Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley

Sometimes a good-bye is just the beginning.

When Emily Carson’s parents die in a plane crash, she’s left with nothing but her mother’s last words scrawled in lipstick on a tray table: Emily, please forgive me.

Now it’s fall and Emily moves to New York City, where she attracts the attention of two very different boys: the cute, popular Owen, and her quirky chemistry partner, Anthony. With the help of some surprising new friends, Emily must choose between the boy who helps her forget and the one who encourages her to remember, and ultimately heal.

Debut author Jennifer Jabaley has written a wonderful, feel-good romantic comedy with real emotional depth. Full of lovably wacky characters, Lipstick Apology is a heartwarming story about the true meaning of forgiveness.

My Thoughts/Review:

Warning: My reading of this book was spaced out throughout the last three weeks, and in-between Pretty Amy and My Life Next Door, so some of the details of this book are pretty hazy.

I enjoyed this book, but at times it seemed like the story was moving so slow that I just couldn't take it for very long. Emily's parents died in a plane crash, left a phantom apology, and Emily waited til' the last half of the book to even try and figure out what her mother's apology was about. Epic bravery there Em, epic.

So, while the first half of the book is spent with Emily wallowing in her own self-pity, and having anger management issues, the second half is spent with Emily trying to figure out why her mother wants her to forgive her. Not that I don't approve, it just seems like she waited an awful long time. It seems like you'd be on it immediately, but no, Emily had to wait four months, and for someone to tell her that she was an idiot for not trying to figure out what it was all about.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Moving on. Emily has got to be the most illogical, weird, self-pitying character to ever walk the planet earth. NOT an exaggeration. On the other hand, I loved Anthony. He seemed so sweet, and nice, and he's the one that told Emily that she was being an epic idiot by not searching for the reason why. All in all, I'd say it kept me entertained, but it had a bunch of problems. Aka: My little annoyances.

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Favorite Quote: Everything was so fresh, every detail available for scrutiny. You think it'll be that way forever--but here's the thing--life just keeps going. People are forgotten, and details get fuzzy. You have to work really hard to both let go and hold on.

My life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another

“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

My Thoughts/Review:

My Life Next Door was one of those books that paints you a picture of exactly what's going on at any given moment, in terms that almost anyone can understand. I, for one, found it very true-to-life, and full of little heart-breaking moments, and not-so-heart-breaking ones.

I can imagine a house full of eight kids, where the mom and pop love each other, and sit on the porch while the mom breast-feeds on the pop's lap. My best friend has a family like that. Where the mom and pop ain't afraid to talk about sex at the dinner table, (not that my parents are afraid of that subject either) or to calmly talk about the benefits of breast-feeding. We're used to it, so it doesn't seem so odd when we encounter it in books.

We find it normal. And it is, to us. We see it all the time, and we're not afraid of it. For some reason, Samantha's mom is scared to death of it. She wants the Garrett's to leave. Says it lowers real-estate value, but really, she's just scared of that kind of love in a family. She's never seen it, and it scares her. She doesn't understand it. She's had her 2.5 kids, and she's done.

Samantha, on the other hand, watches the Garrett's. She doesn't want them to leave, because she wants to observe their lifestyle. Everything she doesn't understand, right down to the mom and pop having a working relationship. She wants that kind of love, that kind of family, so she watches them for years.

Lo and behold, Samantha and Jase meet! Here's her ticket to that kind of love. But she doesn't know it. They're just friends, for the time being. Then, they're more than friends. They're dating, and things couldn't be going better for them.

I get it. And I loved it. Samantha's character wasn't particularly strong, or kind, or out of the box in any way, but in the end, you realize how different she is than she was in the beginning. She's changed, and she's never going back to who she was before (hopefully). Because she was a follower. She listened to her mother for her entire life, then she broke her mother's law. In the best way possible.

I enjoyed Jase's character, because of all the danger, but also all the kindness that he brought to the table. He was a real sweetheart, and I appreciate that in a guy. All in all, I'd say that I really enjoyed this book, and I'll be reading it again.
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Favorite Quote: Which is fine, because even the more important ones--I love you. I'm sorry. Forgive me. I'm here--are only stand-ins for what you can say better without talking at all.

Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein

Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.

Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.

My Thoughts/Review:

I don't get the title. I really don't. It's called pretty Amy, but it's about a girl who's struggling with her arrest, and her court date. I just don't understand the appeal of 'Pretty Amy' as a title.

Amy was an alright kind of character, but she kind of annoyed me. She really didn't care what happened to her at the end of her court case, and she didn't care who she hurt, or that she was pushing away all the people who wanted to help her. She was messed up. She never thought about what she said, or what she did, and how it affected other people. That's what ruined her as a character for me.

Overall, I'd say it was a good book, with all the dynamics of the arrest, and not being able to get into the prom and all, but it fell a little flat for me. The characters, the setting, and the plot just made
me not want to write this review.
Not that it's a very good review, but you catch my drift. I was unfulfilled by characters, plot, generally dramatic things that were unbelievably dumb, and I just didn't particularly enjoy it. For one, no parent, when a child says (sarcastically) "My heroin is in my mattress!" goes and immediately tears apart the entire mattress, rips all the stuffing out, and then throws it in the backyard and burns it.

No parent would do that. It would be stupid. Mattresses cost money! Plus there would have to be a hole or something. It would be stupid to just rip up the entire thing. This, among many other reasons, is why this book just kills me. Sorry guys, three star rating for this one.
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