Review: What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Title: What to Say Next

Author: Julie Buxbaum

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publishing Date: July 11, 2017

Pages/Format: 272, ARC
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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?

BOOK IN A WORD: DAVID

Waiting on Wednesday (185)

is a weekly feature hosted by Breaking the Spine that 

showcases upcoming releases people are very much anticipating.

I'm very, very new to this author's fanbase. I recently read one of her books and was immediately turned into something obsessive when it came to her work. And when I say obsessed I mean OBSESSED. I don't know what it is about this author's books--and I still have many more to read!--but I am a hardcore addict. So to say I'm looking forward to her latest is a bit of an understatement.

Top Ten Tuesday (185)

is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish.

This Tuesday's theme is...

Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Title: The Sea of Tranquility

Author: Katja Millay

Publisher: Atria Books

Publishing Date: June 4, 2013

Pages/Format: 434, Paperback
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I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Full of rage and without a purpose, former pianist Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone discovering her past and to make the boy who took everything from her pay.

All 17 year-old Josh Bennett wants is to build furniture and be left alone, and everyone allows it because it’s easier to pretend he doesn’t exist. When your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, a hot mess of a girl who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. The more he gets to know her, the more of a mystery she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he may ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a slow-building, character-driven romance about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

BOOK IN A WORD: Baaaa

The Weekly Forecast (38)

Welcome to a weekly feature of sorts here on Beauty and the Bookshelf: The Weekly Forecast! I've been reworking the blog a bit, trying to post more and be consistent, but also to post more than reviews and the same two memes every week (assuming I even post anything during a week). Then I thought of The Weekly Forecast, a way to recap what I did on the blog the week before, and then to forecast what will be on the blog the coming week. The latter could be helpful because it keeps me in check, kind of: if I tell you I'm going to post a review this week then now I basically have to post a review this week. But first: let me tell you what happened on the blog last week.

I'm going to blame last week's lack of posts on feeling a bit under the weather and taking some naps. That works for me. (And this week my cold can suck it.)

April + May Rewind

I was behind enough on blogging in May that I never recapped April. WHOOPS. So today's a twofer!

The Weekly Forecast (37)

Welcome to a weekly feature of sorts here on Beauty and the Bookshelf: The Weekly Forecast! I've been reworking the blog a bit, trying to post more and be consistent, but also to post more than reviews and the same two memes every week (assuming I even post anything during a week). Then I thought of The Weekly Forecast, a way to recap what I did on the blog the week before, and then to forecast what will be on the blog the coming week. The latter could be helpful because it keeps me in check, kind of: if I tell you I'm going to post a review this week then now I basically have to post a review this week. But first: let me tell you what happened on the blog last week.

Let's not talk about last week and just plan on getting more blogging done this week. OH! And I have TWO giveaways ending Monday at midnight--enter while you still can!

Review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Title: One of Us Is Lying

Author: Karen M. McManus

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publishing Date: May 30, 2017

Pages/Format: 368, Hardcover
Add on Goodreads!

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
 
Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
 
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
 
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.
 
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
 
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

BOOK IN A WORD: Unexpected?

The Weekly Forecast (36)

Welcome to a weekly feature of sorts here on Beauty and the Bookshelf: The Weekly Forecast! I've been reworking the blog a bit, trying to post more and be consistent, but also to post more than reviews and the same two memes every week (assuming I even post anything during a week). Then I thought of The Weekly Forecast, a way to recap what I did on the blog the week before, and then to forecast what will be on the blog the coming week. The latter could be helpful because it keeps me in check, kind of: if I tell you I'm going to post a review this week then now I basically have to post a review this week. But first: let me tell you what happened on the blog last week.

The Weekly Forecast is coming to you a day late this week because I've been busy with work, buuut I posted all five days last week (!!!) so I call that a win.

Ninety Second Novel: What to Say Next

Hello, my fellow bookworms! Welcome to Ninety Second Novel! With this sporadic feature, I'll be using booktube as a way to review a book before I can actually review it. In other words, if I happen to read a book earlier than I can post my review for it, then I'll be using this feature to tell you about it. Look at it as a preview review, perhaps? For the feature, I'll be talking about whatever book(s) I read, but in ninety seconds or less!