Genre: Contemporary

Jul 20

Lucky in Love by Kasie West: Review, Giveaway & West’s Top Ten Addictions (with a Twist!)

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Author Top Ten Lists, Current Giveaways, Reviews 23 ★★★★

I don’t even know what to say about this book except that it’s adorable and SO Kasie West (which is a very good thing, mind you). Believe it or not, the themes in this book have been a topic of conversation in our household many times. My husband insists that he would absolutely hate to win the lottery because it would completely change us. And if it somehow didn’t change us, it would, at the very least, change how everyone around us perceives us and acts toward us. He’s probably right (that was certainly the case with Maddie in this book). Actually, I knew someone personally who did win the lottery—when I was in high school, my biology teacher (and her sister) won 17.5 million dollars! And I can say from experience that things actually did change for her a lot—and people did treat her differently. In fact, I had people coming… Read more »

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Jul 12

The Lake Effect by Erin McCahan: Review of a Perfect Summer Read!

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Current Giveaways, Reviews 12 ★★★★

This is one of those perfect summer reads—the type of book you can read all in one sitting on a sunny morning (which is exactly what I did!). What Fed My Addiction: Good balance of light tone and heavy topics. This book covers some serious topics like death, chronic illness, class differences and family pressures, but Briggs’ voice is light and funny enough to make the read enjoyable rather than plodding. Plus, there are some really funny circumstances and secondary characters in this book. I found myself laughing out loud several times while reading this book, and chuckling for much of the rest of the time. Somehow this made the serious parts of the book that much more effective—I also found myself tearing up a few times. Briggs. Briggs isn’t a typical snarky teenage YA voice; he’s more sardonic and self-deprecating, which makes him very relatable. It was hard not to… Read more »

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Jul 05

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Upside of Unrequited, The Unlikelies, Dead Ed in My Head, and Bang

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 25

I know I’ve been relying on bite-sized reviews a lot lately, but I feel like it’s the only way I can get them all in. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This book was all sorts of adorable and it reminded me of me as a teen. Though I didn’t struggle with weight issues, I was very afraid to let a boy know I liked him—much better to avoid being hurt or embarrassed, which is exactly how Molly feels in the book. My friends who have struggled with weight issues have said that they connected to this book even more deeply—Molly thinks about her weight a lot, and in some ways, she lets it define her. Her insecurities lead to a complete unwillingness to take chances. She leaves the risk-taking up to her twin sister, who is daring enough in the area of romance for both of… Read more »

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Jul 03

Coming Up for Air by Miranda Kenneally: Review of the Final Hundred Oaks Hurrah!

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 15 ★★★★

I actually didn’t realize when I started reading that this was the final Hundred Oaks book. In fact, it wasn’t until I got to the epilogue and read an update on many of our favorite past characters that I realized that Kenneally was wrapping the series up with this one. I’m sad to see the series go, but I’m glad that I had the opportunity to read these books! (By the way, they can all be read as standalones, so if you haven’t dived into the series yet, feel free to jump in anywhere.) What Fed My Addiction: Feel-good reading. This is one of those romances that just makes me happy, you know? Kenneally always manages to tug at my heartstrings and make me swoon, and the book feels like perfect summer reading when you just need a little pick-me-up! There are all sorts of little details that Kenneally handles… Read more »

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Jun 15

Bite-Sized Reviews (and a Giveaway!): Eliza and Her Monsters, If I Fix You, The Gauntlet, Goodbye Days, and The Sun Is Also a Star

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 34

Today I’ve got bite-sized reviews of a few of my recent reads. There’s also a giveaway at the end of the post, so make sure you check it out. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This book was adorable and made me want to read fanfiction. I loved the story behind this one—Eliza has created a webcomic that went viral. She now has over a million fans, but no one knows who she is. When a new boy named Wallace starts at her school, she discovers that he’s a MEGA-fan. He’s even writing fanfiction for her creation. But he has no idea that she’s the face behind the comic. And the closer the two get to each other, the harder it is for Eliza to tell him the truth. Of course, this does not end well (surprise, surprise). There were a few things… Read more »

