On My Holds List (80)

My Librarian friend Jess from I Read to Relax came up with a great idea.  It's to highlight the books on hold at the library. I usually have 20-40 items checked out at the library and another 20 items on hold. 

Some YA Books I'm Waiting to Read:

Biggest Flirts: Love Jennifer Echols and this new series looks super cute!

Now and Forever: Love Susane Colasanti . What would happen if your boyfriend became a Rock God.

Secrets of Lily Graves: Love Sarah Strohmeyer. Secrets - murder- and lies.

Books I'm Dying to Read: May Edition

Here's a list of books I can't wait to get my hands on come May - and there's a lot of them! 

Curses and Smoke:  A forbidden love story set with a natural disaster waiting to happen. 

Girl with a Wind Up Heart: I'm a book behind, but I really love this series

Castle Behind Thorns: Life in an enchanted castle! Sounds really great.

Revenge of the Flower Girls: Triplets plan to break up their sister's wedding.

Caitlin's Lucky Charm: New MG series by Lisa Schroeder 

Divided: sequel to Dualed. West thought she was safe now, but she was wrong

Everything Leads to You: Romance in Hollywood

The Pilot and the Little Prince: A book about the author and the inspiration behind his most famous book.

Tuesday Tucks Me In: Moments of the day between a soldier and a service dog

Art of Lainey: Love is a battlefield and Lainey's about to win back her ex.

Biggest Flirts: Love Jennifer Echols - could two flirts become series about each other?

Now and Forever: Love her books! What if your boyfriend becomes the biggest rockstar on the planet?

That Summer: Julia inherits a house in England that will change her life - love Lauren Willig's books.

Wild Storm: No Cover - love the Richard Castle books.

On a Clear Day: Re-release of two of Macomber's previous books, which I haven't read. Really love her books.

Stubby: the War Dog: I actually have this one and hope to read it this weekend

Greatest Star on Earth - love this sister team and I really liked the first book

This is a Moose: Saw pages for this at a preview and it looks super cute.

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend: New summer series about romance, ex-BFFs and fun in the sun.

Secrets of Lily Graves: Secrets come out when a girl's murdered making Lily and her almost boyfriend suspects.

Life by Committee: Sounds a little like My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody, which I loved.

We Were Liars: Everyone's raving about this book

Wish You Were Italian: Summer romance in Italy!

Chapel Wars: Wedding chapel to save - in Vegas!

After the End: What happens after you discover everything you thought was a big fat lie?

Killer Instinct: Lane is obsessed with serial killers...

Royally Lost: Sounds like a teen version of Roman Holiday

Deep Blue: Mermaids, assassins, and a quest!

Since You've Been Gone: When her BFF goes missing, Emily finds a random list. Could the list actually help her or its it too crazy?

The One: Dying for the ending of the Selection trilogy!

If You Like Pins (5)

At work, I made a few similar reads pins for our Pinterest page...

Going Too Far and books about older teens...

Wintergirls and books about serious topics

Princess Diaries (enough said)

Review: The One that I Want

Gemma and her BFF Addison meet two boys at camp. They're working on their majorette skills while the boys practice football.  One boy is the quarterback and the other the team's kicker who never misses.

Gemma likes Max and it appears that he likes her too. She doesn't understand why he'd ask out her best friend instead of her. The more time she spends with him, the more she likes him.

She hopes he'll notice her as something more than a friend, but she doesn't want to betray her best friend. Is there a way for both of them to win?

My Thoughts: I really love Jennifer Echols, but this isn't my favorite book of hers. I couldn't stop reading because I wanted to find out what happened.


The friendships of the book bothered me. I hated Addison. She was horrible. I wasn't fond of Gemma at times either. Together they don't mix well. I know these relationships do exist - but it was hard to read about them.

I hated Carter.  I hated the relationship between Carter and Max.

I liked Max - he was quirky and amusing. He said random things that got him into trouble. I really liked the conversations between Max and Gemma. 

Books with cheating partners isn't for me - I have a hard time forgiving the characters even if they're cheating with the one they're meant to be with.  By cheating I mean falling for your best friend's guy.


Ultimately I did like it, but it was hard getting past a few issues. I know that teens will gobble this book up.



Cover Thoughts: LOVE it! I really like the heart in the O too - a nice touch. Although the model is Asian and it's a big part of the book.


