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The Sister Pact By Stacie Ramey || Review

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Hey Y’all! Before I get into the review, I just wanted to let you know that I may be starting a new job this weekend so if I become slow with posting or replying, it will only be until I get into the swing of things. Thanks for understanding!

So recently I read The Sister Pact. I was so much into reading this book that I didn’t take nearly as many notes as I should have so this is more of a brief review. I promise other books will have a much longer, better-detailed review.

Borrowed or bought? Bought

Where did I get it?: Books-a-Million, in store

What did I pay?: a whooping $2.97 (Thank you bargain buys!)

Number of pages? 310

Where can you get it? I wasn’t able to find the price I paid online but here are some links to brand new, physical copies of this book.*

I do not make any money off of these links. This is simply to make it easier for you to find the book and compare prices. I normally buy my books at Books-A-Million since I have a membership with them.

Amazon– $4.42

Book depository $8.90

Barnes and Noble: $9.89

Books a million: $10.99

Allie, an aspiring artist going into her junior year of high school deals with the loss and aftermath of her older sister, Leah’s, suicide, a suicide Allie was supposed to a part of. As she struggles through her parents lingering around her, watching for any sudden indication that Allie will go next, Allie begins to uncover secrets about her sister, her death and the life she thought she knew.

Four out of five teacups. This was a good book! I would probably reread this or recommend it!

  • Allie’s memories of her relationship with Leah from when their parents were fighting really touched me. I am a huge sucker for sister relationships so this really touches me.
  • The fact that Allie and her mom end up bonding over art was touching to me. I know how isolating grief can be and when you find that connection to someone, it acts like a lifeline.
  • While I enjoyed most of this book, the on-again, off-again relationship between Max and Allie was one aspect of the book I could have done without. At first it seems like Allie is only using Nick to make Max jealous. I, for one, am not a fan of love triangles

So I thought a fun thing to in some of my reviews would be to leave you books that are similar to the book I was reviewing. In this case I was hardly into the book before it reminded me of one. However for me, this book I’m going to tag is much more triggering in my opinion.

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Wintergirls also heavily focuses on suicide, sister relationships and grief. Wintergirls also focuses on self-harm, eating disorders and tense family relationships. While I probably should not have had this book in my early and middle teen years, I did and I love and still love it. I have actually owned two copies of this and I would buy another if mine went missing.

That’s it! That’s my review! You can always reach out to me if you want more details. But what do you think? Have you read this book? Will you add it to your TBR? Let me know!!

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Down the TBR hole || Part 1

A few days ago, while going through to find other people, I came across this post over at A Book. A thought. I had been planning on clearing out my TBR anyway and I thought I would give it a shot. Sofii does it every week I believe but I’m going to set mine up to go off every other Tuesday. You should be seeing this posted on August 13th so the next one should be the 27th

Also y’all, I’ve been having issues with comments I’m making on others posts getting stuck in the spam box. Please make sure you’re checking that so you don’t miss people who are trying to connect with you! Thank you!

Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.

Order on ascending date added.

Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time. I picked 10.

Read the synopses of the books

Decide: keep it or should it go?

The Anatomy of Wings

Ten-year-old Jennifer Day lives in a small mining town full of secrets. Trying to make sense of the sudden death of her teenage sister, Beth, she looks to the adult world around her for answers.

As she recounts the final months of Beth’s life, Jennifer sifts through the lies and the truth, but what she finds are mysteries, miracles, and more questions. Was Beth’s death an accident? Why couldn’t Jennifer—or anyone else—save her?

Through Jennifer’s eyes, we see one girl’s failure to cross the threshold into adulthood as her family slowly falls apart.

I’m going to pass on this one. It just didn’t call to me. Also, it’s been on my TBR since 2015.
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The tale of the young princess and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known. Despite a few variations from telling to telling, the story remains the same—the Queen was jealous of the girl’s beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen’s attempt on the sweet, naive girl’s life. 

Another tale far less often spoken of is the one that explains what caused the Queen to become so contemptuously vile. Still, some have attempted to guess at the reason. Perhaps the Queen’s true nature was that of a wicked hag and her beautiful, regal appearance a disguise used to fool the King. Others claim that the Queen might have hated the girl for her resemblance to the King’s first wife. Mostly, the Queen is painted as a morally abhorrent woman who never loved another being during the course of her miserable life.

In fact, the theories about exactly what cause the Queen’s obsessive vanity and jealous rage are too numerous to catalog. This book recounts a version of the story that has remained untold until now. It is a tragic tale of love and loss, and it contains a bit of magic. It is a tale of the Wicked Queen

I am absolutely keeping this! I believe it is now a series and I fully intend on reading all of the books!
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Hannah wants to spend her senior year of high school going to football games and Mardi Gras parties with her tight-knit group of friends.

The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl–especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker.

Hannah knows she should like Wally, the kind, earnest boy who asks her to prom. She should cheer on her friend Clay when he asks Baker to be his girlfriend. She should follow the rules of her conservative Louisiana community–the rules that have been ingrained in her since she was a child.

But Hannah longs to be with Baker, who cooks macaroni and cheese with Hannah late at night, who believes in the magic of books as much as Hannah does, and who challenges Hannah to be the best version of herself.

And Baker might want to be with Hannah, too–if both girls can embrace that world-shaking, yet wondrous, possibility.

I really don’t feel one way or another about this one. I’ll keep it around a while longer and come back to it.
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Colette has been bored and lonely ever since her best friend, Sadie, dumped her the summer before they stared high school. She tries to be perfect for everyone left in her life: her parents, her younger brothers, her church youth group, even her boyfriend, Mark. But Colette is restless. And she misses Sadie.

When Sadie tells Colette that she needs her old friend to join her on a family vacation to the Greek Islands, one that leaves in only a few days, Colette is shocked to hear their old magic word: need. And she finds herself agreeing.

Colette tries to relax and enjoy her Grecian surroundings but it’s not easy to go on vacation with the person who hurt you most in the world. When the reason for the trip finally surfaces, Colette finds out this is not only a fun vacation. Sadie has kept an enormous secret from Colette for years…forever. It’s a summer full of surprises, but that might be what Colette needs.

I’m going to keep this one and I think I’m going to add it to my September TBR. I’ve seen some bad reviews so we will see!
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Can true love be built on lies? A teen on the run seeks relief and redemption in this gripping, romantic read.

Leah Kurtz has finally found a place to call home, a town where she and baby Addy can live in peace, far from the drug-infested place she grew up. Chris is one of the best parts of her new life, the only person who’s ever made her feel safe. And now that she’s found him, there’s no way she can tell the truth:

Her real name is Faith, not Leah. She’s seventeen, not nineteen. And the baby isn’t hers—Faith kidnapped her.

Faith’s history catches up with her when a cop starts asking questions and Chris’s aunt spots her picture in the newspaper. She knows it’s time to run again, but if Faith leaves, she’ll lose Chris. If Chris is in love with a lie, though, did Faith ever really have him in the first place?

Yes I am keeping this! This sounds like my kind of book 100% and I will probably try to squeeze it into August.
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Sometimes finding your own voice
is a matter of listening to the heart….
Jodi Picoult’s powerful novel portrays an emotionally charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment….For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Jane turns on him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with their teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey charted by letters from her brother Joley, guiding them to his Massachusetts apple farm, where surprising self-discoveries await. Now Oliver, an expert at tracking humpback whales across vast oceans, will search for his wife across a continent — and find a new way to see the world, his family, and himself: through her eyes.

I love Jodi. This book could be about how dogs poop and I would still read it.
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Sometimes at night, I wake up and stare at the heart for hours. I think of how I collected each piece from the beach, how I glued it all together into one big sculpture. I wonder if Connor realizes what it means, that he’ll always have a piece of me no matter what happens. Each piece of glass is another piece of myself that I gave to him.

It’s too bad I didn’t keep any pieces for myself.

At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved – and needed. Ann can’t recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor’s rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything – and everyone – in its path.

This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.

