Book Reviews Archives - Malerie Scammey

What I Like About You

Malerie — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 01:31:37 +0000

Book Summary

There are so many things that Halle Levitt likes about her online bff, Nash. He’s an incredibly talented graphic artist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the socially awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything and everything…Except her real identity. Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the super cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs homemade cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: including friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash. That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in her Grandpa’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real-life Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery she works at, even at synagogue. Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels. If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkwardness of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. But what if she wants something more?

Review

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

This book was one of the very few books that I couldn’t put down!! All of the characters were so unique and I’m pretty sure that many readers could relate to them on a personal level! But not only were the characters amazing, the book was also full of surprises, dreams, and beautiful cupcakes! I had heard of What I Like About You when it first came out but it had just been added to my TBR pile like a lot of books, but once I actually got to reading it, I was upset that I hadn’t read it sooner!! So in spirit of reading What I Like About You, I decided to make my own book inspired cupcakes to go with the book review because this book deserved some cupcakes.

Author

A little bit about Maris is that she grew up in the suburbs of Boston. Here is where she learned her love for baking and her love for writing. Currently she is the author of What I Like About You and her new book is available for pre-order As If On Cue. She studied Media and Creative Writing at NYU.

Link's to Marisa Kanter's Books

The post What I Like About You appeared first on Malerie Scammey.

Love and Luck

Malerie — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 14:17:15 +0000

Book Summary

Main character Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s wedding, hoping she can take her mind off the one thing she did that left her heartbroken and sad—and threatens her very future. Enters her brother, Ian, who is defiantly not about to let her forget, and his constant provoking leads to arguments and even a fight between these two siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her best friend in Italy and leave things including her brother and her problems behind. So Addie is surprised when she discovers an unusual guidebook titled Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the shelves of the dusty hotel library. With this she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism. And then their travel plans change within milliseconds. And suddenly Addie finds herself on a tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the smallest vehicle known to man with Ian and his cute, Irish friend Rowan. As the three of them journey over breathtaking green hills, past many castles, and through a number of fairy-tale like forests, Addie has high hopes that her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother. If they don’t get completely lost along the way.

Review

Love and Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

This book is a sequel to Love and Gelato which is a book that is in my top 5 of the best books I’ve read. So you can imagine my joy when realizing there’s sequel to it and so I had super high hopes that this book would be just as great or better than the first. I am happy to report that it lived up to my standards!! I love how in this book they focus on a character who was mentioned in the first book but wasn’t really that important, and in this book we get to hear more about her side and her story. It’s really interesting to me when authors decide to start the first chapter with a climax of sorts and then explains that as it goes. I feel like the best part of the book is that one it’s set in Ireland and two there is a hint at a love interest the whole time but they end up becoming great friends and helping each other heal instead. This made the main character independent and didn’t make her rely on a boy. I believe this book would be great to read to remind you that others can help you through hard times even when you feel alone!

Author

Jenna has wrote three books and her first book was on the YALSA’s Teen’s Top title in 2017, it was a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction, and a selection for the Texas Lone Star Reading List in 2017. She is also a NYT Best Selling Author.

Links to Jenna Evans Welch's Books

The post Love and Luck appeared first on Malerie Scammey.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World

Malerie — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 16:11:43 +0000

Book Summary

Doreen Green is a teen that just recently moved to the suburbs of New Jersey from sunny Hollywood California. She isn’t too thrilled to have to make new friends, go to a new school, and hide her tail?!? Yes, you heard right, Doreen Green has a TAIL! But not just a tail, a squirrel tail, that also comes with the powers of a squirrel. After many failed attempts to find a new best friend Doreen feels pretty lonely. Than one day Doreen has to use her powers to stop a group of well known troublemakers from causing harm and doing dangerous things in her neighborhood, and that’s when everything changes. Suddenly everyone is talking about her at school! Doreen has to make a tough decision, should she become a full superhero? And that is when Squirrel Girl is born! From then she is having fun saving cats from trees, keeps the sidewalks clean, and stops vandalism. All seems to be well until a real-life Super Villain steps out of the shadows and declares Squirrel Girl his archenemy. Now she needs to decide if she can take down this Super Villain all while tackling school work and chores.

Review

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale

This is such a great book that showcases a story about a new/old superhero and not making another story using the same ones over and over again. This book has wonderful character development, starting with the main character, Doreen Green learning her place in the world and her best friend realizing she is more than she thought she could be. I really loved how this story started where the original comics ended, it gives a very nostalgic feeling to the book!! Overall a very empowering story for middle school readers and is filled with humor and I highly recommend reading it! And to go with the theme, the background of this post is the sky, cause Doreen teaches us that the sky isn’t the limit to what we can accomplish!!

Author

Some other books written by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale are Rapunzel’s Revenge, The Princess in Black series, and Diana, Princess of the Amazons. Shannon has received the Newberry Honor award for her books and is a New York Times Best selling author, among also writing 30 or more children and young adult books! And if you liked this book than their is also a sequel to it!

Links to Shannon and Dean Hale's Books

The post The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World appeared first on Malerie Scammey.

Patron Saints of Nothing

Malerie — Sun, 14 Feb 2021 21:44:56 +0000

Book Summary

The book begins in Jay Reguero’s senior year at high school and he is planning on spending all his time playing video games with his best friend until he has to leave for college. But all of that goes out the window once he finds out the his cousin Jun has been murdered as a part of the drug wars in the Philippines. The worst part is that no one in the family wants to talk about what happened or even mention Jun’s name. So he travels to the Philippines to find out what really happened. The only way to find out the truth of Jun’s death, Jay has to enlist the help of with his many Filipino family members and his cousins to find out the truth of his murder and maybe what he could have done to stop it.

Review

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

This was one of the truly educational books I have read in a while. Don’t get me wrong I read tons but even though this book was fiction I genuinely felt as if it were teaching me more about the world around me than I had recently. It gave me a new insight into a part of the world that I might never have heard about otherwise. It takes place mostly in the Philippines and showcases a lot of culture and traditions that I hadn’t learned about before and I found very interesting. But the book also showcases the reasons why we should be keeping up on the news of other countries even if it might not pertain to us for say because in some ways we might be able to help. I love how this story keeps you guessing and doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending but still comes to a nice close that makes you happy to have read it!

Author

Some other books book written by Randy Ribay are After the Shot Drops and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. Some fun facts about him is that he was born in Manilla, Philippines and his book, Patron Saints of Nothing has been nominated for many awards including, Freeman Book Award and National Book Award.

Links to Randy Ribay’s Books

The post Patron Saints of Nothing appeared first on Malerie Scammey.