Review: Personal Effects by E.M. Kokie

Title: Personal Effects
Author: E.M. Kokie
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release date: September 11th 2012
Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Matt Foster thought that if he could only get his hands on his brother’s stuff from Iraq, he'd be able to make sense of T.J.’s death. He wasn’t expecting T.J.’s personal effects to raise even more questions about his brother’s life. Now, even if it means pushing his dad over the edge ... even if it means losing his best friend ... even if it means getting expelled from school ... Matt will do whatever it takes to find out the truth about his brother’s past.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I think I would have loved this book even more if I hadn't read it right after Something Like Normal - the books deal with very similar topics, and nothing can compare to my one true love, Something Like Normal. That being said, I really enjoyed Personal Effects!


Matt is a compelling narrator. It's impossible not to feel for someone with a family situation as messed up as his! His mom, who had some mental health issues, left the family when Matt was young, and died shortly after. His dad has always been abusive. Then his brother dies in combat. If that's not enough for one person to have to deal with, I don't know what is! I didn't always relate to Matt or fully understand him, just because he's so different from me, but I did feel for him, and I loved reading about him. Matt's voice is great - very authenticly male.


I really enjoyed EM Kokie's writing style. I can't put my finger on what it is about the writing - I wouldn't call it beautiful and it's not too descriptive or ornate, but there's just something about it. The writing sucked me in, and that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? EM Kokie's style made it easy to get lost in Matt's world. The writing is understated for the most part, letting the reader focus on Matt and his story, but then there are parts that'll make you stop and, you know, feel. The author has a keen eye for realistic dialogue, and the pacing was perfect. I just loved it!


Some people might find the plot predictable - re-reading the synopsis, I guess you might have been able to tell what TJ's hiding. But I didn't figure it out beforehand, and I loved finding out more about TJ's past! Maybe some parts and clues are a little too convenient, but I didn't even care, because the journey they sent Matt on is so amazing.


I also loved the romance. I'm a huge fan of the classic best-friends-turning-into-more storyline, even if it is overdone. But I don't think it'd matter if you don't tend to love those kind of storylines, since the fact that it's from the guy's POV adds something new and original, even if it's an idea we've read about a hundred times from the girl's POV. There is some serious sexual tension in Personal Effects - the scenes between Matt and Shauna are hot! Like, really really hot. I loved these two together, but I also appreciate that the romance didn't turn into the main focus of the novel - this is still just Matt's story.


The family storyline is very well-done. The whole set-up is unique and definitley intriguing. I would have liked to know even more about the family background - about the mom and how Matt dealt with her death, as well as the dad's history and why he is the way he is. But in a way, I get why the author decided to focus on Matt dealing with the more recent loss of his brother.


I'm loving this trend towards these war-focused stories! I'm not even sure why, since it's not something I'm all that interested in in real life, but it definitely causes for some good stories. This is hard to talk about without spoiling anything, but Personal Effects also has a political element, which, surprisingly, I enjoyed. Don't let that turn you off - when I read fiction, I'm not looking for news or politics or anything like that, either. But in this case, it works really well with the story.


Personal Effects is a great debut novel with a refreshing style and realistic characters. It balances the different aspects of the story perfectly, seamlessly transitioning from serious to light and back again. I loved it, and I'll be on the lookout for future books by EM Kokie!

Top Ten Tuesday #18: Book Romances That Could Make It In the Real World

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic for a top-ten list each week. You can find out more about it here.

The links will take you to my reviews, if available.

This week's topic is: Top Ten Book Romances That Could Make It In the Real World

What an awesome topic! I read a lot of romances, but I still think this one is going to be hard, because, well, most of them would so not make it in the real world. I'm not going to be including the couple's names because I don't want to spoil anything and some of these have love triangles, etc.

1. Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy

Relationships that start out as friendship are the best ones, and I think that type of romance would have the best shot at making it in the real world.

2. Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Harper and Jake have been through a lot together, and I think something like that will keep them together.


3. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

The way Samantha and Jase's relationship develops is very honest and real. I could definitely see these two together in the real world.

4. Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

This is another case of friendship turning into romance, and like I said, those relationships go deeper and are more likely to work out, in my opinion.

5. Personal Effects by EM Kokie

Again with the friendship thing.

6. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

Romance isn't a huge part of Five Flavors of Dumb but I really liked it anyways. These two aren't overly dramatic; they just work.




7. Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Hannah's and Jacob's relationship is very sophisticated for YA, in a good way, and I think that maturity would make it easier for these two to make it in the real world.

8. - 10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Sweethearts by Sara Zarr & How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

LALALA GO AWAY REALITY ALL OF THESE COUPLES STAY TOGETHER AND NOTHING TRAGIC HAPPENS AND THEY'RE GONNA BE HAPPY FOREVER LALALA

What book couples do you think could make it in the real world?

Review: Love Story by Jennifer Echols

Title: Love Story
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publisher: MTV Books
Release date: July 19th 2011
Pages: 243
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?
Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars


I wanted to love this book. I read Jennifer Echols's Going Too Far a while ago, but have since then failed to connect with her other books. Love Story is an okay book, but it didn't have the magic I've been looking for ever since I fell in love with Going Too Far.


Let's start with the positive. I did love the set-up of Love Story. The whole idea to have these two connect by writing about each other is so unique and intriguing! And I did enjoy that aspect. I loved reading the stories Erin and Hunter write for their creative writing class, and I wish even more of them had been included in the book, since I connected with the characters' writing a lot more than with the characters themselves. It's great how Love Story focuses on bookish topics, on how Erin wants to be a novelist or at least work in publishing, since, well, that's what I'm interested in, too.


I also love that Love Story is set at college. I love new adult books, and I wish there were more of them. As a soon-to-be college student, I loved reading about what college is like for Erin! The scenes set at their dorm are awesome and really let me get a feel for what college life is like, and I can only hope I'll get roommates as awesome as Erin's. I liked reading about the Creative Writing class, even though it is a bit strange how much of Erin's life is centered around that class. Of course it's important for the story, but I thought it was weird how basically all of her friends were in that class as well.


Jennifer Echols' writing is great. Her writing is easy to read and sounds very realistic. The word 'mature' comes to mind when I think of her style - I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I just love how her books are aimed at the older set of YA readers, and how every scene reflects that. Her style is the reason I keep giving Jennifer Echols's books another chance, and will continue to do so, even if I don't connect with all of her books.


In theory, I should have loved this book, since I did like the original premise and the college setting. But a lot of it just didn't work for me, and I think the main reason is that I couldn't connect with the characters. Erin has a unique background, and what she's going through is interesting to read about. I also loved her writerly ambitions. But Erin, just Erin as a person, I didn't love. She's a pretty flat character, and I don't feel like we got to know her that well, aside form the obvious, like her family history and her career goals. And what we do get to know, I didn't like - she's very whiny and keeps complaining about every little thing. I mean, I get it - it can't be easy, suddenly being cut off from her family and money. But I just couldn't get myself to feel for her because of her stubborn and whiny attitude.


Then there's Hunter. I know Jennifer Echols can write a hell of a love interest, because she did so in Going Too Far - John After (*insert major swooning here*) is one of my favorite male leads ever. But in Love Story, I just didn't feel it. Hunter is a pretty average character - again, he has an interesting background and history with Erin, but just him, as a person, I never really got to know. I was expecting amazing sexual chemistry, because Jennifer Echols is the master of sexual tension - even in Forget You, a book that frustrated me to no end, we at least got some swoonworthy chemistry. But in Love Story, I felt... nothing. Hunter and Erin annoyed me with their attitude, how they kept going back and forth between loving and hating each other for no apparent reason, and how they just couldn't get over their stubbornness and try to work it out. The drama between these two is so over-done. I usually love when characters take some time to get together, if the author first develops the characters fully and takes her time to build up chemistry between her characters. But in Love Story, I just didn't care whether Erin and Hunter got together or not because they annoyed me so much. Erin and Hunter have none of Meg and John's amazing chemistry, and I just couldn't get myself to care about them.


An important part of Love Story is Erin's family history and the family's horse farm. And I personally was just very bored by everything about that horse farm. I know I'm breaking some kind of all-girls-need-to-love-horses rule, but I just... don't. The only thing I feel for horses is fear. I'm not interested in horses, horse riding, horse racing, horse breeding, or anything related to horses, so that whole storyline didn't really do anything for me.

