Review

There’s Someone Inside Your House // Book Review

- Bunny 2 Comments

Title: There’s Someone Inside Your House
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: 2017
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller

2.5/5 Stars


Makani Young thought she’d left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She’s found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn’t far behind. Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.
Source: Goodreads

I was a fan of Stephanie Perkins’ contemporary books, so I was interested to see her take on a thriller. I had heard that it was reminiscent of ‘Scream’, which I loved. This book follows a high schooler, Makani, who has moved from Hawaii to Nebraska to live with her grandmother. But Makani has a dark secret that she is hiding. Now this wasn’t the most captivating book, and it dragged at times. I enjoyed that last half of the book, but that is about it. It was very romance heavy, which is strange for a thriller. The romance was very instant lovey and based on physical attraction. However, I didn’t feel like there was much chemistry between the characters.

Her friends were barely a factor in the book at all. When we did seem them, they were always throwing shade at her boyfriend. She even mentioned countless times how she felt like the third wheel in her friendship, which seemed pretty toxic to me. Ollie, the love interest, was probably my favorite character. He had a tragic past, but a dark sense of humor as well.

As for Makani’s dark past, it was pretty underwhelming. For a teenager it might have seemed life shattering, but it wasn’t all that horrible. I didn’t understand the reasoning behind her selfish, absent parents. It seemed as though the author added that so we could empathize with the main character. I would have enjoyed it better if she had told her parents off, because her mother was a witch with a B.

“Everybody has at least one moment they deeply regret, but that one moment…it doesn’t define all of you.”

Now the thing that ticked me off the most was the killer reveal and motive. Without giving too much away. The killer was so random and the reveal wasn’t shocking at all. There were times when I thought I knew who the killer was going to be, which kept me interested in the plot. However, I was completely disappointed in the identity of the killer. The motive was on a whole other level of annoyance. Totally ridiculous. I understand that people kill for all different reasons, but I thought it was altogether a terrible ending. It seemed as those the author didn’t know where she was going with the story, and threw a motive together at the last minute.

The best part of the book was the killer’s last attack. This character fought like hell, and wasn’t going to let some serial killer take her life. She was pretty bad ass. I am not disappointed by the book, but I was hoping for more from the story. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to readers unless you are a die-hard Stephanie Perkins fan. Once thing that I wanted to note was that the killing scenes where somewhat graphic, so keep that in mind before you pick it up.

As always, like and share this review with others, and remember to follow the blog to get notified whenever I post.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

My Blogging Process // Creating Content

- Bunny 2 Comments


Hi Friends,
Today, I will be doing a post on how I write my blog posts. I know this may seem like a weird topic for a blog post, but I thought it would be interesting to share. Here’s how I formulate my blog post ideas, edit post and keep track of reviews. I try to stay extremely organized regarding blog posts. Especially since I put up 3, sometimes 4, posts a week. I have to plan out all my posts for the month and then some. Currently, I have a list of blog post ideas that will last me until November. However, a true blogger knows that things change and you have to move posts around all the time. I just prefer having a master list of ideas that I can pull from at any given time.

I feel like I am constantly writing posts and thinking of ideas. So to make it easier on myself, I try to write my posts for the coming week on Sundays. I edit them and schedule them to go up. Now that doesn’t always work out thus, I am writing this post Monday, August 16th and it is going up on my blog today. Some quick post ideas are tags, top five favorites, and recommendations. Usually I like to have back-up posts ready to go live on days like today, but that isn’t always the case.

As for reviews, I try to jot down my thoughts throughout reading the book. This way I have my thoughts while reading the book and my overall final thoughts. It takes a lot of trial and error to perfect blog reviews, and come up with something you like. Right now I like my review style, but I am sure it will change later in my blogging life. As for editing posts, I am terrible at grammar. There are some free grammar and spell checker tools on the internet. There are paid versions as well.

I have noticed that grammar editors tend to change your writing style, so keep that in mind before investing in one. Luckily, I have my husband who is willing to proof read my posts. I will typically do one final proof read myself just for safety. A big tip when writing posts is not to focus so much on SEO. As a blogger that is something we are all trying to prefect, but sometimes your writing style and SEO aren’t going to agree. It is better to put out a post that reflects you instead of one that checks off all the SEO boxes.

