#BookLook || Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth

Saving Hamlet by nobentspines featuring wedge sandals

Goodreads || Amazon

Emma Allen couldn't be more excited to start her sophomore year. Not only is she the assistant stage manager for the drama club's production of Hamlet, but her crush Brandon is directing, and she's rocking a new haircut that's sure to get his attention. But soon after school starts, everything goes haywire. Emma's promoted to stage manager with zero experience, her best friend Lulu stops talking to her, and Josh--the adorable soccer boy who's cast as the lead--turns out to be a disaster. It's up to Emma to fix it all, but she has no clue where to start.

One night after rehearsal, Emma stays behind to think through her life's latest crises and distractedly falls through the stage's trap door . . . landing in the basement of the Globe Theater.

It's London, 1601, and with her awesome new pixie cut, everyone thinks Emma's a boy--even Will Shakespeare himself. With no clue how to get home, Emma gamely plays her role as backstage assistant to the original production of Hamlet, learning a thing or two about the theater, and meeting an incredibly hot actor named Alex who finds Emma as intriguing as she finds him. But once Emma starts traveling back and forth through time, things get really confusing. Which boy is the one for her? In which reality does she belong? Will Lulu ever forgive her? And can she possibly save two disastrous productions of Hamlet before time runs out?

#Flawless | When We Collided by Emery Lord | #Review

WHEN WE COLLIDED | Emery Lord
Goodreads // Amazon
Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ARC via Bloomsbury for honest review
Rating: 5 Stars 

Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.

Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.

Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart and Jandy Nelson, When We Collided is a powerful story of two teens whose love is put to the test by forces beyond their control.

Oh my sweet cherries. Emery Lord, I liked your last book (just liked) but hooooooly goodness, WHEN WE COLLIDED was incredibly compelling, heartbreaking and cheerful and gorgeous. I’ve never had bipolar disorder described to me quite like this. I think I understand a bit more, and I really can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.

Can I hug you now?

Vivi and Jonah. Jonah and Vivi. They sure did collide. And, my, were the sparks glorious. Jonah is helping to hold his 7-person family together with the help of his two older siblings after the death of his father left his mother unable to gather the motivation to get herself up from her bed. Vivis just left Seattle after a hypomanic episode left relationships on the rocks and the depressive episode awarded her a physiatrist.

The tone of this book had me anxious the entire time I was reading it. I was falling in love and terribly worried. I felt like I was Vivi’s mom. Anxiety-ridden and completely taken with this gorgeous, lively human who feels every single thing there is to feel. I adore Vivi and her love for the paint shop and Jonah’s family, the way she accepts people without questions and her bravery against darkness. She’s an incredibly relatable character.

Lord does something with the way this book is written that really drew me in. I don’t know if it was simply that I felt like I knew Jonah and Vivi, or if it was how I watched them grow from this maybe-friends-with-benefits to holy-sweet-baby-Jesus-I-love-you that really got to me, but it got to me. This book follows them falling for each other in a realistic way, as well as details their own personal issues. Neither one of them was perfect, and it wasn’t just that they were perfect in that mental illness wanted to be friendly with the two of them, but the fact that they were human. Sometimes they didn’t listen close enough, didn’t consider the other’s feelings, snapped a little too quickly.

I mean, I just love them.

Their imperfectness makes them human, and their human-ness makes them relatable. The dual POV worked SO WELL for WHEN WE COLLIDED. The reader is allowed to see the inner workings of with Vivi’s mind as well as Jonah’s. This worked so well. Lately, I’ve been getting annoyed where there is more than one POV. This use of it delighted me.

WHEN WE COLLIDED is brilliant. It’s worth reading. The true-as-I’ve-seen  point of view of bipolar disorder was incredible.

Here are my feelings || The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon

The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
November 27, 2015
Amazon || Goodreads

If I tell you right up front, right in the beginning that I lost him, it will be easier for you to bear. You will know it’s coming, and it will hurt. But you’ll be able to prepare.

Someone found him in a laundry basket at the Quick Wash, wrapped in a towel, a few hours old and close to death. They called him Baby Moses when they shared his story on the ten o’clock news – the little baby left in a basket at a dingy Laundromat, born to a crack addict and expected to have all sorts of problems. I imagined the crack baby, Moses, having a giant crack that ran down his body, like he’d been broken at birth. I knew that wasn’t what the term meant, but the image stuck in my mind. Maybe the fact that he was broken drew me to him from the start.

It all happened before I was born, and by the time I met Moses and my mom told me all about him, the story was old news and nobody wanted anything to do with him. People love babies, even sick babies. Even crack babies. But babies grow up to be kids, and kids grow up to be teenagers. Nobody wants a messed up teenager.

And Moses was messed up. Moses was a law unto himself. But he was also strange and exotic and beautiful. To be with him would change my life in ways I could never have imagined. Maybe I should have stayed away. Maybe I should have listened. My mother warned me. Even Moses warned me. But I didn’t stay away.

And so begins a story of pain and promise, of heartache and healing, of life and death. A story of before and after, of new beginnings and never-endings. But most of all...a love story.

Three Thoughts I had While Reading

“Those are my five greats for Georgia today. Those were my five greats yesterday and they will be tomorrow and the next day, until your kisses get old. Then I'll have to think of something else.” 

One. WILL YOU PAINT ME TOO LIKE YOU PAINT HER BUT NOT LIKE I’M DEAD? Please and thank you. Noah’s a bit of an artist y’all. A real-to-life artist. He paints the past.

Two. One thing that I think is immensely important knowing while going into this books are the paranormal aspects to it. It’s not mentioned in the summary, but without knowing that I think the book poses confusing. I love this aspect of the book. Not-so-baby Moses can see the dead. His crack-addicted mother abandoned him on the front step of the Laundromat. The sweet town looked in on his uprooted life as it progresses. He passes from family member to family member. The dead show Noah things.

Three. The mystery in the entirety of this book is spell-binding. Mwahah.

#BookLook || With Malice by Eileen Cook

With Malice by nobentspines featuring metallic leather sandals

Goodreads || Amazon

A read about a teenage girl who wakes up in a hospital bed and cannot remember the last six weeks of her life, including the accident that killed her best friend--only what if the accident wasn't an accident?

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last 6 weeks should be. She comes to discover she was involved in a fatal accident while on a school trip in Italy three days previous but was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident...wasn't an accident. Wondering not just what happened but what she did, Jill tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

For All the Ships that Have Sunk

Hey y'all!

It's been a bit since I just chatted. With college apparently actually happening (and orientation on MY BIRTHDAY) and internshipping, testing, slowly baking my way through stress, I haven't had much time to sit down and think. Although, that's probably not a bad thing because then I'd realize just how much I need to get my butt in gear. 

Ah, high school. Best time of my life--really? 

Besides all that, I have a song to share with you. That song is actually the reason of the post, funny enough. 

This song says " Oh, if the ship goes down, then I'm going down with it." 

I like to think of this song as a tribute to all the ships that have sunk, and their loyal shippers. 

What are some your your ships that have sunk?

THE WAY I USED TO BE by Amber Smith {Something to Take Note of}

THE WAY I USED TO BE // Amber Smith
Published March 22, 2016
Goodreads // Amazon 
ARC via Andye @ readingteen.net
TW: Sexual Assault, Rape

In the tradition of Speak, this extraordinary debut novel shares the unforgettable story of a young woman as she struggles to find strength in the aftermath of an assault.

Eden was always good at being good. Starting high school didn’t change who she was. But the night her brother’s best friend rapes her, Eden’s world capsizes.

What was once simple, is now complex. What Eden once loved—who she once loved—she now hates. What she thought she knew to be true, is now lies. Nothing makes sense anymore, and she knows she’s supposed to tell someone what happened but she can’t. So she buries it instead. And she buries the way she used to be.

Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.

#BookLook || The Odds of Lightning by Jocelyn Davies

The Odds of Lightning by nobentspines featuring a shiny lip gloss

Goodreads || Amazon

A bolt of lightning inspires an incredible journey in this charming, magical realism adventure that takes four teens on an all-night journey through the streets of New York City.

Extraordinary things happen when we least expect them.

Tiny, Lu, Will and Nathaniel used to be best friends. Then life-defining events the summer before high school tore them apart. Now, three years later, they hardly talk anymore. Nathaniel has become obsessed with winning the prestigious science scholarship that his genius older brother once won. Will has risen from anonymity to popular soccer star. Lu grew into a brash, impetuous actress. And shy, poetic Tiny has slowly been fading away.

But fate weaves their lives together again the night before the SATs, during a wild thunderstorm that threatens to shut down New York City. And lightning strikes.

Before they know what's hit them, the four teens embark on an epic all-night adventure to follow their dreams, fall in and out of love, reconcile the past, and overcome the fears that have been driving them since that one lost summer. And by the time the sun rises, odds are they’ll discover that there’s a fine line between science and magic, and that the mysteries of love and friendship can’t be explained.