CLP Blog Tour: Hard Hats and Doormats

You know that feeling you get when you're reading a really great book and you don't want it to end? I got that feeling when I read Hard Hats and Doormats, the debut novel by Laura Chapman. It was that enjoyable and that good.

Here's the synopsis:

Lexi Burke has always been a stickler for following rules and procedures. As a human resources manager for a leading Gulf Coast chemical company, it’s her job to make sure everyone else falls in line, too. 
But after losing out on a big promotion–-because her boss sees her as too much of a yes-woman––Lexi adopts a new policy of following her heart instead of the fine print. And her heart knows what it wants: Jason Beaumont, a workplace crush who is off limits based on her previous protocol.
While navigating a new romance and interoffice politics, Lexi must find the confidence to stand on her own or face a lifetime of following someone else’s orders.
Who says nice girls have to finish last?

Confession: Laura and I are virtual besties. We've been calling ourselves that for awhile now, so long, in fact, that I can't even remember exactly what it was that made us declare ourselves besties. The virtual needed to be added because I'm in Ontario and Laura lives in Nebraska. So, because we're so close, virtually, I immediately signed up to be part of the CLP Blog Tour for her debut novel. It gave me such a thrill to know that her book was being published. I was proud of her! So, some may think I'm biased, but I think anyone who reads this novel will love it just as much as I did.

I can't remember the last character I read about that I loved this much. I desperately wanted to be Lexi's friend. I loved her personality and I totally related to her. That actually wasn't really that hard because we have a lot in common, including being in our mid-twenties. I completely understood her frustration at her job and wishing she had more choice in careers. I can relate as we're still at the point where any job is better than no job thanks to the brutal economy. I liked that she and her friends would go out to pubs to have a few drinks and hang out instead of going out clubbing. That's what my friends and I like to do, too. Sometimes we get incredibly drunk, like Lexi does on occasion, but sometimes we just go for a few and have a good time, again like Lexi does sometimes. Chapman did a great job of accurately portraying the lifestyle of a twenty four year old (not surprising since she's also in her twenties) and I really appreciated that. I don't know if I can really explain it but I really did want to be besties with Lexi and, by extension, her BFFs. When that happens with a character the book is a winner for me.

I also loved that this novel was funny. It's not a comedy but Chapman wrote characters who were smart and witty. They also got themselves into some interesting conversations, there's a misinterpreted line about crabs at one point, that had me laughing out loud. Then there was this scene (warning, swearing is present!):

I think part of what made this so funny is that my boyfriend is a journalist and I had just made a comment similar to this to him the night before reading this book!

There was only one little thing that I wished had been different in this book. There were a few occasions when I felt like I was missing out on events and conversations. Unless I missed something, the first weekend Lexi and Jason spend together isn't written about. The second weekend is but I feel like that's just not as important as the very first time they spend together. The second, third, and so on could be glossed over but not the very first time they spend significant time together.

I loved the romance in this novel. OK, fine. I loved Jason. He might be my book boyfriend of 2014. There was just something about him that made me swoon as much as Lexi did whenever he was around. I appreciated that the romance wasn't the only part of the story. This was helped along by the fact that we knew right away who Lexi was interested in. Instead of a book full of "will they or won't they?" we get part of that and part of watching the beginning of a relationship. It was a really nice balance.

Other little odds and ends: Lexi named her work phone and I found that ridiculously amusing. I also loved every character name in this book. Lexi, Jason, Brenna, Kara, Cameron....all great names!

As I write this, Hard Hats and Doormats is my favourite book of 2014. Laura Chapman has written a fabulous novel and I think so many people would enjoy as well. Check it out! 

Make sure you check back here in the next few days as I have an awesome guest post from Laura coming up on February 3rd and a Q&A with the author herself on the 5th. While you're waiting, check out all the other reviews and posts that are part of the CLP Blog Tour!

PS A fun fact: this is my 500th post on Books Etc.! That's crazy!

*A copy of this novel was provided for the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.*

Top Ten Tuesday: Don't Make Me Live There!

