Showing posts with label TRUST THE FOCUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRUST THE FOCUS. Show all posts

Top 10 Favorite Reads of 2015 (So Far)

So I follow a lot of bloggers on Twitter (surprise! not) and I learned very quickly that yesterday was Top Ten Tuesday, a meme created by The Broke and Bookish. Yesterday's theme was top ten reads of the year, and that looked like a ton of fun, so I thought I'd join in a day late.

As it so happens, I've rated exactly ten books 4.5 or 5 stars, so choosing my top reads of the year so far was pretty easy. Yay!

So without further ado, here are the top ten books I've read in 2015 (which may or may not have actually been released this year) so far in no particular order:

Photo credit: Goodreads
  1. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson—This book actually jumped onto my favorites list, because wow, it was just so emotional, and beautifully written, and it really, truly made me feel so many things while I was reading. Also, bonus points for showcasing some diversity (one POV character is gay). (Full review)

  2. Photo credit: Goodreads
  3. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin—I know I'm way late to the party with this one, but I finally got around to reading it and whoa. It was so eerie and twisty, and totally left me wondering what the hell I just read in the best way possible. (Full review)


  4. Photo credit: Goodreads
  5. OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu—So this one was recommended to me by Dahlia Adler, and I'm so, so glad a very smart person picked it off my Christmas book list and gifted it to me. This is the first book I've read with explicit OCD representation, and I thought it was really respectfully done. So much so that I wrote a post about why books like this are so important to me.

  6. Photo credit: Goodreads
  7. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia—Kind of similar to Mara Dyer, but not nearly as creepy, Made You Up really makes you stop and think about what's real and what's not. This is the first book I've read featuring a protagonist with paranoid schizophrenia, and not only does it have a brilliantly unreliable narrator, but the whole book was completely fascinating and a really, really unique read. (Full review)

  8. Photo credit: Goodreads
  9. Unteachable by Leah Raeder—So this was my first glimpse at Leah Raeder's work, and now I'm 100% a fan because her work is everything I love about the sexier side of New Adult. Unteachable is swoony, very steamy and really explores the depths of a forbidden student/teacher relationship, punctuated with Raeder's really gorgeous prose.

  10. Photo credit: Goodreads
  11. Black Iris by Leah Raeder—Another (really friggin' amazing) Leah Raeder book! Unlike Unteachable, Black Iris is a NA Thriller, and it is super, super dark (as well as sexy because, c'mon, this is a Raeder book). Once again I was really impressed by Raeder's prose, but more than that I loved seeing how she combined this super dark plot with incredibly layered, twisted characters and a hell of a lot of diversity. (Full review)

  12. Photo credit: Goodreads
  13. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli—This book was so cute. SO. CUTE. Unlike many on this list, Simon vs. is a really happy, adorable book with a super cutesy m/m romance and actually had me giggling and saying "aww" out loud while reading. (Full review)

  14. Photo credit: Goodreads
  15. Half Wild by Sally Green—So Half Bad jumped onto my favorites list when I read it, which meant I had super high expectations for Half Wild, and boy, those expectations were 150% met. Half Wild is super dark and exciting and the series has my favorite depiction of witches since Harry Potter and as a bonus? The MC is bi and there is angst and stuff between boys. My heart. (Full review

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  17. Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson—So this is one of my favorite NA romances, and I keep recommending it because it gave me all the warm fuzzies and a full spectrum of emotion while reading. Justin and Landry's journey together was a memorable one that I still think about, and the next book in the series, Focus on Me, comes out this month and I seriously can't wait. (Full review)

  18. Photo credit: Goodreads
  19. Last Will and Testament by Dahlia Adler—This was another really great NA read; very swoony and sexy, and I loved the awkward flirting, and the student/TA relationship was A+. Furthermore, Last Will and Testament presented a situation rarely seen in NA—a college student who loses her parents in an accident and becomes the guardian of her two younger brothers.
What are some of your favorite reads of 2015 so far?

