Category: coming of age

ARC Review | The World On Either Side

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The World On Either Side

Author: Diane Terrana

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 288

Publication: September 10, 2019

Categories: Grief, Self-Harm, Young Adult, World Issues, Contemporary

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

After the death of her boyfriend, sixteen-year old Valentine stops going to school, quits seeing her friends, and, finally, won’t leave her bed. Desperate for her daughter to recover, Valentine’s mother takes her on a trek in Thailand. In the mountains north of Chiang Mai, Valentine finds a world she didn’t know existed, where houses are on stilts and elephants still roam wild. She learns about the Burmese civil war and the relentless violence against the Karen and Rohingya peoples.

Then she meets Lin, a mysterious young elephant keeper tormented by his hidden past, and an orphaned elephant calf, pursued by violent poachers. Together, the three flee deep into the jungle, looking for refuge and redemption. 

Thank you to Orca Book Publishers and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this eArc.

I used to be Valentine. I had that hard knot of pain in my heart that is described so well in this book after dealing with grief for a few years. That’s why I love The World On Either Side so much. I didn’t have that pain in my heart as a teenager though, I had it at twenty-nine and it just goes to show how this book could speak to young adults and adults as well.

I went into this book knowing it would deal with grief but I was afraid it would gloss over the issues happening in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) – issues I don’t really know well enough of myself. But this story took Valentine’s grief, and the issues going on in these countries and gave me a book that spoke to my heart. It also gave me an understanding of the disturbing things going in these countries.

Valentine is going through so much after her boyfriend Amir dies. She is depressed and in a tunnel of grief. Her parents are afraid to lose her but she can’t seem to come out of the dark cave she’s in. So her mom decides that they leave Canada and take a trip to Thailand together. And not just to the city of Bangkok, they are signed up to trek through the hills of Northern Thailand to visit the hill tribes. It’s her mom’s desperate attempt to make her leave the room she hasn’t left since Amir has died.

They meet up with a small group of other tourists as they journey through the hills of Thailand, close to the Myanmar border. They ride elephants, sleep in sleeping bags and barely get to bathe. We get a small glimpse of the political strife happening between the indigenous tribes and government of Myanmar. We also get some lessons on Buddhism.

The book also touched on the subject of elephants and poachers. I think that’s when my heart started to really break, the moment the elephants arrive. It explored the bond between mother and child, not only in the human world, but the animal world as well – in particular with elephants who feel strongly about their young and vice versa. Elephants who grieve. Then there is Lin, who’s backstory is unimaginable and scary for anyone who lives a safe life outside of these countries. I hurt for Lin and what he has been through. He is one of the guides for the group and he has a past that comes back to haunt him and Valentine.

By the end of this book, Valentine sees how much forgiveness plays a big part in healing her broken spirit and how some things in life are not so black and white, especially when it comes to Lin and his life choices. My heart was so sore for Valentine, her mom, for the elephants, Lin, the Karen tribe, the Rohingya and everyone caught up in personal grief and turmoil and the violence that the government has brought upon the people.

I love how courage is what gets our characters through this trek. Valentine goes through some difficult situations on this trip but she has to dig down deep to be braver than she’s ever had to be. We see that she does have fight in her still. Lin’s story also shows us what kind of courage it took for him to survive the life he’s led, and the kind of future that will be best for his situation. We even see how all of this affects Valentine’s mom and how she is fighting for her daughter and the toll it takes.

This book is wonderfully written with the lush descriptions of the trek in the mountains of Thailand through a tourists’ point of view and someone like Lin who belongs there and nowhere at the same time. I felt like I was there with the characters. It made me want to learn more about the Karen and Rohingya tribes and hope one day the conflict will stop. This story explored mental health, love, loss and world issues. And though at times there are dark scenes in this book, the story touched my heart so deeply, the heart that was once a painful ball of hurt and at times still is.

