Open Road Summer

Reagan O'Neill is leaving her rebellious ways behind.

She's finished with her bad-news boyfriends and she's ready to join her best friend Lilah Montgomery on tour. Lilah's a country music superstar, and she's nursing a broken heart of her own. It's the perfect opportunity for a girls-only road trip full of break-up ballads and healing hearts.

But Reagan's vow to live drama-free is tested by the arrival of Matt Finch. He's Lilah's opening act, and his boy-next-door charm is difficult to resist....

Two Best Friends

Two Broken Hearts

One summer that will change Everything - excerpt from book.

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord is a sweet, youthful contemporary novel about a summer road tour for two young girls where one is a superstar, the other is the best friend. This story's perspective is through the eyes of the best friend. She considers herself less than perfect, not a good girl and definitely does not qualify to have a superstar as her best friend. The characters' friendship is explained throughout the book, how strong the bond is and why. Slowly the past of the main character is revealed as well through her thoughts. 

This story is about Reagan reinventing herself, finding her one true self. She is flawed yet beautiful at the same time. The mysterious personality is the cause of something deeper that you would get from reaching the end of the book. The side character Lilah is a very cute and sweet girl that comes with struggles of her own. Reading about Lilah is like an instance of Taylor Swift, although I do not know what kind of person Taylor is but it feels like this character is modeled over her.  I love that this book allow all the characters to grow at the same time. I very much enjoyed reading their adventures and interactions with each other. My favourite page turning quality are scenes which involved the designated male interest of our female lead. Their interactions are quite cheesy at times but that's how young love is. The male interest himself has struggles and you would want to learn more about him, just like Reagan.

In terms of plot, the chapters are named over cities of Lilah's music tour which pushes the story forward with the timeline of it. It's not the type of plot that is too dramatic, just realistic enough for the characters portrayed. I can't really relate to them but their struggles and resolution still touched me. Emery does a great job in narrating their feelings, it is always quite poetic, descriptive that is beautiful and memorable. 

I really loved this book as the author sends across a deep meaning message to the readers through lyrics of songs written by the characters. I always can't wait to read about incidents happening to the lead as I want to know how she would have reacted. If I have to pick a favourite quote from the book it would be difficult because there is just too many. This is the fourth book that I have read from this author and I have not been disappointed, I would definitely recommend this to young adult contemporary lovers. Her writing is just fluid and poetic with good meaning that get you pondering and thinking about life.  

Fireworks

It was always meant to be Olivia. She's the talented one, the one who's been training to be a star her whole life. Her best friend Dana, is the one on the sidelines, cheering Olivia on.

But everything changes when Dana tags along with Olivia to Orlando for the weekend, where superproducer Guy Monroe is holding auditions for a new singing group, and Dana is discovered too. Dana, who's never sung more than Olivia's backup. Next thing Dana knows, she and Olivia are training to be pop stars, and Dana is falling for Alex, the earnest, endlessly talented boy who's destined to be the next big thing.

It should be a dream come true, but as the days of grueling practice and constant competition take their toll, things between Olivia and Dana start to shift...and there's only room at the top for one girl. - excerpt from book.

Fireworks by Katie Cotugno is my second time reading her book, the first was 99 days and I quite enjoyed it. Sadly for this book it was just mediocre, nothing too enticing or exciting. The summary sounded interesting so I picked it up but I speed read most of the parts. Where I wanted more drama, there wasn't enough. The love story of the book was too short as the focus was actually about friendship which I felt was just not realistic enough. The drama of a girl group was just average as I expected more crying, arguments or even fights. 

I like the growth of the main character, I guess this was the only part that encouraged me to finish the book. Her interactions were okay with other characters and I often wanted more for her. She is definitely your typical teenager that is finding herself in this journey while there are others who are already really sure of who they want to be. Those are the characters that I find unrealistic and their interactions with Dana is not emotional or jolting at all.

Overall I would say the plot twist was one that I could see it coming since things started to heat up a bit. Nonetheless, it is something that you would want to happen but with a little bit extra drama. From the start till the end, it covers an entire summer which is actually quite a short timeline so some things happened too quickly without any build up. I cannot recommend this book to anyone and I think this would be the book who has convinced me to not get her next book unless I've read a good review on it.

Top 5 Wednesday - Summer Reads

Ahh yes summer is arriving, sadly living in a tropical country I don't see any difference to the weather here. Although I can't relate to the season, I certainly enjoy books in the summer setting because of beaches, lakes and summer houses. I love to read about the ways teenagers spend their holidays and have some summer romance too. So here is my list of books to read to fully enjoy the summer.

This is my most favourite summer reading. It's set in the summer time of course where Emily's best friend has disappeared and left her a list of things to do. Emily believes if she finishes the list it will lead her to Sloane and so she set out using her summer that way. It was a really fun book to read because Emily has many adventures awaiting for her.

I went into this book only knowing it's in the summer time and I was caught by surprise. It was such a lovely summer romance and also family was part of the story. The twist that happened in the book was so good which made me love YA contemporary. This book is the pioneer in my reading for buying more young adult contemporary. I figure that sometimes a bit of teenager love is so cute to read because it makes me reminiscent about my teenager years.

Since You've Been Gone

Emily's best friend Sloane disappears, almost without a trace - the only thing left behind is a to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that wallflower Emily wouldn't normally do, and definitely not without her best friend. But what if completing the list could bring Sloane back?
Dance until dawn? Sure why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um....
Go skinny dippy? Wait....what?
Emily only has the summer to check everything off Sloane's list. The question is, what will she find at the end of it? - excerpt from book cover.

Since you've been gone by Morgan Matson is a story about a girl completing a list sent to her by her best friend who seems to be missing this summer. I did not know what to expect for this book except that it's in the summer and a girl has to complete a list. At start of the book it was like introduction to the characters which did not capture me yet. But then when the list was received, things started to be really really interesting.

I really love the characters of the book especially the female lead. She has the most character growth in the book which made the story fantastic. I like how the other characters slowly emerged in the story and took part in the plots. This book made me want a best friend just like the female lead, I really wish I could find a friend like that. I also really like the male lead in the book, he is such a great guy and his friend is such a funny dude.

The plot of this story is also so so good. There are many incidents in the book that you'll just love. There are also some situations where you'll be wanting certain things to happen between characters. This book is also hilarious in quite a number of chapters. Even though there was some parts that you could predict, it was still enjoyable to read because you would want what you predicted to happen. 

I had a hard time putting the book down because it got me hooked so bad. I just wished I was in those characters' lives. While I wanted to read faster to know more, I also didn't want the story to end at all. Alas, when I was done I was very satisfied with the book as it gave me much much laughter and warmth. I would highly recommend this book to any young adult book lovers who enjoy reading about summer. This book is funny, exciting, heartwarming, cute and many more good things. I would not hesitate to pick up another book from this author as she really did a good job. Next summer, I want to read this book again.