Review: Aspen by Rebekah Crane

Title: Aspen
Author: Rebekah Crane
My Rating: ★★★★★
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction
Publication: June 5th 2014 by In This Together Media
Format Read: eARC via NetGalley
Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Description from Goodreads

One quiet night in Boulder, Colorado, Aspen Yellow-Sunrise Taylor made a mistake.

In the next instant, her life changed forever.

Aspen doesn't want to remember the car accident that killed Katelyn Ryan, a sleek-haired popular soccer player. But forgetting is hard-- because Katelyn may have died -- but she didn't leave. Her ghost is following Aspen around, and heading into senior year, it's kind of a problem. Especially when Katelyn's former boyfriend Ben appears to be the only person at school with a clue as to how Aspen feels. 

Popularity, Homecoming Court, hot guys - none of these things ever mattered to Aspen. She's been busy trying to keep her stoner mother Ninny in line and out of unemployment. But with Ben sitting next to her in Physics and her therapist begging her to remember all the things she wants to forget, Aspen is thrust into a vivid, challenging world she can't control ... and doesn't want to. 

A darkly funny, emotionally gripping story of opening up, letting go, and moving on, Aspen is about the best-worst accident of your life ... and what comes next.

My Review:

I love this book! I love this book so much that I bought a copy of it. I wanted to have Aspen on my bookshelf so badly, and wasn't able to resist the urge to purchase it. 

At first I thought this was going to be the usual sweet book that you read for fun, like most contemporaries, but it turned out to be meaningful and much deeper than I expected. I don't want to give away too much, so I'll keep this short: the narrator is Aspen, a teenage girl, who gets involved in a car accident. Fortunately, she survives with minor injures, but Katelyn doesn't; the most popular girl in school is dead, and Aspen has to live with all the guilt.

Aspen is a very honest girl, but she is hiding something from everyone and even from herself. I like the fact that she is just like most teenage girls who hate their own hair and have their own issues. She has flaws and that made her real and someone I could easily relate to. I truly loved Aspen; she is quirky and has a great sense of humor. Reading about her struggles, as she tries to deal with everything after the accident, was a very emotional experience for me.

Another character I really enjoyed is Ninny, Aspen's mom. Ninny is a free being who doesn't want to fit into society's expectations. I think she is a very cool person, but she isn't doing a wonderful job as a mom; she's not the responsible type, and most of the time it's Aspen playing the role of "the mom" and Ninny being the irresponsible teenager. Even though they have this unusual kind of relationship, I like that Aspen accepts her mom for what she is. And I think it's fun to have a mom like Ninny once in a while, because unlike most parents, she doesn't pressure you into doing anything.

I've grown to care for everyone in this book, and that's the best part of Aspen; it succeeds in drawing you in with the characters and their lives. Aspen is truly a brilliant narrator, even though she's going through lots of heavy stuff and the guilt is almost eating her alive, she doesn't cease to smile and have fun.

I think this book is realistic. It's very touching, and it made me cry, but I loved that it's beautifully balanced with lots of humor.

When I requested Aspen on NetGalley, I didn't expect it to have a great impact on me, and when my copy arrives I think I'm going to read it again. I highly recommend it!

Review: Romancing the Soul by Sarah Tranter

Title: Romancing the Soul

Author: Sarah Tranter

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★  ☆ 

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Format Read: Paperback, Won

Goodreads/Amazon/Book Depository

Description from Goodreads

Rachael Jones hasn't exactly chosen an average career path. She's a past-life regressionist and is now hoping to help her clients find their Soul Mates through reconnecting them with their past lives.

But despite her best intentions, there are problems. Rachael made the mistake of regressing her best friend, Susie Morris, who has since been haunted by events that occurred in her past life.

When Susie meets Hollywood actor, George Silbury in unlikely circumstances, she is completely unprepared for her reactions. There's an intense mutual attraction that neither can explain nor ignore. 

Can George help Susie to overcome the sense of desolation she feels as the result of her past life regression, or will history's habit of repeating itself ruin all chances of her finding happiness?

After the success of her debut paranormal novel, Sarah moves into mainstream contemporary with a twist—past life regression!

My Review:

I won this book on a giveaway months ago, and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to read and review it (I got distracted by other books ^_^). I'm particularly intrigued with stories about second chances, and I'm thrilled to say that I found this book really engaging and refreshing.

It's told from different points of view, and it's about two soul mates whose lives ended in a tragic way, but get another chance of finding happiness on their next life. I've never read about past lives before, so this book deals with themes that I'm not very familiar with, but it was great to read something new.

Susie is a schoolteacher who doesn't like being emotionally involved with any man. She's just an ordinary woman, so she is taken a back when the gorgeous Hollywood star, George Silbury gets interested in her. She's been a fan of him for years and when they meet in her best friend's office, they are instantly attracted to each other.

George on the other hand, is one of the most handsome men in the world and is also a gentleman. I could list all the things I love about him, but I'm going to save that for my "Swoon Worthy Saturday" post. 

I like how Susie and George's relationship grew, the author added a bit of drama which was interesting to read.

The only issues I have with this book are the author's writing and Rachel, the past-life regressionist. It took me a while to get into the story because the author's writing was a bit distracting. She has a unique and different style, but thankfully I got used to it after a few chapters. As for Rachel, I thought she was a bit maddening. She's one of the main characters, and at first I thought I could over look my dislike for her, but as the story goes on she truly annoyed me. She's a great friend of Susie though, and has good intentions.

Other than the issues aforementioned, I really like how everything unfolded. Even though I had a feeling of how it would end, the author was able to surprise me with some twists.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who love second chances and instant attraction/love.

Blog Tour & Review: The Accidental Socialite by Stephanie Wahlstrom

Title: The Accidental Socialite

Author: Stephanie Wahlstrom

Rating: ★ ★ ★★ ☆

Genres: NA, Contemporary Romance

Format Read: eARC, YA Bound Book Tour

Description from Goodreads
Quirky and clumsy twenty-two-year-old Paige Crawford arrives in London on a cold Saturday in January. Just when Paige starts to think that moving thousands of miles away from home with no real plan was a bad idea, Jason Frost appears. Confident and classy, Jason is the complete opposite of Paige and just what she needs in her life, or so she thinks. 

But before their romance has time to blossom, Paige trips and falls into the arms of a mysterious man on a drunken night out. She’s snapped by paparazzi, and newspaper headlines the next day suggest that she’s having an affair with a married footballer. 

Paige finds herself instantly elevated to tabloid celebrity status which isn’t exactly a picnic, particularly when trying to juggle her new job at Fashionista magazine, a catalog of dating disasters and a nagging doubt that she maybe she can’t conquer London after all. When a trip back to Canada for Christmas reminds Paige why she left her old life behind, she returns to London with renewed vigor realizing that while jobs, flats and men may come and go, friends in London are forever.

My Review:

Paige Craftword has just graduated from university, but she has already decided to leave her hometown to move to London. She's had enough of her friends and family who think she's just a bland and ordinary person, so she impulsively packs her stuff, determined to leave the past behind her.

The book starts off with Paige on her way to London, the city where she intends to make a fresh start and create a new identity. But unfortunately, all her plans get ruined when she accidentally catches the tabloids' attention due to an incident with a famous British footballer.

Paige is a clumsy and weird person who continuosly gets into awkward situations. The media follow her every move, so she doesn't have much of a private life anymore. In fact she often makes front page news because of some compromising and embarassing situations she gets herself into. I would have prefered dying if I were her, but Piage didn't give up and I liked that about her. 
I really enjoyed reading how she adjusts to the differences between American and British English, the misunderstandings were so hilarious that I couldn't keep myself from grinning. 

There isn't really any love interest in this book because Paige has truly bad taste in guys, and I think it's funny how she can easily relate to Taylor Swift's songs. I also find it very interesting that Paige doesn't really want to commit to any type of serious relationship; I think it's quite understandable because she's still young and she just wants to have fun.

Although I found Paige pretty enjoyable to read, there were times when she could be really fussy, and I got frustrated for some of the choices she made. Furthermore, I felt like there were lots of clubbing and drinking in this book, but if you can overlook those issues you'll definitely enjoy reading The Accidental Socialite.

If you're looking for a fun and light read with lots of funny and embarassing moments, then you should read this book.

I received this book from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. 

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About Stephanie Wahlstrom

Growing up in Edmonton, Canada, a significant amount of Stephanie’s time was spent making up and acting out stories. She was studying to be an actress when she realized there weren’t any parts for women being written. So, Stephanie wrote herself a short screenplay just to be in it, and quickly realized that writing was her true passion. She graduated from the University of Alberta with an English and Sociology degree and she also has a Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts from Red Deer College. After a fateful trip to Mexico in 2006, Stephanie decided to move to New York City to work in film development. A year later she went back home to write My Green House, a factual TV series. Stephanie moved to London in 2008 and aside from being obsessed with eggs benedict, fruit roll- ups and travelling, she also works in children’s television. The Accidental Socialite is her first novel.

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