Review: Restore Me by Tehereh Mafi

Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi
Narrated by Kate Simses (Narrator), James Fouhey (Narrator)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm using this for my Popsugar Reading Challenge Prompt for a book published in 2018.  I've been waiting for this book for a while and I really liked it.  I loved the original books and their companions and I can't wait to see where the rest of the series goes.  The audio book was a great option.  I kept pushing off the e-book because of time commitments, the audio was a great option for me. I thought the narrators did a good job with Juliette and Warner and the rest of the characters.

This picks up just weeks after Ignite Me ends, Juliette is now the Supreme Commander of North America and in charge of Sector 45. She has Castle and Warner by her side to help her through the politics and day to day leadership that comes with the end of a war, but she is overwhelmed. She doesn’t quite know what she’s doing and the rest of the Reestablishment isn’t quite sure what to make of her. They send emissaries in the form of the children of the other Supreme Commanders to get to know her and attend a summit being hosted by North America. She learns new information about her past and Warners’s past. Juliette isn’t pleased by what she learns and her power surges out of control. The ending is a total cliffhanger, but we learn some pretty interesting information. I’m anxious to learn where we are headed next.

Mafi’s writing is exceptional. It is lyrical and poetic, and I love the way she tells stories. There are parts of this that are significantly more adult than the past series. There is more violence and intimacy, and the writing is beautiful. This book is significantly more character driven than plot driven. There is a plot twist at the end, so I suspect the next book will be more plot driven. There isn’t much world building; I suspect this is because the world doesn’t play much into the story quite yet. This almost feels a bit like an origin story.

The characters are so broken in this. It makes them feel different than what I remember from the first series. They grew in the first set of books and they were strong at the end of Ignite. Here they have let the trauma set in and they are broken and insecure again. It is like they are starting over and letting all of that self doubt back in. Juliette doubts all of her abilities, Warner is a mess, they have communication issues, and their relationship suffers. I do like how we get excerpts from Juliette’s journal to give some perspective on her inner monologue and Warner addresses his anxiety issues. Kenji is now the comic relief, which I appreciated, he was really funny and the story needed that. We don’t get much Adam in this, and when we do he is also broken. I do like some of the new side characters. As a fan of the original series, I really enjoyed this new installment and I’m looking forward to the remaining books. I suggest keeping an open mind when reading because it isn’t the same, but it is still good and fans will still enjoy it.

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FREE BOOK: Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid

"6++ stars!! It was amazing, and I feel richer for having read it. A true treasure I will keep close to my heart. I loved it." -Belle Aurora, USA Today Best Selling Author

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This is a full-length novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the fourth book in the 'Knitting in the City' series.

There are three things you need to know about Ashley Winston: 1) She has six brothers and they all have beards, 2) She is a reader, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Former beauty queen, Ashley Winston’s preferred coping strategy is escapism. She escaped her Tennessee small town, loathsome father, and six brothers eight years ago. Now she escapes life daily via her Amazon kindle one-click addiction. However, when a family tragedy forces her to return home, Ashley can’t escape the notice of Drew Runous— local Game Warden, bear wrestler, philosopher, and everyone’s favorite guy. Drew’s irksome philosophizing in particular makes Ashley want to run for the skyscrapers, especially since he can’t seem to keep his exasperating opinions— or his soulful poetry, steadfast support, and delightful hands— to himself. Pretty soon the girl who wanted nothing more than the escape of the big city finds she’s lost her heart in small town Tennessee.

Blog Tour: MOONLIGHT SEDUCTION by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Moonlight Seduction: A de Vincent Novel from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout is available NOW!

Go check out my review here.

The de Vincent brothers are back—and so is the intrigue that surrounds them—in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s sizzling new novel . . .

Nicolette Bresson never thought she’d return to the de Vincents’ bayou compound. It’s where her parents work, where Nikki grew up . . . and where she got her heart broken by Gabriel de Vincent himself. Yet here she is, filling in for her sick mother. Avoiding Gabe should be easy, especially when so much of Nikki’s time is spent trying not to be stabbed in the back by the malicious hangers-on who frequent the mansion. But escaping memories of Gabe, much less his smoking-hot presence, is harder than expected—especially since he seems determined to be in Nikki’s space as much as possible.

Gabriel spent years beating himself up over his last encounter with Nikki. He’d wanted her then, but for reasons that were bad for both of them. Things have now changed. Gabe sees more than a girl he’s known forever; he sees a smart, talented, and heartbreakingly beautiful woman . . . one who’s being stalked from the shadows. Now, Gabe will do anything to keep Nikki safe—and to stop the de Vincent curse from striking again.

Download your copy today!

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Excerpt:

He moved forward, maybe a foot or two, but stopped like one would if they were approaching a rabid dog. A heartbeat passed. “Your hair . . .” He tilted his head to the side. “It’s different.” “Yeah, it is.” Her hair used to be a rather dull medium brown, but then she found this amazing hair stylist in Tuscaloosa and turned her brown hair into this array of blondes and browns, using some weird technique called balayage. “It’s basically just highlights and stuff.” “Stuff.” His gaze flickered over the bun. Uncomfortable, she scanned the kitchen. “And my hair is longer. A lot longer.” His brows lifted. Was she really telling him the length of her hair? This was the most strained conversation she’d ever had in her life. And that was, well, it was sad. She peeked at him. It used to not be this way. Back before . . . well, before she ruined everything, he’d be teasing her and asking about her college. He’d be talking to her like he could actually stand being in the same room with her. She needed this conversation to be over like it was yesterday and she also needed to figure out how she could work here and not run into Gabe. The house was big enough that it should be possible. “I need to get back to—” “Planting your face against the over door?” Her shoulders slumped. “Actually, I need to finish the potatoes. So, if you’ll excuse me.” She started to turn away, praying that he’d just leave. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say to me? Because I have a lot I need to say to you,” he said. “Never in a million years did I think I’d see you here again.” Nikki’s spine stiffened like steel had been poured into it. Oh God. Her throat spasmed. “We need to talk.” “No we don’t,” she said quickly. “We do not need to talk about anything.” “Bullshit,” he snapped, and his voice was so much closer that she turned to him on instinct. Gabe was now at the edge of the massive island, only two or three feet from her. She stepped back into the counter. Her heart thundered in her chest as her gaze flicked to the kitchen door. “No one is coming near here,” he said as if reading her mind. Her gaze flew back to his. “Dev is in his office on the second floor, in a meeting and your father is out with the landscaper. No one is going to hear us.” A weird mixture of sensations assaulted her. One was a chill that skated down her spine. The other was a tight, hot shiver that danced over her skin. Gabe kept coming at her, not stopping until he was right in front of her, separated by a few inches. She sucked in air, catching the crisp, clean scent of his cologne. It reminded her of storms, of that night. That was the last thing she wanted to be reminded of. Like his brother, he was a good head and then some taller than her, so right now, her eyes were fastened to his chest. Thank God he was wearing a shirt. “I . . . I don’t want to talk,” she managed to say. “I do.” “Gabe—” “You owe me this.” Her body jerked as she pressed her lips together. He was right. She owed him a conversation. “Okay.” There was another beat of silence and then he asked in a voice so low she almost didn’t believe she heard him right. “Did I hurt you that night?”

Start the Series Today!

Moonlight Sins (de Vincent series, book 1)

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About Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins. She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring authors a chance to win a fully paid trip to RT Book Reviews.

Connect with Jennifer L. Armentrout:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLArmentrout

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JLArmentrout

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_l_armentrout/

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Stay up to date with Jennifer by joining her mailing list today: https://bit.ly/2qBce5m

https://jenniferlarmentrout.com

Release Blitz: MOONLIGHT SEDUCTION by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Moonlight Seduction: A de Vincent Novel from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout is LIVE!

Go check out my review here.

The de Vincent brothers are back—and so is the intrigue that surrounds them—in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s sizzling new novel . . .

Nicolette Bresson never thought she’d return to the de Vincents’ bayou compound. It’s where her parents work, where Nikki grew up . . . and where she got her heart broken by Gabriel de Vincent himself. Yet here she is, filling in for her sick mother. Avoiding Gabe should be easy, especially when so much of Nikki’s time is spent trying not to be stabbed in the back by the malicious hangers-on who frequent the mansion. But escaping memories of Gabe, much less his smoking-hot presence, is harder than expected—especially since he seems determined to be in Nikki’s space as much as possible.

Gabriel spent years beating himself up over his last encounter with Nikki. He’d wanted her then, but for reasons that were bad for both of them. Things have now changed. Gabe sees more than a girl he’s known forever; he sees a smart, talented, and heartbreakingly beautiful woman . . . one who’s being stalked from the shadows. Now, Gabe will do anything to keep Nikki safe—and to stop the de Vincent curse from striking again.

Watch the Trailer: 

https://video214.com/play/68tr6CJfhPy1JH2zkvX2HQ/s/dark

Trailer by: Jillian Stein

Preorder Today!

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2GiWCeo

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Start the Series Today!

Moonlight Sins (de Vincent series, book 1)

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2v8VLen

Amazon Universal: https://mybook.to/moonlightsins

Nook: http://bit.ly/MoonlightSins-Nook

iBooks: http://bit.ly/MoonlightSins-iBooks

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2EHHQLQ

Audible: http://amzn.to/2DJB1JZ

About Jennifer L. Armentrout

1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.


Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.


She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring authors a chance to win a fully paid trip to RT Book Reviews.

Connect with Jennifer L. Armentrout:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLArmentrout

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JLArmentrout

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_l_armentrout/

GoodReads: http://bit.ly/1DiIjRa

Stay up to date with Jennifer by joining her mailing list today: https://bit.ly/2qBce5m

https://jenniferlarmentrout.com

Review: Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced copy.  this releases July 17th. 

This book was a trip. I loved that it was set in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. It was kind of cool to read a book set in places I actually knew. When the author referenced a street or a neighborhood, I knew exactly where the characters were. When I was a teenager, I used to babysit not far from where the Jensen’s lived in the book.

This book is quite the thriller. You aren’t ever quite sure what is going on with the family, and the ending left me scratching my head. Not a bad thing though. I wasn’t quite sure who the true villain was when I closed the book.

The story follows Hannah a seven year old terror who wants nothing but her mother to go away permanently. She loves her father, mainly because he dotes on her and doesn’t see any of the nasty things she does. Mommy on the other hand never quite measures up to Hannah’s standards, and is always hogging Daddy’s attention. Hannah doesn’t speak, she can make noises, and she is very intelligent. He lack of speech is alarming to her parents, but they have had her checked out and there doesn’t appear to be anything medically preventing her speech so they are trying different things to unlock her voice. Hannah isn’t having any of it though. Little do they know the devious things going on in her head, she wants to say plenty but the words just won’t come out. She is constantly plotting and scheming ways to get Mommy out of the picture so she can have Daddy all to herself. She has plenty of inner dialogue, and it’s pretty disturbing given her age. The things she thinks and does are pretty alarming for a child of her age.

Suzette is Hannah’s mother. She does her best to keep up appearances. She wants to appear to be beautiful so her husband wants her, she wants to appear to be the perfect wife and mother so people don’t judge her, and she wants everything to be clean and tidy. She also has Chrohn’s disease which comes up a lot in the novel, and is a major cause of emotional and physical distress in her life. While Suzette is forcing everything to be perfect, everything is falling down around her. Suzette did not have the model mother growing up, so she fears that she is failing at motherhood at every turn. Hannah doesn’t exactly make it easy on her. She manipulates people and situations to get what she wants, and because Suzette is with her most of the time she is the target of most of Hannah’s outbursts. Alex, Suzette’s husband, lives in blissful ignorance of his daughter’s strange behaviors. His life is perfect; pretty wife and a beautiful daughter who just needs the right challenges because she is too smart for regular education. His daughter never does the horrid things Suzette claims she does, he just can’t believe that of his angel. This causes a rift between them and Suzette to become even more emotionally exhausted from dealing with Hannah all day and keeping up the pretense of perfection.

I found many aspects of this book to be unrealistic as opposed to physiologically thrilling. Some of the stuff Hannah does to Suzette is pretty serious, and they just put her to bed and never call the police or put her in the hospital for psychiatric treatment. I mean it know its fiction, but she does some scary stuff and they don’t do anything about it. The characters just don’t have any common sense, and they make dumb decisions. The things Hannah does in the book aren’t thrilling, they are dark and have shock value. There are some aspects and twists that caught me off guard for sure, but those were too sparse to make this entirely a physiological thriller in my opinion. I wanted more of those moments than the outlandish, shocking ones. I liked the book, it very much reminded me of the movie The Good Son. Overall, there were some flaws with the book but I found myself wanting to know what happened and not wanting to put the book down.


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Review: Dark Water: A Little Mermaid Reverse Fairytale by J.A. Armitage

Dark Water: A Little Mermaid Reverse Fairytale by J.A. Armitage
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.  This is out already, so go check it out.

I actually took the time to read the original Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid so I could speak to the accuracy.  I'm reading a couple of retellings this summer so I figured I should do my homework.

This is a reverse fairy tale retelling of The Little Mermaid. It stays fairly true to the original tale and has its own spin as any retelling should. This young adult tale follows Princess Erica who lives in a seaside kingdom, but she has been kept far away from the ocean for her entire life. Her mother is irrationally afraid of the water, she has a good reason but I won’t spoil why. On her 18th birthday, Erica ends up in the ocean and is rescued by Ari. Ari of course is the merman of her dreams.  The sea witch makes an appearance and the rest of the story, while not the same, kind of plays out like you would expect.

There is insta-love which is not my favorite and with any YA romance we have a lot of teenage drama going on. Overall, it’s not my favorite retelling and I found it fairly predictable and has a lot of YA tropes. That being sayd I liked the magical and fantasy elements and I did like it overall, and as a series it has potential.


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Blog Tour: THE VARLET AND THE VOYEUR by Penny Reid & L.H. Cosway

The Varlet and the Voyeur, an all-new standalone in the USA Today bestselling Rugby Series from Penny Reid and L.H. Cosway is available NOW!

He kept his salacious secret for years. But soon, everyone is going to be reading about it in their morning paper…

THE VARLET (and the VOYEUR)

William Moore is a long way from home. A farm boy from Oklahoma, he’s now the most well-respected member of the Irish rugby team. But appearances are often deceptive, and Will isn’t the clean-cut, all-American good-guy everyone imagines him to be. He’s got a secret, one that will tarnish his reputation forever.

THE VOYEUR (and the VARLET)

Josey Kavanagh is a self-proclaimed mess, but she’s finally get her shi…uh, act together. She’s set her sights on becoming a veterinarian, but there’s one teeny tiny road bump. Her living arrangements are coming to an abrupt end, leaving Josey homeless and in need of a job to pay her way through college.

THE PLAN

What he needs is a companion to keep him on the right path.

What she needs is an apartment with free rent.

Will is convinced Josey will make the perfect companion, since she’s brutally honest and basically ‘just one of the guys.’  Josey is convinced she can ensure Will doesn’t succumb to his voyeuristic proclivities by keeping a scrupulous eye on him.

Except, what happens when the varlet is tempted by the voyeur, and vice-versa?!

Perchance something very, very volatile. And vexing.

The Varlet and the Voyeur is a full-length romantic comedy novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the 4^th(and last) book in the USA TODAY bestselling Rugby Series.

Download your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

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Start the Series of standalones with The Hooker and the Hermit!

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Excerpt:

*Will*

When I saw how spotless the shared living space was, I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and peeked my head into her bathroom, Rocky dancing around my feet as I entered the space. The counters were covered in woman-products, but the marble surface and sink were free of water spots, and the glass of the shower had been wiped clean.

I glanced at Rocky. He glanced at me. Bemused, I chuckled to myself, about to turn back to the door, and that’s when I spotted it.

A dildo.

A big, Pyrex dildo.

With ridges.

In the shower.

I froze, blinked, and I stared at it, my brain sluggish. Oddly, I had to remind myself to breathe. Likely because I was . . .

I was—

I was shocked.

I shook myself, tearing my eyes from it and rubbing my chest where an odd kind of pang was spreading mild warmth up my neck.

But why was I shocked?

Why should I be surprised?

Despite my never seeing her that way, Josey was a woman and women have needs.

Don’t they?

I hadn’t grown up around women—any women. My mother died when she had my youngest brother. My grandmother died before I was born. I had no sisters. We lived on a farm, way out in BFN Oklahoma.

Girls—women—and their bodies were sacred lands of the unknown to us Moore boys.

Unbidden—completely unbidden—an image of Josey flashed through my mind’s eye. Her full lips parted, her big eyes closed, causing her thick black lashes to catch droplets of water before they dripped over her sharp cheekbones. Her head would be lolled back as shower spray melted bubbles of slippery soap, sliding down her bare skin as they dissolved. Her legs would be parted, and maybe one hand would be braced against the wall of the shower while the other moved in a steady rhythm.

Holding that huge, glass dildo.

I swallowed a sudden rush of salvia and, unable to help myself, I leaned closer to the sex toy, examining it and comparing its size against my own.

I was bigger.

But not by much.

And for some reason, this realization made me instantly hard.

Crap.

Of course I knew Josey was a woman, but until this moment, I’d never really thought of her that way. Not even the tampon-mountain drove the point home. Up until this point, she was someone I liked as a person, someone who made me laugh, who was smart and compassionate, someone around whom I felt completely comfortable. A good—no, a great companion.

She was still all of those things, except—

Except now I’ve pictured her naked.

Meet Penny Reid:

Penny Reid is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.

Connect with Penny:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennyReidWriter/

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Twitter: @ReidRomance

Newsletter: http://pennyreid.ninja/newsletter/

www.pennyreid.ninja

Meet L.H. Cosway:

L.H. Cosway has a BA in English Literature and Greek and Roman Civilisation, and an MA in Postcolonial Literature. She lives in Dublin city. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favorite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books.

She thinks that imperfect people are the most interesting kind. They tell the best stories.

Connect with L.H. Cosway:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LHCosway/

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Website: www.lhcoswayauthor.com

Review: The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young

The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss+ and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  This releases on June 26th, 2018.

I enjoyed this but I didn’t love it like I usually love Sam’s books. I think this is because I had a hard time warming up to Comet, she was very unlikable in the beginning. As I write this review, I think my main problem with Comet is she was probably too realistic. She grated on my nerves at times, I wanted to comfort her when her parents wouldn’t, and I wanted to parent her like I do my own kids when she made a mistake. It is rare that you get a realistic character like Comet, and I think you expect someone a little more fictional. She grew as a character and she grew on me. Still a good read. If you like coming of age contemporaries, with a lot of teenage angst, this is the book for you.

Comet has absentee parents. They exist, they provide shelter, food, and the basic necessities for her but there is no love or companionship from them. They haven’t provided a safe, loving home for her which has stunted her social skills. They treat her like she is invisible so that is how she prefers to interact with society. She would rather read and exist in the world her books create for her than in the real world. I very much can relate to wanting to escape reality for the world that books create; it is very much why I love to read. She has 2 close friends, but bails on them constantly if there is a social situation involved. She prefers invisibility and anonymity to attention of any sort. The relationships with her friends are rocky at best as there is push and pull throughout the book. I do like that both the friends and Comet weren’t blameless in the troubles in their friendship and that those issues were addressed. Comet owned up to her part in the demise of their friendship and they actually worked on their issues. I like that by the end of the book, she was able to own up to the mistakes she made, but also call out those around her that had done things wrong. Comet was able to stand on her own two feet and speak up for herself. She finds her confidence and herself.

Tobias is the handsome new boy at school. He’s American, and he hangs around the troublemakers at school. He is in all of Comet’s upper level classes, but he doesn’t take school seriously and he’s very disrespectful to his teachers. Comet immediately thinks he’s a bad guy, but when they are paired on a project she gets to know him a bit better. Comet learns why Tobias is disgruntled and he is nothing like what she thought. She also learns that Tobias’ cousin Stevie, who she thinks is nothing but a thug, isn’t actually a bad guy he just doesn’t always make great decisions or hang with the best crowd. Through Tobias, Comet learns that the world is not the same a novel and that hiding isn’t doing her any favors. With his help Comet opens her eyes to the world and sees things in a different light. Tobias after spending some time with Comet, realizes that he actually likes school and misses the person he was before moving to Scotland and begins to find a balance between his old life and his new one.

Comet has all of these great ambitions but no plan to get there. I feel like that is completely acceptable for a teenager, and with parents like hers she has no one to guide her. It takes quite a while for her teacher to point out that if she wants to be a writer and go to university for that someone will actually want to read her writing and it will take more than just good grades to get in. I found her constant lying to her friends and judgment of everyone very irritating in the first half of the book. This is where the coming of age and character growth comes in. This is addressed well and she does learn from her actions. She is extremely anti-social, yet she judges everyone on what she thinks she knows and what she sees. She would rather read than go out with friends (which I can totally relate to), yet she holds everyone to fairy tale prince standards. She dresses with a very unique fashion sense (contradictory to her desire to be invisible), yet judges everyone on their own choice of clothing. She never once takes a chance to really get to know people until about halfway through the book when Tobias finally calls her out on it. This is where her character really starts to grow. She begins to realize that she can’t lie to her friends all the time or she will lose them, she can’t judge the proverbial book by its cover, and if she really wants to do something with her writing she can’t hide and just go to school and read in her room all the time.


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