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Debbiereadsbook (1749 KP) rated A Ballooning Display (Bucket List Buddies #3) in Books
May 24, 2026
loving the low drama/angst between the MCs
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarain, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is book 3 in the Bucket List Buddies series, and while it can be read as a stand alone, I'm recommending you do read the other books first. This is a close knit group of friends and you need to be able to keep up with them all!
About that, actually! All of these guys seem to live and work in fairly close proximity, in a small town but they never cross paths until the events. Found it a bit strange, and my book brian said I need to mention it, so I am :-)
Toby takes a ride in a hot air balloon, has an accident and his bird is adamant he met their mate. Toby the man can't remember, but his bird can. Ernest knew, when he picked Toby up and took him to hospital, but they wouldn't let him in and now he has to find his mate, or go mad. Fortunately, his friends come good for him! But there is the minor subject of Ernest's ex!
What I'm loving about these books is there is very little drama between the two main characters. Lots of others causing drama, and angst and issues, but between the pair, there is little. And sometimes you really do need that!
The animals are different too, here we have Ernest who is an elephant, and Toby is a bird. A small bird, but I don't think it says what sort. The small bird has A LOT to say, though, when said ex turns up trying to get Ernest back. I could see a little bird, sitting on the shoulder of an elephant squawking it's little head off!
It's steamy, as these books are, but I loved that Toby manages to talk himself out of his 3+ date rule. Made me think of my own 5 date rule, and how I managed to wiggle myself out of it! made me chuckle.
Rick is next, he works with Ernest on the flower farm (again, not sure it says what sort of flowers!) and of course, there is Remy and Sven and I am LOVING the epilogues!
4 very VERY good stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
This is book 3 in the Bucket List Buddies series, and while it can be read as a stand alone, I'm recommending you do read the other books first. This is a close knit group of friends and you need to be able to keep up with them all!
About that, actually! All of these guys seem to live and work in fairly close proximity, in a small town but they never cross paths until the events. Found it a bit strange, and my book brian said I need to mention it, so I am :-)
Toby takes a ride in a hot air balloon, has an accident and his bird is adamant he met their mate. Toby the man can't remember, but his bird can. Ernest knew, when he picked Toby up and took him to hospital, but they wouldn't let him in and now he has to find his mate, or go mad. Fortunately, his friends come good for him! But there is the minor subject of Ernest's ex!
What I'm loving about these books is there is very little drama between the two main characters. Lots of others causing drama, and angst and issues, but between the pair, there is little. And sometimes you really do need that!
The animals are different too, here we have Ernest who is an elephant, and Toby is a bird. A small bird, but I don't think it says what sort. The small bird has A LOT to say, though, when said ex turns up trying to get Ernest back. I could see a little bird, sitting on the shoulder of an elephant squawking it's little head off!
It's steamy, as these books are, but I loved that Toby manages to talk himself out of his 3+ date rule. Made me think of my own 5 date rule, and how I managed to wiggle myself out of it! made me chuckle.
Rick is next, he works with Ernest on the flower farm (again, not sure it says what sort of flowers!) and of course, there is Remy and Sven and I am LOVING the epilogues!
4 very VERY good stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Pretty Amy (Pretty Amy, #1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>.
Pretty Amy is a book that I had wanted to read for quite awhile. I was thrilled when I won a copy. However, I was disappointed when it wasn't as good as I had hoped. It's still an alright/good read though.
Amy is a seventeen year old high school senior. On the night of prom, Amy and her two best friends Cassie and Lila get stood up by their dates. They decide to forego prom and end up at the house where Lila's boyfriend lives. Since the boys aren't there, Lila decides to steal a big bag of marijuana from Brian as payback. After smoking some of it and joyriding around the time, the girls are pulled over by the police. They are charged with possession, intent to sell and sale. Amy is facing jail time but can get probation if she'll sign a paper saying it was all Cassie and Lila. Amy doesn't want to turn against her best friends, so does that mean she'll throw herself to the wolves?
The title kind of caught my eye, but after reading this book, I felt as if a better title could've been picked. Pretty Amy is what Amy's bird says throughout the book.
I think the cover is a good choice because it's a photo of what started this whole thing.
The world building is alright. I think the character of Amy makes the world building a little unbelievable, but I'll elaborate on that later. I was never a "bad kid" so I don't really have anything to compare Amy's world to. However, I knew some bad kids, and I imagine their lives would've been like Cassie's, Lila's and Amy's.
The pacing did start off a bit slow, but it definitely picked right up probably about 50 pages into the book. This is one of those books I devoured because I loved the writing style and how Burstein was able to captivate an audience.
I enjoyed the whole good girl turned bad plot. I found it interesting with what choices Amy had to make about her life. Amy used to be a good girl, but she felt invisible and just wanted to fit in with someone. She mixes with the wrong crowd, and before she knows it, she's smoking (cigarettes and weed), skipping classes, and getting in trouble at school. The plot deals with self discovery as a theme.
