TTT: Top Ten Author Duos You’d LOVE To See Write A Book Together

This feature is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

I wasn’t sure how easy or hard this topic would be, but I wanted to give myself a challenge. Go check out my dream parings.

Emery Lord & Jessi Kirby
-If these two ever wrote a book together, I would need to stockpile a LOT of kleenex to get through their book-

Sarah J. Maas & Marie Lu
-These two write badass ladies and have beautiful writing. Imagine how amazing their collaboration would be –

Mary E. Pearson & Renee Ahdieh
-Okay, someone needs to make this happen. Badass ladies again plus fabulous world building-

Christa Desir & Courtney Summers
-I have a feeling if these two EVER wrote a book together, I’d need a drink to calm the hell down-

Tamara Ireland Stone & Courtney C. Stevens
-These two write characters that are wonderfully & heartbreakingly real. I would lose my crap if they ever wrote a book together-

Brandy Colbert & Tess Sharpe
-Two of my favorite & most underrated authors. Both of these ladies wrote books that broke my heart, and pushed the envelope on those tough topics-

Francesca Zappia & Katrina Leno
-These two wrote about mental illnesses in heartbreakingly real ways and they both exceeded my expectations when I did read their beautiful books-

Becky Albertalli & Amy Zhang
-This is a bit of a wild card pick, but Amy’s writing is stunning and Becky’s first book was quirky and adorable. I’d be thrilled if they wrote a book together-

Trish Doller & Peggy Kern
-These two authors have written some of my favorite books. Books that have been hard to read at times, but awesome books nonetheless. If they wrote a book together, it would probably be raw, realistic and amazing-

Abigail Haas & Amanda Panitch
-These ladies are the QUEENS of mind fuckery. My goodness, if they EVER wrote a book together, I’d probably spontaneously combust-

If you did a TTT post this week, leave me the link in the comment section. If we have any of the same picks, don’t forget to tell me.

TTT: Top Ten (Or More) Auto Buy Authors

This weekly feature is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish

This week we’re talking about the authors that we consider our auto buy authors. This list was pretty easy for me. I don’t think most of you will be surprised by the authors on my list.

Emery Lord

Brandy Colbert

Tess Sharpe

Stephanie Kuehn

Courtney C. Stevens

Jessica Verdi

Kate Karyus Quinn

Trish Doller

Suzanne Young

Corey Ann Haydu

Rachael Allen

So do we share any of the same auto buy authors? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

Review The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

Book Title: The Start of Me and You

Author: Emery Lord

Publish Date: March 31st, 2015

Publisher: Bloomsbury Kids

Genre: YA Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Pre-Order Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Following her pitch-perfect debut Open Road Summer, Emery Lord pens another gorgeous story of best friends, new love, & second chances.

It’s been a year since it happened—when Paige Hancock’s first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world for a year, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Brimming with heartfelt relationships and authentic high-school dynamics The Start of Me and You proves that it’s never too late for second chances.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review.

Review:

Sweet mother of God, Emery Lord is a WIZARD! 

I fell in love with her debut, Open Road Summer last year and never in a million years thought that she could do better. It was a beautiful debut that had everything I could want in it: friendships, cute boys and music. When I got book number 2 in the mail I had just started hearing whispers that The Start of Me and You was actually better than Open Road Summer. It wasn’t until I finished reading it that I had to concede that those whispers were correct.

The Start of Me and You is about friendship, family and of course, love. In this book we meet Paige, whose boyfriend died a year ago and who she’s still grieving for. She is still greeted with “That Look” very often and then sometimes complete strangers send her pitying looks. She wants this year to be the best year ever. She even has a plan.

1. Parties/Social events

2. New group

3. Date

4. Travel

5. Swim

She has wonderful friends who have been there for her in this past year. Gosh, I just love the way Lord writes about friendships. Tessa, Morgan, and Kayleigh each have their own distinctive personalities and problems but they are very loyal friends.

And Paige is going to need them as she navigates the waters with her parents. Paige’s parents have been divorced 5 years, but times are changing and they are beginning to date. So now Paige must deal with her own feelings about that. Her mom has become very strict and overprotective since Aaron drowned the year before. But what she doesn’t know is that Paige has not gone swimming since that day. She refuses to go into the water. Despite that refusal, Paige continues to have nightmares where she’s drowning and no one can get to her in time.

