Ash Reads Stuff

Start Here by Trish Doller Publication Date: August 13th, 2019 Pages:  352 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Two teens go on a life-changing sailing trip as they deal with the grief of losing their best friend in this heartwrenching, hopeful novel from the author of Something Like Normal and In a Perfect World . Willa and Taylor were supposed to spend the summer after high school sailing from Ohio to Key West with their best friend, Finley. But Finley died before graduation, leaving them with a twenty-five-foot sailboat, a list of clues leading them to destinations along the way, and a friendship that’s hanging by a thread. Now, Willa and Taylor have two months and two thousand miles to discover how life works without Finley—and to decide if their own friendship is worth saving. From acclaimed author Trish Doller comes a poignant tale of forgiveness, grief, and the brilliant discoveries we make within our...

The Last Hope by: Krista & Becca Ritchie Publication Date: August 13th, 2019 Pages: 400 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars NetGalley Synopsis: A stunning conclusion to the sci-fi romance duology by writing duo Krista & Becca Ritchie, The Last Hope is filled with twists and turns you'll never see coming. Sacrifice all you have to survive. Imprisoned for weeks on an enemy starcraft, Franny, Court, and Mykal have sat with an unfathomable revelation. But as they fight to stay alive, escaping prison means trusting a young mysterious stranger. He knows everything about their lost histories, and when answers aren’t given freely, the bonded trio are forced to join a mission. One that will determine the fate of humanity. Legend says, a baby—the first of her species—has the power to cloak and teleport planets. Tasked with retrieving the infant, Court fears the baby is just a myth, and if they fail, they’ll never find the truth about t...

A Very Large Expanse of Sea  by Tahereh Mafi Publication Date: October 16th, 2018 Pages: 320 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had...

Okay, look. I have a problem with hyped up books. I have issues with people talking and talking about something and telling me to read it. I've been burned before (Allegiant ring a bell to anyone?) and sometimes I'm just not into the book that everyone else loves. No big deal, it's just me. So I never read The Raven Boys or any of the rest of the series. I didn't really even have an inkling that I might want to read the books. Honestly, I don't even know why I picked it up in the first place two weeks ago. I grabbed an audiobook of   The Raven Boys  on my library app because I like to listen to books on my long ass commute to and from work and when I read. I had to wait about a week for the book, so I read some other stuff during that time, including Maggie's All the Crooked Saints , which I didn't love and therefore was wary of TRB. Okay, I also just remembered that because I read All the Crooked Saints  I wanted to try TRB. Great, now we've come...

Little Do We Know  by Tamara Ireland Stone Publication Date:   June 5th, 2018 Pages: 416 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken in months. Not since the fight—the one where they said things they couldn’t take back. Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah’s strong faith is shaken when her family’s financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places—and people—for answers to the difficult questions she’s suddenly facing. No matter how much Hannah and Emory desperately want to bridge the thirty-six steps between their bedroom windows, they can’t. Not anymore. Until their paths cross unexpectedly when, one night, Hannah finds Luke doubled over i...

The Raging Ones  by Krista & Becca Ritchie Publication Date: August 14, 2018 Pages:  400 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Synopsis: An edge of your seat sci-fi romance with twists and turns that you will never see coming! In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. Until the day she does. Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him. Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions ...

Brighter  by Rochelle Allison Publication Date: December 3rd, 2017 Pages: 247 (kindle) Genre: Contemporary Romance My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Synopsis:  Sometimes the detour gets us home faster than the main road ever could...  Overachiever Alina Wright has two goals: blaze through grad school, and snag a job in marine conservation. Her academic career has always been meticulously planned and executed, so when a summer internship fall through, she’s at a loss.  Until her friend-with-benefits, Theo, invites her on a trip to the tropics...no strings, no expectations.  Days of glimmering beaches and nights dancing beneath the stars, a vibrant culture and a community of close friends, life on St. Croix is meant to be savored. Things with Theo cool, but other passions fire up and it doesn’t take long for Alina to fall in love with the island—or with Jude Larsen, the irresistible bartender downtown.  All vacations come...

