of Kings Row bout with drama, rivalry, and romance in this original YA novel by The New York Times bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan—inspired by the award-nominated comic series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad.

Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion who dreams of getting the proper training he could never afford. After earning a place on the elite Kings Row fencing team, Nicholas must prove himself to his rival, Seiji Katayma, and navigate the clashes, friendships, and relationships between his teammates on the road to state championships—where Nicholas might finally have the chance to spar with his golden-boy half-brother.

Coach Williams decides to take advantage of the boys’ morale after a recent victory and assigns them a course of team building exercises to further deepen their bonds. It takes a shoplifting scandal, a couple of moonlit forest strolls, several hilariously bad dates, and a whole lot of introspection for the team to realize they are stronger together than they could ever be apart.

The first installment of this enticing original YA novel series by Sarah Rees Brennan, rich with casual diversity and queer self-discovery, explores never-before-seen drama inspired by C.S. Pacat’s critically acclaimed Fence comic series and boasts original cover and interior art by Johanna The Mad.” -Goodreads

My Review:

OMG!

I found this book while perusing my libraries online audiobooks and this was the only book n the YA section that was available.

Boy am I thankful that I checked it out!

This was the cutest little audiobook I have ever listened too. It really got me into the mood of listening to audiobooks.

I think that the relationship between Aiden and Harvard is so cute! They were the main romance in the novel. I know the comic version mainly focuses on Nicolas and Seiji but I have not read it. I am trying to find out where to get it!

I absolutely loved this book. I listened to the entire thing in one day. I could not stop playing it. I began cleaning my house to it and than suddenly, I was laying in bed just listening.

The narrator did really well doing each person’s unique voice. The illustrations made it really easy to see the boys infront of me while they went along their tasks.

The one thing that I was not a huge fan of was the lack of fencing in the book. Sports romance books always seem to lack the sport they surround. The Foxhole Court was the same way.

I cannot wait for the second book to make it’s way too me. And I really want to check out the comics.

If you want an easy cute little read, I would definetly check this out!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.3

Crooked Kingdom Review

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #2

Published September 20th 2016 by Henry Holt and Company

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Pages: 546

“Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Welcome to the world of the Grisha.” –Goodreads

My Review:

AGGHHHHHHHH

I love love love this book!

It had everything I love in it:

Action
Scheming
Crazy hot psychopaths
and a cute gay romance!

Bardugo really steps up her game in this book. She gives us even more character development. She gives us better back stories. She builds the realm of Ketterdam even more beautifully than the first book.

The plot thickens on the Crows story as they try to get the money that was owed to them in the last book. I felt like this story, while lacking the adventure aspect of the first book, gave me everything the first book was missing and more.

It explained more of the love interests in the stories and developed those relationships. Wylan and Jesper are even more enthralled with each other. The little teasing just GETS ME. Nina and Matthias are shown to be united and happy together. Inej and Kaz are the slowest burn alive but that BATHROOM SCENE had me SCREAMING!

We got to see more realm building. We steered off of the Shadow and Bone Ravkan knowledge of how Grisha were treated. Bardugo delves deeper into how Grisha are treated in any other part of the world.

This book was really good. I honestly have no complaints for it. I have not had a book I read in awhile that I have not complained about. The ending was a little shocking but I definitely cant complain about the shock factor.

I think everyone should go check this out. Also, now that I finished the books, I watched the TV show and it was so good! Not super accurate to the Six of Crows books but I liked the Shadow and Bone adaptation.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 4.6

TTT: My Deserted Island Needs!

“Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” -That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s theme:

Books I’d Want With Me While Stranded On a Deserted Island

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

2. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

3. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass

5. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

6. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

7. The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas

8. Doon by Carie Corp and Lorie Langdon

9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling

10. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Link your posts down below!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Book Review: The Foxhole Court

Title: The Foxhole Court

Author: Nora Sakavic

Series: All for the Game #1

Published January 15th 2013 by Nora Sakavic

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Sports

Pages: 237

“Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.” -Goodreads

My Review:

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hello my fellow bloggers,

Please please please ignore my screaming a second ago, but I just cant help it. This book is just too good.

I have not read a lot of self-published books. The lack of hype and marketing around them make it hard to be aware in my opinion. But there was an insane amount of TikTok hype for this book so I had to pick it up.

And I am so glad I did.

