My Life as Kelsey by Victoria Anders

This is one of the books I got free, because of a current situation. 

My Life as Kelsey is a sweet YA -romance. It's your basic love story, but that's not a bad thing. There are tons of same kind of books. Some of these books are good, some are not. This is one of the better books. 

The book starts with Kelsey working. We learn that she isn't rich kid, but she's really smart. She lives with her mom and grandmother. Something happens and she moves.

She meets a cute boy and after a move she sees this boy again. Now they are at the same school and start to hang out together.

Kelsey felt like a real teenager with all the feelings. Being a teen isn't always easy. Sometimes the situations in your life make it even harder to be a teenager.

The story flows forward. This is an easy and happy book. There are some hard subjects, but they're not too hard and they're well written.

Thank you for Victoria Anders for giving me this book!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

My Life as Kelsey by Victoria Anders

Independently published

2019

Scary times

We live some scary times now. But I want to give a quick shout out to the authors!

We all know this Covid-19 hassle is scary, really scary. All these lockdowns and all this hoarding. All these news about people getting sick. 

But there are some good authors out there. They are giving their books away for free on Amazon. They are giving their books straight to the readers or via BookFunnel. I can't believe how thoughtful these people are. They are giving you something else to think about, they are giving you a hope. Thank you. 

Take care and stay safe 💟

More serious books

If you don't like books about Holocaust, please stop reading now.

I know that these books are way different than the books I've posted about earlier. But I really like to read these stories about survivors. I don't know why I like these books; maybe because I'm still trying to understand how this could happen. Maybe because I want to know that there were survivors; that you can survive from something that was meant to destroy you. I like to believe that there is always hope. I like to believe that hope is stronger than fear. I once saw this post about hope that stated H.O.P.E means hold on, pain ends. I would like to believe that it's true.

The first book about Auschwitz I read was Playing For Time by Fania Fénelon. I was something like fourteen or fifteen years old. I read it again few years later, but haven't read it since. I think I'll reread it soon. Maybe it feels different now than it felt then. 

Lately I've read a lot of other books about Holocaust. The last book I finished was Born Survivors by Wendy Holden. It was about three women who were pregnant while climbing on a train that took them to Auschwitz. The book tells how these women survive through the next weeks and months with trying to keep their pregnancies secret. The book was a bit disoriented or at least it felt like that. It went back and fort too much for my liking, but it was definitely worth of reading!

I have also read book about Sonderkommando. They were those men who worked inside gas chambers. It was a really brutal book. 

I read also Last Stop Auschwitz by Eddy De Wind. That's the only book that is written inside of concentration camp. It was a really touching book. I think this book was originally published decades ago, but was published just now in English. Please correct me, if I'm wrong.

Because of Mr. De Wind's book I was interested of Block 10 and it's women. That's why I chose to read a book about these women. Hans-Joachmin Lang wrote a book about these women. I'm not sure if this book is translated in English. 

I have few other books about Auschwitz in my TBR pile. I have been avoiding The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, because I am really sure it will break my heart in a million pieces. But I have now that book in my shelf, so the time has finally to come to read this book. Also The Pharmacist of Auschwitz. The Untold Story. is waiting in my shelf. I want to read Cilka's Story, too. I liked the first book of the series. I understand why some people didn't like it, but for me it was a good reading experience.

I want to believe that we can do better now. I believe that we're all equal. And I want to believe that my kids can grow up and live in a better world; where no one needs to be afraid because they are who they are. Spread the love, not the hate. And hold on, because there has to be a time when pain ends. 

World Book Day 2020

It's a time for yet another World Book Day!

Every year, the first Thursday of March we're celebrating World Book Day. It's a charity funded by publishers and booksellers in UK & Ireland. Their mission is to give every child and teen to book of their own. It's also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and reading. Unesco has designated that World Book Day is a worldwide celebration. 

In UK & Ireland they actually give these tokens to kids that kids can use to buy new books. Some might put on a costume in World Book Day. It's all about to get the kids closer to books they already love, but also to get the kids to find new books to read. 

I think that this is an awesome idea. You can never read too much. This isn't really a thing in my home country, but it should be. I would love to participate on an event like this. This is an event that I wouldn't mind to donate some money. Kids doesn't read enough these days. They play video games. I think that there are actually studies out there that shows kids learning to speak later because parents doesn't read to their kids. I think that it's really sad, because books can give you so much. 

So, what are you reading today? How are you encouraging kids to read? What book will you introduce to your kid or any kid if you don't have your own? 

It's so easy. Most of us have a library in our home town. Most of us can afford to buy a book from a store or second hand market. Most of us have some books in our homes. If all these are impossible to excel then please tell stories to your kids. Kids have an amazing imagination and it's our job to make it even better. 

Happy World Book Day! Enjoy your books!

Just One Year by Penelope Ward

Once again a great book by Penelope Ward!

I have read Penelope Ward's books before and I've loved every single one of them! Stepbrother Dearest, Jake Undone, RoomHate, Drunk Dial... Also the books that she has co-written with Vi Keeland are awesome. She is an automatic one-click author to me.

