The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

"Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life - boating, swimming , and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies -- he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door."-Goodreads synopsis

This isn't going to be the longest review, but it will be a ranting one. Just going to jump right in...

The characters in this book are ridiculous! First Gabby. One word- Annoying! She got on my last nerve. This is going to sound insane, but she thought way to much. The first half of this book is her just thinking... but it's about nothing at all. She just goes on and on and on about any and everything!!!! Then on top of her babbling she was obsessed with making it crystal clear that she had a boyfriend.

Hey having a party at my house would you like to come- I have a boyfriend. Hi how are you- I have a boyfriend... What time is it- I have a boyfriend.... What color is the sky- I have a boyfriend.

WE GET IT!!!! YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND! WE GET IT, TRAVIS GETS IT, HIS FRIENDS GET IT, PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD OF THIS BOOK GET IT! Shut the F up about how you have a boyfriend! NO ONE ASKED!

She's also absent minded, jumps to assumptions, and takes her anger out on everyone.... Oh wait there's more... she's needy, whiny, and way too attached to the male characters in this book. Everything she did uggggggggggh drove me insane. Then we have Travis. Travis is perfect. And yeah this is a problem. He is able to do everything, and I'm just not ok with this. Cook, clean, entertain children, ride motorcycles, you name it he does it. I like my characters with flaws and he legit has none. Oh and boy does he ooze of charm. That's another thing! HE IS TOO CHARMING!!!! Yeah, I'll give it to him, he has a few very silly cute moments. However all his perfections overshadowed all. I did prefer Travis to Gabby, but I don't really know what that says.

The relationship between the two is soooooooooo unrealistic. Mr. Sparks you have your two main characters fall in love in one weekend!!!! ONE weekend! I'm not saying that this would be impossible for an author to do what I'm saying is that you are going to have to do it up... You are going to have to pull out all the stops; stops that aren't even invented yet! Good sir, when you make a book 250 pages it's a sprint not a marathon. I'm talking that can't eat-can't sleep-reach for the stars-over the fence world series kind of magic. We don't have time for you to waste on all this pointless backstory BS. Having these characters falling in love over a weekend would mean you would have to have us fall in love with them being in love in a matter of pages... Newsflash you didn't! I DID NOT FOR ONE SINGLE SECOND BELIEVE THESE TWO COULD/DID FALL IN LOVE! I gave no Fs about these two being together.... Which leads me to the plot.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!

There really isn't much plot to talk about because nothing happens. 85% of this book NOTHING happens! This book puts all its eggs in the basket that is a coma. I'm sure by now you've all seen the trailers for this movie... So you know home girl gets in an accident... Which makes it very clear that the choice will be that he has to either A) pull the plug or B) not. I wont tell you what he chooses to do, but I really don't have to. You will know! Every part of the ending is PRE-DICT-ABLE! Oh and when the big reveal happened I WAS SO PISSED! ROYALLY PISSED! I was so annoyed by how everything went that I was praying to the book gods to just have Gabby die! Live-die, Gabby gonna be real with you I just don't care!!! Actually you know what, just die, it's cool. I was told over and over again by several people that that none of this would matter. That by the end I would still be a blubbering mess... I WASN'T!!! I did not shed a single tear. I cry in almost every book but didn't in this one! I think that really says something. I was just to busy being angry to be upset.

Nick Sparks needs to re-evaluate his writing. This is a story he has done time and time again. Wealthy white people fall in love, someone ends up in the hospital, but in the long run it all works out for them... because LOVE CONQURS ALL EVEN MODERN MEDICINE.

yeah its just a no! We are not on good terms Nick. F this book.

I  was way easier on this book than I planned on being review wise.... I toned it down, which I know in the long run I'll regret doing. Oh and If at this point you're still wondering if I'll be seeing this movie or not?!?!?!... Well you can bet your sweet buns I am. I'm actually still pretty pumped about it.

2/10 Stars
-Angela

All the Rage by Courtney Summers

"The sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything—friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn’t speak up. Nobody believed her the first time—and they certainly won’t now — but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear." -Goodreads synopsis 　

All the Rage is constantly being compared to Speak and here's what I have to say about that... The two books both about the effects and aftermath of rape and this is where the similarities stop. Speak is a book I personally think should be required high school reading while ATR is a novel I could have gone without reading. It didn't pack the punch or have the impact on me that Speak did.

