Hundred Oaks Series Review

So I read five out of six of the Hundred Oaks books by Miranda Kenneally over the course of less than 24 hours, I'd already read Catching Jordan. Anyway, I figured I'd post mini reviews of each book in this series and share my thoughts on them.

Catching Jordan

3/5

If you enjoy YA books with a strong female character, then it's possible that this one will appeal to you. But if you hate love triangles and lots of drama, then you might want to skip out on this one. I read this one at an extremely fast pace, but I think that's mostly because I was ready to just get to the bottom of Jordan and figure out who she ends up with. 

Jordan Woods might be a girl, but that doesn't mean she can't play football just as well as the guys. Jordan is her high school quarterback and is looked at by her team as their fearless leader, and also as just one of the guys. Everything changes when Tyler Green comes to her school from Texas, where he was the starting QB. Jordan finds herself drawn to this mysterious new boy, but will she get distracted from leading her team to victory? Insert a cast of characters including her best friend Sam Henry, who she has always had a complicated relationship with, and you have yourself a whirl wind of a story. 

I feel like Kenneally really did her research on football. I always appreciate it when the sport is properly incorporated into the plot in a natural way. It's a cute read but it is far from being my favorite by any means. I mainly read it because I feel weird reading series out of order so I started with this despite the love triangle thing going on. I'd recommend this book if you're looking for just a light and simple read. 

Stealing Parker

4/5

This is the second book in the Hundred Oaks series. I really enjoyed Parker and the cast of characters we're introduced to in this one. Some of the plot I really disliked, like the fact that there was a love triangle that didn't seem necessary, just like Catching Jordan. But I loved the writing and the characters so much that I rated this higher than the first book. 

This book is about Parker, a girl who used to be in love with softball and was active in her church. That all changed when her mom came out as a lesbian and left her father for her friend who turned out to be more than a friend. Now she can't stand softball and is rejected by her church community completely. She becomes the manager of the baseball team to please her best friend Drew, and becomes infatuated with the new coach.  

I liked this book because of the feisty and relatable Parker. I also loved the relationship between Will and Parker. I'm also biased considering I love baseball so I connected to the story more than others might. However, you don't have to be a baseball fan to read this book. It's a beautifully written story that you could read in probably only one sitting. 

Things I Can't Forget

4/5

I'd heard a lot of great things about this book so I was anxious to read this. I was so relieved that this book didn't have a love triangle in it. Truthfully, I wasn't a huge fan of Kate and didn't relate to her like I did with the first two girls. However, she certainly grows a lot throughout the book and I found that to be extremely refreshing. This was yet another incredible book in the series and one that I'll remember for a long time.

Kate is known as the good girl, but she feels guilty about a serious secret that she keeps. The summer after her senior year, she decides to become a camp counselor at a church camp that she attended back when she was younger. There she reunites with Matt, the boy who was her first kiss. Back then, he was a dorky kid that she stood up for when the other kids made fun of him for his songwriting. Now, he's a confident and charming frat boy. This is the summer that will change the way Kate sees the world as she learns that everything isn't always black and white.

I could go on and on about how charming Matt is. He just says and does the most adorable things for Kate. I loved that the relationship gradually grew from a friendship to a serious relationship at a realistic pace. I had issues with how judgmental Kate was, but she does grow as she changes her perspective. I love the theme of friendship, and I particularly loved her bond with Parker, the lead in Stealing Parker. She helped Kate become a more open minded person and showed her what being a true friend really means. This is one of my favorite books in the series, mostly because of Matt!

Racing Savannah

3/5

It's not exactly clear when this book takes place, but I'd guess it's about four years after Thing I Can't Forget. Two of our favorite couples: Will, Parker, Kate, and Matt are all actually getting married and Parker and Kate are still best friends, which made me happy. Anyway, this is definitely my least favorite of the series. Yes, I even liked it less than Catching Jordan. I connected more with that book because of my love for football, I wasn't as interested in reading about horses so this one was a little boring for me. I think I would have been more into the plot if I was more involved in the characters and the romance. Savannah was an okay character but she wasn't as memorable as some of the other girls. Jack was also my least favorite love interest, he was a lot more of a jerk and not all as swoon worthy as the other guys. This one was just okay for me, but I did enjoy some of the supporting characters.

Savannah has just moved from West Virginia to Tennessee where she, her father, and her father's girlfriend will be able to give more opportunities to the family now that her father's girlfriend is pregnant. Savannah helps her father train horses and instantly becomes intrigued and a little disgusted by her new boss - Jack Goodwin, a cocky player who is attending Hundred Oaks High School with her. She and Jack come from completely different worlds, but can they be together despite all their differences?

