Skip to main content

Teen SRC 2022 – Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

Written by Noor
Leave a Comment

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover is a contemporary romance or domestic fiction novel that revolves around the lives of mother-daughter Morgan and Clara. They have never gotten along too well, but things start to fall off once Clara and Morgan leave two people in their lives, Morgan’s sister Jenny and Morgan’s husband, Chris. Morgan’s grief and betrayal are extreme, but she decides to keep the truth from her daughter, which is that Chris and Jenny are having an affair. It’s even harder to handle when Jonah, Jenny’s fiancé, realizes that his infant son Elijah is not his son but is Chris’s. Jonah and Morgan cope with their grief together and finally grow onto each other, although they had a weird connection growing up as teens. They slowly realize their attraction toward each other, making Clara think that Morgan and Jonah have been having an affair and starts to develop a hatred for them. The ending ties everything up and gives everyone the ending they deserve.

Regretting You is written in a way that makes you connect deeply to Clara and Morgan as it is written from the perspective of both of them. It makes you feel what both of them feel and how they react to the situation at hand. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and loved how the characters were developed. I sometimes wish I could have got the point of view from Jenny or Chris so they could explain the affair or whatever was going on between them. 

Rating: 9/10 stars

Teen SRC 2022, , ,

Teen SRC 2022 – Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Written by Rosie
Leave a Comment

“I don’t think you have to do something so big to be brave. And it’s the little things that are harder anyway.”

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson is one of my favourite standalones. It is the epitome of a summer read, and I always start my favourite season off with a reread of it.

The story follows Emily Hughes, an introverted senior who was looking forward to the perfect summer with her best friend Sloane. But all of a sudden, Emily visits Sloane’s house only to find it empty, no note, no goodbye. With calls and texts all going unanswered, Emily is left alone, with no one to talk to. Without her more outgoing, brighter, more confident best friend, Emily struggles to step outside of her comfort zone.

Then, a list comes in the mail: a list of thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks for Emily to complete. From “dance till dawn” to “go skinny dipping,” it seems Sloane is determined that Emily has a super exciting summer, even without her.

Thus, Emily starts to do the tasks, thinking they might lead her to her best friend, but what she doesn’t expect, is for this to be a journey of personal growth, both for herself and with some really awesome new friends.

Morgan Matson writes summers exactly how they feel, brimming with freedom, with no end in sight. I am obsessed with the way she can paint a scene so vividly, allowing the reader to immerse themselves entirely in the book. I also loved the gradual growth of Emily throughout the summer, as she becomes more and more open-minded and brave. It made me root for her as a character, and all of her newfound friends as well.

Another highlight of the book is its flashback scenes of Emily and Sloane in past summers. They allow the readers to form an understanding of Sloane as a person, so she isn’t just some anonymous absentee that Emily can’t survive without. You really see the dynamics of their past relationship, and how Emily is different then vs now.

Overall, I adore this book; it’s my favourite of Morgan Matson’s stories. There is the perfect amount of humour, teen spirit, and summer fun! As a plus, there are mini playlists scattered throughout the novel for an extra touch of fun! I would recommend this to people looking for a relatively light beach read with some cute romance 🙂

Rating: 9/10 ⭐

Teen SRC 2022, , , ,

Teen SRC 2022 – Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Written by Noor
3 Comments

***Contains minor spoilers****

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover is a book which I got tempted to buy after reading It Ends With Us. This book did not disappoint me, and I enjoyed every bit of it. This book is for mature readers as it discusses sensitive subjects such as the loss of a child and other topics that might trigger certain readers. This book is not only realistic but also sad and happy and makes you feel various emotions. 

This book revolves around Miles and Tate. They’re two people on and off without any label and pretty much limited themselves to using each other in bed and bed only. Tate catches feelings, and she knows Miles has to, but he’s not ready to commit and like her. This book revolves around ups and downs and plot twists on why Miles is so reluctant to be in a relationship with Tate. This book has other characters on the side, which flow nicely into the book’s storyline. In the end, everything ties back together and gives this book the plot twist and ending it needed. Not only does this book show the pretty side of love, but it also shows its ugly sides. 

Overall I would rate this book an 11/10. After all, it’s a realistic book because it engages you and is a quick summer read. I would recommend anyone who loves romance to read this book because it does not disappoint. My favourite part of this book would be how Tate and Miles met and how they slowly ended up getting closer and closer. 10/10 for character development and keeps you hooked! 

Teen SRC 2022, , , , , ,

Teen SRC 2022 – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Written by Noor
Leave a Comment

WARNING! Spoilers Ahead!

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is a book I’ve seen on BookTok for quite a while. When I picked up this book from the shelves of Walmart, I expected it to be another typical romantic book, but after I finished reading it, I was pretty shocked and left thinking about how impactful it was. This book is for mature readers as it shows abusive relationships and other topics that might be triggering for certain readers. 

