Time of Our Lives Book Review

 After I had my son, I went through a pretty long reading slump. Despite my lifelong love of reading, I just couldn't find it in me to pick up a book, let alone finish one. I kept trying to push through and find a book that I loved, though. I didn't want to lose that part of myself but I was having trouble finding books that I connected with. 

But then I found some new booktubers on YouTube and got some really great recommendations (particularly Hailey in Bookland). Through finding those booktubers, I discovered so many wonderful books that I had never heard of. Suddenly, I was devouring books again and I rediscovered my love of reading. I started to feel like my old self again and I was so grateful not to have completely lost the part of me that loved to read. 

But of course, not every book is for everybody and I was going to eventually find a book that I didn't completely mesh with. Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegmund-Broka was that book.

 

The premise was really interesting to me. The story is about Fitz and Juniper who are both complete opposites in personality and circumstance. Juniper was from a large family and wanted nothing more than to be on her own, as far away from her family's hold and influence as possible. She was confident, intelligent and focused. Fitz, on the other hand, had a mother who had the gene for early onset Alzheimer's and was crippled by his fear of the disease. He had seen his grandmother go through it and worried every day that his mother's memory would start slipping away. He felt like he had no support from his older brother about his mother's care and was socially withdrawn and anxious. He was determined to go to a school close to his mother so that he could care for her the second that she got sick. 

This story currently has a 3.6 out of 5 star rating on Goodreads, which normally would deter me from picking it up. Reading a book is a commitment; If I'm going to be spending hours of my time invested in a story, I want to know that it's going to be worth that time. But because I watched my own grandmother suffer with Alzheimer's, I felt a personal connection to this book and decided to pick it up anyway. Unfortunately, it was a minor part of the story, as his mother is barely in the book and when she is, it's during a phone call or text message exchange. 

The whole book takes place over about two weeks and the insta-love trope just isn't something that I can get behind. Fitz also goes through a complete personality change as soon as he meets Juniper. Almost all of a sudden, he goes from an awkward, self-conscious teenager that's barely even spoken to girls to being confident and flirtatious. While I know that people can change, it doesn't happen that quickly and I found that to be unbelievable. 

This book also lost points because Juniper had a boyfriend at the beginning of the book. Had I known that, I wouldn't have picked this book up. She never physically cheats on her boyfriend but she starts developing feelings for Fitz way too quickly. She claims to be in love with her boyfriend but he's easily forgotten about and she's barely heartbroken over their breakup. He was a great boyfriend and treated her well throughout his time in the story, so I felt bad for his character. 

Overall, I was just disappointed. This book touched on the complexity of familial relationships, which I appreciated but I wish that there was more discussion about Alzheimer's. I know that this writing duo has written many popular books together, so maybe I'll pick another one up one day. 

I gave this book a 2 out of 5 stars. Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

-Chelsea 

Ten Tiny Breaths

Ten Tiny Breaths follows the story of Kacey Cleary, the only survivor of a car crash that killed her parents, boyfriend and best friend. Kacey suffers from severe PTSD and uses drugs, alcohol and sex as coping mechanisms. When she sees how these choices affect her younger sister, Livie, she decides to put her energy into the gym instead. While living with her aunt and uncle, Livie gets molested and Kacey decides that they need to get away. They start life over in Miami where they find an unlikely friend in their neighbor, Storm, Kacey finds work as a bartender at a strip club and Kacey starts falling for her mysterious neighbor, Trent. But Kacey is still dealing with her demons from the accident and is intent on keeping her heart protected. Trent isn't willing to give up on her and together, they go through a tumultuous relationship that causes them both to unlock their inner demons and face their pasts.

This cover is stunning and represents the book beautifully!

I really enjoyed this book. It's been on my TBR shelf for months and I finally got around to buying it. I'm really glad that I did. I love books that make me feel strong emotions and make me think. This book got me thinking about concepts that I never thought about before. It affected how I look at things and people, which is always the sign of a good book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters as well. I found it so refreshing to read about Kacey because she was very flawed and she knew it. In fact, she owned it. Granted, she did suffer from denial about some things but not who she was or what she wanted. The romance was very interesting and complex. Trent was unlike any guy that I had personally ever read about and I thought that his attention to getting Kacey help was admirable, even though she didn't think so.

I absolutely flew through this book. It's a pretty quick read because it's just under 300 pages. If you're interested in New Adult or stories about redemption, I would recommend this book.

I gave it 4/5 stars.

Have you read it? What were your thoughts?

-Chelsea

The Lost Hero

I just finished reading The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan and it was amazing! Contrary to what I originally thought, this book doesn't follow Percy Jackson. Instead, it follows a new trio of demigods: Jason, Leo and Piper. They find out that they're demigods and go on a quest to save Hera while each dealing with their own internal struggles. Jason can't remember anything about his past, Piper is also trying to save her father and Leo is dealing with his guilt from his mother's passing years ago.