This book has a lot of themes involving social status and family. I didn't have a problem with the plot, I just didn't think it was as fascinating as it could have been. I also didn't know what to make of Jack, he was easy to dislike for the majority of the book honestly. I did love the supporting characters, particularly Vanessa and Rory (Will's younger brother) who kept the story much more interesting in my opinion.

Breathe, Annie, Breathe

5/5

When I first picked this one up, I was afraid that this would be just another novel about a girl who is trying to move on from the death of her boyfriend. Much to my surprise, this turned out to be about so much more than just that. This is a book about grief, love, forgiveness, and moving on. You really feel for Annie and instantly fall in love with Jeremiah. This is one of my favorite YA contemporary books to date!

Annie blames herself for the death her boyfriend of three years. She turned him down when he proposed to her, and he ended their relationship. The night he died, he had come over to make amends with Annie and they got back together, then the next minute he was gone. It's been six months now and Annie decides to run a marathon in honor of Kyle. She ends up getting trained by Matt, where she meets his little brother Jeremiah. Despite an initial attraction and them hooking up pretty early on, Annie isn't ready for a relationship so the two become friends instead. Will she ever be able to heal and move on from her first love?

Jeremiah is Matt from Things I Can't Forget's little brother. It's safe to say that he's just as amazing as his brother. The huge difference is that Jere has never been in a serious relationship before, he simply throws away girl after girl. He is also a total adrenaline junkie, but he's also an incredibly sweet and understanding guy who stands by Annie's side as faithfully as he possibly can. If you read any book in this series, I recommend this one. The plot, characters, and romance are something really special and I enjoyed it so much.

Jesse's Girl

4/5

As someone who loves music, I instantly related to this book. I'm not a singer and I can't play any instruments, but I still understood the passion and love that Maya had for music in general. It's not the most well written book of all time, but it still was a fun book to read.

Maya may live in Tennessee, but she definitely doesn't want a career in country music. She considers herself to be more on the punk rock side, and she plays guitar for a heavy metal band with kids from her high school that she founded. Things get complicated for her when her bandmate not only dumps her but also kicks her out of the band. Meanwhile, Maya ends up getting the chance to job shadow country teen sensation Jesse Scott, who she instantly dislikes. The more the day goes on, the more Maya learns about the singer, and the two bond over music. Gradually, Jesse helps her see that maybe she can still make music without relying on a band to back her up.

Obviously, I appreciated all of the musical references in this book. Maya was definitely a well cultured girl who wasn't afraid to experiment with tons of different genres. I mean how many punk rockers have you heard of who will openly admit that their favorite song is Killing Me Softly? It's safe to say that there was so much to like about this book. Although he was a jerk at first, Jesse is a character that you slowly grow to like and he's an extremely passionate, loving, and caring character that was never boring to say the least.

I'm surprised if you made it through all six of those reviews. This turned out to be a lot longer than I was expecting, but I had quite a bit to say about these books. Thank you for reading this far, and I recommend reading these books!

Since You've Been Gone Review

Since You've Been Gone
Morgan Matson
Simon & Schuster
May 2014
4/5
Quotes:
"It just gets hard, always being someone's second choice."
“Real friends are the ones you can count on no matter what.
The ones who go into the forest to find you and bring you home.
And real friends never have to tell you that they’re your friends.”  
“He looked right at me as he gave me a half smile. "You're the brightest thing in the room," He said. He lifted his hand from my waist, and slowly, carefully brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek. "You shine."
My breath caught in my throat. People said those kinds of things about Sloane-not about me.
"What?" Frank asked, his eyes on mine.
"Just..." I took a shaky breath. "Nobody's ever said something like that to me."
"Then they don't see what I see," He said.”  
“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”  
“All the stuff you can’t wait to get away from, until it’s not there anymore, and then you miss it like crazy.”  

Since You've Been Gone is one of those books that I wish I would have picked up sooner. Part of my hesitation was honestly because I knew I'd be singing the Kelly Clarkson song in my head the entire time I read it. Despite my fears, I heard so many great things about it and about how swoony the male lead is. So I eventually gave it a shot and I'm so glad that I did. I've never read anything by Morgan Matson before even though I know she's becoming a pretty popular YA author. However, I am definitely interested in reading more from her.

