Blog Tour: Review - Seize Today by Pintip Dunn

   Here we are for the grand finale of the Forget Tomorrow trilogy with my review for Seize Today. When I saw that there is a blog tour for it, I knew i had to be part of it, as well as get my hands on an ARC, the later coming before the former surprisingly. I've loved this trilogy to pieces so let's find out if Seize Today lived up to my expectations, shall we?

   Also, before I forget, thank you to Chapter by Chapter for giving me the opportunity to be part of this blog tour (and also go and check out all the other fabulous posts for it right here once you're done reading my review)!

Seize Today by Pintip Dunn

Released: October 3rd 2017 by Entangled: Teen

Number of Pages: 300 Pages (Hardcover)

Series: Yes, #3 in the Forget Tomorrow Trilogy

   The third book in the New York Times bestselling and RITA award winning Forget Tomorrow series is a thrilling conclusion to an epic trilogy.

   Seventeen-year-old precognitive Olivia Dresden is an optimist. Since different versions of people's futures flicker before her eyes, she doesn't have to believe in human decency. She can literally see the path to goodness in each person—if only he or she would make the right decision. No one is more conflicted than her mother, Chairwoman Dresden, and Olivia is fiercely loyal to the woman her mother could be.

   But when the Chairwoman captures Ryder Russell, a boy from the rebel Underground, Olivia is forced to reevaluate her notions of love and faith. With Ryder's help, Olivia must come to terms with who her mother is in the present—and stop her before she destroys the world. (goodreads.com)

Check out my reviews for the previous books in the trilogy: 

Before Tomorrow (prequel) // Forget Tomorrow // Remember Yesterday 

* Thank you to Entangled TEEN for providing me with 

an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion *

   The Forget Tomorrow trilogy is, without a doubt, one of my favorite trilogies I've ever read. I've loved the previous two books in this trilogy, as well as the prequel, so I had impossibly high hopes and expectations for this finale. Of course, since Pintip is a brilliant author, she mangled to exceed my hopes and expectations by a tenfold with ease. Seize Today ties up all the questions that were left open, all the little plot points and facets that needed more explaining or revealing, and gave us even more intriguing visuals, more future tech, and more awesome science than the precious two books.

   Our lead in this one is Olivia Dresden, the Chairwoman's daughter, and she was an amazing POV character. Seeing the world through her eyes was fascinating, even more so because of her ability to see every single possible future path a person can go down depending on the choices they make, the good and the bad ones. The way Pintip described the visuals of Olivia looking through those paths was done incredibly well and definitely added that extra something to her narrative. Just like everyone else in this world Olivia isn't perfect so she makes mistakes, has flaws and all, but the character development she goes through across these twenty days that the book spans is amazing and incredible.

   Ryder, the love interest in this one, also has a special place in my heart. He was tough and had major trust issues, but in the end he was an amazing character and I would've loved to read more about him, and those two together. I also loved the glimpses we got into the lives of the other two couples from book one and two, where they are now and what the future holds for them.

   I still smile every time I think about the epilogue.

   Trilogies sometimes have the tendency to disappoint you with an ending that still leaves questions open, or somehow answers them in a non-satisfactory manner, but that definitely wasn't the case with Seize Today. It was a worthy part of this trilogy and even more of a worthy ending to it. Sure I wished it would've been longer so I could stay in this world just for a few more pages, enjoy Pintip's writing longer (I should mention that I devoured the entire book in under 4 hours because I simply couldn't stop reading once I started), but I am very happy nonetheless with every aspect of the story.

   All in all I can only say that I am very happy that I got the chance to read this trilogy, to receive an ARC of Seize Today, and I will literally recommend this book, and the trilogy, to everyone ever because it is amazing. Then again I will literally read anything Pintip writes so theres that.

I give Seize Today by Pintip Dunn 5 out of 5 stars.

About the Author

   Pintip Dunn is a New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School.
   Pintip’s novel, FORGET TOMORROW, won the RWA RITA® for Best First Book. It is also a finalist for the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the Japanese Sakura Medal, the MASL Truman Award, and the Tome Society It list. In addition, THE DARKEST LIE was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her other books include REMEMBER YESTERDAY, SEIZE TODAY, and GIRL ON THE VERGE.
   She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.

Website // Twitter // Facebook // Goodreads // Newsletter // Instagram

Review: Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander

Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander

Published: July 5th 2016 by Entangled TEEN
Number of Pages: 304 Pages (hardcover)

Series: Yes, companion novel to Love and Other Unknown Variables

   Becca Hanson was never able to make sense of the real world. When her best friend Charlotte died, she gave up on it altogether. Fortunately, Becca can count on her books to escape—to other times, other places, other people...

   Until she meets Max Herrera. He’s experienced loss, too, and his gorgeous, dark eyes see Becca the way no one else in school can.

   As it turns out, kissing is a lot better in real life than on a page. But love and life are a lot more complicated in the real world...and happy endings aren't always guaranteed.