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

Have you ever read a book and thought, "My god, I never ever want to live in this world or trade places with this character. The hell they have to go through!"? That's what this week's Top Ten Tuesday is all about. We had to choose ten worlds we'd never want to live in or ten characters who we would never trade places with. It was an interesting list to created and, not surprisingly, there's a lot of fantasy/dystopian type worlds and characters listed. What would you put on your list? Links lead to Goodreads.

Worlds

This one gets a big ol' "duh". Is there anyone who would want to live in a world where The Hunger Games exists? Suzanne Collins created a hell of a story and Panem is great to read about but I'd rather stay in today's North America, thank you very much.

I love Jane Austen's books. I love reading about 19th century England. I do not want to live there. Sure, it'd be peaceful without all the traffic and smog and so on, but I like my modern conveniences - like toothbrushes and Twitter. 

Divergent's world is a little less crazy on the dystopian chart but the things that happen in their world are no less devastating. I also wouldn't want to be controlled by some whacked out woman and 'wake up' to find I had killed my neighbour. Ugh.

Tanya Huff wrote an awesome story and the world's pretty cool but there's some weird sort of approved incest thing that happens. I never really understood it but from what I could tell first cousins would sleep together after getting all hot and bothered during a magical outing. Really weird. But great novel. Oh, and there are some crazy and evil Dragon Lords (that might not be their correct title but it's been awhile since I read the book) that are running around the city, too.

Characters

Before you jump down my throat, let me explain. The world Harry Potter lives in is one that I'd give up almost anything to live in because I love it so. BUT, I don't want to be Harry Potter. The pressure that kid was under was enormous and I wouldn't want to be in his place.

Caitlin is the main character in Sarah Dessen's novel Dreamland. I wouldn't want to be her because she ends up dating a real asshole who treats her horribly and is all kinds of abusive. Rereading this book last year was really hard because I really felt like I wanted to save Caitlin. It was like reading about a little sister or cousin or niece who you weren't able to save until it was almost too late. Heartbreaking.

I wouldn't want to trade places with Emma, from Catherine McKenzie's novel Forgotten, for a couple of reasons. First, she's in Africa when a devastating earthquake hits (think the 2010 earthquake in Haiti). That's not fun. Second, because of that earthquake and the issues it creates with communications, her friends and family think she's dead. Uhhh...so not fun. Excellent book, though, by one of my favourite authors.

I really like the fun, cozy mysteries by Joanne Fluke that feature Hannah Swensen. They have recipes throughout and main character Hannah owns a cookie shop. But, they are mysteries, and this is the reason I wouldn't want to be Hannah. She's always the one to find the dead bodies! That's not my idea of fun.

I picked Dan Brown's most famous character because of the way his career would have progressed. If I chose to get an obscene amount of education and then work on my own research projects while being a professor at a prestigious American college, I'm expecting to have a pretty low key life. That's not the case for Langdon. He repeatedly gets pulled into dangerous, life threatening situations all around the world. I doubt that's what he signed up for!

Ursula Todd had an extraordinary life. Er. Lives. She's the main character from the amazing novel Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. She relives her life over and over and over again. I don't think that's something I would like. I wouldn't want to know what's going to happen (like World War II) and be powerless to stop it. 

Review: Catch of the Day

Catch of The Day by Carla Caruso was a sweet read. I didn't love it but I didn't dislike it. I did, however, love that it was set in Australia!

Here's the synopsis:

After a regrettable incident at the office Christmas party, up-and-coming fashion editor, Winnie Cherry, is banished to coastal South Australia to set up a beach lifestyle magazine – 300km from nowhere.
Her friends joke that she'll marry a rich cray fisherman and stay there for good, but Winnie has other ideas. Determined to get back to Sydney within two months, she gets to work and starts counting down the days. Until she meets handsome freelance photographer Alex Bass, and sparks begin to fly.
As Winnie is increasingly drawn into the close-knit local community, she starts to question whether city life is really what she wants. That is, until Alex drops a bombshell that casts dark storm clouds over all her coastal dreams…

This was a really middle of the road book for me. I didn't fall in love with the characters (or really even fall in like with them) but I still wanted to know what would happen to them at the end of the novel. I knew there were going to be major issues coming up (the foreshadowing wasn't very well done and I figured out the basics of Alex's secret) and I wondered how the characters would deal with them. I rooted for them as I wanted to see everyone have a happily ever after ending. 