Emily is an awkward and shy teenager who planned on spending the summer with her best friend Sloane. But Sloane mysteriously took off without telling Emily anything, all she sent behind was a list of things that she wanted Emily to accomplish. Emily quickly makes the connection that every item on the list is something that scares her. Her summer takes an unexpected turn when she starts hanging out with Frank Porter, the class President and total good kid. She also forms a friendship with his best friend Matthew Collins, and Dawn, a girl who works next door to the ice cream shop where Emily works. All three of her new friends help her knock off each item on the list one by one. For Emily, it turns out to be one summer to remember.

I love the characters in Since You've Been Gone. Emily is such a relatable main character. Sometimes in Young Adult books, it can be annoying when the main character considers herself to be awkward just because she trips on her own feet or has difficulty talking to a cute guy. Emily is a genuinely awkward girl who has trouble fitting in. She's awkward through the fact that she has trouble forming sentences in front of people that she doesn't know, not just boys. I really related to how she relied on Sloane to help her socialize with others. Sloane was a people person and Emily's more social side came out when she was around her. I've been in that position before, so I totally got where Emily was coming from. I also loved some of the supporting characters like Matthew Collins. I loved how Emily would notice his subtle changes in behavior and how she got to the bottom of what was going on with him. I love stories where the supporting characters are complex and we get to see the main character bond with them. That doesn't always happen in Young Adult novels and I think this was extremely well done.

Frank Porter is such a great character and I absolutely loved him. It's always awesome to see the love interest be such a solid guy. I mean honestly, how many books have you read where the guy was the class President and smart guy who also happens to have incredible taste in music. I think part of his general appeal is that his characteristics are very similar to real high school boys. Many high school boys in YA books are portrayed as being these perfect and flawless guys who have every girl drooling over them. On the other hand, Frank has flaws just like real guys you meet in high school have. I loved how his relationship with Emily started as a friendship and slowly built into more. Pretty much every scene between them was so incredible to read. I just loved the average interactions that they had and all of the random things they bonded over. It all felt insanely realistic to me.

The big reason why this book didn't get a perfect rating from me was that Frank had a girlfriend for the majority of the book. At the beginning, his relationship is introduced as being perfect since they are both insanely smart kids who are very involved in school. Anyway, I felt like the plot was completely pointless. It became more and more obvious that something wasn't right between Frank and his girlfriend as the book went on. I feel like I would have been even more invested in the relationship and the plot if there was no girlfriend at all. The book would have just flowed a little more naturally and smoothly for me if that was the case. Don't get me wrong though, this book is fast paced and really great aside from that minor issue.

Feature and Follow Friday #2

Feature Friday is a weekly feature hosted by Alison Can Read & Parajunkee. The featured blog for this week is Newbie Librarians.

The question for this week is:

Name a movie you would have loved to read as a book (that is not a book already, obviously!)

I really enjoyed this question, it definitely made me think really hard about my answer!

Almost Famous is my answer because it's one of my all time movies and I think it would have worked really well in book form also. In a way, it's probably the more creative route that this was made into a movie instead of a book, considering the fact that Cameron Crowe is a writer so most people would probably expect for him to write a memoir about his experiences. However, I would still have loved to read that book for sure!

My following preference is on Bloglovin so I would be thrilled if you would follow me, I follow back! If I don't, let me know in the comments so I can make sure to check out your blog.  

Where She Went Review

Where She Went
Gayle Forman
Dutton Juvenile
April 2011
5/5
Quotes:
"You don't share me. You own me."
"I needed to hate someone and you're the one I love the most, so it fell on you."
"In the calculus of feelings, you never really know how one person's absence will affect you more than another's."
"Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open."
"A day might just be twenty-four hours but sometimes getting through just one seems as impossible as scaling Everest."

I loved "If I Stay," but I held off for as long as possible before reading this one. I was scared that it wouldn't live up to the first book. However, I've heard nothing but good things about it so I figured I might as well give it a shot. Seeing things through Adam's perspective was so incredible and I feel like Forman absolutely couldn't have written it any better. The writing, characters, plot, just everything about this book was amazing. I did miss seeing things from Mia's point of view, but it was a good idea to just focus on Adam's perspective only and not alter back and forth between the two.

It's been three years since Mia's accident and Adam hasn't talked to her since she left for Julliard. Adam had a lot of anger whenever she first left his life, but he turned all that anger into a chart topping superstar album with his band. His band has been touring around the world and winning big time musical awards. He also lives in LA with his movie star girlfriend. Although his whole world seems to be perfect on the outside, he's really falling apart of the inside. He and his band members are barely speaking at all and he hardly ever gets to spend time with his girlfriend. Adam ends up spending the night in New York by chance, and decides to go see Mia Hall perform. This sparks a surprise reunion between the two former lovers as they make some last minute memories before they both go their respective ways: Mia to Japan for her concert tour and Adam to join his band members on tour in England.

