[Review] Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
Published September 15th, 2015
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Young Adult Contemporary

Premise:From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom. Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.

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Review

My thoughts:

I'm so sad that this book wasn't what I was expecting... I was highly anticipating its release for months and now I just feel a little deflated. It wasn't the worst I've read, but it wasn't satisfying either. 

The story starts off really slow and at first it goes from present to past to "distant" past to present again, which was a little bit confusing but I was still following. Then there's a lot of nothingness. like a good 150 pages of nothingness. Then things starts happening (finally), and for a second it was all kind of okay and there everything went to hell and we end up pretty much where we started. (Spoiler: plus a message about love, minus a boyfriend. Select the text if you want to read it).

The premise of this book sounds way better than it actually is and I completely fell for it. I'm going to make a comparison of my expectations going into the book (from the premise described in Goodreads) vs what the book actually was, so I can explain my disappointment to you. But beware, knowing what to actually expect from this story might be the biggest spoiler. 

What I expected: An effortlessly kind main character who loves her friends and family and does what she can to make them happy, because it's just what comes natural to her. 

What I got: A main character, Arden, who feels the need to point out every single time she's been kind to someone and bitching about how they don't appreciate how nice she is and complaining that she can't do anything but being nice, because that's the only thing that's special about HER, so they better notice that she's unbelievably kind! 

What I expected: A best friend who was needy and always asking for favors of our main character and our main character always saying yes, because of their friendship.

What I got: This is not how friendship works! Arden was always coming to Lindsay's rescue just because that made her feel important, not even because Lindsey ever asked anything of her or that she really needed her to save the day every time! I'll admit that Lindsay was always getting herself in trouble, she never asked Arden to help her get out of it, I didn't even feel like she expected her to do it, but the problem was that she let Arden save her ass over and over again, no matter what the consequences were for her friend. So, overall, we have two pretty crappy friends, in my opinion: one doesn't know how to say "thank you, but I made a stupid decision, so I'll be the one to deal with it" and the other one was always just waiting for her friend to screw up so she could save the day and feel better about herself. The whole relationship seemed unhealthy to me, but what bothered me the most was Arden being extremely patronizing towards her so called BFF, like she was so superior... Aghh!

What I expected: The blog platform taking a central spot during the story, because that's what made this book so appealing in the first place. 

What I got: Bits and pieces of blogging here and there in the midst of an ocean of whinnying from the main character. 

What I expected: An actual relationship between the main character and the blogger.

What I got: Arden stalking Peter for more than half the book. Peter didn't even know she existed -because she never even left a comment in the blog- until she shows up at his workplace on a whim, after being disappointed (yet again) by her boyfriend.  Here's her reasoning: "Peter just broke up with the love of his life, he doesn't know it yet, because he doesn't know me at all, but he needs me, not just anyone, but ME. So I must drive over six hours in my car that is barely holding itself together to get to New York, without telling anyone but my friend (who's coming with me, by the way, because she doesn't answer to her parents...) where I'm going"... Flawless logic! Especially considering he could turn out to be a psychopath!

What I expected: Peter, having a secret or being slightly different that he appeared, but overall still a decent guy.

What I got: Peter being a complete self-centered, entitled asshole who had lied his way into getting a fan base and a publishing contract.

What I expected: A few of the supporting characters being kind of selfish and self-involved but that being okay, because nobody is perfect.

What I got: Every single person in Arden's life being completely and utterly self-centered. Her dad, her best friend, her mom, her boyfriend, freaking Peter, and of course, HERSELF!

So... when I say this wasn't what I was expecting, I absolutely mean it. 

My lowest rating is 1/5, and I seriously considered giving it just that, but I'm giving an extra point because, at the end, the main character seemed to realize that her behavior wasn't right even though to me, she still sounded as if she was doing it for everyone else and not just for herself.

“I used to think that loving somebody meant sacrificing anything for them. I thought it meant writing them a blank cheque. I thought it meant that you would die without each other. But it turns out that death and a broken heart are not he same.

These days, I think that love is not so dramatic as all that. Maybe loving somebody means simply they bring out the best in you, and you bring out the best in them - so that together, you are always the best possible versions of yourselves.” 

Overall, and simply put, I would not recommend it.

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About the author

Leila Sales was born in 1984 and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in psychology in 2006. Now she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works in the mostly glamorous world of children's book publishing. Leila spends most of her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write. 

