Review: Attachments

Title: Attachments

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Publication Date: April 14, 2011

Publisher: Dutton
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Review: The Geography of You and Me

Title: The Geography of You and Me

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Poppy

Publication Date: April 15, 2014

Purchase from Amazon || B&N || iBooks || The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they're rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen's relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and -- finally -- a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith's new novel shows that the center of the world isn't necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

My Thoughts

*Thank you to Netgalley for the copy. This is no way affected my views.

Honestly, I've been putting my reading of this one off for a long time, ever since I've been hearing about how it wasn't really that good compared to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. Right now, I can say that, I'm not sure whether I regretted doing so or not. My mind is currently still in rumbles, and it is just simply incoherent, that I do not know what to think.

No, it wasn't because The Geography of You and Me was mind blowing, or whatever of that sorts. I think it was more of because it was heartwarming. Yes, it was that.

Admittedly, I felt that it was slightly boring, since not much was happening anyway. I was even surprised to see that I was already halfway through the book, when I thought I was just like, 1/3 of it. But, I was surprised to see that Lucy and Owen got separated from each other as they had to move away. I'm kind of glad that I didn't read the synopsis before diving into this book; otherwise, this surprise element would have been taken away from me.

Even so, the first few parts felt really magical. Spending one night together, when the city is on blackout, walking around and eating ice creams, was truly amazing. I mean, it was adorable, and it was really interesting (because okay, I totally don't even think that's going to happen in my life). Then, all of a sudden, the magic is gone.

“Instead, they were both heading in the exact opposite directions. The map was as good as a door swinging shut. And the geography of the thing - the geography of them - was completely and hopelessly wrong.”

That's where the entire story felt realistic - what is it like to be far away from the person you love? The transition between the two was great - I didn't even feel any lapses and all that. It all felt like it was the reality, that anything could happen, after all. At some point, I could even feel my heart breaking for them. </3

“There was no point in waiting for someone who hadn't asked, and there was no point in wishing for something that would never happen.” 

Although, I really had a hard time connecting with the characters. Actually, I can kind of say that I totally didn't feel connected at all. With this, I think I was more of invested into the things that were found in the story, rather than the story itself. Like, for example, I found the postcard sending thing very endearing. While it isn't conventional, I think it was one of the few things that made the romance between Lucy and Owen even more magical.

“There are so many ways to be alone here, even when you’re surrounded by this many people.”

Both of them had their own rocky roads to take, whether it be the relationship between the two of them or some familial matters. With their long distance relationship, it was actually hard to imagine that this one would have an HEA-type of an ending. But still, with Smith's brilliant writing, it gave me hope that everything could just simply work out in the end.

“Nothing is what it is. Things are always changing. They can always get better.”

I especially love the way that the book was sectioned: Here, There, Everywhere, Somewhere, and Home. It all felt very fitting, which added beauty to the entire thing. Although, I found myself having to readjust with the third person POV, since there were some instances that it just shifted to Owen, or to Lucy, without notice.

All in all, The Geography of You and Me is an easy, cute and magical read, that shows proof on how love can still be strong despite the distance. It might be a little bit draggy, but it still managed to make me feel warm and mushy inside.

My Rating

Real rating: 3.5

Review: The Royal We

Title: The Royal We

Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: April 7, 2015

Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance

Purchase from Amazon || B&N || Nook || iBooks || Kobo || The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

"I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next." 

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing.

Spanning nearly a decade, The Royal We is a richly imagined, emotionally compelling novel that examines, with warmth and wit, what truly happens after your prince has come.

My Thoughts

*Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book. My thoughts are all over the place, that I thought of trying to use GIFs for this review. It's my first time and OHMYGLOB. I never knew using GIFs were so fun and amazing. <3

I love books about royalty, such as this one. I honestly do. Even so, I don't go out of my way searching for them. When I came across The Royal We, OHMYGAWD.

I was excited, and I wanted to read it immediately. It was the first, after a while, that I started to read a book a few days after I got it. I was that excited.  But the thing is, that excitement was short-lived.

The prologue immediately got me hooked up, since it seemed like it was giving me the idea on what is going to happen next, throughout the entire book. But as I continued to read, I found myself having a hard time to move. Although, I think this is just on me. The way The Royal We is written is in narrative paragraphs, wherein Bex goes into a storytelling of her romance with Nick.

It would have been good for me, if not for their length. The thing is, I just can't read long paragraphs because I'd find myself skimming or scanning over them in the long run. Reading a few long ones is okay for me, but reading them for the entire book? Nuh-uh.

