Lefty's Lowdown: What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
(standalone)
Published: July 11, 2017 by Delacorte Press
Source: Won a free ARC in a giveaway. All thoughts stated in this review are my own.

Summary from Goodreads:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things comes a charming and poignant story about two struggling teenagers who find an unexpected connection just when they need it most. For fans of Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Niven, and Rainbow Rowell.

Sometimes a new perspective is all that is needed to make sense of the world.

KIT: I don’t know why I decide not to sit with Annie and Violet at lunch. It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.

DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her.


When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?

I knew literally nothing about this book. I won it in a giveaway and someone on Twitter said they really adored it and that we should all put it on our TBRs. It looked like a quick read, and so I picked it up and dove in. I DO NOT REGRET A THING. This book really took me by surprise in the best way. And like that person on Twitter, I say PUT IT ON YOUR TBR STAT.

This book has alternating perspectives--Kit, who is in a really dark place after her father died, and David, who is insanely intelligent but has no friends. These characters had me hooked instantly! They have two very distinct voices, but I didn't find myself favoring one POV over the other. I was equally engaged throughout the whole thing. And boy did I feel for these characters. So, Kit's dad died and nobody wants to freaking talk about it. They want her to move on because that would make the situation more comfortable for them. But on top of that, she keeps a devastating secret bottled up and then uncovers ANOTHER DEVASTATING SECRET. Like, things are not going well for this girl and I totally sympathize with her. And then there's David. He's on the autism spectrum and people are so fucking mean to him. It absolutely killed my heart to see the way that people treated him when he was such a PURE LIL CINNAMON ROLL. Honestly, he's my favorite character that I've read about in a whiiiile. 

What I really admire about this book is that yeah, it's a romance, and yeah, I ship Kit and David out the wazoo, but it's also not just about romance. Like, it's more than just wanting these characters to get to smoochin. It's about getting to know someone and really seeing the good in them. Seeing the truth in them. About being truly comfortable with someone, trusting them, and forgiving them when they do something painfully human. 

Somehow this book managed to break my heart and put it back together again. I love this book. I highly, highly recommend this book. It's underrated, if you ask me, with only 240 ratings on Goodreads. What to Say Next is not just your average YA contemporary book, and I think everyone could probably learn a little something from it. 

Again, I highly recommend this. 

Read it. 

My rating: 

4.5/5

A post shared by The Left-Handed Book Lover (@leftyreads) on Jul 5, 2017 at 4:27pm PDT

Lefty's Lowdown: And I Darken by Kiersten White

And I Darken by Kiersten White
(The Conquerors Saga #1)
Published: June 28, 2016 by Delacorte Press
Source: I received a eARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley. However, all opinions in this review are my own.

Summary from Goodreads: 
No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

 Woah. Just...woah. I've spent 3 days grappling with how I could ever put my feelings for this book into words. To be honest, I still don't quite know, but the world needs to know HOW INCREDIBLE this novel is.

And I Darken provided a delightfully unique reading experience. This novel takes place over the course of several years, and it is most like the kind of story you will not be able to read in one sitting because this book just has so much substance. It's a slow, delicious read that you just need to savor.

This is a historical reimagining of Vlad the Impaler--if he were a girl. Don't let the historical aspect stop you! I am the exact opposite of a history buff. I do not enjoy history and it is my worst subject (forever tainting my GPA). However, I was able to, for the most part, keep up with the politics and whatnot. I actually really enjoyed the historical details and attitudes.

My feelings for these characters are strange. It's told from two perspectives--Lada and Radu, who are sister and brother, but VASTLY different people. Lada is fierce and vicious while Radu is more tender and kind. I'm honestly not sure that I liked either of them? They are such complex, complicated characters. They both have major flaws and they both have traits I adore. I can't tell you whether or not I like them as people, but I know for a fact I understood them, and I enjoyed reading about them. Immensely. These are the types of characters I adore reading about. They're so painfully, disgustingly real, and I have mad respect for Kiersten White for painting such an accurate portrayal of humanity. I also love that Lada is not the typical beautiful, badass, charming YA woman that is constantly shoved in our faces. Lada is ugly, and she doesn't like people very much, and it's refreshing.