Adam is one of my all time favorite book boyfriends. Yes, part of that has to do with him being a musician. But it's mostly just because of the way he carries himself and how genuinely kind he is. He appears as a total jerk and is labeled as a douchebag bad boy in the media, but that couldn't be further from the truth in reality. I'm going to continue stressing the fact that I love getting to read the story through his eyes. Getting an insight into what makes Adam who he is, and knowing exactly what he's thinking make him all the more charming. It's strange not seeing the story through Mia's eyes, but she's just as charming and composed as ever.

In my opinion, this story was the ideal conclusion to the not so fairytale but still beautiful romance between these two. They are one of my favorite couples because they just get each other. I love the way they bond over all different types of music. They obviously have somewhat of different tastes considering that Mia is a classical musician while Adam is a rockstar, but that seems to not be a big deal to either of them. I also love how we get to see flashbacks of their relationship in high school. Some of the scenes are just too adorable for words, like talking about them will just make me beyond mushy so I'll spare you guys that whole mess.

Basically, this book was everything I hoped for and more. If I Stay was such a beautiful and heartbreaking story, one of my all time favorites, and I'm glad to say that this one was no slacker either. It couldn't have been better or more heartwarming for me. Gayle Forman is honestly one of my favorite YA writers, she just has such memorable characters filled with unique and special plots.

99 Days Review

99 Days
Katie Cotugno
Balzer + Bray
April 2015
3/5

For the most part, I really enjoyed the writing and I think it was a creative concept. However, I wasn't able to connect with Molly at all and wasn't a fan of the decisions that she made. All in all, this is a quick read that always holds your interest, I just had a problem with how some of the events turned out in the end. I've also made it clear that I hate love triangles and I thought this one wasn't going to be one of those types of stories, but unfortunately it did become one and that made me less interested in the story completely.

Molly ran away from her town after her longtime boyfriend Patrick discovered her affair with his older brother Gabe through a book that her mother wrote about Molly's experiences. Now Molly is back in the town for the summer before she leaves for college and she's trying to make amends with the people that she hurt. Gabe is back for the summer from college and seems to be the only person who is on her side and sticks up for her. Then Molly becomes confused for her feelings for him when the boy she loved for so long, Patrick, returns for the summer.

I don't want to ruin too much here but the one thing I hate more than love triangles in YA books is cheating. Yes, Molly made a mistake and I don't think that she deserves to be treated so poorly when Gabe is treated exactly the same way. I like that he also has a problem with this and I instantly liked him when he took responsibility for his involvement in the affair. I really loved Gabe and felt like he truly cared about Molly in a way that his brother never did but Molly isn't as aware of this as she should be. One thing that I did enjoy was the female friendship here. Molly has to repair a lot of friendships that she abandoned when she took off and ran away from all her problems. She slowly gains back the friendship of her old best friend and gains a new friend in Tess, who also happens to be her ex boyfriend Patrick's new girlfriend. This obviously is an interesting and sort of cliché friendship, but I like that they do bond since most new girlfriends in YA books seem to have it out for the old girlfriend but Tess is nothing but nice.

I recommend 99 Days specifically for people who love contemporary romance YA. If you have an issue with love triangles or cheating, I would recommend just passing up on this one even though there still may be some parts of the book that you might enjoy. Most of the reviews that I've read for this one are either people who absolutely loved the book or it just didn't click for them. I say that you give it a shot because it isn't a heavy read, you'll likely finish it in just a day or two so check it out if it sounds like something you'd be interested in!

Truest Review

Truest

Jackie Lea Sommers

Katherine Tegan Books

September 1, 2015

5/5

Quotes:

"I've belonged to you since the second you showed up on my doorstep."

"You destroyed my old plans and became my new plan."

"So the good days I swallow like grace on a spoon."

"Silas Hart, whose kiss was exploding my heart from a bud into a blossom with such alacrity that I marveled I could be so full without bursting."

"He pulled his hood of now and treated me to that grin of his- the one that made me want to take flight, the one that felt like a storm cell was raging in my chest, thunder and lightning and hurricane- strength winds and all."

Truest was a surprising read for me. I wasn't sure what to make of it when I first picked it up. Honestly, I put off reading it for awhile because the summary I read was so brief that I couldn't tell whether or not it'd be something that I liked. I think entering in without knowing all that much background was a good choice. This is a beautiful debut novel from Jackie Lea Sommers and I highly recommend it!

