Lapcos Sheet Masks

When I celebrated my birthday in March, one of the gifts I received was a sheet mask from Anthropologie. Until then, I didn’t even know that Anthropologie sold sheet masks! The nice thing is that a lot of the ones they sell are natural and from cruelty-free brands. Since I had the 15% off birthday coupon, I decided to head into Anthropologie and pick up another mask or two.

The one I received for a gift was the Leaders 7 Wonders Mask in the Mediterranean Olive Brightening Mask ($6 a mask). I really enjoyed this mask. It was pretty thin and fit my face nicely. It also didn’t slide off all the time, even though it had a good amount of serum. My face felt wonderfully moisturized and a bit brighter. I don’t know if it minimized visible dark spots, but it did even my skin tone a little bit.

I went into Anthropologie with the intention of purchasing more masks by this brand. Possibly either the calming or the moisturizing mask. But then, spotted on the shelf below these masks was a different brand in metallic packaging. The Lapcos sheet mask variety set contains all 7 of their masks as well as an exfoliating pad for $22. Considering the 7 Wonders masks were $6 a piece, I was tempted to try Lapcos.

Lapcos is a Los Angeles based Korean beauty company. I contacted them and they did confirm that they are a cruelty free company. The Variety Mask set contains one of each of the types of sheet masks that Lapcos Makes. This includes:

Pearl- a brightening mask with pear extract that is also meant to minimize dark spots

Milk- a moisturizing mask also meant to exfoliate the skin

Charcoal- a pore care mask that will extract toxins and tighten pores

Honey- a nourishing mask also meant to boot skin elasticity

Aloe- a soothing mask with aloe leaf and cucumber extract

Aqua- a hydrating mask also meant to revitalize skin

Collagen- an anti-wrinkle mask also meant to plump the skin

Milk Feel Exfoliating and Cleansing Pad- two sided pads that cleanses and gently exfoliates the skin

I am so excited to try these masks! I love that the variety pack is so inexpensive, since it allows me to try all of the products without making my wallet cry. Especially since there are multiple masks that have similar effects. I am most excited to try the honey, milk, and aloe masks. I’m also curious about the aqua mask and how it will differ from the milk and aloe masks.

I will try to do an update once I have worked my way through the pads to share my thoughts and feelings, as well as which one ended up being my favorite!

How do you feel about sheet masks? Do you have a favorite?

How to Walk Away

By: Katherine Center
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Pages: 320

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment. 

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect. 

First Impressions

This cover! The bright red is so eye catching I absolutely love it! I then got just as sucked in by the summary. I didn’t initially realize that Center was the author of Happiness for Beginners, which I had enjoyed when I read it. All three of those items added up to a solid spot on my to-read list.

What I thought

Have you ever finished a book and then not been able to start a new one right after because you’re basking in the aftermath of said book? That is exactly what has happened to me after finishing How to Walk Away.

Margaret has just graduated business school as is starting her life. She has interviewed, and unofficially been offered, her dream job, she has purchased her dream condo, and she anticipates the love of her life is about to propose. But then, tragedy strikes and her whole life takes a sharp turn and nothing will ever be the same.

This book has a bit of a Me Before You feeling to it. Margaret’s life is suddenly changed forever and, while in the hospital, she meets and works with Ian. While working through these life changes, they form a bond.

I loved pretty much everyone in this story. Margaret was great. She was negative enough to be realistic, but not so much that it was hard to read. Ian was also one of my favorites from the beginning. In classic Hallmark Channel Movie fashion, Ian is a bit of a grump and Margaret has to work to melt his tough guy exterior. I also appreciated that Margaret’s parents weren’t perfect. Ok, maybe her dad was, but her mom has some serious issues to deal with. The familial drama added some great depth to the story.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish. When I started, I was anxious to find out what the tragedy was going to be (hence why I don’t want to spoil it for you guys). Then I got so nervous that I liked this book so much that the ending would ruin it for me. Luckily, I was not disappointed by the ending at all! I enjoyed every aspect of this book in a way that I haven’t enjoyed a book in a while. This is definitely going to become a go to recommendation!

As I stated earlier, I received a copy of this book for review. I received it via ebook format, and I must say I am so upset. I love this book so much that I wish I had received a hard copy so that I could pass it on to everyone! But, I guess that means I can buy a copy to support the author, and pass it along that way! J If you like romances with a bit of tragedy, I highly recommend this book. If you enjoyed Me Before you and have wanted something with a similar feeling to fill that void, I would also recommend this book. Basically, read this book!!

