Title: Ask Me Anything
Author: Molly E. Lee
Rating: 3.5 - 4/5
Thanks to Entangled Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for letting me receive a digital copy of this book.
I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
But Wilmont Academy’s been living in the Dark Ages when it comes to sex ed, and someone had to take matters into her own hands. Well, I’m a kickass coder, so I created a totally anonymous, totally untraceable blog where teens can come to get real, honest, nothing-is-off-limits sex advice.
And holy hell, the site went viral overnight. Who knew this school was so hard up.
Now the school administration is on a war path to shut me down, and they have Dean—my coding crush—hot on my trail. If he discovers my secret, I could lose his trust forever. And thousands of teens who need real advice won’t have anyone to turn to.
Ask me anything…except how to make things right.
I've read so many great things about this book and every review made me feel bad for putting mine on hold, trying to gather my thoughts around it in order to write something that actually means something. Empowerment? Check. Great topic? Check. Nerdy? Check. And yet... I totally understand this book being hyped. And it totally deserves it, too. It's just that I missed the certain spark. And I'm only talking about me here. I can see why other people loved it so much. I did too. Ask Me Anything is fabulous and so unlike any other young adult novel.
These days, people think that speaking up about sex-ed and everything involved in it is given. That's why I think this book is so important, because surely, there are schools and people that would like to just close the door on teens. They aren't informed about what they would like to know. Just because you don't talk about sex with teens, doesn't mean they won't have it. And I loved that message in the book, too. Because it's true. The less attention you give to such an important topic, the more likely it is teens will just try, know nothing about protection and end up in a bad situation. Why be so closed off? Why not just talk about it?
As I'm writing this, I realize how hard it is to actually review Ask Me Anything. There will always be people disagreeing with sexual education and there will be tons of discussions about it. Though we're living in the twenty-first century, this is still something we have to address, to fight for as well. Fighting for a healthy sex education system? Definitely. The principal of Amber's school will probably remain one of my least favourite characters in the history and sure, his point of view on sex-related things was way over the top, but I can totally imagine this happening at schools - no matter where in the world. And we can't have that.
So Amber took matters into her own hands, starting a blog, answering sex-related questions. As a virgin. Yes, there's a teenage virgin as main character. And I think the author actually thought something when she created her, which is why I'll decline to comment on that. Talk about empowerment. Amber wants to make a change and she does. Only nobody knows the girl pulling the strings of the blog is her. The questions she was asked... Seriously, teens should read Ask Me Anything. The questions are so good, the emotions so well-captured and it's so exciting to read along. The author gave teens a voice, you never once get the impression those questions were formed by an adult author who has no idea what teenagers are thinking about.
The only thing bothering me was that often used hacker language. The actual reason why Amber even created her blog is because she had a challenge going on with her crush Dean. Both of them are computer nerds, hacking and programming the hell out of everything. And while I liked Dean, liked his point of view (very solid!), I clicked off whenever the two of them talked about codes, about the different programmes you could use and all that stuff. I wonder if the author herself knows so much about it or if she had to do research. Just out of curiousity. Anyway... The way things develope between the two of them is great. I liked the chemistry and I adored them. Especially their first date. As I'm looking back, I find more and more things that I enjoyed very much.
Ask Me Anything isn't meant to teach teenagers things, I think. It's to make people think about stuff, find out what informations are being kept from them, learning about oneself, trusting oneself, knowing when to speak up, inspiring someone. It's about so many things, addresses so many things (not only the sexual education part). I support the meaning of this book and I hope it'll spread the word.
Title: I Spy the Boy Next Door
Author: Samantha Armstrong
Rating: 3/5
Thanks to Xpresso Book Tours and NetGalley for letting me receive a digital copy of this book before its official release date.
Four p.m. spy sessions are the highlight of Mallory Taylor’s day. Observing the boy next door—one with a body and an attitude to match—has her perched beside her window so often it can't be healthy.
When she finally convinces her mom to let her go to public school, Mallory comes face to face with her neighbor, Troy Parker. And he makes it clear he wants nothing to do with her. His rejection awakens a newfound tenacity and maybe even a touch of recklessness. But when Troy starts to show up when she needs him the most, Mallory can’t help but wonder if there’s more to him than he’s let on.
Taking chances, breaking rules, and following her heart is all new to Mallory. And no one warned her just how fickle hearts can be. When she discovers that Troy isn’t at all the guy she imagined him to be, secrets rise to the surface that will change her life forever.
I Spy the Boy Next Door started off great. I randomly started reading it, expecting nothing and everything at once and was pleasantly surprised when I found myself refusing to put it down. Soon enough, I got the impression that the story could have started somewhere at 20% of the book and it would have been a bit better since some things were just unnecessarily mentioned. But I still enjoyed it. A light young adult read was what I had been missing for some time without realising it.
