Sophomore Year is Greek to Me by Meredith Zeitlin

Title: Sophomore Year is Greek to Me

Author: Meredith Zeitlin

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

A laugh-out-loud high school adventure set in Greece, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot.

High school sophomore Zona Lowell has lived in New York City her whole life, and plans to follow in the footsteps of her renowed-journalist father. But when he announces they’re moving to Athens for six months so he can work on an important new story, she’s devastated—he must have an ulterior motive. See, when Zona’s mother married and American, her huge Greek family cut off contact. But Zona never knew her mom, and now she’s supposed to uproot her entire life and meet possibly hostile relatives on their turf? Thanks…but no thanks.

In the vein of Anna and the French Kiss, Zona navigates a series of hilarious escapades, eye-opening revelations, and unexpected reunions in a foreign country—all while documenting the trip through one-of-a-kind commentary.

Remember a few weeks ago when I was complaining that there weren’t really any books out there that were even a little representative of my high school experience? Well, guess what? I found one! But beyond that, Meredith Zeitlin’s Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me was also a fun read that made me want to hop on a plane to Greece.

Bona Lowell has her sophomore year all planned out. She’s editor of the Features section of the school paper and she’s got a notebook full of idea to pitch, hoping to follow in her award-winning journalist father’s footsteps. But then her father announces that they are moving to Greece for the second half of the school year. That wasn’t exactly part of Zona’s plans. Neither was finally meeting her mom’s family, the people who have refused to acknowledge her for as long as she’s been alive. But Zona doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter. As reluctant as she is to move to Athens, Zona quickly finds out that this experience might not be as horrible as she thought.

A few years ago, I read Meredith Zeitlin’s debut Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters and really enjoyed it, enough that I was looking for more from this debut author. And then I never heard about anything. Until quite recently when I was given the opportunity to review Zeitlin’s newest, Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me. Having now read it, I’m happy the wait was that long because the story was worth it. If for no other reason, I loved this story because the school Zona, the main character, goes to in Athens was pretty similar to the high school I went to. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my own high school experience, saying that I struggled with finding books that reflected the experience I had. Any time I was reading descriptions of the international school Zona goes to, I was smiling. So many of the comments she made about the school and the people who attended were what my high school was like. So thank you Meredith Zeitlin for writing about a character who goes to an international school overseas. Beyond that, this story was just fun to read. Zona’s adventures with her estranged Greek family were nothing if not entertaining, especially when you start taking into consideration the cultural and language barriers. And as funny as it was, there were many instances when this story was touching, thanks to all the relationships in the story.

Bona was a fantastic character with a really entertaining voice. I loved the way that her journalistic aspirations could be seen in the way she told this story. Sure, she injected a lot of her own thoughts and opinions (this was her story, after all), but there were plenty of times where she felt more like an observer than a participant in her own life. Which is what people were telling her to do, to actually live her life as opposed to only focusing on writing about it. So it was really great seeing her start to do that. My favourite part of Zona, though, was the relationship she had with her dad. Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t read a lot of book where there is such a strong emphasis on a father-daughter relationship. I’m not saying there aren’t any, I’m just saying I want more of them. And while I’m talking about relationships, all the different ones Zona forged over the course of this story were among the best parts of this book. Seeing her get to know this family she’d never met, and see them as people who care about her as opposed to people who abandoned her mother was really touching. Relationships, of any kind, are just my favourite to read about.

Meredith Zeitlin’s Sophomore Year Is Greek to Me was a great read. I loved all the relationships that developed over the course of this story. And the fact that it was set in Greece and was filled with descriptions of the Greek islands didn’t hurt. It also made me want to hop on a plane to Crete. But that’s a different story.  

Rules of Seduction by Jenna Mullins

Title: Rules of Seduction

Author: Jenna Mullins

Publisher: The Studio - Paper Lantern Lit

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Source: eARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

The first rule of seduction is: don’t fall in love.

Fresh out of college, Dani Young heads for the LA sun to chase her dream of becoming a screenwriter-director. So when her former BFF turned actress Elise offers Dani the opportunity to work on the hit teen show Vamp Camp, Dani can’t refuse, even if it comes at a price: Elise wants Dani to seduce her boyfriend, Vamp Camp superstar Tate Lawrence. Turns out Elise has some major trust issues, and needs Dani to test Tate’s faith. The only rule: don’t fall in love with him.

Sure, Dani doesn’t mind occasionally glimpsing Tate’s megawatt smile…or accidentally-on-purpose brushing up against his perfect torso…but she’s no fool. There’s no way she’d ever fall for a shallow celebrity and no way one would fall for her, a lanky movie nerd. 

