Book Review: The New Guy (and Other Senior Year Distractions) by Amy Spalding

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The New Guy (and Other Senior Year Distractions)
Author: Amy Spalding
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 5th 2016
Review Source: Poppy

  

A ridiculously cute, formerly-famous new guy dropping into your life? It's practically every girl's dream.

But not Jules McCallister-Morgan's.

I realize that on paper I look like your standard type-A, neurotic, overachiever. And maybe I am. But I didn't get to be the editor of my school's long-revered newspaper by just showing up*. I have one main goal for my senior year-early acceptance into my first choice Ivy League college-and I will not be deterred by best friends, moms who think I could stand to "live a little," or boys.

At least, that was the plan before I knew about Alex Powell**.

And before Alex Powell betrayed me***.

I know what you're thinking: Calm down, Jules. But you don't understand. This stuff matters. This is my life. And I'm not going down without a fight.

Although The New Guy is not amazing, if you may say, it has it's perks. For instance, Alex. He's the new guy and he's a former well-known boy band. Oh yes, he is adorable.... and he's swoon-worthy. The way he was introduced was very interesting and left our main character speechless. Which is something Jules is not known for. She is the overachiever, well rounded girl that loves her position at the newspaper. Jules is not perfect but when her mind is set on something, she goes for it. Which is something I did admired. She loves to be in control and when she meets Alex, her life is not the same.

The New Guy is short and sweet. A story of two individuals in high school falling in love even in a sea of conflicts.

There were times this story felt so real, others not so much. I guess Jules was a little of a pusher over with no reasoning? She had her moments... In addition, this story has more dialogues then action-y scenes. I do have to admit, I laughed here and there with Jules' inner dialogue. One thing I did not like about this story is the pace. It was a bit too slow for my taste. I think it was all that dialogue?

Overall, the story was short, sweet and overall cute. Anyone looking for a rom-con read, then they should read this.

Blog Tour: Reign: The Prophecy and Hysteria by Lily Blake | Inspired Hair and Makeup! + Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on Reign: The Prophecy and Hysteria tour for Lily Blake. This tour is hosted by Irish Banana Tours.

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The Prophecy
Reign #1
Author: Lily Blake
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Released: September 23, 2014
Review Source: Poppy

An original novel based on the hit television series, Reign.

Since Mary, Queen of Scotland was a child, the English have wanted her country and her crown. She is sent to France to wed its next king--to save herself and her people. It's a bond that should protect her, but there are forces that conspire...forces of darkness, forces of the heart. Mary's rule, and her life, has never been safe.

Find out what happens to Mary, Francis, Bash, and the rest of the French court after the season one finale.

Long may she reign.

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Hysteria
Reign #2
Author: Lily Blake
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Released: May 12, 2015
Review Source: Poppy

France is aflame with rumors of witchcraft and treachery. Who will be burn for their transgressions? Find out in this haunting original novel based on the hit CW television show, Reign.

Something sinister has been sweeping the villages surrounding the French court. Rumors of Satan's horsemen traveling the countryside and claiming the souls of villagers have sent the people reeling into a religious frenzy and soon fear and suspicion lead them to accuse a young girl of witchcraft. After the prisoner is brought to the palace for questioning, Mary, Greer, Kenna, and Lola work to prove her innocence. But there are others who will stop at nothing to see the girl and her secrets silenced forever...

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Makeup tutorial and Hair inspired by Reign!

Guys, I don't think I've ever been this excited to be on a blog tour as I am now. Because, not only does it involve my first love: books, but I am also able to bring in my newfound love of makeup! About a year ago I started working with a makeup artist who trained me and eventually I became a certified Makeup Artist! Although it isn't something I continued to pursue I am still as obsessed, if not more, with all things makeup. So, when this blog tour became available and we were allowed to come up with creative posts I was immediately drawn to coming up with a simple makeup tutorial a la Reign! Okay, okay, enough chatter. Let's move on to the tutorial!