I hope that this post interests you in someway. Please check back for other bookish and lifestyle posts.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

They Wish They Were Us // Book Review

- Bunny 4 Comments


Title: They Wish They Were Us
Author: Jessica Goodman
Published: 2020
Genre: Young Adult/Mystery


Freshman year Jill’s best friend, the brilliant, dazzling Shaila Arnold, was killed by her boyfriend. After that dark night on the beach, Graham confessed, the case was closed, and Jill tried to move on. Now, it’s Jill’s senior year and she’s determined to make it her best yet. After all, she’s a senior and a Player–a member of Gold Coast Prep’s exclusive, not-so-secret secret society. Senior Players have the best parties, highest grades and the admiration of the entire school. This is going to be Jill’s year. She’s sure of it. But when Jill starts getting texts proclaiming Graham’s innocence, her dreams of the perfect senior year start to crumble. If Graham didn’t kill Shaila, who did? Jill vows to find out, but digging deeper could mean putting her friendships, and her future, in jeopardy.
Source: Goodreads


This was one of my first introductions into YA mystery. I figured since I love thriller movies, then thriller books should be right up my alley. I had been anticipating reading this book for a while, but had seen some mixed reviews on it. I’ll start off with the negative aspects of the book, so we can end on a good note. I wasn’t a fan of the slow moving plot. I felt as though nothing had happened, but I was already at the 1/3 mark.

Another problem was that I could instantly tell who the killer was going to be. I feel that a thriller is more interesting when there are a lot of suspects, and you don’t know who to trust. I found all the characters to be fairly shallow, and only cared about their social status. I never went to high-school, so I don’t have any frame of reference on how other teenagers act. But I hope they aren’t as bratty as they were portrayed in this book.

My biggest problem was the female lead’s indecisiveness. For the majority of the book, she bounced back-and-forth between helping or just staying out of it. Even though she had many doubts about her friend’s killer, she tried to talk herself out of helping an innocent person go free. There’s not wanting to get involved, and then there’s just turning a blind eye. Now, moving on to happier things! I enjoyed Goodman’s writing style tremendously. I could see her writing some amazing, lighthearted contemporaries in the future.

I thought that the killer’s motive was done very well. I didn’t expect it at all. One of the most redeeming points is that I find this to be a great first step into the YA thriller, murder mystery genre. It is on the tamer side, but has solid writing and plot. Don’t be afraid to give me some YA thriller and horror recommendations in the comments. Subscribe via email to get notified whenever there’s a new post.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Legendborn // Book Review

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Title: Legendborn
Author: Tracy Deonn
Published: 2020
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw. The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.
Source: Goodreads

This book is filled with twist and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a new fantasy book series with a lot of elements to it. I enjoyed certain aspects of the story. Others, not so much. At first, I didn’t know how to feel about the main character, Bree. She was very guarded, which I’m not usually a fan of. However, it worked for her, considering she was still going through the motions of her mother’s death.

I enjoyed the magic system that the author created in the story. By the end of the book everything fell into place and worked well together. It was pretty mind-blowing. As for the world-building, I found it somewhat complex. There was a lot of pieces to the society and it got hard to follow at times. I could see the struggle to navigate the world lowering a readers enjoyment of the story. The author probably should have simplified things, since it was only the first book in the series.

“Don’t make your life about the loss. Make it about the love.”

One of my least favorite aspects was the romance. Bree’s relationship with Nick started off fine, but it quickly became that prepackaged ‘insta-love’ that we’ve all had served to us in just about every way imaginable. Nick was falling hard and fast for Bree. He needed to simmer down. He was a little immature, too – always acting hurt when she didn’t tell him things, or trying to defend her. Yes, Bree was stubborn, but she was strong too. She was no damsel-in-distress.

My favorite character was Sel! Although, he wasn’t the main focus of the book, I think he had strong character development throughout the book. On the outside, he has a tough, devil-may-care attitude, but inside he is kind and protective. I can completely see Sel and Bree together, but then again, I love a good hate-to-love romance any day.