This novel had a Pride and Prejudice feel to it. When Winnie and Alex first meet they instantly dislike each other based on a split second judgement. I'm glad they eventually got to know each other and realized that the other had more going on with them than what was on the surface. That being said...it was kind of hard to believe Winnie's change in attitude over the course of the novel. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with the town and her city girl persona seemed so ingrained in her that it was a touch harder than it should have been to see her small town girl personality come out and shine. 

My favourite part of the whole book was the setting. I don't often come across books that are set in Australia. In fact, I can't remember the last book I read that was set there, let alone written by an Australian author. Not only was the setting lovely but the language was authentic too. Caruso used a lot of Australian terms (including ute...which I am only just now looking up because I had no idea what the hell kind of transportation device it was...ha! Short form for 'utility vehicle'. Learn something new every day.) and, while I was lost with some of them (obviously), I was still glad they were included. 

I also really like the look of the cover (other than the fact that the author's name is taking up half the cover...hate that). The blues are so pretty and the woman sitting on the dock could totally be Winnie (except for the hair colour. She was described as a strawberry blonde...as well as auburn and dusty blonde...). I also love that pop of red with the heart dangling on the line off the 'd'.

Overall, Catch of the Day was a fun read. Carla Caruso has written a sweet chick lit novel that I think lots of others would enjoy, even if I didn't absolutely love it.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Reread: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

A few months ago a bunch of Toronto area bloggers got together for an event and they got to talking about how they all wanted to do a reread of the Harry Potter series. It turns out there are a lot of people who want to revisit the world J.K Rowling created! Michele of Just a Lil' Lost put together a sign up post and opened it up to other readers and bloggers. As of mid-January there were 25 people signed up, which is pretty cool. It's a very casual readalong as you can read at your own pace as there aren't any prompts or anything. We're all staying connected by posting on Twitter or Instagram with #HPreread. The goal is to read a book a month. My goal is to put up some sort of post after every reread but I haven't really decided how each month will look. Some may be longer than others and some may be more rambling. They definitely won't be "true" reviews because, hello, almost everyone has read these books. Though I'd recommend not reading each post unless you've read the entire series. It's all up in the air at this point so we'll see how the year goes! First up, my thoughts on my reread of book number one, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Before starting the book I was trying to remember how old I was when I first came across Harry Potter. I know I was still in elementary school and I'm 95% certain only the first three books were released. A friend of the family, who had a daughter the same age as my younger sister, told my mom about these awesome magical books and said we had to read them too. I am so thankful for that recommendation! Goodreads tells me that Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were both released in 1999 so that must have been the year we read them meaning my sister was 9 and I was 12. So, assuming that's correct, Harry Potter has been part of my life for about fifteen years. That's over half my life. Kind of crazy, no?

I wasn't sure what to expect with this reread. It's been a long time since I've reread all the books (at least four years but probably closer to five or even six) and I wondered if the magic would still be there for me. I knew exactly what was going to happen after all (the last time I reread them the final book had yet to be released). On a Saturday morning I settled myself on my couch, under a blanket and with a cup of tea, and found that I was amazed at how happy it made me to be rereading a favourite book. I had been having a crap week and everything seemed better after I started reading. Amazing what books can do, isn't it?

I was really looking forward to seeing what I had missed the first few times I read the series. Rowling does such an awesome job of hiding seemingly innocent details in the story that you don't realize until later how extremely important they are. The jinxed broom during the Quidditch match and the Mirror of Erised are important parts of this story and I liked rereading those scenes to see what I missed the very first time I read the book. I also found the detention scene very interesting. Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Neville have to go into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid and Fang and at one point Hagrid says, "There's nothin' that lives in the Forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang." (page 183) Is that a bit of foreshadowing, particularly with the spiders in Chamber? I had also forgotten that Hagrid gives Harry a photo album full of pictures of his family but I did consciously notice this time around that Harry had never seen his parents until he looked in the Mirror of Erised. I can't imagine what that would have been like. Something else that I had never noticed before was this exchange between Dumbledore and Harry at the end of the book when Harry is recovering from meeting Voldemort. Harry asks why Voldemort would want to kill him and this is Dumbledore's reply, "Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day...put it from our mind for now, Harry. When you are older...I know you hate to hear this...when you are ready, you will know." (page 216) Had anyone else recalled that exchange? It takes so long for Harry to finally realize the reason Voldemort wants him dead that I didn't think about what Dumbledore told him in the first book.