This book starts with Lily Bloom, a 23-year-old redhead woman who has a dream of opening a flower shop and moving to Boston after the funeral of her abusive father. Her entire life, she’d seen her father hit her mother and even witnessed him trying to rape her. On a rooftop in Boston, on the day of her father’s funeral, Lily meets Ryle, also known as Dr. Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon. His looks have Lily swooning, but unfortunately, he only does one-night stands and does not want to get into a serious or committed relationship. Little does Lily know that that rooftop is not the only place she will see Ryle. Fast forward a couple of months, Lily finally bought a place to open her flower shop when a happy and charismatic woman named Allyssa offered to help her run it and work for her. Lily soon runs into Allyssa’s husband Marshall and her brother which is coincidentally Ryle. Lily and Ryle interact more than intended and eventually end up dating. After Lily and Ryle finally end up dating after being so crazy about each other and flirting for months, Lily is ecstatic. Their relationship is strong until she runs into Atlas, her teenage love, and this is where the novel takes another twist. The reader is kept hooked and wondering about the choices Lily will make. Throughout the novel, Lily’s letters to Ellen DeGeneres are shown. They talk about Atlas, a homeless boy who lived in the abandoned house behind her home. Lily reads these letters whenever free, taking the reader to the past along with her. 

Overall, I rate this book a 9/10 and would recommend anyone who loves romantic books to read it. This was the first Colleen Hoover book I read, and it definitely got me to read her other books. My favourite part about this book would be when Lily opened up her flower shop or when she was put into her mother’s shoes and had to deal with an abusive relationship. 

Teen SRC 2022, , , ,

Teen SRC 2022 – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Written by Rosie
Leave a Comment

“The circus arrives without warning.”

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantasy romance novel that revolves around Celia and Marco Alisdair. Ever since they were children, they have been training for “the game,” a competition of some sort. The setting for this contest is the Night Circus, where Celia and Marco have to continuously produce more and more fantastical, unbelievable spectacles. From a garden made entirely of ice to a room filled with clouds, each feat becomes more impossible than the last. But how exactly does one win the game? Neither Celia nor Marco are told.

The Night Circus is written in a way that reflects its storyline. Reading it made me feel as though I were a visitor to the circus, wandering through the different tents, losing track of time and place. It is definitely a slow-paced book, but I feel that actually adds nicely to the ambience. However, it did make the ending seem a little rushed because everything sort of fell into place at once.

The story was also quite mysterious, and this was emphasized by the switching of perspectives, with alternating chapters from different characters’ points of view. There is also quite a lot of jumping around chronologically, so it feels like even more of an unreal experience.

In general, I really enjoyed the idea behind the book, as well as all the characters! I almost wish there had been more plot involved, but that’s just a personal preference.

I would give it an 8.5/10 and I would highly recommend it to those who liked The Invisible Life of Addie Larue or Caraval!

Teen Book Review, Teen SRC 2022, , , ,

Teen Book Review – Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

Written by Inshal
Leave a Comment
Our Violent Ends - Gong, Chloe

**this review contains spoilers for These Violent Delights (book 1) so beware!!

I absolutely loved These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (read my review here) and I was very excited when a friend got me a signed copy of Our Violent Ends (thank you, Sophie!). The sequel to this duology picks up only a few weeks after the ending of the last book, so everyone in the city is still reeling from Marshall Seo’s death at Juliette’s hand. Now, the monster that has supposedly disappeared is sending blackmail notes to the Scarlet Gang and Juliette knows she has to find a way to stop the city (and her family) from ripping itself apart again… all of this while nursing her broken heart and secretly keeping Marshall alive. Meanwhile, Roma is struggling to reconcile the idea of Juliette, his former lover, cold-bloodedly shooting his best friend. Still, every time he tries to exact revenge Roma is unable to kill her, which drives a wedge between him and his cousin, Benedikt. While the White Flowers and Scarlet Gang’s rivalry turns bloodier and bloodier on the streets of Shanghai, the political beasts awaken alongside the real monster. Will Roma and Juliette be able to save their city and each other?

My two gripes with These Violent Delights was 1. the main romance and 2. the ending. HOWEVER, Our Violent Ends gave me everything I wanted and more. It is definitely a 10/10 for me, so I’ll just go ahead and say that now. First of all, the romance. Roma and Juliette had barely any chemistry in the first book, but they knocked this one out of the park. There was significantly more banter, and a lot of tropes that–despite being cliché–I completely fell head-over-heels for. Second of all, I won’t say much about the ending, and I know it might not be for everyone, but I actually loved it a lot.

