Tag Archives: romance

Forever With You by J. Lynn

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foreverwithyou_jlynnAll of J. Lynn’s books are amazing, but this may be her best yet! The book begins with Stephanie, a girl who just moved into town. She has trouble moving boxes into her apartment, and Nick is the one who helps her out. Stephanie later goes to Mona’s, the local bar, and finds Nick working. They have a one night stand, and they are supposed to be well on their way out of their lives; however, something happens so they have to get together again.

Stephanie has never been in love, but that does not mean she does not believe in it. Her past comes up, again and again, that makes her scared of love. Even when Nick falls straight into her lap, she does not recognize that this is true love. Nick as well has a past that permits him from staying in a relationship; he is known to have flings, and nothing more, and just like Stephanie, he is scared to be in a relationship. But, for the first time, he sees something in Stephanie that he has not noticed in a girl before. “As long as I’ve known him, he’s never been serious about anyone. He’s probably going to need a substantial learning curve when it comes to not saying things that are going to pi** you off.”

Sure enough, Nick and Stephanie get back together after their one-night stand. Stephanie falls for him but is scared that he does not feel the same way about her. Nick, too, is scared to love Stephanie, because he felt the connection from the first time they met, but is he able to convince her that he loves her? “Nick seemed to sense just when I needed him. Even if he was asleep, his arms would tighten around me, sometimes, when my recklessness woke him, he would talk to me until I fell back asleep, distracting me with some of the crazy things he’d seen while working at Mona’s. He was simply there for me, and I let him in completely. And there was no denying how much I loved this man.”

This book has so many plot twists (in a good way), and even though there are MANY sad moments, there are also funny, laugh out loud ones. If someone is looking for a heartwarming, sad, laughable romance, this is the one for you!

-Hailey N.

The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks

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The Unfinished World and Other Stories is a beautifully written piece of literature filled with a wide variety of short stories. These stories revolve about everything from time travel and space to thrilling tales of kingdoms and magic. I was truly amazed by the sheer creativity and eccentricity which Sparks was able to spill out and expertly mold into eloquent, intriguing, and though-provoking stories. Each story is unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Although they are completely unrelated, they all seem to have some sort of other-worldy ethereal sense to them. Maybe it’s because of the style in which it’s written, or it could simply be the creative flare with which the author forms her worlds and characters. Either way, I was completely blown away by this book, and cannot get over how utterly incomparable and ingenious it is.

Because this book is composed of so many stories, I have grudgingly decided to speak about only two of them — The Unfinished World ( I suppose I must talk about this one) and my favourite out of the other short stories: And the World Was Crowded with Things That Meant Love.

The Unfinished World (for which this collection of stories was named) tells the story of a boy named Set. Set is an unusual boy who struggles to find and understand himself and his past as he grows older. When he was younger, he was attacked by a bear, and he died…well, sort of. He ended up surviving the attack, but there has always been something missing…no one can quite put their finger on it. He’s never been the same since; there’s an empty hole in his soul. Set follows in the footsteps of his older brother who travels to Hollywood in pursuit of his dreams. Set becomes well-known, and everyone sees him as a handsome, hard-working young man. Anyone who really knew Set would know that that is just a facade — part of him is missing. Then he meets Inge, and she turns his life around.

And the World Was Crowded with Things That Meant Love is a short, but deep and meaningful love story. Early in their lives, a young man and a young woman meet one another and fall in love. However, both have jobs which require constant traveling. They show their love for each other by sending wood carvings and sculptures to each other. By this means, they continue their relationship. A detail which I thought to be particularly lovely was that one would send an artistic portrait to the other, having remembered, in full and perfect detail, what they looked like.

Despite the fact that some of these stories are extremely short (just two or three pages in some cases), the author has a unique ability to weave in and evoke so much emotion. Some of the stories were slightly confusing, some more intense, and some were pretty dark (I would recommend an older audience for this book). However, I would definitely recommend this book, as it felt as if I was in a completely different world while reading it.

-Elina T.

Dirty Rowdy Thing by Christina Lauren

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Yet again another perfect book by the duo Christina Lauren (Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings). I will admit that when I first started this series I was sad. I was worried that this would not be like the series before it. But that is not the case in the slightest.

This book follows Harlow and Finn. Harlow is one of Mia’s friends that we meet in the first book in this series (Sweet Filthy Boy). Harlow and Finn ended up getting married just like Mia and Ansel, except they annulled it the next day.

Harlow connects with Finn again, this time in her home town. They both are going through a difficult time, and they use each other as a distraction. After each encounter they have with each other, they tell themselves that it means nothing to them and that they are just friends. But as time goes on, they both realize that it means more to both of them than just a distraction.

