BOOK REVIEW: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

I am still grinning from the adorableness of this book. I am so happy this book has lived up to the hype.

First of all, this book made me homesick because it took place in Georgia! I did not recognize the suburb Simon lived in, but holy crap, I got all the references: Midtown, Roswell Road, Webster's restaurant, Frosted Oranges at The Varsity and Waffle House!!! Oh man, I was craving Waffle House so hard while reading this book. If you have never been there, you are missing out. In Atlanta, there is literally a Waffle House on every corner. Man, I need some Waffle House hash browns right now. And The Varsity has the greasiest food ever, but now I need some so I can get me a Frosted Orange. Arghh!! Hungry!!

Okay, now on the story . . . Simon is one of the most adorable and funniest characters ever. I loved him and all of his dialogue. I loved that he was so REAL! He just wanted to be loved and I think we can all relate to that. Meanwhile, he's hiding the fact that he's gay and he's in a secret email relationship with "Blue." I spent the whole book trying to guess Blue's identity and I was completely wrong. But I loved the reveal. The romance between Simon and Blue was so incredibly sweet. I loved their banter in their emails and the way they would not so subtly flirt with each other because they weren't really sure how the other one felt. Oh, they were so sweet, they almost gave me cavities. I am so glad that the author didn't end the book with the reveal, which I was afraid of. She showed the characters getting even closer in real life. I loved that they grew closer and fell in love through emails alone. I met my husband online so I have a soft spot in my heart for online relationships.

There were some bigger issues here, like the fact that some jerk named Martin was blackmailing him. Man, I HATED Martin so, so, so much. I hated the fact that he was threatening to reveal this huge thing that was none of his business just to get close to a girl. I hated that Simon was so afraid of being himself that he gave in to Martin's blackmail. I hated that he was afraid of even revealing to his closest friends that he was gay. Speaking of friends, he had the BEST friendships. Abby was one of my favorites. I was not a huge fan of Leah though. She would get mad at him and then be all passive aggressive about it. Instead of coming out and telling him what she was mad about, she just stopped speaking to him. Then she kind of made everything about her. I understood a few times why she had hurt feelings, but I thought she overreacted a lot. But even with all those huge issues and dilemma that Simon is facing, he never loses his sense of humor.

And how AMAZING was it that Simon had a normal and completely loving and devoted family? They were so supportive and totally crazy in the most loving way ever. I loved his parents and I loved his two sisters. God, they were so close they made me jealous. I also love how they made everything a big, huge deal because they loved Simon so much but he didn't want being gay to be a big deal. And really, why should it be? When Simon questioned why being gay had to be the default and said that straight people should have to come out in the most awkward way possible, I was cheering for him. He is so right. I feel so bad that gay people have to go through this and worry about people finding out who they are. Like I said, my hometown is Georgia and there are people who don't care about whether someone is gay and there are people who do. And it's so hard to tell the difference. One of my best friends in the entire world is gay and he grew up in Georgia, but in a town WAY OUTSIDE of Atlanta. It is a super small town so people are way more conservative. Even though he is out, there are still people he works with who don't know because he never knows who is okay with him having a boyfriend and who isn't. So if people start asking him if he has a girlfriend or if he likes a girl at work, it can get awkward. That's why when Simon talked about how much it sucks to have straight be the default, I understood what he was talking about.

If you have not read this book, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? It is one of the most adorable and relatable contemporaries I have read in a long time.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Well, duh. BUY THIS ONE!!

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Books I Will Be Buying Myself for Christmas

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They feature a different top ten list every week. This week's topic is top books I want Santa to bring me. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't typically get books for Christmas. I do usually get at least one Amazon gift card though. I will be using it to buy myself some of the newer releases that my budget has prevented me from buying so far!

1. The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

2. Mosquitoland by David Arnold

3. Saint Anything by Sarah Dressen

4. A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

5. These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

6. Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine

7. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

8. Blood and Salt (Blood and Salt #1) by Kim Liggett

9. Truest by Jackie Lea Sommers

10. Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume by Meg Cabot, Jennifer O'Connell, and Beth Kendrick

What books are on your Christmas wish list?

The Lunar Chronicles Book Tag!

Since the final installment of The Lunar Chronicles has finally been released (I am still in denial about that), I thought a Lunar Chronicles book tag would be a great celebration. I first saw Brittany do this tag on The Book Addict's Guide. 

CINDER | The cyborg


a book that’s often misunderstood or underappreciated

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Not many people can appreciate the ending to this book, which is why I put it on here. But after I got over the shock, I got it.

KAI | The prince


a book about royals/royalty

Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman

ADRI | The evil stepmother


a book with a horrible/cringe-worthy parent

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

I do think that a father who cuts off his daughter's hands qualifies as cringe worthy.

IKO | The spunky sidekick


a book with your favorite happy-go-lucky character

Ollie from Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

This one was harder than I thought. I read a lot of books with dark characters. But Ollie is pretty optimistic. I love him!