Best Beach Ever (Ten Beach Road #6)

By: Wendy Wax
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 368

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): In the latest Ten Beach Road novel, Maddie, Nikki, and Avery all move into cottages at the Sunshine Hotel—and in this charming new location, begin to pursue daring new dreams.

After giving up their renovation-turned-reality-TV-show Do Over, the ladies of Ten Beach Road move into cottages at the Sunshine Hotel and turn their beloved Bella Flora over to its wealthy mystery tenant. Now, each woman will be forced to reexamine and redefine her life, relationships, and dreams.

First Impressions

I have read a previous book in this series and it was a very cute, light, read. When I received the offer to read this next one I was excited. The cover is very cute and summery and I could definitely see myself reading this book at the pool.

What I thought

This book brings back all of the characters that I enjoyed in the previous novel. Kyra is back with her son Dustin and is on her way to film a movie with his dad Daniel and Daniel’s wife Tonja, Maddie is going on tour with her rockstar boyfriend Will, Nikki is dealing with the life of being a mom of almost 1 year old twin girls, Avery is in a will they/won’t they relationship again with Chase, and Bitsy is finally ready to find her ex-husband who took off with her money. Kyra is, once again, one of my favorite characters to follow, but I’ve also been enjoying Maddie’s storyline.

I like seeing Kyra deal with Dustin and him not being an angel child. I also like seeing the dynamics between Kyra and Dustin and Daniel in a film setting. The pressure that is being put on Dustin is interesting to see as well. I also have not been reading this book from the beginning, so there are some past storylines that I know nothing about. For example, Troy comes back in this book and I have no past experience with him whatsoever. From what I have gleaned from this novel, he was a camera man on the old reality show and was a bit of an a-hole, but now he is back and apparently a changed man and has a crush on Kyra. I really enjoyed this relationship, and am sure if I had been reading from the beginning, I would be into it even more since I LOVE hate to love tropes.

The storyline with Nikki is easily my least favorite. She has a pretty cush life and just bitches so much. Plus there is a lot of borderline eating disorder behavior and she is continually complimented on the weight she is losing. It all just rubbed me the wrong way. She’s never been one of my favorites and seeing someone who is so privileged complaining about her privilege just isn’t my thing.

Compared to the previous books, this one moves a lot slower. It has probably been the book that has taken me the longest to read this year because it moves so slow. There isn’t much that makes you feel like you need to pick this book up to keep going. I even went on a trip when I was reading this, and didn’t finish it on the plane which is typically what I do. I’m just reading it so slowly for some reason and find myself only able to read it for a certain amount of time before putting it down and wanting to do something else. Honestly, I think if I was more in a summer mood, this would not have happened.

If you are a fan of this series, I think you will enjoy this. If you are looking for a beach read, I would recommend this series. The variety of the characters in these stories means there is someone for all readers. The ages vary from a young 20-something to a 60-something and each woman is at a different part of their lives. It is fun to see how their lives continue and change, while at the same time they still have each other.

Book Club April 2018- Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

By: Balli KaurJaswal
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 304

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Every woman has a secret life . . .

Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community.

Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind.

As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

What I thought

In all honesty, I wasn’t much looking forward to this book club book. While the cover is very pretty, the summary didn’t appeal to me much. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the story.

Nikki is a 22 year-old British-Punjabi woman living in London. She recently moved out of her parent’s house and is living above the bar she works at, much to her family’s dismay. While her sister is deciding to take part in an arranged marriage, Nikki discovers that the temple is hiring for a women’s literacy class. Nikki ends up teaching what she thinks is a class to teach stories, but ends up being a class teaching widows how to write. When the widows decide that they are bored, they end up telling/writing erotic stories.

I enjoyed the Punjabi culture side of this story a lot. The widows telling their erotic stories was all about women taking back their power. I love stories about strong women, and in a culture where women traditionally defer to the men, it made it even more interesting. I also liked seeing the contrast of Nikki, a woman who grew up in England, compared to the traditional women who grew up in India and moved to England.