I found myself slowly progressing than usual, although it wasn't bad enough that I'd not finish reading it. After all, the interactions were pretty cute, and I love how the romance between Bex and Nick developed. It was realistic, or as realistic as a royal love can be. With the royal drama, and everything coming between the two of them, hearing the point of view of Bex on this one was really great as she struggled with these.

The character developments were also amazing; I found myself connected with Bex (even though we probably don't have much in common). I could just feel her emotions, and there was just some point in the book that I cried. YES, I know I'm weird. It's supposedly a fluff read, but yeah.

I like Freddie over Nick though (IDK WHY). Nick is cute and all, but it felt like there was more development for Freddie than Nick. Also, LACEY. THAT BISH. I just wanted to murder her, with her selfishness and carelessness. Every time she appears in the story, I was like AAAAHHHH NOOOOOOO!!!! Every. Single. Time. I JUST DON'T LIKE HER.

OH, AND THE SETTING IS JUST SO AMAZING. I can't believe that I could totally relate! With all the palaces and places that they've been to, there were some that I could really visualize in my head. (OHMYGAWD, I'M SO GLAD FOR YOU, MY LONDON TRIP AAAAHHH. BRING ME BACK PLEASE.)

The downside though:

The first half of the story maybe slow, but it was great. The second half though? It felt really rushed, with all the things suddenly happening at the same time. There were some unrealistic stuff, too. Like, the drinking. Or the partying. THEY'RE JUST TOO MUCH. With their jobs and life, is that even possible?

Towards the ending, I was just confused the entire way. I just didn't know what to think anymore, and my emotions were so messed up.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

But I seriously didn't like Nick, that much can be said. He was like I don't want to marry you because you kissed my brother twice, but I'm going to marry you anyway because it's too much hassle to cancel it. GO DIE.

Conclusion

Lastly, it felt waaaaaay too long. I would probably love this better if the pages were cut down, but still. It doesn't change the fact that The Royal We is a hilarious, quirky and cute read, with amazing characters and romance. If you love these kinds of reads, this one's for you!

My Rating

Real rating: 3.5

Review: Side Effects May Vary

Title: Side Effects May Vary

Author: Julie Murphy

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: March 18, 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, who she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her archnemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger). But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she's said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she caused irreparable damage to the people around her—and to the one person who matters most?

Julie Murphy's Side Effects May Vary is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.

My Thoughts

At first I was hesitant to read Side Effects May Vary because I remember one of my friends not liking it, so I pretty much thought it not worth the try. It was only about a year later or so that I finally decided to give it a chance, partly because I couldn’t find myself a new book to read, and now here I am, 336 pages later.

I think that there are definitely parts that are hard not to get annoyed at here, and the worst part is that it’s mostly brought about by the main character herself. Alice is a selfish and manipulative person, and there were so many times that I wanted to knock some sense into her. She basically strings Harvey along just because she knows she can get away with it. What makes it even more frustrating is that Harvey actually followed her willingly for quite some time. I like Harvey, but he  spent such a long time being so infatuated with Alice that I just ended up feeling bad for him. In spite of all that, though, I think these two characters redeem themselves if even a little by the end of the novel, and I’m glad to see that change in them. I suppose that their flaws, no matter how bad, make them more real in a sense, so while Alice is far from a likeable character and Harvey is just alright, they can be considered rather well-developed characters.

The plot is a new one for me; all the other cancer books I’ve read so far have ended in death, so it’s nice to see a change there. The only issue I have is with the many POV changes (Alice then and now plus Harvey then and now) and the fact that there isn’t really any pattern to the switching between them. I found that a bit confusing at times when I was reading, but everything else—pacing, development of plot—is good.

Although I have trouble really enjoying this book because of my dislike for Alice, I find that the novel’s charm lies in its honest portrayal of how messed up people can be sometimes. It's not easy to write a book with a story interesting enough to draw readers in despite having a main character like that, but Julie Murphy did that job quite well, so while I can’t guarantee that you’ll like Side Effects May Vary, it probably wouldn’t hurt to give it a read.

My Rating

Real Rating: 3.5

Review: A Thousand Pieces of You

Title: A Thousand Pieces of You
Author: Claudia Gray
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
Publisher: Harper Teen

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

My Thoughts

I have to admit that one of the things that really drew me to A Thousand Pieces of You was its gorgeous cover! I was hoping that there would be an equally interesting story to match it, and I was not let down. The fact that it deals with parallel worlds was something new to me; I couldn’t help but wonder how the Claudia Gray was going to go about in explaining everything. I had high expectations for this one.

