This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Everything changed for Ellie when she got a random email from a stranger asking if she could watch his pet pig, Wilbur. Even though she knows she shouldn't chat with a stranger on the Internet, the other person seemed down to earth and someone she didn't know. Conversation was smooth between them, and Ellie could tell this other person things about herself that she hadn't told her best friend.

When Graham sent the email to the wrong person, it was a chance for him to make a friend who didn't know he was a movie star. They didn't exchange emails - only their locations. Ellie in Maine and Graham in California. Two ends of the world, colliding through email.

Fate was meant to be for them to meet when the location of Graham's new movie got invaded by bugs. He suggested the small town in Maine where Ellie lives. He wanted to meet Ellie in person and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Right away, though, things were going wrong. Graham knew Ellie worked in an ice cream/sweet shop. When he saw a girl with the name tag "Ellie", he knew it had to be the "eoneill" email address he has been talking to.

Only he found out that it was Ellie's best friend, Quinn, with one of Ellie's work shirts on.

And even though they finally met, things were better than email, but also worse than talking through email. There are just some things one can say through email that are more uncomfortably said in person.

Also, life is full of surprises. Now that Ellie knows Graham is a famous teenage movie star, the context in the emails seem almost childish.

But his celebrity also poses a problem for Ellie. Because her and her mother have a dark secret from their past that they need to be kept a secret. If Ellie keeps hanging out with the famous movie star, she is bound to get noticed and get found by the one person they are hiding from.

Now Ellie has to decide if her past being uncovered is worth spending time with Graham, or if she should avoid him at all costs and wait out his stay in Maine while he shoots his movie. One thing is for certain, things are about to get very interesting and truths are about to get uncovered during Graham's visit to Maine. Find out what happens to Ellie and Graham in This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I've reading Smith's early novel, The Statistically Probability of Love at First Sight, and absolutely adored it, so when my library got this copy, I snatched it up and fell into another world that she created.

This was a very cute novel. The lives of Ellie and Graham were complete opposite of one another, yet they were able to find a way to become friends through the Internet, and then even closer when they met in person.

Granted, it took awhile for Ellie to open to up to Graham, but she had a very dark and long past that always hovered over her and her mother. Plus, she didn't want to make her mom worry any more than she already has been for the last 17 years.

The one thing that I absolutely loved about this novel was Graham's pet pig, Wlibur. One, who has a pet pig? Besides Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls, but that doesn't count. I love how it was such a random topic to start a conversation between two strangers. Maybe that's why they chatted for so long online. Either way, adorable!

There were some things I could have done without in this novel. I especially didn't care for the reaction Ellie's friend, Quinn, had when she found out that Ellie had a big secret she wasn't telling her, along with the fact that she kept her pen paling a secret as well. I mean, not talking to her for that long? Ellie had a good reason for keeping a secret - especially because it wasn't entirely Ellie's secret to keep!

But that just reminds me how teenage girls are and makes me happy that I'm not in high school anymore.

So, yes, I enjoyed this novel. I think other fans of Smith's will enjoy this. Also, any teen interested in acting, going to college, or just wanting to read a story between two teens wanting to make a new friend would really enjoy this book.

Plus, it's written through both Graham and Ellie's point of view, so both girls and guys could enjoy this novel!

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Julie goes from high school in Ohio to college in Boston, MA. Mainly to start over and to find friends who really appreciate her love for reading old literature novels about the past.

But when she arrives to Boston and finds out that her apartment that she bought on Craigslist is really a burrito restaurant, things weren't looking too good for her.

Thankfully, Julie's mom called in a favor from her old roommate, Erin Watkins, when she was in college - who just happened to live near Julie's college.

And they had a spare bedroom that they were happy to let Julie use until she found a different apartment.

After awhile, when Julie found out that getting an apartment in a college town with a limited spending fee was extremely hard, Erin offered for her to stay at their house in exchange for picking up her youngest daughter, Celeste, from school.

And speaking of Celeste... she's a bit different than other 13 year old girls. Very different. In fact, she carries around a life-size cardboard figure of her old brother, Finn, who Celeste calls Flat Finn everywhere she goes. Everywhere.