As always with Christina Lauren’s books, we get such a nice sweet ending! Do not skip this one!

-Skylar N.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

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Image result for cannery row bookMack and his boys are living in the flophouse that they bought from Lee Cong, a Chinese grocery man with a pair of judicious eyes. Except for some special occasions, they just stay home and play with their dog, Darling, a puppy who was never housebroken. Their favorite thing changed from drinking whiskey to catching frogs for their best friend Doc.

Doc has always been a genial man who never gets mad at anyone, except for Mack. His friendliness doesn’t necessarily mean that he is stupid, in fact, he is very shrewd.  The only time that he was roiled was when Mack tried to give him a party, but because it was such an orgy that Doc’s house was almost broken into pieces. And Mack received a few punches and a lot of kicks as a gift back from Doc.

Having friends like Mack and the boys really is a wonderful thing, even though they ruined your house the intention was good. But I know that Doc must have been lonely for many years since he never got married until he met the girl laying on the beach. At last, I really liked the part when they had another party for Doc, though the results are exactly the same. Mack and his boys are all tall like giants, but they are all children inside the heart of Doc.

-April L.

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

One Week Girlfriend by Monica Murphy

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Wow, what a great book! It was so good in fact, that I finished it in a day.
“I need your help”

The book starts with our leading man, Drew asking Fable (our leading lady) to work for him. She automatically thinks he want’s her for something else, so she says no, until he says that he only wants her to be his “temporary girlfriend”. How much is he going to pay? Glad you asked, he’s paying her $3,000. She’s struggling, as she has to care for her younger brother as her mother is useless, so she says yes.

“Do you like it?”
“Get it,” he says without hesitation. “You look…”
“Okay? Really? It’s kind of short.”
“That dress is it.” His gaze drops to my legs, lingering appreciatively. “And it’s definitely not too short.”

As you can probably assume by now, they are going to fall for each other. But how couldn’t they? They are both hiding secrets and they both realize that the other is hiding secrets.

“You have the most beautiful body I’ve ever seen.”

I won’t spoil any of their secrets, but let’s say Drew’s are not predictable at all. The author makes you really care for the characters and I can’t wait to read the next one!

But he is so very sweet:
“I woke up not fifteen minutes ago and the second I saw your message, I hopped in my truck and sped over here.” I spread my arms wide. “Look at me. I ran into the rain across my apartment parking lot and yours to get to you.”

-Skylar N.

Forever With You by J. Lynn

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Wow! I do love everything written by J. Lynn, but this may be her best yet. The book starts off with Stephanie walking into a bar and finds Nick whom she has a one night stand with–or so they thought. I won’t spoil it for you, but something happens so they have to get together again.

Stephanie has never been in love, but she believes in it. She had a bit of a tragic past, so she is a bit scared of love (listen to She’s Not Afraid by One Direction, that matches her perfectly). So when Nick comes into her life again, she tells herself not to fall in love.

Nick also has his own issues to deal with (again, not going to spoil it for you :p) and he doesn’t want to fall in love either in case he gets hurt again. But the first time he see’s Stephanie, he feels drawn to her in a way he hasn’t felt for anyone else.

“As long as I’ve known him, he’s never been serious about anyone. He’s probably going to need a substanital learning curve when it comes to not saying things that are going to [make you mad]”

But sure enough, they get back together after their one night stand. Stephanie falls for him, though she tried to ward herself off him, she just can’t.

“No. I wasn’t falling for him. Because there was a good chance I had already fallen for him.”

Stephanie fears that Nick doesn’t feel the same about her, so she tries to distance herself. Nick is scared to love Stephanie, but he knew he feel for her the first time he saw her (and no, not in a cliché way).But can he convince her he feels the same way as she does?

“Nick seemed to sense just when I needed him. Even if he was asleep, his arms would tighten around me, sometimes, when my recklessness woke him, he would talk to me until I feel back asleep, distracting me with some of the crazy things he’d seen while working at Mona’s. He was simply there for me, and I let him in completely.

And there was no denying how much I loved this man.”

I did not do this book enough justice! One of my favorite parts of this book is that even though it had many sad moment, J. Lynn always made sure to make you laugh as well, and I found myself laughing a lot about this book. In other words, you NEED to read this book.

Unfortunately, this book is not avaliable at the Mission Viejo Library, but it is avaliable from the Orange County Public Library System.

-Skylar N.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

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At 17, Landon Carter experienced something, or rather, someone who changed his entire outlook on life. A Walk to Remember starts with describing Landon among his community in Beaufort, North Carolina, 1958. The way he describes the town is quaint, a perfect setting to the story.

