Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Have you ever wanted a chance to start over? To erase all of your memories and start life fresh? That's exactly what happens to Samantha Franco, except her memories begin with her standing on a road covered in blood and dirt. She has no idea who she is or how she got there or what happened. After being taken to a hospital, her identity is finally figured out and her parents show up a few hours later. Too bad she has no idea who her mom and dad are, that they are super rich, that she has a twin brother, she has a boyfriend who she is basically betrothed to, and she and her mean girl friends basically rule their high school. She also has no idea that her best friend's name is Cassie and is missing.

Sam has to rebuild her life with memories other people have with her and share with her. She has to rely on her boyfriend to tell them how in love they are. She has to rely on her friends to tell her how popular she is and how she is the queen bee of the school. She has to rely on her twin brother to tell her everything about herself that her parents don't want to-- how she was an awful person who manipulated and terrorized everyone with her bestie Cassie.

Sam hates her former self. She doesn't understand how she could ever have been so mean to everyone around and treated everyone so bad. She spends most of the book feeling the shame and embarrassment as she tries to make everyone realize that the old Sam is gone, including her brother's super hot friend Carson. Carson is the son of grounds keeper of her family estate. They were childhood friends, but after Sam met Cassie her whole life changed. She dumped her former friends and the person who she could have been and turned into the mean girl that everyone expected her to be.

Now that Sam is a completely different person, how can she maintain her former relationships? She is expected to have a fairy tale relationship with her boyfriend but now finds herself having feelings for someone else. She hates her friends and finds friendship in her twin brother who seems to be one of the only people she can trust. After Cassie's body turns up and the case officially turns into a murder case, Sam is the number one suspect. People whisper at school and even her own parents can't look her in the eye and say she is innocent. But without having any memory from that night, how does Sam know that she didn't actually kill Cassie? Sam finds herself questioning everyone around her and her own sanity. I was really rooting for Sam to figure out what was going on, and I kept getting super frustrated for her when everyone was calling her crazy. Every time I thought I knew what was happening, something new would pop up.

The book has a lot of mystery surrounding it and I felt like I was playing a game of Clue the whole time. I kept thinking EVERYONE was a suspect and felt super suspicious the whole time. There is a big twist at the end, but I guessed it a few chapters before just by picking up on clues. It's a very unique twist and really brings a creepy feel to the book. Even with all the mystery and drama, JLA still gives you a few steamy scenes with a good romance to keep you feeling the feels. The book sort of reminds me of the Mara Dyer series, so if you are a fan of that, then I think you'll enjoy this book.

Like all of JLA's books, the book neatly resolves itself after all the twists and drama so that you have a good ending. I'm very happy with the ending (I was super worried for a while) and think this is an AWESOME standalone book. I was so relieved after reading because it seems like every book I've read lately has been a bust. Once again, JLA proves herself to be my favorite YA author.

5/5 stars. 

Nil: Lynne Matson

Nil: Lynne Matson

On the island of Nil, there's only one real rule... You have exactly 365 days to escape or you die. Seventeen-year-old Charley was sucked out the Target parking lot and woke up naked and on Nil. Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the hot leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she would have thought and falling in love isn't helping. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that she has to find a way to beat the clock, and quickly.

Ok so let me start off by saying that I'm pretty torn about this book. I both liked it and hated it. Mainly I just hated it. First off the insta love in this book was taken to a whole new level...It's overwhelming and takes up a majority of the story. There's less cheese in the diary section of Publix than there was in this book. To prove my point I give you:

Exhibit A: "Thanks for the company. And for this." I touched the delicate lei. "It's beautiful" "Not to sound totally lame, but it doesn't compare with the girl who's wearing it." Then he kind of groaned and laughed both at once. "man, that did sound lame, but it's true" "very lame," I agreed. "And I hate to break it to you, but I think your visions going." "my visions just fine... like I said, it's perfect..."

