Sunday 18 July 2021

Down The TBR Hole #44

Current TBR shelf: 3757

Last week's TBR shelf: 3764

The rules   

  1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
  2. Order on ascending date added.
  3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if youre feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  4. Read the synopses of the books
  5. Decide: keep it or should it go?


Dead End by Jason Myers

 
Dru and Gina are young, in love, and can’t wait to get out of Marshall, Nebraska, a town where bloodline means everything and whoever has the money makes the rules. But all their dreams are shattered when Gina has a monstrous run-in with the son of the richest man in Marshall—an incident that leaves her broken, battered, and violated.

Driven by rage, Dru and Gina take matters into their own hands, and quickly find themselves in over their heads. Without any other options, Dru and Gina are on the run. But there’s more chasing them than they think, and love might not be enough to save them.
 
This has some polarizing reviews, literally they all seem to be either five stars or one star! The premise does interest me but I'm kinda put off my a lot of people saying that the writing and language is immature at best. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

Past Perfect by Leila Sales

 
All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….
 

 
LOVE the sound of working at an historical reeanactment village, I think i'll read the book by Leila Sales that I already own though before jumping into her other work. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

The Survivial Kit by Donna Freitas  

 
When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.

As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?
 
I find books about grief difficult but this one sounds sweet and personally relatable. 

Verdict: Keep


Without Tess by Marcella Pixley

 
Tess and Lizzie are sisters, sisters as close as can be, who share a secret world filled with selkies, flying horses, and a girl who can transform into a wolf in the middle of the night. But when Lizzie is ready to grow up, Tess clings to their fantasies. As Tess sinks deeper and deeper into her delusions, she decides that she can't live in the real world any longer and leaves Lizzie and her family forever. Now, years later, Lizzie is in high school and struggling to understand what happened to her sister. With the help of a school psychologist and Tess's battered journal, Lizzie searches for a way to finally let Tess go.
 
Another book about grief but I'm extremely intrigued by everyone calling this book weird as well as the apparently gorgeous descriptive writing. 

Verdict: Keep


Hunting Lila (Lila #1) by Sarah Alderson

 
The novels follow the story of Lila, a 17-year-old with the power of telekinesis, and Alex, her brother’s best friend and long-time love interest. When a mugging on the streets of South London goes horribly wrong and exposes her unique ability, Lila runs away to Southern California, where Alex and her brother are working for a secret organisation called The Unit and searching for the men who killed Lila’s mother five years before. Lila unwittingly becomes embroiled in the hunt and a suspenseful murder mystery ensues.
 
I remember really wanting to read this book back in 2011 but I think I've lost interest now/

Verdict: Remove


On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker

 
Claire is struggling to overcome the murder of her childhood friend and secret crush, Daniel. Everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives, but she's still trying to cope. The fact that she finds herself alone and drowning on her 16th birthday isn't helping. Neither is thinking she sees Daniel's face in murky water as she mysteriously resurfaces. But something happened during those four and a half minutes that will make her realize it was not just her imagination. As Claire and Daniel try to grasp a possible reconnection, other grudge-holding beings have plans of their own. Now, the two of them have to decide if their fleeting relationship is worth the possibility of Claire being trapped on the fringe forever. 

Another one that I think i've just lost interest in. 

Verdict: Remove


You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis 

 

It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in New York's East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief.
When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth.
 

Good premise but with incredibly average/leaning on the side of bad reviews.

Verdict: Remove


Lie by Caroline Bock  

 
Everybody knows, nobody's talking. . . .

Seventeen-year-old Skylar Thompson is being questioned by the police. Her boyfriend, Jimmy, stands accused of brutally assaulting two young El Salvadoran immigrants from a neighboring town, and she's the prime witness. Skylar is keeping quiet about what she's seen, but how long can she keep it up?

But Jimmy was her savior. . . .

When her mother died, he was the only person who made her feel safe, protected from the world. But when she begins to appreciate the enormity of what has happened, especially when Carlos Cortez, one of the victims, steps up to demand justice, she starts to have second thoughts about protecting Jimmy. Jimmy's accomplice, Sean, is facing his own moral quandary. He's out on bail and has been offered a plea in exchange for testifying against Jimmy.

The truth must be told. . . .

Sean must decide whether or not to turn on his friend in order to save himself. But most important, both he and Skylar need to figure out why they would follow someone like Jimmy in the first place.
 
Reviews are making me think that the choppy writing style isn't gonna be for me.

Verdict: Remove


A Field Guide for Heartbreakers by Kristen Tracy

 
Best friends Dessy and Veronica arrive in Europe with wildly different plans. Dessy hopes to heal her newly broken heart by diving into the creative writing workshop that brought the girls to Prague. Veronica’s plan, meanwhile, is to conquer as many hot-dudes as possible in one month—and help Dessy recycle her heart in the process. Her method:

· Dress like you are the party.

· Explore the terrain. (Moderate stalking is totally allowed.)

· Be adventurous. And that means being prepared to hide in your suitcase.

· Ask questions that make your hot-dude feel smart.

· Gloss early, gloss often, and bring gum. Because a kiss can happen when you least expect it!

At first, Veronica’s plan is working so well that Dessy thinks she might be a love genius. But soon it’s clear that Operation Maneater has a few holes. Like its failure to anticipate crazy mixed signals—and worse, its mysterious tendency to plague a friendship with secrets and lies.

Well, no one ever said breaking hearts was a simple craft….

I like summery books set abroad but something about the premise makes me think the main characters might be ever so slightly too juvenile for me.
 
Verdict: Remove
 

Frost by Marianna Baer  

 
Leena Thomas’s senior year at boarding school starts with a cruel shock: Frost House, the cozy Victorian dorm where she and her best friends live, has been assigned an unexpected roommate—eccentric Celeste Lazar.

As classes get under way, strange happenings begin to bedevil Frost House: frames falling off walls, doors locking themselves, furniture toppling over. Celeste blames the housemates, convinced they want to scare her into leaving. And although Leena strives to be the peacekeeper, soon the eerie happenings in the dorm, an intense romance between Leena and Celeste’s brother, David, and the reawakening of childhood fears all push Leena to take increasingly desperate measures to feel safe. But does the threat lie with her new roommate, within Leena’s own mind…or in Frost House itself?
 
I was prepared to keep this one because I saw it had been tagged horror and mystery but after reading the premise, just something isn't clicking and I'm not feeling that pull.
 
Verdict: Remove
 
 

This Week:

Kept: 2
Removed: 8 

Overall: 
 
Kept: 140
Removed: 295
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