The best part of this book was, hands-down, the ending. It was exciting, jawdropping, and left me wanting more. The way the author added a twist that you never saw coming, but worked it in so well, was amazing. I cannot wait for the sequel, and to read more of Tracy Deonn’s work.

Have you read this book? Is it on your TBR? Let me know your thoughts on ‘Legendborn’ in the comments below.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

One Last Stop // Book Review

- Bunny 2 Comments

*This review might include information that some might see as a spoiler.*


Title: One Last Stop
Author: Casey McQuiston
Published: 2021
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary


2.5/5 Stars

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.
Source: Goodreads

I wouldn’t call this book a YA, but it isn’t exactly adult either. It falls somewhere in the middle, which I would call new adult. First off, I want to say that I tried really hard to enjoy this book. Also, I’m proud of myself for not DNFing it. I just had so many issues with the book, and can already say I wasn’t a fan. The premise of the book sounded very intriguing, and had the potential to be a 4 or 5 star read, if executed well.

Let’s start with the main characters and love interests. August and Jane’s relationship seems to come out of left field. One or two meetings with this girl, and August has suddenly found her soulmate. Their attraction to one another progressed too quickly for my liking, and wasn’t based off much besides looks and a few small conversations. As the story developed, I didn’t see the two having much in common or any real chemistry.

“I fell in love with you the day that I met you, and then I fell in love with the person you remembered you are. I got to fall in love with you twice. That’s— that’s magic.”

I want to point out that there are some – *cough* – scenes in the book. Honestly, I don’t know if you could call them outright objectionable, but they are pretty intense. Let’s just say if you don’t like public displays of affection = especially doing the deed in public = then this book isn’t for you. Yep, this book goes there.

August’s roommates were fun, diverse characters, who added most of the humor to the story. However, there were a lot of characters, and it was hard to keep track of them all. Most of the extra characters were unnecessary to the plot. On top of that, there seemed to be multiple plots going on. There was a lot thrown into one book.

The biggest flaw for me, however, is the story itself. I never full understood the connection between August and Jane. The author tried their best to create a reason for their intense connection, but it didn’t really work for me. There was even an interesting twist at the end of the book. Still, it didn’t make up for the story as a whole. I absolutely hated the ending, and it played on one of my least favorite things about time travel plots. People from the past can’t, and shouldn’t, stay in the present!

Overall, I liked this book a lot less than expected, but I feel that most of my issues came from personal tastes rather than from the story itself. I have heard great things about Casey McQuiston’s young adult work, so I might give them a try in the future. Please like and share this review with all of your bookish friends!

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Cool For The Summer // Book Review

- Bunny 2 Comments

Title: Cool For The Summer
Author: Dahlia Adler
Published: 2021
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary

Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she’s finally got the guy, why can’t she stop thinking about the girl?
Source: Goodreads

If you enjoy a messy, queer love triangle, then this is the book for you. This book is about coming into your own and discovering your sexuality. From the start, Lara’s emotions and desires are all over the place. She isn’t sure what she wants or how she feels. I think that she portrays a lot of people who are trying to figure out their sexuality. The book flips between two time lines. The present day and the recent summer. I enjoyed both timelines, and it was interesting to see how Lara acted away for the summer versus at school.

There wasn’t one character that stood out to me, but I did enjoy Chase – Lara’s male love interest. He seemed genuine and understanding. His interest in Lara did seem random, but in adolescence, sometimes attraction happens out of the blue. One of my biggest problems with the book was the characters. I felt like nobody talked to anyone. A lot of the problems the main character faced could have been avoid by just communicating with others.

“Just because you’re telling a good story, doesn’t mean it’s the right story. And I think that it’s really important to tell the right story.”

It felt juvenile at times, and I wanted to scream at the characters to have a conversation with one another. One character’s actions would make another character do something, which would create a vicious cycle that ultimately prolonged the love triangle. One of the biggest annoyances was that the main character knew who her heart wanted, but continued to string both, love interest, along. I understand that she was confused, but instead of playing with people’s hearts, she should have taken the time to come to terms with her feelings.

The writing style was different than I was used to, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was slower, and took a while to get into. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the writing style, but don’t think it had a negative effect on the story. Actually, I think the writing style fit the book well.