Then, the PLOT. As intricate as the first book was, the sequel raised my standards even higher. The historical setting was astoundingly well-incorporated into the story, and if you know anything about Chinese history or the Shanghai Massacre, it is a joy to read about. The back-stabbing betrayals, the plot twists, the high-stakes action scenes, the emotional realizations… some of it was a little overdone. After all, how many times can you play the ‘faked my death’ trope? But still, overly dramatic scenes WORK in this genre, and Our Violent Ends was just so much fun to read. I would fully recommend. Again: 10/10!

(P.S. this book review is dedicated to Ms. Chung, who I want to thank for all the encouragement and support 🙂 )

Teen Book Review, , , , , , ,

Teen SRC 2021 – Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao

Written by Olivia X
Leave a Comment

I cannot even begin to explain how much Our Wayward Fate, a teen romance book written by Gloria Chao, blew my mind. See, this was another one of those books I decided to read just from glancing at the cover and barely skimming through the blurb. I was expecting an amusing anecdote, maybe a relatable story at most. What I wasn’t prepared for was the most heartfelt, lovable romance novel with amazing characters.

I’m not going to go through the plot synopsis here, but the general idea of the book was about an asian boy called Chase Yu who moved to a new school in Indiana, with no other asian kids whatsoever. …Well, with the exception of Ali Chu. The two begin to bond throughout the book, but when Ali’s mother forces her to stop seeing Chase, Ali has to find out more about this mysterious classmate.

HANDS DOWN the best plot twist ever. Unexpected, mind-blowing, heartbreaking and the good kind of dramatic. I enjoyed reading this book, 9/10!

Teen SRC 2021, , ,

Teen SRC 2021 – The One by Kiera Cass

Written by Olivia X
Leave a Comment
The One (The Selection, Book 3) eBook by Kiera Cass - 9780007581214 | Rakuten Kobo Ireland

At first I wasn’t particularly drawn to the entire The Selection series, because I had read some of the summaries online, and I just didn’t feel all that inclined to read about a bunch of princesses trying to win over a prince’s heart. I decided to give the general plot of The One by Kiera Cass the benefit of the doubt, though, and tried to convince myself that there would be other aspects of the books that I would like. Glad to say I was right about that!

First of all, even though I admit the plot does sound kind of ridiculous, Kiera does have a way of illustrating it and making it feel more real. I actually did enjoy the fantasy, some of the plot twists, and most definitely the romance. I like how you can slip into their world and kind of escape from reality when you are reading.

What did I hate? The characters. For the love of God, could you please give us some actual, decent characters who don’t have the classic “nobody-likes-me” mindset. It gets so annoying, and honestly just gets in the way of most of the other amazing stuff that is worth reading in the book. America’s attitude was just completely off, in my opinion, and the other characters had no personality.

I still feel rather disappointed by this book, but I am glad that there were at least a few things that I found enjoyable. I probably will get around to reading the other books, although I wouldn’t exactly say I’m excited for them; I’d say maybe a five out of 10 for this novel.

Teen SRC 2021, , ,

Teen SRC 2021 – Better Together by Christine Riccio

Written by Olivia X
Leave a Comment
Better Together by Christine Riccio

I’m not gonna wait for the conclusion. I would give Better Together by Christine Riccio a seven out of ten for the writing and a hundred out of ten for the cover. I’m sorry, try to prove me wrong; there are literally two sides to the cover, each illustrating one sister.

The writing itself was more of a short anecdote that I found to be lighthearted and entertaining. There are no really heavy or deep concepts in this book in my opinion, I think it was just a casual, fun, read. That being said, I really loved the writing style and the character development in this book, along with the plot twists. I absolutely loved the contradiction of the two personalities of the sisters too as it made the book extremely satisfying to read. Overall I just think it was a light sort of book, the type that gets you out of a reading slump; I’d give it- oops, that was already covered in the introduction, wasn’t it?

Teen SRC 2021, , ,

Teen SRC 2021 – Things I Should Have Known by Claire Lazebnik

Written by Rahma Kabeer
Leave a Comment
Things I Should Have Known - LaZebnik, Claire Scovell


I absolutely LOVED Things I Should have Known by Claire Lazebnik!

Chloe Mitchell is a wonderfully thought out character, who has excellent development!
Her older sister, Ivy is on the autism spectrum and is reliant on Chloe for a lot of things. Chloe decides that Ivy needs to become independent and get a boyfriend because she’s going to college. Ethan, a boy from Ivy’s special needs class would be a perfect candidate! She arranges the dates between Ivy and Ethan with the help of Ethan’s older brother David, a boy from school who is hated by the “cool kids”. She is worried about her life at school where she is popular but begins to feel like a fake with her boyfriend and amongst her friends. David and Chloe meet every time Ethan and Ivy do and that starts to create problems when rumours begin to fly.

They all bond with each other, but some bonds get stronger than others. 😉

This book has great representations and shocking twists that I didn’t see coming! I rate this book a 10/10!!

Teen SRC 2021, , , , , ,