Review: The Names they Gave Us by Emery Lord

Author: Emery Lord

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children

Number of Pages: 390

Goodreads l Amazon

Synopsis:

"When it all falls apart, who can you believe in?
Everything is going right for Lucy Hansson, until her mom’s cancer reappears. Just like that, Lucy breaks with all the constants in her life: her do-good boyfriend, her steady faith, even her longtime summer church camp job.
Instead, Lucy lands at a camp for kids who have been through tough times. As a counselor, Lucy is in over her head and longs to be with her parents across the lake. But that’s before she gets to know her coworkers, who are as loving and unafraid as she so desperately wants to be.
It’s not just new friends that Lucy discovers at camp—more than one old secret is revealed along the way. In fact, maybe there’s much more to her family and her faith than Lucy ever realized."

The Names they Gave Us went far beyond my expectations and became a favorite of 2017.  I had just read Open Road Summer before launching into this book so I was really just expecting another cute, summer romance read that I could read quickly but hell no. 

"It is not the type of love that ends."

The book had me gripped from start to finish. The plot line was interesting from the start,   and I savored this book. I refused to rush through the book or to even finish it in a day or two. It took me five days, practically a week, to finish this book and I had no regrets. I wouldn't even have minded if it had been longer. The ending, however, got me. I was shook with how the book ended, and how Emery Lord could play with my heart that way. 

All the characters in this book are just mesmerizing. Lucy, with her desire to fit in yet stay true to her religious background, Lucy's mother's resilience in the face of this awful disease, and all of the Camp Daybreak counselors. It was probably what made this book my favorite, the characters that the reality that everyone has issues that they face but can overcome. Whether those issues be teen pregnancy, adoption, drugs, or LGBTQ+ related. Lucy faced issues as simple as people making assumptions about her based on the fact that her father is a pastor and she is religious. They just made assumptions about her feelings on different social issues, her personality etc. She overcame those and showed people that stereotypes aren't necessarily true. 

"'Whose empire did you just overthrow?' 

My own."

Lord wrote a fantastic novel on what being a teenager, or any human being, can overcome in the face of adversity. It takes strength and the support of those around you to overcome issues in life, but eventually, you will overcome them.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!!

*Thank you to Kit Cat from Let the Pages Reign for sending me an ARC to review!

Review: Only His by Natasha Madison & Aurora Rose Reynolds

Author: Natasha Madison & Aurora Rose Reynolds
Publisher: Self-Published
Number of Pages: 77
Goodreads l Amazon

Synopsis:

"I had no idea he was a sought after movie star and one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. I thought he was only mine, until one picture turned my life upside down. 
She can fight it all she wants, but I knew the moment we met that she'd be mine, and I'm never giving her up. 
I tried to deny it, but in the end I know I'm Only His."

I was extremely disappointed with this novella...because of how short it was! I wanted this book to be a full-length novel. This novella is such a cute, quick read and I really wanted more.

The plot was amazing and kept me gripped the entire time. I ended up reading this book in just one night--right after I had downloaded it onto my Kindle. It was virtually impossible to put, except when I had to take a deep breath due to the intensity of the plot line. 

Emma and Liam might have some years between them when it comes to age but when it comes to love, they are as close as can be. Their relationship is absolutely thrilling, seeing how caring Liam is with Emma. He wanted their relationship to be about just them and not about his profession or anything that would take away from who he was--especially what the world thought of him. Both authors did a great job at really having the reader feel the chemistry between the two and that really brought the book to life. Emma's reactions to Liam's alpha personality was very amusing and kept you smiling...even Emma's parents reactions to his personality were hilarious. 

This book is extremely fast paced due to it being a novella but had the potential of being a full-length novel. It's not something that seems like it was put together quickly. You could see the effort that went into writing the novel because even the writing flows flawlessly. You can't tell what author wrote any individual part. Only His is thrilling, gritty, and blood-pounding. If you enjoy any of the work of the two authors I would highly recommend picking this book. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!!

*An ARC of this book was exchanged by the authors for an honest review.

Book Tube A Thon 2017 TBR List!

