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Cumberland (1142 KP) created a poll about in The Smashbomb Book Club

Jul 28, 2019 (Updated Aug 2, 2019)  
Poll
 Closed  Anonymous
Hello everyone! Here is the poll for August's book. The theme is adaptations, books that have been made into movies. As part of this months discussion I would love to compare the book and movie! The poll will be up until the 1st so please vote!

Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

4 votes

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes

0 votes

To All The Boys Ive Loved Before by Jenny Han

1 votes

Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

1 votes

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

0 votes

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

0 votes

  
The Way of the Brave (Global Search and Rescue, #1)
The Way of the Brave (Global Search and Rescue, #1)
Susan May Warren | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
What an adventure to go on. Susan does it wonderfully with this new book in her new series. The storyline is mostly about two of the six characters. But you get more of an adventure with them all. What is Ham's real reason for coming to Alaska? We see that Orion is the main one along with Jenny.

They all seem to have worked together. Orion seems stuck with his past and why? He got friends and Ham and Jake seem content to help him. Ham seems to know that God as a plan for Orion still. Will Orion realize that. Jenny seems to have a secret that she is holding on to. She decides to take it to the highest mountain in America.

Susan put readers though emotional and breathtaking adventures. There is non stop action from the moment we open the book after starting. What a climb and adventure we go on. Jake and Aria seem to find a connection. Is it real? Will Orion let go of this past to be with Jenny? Will Jenny let go and allow romance to take hold?

Will they be stuck on the mountain or will they survive? The mountain seems to be calling Orion and Han and Jake, Will they save the woman and get them all the mountain?
  
The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy (Summer, #1-3)
The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy (Summer, #1-3)
Jenny Han | 2015 | History & Politics, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
4
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's taken me 12 days to read this because it was taking so long for something to happen. In the end I just decided to go for it and it still didn't work for me. I felt nothing for the characters or their situation. I don't think I'll be continuing the series.

I have [b:To All the Boys I've Loved Before|15749186|To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1)|Jenny Han|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372086100s/15749186.jpg|21442106] in paperback too, but after this I'm not in any hurry to read it.
  
The short stories in this are brilliant. There were a few that I ended up skipping (mainly just because I didn’t get along with the style of them) but I did read the majority of the short stories.

My favourites were by Jenny Han, Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan. They were all so festive and really got me in the festive spirit.

I also love the binding of this book! The page edges are a bright pink which is completely my colour! I also love hardbacks that have a bookmark in them – they are lifesavers!

I can’t believe that a collection with as many big names as this actually exists! I was in heaven while reading it!
  
To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
2018 | Drama, Romance
They story of Lara Jean and her hat box with 5 love letters is a teen romantic for the ages. This movie found on netflix is based off of the book with the same name by Jenny Han. Lara Jean writes a love letter for every boy that she has had a huge crush on, she places them in a hat box in her closet in an attempt to hide her feelings. But all that changes when the letters get sent out. Life changes for Lara Jean as she has to deal with new found male attention and her own sense of self.

This movie was really good, the cast was terrific and the storyline doesn't ever really drag as the hour and a half plays out. My only real complaint is that they left out some of my favorite plots from the books but that is to be expected.
I would totally recommend this movie to anybody who wants to watch a cute fluff romance type movie.
  
Always and Forever, Lara Jean
Always and Forever, Lara Jean
Jenny Han | 2017 | Romance, Young Adult (YA)
6
8.1 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the final book of Jenny Han's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" series, we find our heroine, Lara Jean, in her senior year of high school and facing some big changes: college choices; her dad's impending marriage (yay, Mrs. Rothschild!); and figuring out the fate of her relationship with her handsome high school sweetheart, Peter K. The plan, of course, is for Lara Jean and Peter to head to UVA together. Peter already has a lacrosse scholarship there, and Lara Jean's acceptance email should be arriving any day. Still, Lara Jean is worried about the possibility of change and if things do not go exactly according to her plans.

I can't remember how I stumbled across this series, beloved to me (a mid-thirties lesbian) and teen girls everywhere, but I do have such a soft spot for Lara Jean. My girl is all grown up now! *sniff sniff* I love this series even more because it's basically set in my hometown, and I get to read about references to Bodo's Bagels, UVA and the Rotunda, BBQ Exchange, and more.

