Sophie Reads YA: 2019

December Summary

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What I've read this month:

If I'm Being Honest
Series: None
Author: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Published April 23rd 2019 by Viking Books for Young Readers
Read: November 30-December 1 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge, 2019 New Release Challenge

She's With Me
Series: She's With Me #1
Author: Jessica Cunsolo
Published January 7th 2020 by Wattpad Books (eARC)
Read: December 7-8 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge

Lady Midnight
Series: The Dark Artifices #1
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published March 8th 2016 by Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Read: December 10-15 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

Of Curses and Kisses
Series: St. Rosetta's Academy #1
Author: Sandhya Menon
Published February 18th 2020 by Hodder Children's Books (ARC)
Read: December 20-21 2019
My Rating: 5 Stars
Challenge: 2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge

A Date with Darcy
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #1
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published May 1st 2018 by Amulet Paperbacks
Read: December 20-22 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars

The Boy Next Story
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #2
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published May 21st 2019 by Harry N. Abrams
Read: December 22-24 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars

The Bad Boy Bargain
Series: Suttonville Sentinels #1
Author: Kendra C. Highley
Published November 14th 2016 by Entangled Publishing
Read: December 28 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars

Swinging at Love
Series: Suttonville Sentinels #2
Author: Kendra C. Highley
Published March 6th 2017 by Entangled Publishing
Read: December 29-30 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars

Lord of Shadows
Series: The Dark Artifices #2
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published May 23rd 2017 by Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Read: December 19-30 2019
My Rating: 4 Stars
Challenge: 2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge

Challenges Update:
2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge: 3 (35 total)
2019 New Release Challenge: 1 (39 total)
2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge: 2 (22 total)

Summary:

December has been a really good month. It always is, with Christmas approaching, but during the holidays I've managed to get a better handle on my reading and amount of reviews I need to write, and am looking forward to starting the new year in a better place, blogging wise.

How have you done this month? Let me know below.

2019 Beat the Backlist challenge

ARC Review: The Bad Boy Bargain (Suttonville Sentinels #1) by Kendra C. Highley

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The Bad Boy Bargain
Series: Suttonville Sentinels #1
Author: Kendra C. Highley
Published November 14th 2016 by Entangled Publishing

Goodreads Synopsis
Baseball player Kyle Sawyer has many labels: bad boy, delinquent, ladies' man, fearless outfielder... Only one of them is actually true. But then sweet ballet dancer Faith Gladwell asks him to help wreck her reputation, and everything goes sideways.

Faith knows a thing or two about love, and what she had with her cheating jerk of an ex wasn't it. When he starts spreading rumors about her being an Ice Queen, Faith decides it's time to let a little bad into her life.

Lucky for her, Kyle Sawyer--dark, dangerous, totally swoonworthy Kyle Sawyer--is landscaping her backyard over Spring Break. Shirtless. And if she can convince him to play along, " dating" Kyle will silence the rumors.

But Faith's plan threatens to expose Sawyer's biggest secret of all...and that's a risk he's not willing to take.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the author via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I love reading contemporary books, and Entangled publish some of the best ones around. When this one became available to review via NetGalley, I knew I needed to read it, and I'm glad I did. In The Bad Boy Bargain, we have two main characters, Faith and Kyle. Faith is a ballerina, a good girl, and has just dumped her cheating ex-boyfriend. Kyle, on the other hand, has a reputation for being a bad boy, a new girl every week, racing his car, and shoplifting. However, the truth is that he really is none of those things, and it's a persona he's put on after being bullied in middle school by Faith's ex-boyfriend. When Faith finds out that the cheating ex, Cameron, is spreading rumours that he dumped her for being frigid and everyone at school is talking about her. She soon cooks up the plan to find a new boyfriend, even if it's just pretend, to embarrass Cameron and regain some of her reputation. Cue Kyle, who is working in Faith's back yard - luckily - completing some landscaping which is a passion of his. His reputation is perfect for the wacky plan, and as they decide to give it a try, they grew closer and closer, and soon fall for each other in reality.

Both of the main characters were really good narrators. They had distinct voices, and through their chapters we learnt more about them, and their histories, and their actual personas. Both of them played a role in public, Kyle moreso than Faith, but in private they were themselves, which showed a level of vulnerability. Kyle really felt like he had a lot to lose if he was himself, and then felt that Faith would hate him for lying about himself for so long. I loved his scenes with his grandfather - you could really see how much they cared for one another. I think if I'm being honest, his chapters were more enjoyable than Faith's, but hers were nice too. She just didn't connect with me quite as much, but I did still love getting into her head.

The plotline was one that used a trope I love, pretend relationships becoming more, and in this case it was done very well. The use of the musical aspect too, was nice, and I'm glad I have the other books in this series to read too, as the secondary characters, especially Tristan and Violet, and ones that I want to see more from.

Dates Read:
August 14, 2017

Rating
4 Stars

December

Stacking the Shelves: December 28th 2019

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2018 Contemporary Romance Challenge

Review: My New Crush Gave to Me by Shani Petroff

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My New Crush Gave to Me
Series: None
Author: Shani Petroff
Published October 31st 2017 by Swoon Reads

Goodreads Synopsis
Charlotte Charlie Donovan knows exactly what she wants for Christmas: Teo Ortiz. He's the school's star athlete, in the National Honor Society, invited to every party, contributes to the school paper (where Charlie is co-editor), and is about to be featured as One to Watch in a teen magazine basically, he's exactly the type of guy Charlie s meant to be with. The only problem he barely knows she exists.

