Book Review: 52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

Borrowed Review Copy from Library

52 Reasons To Hate My Father is first and foremost a fun, contemporary read.  Lexington Larrabee is an heiress and a troublemaker.  But in a few days she will turn 18 and her trust fund will be all hers...all 25 million dollars of it and she already has ways she's going to spend it with no rules and no one telling her what to do.  That all changes though when she crashes her new car into a convenience store after a night of drinking and her father has to bail her out of trouble.....again!  Her punishment?  52 weeks of minimum wage jobs that once completed, she will have earned her trust fund back. Of course her father has also hired a 20 year old babysitter who is the exact opposite of Lexi and whom she must see everyday and write a status report every week. And did I mention this babysitter is a guy and 20 years old and has great abs? That could be interesting! :)

Lexington definitely reminded me of Paris Hilton or Nicole Richey back when all those two girls did was party and get in trouble and be famous for doing nothing.  Girls like that are hard to relate to and in the beginning of this book, so was Lexi.  After a while though, you been to see the real girl under the facade of partying and causing trouble.  The jobs and the status reports on each are so humorous and it's interesting to see Lexi change as the jobs change as well.  Of course, there's also Luke who is a good guy.  Cute and understanding, maybe he's just what Lexi needs to help open her eyes to the real world. 

Can she really finish all 52 jobs?  Does she really hate her father?  This book is so fun and funny but beyond that it's about second chances, unconditional love and being to true to one's true self.

A Few Young Adult Titles

Lately, I've had the pleasure of reading some young adult (some call them mature young adult) titles that were previously self published and have been picked up by major publishing companies!  I wish I had time to review each of them individually (and maybe I will later) but at the speed I'm reading them, I'm lucky to have to time to write this post!  I can tell you this though, they all have cute guys, strong heroines,  great relationships and meaty issues.

Seriously, it started with the book Flat Out Love by Jessica Park which a friend I trust dearly when it comes to books recommended to me.  I wasn't sure what to expect but immediately fell in love with Julie, Celeste and Matt.  Trust me, if you enjoy a good contemporary, young adult romance with some serious subject matter, give this one a try!  So good!

After that, I picked up Easy by Tammara Webber.  The main character, Jacqueline followed her high school boyfriend to college and things don't exactly go as planned when he dumps her a few months into their sophomore year.  Trying to fit in again with out him, she goes to a party and as she leaves, is attacked  by her exes frat brother but thankfully rescued by a mysterious stranger.  What happens next between Jacqueline and this stranger is what this book is all about.  Lots of meat to this story too as well as a hot relationship!  So good!

Next up were Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover.  Laken and Will are the main characters in this book and if you don't fall in love with them, there is something wrong with you!!  Lake has just moved to Michigan with her mother and younger brother after their father dies.  And who should be Lake's neighbor?  You guessed it, Will.  After an amazing first date, things don't go as planned as unforseen obstacles begin to get in the way. What follows is an intense story of a couple who is meant to be together but because of circumstances can't.  Point of Retreat is the sequel and while I personally enjoyed Slammed more, I was happy to see the story continue. 


These are a few that I've read but up next are some books by Abbi Glines and Rebecca Donovan.  Any other recommendations from others out there?  These type of books have just really been what I've been craving lately! :)

Book Review: Bittersweet - Sarah Ockler

Overview:  Hudson is a dependable junior in high school who helps her mom out at the diner, takes care of her little brother and has one close friend.  Her only claim to fame is the inventive cupcakes she makes for her mom’s diner which has earned her the nickname “Cupcake Queen”.  Everything begins to change as she starts secretly ice skating again (a sport that was once her passion) which leads to helping out the hockey team, which leads to lots of cute hockey players, which leads to Hudson dreaming of a different life.  All of these changes cause Hudson to spread herself a little too thin and eventually something will have to give.  But, what will it be?

Review:  One of the things I really liked about this book was that every chapter began with a specialty cupcake heading.  These were usually very humorous.  For instance, the “No One Wants to Kiss a Girl Who Smells Like Bacon, So I Might as Well Get Fat Cupcakes” Ha!  Each chapter heading gives a clue as to what is to come as well as a description of these amazing sounding cupcakes!  It made me really wish there were recipes at the end of the book but unfortunately there were not :(

However, that’s okay because the story was delicious on its own!  Hudson is a really likable character.  She is easy to root for and believe in although at times I also found myself wanting to shake her and say “What are you thinking?!?!?”.  She sometimes makes decisions that us readers know are bad ones but that really propel the story forward and give her a chance to grow.  She wants to be a good daughter, good sister, good friend, good coach, good skater, and good baker but at some point she can’t be all things to all people and be good to herself.  There are also multiple cute boys that come into her life and seeing her navigate that confusion and figure out what she wants is a lot of fun! 

This book delves into themes of family, friendship, hope, forgiveness and second chances and I would highly recommend this to Sarah Dessen fans and those who enjoy a romantic contemporary read!   

Book Review: Ditched

Ditched : A Love Story by Robin Mellom

Ditched is an extremely fun read that I enjoyed for what it was: quick and light!  The book begins the day after prom with Justine jumping out of a car and walking to the nearest gas station.  Once there, she has no money and no cell phone so she begins talking to the cashier and piecing together the events from the night before.  You see, she went to prom with her best friend Ian and she just knew that the evening was going to include a kiss and hopefully more.  After all, all the signs had been there.  But the evening didn't turn out exactly how she had planned and as we relive the wild events from the night before through Justine's colored lens, we begin to figure things out before she does.   Overall, a fun contemporary read with lots of humor and hijinks - just in time for prom season!