Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend (Confessions #2) - Kay Marie BLOG TOUR

Confessions of an Undercover Girlfriend (Confessions #2) by Kay Marie

Out on October 11th

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Summary:

From bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis, writing as Kay Marie, comes the second book in the Confessions series, a romantic comedy being hailed as "the new Bridget Jones!" (Broc's Bookcase). 

So, I'm no longer a virgin sex columnist—thank you, Ollie—but if I thought that was going to make my life easier, boy was I wrong! John is back in town determined to win my forgiveness. Blythe is more ready than ever to take me down. Bridget is totally onto the new twinkle in my eye. And, well, Ollie is just as distractingly delicious as usual.

So, naturally, I have a few more confessions to make.

Confession #1: I came up with what I thought would be the perfect plan to keep my relationship with Ollie a secret—pretend to get back together with John!

Confession #2: It backfired. A lot.

This is a sweet romance, perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Emily Giffin!

About Kay Marie (Kaitlyn Davis):

Bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis writes young adult fantasy novels under the name Kaitlyn Davis and contemporary romance novels under the name Kay Marie.

Always blessed with an overactive imagination, Kaitlyn has been writing ever since she picked up her first crayon and is overjoyed to share her work with the world. When she's not daydreaming, typing stories, or getting lost in fictional worlds, Kaitlyn can be found indulging in some puppy videos, watching a little too much television, or spending time with her family. If you have any questions for her--about her books, about scheduling an event, or just in general--you may contact her at: KaitlynDavisBooks@gmail.com

To stay up-to-date with all of Kaitlyn's new releases, sign up for her new release newsletter here: TinyLetter.com/KaitlynDavisBooks

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Kay_Marie

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Marie/e/B00UGILMD0/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Confessions of a Virgin Sex Columnist:

Two hot guys. One big lie. What's a virgin sex columnist to do?

My name is Skylar Quinn. I just moved to New York with my best friend Bridget, and I have a confession. Well, more than one. Okay, quite a few really. Fine, here goes!

Confession #1: I'm a sex columnist. Hold on, that's not really the confession. You see, I'm sort of a virgin...sex columnist.

Confession #2: I'm kind of in love with Bridget's older brother, Oliver. No, I was. No, I am. Wait, was? Am? Crap.

Confession #3: I've been avoiding Oliver for four years. Or I was until today, because he just moved in. Yes, you read that correctly. He's my new roommate. So that night we've both been pretending never happened, well, we might not be able to keep it a secret any longer.

And trust me, this is only the beginning.

From bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis, writing as Kay Marie, comes a new adult romantic comedy about a girl who'll soon discover that some secrets can't be kept forever, especially those of the heart. This is a sweet romance, perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Emily Giffin!

Excerpt from book 1 (no spoilers!):

I haven't seen him in four years. In fact, I've actively been avoiding him for four years. And now he's here. In my kitchen. Drinking my milk—from the gallon no less! Did I mention he looks completely and utterly gorgeous? Maybe even hotter than I remembered…if that's even possible…
Okay, I'm veering off track.
"Ollie?" I gasp. "What are? Why are? When?" Great reporting, Skye… I swallow, stilling my racing words and form an actual sentence. "What are you doing here?"
"Here in New York or here in your kitchen?"
Here pretending to be your sister while I confess my deepest secrets? Here looking at me with that infuriating half-smirk smile thing you do? Here pretending like the last time we saw each other wasn't the most horrifying moment in my entire life?
I don't say any of that, of course. Instead, I shrug. "Um, both? Either?"
He puts the milk back in the fridge and closes the door. I can't help but notice a toned bicep below the sleeve of his white T-shirt—the same bicep I used to fantasize about during chemistry class, the bicep of the most popular guy in the school, the bicep of the quarterback. Six years since he stopped playing football, and crap, he still looks good.
"I'm guessing Bridget forgot to mention that I got offered a job at a new steakhouse opening on Fifth Ave? As a sous-chef?"
I shake my head. "Nope, she didn’t mention anything."
He licks his lips, biting back a wider grin. "So she probably also didn't tell you I accepted the offer and just moved to New York?"
"I don't recall ever hearing about that…" I trail off as my palms begin to sweat. I have a very, very bad idea where this is going.
Astronomically bad.
Iceberg straight ahead bad.
Ollie's eyes brighten a shade, crystal aqua, clearer than any Caribbean water I've ever seen. He leans against the wall, crossing his arms, looking at me through a side-glance, the hint of a dimple on his cheek. My rapid heartbeat has nothing to do with my panic attack anymore.
Oh yeah, this is bad.
"So," he says, lifting his brows and looking at me apologetically, "she probably also didn't tell you that I'm moving in for a few weeks until I can find my own place?"
"You’re the new roommate?" I shout and then clamp my hands over my lips. I've said enough to him tonight—too much. In fact, all of that information is crashing back down around me.
Ollie is my new roommate.
Ollie knows I'm a virgin.

