LaShaunda Loves

Book Review: Crushed

August 27, 2016 No Comments

Crushed

Original Title: Crushed by Laura and Tom McNeal
Edition: Paperback, 336 pgs.
Published: June 10, 2014 by Ember
Characters: Audrey Reed, Wickham Hill, Clyde Mumsford
Rating: 2/5

Synopsis: Audrey and her two best friends have just transferred to Jemison High from their tiny private school. They’re a nerdy little trio, so everyone is shocked when the handsome new guy, Wickham Hill, asks Audrey out. Audrey is so smitten that she doesn’t pay much attention to The Yellow Paper, a vicious underground school newspaper…until it threatens to tell a tale that could change everything.

Book Blog, Waiting On Wednesday

Waiting On Wednesday: Our Chemical Hearts

August 24, 2016 3 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Our Chemical Hearts

Title: Our Chemical Hearts
Author: Krystal Sutherland
Expected Publication: September 6th, 2016
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Read more at Goodreads.

Synopsis: Henry Page has never been in love. He fancies himself a hopeless romantic, but the slo-mo, heart palpitating, can’t-eat-can’t-sleep kind of love that he’s been hoping for just hasn’t been in the cards for him—at least not yet. Instead, he’s been happy to focus on his grades, on getting into a semi-decent college and finally becoming editor of his school newspaper. Then Grace Town walks into his first period class on the third Tuesday of senior year and he knows everything’s about to change.

Grace isn’t who Henry pictured as his dream girl—she walks with a cane, wears oversized boys’ clothes, and rarely seems to shower. But when Grace and Henry are both chosen to edit the school paper, he quickly finds himself falling for her. It’s obvious there’s something broken about Grace, but it seems to make her even more beautiful to Henry, and he wants nothing more than to help her put the pieces back together again. And yet, this isn’t your average story of boy meets girl. Krystal Sutherland’s brilliant debut is equal parts wit and heartbreak, a potent reminder of the bittersweet bliss that is first love.

Book Blog, Bookish Tips & Lists

8 Series To Binge Watch After You Read The Raven Cycle

August 24, 2016 No Comments

It’s been almost two weeks since I finished The Raven King, the last book in Maggie Stiefvater’s beautiful and magical The Raven Cycle. If you haven’t read The Raven Boys and its successors, I urge you to go out and pick it up right now. The series follows a group of teenagers who live in the fictional small town of Henrietta, Virginia. In search of a Welsh King, the group discovers that Henrietta is more magical than they ever dreamed, but the powerful magic also attracts dangerous elements and creatures to the town too that they must face.

If you’re like me and still hung up on The Raven King, here are eight amazing televisions series you can binge-watch right now to quell the longing. Similarly to The Raven Cycle, all of these series have fantastic characters, beautiful world building, and more magic than they can contain. (Black Mirror focuses more on technology and science, but science is magic. Some of the devices the writers came up with could be right out of the Greywaren’s dreams!) Yes, I have actually watched all of these shows and I love every single one of them immensely.

Keep reading to discover your next favorite show.

Book Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

August 22, 2016 No Comments

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Original Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Edition: Paperback, 416 Pages
Published: May 5, 2015 by Bloomsbury Children’s
Characters: Feyre, Tamlin, Lucien, Rhysand
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: Feyre is a huntress.

She thinks nothing of slaughtering a wolf to capture its prey. But, like all mortals, she fears what lingers mercilessly beyond the forest. And she will learn that taking the life of a magical creature comes at a high price…

Imprisoned in an enchanted court in her enemy’s kingdom, Feyre is free to roam but forbidden to escape. Her captor’s body bears the scars of fighting, and his face is always masked – but his piercing stare draws her ever closer. As Feyre’s feeling for Tamlin begin to burn through every warning she’s been told about his kind, an ancient, wicked shadow grows.

Feyre must find a way to break a spell, or lose her heart forever.

Book Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

August 21, 2016 2 Comments

Original Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Edition: Paperback, 303 pages
Published: April 7th, 2015 by Penguin
Characters: Simon Spier, “Blue”, Martin Addinson
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.