Review & Top 10 List: London Falling by T.A. Foster

London Falling by T.A. Foster
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 281
Series: n/a
Review Source: eARC through InkSlinger PR

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

It’s London’s senior year and she only needs one class to graduate. She just didn’t expect her final assignment: fall in love.

Communication 224 has a reputation for giving out the most unique projects of the semester. When London James and Beau Anderson signed up for the class they had no idea they would be paired up together, much less spend an entire semester working on their final grade.

Professor Garcia tasks them to produce a study on the hit reality show, Love Match, a show about strangers falling in love on over the top dates. London and Beau decide to debunk the popular show’s fantasy portrayal of romance. Determined they can date the entire semester and not fall for each other, the classmates share blogs about their dates and start a website where everyone can follow their dating experiment.

Is staying out of love as easy as it seems? Headstrong and success-driven London discovers there might be more important things in life than an A.

My Thoughts:
London Falling was such a sweet book overall, I just couldn’t help but fall for it in return. I enjoyed the romance and how it occurred. I liked the idea of a class where the project is to take on different types of reality shows. It definitely made for an interesting backdrop to the story.

London, I thought, was a little messed up when it came to romance. However what I did love about her is that she had a dream and she stuck to it. She had long term goals and she wasn’t willing to compromise that for a guy, which I really admired. So often women are disparaged for being strong and speaking out, so I liked reading about a female character who wasn’t afraid to put it out there that she believed in her own self-worth.

There were a few parts of the story I found a tad clunky. The last part where their interactions changed, for example, seemed awkward. I really thought a lot of it could have been solved with an honest conversation. Honestly, though, I really enjoyed this book on a whole. I liked the characters, the premise, and I found it to be a really sweet story overall.

The Cover:
Like.

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

T.A. Foster's Top 10 Romantic Comedy Date Scenes

As badly as London and Beau want their dates to go smoothly, it just doesn’t always happen that way. In honor of the romantic comedy side of London Falling, I’ve made a list of my favorite dates in RomCom movies. Cue the cheesy music…

1. The Wedding Planner—movie in the park. Have you ever really thought about eating the colorful M&Ms the same way again?
2. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days—family overnight to play BS. I just doubled up on Matthew McConaughey movies, but he and Hugh Grant are the experts on all things for leading men in RomComs.
3. Bridget Jones’s Diary—dinner after the book launch. All of Bridget’s careful pre-party planning paid off when she ended up going home with Daniel.
4. Serendipity—sundaes at Serendipity. Splitting a pair of beautiful and expensive gloves never sounded like such a good idea.
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall—Dracula comedy rock-opera performance. Because when you really like someone you watch puppet opera.
6. This is 40—overnight anniversary. At 40, crazy, wild, and hot times still happen when you least expect them.
7. Just Friends—ice skating date. If you want to stay out of the friend zone, don’t plan lunch dates or you’ll have to contend with the Dinkleman factor.
8. Bull Durham—living room dancing. Such an iconic movie scene. Kevin Costner, a kimono, and dancing…
9. Waitress—pie lesson. Felicity traded her journal in for pie making skills and she delivered. I loved this sugary, sweet scene.
10. When Harry Met Sally—New Year’s Eve. It’s the perfect way to start the new year, with a kiss from someone you love.

About T.A.:
T.A. Foster is a Southern girl whose heart and spirit are connected to the beach. She grew up catching rays and chasing waves along the North Carolina Outer Banks and now resides in the state with her adventurous pilot husband, two children and two canine kiddos.

Her long love affair with books started at an early age, and as soon as she was able, she transformed imaginative stories into words on paper. Time Spell is T.A.’s debut novel, and the first in a series about a very adventurous, clever, and magical girl named Ivy.

T.A. has an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate degree in Educational Psychology from Texas A&M University. When she’s not chasing her two-legged and four-legged children or trying to escape for date night, you can find her reading, writing or planning her next beach trip.
- See more at: http://www.tafosterauthor.com/about_me/#sthash.kxsHReKf.dpuf

Where to find T.A.:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+ | Goodreads

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Tell Me When by Stina Lindenblatt (Review & Giveaway)

Tell Me When by Stina Lindenblatt
Release Date: January 20, 2014
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 273
Series: n/a
Review Source: Netgalley

Synopsis:

Amber Scott should be enjoying life as a college freshman. She should be pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian. She should be working hard to make sense of her precalculus math class.

