UNTIL FRIDAY NIGHT by Abbi Glines

This book came at the right time for me.  It really touched my heart, and I'll explain more below, but again…Until Friday Night came at exactly the right time.

To tell you the truth, I initially wanted this book because: 1) It's Abbi Glines <3.  2) The title, cover, and what I remembered of the summary made it sound a bit like a swoony Friday Night Lights (which I loved).  3) I remembered that Maggie, the female MC, doesn't speak.  Couldn't remember the reason, but I have a thing for MCs and love interests who are scarred, mute, illiterate etc.

What I didn't remember (and what likely would've prevented me from buying)...

...was the cancer.

West, the male MC, has a dad whose health is rapidly declining and who has been dying of cancer for a year.  West hasn't told anyone, not even his best friends.  It's just him, his mom, and his dad dealing with this awful disease.  He's living with this unbearable secret.  And it is eating him up while it takes the person he looks up to most, the person he loves most in the world away.

I don't know where she got the inspiration for this book.

But Glines must have had some real life experience to draw from.

I know this because I lived it.  My aunt passed away in December after a nearly nine month long battle with cancer.  She was my best friend in all the world.  I loved her so very much and was helpless in the end to help her.  Even as I write this, I'm crying again, so I'll get back to the review.

The reason I loved this book was that I could relate to nearly every emotion West had: The guilt at being away from home.  The fear of going home and what he might find.  The fear that came every time his cell phone rang, rushing to answer to make sure his dad was okay.  The pressure and anger that comes with keeping everything secret.  The despair.  The helplessness.

It made me not feel so alone.  That was what ultimately made me love the book.  There was just enough real to convince me that Glines (or someone she knows) lived through this tradgedy, too.

Until FridayNight is truth, raw and ugly.  West's emotions, his fears, were real, and anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer can relate.  What's more, Glines gives us two broken people and shows us the journey they take to understanding, to love, and ultimately to heal.  It is a beautiful book.  It found me at just the right moment.  And I enjoyed it very much.

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

ADORKABLE Cover Reveal

Book covers are one of my favorite things.  There are some really beautiful ones out there, and the ones I like best completely capture the spirit of the book.  Today I'm revealing the cover of my debut YA romance Adorkable.  It has the feeling and spirit of the book and still makes my eyes smile every time I see it.  The book will be released in March 2016.  I love the cover, and I hope you do, too :).

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

STACKING THE SHELVES (26)

Hi there! Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  I got three books that I'm over-the-moon excited to read, so I decided to share.

List of Books: Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers
                         Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
                         Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines

First up to read: ???????????????????????????

I honestly don't know which book to read first...  I've been waiting for Assassin's Heart since forever ago, back when it was called All That Remains.  It has assassins--families of them--and a girl who was betrayed and wants revenge, which I LOVE.  Then there's Shallow Graves; I've read some great reviews about it recently, and yes, that first sentence is A-mazing.  Throw Abbi Glines in there with a book that's part Friday Night Lights, part swoonworthy romance, and I'm completely torn.  I wish I could read all three at the same time...but I really don't because I want to give each book some one-on-one time.  Ack!

Anyway, I hope you got some great books this week!

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

NEW YEAR, NEW WEBSITE, NEW DEBUT

Hi everyone!

So, it's a new year, and I have something exciting to share with you all.

I AM FINALLY GOING TO PUBLISH MY DEBUT NOVEL!!!

That was so, so fun to write.  If you've been following me since I started this blog in 2011 to now, you'll know the journey to publication for me has been a long one.  Over the years, I went from querying agents to signing with one to going it alone once again.

Last year was the toughest year of my life.  I lost my best friend in December.  She was my first reader, my shoulder to cry on, my favorite person of all time, and I miss her every day.  I deeply regret that she is not here to see me publish a book.  But I know that she would've wanted to see me do it.  So, this one is for her.

I know that I'll make some mistakes along the way.  Going "indie" is hard--as I'm sure a lot of you authors know--but I'm going to stick it out.  I'm not scared anymore.  Or at least I'm not scared of the same things.  I want my books to find readers.  I want to make my family proud.

So, I will be publishing my debut in 2016 :).

If you'd like to follow my journey on my new author website, you can find it here:

cookieogorman.com

I'll still be posting reviews here (I'm still Ninja Girl!), but I hope you'll come and visit The Cookie Jar.

Authorly peeps and blogger peeps: I'd love any advice you'd like to give me.  I write YA romance, and  it's my first time traveling this road.  Any help, wisdom, or encouragement you can spare would be greatly appreciated.  Hope you're all having a great new year and that 2016 is treating you well!

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

DUMPLIN' by Julie Murphy

I really, really enjoyed this one.  Dumplin' by Julie Murphy is definitely my kind of book.  It hooked me with a catchy summary, kept me interested with a fun plot and quirky characters, and sealed the deal with a happy ending--that okay yeah, might've been a little too happy, but I couldn't have cared less.  I wanted the happy and Murphy delivered.

