Tag: books

Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Bailey “Mink” Rydell has met the boy of her dreams. They share a love of films and talk all day – Alex is perfect. Well, apart from the fact that they’ve never actually met . . . and neither of them knows the other’s real name.
When Bailey moves to sunny California to live with her dad, who happens to live in the same town as Alex, she decides to track him down. But finding someone based on online conversations alone proves harder than Bailey thought, and with her irritating but charismatic (and potentially attractive?) colleague Porter Roth distracting her at every turn, will she ever get to meet the mysterious Alex?

I knew I would like this book. It has everything I look for in a good YA summer contemporary. I had no idea that I would absolutely adore it. Okay, so I picked this one up yesterday and I finished it this morning…literally because I could. Not. Put. It. Down. This means I’m now forced to queue 2 reviews 2 days in a row – because I’m reading so much!

Okay so on to my actual thoughts of the book, which I don’t honestly know how to put into words simply because my mind is still in the crazy, beautiful and incredibly chaotic world of Bailey. I’m now going to go through every single thing I liked about this book (which let me warn you, is a lot)…so we may be here a while…

“He looks toward the ocean, dark purple with the last rays of light. “My mom says we’re all connected–people and plants and animals. We all know one another on the inside.”

Let’s start with Bailey. She made for such an awesome main character, although I have to say I didn’t like her right away. She seemed kind of…stuck up. Superior. But that soon fizzled out as we discovered more and more about the mystery of Bailey. Above all, I found Bailey real. She was a real teenager with real (a lot) of real struggles – and I found her voice perfect for the story. I loved a lot about Bailey, especially her love of film. It showed real depth of character and I felt really connected to her. She also suffered a lot with her nerves and even PTSD at some points, which I found very relatable. I’ve unfortunately suffered with anxiety in the past and panic attacks, and I found Bailey’s very real and well described. She was also funny, quick witted and sarcastic, which made for an entertaining read.

Alex, Approximately also has a great collection of side characters. Porter is the perfect love interest – someone the reader can grow to adore as Bailey does. He can be a little bit of an asshole at times but he is so sweet and loving that I didn’t care after a while. Grace makes a great best friend, and a great first best friend for Bailey. Bailey’s dad is honestly a lovely parent figure, and Wanda becomes one too. All of the other characters – the other security guard, Patrick and even Davy, built the book up to be something I loved. The characters all bounced off each other and aided each others paths, and I think that’s simply genius.

“It’s what’s on the outside that distracts. Our clothes, our words, our actions. Shark attacks. Gunshots. We spend our lives trying to find other people.”

There are so many other things I loved about this book that we may, quite honestly, be here all day. But I’m ploughing on, because I just need to write it all down.

So, I also adored the location! This book actually made me fall in love with California, and it’s suddenly so much higher on places I would love to visit. I also felt like the location worked really well with the romance – because without the vivid, real descriptions of the setting…the romance would have been to unreal. Too fairytale-ish. But nope, even though the beautiful romance is totally unrealistic in real life, the setting made it seem possible. It made anything seem possible.

There are also so many random things I adored about this book. The museum(s). The way random characters appreciate cars and scooters. The surfing. The lines from movies at the start of every chapter. The fact Grace is in a long distance relationship and *whoops* it SURVIVES THE SUMMER. Patrick and his boyfriend. The complete adoration Porter has for weather. The scenes on the lifts, on the front porch, in the *ahem* back of Porter’s van. I could literally list things all day.

“Sometimes we get confused and turned around by the distractions.” He smiles at me. “But we didn’t.”

Before I go, let’s just talk about Alex for a moment. I’m not going to say much, but can I just mention I knew who he was from the moment Bailey started that job. But even that, I don’t really care about. Because even though I knew all along, I still found it the most amount of fun to watch play out in front of me.