Source: my Library

Review: Love Story

Erin used to have money - but since she rejected her grandmother's offer to run the family horse farm - she's been cut off. She's making her own way in the world, including paying her college tuition.

She works at a coffee shop and lives on peanut butter crackers. While it's not the ideal situation, she's not interested in majoring in business. She wants to be a writer.

Her romance story is the first story discussed in class. She wouldn't be so nervous except the boy she based the hero on just walked into the classroom. There's no way she can watch him read and critique her story.

When another boy tears into her story - saying that Romance isn't a real genre, Erin can't help but fight back. With her life so drastically changed, she just needs one person in her corner.

Could Hunter be that person, even given their past history?


My Thoughts: I love how this is YA book about college - maybe this trend will slowly develop! I LOVED Hunter. I loved how Hunter and Erin spoke to each other through their stories. I loved watching their past unravel and uncovering the details of their relationship. I loved learning more about the horse business. As always, another great love story from Jennifer Echols.

Cover Thoughts: Cute! I love how soft and romantic it looks.

Source: From the author!

Release Day: July 19th

Review: Endless Summer

*Note: I read Boys Next Door last year and LOVED it, but this review is about Endless Summer, so there are SPOILERS to Boys Next Door*


Now that Lori has found the perfect boyfriend, she can't wait to spend the summer together. Unfortunately, on their first date, they fall asleep in the car...together. When they wake up, they rush home to discover furious parents - who demand they break up immediately. Plus, her father wants Adam's parents to send him away to military school and given his recent behavior, they're considering it.

Lori can't belief her luck. She tries to stay away from Adam, but it's almost impossible. The few times they sneak out together - their parents find them.

Then Lori comes up with a plan - she could date someone worse than Adam. She goes out on a fake date with a rumored player. She tries to get caught with boy of Adam's older brothers. Nothing seems to be working and most of the time she and Adam are able to spend together, they end up fighting about how to get back together.

Is their relationship doomed?

My Thoughts: I really loved the second installment. I loved how Lori and Adam tried hard to be together -sneaking around or just talking quickly at work. I love the relationship Lori has with her brother and Adam's brothers. Plus I love how Lori and Adam sizzle around each other.

The Cover: Awesome - full of sparks!

Source: My library

I used this for my 10 in '10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge:

Review: Forget You

Zoey's family life sucks. Her parents are recently divorced: her mother just attempted suicide, and her father knocked up his barely legal girlfriend. Now, she's just trying to hold on to her seemingly perfect night.

However, the night before, she crashed her car and has no memory leading up to the accident. She can't remember what happened that night or where she was driving. Zoey can't tell anyone she doesn't remember because her father's threatened her with locking her in a psych ward and she can't handle that right now.

So, she's trying to slowly and carefully uncover details of the night. She can't remember why Doug - a boy who seems to hate her, now suddenly can't seem to leave her alone.

He pulled her out of her car. He knows about her mother. He came to see her the day after the crash expecting everything. Did something happen between them? Can she trust him?

But what about her boyfriend? He's certainly acting strange and avoiding her. What doesn't she know?

The secrets keep piling up and threatening to come out at the most awkward times. How can Zoey keep control over her life and all her relationships?

My Thoughts: Mysterious and romantic. It was very hard to put this book down as I wanted to unravel the details along with Zoey.

The Cover: Gorgeous.

Source: From the author - Jennifer Echols

Fun fact: There's a quote on the back of the book from Going Too Far -from www.teensreadtoo.com - I wrote that :)

review: Ex-Games

Hayden and Nick have a history. Now that their best friends are all dating, is it only a matter of time before they hook up again too? Hayden half wants to believe this could be true, but the other half thinks Nick is just playing her. One minute he's sweet and then the next minute he's cold. So they flirt and then fight - then repeat. But things change when Nick challenges Hayden to a snowboarding competition after making some snarky remarks about girls snowboarding in comparison to guys. Now the gloves are off as the school parts down the middle. It's no longer about snowboarding, it's the battle of the sexes and everyone's taking sides. Will Hayden and Nick's relationship survive the competition?

I LOVED the battle of the sexes plot. The flirty banter between the duo sizzles in this sporty winter tale. The romance stands out, but the secondary plots of friendship, insecurities, fears, and limits really ring true. Plus the title and the cover are both eye catching.

Read for the 10 in 10 Teen Chick Lit Challenge