[Review] The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5
Published March 4th, 2014
Bloomsbury Childrens
Young Adult Fantasy

Premise:

Contains all five novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Get your copy!

Review

My thoughts:

If you ever want to know more about Sam and the way his relationship with Celaena started, this is the book you'll want to pick up. There's five stories in chronological order, so it's seems like a whole prequel book and not just bits and pieces. In these stories we follow Celaena's adventures before she got captured and shipped to Endovier, we get to see her falling in love with Sam and making her first attempts at friendship while still being a bad-ass assassin. 

If you are following the Throne of Glass series but haven't read this book, I strongly recommend for you to do so before getting into Queen of Shadows, because there are a lot of references and characters that pop-up in both books and it'll give you a better understanding of Celaena's feelings and action in the fourth book of this series.

Now, I'll be getting into a brief account of my feelings and impressions of each of the five stories:

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

In this story we get to see the beginning of the relationship between Celaena and Sam. They had met long before this adventure took place, but they start to see each other in a different light during the events in this story. They are both sent by Arobynn to see the Pirate Lord, thinking they're trying to avenge a fellow assassin, but as always, Arobynn is playing games with them and turns out they're there for completely different reasons. 

I loved the banter between Celaena and Sam. Celaena was pretty bratty at sixteen but still funny and sassy and snarky and Sam didn't know what to do with her. It reminded me a lot of the early days in Celaena's relationship with Chaol, with the whole "I'm going to kill you in your sleep, but not really" thing they got going on. I'll admit it wasn't what I was expecting between those two, because of the way Celaena always talked about Sam... I don't know it's hard to imagine them being even less than friends at some point, but I guess they had to start somewhere. 

The Celaena we get in this stories, especially this one and the next is noticeably younger or at least more immature, but she still has that quality to her which won't let her turn a blind eye on the cruelty and awfulness of others. Still the same bad-ass with a heart of gold. 

The Assassin and the Healer

Here's a bit of the aftermath of what happened in the previous story. Celaena is on her way to the Red Dessert and she's royally pissed off when she stumbles upon a tavern in the middle of nowhere, where she stays while waiting for the ship that will take her to her final destination. You could tell she was just looking for an excuse to cause trouble and she gets it. 

In this story we get Celaena's POV and also Yrene's POV. Yrene is kind of a maid (?) I don't know how to describe her but she works at this tavern and her boss is an asshole. She was supposed to be a healer before the King of Adarlan banished magic from the continent and her mother got caught when they were looking for magic wielders, leaving her an orphan. 

The brief relationship between Yrene and Celaena is unlike any other that I've seen in this whole series. The way Celaena tried to empower Yrene so she could finally do what she always wanted was pretty great to witness. It shows that even if she's cocky and bratty and an assassin she hasn't lost herself as much as she think she has. 

I think maybe Yrene is the healer that was mentioned at the end of Queen of Shadows, it would make sense that her story is mentioned here if she was going to appear later on the series... But we'll see. 

The Assassin and the Desert

This was me when finishing this story: "Shut up, Sarah J. Maas. Just SHUT IT! Why do you have to break my heart in every one of your books, EVERY SINGLE ONE! You manage to toy with my emotions even in short stories. I should hate you... but you're so brilliant..." 

In this story Celaena is finally arriving to the Red Desert to train with the Silent Assassins and it's all really intimidating at first, but after a while it seems like everything was really different than what Celaena was expecting. She even meets a girl, Ansel, who she tries to befriend and it's actually kind of funny seeing Celaena trying to get along for a change. 

While being at the Red Desert, Celaena meets a couple of characters I would like to see again in the next books in this series. Like the master's son and the master himself, and maybe even that guy from the market with the spider silk. 

But then came the heartbreak and the pain and with that I got the answers to many questions I had about Celaena's past. For example, I always wondered how Celaena managed to pay her debt to Arobynn. I guess now I know... 

The Assassin and the Underworld

My first thought: That's where the strange deadly suit is from! 

My second thought: If you thought your heart was broken in the previous story, you're in for a treat. 