Maybe that’s why I was kind of disappointed when I actually read it. I don’t know if it’s just the part of me that is always looking for a deep explanation for everything, but I feel like there are areas of the plot that just aren’t convincing enough, like there are still so many blurry points of interworldly (?) travel that are never really tackled. I thought this was going to have a prominently sci-fi plot, but it turned out to be more of a romance novel than anything. Besides that, though, I think that the different worlds are designed quite nicely and creatively. The plot is pretty good; there are some revelations that already seem obvious early on, but I like that there is always this suspense to find out what will happen next.

I’m not too sure how I feel about Marguerite. She starts off okay, but I learned to like her a bit more by the end because of the independence and strength that she develops. I love her relationship with her family and how she would do anything to protect and save them. Theo and Paul are alright I guess, but I don’t really find myself all that connected to them. Honestly, I’m kind of against the whole love triangle between these three characters; there are scenes that just come out fairly cheesy and cliche for my taste. For me, they just somehow seem more like older brothers than love interests, and I would probably like it better that way.

So okay, this novel didn’t exactly blow me away like I thought it would, but I feel like the potential of the idea of parallel worlds is enough to make me want to read more of it. Despite its shortcomings, A Thousand Pieces of You remains a unique read that’s worth trying out.

My Rating

Real Rating: 3.5

Review: The Scorch Trials

Title: The Scorch Trials
Author: James Dashner
Publication Date: 2010
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Synposis from Goodreads:

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. 

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch. 

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. 

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off. 

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive.

My Thoughts

After reading The Maze Runner, I felt a bit obligated to continue on with The Scorch Trials. I guess it's a good thing that my experience with the first novel was encouraging enough for me to actually be excited to find out what happens next.

The story picks up with the Gladers in some sort of old building. Thomas wakes up to chaos, and we are given a glimpse of infected humans, or Cranks, as they are called. They are tasked by WICKED to travel through the Scorch, which is more or less a burned out area of land, and they are forced to catch the Flare to motivate them to finish their journey. Thus they find themselves walking through long-deserted lands, trying to find their way to the cure. There find new friendships but uncover betrayals as well, once again begging the question: who can they really trust?

Just like in the previous book, there are a lot of questions being thrown around here. I hoped that I would actually get some answers, but all I got were even more questions, and although I understand that that’s part of the suspense that Dashner wants to build, it could get frustrating to be kept in the dark for so long. I suppose it also had its intended effect, though, because it got me really curious for the next installment. I think what makes the plot different in this one is that instead of the characters having a main goal to achieve (like solving the maze in the first book), they don’t actually have a concrete plan to fulfill, other than that they had to get through the Scorch, supposedly to be cured of Flare. Nevertheless, there is enough action and mystery in it to have had me keep on flipping its pages.

The characters were kind of still the same. I felt bad for Thomas because constantly being controlled by WICKED can’t be easy to deal with. He is not a particularly likeable character because he doesn’t really have any special or fun traits about him, but for some reason that didn’t really bother me. Minho and Newt are as awesome as ever. We are introduced to Brenda, who seems to be a new love interest for Thomas. Until now, I’m still not too sure whether I like her or Teresa for Thomas, but I guess they each have their own good qualities. I finished this book wanting to know more about these characters’ backgrounds, something that I hope will be touched in The Death Cure.

The Scorch Trials is a fairly good novel with its own engaging twists and turns. It left me a bit excited for the next one, if only to finally get answers and find out how the whole thing will turn out. If this review got you even the least bit interested, then I suggest you check this one out!

My Rating

Real Rating: 3.5

Review: Ugly Love

Title: Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication Date: 2014
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don't expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can't handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

My Thoughts

I’ve been a fan of CoHo ever since I read Slammed, and her other novels didn’t fail to please either. Naturally, I got excited to read Ugly Love as well, expecting that I would get the same feels that I did before. But Ugly Love seems different now from all the others, and I’m still not entirely sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe it’s both.

