Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

This is a touching book about a girl who is lost. Amy has had a hard time. She has shut herself off from the world. Shutting herself off has helped her deal with her new life. Insert cute, funny and lovable Roger. Roger is dealing too. They are on the road together, doing incredible things, learning about themselves. Destination love, hahaha.

This book made me laugh and made me sad too. I loved Amy and Roger. I loved their chemistry together. Their relationship wasn't forced and the writing was easy to read and flowed so well. This book is definitely a page turner!

I cheered for both Roger and Amy. I loved the ending, only wish I could know more about these two and what happens after the last page. These characters will stay with you for a while after you read this book.

5 Muffins!!

Always Summer

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols

This is part-two to an earlier post, The Boys Next Door (which is why I'm not including a synopsis, sorry!). This is the sequel to that novel. I really loved The Boys Next Door. Endless Summer was great, but not as good as Endless Summer. I think this is because there wasn't anything major in the plot for Lori. It was mostly just Lori and Adam being kept apart but a good story none-the-less.

Interestingly enough before I read Endless Summer, I thought about a sequel for Forget You. So, I emailed Jennifer Echols and she responded super fast! She is really nice! I usually don't email authors because most of their web sites will say that they are too busy to reply to emails. But lo and behold this excerpt from Jennifer Echols' email to me:

"I would never say never to a sequel. I didn't think I would write a sequel to The Boys Next Door, but I did eventually.

However, at the moment I can't imagine writing a sequel to Forget You. I design my romantic dramas to be stand-alone. The characters have big problems that they overcome (mostly) by the end of the book. A sequel would naturally be an anti-climax."

This made my day! I enjoyed Endless summer. I began to really like Lori. This book was a little Romeo and Juliet, as even Lori points out during the story. Who doesn't like a little R&J? I really liked the ending. This sated my summer-read craving for now.

You best believe I am going to read more of Echols' work. Next in line is Going Too Far.

Thanks Jennifer for writing me back!

Overall:4/5

The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends -- including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.

But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.

But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard.... (Barnesandnoble.com)

I bought this fun dual-book while shopping a couple of months ago. I have been craving another summer read (I love summer books!) and I looked on my bookshelf and found The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols. I didn't know it at the time I bought it but I love Echols' writing! I just read Forget You fell in love with her writing. So, long story short, I picked up this dual-book and read away (it's a little intimidating 'cause it's like 600 pages but it was actually a quick read)! For review purposes, I will split them up.

I loved this summer story. I always love stories where a girl grows up with a bunch of boys. If you liked The Summer I Turned Pretty and its sequel It's Not Summer Without You, you will love this story too. Gosh, I love those two books.

Anyway, Lori's story is really good too. Lori is really good at wakeboarding. I like when a MC is sports-inclined. Don't ask me why. I am not great a sports but I like when a MC is. The beginning of the book made me a little antsy. I was squirming in my seat, literally because Lori is trying too hard. I mean, flaunting a bikini? But just because I wouldn't do it doesn't mean she can't. I began to get comfortable with Lori's character. I am so glad she has Adam. Sean is a jerk face.

Loved the ending. It made me want more.

This book is great, so great in fact that readers demanded a sequel. If you want an awesome summer read, this is it. Now's the time.

Overall: 5/5

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug (Barnesandnoble.com).

This is such a great book. I want to read it again. Right now. That doesn't happen to me very often. I really wanted to read this book after I read The Story Siren's review and I am glad I did.

I loved reading the book but there are some things with Zoey that had me going crazy. Well, one thing really. Brandon. Okay Zoey, you get with a guy once and you're in love with him? Hello! And you think he's your boyfriend after an entire summer of him telling you about his many, many hookups. He is so not your boyfriend but you insist on saying that he is. I get that this is crucial to the plot but Zoey is being played hardcore and I want to yell at her for it. When she goes to his house and he keeps blowing her off it is so painfully obvious. In the end she was trying to turn a mistake into something more meaningful but still.

Doug. Sigh. Doug is amazing. One of my favorite male character so far. Doug may manipulate things at times but he really cares about Zoey. I am pretty sure he's the only one who cares about her for most of the book. Thank goodness Zoey has him. There is so much to say about him but I will leave it at this: He is awesome.

I kept hoping that Zoey would remember but the way the book works out is perfect. I absolutely loved reading this one. The writing is great. It's different than I am used to which is really refreshing. I really want to read Echols' Going Too Far.

Man this is a good book.

Overall 5/5:

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

Can summer be truly summer without Cousins Beach?

It used to be that Belly counted the days until summer, until she was back at

Cousins Beach with Conrad and Jeremiah. But not this year. Not after Susannah got sick again and Conrad stopped caring. Everything that was right and good has fallen apart, leaving Belly wishing summer would never co

me.

But when Jeremiah calls saying Conrad has disappeared, Belly knows what she must do to make things right again. And it can only happen back at the beach house, the three of them together, the way things used to be. If this summer really and truly is the last summer, it should end the way it started—at Cousins Beach (Barnesandnoble.com).

Wow. Just wow. This is the second book in the Summer trilogy by Han. This sequel was so awesome. I couldn't stop reading it. I read The Summer I Turned Pretty and this book in the same day because they were so good. This book is everything the first book in the trilogy was and more. It was heart-aching. I couldn't believe what happened at the beginning based on the end of the first book. I started reading and I thought, "Wait, what?".

My favorite thing was the character development. I can't chose who Belly should be with. If I am torn, I can't imagine what Belly is going through, haha.

The end of the book was such a tease! It was so good! I couldn't stop thinking about it. If you haven't yet, you should check this trilogy out. There's no time like summer.

Overall: 5/5

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Some summers are just destined to be pretty

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer — they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along (Barnesandnoble.com).

This book is hauntingly good. I can't stop thinking about it. It wasn't what I expected. I thought it would be a fun, quick summery read. It is but it is more than that. It is romantic, endearing and heard-warming. It's a "I don't want to put this book down and you can't make me" kind of book. I read this book very quickly and immediately picked up its sequel and read it in the same day. It's that good. I laughed, I cried. I couldn't stop until I knew how it ended. I am craving more!

My favorite parts of the book: the family, the characters, the writing. The book takes you into flashbacks, back into Belly's past summers at the house. I felt like I was there and when I was done reading I had a layer of sand on my feet. Everything was so good.

This is an amazing book, as is its sequel. Definitely worth checking out. I can't believe I have to wait until May 2011 to read the third book in the trilogy. So. Not. Fair.

Overall: 5/5