Okay, so I loved a lot about this book. But the thing I adored most is how it all worked together. See, many books have awesome things. But the perfect book has all of these awesome things and makes them bounce of one another in such a way, us readers just fall head over heels for them.

Jenn Bennett, how I admire you right now. I can safely say that Alex, Approximately is possibly my favourite read of the year so far. And I just hope that somehow I have thrown enough love into this review that someone here picks up your books. You have stolen my heart with your beautiful words.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Marly’s Ghost by David Levithan

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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When Ben’s girlfriend, Marly, dies, he feels his life is over and the prospect of Valentine’s day without her fills him with bitterness. But then Marly arrives – or at least, her ghost does – along with three other spirits. Now Ben must take a journey through Valentines past, present and future – and what he learns will change him forever.

I have to say, this book really shocked me. I’m not the biggest fan of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens or even David Levithan, but I was a fan of this book.

For a start, I started this book last night, and finished it this morning. I wanted quick read to finish before the end of the month, but I didn’t expect to read half of it in an hour. This book just flew past!

“When the heart stops, you die. Love is everywhere that life is, and if there is no love for life, you die.”

I actually thought the whole Valentine’s themed retelling of A Christmas Carol was really clever. It had a familiarity to it I liked, but the Valentine’s theme kept it really fresh and interesting.

I adored Ben and the other characters – I felt like his grief and how it affected him was explained really well. He was really bitter over the death of Marly, but that’s not how he was like inside nor how he wanted to be. I really felt like I had a close connection with him.

There was also an adorable gay couple called Tiny and Tim who I loved! They gave a whole new element to the story and I like how they were included. I also loved Ben’s group of friends and how sweet they were in trying to support him.

“Giving up on love is the same thing as giving up on life itself.”

However, I can’t lie when I say I didn’t have issues with this book. It felt a little…weird in places. Some of it felt very wintery, some summery, which kind of reflected Ben’s mood but in a strange way! Also, the voices of Ben and his friends were definitely not teenage. In fact, I just felt like they fitted more in A Christmas Carol itself than in this modern day retelling. Another problem I had is just that this book isn’t really my thing. But that’s just personal, and I still enjoyed it!

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Summer Days and Summer Nights

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

With this one being a collection of stories, I honestly don’t know how to review it. I think I’m just going to have to go one by one – because this book is so diverse!

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail by Leigh Bardugo – 4 out of 5 stars

“The person she liked best didn’t like her enough to want more of her, and she didn’t want to pretend that wasn’t awful.”

I really enjoyed this start to the book, and it genuinly surprised me! Leigh Bardugo has a great way of interspersing romance and fantasy, and I honestly didn’t expect it to work as well as it did.

The End of Love by Nina Lacour – 5 out of 5 stars

“As much as people want to look on the bright side, skip straight to the future when everything will be okay, the truth is that there is this time, where you sometimes have trouble breathing, and you feel powerless.”

I would say that The End of Love was possibly my favourite of all the 12 stories. It had a great summery feel and the love was adorable. I totally related to the main characters love for school and I liked the way it included difficult topics such as her parents divorce. The camping off summer vibes perfectly.

Last Stand At the Cinegore by Libba Bray – 3 out of 5 stars

“I get it’ Dani said, suprising me. ‘When you watch one of these old movies in a place like this, you’re connected to everybody else who’s ever watched it. You can practically feel them around you.'”
I liked some parts of this story – especially the appreciation of film! – but it was just so weird. The whole thing is about this creepy horror movie that like, comes out of the screen and turns everybody to demons. And the whole demon attacking thing seems so damn unrealistic. What’s summery about that? That said, I liked the characters and the concept was very unique!

Sick Pleasure by Francesca Lia Block – 2 out of 5 stars

“Love can be so sttange and sad. It can be hard to understand why we run toward certain people and away from others at different times in our lives. Why we search so hard for that thing we are looking for, and the run so fast when we find it”

Unfortunately I am giving this one such a low rating for two reasons.