I’ll start with what I don't like about it. It makes me really sad how Tate was so needy when it came to Miles. She kept on refusing to believe that she was just hurting herself by pursuing a relationship with him. What makes it worse is how Miles didn’t even have the strength to stop despite knowing that he was using Tate for all the wrong reasons. Granted, Tate was accepting of all that suffering, but that doesn’t make it any less cruel. He constantly reminded Tate that she shouldn’t expect anything out of their arrangement, but seriously, I think he’s smart enough to realize that that wasn't going to work out. He knew it from the start, but he just went on and on because… what? He needed Tate? He of all people should know how horrible it feels to be pushed away by someone you love, and yet that didn’t stop him from doing the same thing to Tate. Besides, how did Tate even fall in love with Miles when she hardly knew anything about him?

Then there are the things that I do like. For one, it doesn’t show the part of love that we’re all so used to seeing in novels by now. I actually appreciate this because it tackles more than the happy and simple aspect of love, making the whole thing more realistic. For Tate, I may not approve of the situation she got herself into, but I can’t deny that it’s something plausible, especially in the world today. The same goes for Miles—the change he underwent wasn’t abrupt, because it wouldn’t have been realistic if that were the case, and the eventual closure he got would’ve been less interesting to read about. The pacing was just right for everything to make sense.

Overall, I think the strongest point that Ugly Love has to offer is its believability—like love, it doesn’t skip the bad parts and focus solely on the good ones; it gives you a taste of everything, regardless if it’s what you want or not.

My Rating

Real Rating: 3.5

{Blog Tour} Review+Excerpt+Giveaway: Sideswiped

Title: Sideswiped (Off the Maps #2)
Author: Lia Riley
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Purchase from:
B&N || BAM! || Kobo || iBooks || Google Play || Amazon

Synopsis:

Sometimes in order to find yourself, you need to venture off the map.

Talia and Bran broke all the rules and navigated dark and stormy emotional waters to be together and now that they finally seem to have found their way back to each other, the winds of change threaten to blow their love off course yet again…

Excerpt

Talia passes out hard from the travel and epic reunion sex. I’m too amped for sleep, so I lie in the dark and trace her spine. Can you love someone too much? No point being afraid, might as well jump in it with both feet. I press my mouth to her neck and she undulates, responsive even from her dreams. If miracles were real, I’d swear we were designed to fit together.

I loop my arm around her waist and hold fast, until our breathing syncs. I’m drifting off when she jerks—hard—once, twice. Her body recoils as she unleashes a lung-tearing scream.

“Talia, wake up. Come on, sweetheart, talk to me.” I clamber over her, hunching protectively. “Open your eyes. It’s Bran. I’ve got you. I’m not letting go.” I keep talking while she flays my chest like she’s drowning under ice, desperate to find a break in the surface.

“Can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I…where am…oh God. Bran.”

“I’m right here.” I cradle her while she draws another unsteady gasp. Her hair plasters her forehead in sweaty wisps.

“Give me a minute. I’ll be fine.” She pushes herself to a half-sit and sways with disorientation. “This…this happens sometimes…panic attacks or night terrors…whatever. They seem to come when I drop my guard. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s the meds. Those pills make me feel like a toxic waste dump.”

“Have you been bad this summer?” The muscles in my neck cord. It shreds my guts to see her hurting. I’d do anything, any fucking thing, to carry her pain. I don’t fully understand the inner workings of OCD but she’s explained that for her, the condition comes in waves. Everything will be rolling along fine, more or less, and then bang—a giant squid grips her brain. She fights hard for recovery, a warrior even when she believes she’s nothing but a coward.

“No, not really.” She grinds her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I kinda danced around the edge of the rabbit hole a few times but never fell inside.”

My muscles release some tension. “Try to go back to sleep. You need the rest. Don’t worry, I’ll keep watch, okay?”

“I’m sorry to be such a psych job. It’s totally shaming.”

“Shhhhhh.”

Her chin tips down. “Can you talk to me for a little while? Get me out of my fuckball head?”

“Hey now, I got mad love for that head, Captain.” I kiss her brow, acting chill even though I’m scared. How can I get her to settle? Then it hits me. “I want to take you surfing again.”

“Mmmm, that’d be nice.”

“Picture yourself out there, in the water, on a board, under the shooting stars.”

“With sharks eyeballing me from the depths?”

“Nah, they’re all busy hunting sea lions or some bloody mischief. This is you, the sea, and the sky. A set rolls in. You can’t make out the wave. The board lifts and you feel the momentum building. There’s fear deep in your belly, sensible, because you can’t see what’s coming or where you’re going. You fight the self-protective instincts, give yourself over, and the next thing you know—you’re having the ride of your life.”

