Ash Reads Stuff

Girl in Snow  by Danya Kkafka Publication Date: August 1, 2017 Pages:  368 (ebook) Genre: Mystery My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  WHO ARE YOU WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING? When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both. In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory. Compulsively readable and powerfully moving, Girl in Snow offers an unforgettable reading experience and introduces a singular new talent in Danya Kukafka. My Review:  I'

It's been so long since I've gotten to do a Top Ten Tuesday , a weekly feature from The Broke and the Bookish . I love doing these, and this is a good one. This week's topic is the top ten books I've read in 2017. Most of these books are also published in 2017, or will be published later on this year. Here we go... Heartache. Swoons. Disapproving dads. What more could you want?  Love letters in old books? Old best friends becoming more? Sign me up.  I would read this book a million times.  If you've ever questioned your faith, family, or yourself - this is for you.  So much snark and cuteness.  I love all of Trish's words. And she's a local (to me) author, so check it out.  Quite possibly my favorite book of the year. It doesn't come out until October, but it's worth the wait.  Cute boys, smart girls, sword fights. You want this one. So many emotions with this one and so many things you want to kno

All the Wrong Chords  by Christine Hurley Deriso Publication Date: December 12, 2017 Pages: 280 (ebook) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Scarlett Stiles is desperate for a change of scenery after her older brother, Liam, dies of a drug overdose. But spending the summer with her grandfather wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Luckily, Scarlett finds something to keep her busy--a local rock band looking for a guitarist. Even though playing guitar has been hard since Liam died, Scarlett can't pass on an opportunity like this, and she can't take her eyes off the band's hot lead singer either. Is real happiness just around the corner? Or will she always be haunted by her brother's death? My Review:  I kind of requested this one on a whim, not sure what to expect. The premise sounds great and it's totally something I'm into, but I was a little worried about it being pulled off. I get super picky with my hea

Kissing Max Holden  by Katy Upperman Publication Date: August 1, 2017 Pages: 336 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  “Jilly. . . if you tell me to go home, I will.” After his father has a life-altering stroke, Max Holden isn't himself. His long-time friend Jillian Eldridge only wants to help him, but she doesn't know how. So when he climbs through her window one night, she knows that she shouldn't let him kiss her. But she does. When they're caught in the act by her dad, she swears it'll never happen again. Because kissing Max Holden is a terrible idea. With a new baby sibling on the way, and her parents fighting all the time, Jillian spends more and more time with Max. And not kissing Max is easier said than done, even though she knows he still has a girlfriend. Will Jill follow her heart, and allow their kisses to blossom into something more, or will she listen to her head and stop kissing Max Holden

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake Publication Date: May 2, 2017 Pages: 336 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father. Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But,

A Million Junes  by Emily Henry Publication Date: May 16th, 2017 Pages: 350 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: For as long as Jack “June” O’Donnell has been alive, her parents have had only one rule: stay away from the Angert family. But when June collides—quite literally—with Saul Angert, sparks fly, and everything June has known is thrown into chaos. Who exactly is this gruff, sarcastic, but seemingly harmless boy who has returned to their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, after three mysterious years away? And why has June—an O’Donnell to her core—never questioned her late father’s deep hatred of the Angert family? After all, the O’Donnells and the Angerts may have mythic legacies, but for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them. As Saul and June’s connection grows deeper, they find that the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers seem

Once and For All  by Sarah Dessen Publication Date: June 6, 2017 Pages: 358 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that's why she's cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm's length. But Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged, now that he's met the one girl he really wants. Sarah Dessen’s many, many fans will adore her latest, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story that has everything—humor, romance, and an ending both happy and imperfect, just like life itself. My Review: I'll have to admit to being a little disappointed with this one. Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors and I've read all o

The Tea Planter's Wife  by Dinah Jefferies Publication Date: August 27, 2015 Pages:  418 (hardcover) Genre:  Historical Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Syopsis: Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper is newly married to a rich and charming widower, eager to join him on his tea plantation, determined to be the perfect wife and mother. But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected. The plantation workers are resentful, the neighbours treacherous, and there are clues to the past - a dusty trunk of dresses, an overgrown gravestone in the grounds - that her husband refuses to discuss. Just as Gwen finds her feet, disaster strikes. She faces a terrible choice, hiding the truth from almost everyone, but a secret this big can't stay buried forever.... My Review: This book started out veeeeeery slow for me. So slow that I put it down for a few months. I couldn't get into Gwen as a character and wasn't quite sure if anything exciting was actually

