I Hate You More by Alexandra Moody

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 270
Standalone
Genre: High School, haters to lovers, brother’s best friend, bookworm
Publish: June 10, 2019
Rating: 3.5- 4 STARS

Synopsis:

Ever heard of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?

That’s exactly what Ally Lockwood has to do when the hottest guy at Fairview High, who is also her sworn nemesis, moves in with her family for senior year.

Most girls would do anything to live across the hall from Chase Williams, but Ally isn’t fooled by his good looks or brooding charm. She’s been on the wrong side of him for years, and knows all too well how sly and manipulative he truly is.

She’s desperate to get rid of him. Luckily, her friends have a genius plan to ensure Ally’s over-protective father kicks Chase out of the house for good.

All she has to do is convince him to date her and make sure they get caught… 

Review:

Ally has hated Chase since a dance a few years ago in which he spoiled her first kiss. Ever since then they have been at each other’s throats. After having a summer Chase free, Ally wants to relax on the last day of summer. But all of that goes out the door when Chase is at the door with his bags.

Chase is moving in for senior year. Ally wants him out. Her best friends Tessa and Mia devise a plan to get Chase to fall for Ally and then get caught by her protective dad. Only one problem for Ally, she has to get along with Chase.

At first I wasn’t a Chase fan. I mean he could have done a bit of a better job on telling his feelings to Ally. Ally got annoying about halfway through. But both characters redeemed themselves towards the end. The plot was good. A few points I wished were flushed out a bit more but other than that it was a good story.

Wallflower by Cookie O’Gorman

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 197
Standalone
Genre: YA, High School
Publish: March 25, 2021
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

Wallflower (wohl-flou-erh): Identifier for someone who is shy and/or awkward. For reference, see Viola Kent.

Seventeen-year-old Viola Kent likes being invisible. Well, not literally, but she’s content being a loner, reading her books, and hanging out with the animals at the shelter. She just wants to keep her head down and get through her senior year at Durham High.

Driving Dare Frost to school every day wasn’t part of the plan.

And when Viola finds out her dad recruited Dare, his number one player, to be her friend?

Her inner Slytherin demands revenge.

The solution: Get Dare to be her fake boyfriend.

Convincing the star athlete to pretend is easier than she’d thought it would be. The hard part is protecting her heart. With every word, touch, and kiss, Viola’s feelings become more real.

The problem: Viola knows she’s falling for Dare—but he doesn’t believe in love.

This book features two sets of soulmates, one happy pooch named Hermione, so many sizzling kisses and answers the question:

Can a dork and a jock fake their way to true love?

Revieew:

I thought the story between Viola and Dare was okay. I liked it but I wasn’t in love with it. Both characters were good. I thought they fit well together. Nothing really stood out to me.

Viola has to give Dare rides to school because her dad asked her for a favor and before listening to terms she accepted. Slowly she notices Dare being nice to her and talking with her. Then she finds out her father asked Dare to be her friend. To get back at him, she devises a plan to make her father think she and Dare have fallen for each other.

I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve had an off feeling or if it’s because this followed five-star book.

Married to an Alaskan Man by Evangeline Kelly

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 105
Series: An Alaskan Romance #1
Genre: Marriage of Convenience, Christian Romance, Clean
Publish: Sept 28, 2019
Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

Will their marriage of convenience survive the wilds of Alaska?

Callie lives a socially isolated life in New York City with two jobs that leave no time for dating. After meeting her neighbor’s son, Derek, she falls hard but knows he is out of her league.

Derek loves his simple life in the wilderness and is ready to settle down and have a family if only he comes across the right woman. Callie’s kindness makes her stand out, and he believes she will make a great wife.

Derek proposes a modern-day marriage of convenience, and Callie accepts with the hope of his love growing after they marry. But once they arrive at Derek’s homestead, she finds that off-the-grid living is not for the faint of heart.

When his initial interest in her is called into question, her biggest fear comes true. He wants a wife and a commitment, but what about love?

Will she stay and make the marriage work, or will she realize that sometimes, two people aren’t meant to be?

Grab the first book in an inspirational Christian romance series set in the state of Alaska!

Review:

I needed a bit of a break from the YA books. It took a bit to find a book that would strike up my fancy. Let’s just say I started feeling a slump beginning and I had to get out of the YA and into something different.

When I saw this I jumped on it. One thing that always gets me is a fake marriage or fake fiancé or as this book falls under marriage of convenience. Then I saw it was a Christian romance, it was a done deal after that.

Callie and Derek’s slow burn was an amazing. I loved every thing about this and how they put God first. I wish there was more to the story. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to continue on with their story.

This is exactly what I needed to help get out of the slow funk that was coming on.

The Perfect Catch by Maggie Dallen

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 181
Series: Kissing the Enemy #1
Genre: Baseball, Sports, YA
Publish: Aug 30, 2018
Rating: DNF at page 33

Synopsis:

Her brother’s best friend used to be Callie’s friend too. But that was before he became a jerk, and then her coach, and now…her first kiss.

There’s no doubt about it, Noah is avoiding Callie like the plague now that she’s living in the dorms on his college campus. She’d hoped this weeklong softball clinic would help put their past awkwardness behind them–after all, he’d taught her everything she knows about the game. But her brother’s best friend is more of a jerk than ever. Until he kisses her. And now…well, now she doesn’t know what’s going on between them. But it doesn’t matter, not really. She’s not here for Noah, she’s only here to show the recruiters at the big showcase game that she has what it takes to play for a college team.

It’s a solid plan…until it all falls apart. Thanks to Noah’s overprotective interference, she’s kicked out of the showcase game, and any chance of college scholarships slips out of her reach. But there might be a way to salvage her plan and her future. She just has to be seen, right? Noah’s the new coach for a charity softball event and he owes her big time. She might just be able to save her scholarship chances if she can survive his coaching…and his kisses.

Review:

Normally, I try to get further into a book, but I am not feeling it. I tend to like stories like this but for some reason, I don’t like being in either the hero or the heroine’s head. I eye-roll every part. I’m really confused about what’s going on between the two. Like did something happen besides the injury or is there something more?

I’m curious but not curious enough to continue on. Which is sad because it’s not that long of a book. I just have no interest to help strive forward.

Let’s assume this is another case of it’s me, not you.

Challenge Accepted by Amanda Abram

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 301
Stand alone
Genre: YA, High School, enemies to lovers, next door neighbors
Publish: Jan 25, 2018
Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

Emma Dawson and Logan Reynolds have been neighbors and enemies for as long as either one can remember. Despite the fact their BFF fathers have been encouraging them their whole lives to be friends, they’ve managed to avoid each other at all costs. Emma thinks Logan is a callous jerk who cares about nobody but himself. Logan thinks Emma is a stuck-up goody-two-shoes with no life. The two couldn’t be any more different…which is why Emma is so confused when the Emerson High Computer Club’s “Summer Fling Compatibility Test” concludes they’re a perfect match.

But Logan’s not confused. He lied on the test to make his “sometimes girlfriend” think they’re not meant to be and now Emma is furious that he made her lose out on the chance of having a swoony summer romance with the perfect guy. Forced by his stepmother to make it up to her, Logan decides to help her win the heart of her lifelong crush: his best friend, Matt.

He knows how much of a challenge this will be. Matt is good-looking, popular and outgoing. Emma is quiet, bookwormish, and scared of everything. However, Logan is convinced that with some major tweaking, he can transform Emma into someone Matt could fall for. But as the summer heats up, so does their budding friendship… and soon, they may be faced with the biggest challenge of all: falling for each other.

Review:

Logan and Emma were cute. If you are wanting a good YA haters to lovers romance this would be it. There is cursing but no sex. There is sexual innuendos but that is as far as it goes.

Logan and Emma have known each other forever. Their parents always tried to get them to be friends but it always seemed it wasn’t meant to be. Logan lies on a compatibility test and is matched up with Emma. His stepmother tells him he has to make it up to Emma before a certain deadline.

