MELINA’S BOOK CLUB | #17

Hey, I'm back with another book post! While these posts take me quite a while to compile every month, I have to say that they're one of my favorite posts to make. I've been getting through quite a lot of books this winter! My goal this year is to read 80 books, and so far I've read 9! I'm actually a book or two behind schedule, according to Goodreads.

Let's get right into it!

currently reading:

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I've started all of these, and are half-way through all of them except "All American Boys". They're all so different from each other, and yet each of them are super interesting. I've been wanting to read "Red, White, & Royal Blue" for MONTHS, especially since Marie from Drizzle & Hurricane books raved about it. Not only that but it won YA award on Goodreads! I'm really enjoying it so far, and can't wait to write my review.

what i'm reviewing today:

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Sin Never Sleeps (Gilt #2) by Geneva Lee – ★★★★

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"You set me free," I whisper. "I didn't have a life before you. I refused to have one. I'd just accepted that nothing was ever going to change and had half-buried myself in other people's trinkets at the store. Then you changed everything." - Sin Never Sleeps, Geneva Lee

So this is the second book of the beautiful criminal series that I talked about inmy last book club post. I don't know why, but she changed the name of the series to the Gilt series.

This continues the story of Emma and Jameson. I really can't say too much about the plot line of this one without giving anything away from the first one. All I can say is that I loved it just as much. I definitely recommend checking it out!

All Fall Down (Gilt #3) by Geneva Lee -★★★

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"I know you have a lot of reasons not to believe. And I know it might take you a lifetime to heal from all the terrible things that happened to you. But I'm going to be there for that lifetime. I'm going to spend every day reminding you that good things can happen. That it's okay to believe and to hope and to have faith in other people." - All Fall Down, Geneva Lee

This is the last and final book in the Gilt Series. It leaves off exactly where Sin Never Sleeps ends. While it's probably my least favorite book in the series, I still found this book necessary to end the series.

While I wish that there were certain plot points that ended a different way, I'm still pretty satisfied how the whole thing ended. I obviously binged the whole thing in a couple of days, and I still recommend the series after reading the whole thing!

The Memory Book by Lara Avery -★★★

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“We have to get used to the idea that no one cares as much as us, because guess what, they don’t. Succeed, fail, whatever, no one is going to give you a pat on the back for spending all hours of the day studying, or researching, or giving up everything to write. So we’ve got to just do it for ourselves.” - Lara Avery, The Memory Book

The book follows Sammie, a high school girl who has a plan for everything in her life. She gets good grades in order to choose where she's going to go to college and what clubs to join to make her resume look the most interesting. Anything to get her out of her small town.

That is, until she is diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that will slowly take away her memories and her health. In order to stop herself from forgetting her memories, she decided to write everything down on her computer.

When I read the back of this book cover, I was really interested in reading this book. The idea of a main character having a disease where she won't remember anything, was more than interesting to me. 

I have a few family members that have suffered with Alzheimer's, and so to read a book with someone who has a slightly similar disease was, not only difficult to read, but hit kind of close to home.

I will say that Sammie isn't the most likable character. She's very serious, meticulous, and analytical. In the same breath, I would say that Sammie's character is very real. While she's not someone I could envision being best friends with, I really understood her as she came to terms with her disease.

This book made me smile, laugh, and cry. Not only was it a unique book, but it was something that I definitely recommend.

Coin Heist by Elisa Ludwig -★★★

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“We were knee deep in a river of crap,and I was wearing metaphorical flip-flops." - Elisa Ludwig, Coin Heist

This was one of those books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for years. When I saw that they were going to make a Netflix movie, I knew that now was my chance to give this book a read.

This book follows four different characters that all go to a prep school in Philadelphia. While you'd never expect any of these characters unite for any reason. They make unlikely allies as they attempt a heist on the national U.S. Mint.

