Tag: bookworm

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

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

22907596

Goodreads | Amazon

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! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Review: Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

30323804

Goodreads | Amazon

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! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

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

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

17208924

Goodreads | Amazon

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! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Review: Wing Jones by Katherine Webber

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review13 Comments

25909375

Goodreads | Amazon

Jandy Nelson meets Friday Night Lights: a sweeping story about love and family from an exceptional new voice in YA. With a grandmother from China and another from Ghana, fifteen-year-old Wing Jones is often caught between worlds. But when tragedy strikes, Wing discovers a talent for running she never knew she had. Wing’s speed could bring her family everything it needs. It could also stop Wing getting the one thing she wants.

Wow. What an incredible debut! I would never have guessed this book was a debut – the writing is simply beautiful.

This book is like no other. The writing was beautiful in a simple kind of way, and it helped the pages turn so quickly.

I honestly didn’t know how I’d find this book – the synopsis is quite brief and it left me pretty clueless about the book apart from the racial diversity. It really was a pleasant surprise!

“I feel like it might take over, like I might drown in my wanting.”

The characters had real depth to them. The culture flowed and shone throughout the novel, giving the story a kind of magic I don’t often see in YA. The contemporary style didn’t feel like contemporary – it felt like more. Contemporary is simple…this book was more.

Talking about the characters, Wing made for an amazing MC. She was relatable, honest and well, real. She made mistakes, she didn’t know what she wanted and she didn’t try to cover up her feelings to make herself more likable. I also found her incredibly inspirational, brave and heroic. She is my new bookish hero!

But it wasn’t just Wing that I adored. I loved the dynamic in her family and friends. I love how much they were included in the novel. Sometimes, you can read a romance novel without even meeting side-characters. In fact, it’s rare to have real depth to everyone in a story. This book beat all of those sterotypes.

“Like I’ll be nothing but want.”

The plot flowed magically for a book set over a period of months. I lost myself in the time and I couldn’t have told you how long the book lasted. We obviously skipped days and maybe even weeks at times but just like with Windfall, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.

Let’s also mention that magical realism! I won’t talk about it too much, but this book features some great little side animals that I thought would find weird and childish but I honestly didn’t. It was lovely.

“Like I won’t be able to think about anything or do anything but just want him.”

Let’s talk a little about the diversity in this book. This book includes people of so many different nationalities and backgrounds – and I loved that about it! But it doesn’t just stop at race, this book also featured an lesbian side-character who I think was represented really well.

Along with diversity, this book also tackled some really important topics – love, friendship, grief, growing up, family, and bullying.

Okay, so I’m sure you’ve gathered there are a LOT of things I loved about this book. I could literally go on and on. So I’ll wrap up with one last thing – go and read this. Please.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Review: Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

34373364

Goodreads | Amazon

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.
At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.
As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

Considering the length of this book (over 400 pages!), I’m surprised how it sped by for me. I read it in around a day, and read around half of it during a 3 hour flight.

I loved a lot of things about this book, but I also had a few annoyances. As contemporaries are, it was pretty middle of the road, I guess. It wasn’t over-the-top with incredible writing and pieces. But it wasn’t underwhelming, either.

Let’s start by saying I felt mixed about the characters. I liked Alice, and I loved Leo and Max. It was great to have LGBT side-characters that didn’t feel there just to make the book politically correct. But Teddy. Ugh, Teddy. I kind of had a love-hate relationship with Alice’s love interest. For one, he turns into a bit of a douche. Yes, he’s only 18 and he’s obviously over-excited about winning so much money. But the way he spends it and strings Alice along quite a bit just got on my nerves.

“We have all sorts of words that could describe us.”

Unfortunately, Alice also annoyed me a little bit in some parts. Yes, both her and Teddy had been through a lot and she obviously was battling with demons of her own. But I felt like she also strung a certain character along because she couldn’t face that Teddy didn’t want her.

However, I loved the concept of this book. YA can be pretty restricted now with ideas and plot lines, so the lottery idea felt fresh and interesting. I also liked the pacing. Rather than go through everything in too much detail day-by-day, the book jumped whole weeks, and it worked. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything and it made the book pass pretty quickly.