Just One Year came out last Sunday and I one-clicked so fast. But I couldn't start reading before last night. Then I spent most of the night reading this amazing book. It was odd to start reading, because I had read the blurb earlier. But it was still a really good book! 

This is a NA book. College romance and friends-to-lovers story.

Teagan lives in Boston and her stepmom wants to house an exchange student. Caleb, a hot British man, comes to live with them. At first they doesn't seem to like each other, but as the time goes on they develop feelings towards each other. 

They both have some heavy baggage because of their pasts, but as you know sharing your secrets may help you more than you can guess. Their time together is limited, but they want to make the best of it. Penelope Ward's books never have easy ends. She really knows how to write younger characters who has old souls. Her characters always have some though decisions to make and this book isn't exception. Both Teagan and Caleb struggle with their feelings. 

I love how in this book both Teagan and Caleb give each other strength to go on. For me this book is so much more than a romance book. For me this is a story of friendship and not giving up. This is a story about believing yourself. This book is about believing you're worth it and you should never settle. Once you know what you want you should do everything in your power to make it happen. You rarely regret something you have done, even if it doesn't last. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just One Year by Penelope Ward

Penelope Ward Books, Inc.

After All by Heidi McLaughlin

I would love to say this is a second chance love story with all the feelings. But in my opinion this is also friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers love story. For me it's all of these.

I have read few Heidi McLaughlin's books before and I have loved all of them. I got a chance to meet her in London last fall. She is a wonderful woman. She surely knows how to write a book with a roller coaster of emotions. 

I got After All from NetGalley. Thank you for giving me an ARC to review. It was truly my honor to read this book before hand. 

I fell in love with the cover. It's so serene. The sunset (or sunrise) is so beautiful. I didn't read the blurb before I started reading, because sometimes blurbs spoil a lot. But you can find a blurb in here if you want to check it out. And it won't spoil anything. I just love to dive in blind.

The book is written in third POV, which took some time from me to get used to. But that's just me, because once I got pass my issues I had no problems with reading. I read this book almost in a one sitting. 

The book starts with Brooklyn coming back to Cape Harbor, the place where she spent her teen years. Back to the same town where she fell in love with Austin, the local boy who was loved by everyone. Back to the same town where she lost the love of her life. Back to the town she left behind and never looked back. The town isn't all she left behind, because once she comes back she sees that there are still the people she once cared about. 

Bowie lost so much more than a best friend 15 years ago. He lost two friends. One to the sea and another one just disappeared without a trace. His life hasn't always been easy. He's struggling with his company and once he's offered to renovate the local inn he jumps on board. 

What these two doesn't know is that they're supposed to work together. They are supposed to bring the life back in inn. The inn that once was so great and was a special place for local. But the inn hadn't been the same for 15 years. While they are building the inn together it's hard to ignore one another. Old feelings and ways to behave come back. 

They struggle to let go of the past and move on. The events from the past can be powerful and they can keep you from living your fullest life. Small town brings its own vibes. Everyone knows everyone and everyone thinks they know everything. So many secrets waiting to come out and open. So many people and feelings to sort out.

For me this book is mainly about friends and family. No matter what happens you should be able to turn to your friends and find comfort with them. But I can clearly see why Brooklyn did what she did. I can understand how heartbroken she was. I also understand why Bowie reacts as he does. This book felt really real.

I liked how we got to see inside of both of them heads. I like dual POV. The book mainly happens in present time, but I loved how there were scenes from the past. A solid summer read. Or a winter read, because you feel the summer coming out of that book. Four summer stars!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

After All by Heidi McLaughlin

Montlake Romance

#AfterAll

#NetGalley

Wow. This is hard.

I know that I should be posting more often. I know. And I'm really sorry that I'm not doing so.

But this is hard. Like keeping a blog about books when you don't read that much. After my last post I've only read two books. I don't know where this is coming from, this not-in-a-mood-to-read-phase and I hate it. 

Books and reading have been a huge and important part of my life as long as I can remember. Reading has given me a chance to live a thousand different lives. I have been living inside the books for so long that I feel out of my element when I haven't read for a while.

I read this book about Auschwitz and I thought that "yes, now I got my mojo back" and got six more books about Auschwitz. I haven't read any of them. This seriously sucks guys.

I read They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera last year and I absolutely loved it. The idea of the message you receive at midnight telling you're going to die the next day is awesome. I absolutely adored Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda when I read it few years ago. And now these two has written a book together. The book actually came out in 2018, but I heard about it in last December. The book is called What If It's Us. I read it in matter of hours. It's YA and it's awesome. It made me cry, laugh and die of second hand embarrassment. But damn, I really loved it. It made me happy. And that's the reason why I read. It took me weeks to get this book from library and now I'm seriously thinking about buying it to my shelf. Some books you just have to own.

What If It's Us is about Arthur and Ben. It's a story of a love, friendship, forgiviness, universe, fate and faith. It's a story of a second chances. The story of a do-overs.

I'll try a do-over with this blog. I promise to post more often.