Ollie knows I'm a sex columnist. 

Buy it here:

Salt to the Sea - Ruta Sepetys

Goodreads summary:

Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.



My review:

5/5

I LOVED IT SO MUCH!

Ruta Sepetys did it again: she managed to write a punching novel that made me experience all kinds of emotions, and it was done in a beautiful way. I am now officially convinced that she's one of my favourite authors.

Since I didn't know much about this particular novel before reading it, I wasn't expecting it to be written in multiple narrators. If I had known that it would be that way, I might have dreaded it, not knowing if it would be well done or not. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised, especially when I discovered the variety of narrators, who all offer a different point of view on the same story. From the beginning, I loved Florian, Joana and Emilia - not so much Alfred, but that was to be expected. I couldn't decide who was my favourite, because they all seem so real and complex that I liked them even more after reading every single one of their chapters. Florian is brave, strong and clever, even though all he wants is to be left alone to let that facade fall away. Seeing him through different point of views, I started noticing his kindness, his protectiveness and his will to live and to forget about the war that's going on. Joana is strong and lives to help others, but every second brings her closer to a breakdown, because she wishes she could see her family and feel safe and home again. She's an inspiring character, with all her hopes and her determination. Emilia really touched my heart. Her life hasn't been easy, not only because she's a Polish. Her self-defense reactions are heartbreaking, and we get to see more and more of them as the story progresses. I still can't believe everything that happened to her, even though I know she'd only one of the hundreds and hundreds of people who suffered from such a hard life.

I loved all the historical aspects of this story, as horrifying as some of them were. I've always loved history, particularly around WWI and WWII, so I couldn't get enough of all the details in this story. Instead of focusing on details everyone had heard of, Sepetys chose to show a dark side of history that most people haven't heard much about. I think that this is a fantastic idea, because so many atrocities happened during WWII that we have chosen to focus on a few of them instead of learning about all of them.

One thing I have to say about this story is that it's heartbreaking. I listened to its audiobook, but I often closed my eyes while I was listening to it, just to try and block out some of the awful things happening. I had to remind myself that as gruesome as some of the details were, they, along with much worse events, truly happened, so I can't just ignore them. One moment that truly made me break down was the All the Little Duckies moment towards the end, which you'll get if you've read the book. Emilia's calming song was always sad to hear about, because she usually thought about it when she was distressed, but that moment was the worst.

Overall, I thought that this novel was absolutely fantastic. It's beautifully written, it's clever, it's heartwrenching and it's raw. I absolutely recommend it, along with the rest of Ruta Sepetys's novels. She's definitely one of my favourite authors by now.

By the way, I'm sorry for the mistakes that might be in there - I wrote this on my phone since I'm on vacation, so I didn't have Wifi either.

Shuffle, Repeat - Jen Klein

Goodreads summary:

When Harry Met Sally for YA romance readers. This opposites-attract love story is perfect for fans of Huntley Fitzpatrick, Stephanie Perkins, and Jenny Han.

June wants high school to end and real life to begin. Oliver is soaking up senior year’s glory days. They could have coasted through high school, knowing about—but not really knowing—each other.

Except that their moms have arranged for Oliver to drive June to school. Every. Single. Day.