The story was good. I really did like the slow pace it took. I may read another book by this author.

Dare You to Kiss the Quarterback by Lacey Andersen

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 176
Series: Rock Valley High #1
Genre: YA, Sports, Bad Boy
Publish: Dec 26, 2019
Rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis:

A little dare never hurt anybody…

I’m ready to rock my senior year. So what if my parents are recently divorced, the captain of the cheerleading team hates me more than tan lines, or that I’ve been forced to wear the school’s smelly mascot costume? Those things I can handle. (Maybe) But if I get to sing my original song at the town’s big centennial event, I’ll be on my way to living the life I’ve always dreamed.

But there’s only one problem:

Collin thinks-he’s-God’s-gift-to-women Preston.

Foster kid. Bad boy. And star quarterback of the Rock Valley High football team.

It’s bad enough that the whole school thinks we made out at a party (Nothing happened. Seriously.), but now I’ve been partnered with Collin to perform at the centennial event. If I get it my way, he’ll drop out and we’ll both forget our near-kiss ever happened.

But Collin and his cocky half-grin aren’t easy to forget.

Neither is the shiver-inducing way he looks at me.

I’ve got to keep my eyes on the prize, but being around Collin might just be the distraction that I need.

This is a sweet young adult romance in the Rock Valley High series of stand-alone novels.

Review:

Well this was a cute story.

Audrey and Collin get partnered together to sing at the centennial event. Audrey wanted this by herself but now she has no choice but to sing with Collin. While she butts heads with him, she is starting to find out that there is much more to Collin than she thought.

Super cute. A bad boy and a good girl romance. If you want something that is light and fluffy while also being a quick read, this is the book for you. I will be putting the second book on the TBR list.

Curvy Girls Can’t Date Best Friends by Kelsie Stelting

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 454
Series: Curvy Girls Club #5
Genre: YA, High School, Best Friends to Lovers
Publish: Dec 19, 2020
Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

It was all fake dating and games until my heart got involved…

I wanted to have the best summer ever. To have my first kiss and finally get my brother’s best friend to notice me.

So I talked my best friend Carson into helping.

He’d do anything for me, and I’d do the same for him. But somewhere between fake dating and pretending to fall in love with him, I fell for real.

And it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

In the last four books of The Curvy Girl Club, Carson and Callie have stayed best friends. Now it’s time for a love story all their own. Start reading Curvy Girls Can’t Date Best Friends today for a story sweeter and more delicious than honey!

Review:

I do love a best friends to lovers story. I love even more that there were dual POVs. Callie and Carson are so adorable.

The book starts when Carson moves to Emerson when he was ten years old and we follow the friendship throughout the years till we get up to the summer before college. I fell in love with Callie and Carson’s story and how they finally told each other they have feelings for each other.

I think I may take a break from Emerson High. I think I need a break before I jump into a new group of characters.

Curvy Girls Can’t Date Bad Boys by Kelsie Stelting

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 269
Series: Curvy Girls Club #4
Genre: YA, High School, Forbidden Love, Bad Boy
Published: Nov 20, 2020
Rating: 4 STARS

Synopsis:

An arranged marriage and a bad boy who breaks all of the rules…

My father’s been planning my wedding day for longer than I have. Since I turned seventeen, he’s sent me on date after date with people from the film industry–producers, directors, actors… I’ve dated–and turned down–them all.

But Ryde Alexander is the worst. He’s vapid, self-obsessed, and it doesn’t help that his sister is evil in a pair of Louboutin heels. Too bad he’s the one my dad is determined to send me down the aisle with the day I turn eighteen.

My only escape is a food delivery boy and a motorcycle my dad would have a heart attack if I got on. But I don’t care. I need to get away, and Ronan is more than happy to take me.

But this forbidden getaway driver is starting to mean more to me than the man I’m supposed to marry.

The only problem is, I may not have a choice.

Zara’s story in The Curvy Girl Club is the emotional, exciting read you have been waiting for! Who wouldn’t want to be whisked away on the back of Ronan Moretti’s motorcycle and have the adventure of a lifetime? Start reading Curvy Girls Can’t Date Bad Boys today and begin falling in love.