But amidst vampire-crazed fans, a conniving fellow intern, and a devilishly handsome showrunner, Dani feels like all the rules she used to know have disappeared, except for one: Love doesn’t play by the rules.

Part The Devil Wears Prada, part How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, this story of friendship and romance is sure to appeal to fans of Stephanie Perkins, Jennifer E. Smith, and Anna Todd.

Stories set in or around Hollywood and that world are among my reading weaknesses. I hear about such a book and it automatically gets added to my “Want to Read” shelf on Goodreads. That’s how Jenna Mullins’s Rules of Seduction found itself on my e-reader. And, probably unsurprisingly, I found myself enjoying this story a lot. 

Dani Young is lucky. Right out of film school, she’s scored her dream job working for one of her role models. She’s ready to head to LA and start living her dream. But Dani’s not even in LA one day when things already start going downhill. The dream job is gone and now Dani doesn’t know show she’s going to be able to survive in LA without work. When she runs into Elise, an old friend form high school, who offers to get her a job on a hit teen TV show, Dani jumps at the opportunity, even if the job comes with certain conditions. Dani has to agree to seduce Tate, Elise’s boyfriend and the star of the show, to prove that he’s faithful to Elise. What should be relatively easy turns out to be much more complicated when Dani realizes she’s not sure who she’s seducing for whom anymore.

Guys. Hollywood books. I can’t get enough of them. Seriously. There never seem to be enough of them (though in reality, there are totally some I still haven’t read, I’m actually staring at them sitting on myself right now). But really, books with Hollywood-related storylines are totally one of my major weaknesses when it comes to reading. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for Jenna Mullins’s Rules of Seduction to be added to my Goodreads when I found out what it was about. Despite my excitement over the Hollywood premise, I wasn’t entirely sure how the rest of it was going to work out, especially willingly seducing someone else’s boyfriend because they asked you to. But it wasn’t as convoluted as I had thought it was going to be. It just added some fun drama to the story and upped the stakes, causing me to become more invested than I thought I was going to on some of the relationships. But as much as I enjoyed the Hollywood aspect of the story, what really made me appreciate and enjoy it was Dani.

Dani was fun. Though at times misguided. But more on that in a moment. I just really enjoyed reading her story, and not just because it was set in the TV world. What I liked about her, was that she never really let anything get her down, even when things were going really poorly for her. And I had to respect that because I don’t know what I would have done in her shoes. Actually, I do, I probably would have just given up and slunk back home. The one thing that did bug me was how long it took her to realize what was right in front of her. But then, if she had realized it sooner, there wouldn’t have been a story, so there’s that. So really, I shouldn’t complain. Moving on. Do I really have to say that I loved Tate, because it really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. But it’s what happened. Tate was not who I thought he was going to be, and I loved seeing how he was around Dani. Their relationships was just really fun to read about and see go from friendship to something more. Beyond just Dani and Tate, I really enjoyed Dani’s roommate, Brit, as a character. She was just so fun and different and sweet and I just wish I could have seen more of her.

Jenna Mullins’s Rules of Seduction was a fun Hollywood-set story. I highly enjoyed reading it and loved seeing all the on- and off-set drama unfold. If you’re looking for something to read this summer, this is the book for you.

One Night by A.J. Pine

Title: One Night (Only You #1)

Author: A.J. Pine

Publisher: InterMix

Release Date: April 21, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

When she lost it all, Jess decided to cope by living a lie.

But you can’t keep on pretending forever…

Twenty-one-year-old Jess used to have everything—a loyal best friend, a boyfriend she loved, and a future that was right on track. But in a single night, her whole world changed.

Now, Jess lives for the impersonal connection of drunken hook-ups and to-go coffee cups in the morning. All she needs is one night to pretend everything is fine…until she meets Adam.

Thanks to a sports injury, gorgeous, charming basketball star Adam Carson is stuck in physical therapy at the hospital where Jess interns—giving her the perfect opportunity to see his sweet, considerate nature and making her realize that maybe she does want something more.

But while Adam might be the best thing that’s happened to Jess in a long time, letting him past her carefully constructed walls means letting him know what happened…and why he’d never want her more than one night.

It’s absolutely no secret that I’ve come to absolutely love New Adult in the last couple of years. I just can’t seem to get enough. So whenever I hear of a new one coming out, I jump on it, even when I don’t necessarily know that much about it. And that’s how I found myself reading and high enjoying A.J. Pine’s One Night.

