Daisy and the Front Man by Rebekah L. Purdy

Title: Daisy and the Front Man (Backstage Pass #3)

Author: Rebekah L. Purdy

Publisher: Entangled Crush

Release Date: June 16, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Hell hath no fury like a fangirl scorned…

When Daisy Morris finds out she’s spending the summer with her dad, bodyguard for Seconds to Juliet—the hottest boy band around—she knows it couldn’t be more perfect. Not because she’s a fan. Oh, no. Because ever since front man Trevin Jacobs completely humiliated her by standing her up for homecoming, Daisy is out for a little revenge. Yup, Trevin Jacobs is goin’ down…

When one of his bandmates bets Trevin he can’t make Daisy—the gorgeous but surprisingly ice-cold daughter of their bodyguard—fall in love with him, it’s a bet he can’t resist. Sure, Daisy won’t give him the time of day for reasons he can’t understand, and her dad’s hell-bent against his little girl spending time with a superstar. But the terms are set, and Trevin is determined to make Daisy fall…hard.

But every front man should know never to trust a girl with a pretty face…

Boy bands and romance. Do I really need to say more to explain why I’ve been totally loving the Backstage Pass series? Every book I’ve read in the series I’ve loved and it was no different with Rebekah L. Purdy’s Daisy and the Front Man.

Last fall, Daisy Morris was completely humiliated after her favourite member of Seconds to Juliet, the hottest boy band, stood her up for homecoming. Instead of the best night of her life, all she got was a typed up generic letter and a signed headshot. Now, Daisy is getting ready to spend the summer with her absentee father…who just happens to be Seconds to Juliet’s bodyguard. And Daisy is determined to make Trevin Jacobs pay for what he did. As a member of Seconds to Juliet, Trevin is used to having girls fawning over him everywhere he goes. But his bodyguard’s daughter won’t even give him the time of day. So when one of his bandmates proposes a bet, suggesting that he can’t make Daisy fall involve with him by the end of summer, Trevin steps up to the challenge. But what starts out as a bet and a revenge mission, quickly starts to feel like something that can actually be real.

Boy bands are definitely among my weaknesses. And when you combine them with romance, I’m pretty much powerless. Which is why I’ve totally been loving Entangled Crush’s Backstage Pass series. And there’s also the added fun that each of the books in the series was written by a different author so it keeps things interesting. Which brings me to the latest book in the series, Rebekah L. Purdy’s Daisy and the Front Man. Much like the previous books in this series, Daisy and the Front Man was just fun to read. Whether it was the revenge plot, the bet between the boys or the romance, I was highly entertained the whole time I was reading. All that set against the backdrop of a music tour just makes it that much more fun. But at the same time, one of the things that this whole series, including Daisy and the Front Man, has shown is that there’s often a whole lot more going on behind the scenes than what the public knows. Sure, we can guess that it’s not all good times, but I always find it interesting to read books that show just how much more is going on. And this one definitely did that, showing how much of the characters lives get messed with by all the different people involved in the tour that are trying to get something from them.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Daisy for a good chunk of the book. Every so often, I would hit a point where I would question why she was holding on so much to her grudge against Trevor. I could understand that she was embarrassed in front of everyone in her small town when he didn’t show up to take her to her Homecoming dance. But at the same time, it felt like some of her feelings towards him were a little extreme, even if sometimes I totally understood where she was coming from. So my feelings where Daisy was concerned were in a constant state of change. Until I started really liking her and then it was all good. And that probably had to do with how adorable she and Trevin were together, even if neither of them initially planned on anything real happening between them. And Trevin wasn’t entirely who I expected. I mean, yeah, I expected a certain amount of arrogance considering the guy is in a highly popular boy band, but there was so much more to him than that. I loved seeing his relationship with his family, and I wish I could have seen more of that because those moments were fantastic. But aside from that, I really enjoyed Trevin as a character, and as I’ve already said, him and Daisy were basically prefect for each other.

Rebekah L. Purday’s Daisy and the Front Man was a great addition to the Backstage Pass series. I really enjoyed reading all about the band’s front man and big brother, and I can’t wait to find out more about the two remaining members of the band.

Vacation Time!

As of today, I am officially on a different continent! For the next two weeks, I'm on vacation, doing a bit of travelling around Europe with my awesome friend Jessica (you might know her from Twitter or her blog).

So what does that mean for the blog?

