Book Review: Then You Were Gone by Lauren Strasnick

Title:  Then You Were Gone

Author:  Lauren Strasnick
Release date:  January 8th, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Genre:  YA, contemporary, mystery 

In the tradition of 13 Reasons Why, a suspenseful and heart-wrenching novel from the author of Nothing Like You and Her and Me and You.Two years ago, Adrienne’s best friend walked out of her life. One week ago, she left Adrienne a desperate, muffled voicemail. Adrienne never called back.Now Dakota is missing. She left behind 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 increasingly convinced that Dakota must still be alive.Maybe finding and saving Dakota is the only way Adrienne can save herself.Or maybe it’s too late for them both.

This is one confusing book. I had no idea how to feel about it, well, I still don't. I'm not sure what to think of the main character. Should I sympathize with Adrienne? Mostly I don't understand why was she so upset when Dakota disappeared. 

Adrienne and Dakota were friends since they were kids but Dakota suddenly drops her without explaining why. Adrienne is an average student with a small group of friends when her former best friend Dakota vanished. Everything is just weirder since Dakota called her a couple of days before disappearing. Some thought she killed herself some didn't but everyone eventually moved on while Adrienne couldn't let it go. 

I wouldn't have any problems with A being obsessed Dakota treated her right. But she didn't. Dakota was an awful friend which Adrienne didn't see. Dakota was always this enigmatic girl who did what she wanted all the time and I think she A wanted to be just like her which we can see when she starts wearing similar clothes and starts acting like Dakota. 

A starts ignoring her boyfriend and starts hanging around Julian, Dakota's boyfriend, trying to find out what happened. Why was she so determined to find the truth when Dakota was such an awful friend? Well, I think every one of us had a friend who wasn't actually a friend and we desperately tried to please them even though they were never good for us. They eventually find out what really happened and I'm glad they at least have each other in the end. 

Book Review: If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin

Title:  Title:  If He Had Been With Me

Author:  Laura Nowlin
Release date:  April 2nd, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Genre:  YA, contemporary romance, realistic

Throughout their whole childhood, Finn and Autumn were inseparable—they finished each other's sentences, they knew just what to say when the other person was hurting. But one incident in middle school puts them in separate social worlds come high school, and Autumn has been happily dating James for the last 2 years. But she's always wondered what if...
The night she's about to get the answer is also one of terrible tragedy

If He Had Been With Me was on my 'can't wait' list for months and I couldn't resist and read it the moment I got my hands on it. I started reading in the morning and didn't put it down until I was done crying because I had a feeling someone stabbed me in the heart even though the book started with the most unpleasant thing than can happen. I chose to ignore it. There was just no way the story would go there. Well, I cried for a long time. 

Autumn used to be friends with her first door neighbor, Finn but after middle school she becomes very popular and they grow apart. Now in high school, Autumn is a part of a gang who are different from other students. They dress differently, listen to cool music, change their hair colors, well you get the picture. Finn is a hangin with the popular crowd-cheerleaders and football players and they ignore each other all the time except it's hard since their mothers are really close friends and they even eat together. 

Even though Finn and Autumn are not friends any more she can help but think about the time they spent together so we get to read about their childhood memories. Finn is such a sweet guy and is a devoted friend so I couldn't help but cheer for him to end up with Autumn even though they were both dating other people. Autumn is also battling with depression which she ignores as a winter blues. Her boyfriend is not really helpful in that department so Finn is there to make it all better. Finn's dad is also never around but he tries to buy his affection with expensive gifts. Both characters need each other to move on from their issues but disaster strikes and everything changes. 

I love to read heartbreaking stories because they make me feel alive. Make me see life in another light. I will bore my friends to pick this book up until they block me. I urge you to buy it. It's worth the money. Yes! I know you want to read it. So what are you waiting for? 

Book Reviews: Flat-Out Love and Flat-Out Matt by Jessica Park

Title:  Flat-Out Love
Author:  Jessica Park
Release date:  April 11th, 2011
Genre:  NA, contemporary romance, college 

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.
Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.
When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.
And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.
To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.
Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

 It seems that almost everyone cried while reading this book. I didn't but it was a sweet book. 