Review:

I noticed Zara’s story isn’t as long as the others. But it didn’t need to be. It was perfect the way it was.

Zara’s father is keeping the Indian tradition of arranged marriages. He sets her up with Ryde Alexander. (Yes, he is as obnoxious as his name sounds.) Zara doesn’t like Ryde and the more time she spends with him, the more she really is against the marriage. Then she meets Ronan. Who introduces her to the life she has always wanted to live.

While there is no sex in this it is insinuated. I like Zara and Ronan together. Totally cute. I like their story. But the next story is the one I have been wanting to get to!

Curvy Girls Can’t Date Cowboys by Kelsie Stelting

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 477
Series: Curvy Girls Club #3
Genre: YA, High school, Cowboy, enemies to lovers
Publish: Oct. 24, 2020
Rating: 3.5 STARS

Synopsis:

The one thing my parents can’t shelter me from is my heart.

I nearly died the summer of my eighth grade year, and ever since then, my parents have done everything they could to keep me healthy. Now I’m a senior, and instead of feeling safe, I’m suffocating.

When my parents take my twin sisters out of town for an audition, I have my chance to show them that I’m responsible. That I can go to college on my own and start a life outside of their organic food store and Emerson Academy.

All I have to do is turn in all my assignments and have a few quiet nights at home. No problem.

That is, until my video project partner decides to be a total flake. Ray may be hot and fill out a pair of Wrangler jeans like nobody’s business, but he is not ruining my chance at freedom.

I go to his family’s ranch to get his help, but instead discover something else. Could everything my parents taught me be wrong?

Unless I act fast, my quiet weekend will ruin my chance at freedom and wreck my heart faster than the flash of my camera.

Review:

Ginger had a freak accident that nearly killed her when she was in eighth grade. Now her parents are overbearing and treat her as if she can’t take care of herself. They run an organic food store called Ripe. They are very against antibiotics thinking that may have been the cause.

Ginger is trying to let her parents into having her stay at the dorms in college instead of staying at home. She ends up getting partnered with the school’s only cowboy, Ray. Her parents don’t like Ray. Though they don’t know him or how his ranch is ran, they decide that they aren’t going to like him.

While I liked Ray and Ginger to a point. Their story was cute. It wasn’t as great. I didn’t like Ginger’s parents. They seemed very ignorant when it comes to an actual farm and how animals are raised. They were also way to overbearing and it was quite annoying.

Any who, on to Zara’s book.

Curvy Girls Can’t Date Billionaires by Kelsie Stelting

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 410
Series: Curvy Girls Club #2
Genre: High School, YA,
Publish: August 28,2020
Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

How much money does it take to buy a broken heart?,/b>

There are three things I hate: rich people, boys, and Kai Rush. Kai happens to be all three.

He and his dad have all the money in the world from the game app they created, and what do they do with it? They buy private helicopters and flaunt their brand new Teslas.

Never mind that people like my mom and I work multiple jobs just to keep our crappy apartment and pay for back medical bills because my dad ran scared and left us alone.

So when my mom tells me we have a new cleaning job at the Rush’s before school, I’m peeved.

When he starts texting me, I’m floored.

Fit billionaires like him and plus-sized scholarship kids like me barely belong at Emerson Academy together, much less in the same message thread.

How can I get him to see I’m not the catch he thinks I am?

More importantly, how can I get my heart to stay on the same page?

Review:

We met Jordon in the first book. She helped her friend Rory win the guy of her dreams. Now Jordon is left broken hearted from her ex boyfriend and is stuck helping her mother clean the house of the guy she hates the most… Kia Rush.

Dealing with helping her mom clean for a living and having a scholarship to Emerson Academy, Jordon has it tough thinking about those kids with money to spend around her.

I like the story. It shows not to judge a person on their status. Kai and Jordon were cute together. I don’t have to much to say on them. This is a cute story to get into.

On to Ginger’s.