The Bookanistas Review: The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

Here is the official blurb from Goodreads:

The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding

 Things I know about Reece Malcolm:

1. She graduated from New York University.
2. She lives in or near Los Angeles.
3. Since her first novel was released, she’s been on the New York Times bestseller list every week.
4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon.
5. She’s my mother.

Devan knows very little about Reece Malcolm, until the day her father dies and she’s shipped off to live with the mother she’s never met. All she has is a list of notebook entries that doesn’t add up to much.

L.A. offers a whole new world to Devan—a performing arts school allows her to pursue her passion for show choir and musicals, a new circle of friends helps to draw her out of her shell, and an intriguing boy opens up possibilities for her first love.

But then the Reece Malcolm list gets a surprising new entry. Now that Devan is so close to having it all, can she handle the possibility of losing everything?

Cute cover, right? So, yeah.

When I purchased this one I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It sounded interesting, and somewhere along the way someone compared it to a Stephanie Perkins novel, which was really all I needed to hear, you know?
What I didn't expect was how real the characters were, or how completely wrapped up in the story I would become. 
I loved that Devan was all into show choir. Seeing that side of her high school experience — especially since the book takes place in a performing arts high school in L.A. —was like being sucked into a My-So-Called-Life-hijacked episode of Glee. Except even more awesome.
And then there's Devan's relationship with her mother, Reece Malcolm. Each chapter begins with a few more entries on the Reece Malcolm list, the list of things Devan is compiling as she slowly gets to know her mother.

This book is real in a way that effected me, romantic in a heart-melts kind of way, completely addicting because I had to know what would happen next and it definitely left me wanting more. Like seriously. I could have read a few more books worth of this story.

So. Go check it out. I think you'll like it. I freaking loved it.