  1. The characters names are literally letters. Like M, L, J and A. Oh, and I. What could possibly be more confusing than naming the narrator I? It might seem like a small thing, but it annoyed me from the off.
  2. I literally don’t remember anything happening in this story. Maybe nothing happened, maybe it was just really not memorable. Either is pretty bad.

In Ninety Minutes Turn North by Stephanie Perkins – 5 out of 5 stars

“The person she liked best didn’t like her enough to want more of her, and she didn’t want to pretend that wasn’t awful.”

I have a feeling that Stephanie Perkins has this amazing secret ability where she can just put anyone under a spell that makes us fall in love with her writing. Because this story is just so goddamn cute, and I love it so much. The whole location gave it a unique feel, the speech was adorable and omg, even the title is so cute. Yes, it may not be the most summery story, but I don’t even care.

Souvenirs by Tim Federle – 2.5 out of 5 stars

“What is life, it comes to me, without the occasional risk of pizza?”

I didn’t dislike this story – I just had…issues with it. Keith for a start was not the best love interest, and I felt like he was quite inconsiderate of Matt’s feelings. However, I did like the setting being in a theme park and it gave off a summery vibe! The narrative was pretty unique as well – it reminded me of David Levithan actually.

Inertia by Veronica Roth – 2 out of 5 stars

“Some people might leave you,’ he said, for once ignoring a joke in favor of something real. ‘But it doesn’t mean you’re worth leaving. It doesn’t mean that at all.”

The first thing that stood out about this one is that the technology they use is so damn similar to that in Divergent. Like come on, I want something new. This story also had nothing to do with summer, but I guess the concept was pretty cool and I felt for the characters.

Love is the Last Resort by Jon Skovron – 4 out of 5 stars

“Because if we are all fools, then perhaps there is some wisdom in falling in love.”

I actually really liked this one – it shocked me quite a lot! The whole summer resort gave the right vibes and I loved the varying characters. I definitely thought Skovron pulled off having a number of characters in a short story, and even though it was pretty predictable and unrealistic, I enjoyed watching this story play out. It even made me laugh out loud at points!

Good Luck and Farewell by Brandy Colbert – 3 out of 5 stars

“I think maybe saying good-bye isn’t bad at all. Maybe it meabs I’m making room for someone new.”

I remember enjoying this one a lot at the time, but the reason I’m giving it such a low rating is because I really can’t remember it very well. And what I do remember, I don’t really think much actually happened. However, I did like the representation, LGBTQIA+ relationship and the fact this story tackled grief.

Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare – 2 out of 5 stars

“I snuggled into his arms as the last of the fireworks faded, and high above, Mephit flapped across the sky, his wings silhouetted against the moon.”

This story was just weird. I’m not one for demons or dark magic etc, so I honestly found it quite hard to grasp. I don’t think that’s just me though – going in depth about magic and demons might be a little too much for such a short story. I also didn’t get the summery vibes I was hoping for, and I actually had a problem with…incest. Like, I know the people aren’t actually family..but they are by marriage. I just found that a bit weird.

A Thousand Ways this Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E. Smith – 5 out of 5 stars

“He was a mystery that—for reasons I didn’t quite understand—I felt desperate to solve.”

Oh my, here we go. This is exactly what I was looking for. For one, the love interest is goddamn sweet and has a love of kids. The main character works in a summer camp, giving off the perfect vibe for summer. Also, back to the love interest again – he is on the autism spectrum! And it doesn’t change the way she feels for him! Just yes, omg. This one was so good. Maybe my favourite?

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things by Lev Grossman – 5 out of 5 stars

“Probably falling in love is always a little like that: You discover that one other person who understands what no one else seems to, which is that the world is broken and can never, ever be fixed. You can stop pretending, at least for a little while. You can both admit it, if only to each other.”