From a character perspective, I felt Nikki was a bit one-dimensional. She is written to me the modern contrast to the traditional women, which is great, but she doesn’t do much else. In fact, the way that she teaches the class makes zero sense. She has no qualifications to do so, her Punjabi is mediocre at best, and then when the class starts to becomes more about the widows’ stories she loses all control. With the exception of maybe the first 5 minutes of the first class, Nikki does zero teaching.

I also wish that there was more to the story of Nikki and her family. The beginning of the story has a lot of interaction with Nikki and her sister Mindi. I liked seeing their contrast of modern vs traditional within the same family, but it falls to the wayside once the erotic stories start. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the stories are included in this book. I liked the way that they were written into the story. they were their own separate entity, but they fit well where they were included.

In amongst the story of the widows and their class is a community mystery. Nikki manages, of course, to get herself into the middle of it. This part of the story is more of a slow burn, and added some mystery that gave the story a bit more of a page-turner feel. I didn’t mind this storyline, but it didn’t feel like it matched the other one. I got a bit of the sense that the author had two stories they wanted to write, and had to figure out a way to write them both.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought it would. It was a quick read and an enjoyable story. I am glad that it is one that we read for book club, because I look forward to discussing it with my friends.

What Book Club Thought

This was a fun book to discuss. The book club felt similarly in that we wanted more of the story to be fleshed out. A few people wished there had been more to the mystery plot line, while others wished the widows’ characters had been given more. Everyone enjoyed it, which always makes for a fun discussion. We had pretty similar opinions, but it was interesting to see that we each wanted something different from the book that we didn’t get. We did also discuss whether or not we felt as though this book would make a good movie, but decided that there was a lot of it that wouldn’t translate well.

The Way You Make Me Feel

By Maurene Goo
Published by:  Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Publication date: May 08 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? 

With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look. 

First Impressions

This book made the best first impression in the world. I spotted the cover on Twitter, added it to my TBR, and then later added another of Goo’s books based on how much I wanted to read this book. The Way You Make Me Feel also became one of my most anticipated books to read in 2018, again, pretty much based on the first impressions alone.

What I thought

Clara is a class clown who is too cool for everything. When she wins prom queen, she pulls an ultimate prank. Rose, the junior class president and Clara’s nemesis, gets upset and they end up getting into a fight. As a punishment, Clara and Rose are made to work on Clara’s dad’s food truck for the summer. Can Clara and Rose manage to get along for the summer? Can Clara show that she can actually care about something, or even someone?

Let me preface my review by saying this was probably the #1 book I was looking forward to read. My excitement for this book grew tenfold after reading I Believe in a Thing Called Love, which I enjoyed so much. Now, I only say all this because sometimes I feel like when you have such high expectations, nothing can live up to it. I only feel like that happened to this book a little bit, but I am going to try to separate my expectations from the story itself. But I mean, I finished this book in like a day, so I think it’s safe to say I still really enjoyed it.

First off, Clara is not a likeable character for the majority of the book. Not that every character needs to be likeable, but she’s a bit of a brat. She lives to be apathetic and mocks anyone who cares about anything. As a result, she has terrible friends and is kind of a bitch a lot of the time. A lot of this gets explained, and it does make her behavior more understandable, but I still would never want to be friends with her.

One of the things I have loved in the two books I’ve read by Goo are the spotlight she gives to dads of teenage girls. Both books have had dads raising their daughters and they have had the best relationships. As much as I love a good mother/daughter relationships (I mean, hello Gilmore Girls!), but it’s so nice to see a good father/daughter relationship with dads who actually know what they’re doing.

The other thing that I love about Goo’s writing is her ability to include diverse cultures and people without it seeming forced. I never feel as though she is throwing in characters just to have a different culture. Everything seems so genuine and I love it. I also had no idea that there was a large Korean immigrant population in Brazil so that was fascinating!

Can I also take a minute to rave about how well Goo writes friendships and relationships in general? The banter between Clara and her dad is great, the love/hate relationship and development of friendships between Clara and Rose is great, even the side characters have fun relationship stories. I do wish there had been a bit more of Rose though. I would devour a book just about Rose and her life. She’s a dancer and a perfectionist in all aspects of her life, and I loved her.