Julie moves in with Watkins family while she's attending college. The whole family is strange. Youngest child, Celeste is a withdrawn 13-year-old who talks better than some people twice her age. She carries and talks to a cut out of her oldest brother, Fin who is traveling around the world helping elephants and orphans. The middle child, Matt, pretty much takes care of his whole family. He is another genius offspring. 

Since Finn is absent Julie sends him a Facebook friendship request and they start chatting which least to falling in love. I didn't paid much attention while reading this book till I got to the part with the Christmas tree which was after the first half. After that I was crushing on Matt, hard. Even though Finn was interesting I couldn't shake the feeling Julie should be in love with Matt. I was sighing a lot. He was such a sweet guy and it was obvious he likes Julie while she was clueless. Well, I was too, since I had no idea what was actually going on until Julie herself figured it out. And I am usually one of those people who pay attention to every single detail but in this case it was almost as if my brain stopped working. 

Title:  Flat-Out Matt
Author:  Jessica Park
Release date: March 25th, 2013
Genre:  NA, contemporary romance, college 

Matt is a junior at MIT. He’s geeky, he's witty, he's brilliant.
And he’s also very, very stupid.
When beautiful, cool, insightful Julie moves in with Matt’s family, why (oh why!) does he pretend to be his absent brother Finn for her alleged benefit? 
It seems harmless enough until her short-term stay becomes permanent. And until it snowballs into heart-squeezing insanity. And until he falls in love with Julie, and Julie falls in love with Finn. 
But … Matt is the right one for her. If only he can make Julie see it. Without telling her the truth, without shattering them all. Particularly his fragile sister Celeste, who may need Julie the most.
You saw Matt through Julie’s eyes in FLAT-OUT LOVE. Now go deeper into Matt’s world in this FLAT-OUT MATT novella. Live his side of the story, break when his heart breaks, and fall for the unlikely hero all over again.
Take an emotional skydive for two prequel chapters and seven Flat-Out Love chapters retold from his perspective, and then land with a brand-new steamy finale chapter from Julie.

Don't read the blurb if you haven't read Flat-Out Love! I'll try not to post too many spoilers . 

If you haven't read Flat-Out Love don't read this collection of short stories because you won't understand some things. We have a prequel of FOL with a chapter of Finn and Matt hanging out so you can see their dynamic. We get to read more about Celeste who was lovely. We also see the Christmas tree scene, bed scene and the final scene from Matt's POV. Oh, Matt how much I love you. This boy deserves to be happy after all he went through. 

There's also the final chapter in Julie's POV but this one is different from others. Why? Well, this one is one has a sex scene which was, ,ahem, how do I put this? Hot and I was impressed with Matt and his skills as a lover. Who knew a nerd knows what to do with his hands and tongue. Damn! Where do I sign up for a guy like him? 

Top Ten Tuesday #13

Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On If I Were Also A Fictional Character

1. Caleb from The Opportunist- This guy is amazing. He's an alpha-male type of character who would do anything for the woman he loves and he's also british. Who doesn't love a man with an accent? 
2. Warner from Shatter Me- My husband. He has a dickhead father which messed him up and he still manages to capture my heart. Wish I had a Warner by my side. 
3. Adrian from VA and Bloodlines- One of my first book crushes. I know he wasn't a responsible person before but being with Sydney changed him and I'm now ready to steal him away. ;)
4. Adam from Where She Went- Adam kills me with his words every time I think about him and he's a musician. 
5. Cassel from White Cat- He is one of my recent discoveries. He's cool, sort of you-can't-touch-me characters who can also pick locks. Adventure, here I come!
6. Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door- Cricket my gentle sweet boy! He is a tall, quiet talented inventor who's been in love with the same girl since he was a boy. *sigh*
7. Conrad from The Summer I Turned Pretty- I think Conrad is the third fictional character I had a crush on. He's mother had cancer so he was angry throughout the first two books and he changed completely in the third book which made me love him even more. I can't help it, I liked him even when he was mean. 
8. Lucas from Easy- He has tattoos, great hair and will protect you from danger even if he doesn't know you. That's what a great guy does. 
9. Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss- Stephanie Perkins sure knows how to write a good crushable character. St. Claire is a American who has a British accent and knows French. *dead*
10. Tucker form Unearthly- Last but not least, I give you Tucker Avery. A cowboy who has a soft spot for girls with crazy hair. Hey,Tucker! That's me! Pick me!