Celaena is back in Rifthold and Arobynn is showering her with presents trying to get her to forgive him for some really messed up stuff he did to her before. And those presents include a high profile contract to assassinate two men and get some really important documents. But you know Arobynn... he doesn't do anything if it's not completely calculated and everything is part of his sick twisted game of power. I despise that worthless bastard! If I didn't get it before, I mean how deeply the evilness went with Arobynn, now I have no doubt that he could be the most awful character ever. Because... Holy shit! My heart broke in so many little pieces for Celaena. This story makes it unbelievably hard to understand some of the decisions Celaena made on Queen of Shadows, although not in a bad way. Let me try to explain it: Arobynn is much worse than I'd ever imagined, he deserved far worse than what he got. If I were Celaena I think I wouldn't have been able to help myself. I would have killed him, slowly and in the most painful way possible and then  I would have danced over his grave with unfathomable joy until I couldn't move my legs anymore. I don't know how Celaena managed to be kind of the "better person" after everything this man did to her. 

But... not everything was so terrible. Sam and Celaena are working together again and they're flirting and romance and it's really adorable and heartbreaking between those two, which only made me dread the last story more, because we all know what happens with Sam...

If you haven't read Throne of Glass, get out of here right this second because what's coming will spoil you. 

The Assassin and the Empire

This is the story of how Celaena got thrown into Endovier. Knowing how it all ends doesn't help one bit. I could feel my heart shattering bit by bit through the horrors that Celaena and Sam had to endure. The dread at every step of the way was unreal... I was at odds with myself. Why in the hell am I dreading what I already know it's going to happen? But my heart kept beating harder and harder and I had to force myself to keep reading because clearly I was being irrational, but oh... the betrayal hurt as if I hadn't known about it beforehand and I was screaming: "No, Celaena, don't go! It's a fucking trap!" Even though it makes no sense, because if that hadn't happened there would be no Throne of Glass or any of the others books. But I just couldn't help it. 

I just love this series, I don't know what am I going to do with myself until the next book is out. Specially since this one left me with so much sadness in my heart... 

I think I'm going to re-read the whole series soon. 

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About the author

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series (Queen of Shadows, Book 4, will be out in September 2015), as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (out 5/5/15).

Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband and canine companion.

Waiting On Wednesday [23]: The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fire

 Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming books we are looking forward to being released.

This week pick is:

The Impostor Queen 

by Sarah Fire
Expected Pub. Date: January 5th, 2016

Margaret K. McElderry Books

Young Adult Fantasy

Premise:
Sixteen-year-old Elli was a small child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic. Since then, Elli has lived in the temple, surrounded by luxury and tutored by magical priests, as she prepares for the day when the Valtia perishes and the magic finds a new home in her. Elli is destined to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.
But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.
Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, the home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between the love she has for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must align with the right side—before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed. 

Why am I waiting?

I've never read anything by Sarah Fire before, but this title grabbed my attention when I was perusing 2016's releases. I'm on a high-fantasy kick lately, and I'm always looking for something of the likes of Sarah J. Maas around. This one sounds like it has potential, so I'm excited about it! 

What do you think about this one?

I'd love to read your thoughts.

Leave me a link to your WoW in the comment section below.

If you follow me, let me know so I can follow you back :)

Love,

Top Ten Tuesday [20]: Ten Books I've Read So Far in 2015.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

Ten Best Books I've Read So Far in 2015

1) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: If you've been around my blog at all this year, you already know that my love for Sarah J Maas is unending. This book was spectacular, easily one of my favorite books of all time. If you like fantasy at all, I strongly recommend you to read it, because if you haven't, you're definitely missing out.

2) Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas: Yes, I'm putting her twice in this list, because really, if I had to choose like an author of the year, it would be Sarah J. Maas, for sure. I absolutely adore the Throne of Glass books and this is the best one in the series so far, so it's on the list!

3) I'll Give You Sun by Jandy Nelson: This book is just gorgeous. The story is heartwarming and the writing is stunning. You know a book is good when it makes you want to read anything else but the same author. 

4) In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken: This is the final installment in one my all-time favorite series. Way to end things with a bang! I loved it to pieces, it was freaking awesome and heartbreaking and just perfect.

5) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: This one was a pleasant surprise for me. It was one of those rare cases where my expectation were low instead of high because of all the buzz it was getting. And I absolutely loved it. The main character was like my spirit animal and I don't think I've ever related to a character as much as I did to Cath. 

6) Hopeless by Colleen Hoover: I always wait a sensible time between Colleen Hoover books, because they usually break my heart, but I always regret not having read her books sooner, because even if they shatter me, they're gorgeous. This one is the best I've read by her yet.

7) All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven: This one I wasn't expecting to like so much. I picked it up when I was looking for a darker contemporary read, but it turned out to be so much more than that. Despite the heavy topics it deals with, the characters are funny and endearing, and relatable. I loved it.