Neil’s story is such a good story. To intrigue you, there is the mafia, gay romance, and morally grey (like dark dark grey) characters. He is placed on an Exy (it’s basically lacrosse but whatever) team with these ragtag bunch of teens who act more like gang members than college sports athletes.

It reads like a fanfiction but is full of OCs. The writing is a bit bland at times but it makes the story really easy to follow. With the writing, there is a certain lack of details but it is still a decent book. Some important details about characters are glanced over. A lot of actions are easily forgiven or the drama that ensues after them seems a bit dramatic.

I have not read any of the other books, but I have seen fanart for the pairing in the books. If that pairing is canon, this is a SLOOOOOOOW burn enemies to lovers for Neil. So far I am just seeing a man way to overprotective about someone he seems not to care about. But that is what we love, am I right?

It is kind of a triggering book and has a lot of drug abuse and violence in it. It does have dark undertones of the story. There are so many secrets to find out. The end leaves on a huge cliff hanger.

Even with some of the negatives, it is still a really good book. It is kind of a nice side book to have when you feel bored reading your main book.

I highly recommend people go check this out. When you are finished, go check out the fanarts for it too. They really are fantastic.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3.5

Need Book Recommendations

Hey bloggers,

Hope you all are having a great day!

I am having an issue.

If you look on my website, I have a page called “Reviews.” Under that, is a list of all the book reviews I have ever written.

It is in alphabetical order and here is my problem. I have blanks under letters.

This may not seem like a big deal but I want to fill this list. That is my goal by the end of the year. I want to have at least one review under each of those letters.

So I am looking for recommendations of books with the tittles beginning inn the letters:

Help!

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

19 books for $25? My best book haul yet!

Hello bloggers,

How are you guys today?

I am doing great thinking about this book haul from a few weeks ago.

My school is liquidating the book portion of their store so they dropped all of their prices down to about a $1 for every book.

I had to jump on that opportunity (OBVIOUSLY) so here is what I bought:

The Mortal Instruments Books 2-6

(I am linking the box set because listing them all seems unnecessary.)

Most of these books I have no clue what the books are about. I got them because I read the synopsis while in the store and they seemed pretty interesting.

I am glad I got the Mortal Instruments series. IT has been one of those series I have never read. I feel like I am missing out. It was only 6 bucks for these 5. I still need to get the first book, but I still got a steal from this deal.

Anyways, I have absolutely no more shelf space so hopefully, I can read through a few more books this month so they do not sit on my floor like they currently are.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

New Year, New Blog

Hey there fellow bloggers!

It has been a LONG time since I have done an update blog.

But I just want to help ring in the new year with you all. I had a bland year on this blog in 2018. I had taken this time to study, work, and be social. I hardly read a thing. I have books that I am still reading from 2017 on my nightstand. All in all it just wasn’t the best year for me literature wise.

I believe I pulled through in the end by reading quite a few books but only because they were required from school. But I did finish a book that was not an assignment. I read to All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han and let me just say, it was amazing. I think it was one of the only books I actually read this year.

But now for the serious stuff. I am going to be on this blog more. I know I said that last year after the break I took a year ago, then flung myself into another huge long break, but this time I am here. I am all in. I am ready. I am going to become the Rory Gilmore of reading and read everything in sight. I have also decided that I need this blog to not be a chore. I want to make the blog more appealing and it cannot be appealing if I am writing things I do not want to write. So, I am not going to write a review on every book I read anymore. While this is a book blog and normally people review the books they read, I am sure the review about Sense and Sensibility or To Kill a Mockingbird is not needed. I am sure more entertaining novels such as new releases and book tags while be better hits. And while I started this blog not to become popular, I do not want it to be boring to myself. I remember how motivated I was to write reviews about the hottest release and to participate in the weekly book memes. But I began to focus to much on the book reviews for books that weren’t needed like my A Seperate Peace review that I got rather bored. They were just books for school that I am sure almost EVERYONE has read because they had to. So what was the point?

But, I wrote them and I hated them. I hated forcing myself to write terrible posts and to try and discuss a book I hardly remembered. I remembered the feeling I had when I finished Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas at 11 o’clock at night and rushed to my computer to write out all of my feelings about the book. I wanted to feel that rush again but I couldn’t find it when I was struggling to finish the other posts first. So now I am here to say that is over. I am going to start a new system where instead of making a review, I will simply add the name of the book into my Review ToC and add a star count to the end. That will be all and that will make me happy.

I also changed the theme of my page but of course that is subject to change all the time. I love messing around with new themes and new colors all the time, but this time I really like this one. I think I will keep it for awhile just until I get sick of it.