   The companion novel to Love and Other Unknown Variables is an exploration of loss and regret, of kissing and love, and most importantly, a celebration of hope and discovering a life worth living again. (goodreads.com)

* Thank you to Entangled TEEN for providing me with an 

eARC in exchange for my honest opinion *

   Life After Juliet is the companion novel to Love and Other Unknown Variables, which I personally didn't know until after requesting it. At first I was unsure if that meant I wouldn't be able to understand certain things, since I didn't read Love and Other Unknown Variables, but I quickly fell in love with the story and characters nonetheless. So, even if you've not read Love and Other Unknown Variables, you can very much enjoy Life After Juliet.

   In Life After Juliet we follow Becca who is dealing with the loss of her best friend Charlotte, who died due to cancer, and how she slowly makes new friends and falls in love with a boy named Max. I'm not joking when I say that Max will very quickly make it very far up on your list of bookish boyfriends because he was an amazing character.

   Something I very much enjoyed in this story was the representation of grief, of how people who grief sometimes feel guilt if they find themselves forgetting or missing the person less that they've lost, and so on. I really liked the fact that the loss of Charlotte was an ever present thing in Becca's character, that it wasn't just something mentioned once in a while so we wouldn't forget, but it was simply a part of her character, naturally and realistically.

   Generally I really, really liked Becca. I love how, in the beginning of the story, she was hiding behind her books, counting time in pages and just so caught up in her grief, but also how her character developed across the story and how she began to change. She felt very realistic and three dimensional with realistic problems and trains of thought. Also I loved her relationship with her brother Charlie, with Max, and of course with the rest of the gang, being the theatre kids, both the technicians and the actors.

   Speaking of which, as I mentioned before, Max was an amazing character. I love the way he behaved toward Becca, loved his family and the fact that he had his own grief, knows the pain Becca feels, and how that connects the two on another level. I also very much enjoyed his friendship with Victor, which was just generally amazing and seeing those two together was just amusing and entertaining from beginning to end.

   Another thing that I really loved about Life After Juliet was how, despite dealing with such a heavy topic, grief, it also offered a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Some scenes and lines of dialogues were seriously brilliant and just impossibly funny! The balance between serious and relaxed/funny was perfect.   Shannon's writing style is amazing and she is really able to capture your interest and create fascinating, realistic and three dimensional characters. They behaved like teens, had teen like problems, and also talked like teens which I very much appreciated.

   All in all I really, really enjoyed Life After Juliet a lot. I definitely want to pick up Love and Other Unknown Variables to see where the entire story began and see Becca's friendship with Charlotte before it ended. So, if you're looking for a read that blends seriousness with humor and amazing characters, then I definitely recommend this one. I binged 70% of this book in just a few hours and really had to make myself set the book aside and go to sleep at 3am.

I give Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander 5 out of 5 stars!

Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Published: September 1st 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages: 320 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No

   My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
   But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
   Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. (goodreads.com)

* I received an eARC via Random House Children's and NetGalley in exchange for a honest review *

   Everything, Everything is a remarkable story told through a beautiful voice which belongs to a unique narrator and a plot filled with twists, cute moments and those who make you stop and really think again about what you've just read.
   In Everything, Everything we follow the story of a girl called Madeline who is literally allergic to the world as she suffers of a very rare disease called SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency). Because of SCID Madeline cannot leave her house, which means she's basically spend her entire life inside. Before reading this book I was aware that diseases like SCID exist and that people suffer from them but I've never been able to even as much as fathom how it must feel like to have it. Thanks to this book and reading from Madeline's perspective, I now do.
   All her life Madeline only had her mother and her nurse, Carla, to talk to in person. She could never make real friends, never have them come over (without extensive medical checkups and alike) or the possibility of going out with them. But, one day, a new family moved into the house next door and that's where the story really took off.

“It's a hard concept to hold on to--the idea that there was 

a time before us. A time before time.

In the beginning there was nothing. And then 

there was everything.”

   I adored Madeline and her narration. I really, really liked her character and would have loved to have her as my friend, if she were real that is. It was really easy to understand the decisions she made and why she made them. What impressed me the most about her was the fact that despite having such a hard life, being so restricted and limited in terms of things she can do, she never stopped being a happy person. She is friendly, positive and just a very strong character in an entirely different way then characters usually are when you call them "strong".
   And then there was Olly, the boy next door, who was intriguing and fascinating from the second on in which he appeared in the story. He is the exact opposite of Madeline. Seeing the two of them interact, become friends and then something more was super cute and fun to read about.

“You can't predict the future. It turns out that you can't predict the past either. 

Time moves in both directions - forward and backward - and what happens 

here and now changes them both.”

   All in all, Everything, Everything is a heartfelt, unique and cute story you should definitely not miss out on. This story was just so good and had so many different aspects in terms of how the story is told. The characters felt like real people, their decisions and dialogues were amazing and the plot twist at the end was just wow. I definitely didn't see it coming and wasn't expecting it at all, which is always a good thing.

I give Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 5 out of 5 Stars.