Sophie Reads YA: Tiffany Schmidt

2021 New Release challenge

Blog Tour & ARC Review: I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas by Tiffany Schmidt

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I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas
Series: None
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
October 26th 2021 by Amulet Books

Goodreads Synopsis
Ballet and babysitting bring two teens together in this very merry holiday rom-com from the author of the acclaimed Bookish Boyfriends series

Noelle Partridge is known for three things: being the best ballet dancer, babysitter, and person with the most Christmas spirit in her small town. But lately she’s bored by the lessons at her dance school, and her friends and father are more bah humbug than Hallmark movie marathon. So when her favorite babysitting clients ask her to accompany them on a ski trip over winter break, she packs her bags for the slopes. It helps that they’re offering double her rate—she’ll need the money for Beacon, an elite ballet academy that’s granted her an audition.

Noelle is ready to “Deck the Halls” and have fa la la la fun, until Wyatt, the older half-brother of her babysitting charges, decides to surprise his family for the holiday. He’s one of the best dancers at Beacon, and makes Noelle’s head spin faster than pirouettes. Unfortunately, she also manages to step on his toes—spoiling his surprise and complicating his secret plans. After a few missteps, Noelle and Wyatt begin to thaw toward each other and bond over the big decisions looming in each of their lives. With enough Christmas magic, Noelle might just start the New Year with lots of babysitting cash in her pocket and a chance with the pas de deux partner of her dreams.
Goodreads

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

For as long as she can remember, Noelle Partridge has loved everything about Christmas, and since her mam passed away, she's tried to keep the magic going, even when it's just her and her dad. But this year, her friends aren't as excited to celebrate, and her dad is spending more and more time in his office, and it's as if he's turned into the Grinch. So when her favourite babysitting family, the Kahales, ask if she would like to spend the holidays with them, extra pay, at a skiing resort, she jumps at the chance. Hopefully the extra money will help pay towards her dream of going to the prestigious Beacon ballet academy. But when her crush, Wyatt Kahale unexpectedly joins the Christmas vacation, Noelle gets off on the wrong foot, and all her experience of babysitting the younger Kahales has gone out the window. Will she be able to find her Christmas spirit again, while overcoming her feelings for Wyatt, and her anxiety over her upcoming audition?

This is a book that I wanted as soon as it was announced. I love Tiffany's books, and Christmas is definitely my favourite part of the year, so a Christmas book from Tiffany was like a dream. Noelle was a character who I immediately loved, and I could completely understand her feelings about Christmas. To her, it's the best time of the year, and when she can remember her mam the most, so it's both a joyful and poignant time. But starting high school, being busier with her babysitting, and her ballet, on top of a somewhat absentee father, has changed her feelings this year. Being away from home, and working over the holiday is something she never expected to do, but she finds she loves spending more time with Kahales, though it's not without it's ups and downs. Her babysitting mojo seems to be wearing off at times, and she's unbelievably awkward around Wyatt at first. Soon, however, they hit it off, and really open up to each other. Their romance was fresh, and new, but progressed so naturally. Okay, there were some times when it was a little cringy, but they are 15 year old kids, dealing with a lot, and they made mistakes at times. I loved the ending, and wish this wasn't a standalone because I think so much more could be explored. Tiffany has knocked it out of the park once again, and I'm really looking forward to her next book!

Dates Read:
October 15-17, 2021

Rating
4 Stars

About Tiffany Schmidt:
Tiffany Schmidt is the author of Send Me a Sign, Bright Before Sunrise, and Hold Me Like a Breath (Once Upon a Crime Family book 1).
She’s found her happily ever after in Pennsylvania with her saintly husband, impish twin boys, and a pair of mischievous puggles.
LINKS: Goodreads | Twitter | Website | Instagram

I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas

Waiting on Wednesday: I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas by Tiffany Schmidt

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2021 New Release challenge

Review: Get a Clue (Bookish Boyfriends #4) by Tiffany Schmidt

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Get a Clue
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #4
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published January 19th 2021 by Amulet Paperbacks

Goodreads Synopsis
The game’s afoot in the next book of the Bookish Boyfriends series—this time starring Huck and Winston! After Ms. Gregoire assigns the works of Sherlock Holmes in English class, a mystery deepens at Reginald R. Hero High. Huck and Win—Curtis’s younger brother—team up to solve the case . . . and while the sleuths gather clues, another swoon-worthy romance blooms in the school halls. Perfect for younger readers of YA or older readers of middle grade, this squeaky-clean series is sure to charm any reader who’s ever had a book boyfriend of their own.
Goodreads

