Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

Back in May, I had the pleasure of attending the Penguin Teen Social. At the event, we got to meet several different authors and have several different books signed. When I heard that Tanaz Bhathena, the author of THE BEAUTY OF THE MOMENT, was going to be at the event signing her book, I was SO excited to meet her and pick up a copy of it! I had been wanting to read it ever since I received it at PTS, and have finally read and finished it yesterday!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Susan is the new girl—she’s sharp and driven, and strives to meet her parents’ expectations of excellence. Malcolm is the bad boy—he started raising hell at age fifteen, after his mom died of cancer, and has had a reputation ever since.
Susan’s parents are on the verge of divorce. Malcolm’s dad is a known adulterer.
Susan hasn’t told anyone, but she wants to be an artist. Malcolm doesn’t know what he wants—until he meets her.
Love is messy and families are messier, but in spite of their burdens, Susan and Malcolm fall for each other. The ways they drift apart and come back together are testaments to family, culture, and being true to who you are.

This is easily one of the sweetest YA contemporary books I have ever read! It was very cute, but also featured a lot of really important themes.

I loved how the theme of family was a heavily weighted aspect of this book. Almost every other scene was with either Susan or Malcolm’s parents, and I really enjoyed the contrast between them. Both main characters came from rough childhoods, but were both trying constantly thinking about the relationship they had with their parents. Their parents were big influences in their lives, for both good and bad reasons.

Another one of my favourite parts of this book was the cultures that both Susan and Malcolm came from. They both came from similar, but very different places, which meant that some of their traditions and holidays differentiated from one another. I really enjoyed learning about their cultures, as well as the different ways they called their elders!

I also really liked how the book was written. It was written in first-person perspective, and dual-POV, which makes readers really get in the heads of the two main characters. However, I never felt myself fully connect or empathize with Susan and Malcolm. They were very basic YA teen characters, and while they did develop quite a bit throughout this story, I didn’t really care for or about them.

Asside from the characters, I thought that the story dragged on a bit. Some of the scenes seemed a bit receptive, and I found that the characters were doing the exact same five things throughout the entire story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this YA contemporary, and gave it 4/5 stars. Thanks to Penguin Teen Canada for the finished copy, and thanks to Tanaz Bhathena for signing it for me!

Good Night Book Owls!

Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

Believe it or not, I have never read a Riley Sager book before! Riley is a critically acclaimed Mystery/Thriller writer, but even though I am a huge fan of that genre, I have still never read any of his books… until now! When I first heard about this novel, I knew I needed to read it, as it focuses on one of my favourite mystery tropes, a mysterious well-known building. And while I wouldn’t say that this is one of my new favourite thrillers, Riley definitely didn’t disappoint!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.
Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew’s dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

HOLY… this book was one wild ride!

To be completely honest with you, throughout the beginning and middle of the book, I thought it was quite boring and dragged on a lot. I didn’t feel any connection towards any of the characters, and thought that I had predicted the ending of the book at the halfway point. It took me over a week to read just the first two-thirds of the novel, which justifies me saying that it seemed boring and slow. However, the ending was crazy and super unpredictable! I did not see it coming at all, and was so crazy to read about!

By far my favourite thing about this book was the writing. The writing was so clear and crisp, which made it super easy to visualize everything. Even though I thought the pacing was off during the majority of the book, the writing captivated my attention throughout the entirety of the novel. I also loved how there were little two-page snippets into the future at the end of each section of the book. The peaks into the future made the story super intriguing and even more eery as I read further and further.

Like I said earlier, I didn’t particularly love any of the characters. I don’t think they developed at all throughout the novel. I would have loved to have learned even more about them, especially since there aren’t too many characters that we read about in this novel.

Even if you are a seasoned Mystery/Thriller reader, I think you will still really enjoy this one, as the ending is super unpredictable and crazy. That being said, I gave it 3.75/5 stars, as I really enjoyed the ending, but didn’t really love the first two-thirds of the story.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a finished copy! If you are interested in reading this book, pick it up at your local bookstores now, as it is officially out to the public today!

Good Night Book Owls!