I absolutely loved this book and finished it in one day. I definitely will need a copy of it on my shelf when it releases in September and I look forward to reading more books from this author!

Get it here: Amazon

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks!


ARC Review: Frankly in Love

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Frankly in Love

Author: David Yoon

Format: Paperback (owned)

Pages: 432

Publication Date: September 10, 2019

Categories: Romance, Family, Contemporary, Young Adult, Culture, Race

High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all. 

Thank you to Bookishfirst for giving me a chance to win a copy of this Arc.

When I read the first few pages of it on the Bookishfirst website, I knew I needed this book. If I didn’t win it in their raffle giveaway, then I would have eventually bought it. A Korean-American who wants to date a white girl? Here I am, a Filipino-American woman who married a white guy. I could relate.

I got the book the other day and finished it in one day. This book IS the story of my young adult years. Well it’s Frank’s story but wow, did it hit the bullseye. This story is about Frank Li, born in America, raised with Korean immigrant parents, trying to balance being American and being Korean – it is complicated. I am not Korean-American, I am Filipino-American, but it all resonated with me. This book hit me hard it also made me cry.

It could just be a book about a boy with immigrant parents, trying to date outside of his race, but this book is way more than that. It explored racism exhibited by his own parents and discrimination among their own race by their own race. I was like. Yes, yes and YES! And then when the difference between Frank and his white girlfriend, Brit, reveals itself in certain situations especially in the way her parents treat her and the way his parents treat him I thought I was having a flashback of my own life. The openness American families have (at least in Brit’s family) and the way they shared affection struck a chord in me. I struggled with that too – my parents were never affectionate or said I love you. I accepted as an adult that they showed their love through hard work and giving me a roof over my head and food to eat and sent me to college. They worked their bodies to the bone to give my sister and I an easier life in America. It made my heart ache when Frank realizes a few things about his parents and seeing Frank come to understand (good for him as a teen-because it took me awhile) that sacrifice from his parents equaled love. I saw me in him.

As for Frank and fake-dating his friend Joy, it was a pretty good plan but it was bound to hurt some people if the truth was let out. Without giving spoilers, I’ll just say he’s a teenager, confused about love and his role in life, and absolutely allowed to make his mistakes.

The part that made me cry was because of the family aspect of the book. It’s kind of amazing when you learn that your parents once upon a time were young and scared too. Sometimes we forget parents and grandparents were young too. I felt Frank’s desire to do the right thing, please his parents but try to be happy too. It’s a hard thing to achieve so young especially when he sees what happens to his older sister, Hannah, when she dates an African-American boy. And when something serious happens to his dad, it makes him deal with certain things much quicker than he expected. What is he supposed to do?

This book made me realize we all struggle in some capacity with our family, our friends, our love-lives, and trying to find our way through life and figuring our own selves out. Love sometimes doesn’t look like the kind of love you thought it should resemble. We are not perfect, we do not know how to get along with the rest of society or our own family, perfectly – we are not experts on each other’s cultures or way of life but we can be open, we can learn. We make mistakes, but we try to learn and figure things out. We live, we love, we get lost, we find our way, we reach the highs of happiness and we feel the lows of loss and despair. And we keep going, trying to make sense of life and who we really are.

This story reminded me I wasn’t alone in my thoughts and struggle as a child/teen/young adult. I think my heart broke for Frank Li and sixteen year old me. There were so many passages in this book I wanted to underline, but I don’t mark my books! There was a part in this book where Frank Li says one day his own kids will have parents who are open and show affection. My sister and I said that too before we had kids. We said, WE will show our kids so much love, show affection and say I love you…😭 And with our kids now, my parents have learned to say I love you to their grandchildren all the time and shower them with so much hugs and affection. ❤️

I could say so much about this book but this would be a super long post. It’s funny, touching, eye-opening, heart-warming, heart-breaking, and written beautifully. Of course it is, how did I not know until the end that Nicola Yoon (The Sun Is Also a Star) is his wife? She writes beautifully as well! What a duo!