8) What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen: This one was a really nice surprise for me. I usually enjoy Sarah Dessen books but never feel entirely satisfied upon finishing them, so I'd never given one of her books a 5/5 rating. Until this one... It spoke to me and I loved it, it was like the book was made for me, filled with all the things I enjoy in contemporary books. 

9) Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot: I read this one at the beginning of the year, at a time when I was considering taking a break from reading because I kept getting disappointed from the books I was picking up, and this book made fall in love again with reading and helped me rediscover the fun of it. It's funny and adorable and lighthearted and I loved it. 

10) Gaia by Karen Ann Hopkins: Normally, the books I read for Blog Tours and such, don't make it to my lists of favorites. I always find them lacking something... but this one took me completely by surprise and I absolutely loved it. It has a gorgeously built world and a fascinating cast of characters and the plot keeps getting better and better. I'm really happy I found this series this year.

What are some of your favorite book you've read this year? Let me know in the comment section below!

Love,

[Review] Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Everneath #1
Published July 24th, 2012 
Balzer + Bray
Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

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Review

My thoughts:

Warning: This review contains a lot of sarcasm and a bit more than the usual amount of swear words. If you're easily offended by that kind of language maybe you should stay clear of this review. 

This was so not what I was expecting. This series is really popular and I've had the first book on my shelf for what seems like forever, so maybe I've been building up my expectations regarding this book for way too long.

The main problem I had while reading this book was that I spent at least half the time bored out of my mind because nothing was happening and for the life of me I couldn't come up with a single reason for me to care about the characters. The whole ambiance is really depressing and I had to force myself to keep reading in multiple occasions so it just felt like a chore to me. 

The world in this story is supposed to be a mixture between Greek and Egyptian mythology surrounding the Underworld or the Underneath as it's called here. It's kind of complicated and I don't fully understand how everything correlates to those ancient myths, because we only get explanations at the beginning and at the end of the book in a way that feels more like info-dump than true world development. Here's the basics of what I'm able to make out of it: The Underneath is kind of a parallel world where time goes much faster than in the real world, and where the immortal creatures live, the Everliving. But these "people" have found that the only way for them to obtain immortality is by feeding off of the emotions of the mortals. So, from time to time, the Everlivings have to take a Forfeit, which is like a human sacrifice of some sort. Most of the Forfeits die in the process, but a few of them manage to survive having lost most of themselves to the Feed, only if you are absurdly especial, you can manage to escape the Feed with your memories and some essential parts of yourself intact.  The survivors are given 6 months to return to the Surface (the real-contemporary world). When the 6 months are up they are taken back to the Tunnels, which is a part of the Underneath that acts kind of like a power station, where the humans are considered batteries of emotion for the Everlivings.

Nikki, the protagonist of this story, agreed to be taken to the Underneath so she could be free of the pain of her mother's death and the book starts right when she's being released from the Feed for her 6 months on the Surface. She is of course one of those ridiculously especial people who escapes the whole thing a little emotionally battered but otherwise still herself. This rare quality makes her really desirable, and the Everliving who took her as Forfeit, Cole, now wants her to become an Everliving and live with him in the Everneath. But Nikki, despite being emotionally drained, hasn't been able to let go of her former boyfriend, Jack, in all the time she spent in the Everneath, and she's determined to see him again before the Tunnels claim her back. 

First of all, I couldn't believe that after six months of being "away", Nikki's father watched her daughter come home and didn't even asked for an explanation about where she'd been all that time. Even if she left in the middle of a fight between them, you would think her father would've looked for her like a mad man and, of course, he would be relieved of having her back and unharmed, but at least you would think he would be pissed that she left without telling anyone, because that's just how parenting works. But no, he didn't even asked where she'd gone, which turned out to be really convenient since Nikki had no way of explaining it without getting herself committed to a mental health facility or lying her butt off. He is the major, for fuck sake! Someone in his position could have had the town turned inside out while looking for his daughter and at least, for the sake of appearances it's what everyone would've expected of him. But no, of course there's no mention of him actually ever looking for her. But now that she's back he's concerned about what others might think of him, so he makes her do community service because that looks good. WHAT? How does that make any sense!?

Now... Having Nikki drained of any emotion for half the book was a mixture between being completely and utterly depressed and trying to relate to a door at the same time. Yeah, painful and pointless. I could at least tell that she wasn't a terrible human being and was actually trying to do the right thing, but that is not nearly enough to make me care for her. 