If you have read this book, leave your thoughts in the comments below. As always, you can share and like this post to support my book blog. Don’t forget to follow, to get notified when I post.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

What’s Not To Love // Book Review

- Bunny 2 Comments

Title: What’s Not To Love
Author: Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Published: 2021
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary

Since high school began, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have competed on almost everything. AP classes, the school paper, community service, it never ends. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars. So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead.
Source: GoodReads

I love a good enemies-to-lovers story, if it’s done right. Unfortunately, this one fell short for me. The lead characters argued all the time, and had no chemistry. For the first half of the book, they bickered the whole time, which annoyed everyone around them. Honestly, there wasn’t a point where I, as the reader, could see them becoming more than rivals. It was irritating that these two had absolutely no reason to dislike each other, except for the fact that they wanted to out-do the other. The whole meaning behind their rivalry was very juvenile.

The lead male, Ethan, isn’t a horrible character, but he was trying to find himself in this feud he has going on. As for the female lead, Alison, she was one of the major downfalls of this book. I understand not wanting to be treated like a child, but she was immature, snobbish, and self-centered. The way she treated her friends was one thing, but how she acted towards her family was unbelievable. She was downright rude and offensive to her older sister because her life wasn’t they way Alison thought it should be. She had no right to judge her or talk the way she did to her family. Honestly, for someone that wanted to be seen as a grown-up, her attitude was very immature.

The plot seemed random, since I don’t believe a high-school principal would care about two students’ petty feud. If it was such a big problem, you’d think it would have been dealt with sooner than their senior year. They could have put them in different classes, or set up a meeting with their parents. The whole main plot was just off. There was a nice throwback to “Time Of Our Lives” which is another novel by this duo. Two of the characters from the book did show up in this one, but since I wasn’t a fan of “Time Of Our Lives” it didn’t mean much to me.

I want to like this author duo, but I am starting to think that “If I’m Being Honest” was a fluke. I might pick up their next release, but go into it with low expectations. Please give this post a like and share, and follow my little book blog.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Unbirthday // Book Review

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Title: Unbirthday
Author: Liz Braswell
Published: 2020
Genre: Middle Grade/Retelling


2.5/5 Stars


Returning to the place of nonsense from her childhood, Alice finds herself on a mission to stop the Queen of Hearts’ tyrannical rule and to find her place in both worlds. But will she able to do so . . . before the End of Time?
Source: GoodReads.com


Writing a bad review is one of the worst parts of being a book blogger. I never want to offend the author or other readers, but not everybody will enjoy the same story. I went to this book with an open mind while excepting much. I read, and reviewed a different book in the “Twisted Tales” series, so I sort of new what to except. Going into this book, I knew it was going to be a fresh take on the Wonderland story, and hope it would instantly capture me. Unfortunately, nothing about this story worked. The writing style was geared towards a much younger audience, which being a middle grade is to be suspected. But there are some pretty spectacular middle-grade books that work for all ages.

The biggest issue I had with the story was that it was slow. I don’t mean slow for the first half of the book, and then it picks up. It was slow and boring throughout the entire book. I kept getting distracted, and tuning out while reading. I had to go back and reread pages multiple times. Truthfully, I wanted to DNF the book, but I felt like I had to see it through to the end. I’m not mad that I stuck with it, but I did want more from it.

I didn’t get the connection between Alice’s real-life and wonderland life. Speaking of Alice, she acted just as bratty and sure of herself as she did in the original story. But being 18 years old, you would think she’d grown up. It seemed that even the Wonderland characters didn’t enjoy her company. The plot of Alice having to save Wonderland from the Queen of Hearts could have been interesting if the villain was an actual part of the story. During Alice’s journey through Wonderland, the Queen didn’t appear until the final few chapters. She didn’t even say much or acknowledge Alice’s presence.

I wanted a whimsical re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland, and that wasn’t the case. The book didn’t hold up to Lewis Carroll original work, nor the classic Disney animated film. Honestly, Tim Burton did a better job retelling the story. One final thing to note this book is nearly 500 pages long—too long for most books, especially middle-grade reads.