Troy, the ultimate book boyfriend of the story, is the one Mallory is spying on - her neighbour. She's not really spying as much as she's crushing on him and always just watching him come home. Seriously, the 'spying' in the first chapter is as spy-like as it gets. The rest is pretty simple. Since there was a Travis Maddox remark by the author (Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire), I couldn't help but picture Troy just like I have been imagining Travis for years. There are so many similarities as well, the main similarity being the boxing Troy does professionally and also illegaly. It's so easy to compare these two characters and I actually feel sorry for it. There's just so much an author can think of without making their character appear to have been copied out of another book. It can't always be an extryordinary original character. I get that. It didn't feel like cheating or copying.
Mallory had to grow on me, and just as soon as I started liking her, some things made me dislike her again. Me growing fond of her was when the author decided to give her a little confidence boost. Going out that much out of a sudden didn't seem all that natural for me, but I still liked to think that Mallory was finally doing something for herself, finding herself and who she wants to be. I mean, she never really got the chance, her parents being very strict, homeschooling her because of their angst.
And her friendship with Nic was a very special aspect for me. Nix is Mallory's best friend, her only friend up until some point of the story and her internet friend. They've never met. And what can be considered creepy is described as a well-functioning friendship. Which I loved. Seriously, more books should include that. All people having found friends online via boards (they used to be a thing around 2007), social media or something else will understand. There's always a danger involved online, but I'm glad the author didn't focus on that. It wouldn't have fit to the story.
While the beginning was a bit dragged, toward the end things were speeding up way too fast for my taste. Mallory's behaviour wasn't something I understood or could relate to - her change was way too sudden. The genre changed from young adult to new adult without warning (and without the characters aging), but the characters' behaviour giving that away. And there was just too much happening all at once. It was hard to keep track. So many informations to process, so many actions to understand. Sometimes less is more. It wasn't messy exactly, but the structure was missing. As though the author was surprised by her invention of that weird plot twist (it's really weird, coming out of the blue) herself and had too many thoughts going on, wanting to write down everything.
I Spy the Boy Next Door is a book I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't read a young adult novel in a while but is looking for a solid one. Also for those who don't mind that huge genre jump in the middle of the book. It can't be considered as my new favourite, but I still enjoyed it, kept reading because it had me hooked.
Title: Serious Moonlight
Author: Jenn Bennett
Rating: 3/5
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK Children's for letting me receive a digital copy of this book before its official release date.
Raised in isolation and home-schooled by her strict grandparents, the only experience Birdie has had of the outside world is through her favourite crime books.
But everything changes when she takes a summer job working the night shift at a historic Seattle hotel. There she meets Daniel Aoki, the hotel’s charismatic driver, and together they stumble upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—is secretly meeting someone at the hotel.
To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell, and in doing so, realize that the most confounding mystery of all may just be her growing feelings for Daniel.
Truth be told, it took me months to finally finish Serious Moonlight. I could blame my phone's battery, but that would only be partly true. See, I considered reading novels by Jenn Bennett before, but something about the storylines always felt odd to me. And because her stories become more popular, it had me suspicious. It was actually the cover for Serious Moonlight that had me hooked. And then I wanted to dive in, but then the beginning of the book was pretty boring, which I already feared it would be.
Big surprise, my mind couldn't help but compare bits - compare the main character Birdie - to Agatha Christie. And I've had a hard time with the only book I read by her, too. The cover of Serious Moonlight mislead me. There was a certain vibe I expected of it. And I got disappointed. I was annoyed by the detective behaviour, annoyed by the case Birdie tried so solve.
So I put this one aside - lots of times. I didn't want to know how things would turn out between her and Daniel. Though their encounter (happening before the book picks up) is an extraordinary one. I liked that idea, but I still wish the author would have made more of that - so many possibilites gone to waste. Instead, Birdie is naive, they talk about the issue a hundred times without coming to a real conclusion, without moving forward just the tiniest bit. And sometimes it's all a very wild chaos. That might be because of Birdie's crazy aunt Mona. I really liked her as a character. She always knew what to say and never crossed a line despite her crazy self. However, her own story was predictable and I wished for something else. To me, that wasn't very creative.
About 30% in, Serious Moonlight grew on me. I didn't expect that, but was glad for it. It picked up some pace, the scenes and settings were good and the idea of the plot seemed more figured out and thought-through. Not as messy anymore.
Sadly, I'm not sure whether I will give another Jenn Bennett book a chance since this one took me forever to finish. Her writing style was good, but sometimes it seemed like she just wanted to use some fetch English words, making the sentences themself sound great, but had the reader thinking if there wasn't an easier way to express herself and explain situations. Considering I liked the book during the middle, I still give it a "good" rating.
