Bookish Feels: Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

The Book: When "Perfect" Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter's High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher's pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn't want to talk about it. She'd just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there's a nice guy falling in love with her and he's making her feel things again when she'd really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she'd turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault. (From Goodreads)

My Feels: So I've been in a total book slump, and decided to pick up this book by Courtney Summers because 1.) I love her raw, writing style, and 2.) she always leaves me with a book hangover. Why it took me so long to pick this up since I loved ALL THE RAGE and SOME GIRLS ARE is beyond me, but I'm glad it was there to break my reading slump.

Okay. So my feels. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like Parker. She's bitchy and completely unlikeable, and if I couldn't understand why she was like that or empathize with her, I knew I wouldn't make it through the whole book. But Summers has this talent for bringing to life the characters on the page, that they all seem familiar and completely real and imperfect. And within a couple of chapters, I found myself starting to relate to Parker (not completely, but enough to get hooked).  

Perfection is something I dealt with constantly in high school. As a new student at a school where everyone knew each other since their diaper days, it was difficult for me to climb up the social ladder. It was only when things started to fall apart for me that I realized how stupid it all was and how miserable striving for perfection made me. That's what made this book so unflinchingly real, that I consumed it in one sitting (like all of Summers books).

If you aren't on the Summers bandwagon, I highly suggest you get on it pronto. You won't regret it. This one deals with the tough stuff: regret, identity, secrets, anxiety, suicide. There's no sugarcoating, and that's what I love about it.

Bookish Feels: The Wrong Side of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne

The Book: Kate Quinn’s mom died last year, leaving Kate parentless and reeling. So when the unexpected shows up in her living room, Kate must confront another reality she never thought possible—or thought of at all. Kate does have a father. He’s a powerful politician. And he’s running for U.S. President. Suddenly, Kate’s moving in with a family she never knew she had, joining a campaign in support of a man she hardly knows, and falling for a rebellious boy who may not have the purest motives. This is Kate’s new life. But who is Kate? When what she truly believes flies in the face of the campaign’s talking points, she must decide. Does she turn to the family she barely knows, the boy she knows but doesn’t necessarily trust, or face a third, even scarier option? (From Goodreads)

My Feels: I felt like this was a fun book to read. Again, this one comes recommended by Michella! The rollercoaster of emotions Kate goes through pulled at my heartstrings. I couldn't help but be sympathetic to her character and her plight. Getting pulled into the spotlight and trying to acclimate to a new family is dizzying for sure, and I thought Kate did it well. In addition to her, I thought the character arcs were excellent. I liked the changes that everyone went through. Like Meg, the stepmother who could have been really awful, but wasn't. The twins who were both different in their own ways. The book was a little long at times, but I think the pacing made up for it. If you like political dramas YA contemp style. This one's for you.

Bookish Feels: Please Don't Tell by Laura Tims

The Book: Joy killed Adam Gordon—at least, that’s what she thinks. The night of the party is hazy at best. But she knows what Adam did to her twin sister, Grace, and she knows he had to pay for it.

What Joy doesn’t expect is that someone else saw what happened. And one night a note is shoved through her open window, threatening Joy that all will be revealed. Now the anonymous blackmailer starts using Joy to expose the secrets of their placid hometown. And as the demands escalate, Joy must somehow uncover the blackmailer’s identity before Joy is forced to make a terrible choice.

In this darkly compelling narrative, debut author Laura Tims explores the complicated relationship between two sisters, and what one will do for the other. It’s a story that will keep readers turning pages and questioning their own sense of right and wrong. (From Goodreads)

My Feels: OMG. THIS BOOK. So dark, complicated, compelling, and twisty. Laura Tims is a debut author to watch out for.

A million thanks to my friend, and book blogger extraordinaire, Michella! She was kind enough to share her ARC with me despite us being on opposite coasts (she's the best, isn't she?).

If you like complicated stories, with interesting characters, and a side of tension. This is for you.

First, you have these two twins, Grace and Joy, who have a complicated sibling relationship seen through each of their POVs. The characters are just so raw and real, I found myself enraptured the whole time. Then throw in a blackmailer and you also get some mystery into the mix. Granted, I kind of knew who the blackmailer was, but that didn't detract the enjoyment I got from seeing the story unravel.

