Tag: contemporary

Book Review – Meet Cute

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“Sometimes the darkest tragedies bring us the brightest lights” 

Title: Meet Cute

Author: Helena Hunting

Publisher: Forever

Publication date: April 9th, 2019

384 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Talk about an embarrassing introduction. On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran—quite literally—into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either…

Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can’t help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn’s new celebrity client, there’s even more at stake than Dax’s custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she’ll be promoted to partner.

The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive the mistakes of the past, or will one betrayal lead to another?

Review

I think it’s interesting that you have a thing for the teenage version of me but you’re not all that fond of the real, adult version.

Helena Hunting, Meet Cute

Meet Cute starts off with a, well, meet cute on a college campus. Kailyn runs into Daxton Hughes, the star of her favorite childhood show. She literally runs into him while walking to a law school class. Their exchange is adorable, but not much really comes from it. Fast forward several years, and they are both lawyers but don’t communicate with each other. Kailyn is pissed at Dax – but when his parents die and he becomes the guardian of his 13 year old sister, Kailyn gets involved in handling Emme’s trust.

I thought Meet Cute was deep and heartfelt with some serious themes and intense plot lines. It is not a boiler plate rom com novel, there’s death and legal battles. I liked the marriage of lighthearted and serious and I feel like it was done really well. Kailyn and Dax also have an interesting relationship, and their history together is funny and endearing. However, Emme completely steals the show and I adored her character.

The concept was very good and different, but I couldn’t help being mad at one of the characters (no spoilers). But really, there was a whole situation that was very frustrating (by design) and drove a lot of the drama in the book.

One aspect I really loved was Kailyn’s relationship with Emme. She went above and beyond for that little girl after a tragedy left her without parents, and she did NOT have to. All she had to do legally was make sure Emme’s trust was being handled properly, and she was out buying Emme her first set of period essentials and having the period and sex talk with her. It was amazing how far Kailyn was willing to go to help that little girl.

Basically, if you are a fan of adult contemporary romance, you should check out Meet Cute.

Happy reading, folks!

eARC Review – What The Other Three Don’t Know

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Title: What The Other Three Don’t Know

Author: Spencer Hyde

Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing

Publication date: March 3rd, 2020

224 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Will I still be loved if I show people who I really am?  

Four high school seniors. Four secrets about to be told.

If Indie had it her way, she would never choose to river raft with three other high school seniors, mostly strangers to each other, from her journalism class.

A loner, a jock, an outsider, an Instagram influencer. At first they can’t see anything that they have in common. As the trip unfolds, the unpredictable river forces them to rely on each other. Social masks start to fall as, one-by-one, each teen reveals a deep secret the other three don’t know.

One is harboring immense grief and unwilling to forgive after the death of a loved one. One is dealing with a new disability and an uncertain future. One is fearful of the repercussions of coming out. One is hiding behind a carefully curated “perfect” image on Instagram.

Before they get to the end of Hells Canyon, they’ll know the truth about each other and, more importantly, learn something new about themselves.

What the Other Three Don’t Know is a poignant and gripping YA novel about the unlikely friends who accept you for who you really are and the power of self-acceptance.

Review

**Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing, Netgalley, and Spencer Hyde for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

What the Other Three Don’t Know tells the tale of 4 high school students who are going rafting down the rapids over summer vacation as part of a class they are taking in the next school year. Each student has their own drama, which we learn for about as the book goes on. The students are not friends, so it has a “Breakfast Club” type feel to it because of how they don’t get along in the beginning.

I have to say, this book did not do it for me. I was struggling to get through the first half and powered through the second half because I knew if I stopped I wouldn’t pick it back up again. The writing was fine, I more had an issue with the characters. I didn’t feel drawn to or connected with any of them, and their development didn’t mean anything to me. There was a weird dynamic between the students, which was seen during dialogue they were having with each other.

There was some action to this ending, which almost made up for the rest of it. I would have liked to see the book almost extend, to get some of the information about what happened when they went back to school. Like the Breakfast Club, you don’t get to see that piece of it.

If you are a fan of the Breakfast Club or morally ambiguous characters who don’t get along super well, I would definitely give this a shot. Also, if you like outdoor adventure settings in books.