“But we get to choose which ones are most important.” 

I also like the topics discussed in this book. It made the book real and relatable, even if it was a little hard-hitting at times.

I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this one. I really did, and I’d recommend it to romance/contemporary readers! I’ll definitely be reading more of Smith’s work – this one just felt a little lacking and gets a mixed review from me.

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Spoiler-free Review: A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

30197201

Goodreads | Amazon

Steffi doesn’t talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can’t hear, but he can listen.
Their love isn’t a lightning strike, it’s the rumbling roll of thunder.
Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life – she’s been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He’s deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she’s assigned to look after him. To Rhys, it doesn’t matter that Steffi doesn’t talk, and as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she’s falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it. 

I knew I liked Sara Barnards writing and style. But I had no idea how much this book would blow me away.

This book astounded me on so many levels, I don’t even know where to start. I’m just going to have to go through them all.

“Here are three separate but similar things: shyness, introversion and social anxiety. You can have one, two or all three of these things simultaneously.”

I’ll start with the thing that stands out about this book the most. In A Quiet Kind of Thunder, Steffi suffers from selective mutism and her love interest, Rhys, is deaf. They communicate through BSL (British Sign Language). On a personal level, this really resonated with me. My career dream is to work as a teacher or in learning support, so I have actually considered learning BSL or ASL (American Sign Language) in the past. I know basic BSL (the alphabet/numbers etc) and I understand the complete importance and flow of it, and I love how that shone through in this novel.

But BSL isn’t just something that makes this novel unique – although I find it amazing that Barnard chose to write about it. It completely changes the lives of both Steffi and Rhys, and impacts the way they grow together. I really admire Barnard for taking such a big plunge and writing their story. I am so grateful to her.

Another of the struggles Steffi faces is anxiety. As an ex-sufferer myself of separation anxiety and a sufferer of anxiety, I was astounded by how well Barnard wrote about Steffi’s panic attacks and general anxiety. I can fortunately say I have only suffered one (serious) panic attack in my recent years, but this does mean I completely related to Steffi on a personal level.

“A lot of the time people think they’re all the same thing, but that’s just not true.”

All that aside, there were so many other things that stood out about this novel. For one – friends and family! Yes, friends and family are often mentioned in YA. But this novel was just something else. I know from Beautiful Broken Things that Barnard does a good job writing about teenage friendships, but she went above and beyond my expectations with Tem. Tem is Steffi’s best friend, and I love the dynamic between her and Steffi in this novel. It added something fresh and interesting that I really don’t often come across in YA, and I absolutely loved having that relationship in A Quiet Kind of Thunder.

It wasn’t just Rhys and Steffi’s friends that stood out to me. I love the relationship Steffi and Rhys had with their families and how they all bounced off one another beautifully. I also loved Steffi’s interest in animals and Rhys’s love for video games. It rounded out their characters and made the story not just about romance.

“Extroverts can be shy, introverts can be bold, and a condition like anxiety can strike whatever kind of social animal you are.”

So to finish up, let’s talk a bit about the romance. Was it insta? Kind of, but it felt so different. Steffi and Rhys had a lot of issues and faced many struggles. This made their relationship feel layered and somehow much more real. I loved Steffi and Rhys. I loved them falling in love and their adventures together. It was tentative, sweet and it honestly made me cry. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into their world.

Overall? This book really feels special to me. It shows anxiety in a way I haven’t seen before in YA, and showcased an incredibly important story. I fell in love with Steffi, Rhys, Rita (Steffi’s dog) and every other little thing about this novel. It’s one I will hold close to my heart for a long time.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Spoiler-free Review: The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review9 Comments

30849412

Goodreads | Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora’s fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life. With little more than the words “be brave” inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway, the land of the midnight sun, determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must “be brave” if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.

Note: Forgive me for not being here! I’m currently away in Madeira with my family but I’m getting a lot of reading in and here’s my review for the first book I’ve finished since I arrived.

Unfortunately I don’t have my laptop with me, so forgive this review for being a little all over the place! I’ll edit it properly once I’m back off my phone.

