Book Review: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Title: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Series: To All The Boys I've Loved Before #1

Author: Jenny Han

Publication Date: 15th April 2014

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Source: Purchased

Buy It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Audience/Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Rating: 5 ☆ Out of 5 ☆

Summary from Goodreads: 

Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control in this heartfelt novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series.

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them... all at once?

Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Review:

Firstly, might I just mention that Jenny Han is one of my favourite contemporary romance authors ever. Also, I originally read the Summer Trilogy about a week before the release of To All The Boys I've Loved Before and I absolutely adored it so I went to purchase To All the Boys I've Loved Before and boy was I not disappointed.

 

The novel focuses mainly on the life of a teenage girl Lara Jean, who is the middle child in the family and has two sisters, Kitty and Margot, her younger and older sister respectively. Basically, the premise of the story is that she has a hatbox her mother gave her in which she puts all her 'love letters' that she has written to boys she has loved before. However, she has never sent them at all, she just writes them to express herself. One day, the letters accidentally get sent to these boys and Lara Jean has to deal with the consequences of them knowing she used to like them.

I found the entire concept of the letters really sweet and the fact that Lara Jean poured all her emotions on paper rather than telling the boy was pretty bittersweet. On the whole, this book was really just sweet. So so sweet!

I honestly cannot wait for the next book, "P.S. I Still Love You". I need more of Peter! And Josh! And Everyone! Overall I think this is my current favorite contemporary of 2014. I would recommend it to anyone who needs some love in their life, some sweetness, and a feel of first love again.

So go get this book and start reading now! 5 stars all the way! <3

May TBR

Hey guys! Here's the list of my May TBR.

I'm only hoping to read them because I've got exams this month.

Also, I don't know whether I'm really definitely going to follow this list because I get sidetracked when I buy new books :)

So let's get started!

1. City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (TO BE PUBLISHED 27TH MAY 2014)

ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. 

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!

 2. I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

I've lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!! :)

A couple of glasses of bubbly with the girls at a charity do and Poppy's life has gone into meltdown. Not only has she lost her engagement ring, but in the panic that followed, she's lost her phone too. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number with the hotel staff. It was meant to be!

Except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back, and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, phone messages and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents, can things get any more tangled?

3. The Spy Who Totally Had a Crush on Me

 

Picking up where Spy Goddess: To Hawaii, With Love left off, Rachel Buchanan and her Blackthorn Academy team return from Hawaii with the Idol of Fury, only to find the worst possible thing has happened. Someone has stolen The Book of Seraphim directly from Mr. Kim’s situation room.

With no clues and no way to track Simon Blankenship, Rachel and her friends must sit back and wait for him to make his next move. There’s only one thing wrong with that strategy: Rachel Buchanan does not like to sit back and wait for the action to come to her.

When a mysterious new student arrives at Blackthorn Academy and he’s, shall we say, attractive, there’s a problem. He also seems to know just a little to much about Rachel and her band and their unusual activities. And now Rachel’s head is spinning, because the new guy is sending her all kinds of signals, and he’s making Alex jealous and oh yeah…since Blankenship is always one step ahead of them, it can only mean one thing. One of her friends is a traitor. 

Some days being a reincarnated Goddess is not all it’s cracked up to be.

4. The Elite by Kiera Cass

 

The hotly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestsellerThe Selection.

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

5. The One by Kiera Cass (TO BE PUBLISHED 6TH MAY 2014)

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers' hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey... Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.

Also, my review of To all the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han is coming up soon! Do watch out for it! <3

Book Review - Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel by Robin Sloan

Title: Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Author: Robin Sloan

Publication Date: 2nd October 2012

Page Length: 304 Pages (Hardcover)

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Source: I own a copy

Buy It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Audience/Genre: New Genre

Rating: 4 ☆ Out of 5 ☆

Summary from Amazon:
A Winner of the Alex Award, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction, named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything—instead, they “check out” large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Suspicious, Clay engineers an analysis of the clientele’s behavior, seeking help from his variously talented friends. But when they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, they discover the bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls. Rendered with irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave.
 
Review:

This book could be one of my favourite books of 2014.

Just like all the reviews say. This book is a traditional meets modern kind of book. \

It starts of with the main character working in this one of a kind book store and finding out that not everything meets the eye. As you read on, you'll find out why. Also, the main character is sort of a technology, modern age kind of person so it was really interesting to find him working in a bookstore where no one really goes too. If you know what I mean. You'll know when you read this book. So basically, there's a huge reason why everything is so weird and this reason, which dates back to a really long time ago, is trying to be solved by many people. Now, these people don't like to use technology to solve it because they prefer not to and for thousands of year they just try to solve this thing. The bookshop is kind of a way to bring people into this organization. :) Anyways. So, in order to solve this thing, the main character brings in technology and BAM Old meets New. But then comes the twist... ...

Absolute brilliance. Really. There's nothing more to be said. I absolutely adored this book and was just sucked into it the moment the character stepped into the bookstore. I swear I have a fetish for books which take place in a bookstore because books and bookstores are two of my favorite things ever.

I wish I could express everything I'm feeling in words but its just so good that it's just impossible. I know I only gave it a 4 stars instead of 5 stars even with my raving. The only reason I gave it a 4 was because there were indeed moments which could be flat if this isn't the kind of book that you usually read. I usually read young adult which is full of action or romance or whatever so this book isn't something I'm as used too. However, once I got used to the writing. Damn. It was good!

Go read this book and get sucked in too. I just read it and its already on my to be reread list :D