Also, the book is written so the story goes back and forth between the present and the past which only confused me further. I think that if this was written in chronological order, maybe I would have had an easier time caring for the characters, but as it was, so convoluted and chopped up, I could barely tell if the plot was actually moving forward or not.

Cole, the Everliving that was trying to get Nikki to go with him to the Everneath, was the most annoying, self-serving bastard. Every girl wants him because he's a sexy musician and always looks so cool... Am I supposed to find sexy that he threatens to harm/kill Nikki's family if she doesn't do what he wants? Isn't it hot that he stalks her everywhere she goes? Am I supposed to believe he has feelings for her when he tries to screw her over every chance he gets so he can have what he wants? I hated him, and every time there was a hint at something happening between him and Nikki I was like: "If she actually falls for him, I'm SO done with this shit!"

Jack, Nikki's boyfriend was an okay dude, kind and patient but nothing especial, so I didn't fall for him either. Which left me with absolutely no characters to actually cheer for.

Overall, this was a huge disappointment. I believe this story had a lot of potential to be great, and that's what kept me reading until the end, but even if the concepts were unique and interesting ones, the execution didn't do justice to the ideas and the end result wasn't anywhere near what could have been. I respect that other people have found this book worth their time, but I would have rather spend my time reading something else. I can't say I'd recommend it, because it's just not my thing and I'm not going to continue this series.

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About the author

Brodi Ashton writes Young Adult novels. She lives for chocolate covered cinnamon bears. She loves Diet Coke. Her debut book EVERNEATH (the first in a trilogy) came out January 24, 2012 with Balzer and Bray (HarperCollins). The sequel EVERBOUND came out January 22, 2013 and the final installment, EVERTRUE, came out January of 2014. All three are available in paperback.

[Review] Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Published September 1st, 2015

Poppy

Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Premise:On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan only have one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they'll retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night will lead them to friends and family, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?
This new must-read novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that must be made when life and love lead in different directions.

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Review

My thoughts:

This is such a heartbreaking and heartwarming story at the same time that by the time I finished reading, I was left with both sad and happy tears. Damn you, Jennifer E. Smith! You always make me cry with your books. 

This books follows Clare and Aidan, a teenage couple on their last night of summer before they go away to collage at opposite sides of the country. They both know they have to make a decision about their relationship. Are they going to break up before they go, on their own terms? Or are they going to try the whole long-distance thing? And what if by staying together they end up missing out on all the new experiences of college? What if they end up breaking up anyway further down the line, because of something stupid and meaningless? 

The night goes by really quickly for them, while they visit all the significant places for their relationship, embark themselves in a few last adventures and say their last goodbyes to their few friends that are still in town. But before the clocks finally signals that it's time for them to say goodbye to each other, there are still a few secrets that need to come out. 

Clare is the rational one, the girl who always has a plan or a really long to-do list, the one who always think about the future. Aidan is the spontaneous one, the one who likes to talk about anything and everything just because he feels like it, the one who likes to live in the moment. And they were freaking perfect together. I'm usually not a fan of already consumed relationships in a YA book. I like to see the first moments of flirting and the whole journey of the couple coming together. Bu in this case, we meet the couple in their last night together and somehow it still worked for me. I got really invested in their relationship and I was pulling for them to stay together.

There still is a lot of remembering during the story. We get to see a few of the best moments of their relationship during their conversations and sometimes when Clare is reminded of them by a certain situation. The problem with this is that the present and the past are mixed together in the writing, like I would be reading this scene were they're at the beach at night and then suddenly, it was a year back and they were having a conversation about something ridiculous or whatever. I had trouble keeping things separate at first, especially with dialogues, but then I guess I got used to it. 

Overall, this was a really unique story and I enjoyed it greatly. I'm just such a huge fan of Jennifer E. Smith, that every book she publishes is an auto-buy for me. I go expecting cute contemporary romance, but it always gets me somehow and I end up sniffling and tearing up every time. This time it was no exception and I've never been so thankful for a prologue in my whole reading life. You'll know what I mean when you read this book, because you should, it's way to beautiful to miss out on.

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About the author

Jennifer E. Smith is the author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Storm Makers, You Are Here, and The Comeback Season. She earned her master's degree in creative writing from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and currently works as an editor in New York City. Her writing has been translated into 28 languages.