I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nikki can’t wait to leave Texas and follow her dreams of a music career . . . After a painful betrayal by her sister and a heated argument with their mother, Nikki is kicked out and finds herself homeless. She decides to go to California to pursue her singing career. When her best friend, Malachai, discovers her plan to flee Texas, he begs her to spend the remainder of spring break with him. He believes that over the course of a week, he can convince her to stay in Texas, or to at least graduate high school. But their plans are interrupted when Nikki’s little sister Vae goes missing.

Nikki is forced to work alongside her difficult mother as they set off in search of Vae, with Malachai’s support. Will Nikki find a reason to stay in Texas, or will this spring break be the last time she sees them? Through her emotional journey, Nikki ultimately finds the love she’s always been missing and discovers the power of her own voice.

Short and Sweet Review

Nikki is ready to get out of Cactus, Texas and start pursuing her music career. Its spring break and Nikki doesn’t really see a reason to stay so she finds this the perfect time to head to California. When Nikki stops at home she ends up getting in trouble for something her younger sister Vae did and ends up getting kicked out, feeling betrayed Nikki ends up ignoring Vae and continues with her plan to leave. When her best friend Malachai catches wind of her leaving, he convinces her to spend a week with him and see if there’s anyway he can get her to stay in Cactus. When Nikki learns that her sister Vae has run away Nikki knows she has to put her plans on pause and now she has to work with her mom to find Vae.

I have very conflicting feelings about this novel. I liked the rawness and how realistic Nikki’s journey is with being kicked out and feeling like she has no where to go and also wanting to follow her dreams. I think my biggest problem with this book was the romance. So first the family dynamic, Nikki and her mom have a tumultuous relationship, Nikki is literally walking on eggshells around her mom and its always like she can’t do anything right. Which is why Nikki has run away multiple times, and when she does run away she ends up at her friend Malachai’s house. Her sister Vae on the other hand gets treated a little bit better. Nikki wants to pursue her music career and she has an audition to go to in California but her friend Malachai convinces her to stay with him for a week before making what he thinks is a rash decision. The two end up going on a road trip but have to cut it short when they find out Vae is missing. This is when Nikki has to reluctantly work with her mom to find her sister. The two end up being civil with each other but you can definitely sense the tension between the two. I did like how this brought them together but they still had to get to the root of their problem which took time a little time, which was more realistic then everything magically being solved because of Vae running away. Now my problem with the romance, it was just too easy. Nikki and Malachai have always liked each other but haven’t really acted on those feelings, he even gets a girlfriend to make Nikki jealous and then breaks up with the girl when he finds out Nikki is leaving. The two end up spending a week together and it isn’t a slow burn it was instant and it was off-putting to me. I wish their relationship had more time to develop, because it felt like two friends who just got together and were always together, the title of the book also doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

Overall, this book was okay but it could have been better. I didn’t enjoy the romance, but I did like seeing the family relationship and how realistically it was portrayed. I do wish we saw more about Nikki’s singing career we saw snippets of it but not as much as I thought there should have been for someone who wants to pursue singing. I feel very indifferent about this book, it wasn’t the great but it wasn’t that bad either.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Monique is a preacher’s daughter who detests the impossible rules of her religion. Everyone expects her to wait until marriage, so she has no one to turn to when she discovers that she physically can’t have sex.

After two years of trying and failing, her boyfriend breaks up with her. To win him back, Monique teams up with straight-laced church girl Sasha—who is surprisingly knowledgeable about Monique’s condition—as well as Reggie, the misunderstood bad boy who always makes a ruckus at church, and together they embark upon a top-secret search for the cure.

While on their quest, Monique discovers the value of a true friend and the wonders of a love that accepts her for who she is. Despite everyone’s opinions about her virtue, she learns to live for herself, inspiring us all to reclaim our bodies and unapologetically love ourselves.

Short and Sweet Review

Monique is a pastor’s daughter, but she isn’t into the rules of her religion. Monique is required to wait for marriage before sex but Monique and her boyfriend Dom have been trying but Monique physically can’t have sex. Dom feels like he’s been waiting for too long and breaks up with Monique. Monique teams up with Sasha the church girl who knows a lot about Moniques condition, and Reggie the resident bad boy, these three embark on an adventure to cure Monique.

The more we see Monique grow without Dom in her life we see how awful he really is. Monique spent all her time with him so much so that she didn’t really have friends and he was very controlling and jealous. Something was not right with that boy. Reggie was an okay match for Monique he was more understanding of her condition and how her religion has shaped her.

This was a good book once we really got into it. I liked seeing Monique try to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it even though it wasn’t for the right reasons at first. We also see Moniques parents who weren’t my favorite people, they were very overbearing and we see a side plot where that pushed her older sister away. Monique grew a lot through the book and I love how she learned to love herself and live her own life and not the life people expect of her.

I’ve read a lot of Young Adult books where our main character is trying to lose her virginity, but not one where religion and a condition were a factor. This book was well written and teaches a lot of important lessons. Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl was heartfelt and inspiring and I loved it.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud” and all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing . . .

Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.

Short and Sweet

Quinn has a journal that she writes lists that consists of general things to a list of boys she’d like to kiss. But when her journal is misplaced and an anonymous account is blackmailing her Quinn has no choice but to face her fears and complete the items on her things to do before graduation list otherwise her whole journal could be posted online. Quinn teams up with Carter the last person known to have her journal and together they try to track the blackmailer and help Quinn face some of her fears.

Characters

Quinn: Quinn is our main character and she’s in high school. Quinn is filled with hope and fear and she places most of those in her journal. The journal is basically her life, it’s almost as if she doesn’t know who to be without her journal to guide her. Quinn had a lot of growth over the course of the book she began to face her fears and break out of her comfort zone. I loved seeing her become more comfortable and I appreciated the people she started to surround herself with because they brought out the best in her.

Romance

Quinn and Carter: Quinn has had a crush on Carter since he moved to Austin, but after there first group study session she’s put off. After the whole journal debacle Quinn reluctantly teams up with Carter to find who has her journal. After all the time they spent together we can see that they do care for each other. I like how protective Carter is over Quinn and how much he genuinely cares about her feelings and takes her concerns seriously although sometimes he has to make her think logically.

Quotes

~ “I’m so mad. And when I get this mad, I cry. And if I let it get too far, I ugly cry.”

~ “That’s what the journal’s all about: getting all my feelings out so I never have to talk about them.”

My Thoughts

Quinn’s journal holds everything that’s important to her. Once her journal goes missing she feels like she’s lost a part of herself and understandably she’s freaking out. Quinn teams up with Carter the last person known to have her journal and together they begin to tackle things on Quinn’s list of things to do before graduation. Quinn is fearful but with the help of Carter, Auden, and Olivia she begins to cross things off her list. I love that Quinn made new friends, especially Olivia. Olivia is one of those ride or die friends. We follow Quinn as she figures out who she truly is and realizes she never needed the journal to tell her. I also loved seeing all the lists Quinn would write.

Overall

This book is heartfelt and funny and tackles a lot of issues. In the end I was just so happy with how much Quinn grew and how much she learned to face her fears and have more confidence in herself. This was a book I couldn’t put down I loved the characters and the journey of self discovery!