Category: Mini-Reviews

Recently in Romance #6 | New Sarina Bowen, Lucy Parker, and More!

Recently in Romance #6 | New Sarina Bowen, Lucy Parker, and More!

Since becoming a romance reader a few years ago, I’ve struggled to figure out where romance reviews belong on my site. I don’t usually write full reviews of romance books, and I’m not sure if all of you like the X-rated books! Recently in Romance is my mini-review feature where I bundle my recent reads and buys for those of you who are fans. Recently Read: 4 stars. As a lot of you know, I am a huge, ginormous Sarina Bowen fan. I love all of her books, but her male/male romance writing is where she really shines. This romance […]

Mini-Reviews: Seven Days of You and The Other F-Word

March 21, 2017 / 3 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Mini-Reviews: Seven Days of You and The Other F-Word

REVIEW: Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse So much of what the main character of Seven Days of You, Sophia Wachowski, experiences in her last week in Tokyo before moving back to the States for her senior year, is steeped in what it means to be an international student in Asia. It’s a love letter to Tokyo and to the international student crowd. Sophia doesn’t want to be leaving Japan, especially right before her senior year. She finally has her first ever real best friend, and a boy friend who she wants to be a boyfriend. At the same time, […]

Middle Grade Reads #2 | Omega City: The Forbidden Fortress by Diana Peterfreund and Smile by Raina T..

Middle Grade Reads #2 | Omega City: The Forbidden Fortress by Diana Peterfreund and Smile by Raina Telgemeier

A fast-paced, cerebral book, OMEGA CITY: The Forbidden Fortress continues the journey of Gillian Seagret, her brother Eric, and their friends Savannah, Howard, and Nate. Ten months after finding Omega City, an mythical underground town that proves to be real, and escaping the clutches of the Shepherds, a group of conspiracy theorists bent on taking the technology from Omega City for nefarious purposes, Gillian and Eric are now living at home with their mother while their father tours and promotes his book based on their adventures. Gillian’s mom is planning to move them to Idaho, and Gillian’s not happy about […]

Mini-Reviews: Wires and Nerve, Lessons in Falling, Romeo and What’s Her Name, The Inside of Ou..

February 6, 2017 / 5 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Mini-Reviews: Wires and Nerve, Lessons in Falling, Romeo and What’s Her Name, The Inside of Out

What a delight to finally get a story from Iko’s perspective. I really enjoyed Wires and Nerve, Vol 1, the first installment of Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles graphic novel series. Even though it’s the first book in the series, I would not recommend reading these without reading the Lunar Chronicles books. You won’t have the emotional attachment or the backstory needed to get into this graphic novel. That said, if you’ve read Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter, you will really enjoy this extra story. Set between the end of Winter and the final story in Stars Above, Iko takes […]

A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray | Mini-Review (& A Note on Consent and Rape)

January 16, 2017 / 4 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray | Mini-Review (& A Note on Consent and Rape)

Mini-Review: A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray Spoilers for the first two books, but not for this one. Easily the most action-packed of this trilogy, A Million Worlds with You takes us on a roller-coaster of emotion and movement. After discovering Triad and Home Office’s plans for destruction of many worlds in order to save a loved one, Marguerite is in a race with the most evil version of herself – the Wicked Marguerite, a girl whose “art” is sadism and destruction. Chasing her from parallel universe to parallel universe in order to try to prevent the loss […]

You Don’t Know My Name by Kristen Orlando | Mini-Review

January 11, 2017 / 3 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
You Don’t Know My Name by Kristen Orlando | Mini-Review

Review: You Don’t Know My Name by Kristen Orlando I came into You Don’t Know My Name hoping for an Ally Carter like spy story. And knowing Swoon Reads, I expected a fast-paced book with a lot of romance. This book is definitely not Ally Carter, but it does do an okay job with the whole “normal girl who is secretly a spy” idea. I liked Reagan and her friendships, and I enjoyed the romance with her neighbour Luke. I also appreciated that the author took her time showing us Reagan’s teen life and what she leaves behind every time […]

Recently in Romance #5 | All the Contemporary & Historical Reviews!

Recently in Romance #5 | All the Contemporary & Historical Reviews!

Recently in Romance is my mini-review feature where I bundle my recent reads and buys for those of you who are fans of X-rated books! Wow, have I got a whopping Recently in Romance post for you guys! This one is all romance reviews because I haven’t done one of these in awhile, and I have a ton to post. I’m splitting this into a couple of sections in case you want to skip down to your favorite kind of romance. Sports/Hockey Romances Historical Romances Contemporary Romances Just wanted to note that the first two of these are ARC reviews in case […]

Mini-Reviews: The Hating Game, Scrappy Little Nobody & Aimee and the Heartthrob

December 16, 2016 / 2 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Mini-Reviews: The Hating Game, Scrappy Little Nobody & Aimee and the Heartthrob

The Hating Game is on my favorites for this year. I read it in one day, one sitting, and I was utterly obsessed 20 percent in. Lucy and Josh work in an office together, and thanks to a merger, they have to sit across from each other and compete for the same job. As a result, the competition and hatred is at an all-time high. They throw witty,  dark insults at each other while both being great at their jobs. Things change when Lucy discovers that maybe the hate is not so hatey after all. Lucy and Josh’s banter is […]

Recent Sci-Fi Reads: The Diabolic and The Handmaid’s Tale | Book Reviews

November 30, 2016 / 0 Comments / Posted by Tiff @ Mostly YA Lit in Mini-Reviews, Review
Recent Sci-Fi Reads: The Diabolic and The Handmaid’s Tale | Book Reviews

The Diabolic is the story of Nemesis, a biologically engineered bodyguard programmed to protect one person against anyone around her. Nemesis is the Diabolic for Sidonia, the daughter of an intergalactic Senator under investigation for treason. The Galactic Empire decides to force Sidonia to come to their planet instead as a punishment. Scared for her life, Sidonia’s mother sends Nemesis in disguise, where Nemesis must traverse the political establishment while pretending to be human. I wanted to like The Diabolic, but unfortunately, it wasn’t for me. The main issue was that Nemesis’ voice was kind of robotic and completely devoid […]

Middle Grade Reads #1: Gertie’s Leap to Greatness and Rebel Genius

Middle Grade Reads #1: Gertie’s Leap to Greatness and Rebel Genius

Hi guys, today I have some middle grade recs for you, courtesy of my husband, Evan! Evan is a mostly comic book reader, with lots of literary fiction interspersed. That said, he’s really interested in the middle grade age group – his favorite cartoons (Adventure Time and Steven Universe) explore that age. So when we saw that Gertie’s Leap to Greatness was illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (one of the artists on Adventure Time), and Rebel Genius was written by the creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra (the cartoons), he volunteered to read and review. Read […]