And then there’s Ryan Chase, the boy Paige has been crushing on for as long as she can remember. She is hopeful that this year will be different. He’s recently single and Paige is ready to make a move on him. But Paige didn’t expect Ryan’s cousin Max to look so different than he looked the last time she saw him.

She didn’t expect to fall for geeky, nerdy Max who stockpiled Do Si Do Girl Scout cookies and whose favorite TV show was the one season wonder, Firefly. It turns out that the guy she thought she wanted made a much better friend, than boyfriend. And the guy she never thought she’d fall for was the guy she needed in her corner. He was the guy willing to call her out on her skepticism and her realism.

“I mean, you’re always preparing yourself for the thing that’s most likely to happen, instead of hoping for the thing that you most want to happen.” –Max-

It’s been a very long time since a quote has stopped me cold to that extent. I mean, wow, Max could have been describing ME at that very moment. It wasn’t until this quote that I realized Paige and I were similar in some ways, yet Max’s backstory with his deadbeat dad was also so similar to my own backstory with my biological dad. All the way down to him wanting to meet me when I was about a year older than Max.

I cried a lot in the last 40 pages. I had spent a lot of time laughing while reading this book, but the ending broke me into tiny pieces. Lord is so good at weaving in happy, funny moments with heartbreaking poignant moments. Like I said earlier, this woman is a WIZARD. This book is definitely getting 5 stars. I absolutely loved this book and I cannot wait to get a finished copy of it. Emery Lord has secured her place on my growing list of auto-buy authors. Everyone go read this book, pre-order it, tell your library about it. 

Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far This Year

This feature is hosted by the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish

This was a fun list. I didn’t have any problems coming up with the Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far This Year. My list is overwhelmingly filled with contemporaries, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

Pointe by Brandy Colbert

The Summer I Wasn’t Me by Jessica Verdi

Prisoner of Night and Fog (Prisoner of Night and Fog #1) by Anne Blankman

The Taking (The Taking #1) by Kimberly Derting

Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

My Life Next Door (My Life Next Door #1) by Huntley Fitzpatrick

The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

So let me know if you’ve read any of these or if you want to. Also, if you did a TTT this week, be sure to leave the link to your post in the comments.

Review: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Book Title: Open Road Summer

Author: Emery Lord

Published Date: April 15th, 2014

Publisher: Walker Books

Genre: YA Contemporary

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Order Links: Amazon, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

Disclaimer: This book was a personal purchase.

Review:

This book made me want to blast some country music and have an impromptu dance party.

I needed a book to wow me after a recent reading slump and so on Twitter the other day, I asked if Open Road Summer would do that for me and the response was a resounding YES. Boy were they right. This book had it all, country music, friendships, boys and family and of course those all important feels. Unlike other debut books, this didn’t FEEL like a debut book, it didn’t feel like a brand new author wrote it.

Emery Lord writes like she’s been writing books all her life. The writing is beautiful and I am so thankful for that. Oftentimes when a book cover is that gorgeous, the writing is lacking. Not in this case. It was beautiful and emotional and evocative so major kudos to Emery Lord for that. 

Dee and Reagan have been friends since they were 8 years old. They’ve seen each other through everything and now they are excited to spend the summer together. Reagan is the wild child and that wild child behavior got her into some trouble that included community service and a bad boy. Dee is an accomplished singer who is an up and comer in the country music scene. They couldn’t be more different in the family department either. Yet, none of that matters to them. They remain best friends despite disagreements and the usual ebbs and flows in a friendship.

Sweet and sexy Matt Finch appears on the scene shortly after a scandal threatens to halt Dee’s burgeoning career. Matt is everything that Reagan is not and on paper he seems to be a better match for Dee. Yet Dee is still hung up on Jimmy, the boy she left to follow her dreams.  Matt Finch was adorable and sweet and kind and basically my perfect boyfriend. He’s a good fit for Reagan though and there’s definitely mutual attraction between them early on. 

Something else that caught my eye while reading this book, was the progression of Reagan’s relationship with her stepmom Brenda. Initially Reagan paints Brenda in a very negative light, but by the end of the book, things have definitely improved between the two of them. I really liked seeing that storyline and how it played out.

I absolutely adored this book and it is absolutely getting 5 stars from me. I am definitely going to be pushing this book on all of my fellow YA Contemporary lovers.