Happy reading, bookish friends! 🙂

eARC Review – Bad Bachelor

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Title: Bad Bachelor

Author: Stephanie Londer

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Publication date: March 3rd, 2020 (first published March 6th, 2018)

368 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Everybody’s talking about the hot new app reviewing New York’s most eligible bachelors. But why focus on prince charming when you can read the latest dirt on the lowest-ranked “Bad Bachelors”—NYC’s most notorious bad boys.

If one more person mentions Bad Bachelors to Reed McMahon, someone’s gonna get hurt. A PR whiz, Reed is known as an ‘image fixer’ but his womanizing ways have caught up with him. What he needs is a PR miracle of his own.

When Reed strolls into Darcy Greer’s workplace offering to help save the struggling library, she isn’t buying it. The prickly Brooklynite knows Reed is exactly the kind of guy she should avoid. But the library does need his help. As she reluctantly works with Reed, she realizes there’s more to a man than his reputation. Maybe, just maybe, Bad Bachelor #1 is THE one for her. 

Review

**Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Casablance, and Stephanie London for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

I absolutely adored everything about this rom com story with Reed and Darcy. Told from both perspectives, it’s a love story that will capture your heart and make you think twice about dating apps.

Darcy is trying to get back into the dating scene after calling off her wedding at the last minute when her fiance cheats on her. Reed doesn’t want to date… at all. When their lives are pulled together through work, Darcy recognizes his name as one of the most infamous men on the new dating app, Bad Bachelor. Women are able to submit reviews of men after dating them, and every review Reed has is bad. That doesn’t stop the spark of interest Darcy feels upon meeting him for the first time, especially when he is her match at witty banter. Reed convinced himself he doesn’t have time for dating, and he doesn’t give much stock in the reviews on Bad Bachelor. But when it starts to affect his family, he starts to suspect there’s more behind the app and to the drama.

Darcy and Reed are just the cutest, and I will ship them forever. It’s true, some of the tropes are a bit cliche and have been done before, but I love the idea of the dating app – it’s different than anything I’ve read before. I also have a soft spot for the “bad boy” trope, especially when it isn’t ‘deserved’. The steam meter was good, but not 50 Shades level of spice. The romance flowed easily, sometimes in romance novels they jump immediately into bed or a switch flips and you’re unsure how they got there – not in this book. It is a bit of a build up to the big event.

I read this all in one day, it hit every spot that I look for in romance to keep me interested, and making me wish Reed had his sights set on me instead of Darcy.

Book Review – When Dimple Met Rishi

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Title: When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi #1)

Author: Sandhya Menon

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication date: May 22nd, 2018

400 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Review

**Read via audiobook**

When Dimple Met Rishi tells the tale of… well… when Dimple met Rishi! Dimple just graduated from high school and is getting ready to attend Stanford and become a coder. But, all her mom wants is for her to find the Ideal Indian Husband and get married. That’s where Rishi comes in. Rishi wants nothing more than to get married and please his parents. Dimple and Rishi’s parents set it up so they meet at a web design summer program, but only Rishi knows this and Dimple is thrown for a loop. The book follows their story.

Okay, so this was a very generic YA contemporary book. Dimple is “not an ordinary girl”, which is a huge and sometimes annoying theme in YA. She’s kind of not a great character, and is frankly pretty selfish. Rishi deserves better, though I do believe Dimple starts to get better by the end of the book and realizes some of her nonsense is… nonsense.

The plot was about this web design camp… but we never actually get to hear about the camp?? They are there for 8 weeks and you hear about it only a few times in filler conversation. The book is more about where they are eating dinner and working on a talent show act that is inexplicably a part of a web design camp?? I have questions.

Throughout the book I just wanted to yell at Dimple and say, “You’re allowed to date and ALSO attend school to have a future and a career – it truly is possible to multitask! The two are not mutually exclusive!!” So much of the book wouldn’t be necessary if she understood this very simple concept.

Overall, it was good but nowhere near great. If the feeling ever strikes, I will give the companion novels a try – but I’m not thinking that will be any time soon. Rishi was the upside to this entire story because he was so pure of heart and wanted the best for everybody. I would read more about Rishi for sure.

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – The Flatshare

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“Being nice is a good thing. You can be strong and nice. You don’t have to be one or the other.” 

Title: The Flatshare

Author: Beth O’Leary

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication date: May 28th, 2019

325 pages

4.25/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met.

After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.

Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.

Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more.

But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you’ve never met.

What if your roommate is your soul mate? A joyful, quirky romantic comedy, Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare is a feel-good novel about finding love in the most unexpected of ways. 

