Abbreviations #52 | 9 Days and 9 Nights, Royals + From Twinkle, With Love

Honestly, even if I hadn't happened to be reading 9 Days and 9 Nights on a flight home from London, I still would have thought it was wonderful. (But I can't say that it wasn't a positive addition to the reading experience either, because it really was.) It's the follow-up to my favorite Katie Cotugno novel ever, 99 Days, and I've been eagerly anticipating it ever since it was first announced. It follows Molly a year later, as she's now reinvented herself while she's at college in Boston and is currently on a European vacation with her boyfriend Ian. But the romantic vacation of her dreams turns into a reality check when she runs into her ex Gabe and his new girlfriend Sadie, who are also on a Europe trip. When the ex-couple are forced to spend more time together after a friendly invitation on Ian's part, Molly finds herself struggling with some unresolved feelings... Honestly, I've cared deeply for these characters ever since the first novel, and it was just lovely to revisit them and to see how they've grown. I was already deeply invested in the outcome of the story from the start, so it's not surprising that I was immediately sucked in and couldn't set this down until I'd finished. Plus, it was fun to have a couple of European countries as the background for the unfolding of this story! It's a solid little novel that gave me a nice resolution to Molly's story, and I'm so glad it exists. I'd definitely recommend checking it out, particularly if you enjoyed 99 Days as much as I did!

9 Days and 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno | Series: 99 Days #2 | Previous Book in Series: 99 Days | Publisher: Balzer + Bray | Publication Date: May 1, 2018 | Source: e-galley downloaded from Edelweiss (Thank you, Harper!)

Daisy Winters has no desire to be in the spotlight. Unfortunately, as the younger sister of the girl who's engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland, it looks like Daisy might not be given a choice. Her summer plans are disrupted when the tabloids get wind of her (in a not-so-positive light), and she finds herself forced to spend her summer in Scotland in order to fix the negative publicity. As Daisy learns to navigate life as a person-of-interest-slash-future-relation-of-Scotland-royalty, she's going to have a summer she won't ever forget. Now, honestly, if you're able to just roll with the premise and the details provided by the author, Royals is such a fun read! Is the story predictable? A little. Are the events that occur a bit outrageous? Unsurprisingly, yes. But was it a heck of a fun ride the entire time? Yes. Yes, it was. Royals was funny (particularly Daisy herself, who has such a smart, sassy mouth), sweet (there were some lovely moments, and a couple of swoons thrown in too) and escapist (I mean, seriously, if you're like me and have ever imagined yourself being related to royalty, it'll be really fun to see Rachel Hawkins' take on that). It was a fun little story to read, and I'm seriously crossing my fingers that there will actually be a next book (which Goodreads seems to indicate there will be, but you never know, you know).

Royals by Rachel Hawkins | Series: Royals #1 | Publisher: Penguin Random House | Publication Date: May 1, 2018 | Source: ARC received from the publisher (Thank you, PRH!)

Twinkle Mehra knows two things for sure: (1) she's a wallflower, and (2) she wants to be a filmmaker and share the stories she wants to tell via that medium. So, when Sahil Roy offers her the opportunity to direct a movie for their school's upcoming festival, Twinkle immediately says yes. As she navigates the world of directing a film that a lot of people will see, she'll also be thrust into the world of the popular kids and closer to her crush, Neil Roy, a.k.a. hot jock, a.k.a. Sahil's twin brother. But when things don't go according to her script, will Twinkle be able to figure out what she really wants - in life and in love? If the premise of From Twinkle, With Love sounds to you like something right out of a teen rom-com film, well, you wouldn't be wrong about that. The main tropes in this story, including characterization and plot, are very recognizable, but that didn't diminish its charm and my enjoyment. I liked Twinkle, particularly witnessing her character development from start to finish, and I liked a lot of the secondary characters (especially Sahil, because he was adorable). I also enjoyed the epistolary format,'

From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon | Publisher: Simon Pulse | Publication Date: May 22, 2018 | Source: ARC received from the publisher (Thanks, S&S!)