Teen Readers' Diary

Review: Suicide Note by Teresa Mummert

2013-05-18T10:11:00.002-04:00

Suicide Note by Teresa Mummert

Genre: NA Contemporary
Paperback: 336 pages

Release Date: March 12th, 2013

Purchase: Amazon | The Book Depository

Rating: 2.5 stars

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Novel.

Sometimes in life it feels like everything that can go wrong does, but everything happens for a reason. A relationship crumbles so someone else can mend the pieces of your broken heart. A change of plans can lead you to something you didn’t even know you were missing. You help others and discover that it was you who needed to be helped all along.

Jenn’s life is nothing as she had imagined it would be. She is twenty-something with a failing career and her love life has officially ended with an ultimate act of betrayal. She is ready to throw away her dreams when a chance run-in with a soldier, dealing with his own misfortunes, alters her course and changes her perspective on life.

Review

When I came across this book on Goodreads, I was instantly drawn to the summary and the idea of love that comes unexpected and changes a person’s perspective on life. It was the themes and tropes that I anticipated will be explored which immediately enticed me. Call it disappointment brought about by high expectations, but this book fell short for me. It had so much potential and it was sad to see it head down the drain. However, I wouldn’t exactly call it a bad read because it had its few merits along the way and my thoughts are more situated in between bad and good, which is to say, it was okay.

Like I said, it was the idea or concept of Suicide Note that appealed to me the most. The main characters, Jenn and Shane, have just gone through long-term relationships which ended in betrayal, and the wounds from those relationships were still fresh when the two crossed paths. As they spend time and find solace in each other’s company, we witness both of them heal and be saved from their broken pasts. This is usually the kind of story that easily grips me but unfortunately, this book just failed to grab me.

I think one of the things that bothered me was Jenn’s inability to stand up for herself. I was holding on to the hope that she would finally grow a backbone and confront the people who hurt her and the parents who should have had her back. But instead, all I get was a feeling of pure dissatisfaction as her ex-boyfriend and the person he cheated with (who is also a part of her life) got off easily.

Another issue I had was the short chapters which I felt were cut off abruptly. They are written in first person narrative, with Jenn and Shane’s perspectives told in alternating manner. I thought I would have more opportunity to be taken deeper into their heads but I was disconnected to them almost the entire time. It also didn’t escape my notice the unnecessary info-dumping when the really important parts were skipped over. I felt so deprived and cheated!

So what were the few merits I was talking about? One thing I remember I liked was Jenn and Shane’s relationship that started off with them being friends. It was during those scenes when I enjoyed the light-hearted moments between them and I was actually glued to my seat. Did it redeem the book for me? Not really, but it made me see that this book wasn’t so bad after all.

Author Bio

Teresa Mummert is an army wife and mother whose passion in life is writing. She is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels White Trash Beautiful and Suicide Note. Born in Pennsylvania, she lived a small town life before following her husband's military career to Louisiana and Georgia. Check out her website for samples and updates! TeresaMummert.com

Follow her on these sites: Website|| Goodreads || Twitter

Cover Reveal: Addicted to You by Colina Brennan

2013-05-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

Title: Addicted to You

Author: Colina Brennan
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance

Coming soon!

Blurb: When twenty-one-year-old Leah Carter's latest one night stand burglarizes her apartment, her roommate forces her to attend therapy for sex addicts. Leah insists she isn't a sex addict; she just doesn't do relationships. After all, sooner or later, everyone lets you down.

At first, the group sessions are little more than an education on how to be promiscuous. Until she meets the newest addict—blue eyes, killer body, and a smile that tempts relapse.

Psychology student Will McLean is posing as a fellow addict while researching a case study on unusual addictions. But the more he learns about Leah, the more certain he is that his desire to break through her walls and unearth her secrets has nothing to do with his assignment.

As the uncertainties spike alongside the sexual tension, the only thing Leah knows for sure is that falling in love would be disastrous. Too bad love might be one addiction she can't kick.

Reveal hosted by...

Review: Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies, #2) by Tarryn Fisher

2013-05-16T08:41:00.003-04:00

Dirty Red (Love Me With Lies, #2) by Tarryn Fisher

Genre: NA Contemporary
Kindle Edition: 265 pages

Release Date: December 21st 2012

Purchase: Amazon

Dear Opportunist,

You thought you could take him from me, but you lost. Now, that he's mine I'll do anything to keep him. Do you doubt me? I have everything that was supposed to be yours. In case you were wondering; he doesn't ever think about you anymore. I won't let him go....ever.

Dirty Red

Leah Smith finally has everything she has ever wanted. Except she doesn't. Her marriage feels more like a loan than a lifelong commitment, and the image she has worked so hard to build is fraying before her eyes. With a new role and a past full of secrets, Leah must decide how far she is willing to go to keep what she has stolen.

Review

“Wow. Wow. HELL WOW!”

These were the words I utter after reading Dirty Red which was quite an intense, infuriating and brilliant read. I almost hurl my phone on the wall every time Leah flips on her inner B-ness. It's good (and crazy) to finally be able to look on the point of view of the person who tries everything in her power to keep two people who love each other apart and mind you she was aggravating beyond imagination. I tried to give Leah her chance she---slightly---deserves because her actions might be just fruits of the difficulties she have suffered through her childhood but almost at every moment that I've made up my mind there'll be twists and exasperating things she'll do that would brought me back to keep her on the bad side. I've finally realized she deserved it after all (you'll know why when the bomb was dropped). She's a dirty fighter and she doesn't know how to set her boundaries between love and obsession plus she's full of insecurities. Well, if you're wondering she's not so bad most of the time...She seemed to have care, love and be thoughtful of another being especially when she have come to realize Estella's importance to her, as her mother. We were given glimpses of the good side of Leah and it's nice to know that underneath the personality she imposes her heart isn't all tainted black after all. Looking through her perspective of the past and the present may give us that impression.

I'm not a fan of Leah---I know most of us are---and there’s a LOT of things she had done which are really unforgivable but I hope in all of these things there is still something that could be saved. However, we’d all be certain that she isn't done yet with Caleb and Olivia.

Dirty Red is the sequel to the bestselling book by Tarryn Fisher, The Opportunist, which I highly recommend to you all if you haven't read yet because if you haven't then you are missing a lot! I never thought that this series could get more compelling and awesome.

Dirty Red is amazingly extraordinary and it completely blown me away.

Can I have the third book now, please? J

Favorite quote:

“Love is illogical. You fall into it like a manhole.

Then you're just stuck. You die in love more than you live in love."

Author Bio

I would like to write a novel that every, single person loves, but not even J.K. Rowling could do that. Instead, I try to write stories that pull on people's emotions. I believe that sadness is the most powerful emotion, and swirled with regret the two become a dominating force. I love villains. Three of my favorites are Mother Gothel, Gaston and the Evil Queen who all suffered from a pretty wicked case of vanity (like me). I like to make these personality types the center of my stories.

Follow her on these sites: Website|| Goodreads || Twitter