Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:
 It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

My Thoughts:
I'm completely in love with this book :) I think there's a bit of wanderlove in all of us. This story is kind of a coming-of-age story. What I took away from it is this: you need to be comfortable in your own skin, you need to be ok with being by yourself & doing things by yourself, and you need to love yourself and the person you are. Without that, you'll never fully love anyone else or be loved completely.

I read this thanks to Netgalley and I'm so, so happy I did. I literally wanted to crawl inside this book and live there, forever. This isn't really a review, more an emotional outburst :)

Now, I'm off to pre-order an actual hard copy of this book for my 18 year old daughter...I'm hoping she will love it as much as I did.

Format: Kindle eARC provided by Netgalley

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Solstice by P.J. Hoover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary:
Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth.

My Thoughts:
The premise of this book is what prompted me to purchase it, but I was somewhat disappointed with the delivery. The writing is fine, but the story seemed choppy to me. It bothered me that Piper wasn't MORE bothered or concerned with what was happening in her life! She kind of just went with it without question. Weird. That made the story more unrealistic & unbelievable for me.

To be honest, I had a hard time finishing it. Not terrible but not great either. But I get why a lot of people like this book :)

Format: Kindle Edition

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