Sunday 27 March 2022

Down The TBR Hole #78


 
Current TBR shelf: 3498

Last week's TBR shelf: 3503

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?
  


Jennifer's Body by Audrey Nixon

 
Someone needed to put a stop payment on Jennifer Check.

The sign says Welcome to Devil's Kettle, Pop. 7,036. Come See What's Cookin'! No, seriously . . . that's what it says.

Some people find it hard to believe that a babe like Jennifer Check would associate with a dork like me, Needy Lesnicki. But we had history. We'd been the Wonder Twins since we were preverbal, and sandbox love never dies. Or at least that's what I thought.

But after that night in the woods, Jennifer was different. She looked different. And then the killings began. . . .

A lot of people ask me if I'm sorry I did it. I'm only sorry I didn't do it sooner.
 
Honestly didn't know a book version existed and whilst I like the film, I don't know if I'm interested in reading it in novel form seeing as I've never heard anyone mention it before. 
 
Verdict: Remove   
 

You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz

 
Annaleah and Brian shared something special - Annaleah is sure of it. When they were together, they didn't need anyone else. It didn't matter that their relationship was
secret. All that mattered was what they had with each other.

And then, out of nowhere, Brian dies. And while everyone else has their role in the grieving process, Annaleah finds herself living outside of it, unacknowledged and lonely.
How can you recover from a loss that no one will let you have?
 
I like the cover a lot but I don't find the synopsis interesting. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

She Loves You, She Loves You Not by Julie Anne Peters

 
Seventeen-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family and her best friends and, most important, she had Sarah. Sarah, her girlfriend, with whom she dreamed with about the day they could move far away and live out and proud and accepted for themselves, instead of having to hide their relationship.

Alyssa never thought she would have to make that move by herself, but disowned by her father and cut off from everyone she loves, she is forced to move hundreds of miles away to live with Carly, the biological mother she barely knows, in a town where everyone immediately dismisses her as "Carly's girl." As Alyssa struggles to forget her past and come to terms with her future, will she be able to build a new life for herself and believe in love again? Or will she be forced to relive the mistakes that have cost her everything and everyone she cared about?
 
I have a different Julie Anne Peters book on this shelf that I'd rather get to. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

David Inside Out by Lee Bantle

 
David Dahlgren, a high-school senior, finds solace in running with the track team; he's a fast runner, and he enjoys the camaraderie. But team events become a source of tension when he develops a crush on one of his teammates, Sean. Scared to admit his feelings, David does everything he can to suppress them: he dates a girl, keeps his distance from his best friend who has become openly gay, and snaps a rubber band on his wrist every time he has "inappropriate" urges. Before long, Sean expresses the thoughts David has been trying to hide, and everything changes for the better. Or so it seems.
 
A difficult one. I think this will be a fine contemporary/coming out story for teens but whilst I'd like to read more queer love stories a lot of reviews describe it as pretty basic and a little dated. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

 
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined.
 
I'm on the fence, a typical sounding contemporary about grief but I love the sound of the MC drawing maps...
 
Verdict: Keep
 

Dare Truth or Promise by Paula Boock

 
Willa and Louie could not be more different. Louie wants to be a lawyer and is an outstanding student. Willa lives in a pub and just wants to get through the year so she can graduate and become a chef. But they are completely attracted to one another when they first meet at a fast-food restaurant. Soon they fall in love fast and furiously, and everything the girls are sure of - their plans, their faith, their families, their identities - is called into question...
 
Actually sounds cute and I'm kind of intrigued to see if it holds up as a book published in the late 90's. 
 
Verdict: Keep
 

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson   

 
Three days before her drama club's trip to Italy, Jessa Gardner discovers her boyfriend in the costume barn with another girl. Jessa is left with a care package from her best friend titled "Top Twenty Reasons He's a Slimy Jerk Bastard," instructing her to do one un-Jessa-like thing each day of the trip.
 
Too fluffy for me? Probably. It also as an absolutely awful cover (which I know shouldn't put me off but it does).
 
Verdict: Remove
 

Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tanen

 
Being marooned on an island somewhere off the coast of Madagascar with five celebrities sounds romantic and glamorous, right?

Wrong. You couldn't find people with fewer survival skills if you tried. Seriously. Cisco may have centerfold abs, but he can't even spell SOS. At least super-sexy Jonah seems to have a clue (too bad about the purity ring). If I'm stuck here much longer, these self-involved head cases might drive me crazy--assuming they don't insult each other to death first. It's like a group therapy edition of Survivor.

At this point, I'm pretty convinced that all celebrities should be caged in Hollywood and confined to the pages of US magazine. And, btw, if you're there, God, it's me, Francesca, and I really want to go home. Help!
 
 
I can see how this would come off funny and entertaining in 2011 but would it hold up ten years later? Not so sure. Also I'm not crazy about fame in books. 
 
Verdict: Remove
 

Grounding Quinn by Steph Campbell  

 
Eighteen-year-old Quinn MacPherson's biggest fear has always been turning out like her mentally unstable mother. (Solving algebraic equations comes in as a close second.) That is, until she meets Benjamin Shaw. Quinn thinks hooking up with Ben over summer vacation will be nothing more than a quick fling. She can't even commit to a nail polish choice, much less some guy. Unfortunately for her, Ben is not just some guy. Ben gets her- the real her, flaws and all- and that scares the hell out of her. When Ben does the unthinkable- tells Quinn he's in love with her- she does what comes naturally. She pushes him away. Ben can only watch from a distance as Quinn lashes out, and punishes him for daring to care about her. But how far can you push someone, even someone that loves you, before they are gone for good?
 
Another contemporary that I don't think I'll ever end up picking up...
 
Verdict: Remove
 

Have a Nice Day (Anna Bloom #2) by Julie Halpern

 
Anna Bloom has just come home from a three-week stay in a mental hospital. She feels...okay. It's time to get back to some sort of normal life, whatever that means. She has to go back to school, where teachers and friends are dying to know what happened to her, but are too afraid to ask. And Anna is dying to know what's going on back at the hospital with her crush, Justin, but is too afraid to ask. Meanwhile, Anna's parents aren't getting along, and she wonders if she's the cause of her family's troubles.
 
Haven't read the first one (or even have it on my TBR shelf).
 
Verdict: Remove
 

This Week:

Kept: 2
Removed: 8

Overall: 
 
Kept: 245
Removed: 544

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