1. With a shader brush (MAC 239) I packed on the color "Sultry" from the Nudetude eyeshadow palette by the Balm. Any soft brown will work. I noticed it wasn't as dark as I wanted it so I LIGHTLY picked up the dark brown color "Sleek" and swept it over the lid.

2. Using a crease blending brush (MAC 217) I blended the edge of the shadow I just applied. Back and forth motions not letting the brush go above my crease. Blend. Blend. Blend.

3. With a larger blending brush (MAC 224) I picked up the color "Fawn" from the Anastasia contour palette and blended it all over my crease. You can use any brown that is a shade or two lighter than the first soft brown I used. This gives your eyeshadow look a nice gradient. Blend. Blend. Blend.

4. With a flat liner brush (MAC 212) I lightly picked up the black eyeshadow "Serious" and lined close to the lashes just like you're doing eyeliner. You don't have to be perfect here! I was going for a smokey liner, but not full on liner! No wings in REIGN boo LOL.

5. With a pencil brush (MAC 210) I picked up "Sultry" (soft brown) again and swept it under my bottom lashes. Blend it to make sure there are no harsh lines.

6. I then curled my lashes and applied a layer of MAC False Lashes mascara to my top and bottom lashes.

7. With my E.L.F. small stipple brush I applied Bold Berry blush by Mary Kay cosmetics to the apples of my cheeks. Smile when you do this!

8. Finally with a lip brush I applied the lipstick Rosette by Mary Kay.

Here are the products used:

The makeup featured on the TV show Reign is always very subtle and natural. Not any bold lips, smokey eyes, and contouring going on! But I do love how wearable this look is. It is easily how I do my makeup almost every day. 

For the hair…

I left it straight because that's how I like it. Also because curling irons are my mortal enemies. I picked up two pieces from the front and pinned them back with bobby pins. And then the coolest part was this awesome headpiece I picked up at Forever21 last summer. Mary and her ladies rock a lot of amazing headpieces and it wouldn't be a Reign look without one! I think this one is more Kenna's style. Agree?

Here are a few more shots of the finished look! I hope you guys enjoyed it and learned something cool :)

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Giveaway!

1 Grand Prize Winner will receive both books in the REIGN series and a set of Season 1 DVDs
2 Winners will receive both REIGN books

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

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Six Impossible Things
Six Impossible Things/Wildlife #1
Author: Fiona Wood
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: August 11 2015
Review Source: Poppy

Fourteen year old nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a reversal of family fortune, moving house, new school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and an impossible crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things...

Dan is a teenager who is just trying to live his life to the best of his ability. When things turn upside down he feels like this is an impossible feat. With that comes the list of six impossible things. The 6 things in which he things will never happen - but he wants to work on it and see if he can make them possible.

This story is really adorable. I just wanted to give Dan a hug at the end of the book honestly. I really loved the writing. Wood does a wonderful job of making sure the story flows. It wasn't choppy at all - I felt as if I was just an extension of Dan and that the book was just my thoughts in my head. While sometimes my thoughts can be jumpy, Six Impossible Things was definitely not.

I also really liked the relationship build-up. I'm use to, and I'm sure most other readers are use to, Boy-meets-Girl, BAM they're in love. I felt like this was more so Boy-meets-Girl, wants to like her, has to work to make her like him. That was refreshing for me to see - mainly because this is what happens so often. It's rare for the BAM type of stories.

I feel like we could all take a piece of this book - even if we have things that we think are impossible, we should just try to make them possible. Who knows what will happen?

Book Review: A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

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A Million Miles Away
Author: Lara Avery
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Romance
Released: July 7 2015
Review Source: Poppy

Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, this breathtaking story of love and loss is guaranteed to break your heart and sweep you off your feet.

When high school senior Kelsey's identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn't know about the tragedy is Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can't bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.

As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can't deny that she's falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn't want

Kelsey and Michelle are identical twins. They're use to everyone getting them mixed up, even though they are - personality wise - worlds apart. When Michelle dies Kelsey has to learn to go on, but realizes that Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, is unaware of her passing because the news hasn't gotten back to him in Afghanistan. Not wanting Peter's head to be unclear while he's fighting, Kelsey keeps up the pretenses that she is Michelle and that Michelle is doing well, this also allows her to feel as though she is still close with her sister. Unsure when to break the news of what happened to Michelle, Kelsey ends up falling in love and finding herself.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. I was also able to finish it within a day. I mean it took me a while to start it up, but once I got to chapter 3 I just sat down and read. I read somewhere that this book was akin to Nicholas Sparks -- and while I love his movies and have yet to read one of his books, I do know that they are over done. You go see a Nicholas Sparks movie and know how the story will play out. Sometimes you only go because you're favorite eye-candy is the lead man. I fall victim to this too, and I tend to love Nicholas Sparks' movies. But that doesn't mean I want to read another one of those types of stories. So this was why I was apprehensive about reading this. But this was not just a romance novel, it was a novel about learning how to move on.

Yes there is a love story, and yes I was hooked because of Peter, but at the heart of it all the moral revolves around Kelsey and how she is dealing with the loss of her twin sister. Kelsey is practically a normal high school teenager. I'm positive most of my friends were like Kelsey in high school. Where Michelle is the artsy type who goes against the norm, such as myself. But after Michelle dies Kelsey has to learns more and more about herself which makes her realize that she has an artsy side to her that she just didn't really know about.

This book is definitely heart wrenching - I mean off the bat you know Michelle will die. And having this little bit of knowledge going into the book I wasn't expecting to get an attachment to her within the first few chapters. I basically assumed that chapter 1 we'd hear mention of Michelle and then bam she'd be dead. But instead Avery makes you ache for Michelle's death. There's other things that you ache for, such as Peter and his well being, or Kelsey and her well being. But that's good - means you're attached to the characters and the story that is unfolding in front of you.

Book Review: Those Girls by Lauren Saft

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Those Girls
Author: Lauren Saft
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: June 9th 2015
Review Source: NetGalley | Poppy

Junior year, the suburbs of Philadelphia. Alex, Mollie and Veronica are those girls: They're the best of friends and the party girls of the school. But how well does everybody know them-and really, how well do they know one another? Alex is secretly in love with the boy next door and has joined a band-without telling anyone. Mollie suffers from a popular (and possibly sociopathic) boyfriend and a serious mean streak. And Veronica just wants to be loved-literally, figuratively, physically...she's not particular. Will this be the year that bonds them forever or tears them apart for good?

In a debut novel that is raw, honest, hilarious, and thought-provoking, Lauren Saft masterfully conveys what goes on in the mind of a teenage girl and how often even the closest of friends walk the thin line between love and hate.

This book is about those girls. You know, the ones who are inseparable best friends that have been that way almost all their lives. Where one goes, the other is sure to follow.

Mollie and Alex have been friends for as long as either one of them can remember. Then a bit later, they had met Veronica and became a trifecta. So, fast forward to the first day of junior year and it seems as if it’s all business as usual. Mollie is terrified she’s pregnant, Alex is there to rub her back and take her to get morning after pills, and Veronica can’t wait to talk about the fabulous summer she’s had.

This book is everything a person would think high school would’ve been - boys, parties, smoke, lights, drama, and best friend rivalry.

At the beginning, I wasn’t even sure what the real conflict was. It just seemed to be a story of three girls who are all trying to be something better for themselves and grow, and that, maybe, they weren’t growing at the same pace or direction.

Before you know it, couples are cheating, secrets are being kept, and no one even knows what has happened during this school year.

This book just wasn’t my type of story. There’s just too much unnecessary drama. It just showcases teens as irrational, overly emotional, hypersexualized, destructive beings.

I will say, the characters are very well developed and everyone had their own defining properties.

Book Review: Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys) by Amy Spalding

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Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys)
Author: Amy Spalding
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: April 7th 2015
Review Source: Poppy Books

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist meets Easy A in this hilariously realistic story of sneaking out, making out, and playing in a band.

After catching their bandmates in a compromising position, sixteen-year-old Los Angelenos Riley and Reid become painfully aware of the romance missing from their own lives. And so a pact is formed: they'll both try to make something happen with their respective crushes and document the experiences in a shared notebook.

While Reid struggles with the moral dilemma of adopting a dog to win over someone's heart, Riley tries to make progress with Ted Callahan, who she's been obsessed with forever-His floppy hair! His undeniable intelligence! But suddenly cute guys are popping up everywhere. How did she never notice them before?! With their love lives going from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye, Riley and Reid realize the results of their pact may be more than they bargained for.

Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys) takes you straight into high school. And, every bit of it is enjoyable to say the least! We follow Riley, an alluring character, that literally makes you laugh out loud. No, seriously, Amy Spalding deserves all the awards for making you physically laugh very loudly. I definitely see the comparison to a movie like Easy A. It's about a characters' journey of growing up and maturing, making some sloppy mistakes along the way. Doesn't that define everyone at some point? It is definitely what makes Riley super relatable.

Riley tackles situations with a jump gun start. Like, speaking before you think so to say. She, and her best friend Reid, do make the pact that they each WILL try to make things happen with their crushes. But, what happens when one crush turns into three? *AKA Every other teenager in the world* (Okay, maybe saying every is a bit excessive but you get the picture.) All Riley is worried about is making out. Which is cute, but can seem a little too cheesy at some points. It didn't take away from the overall book though. Reid, on the other hand, calculates his every move which, in my opinion, is totally adorable. I couldn't decide who my favorite male character was. Reid, or Ted Callahan! There I go having two crushes. See what I mean?!

Kissing Ted Callahan, with all it's cuteness and LOL laughter, is definitely a must read for those in high school, or those wanting to walk down their teenage memory lane.

Cover Reveals: Persuasion | Lock & Mori | Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

There have been quite a few cover reveals in the bookish world lately. 

Here are a few that stand out to us.

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Persuasion

The Heirs of Watson Island #2

Author: Martina Boone 

Release Date: October 28th 2015

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Grieving the death of her godfather and haunted by her cousin Cassie’s betrayal, Barrie returns from a trip to San Francisco to find the Watson plantation besieged by reporters and ghost-hunters. Some are hoping to see the ancient spirit who sets the river on fire each night, while others are chasing rumors of a stolen shipment of Civil War gold that may be hidden at Colesworth Place. Chaos descends as Cassie hires a team of archeologists to excavate beneath the mansion ruins. But more is buried there than treasure.

A mysterious, magical man appears at Watson’s Landing, claiming the key to the Watson and Beaufort gifts and the Colesworth curse also lies beneath the mansion. With a mix of threats and promises, he engages Barrie and Cassie in a midnight visit, but the spell he conjurs has potentially deadly consequences.

While Barrie and dreamy Eight Beaufort struggle to make sense of the escalating danger and their growing feelings for each other, Barrie has to figure out not only whom to trust, but which gift is more reliable—Eight’s or her own. With millions of dollars and the fate of the founding families at stake, she must choose between what she feels deep in her heart and what will keep her loved ones safe.

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Lock & Mori

Lock & Mori #1
Author: Heather W. Petty

Release Date: September 15th 2015

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's

FACT: Someone has been murdered in London’s Regent’s Park. The police have no leads.

FACT: Miss James “Mori” Moriarty and Sherlock “Lock” Holmes should be hitting the books on a school night. Instead, they are out crashing a crime scene.

FACT: Lock has challenged Mori to solve the case before he does. Challenge accepted.

FACT: Despite agreeing to Lock’s one rule—they must share every clue with each other—Mori is keeping secrets.

OBSERVATION: Sometimes you can’t trust the people closest to you with matters of the heart. And after this case, Mori may never trust Lock again.

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Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Release Date: September 1st 2015

Publisher: Poppy

On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan only have one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they'll retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night will lead them to friends and family, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

This new must-read novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that must be made when life and love lead in different directions.