The first thing I want to mention right away is that the summary for ATR is a bold face lie! "Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is..." Kellan isn't even in the story! He's not even a character in the book!!! He is barely even talked about... Second "Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town"; she's branded a liar because she is a liar. No, she didn't lie about being raped, but that's basically the only thing she doesn't lie about. Third I'm pretty sure the place she works is still in town! Whoosh, sorry had to get that off my chest. I'll actually talk about Romy now. I hated her! Hated everything about her. Romy is kind of a dick. She is a loner because most of the school hates/bullies her. I completely get that that at school she might need that Super B front put up, but Romy was a dick to people she even liked. Her mom, her kind of boyfriend, coworkers, you name them she was a jerk to them. She has no personality and I felt it very hard to relate to her as a character. She is also one of the most bland characters I've ever read. Even moments when she could have shed even the lightest bit of personality she doesn't. I know she's suppose to be angry, sad, and depressed but come on she doesn't have to be boring too. I think her biggest problem is that she has no development. Also I know her name is Romy, but I kept calling her Romney... which made me think of that episode of New Girl where Schmidt pretends to be related to Mitt Romney, so I had a hard time saying her name or taking it seriously throughout the book.

ATR has no real plot. The plot it does have is all over the place. Summer's writing style is both choppy and confusing. The story starts with the "Now"-which turns about not really to be the now-then goes to two weeks earlier, which doesn't read as if it's two weeks earlier. I had to actually re-read the first three chapters because I was so confused about the timeline. Then closer to the end goes back to the now-which is actually now the now (lol). It just doesn't read well what so ever. I think the story would have read better if the events just went in order and didn't flip flop back and forth. ATR is suppose to be a story about a girl who is raped and how life is for her after, but it's more like a story about a girl just going about her day(s). No seriously, it's just a book about Romy sometimes going to school, sometimes going to work, and most the time just being rude. It just doesn't really go into details and the emotional level and depth just isn't reached. People warned me about the mature themes and language... Yes, there is some profanity but nothing over the top, and the mature themes are nothing we haven't read before. Trust me when I say this wont be why it's hard to read.

Besides the huge problems with the characters and plot I also had a huge problem with the moments that should of had big reveals... Romney is bullied at school-plot builds builds builds- then falls flat. She gets super smashed at a party- plot builds builds builds-nothing happens. Girl goes missing- plot build builds builds- no surprise happens. It's just all these random things thrown together that you expect to come together at the end and they just don't. All the Rage is a book I feel is way to overhyped. It's choppy, confusing, dull, and will give you nothing but dead ends. "With a shocking conclusion" that will leave you very disappointed. Your best bet is to go into this book with no expectations that way you wont be letdown.

3/10 Stars
-Angela

Angela's January Wrap-Up

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List- Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling- Lucy Frank

Harley Quinn Halloween Special- Amanda Connor

Before We Were Strangers- Renee Carlino

La Douleur Exquise- J.R Rogue

Never Stop Falling- Ashley Drew

The Score- Elle Kennedy

The Choice- Nicholas Sparks

The Longest Ride- Nicholas Sparks

Something in the Air- Marie Landry

Never Never Pt. 3- Colleen Hoover, Tarryn Fisher

Nailbiter-Josh Williamson

All the Rage- Courtney Summers

Well January went by at the speed of light!
As I said in my 2015 wrap up I decided to go a little bit easier on my reading this year. I did still hit double digits so that's an accomplishment. I spent most of January watching Netflix, going to the movies, and starting the new TV season. Lately I've been marathoning Doctor Who, watching the new season of New Girl, seeing The 5th Wave, watching Shadowhunters, and lots more... I did managed to bang out 13 books this month. Reading wise I would say it was about 50/50. Half the things I read this past month were amazing and half the things I read were not. I also read a ton of Ebooks which is a little out of character for me.

Here are my best and worst picks for January.

Top picks: Before We Were Strangers, Never Stop Falling, The Score, and Never Never part 3. Before We Were Strangers crushed me! I was laughing, I was crying, and I was cheering the characters on. Everything I wanted in a book BWWS gave me. Never Stop Falling was a book I was sent by the author for review and I'm so happy about it. I read it right after BWWS and these second chance romances truly made my reading month. The Score... Hello guilty pleasure read. This book and series has hilarious characters, fun plots, and great smut. And lastly Never Never part 3. The final installment in the suspenseful short story series. The ending might have underwhelmed some, but was a complete success to me. I will say I wish it would have been done in four parts that way the little things some thought we didn't get would have been reached.