BARF right... and I bet you had a hard time telling which one was Charley and which one was Thad. If it wasn't for the titles on each chapter I probably wouldn't have known myself. There was NO difference between how Thad and Charley thought. Since we're talking about Charley and Thad let me tell you about them... Charley is a six foot tall super model look alike that has that Oh-what-me-pretty-noooo attitude that is beyond annoying! She does WAY too much swooning EVEN FOR MY TASTE. Then there's Thad the tall buff snow boarder who also happens to be an over six feet tall super model who has jelly beans for brains. And yes they fall instantly in love... That's only the first problem with this book. 

They are constantly talking about all the danger that's on the island. There's lions and tigers and bears oh my! Yet none of these things ever mess with them. You think a bunch of animals would eventually roll up to their camp and try to jack their food... NOPE, for the most part all the animals keep to themselves. (Except this one random cat thing that seemed like it held some kind of importance, but actually was as random as the rest of this story.) There also seems to be a pretty endless supply of food just lying around, along with clothes. Half the time everyone's crying about what's on the menu... BOOHOO and to think people out there in the real world are paying 10 dollars a roll for sushi and you just have it there for free. Hard life. Not to mention that the plants around them are edible... yeah you heard me, THE LEAVES AROUND THEIR CAMP ARE EDIBLE TOO. YET EVERYONE IS HUNGRY... HMMM HERE'S AN IDEA, GRAB THE CLOSET SHRUB AND EAT YA IDIOT. Something else I failed to mention was that they are fighting SO hard for their lives... no time for fun and games... Wait I spoke to soon, there's plenty of time. They play volleyball, go surfing, work out, they even have gliders (Another thing that was mentioned like once but was never brought up again). 

The island is also dripping with nosy mother f-ers. Everyone is all up in everyone's business, oh wait nope they only seem to notice Thad and Charley's drama EVEN THOUGH THERE'S LIKE FIFTY OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ISLAND! But back to what I know we are all dying to hear about... The love. It's awful! It's so over the top and annoying. They seriously fall in love in seconds. A new Ya book record. They are even dropping L bombs all over the place after just a few short weeks. Plus they are always using these "inside jokes" with each other OVER AND OVER AND OVER... Then Thad gives Charley this awful little nick name thing and I thought if I had to hear "Charley with an e-y" one more time I was going to set myself on fire! 

He pulled out his pineapple slicer, and with slow, deliberate stokes, Thad carved the first five letters of my name. Then he paused. "tell me how to finish... i-e or e-y?" "e-y" I answered. He chuckled "so right." "what's that suppose to mean?" Thad finished etching the y and blew on my name. Without turning he said, "because for your name to end in Lie doesn't fit. You're the most real girl I've met on or off Nil." 

If I was Charley I would have taken that knife right out his hands and slit my wrist because there's no way I'm going to make it another 300 days with this guy. As far as the plot goes, if you've seen the show Lost you already know whats going to happen. Just throw in some shimmering liquid light things that you'll need to be eaten by to be sent home, and you have Nil. I'm not kidding the comparison between the two is uncanny. Purgatory, parallel universes, weird animals, random people everywhere, and there's a strange maze looking symbol written on rocks all around. HMMM why does that last one sound so familiar... I just can't put my finger on it.

There are also so many plot holes in this story. Everything is just so convenient. Kids appear who know all these crazy traits... one is a baker who makes awesome bread... where the hell did the yeast come from? There's a carpenter who just happens to know how to build using wooden nails. LIKE COME ON GIVE US A BREAK! The kids on this tropical vacation don't even have to be smelly because they have some girl who knows how to make fancy soap! With no real world building involved in this story, besides a list of things that are on this island, Which include a sweet snowy mountain, volcanoes, and a wild flower field. The sub character in this book for the most part are pointless. None of the characters really care if they stay on the island or get off as long as they have their gf/bf with them. 

Guess I should say something nice about this book... The first like 40 pages of this book are cool, and the last 40 pages are cool too. I liked the ending mainly because it was the end, but I guess it was sweet too. Probably the best part of the whole novel. Over all this was a cluster-F of a book that could of made a cool trilogy or even a better standalone, if some of the fifty things listed above were fixed. I had high hopes for this book, and had heard a lot of good things about it... Sadly I was let down.

4.5/10 Stars

-Angela