ARC Review: What Goes Up

Title: What Goes Up

Author: Katie Kennedy

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Publication Date: July 18, 2017

Source: Bloomsbury for Review Consideration

Action-packed and wildly funny, this near-future sci-fi features three teens on an inter-dimensional mission to save the world.

Rosa and Eddie are among hundreds of teens applying to NASA’s mysterious Multi-World Agency. After rounds of crazy-competitive testing they are appointed to Team 3, along with an alternate, just in case Eddie screws up (as everyone expects he will). What they don’t expect is that aliens will arrive from another dimension, and look just like us. And no one could even imagine that Team 3 would be the only hope of saving our world from their Earth-destroying plans. The teens steal the spacecraft (it would be great if they knew how to fly it) and head to Earth2, where the aliens’ world and people are just like ours. With a few notable exceptions.

There, the teens will find more than their alternate selves: they'll face existential questions and high-stakes adventure, with comedy that's out of this world.

Hardcover Lover Confessions (4)

Hello, everyone! I hope that you've become a little more acquainted with my new every-once-in-a-while feature, Hardcover Lover Confessions.

If you're new to The Hardcover Lover or just missed the first few posts, I'll fill you in. HCL Confessions are my discussion posts. Every few weeks, I'll post my thoughts on something going on in the book blogging world or just general bookish thoughts.

I'm encouraging all of my followers to join in and discuss your thoughts on each topic with me and with the other bloggers/people who leave comments. It's all about kindly expressing ourselves and making connections with other bloggers and readers while forming blogging friendships.  Don't be afraid to reply to a comment made by someone you've never spoken to! I can promise you that all of my followers are kind and outgoing.

HCL Confession on DNFing Books:

Before I joined the book blogging world, I didn't really think about not finishing a book. If I wasn't enjoying a book, I would leave a bookmark in it, and make a promise to myself that I would one day finish it. After a few weeks, that book, with the bookmark still intact, would just end up on my shelf, never to be touched again.

A few years ago, things started to change. If I knew I would never finish the book, I would stop reading and pretend like I had never started the book. Eventually those books would make their way to Half Price Books or thrift stores. Obviously, I was sad, but I didn't want to waste my time.

You see... before I was a book blogger, I was embarrassed if I didn't finish a book. Now I'm a little more neutral. I still don't like putting a book down permanently, but I understand that it's okay. Plus, I know that there are others out there with the same tastes as me. If I can help them, awesome. If not, that's okay too. Still, I don't want to waste my time reading something I don't like, but there are still some times when I force myself to finish a really bad book. I guess old habits die hard.

These days, I'm more actively reading other book blogs. I've noticed a lot of DNF reviews or blurbs than I did in the past when I would browse a few blogs once a week. If I've DNFed the same book or a book by that author, I actually take the time to read them and fully understand them, especially if I know that another blogger and I have similar taste in books. If I haven't read the books yet, I take a mental note of the DNF reviews I see, especially if the review/blurb is posted by someone who likes the same kinds of books. Those reviews help me decide what books I won't be buying.

Sometimes I feel extremely awkward when I write a DNF review. I feel like people will judge me for not finishing a book. But I understand that there are going to be people out there who love that book, and then there will be people like me who didn't enjoy it. It's okay to share your thoughts with the world on a book you didn't finish as long as it's done respectfully. Other times, I simply just go to Goodreads and leave a DNF review instead of writing one for my blog.

Going along with my last HCL Confession... I would never bash a book simply because I didn't like it or didn't finish it. I take the time to consider the reasons why I didn't finish the book. I then write a professional review. I even include some things from the book that I did enjoy to let my readers know that there were some good parts, but just not enough to keep me interested.

So... What are your thoughts on not finishing a book? Have you ever done it? Have you written DNF reviews or blurbs? Feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments with me and with other bloggers.

ARC Review: Perfectly Good White Boy

Title: Perfectly Good White Boy

Author:  Carrie Mesrobian

Expected Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books  

Source: eARC via NetGalley

Synopsis: 
After losing his virginity to an older girl who dumps him at the end of summer, Sean decides to join the Marines, but first he must get through his senior year of high school. 






My Review:
Meet Sean. He's just finished his junior year of high school and is ready for summer vacation and all that comes with it - parties, beer, bonfires, and girls. One night when he's at a party, he meets up with Hallie, a girl who was a year ahead of Sean in high school. The two of them head off to Hallie's tent in the woods and begin a summer romance.