Worst picks: All the Rage, Something in the Air, La Douleur, Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling, and The Choice. All the Rage had so much hype to it. Why? I really have no clue. I found nothing about it interesting. I would recommend Speak over ATR 100%. Something in the Air was another book I was sent by an author for review. It wasn't a terrible book it just wasn't the book for me and I ended up DNFing it around 45%. It might be something I go back to at a later date. La Douleur is a short poetry book by an author you might not recognize right away... but more than likely you follow her one Instagram. I was really excited to pick this book up and get more of her amazing poems. Sadly I winded up very disappointed. TGSATC is a book I can't say much about. I DNFd it pretty fast. Lastly The Choice. Yeah, you've probably seen the trailer for this upcoming movie popping up everywhere... I might be excited to see the movie but I wasn't happy about the lame predictableness of this book.

See you in the month of love.
Angela

The Score by Elle Kennedy

"Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands." -Goodreads Synopsis

First off I want to thank Hulya for sending me a copy. I was having such a crap week until I got this. Thank you so much again. Second, this book legit put me in the best mood. Been walking around beaming since I finished this. Third, you're probably judging this book by it's cover... Well don't! Just embrace it! I know I have.

The Score is following two characters that if you have read any of Elle's other books in this series you'll remember. Allie our leading female is a acting major and then Dean our male is currently studying law. Y'all I liked Allie right from the get go. She is hilarious and dramatic just like I am. So the two of us just clicked right away. Everything she said had me rolling! I loved how comfortable she was with herself. She would just walk into a room, make herself at home, and could talk to anyone. Allie is a top notch A plus female lead. I have zero complaints about her. Her reactions to situations and the way she handles things felt real. On to Dean... Dean was different for me. It is very, very rare that I don't like the leading guys right off the bat and with Dean he definitely had to grow on me. I love overly cocky guys in books, but for some reason when we first got into Dean's POV I just didn't like him. He really does straddle the line of cocky and confident. Usually me likey this, but not so much in Dean's case. I would like him one second then would be blah towards him the next... It went back and forth like that for a short while. He would basically call himself a God-I'd want to yak- then he would make a Twilight reference and would have me laughing so hard! His "I love me attitude" was just something in the long run that just had to grow on me... However, once he starts doing the Pee Wee hockey gig, whoosh, I was singing a different tune! That's when I started warming up to him. From then on out my feeling for him increased. The moment I become 100% sold though was when Allie walked into the room and he just doesn't talk and is just staring... Yeah, that might sound a little creepy but promise it's really romantic. I also want to say I 1000% have his back on his view of girls and slut shaming themselves. Because he's right the word slut should be erased from our vocb.

The relationship between these two is gold. They just shouldn't fit together but they do. Opposites attract has never been more right. The moments when these two are alone and just joking around with one another are priceless. Their banter is some of the best. Like when they are making negotiations to hang out, I was dying!

“How about you leave? Counter offer - I stay and we dry hump. Counter offer- you can stay, but you're not allowed to talk. I stay, I'm allowed to talk, but I wont hit on you. You stay, you can't hit on me, and you have to watch my show without a single complaint. I accept your terms..."

The storyline for this book is just as great as the romance. It starts off right away with a bang and doesn't let up. It has the right amount of twist and turns but manages to never overdo it. NA books can easily slip into that lame cheesy pattern that will having you rolling your eyes till they nearly fall out... This isn't a problem with The Score. Everything plays out so smooth and even surprised me. There are so many moments I thought I had predicted and was happy when they went another direction. Elle really manages to keep the story fresh. The beginning and middle are great. The start lets you get to know the characters. The middle has you falling in love with them. The ending is what really got me. I just didn't see it coming. Some of you might consider this a spoiler, I don't, but warning anyways.... Towards the end when the two get into a fight and Allie is yelling at him basically telling him that he wasn't there for her. That on such an important day, when all she needed was for him to be there, he wasn't. I was wounded! Just hit me right in the feels. Relationships really are about people just being there. All I could think about while reading this was the scene in That Awkward Moment when Imogen Poots is yelling at Zac Efron and says... "You weren't there for me. On a day I really really needed you. And being there for someone when they need you? That's all relationships are, that's all they are"...It's so freaking true too. That's how the whole scene plays out, and just like in that movie it's so perfectly heartbreaking.

The plot isn't just jokes, banter, with a few sad moments, it's also laced with great smutty scenes that will have you weak in the knees. Did I mention all this awesomeness is being thrown at us and then Elle still manages to weave in hockey!?!?! Well it is! And it's done flawlessly.

I loved everything about The Score. There is so much more I want to say about this book... but this review is getting wicked long and I've already taken out so much. The Score keeps the traditional NA book mold and follows the formula that all of us love... It will go the way you expected, but what you wont expect is that this book will have you laughing till you're in tears. Elle writes like Christina Lauren mixed with CoHo and it's as good as it sounds. Oh and I'm not sorry about how long this review is.

