DNF Review: By Your Side by Kasie West

By Your Side
Author: Kasie West
Release Date: January 31, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
Review by: Jenn

When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her. Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumors about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.

Only he doesn’t come. No one does.

Instead it becomes clear that Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye. As he and Autumn first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?

1.5 stars out of 5 stars

*I received an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

**This is a DID NOT FINISH review. It includes my thought on the book up to 66% of it.**

I am SUPER sad that I couldn't continue with this book. So sad. I loved Kasie's On the Fence, so I was expecting another book I would love. Especially when our hero and heroine are stuck in the library! However, the library is only the location but it seems that our main character, Autumn, is not a book nerd like I hoped.

The book started off strongly but after a while, I couldn't click with Autumn and the story. Once they made it out of the library, and she got back to her life and the consequences of being stuck in a library with no phone appears, I just couldn't with the story for much longer. I read a little more about after she was out and how she was starting to seek Dax out, but I just didn't care about any of it.

I really wanted to love it considering it's Kasie West and I loved her book On the Fence and Nahomi loved The Distance Between Us. But once I realized that I wasn't going to love it and I was beginning to dislike Autumn, I decided to quit. I could have finished it considering I was past the halfway point, but nope. I've gotten better about not finishing books I don't care/love/hate. I know other people have loved the book, so I'm just taking it that this book wasn't for me but it'll work for others.

Review: Call Me, Maybe by Ellie Cahill

Call Me, Maybe
Author: Ellie Cahill
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Publisher: Random House - Loveswept
Source: NetGalley
Review by: Jenn

Clementine Daly knows she’s the black sheep. Her wealthy, powerful family has watched her very closely since she almost got caught in an embarrassing scandal a few years ago. So when Clementine’s sent on a mission to live up to the Daly name, politely declining isn’t an option. Of course, the last thing she does before boarding the plane is to grab a stranger’s phone by mistake—leaving the hunky journalist with herphone. Soon his sexy voice is on the line, but he doesn’t know her real name, or her famous pedigree—which is just the way Clementine likes it.

Despite all the hassles, Justin Mueller is intrigued to realize that the beautiful brown-eyed girl he met at the airport is suddenly at his fingertips. They agree to exchange phones when they’re both back in town, but after a week of flirty texts and wonderfully intimate conversations, Justin doesn’t want to let her go. The only problem? It turns out that Clemetine has been lying to him about, well, everything. Except for the one thing two people can’t fake, the only thing that matters: The heat between them is for real.

1.5 stars out of 5 stars

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. However my opinion wasn't influenced by it.*

Call Me, Maybe, unfortunately, was a disappointing read for me. The premise sounded like a book right up my alley and I read Ellie's When Joss Met Matt last year but didn't love it as much as her Liz Czukas' books, I was still excited about reading her newest book. Unfortunately, I had some problems falling for this book.

The story starts off strong, drawing me in to Clementine's world. We learn that she is part of royalty-like family in the United States and learns that she is the black sheep of the family for a reason we don't know yet. By a mistake not her own, her phone gets in the hand of a stranger and she has the stranger's phone. Once they realized their mistakes, they contact the other and make plans to return their phones, once they're back in town since both are lying to different ends of the country.

Right after the initial chapters is where it starts going downhill for me. Once I learn of Clementine's past mistake and the reason her family doesn't trust her, I find it hard to believe that she has no protection for her phone. It just really counterproductive in the grand scheme of things. I can see her point of view because her phone is not personalized but if she wants her grandparents off her back and have her family trust her again, not locking her phone is a huge risk.

My other problem was with how the story fell in a insta-love category. After only talking for a week, Clementine and Justin decide to meet up and return their phones and go on a date. I was okay with that up to that point, it the after the date and how fast they "fell" in love that really bothered me. After sleeping with each other on the first date, they want to spend every moment together. Again, that okay but it how they seem to fall for the other without really knowing the other person. Especially considering how Clementine was hiding a big secret.

Which brings me to my next point. Clementine just irritated me throughout most of the book. When she and Justin start flirting when they initially had the other's phone, she did something that seemed out of character. To me, considering her past scandal and the kind of person she seems to be, it seemed like a risk and I'm surprise she did it. I liked how she is a book lover and blogger and her wanting to do something in that respect. But considering her grandparents own a publishing company, I'm just surprised and annoyed she hasn't stepped up to do something with that. It would basically be a book blogger's dream. Also, while I understood some of Clementine's insecurities towards Justin, the fact that she withholds very important work related messages to him because who the person might be, is just too paranoid for someone who just started dating someone.

All in all, I'm sad I didn't end up falling in love with the book. It had great potential but it needed some work for me.  I'm definitely hesitant to try Ellie's next book due later this year so I think I'll wait to see what other people say.

Review: Amity by Micol Ostow

Amity
Author: Micol Ostow
Release Date: August 26, 2014
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Source: Edelweiss
Review by: Jenn

For fans of Stephen King and American Horror Story, a gruesome thriller suggested by the events of the Amityville Horror.

Connor's family moves to Amity to escape shady business deals. Ten years later, Gwen's family moves to Amity for a fresh start after she's recovered from a psychotic break.

But something is not right about this secluded house. Connor's nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams of demons and destruction. Dreams he kind of likes. Gwen has lurid visions of corpses that aren't there and bleeding blisters that disappear in the blink of an eye. She knows Amity is evil and she must get her family out, but who would ever believe her?

Amity isn't just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a bloody end as she's done before. As she'll do again.

Alternating between parallel narratives, Amity is a tense and terrifying tale suggested by true-crime events that will satisfy even the most demanding horror fan.

1.5 stars out of 5 stars

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher but it did not influence this review in any way.*

When I first read the summary and saw this, "For fan of Stephen King and American Horror Story", I was immediately sold and picked up this book. I love horror movies and horror stories even more. I normally choose contemporaries romances and fantasies but when I came across Amity, I was ecstatic about starting it. 

Amity follows two families who live in the same house, ten years apart. I was immediately engrossed into the story and I was curious to find out what secrets Amity was hiding. However, Connor, one of the main characters, I just couldn't stomach him. He gave me the creeps and I was seriously scare of him. As I continued to read, I tried reasoning with myself by thinking that maybe I was having such a negative reaction to Connor was because of Amity's affect on him but I slowly realized that that just wasn't the case. 

As I continued along with the book, I was slowly losing my enthusiasm for the story. I was thinking of not finishing the book, but then I realized that I had gone past the point of no return and that I might as well see how the book end. I wasn't satisfied, especially with that ending. The ending was the only real thing that brought out some emotion out of me and even then, I just sort of brushed it aside and moved on. 

I had such high expectations for Amity and I'm so disappointed that it did not deliver. I hope that maybe some other reader will enjoy this book because I certainly did not.

DNF Review: 3:59 by Gretchen McNeil

3:59
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: BEA 2013
Review by: Jenn

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.

By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

1.5 stars out of 5 stars

 **This is a Did Not Finish review. I did not read the whole book, only up to page 72 . So this is just my thoughts up to where I read.**

I was super excited when I first started 3:59. I managed to meet Gretchen McNeil at BEA 2013 and I read the first chapter while waiting in line and I was intrigued. Once I finally got home and started reading though, I couldn't fully immersed myself into the story. I found myself easily distracted and not really caring about Josie, our main character.

I struggled to read and finish this book for about 7 to 9 months before finally calling it quits on page 72. At that point and after thinking things through, I'm just giving up on it. It took a lot of back and forth arguing with myself to DNF, especially after seeing a lot of my bookish friends loving it and rating it 4 to 5 stars, but I just couldn't keep doing that to myself. There are plenty of other books I could read so I might as well focus on them.

That's not to say I won't read any more of Gretchen's books, it just mean I get to pick another one. I'm just guessing 3:59 wasn't the book for me or it wasn't the time for me to read it.

Review: No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz

No Safety in Numbers (No Safety in Numbers #1) 
By: Dayna Lorentz
Release Date: May 29, 2012
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Reviewed by: Jenn
Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads / IndieBound

My Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5 stars

Synopsis:
Life As We Knew It meets Lord of the Flies in a mall that looks just like yours.
A biological bomb has just been discovered in the air ducts of a busy surbanban mall. At first nobody knows if it's even life threatening, but then the entire complex is quarantined, people start getting sick, supplies start running low, and there's no way out. Among the hundreds of trapped shoppers are four teens.
These four different narrators, each with their own stories, must cope in unique, surprising styles, changing in ways they wouldn't have predicted, trying to find solace, safety, and escape at a time when the adults are behaving badly.
This is a gripping look at people and how they can - and must - change under the most dire of circumstances.
And not always for the better.

I had really high expectations for this book. The whole premise of a bomb in a mall with unsuspecting people, it just something that could happen in real life and I love to read these kinds of books. The mixture of the fictional with reality that freaks me out and it cause me to get sucked into the story line. However, this was not the case with No Safety in Numbers.

My first complaint was the multiple POVs. I understand that the author was trying to portray different views and show how they all tied together. However, I feel like I had to play the guessing game at the beginning of each chapter to remember which character was which and what was their story.

The next issue is the characters themselves. Maybe it because I'm in my mid-twenties  and the characters are all teenagers and teenagers are typically self-absorbed but I found them all to being really selfish and didn't want to pay attention to authority. Unlike what the synopsis said, the adults weren't behaving badly. They just didn't know what exactly happened and how to deal with the consequences as well they didn't want pandemonium on their hands if they blurt out everything that was happening without no answers. Which is exactly what happened whenever a teen somehow told a secret they overheard or were entrusted with. Each character had their own hidden agenda and weren't looking out for what was best as a whole.

Overall, the book had potential but it just wasn't executed well enough. I am curious to see what happens next but I may just go online and search for spoilers than waste any more time on these teens.