If you would like to send me an inquiry about reviewing a book or product please email me at narges.errandi@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that all my reviews are 100% honest.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Road To Christmas // Movie Review

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Title: Road To Christmas
Network: Hallmark
Released: 2018


Los Angeles television producer Maggie Baker unwittingly falls for Danny Wise, the son and former producer of his mother’s popular annual Christmas special Julia Wise Lifestyle. When Maggie’s secret plan to reunite Danny and his two brothers with Julia during the live broadcast in Vermont goes awry, Maggie is reminded that above all, it is the love for family and friends that makes the merriest of Christmas.
Source: Hallmark.com


Let’s face it, most Hallmark movies have some cheesy and predictability factors. But, this one was a sweet Christmas movie, where the romance takes a backseat. This movie feature is a workaholic character, like many Hallmark movies do, that never makes time for romance but discovers that you can always make time for the things that are important, especially love. I enjoyed the character tremendously, and thought that all the actors had great chemistry.

Most of the time, we get workaholics that are cold and uptight. But this movie takes a new approach to the stereotype, which was refreshing. She loved her job and was willing to skip Christmas with her family for work. Still, she loved the holiday, and missed her loved ones dearly. It was nice that her love interest wasn’t some unfeeling jerk coming to take over her job. He was a genuine guy, doing a favor for his mom and trying to show that Christmas traditions are important.

I will say that as the producer of the Christmas special who has been working at the company for five years, they should have had a little more faith in her ability to put on a good show. On the flip side, I understand that most of us trust our families opinions more than other people. I loved the plot of reuniting the brother to surprise their mom, live on TV. It was a wholesome idea that showed how spending the holiday with family is all that matters. I did find the fact that they were known as the “Three Wise Men” a little silly and too on-the-nose Christmas for me.

I thought the brothers interacted well together, and you could get a feel of their different personalities. Even though the movie was only an hour and a half long, the love story wasn’t rushed. They fell for each other naturally, despite their contrasting personalities. The plot was fun and creative, while still being a typical Hallmark movie. I don’t think this movie is super original, but it is one I would watch again.

If you would like to send me an inquiry about reviewing a book or product, please email me at narges.errandi@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that all my reviews are 100% honest.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Conceal, Don’t Feel // Book Review

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Title: Conceal, Don’t Feel
Author: Jen Calonita
Published: 2019
Genre: Middle Grade/Retellings


When a magical accident erases Anna and Elsa’s memories not only of magic, but of each other the sisters are separated for protection. But when Elsa unexpectedly finds herself as a young queen mysterious magic begins to happen and questions of her past start to form. Will the sisters ever be reunited?
Source: GoodReads.com


I pictured this book to be a new take on the Frozen story. However, it was the same basic story with slight changes. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Frozen movie, so I don’t know why I was excepting to enjoy this book. When I think of retellings, I envision a whole new tale that takes inspiration from it’s origin story. Unfortunately that was not the author’s plan for this novel.

I was curious to see who Elsa and Anna would become without one another. The answer the same exact people they were in the film. There were minor changes to their personalities, but unless you were looking you wouldn’t be able to notice these differences. I think the biggest change was Elsa and Hans’ relationship. Although, he is scum the book and movie writes him in a charming almost likable way. As someone that loved his and Anna’s duet from the animated film it would have been great to have him be a good guy this go around.

This is probably an unpopular opinion but I find Olaf to be annoying. He is too much for me in the movie. However, I liked the change to his personality in the book. The author kept his lovable and clueless charm while reining in his over-the-top persona. Also, I found his forgetfulness kind of adorable. One character change I wasn’t a fan of was Kristoff. Now I enjoyed his interactions with Sven, yet he seemed cold and irritated with Anna. I didn’t see them development from friends to lovers, or in this case enemies to lovers.

Overall, this book was an average, quick middle grade. While being a good choice for Disney fans, if you’re looking for a reimagined take on the story, skip this one. This is my first “Twisted Tale” and despite it not being my favorite, it hasn’t totally prevented me from giving others in the series a fair chance. Still, here’s hoping the rest are a bit of a fresher take on the classic tales we all know and love.

If you would like to send me an inquiry about reviewing a book or product please email me at narges.errandi@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that all my reviews are 100% honest.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny