Review: 90's Playlist

90's Playlist

Author: Brighton Walsh, Lorelie Brown, Amy Jo Cousins, Audra North, Rebecca Grace Allen, Jennifer Blackwood
Publisher: Pink Kayak Press LLC
Series: Romance Rewind #1
Pages: Kindle Edition, 353 pages
Genre: New Adult, Anthology
Release Date: October 13th 2015

Summary:

Six stories of sex, love, and being young in the ‘90s, inspired by songs of the decade…

My Strongest Weakness by Brighton Walsh
It was supposed to be a one-time thing. No one would find out; no one would have to know. And then once turned into twice, and twice turned into several times a week, and now pierced, punk-loving, rebellious Tia Lanning is banging Mason Brooks, the big man on campus and Mr. All American. But banging him isn’t the problem. Falling for him is. Especially when he’s content to let her remain his dirty little secret.

Worthwhile by Audra North
Jill didn’t expect her semester in Leeds to start with getting dumped by her boyfriend. Especially since she only came to England to be with him. Two weeks in, all she wants to do is go home. Finding love with someone new is definitely not an option. But when she literally stumbles into grad student Stuart’s arms, her experience abroad becomes a lot more worthwhile.

Creep by Lorelie Brown
Roni lives for the raves in Oakland’s warehouse district. Dancing till dawn in white gloves under black lights breathes life into her soul. Nothing will get her kicked out of her underground world faster than turning over Skittles, her dealer. She refuses to provide info about the underage runaway to his big brother Tom. But Tom is going to find Skittles with or without Roni’s cooperation. But Tom is special. He’s rich, handsome and bold. Roni wishes she was special. And like the rave scene she loves, nothing lasts forever.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Rebecca Grace Allen
Rory Stone's days of grunge and poetry are behind her, her reality now in bags of Arabian brew, and counting the change in the tip jar. Can indie singer James Griffith rock her muse back into the present?

The Belle vs. the BDOC by Amy Jo Cousins
Shelby Summerfield is a gold star lesbian, even if she doesn’t look like one. Florence Truong is the only other dyke at Carlisle College in 1993 not wearing plaid flannel, and Shelby sets her sights on seduction. But instead of a delightful tumble in the sheets, Florence calls her out for being a straight girl. With seduction off the table, Shelby settles for revenge for her humiliation. But if all she wants is to show up her campus rival, how come Shelby can't stop herself from saving Florence instead of annihilating her?

Little Red Thong by Jennifer Blackwood
Emily Jones is ready to embark on the most epic spring break trip of her college career with her bestie, twin brother, and her brother’s best friend, Chase. Chase has been in love with Emily since the eighth grade when she kicked his ass in laser tag. He’s not going to piss away his last chance to tell her how he feels. When the group decides to play a game of Spring Break BINGO that involves body shots, a red thong, and secret hookups, this is the perfect catalyst to get him out of the friend zone. But as things get heated, they have to decide if twenty years of friendship is worth putting in jeopardy because of a game, and what will happen when they hit dry land.

Review:

I liked the idea of this, I am a 90s girl after all.  This was in general your typical cute and fluffy- with a tad bit of smut thrown in. Quite nice for reading in between.  I was wondering if the authors chose the songs or if they were given the songs? Gotta say that they all got the song/story absolutely right.
And since I enjoyed this one so much I am looking forward to the next book in the series!
IMO if you were in your teens or a young adult in the 90s this is a must read.

My Strongest Weakness by Brighton Walsh

Song: If by Janet Jackson
Enjoyed My Strongest Weakness very much. Well at least the second half. I wasn't so sure about the first half- a wee bit to insta-lust/love and all that.
Still a neat, smexy little story that reminded me of the breakfast club.
A rather grown up version of it naturally
3.5 Stars



Worthwhile by Audra North

Song: Half a World Away by R.E.M
Super cute and sweet.
A wee bit of an insta thingy going on- but it really didn't matter to me.
I loved Stuart! The smut and well the entire cute & fluffy thing.
Perfect fit for the song!
The only negative thing: it ended a bit too fast and way to abrupt for me
4 Stars



Creep by Lorelie Brown

Song: Creep by Radiohead
I actually love love love this song. And while I found the story a bit too short and way to insta- It was so 90s, so in theme with the song- I actually didn't care that much about the very suddenness of all of it.  Though it is my biggest issue with this story. I am totally a 90s girl- somehow Brown invoked that time in every detail, more importantly Creep would totally be the theme music for this story. Colour me amazed.
3.5 Stars



Smells Like Teen Spirit by Rebecca Grace Allen

Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
I think this is my favorite story so far. I luv James. Adore him in fact. And while there was total insta-lust. In fact things felt much less insta in compare to the previous stories... I like the scene, this is set in as well. I found Rory a tad too over the top at times- though I did like her. One thing though? Artisan sourdough bread? I could be wrong- but I think that's a thing of the 21st century.  In fact I am not sure that the whole 90s feel came through in this one.
4 Stars



The Belle vs. the BDOC by Amy Jo Cousins

Song: Possum Kingdom by The Toadies
SO how to rate this? Cause honestly it's not really my cup of tea. I mean the romance part. I liked the story line and the writing style. BUT I am not into F/F.
And again... the story and song just perfect.

I am giving it a 2.5 Stars- but with a heavy heart. Cause I love the idea behind it, just not for me.



Little Red Thong by Jennifer Blackwood

Song: The Thong Song by Sisqo 
I don't have fond memories of this song. It seemed to play all the time, which makes any song annoying but more than that I never actually liked it. Because of this, I was a tad worried about this story. But the story was cute, your classic brothers-bestie kinda thing. I think the story line is a bit of the usual usual- but what made this shine was the characters and the setting. I loved the cast- especially the two MCs.
Blackwood got the whole 90s feel right, made me feel like I am very young again. And the annoying song? Played all the time, just like in the nineties.
3.5Stars





Rating: 

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Review: Grim

Grim 

Author: Anthology
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: Kindle Edition, 480 pages
Genre: February 25th 2014
Release Date: Young Adult

Summary:

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovon

Review:

This took me only 10months to read... well, I read at first one story a week... wrote reviews for each.. then I kinda put it aside and never got back into it. Till one day - well today actually - I decided that this was ridiculous and I read the entire thing in one go.

So why did it take me this long?!

I love anthologies. I have a fondness for short stories. They like the little treat in-between, the unexpected surprise in the middle of a work day.
Still I found this difficult to get through.
I think part of the problem was that I did this the wrong way and the other I have this in the wrong format.
I strongly recommend others to get a hardcopy of this. Because in my opinion this should be a coffee table book. It does look pretty enough for starters. But also as I said, when you relaxing and feel like a tidbit of reading this might be your mini-fix. If this would be the case my other advise flip the book open and read the stories randomly at your on pleasure.
So since I don't have an hardcopy and I got the ARC of this, I found myself never doing said procedure, which is a huge part why this took me so long.
The other reason was simply I set myself a too high goal writing a review for each and every short story- meant I didn't pick this up because I had no time to review it straight after... simply to ambitious of me

Now the book itself has some seriously good stories in them and some that I didn't like.
Since this is written by different authors this was to be expected.
I actually should confess that I am always always really skeptical when there is a fairytale retelling involved. Because frankly when Disney went a called a movie Rapunzel that had absolutely nothing AT ALL to do with the original fairytale - which happened to be on of my favorites when I was a child, by the way- I was beyond disappointed. I could simply not like the film. So now I am always always wary.
And while Grim is really fabulously done, I am still not convinced it is my favorite genre. I think I prefer new stories... or maybe I just grew out of fairytales? Who knows?
Still this a great gift for lovers of anthologies, the genre and books.
And in fact I shall procure a hardcopy for those cold days in front of the fire when I feel like a little treat

Rating: 

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The story about Grim 1

When I saw Grim on Netgalley, there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to get my hands on it.
I knew should I be refused, I would preorder the book on Amazon. I love Anthologies, for two reasons. First I like short stories. I love getting a quick fix, when I got a little bit of time or when I don't feel like committing to an entire novel
Second writing short stories is a totally different art than writing novels. I enjoy that in a good short story lots is left to the readers imagination, many things are just hinted at... Still in that short span an authors writing style does ring through and I love reading short stories of authors I don't know. It's a quick and interesting way of finding new authors I might like.
Needless to say, that I got the ARC of Grim (yeay!) and decided to read one short story a day, then write a mini review for a few of them each week.
By the way: How cool is the cover?!

Grim  an Anthology




Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: Hardcover, 480 pages
Genre: Young Adult
Release Date: February 25, 2014
Summary:

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovan

The Key by Rachel Hawkins

Wow!

Seriously good short story!

Hawkins constructed the MC and the side cast rather well in only a few pages. While in some ways Hawkins cleverly notches on the usuals of high school YA novels like the rich and popular kids, the eccentric bohemian mother, the handsome boy ect to bring the side characters alive, she did an impressive job on Lana. This is written from Lana's POV and I totally connected to her. 

And the ending is just how a short story should end... It left me wanting more, imagining more, pondering and excited. 

Really well written! But honesty, I don't know which story of the Grimm Brother's inspired this one? 

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready

This is the first thing I have read by Smith-Ready and I loved it!

The story about friendship, luck and success had me captured and made me ponder afterwards. 

While one only got a glimpse of the characters - except for Fig, from whose POV this was written- I still got a good idea of who people were. Where they were coming from. 

Storyline is fun, seeing the story unfold from Fig's POV rather than from Eli's. It also had me guessing till the epilogue. 

I enjoyed Smith-Ready's writing style. It was fresh and direct. I am definitely going to read more of her works.

ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

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Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

by Kelly Link, Gavin J. Grant

Summary:
In the first major YA steampunk anthology, fourteen top storytellers push the genre's mix of sci-fi, fantasy, history, and adventure in fascinating new directions.

Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Here, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the steampunk genre's established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. The result is an anthology that defies its genre even as it defines it.

Rating: 3 /5Stars

Review:
I borrowed this book out of my local library. So i sort of had to finish reading it cover to cover, rather than just reading a story when I felt like it. Which I think might have dampened my rating a little. Or maybe not. Am not so sure...
There seems to be huge trend for anthologies, short stories and novellas. I like short stories and novellas if they are written well. And I got to concede that many of the stories in the book are written well. But after finishing the book, the only story that really stuck in my mind was the one of C.Clare.
Her short story was brilliant and showed her great writing skills but also in a few pages she managed to build a world flawlessly and left me with the question of destinies. A perfect short story. (it would get 4 or 5 stars from me)
Again I think ideally one buys a hard copy of the book and reads a story at the time randomly when one has 30min and feels for steam punk. But would I go and buy the book now after i read it? The answer is; no. Because while I like short stories, I do prefer novels and seems my love for Steampunk has its limits.
I know this is a way of getting to know new authors or a new series, but honestly I didnt feel like looking up any of the other authors. Maybe it was just Steampunk over load...
Mostly I have been left unsure... not sure if it was too much Steampunk, too many short stories in a too short span... or maybe I dont like short stories that much... or perhaps a lot of people miss the point of a short story... as I said. I am not sure. Hence 3 stars, because I did enjoy reading the stories. But I wasnt elated or wanting more either.

I would recommend this book to be read as described before by lovers of the genre.



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