Hey guys! So, we know that we aren't booktubers, but we've been wanting to do a read-a-thon for a while and this was the perfect opportunity. It starts tomorrow, so we figured we would show you our TBR list according to each of the challenges put forth by the host Ariel Bissett. 

For more information about the Book Tube A Thon, click here.

Challenge #1: Read a book with a person on the cover

  

Harleen's Pick                           Harman's Pick

Challenge #2: Read a hyped book

 

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

Challenge #3: Finish a book in one day

    

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

Challenge #4: Read about a character that is very different from you
Harleen is not a fetus still growing in her mother.
Harman has not been deprived of an educated or threatened because she has gone to school.

 

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

Challenge #5: Finish a book completely outdoors

 

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

Challenge #6: Read a book you bought because of the cover

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

Challenge #7: Read seven books

Harleen's Pick                              Harman's Pick

10 Male Book Characters That Ruined Me For Life

Let's face it, we all have those book boyfriends who have just ruined us for all in-real-life guys. I sometimes fear that I will end up alone due to the high standards that have now been set due to these men. I read some of these books when I was 12 and yet I'm still obsessing over them and probably always will.

10. Jared Trent from Bully by Penelope Douglas

  

Sure, at first the relationship seemed really unhealthy, but after seeing how much Jared really cared for Tate and how protective he was with her, who wouldn't fall in love with this guy?

9. Ian O'Shea from The Host by Stephanie Meyer

  

Seeing how charismatic Ian really was with accepting Wanda and loving her. We all just want someone who will look past our differences and imperfections and Ian is the epitome of that guy in my mind.

8. Wes Silver from Until July by Aurora Rose Reynolds

  

So I'm kind of obsessed with biker boys (Charlie Hunnam in Sons of Anarchy is my life right now) and Wes Silver is the epitome of badass biker boy. He is of the scary-hot type who has a soft side for animals and is extremely protective of the people he cares about. If you can't love him, who can you love?

7. Patch Cipriano from Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick 

  

Patch is the definition of a bad boy- through and through. He's such a lovable character, even though at the same times he's not. I feel like for a lot of us, he was one of our first book boyfriends!

6. Daemon Black from Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  

*Sigh* What to say about Daemon? He is the ultimate hot guy next door. He is such a humorous, caring individual who is still SO HOT. The cover model, Pepe Toth, is exactly who I see as Daemon and who doesn't want a sexy, alien, ball of light boyfriend?

5. Fang from Maximum Ride by James Patterson

  

Fang is one of my favorite broody fictional crushes. I'm actually not all that big on the extremely broody, wears-all-black-all-the-time type, but on Fang it just seems natural rather than a show or personality choice. It's who he was meant to be. He's also cares about the others around him while still allowing them to make their own decisions, not super posessive or protective like the rest of my book boyfriends.

4. Jace Herondale from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

  

Jace Herondale is everyone's fictional crush. The man is hilarious, yet hot and dangerous. I don't even know what it really is because the boy is uber annoying at the beginning but eventually you fall in love after seeing his soft side. So basically, he's most teen boys but 10x hotter. 

3. Maxon Schreave from The Selection by Kiera Cass

  

Ok, this one is just obvious. It's Maxon Schreave! The prince! Who happens to be extremely down to Earth and genuinely cares about protecting his people and saving his country. He also cares about all the contestants--no matter whether he loves them or not. 

2. Cage York from While it Lasts by Abbi Glines

  

Cage York is the player who we all dream will fall in love with us. He's a baseball player who has no intention of falling in love but ends up being so fiercely protective of Eva. His charisma and character also lead to show that he is someone who cares and tries to be a good person. He's just hard not to fall in love with.

1. Cade Walker from Resisting Temptation by KC Lynn

  

Cade is the ultimate protector. He's the alpha that we all want. He loves Faith, Ruthie, and Christopher unconditionally and would do anything to protect them. He truly is a man of honor <3.

I know that all my choices were the alpha, fiercely protective type but that's who I genuinely love. 

Honestly, I'll take them all for my birthday.

This post was also inspired by a post over at HerCampus and some of my characters match theirs exactly. It couldn't be helped, so go check out who made their list but didn't make mine!

Who are some of your favorite male book characters?