The romance in this novel is also so different and beautiful. I don't want to give too much away, but it's like Kiersten White took every complaint that book lovers have ever had about romance tropes and twisted them to create a romance that is enticing, complicated, and heart breaking. One thing I think is very important is the presence of homosexuality in this historical context. I have studied the role of sexuality in older literature a lot, but to see it in YA lit was a lot of fun.

If you can't tell, I thought this book was exceedingly excellent. The ending broke my heart, but also made me BEYOND excited for the sequel. Like, this is only the beginning, guys. I just know that the next books in this series are going to be mind-blowing. Too bad I'm going to have to wait a trillion years before getting my hands on the sequel.

Basically, the moral of this review is that if you don't read this book, I'll sic Lada the Impaler on you. And trust me, you don't want that.

5/5

Lefty's Lowdown: The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill

The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill

(Standalone)
Published: December 8, 2015 by Delacorte
Source: I received an eARC for review from the publisher via Netgalley. This does not affect my review in any way, don't worry.

Summary from Goodreads: 
It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey...

With her trusty baton and six insanely organized clipboards, drum major Liza Sanders is about to take Destiny by storm—the boat, that is. When Liza discovered that her beloved band was losing funding, she found Destiny, a luxury cruise ship complete with pools, midnight chocolate buffets, and a $25,000 spring break talent show prize.

Liza can’t imagine senior year without the band, and nothing will distract her from achieving victory. She’s therefore not interested when her old camp crush, Lenny, shows up on board, looking shockingly hipster-hot. And she’s especially not interested in Russ, the probably-as-dumb-as-he-is-cute prankster jock whose ex, Demi, happens be Liza’s ex–best friend and leader of the Athenas, a show choir that’s the band’s greatest competition.

But it’s not going to be smooth sailing. After the Destiny breaks down, all of Liza’s best-laid plans start to go awry. Liza likes to think of herself as an expert at almost everything, but when it comes to love, she’s about to find herself lost at sea.

I am a huge fan of Lauren Morrill's previous novels, Meant to Be and Being Sloane Jacobs, so I was really super excited when I got approved for her newest book, especially since it deals with the high school music department and I am a huge choir nerd. That being said, it breaks my heart to say anything negative about this book, but the truth is I have extremely mixed feelings about The Trouble with Destiny. 

Let's start with the things I enjoyed:

The premise - I've said it before, I'll say it again. I am an enormous choir nerd. It was my life throughout high school, and I'm still in choir in college (only now I get a scholarship to sing in it). While this book deals with band rather choir, it still makes my musical heart happy. There are not nearly enough YA books about band and choir kids. I'll admit, Morrill did a fairly good job handling this aspect. She definitely got the clique-yness right and showed how important these music programs can become to students. Reading about this realllly made me miss my high school choir fam. I wish we saw a bit more tension when it came to the competition. Yeah, we see Liza freaking out, but I know that music kids get really competitive no matter what's on the line, and I would have liked a bit more of that. 

The setting - I don't think I've ever read anything set on a cruise before, and it was a lot of fun. It was almost like I was reading an episode of Suite Life on Deck. I love how our characters are put in a place where there are so many luxuries, but they're all basically stuck together unless they plan on jumping overboard. 

The writing - When I open a Lauren Morrill book, I am expecting light, fluffy writing and a narrator that can bring the humor. I wasn't disappointed. Though I am not a huge fan of Liza's character (which I'll talk more about), I did like her voice a lot. 

And that's all I've got for the positives, honestly. Now let's talk cons:

Liza - So, Liza, our narrator, is the drum major of her high school band, which means she is like the leader. However, she takes it upon herself to be the band's freaking dictator. And she treats the people who are supposed to be her friends so poorly. I get that she is stressing and acting a little crazy because she is the only one who knows that the band might be losing it's funding, but we only really get to see that version of her. We don't know how she treats her band before all that craziness, so how are we supposed to know what she's really like? Also, it really bothers me that she thought she was the only one in the band who should know that there might not be a band much longer. I get that she was trying not to worry them, but she would have saved herself so much trouble had she just told them. Like, sweetie....you're not the only one capable of handling that information. ALSO, when situations get bad, she tends to run away from them. She didn't know how to calmly handle stressful things. Some leader. I'll admit, she grew a ton over the course of the novel, but that doesn't make up for how much I didn't enjoy her character as I was reading the first 80% of the novel. 

The romance - This right here is the most devastating thing to admit. I did not like the way the romance was handled in this book, for the most part. I thought, if nothing else, this would be what I loved about this novel, because Morrill wrote romance so well in both her previous novels. But alas. So, Debby at Snuggly Oranges wrote in her review of this novel that the romance was very A Midsummer Night's Dream, and I cannot think of a better way to describe it. I made a diagram for y'all.

As you can see, it's all very complicated...and that's not what bothered me. I think things like that are fun. What bothers me is how underdeveloped all of it was. I felt a big fat nothing about the romance and that doesn't happen to me, like, ever. Russ is great! He's goofy and sweet and seems to genuinely care about Liza, but we don't actually know anything about him besides the fact that he plays football. I totally wanted him to get what he wanted because I liked him, but I still felt no connection whatsoever to his and Liza's relationship. They don't even really have chemistry. Liza spends the whole book pining over Lenny and being a total bitch to Russ. I'm not even sure why he liked her. There was a lot of eye-rolling, that's for sure. 

Lenny's Ending - I can't say what it was, but it didn't really make sense to me. 

Missing authority figure - This is one of those tropes in YA that can work sometimes, but when it doesn't, it really doesn't. I'm sorry, but the drum major does not have THAT MUCH responsibility, but it was like she called most of the shots when it came to the band, while the actual director was doing who-knows-what. His absence is, realistically, unacceptable. Liza and her best friend Huck came up with a plan to keep him distracted for the trip, but that was an obvious move on Morrill's part to just get him out of the way. He finally became an authority figure at the most inconvenient time for Liza. It was my biggest pet peeve in this novel. 

Obviously, this novel really let me down. And that really sucks. But, while it was super predictable, I still felt the need to read it to its completion. If you're a Morrill fan, I'll tell you right here right now, you're most likely going to be disappointed by this book. If you've never read anything by her, I don't recommend starting with this one. 

Rating:

Actually 2.5/5

Check out her other books!

Meant to Be (November, 2012)

Being Sloane Jacobs (January, 2014) 

Sunday Post #2

Join the fun at Caffeinated Book Reviewer!!

• Well, Thanksgiving break was fantastic, but it's back to college for this girl. And back with a bang. The semester is winding down, so not only is finals week approaching at rapid speeds, but professors are also assigning final projects and essays and whatnot beforehand. Soooo, it's been stressful and it's been busy. 

Reviews:
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Memes: 
Sunday Post #1
Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Debuts I'm Excited For

Features: 
Flashback Friday #1: The Hex Hall Series

Reviews:
The Trouble With Destiny by Lauren Morrill (Wednesday, 12/09/15)
Ghostboy, Chameleon, and the Duke of Graffiti by Olivia Wildenstein (Thursday, 12/10/15)

Memes:
It's Monday! What are you reading?
Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Read for the First Time in 2015
Sunday Post #3

Features:
Flashback Friday #2

 Borrowed:

Sever by Lauren DeStefano - Borrowed from my best friend!

Netgalley: 

Did I Mention I Love You by Estelle Maskame - Thank you Sourcebooks Fire!
Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Ghostboy, Chameleon, and the Duke of Graffiti by Olivia Wildenstein 
Publication Date: April 16, 2015

The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill - Thank you Delacorte!
Publication Date: December 8, 2015

Under the Dusty Moon by Suzanne Sutherland - Thank you Dundurn!
Publication Date: January 23, 2016

Edelweiss:

Beyond the Red by Ava Jae - Thank you Sky Pony Press!
Publication Date: March 1, 2016

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman - Thank you Simon Pulse!
Publication Date: February 9, 2016

The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith - Thank you Margaret K. McElderry Books!
Publication Date: March 22, 2016

 What has your week in books and blogging looked like?