Pages: 265
Publication date: June 6, 2013

Publisher: Leigh T. Moore

How I got the copy: Received from author in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars
   

  

From Goodreads:

Three bad things I learned this year:
-People you trust lie, even parents.
-That hot guy, the one who’s totally into you, he might not be the one.
-Things are not always how they appear.

Three good things I learned this year:
-Best friends are always there for you, even when they’re far away.
-That other hot guy, the one who remembers your birthday, he just might be the one.
-Oh, and things are not always how they appear.

Anna Sanders expected an anonymous (and uneventful) senior year until she crossed paths with rich-and-sexy Jack Kyser and his twin sister Lucy.

Pulling Anna into their extravagant lifestyle on the Gulf Coast, Lucy pushed Anna outside her comfort zone, and Jack showed her feelings she’d never experienced... Until he mysteriously withdrew.

Anna turned to her internship at the city paper and to her old attraction for Julian, a handsome local artist and rising star, for distraction. But both led to her discovery of a decades-old secret closely guarded by the twins’ distant, single father. 

A secret that could permanently change all their lives.

Fans of The O.C. pay attention!  Jack Kyser is a mixture of rich Seth Cohen, who doesn't want to be part of the high class world anymore + a dash of Ryan Attwood, who is the dark, mysterious, hot, new guy.  In the beginning I actually thought he was going to end up being paranormal because his family secludes themselves from the rest of the town and he was so mysterious.  I felt like that guy on Ancient Aliens that accuses everyone of being an alien.
 But I was glad when he turned out to be 100% human.  There was also another amazing love interest.  His name is Julian and while he spends some of the time in  just the background of the novel, I was routing for him the whole way.  It was one love triangle that I actually enjoyed.

The main character, Anna, was so true to what I remember being a teenager was like.  She tries to hold herself together when things get rough, but she's being thrown into new situations all the time and it's hard for her to navigate.  What I didn't like about her was that she put Jack on a pedistal and expected him to be perfect.  He had flaws.  In fact, there were times he was kind of a jerk.  A lovable jerk once you learned his past, but still.

Pages: 400
Publication date: August 20, 2013

Publisher: Speak

How I got the copy: bought

Rating:  10 out of 5 Stars
  

  

From Goodreads:

Allyson Healey's life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the "accidents” of fate, Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.
  The first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

Let's start out with a tweet I wrote a few minutes after I finished reading and collected my jaw from where it had fallen to the floor.

Format: Audiobook

Publication date: August 13, 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

How I got the copy: For Review (Thank you S&S Audio!!)

Rating:  5 Stars
  

   
  

From Goodreads:

Sometimes in life, in order to move forward you must face the past…#1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover held readers spellbound with her novel Hopeless, the story of what happened when a troubled girl named Sky encountered a long-lost childhood friend, Dean Holder. With Holder’s help, Sky uncovered shocking family secrets and came to terms with memories and emotions that had left deep scars.

Hopeless was Sky’s story. Now, in Losing Hope, we finally learn the truth about Dean Holder.

Haunted by the little girl he couldn’t save from imminent danger, Holder’s life has been overshadowed by feelings of guilt and remorse. He has never stopped searching for her, believing that finding her would bring him the peace he needs to move on. However, Holder could not have anticipated that he would be faced with even greater pain the moment they reconnect.

In Losing Hope, Holder reveals the way in which the events of Sky’s youth affected him and his family, leading him to seek his own redemption in the act of saving her. But it is only in loving Sky that he can finally begin to heal himself.

Remember that time I read Walking Disaster and it felt like I was reading Beautiful Disaster all over again?  Yeah, well this was nothing like that.  This felt like I was reading a completely new book.  There was the same plot ARC, but many new scenes were added and Holder writes letters to Les adding additional insight into his complex mind.  Holder's POV answers all the questions I had after reading Hopeless.  It explained why Holder is the way he is, what happened to him prior to meeting Sky, and how he feels upon meeting Sky.  That last one is essential because in book one he comes off as a tad creeptastic.  But in Losing Hope we understand why he did/said what he did.  And now I live Holder even more than I already did.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much emotion the person reading for this audiobook was able to convey.  I'm glad I wasn't listening to this in public because the pain in the reader's voice was enough to bring tears to my eyes at parts.  And he did a wonderful job at reading the dialogue.  Sometimes guys reading in a girl's voice can be...interesting, but his was perfect.  His voice also perfectly matched my expectations completely.

I'd suggest you read or listen to Hopeless first because some of the mysteries were revealed too soon in Losing Hope.  But it's definitely not a companion novel to skip.  Be prepared for a fresh wave of feels!  And I highly recommend getting the audiobook version.