After what happened on that single night, everything changed for Jess. She used to have everything she wanted. Now she just goes on one day at a time, not forming any lasting attachments to anyone around her. It’s easier to deal with impersonal, one night, drunken hookups than to get attached. Because getting attached will mean getting hurt again. But then Jess meets Adam and she starts wondering if she might still want more than just one night. After meeting Jess in physical therapy, Adam can’t stop thinking about Jess. There, he sees a side of her no one else gets to see. And that only makes him more determined to break down the walls she puts up around her heart. But Jess isn’t ready to take down those walls, even if Adam could be the best thing that’s happened to her. After everything, how could anyone want Jess for more than one night?

Honestly, I knew nothing about One Night when I saw that it was available to be requested on NetGalley. All I knew that it was being identified as New Adult and the description made it sound like something I would enjoy. Even as the release date came closer, I didn’t really hear that many people talking about this book. So when I finally read it, I went in with a completely open mind and absolutely no idea what I should have expected. To give you an idea, despite it being mentioned in the synopsis, I hadn’t even picked up on the fact that sports were a part of this story. So yeah, I was going in with a very open mind. And I ended up being rewarded for that. When I first started reading, I thought the story was going to go in one direction, but that’s not where it went and I’m happy for that. If it had, it would have been a little too predictable for my liking. Instead, I got a heartfelt story about two people trying to pick up the pieces after suffering their own tragedies. A story about two people learning to open themselves up to others when they thought they wouldn’t be able to do so again. And despite what I’m making it sound like, One Night wasn’t a heavy story. Sure, there were some deep issues, but it didn’t overwhelm me when I was reading. Because that’s not what it was about. It was just about Adam and Jess and them finding and accepting themselves and each other.

Even though she was the one telling the story, it took me a while to get a handle on Jess. I knew right away that she wasn’t the one-night-stand girl she pretended to be. She just didn’t come across that way even if that’s what she insisted on doing. I just couldn’t seem to figure out why she was putting on that front. It just didn’t make sense. But the more I got to know her, the more I started to put the pieces together and make guesses at what she could be hiding both from me and from the people around her. Once I figured it all out though, my heart broke for her. I didn’t necessarily agree with what she was doing, but I could understand why she was doing it. And then Jess met Adam and things changed. Adam wasn’t who I thought he was going to be. Honestly, I expected him to be your typical cocky college athlete. And he was. But he also wasn’t. Which really doesn’t tell you anything about him. All you really need to know is that Adam was a pretty fantastic guy and it didn’t take long at all for him to charm me. The other character who was a standout for me was Zoe. Zoe was Jess’s roommate and so not what I expected. I loved her personality and how she was with Jess even when she didn’t know her that well. Don’t get me wrong, the romance between Adam and Jess was great, but Zoe and Jess’s friendship was even better for me. Maybe I’ll get a book all about Zoe in the future…?

A.J. Pine’s One Night was a pleasant surprise. I love when I can read a book without any prejudice and be happy with the result. This story was more than I thought it was going to be, and I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed in terms of who the sequel, One Life, is going to be about. 

The Truth Commission by Susan Juby

Title: The Truth Commission

Author: Susan Juby

Publisher: Razorbill Canada

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Open secrets are the heart of gossip—the things that no one is brave or clueless enough to ask. That is, except for Normandy Pale and her friends Dusk and Neil. They are juniors at Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design, and they have no fear.

They are the Truth Commission

But Normandy’s passion for uncovering the truth is not entirely heartfelt. The truth can be dangerous, especially when it involves her brilliant older sister, Keira, the creator of a bestselling graphic novel series, who has left college and come home under mysterious circumstances, and in complete silence.

Even for a Truth Commissioner, there are some lines that cannot be crossed…

This dryly funny, knife-sharp novel, written as “narrative nonfiction” by Normandy herself, features footnotes, illustrations, and a combination mystery/love story that will capture readers from the first page.

When I first heard about Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission, I was seriously intrigued. It didn’t sound like anything else out there, while at the same time appealing to the contemporary nerd that I am. Though the style did take some getting used to, The Truth Commission is definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Everyone has secrets. It’s a fact. It’s what leads to so much gossip. And though people know others are keeping secrets, most of the time, they prefer guessing and gossiping than actually asking the truth. But Normandy, Dusk and Neil have had enough of all the secrets and all the guessing about people’s secrets. The three of them make it their mission to seek out the truth, no mater what. And that’s how the Truth Commission is born. At first, it all goes well and Normandy, Dusk and Neil get a high from asking for the truth point blank. But sometimes, as the three soon discover, there are some lines that shouldn’t be crossed even when on a mission to uncover the truth.