I had a big problem with Amy. I found her to be really, really annoying. In fact, I was going to stop reading the book because of her, but I decided to keep reading. (I'm glad I did because it was a good book). I just didn't find her to be that believable. She threw these temper tantrums that I've never known any senior in high school to throw. She acted more like a spoiled 10 year old than a 17 year old. And while I understand that she was a moody teenager whose future was uncertain, she still came across as being really young as well as annoying. However, I did relate to her with the whole feeling invisible and just plain. I felt and still feel the same way. Ultimately, I was too annoyed with her to really connect, so I found myself not caring if she want to jail. We don't really get to see much of Cassie and Lila past the first few chapters. Cassie didn't feel like a real character either because I felt like the author was trying too hard to make Cassie seem like a bad girl. I was indifferent about Lila although she felt more realistic then Cassie and Amy. Amy's mom seemed to just cry the whole time which I found annoying as well. I don't think anyone cries as much as that woman did! I did like Amy's dad though. I loved how supportive he was of Amy and how helpful he was. I also liked Joe although I wish we would've got to read a bit more about him.
Some of the dialogue did feel forced, especially when it involved swearing. There was so much swearing in that book, and it just felt a bit over the top. However, minus the swearing, I did enjoy some of the snarky comments by Amy the most even if some were a bit immature.
Overall, Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein was enjoyable to read as strange as it may sound with how annoyed I was with Amy. I don't really know what it was, but I did like this book. I think if Amy had acted more like a 17 year old then a tween, it would've been a lot better.
I'd recommend this book to those aged 16+ (due to language) who are after an interesting contemporary novel.
I'd give Pretty Amy (Pretty Amy #1) by Lisa Burstein a 3.5 out of 5.
Pretty Amy is a book that I had wanted to read for quite awhile. I was thrilled when I won a copy. However, I was disappointed when it wasn't as good as I had hoped. It's still an alright/good read though.
Amy is a seventeen year old high school senior. On the night of prom, Amy and her two best friends Cassie and Lila get stood up by their dates. They decide to forego prom and end up at the house where Lila's boyfriend lives. Since the boys aren't there, Lila decides to steal a big bag of marijuana from Brian as payback. After smoking some of it and joyriding around the time, the girls are pulled over by the police. They are charged with possession, intent to sell and sale. Amy is facing jail time but can get probation if she'll sign a paper saying it was all Cassie and Lila. Amy doesn't want to turn against her best friends, so does that mean she'll throw herself to the wolves?
The title kind of caught my eye, but after reading this book, I felt as if a better title could've been picked. Pretty Amy is what Amy's bird says throughout the book.
I think the cover is a good choice because it's a photo of what started this whole thing.
The world building is alright. I think the character of Amy makes the world building a little unbelievable, but I'll elaborate on that later. I was never a "bad kid" so I don't really have anything to compare Amy's world to. However, I knew some bad kids, and I imagine their lives would've been like Cassie's, Lila's and Amy's.
The pacing did start off a bit slow, but it definitely picked right up probably about 50 pages into the book. This is one of those books I devoured because I loved the writing style and how Burstein was able to captivate an audience.
I enjoyed the whole good girl turned bad plot. I found it interesting with what choices Amy had to make about her life. Amy used to be a good girl, but she felt invisible and just wanted to fit in with someone. She mixes with the wrong crowd, and before she knows it, she's smoking (cigarettes and weed), skipping classes, and getting in trouble at school. The plot deals with self discovery as a theme.
I had a big problem with Amy. I found her to be really, really annoying. In fact, I was going to stop reading the book because of her, but I decided to keep reading. (I'm glad I did because it was a good book). I just didn't find her to be that believable. She threw these temper tantrums that I've never known any senior in high school to throw. She acted more like a spoiled 10 year old than a 17 year old. And while I understand that she was a moody teenager whose future was uncertain, she still came across as being really young as well as annoying. However, I did relate to her with the whole feeling invisible and just plain. I felt and still feel the same way. Ultimately, I was too annoyed with her to really connect, so I found myself not caring if she want to jail. We don't really get to see much of Cassie and Lila past the first few chapters. Cassie didn't feel like a real character either because I felt like the author was trying too hard to make Cassie seem like a bad girl. I was indifferent about Lila although she felt more realistic then Cassie and Amy. Amy's mom seemed to just cry the whole time which I found annoying as well. I don't think anyone cries as much as that woman did! I did like Amy's dad though. I loved how supportive he was of Amy and how helpful he was. I also liked Joe although I wish we would've got to read a bit more about him.
Some of the dialogue did feel forced, especially when it involved swearing. There was so much swearing in that book, and it just felt a bit over the top. However, minus the swearing, I did enjoy some of the snarky comments by Amy the most even if some were a bit immature.
Overall, Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein was enjoyable to read as strange as it may sound with how annoyed I was with Amy. I don't really know what it was, but I did like this book. I think if Amy had acted more like a 17 year old then a tween, it would've been a lot better.
I'd recommend this book to those aged 16+ (due to language) who are after an interesting contemporary novel.
I'd give Pretty Amy (Pretty Amy #1) by Lisa Burstein a 3.5 out of 5.