Because I'm apparently somewhat on top of things despite having just come back from BEA just over a week ago, I have some blog posts scheduled to post while I'm away. So you can expect a few reviews but other than that, I'm pretty much disconnecting for the duration of my vacation. I'll probably still pop up on Twitter every so often, but typically it ends up being at weird times because of the time difference between Europe and North America.

I will probably be posting pictures of my trip on Instragram, though. So if you're curious about where I'm going and and what I'm seeing, go follow me there!

I'll be back in July!

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Title: Finding Audrey

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Release Date: June 9, 2015

Source: Borrowed

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a terrific blend of comedy, romance, and psychological recovery in a contemporary YA novel sure to inspire and entertain.

An anxiety disorder disrupts fourteen-year-old Audrey’s daily life. She has been making slow but steady progress with Dr. Sarah, when when Audrey meets Linus, her brother’s gaming teammate, she is energized. She connects with him. Audrey can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she’s never been able to do with anyone before. As their friendship deepens and her recovery gains momentum, a sweet romantic connection develops, one that helps not just Audrey but also her entire family.

Sophie Kinsella has been a long-time favourite author of mine despite not writing YA. But then it was announced that she would be writing a YA book, and I got unbelievably excited. And I’m happy to say that Finding Audrey completely lived up to my expectations.

For the past few months, Audrey has been unable to look anyone in the eye, much less leave her house. Her anxiety disorder has completely taken over her life. Audrey wants to get better, she really does, but progress has been particularly slow no matter how hard she tries. But then Audrey meets Linus, her older brother’s best friend, and things start to change. Audrey is able to talk to Linus the way she can’t with anyone else. And the more time she spends with him, the more she starts coming out of her shell, and her recovery speeds up. As her relationship with Linus deepens, Audrey starts to realize that he is not only helping her, but also her whole family. Linus is exactly what they all need.

Back in middle school, I devoured all of Sophie Kinsella’s books. To be completely honest, they might not have been the most appropriate things for me to be reading at the time, but they were available at my school’s library (the library serviced both the middle and high school) and I enjoyed them so I read them. Since then, I’ve continued to be a fan of Sophie Kinsella’s books. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that she was going to be writing a YA book. Needless to say, I was all over Finding Audrey from the moment I heard about it. And then my awesome friend Katie got an advance copy from work she let me borrow, and I was beyond excited to read it. When I started reading, I didn’t really know all that much about the story, I had read the synopsis but even then it didn’t really give that much away. But I started reading and quickly got drawn into the story. With Finding Audrey, Sophie Kinsella tackled anxiety and how it affects not just the person suffering from it, but also everyone around them. But it wasn’t an overly heavy story. Yes, there is a realistic depiction of living with an anxiety disorder, but it also comes with Sophie Kinsella’s trademark humour. 

Audrey was the kind of character I have come to expect from reading Sophie Kinsella’s other books. She has this kind of dark humour and sees everything around her though that lens. Oftentimes she would describe everything that was happening in a very dry way. But that didn’t make the story boring. In fact, it helped Audrey’s anxiety disorder feel even more real. To an extent, there were moments Audrey’s anxiety felt like it was a character separate from Audrey. It was something she was trying as best as she could to deal with it all. And her struggle felt real and genuine. While reading, I could tell that she wanted to be able to move past it all, but she just couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried. But then Linus came in and things got interesting. Linus was adorable. I loved that he just went with Audrey’s disorder, he understood that she struggled and he did what he could to help her. Sometimes that meant pushing her outside of her comfort zone, not always with the best results, but he was there for her and let her be herself in a way that her family didn’t. And speaking of Audrey’s family, I don’t think I’ve laughed quite that much reading in the last few months. They were doing their best deal with everything, but interactions between Audrey’s mother and older brother often took a turn for the ridiculous and I couldn’t help but laugh. 

I really enjoyed Finding Audrey. After years of waiting, it was great to finally be able to read a YA title by Sophie Kinsella. Now I can only hope that she writes more because I would read them in a heartbeat.

Days Like This by Danielle Ellison

Title: Days Like This

Author: Danielle Ellison

Publisher: Bookish Group Press

Release Date: June 2, 2015

Source: eARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Sometimes the only thing standing between fear and hope is you.