Here's the summary that drew me in:

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

I mean, come on!  If I didn't already love pageants (which I totally do), if I didn't want to read about a "self-proclaimed fat girl" (again, I do), I'd still buy because of the mention of Private School Bo.

And trust me, it was worth it.

Private School Bo was everything I hoped he'd be.  *Sigh*  He was hot-sexy-cool because he knew what he wanted, and that was Will.  He was also sort of Jordan Catalano from My So Called Life, what with all the secret stolen kisses--BUT unlike Jordan, Bo wanted to publicly claim Will as his girlfriend. It was her hang-ups that kept them apart for most of the story.

Murphy handled her main character's insecurities deftly, and as a reader, I felt for Will.  Her contrasting feelings of wanting Bo but feeling awful about her body (and therefore, herself) whenever he would touch her were heart-wrenching and believable.  This actually reminded me of a bit of Rae and Finn from MMFD tv series--which I LOVE <3.  So yes, this was a delicate issue to tackle, and I think Murphy did a great job.

Other things I enjoyed were the pageant and Will's little band of misfits, as well as the drag queens who taught the girls to strut their stuff.  I didn't appreciate how Will treated Mitch (love interest #2) in the book.  He was a kind, decent guy, and he really liked her.  But Mitch never did stand up to Patrick, his loudmouth jerk of a best friend, so yeah, he wasn't perfect either.  Also didn't love some of the thoughts that Will had about other people (namely Millie, genuinely the nicest, best person in the book).

However, overall, the book was in the tradition of some of my favorite things.  I wouldn't put it in the same category as MMFD, but I really liked this read.  Dumplin' is a contemporary YA with heart, laughter, tears, and kissy moments in equal measure.  What's not to like? :)

Happy reading,

Ninja Girl

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord

Best friends.

Summer romance.

Music that means something.

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord is a YA contemporary that features all of these things--plus a very cute nice-guy/boy-next-door love interest named Matt Finch who is sure to make you swoon.

The story features two 17-year-old girls who couldn't be more opposite (on the outside).  Lilah Montgomery, "Dee" to her friends, is a country music starlet on the rise.  She's the good girl who never puts a toe out of line, perfection personified from her long golden locks and persistent smile to her sweet southern lyrics.

Reagan O'Neill, on the other hand, is anything but perfect.  She's a recovering bad girl who loves wearing high heels and tight clothes.  Her quick temper and wild streak has been known to get her into trouble.  That's why she's sworn off guys for the summer.  This tour is going to be just her and Dee, best friends, having the time of their lives.  No boys allowed.

Until Matt Finch joins the tour.

And shows Reagan that maybe, just maybe, nice boys are the way to go.

Okay, so what I liked best about the book was the friendship between Dee and Reagan.  It was very sweet and believable.  I loved how loyal they were to each other.  Though the story starts with their friendship fully formed, I totally bought the fact that they are best friends who look out for each other, know one another inside and out.

What I liked even more?  They never turned on each other.

In a lot of YA these days, I see so many "frenemies."   Girls who are just waiting for that moment when they can steal their BFF's boyfriend, stab her in the back, and steal her place in the social hierarchy.  This totally could've been one of these books.  But thankfully, it wasn't.

Dee and Reagan were true best friends, who laughed and cried together, argued but always had each others' back.  The love there was real, and I greatly enjoyed reading about girl BFFs who maintained and strengthened their bond throughout the story.

I'm not going to lie: I couldn't help but picture Dee as Taylor Swift.  She was very Swift-like, if you will, but I think that was intentional.  Matt Finch, the love interest, was sweet--but not too sweet.  Matt was flirty and sincere and kinda sexy and everything a book boyfriend should be.  Speaking of which, I also adored Jimmy, the cowboy Dee left behind <3.  If their story was front and center, I actually might've loved it even more.

The writing itself wasn't necessarily as snappy as I usually go for, but it had heart.  I especially liked the song lyrics that were incorporated.  Unlike many other stories, these lyrics read like real lyrics.  Definitely liked that little detail.

Overall, Open Road Summer was an enjoyable read with two girls at its heart who were true best friends.  A very nice read!

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy reading everyone,

Ninja Girl

Insecure Writer's Support Group: SURPRISE

Hi everyone.  Something unexpected happened a few days ago, and since it has to do with my writing, I figured I'd share in my IWSG post.  So, here's what went down: One of my ninja aunts went to a writer's conference, and…she pitched one of my books.  AND she got 2 requests.

This came as a complete shock to me.  Basically, she signed up to do one of those agent-dating services, read my query letter for one book and told them about my other manuscripts and yeah.  That's how it happened.  And it gets even more interesting.  One of the agents she pitched had already requested and rejected the same manuscript back in 2011 after I got my offer of rep.

Anyway, I figure if anything comes of this it would be a great story.  If not, my ninja aunt still has mad pitching skills.  It's been a tough time recently, so this was a nice surprise.

Hope you're having a great week,

Ninja Girl