I Have Lost My Way  by Gayle Foreman Publication Date: March 27th, 2018 Pages: 304 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: A powerful story of empathy and friendship from the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of If I Stay. Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. When a fateful accident draws these three strangers together, their secrets start to unravel as they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in help­ing the others out of theirs. An emotionally cathartic story of losing love, finding love, and discovering the person you are meant to be, I Have Lost My Way is best­selling author Gayle Forman at her finest. My Review: Sigh. I love Gayle Foreman. She just has a way of pullin...

Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley Publication Date: June 6th, 2017 Pages: 273 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Love lives between the lines. Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came. Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction, and the escape. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore. She can’t see her future. Henry’s future isn’t looking too promising, either. His girlfriend dumped him. The bookstore is slipping away. And his family is breaking apart. As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because lif...

Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi Publication Date: February 6th, 2018 Pages: 336 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Scott Ferdowsi has a track record of quitting. Writing the Great American Novel? Three chapters. His summer internship? One week. His best friends know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their lives, but Scott can hardly commit to a breakfast cereal, let alone a passion. With college applications looming, Scott’s parents pressure him to get serious and settle on a career path like engineering or medicine. Desperate for help, he sneaks off to Washington, DC, to seek guidance from a famous professor who specializes in grit, the psychology of success. He never expects an adventure to unfold out of what was supposed to be a one-day visit. But that’s what Scott gets when he meets Fiora Buchanan, a ballsy college student whose life ambition is to write crossword puzzles. When the bicycle she lends him gets Sc...

Dress Codes for Small Towns  by Courtney Stevens Publication Date: August 22nd, 2017 Pages:  352 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: As the tomboy daughter of the town’s preacher, Billie McCaffrey has always struggled with fitting the mold of what everyone says she should be. She’d rather wear sweats, build furniture, and get into trouble with her solid group of friends: Woods, Mash, Davey, Fifty, and Janie Lee. But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she’s in love with Woods, Billie’s filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods…and maybe with Janie Lee, too. Always considered “one of the guys,” Billie doesn’t want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. So she keeps her conflicting feelings to herself, for fear of ruining the group dynamic. Except it’s not just about keeping the peace, it’s about understanding love on her terms—this thing th...

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Publication Date:  February 28th, 2017 Pages:  444 (Hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life. My Re...

Top Ten by Katie Cotugno Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017 Pages: 320 (Hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Ryan McCullough and Gabby Hart are the unlikeliest of friends. Introverted, anxious Gabby would rather do literally anything than go to a party. Ryan is a star hockey player who can get any girl he wants—and does, frequently. But against all odds, they became not only friends, but each other’s favorite person. Now, as they face high school graduation, they can’t help but take a moment to reminisce and, in their signature tradition, make a top ten list—counting down the top ten moments of their friendship: 10. Where to begin? Maybe the night we met. 9. Then there was our awkward phase. 8. When you were in love with me but never told me… 7. Those five months we stopped talking were the hardest of my life. 6. Through terrible fights… 5. And emotional makeups. 4. You were there for me when I got my heart broken. 3. …but a...

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 Fin...

Alex, Approximately  by Jenn Bennett Publication Date: April 4, 2017 Pages:  388 (paperback) Genre: Young Adult Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: The one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet. Classic movie fan Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online as Alex. Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush. Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new archnemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever it...

The Impossible Fortress  by Jason Rekulak Publication Date: February 7, 2017 Pages:  304 (kindle) Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Billy Marvin’s first love was a computer. Then he met Mary Zelinsky. Do you remember your first love? The Impossible Fortress begins with a magazine…The year is 1987 and Playboy has just published scandalous photographs of Vanna White, from the popular TV game show Wheel of Fortune. For three teenage boys—Billy, Alf, and Clark—who are desperately uneducated in the ways of women, the magazine is somewhat of a Holy Grail: priceless beyond measure and impossible to attain. So, they hatch a plan to steal it. The heist will be fraught with peril: a locked building, intrepid police officers, rusty fire escapes, leaps across rooftops, electronic alarm systems, and a hyperactive Shih Tzu named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Failed attempt after failed attempt leads them to a genius master plan—the...

A List of Cages  by Robin Roe Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 Pages:  320 (hardcover) Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 stars Goodreads Synopsis: When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, an...