While this book has 4 different perspectives, I didn't feel like one perspective outshined any of the others. There were certain characters that I liked more than others, but I still enjoyed reading each perspective. It was a really great read, and one I recommend to all!


So these are all the books I’m going to review today! If you haven’t kept up with the other books I’ve reviewed, you can check them out below:

MELINA’S BOOK CLUB | #16

MELINA’S BOOK CLUB | #15

MELINA'S BOOK CLUB | #14

MELINA’S BOOK CLUB PT. 13

MELINA'S BOOK CLUB #12

If you guys didn’t know, you can check out all the books I’ve reviewed in 2020 on one page! Check it out. I also have a page full of all the books I’ve ever reviewed.What have you been reading recently? Let me know! I’m always looking for new books to add to my TBR list. Thank you as always for reading. Have a wonderful day/night! Sending you love, strength, and positivity!

-Melina xxx

**Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. If you feel uncomfortable with this, simply search for the item yourself.**

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16 comments

  • alwayscleia says:

    I'm impressed that you've already read nine books this year! I've finished three, I don't think I'll be completing my good reads goal this year haha. The Memory book kind of reminds me of the movie Momento if you've ever seen it. It's a FANTASTIC film, but the story is more crime based. The main character can't remember anything past a day, so he gets through life by writing himself little notes. The story is told in reverse, it's really interesting!

    Good luck with your book reading goal for this year, you're off to a great start!

    Reply
    • Melina Elisa says:

      I actually haven’t seen the movie, but it sounds kind of like something i’d enjoy, so i’m going to give it a try! Thanks for the recommendation and for commenting 🙂 x

      Reply
      • alwayscleia says:

        Let me know if you like it! I have to watch it again soon 🙂

        Reply
  • Marie says:

    Ahh I'm so happy to hear you're reading Red, White and Royal Blue, I hope you're loving it, it was such a fun read! 🙂
    I'm so curious about The Memory Book now. It sounds like an intense, emotional read, but it also sounds really good, I might have to give it a try! 🙂

    Reply
    • Melina Elisa says:

      I'm still reading it, cause I have it in PDF format for my Ipad, and sometimes it just takes me longer to read when things are on my phone, but I'm honestly loving it so far! I'm so glad you recommended it to me 🙂
      If you do give it a read, please let me know what you think about it! Thanks for reading and commenting Marie 🙂 xx

      Reply
  • bournemouthgirl says:

    Thank you for sharing these reviews! I like these types of posts to see what people are reading!

    Reply
    • Melina Elisa says:

      Thanks for reading! I hope you find something new to read and you love it 🙂 x

      Reply
  • K.M. Sutton says:

    I love these posts that you do! You are reading SO many good books! I LOVE Geneva Lee! Not sure if I mentioned it, BUT I LOVE her Soverign series, I think she renamed those books to, so not sure what they are called now, but they are SO good! Happy Reading! <3

    Reply
    • Melina Elisa says:

      You did tell me! I added it to my TBR (to be read) list! I saw them on Thriftbooks for super cheap, so I'll probably pick up some copies once I finish reading some of the books I currently have. Thanks for reading and commenting! Also, thanks for the recommendations. I love those 🙂 I hope you find something new to read that you love xxx

      Reply
  • Kate Loves Travel says:

    Wow, 80 books in a year - that sounds such a lot! I definitely need to read more - I seem to spend my life reading either magazines or books for my counselling course... Your suggestions all sound interesting so will have to check some of them out!
    Thanks a lot for sharing!
    Kate xx | https://katelovestravel.net

    Reply
    • Melina Elisa says:

      I know, I'm kind of regretting making my goal so high, but when I read 76 last year, I thought I could do a little better this year! I'm so behind on my book reading goal. Goodreads keeps track of if you're ahead or behind, and I'm about 3-4 books behind right now. I hope you enjoy some of the books I recommended. Let me know if you read any of them and what are your thoughts 🙂 x

      Reply