10/10 Stars
-Angela

Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is. 
An invisible girl is the perfect weapon.

Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years. After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough.  

The main reason I wanted to read Transparent was because it is advertised as "The God Father meets X-men", right away I knew I had too have it. I'm a HUGE X-Men fan and thought maybe it would even be a sister book to Shatter Me... I think this advertisement is a little off.

Transparent follows the story of a girl named Fiona who was born invisible. She, is like many others in the world, were born with powers. This is my first problem with this book. It's never explained how people mutated too get this powers... was it evolution, radiation, something else??? We might never know. Fiona's father is the head of a Mob that sells a drug that is made to enhance your powers. And of course like any crime boss he uses both Fiona's powers and the rest of his family to his advantage. He has Fiona doing everything from spying on his competitors to doing simple pick pocketing. So when the story started out with her sneaking in to listen to a conversation and then going all mission impossible on people I was pretty excited to keep reading... But that experience was short lived.

Fiona and her mother run away to escape the life of crime and to start over again. They move too a small town where her fathers competitor actually lives. I figured that as the story went on Whipple would have it so that Fiona's back story was revealed here and there. It sadly never really happens. She mentions she's done a lot of bad things, but I wanted more of what she had done in the past. The story continues as Fiona and her mother hang out in this town. Her mom slightly works she slightlly goes to school. While at school she is picked on of course for being invisible (lets be real kids would think this was so bad-ass). She becomes friends with other outcast: Seth, Brady, and Bea. All who also have powers of their own. As far as Fiona's personality goes, it is terrible. She was SO annoying. And for a girl whose never seen what she looks like she is so full of herself. She's constantly saying she knows she has a good figure and that she knows she has nice cleavage, etc.... She also brings nothing else to the table. She has no personality, very little intelligence, and can't even offer us a sense of humor.

This brings me to my next issues, the sub characters. Brady is suppose to be a super hottie, but to me doesn't sound hot at all. He does seem sweet but that's it, her bff Bea is LAME! Then there's Seth. Seth the convenient character love interest. It is clear from the get go what Seth's purpose will be... And you might think I'm about to drop a spoiler on you but I'm not, it's obvious the second he is introduced that his power will be able to see her. TRUST ME IT WAS FAR TOO CONVENIENT!!! At first I thought maybe it would be like Adam in Shatter Me and that we would think he was just so convenient then he'd turned out to be something completely else. When it's "revealed" I rolled my eyes so hard they almost fell out my head. The worst part however is when she finds out he can see her she ask him what he looks like and he tells her AND SHE COMPLAINS ABOUT IT!!! The boy gives her sweet compliments and just like the average super B would do she turns them all to negatives!! This is both a real life pet peeve of mine and a book one as well.  JUST TAKE THE COMPLIMENT!!! LIKE SERIOUSLY!!!!!??? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!

(Pretty much how my face actually looked too.) I think that Fiona's over all attitude was just really what turned me off too this story. I would love to go into details about her brothers, because they are a "big part" of the story but I felt they were pointless. Hated them as much as the rest of the family. I would also love to talk about the plot, but I don't feel like there was much of one. The discription of this story had me thinking that this would be a non stop action packed book but nothing happens the entire time. I was never once WOW or shocked by anything that happened.

The concept of Transparent is amazing, original, and a book I was really looking forward too. Sadly it just didn't live up to the hype I built for it in my head. I wish this was a case of "it's not you it's me" but sadly I don't think it was.

3/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Transparent BookDepo) 

The 5th Wave Movie Review

"After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them."

We aren't even going to beat around the bush with this... We just saw The 5th Wave and WE LOVED IT! This was a movie that if you follow us you know we have been waiting for. Everything about this movie had us excited. We were glad when they decided to turn it into a movie, we were over the moon about the casting choices, and we loved all the publicity leading up to it.

Just gonna jump right into things. First, the cast... Chloe Grace Mortez was who us as fan choose from the get go, so when she was officially on board we knew right away she was going to crush it. She is a badass. She is someone on and off screen that we love. She is the perfect Cassie, and she nailed the roll (like we all knew she would). She is a girl that is tough in real life and is a very family based person. Those real life traits seeped into this film, in the best possible way. I'd like someone to tell me they saw KickAss, read this book, and didn't think this has to be our Cassie Sullivan... YOU CAN'T! We wanted to laugh with her and cry with her and we were sitting there rooting for her to get to Sammy (even though we have read the book a combined six times). She just did a fantastic job.

Next, Evan Walker (Alex Roe). He is someone we haven't really heard of in the past, and was probably the one we were most worried about. Never fear Alex Roe is the epitome of Evan Walker perfection.... Pretty sure the lady and her daughter in front of us said it perfectly when he appeared on screen.... I believe the exact statements were "Good God he is all man!" and "MEOW!". Oh it's not just his six pack and face that are nice-his acting and fighting are too. He has an amazing fight scene that we knew was coming but didn't know it would be so good! I think we both air fist pumped right after. We officially want to roll around in the wilderness fighting aliens with him... Like fighting aliens is a fantasy of ours, but doing it with Alex Roe would be a dream come true. I (Leah) was kind of skeptical about him when he was first cast, but I am 10000000% sold. He absolutely killed the part and made me fall in love with him just like he fell for Cassie. His fight scenes were so bad ass, but he also was able to show the tender part of the character that could have been easily missed. You go from bad ass to sex kitten to sweet guy all in a two hour span. Mortez and Roe's chemistry is on point.

Zombie (Nick Robinson) is an actor we've seen before and loved. So hearing he would be our zombie made us ridiculously happy. Both of us agree he perfectly captured who and what Ben Parish is. He has that boy next door-laid back-charming thing going on. Ringer (Maika Monroe) was a pleasant surprise! We really liked the casting choice for her. Monroe is tough and sassy and brought Ringer from the page to screen. She is a survivor and she really proved herself in the movie. We were hoping for a little more of that famous Ringer Cassie banter of the battle of the alpha females, but it's all good. Lastly Sammy (Zackary Arthur)... Good god, they couldn't have picked a cuter boy! He knocked it out of the park by being able to be this sweet little nugget (lol) and then also trying to be this soldier that is now expected of him. I think his part touched us the most because it really made us remember that these are KIDS that are out there fighting. And when he cries your heart will shatter!!! Such a great new young talent.

The movie plot wise sticks pretty close to the book. It's action packed and laid out very well. It is a little more rush then the book, but it seemed necessary. In the book it's over months and in the movie it seems as if it's more like a few weeks. We still get the ba fighting, plot twist, alien goodness, and romance we were hoping for. The series of events stay in order and are true to the book. There were things of course that were changed. We want to preface this by saying even if there were changes we were still completely happy with the outcome of everything. 

Here are a few things (avoiding spoilers) that were alerted or left out that we noticed/wanted/really liked: 

-Pound cake talks. 

-Where the book covers several characters and POVs the movie more focuses on Cassie and Zombie.

-Time spent of Evans house. 

-They go to a camp but there's no ashpit.

-Cassie doesn't stay under the car long and doesn't say "here I am come get me you son of a bitch!". I (Angela) love this scene in the book so much. I think it sets the tone on who Cassie really is. (This and ashpit are included but different from the book. Both were ones we were hoping would stay 100%  true but again still ok)

-Reason Cassie's not on the bus. 

-There are a lot of quotes from the book in the movie. A lot with Evan and Cassie were the same. 

-We were hoping the movie would include: Evan's shark speech, the flaw in their plan speech, the crucifix solider scene exactly as in the book, the mayfly moment, and the lousy Hunter scene. Some where include and just altered, but some where left out.

-Evan walkers fight scene is better in the movie. 

-How Cassie and Ben interact the first time again, better in the movie. 

-The ending plays out different, but stops the same. 

-There was one HUGE change that you will either love or hate involving Evan. This was my (Angela) biggest "disappointment". I didn't hate the change it was just something I didn't want altered. 

There could be tons more things we could highlight or say we're good or bad but overall we are sooo happy. We had fun watching it. The acting is great. We don't think fans of the series will be letdown. And we pray Infinite Sea will be announced soon! Because if you've read the books you know how it ends. And you know what will happen next but we still need visuals! This will be a movie we will see several times in theaters.

10/10 Stars

-L&A

Fictional Book Boyfriends Pt 13

HEYYO!!! We are proud to present you the first list of fictional book boyfriends of the new year! New year, new guys! Were so happy to be continuing this post in 2016. So without further ado we give you Fictional Book Boyfriends Part 13... to see our pervious dream-casting just click here!

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Girl hopes to win motorcycle race to get an audience with Hitler and kill him.

Lucky B. Smith as Felix Wolfe

Theo James as Luka Lowe

Seriously... Just imagine these two in leather jackets... on motorcycles.
Do we need to say more?!?!

Manwhore by Katy Evans
Powerful CEO falls for reporter with hidden agenda.

Justin Clynes as Malcom Saint
We'd loved to have a Never Been Kissed style romance with this hunk.

Six of Hearts by L.H Cosway
Magician falls for his lawyers' daughter.

Alex Pettyfer as Jay Fields
If he asked  if he could put us in a box and saw us in half...
We'd immediately ask when and where.