#AmReading YA - The Bookish Edition

Today I bring you two wonderful YA books with some similarities. Both feature some family drama, and more notably, feature bookish characters. I always love reading about readers, and there were some great moments in both stories, that involved books. 

The Upside of Falling
Alex Light
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she’s been secretly seeing someone.

Brett Wells has it all. Being captain of the football team and one of the most popular guys in school, he should have no problem finding someone to date, but he’s always been more focused on his future than who to bring to prom. When he overhears Becca’s lie, Brett decides to step in and be her mystery guy. It’s the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not dating and she can keep up the ruse.

Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy though, especially when you barely know the other person. But with Becca still picking up the pieces from when her world was blown apart years ago and Brett just barely holding his together now, they begin to realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined. When the line between real and pretend begins to blur, they are forced to answer the question: is this fake romance the realest thing in either of their lives?

Both had their reasons for not dating, but when Brett heard Becca being teased about her single status, he stepped in, and assumed the role of her doting fake boyfriend. The longer the charade continued, the more they began to enjoy each other's company, but would family drama derail this blossoming relationship?

This was super cute with quite a bit of weightier moments sprinkled throughout. I had a great time reading this book, and below are five things that added to my enjoyment.

1. How could I resist Becca! She was a dedicated bookworm, and much preferred fictional romance to that of real life. My heart ached for her, as she grappled with her father's abandonment for so many years. Some of the most painful moments involved Becca and her feelings about being left behind by her father and her best friend, and it was something that was definitely holding her back. 
2. I loved Brett. He was so affable and easy to be around. He was a star fake-boyfriend, and he totally made me swoon, especially when he requested she read to him. 
3. It was lovely watching this arrangement turn into a friendship and then a full-fledged relationship. Becca and Brett did not appear to belong together, but it didn't take long to see that they found comfort in one another, and enjoyed the freedom to just be themselves, when together. They also had great chemistry, and I was treated to some great banter too. 
4. Becca's mom owned a bakery and there were so many baked goods in this story. I will never turn down cakes or pastries in a book. 
5. The ending was too precious, and left me a huge grin on my face. 

You know what I wish? Though I appreciated the family drama and thought it added some substance to the story, I wish we had had a little of less of that, and bit more time exploring the relationship between Becca and Brett, because the moments I did get were sweet and swoony, and I absolutely wanted more of them. 

Overall: This was an adorable romance. The progression from fake to real felt natural, and I loved getting to see that bond evolve over the course of this book. 

**ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

Between the Notes
Sharon Huss Roat
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

When Ivy Emerson’s family loses their house—complete with her beloved piano—the fear of what’s to come seizes her like a bad case of stage fright. Only this isn’t one of her single, terrifying performances. It’s her life.

And it isn’t pretty.

Ivy is forced to move with her family out of their affluent neighborhood to Lakeside, also known as “the wrong side of the tracks.” Hiding the truth from her friends—and the cute new guy in school, who may have secrets of his own—seems like a good idea at first. But when a bad boy next door threatens to ruin everything, Ivy’s carefully crafted lies begin to unravel . . . and there is no way to stop them.

As things get to the breaking point, Ivy turns to her music, some unlikely new friends, and the trusting heart of her disabled little brother. She may be surprised that not everyone is who she thought they were . . . including herself.

Debut author Sharon Huss Roat crafts a charming and timely story of what happens when life as you know it flips completely upside down.

Ivy seemed like the girl, who had it all. Fancy house, fancy clothes, fancy cars - she was a girl from the "right side" of the tracks, but all of that was an illusion.

I bought this book, because I adored every last thing about Roat's followup, How to Disappear, and like that book, Between the Notes was filled with fantastic characters and endless feels.

I think it would have been easy to be put off by Ivy in the beginning of this book. There were some really spoiled brat moments in there, but then she began to see things in a different way. By "walking a mile" in other people's shoes, her ideas of what was important and what made you "rich" began to change. This was one message I fully embraced. I have always felt like society was a bit too materially driven, and I love the idea of "simplifying". Though Ivy's family didn't do this by choice, I admired their effort, and I appreciated that they emphasized holding onto to one another a little tighter as they weathered the storm, adjusting to their new normal.

But, as I said, the star of this book for me were the characters. I thought Ivy was very real. She was 16, and her world view was in an amorphous state. She didn't always do the right thing, but the tremendous growth she experienced over the course of this story was beautiful to watch. I had a special affection for the interactions between her and her little brother. He had special needs, which presented some challenges, but seeing his sisters and him together was almost always smile inducing, as he often appeared as the embodiment of joy.

Inside all this tumult was a sweet little romance too. Our Ivy was torn between two young men - James, who represented the world she once lived in, and Lennie, who represented her new normal. James was terribly sweet, but just like Ivy, he was hiding his true circumstances. Then there was Lennie, a rumored drug dealer with tattoos. He was the school bad boy, or was he? I think I loved getting to know Lennie more than any other character in this book. Roat did a great job fleshing him out, and by the time she was done, he owned my heart.

It's difficult to fully express everything I loved about this book, but I just found myself so carried away by this story, and it came right when I needed that break from reality. I was so engrossed in Ivy's story, and found that her and her family's happiness was really important to me. I felt so many things as I read this book, and in the end, it filled my heart with much needed warmth and joy.

Overall: This was a story about change and dealing with change, seeing beyond the surface, the importance of family, and the value of non-material things, and it was beautifully told.

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