Review

It was never home until you were there, Tiffy.

Beth O’Leary, The Flatshare

Hello all! I am on SUCH a romance book kick, probably because it is February and is the month of love! I’ve been in such a fantasy book slump so I’m throwing my TBR out the window and leaned into the romance bug during my last trip to the library. I’ve seen The Flatshare all over Instagram so I knew I wanted to read it, even though it meant reading two British books back to back and having my mental voice talk in a British accent for the next two days!

The Flatshare flips back and forth in POV’s between Tiffy and Leon, two strangers sharing a flat in London. He works the night shift, she works the day shift, they never have to even see each other. Leon’s girlfriend checks her out and concludes Tiffy is not a threat to her relationship (oh how wrong she is) as she is “larger than life” (ack). Tiffy is very eccentric and fun, where Leon is dealing with a lot and is more understated and reserved. Basically, they are opposites. When they start interacting via post it notes in the flat however, their camaraderie is undeniable.

The Flatshare was very adorable. I was waiting with bated breath for them to meet, especially after Leon’s girlfriend dissed her (still hate her). So glad I got the satisfaction of Leon being hopelessly attracted to Tiffy and questioning how Kay could have found her unattractive. Their first meeting is so funny and they really have an easy friendship.

However, The Flatshare is not all lighthearted. Tiffy has a stalkerish, emotionally abusive ex that pops up throughout the book so Trigger Warning. He is honestly terrible and any time his name was printed on the pages I cringed. Ouside of him, the side characters each have their own quirks and reasons for being in the book, which is a big thing for me. I hate when there are whole characters that have no point or purpose to the main characters or the plot.

Tiffy and Leon are exactly what they need from each other at every given time in the book, which for me is proof they are meant to be. Loved it, and very much enjoyed the book.

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – The Bride Test

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“Don’t forget to apologize. First with words. Then with your tongue.”

Title: The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient #2)

Author: Helen Hoang

Publisher: Berkley

Publication date: May 7th, 2019

296 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love. 

Review

In a split second, she redefined perfection for him. His standards aligned to her exact proportions and measurements. No one else would ever live up to her.

Helen Hoang, The Bride Test

I absolutely adored The Kiss Quotient when I read it a few months ago. I didn’t end of reviewing it on here, otherwise I would link it. I truly adore that both books feature a main character with autism – because everyone deserves a sweet and sexy love story. The Bride Test is a companion novel to The Kiss Quotient.

The Bride Test follows Khai Diep, a young man with autism who is really not looking for a girlfriend and Esme Tran, a young mother from Ho Chi Minh City. Khai’s mother travels there to interview potential brides for Khai and to bring the best candidate to America to win him over. Esme jumps at the chance to provide her family a way out of poverty. However, Khai is seriously not pleased with this development and does everything he can to ignore his new roommate, who doesn’t make it easy…

*swoon* Man, Helen Hoang really knows how to make me laugh, my heart pound, and cry all in one books, sometimes multiple times each. From start to finish, I loved these characters and their interactions with each other. Their love is so unique and fun, began neither of them have any clue what they are doing. It is so eye opening to read from the perspective of someone with autism – the rep is done beautifully. Khai goes on such a journey in the book, you can’t help but be proud. And the same can be said for Esme! She makes the most of her opportunity in America and takes adult education classes on TOP of trying to seduce a man who doesn’t want to be seduced. Talk about overachieving.

The first sex scene (and the aftermath) if my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART of this entire book. Picture this: it’s 1 am, I couldn’t sleep, I’m sitting outside my bedroom on the floor with a flashlight (so as not to wake up the fiance), and I’M DYING of laughter. It is a pure gold scene and I’m here for it. If you’ve read this book, you know what I’m talking about.

Anywho, this was amazing. Go read it ASAP pronto mucho. Read The Kiss Quotient first if you haven’t (it’s not necessary, it’s just also a freaking awesome book).

Happy reading, folks!

eARC Review – Break in Case of Emergency

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Title: Break in Case of Emergency

Author: Brian Francis

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication date: February 4th, 2020

368 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Dads can be such a drag

Life has been a struggle for Toby Goodman. Her mother died by suicide five years ago, and her father left their small town before Toby was born. Now a teenager living on her grandparents’ dairy farm, Toby has trouble letting people in. She keeps even her closest friend, the brash but endearing Trisha, at arms’ length, and recently ended her first relationship, with Trisha’s burnout brother, Mike. Convinced that she is destined to follow her mother’s path, Toby creates a plan to escape her pain.