She shouldn't be waking up her college roommate with screaming nightmares. She shouldn't be flashing back, reliving the three weeks of hell she barely survived last year. And she definitely shouldn't be spending time with sexy player Marcus Reid.

But engineering student Marcus is the only one keeping Amber from failing her math course, so she grudgingly lets him into her life. She never expects the king of hookups will share his painful past. Or that she'll tell him her secrets in return, opening up and trusting him in a way she thought she'd never be able to again.

When their fragile future together is threatened by a stalker Amber thought was locked away for good, Marcus is determined to protect her—and Amber is determined to protect Marcus…even if that means pushing him away.

My Thoughts:
You know what this book did? It made me not completely hate the New Adult stereotypical story of a player bad boy falling for that one special girl after being all about no commitment for so long. Stina Lindenblatt tells this familiar type of story, but she does so in a way that keeps readers invested in the story. She made me enjoy the story I’ve read versions of over and over again, which is an impressive feat. Yes, this is a NA book about people with troubled pasts who find one another, but Amber and Marcus’s pasts weren’t there just to conveniently explain character flaws.

Tell Me When is a high stakes story with different types of suspense coming from both characters, because of their troubled pasts. Because both characters come from such intense situations, the story easily could have felt overdramatic. Thankfully the author does a great job writing about Amber and Marcus’s experiences, taking the issues and making them a part of the characters. Amber and Marcus are their own people beyond their issues, and this made for a very strong book.

Overall: definitely recommended, especially if you enjoy this type of plot. With Tell Me When you get the high drama that’s common in New Adult, backed up by good writing and strong characters.

The Cover:
Not too bad.

Rating:
[4/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble

About Stina:
Born in England, Stina loves to travel, and has lived in England, the US, Canada, and Finland. She spent a semester in graduate school living in central Finland, and a summer during her undergrad degree working in Helsinki. She has a Master’s of Science degree in exercise physiology and has worked with elite athletes. In her free time, Stina is a photographer, mother of three adorable kids, and devoted wife. She currently lives in Calgary, Canada.

Where to find Stina:
Website | Facebook |
Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

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A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller (Tour Review)

A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller
Release Date: January 23, 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 448
Series: n/a
Review Source: ARC from Razorbill Canada

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)

Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.

After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

My Thoughts:
Despite the fact that I was a history major in university, I don't read a lot of pure historical fiction. The historical novels I do read tend to have some paranormal element to them. Despite these facts, I absolutely loved A Mad, Wicked Folly. The book features a smart and tenacious heroine whose story is period appropriate, but whose sensibilities will appeal to modern readers.

Vicky is such a lovely character. I enjoyed reading from her perspective so much. You would think that the life of a pretty, rich girl wouldn't be too hard, but when your station in society means ignoring the most important parts of you, it's quite a horrifying existence. Even though it made sense for the time period (I mean, heck, some people still feel this way), it was so sad and disheartening to see the attitude of Vicky's father. He feels that a woman is meant to be seen and not heard, and that a woman’s only role in life is to be an obedient wife and mother.

The attitude of Vicky’s father is juxtaposed with the appearance of the suffragettes. The book does a great job of portraying what they were doing to try and win the vote, and it shows how negatively they were viewed by most of the public. I liked their role in Vicky’s story, and how she is both inspired by and a little scared of them. While suffrage is something Vicky finds important, her real passion is for art. The main focus of the book is really about the lengths to which Vicky will go to have art as a part of her life. I actually found this aspect to be quite inspiring.

While the book doesn’t feature what I would consider a love triangle, there are two male characters vying for Vicky’s attention in very different ways. I completely loved Vicky's interactions with Will. He’s such a fabulous character, and those two together are fabulous. I have to say, though, that I kind of loved-hated Edmund too. While we know how women in history were controlled by their fathers and husbands, it was interesting to see how men could be stymied by their families too. While Edmund and Vicky are so different from one another, I liked seeing the similarities between them as well, and how they chose to deal with their situations. Both characters have big choices to make about what type of control they'll allow their families to have and what they're willing to give up.

A Mad, Wicked Folly is such a delightful read. The characters are lovely and the plot kept me enthralled. I enjoyed the reading experience very much and I highly recommend it to all YA fans.

The Cover:
Just gorgeous!

Rating:
[5/5]

Purchase Links:
Kobo | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com | Chapters-Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository