Review: On the Fence by Kasie West

Summary from Goodreads:
She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…

Charlie Reynolds can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at a chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world. To cope with the stress of her new reality, Charlie takes to spending nights chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence between their yards. As she grows to depend on their nightly Fence Chats, she realizes she's got a bigger problem than speeding tickets-she's falling for Braden. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.

I have loved every book Kasie West has written, including this one! She's a queen of spinning love stories and tugging (heart)strings. The summary/blurb pretty much reveals a lot of what happens in the beginning, with Charlie getting fined a speeding ticket and finding a job to pay it off. Charlie hangs a lot with her four brothers and the boy next door Braden, who has been friends with the lot of them since they were young. One night when she can't sleep due to her recurring nightmares, she goes out to the garden for some air and finds Braden sitting on the other side of the fence. Charlie finds herself unloading her thoughts to Braden (something she doesn't do during the day when they hang out) during these fence chats which become a frequent thing.

The dialogue in this book was funny and cute and I loved the way we were let in on the inside jokes shared between the characters. I loved the family dynamics between Charlie, her overprotective brothers and their father single-handedly raising them up. Most of all I loved the contrast between Braden and Charlie's interactions during the fence chats at night (where Charlie pictures a 'disembodied' Braden, hehe!) to their interactions during the day. I was anticipating the time it came when the line would blur!

I devoured this book like multiple Weis bars on a summer's day! On the Fence was sweet and satisfying but definitely left me craving for more because I just didn't want to leave.

Review: Nick and Norah Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Summary from Goodreads:
It all starts when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend for five minutes. He only needs five minutes to avoid his ex-girlfriend, who’s just walked in to his band’s show. With a new guy. And then, with one kiss, Nick and Norah are off on an adventure set against the backdrop of New York City – and smack in the middle of all the joy, anxiety, confusion, and excitement of a first date.

The reason I completed this horrendous book was so I could count it towards a challenge :/ straight off the bat I knew that I wouldn't connect with any of the characters. They unnecessarily swore (50+ f words in one chapter?!) and they were irresponsible hormone-driven teenagers. I hated Norah the most who was always going on about how a high achiever and good girl she was when her appalling behaviour and attitude conveyed the complete opposite. Straight laced she tells us? She sends her drunk and passed out friend to the back of the van of some strangers and throw them her address and house keys for good measure while she goes and frolicks with Nick! What the heck?!?!

The story was a mess, things made no sense and one crazy thing lead to another with no end in sight. When the ending arrived, I was completely dissatisfied and my final thought was that I should have read a hundred odd pages of the dictionary (to boost my vocab rather than getting the f word thrown at me a hundred times) instead of this disaster of a book. Complete waste of time.

Review: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Summary from Goodreads:
Lara Lington has always had an overactive imagination, but suddenly that imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal professional twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they?

When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie — a feisty, demanding girl with firm ideas about fashion, love, and the right way to dance—mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that had been in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years, because Sadie cannot rest without it.

Lara and Sadie make a hilarious sparring duo, and at first it seems as though they have nothing in common. But as the mission to find Sadie’s necklace leads to intrigue and a new romance for Lara, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from and about each other.

This was the first book I picked up written by Sophie Kinsella and it was a delightful read! The book begins with Lara, our main character, attending the funeral of Sadie Lancaster who seemed to live an unspectacular life. Sadie was her great aunt but Lara (and the other/only family members in attendance) know nothing about Sadie besides that she lived to the age of 105. During the funeral procession, Lara hears a voice and sees a ghost yelling at her to stop the funeral. It turns out to be none other than Sadie herself (a younger self)! What ensues is a stream of ridiculously funny events!

Lara learns of her great aunt's not-so-ordinary-after-all life through Sadie's 23-year-old ghost. It was entertaining and insightful being introduced to the fashion and way of life in the 1920s and the modern sights of London. Sadie was a funny character and frankly very annoying and obnoxious but her heart and the way she made Lara open her eyes made up for this.

I liked the way the novel came full circle and finished with a funeral except this time around things are different.

Twenties Girl was a really fun novel which also delivered some excellent heartwarming and tear-inducing moments. It will definitely not be the last Sophie Kinsella book I'll read!

Review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

Summary from Goodreads:
Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

At the beginning of Faking Normal I was confused as Alexi, the narrator, seemed to have her thoughts all over the place. Alexi was hiding a secret and the way she was beginning the story was cryptic and hard to follow. Fortunately, once I got through the initial chapters, the writing started to flow a lot better. It was distressing to read about what Alexi was doing to herself all the while kept in the dark as to what made her this way.

I loved the friendship Alexi and Bodee developed throughout the novel. It was sweet and heartening to see them develop trust and support each other through their hard times.

The mysteries were well written. One mystery to be uncovered was who did something to Alexi and why she hurts herself. The other was more lighthearted; who was the 'Captain' who spoke to her heart through song lyrics on Alexi's school desk and made her days easier to get by.

There were some aspects of the book which were not quite believable (the way certain events and people panned out). Other than that, Faking Normal was a gripping read.