Review
In the final instalment of the Bookish Boyfriends series, a real life mystery is underway at Reginald R. Hero High. For Huck, he just wants to get through the school year, especially after recording a video that later went viral showing how sexist his science teacher was, and embarrassing a fellow student. Dealing with the aftermath of the video, and his growing feelings for his Knight Light mentor, Curtis' younger brother, Win, he isn't expecting Ms. Gregoire to assign him a book that will change his life. But it seems he must channel Sherlock Holmes to discover just who is targeting Win in tanking his transfer application, and causing others to hate him in a faked iLive account. Will Huck and Win manage to discover the truth before the application deadline passes, or is this teenage detective in over his head?

I have adored each and every one of these books, and was both overjoyed, and gutted, when my copy of Get a Clue landed on my doorstep. We've met both Huck and Win before, in the previous books as side characters, but them having their own story was amazing. Huck has always kept a low profile at Hero High, starting late as a new kid, and only really had Rory and Curtis as his friends. His first meeting with Win, Curtis' younger brother, was like fate, and the attraction was clear to all. Both were shy at first, but soon grew extremely close. I loved the mystery surrounding Win's stalker/saboteur, though I had worked out quite early who it was. I loved seeing Win and Huck's relationship flourish, though, as well as seeing characters from previous books. This book was the perfect conclusion to the series, and as gutted as I am that the series is over, I couldn't have asked for anything more. If you haven't picked these books up yet, you really need to!

Dates Read:
January 21-23, 2021

Rating
4 Stars

Get a Clue

Waiting On Wednesday: Get a Clue (Bookish Boyfriends #4) by Tiffany Schmidt

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2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge

Review: Talk Nerdy to Me (Bookish Boyfriends #3) by Tiffany Schmidt

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Talk Nerdy to Me
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #3
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published May 19th 2020 by Amulet Paperbacks

Goodreads Synopsis
Eliza takes center stage in this swoon-worthy third installment of the Bookish Boyfriends series

Eliza Gordon-Fergus is an expert rule-follower. She has to be; her scientist parents dictate her day-to-day decisions, and forbid her from dating. Which is why she finds Curtis Cavendish maddening. He’s never punished for his class clown antics—and worse, his mischief actually masks brilliance. Like, give-Eliza-a-run-for-valedictorian brilliance.

When Eliza reads Frankenstein for English class, she’s left feeling more like an experiment than a daughter. Curtis agrees to trade her Anne of Green Gables under one condition: She has to beat him at the science fair. Eliza knows they’re supposed to be competing, but the more time they spend together, the more she realizes she’s in over her head. Because one thing’s certain about Curtis: He makes Eliza want to break all the rules.
Goodreads

Review
I have adored the previous two books in this series, and was always intrigued by Eliza, Merri's best friend, so waited somewhat impatiently until I could read her tale. Talk Nerdy to Me see's Eliza struggle with the absence of her Nobel Prize winning parents, who seem to treat her as if she is an experiment herself, what with the rigorous control over what she eats, how she spends her time, and especially about the fact she can not date. Left alone in her home with a revolving group of doctoral students as guardians, she thrives when she spends time with the Campbell's, but with Merri and Rory both being happy, and in love, it's too much. Add to that some 'bad' marks - at least for her - and the need to read Frankenstein for her English class, she's barely keeping her head above water. All that remains is her hatred for class clown Curtis Cavendish, but spending time with him for Academic Bowl, and in order to swap books to Anne of Green Gables, she starts to think that maybe how she has allowed her parents to treat her all these years was wrong, and that she needs to let herself feel, and with Curtis she can do that.

First things first, I absolutely HATED Eliza's parents. They were the worst kind of parents I had ever seen, and Eliza was struggling with so much because of them. She never felt like anything she did was good enough, and had so many hang ups about her appearance, her intelligence, her whole self being, and I just wanted to read into the book and give her a hug. Because she is blonde, beautiful, and with a good figure, Eliza is always judged before someone gets to know her, and they never expect her to be clever - *cough*Bartlett*cough* - or call her Barbie and treat her like a doll who deserves to be stared at or have photos taken off.