Suddenly these two opposites are fighting about music, life . . . pretty much everything. But love is unpredictable. When promises—and hearts—get broken, Oliver and June must figure out what really matters. And then fight for it.


My review:

4,5/5

If you guys didn't get to see my initial review for this book, you might not understand how much I loved it. It wasn't much, but let me tell you this: it was in all-caps, and I did restrain myself from using too many exclamation marks when I was typing it. The effort was there, but the results weren't.

At first, I wasn't sure if I would like this novel, because June seemed easy to judge and stuck up. The truth is that she is, but I started warming up to her as Oliver started to shake her inital opinions on high school and life in general. Then, I discovered that she's nice, funny and smart, which makes her a pretty good character, in the end. As for Oliver himself, I think he's pretty easy to like, because he seems a bit too perfect when you don't know him. When he opened up to June, I started liking him even more, because no one likes a perfect character. This is when things went downhill for me, because he became absolutely adorable to me and I didn't want anything more than to get him and June together.

Their relationship is really well written, especially when it comes to its pace. The fact that the story takes place over an entire school year makes their relationship realistic and even deeper, because they know each other pretty well after a year of carpool. I liked these moments between them, when they're talking about their lives, school or each other's bad music tastes. Although the playlist is a big part of this novel, I liked the fact that it didn't overpower the rest of the story, since it gets less important as the plot develops. It's a nice touch, especially since it's written at the end of the book, but there are so many more important things in this novel.

I liked June's group of friends, even though I don't think they are present enough in this novel. I wish we'd seen a bit more of everyone, because aside from Itch and Shaun, I don't feel like I know June's friends, so it's hard to understand their friendship.

When I became really invested in the story, June started acting like a big old idiot, which made me very, very, very mad. I almost didn't want to keep reading, but I knew (hoped) that things would get better, so I kept reading and I am very glad that I did. The fact that it made me feel so many emotions proves how much I enjoyed reading this book, which hasn't happened to me that often with books that aren't rereads this year. I was really happy about that! I hope this book truly takes me out of my reading slump, because even though I'm reading books these days, I don't feel as enthusiastic as I'd like to. Fingers crossed!

As you can imagine, I 100% recommend this book, because I think it's an amazing YA. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did!

What You Always Wanted (If Only... #8) - Kristin Rae

Goodreads summary:

If only…he was the boy she’s been dreaming of.

Theatre girl Maddie Brooks has always had high standards for guys. But she has yet to find one who can live up to the classic Hollywood heartthrobs, especially the dreamy song-and-dance man Gene Kelly. When Maddie begins to carpool with Jesse Morales, her new neighbor and star pitcher of the baseball team, she’s struck by his wit, good looks, and love for his family—but a guy so into sports is definitely not her style. Then Maddie discovers that Jesse was raised as a dancer and still practices in the community theatre’s dance studio to keep in shape. Perhaps her perfect dream guy exists after all! But when it becomes clear that baseball—not dance—is Jesse’s passion, can Maddie find a way to let her dream guy go and appreciate the charms of the amazing guy in front of her?

This fun, high school theatre romance in the If Only line is for anyone who has ever wished for that impossibly perfect guy.


My review:

4/5

What an amazing YA! I've read a good amount of books from that genre by now, but some of them still truly impress me, and this novel was one of those!

The first aspect of this book that charmed me was the fact that it's so easy to relate to, especially for bookworms. In this novel, Maddie has extremely high standards because of all the movies she's seen, which all have perfect gentlemen in them. Is anyone here familiar with this? I am, but because of books. Since I can relate to Maddie very much when it comes to relationships, I learned quite a few pieces of advice from this novel.

I also loved the importance of theatre in this novel, since I'm a sucker for quirky hobbies and characters who are passionate about them. I actually don't know anything about acting, musicals or classic movies, but it was very interesting to learn about all of them, especially since Maddie has such big dreams created around them. If anything, I think there could have been a bigger place for Maddie's passion of acting in this novel, because it really gives the book a different style than most YAs.