I’m not going to lie, The Truth Commission kind of threw me when I first started reading. I knew from what I had been told by others that this wasn’t a typical book, but it still took some getting used to. This book is fiction, but it was written as if it were a work of creative nonfiction written by the main character. Confused, yet? Because I was a little confused when I first started reading. For the most part, you can read this book like you would any other book. But because it’s written as if it were nonfiction, there are footnotes thrown in to the mix. At first it felt like right when I was getting into the story, I would get pulled out because I had to go read a footnote. And it’s not like I could skip the footnotes, because they did add to the story, often providing background information about some of the characters and events. Once I got used to them, they didn’t bother me in the least. In fact, there were times when I was looking forward to reading the footnotes because of the insights that Normandy provided in them. Beyond just the different format for the story, The Truth Commission went a lot deeper than I thought it would. Based on the synopsis, I knew that there were definitely going to be some issues brought up throughout the story, just not to this extent. And that was most definitely not a bad thing. The fact that the story went deeper is what led me to love it as much as I did.

Normandy was a really fun character. Though t the same time, she was also sort of the author. She has such a fun voice, and she wasn’t afraid of being completely and brutally honest with her reader (truth is kind of a recurring theme with this book, in case that wasn’t obvious). It just made it interesting to read a story where the main character and narrator doesn’t hold anything back. Now if she had been as honest with the people in her life as she was with her readers, she could have avoided a lot of the problems she ran into. But then there wouldn’t have been a story, so maybe not. Other than Normandy, the other characters also felt completely fleshed out. I could easily picture them all. And they were all so fun and quirky and unique. I loved reading about Neil and his obsession with 70s movies and fashion, Dusk’s determination to be exactly the opposite of what her parents wanted her to be. And don’t even get me started on Keira. There is so much I could say about her, but that would mean spoiling one of the major twists in the story so I’ll stay quiet. 

Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission was an absolutely fantastic read. It’s completely different from other contemporary YA stories out there in the best way possible. If you’re looking for something a little different and a little offbeat, I can’t recommend this one enough.

All the Rage by Courtney Summers

Title: All the Rage

Author: Courtney Summers

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

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 of 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.

With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women after an act of sexual violence, forcing us to ask ourselves: In a culture that refuses to protect its young girls, how can they survive?

There are certain books out there that I strongly believe people need to read. Not because it’s a heartwarming romance (that’s my usual reason) or because one of the characters is the best I’ve read in a while (typically, my second go-to reason), but because the story is powerful and needs to be read by everyone. And that’s how I feel about Courtney Summers’s All the Rage.

All the Rage wasn’t an easy book to read. In fact, at times it was downright painful to read and I had to take breaks before it got to be too much. That had absolutely nothing to do with the writing, because Courtney Summers’s writing, as usual, was absolutely fantastic. It had to do with the story itself and the subject matter it dealt with. All the Rage is a book about sexual assault, and the way that society has a tendency to treat victims of sexual assault. In this story a girl was sexually assaulted but no one in her small town believes her and instead chooses to bully her because she tried to speak up. It’s not right, not even close. But sadly, that’s how our society has a tendency to react when someone says they were sexually assaulted. In All the Rage, Courtney Summers did a fantastic job depicting this. For most of the book, I wanted to scream and get angry at the people in this town. Because the way they were treating Romy wasn’t right, but sadly, it was very realistic. That’s what made this story so difficult to read at times, how real it felt. How much I could see this happening in real life because it does happen to people on a daily basis. I could go on about this, and in fact I’ve already done so over at my friend Ciara’s blog, Lost at Midnight Reviews, as part of her month long feature for the book.

Much of the reason this story felt so real was because of Romy herself. Romy is flawed and imperfect and some people might find it hard to like her. But that wasn’t the point. For me, reading about Romy was reading about her struggle, both with what happened to her and going on with her life after what happened to her. Because of what happened to her, she has trouble opening up to people (understandably) and believing that her voice will be heard when she speaks up. It was hard to read about it all. The whole time I was reading, I felt her pain and I just wanted to be able to tell her that I heard her and that what she had to say mattered. When Romy finally had her voice heard, she couldn’t believe it. And that made me both extremely sad and extremely angry. No one should be made to feel like what they say doesn’t matter, that their experiences don’t matter. I did take some comfort in the fact that Romy did have a few people on her side. There weren’t many, but they were there. I wanted to hug those people for being there for Romy because she needed some people on her side. Desperately. 

Once again, Courtney Summers wrote a story that hits all the right marks, challenging her readers to think about issues that need to be talked about. I can’t recommend All the Rage enough and I hope that if this books gets into enough hands, we might start to change the way we view sexual assault.