But Charlie is determined to be Teo's date to the Christmas ball. And she has a plan: To rig the paper's Secret Santa so that she can win his heart with five perfect gifts. But to do that she needs help. Enter J.D. Ortiz Teo's cousin, and possibly the most annoying person on the planet. He's easy going, laid back, unorganized, spontaneous, and makes a joke out of everything the exact opposite of Charlie (and Teo). But he's willing to provide insight into what Teo wants, so she's stuck with him.

Yet, the more time Charlie spends with J.D., the more she starts to wonder: Does she really know what, or rather who, she wants for Christmas?
Goodreads

Review
This is another Secret Santa book that was a nice, quick read, and one to get into the Christmas spirit. Charlie has been into Teo, the star of the school, and alright perfect guy, for as long as she can remember. Even though they work together on the school paper, Teo barely knows Charlie exists, but that's all about to change. Charlie is going to rig the paper's Secret Santa so that Teo is hers, and will bag a date to the Christmas dance and they'll fall in love. The only issue is that fact that Charlie doesn't know what would be perfect for the five gifts to give to Teo, so she enlists his cousin, J.D., to help, even if she thinks he is the most annoying person, ever. The more she works with J.D., the more she questions whether it is Teo she wants, or the idea of him, and whether J.D. is as bad as she thought he was.

Charlie's character was slightly annoying at times, but I did enjoy the story. Yes the idea that a girl is using someone else, who clearly has feeling for her, in order to get with someone else is abhorrent, I think that Charlie was just a bit naive, and honestly didn't realise that J.D. liked her until late on. It might be assumed that there's a love triangle in the book, but Shani made sure that there wasn't, which made me happy as I dislike love triangles. The more Charlie is thinking about her feelings, the more she realises that her 'feelings' for Teo are non-existent, and she starts to really look at herself, and find her true self, and who she actually likes.

Teo, as a love interest, was boring, but J.D. was sweet, and goofy, and seemed to really care for Charlie. From their first interactions, you could see the chemistry, even if Charlie was in denial, and both argued a lot. However, the use of the enemies-to-lovers trope was executed well, and I honestly believed in their feelings and relationship. All I could've asked for was a bit of an epilogue to find out what happened after the climax of the book, but overall, it was a nice and quick read, perfect for the festive season.

Dates Read:

January 13, 2018

Rating
4 Stars

Sarah Henning

Waiting On Wednesday: Throw Like a Girl by Sarah Henning

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2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge

ARC Review: Love, Secret Santa by S.A. Domingo

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Love, Secret Santa
Series: None
Author: S.A. Domingo
Published October 31st 2019 by Hodder Children's Books

Goodreads Synopsis
All I want for Christmas is . . . you! A festive clean teen romance that could melt even Scrooge's heart!

It's nearly Christmas, but Angel Green isn't celebrating - she's too busy studying for a scholarship exam. On top of that, she's organising her school's charity fundraising campaign to help a local hospice. Unfortunately, her fundraising partner is Caspar Johnson: handsome, creative and fun, but TOTALLY unreliable.

Thank goodness for her Secret Santa who keeps leaving her amazing presents, including an intriguing hand-made advent calendar! Angel is dying to find out who her secret admirer is . . .

As they spend time together planning festive events, Angel realises that Caspar has hidden depths - and a secret that he's hiding behind his easy-going facade. Her advent calendar encourages Angel to take risks and open her heart - but has she left it too late to tell Caspar how she really feels?
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I read this book back during October Half Term, when it wasn't exactly the time for a Christmassy read, but the nights were starting to draw in, and I was in the mood for a nice contemporary read. Love, Secret Santa was a UKYA that, honestly, I didn't know much about when I first requested it, but I was drawn in from the first page, and I'm glad I was off work, as I couldn't put the book - or rather, phone - down to stop reading. Our main character, Angel, isn't really in a festive mood yet. She's studying for a prestigious scholarship exam, and anything else will just take away from their studies. However, she is also conscientious and charitable, and had signed up to help with the school fundraiser, and is paired with once close, but now estranged friend, Caspar. Wanting to discover just why Caspar started to pull away from her when they started secondary school, she realises that they can be just as close as they always were, just with the complication of some pesky feelings thrown in. To top it all off, while Angel is dealing with her rediscovered feelings for Caspar, a secret admirer, using the guise of Secret Santa, has stepped onto the scene, which is too much for Angel to handle.

I really enjoyed Angel, and wish I had had this book when I was her age. Everything about the book just reminded me of times when I was at school, and Angel was exactly like a true teenager, and not an imagined one. She was real, with real issues, and real feelings. Everything about the book was diverse, from the cast of characters, the sexualities, and the situations. Like I said, this book reflects reality so well, and all British teenagers should read it.

The romance was a slow burn, and the fact that Angel and Caspar had once been friends who reunited and fell for each other, made it even better. Some aspects of the plot were a little far fetched, and the identity of the Secret Santa was a bit obvious, but all in all, I really enjoyed it, and it's definitely a book to get into the festive spirit.

Dates Read:
October 18, 2019

Rating
4 Stars