Finn is traveling around the world and Julie is assuming Celeste created Flat Finn because she is having a hard time without Finn around.

Then there is the middle boy, Matt, the 21 MIT genius who wears geeky slogan shirts and is a very big nerd. But he is so good to his sister and does a lot to manage the house when his parents go AWOL.

So Julie is not bored at the Watkins house.

Oh, and another thing? She's been having very long conversations with real Finn through e-mail and Facebook, getting to know the eldest Watkins very well.

And she's sorta, kinda, maybe just a little bit falling for Finn - a guy that she has  never met before in real life but is quite charming over the Internet.

But Julie still wants to know why Flat Finn is there. The family is not a normal family - they definitely have their quirks. Not that Julie minds, but she wants to find out what really happened to make them like that.

However, when Julie really finds out what happened, there is no turning back. The connection between Julie and the Watkins will be stretched so far that there might not be a chance to go back to before. No matter how hard they try... Read Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park to find out what happens!

My Thoughts/Reflections 
When I first heard about this book, it was always connected with Jamie McGuire's novel Beautiful Disaster, which I absolutely loved (and reviewed here)! So I had extremely high hopes for this novel!

And was sorry to find out that I didn't love it as much as I wanted to... There was just something about the characters that I wasn't able to connect with. The way they talked and rambled about random stuff. The way they kept repeating the same thing with different words.

Where I really loved this book was at the very end. When the reader found out the big secret. I was able to guess what happened 3 pages before it was revealed to me and that is when I fell in love with this novel. But that was so close to the end that I didn't get to appreciate my love I gained for this book that much before it ended.

What I also loved was the way Julie became a part of the Watkins family. The way she treated Celeste was amazing. Flat Finn had a brain and Celeste made it known. And Julie didn't even blink by the life-size cardboard brother. She went along with it right from the beginning and had her own conversations with Flat Finn! It was pretty adorable I thought.

So there were good and bad parts to this novel. I did enjoy it, and loved the ending, but it was lacking something. Plus, if anyone compares a book to Beautiful Disaster, I am almost always disappointed because my love for that book is over the top.

However, for readers who want to read about an odd family who a strange girl slowly heals from an event that broke them, just to become a family member herself and falls in love with each and every one of them, this would be a perfect book for you.

Also, this is a New Age book, meaning between YA and Adult. College setting. This genre is starting to become more and more popular lately, which I'm really enjoying!

I'm glad that I finally got to read it and see what everyone was all hyped up about. It was a great story line and definitely makes me look at things differently!

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan

Vee has a boring life compared to her best friend, Sydney, who is the star in the school play and is amazing at whatever she does.

But when Sydney kisses Vee's crush for over a month longer during the play than was necessary, Vee feels betrayed and decides to do a dare for the online reality hit NERVE.

NERVE is basically real live dares that are filmed live onto the Internet. Each dare has a prize for completing each dare to entice the player. The more dares, the bigger and better the prizes are until the players get a chance to participate in the Final Round.

Along with NERVE the players have to deal with Watchers: people who've paid to watch the players either online or in person, where they can win money for whomever posts the best live stream of the dares as they are happening.

Vee didn't really think her little dare would get that much attention. But after her and her wingman, Tommy, post it on NERVE's website, she's wanted for another dare - this time with a new partner to do dares with, Ian.

What started off as a way to do something daring and different than her normal personality is now becoming very serious.

And Vee's prizes are becoming more and more useful for when she finishes high school.

But are the dares becoming too hard? Can Vee handle the intensity of the dares or will she finally give up and lose all of the prizes that she has won? What is NERVE worth to Vee? Read Nerve by Jeanne Ryan to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
When I first read the synopsis of this book on Goodreads, I had the impression that it would be an online version of The Hunger Games, but I was definitely wrong.

This is just a very real and public game of Truth or Dare only without the "truth" option.

But don't be fooled - NERVE is not nice in all of their dares and they definitely hit home for every one of their players to make the dares hard to complete for the juicy prizes.