Like I said, I finished this book in a day. It was easy and fun to read and I enjoyed every moment. I looked forward to picking it up every time and it just made me happy. I only wish that I had liked Clara a little more. Unfortunately, I am not a reader who cheers for the anti-hero. She’s not a villain or anything, and I think at her core she is a good person, but she doesn’t act kind and a lot of her attitude irritated me. Please take this criticism with a grain of salt. I am not a teenager, and like I said, I am not someone who connects easily with unlikeable characters, even though I know not everyone in the real world is likable.

I am so happy with this book. It lived up to my expectations and has solidified Goo as one of my new favorite authors. She has been added to my list of automatic reads for sure. If you like love/hate friendship stories you need to read this book. I would highly recommend adding this to everyone’s summer reading lists. It is fun, different, and a quick read. It has funny moments but it is balanced by some real life issues.

If you're interested in this book (which you definitely should be), the Blog Tour is hosting a giveaway for a hard copy! 

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AUTHOR BIO:

Maurene Goo grew up in a Los Angeles suburb surrounded by floral wallpaper and piles of books. She studied communication at UC San Diego and then later received a Masters in publishing, writing, and literature at Emerson College. Before publishing her first book, Since You Asked, she worked in both textbook and art book publishing. She also has very strong feelings about tacos and houseplants and lives in Los Angeles.

AUTHOR LINKS:

http://www.maurenegoo.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6549377.Maurene_Goo

https://twitter.com/mauxbot

Starry Eyes

By: Jenn Bennett
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 432

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern day, Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.

But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.

What could go wrong?

With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.

And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

First Impressions

How beautiful is this cover? I think I have a weakness for glowy covers. The ones that make you feel like you’re sitting outside in the dark with twinkle lights on. That’s what this one looks like and I’m pretty sure I added it to my TBR list without even checking the summary, so you could say it made a pretty solid first impression.

What I thought

This book took me on an adventure and I adored it. I wish I had read it over the summer, just because it is a summer book and would have given me all the summer feels. Instead, I was reading it in April while it was snowing (ugh Chicago) so it was a little harder to connect with.

Lennon and Zorie were best friends. Then in the fall of their Junior year, they decided to take part in the Great Experiment. The Great Experiment was essentially, them making out and testing whether they liked each other as more than friends before going public. When Lennon doesn’t show up to homecoming, which is when they decide they’re going to go public about being boyfriend/girlfriend, both of their lives come crashing down. After almost a year of not talking to each other, Zorie gets invited on a glamping trip with her friend Regan. Of course, Lennon ends up on the trip as well. Without giving too much away, adventure ensues.

I really liked Zorie and Lennon. Zorie gave me a bit of a too cool to be believable vibe. Meaning, she’s a bit of a nerd but is somehow friends with the most popular kids in school. Zorie dresses in plaid daily and wants to be an astronophotographer. She’s part of the astronomy club and one of the only reasons she’s ok with going camping is because she’ll be meeting up with the club for a star party. Regan and Zorie were friends growing up and then Regan’s family became rich and she’s a very talented runner, so she became super popular. Yet, Zorie was mostly hanging with Lennon throughout all of that, so it wasn’t until she and Lennon stopped hanging together that she became friends with Regan again. It’s a bit confusing. Especially because she doesn’t appear to like anyone very much.

When Lennon and Zorie end up camping in the backwoods, that is when the story really picks up. There is some family drama and of course friend drama at the beginning, but I felt like I was just waiting for big stuff to happen. Basically, Zorie’s dad is the biggest jerk in the world. Her friends also are kind of terrible people.

The descriptions of the woods as well as their adventures while camping were my favorite part. Zorie is not an outdoor person at all, whereas Lennon is an outdoor camping expert. She freaks out about the smallest thing, and it was sweet to see Lennon teach her how to survive.

The romance was definitely my favorite part of the story. I didn’t like the friend and family drama, but I understood that it was there to give more substance to the romance. As I said before, Zorie’s dad is a jerk. There is nothing redeeming about him in this whole story and that made me a bit sad. Although I did love her mom as well as Lennon’s moms. Zorie had another friend in astronomy club (whose name is escaping me), and it seemed like she was a bad friend to her. I felt as though astronomy club friend was a real friend and Zorie just kind of took advantage of the fact that she was a good person.

I don’t know if my review expressed how much I actually liked this book? I loved Lennon and Zorie and enjoyed cheering for their relationship as they were camping. I would highly recommend this book as a summer read if you are into contemporary young adult stories. I would recommend it, but I don’t know if it would be a book I’d read again.