The strength of Han's series certainly centers around Lara Jean. She's such a realistic and endearing character, and she's grown and progressed over the three books. I adore her spirit, her love of baking, and her fierce devotion to her family. Indeed, Lara Jean's family is very well fleshed out, and you can so easily visualize each of her sisters and their poor, beleaguered father. Everyone--even our additional supporting characters--feels like family by now.

The hardest part of this book was that it felt a bit like filler. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Han wrote a third book, and I'm happy to see what happened to Lara Jean, Peter, and the rest of the gang, but it sort of feel like we were killing time for the sake of killing time. There's no major plot impetus beyond college decisions and Mr. Covey's wedding preparations. It ties back to a thread in the first book involving Lara Jean's mom warning about not going to college with a boyfriend (remember Margot and Josh?), but it's a tenuous thread.

Still, this is a sweet book, and I enjoyed most of it, though Peter didn't always seem like his usual self. (I don't enjoy when "stress" is an excuse for guys to treat girls poorly.) I was glad to see Lara Jean stay true to her Lara Jean self: she's just so fun, spunky, and adorable. Han says definitively at the end that she won't write anymore about Lara Jean and even though I felt like this book was a little bit of fluff, I still felt sad reading that, because darnit, it was Lara Jean fluff, and I love her.

You can find my review of the first book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1521015379?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">here</a>; and the second <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1521018057?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">here</a>;.

<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a></center>;
  
This set of short stories were very interesting to read and I like that they were all different in there own way, with fantasy and LGBTQ elements. I am fairly new to young adult so many of these authors I haven't read before but I will be delving into some of their works in 2016.

I was a little let down with this collection of short stories, there has been so much buzz going around for this book. I felt that the stories were too short and that you didn't really build enough connection with the characters to feel the warm fuzzy feeling of romance.

I will try to put a brief synopsis of each story but I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell is a story about Mags and Noel who have been friends over the past 4-5 years and it is told on every New Years eve and gradually they grow closer every year to more than just friends. 3 stars. Now everyone should know that I am a fan of Rainbow Rowell, but for me she is better at longer novels with the slow burn of a romance, for me this was much too short and I didn't feel the connection with the characters.

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link is a fantasy love story (to be honest I can't remember too much about this) 2 stars. It was ok, but things weren't explained enough.

Angels in the snow by Matt de la Pena is about a guy called Shy and he is cat sitting for his boss, when he gets a knock on the door from a women called Hayley , she has problems in her flat and Shy is the only guy to help out.3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, the characters were super cute, the romance was cute and a lovely short story.

Polaris is where you'll find me by Jenny Han is a about Natalie, she was abandoned as a baby, found and adopted by Santa, she grows up in the North Pole. Love between her and an elf develops. 3.5 stars This was super cute and reminded me of the film Elf.

It's a yuletide miracle Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins was another cute story of Marigold buying a Christmas tree just to speak to a guy. 3.5 stars.I don't know how many times I am going to say cute but this is what it was.

Your Temporary Santa is a LGTBQ story, which is great to see in this mix of stories, however it wasn't for me 2 stars.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black has elements of fantasy, however I didn't like the story for me it felt a bit juvenile. 1.5 stars

What the hell have you done, Sophie Roth, I loved this story, it has to be my favorite in the book, it's just a basic romance story but written and developed really well. 4 stars.

Beer buckets and baby Jesus by Myra McEntire, Vaughn Hatcher is the local prankster, however one day he gets arrested but saved by the local priest in exchange for community service, there he meets the girl he has been seeking attention. 2 stars

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White was a really cool story, a girl hating her family, the town she lives in and the people until they get a new chef in the kitchen of the diner that her mum owns and somehow everything starts to become clearer. 3.5 stars This was an enjoyable read.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter was a cute story of a girl trying to escape her life and swaps plane tickets with an Icelandic girl and pretends to be her when she meets her destination. 3.5 Stars

The girl who woke the dreamer by Laini Taylor is a fantasy story, which starts off very sad and gripping, but I wasn't sure about the ending. It was very strange. 2 stars

I know that Stephanie Perkins has another collection of short stories coming out in 2016 and will be interested in reading them aswell

Overall I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars