Since We Last Spoke by Brenda Ruffener, 287 pages

This was a hard book to read subject wise but you know that's a possibility by the blurb on the back.  I kept putting the book down but then almost instantly picking it back up because I had to know what happened. I didn't cry until the end of the book at which point I started sobbing. It's the type of book that I hope everyone will read. It brings to light things people don't always want to talk about but should. Grief should never be bottled up. Teen readers and adults readers will both get a lot from this book.

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch, 320 pages

I always enjoy armchair traveling...especially to a country that I can't wait to re-visit (it's probably changed a little since I was there 14 years ago). I also have a soft spot for Ireland because I'm 18.5% Irish. Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt's destination wedding (wish I had a relative that would get married in a foreign country and pay for my travels). She's also trying to get over a broken heart. The boy behind her broken heart caused a riff between her and her favorite brother, Ian. They're supposed to go Italy to visit Addie's best friend who recently moved there but her brother makes his own plans. Addie can't let her brother out of her sight (due to a punishment given by her mother) so she's forced to tag along on her brother's secret road trip across Ireland while trying to convince her mom they're both in Italy. Besides the amazing descriptions of the Irish countryside and road trip antics you keep reading because Addie and her brother both hint at there's more to her break up than she's admitted.