What I loved about this story were the layers. This is a book about sisters. About friendships. About rape. And also, revenge. Issues were woven into the story that elevated the piece as more than just a book. The characters (even the secondary ones) came to life (I love, love, love Grace's POV and Levi as a character). They, along with the plot, captivated me in such a way I couldn't do anything but finish the book. So my fair warning to you is to let yourself have a space of time where you can read this uninterrupted.

This book is so multi-dimensional. I love it. I can't wait to buy my copy on May 24th. It's just one of those books I know I will reread. Now, mark your calendars for the release day!

Bookish Feels: Kill The Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky

The Book: From debut author Goldy Moldavsky, the story of four superfan friends whose devotion to their favorite boy band has darkly comical and murderous results.

Okay, so just know from the start that it wasn't supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near The Ruperts, our favorite boy band.

We didn't mean to kidnap one of the guys. It kind of, sort of happened that way. But now he's tied up in our hotel room. And the worst part of all, it's Rupert P. All four members of The Ruperts might have the same first name, but they couldn't be more different. And Rupert P. is the biggest flop out of the whole group.

We didn't mean to hold hostage a member of The Ruperts, I swear. At least, I didn't. We are fans. Okay, superfans who spend all of our free time tweeting about the boys and updating our fan tumblrs. But so what, that's what you do when you love a group so much it hurts.

How did it get this far? Who knows. I mean midterms are coming up. I really do not have time to go to hell. (From Goodreads)

My Feels: This beauty of a book was recommended to me by Michella, awesome friend and book blogger extraordinaire!

If I had to describe this book in one word, I would pick fun. This story was highly entertaining. I adored the interesting commentary on fandoms and girls. I loved how Moldavsky portrayed these four friends who were all so different. Each character had their own motivations for being involved in the plan and it was well-executed. As a whole I thought this book was pretty clever and witty, and oh, so, enjoyable. The premise is unique from what's currently out on the market that I found it to be refreshing. I plowed through it like a bowl of ice cream. Yum.

Want some more 'fun' in your life? Consider putting this on your TBR ;)

Bookish Feels: I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

The Book: A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

My Feels: Beautiful, heartbreaking, and poignant. Oh! My heart! The poetic writing is gorgeous, honest, and real, which made these characters leap off the page. You could just feel the yearning of these characters and the complexities within them. I liked how the novel portrayed that even good people can do bad things. That we make choices and have to live with them and how we should always be honest and true to ourselves. I also found the exploration of sexuality in the novel to be very well done and believable. I wish I had this book as a teen. Upon finishing, it impresses a new lens for you to see the world and as an adolescent it would have showed me the vibrant colors of life I'd missed. Remake your world, friends, by starting with this novel ;) You won't regret it.

Bookish Feels: Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

The Book: Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up. (From Goodreads)

My Feels: My friend Joan absolutely adored this book, so I knew I had to give it a go, and I'm SO GLAD I DID. This book is layered, filled with complex characters, and gave me such a mix of emotions. I gobbled this up so quickly immediately hooked by Mercedes voice. For someone who's sleeping with other people's boyfriends, I didn't think I would sympathize with the MC as much as I did. And because of that, I have to applaud Flynn for her characterization. She's developed fascinating characters and relationships that prompt the reader to keep reading. This is definitely a bang of a debut, so I'm excited to see what else Flynn comes up with next. If you haven't read this yet, I highly recommend putting this on your TBR list!

Bookish Feels: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

The Book: My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.  (From Goodreads)

My Feels: So this is a book I would absolutely love as a teenager. As an adult, I found myself loving it too! With the exception of the plot twist (you'll either hate or love it, or if you're like me, saw it coming a mile away), everything is to be adored in this story. The rich and vibrant characters, the bits of art work that added to the story, the slow-burn of falling in love, and the human desire of wanting more. Well balanced and paced, this is the kind of read you'll burn through in one sitting cozied up with a blanket and a hot beverage. Super cutesy and fun with a lot of heart I know you'll enjoy.