15 Days With You by: Ara Grigorian

This is my first book by this author but I am glad I was given the chance to read it. I had not read a blurb when I got this book so I was going into it blind but the cover intrigued me as I am still wishing it was summer and I was at the beach.

Shep, who has recently lost his mom to cancer, loads up her old truck and moves from Texas to California to live with his uncle and aunt. When he arrived there he meets Sam, who is basically a sister to Carmen, his cousin. She is known as a clutz to the family and when she tries to help Shep move in, she breaks a picture frame of Shep’s, his uncle comes in saying “what has Sam broke this time” only to find out that behind the picture was a letter for Shep to only be read after talking with his uncle. So they all head down to the kitchen to talk and it comes to light that his mom was a surfer back in the day and went on a 15 day surfing trip up the coast and wants Shep to take the trip and spread her ashes at each of the spots she visited.

In her letter to Shep, she tells him that she is not proud of the choices she made when she was younger but she wants him to take this journey and on each day there will be a letter for him to read that will give insight to her life 18 years prior. Shep and Carmen decide they are going to go on the 15 day trip but Sam wants to go as well and it takes a little convincing for his uncle to let Sam go, with the rule being that Shep has to sleep in a tent so they are not in the RV together.

During the 15 day trip, Shep learns a lot about his mom, which as she warned was not all good, but he learned to push past his own barriers and do what she wanted him to do. When Shep left his old home and school he left some, let’s say demons, behind and it has been eating at him while on the trip. As the three of them travel, Shep and Sam get closer but she can tell he is hiding something from her, but he tells her he is not ready to talk about it. When he was younger he had learned to surf but had a traumatic experience so now being afraid of the water feels like he can’t honor his mother’s wishes and as time goes by, he finally asked Sam to teach him how to surf.

I want to keep talking about the book, but I feel like if I do then you won’t even need to read the book. So I’m going to stop there and tell you that the lessons he learns while on the trip are much needed to help him heal. I felt like this book was very well put together and it sucked you in from the beginning.

I received this as an ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Publication Date: September 24, 2019 Pages: 348 Kindle Edition YA Family, Loss, New Beginnings

Everless by: Sara Holland

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In a world where time and currency is bound by draining your blood, 17 year old Jules Ember wants to sell her time to stop her Papa from selling what little remains of his time. After an evening of hunting and only managing to get one fish, Jules heads to the market to sell it and see the time lender. Amma who works at the market and is her best friend, tells her she is planning on going to Everless to work as a servant in preparation for the Queen’s arrival and wedding of Lord Roan Gerling and Lady Ina Gold. They will get paid a whole years worth of time for a months worth of work. Amma is so excited and tries to talk Jules into going with her, but no one knows she grew up there or that her Papa tells her she needs to stay far away. Having been banned from Everless ten years ago, for witnessing something she should haven’t seen, she has seen the Gerlings cruelty up close.

While waiting in line to see Duade, the time lender, he is collected from the store by two of Everless’ men. Still struggling to get away, he stops as a young man on a horse rounds the corner. Jules, thinking its Roan, believes things will stop and he will be released but when the young man removes his hood she realizes it’s Liam, which petrified her due to what she seen when she was younger. Her Papa always told her if she ever saw Liam again to run. So what does she do when she unfreezes but run back home to her Papa.

When she gets home, a rent collector is there talking with her father trying to collect rent. If you don’t have enough goods for them to take you give rent by blood. Not wanting to lose her Papa, after he goes to bed she sneaks out of the house to meet up with Amma to go to Everless. While waiting in line, the Gerling men went down the line choosing who would go to be a servant. Amma is not chosen due to having a scar on her face, she is told she’s too ugly. Her younger sister is chosen along with Jules, who promises she will look out for her.

Her papa told her to never let the queen see her. So as any teenager will do once you tell them not to do something, she tries everything in her limited power to get closer to the queen. While working as a servant, she runs into Roan, who remembers her from when they were little kids running around together. Roan offers her the chance to serve Lady Gold, which makes her happy as she is one step closer to the queen.

There are many secrets to be uncovered including why her Papa always warned her away from the queen. As time goes on, she starts to unravel some truths to her past and the stories she used to tell as a kid about the Fox and the Snake. Liam is the one who lets her in on her past but with everything that happened between them when they were younger she is hesitant to believe him.

Publication Date: January 2, 2018 Pages: 362 Book 1 of 2 Fantasy, Legends, Myths 2019 Lonestar List Age: 13+

Not If I Save You First by: Ally Carter

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I was a little leary going into this after reading her Embassy Row Series, which left me feeling like there should be another book. I still can’t even sum up those books without feeling lost.

This, however, was a short and sweet read. This story is about survival, adventure, friendship and a budding romance.

Find the boy.

Save the boy.

~~Kiss Kill~~ Make the boy pay

For what he did to you.

Being the daughter of a secret service agent attached to the President has some perks. Especially when the President has a son your age and you become best friends, and you go running around the White House together. Suddenly, tragedy strikes at the White House, causing Maddie and her father take off to Alaska to live in the middle of nowhere with no internet, phones, tv or other people. Maddie writes daily letters to Logan and has her dad send them when he goes to town for supplies. After two years of Logan not responding she stops writing him letters.

Logan, after getting into trouble along with slipping away from his secret service agents numerous times, is sent to join Maddie and her dad. With a fierce storm on the way, Maddie’s father is sent out to give supplies to some people who will be in need. Her dad tells her to make Logan chop wood and help with her chores. While they are out looking for wood they are attacked and Maddie is pushed off a cliff, presumed dead by both the Russian kidnapper and Logan, while Logan is kidnapped.

When Maddie finally comes to she realizes it’s up to her to save Logan. Having lived in these woods for the past six years, Maddie has an advantage over the kidnapper. She catches up to them and allows herself to get “captured”. Trying to survive the Alaskan wilderness and a Russian kidnapper proves to almost be too much for the pair. Using the survival instincts her father has taught her, after escaping from the kidnapper she is able to get herself and Logan to safety for the night . After some rest and food, they head out to try to retrieve the sat phone their Russian capturer had. And that’s where things get interesting, when a simple rescue mission turns into a much larger problem.

Publication March 27, 2018 Pages 293 YA-chosen for the 2019 Lonestar List so it is good for middle grade