Dear Jane Release Day Launch

 

 

 

 

 

I broke her heart ten years ago and left town.

She hates me, and rightly so. It doesn’t matter that the rest of the country loves me, that I’m a starting quarterback with a multimillion-dollar contract. Because when I look in the mirror, all I see is a failure who was too young—and too afraid—to fight for what I wanted.

But I’m not that guy anymore, and all I need is one shot to convince her.

***
He has no idea what happened after he left. And now I’m supposed to work alongside him like we don’t have this huge, messy history?

But I’m older now, wiser, and I won’t let anything stand in my way of doing a good job for this league. Not even one overpaid, arrogant player who thinks we’re going to kiss and make up.

News flash, buddy: I am over you.

 

SHORT REVIEW

I loved this book so much! It’s a wonderful second chance romance between a NFL player and his first love (aka his high school sweetheart)! Who doesn’t love that???! It was so great! I honestly haven’t read that many sports romances but I can tell you that this will be one of my all time favorites! My heart swooned reading about their romance! I think it was one of those things where you can’t help but fall in love with him and his softer side when he only shows that to her. That was my favorite part!

Their chemistry was through the roof! I loved it!!! Love them and the romance and how you could really tell they clicked! That insane chemistry also came with tension and I think that added to their romance!

I think what I also enjoyed reading was their history! It was obvious they had history and you couldn’t help but love them for both their past and their potential future!

But also I think the characters were really well written! They were very well developed characters and I appreciated what Kendall brought to the table with them.

Highly highly recommend this romance! It has sports, tension, romance, and a wonderful storyline! I loved this and I think everyone will when they check it out!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | APPLE BOOKS | Kobo | Nook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of more than two dozen titles, Kendall Ryan has sold over 1.5 million books and her books have been translated into several languages in countries around the world. She’s a traditionally published author with Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins UK, as well as an independently published author. Since she first began self-publishing in 2012, she’s appeared at #1 on Barnes & Noble and iBooks charts around the world. Her books have also appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists more than three dozen times. Ryan has been featured in such publications as USA Today, Newsweek, and InTouch Magazine.

Visit her at: www.kendallryanbooks.com for the latest book news, and fun extras

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Prodigy

Prodigy by Marie Lu

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Published: January 23rd, 2013

Rating: 

Summary: Injured and on the run, it has been seven days since June and Day barely escaped Los Angeles and the Republic with their lives. Day is believed dead having lost his own brother to an execution squad who thought they were assassinating him. June is now the Republic’s most wanted traitor. Desperate for help, they turn to the Patriots – a vigilante rebel group sworn to bring down the Republic. But can they trust them or have they unwittingly become pawns in the most terrifying of political games?

So I powered through this novel and I died when I finished. I wanted more! I thought this book was filled with action and twists and turns that I was not expecting. I was shocked at what was revealed and just what happened in the end.

Like wow I did not expect a certain character to do or be a certain way. I know that’s really vague but again I don’t want to spoil anything. But know it involved Razor! He is intense and wow…things just happened I didn’t expect with him…

And seeing June and Day I just love them. I was sad they had so much heartbreak but at the same time it made it more interesting for me. I just wanted them to be happy together and for Day to find his brother. But again I enjoyed reading about their relationship and the hardships they faced. I normally don’t but their romance felt different to me from different people in other books and I loved it. The ending of this book broke me. You know what I am talking about if you’ve read this book. Not just the romance part, but the other parts dealing with Day…

If you’ve read this book, you’ll understand why I was obsessed with reading Champion and seeing what happened!

I felt like there wasn’t any slow moments in this novel, and I felt like the writing was really well done. And that it all kept me engaged and I didn’t wanna put the book down, I was taken along on this journey by this amazing fast paced book. I feel like Marie writes novels that you never are able to put down, and you are pushing through and trying to find a way to get through to the end because you have this need to read more.

June I enjoyed reading about. I like her and her character a lot. She is a tough character, but she’s also smart. She knows when to fight, and knows when to use her brain. And she’s able to think for herself. I just appreciate her and how she is able to make herself useful and fight to get what she needs to get done. And while she has seen a lot of stuff going on she is able to open her mind and listen to Anden.

Day was great as well. I liked seeing his determination to get his brother back and what he had to face for his happiness. Reading about his struggles was really great, I mean I’m sad he had to struggle, but he overcame them and did what he could about them and….I’m not making sense but basically him facing all these hardships really added to his character and gave him a lot of character depth.

Overall I just felt like this was an amazing book, and I never wanted to put it down and I felt like it had none of that sequel slag a lot of people complain second books have. I get it too because sometimes the sequel isn’t that great compared to the first or the third, but I felt that this one was great and had a lot of action and kept me moving forward. It was a great sequel and I loved it!

Have you read this series? If so, what were your thought on this book compared to the first or the third?

The Midnight Star

The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Published: October 11th 2016

Rating: 

Summary: Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all she’s gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds, putting not only herself at risk, but every Elite. In order to preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

So ummm I cried once this book ended…if you’ve read it you might know when I’m talking about. But that ending broke me!

I cannot!

I can’t!

I lost the ability to can.

Just like the tale of what happened to a certain character and how another character tried to find them and what people said about them made me cry!!!!

This book was an amazing conclusion to an amazing series! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! And it was insane because I wanted the audiobook to go faster, and since I got the audiobook CD from the library I couldn’t make it go faster since I was listening to it during my car rides. I did love the time that I spent with this novel!

It’s just an insane novel, and I loved seeing the characters develop, and seeing relationships be tested and such! I might get into spoiler territory but I love Magiano and Adelina and seeing their relationship develop! I love seeing him help her and calm her and be there for her. She feels like there is no one she can trust, and after the life she had before she started the Roses, and seeing her sister turn her back on her and such; she really needs Magiano. And I loved seeing him be the one person she could turn to when she feels alone. I just thought they had an addicting romance!

It was interesting seeing Adelina struggle with her illusions, like seeing people she killed and such through out her day to day time. I thought it added an interesting twist and at the same time I felt badly for her because it seemed to be tortured. I just wanted things to be better for her, and I knew that she struggled a lot and it was hard for her to focus on anything at times.

And I liked the new drama going on with the Daggers and their stories as well. They weren’t my favorite characters in the storyline, but I did feel they were important, and relevant, and they were interesting! I liked reading about them and seeing things from them, especially when signs were going against them and their powers seemed to be doing things to them they were not expecting! That was interesting and I thought it was totally different to what I thought would happen!

Also seeing Violetta suffer was so sad, but I liked her relationship with Raffaele and how he took care of her. I just though it was nice for her to meet new people besides her sister and I felt like Violetta was a key to helping Adelina and the Daggers come back to each other and help each other save the world.

Overall this book was filled with action, secrets being revealed, and I just loved this! I felt it was a solid ending, and while I cried my heart was full with this book! Highly recommend checking this out! This series is just one of a kind! I’m sad it’s over but I am so happy I have read it!

Have you read this series? Which book in the trilogy is your favorite? Which character is your favorite? Mine is both Adelina and Magiano!

 

The Rose Society

The Rose Society by Marie Lu

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Published: October 13th 2015

Rating: 

Summary: Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she flees Kenettra with her sister to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis, the white-cloaked soldiers who nearly killed her.

But Adelina is no heroine. Her powers, fed only by fear and hate, have started to grow beyond her control. She does not trust her newfound Elite friends. Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition, wants her dead. And her former friends, Raffaele and the Dagger Society, want to stop her thirst for vengeance. Adelina struggles to cling to the good within her. But how can someone be good when her very existence depends on darkness?

Bestselling author Marie Lu delivers another heart-pounding adventure in this exhilarating sequel to The Young Elites.

This series really made me feel that Marie Lu is one of the best YA fantasy writers out there. I love this series so much and it’s just so fun and full of crazy action and intense moments where you’re on the edge of your seat just freaking out!

Basically I was dying as I was reading this….

That’s what I mean to say.

And since I read this book (this review is way late) I have finished the series and wow…I have no words! I can’t speak! I am shooketh!

Adelina is just a very intense character, and you can’t help but feel bad for her and want the best for her. She had a hard life since she got the sickness. She has been tortured by her father, while her sister did nothing to stop it. Honestly I know people feel like its wasn’t Violetta’s fault but I feel like she could have done more for her sister. It made me mad reading about how much Adelina suffered while Violetta didn’t, she still cares about her father and in a way still loves her father. It’s just sad that Adelina put up with that without any help.

And seeing her at the end of The Young Elites and seeing how she was treated by The Daggers really didn’t help her with how she felt towards the world. It was interesting seeing her anger towards everyone and how that drove her and pushed her to do the things she did. Seeing her do the things she did was actually impressive.

Her power is what I like the most about her in all honesty. She had a power to make illusions and she really showcased them in this novel and I think they made her so much cooler to me! She was strong, and it was insane how her powers worked and how they could do what they could do! But it made me sad with what they were doing to her as time wore on.

I adored Magiano and I was so happy that we got to meet him! I loved him so much and I thought he was a great character! Reading about him and Adelina and their banter, and their relationship thought out the series was awesome! I didn’t even realize that he was in the first book until later and I was like “woah!” hahaha I just adore him! He’s one of the best characters in the trilogy!

I felt this was a very action packed, fast paced novel, and I never had trouble picking this up and zooming through it. I never wanted to put it down and I love that about Marie Lu’s writing! I haven’t found a book of her’s that I want to put down. I think she’s an amazing writer, who creates amazing characters that you get attached to, and fight for! While Adelina is vicious and can be cruel, you can’t help but feel for her and the horrors she experienced in her journey to getting where she was. Both with her father and with the Daggers. I know she was content because she had Enzo but the other Daggers didn’t exactly make her feel welcome besides him and one other Dagger. I knew what she was doing to people was cruel, but again seeing how horrible she was treated by many different people I can’t imagine her leaving all of that unscathed.

But overall I highly recommend you all to read this series! It just gets better and better honestly. I love this series so much! I want to reread it all again because I want to experience this world again!

Highly recommend Marie Lu to you! She’s amazing!

Have you read her books? Which is your favorite?

 

Leah on the Offbeat

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Publisher: HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray

Published: April 24th 2018

Rating: 

Summary: Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

So, I read Simon a few months ago and then right after Leah on the offbeat came out and so I picked it up. And in Simon, I didn’t really care for Leah that much, I just felt like she rubbed me the wrong way. I think it mainly had to do with her attitude.

I did not like her attitude at all!

It’s weird, because I understand to a certain extent why she is the way she is. But I just felt like the whole book both in Simon and in Leah on the offbeat that she just needed to tone down her attitude a lot. I know I’m going off on a tangent about it but I just can’t help it.

In this book she would get angry at people for the littlest things, and would get angry when they wouldn’t really take her along places but at the same time it seems like she didn’t even want to go. I mean I get it because I kind of feel the same way at times when even though I might not want to go it’s still nice to get an invitation but I just fell at times she kind of blew it out of proportion. I do agree with her and the comments that she made about bisexuality, because it is true. People like to think that because they’re attracted to someone that that automatically makes them bisexual or automatically lets them mess with other peoples feelings. That’s what I felt like one person was doing, I’m not gonna say who but if you read the book you’ll know who I might be talking about. Just for some reason I didn’t like the vibe I would get from this person regarding this romance a relationship. And speaking of romance, this romance wasn’t my favorite and I just felt like it was too convenient and I felt like the feelings were not what they could have been.

I don’t know…I hope that what I said above made sense. Basically I didn’t like a certain character and what I thought felt like the hold she had over someone else and how it was super convenient that she felt a certain way towards someone. I just didn’t agree with that and it didn’t feel real and such. I didn’t believe that.

But I liked Leah and her dynamic with her mother. I appreciated that the author made her mother more present in her life. As someone who’s mother is very much in her life, I love seeing family dynamics between mothers and daughters. They were great with each other, and it was sweet seeing her mother react to her friends and her life choices and everything else. I just thought her mother was amazing and I loved her so much! I felt the same with with Simon and his family. This book has really fantastic family relationships.

Also I liked seeing some people from The Upside of Unrequited being mentioned and such in this one too! I loved that book as well, and I enjoyed seeing them come back into this world.

But Leah and Simon are prolly my favorite interactions besides Leah and her mother. They are great with each other! And I liked seeing Simon and his man form Leah’s eyes. It was so sweet… I loved it.

And it was super sweet and amazing seeing the kids from Simon grow up and make adult decisions about college. And I loved that they followed their heart without all following their significant others.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot and I will read more from this world. But Simon will always be my favorite book….but if you loved Simon, you will enjoy this book very much! Highly recommend checking it out!

Her Last Word

Her Last Word by Mary Burton

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Published: May 8th 2018

Rating: 

Summary: Fourteen years ago, Kaitlin Roe was the lone witness to the abduction of her cousin Gina. She still remembers that lonely Virginia road. She can still see the masked stranger and hear Gina’s screams. And she still suffers the guilt of running away in fear and resents being interrogated as a suspect in the immediate aftermath. Now Kaitlin has only one way to assuage the pain and nightmares—by interviewing everyone associated with the unsolved crime for a podcast that could finally bring closure to a case gone cold.

But when a woman Kaitlin questions is later found stabbed to death, she fears that she’s drawn a killer out of hiding. It’s Detective John Adler’s fear that the murders have only just begun. Now his job is to keep Kaitlin safe.

As a bond between Kaitlin and Adler builds, the past closes in just as fast—and it’s darker than Kaitlin remembers. Soon, her wish will come true. She’s going to find out exactly what happened to Gina. Someone has been dying to tell her.

I really liked this book if I’m being honest! I didn’t want to put it down and I liked that it involved an old murder case and that a survivor was going to make a podcast about it. I thought that was unique and interesting!

I think my favorite part of the novel was the romance! I don’t wanna mention between who but I feel like it’s kind of obvious at the same time haha! I am a sucker for romance and I enjoyed seeing two characters fall in love! I thought they were a good fit and I liked how they complement each other. I know a lot of people don’t really like romance in there mystery novels but I thought it made the story much more enjoyable for me! I love romance and I love reading about it so I liked that aspect of this book.

That felt like a ramble but whatever…

I thought the writing was really good as well! I think the author told a really good story and wrote about interesting characters, and the plot was also super engaging as well. The mystery left me on the edge of my seat and I liked that I couldn’t tell who the killer was at all! Mary really made me second-guess myself and who I thought the killer was. I appreciated that while I kept guessing, and while I kept assuming that I knew who the killer was, the ending and who it really was really shocked me! It’s always so much more enjoyable when you’re reading a mystery novel and think you have it figured out and it turns out you’re totally wrong!

Thank you Mary for making me second-guess myself every step of the way!

I thought that Kaitlin was a really great character, and I like seeing her build her podcast after what she went through when she was younger. I thought that was such a unique aspect of this book as I mentioned above. But it was nice to see how the podcast turned out at the end, and to see how everything turned out at the end. Overall I thought this was a unique angle and I really enjoy Kaitlin as a character and I thought it was interesting seeing her interact with other characters in the novel because they were so different as well. Did any of that make sense at all?

I am so sorry if it didn’t.

Also can I just say that I fell in love with John in this novel! He was probably my favorite character besides Kaitlin! I liked reading from his perspective and I thought his dialogue added so much to this novel. You can’t help but just adore him throughout this entire story.

I really want to check out her future novels and see what she does in the future. She is definitely someone I want to watch and want to keep up-to-date with.

That actually sounded kind of weird… but you know what I mean right?

If you’re a fan of mystery novels I highly recommend checking out this novel! If you’re unsure about checking out this book because of the romance, don’t worry about it, the romance is not a super huge part of this book.

have you read this novel before? What were your thoughts on it!

Forever

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholatic

Published: August 4th, 2011

Rating: 

Summary: then.
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their loved moved from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment–a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

Like my reviews for Shiver and Linger, I really loved this book and thought that it was a great ending to a series. I did think however that the ending was a bit vague and I would have liked to a see a more clear ending for these two characters. There is another book in this world but it follows Isabel and Cole, so I would have liked Grace and Sam to have gotten a solid ending to their side of the story. I just felt like there was something I was missing and I wish she had given us a more conclusive ending to this trilogy.

But this book was action packed and had moments where I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next! I never wanted to stop reading, I always wanted to find out what was gong to happen next!

But man it was hard reading this because I just wanted Sam and Grace to see each other and it hurt my heart that it seemed like it wasn’t gong to happen. They wanted each other and I wanted them to be together and I just couldn’t take it not happening! I live for their romance so reading this was killing me so badly. But I just love them so much! I can’t help it! I wish there had been more of them together, but the longing was great too! I just missed seeing it be so much more included in this novel like it had been in the previous novels.

I am also glad things worked out the way they did between everyone and I especially thought it was great seeing Grace with her parents again after everything that went down in Linger. It seemed that Sam was on the mend with Grace’s parents and I know that really was great for them.

It hurt that Sam was being treated the way he was, because it all wasn’t his fault but there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. Things were going out of control and I’m glad that in the end things worked themselves out.

The ending scenes though….the fact that Sam was willing to risk his life was amazing, and that scene across the field was killer to read because I was literally freaking out for a good 30 minutes will it went on.

I just have so many emotions from that scene….I can’t!

Not over it.

Will never be over it!

Never be over that death.

Ever!

EVER!

Overall highly recommend you all check this out! You will not be disappointed! Trust me! I loved this series and I just wish I could go back and read it over again like I hadn’t read it before…Sam and Grace have my heart forever and ever. I just love them so much and I loved their story.

Have you read this series?? Which book is your favorite?? What did you think of this book??

Linger

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Published: July 13th, 2010

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Rating: 

Summary: the longing.

Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.

the loss.

Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of being a human.

the linger.

For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life a constant struggle between two forces–wolf and human–with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

As many of you know I have read this whole trilogy and it is one of my favorites! I loved Shiver and equally enjoyed Linger and thought it was an amazing continuation to this series! As usual I love Grace and Sam and I just wanted more of them!

As I mentioned in my review for Shiver; link here: Shiver; I was listening to this series on audiobooks and I listened to this one as well and it was fantastic! I love this audiobook series because the narrators are really great and I loved their voice to these characters! I could see the narrators for Grace and Sam being them in real life and I just enjoyed them so much!

I also loved that we saw Isabel more in this novel and we got to see her story from her eyes and heard what she had to say. She was just so much more important in this novel and I think it was great that we saw more from her. She was so tough and angry and I liked that we got to see her hurting and see her pain because it brought a different perspective on her to light and made her more rounded. And seeing her with Cole was hilarious. Oh my gosh! Cole is an interesting character and to see him and Isabel being the way they are with each other was really funny! He pushed her and challenged her and frustrated her but I think she really liked it even if she didn’t want to and she needed it!

They’re so opposite and they should click, and you think they shouldn’t click but somehow they do! Gah I just really like them as as couple! And of course I think Cole is really unique with him being a former rock star and having a complicated past! But I think it’s great that while he was a rock star and had some bad times, he was also really smart! He was like a genius! I appreciated that about his character. That even the most random character can surprise you.

Overall this book had drama with the wolf stuff, and also drama with Grace’s parents, and yet it still had action and kept you wondering what was happening next! Especially with all the stuff going on in the hospital! That was a very like intense scene wow!

But again highly recommend this series and I hope you all try to give it a chance if you haven’t! I loved the romance, and the wolf aspect of this story! And while people think Twilight wolfed them out, that is not the case with me!

Have you read this series?? Which book is your favorite? Are you as obsessed with Grace and Sam like I am??

 

 

Shiver

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published: August 1st, 2009

Rating: 

Summary: For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.

Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

So I really enjoyed this! I didn’t think I would to be honest. I was worried that I would find it mediocre since I didn’t think I was up for another werewolf story since all I would think about was Twilight but here is me eating my words.

I loved this book!

I am obsessed with this trilogy!

It was fantastic and I read the whole trilogy and I am sad now. I just want more! I didn’t want it to end!

I listened to this book on audiobook and I think it was a great audio! I enjoyed the narrators for Grace and Sam and I think they really brought them to life, and I could imagine the characters as these people! Highly recommend the audiobook if you’re looking to reading this!

I think that Maggie Stiefvater has an amazing way with words and she brings incredible worlds to life and you can’t help but just be sucked in and left wanting more. I think my other concern reading this was that it wouldn’t live up to my love of the Raven Cycle. But I think I actually like this about the same if not a bit more than the Raven Cycle.

Grace and Sam are just the cutest people in the world and I fell in love with their romance and just journey to be together. I wanted nothing more than to read more about them and I think they were just a great couple together. I just think it was great that we saw a couple really go through struggles and still try to make it out together, and they were present in each other’s lives, and they like really stuck together. There wasn’t anyone trying to break them up and no jealousy and nothing trying to hurt their relationship. I just appreciated that they were a solid couple and you really saw their love through their actions for each other!

I also loved the different characters that were brought out in this novel and that while it was mainly about Grace and Sam, they got their chance to be apart of the story! Isabel was an interesting character and was very head strong and stubborn. I thought it was great that we saw a different side of her than we did when we started this novel. She progressed during the story, and rather than seeing her as a horrible person like we assumed she would be, she has many different sides of her.

I liked seeing Sam with his father figure Beck because I enjoyed their relationship together and I honestly wish we got more of them together because I enjoyed that side of them. Beck was a character I wish we got to see more of because he was just a strong figure in Sam’s life, and was supportive of Sam and Grace and would do whatever he could to help out.

I just hope that more people check this series out because I know its a bit old but I think its super enjoyable and something many people will love! You’ll fall in love with Sam and Grace like I did! I promise you!

Have you read this series? What did you think? Which book is your favorite?

 

 

 

Harbor Me

Harbor Me by Jacquelin Woodson

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books

Published: August 28th, 2018

Rating: 

Summary: It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat—by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for “A Room to Talk”), they discover it’s safe to talk about what’s bothering them—everything from Esteban’s father’s deportation and Haley’s father’s incarceration to Amari’s fears of racial profiling and Ashton’s adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.

So this is the first Jacquelin Woodson book I have read and it was just fantastic! Wow!  I see what the hype is about with her work! I loved this book and really enjoyed it from cover to cover!

It’s a short novel but yet it still manages to really pack so much powerful discussion and subjects brought up and spoken of.

I also thought it was a good breakfast club feel with 6 kids comings to a room to talk amongst themselves with no adults. I wish we had that at my school when I was younger.

But I liked the Woodson really brought to light what people go through in life that you might not always see. She brought up things no one talks about really, and I know it’ll help others feel included and seen as well. I think a situation that really stood out to me was the fast growing up of a young black boy, and the detainment of a parent by ICE. Those are ones I will remember for a while. But I appreciate that Woodson made these situation easy for young people to relate too. She didn’t make it seem so far off.

I hope when middle graders read this novel that it helps to open up communication between each other. It can be lonesome when you’re facing hardships by yourself. And I hope when they read this they will open their minds and mouths and show that their classmates and friends aren’t alone. These kid’s discussions were so real and so powerful I hope they’ll look at them and know they don’t have to keep it inside and that there are people willing to listen and understand and help them get through those hard times.

I read this book in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down and I just think kids going through some hard times will relate to this and I feel like they’ll feel seen, and understood.

Woodson’s writing was just beautiful and stunning and I know in the future I’ll be picking up her novels more often. How a writer can just create beautiful work and just bring to light everything people face in life and make it relatable and understandable I won’t ever know.

Highly highly recommend this novel and any novel Woodson has written. I know for sure I am going to be checking out her novels and I hope you do the same. Woodson is fantastic!

Which of her novels do you recommend that I start with next??