Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren — 5 stars
I love a good sports book so I’ve been excited to read Cold Day in the Sun. I finally read it and it was so good! Holland plays hockey for her high school’s boys team and I loved her passion and excitement for the sport. Her dynamic with her teammates was fun—especially the hate-to-love/secret romance with her captain! You’ll want to add this one to your winter tbr!
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson — 5 stars
I loved You Should See Me in a Crown so much! It was so fun and joyful! The romance was cute and the friendships were great. I especially loved Liz’s determination to achieve her goals (even if that means needing to run for prom queen to win a scholarship!) and take care of her family. Fans of The Prom will love this book.
All the Things We Never Knew by Liara Tamani — 3.5 stars
I played basketball while I was in high school so I was so excited for All the Things We Never Knew! The lyrical writing draws you into the story right away and I was rooting so hard for Carli and Rex to find healing in their family relationships. If you’re a fan of instant connection (and of course basketball), you’ll enjoy this one!
See How They Run and Take the Key and Lock Her Up by Ally Carter — 5 stars
I love all of Ally Carter’s books so much! I read All Fall Down, the first book in Embassy Row series, when it first released, but didn’t get to the rest of the series until recently. I listened to the audiobooks for See How They Run and Take the Key and Lock Her Up back-to-back and was completely absorbed by them in any spare minute I had. The stakes are raised in the sequel, and I loved seeing everything continue to unfold for Grace. See How They Run was my favorite in the trilogy!
Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch — 5 stars
Love & Luck is a fun story following a pair of siblings on a road trip through Ireland. While there is a tiny romantic subplot, this story is firmly about the brother and sister—their love, friendship, and coming back together after hurt. I loved this focus as sibling relationships can be hard and complicated but also so close and rewarding. The backdrop was lovely and now I want to take a road trip through Ireland (and of course stop at all the place they did). While this isn’t a rom-com, there was Leap Year vibes to it, so fans of that movie will definitely enjoy this novel. Check out my aesthetic!
Memento by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff — 5 stars
I loved Memento! It’s only 80 pages long, but it still shredded my heart. It was a good look at AIDAN right before and after the attack on Kerenza IV + there’s little cameos of characters from Illuminae. Definitely makes me want to reread the entire trilogy!
They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman — 3 stars
They Wish They Were Us is a dark prep school story with a little murder mystery thrown in. I was expecting this to be more of a thriller mystery due to all of the hype and the synopsis, so I was disappointed that the murder mystery isn’t really investigated until the very end and, even then, it unfolds rather quickly. Fans of Gossip Girl will enjoy the antics of the Long Island elite teens!
Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed — 3.5 stars
Yes No Maybe So was a good pre-election read about two teens getting involved in a local special election. I loved seeing the main characters Maya and Jamie get involved through canvasing and making their voices heard even though they weren’t old enough to vote. I would have especially loved this one as a teen because I volunteered as a poll worker for several elections while I was in high school. Spoiler alert (highlight to read): It was sad to see them lose the election after they worked so hard, but it did make the in real life Georgia victory that much sweeter for me. The book was on the slower side, so it did take a bit for me to get into it fully, but I would recommend this to any teen interested in politics and wondering how they can get involved in their community.
i’m glad you enjoyed the ally carter books! she’s one of my all time favourite authors. have you read her other books? the gallagher girls series is fantastic.
Yes! I’ve read all of her books—even the adult ones! She’s been a favorite of mine since I was in 7th grade ☺️