A big part of the novel is centered around Maddie's relationship with Jesse - who is absolutely swoon-worthy, by the way, whether you like dancers or not. I loved how they grow closer and closer as time flies, because it's much more realistic than love at first sight. Their relationship suffers from Maddie's high standards and prejudices, but I have to admit that I shared her opinion more than once, maybe because we're a bit similar. I was very pleased with the ending, even though I didn't expect it to end that way.

Obviously, this book isn't perfect, but as far as YA novels go, I'd say that it's a pretty good one. Highly recommended!

17 Series I Have to Finish

Hi everyone! As some of you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of series. I usually prefer stand-alones, even though I do adore some series. Sometimes, it's just that it's hard to force myself to pick up the next book in a series, which is the case with most of the books in this post. I hope to finish them in the future, so maybe writing and posting this will help me. I'll write this as a list (who doesn't love lists?), but it's in no particular order, just so you know. I hope you enjoy today's blog post!

1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

   

 

I've already read the first three books in this series, but even though the fourth one has been out for months, I still haven't read it. I hope to do so before Empire of Storms comes out (September 6th), because it's an amazing series.

2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 

I have only read ACOTAR so far, but I loved it. The only problem I have now is that I really don't feel the need to read A Court of Mist and Fury, for some reason, but I'll get over that at some point, because it is written by Sarah J. Maas, so I have to.

3. Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

   

Although I've only read the first book in this series, I feel like I can't just leave the rest of the series unread, so I already have the second book on my phone for whenever I have some free time.

4. Bloodlines  by Richelle Mead 

  

  

I've officially read half of this series and I loved every single moment of it so far, but when I read the first few pages of The Fiery Heart, it felt so different and weird that I didn't continue reading it at the time. I will, someday, but I'm hoping for now that the few pages I read were just a glitch or something.

5. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

  

I'm really excited for the last book in this series, which I'm hoping to read this summer!

6. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

  

(Before I write anything, I just want to point out how much these covers match The 5th Wave's. CRAZY.) I've loved the two first books in this series, so I should really continue reading it!

7. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

  

  

I only have the last book to read in this series of six books, so there's no way I'm leaving it like that. Also, I really want to read Lady Midnight, but I have to finish this series first to understand what's happening.

8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

  

The second book is so big that I didn't even have time to start reading it when I first got it from the library, so I just never tried again. I should, though!

9. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

   

   

This series is the funniest one I've ever read, even though it makes me feel a lot of second-hand embarrassment. I can't wait to pick up the third book!

10. Slated by Teri Terry

  

I love this series (and its covers), so I should really pick up the last one in the future!

11. Geek Girl by Holly Smale

   

 

This is kind of childish, but it's the perfect kind of feel-good series! I am currently reading the third book.

12. Red Queen  by  Victoria Aveyard

  

I've only read Red Queen, but I truly liked it! I can't wait to pick up the next books.

13. The Half Bad Trilogy by Sally Green

  

Half Bad was a really good read, so I really want to finish this series!

14. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

 

I wanted to wait until I had watched to read After You, so now that I have seen (and loved) the movie, I have to read it!

15. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

   

 

Right now, I can't say if I ever will finish this series, since I've only read the first book and the entire series is huge, but maybe once the TV series is over, I think I'd probably like to finish reading it.

16. Inherit the Stars  by Tessa Elwood

 

I read the first book to review it and I absolutely loved it, so I can't wait to start reading the second book, which I actually just got from the publishers. I'm really excited about it, so you might see a review of it pretty soon!

17. La promesse des Gélinas de France Lorrain (en français)

  

J'ai lu le premier roman de cette série l'année dernière, mais je n'ai toujours pas lu les deux autres romans qui l'ont suivi. Puisque je l'ai beaucoup aimé et que je connais personnellement l'auteure, je sais que je finirai bientôt cette série. 

So that's about it! I really liked doing this list, because it reminded me of how much I enjoyed some of these books. Also, just so you know, this was a very dangerous post to write, in terms of spoilers! It's because I always put the Goodreads links with the cover pictures, so I had to try very hard not to look at the spoilery blurbs and reviews when I went on some of these books' Goodreads page... I even had to close my eyes at some point! I hope you liked today's post and you are having a great day!