{Audiobook} Thoughts Upon A Second Reading: What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

So, last month I participated in the "Blog Most Likely To..." promotion and mentioned that I'd be re-reading My Life Next Door by way of the audiobook. I did and it was awesome. But I expected nothing less. =) This month, we're re-reading What I Thought Was True in anticipation of Tim's story in the follow-up to My Life Next Door. The book isn't related to that companion series, but it's still an awesome Huntley Fitzpatrick novel and more than worthy of a re-read. I reviewed the book back in June of 2012 when I first read it, but I had some further thoughts to add to the conversation now that I'm done with my re-read, er, listen…


Title: What I Thought Was True
Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick
Narrator(s): Erin Spencer
Series: stand-alone
Length: 12 hrs 51 mins
Publisher: Dial BFYR
Publication Date: April 7, 2015
Source: purchased HC, borrowed audiobook from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

From the author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.

Gwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her Nantucket-esque island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island's summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she'll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen's dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

A magnetic, push-me-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti.

My original review can be found here, but below are some other thoughts I had upon my second reading of this fabulous book:

Gwen's crazy, mixed-up family is crazy awesome. Huntley likes to create these really diverse, chaotic family situations in her books and they just feel so genuine. I come from a small immediate family, but our family reunions kind of look something like the everyday for one of the families in her stories.

I love that Gwen is a real girl. She's 17 but she's by no means your simpering virginal waif. She's sarcastic and witty and cares deeply for her family and friends. Gwen doesn't hide from her mistakes, but she is learning from them through a little trial and error.

Even before we knew the big THING between them, I knew Cass was wrongfully cast as the bad guy from the beginning. He's just too sweet to her, too caring and protective, and he is just SO good with her little brother. Jase ranks very high among my book boyfriends, but Cass isn't trailing too far behind.

Huntley is not afraid to go there. Her characters have sex. They talk about having sex. They have serious and honest and open discussions about safe sex. Quite frankly, I haven't read too many novels, contemporary or otherwise, that I can say handle this subject as well as this author does.

The ending was kind of unexpected. Not for Gwen and Cass, but for other, equally important side characters. The author really likes to shake things up. :)

Erin Spencer was a great choice for narrator, and she even shares a name with one of the characters. She's got that Gwen's sarcasm down pat, and she reads with feeling to boot.

As I said in my initial review: I really think Huntley Fitzpatrick has outdone herself in the realistic characters and relatable plot departments. I can't think of another novel that felt this genuine and true-to-life, while at the same time consisting of diverse characters that are far from stereotypical. The writing is spectacular and witty, but I'd expect nothing less from such a talented author. What I Thought Was True is raw and funny, sad and hopeful, and I think that most fans of her previous novel will really enjoy this second book from Fitzpatrick. Now I'm even more anxious for the follow-up to My Life Next Door, which is Tim's story, due out next month!

GIF it to me straight:

I devour Huntley Fitzpatrick books.

About the Author:

Huntley Fitzpatrick grew up dreamy and distracted in coastal Connecticut. She flourished in a family of bookworms where everyone always had their nose in a book. She kept an exhaustively thorough journal which frightened her boyfriends but has proved very useful in her career as a writer. Her debut contemporary Romance, MY LIFE NEXT DOOR, was published in June of 2012 by Penguin-Dial for Young Readers. Now she laughs with and eavesdrops on her six children who provide her with perspective and material. She is represented by the amazing Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

Find Huntley:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Goodreads

hosted by Penguin Teen

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy reading!

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Labels: all the feels, all the swoons, audiobooks, contemporary, favorites, giveaways, huntley fitzpatrick, penguin, re-listens, re-reads, reviews, summer, what i thought was true

Waiting on Wednesday: The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selection is...








's Pick:



Title: The Impostor Queen
Author: Sarah Fine
Series: stand-alone (?)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: January 5, 2016

Sixteen-year-old Elli was a small child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic. Since then, Elli has lived in the temple, surrounded by luxury and tutored by magical priests, as she prepares for the day when the Valtia perishes and the magic finds a new home in her. Elli is destined to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, the home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between the love she has for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must align with the right side—before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

First of all, I will always, always read a new Sarah Fine book. Her stories are so inventive and evocative and just amazing, and her characters always face such hardships. And a story about a girl who is not the chosen one? Yesh! I cannot wait for this. I've been taking my sweet time with Of Dreams and Rust just because I don't have another Sarah Fine book in my possession yet...