I have been meaning to pick this up for ages. I will be doing so by October.
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For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel envy…”

Tess is the exact opposite of her beautiful, athletic sister. And that’s okay. Kristina is the sporty one, Tess is the smart one, and they each have their place. Until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly Tess is the center of the popular crowd, everyone eager for updates. There are senior boys flirting with her. Yet the smiles of her picture-perfect family are cracking and her sister could be dying. Now Tess has to fill a new role: the strong one. Because if she doesn’t hold it together, who will?

The last book I read by this author was a huge bust so I’m not sure I want to read this.
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For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

Another undecided…. I’m just really unsure about this book.
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Kate was Lissa’s best friend. They’ve shared everything for four years. Then one night at a drunken party, Kate leaned in to kiss Lissa, and Lissa kissed her back. And now Kate is pretending Lissa doesn’t exist. Confused and alone, Lissa’s left questioning everything she thought she knew about herself, and about life. But with the help of a free-spirit new friend, Lissa’s beginning to find the strength to realize that sometimes falling in love with the wrong person is the only way to find your footing.

I just want to read it!!
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Eighteen-year-old twins Adina and Tovah have little in common besides their ambitious nature. Viola prodigy Adina yearns to become a soloist—and to convince her music teacher he wants her the way she wants him. Overachiever Tovah awaits her acceptance to Johns Hopkins, the first step on her path toward med school and a career as a surgeon.

But one thing could wreck their carefully planned futures: a genetic test for Huntington’s, a rare degenerative disease that slowly steals control of the body and mind. It’s turned their Israeli mother into a near stranger and fractured the sisters’ own bond in ways they’ll never admit. While Tovah finds comfort in their Jewish religion, Adina rebels against its rules.

When the results come in, one twin tests negative for Huntington’s. The other tests positive.

These opposite outcomes push them farther apart as they wrestle with guilt, betrayal, and the unexpected thrill of first love. How can they repair their relationship, and is it even worth saving?

From debut author Rachel Lynn Solomon comes a luminous, heartbreaking tale of life, death, and the fragile bond between sisters.

I’m a sucker for sister relationships! Plus it just sounds so good???

I
chose to do ten
books per post that
way I’m not overwhelmed and neither are you! I’m also going to use
Sofii’s idea of having you guys interact! Am I keeping something you
think I should pass on? Did I pass on one of your favorite books? Let
me know!!

My top 5 favorite books of all time!*

Hey everyone! Today, August 9th, is national book lover day! I had no idea about this until a few days ago. My friend Jasmin has a calendar that tells what “national day” it is. So imagine my surprise when I looked at it and saw what today was.

I knew right away what I would share with you today. Some of my absolute favorite books! Some of these are all time favorites and some are books I’ve read in 2018/2019 that I loved*.

*Ignore the fact that these are mostly from 2018/2019 because I was terrible at keeping track of what I’ve read before this and my library only tracks what you check out if you turn tracking on.**

**This is turned on now so I’ll never have that issue again.

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One book that has stood the test of time is The Language of Flowers . I read this in high school while I was part of a floral program. It is a great book. I would guess I read this in 2014 and still in 2019 it pops up in my mind time to time. It’s on my to buy list as for the last couple of years, I haven’t been buying books. It is also at the top of my re-read list which I plan to start working through in September. I will make sure to write up a true and updated review at that point.

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According to my Goodreads list, I added The Chaos of Standing Still to my TBR in January 18th 2018 and it was marked as read exactly two months later. Since then this book has been on mind and for the longest time, I wasn’t sure I had saved it on Goodreads and I couldn’t remember the name of the book. The only major plot points I remembered were the MC had anxiety and was constantly googling answers to questions, it was based in an airport and the MC’s best friend had died. Last week, I finally started a search to find it so I could add it to my to-buy list. I’m so glad I found it. This book is one of those that I know will stick me forever.

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I bought It’s Not Like It’s a Secret in December of 2018 on a whim after a friend gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble. I read it literally the next day even though I had a list of books to read first. I found in a section that was filled with LGBT based books. Bonus points, the two MC’s are POC! Amazing representation is one of the many reasons this book is on my “five teacup books” Also I love the cover art??? It’s so simple and so beautiful at the same time. 100000000% recommend. Please read this book!!!!!