Anyways, let us talk about something not blog related, my life. Quick overview of my life so far. I am nearing the end of my last year of high school. Senior year has been extremely fun and rewarding. I am awaiting news from my dream university and I will update you guys on that when it comes. I also have been obsessing about the college, looking up dorms, fee schedules, etc. I also have a new puppy in the house. She is very cute but not quite potty trained so that is kind of gross. But, that is my families duties.

I have big plans and big changes coming this year. It will be exciting!

I am excited for this New Year. It comes with many new adventures and lots of hard work. I am ready for everything that is going to come my way.

Happy New Year everyone!

To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #1

Published Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 355

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.” -Goodreads

Review:

Dear Peter,

Hi you do not know me but I love you. I have now read the book and seen the movie and I am your soulmate. Will you marry me?

-Kat

Okay, that was my letter. Short but to the point, right?

Alrighty then craziness aside, how freaking adorable was this story. I mean first lets start with the look of the book. Cute and appealing. Great model for the front. (Yes I judge books by their cover very throughly)

Then Lara Jean was such a role model. I need to start dressing, acting, and eating like her. I really wanna try those Korean smoothies she is always talking about so if anyone knows where to get them, slide that info! Lara is such a clever character and I love the diversity of the book. I love the way her culture is brought out into the book and is expressed in the movie (also this review will be about both he review and the movie) which made me happy. She is the perfect person. I just wish she had been less stubborn because so much less drama would have happened, and oh wait, I love drama so why would I care? Haha, I don’t. I do thought think she should have been less stubborn because my poor Peter bear wanted her so desperately but she was so in her head that she just did not get it.

Now onto Peter. He is likes the world’s favorite idiot. Like he really did not handle everything perfectly but his hair was gorgeous while doing it. He should have let Get go the minute she dumped him and realized who his true love was, (ME) Lara Jean! But instead he creates a fake relationship so he can have basically both the girls. But alas that is such a dumb jock move. It is a good thing he was a dream boat or I would not have understood why Lara Jean put up with that from him.

I think Kitty is my spirit animal. She was so spritely and I loved her sass. She did a bad thing by sending out those private letter but in the end it all worked out just fine.

I did not really like Margot at all. She just kind of seemed so matter-of-fact and followed her mother’s rules way too seriously. Now, Josh and her were never meant to be and that is clear to see y his confusion on his feelings with Lara Jean but she shouldn’t have just dumped him. What Lara Jean finds out about them later in the novel does not constitute a reason for her to break up with him. Even though her mother did ask her not to go to college with a boyfriend. It just seems cruel to have broken Josh’s heart, then be able to escape to Scotland while he is stuck living next to Margot’s family.

The plot of the story was cute. There was not any huge action except for the big fallout near the end. Basically, the story just consisted of Peter and Lara Jean fighting then making up. Fighting then making up. Over and over again in this “fake” relationship. And Lara Jean being very stupid about many things.

But I loved the ridiculousness of this book and it went really well. I loved the movie to. I loved the cinematography. I thought both were really good. I cannot wait to read the next one!

Thanks for reading!

-Kat

P.S I hope you guys liked my A1 gif usage. I wanted to include some very nice moments of Peter and Lara Jean.

Star Rating: 4.7

The Vagina Monologues

Author: Eve Ensler, Gloria Steinem (Foreword)

Published May 3rd 2001 by Virago Press Ltd.

Genre: Feminism, Nonfiction, Drama

Pages: 185

“I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues…At first women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn’t stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one’s ever asked them before.” -Goodreads

Review:

A book of feminism and glory.

I loved the vagina talk. It was very empowering and the friend I read it with agreed with me.

It is an important book. It is important to hear these women’s stories and to understand the depths of the women’s body.

I wish I could go see this performed. It would be quite entertaining to see.

I am reading this growing up in a non-“down there” era but still with some struggles with people embracing the word and I think this book does well to try and make vagina not seem like such a “nasty”word.

I thought the stories were really nice and sort of inspiring. They mostly discussed how they viewed their vaginas and others and showed people journey through vagina discovery.

This blog is really short and I am sorry about that but I do not have much to say. The book is short which means a short blog. Especially one where I believe everyone should read it and see the amazing stories. I don’t want to give away anything to much. I want people to experience the book for themselves.

Anyways, thank you for reading. Let me know down below if you have read it an your opinions on it.

Star Rating: 4.5