But with the news that her father is coming home and finally wants to meet her, Toby must face the truth of her family’s story. Not only is her father gay, but he’s also a world-famous female impersonator—and a self-absorbed, temperamental man-child who is ill-prepared to be a real parent.

When Toby’s careful plans go awry, she is forced to rebuild the life she thought she knew from the ground up. While she may not follow an expected path, through the support of a quirky but lovable circle of friends and family, Toby may finally put together the many different pieces that make up her past, her present, and her future.

Review

**Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins, and Brian Francis for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review **

Break in Case of Emergency is a contemporary tale of 15 year old Toby who is dealing with her mother’s suicide 5 years ago. She is struggling, especially when her father comes into the picture for the first time since her conception. Her father is… interesting… and isn’t what she was expecting – or wanting.

I will say, I related to Toby in a lot of ways. I remember being 15 and having some of the thoughts and feelings Toby was having – and it’s certainly not fun. Trigger Warning: I would say proceed with caution before jumping into this book, especially if you are triggered by depression or suicidality. It’s the main theme of the novel and jumps in on page one so please heed this warning and get help if needed.

I did not love the LGBTQIA representation or mental health representation. I understand it was done with an explicit purpose, but I don’t feel like they were represented properly. I feel it was meant to bring attention to depression and suicidality along with a country town’s aversions to the LGBTQIA population (it’s also set in 1992), but I feel that it misses the mark on both cases. Toby’s mental health journey is a main plot point, but it’s like it’s set up so well and then just falls flat 2/3 of the way through and is finished too quickly.

I felt confused by this book a lot of the time, and I feel it just wasn’t my style. I didn’t connect with the characters, but I did like the use of flashbacks to present information. I felt that was done very well and provided needed context to what Toby was going through at any given point.

Happy reading, folks! 🙂

eARC Review – The Kissing Game

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Title: The Kissing Game

Author: Marie Harte

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Publication date: February 4th, 2020

320 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

“I bet you a kiss you can’t resist me.”

Game on.

Rena Jackson is ready. She’s worked her tail off to open up her own hair salon, and she’s almost ready to quit her job at the dive bar. Rena’s also a diehard romantic, and she’s had her eye on bar regular Axel Heller for a while. He’s got that tall-dark-and-handsome thing going big time. Problem is, he’s got that buttoned-up Germanic ice man thing going as well. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Rena’s about ready to give up on Axel and find her own Mr. Right.

At six foot six, Axel knows he intimidates most people. He’s been crushing on the gorgeous waitress for months. But the muscled mechanic is no romantic, and his heart is buried so deep, he has no idea how to show Rena what he feels. He knows he’s way out of his depth and she’s slipping away. So, he makes one crazy, desperate play…

Review

**Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and Marie Harte for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

I was underwhelmed with this romance, contemporary novel. It was an easy read, but it just didn’t do much for me. I felt there were several main issues with the novel. Rena and Axel like each other, but neither has made the first move. Axel has some deep-seeded daddy issues and doesn’t think he could be good enough for Rena – he gets into a lot of fights and can be violet. Real macho stuff here. Rena is your cliched “wants a Valentine and husband” girl and makes no secret of that. She worries Axel just wants a fun night and not to love her forever so they make a bet, Axel will win her over by Valentine’s day (about a month away).

Okay. There is a lot happening in this book. Rena is described as being a WOC, but the representation left much to be desired. There were a lot of racist acts towards her in the book – but it wasn’t addressed super well and wasn’t cleared up. Also, Axel is described as tall, dark, and handsome – yet in fact he is a German, white, guy with “romance novel cover good looks”. It just didn’t add up.

The dialogue between Rena and Axel felt very forced and stiff. It never seemed like something someone would actually say during a real life conversation to each other. None of it made sense, and frankly they were both terrible with communicating with each other – but Rena wouldn’t accept that and placed all blame on Axel. It got under my skin because she is not a great character, even though she is sold as “sweet and innocent”.

Lastly, the romance was weird and the plot line happened so randomly and disjointed that it made no sense. They got from point A to point B in a bass ackwards way and none of it seemed realistic, like real people would have a romance in this fashion. The sex scenes were pretty good, but honestly no one woman almost orgasms from words and simple touches alone, I don’t care who you are.