“Thank you.” She flips in my arms so we’re belly to belly. “I mean it. That was beautiful, really, really beautiful. I’m so excited to be here, for right now—to live in the moment. But it’s like I have this…this weird mental stutter. My thoughts keep skipping over the same annoying question like a scratch on vinyl: What will we do?” Tears spill from the corners of her eyes, course silently toward her chin. “My visa.”

Talia’s been granted a three-month student visa to complete her senior thesis in history. In all its benevolent generosity, the Australian government expanded her time in the country by an extra month.

Four months—the sum of our allotted time.

“They’ll make me leave.”

“Don’t believe everything you think.” I wipe her damp cheeks.

“Can you tattoo that on my forehead?”

Maybe it’s my imagination, but the brass alarm clock on the dresser clicks louder.

Another second gone.

Another second gone.

“I’m not losing you to some shithouse immigration policy, Captain. We will be all right in the end.” I’ve no idea how the hell I’m going to solve this drama but I will figure it out. “We have to hope, otherwise we’re sunk.”

She jerks with surprised laughter.

“What?”

She hiccups and covers her mouth with her hand, shoulders shaking. It takes me a second to realize she’s giggling.

“I’m funny to you right now?” This girl drives me every sort of crazy.

“I’m not laughing at you.” She works her lips together and unsuccessfully smothers the smile. “It’s—”

“Forget it.” I instinctively stiffen.

“Bran the Optimist.” She grabs my wrists, lifts my palms to her face, and plants a kiss in the center of each one. “I like this side of you.”

“Never mind. I was being dumb.”

“You were awesome.” She pecks the tip of my nose. “And for the record, I love your stupid face.”

I give her a begrudging kiss back. “I love yours too.”

Love isn’t enough of a word.

I wasted almost an entire year of my life implementing a scorched earth policy, not caring who I left burned and broken in my path.

Talia was my oasis. My salvation.

“Don’t give the visa a second thought.” I nestle her against me, rubbing her lower back in easy circles. “I’ll sort this out, I swear to you.”

Even if I don’t have the first fucking clue. 

My Thoughts

Honestly speaking, it was hard not to compare this to the first book, Upside Down, where I loved the character and romance development. Here? Not so much.

The first few chapters got me hooked. The care Bran had for Talia is absolutely amazing. He always makes sure that he is there for her, no matter what happens. He wants to be Talia’s life support, and he’d move heaven and earth just for her. As Talia’s OCD gets worse, I love how he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make everything alright. Instead, he believes in Talia, and that he wants her to find her own strength.

I’m dying to promise her that I’ll fix everything. But this isn’t a fucking fairy tale. I can’t rearrange the way she’s hardwired. She needs to deal. Otherwise she’ll crack and what if there’s a time I’m not right there to pick up the pieces?

Every single admiration I had for Bran just went out of my system though. He’s a jerk. An asshole. A douchebag. More than half of the novel, I just wanted to wring his head out and murder him. (I’m not going to say why. It’d be a spoiler.) I completely loved the character growth of Talia, though. Her growth was tremendous, and I’m glad that I was able to see her as someone more mature and who can handle things herself. I love how she loves Bran, but doesn’t think that life only revolves around him. I love how she isn’t one of those girls who follow whatever their boyfriend wants, just because.

Since when do you base all your life decisions on a guy?

Moreover, she wants the best not only for herself, but also for Bran. She is not selfish and definitely not someone who limits the dreams of others. She may have problems with her self-esteem, but she worked so hard to have confidence in herself.

I love you enough to want you out there chasing your dreams. I don’t want to ask you to sacrifice your dreams for me, not ever.

But still, Talia is probably one of the few things that made me like Sideswiped. Reading Bran and Talia’s drama was emotionally tiring because it was very repetitive. It just made me want to skip through the parts, and just go read the ending. Moreover, Bran’s stubbornness was very annoying, and I hate that he couldn’t find it in himself to change for the better and allowing his past to capture him instead. He couldn’t see the beauty of things that he has currently.

Nevertheless, I’m still looking forward to read Inside Out, to see how their story continues. The ending holds much hope, and makes me curious on how the relationship of Talia and Bran will progress further. Sideswiped is a beautiful story about relationships, trust, dreams and sacrifices. 

My Rating

Real rating: 3.5

About the Author

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Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult Romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling fourex with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments. A British literature fanatic at heart, Lia considers Mr. Darcy and Edward Rochester as her fictional boyfriends. Her very patient husband doesn't mind. Much. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live mostly in Northern California.

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