Vee is a hard character to love. She's easily likable but there are times when I either want to strangle her or slap her.

She does a great job with the dares, though, and trying to find ways around the rules that NERVE gave her for each dare. She's known as shy by her friends, but after this night of dares she won't be called that again.

So, yes, I did like this book. It was different, especially the topics in this novel making it fresh and new in today's YA literature.

But it wasn't a novel that I fell in love with automatically. I find time to set it down rather than staying up ungodly hours to finish it.

One thing I did like was the twists. A friend backstabs Vee, a new friendship occurs, and truths are revealed throughout each dare. It kept me on my toes til the last page.

I would definitely recommend this to teens who are looking for a bit of an adventure and a side book from The Hunger Games, even though it's considerable different. And anyone looking for a futuristic/sci-fi novel might find this rather interesting, especially with the different technology that's in this novel.

Also, so far this is a standalone novel so I won't be biting my nails to wait for the sequel, even though Ryans did leave it open at the end for another novel to be written.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

The year is 1996. For those readers who never lived through the nineties, here are some dramatic differences:

• Cassette tapes are still  used, along with Beepers and Discman's. 
• Titanic and Harry Potter have not been created yet, among other movies and books. 
• VCR's are still used, rather than DVDs or BluRay
• No fancy technology, which include (but are not limited to) iPads, iPods, i or e anything, cell phones and barely computers. 
• In this book, Emma's new computer has Windows 95. And uses Dial-up Internet. 
• Same sex relationships are frowned upon. 
• And a lot of other things...

Emma Nelson's father gave Emma a desktop computer - sort of as a guilt present since Emma's parents are divorced and her father now has a new daughter with his other family. Emma's mom is now on her 3rd marriage as well. 

Josh Templeton is Emma's neighbor, and, used to be, best friend. When Josh's mom hears that Emma has a new computer, she sends Josh over to see if Emma wants to download America OnLine (AOL) since Josh doesn't have a computer. 

Emma downloads AOL, which takes over  1 1/2 hours, and after making her username and password, is automatically logged into her Facebook account... Only Facebook doesn't exist in 1996!!

Throughout the next week, Emma and Josh look on the Facebook pages, seeing what their lives are like in 15 years (in 2011). However, every action Emma and Josh make create a ripple in time, changing information on their Facebook profiles. 

For instance, Emma realized she didn't like her husband in 2011, so she decided not to go to the college where she meets her future husband and her life changed on her Facebook profile. 

Josh has an amazing life with an amazing wife, so when Emma starts rewriting... the future... he gets upset and doesn't want anything to change for him. 

Will the Facebook website make Josh and Emma be on edge for the rest of their lives and run their lives? Or will they start living in the present and not worry about the future?

My Thoughts/Reflections

I have been wanting to read this book since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint! Emma and Josh were on the mend of being friends - not as close as they once were but not ignoring each other either. Getting AOL and Facebook brought them together again, but also kept them arguing about certain actions taken. 

Honestly, if I were in Emma's shoes, I'm not sure what I would have done if I saw my future Facebook account. I probably would have tried to find out what happened to make my life the way it was and if I didn't like it, probably change it. 

Both Emma and Josh had some tough choices to decide on throughout the week of installing AOL on Emma's computer. They definitely thought like adults and made some adult decisions when they are only 16 years old - When I was 16, I was definitely not thinking like an adult. 

Trying to figure out what to do in the present to make their future what they want was very stressful for Emma and Josh, along with doing day to day routines such as going to school and hanging out with friends. I think the ending of this book was amazing after the choices Emma and Josh decided to follow panned out. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone - guy, girl, adult, teens. The chapters are alternating between Emma and Josh, making it relatable to both gender readers, and the references to 1996 would take adults down memory lane when they first got a computer and the Internet. Teens today might think some references (such as cassette tapes or VHS) might be hilarious, but the relationship and friendship storyline would be relatable for them to follow as well. 

This became one of my favorite novels, especially since I've read both of the author's previous works and liked both of their books. I will be recommending this to everyone I know! (So beware, friends ;-))