I’m Frankly In Love with this book. I can say this is one of my favorite books this year.

Get it here: Amazon

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks!

ARC Review: Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Author: Jacquelyn Firkins

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: December 17, 2019

Categories: Jane Austen Retelling, Romance, Young Adult, Coming of Age

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Mansfield, Massachusetts, is the last place seventeen-year-old Edie Price wants to spend her final summer before college. It’s the home of wealthy suburban mothers and prima donnas like Edie’s cousins, who are determined to distract her from her mother’s death with cute boys and Cinderella-style makeovers. She’s got her own plans, and they don’t include any prince charming.

But as she dives into schoolwork and getting a scholarship for college, Edie finds herself drawn to two Mansfield boys strumming for her attention: First, there’s Sebastian, Edie’s childhood friend and first love, who’s sweet and smart and . . . already has a girlfriend. Then there’s Henry, the local bad boy and all-around player who’s totally off limits—even if his kisses are chemically addictive.

Both boys are trouble. Edie can’t help herself from being caught between them. Now, she just has to make sure it isn’t her heart that breaks in the process.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group and NetGalley for this opportunity to read this eArc.

I read this last night, thinking to go for some light teen romance story and a few hours later, past midnight, with my heart racing, I thought, THIS BOOK. ❤️💔

Reading the book, I thought, is this a Jane Austen Mansfield Park retelling?! Yes, I silently screamed it in my mind, as to not wake anyone up but I didn’t get the memo! The blurb said nothing obvious about it, except Mansfield is the town they live in? Duh – I should’ve caught that. And though I have never read Mansfield Park, I have watched the movie…a million times. I love Mansfield Park. I love the story of Fannie Price and her sweet love in the end. Now because I know the way Mansfield Park ends…I was feeling all kinds of conflicting emotions while reading Hearts, Strings and Other Breakable Things – (I love the title by the way)…because I did NOT want it to end like Jane Austen’s ending. Not that anything is wrong with Miss Austen’s version. But there is a character in HSAOBT (yes I just did that, sorry) that made me want a different ending! 😩

Edie Price is in foster care but goes to live with her aunt Norah. She has two cousins, Julia and Maria, who try to give her a make-over and help her fit into their life. The sisters are always arguing and Maria is just over-the-top but I find her hilarious. There is a next door neighbor, Sebastian, who Edie shares childhood memories with, and who she has the biggest crush on. But alas, he has the perfect girlfriend, Claire. And Claire has a devastatingly handsome and player of a brother, Henry, who is breaking hearts left and right. Henry has his eye kind of trained on Edie – but she isn’t having it. Edie is smart, not into the materialistic things, she writes music, loves to read and pines for Sebastian.

Well…Henry and Edie, stole this book. If you know Mansfield Park then you know how it ends, but I was team Henry. He’s such a player but when that player falls in love, whew…it’s an amazing thing. So the ending was inevitable but oh Henry. There is a scene between Edie and Henry that just smolders, like there is no kissing involved, no sex, it’s innocent but it stopped my breath. 10 seconds of 🔥. It was funny, intense and sexy at the same time and I fell in love with Henry.

Speaking of sex – there are situations in the book, which I was fine with because Edie is coming of age and learning these things. She’s allowed to feel this way and dream these things, what teenager doesn’t when going through puberty? And with Sebastian and Henry around, who can blame her? 😅

Like Mansfield Park there are other things happening besides Edie’s love life. She’s dealing with a broken friendship with her BFF from back home who isn’t talking to her. I liked that Edie wasn’t perfect and did something she needed to own up to. She also has to figure out her future – what to do about college, missing her mom, and learning about love.

I absolutely loved this book and I only knocked off half a star because I wanted Henry to be the one. But it’s basically a 5 star read for me, so just round it up. HAHA. Henry and Edie’s relationship was the book, the sexual tension between them is off the charts and the sweet moments between are swoon worthy. I couldn’t sleep after I finished the book, thinking of THAT scene and how broken my heart was for him. 😫 🤣 Also um, can they make this book into a Netflix movie so I can see that scene come to life and like…rewatch it a million times? K – thanks!