What are you desperately waiting for this Wednesday? Let us know in the comments or share a link to your own WoW post!

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Labels: beautiful covers, fantasy, magic, sarah fine, simon schuster, the impostor queen, waiting on wednesday (wow)

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Book Nerds

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish. Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =) We're game.

This week's topic is the Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds (love reading, are writers, work at a bookstore, etc.):

Jen's Picks:

At first, I found it kind of difficult to think of nerdy characters I loved, even though I thought this topic would be super easy. But once I got going, I discovered way more than ten. I was able to narrow it down to just ten favorites though (books, not characters…there are a few couples in my list, lol): Hermione, Kami, Celaena, Josie, Beth & Lincoln, Elizabeth, Julia, Lara Jean, Paige & Max, and Cath & Levi. =)


Which novels made your list? Be sure to share a link to your TTT post so we can visit!

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Labels: book nerds, favorites, top ten tuesday

The In-Between: Reading, Writing & Reviewing

Some things that happened while I was away:

• I got the most awesome The Princess Bride-themed birthday present from my older sister who just knows me so well.
• I'm participating in the 3rd round of #otspsecretsister. It's my first time, but I'm really excited about my sister because I've been mildly acquainted with her almost since I started blogging, I think, but now I'll have a chance to really get to know her. =)
• I taught my older sis how to use Instagram after she begged me to. And then she was like, "That's it?" :P She doesn't really get the appeal, and she asked it all I ever did was post pics of books. Ha!
• I had the best dream about Celaena Sardothien as a badass superhero fighting alongside a Batman who had real bat wings and it was fucking awesome. Of course, anything that involves Celaena is fucking awesome.
• ETA: OMG, I can't believe I almost forgot to mention seeing a Joseph Gordon-Levitt look-alike at the restaurant I was eating at in Austin on Saturday night. He was such an adorable suspender-wearing cutie, and I just wanted to beg him to lip-sync for me. Of course, he was there with some chick who had NO clue how lucky she was. 

Anyway, I'm back from vacation and I was supposed to put up a review or something or anything today, and I wasn't feeling it last night when we got home, so I just did nothing. Okay, well, not nothing because we watched Big Hero 6 and then finished up the night with the last of the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. Which, by the way, we'd started before we left my sister's house earlier in the day. =D #HarryPotterForever

But I digress. I just haven't felt any kind of inspiration to blog lately, not in any kind of formal way, at least. Like, reviews schmeviews, for reals. It's sooooo much easier for me to just word vomit like this than to actually think of something intelligent and eloquent to say about a book when it feels like I'm just repeating myself in all of my reviews. The heroine was badass. The story kept me turning the pages. The supporting cast of characters was well-drawn. Blah blah blah. So, I think I'm going to go all unprofesh on you guys and just gush away from now on. It's easier, and honestly, I don't even really think people are reading reviews on blogs that much anymore. I know I'm not. When I really want to check out reviews, I look up the book on Goodreads and peruse those before deciding whether to pick up the book or not...and even then I might just be looking at star ratings and nothing else. As long as I'm promoting the books I receive for review, it doesn't matter how I review them, does it? Or when, right...'cause I'm seriously tired of pushing back books I'm really excited about because of my "TBR schedule". So, yeah, I'm seriously going to go back to being just a book lover who gushes about the books she loves. It feels right.

And in the meantime, I hope to do some real writing. I've got an itch to write all of a sudden. I used to write all the time when I was younger, but I'm such a perfectionist that I re-read all of my stories later and threw them all away. I know. Except for some stupid essays that I wrote in high school and college, I threw everything in the garbage, except for some really, really bad poetry that should have been trashed. I don't know what I was thinking. But I think part of the reason I've been feelings so down and put-out lately is because I used to get out all my feelings on paper, whether it be in a journal or short story or really crappy poem. But it helps to have that outlet...and even if nothing comes of it, it'll still be time well-spent because maybe it'll help keep me sane. Writing is just so cathartic for me…at least when the words are flowing.

I'm not happy at work, and I haven't been in awhile. It's kind of trickling down into everything else. I should actually be working instead of typing this up because I'm rather behind after being out of the office for a week, but I can't find the willpower...so here I am. The thing is, I'd love to change jobs, but I don't want to do what I'm currently doing anymore. I used to joke that I "work with numbers by day and words by night" and that it should be my superhero mantra or whatever, but the truth is, I hate numbers. I only work in accounting because it comes so naturally to me. And I really hate the direction my company is headed in. But I don't know what I'd do if not this. I'm not really qualified for anything else, though my BIL frequently tells me that the length of time I've been with my current employer would be a big sell for potential employers, regardless. It's been so long since I even had to consider all of this, though. And honestly, I just want to do something that involves writing or editing or reading or just books in general.

Reading would be ideal because I'm SO far behind on my TBR. Hah! Only in my dreams, lol. I thought I'd get a crap ton of reading done over vacation, but as it turns out, I only read one book in full. Pretty lame, right? But I did spend some quality time with Katie and I got to see my sis, whom I haven't seen since our last vacation to Universal Studios. It always comes back to Harry Potter, doesn't it? :0)

So, that's where I'm at right now. I know I had more to say, but that'll have to wait for another day. Or when I'm not getting ready to leave the office for the day. :P But I'm back, and I'll be around, lurking as usual. :D

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Labels: discussion, I'm back, reading, reviewing habits, writing

The Weekend Update - 7.25.15

So, since my end-of-the-week post isn't just about what I got in my mailbox or on my Kindle each week -- though that is a big part of it, I won't lie -- I decided to change up the title and intro a bit.  I might tweak the format a bit over the next few weeks, but for the most part, it'll contain the same stuff: stuff I got, stuff I did, and stuff that's coming up on the blog.  Plus, I get to use the awesome GIF you see here and blow kisses to all the people who sent me lovely books and bookish things.  Oh, and I've started linking up to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews since I'm not using a specific meme title anymore.  April's also doing her own Stacking the Shelves posts on Sundays.  Stop by and say hi!  =)

I was off the entire week, and I only made it fully through one book. :( But I enjoyed my time off with my Katiebug. :D And we're enjoying one last mini-vacation before summer is over at Schlitterbahn today while we're in Austin visiting family. Even so, I am so not ready to go back to work. =(

Anyway, here's what I scored this week:

For Review/Traded/Won:



For review, I received Storm Siren and Siren's Fury by Mary Weber, thanks to Wunderkind PR. And from HarperCollins, I received an unsolicited package featuring Very in Pieces, Infinite in Between, One, and Truest. I traded some awesome peeps for finished copies of This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales and Winterspell by Claire LeGrand and an ARC of Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff for my collection. And thanks to the wonderful Jaime at Fiction Fare, I won signed copies of Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch and Open Road Summer by Emery Lord.

I've got a few more trades in progress, too. If you're interested in trading books with me, check out this post. =)

Library:

I can't believe I can say this again this week, but I actually didn't pick up anything from the library. Though, this mostly has to do with the fact that I've been doing so much re-reading lately. :)

Purchased:

I was a good girl this week. Though I did spend some time getting some pre-orders in. =)

Freebies:



I adored Louisa May Alcott's Little Women when I was younger, so I am definitely grabbing this week's SYNC audiobooks. You can find out more on how to download them for free yourselves here. :)


So, that's my haul. :) How about you? What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• Isla and the Happily Ever After - April

Current Giveaways:

I'm thinking of doing a big grab bag box giveaway kind of like Jamie of FictionFare did on Instagram recently. Any interest in that? It'll be the books from my #booksfortrade list. =)


Promotional/Discussion Posts:  

• This week's #TTT is all about diversity. Check out my favorite diverse characters/stories!
• #WoW - The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller
• SYNC Week #12 featuring March and Little Women

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

As of the time I'm typing this up, I'm only about 20% into this book, but I already love it. I haven't been able to wipe the stupid grin off my face yet. Except, THINGS just happened, and I'm kind of scared for Tim and Alice and what it all means for their futures…separately and together. *bites nails*

My sis is reading this series for the first time, and she keeps talking about it, and it was on my list to re-read, so I decided to start the audiobooks, beginning with The Assassin's Blade. That was last week. I've already read HOF and it gets off to a slow start. The same is true of the audio, but I'm sticking with it, if only for Queen of Shadows.

Upcoming Reviews:

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Like pretty pictures of books and bookish things? Follow me on Instagram! I also host IG giveaways from time to time. :D

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm), stacking the shelves, the weekend update