Ready to Run by Lauren Layne Publication Date: August 22, 2017 Pages: 175 (ebook) Genre: Contemporary Romance My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Jordan Carpenter thinks she’s finally found the perfect candidate for Jilted, a new dating show about runaway grooms: Luke Elliott, a playboy firefighter who’s left not one but three brides at the altar. The only problem? Luke refuses to answer Jordan’s emails or return her calls. Which is how she ends up on a flight to Montana to recruit him in person. It’s not Manhattan but at least the locals in Lucky Hollow seem friendly . . . except for Luke, who’s more intense—and way hotter—than the slick womanizer Jordan expected. Eager to put the past behind him, Luke has zero intention of following this gorgeous, fast-talking city girl back to New York. But before he can send her packing, Jordan’s everywhere: at his favorite bar, the county fair, even his exes’ book club. Annoyingly, everyone in Lucky Hollow seems to

When Dimple Met Rishi  by Sandhya Menon Publication Date: May 30, 2017 Pages:  380 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: The rom-com that everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right? Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Becau

Into the Water  by Paula Hawkins Publication Date: May 2, 2017 Pages: 388   (hardcover) My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged. Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother's sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she'd never return. With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptive

In a Perfect World  by Trish Doller Publication Date: May 23, 2017 Pages:  294 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Caroline Kelly is excited to be spending her summer vacation working at the local amusement park with her best friend, exploring weird Ohio with her boyfriend, and attending soccer camp with the hope she’ll be her team’s captain in the fall. But when Caroline’s mother is hired to open an eye clinic in Cairo, Egypt, Caroline’s plans are upended. Caroline is now expected to spend her summer and her senior year in a foreign country, away from her friends, her home, and everything she’s ever known. With this move, Caroline predicts she’ll spend her time navigating crowded streets, eating unfamiliar food, and having terrible bouts of homesickness. But when she finds instead is a culture that surprises her, a city that astounds her, and a charming, unpredictable boy who challenges everything she thought she knew about

The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord Publication Date : May 16, 2017 Pages: 384 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: When it all falls apart, who can you believe in? Everything is going right for Lucy Hansson, until her mom’s cancer reappears. Just like that, Lucy breaks with all the constants in her life: her do-good boyfriend, her steady faith, even her longtime summer church camp job. Instead, Lucy lands at a camp for kids who have been through tough times. As a counselor, Lucy is in over her head and longs to be with her parents across the lake. But that’s before she gets to know her coworkers, who are as loving and unafraid as she so desperately wants to be. It’s not just new friends that Lucy discovers at camp—more than one old secret is revealed along the way. In fact, maybe there’s much more to her family and her faith than Lucy ever realized. My Review:  I love Emery Lord, but I was a little wary going into

All Things New  by Lauren Miller Publication Date: August 1, 2017 Pages:  328 (paperback) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Jessa Gray has always felt broken inside, but she’s gotten very good at hiding it. No one at school knows about the panic attacks, the therapy that didn't help, the meds that haven’t worked. But when a severe accident leaves her with a brain injury and noticeable scars, Jessa’s efforts to convince the world that she’s okay finally crumble—now she looks as shattered as she feels. Fleeing from her old life in Los Angeles, Jessa moves to Colorado to live with her dad, but things go from bad to worse when she realizes she’s seeing bruises and scars on the people around her that no one else can see. She blames it on the accident, but as her body heals and the hallucinations continue, Jessa wonders if what she’s seeing could somehow have a deeper meaning. In her quest for answers, she falls for Mar

The Boy Most Likely To  by Huntley Fitzpatrick Publication Date:  August 18, 2015 Pages: 425 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To . . . well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters. For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard. My Review:  First off, I don't know why it's taken me almost two years to read this book. For me, Huntley Fitzpatrick is an auto-read, so I'm not sure what happened. I loved My Life Next Door  and was thrilled to be going back into that l

The Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan Publication Date: May 2, 2017 Pages:  414 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Zeus has punished his son Apollo—god of the sun, music, archery, poetry, and more—by casting him down to earth in the form of a gawky, acne-covered sixteen-year-old mortal named Lester. The only way Apollo can reclaim his rightful place on Mount Olympus is by restoring several Oracles that have gone dark. What is affecting the Oracles, and how can Apollo do anything about them without his powers? After experiencing a series of dangerous—and frankly, humiliating—trials at Camp Half-Blood, Apollo must now leave the relative safety of the demigod training ground and embark on a hair-raising journey across North America. Fortunately, what he lacks in godly graces he's gaining in new friendships—with heroes who will be very familiar to fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroe

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley Publication Date:  May 10, 2016 Pages:  256 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she’s being realistic). But how can she prove she deserves a spot there? Solomon is the answer. Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa thrusts herself into his life, introducing him to her charming boyfriend Clark and confiding her fears in him. Soon, all three teens are far closer than they thought they’d be, and when their facades fall down, their friendships threaten to collapse, as well. A hilarious and heartwarming coming-of-age perfect for readers of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and All The Bright Places, Highly Illogical Behavior showcases the different ways in which we hide ourselves from the world—a