In My Mailbox #1

This has been a fantastic week for books for me!

So, because it's Mother's Day on Sunday I decided to splurge a little and ordered Sarah J. Maas new book A Court of Frost and Starlight. Actually, I didn't splurge at all because I used my credit card reward points... you know, the one I'm not supposed to be using because I want to pay off my debt 😂 But isn't this cover GORGEOUS (like all SJM's books really).

Queen Jennifer L. Armentrout's new novel, Moonlight Sins, is on sale for Kindle for a $1.99! One word: YUM. 

Picked The Hunger up at the library the other day! After seeing Stephen King's tweet on how disturbing it was, I knew I had to read it.

I have NetGalley to think for this beach thriller read! 

Another NetGalley find that looks super intense! Also, COVER LUST!

So when I opened my e-mail and discovered that I had been approved to read another Riley Sager novel, I completely lost it. Really, I squealed in delight. If you don't know about my love for his last novel, Final Girls, you can check out my review. I am so thrilled and grateful to get to read his new novel in advance! (No original picture of this one because the e-book I have didn't have a cover like most ARC copies).

That's it for this week! Did anyone else get any good reads? If so, post in comments or link up to your own blog post!

"What You Left Behind" by Jessica Verdi

Genre: YA Contemporary
Format: Kindle
Publication: August 4, 2015 by Source Ebooks
Cover Rating: 2/5 Stars

From Goodreads: It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.

The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?


My Thoughts: First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book.

What You Left Behind sucks you in from the very first page. I'm not kidding. From the first few pages I knew that I would enjoy this book and that I would go through it pretty quickly (and I did). I really felt connected to these characters and truly cared about what happened to them. They were so relatable. Although, I'm not going to lie, as a new momma there were times when I really just wanted to punch 17 year old baby daddy Ryden in the face for making poor choices when it came to his baby. But overall, I liked him as our narrator and protagonist.

I also loved the chemistry between *all* of our characters. Nothing felt cliche or stiff. I really enjoy when an author takes time to make all the characters feel real and not cardboard. Jessica Verdi did a wonderful job of connecting everyone together.

Okay, so the plot probably reads kind of cheesy at first glance, but I promise it's not, because it's so well executed. Yes, there's teen pregnancy and cancer, but there's also coming of age. It's not your typical Hallmark-y fluff.

Bottom Line: Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

"Where You'll Find Me" by Erin Fletcher

Genre: YA
Format: Kindle
Publication: January 7, 2014
Cover Rating: 4/5 Stars

From Goodreads: When Hanley Helton discovers a boy living in her garage, she knows she should kick him out. But Nate is too charming to be dangerous. He just needs a place to get away, which Hanley understands. Her own escape methods (vodka, black hair dye, and pretending the past didn't happen) are more traditional, but who is she to judge?

Nate doesn't tell her why he's in her garage, and she doesn't tell him what she's running from. Soon, Hanley's trading her late-night escapades for all-night conversations and stolen kisses. But when Nate's recognized as the missing teen from the news, Hanley isn't sure which is worse: that she's harboring a fugitive, or that she's in love with one.


My Thoughts: Despite the very melodramatic description, I actually really liked this book! It's so hard to find good, original YA books these days, but Fletcher has definitely hit the mark with Where You'll Find Me. The story picks up fast, and keeps going from page one. There's never a moment where you feel like the story has played out, because the pacing was just excellently done. Then you have these two very realistic amazing characters who have such great chemistry! Hanley and Nate definitely feel like they could jump off the page at any moment and be sitting on your couch having a conversation. Is there a bit of insta-love? Maybe. A very little. HOWEVER, I have to say, Hanley is not one to fall for the normal heroine BS. She does not just fall head over heels for some guy living in her garage. She's smart, and she questions everything. Which was definitely refreshing. Especially, when she expresses that being a stalker is not "romantic", like a lot of MC's tend to think.

Overall, I thought this was a very well done story and I definitely will be reading more by Fletcher! In fact, I really hope she expands on the other characters because I would love to get my hands on a copy of Hanley's sidekick's stories.


My Rating: