Mini-Reviews :: NetGalley Edition

It’s that time again – I recently took a long blog break, to deal with some stuff in my personal life! And I spent a lot of that time reading, but I fell behind on my reviews for netgalley books! So now it’s time to play catch up

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe
by Shelley Coriell
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

Welcome Caller, This is Chloe is a coming-of-age story of “it” girl Chloe who has a LONG and nasty fall from grace. Her friends, and ultimately the whole school turn on her in the nastiest way possible. While the book touched on many of the key subjects (Bullies, Addiction, Disabilities, etc) it simply skims them and there isn’t a lot of depth.

While I felt like many of the characters were extreme stereotypes, I did really enjoy Chloe. Despite all the crap piled on top of her she stayed upbeat and positive that things would work out in the end. Normally constant optimism irritates me, because it’s just not realistic. But with Chloe, her personality really worked for me and I found she kept me pulled into the pages.

Chloe is such a quick read, there are funny moments, there are tug at your heart moments. But to me, this book lacked a bit of depth and I found myself wanting more! Overall, it was a quick fun read that I really enjoyed.

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls
by Julie Schumacher
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I seem to be on a coming of age, contemporary kick lately and this book definitely filled that criteria! In many ways, the Book Club reminded me of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, although more real and less cheesy. The girls (all very different) are thrown together in a summer book club to prep for AP English in the fall, and of course (as expected) they both come away having learned lessons and grown more as people.

Adrienne doesn’t want to be there, she’s the “it girl” who has it all, and she is clearly inconvenienced at the start of the book to be thrown in with this group. But it changes her, and she’s very open about that. I was nervous that she would be one of those protagonists that gets on my nerves, but she was great. She was snarky, yet it was obvious she was just lost and that there was so much more to her than we see at the start.

I would recommend this book to anyone who was ever a teenage girl – It pulled back so many feelings from high school, both good and bad. Julie Schumacher did a great job with these characters (and their moms!) and it really helped me to feel attached to the characters and the story.

Just Say Yes
by Phillipa Ashley
Rating: ♥ ♥

Just Say Yes is a cute contemporary romance set in London – and who doesn’t love British boys?? I was so hopeful for this book, unfortunately it just didn’t mesh for me.

The book has a unique layout, it starts with a flashback to Lucy and Nick’s relationship and break up. And to be honest, I hated Nick from the start. He just seemed to be trouble, he was unreliable and clearly more focused on his personal gain leaving Lucy as just a side item to focus on at his will. And Lucy was too hooked on him – sure she had her reservations which I appreciated. But she was still too stuck on him for my liking.  Then of course, Lucy meets Josh. Who is in a relationship. Not cool. Just not my idea of a good relationship start.

Unfortunately, unlikable characters and taboo (in my mind) relationships made this book just not click for me. I liked the writing, I loved the British setting. But there was just too much I didn’t like – although I’m sure it’s just my personality quirks that made it that way. Lots of people on Goodreads seemed to really love it.