Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik (Allie's Review)

So this week I read a book that Jewelz recommended to me: Epic Fail. This book is amazing, the romance had me swooning, the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, and the end definitely left me happy.

Elise was one of those characters that you just wish you could be, ya know? She was hilarious and easygoing. She made me wish I was more cynical just so I could have the same absurd look on situations. (sadly, I could never be cynical, I'm too much of a romantic... disappointing, no?) She definitely had her problems though. Such as being a little bit full of herself thinking she was above liking someone (a very hot someone..) just because everyone else did. But throughout the book she learns from that mistake, apologizes, and grows as a person because of it. Also, she had me seeing some weaknesses in her hard shell of cynicism... One in particular is my least favorite and favorite character: Derek Edwards.

Ah Derek. Despite being a mega-douche in the beginning of the book he is definitely.... Well swoon worthy and adorable. Towards the beginning of the book Elise said something about not wanting to date someone like herself... That definitely backfired on her. He's the male version of Elise except he is much much much much much more guarded. Considering everything that he goes through on a regular basis, I don't blame him. An added bonus for me and one of the reasons I loved and hated him so much was the fact that he was hot. Like eggs cooking on the sidewalk hot. Sizzling. Smoking. Whatever you want to call it, he was beautiful. And in the beginning of the book being hot was the only reason I wasn't hoping he would get hit by a bus. He redeemed himself from being a total butt-hole right around the part when he asked Elise to semiformal. He then promptly became a douche again and remained that way until the night on the field trip to the beach. That night he went from being my least favorite character to being number freaking one.

And then there was Webster. Webster Slimeball Grant. (may or may not be his actual title) It was sad because I really liked him... Up until I started questioning his motives. But in the end he was a butt-munching, crust face, who doesn't deserve to live. You'll see when you read it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever been the new kid at school, wondered about what a celebrity's life is like, or ...well breathes. Yeah it was that good. 5/5 "diva" mustaches!

Big Big Big News!!

I'm super super super fantabulously excited to announce that we will be adding on a permanent guest reviewer to YA Book Diva Reviews!

I thought it would be a good idea  to add a guest reviewer because it would be better for you guys, so you got more reviews out of my blog, and better for me so I wouldn't have to worry about not reading enough to review!

So I bet you all are wondering who's going to be the newest guest reviewer to the YA Book Diva team, right??

Welcome our new Diva....

ALLIE! 

Yay! Allie has been my friend since about 7th grade! She joined my book club I made in eighth grade for some girls who wanted to beta read my Momma's book. Allie was always asking for book recommendations and borrowing books from me and always giving me her opinion on the books, so I thought she would be the perfect person to become the new member of this blog! I'm super excited that she's joined and now I wont be the only person who is always talking about books now. ;) Sorry Allie, you're gonna get sucked in.

Allie will be guest reviewing every other week so you guys can get another opinion every once in a while! SO, instead of 1 review a week, there will be 1 review one week and then 2 reviews the next and then so on!

Here's Allie's bio:

"Wellll, I'm Allison. I like making people laugh, acting, and well obviously reading. I'm a sucker for accents. Big time. I hope to someday get a degree in Theatre and travel the world. I loove nature, fishing, and hiking. I would love to climb a mountain one day and go skydiving(:" 

Well, doesn't she just sound delightful? ;D

I "interviewed" Allie so you guys could get to know her a little more!

J: What's your favorite genre? 

A: Contemporary Romance.  

(We have VERY similar taste when it comes to books. ;) )

J: What's your favorite book?

A: Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

J: What do you like to do when your not reading?

A: Act and hang out with my friends!

J: Do you ever want to write a book someday?

A: Nope, I just like reading them! 

I pretty much guessed half of these answers.. ! Not only do Allie and I have similar taste in books we also have some similar qualities! We both love acting, we both love reading, and sarcasm is our second language. ;) But, we are also VERY opposite when it comes to things.. Such as, I would choose a crown for my signature whereas Allie would choose a mustache... I would choose PINK, Allie would choose blue. I have a slight over obsession with sparkles and Paris, Allie does not. With those differences aside, we still seem to get along quite nicely. We both have very strong personalities so watch out! ;)

I asked Allie if she could write a quick review so you guys could see what she thought. I told her she HAD to read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and she whipped up a review in no time! I thought it would be cool for you guys to see what she thought about the book compared to what I thought. If you haven't read my review of it you can find that here!

Here's Allie's first review! 

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Oh my. Oliver. If I could, I would talk about Oliver for this whole review. However, that might be slightly annoying to all of you. So here's all I'm gonna write about him: he is British. There you should already be in love with him.

Okay so adorable British boys aside, I LOVED this book. I really connected with the main character, Hadley. When Jewelz recommended this book to me, I thought it would be a light, fluffy read. (there is totally nothing wrong with that, I live for those books!) But it was SOOO much more than that. It was such a deep story. And although the books main conflict wasn't about Oliver at all, I was not disappointed. The author, Jennifer Smith, really captured the feelings of anger towards Hadleys father perfectly!! The resentment, the struggle to talk with him about it, their trip to Aspen, everything was perfectly timed and executed.

But um, back to whole boy situation... BOYS LIKE OLIVER: Y U NO GO TO MY SCHOOL?! I'm not really a believer in "instalove" but even I was completely sold by the time the plane took off to London. They just had this instant connection and every time they were together I was literally swooning. SWOONING. Full-out. Complete with an "AWWW!" every three pages. The only reason I didn't want to totally steal Oliver from Hadley was because they were just SO DARN CUTE! 

The only thing I wasn't completely and totally sold on (other than it ending to quickly;)) was the third person narration. I don't know, it made me slightly confused as to whether something was a flashback or not.. But other than that a GREAT book!!! A must have if you love contemporary romance and British accents! 4.5 diva mustaches! 

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Isn't she fantabulous?! I hope you all are just excited as we are. Yay for more reviews! 

And....