Literally Lenny

Title: Alex, Approximately
Author: Jenn Bennett
Published: April 4th, 2017
Pages: 388
Goodreads Rating: 4.01
My Rating: 5.00

Quick synopsis: Bailey (@Mink) has been talking (and flirting) with Alex online for quite some time now, and he happens to live in the same town as her newly divorced father. When things get rough at home with Bailey's mom, she decides to pick up and move to California to live with her dad...without telling Alex...

Bailey makes it her mission that summer to find Alex (without him finding her first), but her new rude and conceited co-worker, Porter, gets in the way. But what Bailey doesn't know is that Alex is Porter.

Would I recommend?: Yes, Yes, and....Yes!

Why?: I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. (I seem to be saying that a lot lately...) I knew going into it that it was a "You Got Mail" retelling, which is great and all, but I wasn't expecting anything show stopping. But boy did this book deliver. My favorite contemporaries are ones that have romance (check), drama (double check), and real-life issues (triple check). It was impossible to NOT love this. Trust me.

I will say that I freaking DESPISED everything that went down towards the end....it was completely unnecessary to the plot and solution in my opinion. Definitely did NOT need to happen, nor did it even add anything. But I can amazingly look past that because that's how much I loved this book.

I love Porter. I love Grace. I love Bailey. I love her Dad. I love literally every single character in this book. Like...Holy character development. Jenn Bennett put SO MUCH into one (relatively small) book. That is SKILL.

Now, I have read this AFTER reading Starry Eyes, which I gave 4 stars, and i'm SO glad I read these in the order I did. If I had read Starry Eyes after this, I probably would have been SEVERELY disappointing with it.

Title: Furyborn
Author: Claire Legrand
Published: May 22nd, 2018
Pages: 512
Goodreads Rating: 4.11
My Rating: 4.50

Quick synopsis: Rielle exposes herself as one of the most powerful beings that exist; the Sun Queen. To prove to the kingdom that she truly is the Sun Queen, she must go through a series of trials proving her powers.

A thousand years later, Eliana is a bounty hunter for the Empire, killing and stealing, to keep her family alive. One night when she’s out on a job, she returns home to find her mother missing and an intruder in her house. She joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers there’s more evil to the empire she serves than she thought.

Rielle and Eliana may be separated by a millennia, but their lives are more intertwined than they know.

Would I recommend?: Abso-freaking-lutely.
Why?: This was one of my most anticipated reads of the season and so I knew I was going to like it, just not THIS much. This book reminds me of a crossover between Game of Thrones and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I especially loved the first half of Furyborn because there was so much development and action that you just could not possibly stop flipping the pages.

For a while, I had no idea how Rielle and Eliana’s lives were going to intersect, especially given that they lived centuries apart. This book kept me on my feet at all times, kept me guessing what would happen next, and got me so emotionally involved.

Many of you know that I’m not usually one for action or fighting, but the trials that Rielle had to go through reminded me so much of Harry Potter, I just could not help but fall in love with those scenes.

The characters were so well developed in this book, mainly because they made me have such hatred and such love for several characters. The author's writing is so good that she gets you so emotionally invested in the story and the character’s lives that it just leaves you wanting more.

The ending was quite anticlimactic for both main characters since nothing really substantial happened. There wasn’t a super gripping cliffhanger that made you desperately beg for the next book in the series or curl up in the fetal position, crying. That being said though, the ending was still good, it just could’ve been better by adding some more shock value to it.

Overall, this was a great book and a really strong start to the series. I’m excited to see what the next two books add to the story of Rielle and Eliana!

Title: Love & Luck
Author: Jenna Evans Welch
Published: May 8th, 2018
Pages: 320
Goodreads Rating: 4.07
My Rating: 2.00

Title: As She Fades Author: Abbi Glines Published: April 3rd, 2018 Pages: 272 Quick synopsis: Vale and Crawford have been together since they were 6, but when a tragic accident splits them apart and sends Crawford into a coma, Vale must learn to go on without him. Reluctantly she goes off to college without him. There she befriends her brother's frat brother, Slate, a boy who spent his entire summer in the same hospital visiting his terminally ill Uncle. Away from home and Crawford, Slate seems to be the only person who understands what Vale is going through, and Vale starts to believe that she can move on...until something unexpected happens. Goodreads Rating: 3.70 My Rating: 5.00 Would I recommend?:  Why?: I did not hear good things about this (I can kinda see why...there were some things I didn't like too) but overall I love love loved this! The Goodreads description or back cover description is not at all accurate, so I'm confused as to WHY. Looking past that though, the plot wasn't anything super new, but the storyline killllleeeddddd me. I find contemporary books to be super predictable, but this was threw me off BIG TIME.

Title: Starry Eye Author: Jenn Bennett Published: April 3rd, 2018 Pages: 432 Quick synopsis: Zorie and Lennon were in love until a single event tore them apart. They are both invited on a “glamping” trip with friends but this glamping trip soon becomes straight-up camping...in the middle of nowhere. They manage to settle their differences and rekindle their relationship, but that’s far from the end of this story. Goodreads Rating: 4.11 My Rating: 4.0 Why?: This was really good but I just wasn't OBSESSED with it. I love romantic contemporaries that deal with actual real-life issues, and this did exactly that. A world where everything goes swimmingly and your romance is perfect is just not accurate. And this felt so real. Would I recommend?: Yes!