Okay so I actually really liked this one and I actually thought the concept was pretty original compared to some of the other stories. It gave a different vibe, but I still found it pretty summery. Also, the love interests were both interesting and had good character depth. The plot was interesting, and left some intruige for the reader.

So overall, I did enjoy this book. There were plenty of stories I didn’t like, but the ones I did really brought my rating back up and made me love this novel a lot!

★★★★

-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

 

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Review: Aurabel by Laura Dockrill

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

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It has been two years since Rory drowned, and Lorali is in Hastings, living the quiet life of a normal teenage girl. But her safe life on land won’t last for long. Life in The Whirl has become a hotbed of underwater politics and as the council jostles to oust the king, one Mer in particular has her eye on Lorali as the key to her own rise to power.
Meanwhile, Aurabel, a lowly Mer from the wrong side of the trench, is attacked by sea beasts and left for dead – and without a tail. Raging with righteous anger, she rebuilds herself a mechanical tail and reinvents herself as a fearless steampunk Mer seeking revenge. But she never expected the most important job that was about to drop into her lap.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Hot Key UK in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my views in any way.

I read the first book in this series – Lorali – back in May, and you can see from my review that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

But I bring good news – I enjoyed Aurabel more! I still stand by most of the thing I explained in my previous review, but I definitely liked more about this book.

“Some threads are too deep and thick to fray.”

The story was fast paced and definitely not as confusing! Instead of being mainly on land, this one is based mainly underwater and I actually really enjoyed that. Aurabel is a completely new character, and the story is now told by both her and Lorali. I expected that to be confusing, but it actually wasn’t.

This book seamlessly followed on from Lorali, but it felt very much like a standalone too. The story is something completely different – definitely more action than romance based – but I really liked that! The new factors of power, fighting and even cyborg mermaids really worked and helped the unqiue aspects of this novel.

“Some lines, in love, outlive the veins.”

Again, I found Dockrill’s writing very unique and interesting. But this time, it worked. Maybe it’s because I’m more used to her writing after Lorali, or maybe she’s just more experienced after writing a book before…but I actually really liked it. The random poeticness of her writing really worked.

Also can I just say – this includes a bi mermaid! Like…

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Need I say more?

So it’s safe to say I really liked Aurabel! If you’re looking for a mermaid themed pre-teen or YA novel, I’d recommend it 🙂

★★★

Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review9 Comments

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Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.
Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.
But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?
Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone…

Okay so this book is crazy. Craaaazy. Crazy good, but mostly just heckin’ crazy. I saw this book on a shelf of signed books at YALC back in July, and I knew it wasn’t out yet. I knew it was an ARC, and considering how much I adored The Next Together, I just had to pick it up.

And Lauren James has not let me down. This book was so different to how I expected, so different to her other writing and the synopsis. This book shocked me constantly, in all ways but none bad.

There are so many things I adored about this book. Let’s just start by saying I finished this book in a day. A day! It’s been so long since I’ve ever finished a book in a day, it so rarely happens that I can’t remember it happening since I’ve been blogging!

“On my very worst days, I think of nothing but how vulnerable I am out here.”

Romy makes for an awesome main character. She’s a strong young woman who I admire greatly, and I felt a really strong connection to her. It’s great to feel so close to a character in just under 300 pages. I also love how she was a woman! We don’t often see women able to survive so much on her own. She is such a great role model for young readers today. I love how she wrote fanfiction about her favourite TV show, it made her seem so real and relatable for someone in space!

I also think her relationship with Molly (her counsellor) was very well written and more needs to be in YA.

The setting was awesome and very well described. Spaceships are not often used in YA, especially for a romance story! It gave the story a unique aspect that reminded me of Illuminae.

“I’m balanced on the edge of oblivion with only a fragile skin of metal separating me from the void of space.”

There were so many other awesome things about this book. The plot was so fast paced and definitely a one-sitting read! I love the complicated mystery/thriller aspect, and it made for such an intense story that I literally couldn’t stop reading.