Most Anticipated Books of 2018- Update

At the end of December, I wrote a post about the 8 books I was most excited about in 2018. I have managed to make my way through half of the books on that list, so I thought I’d do a little update on whether or not they lived up to my expectations.

By The Book- This was the first book on this list that I read. I would say that it almost met my expectations. It wasn’t bad, but looking back, I feel like I wanted a little bit more from it. It didn’t end up being a largely memorable book for me. It was definitely enjoyable, and it wasn’t a bad book by any means. Just with having had high expectations, it wasn’t as good as I wanted.

The Queen of Hearts- This for sure exceeded my expectations! This is one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year. It was different and a page turner and I would highly recommend checking it out.

The Wedding Date- This was the next one on my list, and I would say it met my expectations. Even though this was a highly anticipated novel, I didn’t have extremely high expectations for it. I expected it to be a cute modern romance novel, and that’s exactly what it was. It was an enjoyable read for sure.

The Way You Make Me Feel- Again, I would say this one met my expectations. I think this was my second most anticipated book of 2018 and that gave it some pretty high expectations to meet, so I think that is still high praise for this book. I had read one of Goo’s other novels in February and enjoyed it immensely, so I think I was also comparing it to that one. Either way, it was a wonderful book.

All in all, the books I was looking forward to have been very solid. I have enjoyed each and every one of these books and have yet to be disappointed by any of them. Of the 4 remaining books I was looking forward to, 3 of them are highly anticipated. The Wedding Date is the number 1 book I am looking forward to and I cannot wait to read it.

Have you had books you read any books you were looking forward to? Have you read any of the books that were on my list?

Emergency Contact

By: Mary H.K. Choi
Published Year: 2018
Publisher:
Pages: 400

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. 

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

First Impressions

Considering that this book got added to my list based on the cover alone, I’d say the first impression was pretty solid. The cover came up on my Twitter feed and I of course, had to check it out. The summary matched my interests, so it made it to my TBR.

What I thought

Penny is in her first year of college in Austin. She is awkward and a bit of a loner and has issues with her mom. Sam is a 21 year old college dropout who is working and living at a coffee house. When Sam has a panic attack, Penny is the one who help him out and they become each other’s emergency contacts. From there, they build a friendship over text while sharing with each other their life struggles.

Honestly, neither of these characters are very likeable, but somehow this book just works. Penny has issues with just about everyone, so she doesn’t have any true friends. When she leaves for college she is horribly mean to her mom and leaves behind a boyfriend she doesn’t care about. Penny’s roommate is Sam’s niece which is how they initially meet. Sam is a recovering (sort of) alcoholic who is in a relationship with a horrible person.

Their relationship is interesting because neither of them feels as though they’re worthy of a good and true relationship of any kind. It sort of reminded me a bit of the Netflix series Love, but in a much more positive way. In Love, the two main characters are terrible people and the only reason I liked them together was because neither of them deserved anyone else. In Emergency Contact, Penny and Sam aren’t terrible people, they’re just both struggling and they deserve someone who understands them.

While I greatly enjoyed their texting as a main part of their relationship, the formatting of it bothered me. The chapters alternated between Penny and Sam’s point of views, but I was never quite sure which side  of the messages indicated the speaker since it alternated. There were a few conversations that I didn’t’ know who was saying what until at least halfway through.

It also was a bit frustrating because the selling point of the book was about their texting relationship and it took a long time to get there. The first part of the book is a bit slow, with a lot of buildup to Penny and Sam meeting, but it’s worth the wait. Their banter is spot on and always fun. Plus the awkwardness is something that every teenager can relate to.

This book is definitely a modern young adult novel. It reminded me of a comment I read somewhere reminding authors that today’s teenagers grew up with cell phones and that texting and social media is a core part of their everyday lives. I think it’s hard to remember sometimes because a lot of YA authors are older and are writing about their past experiences and not the experiences of current teens. Choi did a fabulous job at making this book realistic and timely.

If you are looking for a realistic contemporary YA novel, I recommend this book. Neither character is perfect and there will be multiple times when you want to smack them upside the head. But this is what makes the whole story work! As a debut, Choi’s work is strong. There are some issues, such as formatting and maybe even making the characters a little too unlikeable at times, but overall it’s a strong novel. I would recommend it and read it again. I would also watch it as a movie or TV show!