Even though I loved everything about the set-up, I didn't love this book because I found both main characters flat and not very likeable, and I just couldn't connect with the story. Love Story is a pretty enjoyable read, but I didn't love it like I'd hoped I would. But even though Love Story didn't end up being the book for me, I know I'll keep reading Jennifer Echols's romantic dramas. Maybe her newest novel, Such a Rush, will be the one to take me back to how much I loved Going Too Far.

Do you have any authors you keep coming back to, even if you didn't love all of their books?

Bookish Anticipation #18

Bookish Anticipation is a feature I do every once in a while to spotlight future releases I'm excited for. It was inspired by Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday. You can check out more of my Bookish Anticipation posts here.

White Lines by Jennifer Banash
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: April 4th 2013

Seventeen-year-old Cat is living every teenager’s dream—she has her own apartment on New York’s Lower East Side and at night she’s club kid royalty, guarding the velvet rope at some of the hottest clubs in the city. The night with its crazy, frenetic, high-inducing energy—the pulsing beat of the music, the radiant, joyful people and those seductive white lines that can ease all pain—is when Cat truly lives. But her daytime, when her real life occurs, is more nightmare than dream.
The sounds of the city grate against Cat’s nerves, she shrinks away from human touch, and can barely think the words “I love you” even when she feels them. Having spent years suffering her mother’s emotional and physical abuse, and abandoned by her father who’s found happiness in another woman, Cat is terrified and alone—unable to connect to anyone or anything. But then someone comes along who makes her want to stop escaping her life and actually live it, only she’ll need to summon the courage to confront her demons and take control of a life already spinning dangerously out of control. Both poignant and raw, White Lines is a gripping tale and the reader won’t want to look away.

Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 1st 2013

Rae's always dreamed of dating a guy like Nathan. He’s nothing like her abusive stepfather—in other words, he’s sweet. But the closer they get, the more Nathan wants of her time, of her love, of her...and the less she wants to give.
As Rae’s affection for Nathan turns to fear, she leans on her friend Leo for support. With Leo, she feels lighter, happier. And possessive Nathan becomes jealous.
Then a tragedy lands Rae in the ICU. Now, hovering between life and death, Rae must find the light amid the darkness…and the strength to fight for life and the love she deserves.

Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 8th 2013

Two years ago, Adrienne’s best friend, Dakota, walked out of her life. One week ago, she left Adrienne a desperate, muffled voicemail. Adrienne never called back.
Now Dakota is missing, and all that remains is a string of broken hearts, a flurry of rumors, and a suicide note.
Adrienne can’t stop obsessing over what might have happened if she’d answered Dakota’s call. And she’s growing more convinced each day that Dakota is still alive.
Maybe finding and saving Dakota is the only way Adrienne can save herself.
Or maybe it’s too late for them both.

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: March 19th 2013

The story of a girl figuring out the truths and illusions of life and love, both in the nostalgic past and in the very real now. Laugh-out-loud humor combines with a hint of romance in this delightful contemporary novel.
The cure for a broken heart? Go vintage and live like it’s 1962!
Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, isn’t just cheating on her. He’s cheating with an online girlfriend. So Mallory decides to swear off boys and modern technology. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962, Mallory decides to “go vintage” and return to a simpler time. She sets out to complete grandma’s list: run for pep club secretary, host a dinner party, sew a homecoming dress, find a steady, do something dangerous.
The list proves to be trickier than it looks. Obviously finding a steady is out . . . no matter how intriguing she finds Oliver (er, Jeremy's cousin). But with the help of her sister, Mallory will finish the list and find peace.
Somehow.

Catherine by April Lindner
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 2nd 2013

Catherine is tired of struggling musicians befriending her just so they can get a gig at her Dad’s famous Manhattan club, The Underground. Then she meets mysterious Hence, an unbelievably passionate and talented musician on the brink of success. As their relationship grows, both are swept away in a fiery romance. But when their love is tested by a cruel whim of fate, will pride keep them apart?
Chelsea has always believed that her mom died of a sudden illness, until she finds a letter her dad has kept from her for years—a letter from her mom, Catherine, who didn’t die: She disappeared. Driven by unanswered questions, Chelsea sets out to look for her—starting with the return address on the letter: The Underground.
Told in two voices, twenty years apart, Catherine interweaves a timeless forbidden romance with a compelling modern mystery.

The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: February 12th 2013

Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.
L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.
But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?