Aside from the counsellor, other parts of the story were also very important. Some of the other situations caused Romy a lot of anxiety and even panic attacks, and they were written so well!

So overall, this book was amazing in many different ways. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year, and possibly my favourite sci-fi ever (even over Illuminae!).

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Songs About Us by Chris Russell

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Two months on from the explosive finale to book one, Charlie’s life is almost back to normal again: rebuilding her relationship with her father, hanging out with best mate Melissa, and worrying about GCSEs. All the while, Gabe’s revelations about her mother are never far from her mind. And neither is Gabe.
It’s not long before Charlie is pulled back into the world of Fire&Lights – but the band seem different this time. But then again, so is she…
Meanwhile, tensions between Gabe and Olly continue to run high, leading to more turmoil between the band members and press than ever before. But when Gabriel and Charlie stumble upon yet another startling truth that links them together – everything they have stands to implode in front of them.

I’m back in the world of Fire&Lights, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a few weeks since I finished Songs About A Girl, but it felt like I’d had no break at all. These books have such an easy and comforting flow to them, I picked it straight back up right away.

I shall continue on here from my review of Songs About a Girl with my pure and incredible amount of admiration for Chris. Again, this book is amazing, and the writing is a massive part of that. These books wouldn’t be what they are without the writing. They wouldn’t even be half as good.

“You shouldn’t put so much pressure on yourself…“

Without spoiling too much of the goings-on in Charlie’s story, I want to say that this book has amazing representation. There are many struggles from different characters, including relationship, friendship and family issues. So many things occur and are handeled in such a good way, and it really gives a whole host of different readers something to relate to.

Before I go into the poetic speech I feel is going to come, let’s break this book down simply. As I mentioned, the writing is incredible. The plot is very fast-paced and there is constantly something going on. There is an awesome moment with LGBTQIA+ representation that was both unexpected and excellent. The way it didn’t change how Charlie saw this character felt so damn important, it might be some of the best passing representation I have seen in YA so far.

“You are who you are. Maybe that’ll change, maybe it won’t.“

As mentioned in my review for the first book, we continue to have a broad range of characters. Some good, some bad, all of them are well developed and add a lot to the story.

Now for my speech, I guess! I don’t even know how to describe this, but Chris has done something incredible. He took something I saw as shallow, materialistic and full of screaming teenage girls (band life), and gave it real depth and emotion. He gave me a world I adore and surprised me with how much I fell for it.

“As long as you’re happy, none of it matters.”

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, she has endured a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife to reach the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.
Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella’s life – first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse – seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed… forever?

I know you might be wondering why it has taken me almost a year to finish this book. Yes, you read that right. I started this one in October 2016, after reading the first 3 books in the series. But after precisely 532 pages, I just stopped reading. It wasn’t that I lost interest…but other things took over and I never finished. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it took until this week to finally pick this book up again.

Surprisingly, I actually found it pretty easy to get back into the story, and after reading a short summary to catch up, I was enjoying it once more!

“You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers – the monsters, the enemies.”

It’s been a while, but I loved the start of this novel. Unlike the other books in the series, Breaking Dawn is broken into 3 parts. Part 1 is from Bella’s point of view, then we switch to Jacob, then back to Bella.

Starting with part 1, I adored this part. Seriously, the romance is just spot on, sexy, funny and just lovely. It’s everything I could hope for in a romance. Without giving away too much, I love the way Bella reacts to the..ahem, new addition. It adds a new layer to the story that is just beautiful.

Part 2, however, I wasn’t as much of a fan of. As much as I like Jacob, I find focusing the story on him completely can sometimes be a little annoying. It added an extra something to the story, and I like seeing the family development from his side, but I definitely preferred Bella’s viewpoint.

“When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one?”

Part 3 is the one I’ve just rejoined – and I have to say really liked. We join Bella in a completely different time of her life, a scary, fast paced and interesting time. I loved speeding through those final pages.

Let’s talk about the length of this book before we wrap up. I would say one of the reasons – maybe the only reason – I didn’t finish reading this for so long, is the length. But should it be shorter? Actually, no. Especially reading the last 200 or so pages, I realised how much we needed so much writing to explain the complex world of Twilight.

“If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?”

Overall, I really liked this book and it reminded me of my love for the entire series. It’s an interesting and complex paranormal romance with many elements and layers. It also has a happy ending – and I loved that. My love for Twilight is back, and I’m happy about it.

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Fifteen-year-old Frankie Landau-Banks has grown up a lot over the summer. She’s no longer daddy’s little girl – and almost immediately after starting the new semester at her highly prestigious school, she bags goofy-but-gorgeous Matthew Livingston as her boyfriend. They get along great but then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of a boys-only secret society that specialise in ‘hilarious’ pranks. Which hardly seems fair… especially when Frankie knows she’s smarter than any of its members. And to prove this, she’s going to teach them a lesson.

I unfortunately didn’t really enjoy this one as much as I’d have liked. As mentioned in my previous review, E. Lockhart has a very unique style, and it shone through once again in this novel.

Unfortunately, the first word that comes to mind when I think of this novel is slow. I just feel like for a book of over 300 pages, not much happens in this book at all. Frankie spends a while at school. She gets a boyfriend. She uncovers secrets, and she pulls some clever pranks. She ends up pretty much back where she started.

“It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can’t see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow”

Her relationship with Matthew bothered me a lot. She talks about loving him – but never actually explained why she loves him. In fact, she seemed angry at him for most of the book, and there doesn’t actually seem to be that much of a relationship between the two.

So what did I actually enjoy about this book? A lot of what I liked about it was the cleverness of E. Lockhart. The whole complicated plot and pranks and basset club were just so imaginative and clever. I really admire her for creating something refreshing and different from so many other YA novels. This is just so…unique, which lives up to my expectations of E. Lockhart.

“It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people.”

The plot development reminded me a lot of Fly On the Wall, also by E. Lockhart. It seemed we spent a lot of time reading this slow story for not much of a reward at the end. I felt so different about Fly On the Wall, simply just because I think we got a reward for finishing the story.

Let’s talk about this book being a feminist novel. Sure, I understand this. But I don’t actually think Frankie portrays a great role model. She’s a very jealous person who manipulates people to get what she wants. I felt her ‘love’ for Matthew was a complete lie and for once, I wish there was more focus on the romance and development of it.

“She will not be simple and sweet. She will not be what people tell her to be. That Bunny Rabbit is dead.”

Overall, I have really mixed opinions of this book. It left me confused and I definitely feel like maybe I didn’t understand the full message it was trying to portray. But what I do understand and can analyze, I unfortunately cannot bring myself to love.

★★★ (2.5 stars)

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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At the Manhattan School of Art and Music, where everyone is unique and everyone is ‘different’, Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. It doesn’t help that she’s known as the girl who sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of her favourite superhero, just so she won’t have to talk to anyone. Her best (and only real) friend is there for her, but that’s only if she’s not busy – she’s always busy!
It’s no surprise that Gretchen isn’t exactly successful in the boy department. Her ex-boyfriend is a cold-fish-sometimes-flirty ex who she can’t stop bumping into. Plus, she has a massive crush on a boy named, Titus but is too scared to make the first move. One minute he seems like a sensitive guy, the next, he’s a completely different person when he’s with his friends. She can’t seem to figure boys out!
Gretchen has one wish: to be a fly on the wall in the boy’s locker room. What are boys really like? What do they talk about?
This is the story of how one girl’s wish came true.

So, this book is weird. And I mean, it’s really weird. Like, this is literally a story of someone who turns into a fly – and I don’t mean that as a metaphor.