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Jun 05

Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott: Review, Giveaway & Scott’s Top 5 Writing Snack Attack Addictions

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 26 ★★★★

Okay, here’s the deal: This book is seriously messed up! It kind of reminds me of a train wreck you can’t look away from—not because it’s bad, by any means, but because the characters and the situation are so incredibly, intensely broken and dark. What Fed My Addiction: Surreal contemporary? The book is interesting because I was never quite sure what I was reading. I assumed from the beginning that it was sort of a dark fantasy/paranormal story, but after a while I determined there weren’t really any fantastical or paranormal elements, with the possible exception of Wilson—who I couldn’t quite figure out. Yet, the book didn’t read like a contemporary exactly either. The story involves human trafficking, but the “houses” with their systems of pay and the way you would reach the next house—it all felt incredibly surreal, like a contemporary on crack or something. And I couldn’t tell if… Read more »

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May 30

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Names They Gave Us, The Crown’s Fate, Tell Me Three Things and We Were Liars

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Reviews 24

Today I’ve got bite-sized reviews of a few of my recent reads. This was a great batch of books, so I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This book gave me all the feels and it was just what I needed right now. I’ve heard amazing things about Emery Lord, but I’ve never read her, and I have to confess that I was hesitant about this book because of the religious themes. Not because I don’t like religion in my books exactly, but because I’m always very nervous that Christianity is going to end up being slammed—it feels to me like contemporary books from non-Christian publishers tend to be skewed toward the idea that Christians are generally judgmental and possibly a little evil, so…. But I LOVED the progressive view of Christianity that was given in this book. It reminds us that Christians are not… Read more »

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May 25

Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee: Review, Giveaway & Dee’s Top Ten Addictions

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 8 ★★★★

This book is incredibly adorable and a perfect way to introduce MG readers to the concept of LGBT relationships. Since Mattie herself is unsure of how she feels, it gives the reader permission to be unsure with her, and it eases the MG reader into the idea that Mattie might be having romantic feelings for another girl. Because of that, a relatively simple book becomes powerful. What Fed My Addiction: Slow realization. At the start of this book it’s never even occurred to Mattie that she could be attracted to a girl—after all, she’s just getting over a crush that she had on a boy, and it’s not like she’s been questioning her sexuality her whole life. Because of that, we get to see the whole story from a realistically naive point of view. Mattie is confused at first about what she feels for Gemma. She certainly has no idea how Gemma feels about her…. Read more »

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May 19

The Truth About Happily Ever After by Karole Cozzo: Review & Giveaway

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 14 ★★★★

Once again, Cozzo gives us a realistically romantic story of fairy tale proportions. A little note about the genre: The book is officially billed as YA, but the characters are all in college, so I think of it more as NA. I think it’s YA because there are no actual sex scenes (a few implied fade to black scenes) and it’s overall a sweet romance, appropriate for high schoolers, even younger ones (there is a bit of drinking with a fake ID, but nothing else that would be seen as particularly questionable). New Adult readers who want books that cover the college-aged experience and don’t focus on sex would find this to be a perfect match! What Fed My Addiction: Fairy tale setting. The book takes place at a Disneyesque theme park and it was really fun to read about the job and how the people who work there as characters feel about it… Read more »

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May 13

It Started With Goodbye by Christina June: Review, Giveaway, and June’s Top Ten Addictions

Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 8 ★★★★

This book was exactly what I was hoping for—a fun contemporary twist on Cinderella that reminds us that sometimes family is complicated. And that’s okay. What Fed My Addiction: Focus on family. Sure this book has a cute romance element, but the story focuses a whole lot more on family issues than it does on the “prince.” (Actually, now that I think about it, I guess the original Cinderella kind of did too.) Tatum learns that sometimes we don’t really know even the people who are closest to us. Tatum has spent most of her life feeling like she can’t live up to her stepmother’s expectations and she’s never been close to her all-too-perfect stepsister. So when her summer goes very awry and she’s basically put on house arrest except for mandatory community service (and her best friend won’t speak to her), Tatum can’t imagine how her life could get any… Read more »

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