Twitter-sized bite: 
.@Ava_Jae shares her top 10 reads of 2015 so far. What books are on your list? (Click to tweet)

Discussion: When Do You Pre-Order?

Photo credit: guzzphoto on Flickr
So I received a very nice B&N gift card for Christmas, which meant I basically went on a pre-ordering spree. In the last couple months, I’ve pre-ordered:


Which is to say I’ve done a lot of pre-ordering. At least for me.

I’ve found that there are two main scenarios that lead me to pre-order:

  1. I absolutely love the author and/or the prequel and must have the next book. (This was the case for Trust the Focus, Focus on Me, Half Wild and Made You Up. This was also the case for just about every Harry Potter book after Azkaban and all of the Grisha books after Shadow and Bone.)


  2. The book is getting a lot of buzz from people I trust and just sounds friggin’ amazing. (i.e.: Made You Up, Simon vs. and More Happy Than Not). 

I’m curious, however, about what gets other people to pre-order. Is that reserved only for your favorite authors? Are exceptions made for debuts that sound amazing? Something else? What gets you to pre-order? 

Twitter-sized bite: 
When do you pre-order books? Do you pre-order often? Rarely? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Book Review: TRUST THE FOCUS by Megan Erickson

Photo credit: Goodreads
As I like to do with book reviews before I talk about my feels, here is the Goodreads summary:
“With his college graduation gown expertly pitched into the trash, Justin Akron is ready for the road trip he planned with his best friend Landry— and ready for one last summer of escape from his mother’s controlling grip. Climbing into the Winnebago his father left him, they set out across America in search of the sites his father had captured through the lens of his Nikon. 
As an aspiring photographer, Justin can think of no better way to honor his father’s memory than to scatter his ashes at the sites he held sacred. And there’s no one Justin would rather share the experience with more than Landry. 
But Justin knows he can’t escape forever. Eventually he’ll have to return home and join his mother’s Senate campaign. Nor can he escape the truth of who he is, and the fact that he’s in love with his out-and-proud travel companion. 
Admitting what he wants could hurt his mother’s conservative political career. But with every click of his shutter and every sprinkle of ash, Justin can’t resist Landry’s pull. And when the truth comes into focus, neither is prepared for the secrets the other is hiding.”
Okay, so. Megan is a super lovely person, and I really enjoyed Make it Count, which was released last year, so when I heard she was writing a m/m NA, I basically freaked out with uncontained excitement.

Super quick note: this is, indeed NA (not YA), so everything you would expect from NA is here. I, obviously, did not have a problem with it, but I figure it’s good to mention because sometimes people get confused when I say NA. It is not the same as YA. Okay.

As for Trust the Focus! Generally, when I read Erickson’s romances, I expect sweet and sexy NA. This was exactly that. Justin and Landry go on a road trip to honor Justin’s dad with no plans of making anything happen romantically between them (Justin isn’t even openly gay, so there doesn’t at first even seem to be a possibility of anything happening between them), but the more time they spend together, the more they begin to realize ignoring their feelings for each other isn’t going to work for much longer.

Trust the Focus had me smiling, awww-ing, laughing, internally raging and getting teary-eyed—which is to say, making me feel all the things a good romance should. I absolutely loved Justin and Landry’s chemistry, and while Justin frustrated me (as any good flawed romance hero should), I was rooting for them from the first page and loved seeing their relationship pull together.

If you’re looking for some sweet and fun diverse NA, I absolutely recommend Trust the Focus. I’ve already added the next in the series, Focus on Me, to my TBR shelf, and I can’t wait to continue to diversify my collection of NA novels!

Do you have any diverse NA recommendations? 
.@Ava_Jae gives 5/5 stars to TRUST THE FOCUS by @MeganErickson_. Have you read this sweet m/m NA romance? (Click to tweet)    
Looking for a sweet and sexy diverse NA? Check out TRUST THE FOCUS by Megan Erickson. (Click to tweet)
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