SCARLET | The rescuer


a book with a character on a mission

Vianne and Isabelle from The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Yes, technically it is cheating since I listed two characters, but whatever. Both girls helped the Jewish people of France in their own ways. I adored this book!

WOLF | The fighter
 

a book with a brutal fight (with words or fists)

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The ending to this one was pretty epic. And also kind of bloody.

LEVANA | The villain


a book with the absolute worst villain

A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

It was really hard to come up with a villain as heinous as Levana, but I think I succeeded. The villain in this one was pretty awful.

THRONE | The rascal


a book with the biggest schmoozer

Wesley from The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Is there a bigger schmoozer than Thorne? Not at all. But Wesley comes pretty close. He is pretty smooth.

CRESS | The hacker


a book about technology, or sci-fi

The Six by Mark Alpert

ERLAND | The doctor


a book with an illness or revolving around medical issues

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

One of the saddest books I have ever read. This one is about a father's diagnosis of Huntington's disease.

WINTER | The unsound mind


a book with the craziest character you’ve ever read

Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes

Joe is a pretty crazy stalker guy, but you know what? I can't even help but like him. 

JACIN | The soldier


a book with a military theme

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

I tag anyone who wants to do this one! 

BOOK REVIEW: Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is January 5, 2016.

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. 

I did not expect to like this book at all. The premise just seemed weird to me: a girl who sleeps with guys (with girlfriends) who are virgins so that they can get their first time over with. I do really hate cheating, but I think this storyline was still handled rather well.

First of all, I just have to mention the first thing that grabbed my attention: THE USE OF BIRTH CONTROL!! How often is the use of condoms spoken of so freely in YA literature? Or any other genre? I have read my share of adult fiction and adult romance novels to know that condoms are either not spoken about at all or not used. Mercedes never depended on the guy to provide the condom. She had her own supply. And when a guy wanted to have sex without a condom, she put the stop to that right away. Loved that!!

Mercedes is such an easy character to like, despite the fact that she made many, many questionable decisions. She was flawed, but I understood why she did what she did (even though I disagreed). Mercedes had a horrible first time (which she does reveal late in the book) and this prompts her to "help" other guys so they can make sure their girlfriends have the perfect first time that she never had. I kind of got why Mercedes was doing it (like I said though, I really didn't agree), but I had no idea why these boys would cheat on their girlfriends that they supposedly loved. The beauty of this author is that she was able to make me feel so much about a girl who sets out to deliberately sleep with other girls' boyfriends. And I could relate to her thought process so much. Eventually, the secret does come out and the slut shaming in this book made me so angry. Yes, the girlfriends whose boyfriends cheated were mad at their respective boyfriends. But they did not make their lives miserable like they did with Mercedes. There was even a scene where a group of girls physically attacked Mercedes. Was that really necessary? I thought it was unfair for Mercedes to be called a home wrecker and a whore, especially since it's not like she forced any of those guys to sleep with her.

I think that towards the end though (before the secret came out), she gets sloppy and doesn't worry about the secrecy part anymore because she is using sex as a way to gain control of her life. Like I said, Mercedes is flawed. She has sex when she wants to and because she likes and then she has sex because she doesn't want to feel anything and she has sex because she thinks that's what she should be doing. I could appreciate her relationship with Zach above the others, mainly because it seemed like she actually enjoyed being with him. She was also terrified of falling for him and wanting more than just sex because she thought he would hurt her. When I found out the details of her first time, that was understandable. Also, her dad left and her mom was super hypersexualized. Her mom talked about birth control with her when she first got her period (which was a good thing) and she also had guys coming in and out of Mercedes's life all the time. Sometimes it seemed like Mercedes was sleeping with all these guys just to get her mother's attention. Not that she cared. Her mom was a piece of work, but there were times when it seemed like she was making an effort with Mercedes.

There were so many important messages in this book about sex and your first time and waiting. I am not religious at all, but I loved Mercedes's best friend, Angela and how determined she was to wait to have sex until she was married. When her boyfriend, Charlie (who was a complete jerk), started pressuring her to have sex, I was rooting for Angela NOT to give in unless she actually wanted to. There were so many honest conversations about sex and so much discussion about why people chose to have sex. I really wanted these girls to learn the lesson of waiting until you are ready to have sex. I think it's great that Mercedes was a character who loved sex and who wanted it (it's so rare to find a female in YA or any other genre with a healthy sex drive), but I still wanted her to realize that there was more to a relationship than just sex and that she could bring something to a relationship besides her body. I do feel there was some character development in this book, so I think she learned her lesson.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: If you are willing to go into this knowing there are some questionable decisions made about sex, I think you should buy this one. It was worth the read for sure.

BOOK REVIEW: Hear by Robin Epstein

I received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is December 29, 2015

Expelled from high school months shy of graduation—her acceptance to Columbia revoked due to vigilante justice gone awry—Kassandra Black is sent to work in her great-uncle Brian’s lab at Henley University. She’s helping with his HEAR (Henley Engineering Anomalies Research) program, and hopefully getting him to put in a good word for her to attend Henley instead. But as she gets to know the other HEAR students, it becomes clear that she overlooked the “Anomalies” part of their acronym—these kids are here to help Brian run experiments that gauge ESP capacity. She doesn’t buy any of it. And even if it were real, she definitely isn’t psychic. Yet with each new test, she finds herself more frightened. Kass really can communicate telepathically; she can even glimpse the future. When one of her fellow HEAR students is murdered, Kass must try to forget everything she knows about herself and her family and learn to trust those who share her remarkable gift.

I guess I will be another black sheep on this one because I just do not get it. This book was so BORING!! God, I was yawning through most of it. So the premise talks about one of her friends being murdered. Do you want to know when that happens? Sometime around the 70% mark. Ahhhh!! So what happened up until that point? Not a damn thing, that's what. Kass spent most of the book complaining that no one had ever told her she had ESP. I guess she was angry at her dad because he never told her about her "abilities?" Okay, get over it. It isn't that big of a deal. And she (and the other HEAR members) were inventing mysteries that were just not there. There was this whole investigation into Kass's uncle's past and whether he was trying to control people or not. She started snooping around her uncle's bedroom and picking locks. But I had NO IDEA what she was looking for or what she was hoping to find. I was so confused that I thought about reading some earlier passages to see if I missed anything. Then I realized how boring everything was and it just wasn't worth it. And do you know where that "mystery" about her uncle went? NOWHERE. Yeah, that was pretty much dropped for the mystery of their friend's murder. And since that didn't happen until the 70% mark or so, I just didn't care. I was ready to just finish the book and be done with it. But I still have no idea why her uncle's past in the CIA or what he was trying to do now was so important. 

There was also some statement or "evidence" that indicated her Uncle Brian was doing some kind of experiment with people in love or something. But nothing ever came out of that either. Then the ending of the book . . . god, it wasn't even worth sticking around for. I don't know if the author was determine to make the ending as unpredictable as possible or what, but the ending (and the resolution to her friend's murder) came out of nowhere. And when I say nowhere, I mean it. But it was the kind of twist that made NO SENSE, especially because the reason behind the murder had NOTHING to do with any of the other "mysteries" that Kass was investigating. There was also some romance, which was only okay and a little bit like insta-love. The ending was weird. There was a confrontation with her father that came out of nowhere, especially since he had not even been around for the entire book. Then there was other information that came out of nowhere too. I think the author was just trying to leave it open for a sequel. The ending was open so a sequel may be happening. I will not be reading it though.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: Skip this one.

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorite Books Read in 2015

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They feature a different top ten list every week. This week's topic is favorite books of 2015!

I was not even going to try to limit my favorites to ten. It would be impossible! I cheated and I don't even care. So yeah, these are my top fifteen books of the year (nineteen really, since the last one is a series).

What were a few of your favorite books read this year?

Still time to enter my giveaway for my first blogoversary! Win a book that I have reviewed over the past year AND win a $25 Amazon gift card! Click here to enter.

Bookish Gifts for Book Lovers That Aren't Actually Books!

There are just so many ways to express your love of books. This post is for any gift ideas for that special bookworm in your life . . . but I promise I won't tell if you actually buy some of these gifts for yourself.

1. iPhone cases - I will be upgrading my phone soon, I am looking for a new iPhone case. I have found a lot o different bookish iPhone cases, but these are probably my favorite. Matilda is one of my favorite literary characters so I love the Matilda iPhone case. The Little Girl reading iPhone case is beautiful.

2. Clothes - Love this Gatsby tank and the I workout so I can read more books tank would be an awesome workout shirt.

3. Jewelry - Two fabulous bloggers have Etsy shoppers and they have some amazing stuff that would make great Christmas gifts.  I am in love with the I'm in love with books necklace by Jessica at Bookish Serendipity Cait at Paper Fury has a way for you to proudly display your favorite book in the form of a Mini Book Necklace. I think I need The Book Thief one! She a very wide range of choices too. Both girls have so many other great things in their shops, so I would suggest taking a look for other ways to spend your money gift ideas.

4. I love reading in the tub, but it's so hard whether it's a Kindle or a physical book. I think that this Bathtub Caddy is a solution to that problem.

5. Check out these So Many Books! Bookends

6. Bookmarks - I don't know about you, but I love sturdy bookmarks and these fit the bill. The Wooden Bookmarks come in all different kinds of bookish expressions and I think we can all relate to the Fell Asleep Here Bookmark.

7. Am I the only one who loves the scent of books? Maybe I could light this Old Books Scented Candle while reading my Kindle . . . I can get the best of both worlds!

8. What about these warm socks for the cold nights you will be cuddled up on the couch reading a good book? I have a pair of each of these socks and I love them! I am wearing the library card socks as I type up this post.

9. Check out these Old Book Pillowcases that you can use to rest your weary head.

10. How about a mug for your tea or hot chocolate that you can drink while reading that good book and wearing your warm socks? I love this banned books mug, but this site has many other literary mugs to choose from.

What bookish items are on your wish list? 


And don't forget to enter my big giveaway! That $25 Amazon gift card may come in handy to buy some bookish OR non bookish items for yourself!