Although I actually really admire E. Lockhart for writing such an interesting story with the girl turning into a fly for almost half of the book. That’s a pretty crazy thing to accomplish.

“People think of hearts when they think of love, but a heart is a bloody organ in the body.”

I wasn’t sure about this book at first, simply because it really took a while to get my head around it. And it did take a while to really get into the story. I spent a good 70 pages learning about Gretchen, her family, friends, school and general life. It also took that long to get used to E. Lockhart’s unique writing style again.

The characters are all pretty interesting and gave good depth to the story. The book is incredibly short (just under 200 pages), and it flew by…but it was also enough for the plot.

“It doesn’t have any emotions.”

Like I mentioned above, E. Lockhart has a very unique style of writing…but I love her for it. This book breaks YA rules, includes some great humorous moments and is incredibly honest. However, I did have a few *tiny* issues. One, Gretchen can come across as kind of…childish? Her collections, obsessions and sometimes just manner and way she talks is just a little strange and doesn’t always read like I expected.

Two, a lot of this book is just about dicks. Like seriously, I’d say about a quarter of this book is just describing boys bodies…and I kind of get why, but it also seemed like quite a large portion of the book.

“It’s like a metaphor for love that has nothing to do with what love actually is.”

Overall? Another great read from E. Lockhart, and it did leave me impressed. It really pushes the boundaries of realism, fantasy and YA, and I love that.

★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers cross paths. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, culminating in heroic turns-of-heart and the most epic musical ever to grace the high-school stage.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson marks my last book in John Green’s collection – whoop whoop!

I have to say I did like this book – but I didn’t love it. It didn’t overwhelm me or amaze me. It just felt a bit…flat.

Let’s start by talking about the whole name thing. Ugh, this just gets to me. It’s so unrealistic – and it gave a nod to the whole 19 Katherine’s from An Abundance of Katherines, which annoyed me even more. It’s also confusing, and honestly didn’t add much to the story in my opinion. I mean Will and Will hardly even communicated with each other!

“Maybe there’s something you’re afraid to say, or someone you’re afraid to love, or somewhere you’re afraid to go.”

I have to also say the teenagers in this novel are kind of…assholes. Not all the time, but all of them kind of screw up and come across really badly. One of these guys is Tiny, who is basically the centre of this novel for reasons I don’t really see? In my honest opinion, he can come across pretty big headed even though he’s trying to do all of these great things.

“It’s gonna hurt.”

So what did I like about this book? Well, the ending was great! It didn’t give perfect closure, but it did give a good message for the reader to leave with. The ending was pretty heartwarming. I also guess I liked some of the characters and some of the quotes/situations/narrative, and I found some of it incredibly lovely and sweet. I love that they included LGBTQIA+ characters and coming out. I love that it tackled homophobia in a way some teens do have to cope with.

Another important part of this story is definitely depression. One of the Will Grayson’s suffers with depression and I like the way that’s included in his story but not completely focused upon. I can’t really say whether his thoughts are accurate or not – but depression comes in all shapes, sizes and feelings. I just hope some readers can relate to him. Even though I can’t say I related to his depression, I am impressed that the authors included it.

“It’s gonna hurt because it matters.”

Oh and back to complaining. One of the Will Grayson’s (I honestly can’t be arsed at this point to remember or explain which) wrote in all lowercase letters. and i mean. like this. like the author (i think david levithan) couldn’t lift his fingers to the damn shift key. and this really, really got on my nerves.

Wow, writing about this book is getting me even more annoyed about it. So what else? We’ve already discussed the unlikeliness of names – what about the unlikeliness of them meeting randomly in – of all places – a porn shop? I mean, Will Grayson is not even a common name. Come on.

Overall, it’s slow. It’s flat, but I guess it filled a gap. I’m glad I didn’t DNF this book, and I did speed through it pretty quickly. I guess I liked it, in an okay kind of way, but I certainly didn’t feel anything more than that.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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