Review: Tonight the Streets are Ours by Leila Sales

Title: Tonight the Streets are Ours

Author: Leila Sales
Publisher: Raincoast Canada
Publication date: September 15, 2015 

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pages: 342

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Recklessly loyal.

That’s how seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley has always thought of herself. Caring for her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But lately she’s grown resentful of everyone—including her needy best friend and her absent mom—taking her loyalty for granted.

Then Arden stumbles upon a website called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, who gives voice to feelings that Arden has never known how to express. He seems to get her in a way that no one else does, and he hasn’t even met her.

Until Arden sets out on a road trip to find him.

During one crazy night out in New York City filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn’t exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn’t exactly who she thought she was, either.

I am a huge fan of Leila Sales' This Song Will Save Your Life. It really resonated with me in a way I didn't think was possible. I felt Leila Sales did such a tremendous job in making this book all about the main protagonist's journey to accepting and loving herself without the need for any significant other in the picture or someone that was necessary to validate her self worth. I expected just as much from her new novel, Tonight the Streets are Ours. While I wasn't hooked on the plot, I had faith in Leila Sales' writing and story telling so I gave it a shot. 

By the time I reached the ending, I would have been able to 100% be able to tell this is a Leila Sales book even if I didn't know who the author was. I think may girls should definitely pick up her books because I feel the way her characters make mistakes, learn from them, and grow from those experiences too. Arden was a very likeable but flawed character. I never understood why she stuck with her boyfriend when the way he's been treating her leaves much to be desired.. however I do understand that they've been together for long and that might make you hold on to things that just aren't good for you anymore. I loved how Arden wasn't a character who wanted to be in the spotlight, she loves theatre but as the backstage manager, not the actor, and I found it amusing how everyone kept on wishing and telling her that her time to act will come up soon if she keeps up the good work, but she doesn't ever have the desire to act and is content where she is. I love Peter too and the blog posts he wrote; they made me want to meet him as soon as possible.

I did feel that it took too long for the plot to catch up to what the synopsis promised, and if you know me and have read more of my reviews, you know that I dislike it when the synopsis gives away too much and the book takes at least 100 pages to catch up. That's why I kept on waiting and waiting for the road trip to finally start and for Arden to finally start looking for Peter. However once that happened (which begins part two) the events are basically told in a day or two, which I really enjoyed because it was fast paced which I started to enjoy much more. I definitely recommend Tonight the Streets are Ours to any young adult contemporary fan, especially ones who don't care much for romance in their books. 

Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Title: Everything, Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Random House Canada
Publication date: September 15, 2015 

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pages: 320

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Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?

Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love.

I had high expectations of Everything Everything after I heard a publicist at Random House Canada rave about it. Once I got into it, I could totally understand what the rave was all about. I loved how different and unique the pollen was. Our main protagonist, Maddie, is allergies to everything. She basically lives in a make shift clean room that is isolated from the outside. The air is all purified and synthetic, she can never step one foot outside, and everything she eats and does is monitored  including her vitals. I felt so bad for Maddie but her optimism and how she makes the best of her situation is so joyful to see. Ofcourse she's a teen and they tend to get melodramatic, but for the most part, she's such an upbeat happy teenager. One thing I liked is how Maddie is 17. I am somewhat tired of the typical 16 year old YA heroine. I wish more authors wrote about 17 and 18 year olds, they are still considered young adults since they're technically still (most of them) in high school. 

The love interest, Olly, is just so freaking adorable. I found myself holding my breathe whenever she did, when she would peek from the curtain of her window, when she would start to want more from her life, when she finally met him in the same room. Oh boy, I had heart palpitations throughout most of their scenes. He was more than just the love interest, he was the door to Maddie's undiscovered world. He had her questioning, experiencing more, wanting to take control of her life, and I was equal parts scared as well as excited for her. 

However, two thirds in is when I started losing sight of the book's original message. Things got messy and crazy. Things got unrealistic and unnecessary resolved perfectly. I want real life stories that don't always have that perfectly constructed (and synthetic) happy ending. Everyone's life is messy and sometimes you can't get out of a life long situation scot free and perfectly new. I have to admit I was so disappointed, very painfully disappointed with the revelations and ending. My rating went down from a 5 to a 3.5 just for that. However, I hope this doesn't deter you from picking up the book because even with the last part of the book, I don't regret picking it up. It was one of the few books this year that had me obsessing over it and wanting to make time just to read more. I will definitely be reading more books by Nicola Yoon because I feel she really does have that magical contemporary touch like many authors, such as Jenny Han, Morgan Matson, and Stephanie Perkins, have. Also, I would like to thank her for giving awareness to a rare, incurable disease to the general public, it is always nice to see authors raising awareness to such diseases. 

Review: Truly Madly Famously by Rebecca Serle

Title: Truly Madly Famously (Famous in Love, #2)

Author: Rebecca Serle
Publisher: HBG USA
Publication date: August 4, 2015 

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pages: 352

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Lights, camera, love!

After being plucked from obscurity, Hollywood's newest starlet, Paige Townsen, has a hit film to her name and Rainer Devon on her arm. But being half of the world's most famous couple comes with a price, and soon Paige finds herself dodging photographers; hiding her feelings for her other costar, Jordan Wilder; and navigating tabloid scandals that threaten to tear her and Rainer apart-and end her career as quickly as it began.

I loved Famous in Love because its plotline is one of my favourite contemporary plotlessness: average teen turned into a hollywood star overnight and the book revolves around their adjustment to this new life as well as the struggle to stay true to themselves. Of course who can forget the usual cute romances that occur with a fellow celebrity counterpart? Rebecca Serle's first book had that as well as being set on Maui, a Hawaiian island, for their movie shooting; talk about beautiful scenery descriptions! 

I honestly did not know there was going to be a sequel to Famous in Love, and when I found out, I was equal parts ecstatic yet worried. I liked how the first book ended and worried about the direction the author will be taking with the second book. Unfortunately my worry materialised into writing and the author actually went into the direction I most feared. This doesn't mean the book was badly written or boring, it just meant that I disagreed with the author's direction and personally, I wished it went another way. That is why my rating of this book is mostly subjective and to do with my own preference. Other than that, I really liked how real the characters were, the new friendships Paige made, and how we didn't have a mean girl in the book. They were all characters that were either misunderstood by others, or just really had a crap load of their own personal issues to deal with. 

I do have to say that the love triangle conflict just took too much from the book. The first book had more pages about the movie shooting as well as Paige's new life, but this book felt that it was always about the love triangle. All in all, I think people who enjoyed Famous in Love will also enjoy this sequel, and knowing that there will also be a third book? that gives me hope on the direction of the story and maybe we can get a realistic ending, possibly one that doesn't fit the usual mold of a typically happily ever after YA novel?

Famous in Love review

Review: The Vintage Coloring Book

Title: The Vintage Coloring Book

Publisher: Raincoast Canada
Publication date: September 1, 2015 

Genre(s): Coloring book

Source: Publisher

Format: Paperback

Pages: 256

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Kick-start your creativity with this coloring book for adults! Pencils, crayons, markers, or paint—whatever medium you choose, you can illuminate a beautiful piece of art with the use of color palettes and your inner interior designer. Gorgeous vintage patterns with swirls and angles make each page an interesting adventure. Use these designs as inspiration for stenciling, crafts, or even tattoos! Coloring can be relaxing and meditative, so get out your art supplies and enjoy! 

I have to admit and say I totally fell for this colouring book hype that emerged lately. I'm not artistically gifted so I always loved colouring so I jumped at the chance to review this colouring book, especially since it says vintage and I love the designs and patterns on anything vintage. I skimmed through the book and I must say I liked alot of the patterns on the pages, some were much more appealing to me than others and there's a pretty big number of these designs.. this is a book that will take you around four months to complete if you do one page a day (one design is found in every two pages). So I really wanted to get to it and I began my journey of hand cramping but satisfying beautiful coloured photos. 

I initially started with the design on the bottom left photo... unfortunately this particular photo had no concept of solid lines.. everything merged together and there was no distinction between when one thing ended and another started... so I gave up on it and started doing the design on the bottom right corner. I have to admit that I really liked how that turned out. All the mixing of colours was just so pretty.. I was afraid that I was just messing it up but you know what? that's the whole point.. colour with whatever colours you feel, there is no right or wrong. I quite like how colourful it is and I now truly believe in art therapy. 

I would recommend colouring books for people who have coloured and had an interest in it, I would also recommend this specific book but I must say a lot of the designs do not interest me at all and some of them were quite boring, however every couple of pages you get a beautiful design like the one I coloured completely and I'm happy I have this book for whenever I feel like colouring and taking a break from what I usually do.