2018 Summer Reads (My Favorites) // GUEST POST BY GRAY MARIE

 The next guest author in the amazing guest post saga is GRAY MARIE from WRITING IS LIFE!

Be sure to scoot over to her blog after (or before...) you read this post. She just posted some more snippets for her upcoming novel and they're beautiful and you need to see them. Plus, everything she posts is so cute and aesthetic-y and I'm over here like, "Hello! I'm a talking potato! Melp!" 

Ok, Potato out

.....

Ah, summer, the beautiful months of relaxation.

 The precious weeks of reading by the pool, chasing after kids at your local church camp, 
late nights listening to podcasts and scary true stories from Reddit, and running through 
fields barefoot. 

But now, summer is gone and has been replaced by a pile of homework. 

Hello guys! And yes, I am not M.K. I hacked her blog. Took over. #Skills                                          
Just kidding! I am Gray Marie Cox, and I am guest posting for Mary Kate because college is a drag and
 we need to buy her some time to get it all together. :P                                      

Anyways, the school year is officially upon most of us now, unless you're in another country and 
I won't get into that. 

 I read around a hundred books this summer and disliked most of them, but here are the 
special few that I really loved:

Small Damages by Beth Kephart

Awww, such a smol hopeful book and I loved every second of it! 

It's set in Seville, Spain when our main character Kenzie is sent there to work as a cook's 
assistant on a bull ranch in by her mom who is trying to hide Kenzie's pregnancy from 
their small town. 

GUYS, the character arc in this book is AMAZING! Honestly, reading this book was 
weirdly comforting, it was so warm and familiar like sunshine or chocolate chip cookies. 
It was just amazing. 💛

Nothing Left to Burn

Honestly, when I started this book I thought it was going to be awful, but it turned out 
the exact opposite?? 

Nothing Left to Burn is about a girl realizing that she's in an abusive relationship and 
trying to figure out all the lies that her boyfriend has told her since they've been together. 

Such a strong message, and honestly one we need more in YA instead of all of these red
flag bad boys. 

The Special Ones

I actually gave this book three stars for not having a dark enough twist for it's genre, but 
after sitting on it for a few months I'm starting to re-think. 

I'm not sure if I should give props to this book or not for lingering in my mind, but 
I think that fact earns it a place in this post. 

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock 

I had no idea that a book this crude could make me feel so much, but there were tears 
streaming down my face as I read this book. 

The heart that is in this book is just astounding, the grittiness just makes it more real and
 it makes the hope shine brighter. Truly a beautiful heartfelt novel. I wish more young 
adult books were like this because this is what so many teens struggling with mental 
illnesses need to read. 

Scythe

I finally read this one! 

AND SCYTHES.

Need I say more, folks? 

A Thousand Perfect Notes

When Cait's book came out I knew it was going to be good, but I didn't know it would be
 this good. 

From the moment I read the opening line, I was hooked. 
'What he wants most in the world is to cut off his own hands.'
 YEP, THIS WILL BE AMAZING. 

And it was, Beck is the perfect disgruntled cinnamon roll and August is such a free spirit,
I loved both of them so much. <3

All Rights Reserved

I'll admit it, yes, this was a cliche dystopian where a teenage girl somehow starts a huge 
movement in a broken world and everyone follows her lead for some weird reason and 
blah blah blah. 

I'll also admit that I loved every minute of this book, so. 

 

Thunderhead

I didn't think the next book in this series could get any more epic.... 

I was wrong. 

Falling for You

I hate this book's trashy cover so much, this book isn't even a romance book. The romance 
is a sub-plot, and just,,,, this cover needs to be burnt and replaced with something better. 
Maybe a girl at a flower shop or two teens filming wildlife in a forest? This cover kills me, 
and not in a good way. 

Also, the title is weird, as I said before although the romance is more of the main theme in
 the first few chapters, it fades to an afterthought when we start to see just how abusive our
 main character's home life is. Honestly, the title should have something to do with poetry 
since she writes poems to deal with her harder life. 

Anyways, if I had to compare Falling for You to something, I'd call it a modern Pollyanna 
story, there is so much sweetness and hope in this book. 

What were your favorite reads this summer?

And let's wish M.K. the best with her school work!

Happy Writing and thanks for letting me hack your blog, Mary Kate,