Fast forward to the end of the summer. Sean and Hallie have finally had sex, and on the night before she leaves for college, she breaks up with him. He is pretty shocked by the breakup, as any kid in his or her first relationship would be.
 
The writing style is simple and easy to follow. It is a good book for a laid back read, but I could not bring myself to finish this book. I was not a fan of the plot. 

I should have known by the short synopsis that I wouldn't like this book. There wasn't much to what I read, so I stopped myself before I felt like reading this book would become a burden to me.

Some parts of this book were very awkward, even for me, an adult reader. I was not expecting some of what I read, like the details of Sean and Hallie having sex, to be included in a YA book. Because of this, I would recommend this book for an older teen audience because of some of the more mature scenes in the book. 

I do not feel like it is fair of me to give this book a rating because I did not finish reading it. It really wasn't even worth the time that I gave it.

I received a free PDF copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

ARC Review: Beau, Lee, the Bomb, & Me

Title: Beau, Lee, the Bomb, & Me

Author: Mary McKinley

Genre: Young Adult, LGBTQ, Contemporary

Publication Date: October 28th, 2014

Publisher: Kensington Books

Synopsis:
When Beau transferred to our school. I thought: "Good; fresh meat." Because I knew he would be tormented the entire time he was at Baboon High. Like I am. All day. . . every day.

Growing up is a trip. . .

In high school, there are few worse crimes than being smart or fat. Lucky me, I'm both. But when Beau Gales blows in to town, it takes about two minutes for the jackasses at our Seattle school to figure out he's gay, and that makes him an even bigger target. Have you ever heard the saying: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'? There's something to that.

When the bullying gets violent and Beau decides to run away to San Francisco to ask his Uncle Frankie for advice, we all go. Beau, me, Leonie (designated class slut), and a scruffy rescue dog called The Bomb--a tribe of misfits crammed into my mom's minivan. Throw in a detour to the Twilight town of Forks, armed robbery, cool record shops, confessions, breakups and makeups, and you have the kind of journey that can change the way you look at the whole world--and yourself.

My Review:

When I first saw the synopsis of Beau, Lee, the Bomb, & Me, I was pleasantly surprised. I've often enjoyed reading books that deal with topics like bullying because it's something that I'm able to relate to, even now that I'm in my twenties. I really thought that the other advance readers were being harsh about this book, but they were right, and I was very wrong.

Unfortunately, the intriguing synopsis is the best thing about this book.

For the first few pages of the book, I was utterly confused. I could not get a picture of the narrator in my head. If I can't picture the storyteller, I can't get behind the book. I honestly thought that the narrator was a boy. Nope! I was wrong. The narrator is actually a female teenager named Rylee/Rusty. It takes a while for McKinley to even provide readers with the name of her narrator, so I was even more annoyed with this book by the time I found out her name.

I was also very bothered by the lack of organization in this book. First of all, there aren't any chapters or sections. It's like it's one long thought that just goes on like the Energizer Bunny. Trust me. You don't want it to go on. During my reading, I only came across one real break in the text while I was reading. It was so tiring just to find a place to stop for the night.

The writing is also terrible. Almost every sentence is poorly constructed, and it really does seem like McKinley tried too hard to be able to relate to teens with her use of shorthand and Internet speak. I started to keep track of how many times the word "till" was used in place of "until" but I quickly stopped keeping track. I know that it might seem insignificant, but it's really bothersome to read so many times in a row.

I was also bothered by the use of tense in the book. One minute, the book is being told in the past tense, and then then McKinley changes to the present tense. Just when you're getting used to the change in tense, she changes it again! I just can't read something like that! Any English teacher will tell you that when you're writing, especially a piece of fiction, it should remain in the same tense.


The characters aren't bad, but they aren't the most spectacular YA characters you'll come across in a book. Beau, Lee, the Bomb, & Me deals with a group of three teenage misfits that band together to face the bullies of their high school. All three of them have a slew of problems that they face. To be honest, it's overwhelming. I felt like all of their problems were just too much to deal with as a reader, and that the author just included every horrible thing that she could find into this story.

I really hope that this book has gone through the editing process a bit more since the ARC was sent to readers because it really needs to be refined. It has potential to be a really great book, but at this point, there are just way too many flaws for me to even consider it a mediocre novel. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.