Empty by KM Walton
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 1st 2013

Dell is relentlessly teased about her weight, and she’s devastated when a tender moment with her long-time crush turns violent. Distraught and isolated after the attack, Dell’s depression—and life—spins out of control.
Finding that food no longer eases her pain, Dell turns to her mother’s prescription pain pills. But what starts as a quick fix rapidly escalates. How far will Dell go to make the loneliness, the self-loathing, the heartbreak, the shame, and the name-calling stop?

Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 29th 2013

Bonnie and Clyde meets Simone Elkeles in this addictively heart-wrenching story of two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.
They’re young. They’re in love. They’re on the run.
Zoe wants to save Will as much as Will wants to save Zoe. When Will turns eighteen, they decide to run away together. But they never expected their escape to be so fraught with danger....
When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can’t run fast enough.

Shadowlands by Kate Brian
(Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon)


Release date: January 8th 2013

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived … and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.
Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

Review: Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday

Title: Social Suicide (Deadly Cool #2)
Author: Gemma Halliday
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: April 24th 2012
Pages: 277
Genre: Contemporary YA; mystery
Source: Bought
Add to Goodreads | Purchase from Amazon

Twittercide [twit-er-sahyd]: the killing of one human being by another while the victim is in the act of tweeting.
Call me crazy, but I figured writing for the Herbert Hoover High Homepage would be a pretty sweet gig. Pad the resume for college applications, get a first look at the gossip column, spend some time ogling the paper’s brooding bad-boy editor, Chase Erikson. But on my first big story, things went... a little south. What should have been a normal interview with Sydney Sanders turned into me discovering the Homecoming Queen-hopeful dead in her pool. Electrocuted while Tweeting. Now, in addition to developing a reputation as HHH’s resident body finder, I’m stuck trying to prove that Sydney’s death wasn’t suicide.
I’m starting to long for the days when my biggest worry was whether the cafeteria was serving pizza sticks or Tuesday Tacos...

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I loved Deadly Cool, so I knew Social Suicide would be another fun read. And I did enjoy it, but I also had some issues with it, so I didn't love it as much as Deadly Cool.

Hartley's humor was the best part of Deadly Cool, and I loved it again in Social Suicide. She's unique - I can't think of any other YA characters like her. There's just something about her dry, sarcastic sense of humor that works really well for me. I love how these books don't take themselves too seriously - they'll never be classics people will analyze and discuss forever, but they're special in their own way. The writing is in no way literary, but it's definitely well-done. The way Gemma Halliday writes is unapologetic - she's not afraid to put something like *shudder* in her book, and I loved that. The style is how real people think, and it's hilarious!

I loved getting to find out more about the characters I loved in Deadly Cool. The SMother is back, and she's trying online dating! That whole concept is hilarious (yes, I will be overusing the word 'hilarious' throughout this review - there's just no other way to describe these books!), and I loved reading about how Hartley deals with it. I also loved Sam, Hartley's best friend - these two have a great friendship. And, of course, there's Chase, the love interest. He doesn't play too important a role, which surprised me. The romance never takes center stage, and Chase and Hartley's relationship doesn't move much further than in the first book, but I actually liked it that way.

But. The mystery, I didn't love. And that's because it's the exact same thing as in Deadly Cool. Yes, the victims and the suspects are different people, but the set-up is exactly the same. The order in which everything happens is just like in Deadly Cool, so it's always obvious what's going to happen next. It wasn't terribly original in Deadly Cool, but I didn't mind because I loved the rest of the book so much. But having the same set-up again in Social Suicide annoyed me a little. I also enjoyed this mystery less than the first one because I figured out who the killer is early on - I thought that was pretty obvious. I've heard a lot of people say, though, that they were surprised by the ending, so I guess that was just me. (Which is weird, because I'm usually the last person to figure out stuff like that.)

Again, logic isn't exactly these books' strong suit. A lot of this stuff would not work in real life, and there are quite a few details that don't fit together. But in a way, I feel like it doesn't even matter, because that's not what these books are about.

I didn't love the mystery in Social Suicide as much as in Deadly Cool, but I still really enjoyed this book. I love the humor and the characters, so I was entertained throughout. It's a quick and fun read, just like the first book. And even though I didn't love Social Suicide as much as Deadly Cool, I know I'd keep reading this series for the humor and characters alone. Does anyone know whether there will be more books in this series?