It’s the summer before Westlin Beck’s senior year and she’s stuck in Green Lake, Minnesota, the same small town she has lived in her whole life. Normally, she has the company of her best friend and boyfriend, but both of them have busy summers. West’s father is a minister and she tags along when he brings communion to the family that just moved there from Alaska. She becomes closer to the Hart family, Silas, the boy who is the same age as her, in particular as they work on cars together. Gradually, West strikes up a close friendship with not only Silas, but also his mysterious sister Laurel. What secrets about Laurel is Silas keeping from West and why? Read Truest to find out more.

Silas Hart is such an incredible character. I hate to compare characters but it's pretty much impossible in this situation. Basically, Silas is a lot like another favorite male YA book character: Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars. They are similar in the respect that they both are so romantic and upfront with how they feel for the female character. They both have some endearing but dorky obsessions and are passionate about many things. Silas also is amazing at writing poetry I mean, what is more romantic than a guy writing poetry for the girl he likes. I also love his Holden Caulfield shirts and all his other t-shirts that dropped hilarious pop culture references. I really liked West as well and I think she was a great narrator. I obviously just didn't love her as much as Silas but she was still really cool and also passionate about radio shows and pop culture in general. Silas's sister Laurel was also a well written supporting character who I loved right away. I don't want to give anything away so I won't go into much details about her and her secret, but let's just say that Jackie Lea Sommers wrote this part extremely well.

The relationship between Silas and West was one of the major highlights of the book for me. I love both of the characters individually, but they become even more intriguing and enjoyable when they come together. I just love how the relationship begins slowly as a friendship, due to West's boyfriend and the girlfriend that Silas has back in Alaska. The pair being together never feels rushed which I think can often happen in YA books. I love that they had so many common interests like books, poetry, and the radio show that West listens to faithfully that none of her friends like but Silas instantly adores it. They are just two people that balance each other out and there wasn't much that I didn't like about them as a couple.

As I said earlier, Truest was a complete and total surprise for me. I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. It's just one of those books that instantly clicked for me and I felt completely connected to the characters and what was going on. By the end, I found that I both laughed and cried throughout the book more times than I have in a very long time while reading. It just provides readers with so many emotions and it's just a cleverly written book as a whole. I'll definitely be talking about this one for awhile!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Characters I Didn't Click With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week the theme is top ten characters that you just didn't click with.

1. Reagan from Open Road Summer



A lot of people love this book and I enjoy some of it, but I didn't like Reagan at all. There's so many issues that I had with her general attitude, especially towards females that weren't her best friend. I wanted so badly to like her but I just couldn't.

2. Emaline from The Moon and More



This is one of my least favorite Sarah Dessen books. While I loved the strong female friendship this book has, I just couldn't connect to Emaline like I do with some of her other characters.

3. Rhiannon from Every Day



As much as I love A, I just couldn't click with Rhiannon in this one. Maybe it'll be different in "Another Day" since we get to see from her point of view, but I just didn't really get her.

4. Bella Swan from Twilight



I don't HATE Bella but I don't really get her either. I don't relate to how she relies on men as much as she does. She's just not a strong female character in YA books, in my opinion.

5. America Singer from The Selection



She's a hard character to relate with. I just hated how she would string along two guys but get jealous if Maxon wasn't giving her his full attention. She's selfish and immature honestly.

6. Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door



Another character who strung along two boys. I also wasn't sure what to make of her costumes and wigs. Yes, it was apart of who she is but I also felt like she kind of used it as a mask to hide who she really is and we never got to see her true self.

7. All the characters from Until Friday Night



I've made my feelings on this book pretty clear. I didn't like any of the characters in this book really. I felt sorry for both the main characters at time, but I also didn't like how they used it as an excuse to treat other characters poorly.

8. Emmy from Emmy & Oliver



I love this book and many of Robin Benway's other work as well. However, I just felt like Emmy was a relatively boring character. She wasn't as exciting as the other characters in the book or even like Audrey from Benway's book Audrey Wait!

9. Margo Spiegelman from Paper Towns



Margo was a difficult character to click with. I love Q but Margo wasn't an easy character to really get. Maybe things would have been different if we saw things from her point of view but I doubt it.

10. Molly from 99 Days



I tried hard to sympathize with Molly because of how everyone was treating her from the beginning. However, she kept making terrible decisions and making it hard for me to feel anything but irritation towards her.