One person who treated her differently when they first met was Curtis, who gives everyone a nickname, and immediately got Eliza's back up, and since then she hasn't been able to stand him. Unfortunately, they are in the same friendship group, some of the same classes, and sit together at lunch, so she has had to put up with him since school began. Their chemistry together was undeniable though, but because of Eliza's parents decree that she can't date, she couldn't even consider anything of the type - that is, until she decides to live for herself and not-date Curtis. If you know anything about Anne of Green Gables, either from the books, or shows, these two will remind you so much of Anne and Gilbert! I could not put this one down, and read it in one sitting - it has been so long that a book has kept me up at night because I needed to finish it, but this was it. I adore it, and can't wait for Get a Clue, especially if it is about Win and Huck! Schmidt has knocked it out of the park, once again.

Dates Read:
June 25, 2020

Rating
4 Stars

Talk Nerdy to Me

Waiting On Wednesday: Talk Nerdy to Me (Bookish Boyfriends #3) by Tiffany Schmidt

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2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge

ARC Review: The Boy Next Story (Bookish Boyfriends #2) by Tiffany Schmidt

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The Boy Next Story
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #2
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published May 21st 2019 by Harry N. Abrams

Goodreads Synopsis
The second book in a series where your favorite literary characters come to life, inspired by the timeless classic, Little Women!

There’s no one better than the boy next door. At least not according to Aurora Campbell, fourteen, who has been in love with Tobias May since their very first sandbox kiss. The problem is, he’s in love with her older sister, Merrilee. And Merri is already dating one of his best friends.

Rory is learning all about pining as her class reads The Great Gatsby, a book she doesn’t find “great” at all. Also not great—her GPA, something she needs to fix, quickly, if she’d like to apply for the chance to spend a week studying art with her hero in New York City over winter break. But when Ms. Gregoire assigns her to read Little Women for extra credit, Rory discovers more than she expected—both about herself and Toby. Maybe she wasn’t in love with the boy next door. . . but the boy next story.

Love is complicated, and it’s all about to get even trickier for Rory at Reginald R. Hero Prep . . . where with the help of one quirky English teacher, students’ fantasies come true, often with surprising consequences.
Goodreads

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

After immediately finishing my copy of A Date With Darcy, I hate to dive right into book 2, The Boy Next Story. Now, I adored the romance in the first book, and was really intrigued by Rory (Aurora), so had high hopes for this book. I wasn't disappointed, but I will admit, early on, that I wasn't as invested in this book as much, but that's basically because the Pride & Prejudice story line was my favourite, and The Great Gatsby and Little Women, which are the books Rory reads in this instalment, aren't classics I'm overly keen in. Rory, the little sister of the Campbell family, has always felt a bit left out by her sisters. Lilly and Merri always seem to do everything together, and treat her as an afterthought, if she is ever lucky enough to be included. A fantastic artist, she knows that when she grows up she wants nothing more than to pursue that career path. But, like her sister, she is a bit of an outsider at school, and in her advanced art class, the other students, bar one - Huck (who seems to be her only friend in school - treat her horrendously, even going so far as to destroy her artwork as they are jealous of her skill. Luckily, she gets to spend her commutes to school with neighbour, and long time crush, Toby; the only issue here, he's been irrevocably in love with her sister, Merri, for as long as she can remember. She wants to get over him, and when reading The Great Gatsby in English, she realises she is the Gatsby, and it won't turn out well. Trying to get over him, her friends, Huck and Clara, create a plan to make him jealous, with Huck standing in as a fake boyfriend, and, you know what, it seems to work. Toby becomes her maths tutor, after Rory failed a class test, and is on academic report, and we can see the chemistry start to sparkle and fizz in their interactions. As soon as Ms. Gregoire decides that Little Women would be a perfect book for Rory, everything starts to fall into place, with the youngest sister, Amy, resonating with her so well.

I sort of liked Rory's character a bit more than Merri - she seemed more rounded and real - but the Gatsby plot really didn't interest me. Once we got to the Little Women plot, that's when I became more invested in the story, and I loved Rory's independence, what with her taking ownership of her feelings, standing up to Toby, and to her bullies, and earning her place at the prestigious artist camp in New York of the Christmas holidays. She really grows and matures from the start of the book, until the ending, and I felt like her character was just more of a proper person, you know? Her and Toby grew on me. At first, I thought it would be forced, but as we got past the half way mark, I could see the real feelings there, and began to ship them so much. I loved how her self worth, and realisation that she deserved more, manifested, not just in her romantic relationships, but also with her relationship with her sisters, which were quite bad at times. The ending of this book left me feeling so warm, that I immediately had to go to twitter and ask Tiffany if there would be more books, and there's going to be 2 more! I can't wait for next year now :)

Oh, whoops! My lips were NOT sealed 🤐

Sorry, this megaphone is glued to my hand 📣 :

❣️TALK NERDY TO ME! (Frankenstein + Anne of Green Gables)

❣️GET A CLUE (Sherlock Holmes!)
— Tiffany Schmidt (@TiffanySchmidt) July 29, 2019

Dates Read:
July 27-28, 2019

Rating
4 Stars

2019 Beat the Backlist challenge

ARC Review: A Date with Darcy (Bookish Boyfriends #1) by Tiffany Schmidt

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A Date with Darcy
Series: Bookish Boyfriends #1
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Published May 1st 2018 by Amulet Paperbacks

Goodreads Synopsis
Boys are so much better in books. At least according to Merrilee Campbell, fifteen, who thinks real-life chivalry is dead and there’d be nothing more romantic than having a guy woo her like the heroes in classic stories. Then she, her best friend, Eliza, and her younger sister, Rory, transfer to Reginald R. Hero Prep—where all the boys look like they've stepped off the pages of a romance novel. Merri can hardly walk across the quad without running into someone who reminds her of Romeo.

When the brooding and complicated Monroe Stratford scales Merri’s trellis in an effort to make her his, she thinks she might be Juliet incarnate. But as she works her way through her literature curriculum under the guidance of an enigmatic teacher, Merri’s tale begins to unfold in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Merri soon realizes that only she is in charge of her story. And it is a truth universally acknowledged that first impressions can be deceiving...
Goodreads

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

I'd had this book for over a year before I picked it up, and, honestly, I'm kicking myself for that because it was just so good! I knew going in that there would be some element of Pride and Prejudice retelling - which is my favourite classic, and any retelling will automatically draw me in - but also have a hint of Romeo & Juliet in too. Boy, was that an understatement! Merrilee is starting at a new prestigious school, Reginald R. Hero Prep, because her oldest sister (Lilly) is marrying the son of a senator. Because she and younger sister, Rory, are late additions, and also seem to have skipped the usual waiting list, they have some haters as soon as they start, including the headteacher's son, Fielding. However, Merri is such a prolific reader of romances, and the brooding boy she saw on day one, Monroe, intrigues her, and soon they get together. In English class, with Ms. Gregoire, the books seem to come alive, and while reading Romeo & Juliet, Merri starts to think she is living the play, with her in the titular role, and Monroe playing a very obsessive Romeo. She doesn't connect with the book as much as she, or Ms. Gregoire, wanted, so they decide she should move onto Jane Austen's greatest work. This book connects so much more with Merri, and as she and Fielding overcome their differences, and grow closer, it seems as if she has met her Darcy, after all.

Merri was such a fun character! I loved how wishful she was in her romances, and how much she cared for all of her friends. Eliza, her best female friend, is a genius, and very matter of fact, but they care for each other so much, and being at school together is perfect for them. Merri's male best friend, Toby, is a bit more complicated. He is her next door neighbour, and has had a crush on Merri for years, but is firmly in the friend zone, and it seems to be working. Both Toby and Eliza don't really get on - both too jealous of the attention the other is getting off Merri - but they will be civil for her case. Both of her sisters are wonderful characters too, and I'm glad the second book will be Rory's story, because I have so many questions I need answering about her, especially considering events towards the end of this book. I also need to make a special mention to Ms. Gregoire too, as if I had had an English teacher like her at school, I might have actually liked the subject. She honestly cared about her pupils, and I don't know if she is actually magic or what, but she just understands the pupils so well!

Now, onto the romances. I'll talk about Monroe first, mainly because of how much I hated him. From the get go, he just keeps appearing at Merri's window, and is completely obsessive over her. He's texting all of the time, won't listen to her, and doesn't want to talk; instead he just wants to kiss all of the time. When Merri finally gets rid of him, I wanted to cheer, but that wasn't the last we saw of him. No spoilers, but if you know P&P, you'll probably be able to guess what role he fulfilled, and he did it so well! Fielding, on the other hand, was the perfect Darcy! From the first few connections we see of him and Merri, he insults her, makes a comment about not wanting to see her, is completely aloof, and then embarrasses us all by asking her out in the most insulting manner. When the iconic email arrives, I even felt myself swooning a bit, so completely understand why Merri starts to, too. Every interaction between them is sparking with chemistry, and I just hope in book 2, The Boy Next Story, we see more of them, because they are my OTP for this book, and likely the whole series!

Dates Read:
July 23-24, 2019

Rating
4 Stars