Almost a year ago, nineteen-year-old Cassie Harlen had a lot to deal with. A stack of college acceptance letters waiting for answers, a proposal from the boy next door, and a mother whose most recent bipolar episode left Cassie hurt and confused. Tired of cleaning up the messes caused by her mother’s disorder, of resenting her mother for not being there, and scared of being trapped by an inevitable future—which included marrying Graham Tucker—Cassie did the only thing she could think of to keep from ending up like her mother: she left.

Graham never knew why Cassie walked away. He woke up one morning and she was gone—along with the life that he’d created around her. After eleven months, Graham has a new plan for his future. One that doesn’t involve Cassie Harlen.

When Cassie’s mom nearly burns down her house, Cassie’s forced to return home. Back to a mother she’s tried to ignore and the guy she’s been unable to forget. Graham doesn’t know how he’s going to spend the whole summer living next door to the person who broke his heart without letting those old feelings push through to the surface.

Neither does Cassie.

You know those books that get recommended to you and then you start reading them thinking you know what the story is going to be like? That’s exactly what happened to me with Danielle Ellison’s Days Like This. This story went where I never thought it would go and I loved reading every single page of it.

A year ago, Cassie Harlen ran away. It was easier than deal with everything that was happening at home with her mom. But running away also meant leaving behind Graham, the boy next door who asked her to marry him. And as much as it hurt her to leave him, Cassie just couldn’t handle dealing with her mom’s disorder anymore. She wanted a fresh start and running away to college was the only way she could think to get one. The people she left behind never understood why she left. For the last year, Graham has been trying to move on from Cassie, to start planning for a new future. And just when he thinks he’s finally moved on, Cassie comes back into his life after her mother nearly burns down their house. Back in the place she never wanted to go back to, Cassie is forced to face everything she left behind a year earlier. After everything that’s happened, Graham and Cassie are going to have to faced all the feelings left between them, even when it’s the last thing either of them wants to do.

When I first heard about Danielle Ellison’s Days Like This I just knew it was a book I was going to enjoy. Based on the synopsis, it had all the things that typically lead to me enjoying an NA book. And then when the release date drew closer, more people started talking about it, saying some fantastic things that made me all the more curious about the book. Add to that the fact that friends were telling me that Days Like This was a total “Emilie” book and I knew I had to make it my next read. So I started reading, and I quickly realized that the story in Days Like This wasn’t the story I thought it was going to be. In my mind, the focus of the story was going to be on Cassie and Graham’s relationship because that’s what I’ve come to be used to with my NA reads. And while their relationship, and the romance between them, was certainly a large part of the story, it wasn’t the sole focus of the book. This book was also about Cassie’s relationship with her mother, her relationship with her mother’s bipolar disorder, and even her own relationship with mental illness. In fact, for what felt like most of the book, the romance was sort of on the back burner. Sure, Cassie and Graham spend a good chunk of the story figuring out their respective feelings for the others, but that’s not necessarily what the story focuses on. Instead, it gives the reader a really realistic depiction of what it can be like living with a parent who suffers from bipolar disorder, and shows the way mental illness affects not just the person who suffers from the illness, but also everyone around them. Because of that, one of the most important relationships in Days Like This was the one between Cassie and her mother, and everything that came with that relationship.

I feel like I’m repeating myself at this point, but first and foremost, Days Like This felt like it was a book about relationships of all kinds. And I loved seeing the way those relationships developed and changed over the course of the story. That goes for Cassie’s relationship with her mother, her relationship with her best friend June, and of course her relationship with Graham. There were many times when some of those relationships were hard to read about. For me, this was especially true for Cassie’s relationship with her mother. There were times when this relationship downright broke my heart but I loved reading about it, and see it grow and get mended over the course of the story. Beyond the relationships, Days Like This was also very much about Cassie and Graham’s personal journeys. Both of them had so much to work through before they could even consider attempting anything together again. For Cassie that meant coming to terms with her mother’s disorder, but also accepting that she’s not her mother and she shouldn’t let her fear of also being bipolar as a reason not to let people get close to her. And Graham, well he just had accept that he was still in love with Cassie no matter what he tried to tell himself (or how much I want to yell as much to him). 

Danielle Ellison’s Days Like This was so much more than I thought it was going to be. I went in expecting one story, but after having read it, I’m in love with the story I got instead. If you’re thinking about reading Days Like This, stop thinking and just start reading.

Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

Title: Royal Wedding (The Princess Diaries #11)

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Release Date: June 2, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Diaries series, comes the very first adult installment, which follows Princess Mia and her Prince Charming as they plan their fairy tale wedding—but a few poisoned apples could turn this happily-ever-after into a royal nightmare.

For Princess Mia, the past five years since college graduation have been a whirlwind of activity, what with living in New York City, running her new teen community center, being madly in love, and attending royal engagements. And speaking of engagements, Mia’s gorgeous longtime boyfriend Michael has managed to clear both their schedules just long enough for an exotic (and very private) Caribbean island interlude where he popped the question! Of course Mia didn’t need to consult her diary to know that her answer was a royal oui.

But now Mia has a scandal of majestic proportions to contend with: Her grandmother’s leaked “fake” wedding plans to the press that could cause even normally calm Michael to become a runaway groom. Worse, a scheming politico is trying to force Mia’s father from the throne, all because of a royal secret that could leave Genovia without a monarch. Can Mia prove to everyone—especially herself—that she’s not only ready to wed, but ready to rule as well?

Meg Cabot is one of two authors who are responsible for me reading YA. And even after all these years, the Princess Diaries series still remains one of my all time favourites. When I found out that a new book would be coming out in the series, I was a whole new kind of excited. Having now read, Royal Wedding, I can say that my excitement was more than justified.

Mia has spent the five years since she graduated from college doing her duty as the Royal Princess of Genovia and running her teen community center. And being in love with Michael of course. But with her twenty-sixth birthday right around the corner, everything is threatening to fall apart. Her father is arrested for reckless driving, protesters are camping out in front of the Genevan Consulate, and paparazzi are constantly hounding Mia. The only bright spot is Michael, the love of her life. Except the tabloids are trying to ruin that too by publishing story after story about why Michael won’t marry Mia. But that all changes when Michael proposes on an exotic romantic getaway and Mia couldn’t be more excited to say yes. Until they return to the city and find out Mia’s grandmother has leaked the proposal to story to the press in the hope of hiding another royal secret. With everything being close to falling apart once again, Mia has to step up and prove to everyone that she’s ready not just to marry Michael, but to become the ruling Princess of Genovia.

Here’s something you might not know about me. Meg Cabot is one of my all-time favourite authors and I’ve been reading her books since I was 12 years old. So I’ve spent literally half of my life reading her books. I can still remember when I picked up the first book in the Princess Diaries and immediately got hooked. And then I read all the ones that were out, until I hit the point where I had to wait for the next one to be published. The last time I read a Princess Diaries book was my senior year of high school. And I hadn’t realized until I started reading Royal Wedding, just how much I had missed reading these books, and Meg Cabot stories in general. Royal Wedding was exactly what I had hoped it would be. I loved being thrown back into the Princess Diaries world, with all the characters I had grown to love over the course of the previous ten books. Honestly, the story could have been about anything and I would have read it, just to be back with all these people. As it was, the story made me so incredibly happy. I’m pretty sure I had a goofy smile on my face the whole time I was reading. There were even moments when I couldn’t help but full on laugh out loud (thankfully, I was home and not somewhere I would be getting weird looks) because that’s just how awesome, and obviously funny, the story was. And there were even a few times when I found myself to be tearing up because things were happening that made me emotional in the best way possible. Before I started, I had no doubt that I would love Royal Wedding, but I’m so incredibly happy that I loved it as much as I did.

Reading a new story about Mia, Michael, Lilly and everyone else was like being reunited with old friends. It took no time at all for me to get reacquainted with them all. Mia was still her adorably quirky and slightly nutty and hypochondria self and I loved reading her diary once again. And she was just like I remembered her. Just the grown up version. Which, obviously, because it’s been 6 years since the last book. And much like Mia was just like I remembered her, so were the other people in this story. Her grandmother is just as crazy as ever, if not even slightly crazier. Michael is still adorable and totally willing to do whatever for Mia. Tina is just as obsessed with romance novels as she’s always been. And Lilly was still her outspoken, take no bullshit from anyone self. So yeah, it was just like old times with the whole gang back together. And honestly, that’s what I loved most about Royal Wedding. The fact that I got to spend a short amount of time with these characters that I spent so many years reading about. And it felt like no time had gone by at all. 

If you are a fan of Meg Cabot and the original Princess Diaries books, then Royal Wedding is an absolutely must-read. It was just like the books you read all those years ago, just with more references to sex and drinking. And it was absolutely amazing.