At the start of his senior year, Landon ended up in drama, expecting an easy class. Drama was the better alternative to taking Chemistry II, according to Landon.

Landon was also on student council, and thus was expected to bring a date to Homecoming. With no one left to ask, he approached Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the minister to join him. Despite her father’s reservations, he took Jamie to the dance. That was the end, or so he thought. He couldn’t bear to be seen with her in front of his more popular friends.

Yet Jamie showed him how to care for others. Landon drove around town, collecting the tip jars Jamie had set out for Christmas gifts for the orphans. That year, barely any money was collected, as Landon discovered. But by the time Jamie counted out the money herself, there was enough to buy plenty of gifts for the children.

The most touching part of this story, aside from Jamie and Landon, was between Jamie and her father. It was heart breaking to see how their relationship deteriorated after Jamie’s secret was out.

The prologue of this novel warns readers that they will laugh and cry. That is definitely true, and it is part of the reason why A Walk to Remember is worth reading.

– Leila S., 12th grade

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks is availalbe for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

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If I am honest, I was extremely annoyed with this book at the beginning. Flora Banks has no short term memory which means that essentially every page repeats the same information, which was extremely frustrating. I almost gave up on reading the book, but I never stop halfway when reading.

I am glad I kept with it. Either Flora’s memory got better or I got used to reading repetitive information, but I enjoyed the book. The story follows Flora, a girl stuck in time. She takes an insane amount of medicine to help her memory, which she has been told is faulty because of a disease she was diagnosed with when she was 10. She has clear memories of her life before her diagnosis, but until she kissed Drake, every memory slipped her grasp.

While Flora seemed to be a dependent young girl, she proved herself over and over again. Without her parents, and facing a fallout with her best friend, Flora is alone to fend for herself. And to find Drake, because if he helped Flora remember one memory, maybe he can fix her memory altogether. However, Flora has to rely on notes to herself to remember everything. So taking a trip to the Arctic Circle is not an easy task.

This novel is a great selection for teens, provided that the repetition at the beginning of the novel is not too discouraging.

– Leila S., 12th grade

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. 

Mirage by Kristi Cook

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Mirage by Kristi Cook is the sequel to Haven, a mystery romance novel. Violet McKenna is 17 years old and going to spend her senior year at Winterhaven with her friends and vampire boyfriend Aidan. She spends her summer break at home in Atlanta away from Aidan to catch up with her best friend, Whitney. Dr. Byrne helps Violet with her visions and a transfer student, Tyler, appears in Violet’s life as well as other new characters throughout the book. While Aidan is finding a cure for his vampirism, a vampire killer is on the loose killing innocent people leading him to find out who it is. Violet starts getting visions throughout the book about what the future holds. Do you think Aidan will find his cure? Will Violet and Aidan end up together? Well you have to read the book to find out.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books that involve vampires, school life, and friendship. If you enjoyed the first book, then this book is a must. This book was a good read in my opinion and it was interesting with the intense plot twist and secrets being revealed. I love the new characters involved and Violet and Aidan’s relationship. There is a sequel to this book called Eternal and it’s the last book in the series.

-Vanessa T.

Mirage by Kristi Cook, and the rest of the titles in the Haven series, is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.

Haven by Kristi Cook

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The first book in the Winterhaven series, Kristi Cook’s Haven is a mystery romance about a 16 year old girl named Violet Mckenna  and her journey throughout her new life at Winterhaven. Back in Atlanta, at school Violet was known as a freak because she sees visions of her dad’s murder. But, later she goes to New York with her stepmother Patsy and goes to a new boarding school called Winterhaven. Winterhaven was not just an ordinary school, but a school filled with secrets and students having special psychic abilities or “gifts”. Violet meets a small group of friends and she finally finds a place where she seems normal. At school, she meets the most popular guy in school named Aidan Gray and they start developing feeling for each other. While Violet dated Aidan she noticed he’s keeping something away from her. Aidan has been keeping a secret that none of the students know about and later on revealed that he was a vampire. After that there’s a plot twist where there’s a spin on a tragic event that happens to Violet and Aidan relationship.

I would recommend this book if you like mystery, paranormal, romance, and friendship involved. I like the build up towards the middle till the end and it has an interesting plot twist involved. If you like the book Twilight, then this is a spin on that book with a different plot twist that involves vampires and a bit of werewolves. In this book, you can see the journey Violet has taken in her stay at her new school and getting to know her new friends. There is a sequel to this book called Mirage.

Vanessa T.

Haven, and the rest of the Winterhaven novels by Kristi Cook are available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.