Overall, I think there were problematic things with this book, which was disappointing because I was really looking forward to it based on the synopsis.02

January Wrap-Up!

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Happy end of January folks! It’s always the month that will never end, and I swear today is January 57th instead of the 31st. However, I still did not manage to read my entire planned TBR, but I got pretty darn close!

I ended up switching up some of the Netgalley books because I got approved for a few in early February at the last minute, so I had to switch some titles over to February’s TBR (check back tomorrow for that post!). I was a little stressed over this because I had 3 books due February 4th that I hadn’t read yet and only 9 days to read them all. BUT I managed it and my last second approval ended up being one of my favorite reads this month!

So without further ado, see below for my 16 finished books this month! I had a nice even split of physical books and ebooks, which was one thing I wanted to be more conscious of this year!

PHYSICAL BOOKS

  1. City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4), Cassandra Clare – 4.5/5 stars
  2. City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5), Cassandra Clare – 3.75/5 stars
  3. City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6), Cassandra Clare – 4.25/5 stars
  4. Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1), Cassandra Clare – 4.25/5 stars
  5. Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2), Cassandra Clare – 4/5 stars
  6. Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3), Cassandra Clare – 4.25/5 stars
  7. My Favorite Half-Night Stand, Christina Lauren – 3.75/5 stars
  8. Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2), Tessa Bailey – 4.5/5 stars

NETGALLEY ARC’S

  1. The Silvered Serpent (The Gilded Wolves #2), Roshani Chokshi – 4.25/5 stars
  2. The Shrike & the Shadows, Chantal Gadoury & A.M. Wright – 3/5 stars
  3. Unravel the Dusk (Blood of Stars #2), Elizabeth Lim – 4.5/5 stars
  4. Heart of Flames (Crown of Feathers #2), Nicki Pau Preto – 3.75/5 stars
  5. Break in Case of Emergency, Brian Francis – 3/5 stars
  6. The Kissing Game, Marie Harte – 3/5 stars
  7. The Gravity of Us, Phil Stamper – 4.5/5 stars
  8. When We Were Magic, Sarah Gailey – 5/5 stars

BOOKS I DID NOT GET TO AS PLANNED

All of these books have been bumped to February’s TBR, with some additions of course!

  1. The Women’s War (Women’s War #1), Jenna Glass – I’m actually about 170 pages into this right now, just couldn’t get super into it so moved onto something else!
  2. Queen of the Unwanted (Women’s War #2), Jenna Glass – couldn’t read it without read the first!
  3. The Wicked Fox (Gumiho #1), Kat Cho
  4. The Beckoning Shadow (The Beckoning Shadow #1), Katharyn Blair
  5. The Electric Heir (Feverwake #2), Victoria Lee
  6. Havenfall (Havenfall #1), Sara Holland

Overall, I don’t think I did too bad! I planned to read 19 books, and managed to read 16. Let me know in the comments how many books you accomplished, and if we read any of the same!

Happy reading, folks! And happy almost February!

eARC Review – The Gravity of Us

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Title: The Gravity of Us

Author: Phil Stamper

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Publication date: February 4th, 2020

320 pages

4.5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels—fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.

Review

**Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury YA, and Phil Stamper for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

Oh. My. Goodness. This is the cutest book I have read all year. The Gravity of Us has amazing characters, a complex and wholly intriguing plot, and LGBTQIA representation with a m/m relationship. I found myself rooting for Cal every step of the way and wanting him to succeed. I hurt for him, cheered for him, and supported him throughout this storyline of growing up, learning about life, and fighting for what is right.

Cal wants nothing to do with his dad applying to be an astronaut in Texas for NASA. He loves his Brooklyn life and he has some serious social media success with his journalism efforts, that he doesn’t want to give up. What he doesn’t realize is that his life is just waiting to begin in Texas. He meets friends and is able to stand up for what he believes is right and important, and use his platform on social media to do so.

Cal is my lil cinnamon roll and I will protect him with everything I have. His character is just so darn endearing! I loved the social media and science blend in the plot, it’s unique and like nothing I have read before – and I couldn’t put it down. I started reading and I looked down what felt like 5 minutes later, and I was 30% into the book. I love books where kids look to take down an oppressive regime – which you normally find in fantasy novels not contemporary BUT IT WORKS.

Go put this book on your TBR, pronto mucho.

Happy reading, folks! 🙂