I loved the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series so much that I was afraid that I wouldn't like this book. But I was oh-so wrong! This book has adventure, comedy, sorrow, memorable new characters mixed in with old and lovable characters and a fantastic story-line. This book definitely has something for everyone. There was adventure around every corner and I absolutely loved how Riordan incorporated the Roman gods into the story as well. It was also really interesting and refreshing to learn more about other gods, such as Aphrodite.

Riordan is clever, witty and keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for more. His incorporation of mythology into everyday life is brilliant and this story is no exception. I could not put this book down! If you haven't picked this book up yet, please do! Or, if you haven't read the other Percy Jackson books, I highly recommend that you do! You won't be disappointed!

-Chelsea

The Selection

The Selection, the first book in a trilogy, focuses on the life of America Singer, a girl who is low in her land's caste system but is selected to compete for Prince Maxon's heart. The premise of the story is very similar to The Bachelor. Thirty five women from all different castes are chosen to live in the palace and from those 35 women, the prince chooses a wife. America has no desire to be a part of this but as a reward for being selected, the 35 womens' families are financially compensated. In addition to that, her boyfriend Aspen, who is in a lower caste than she is, tells her to sign up and then breaks up with her.

America feels that she has no choice and doesn't want to be around Aspen at home, so she leaves. She expects the process to be dreadful and expects very little of the prince. Her attitude changes quickly when she becomes the prince's confidante and she starts to realize that there is more to him that meets the eye. But America finds herself in a love triangle while trying to figure out if she wants what she thought she did or if she wants something entirely new.

This is another book that I found through BookTube and I wasn't exactly sure how I'd feel about it. I took a chance on it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually read this at a really good time. It was a fast, easy read. It's subject matter is a lot lighter than what I've been reading recently and it was really refreshing. I really enjoyed Maxon's character and prefer him to Aspen. Sometimes I thought that things came a little too easy to America but it didn't bother me too much.

I really enjoyed seeing America's relationship with Maxon blossom and grow. I also really loved that it wasn't an insta-romance kind of relationship. It started out purely as friendship and grew into something more. I'm still unsure about how I feel about Aspen but I'm sure that I'll figure that out in the second book. All in all, the story pleasantly surprised me and I enjoyed it more than I thought. I finished it very quickly and I plan on picking up the next one, The Elite, very soon!

4/5 stars

-Chelsea

Firelight

Jacinda is a draki, part of a pride that descended from dragons but are capable of taking human form. Her father is dead, her mother has "killed" the draki part of her and her twin sister never manifested into a dragon. Jacinda is also a fire-breather, the first one to have that talent for generations. The pride wants to control Jacinda and have her breed with Cassian, the alpha's son, in hopes of creating more fire-breathers.

But Jacinda doesn't want to have everyone else plan her life and when she makes the mistake of almost getting caught by a hunter, Will, her mother decides that it's time to finally leave the pride. Jacinda resents this move because she knows that she belongs with the draki, not among the humans like her family. But Jacinda's mother is hoping that the move will "kill" her draki as well. Jacinda is determined not to let that happen and to do so, ironically, she has to stay close to Will, the hunter that has the power to destroy her and her family.

I am going to be honest, I've never read any sort of dragon book before and I was skeptical about whether or not I'd actually like it. But I found myself really enjoying it. It was a very quick, easy read for me. I read it in about a day. I found that there were a few parts of me that related to Jacinda and some of the things that she was feeling. I also adored Will's character and how sweet he was.

The only thing that really annoyed me was the kind of "insta-romance" feel that it had. I don't really like when characters have only known each other for like 2 weeks and are like, "I love you so much that I can't live without you." Especially, when they're teenagers. But I digress, that this was my only real problem with the book. I found it to be a pretty light story, which was just what I was looking for. I plan to get my hands on the sequel very soon. I heard that it's even better than Firelight.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

-Chelsea

Ruby Red

Ruby Red is the story of Gwyneth Shepherd, a girl whose family carries a time traveling gene through the females. For her entire life, it was believed that her cousin Charlotte carries the gene, not Gwyneth. But when she's 16, Gwyneth travels through time and her family is in disbelief. Following this stunning revelation are tons of questions, secrets and adventures and Ruby Red is just the beginning.

This is the first book in The Precious Stone Trilogy and I've heard so many people talk about how great this book is. But because it's about time travel, I was skeptical about picking it up. I have tried to read 2 time travel books before and I found them confusing and annoying. But because of all of the hype for this book, I decided to give it a chance. However, I must admit that because there was such hype for this book, I was afraid that my expectations would be too high and I'd end up disappointed.



But I can definitely say that I was not disappointed! At all! (And let's all just take a second to appreciate this gorgeous cover!)

This story, I must say, was fantastic! It was way more fast-paced, intricate and elaborate than I expected it to be! Reading it was just so much fun! The characters were a lot of fun to read and the ending left me with a lot of questions! I never expected this book to be so mysterious and I can honestly say that I'm glad that I borrowed it from the library. I'm sure that I'll go out and buy my own copy very soon!

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, so if this story sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend it! I'll hopefully be reading Sapphire Blue very soon and have another review up immediately following it!

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

-Chelsea