Wonderland Reader

  Sam and Ilsa's Last Hurrah   by Rachel Cohn  and David Levithan Published: 5th April 2018 by Electric Monkey I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review. I've read a couple of this duo's books before, like Dash and Lily's Book of Dares , which I loved and continue to re-read every Christmas, so I was expecting to read another good book from Cohn and Levithan. Going into this I had seen a lot of negative reviews, mostly baout how pretentious the book was in its concept and execution, and while I thought that may have been a bit harsh while reading the first half, I could definitely see where this opinion came from - I thought the idea of these teenage twins hosting a dinner party sounded fun (it's fiction for a reason!) but when the conversations became almost existential towards the end I did find myself becoming slightly frustrated, and I did definitely hurry my reaidng along so as to finish it. Always well-

  If There's No Tomorrow   by Jennifer L. Armentrout Published: 14th December 2017 by HQ I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review. I have pretty consistently enjoyed Armentrout's works previously, both her other contemporaries and her fantasy works, so I was quite sure it would be the same case with If There's No Tomorrow , and it was! I was slightly worried that it would read as too juvenile, considering it is a YA novel concerning first love, but Armentrout's writing remained strong and didn't simplify anything. In fact, the way in which she covered such sensitive topics like grief and survivor's guilt felt very thoughtful and nuanced, not at all reading like a PSa for drunk-driving that I thought it might. I found myself being genuinely moved by Lena's vulnerability and eventual acceptance of her flaws. In terms of the romance, the chemistry between Sebastian and Lena worked so well for me because

  Alex and Eliza   by Melissa de la Cruz Alex & Eliza #1 Published: 7th September 2017 by Pan Macmillan I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review. I really wanted to love this book - I've always enjoyed de la Cruz's books in the past and as a fan of Hamilton I was very excited to read a book recounting their love story in more detail than we get on stage. However, there was something about this that I just couldn't click with. I'm not sure if it was the pace in the first half being slower than I thought it would be, or if it came from me having watched the show before reading this, which although you'd think would be the right way to do it, made me compare their love story to how it was portrayed in Hamilton . Not knowing the actual history, it did feel strange that there was no love triangle between ALex, Eliza, and Angelica and that the older Schuyler sister was shipped off quite quickly in the story. I