One of the interesting and sort of unimportant things I noted included the realization that Lily, Harry's mother, and Petunia, his aunt, are both named after flowers. I also found myself wondering what it would have been like had there been a magical sort of Google available to the students. You know how much easier it would have been for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to find Nicholas Flamel if they were just able to pop it into a search engine? Actually, now that I think about it, I bet that sort of thing would have been banned from the school and students would still be made to use the library!

Next, let's talk about the feelings. I found myself getting increasingly excited as Harry received his first letter, went off to Diagon Alley (love love love that part of the book), and finally traveled to Hogwarts. I love that we learn about the magical world right along with Harry and I wonder if that's what makes it so easy to relate to. This boy is also learning all these new things like we are but he's accepting them so we should too. Interesting thought. I was filled with mixed emotions whenever Draco showed up because, while he's a horrible boy in the first books, he eventually comes into his own, in a positive way, in the very end. Same goes for Snape. I really liked reading the parts with him because of what we learn at the end of the series. I was also reminded how much I love the chess scene near the end of the story. Ron has always been my favourite and I realized how important this scene is in setting the stage for his and Harry's friendship. He takes control of the giant chess game and Harry allows that because he realizes he can't do it alone (sure, he struggles with that eventually but let's not worry about that now). The same goes for Hermione and the potions but for some reason the chess scene stands out more for me. Finally, and most importantly, I got goosebumps during Dumbledore's end of year speech as he awarded Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville points and explained why he was doing so. I was surprised by that because I knew what was coming but I was still completely affected by it.

I tweeted 15 times while doing the reread. I liked this because I know I would like to read tweets from people as they reread Harry Potter and it allows others doing the reread know that I'm working my way through the book. On the other hand, it took away from the solid reading time I had set aside. Every once and awhile I would stop, pick up my phone, tweet something funny/interesting/emotional and then go back to reading again. It sort of took me out of the story too much and I wonder if I'll tweet as much as I read the other novels. I used Storify to create a compilation of all my #HPreread tweets so use this link to check 'em all out if you missed them the first time around.

The Harry Potter movies have become such a huge part of the whole universe Rowling created and I found it hard to remember how I pictured the characters when I first read the books. All I see and hear in my head now are the actors' faces and voices. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it reminds me why I love reading so much. I love being able to create my own little picture of the characters and world in my head.

Finally, I realized what I love about this series, and the first book in particular. It's the world building Rowling does. I adore the magical world of Harry Potter and I'm able to really understand what's in it because of the way Rowling writes. She has every little bit of information about the world - even if it's not in the book - so we, the reader, know why things are the way they are, like how many Knuts are in a Sickle (It's 29 for those who forgot. 17 Sickles to a Galleon). Speaking of which, can we have that Harry Potter encyclopedia already? :)

So there we have it. My thoughts and feels and reactions to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I am surprised by how much I desperately want to move onto Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets even though it's not my favourite. I'm definitely looking forward to February!

What I've learned from this month's reread and what I'll continue to do going forward:

• I'm definitely setting aside a solid chunk of uninterrupted time to read each book. Right now I'm not working so I can read it whenever I want but eventually I'll have a job (she says hopefully) and I'll only have a lot of open reading time on the weekends. These books are meant to be savoured and that means doing a lot of reading at one time.
• I really wanted to dive right into book two so I'm hoping I can restrain myself for the rest of the year. I think it'll get easier as the months go on because I'll have time to digest each book on it's own instead of reading the series as one huge book.
• I also really wanted to watch the movie right away but I'm going to wait to watch them until the end. And will probably bingewatch all eight over a weekend!

Review: Saving Saffron Sweeting

A week ago I realized I hadn't yet read a chick lit book in 2014. I decided to finally read Saving Saffron Sweeting because it had been sitting on my Kobo for months (bad blogger). I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner! I thoroughly enjoyed Pauline Wiles' novel. It was so fun and cute and British!

Here's the synopsis:

Grace Palmer’s British friends all think she’s living the American Dream. But her design business is floundering and when she discovers her husband is cheating with her best client, she panics and flees home to England.
The tranquil village of Saffron Sweeting appears to be a good place for Grace to lick her wounds, but the community is battling its own changes. Reluctantly, Grace finds herself helping her new neighbours as they struggle to adjust and save their businesses. However, not everyone has the same opinion on what’s good for the village. The charismatic new man in her life may have one speculative eye on Grace, but the other is firmly on profit. How will she navigate the tricky path between her home and her happiness?
With gentle humour and generous helpings of British tea and cake, Saving Saffron Sweeting explores one woman’s need to define herself through her career and community, before she can figure out who should be by her side.

I adored Saving Saffron Sweeting. I loved Grace, I loved the town, and I loved Mungo the dog, who repeatedly showed up at Grace's cottage. I'm a sucker for small town stories so I really loved the 'save the town' aspect of this novel. It was a lot of fun to see the ideas that Grace came up with and I was happy with the reception she received. 

What stood out for me was how British the novel was without it being in your face English and confusing. I love reading books set in Great Britain but sometimes there are obscure (to me) words that just confuse the heck out of me. In the case of this book, Wiles does a fabulous job of subtly explaining word choices. I think that's because Wiles moved from England to California, just like her main character, and likely understands the language barrier than can sometimes exist between Americans/Canadians and Brits. There were lots of British terms and such that were sprinkled throughout the book and I loved it. In one particular scene a few different British chocolate bars are mentioned (Side note: Americans, do you not have Crunchie bars? You are seriously missing out if that's the case.) along with Coronation Street, Doctor Who, and red plonk (aka wine). 

I had a sense of what would happen in the end but I really didn't know how that would eventually end up happening. Since I couldn't see a clear answer I was happy to read along and see where Wiles would take the story. How would Grace realize who she was supposed to be with? What would happen with the town? Would she stay in the town? (Oh, how I hoped she would!) 

Speaking of the journey towards the end of the novel, I really loved watching Grace grow as a person. She had a lot to figure out about herself before she could decide who she should be with romantically. I also liked that this wasn't your typical sort of 'a woman is scorned and goes off to sulk somewhere and is swept away by another man.' Sure, there were elements of that but Grace and her work played centre stage. That work, and the town, ultimately proves to be most important.

I don't know if my review has given Saving Saffron Sweeting justice but I hope it has. It was so incredibly enjoyable. If you're looking for a British chick lit story you can really get into, check out Pauline Wiles' debut novel. I think you'll like it as much as I did!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.*

Top Ten Tuesday: A Reading Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

I found this week's prompt to be quite interesting: a reader's wish list. What do I want authors to write about? Is there a certain type of character I wish would pop up more often? Are there issues, locations, plot lines, and time periods that I want to see in books? I put my thinking cap on and came up with some things that I wish would appear in the books I read. Let me know if you've heard of any awesome titles in the categories I come up with that you think I might like. I read mostly adult but will happily check out YA and NA books too! What's something that you'd love to see in a book?

Tall girls
Background information: I'm 6' tall. Not only is this tall for a female, it's tall for a male (last I checked the average male height is 5'10"). I'm totally cool with it (except when I have to buy clothes, especially pants) but I find that society and books are not. I bet there are only a handful of books that I've read when the author has explicitly stated that the heroine is tall (and doesn't mean tall like 5'6"). It's especially bad in the romance genre because women are supposed to be all tiny and cute and protected by their big, strong man (who, by the way, is usually only about 6' tall). Argh. Sure, this is a totally personal preference but I would love to see more tall ladies in the world of literature.
I have to give a shout out to one of my favourite authors, Anna Garner (who also writes under the name Libby Mercer). She's a fellow tall girl and a couple of years ago wrote a fabulous post about how she makes the effort to write tall main characters. I think she may be my spirit animal.