So basically I need more books from this author ASAP – with more scenes like that particular one! This is a fantastic retelling and I am definitely adding this to my book collection.

*P.S. – I know I’m posting this review super early from the publication date but I love it so much, if you are on NetGalley. Definitely try to get your hands on this one.

Get it here: Amazon

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost for you. Thanks!

Friday Five: 5 Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book Series – I Read On Kindle Unlimited

I’ve been meaning to do some fun Top 5 or Top 10 list post and sometimes I just don’t have the time! How do you awesome bloggers do it? 😘

So Kindle Unlimited – let’s talk about it. For a monthly subscription you get to read unlimited books in the Kindle library. When I had no kids, I bought books like crazy! When we moved into a small house, I had to donate my books, keeping only a few. When I had kids, and a bigger mortgage – I had to be on a budget! Thank goodness for libraries!

I tried out Kindle Unlimited because of one author, Christi Caldwell. I was looking for new romance authors because it was my favorite genre but I was having a hard time finding ones that appealed to me. I read one of her books and wanted more so I got a subscription. But because it’s a monthly subscription, there were times I was in a reading rut trying to find something good there – and cancelled. I joined again, cancelled and joined again! 😅 Then I tried some of the fantasy ebooks…and I’ve had a steady subscription since. So here are my 5 fantasy/sci fi (mostly fantasy) book series I’ve found on Kindle Unlimited that I’ve enjoyed so far!

The Spoken Mage Series by. Melanie Cellier

This series is pretty good. I enjoyed seeing Elena, the spoken mage, learn, grow and fall in love. My favorite thing though is the friendships she’s made along the way. I’m going to be finishing up the series soon, so hopefully it ends on a good note.

The Tainted Accords Series by. Kelly St. Clare

I read this series last year and really enjoyed it! I was transported to a fascinating fantasy world. Princess Olina has worn a veil over her face since her infancy and watching her transform from a girl with a veil to one without is pretty awesome.

Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles by. Elise Kova

I should feature the Air Awakens series but honestly it’s been four years since I’ve read it. So instead I’ll talk about Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles, the re-entry into Elise Kova’s fantasy world filled with magic and political intrigue. I’ve only read book one, and will get to book two eventually when I get this TBR list down a little. 😅

The Culling Trials by. K.F. Breene & Shannon Mayer

These academy books always get me! I’m serious! Haha – but this series is very addicting. I’m in the middle of book three right now and can’t wait to see how it ends. Sometimes these indie book are so short, they could have mashed these three books to make one book! But I don’t mind the short wait between the books. In this series we have a very strong female character who is surrounded by vampires, necromancer, goblins, magic users and assassins. It’s so fast pace and fun! It’s a wild adventure throughout the whole series. Speaking of “Wild” that’s our character’s nickname and I can see why! Loving this series so far!

Secondborn Series by Amy A. Bartol

I am not a big sci-fi fan. Actually this was the series that got me saying, oh, okay maybe I like sci-fi, maybe… I love Amy A. Bartol’s stories because they are creative even if they go off a bit tangent and wild, there is something about them that is addictive. Secondborn is cool, Traitor Born is my favorite and Rebel Born – though I gave it 4 1/2 stars because the romance part came together the way I wanted and I’m obsessed with Reykin haha, this book goes almost into another dimension diving into sci-fi/mythology/fantasy it made my head spin. It works for some people and others hated. I actually understood what the author was trying to do – but there was a lot of info dump about parallel universes, mind control and then add the mythology…it’s a whirlwind. It would have played out better if we had hints of these things in book one and two for sure! I still love it though. 😬

Have you read any of these books? Are you a Kindle Unlimited subscriber? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Reading! 😘