Matthew Boren

3.5 Stars-- This book is written in note form, and it totally feels like a bunch of young teens were writing notes to each other. A believability!

Do you need to like the main character to like a book? Because I DON'T!! Tara Maureen Murphy is a selfish liar who will always look out for #1-- herself. She's jealous and diabolical. Annoying and fucking entertaining!! It made for a rollercoaster of emotions following her through her final year of high school.

This book is a combo of many things that I freaking LOVE in books. First off, it's set in the 90's-- which, let's be honest, was the best decade of all. Second, I love reading books told in unique formats. This book was told as notes passed from one teen to another and that was fun. Third, the DRAMA. I like reading about high school drama and maybe others would find it unexciting, but for whatever reason, I like it. There is A LOT of high school drama in this book-- oh my. This is mainly because the main character is a drama queen (she's described as a cross between Tracy Flick & Regina George) & lives for the drama (the literal play kind & the kind that she finds in her relationships with others).

Was this book perfection?? No. It had some lulls in the story where things weren't as page-turning. The ending was abrupt and it felt like the author just sort of ran out of pages. It left me like: WHERE IS THE REST????

The best parts-- The notes FELT like notes, which brought me back to my own note passing days. Tara was diabolical and insufferable at times-- which is just how I like my mean girls. The things she would write to Matt!! He put up with so much crap from this force of a girl and I was hooked on the anticipation of him telling her off.

OVERALL: A super fun book, and we need those, right? I really loved the 90's setting, the references to mixed tapes and retro bands & fashions, and the note format that the book was told in. I totally recommend this as something to mix-in with your darker, more serious books. It wasn't perfect but it was fun!

My Blog:
Pink Polka Dot Books
… (mehr)

This book...haha! Cute! This book ended up being so much more than meets the eye for me on a personal level. I picked this up at our local Dollar tree, where I have been finding a number of good books lately..very surprisingly.

I thought it looked and sounded cute, so I got it for my kids....ok, and me, because I do really enjoy YA and Youth readers. Going in, I didn't realize the format consist of only correspondence between the characters in note form.....ah, the folded notes from our school days, it really brought back memories and ended up being super cute. I loved the unique approach this author chose here.

The book starts in September 1991....a very important date for me, its the month and year my Hubby and I started dating. Crazy enough, my hubby was a Senior and I was a Freshman, I was also a cheerleader. Yep, everyone thought we wouldn't last due to the age difference....alas, here we are 30+ yrs and 5 kiddos later.

The parallels to my personal life, and sense of deja vu they conjured, only added to my enjoyment of this book. It was a blast from the past! I was thrilled with the mentions of several songs and movies that were popular at the time. Very nostalgic.

My only criticism would be the maturity level of the characters, whom are mostly Seniors in high-school, seemed really off to me. They were very juvenile for this age group. This may be because it was written in recent years as a throw back to the time period, so the maturity level and relationship dynamics are more a representation of this age group now. I definitely remember us being much more mature than the teens of today.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and nostalgic read that I have now passed to the 3 of my 5 kiddos that are readers.....there's still hope for my youngest, she's only 4 Lol! My sons a lost cause, he hates anything with words Lol! The readers in my home are my 21, 19 and 10 yr old daughters, all of which I believe will enjoy this :)… (mehr)

Tinaca Jones

I Picked Up This Book Because: Retta

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Audible Plus
Stars: 5

The Characters:

Tinaca Jones:

The Story:

I really had no expectations when I picked this up. I saw Retta was a narrator and I wanted to read it. Then when it was available during my Audible Plus preview I was all in. This story was impeccable. It was crazy, funny and just plain fun.

The narrators were exceptional and I hope I get to listen to more from this author in the future.

The Random Thoughts:… (mehr)