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

Title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys
 I've Loved Before #1)

Author: Jenny Han
Publication Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Book Depository
Source: Borrowed ARC
First published on Kid Lit Frenzy

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

I just finished this book and I have to say wow, I really liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Though I've heard lots of great things about Jenny Han (I have her Summer series one shelf waiting to be read and have met her and find her think she’s funny and adorable), contemporary YA novels aren't usually my thing and I wasn't sure how I would feel about this. However, the pretty pink cover drew me in and I decided to give it a chance, and I’m so glad I did. To All the Boys is fantastically written, with well developed characters and relationships that make for a standout novel.

It was hard for me to connect with Lara Jean when I first started reading. Her voice is a lot younger and more naive than what I expected of a 16-year-old in a contemporary YA novel. However, as the story progressed and I got into Lara Jean’s head, I found myself really liking her and relating to her in a lot of ways. Lara Jean reminds me a lot of myself at her age. She is quiet and, while not unpopular, is not a part of the cool crowd. She isn't afraid to be herself but she still cares about what people think of her. She's a little naive and is afraid to move outside of her comfort zone. In a landscape littered with cunning teen assassins and snarky mean girls, Lara Jean’s sincerity and earnestness is a refreshing change.

Another thing I loved in the book were the relationships. While I don’t have sisters, the sibling relationship between the Song sisters rang true. No one knows how love you and to hurt you as much as a sibling does. I loved how strong the family ties were and how they supported each other. There is no absentee parenting in this book. I was also happy that there was no insta-love. I am usually pretty wary of love triangles, but it worked here because all of the characters were well developed and I can see why Lara Jean would be drawn to both boys for different reasons.

The book had some good secondary characters as well, the standout for me being Kitty, Lara Jean’s little sister. She reminds me a little bit of Louise Belcher from Bob’s Burgers and I have a feeling that she will be ruling the world one day. It was also nice to see a little diversity in the book with a bi-racial main character.

My only small gripe about this book is that I wish the ending was a longer. It felt a little rushed and wished I’d had a little more resolution. I’ve heard that the finished copy of the book (I read an ARC) has a longer ending though and I am interested in re-reading the ending to see if it provides a little more closure. And good news is that there will be another book! Things were left a little open ended and I am glad to hear that there will be another book in this charming series.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a sweet, quirky coming of age story that will appeal to fans of contemporary YA fiction and romance. Now that I’ve read Jenny Han I can see why her books are so popular and I look forward to reading her backlist.

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Manicure Monday (39): Beautiful Player

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another Manicure Monday post. Did you enjoy the extra hour that we got yesterday? I wish we got an extra hour every day. I think I could get a lot of reading done with one more hour in the day. :) Today's Manicure Monday book is Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren. If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably already seen me gush about this one. I like the whole series but this one just might be my favorite. Will and Hanna are fantastic together and their romance is hot but also super sweet. I've already re-read my favorite parts of the books several times over, which is always a sign of how much I like it. Hope to have a review of it up soon though I want to write the review for the previous book in the series first. We'll see how that goes. Anyhow, on to the manicure!

I had an idea for this manicure ever since I got it. I like the simplicity of the covers in this series as they usually only feature one color and then black and white. I knew I wanted to incorporate the stripes into the manicure as well. For this look, I only used two nail colors and black acrylic paint.

Cult Nails Tempest (white)
Color Club Rebel Debutante (green)

I decided to do a gradient using the white and green polishes. This actually turned out harder than I expected because the polish is a jelly (meaning it is slightly sheer). Because it was sheer, it was hard to get a really even gradient and it did not blend really well with the white. I did my best but this certainly is not my best gradient. I used a regular makeup sponge to dab color onto my nails, concentrating more color at the tips to get a graduated color shift.

After putting top coat on that, I used a really thin nail brush and black acrylic paint to paint stripes diagonally onto each nail. You guys, thank god I used acrylic paint that I could wipe off because I had to do the stripes on each nail at least 5 times. Apparently painting straight lines is not my strong suit. I started off with thicker lines and moved onto thinner stripes as I moved down my hand. I was trying to mimic the cover with the darker stripes gradually moving onto two thing stripes in the shirt. 

I did something a little different on my thumb and just used a solid green base and splattered black paint onto it. To do this, I used a little coffee straw to blow paint onto my nail to create a splatter effect. I think it matches the cover quite well.

Review: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Title: Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful Bastard #1)

Author: Christina Lauren
Publication Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance/Erotica
Find It: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N
Source: Publisher at Comic-Con

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate—and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative—completely infuriating—creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules—or outright smash them—if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

I avoided this series for a long time. I saw the cover and heard the hype and thought that it was just another Fifty Shades type book about a high powered suit and his virginal assistant. But when I saw that the authors were going to be signing copies of their books at Comic-Con this year, I decided to bite the bullet and give the series a go. The worst that could happen was that I wouldn't like it and the best could be that I'd have an awesome new series to rave about. Can you guess what happened? Well I will tell you that I read Beautiful Bastard in about a day and then proceeded to tear through Beautiful Stranger and the Beautiful Bitch novella in the days that followed. If you like good smut, then this is the series for you.

Bennett Ryan is a beautiful bastard. He's used to getting what he wants and he doesn't put up with people who can't deliver. Chloe Mills is a driven and hardworking intern earning her MBA degree while working for Bennett. She puts up with a lot of crap for Bennett, she doesn't do it meekly. Chloe is ball buster really keeps Bennett on his toes. She does her job well and is probably the only person who can handle Bennett.

I am a big fan of when love interests don't get along. The love/hate relationship always makes things more interesting and Chloe and Bennett have a lot of both going on. They go from yelling at each other one minute to screwing in a stairwell the next. The sexual tension is really high and each encounter is more intense than the last. They also find some very creative places and ways to have sex, and they do it often. But as much as they do it, the sex never seemed gratuitous not did I get bored with it.

The book is told from dual POVs which I don’t always love but really appreciated in this book. Without it, you might really think that Bennett was an asshole. But seeing his side of things makes him a much more likable character. He has real feelings for Chloe beyond just sex and, though he is confident on the outside, we get to see some of his insecurities. I really like being able to get into both of their heads.

Beautiful Bastard is a deliciously over the top, sexy romp.  If you like fun, sexy books, give this series a try. I don't think you'll be sorry.

*A copy of this book was provided free of charge from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion or review of this book.

---

Visit the authors online at www.christinalaurenbooks.com, Twitter (Christina, Lauren) and Facebook.
Please note that this post may contain affiliate links. For more details, please see our full disclosure policy here.