Canada
I feel like I have to really explain this one. I know there are tons of fabulous Canadian authors who write books set in Canada. But there are also many Canadian authors who set their stories in the US or elsewhere. There aren't many non-Canadians who write books set in my country and I have no idea why. I also find that there are hardly any (traditionally published) women's fiction titles set in Canada. That's why I was thrilled to bits when I came across Winter Wonderland by Belinda Jones (review here), a chick lit novel that takes place at the Quebec winter carnival. Can I get a little more Canadian lovin' from the authors out there?

Stories about girls in their mid to late twenties who still don't have their shit together
I know there are books like this out there. I just think there should be more. I say this because I'm turning 27 this year and I feel like I'm no further along than I was when I finished university at 22. Usually when books feature characters who are 25-30 those characters have a job, a house, a man, and sometimes a dog or even a baby. I can hardly look after myself let alone a kid. *shudders* (though my rabbit is doing quite well, don't worry.) I just think there are more and more people who are my age who have yet to figure out the whole career thing and I don't think that's being illustrated in novels. Which leads me to...

New Adult books that aren't all sex and angst
New Adult has great potential and I absolutely love the idea of it. What I don't love is the current trend. It seems like New Adult has become synonymous with sex/angst/bad boys/messed up girls. There are some awesome books that fall into that category, don't get me wrong, but that's only one genre under the title New Adult. I'd like to see more chick lit themed NA and I'm sure others would love some paranormal/fantasy/dystopian type NA titles as well. Fingers crossed this starts to change and we see other genres emerging that focus on characters who are 18-25.

Sports
I haven't found enough novels that have a sport playing a key role or have athletes as the main characters. I've read two that stand out, The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou and Gold by Chris Cleave, and I absolutely adored them. I think there should be more like these. Both of those, funnily enough, feature characters who are trying to get to the Olympics (both summer games but different years). Let's play ball, authors!

Traveling
I know there are lots of books like this. I just want more. Simple as that :)
I'm not much of a traveler myself and I've recently discovered that I like to do some armchair exploring along with the characters who go on road trips, cruises, train rides, and so on. (This was thanks to Just One Day and Just One Year. I couldn't get over how much I enjoyed the travel aspects of the book.)

Librarian and author main characters
I cannot tell you the last book I read that featured a main character who was either a librarian or an author. I like books, I like those professions, and I'd like to read more about both.
Other jobs I'd like to read more books about: travel writers, journalists, and event planners.

Art history fiction
There are some out there, I know. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan has been sitting on my shelf for far too long. But I like the idea of taking a painting, sculpture, artist and fictionalizing it a little bit. I really like art history and I like to see it woven into a novel.
Also acceptable: movie and television history novels.

Fairy tale retellings for adults
Do these exist? There seem to be a ton of YA novels that put a twist on fairy tales but I can't think of any that are written for adults (yes, I know adults can read YA).

Scotland
I've never been to Scotland but I will go someday. I'm a Stewart for crying out loud. I think I'd like to read more about characters who travel to Scotland who are not originally from there. I know these books exist so give me your recommendations!

Bunch of Mini Reviews 7

This edition of mini reviews is a mix of my own book (one) and library books (two). I'm still trying to use my library as much as possible even though there are some books I want to own myself. It's also a good way to break out of my comfort zone as it allows me to get some of the YA I've been missing out on. Without further ado, here is my seventh installment of mini reviews!

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (synopsis)

Before every Ontario Blogger Meet-Up, a massive file is started with lists of books bloggers have to give away or trade. I always peruse the list but I don't have much to offer nor do many books appeal to me because the vast majority of titles are YA. This year though, I saw that Wendy had Dash and Lily's Book of Dares up for grabs and she was willing to give it to me. Yay! I'm so glad she did because it was such a cute and enjoyable read!
I was hooked on this story as soon as I read the first few lines:

Imagine this:
You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite author's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spines, sits a red notebook.
What do you do?The choice, I think, is obvious:
You take down the read notebook and open it.
And then you do whatever it tells you to do. (page 1)

Doesn't that intrigue you? I loved that Dash and Lily met because of a scavenger hunt Lily thought up. I totally wanted to take part! I think the hunt exposed more of themselves and their personalities than Lily had intended but it was really great to read along as they learned more about each other and, oh so slowly, fell for each other.
I don't think this is a book that everyone will love though - and I think it's because of the characters. This is probably going to sound harsh/weird/judgmental but bear with me! This book was published in 2010, before the whole hipster scene became a popular thing. I mention this because Dash and Lily are total hipsters in training and that is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way (like my sister, for instance. I think she'd enjoy the story but she would have really disliked the characters, especially Dash). I was fine with it because these types of characters aren't often the focus of novels. I love Sarah Dessen and everything (fave author ever) but her main characters all have similar characteristics. Dash and Lily broke the average character mold and that was really enjoyable to read.
I liked that there was a touch of Christmas cheer (or anti-cheer in Dash's case) in this novel. Because it was a short read, it made it a perfect book for me to read over Christmas. I started it Christmas Eve and finished it in the wee hours of Boxing Day and it was delightful.
If you're looking for a different sort of contemporary YA read, check out Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. It was cute and a lot of fun!

Takedown Twenty - Janet Evanovich (synopsis)

I've been reading Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series for some time now - probably about ten years. Which is half the time the books have been around. Yes, my friends, One for the Money was released a whopping twenty years ago in 1994. I've been saying for awhile that I just kind of wished this series would end. I'm not loving it like I used to and it's gone on for so long. To be blunt...I'm sure the only reason this series is still being written and published is because it's making money. And that bugs me because there are so many other (better) novels out there that aren't getting the time of day because books like these are front and centre at the store. But that's an issue for another day...
Basically, I didn't love Takedown Twenty. It had the same humour and hijinks you'll always find in an Evanovich novel, particularly her Stephanie Plum series, and I found that kind of boring. My favourite part of the book had to do with the giraffe that was running around Trenton. I'm sure I would have found this amusing even if giraffes weren't one of my favourite animals but because they are, I found myself looking forward to every scene featuring Kevin (Lula decided the giraffe looked like a Kevin...she became quite attached to him).
I've decided that I will not read another Stephanie Plum book until I know it's the last one (so someone let me know, K?). You can't fault me for that...I need to know who she finally chooses! Will it be Morelli or Ranger? Until then, I'll pass on Plum's adventures because there are other books I'd rather spend my time on. I know tons of people will read this and enjoy it and that's totally fine. I am not one to judge what others read, trust me. I'm just done with Stephanie until Evanovich is.

Ten Tiny Breaths - K.A. Tucker (synopsis)

Now this should have been my first read of 2014. I could not put Ten Tiny Breaths down. I was hooked! Tucker created a really addictive story and interesting characters in the first of this series.
I did have a couple of problems with it and that's why I didn't give it five stars. It looks like I'm joining others who are not a fan of instalove. I haven't read a ton of books that are like this but as much as I know instant attraction can exist (I'm looking at you, lust), it was sort of hard to get over how quickly Kacey and Trent fell for each other. Another thing that kind of bugged me had to do with the big revelation that I saw coming and you probably will too but I can't say much more about it because I don't want to spoil anything. I just couldn't really see how Kacey could forgive such a huge lie. Everything else I can understand but the lying to her was hard to take.
I did appreciate that there were some serious issues addressed in this book and it wasn't all about the relationship. Kacey has some major problems to sort out thanks to the car accident she was in that killed her parents, her best friend, and her boyfriend. I think Tucker did a good job of showing how PTSD can really affect a person and how different people react to it in different ways.
I also like that the cover doesn't look like your typical New Adult cover (which tend to look like romance covers but with models who are in their twenties). Kudos to whoever approved that!
Even though I had a few issues, I really loved this book. I'll eventually read the next two books in the series, One Tiny Lie and Four Seconds to Lose, but I think I might wait a little while because they feature different characters and I want to stay with just Kacey and Trent for a little while longer.