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Just about or around the time I realized that I liked girls, I found Keeping You a Secret. I was terrified to come out, of the feelings I had and I had no idea how to deal with them. Reading this book, hearing how Cece and Holland felt and how Holland is Cece’s rock during Cece coming out really made me feel better. It helped realize that as long as you have on person in your corner, even if your family turns on you, you’ll be okay.

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Oof, if you look closely you will see that this book and the two above it, all of these books have something in common. The main characters are LGBT (Mostly L). I guess it’s true that people look for themselves in the media they consume. I’m not sure when I started reading Sing You Home but I promise you, I read it at least once a year. A story about older (read not teens) women being together, especially after one comes out later in life, was uplifting to see.

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And last but never, ever least, I give you Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Yup. That’s right, I am one of the few people I know who is able to pick a favorite Harry Potter book. Whats more, it does not line up with my favorite movie. So why do I love Order of the Phoenix so very much? First of all, it’s blue. Or at least this edition is. No, I’m not kidding. But the other major reason I love this book is… Minerva McGonagall. McGonagall is my absolute favorite character in the series and I am so mad that they cut so many of her scenes out of the movies. #McGongalldeservedbetter.

So that’s it. My top five favorite books! Do we have any of the same books? Will you add any of these to your TBR?

My August TBR

Hi everyone! As my first post on my brand new reading blog, (that may or may not still be in the progress of getting set up), I thought I would share my August 2019 TBR list! My goal for the year was to read 50 books and I read the first 25 within the first few months and then… I touched maybe five books until middle of July. So as of August 5th, I sit at 30 books.

With 20 books to go and no books to read, I decided to look into book blogs (like this one!) to find recommendations on what I should be reading! And then with a new fire, I added about 100 books to my Goodreads to read list and set off to the library and the book store. My love for books definitely got ahead of me as I bought three books and put five on hold. That’s just under half the books I need to read to finish my Goodreads challenge! Anywho! After all this rambling, let’s get into what eight books I plan to read in August.

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The first book I plan to read this month is The Sister Pact By Stacie Ramey. This is one of the books I purchased and I am starting with it because I am a sucker for sister relationships. I will be doing a mini review on this one as I have actually already finished reading it!

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Number two is Mary Poppins By P.L. Travers! As a huge Disney fan, I finally decided to dive into the world of Mary Poppins, something I had never done before. Since we are heading to Disney later this year, I figured what better way to count down than reading books about my one of my favorite characters. This one is taking me a while to get through as I am actually reading it to a friend when she does not feel well.

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Number three has got to be Heartless By Marissa Meyer. The backstory of The Queen of Hearts called to me when I saw it on many other TBR’s and recommendations. At the time I am writing this, I just watched my librarian put it on the hold shelf so I will probably start this tonight!

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Number four, Girl Made of Stars By Ashley Herring Blake is one that I saw a lot of people love and a few people had this on their disappointing books lists so I am interested to see where I land with it.

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As I start to wish I had kept track of where I found these books, we reach number five! This Is What It Feels Like By Rebecca Barrow. Reading the blurb on goodreads, I find myself unsure of why exactly I wanted to read this one but hey, I’ll give it a shot.

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Number six I am ashamed to say, I have passed over many, many time despite only hearing good things! The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was on so many top book lists that I just can’t ignore it anymore!

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Number seven has honestly got my favorite cover of any of these and it’s The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. The cover is absolutely what drew me to the book first. That bright, punchy yellow and the daisy, I saw this on one or two book lists and then bought it that night.

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Last but not least is….. The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler. I got this book because it was less than three dollars and I had read one book from this author before. The Goodreads page says “A powerful and gripping contemporary YA from the author of I’m Not Her that’s “Just right for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jodi Picoult.” Jodi happens to be my favorite author of all time so I am excited to see how this book compares!

And that’s it! Those are my eight planned books for August! What are you reading this month? Have you read any of these books or are they on your TBR?