I’ll be back home on Saturday, but for now I’ll just be posting reviews of books I’m finishing. Other posts would be too hard without my laptop!

I think the easiest way to describe this book is unique. It’s possibly the most unique YA book I’ve ever read.

This book made me reconsider the boundaries of YA itself. It pushed everything I know about YA aside and created something entirely new and wonderful.

I won’t lie – I found this book a little mixed up. The narrative is some of the strangest I’ve come across. Due to Flora’s amnesia, a lot of the book is deeply repetitive (especially in the first ~100 pages). This kind of annoyed me a little for a while, but I did get used to it and understand how it was vital to the story.

“I am really here. Yet I know I am not.”

I obviously can’t speak for the accuracy of how Flora’s illness was portrayed, but I have to say it felt real. The complex plot really reflected the wild randomness of Flora’s mind, and I really admire Barr for being able to create that.

“I am inside something that must be buried in my head.”

The main thing I loved about this book is it’s complexity and cleverness. I won’t say I didn’t see the plot twists coming – I did guess some – but I also enjoyed the discovery.

However, there were parts of this book I didn’t enjoy. Specifically, Flora’s narrative. Yes, the repetitiveness of her story is vital. It is also incredibly, incredibly tedious. I found her incredibly childish at times and found the writing suitable for middle-grade. Therefore, the “emails” seemed very out-of-place and weird compared to the narrative.

“I am layers deep in my own brain.”

So overall, I didn’t love or hate this book. It was intriguing, involving and I found myself completely absorbed in the story from after around 100 pages. I liked the setting(s), numerous characters and complex plot. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but it’s certainly very intriguing and I’d still say give it a go if you like the sound of the synopsis!

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Review: Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

33891082

Goodreads | Amazon

Sixty years after a virus has wiped out almost all the men on the planet, things are pretty much just as you would imagine a world run by women might be: war has ended; greed is not tolerated; the ecological needs of the planet are always put first. In two generations, the female population has grieved, pulled together and moved on, and life really is pretty good – if you’re a girl. It’s not so great if you’re a boy, but fourteen-year-old River wouldn’t know that. Until she met Mason, she thought they were extinct.

Doesn’t this sound like such an interesting read? Unfortunately, I was disappointed once again. Part of me thinks I may be getting a little critical of books as I’m reading more, but this one actually doesn’t have good reviews – and for good reason.

I had a lot of issues with this book. Some of them were just writing, language and plot holes. Some are deeper than that.

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this one. I guess with the simple things. This book just felt lacking – and I think that might be in plot. I believe dystopia should be interesting and fast-paced…and Who Runs the World? just wasn’t. I felt bored, and I didn’t feel motivated to read. I felt disconnected from the characters and the story. The writing was incredibly simple, and I honestly felt like River was treated like a child, acted as a child and thought as a child.

Another thing I found confusing was the tense. River constantly referred to the Granmumma speak as ‘text talk’, which I think meant it was 2 generations in front of the present day? But similar to how I found Ink by Alice Broadway, the town felt really behind. Yes, we had trains and hotels and (I think) phones. But then the only news we heard was through word-of-mouth, and TV’s and video games were all seen as old fashioned. It just seemed weird to me.

But unfortunately my issues with this book also grew deeper. In my viewpoint, this book was sexist. It basically said that men are directly connected to rape and murder. It told the main character to cover up so she could avoid being raped. It portrayed men in a very negative light and really didn’t show much progress throughout the story. Yes, the final few chapters started to turn things around…but it wasn’t really enough. The views of men in this book were just inexcusable.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Save

Review: Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

23587115

Goodreads | Amazon

Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.
Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.
Whip-smart and blunt, Mara narrates the end of their world as she knows it while trying to make it to graduation in one piece. It’s an explosive year punctuated by romance, quarantine, lifelong friendship, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bloggers, ice cream trucks, “Snooze Button™,” Bon Jovi, and the filthiest language you’ve ever heard from the President of the United States.

Can I mention something that annoyed me before I even started this book? My edition of this book has a quote from John Green printed on the cover – “Truly the smartest and funniest book about spontaneous combustion you will ever read”. Well that’s not a big statement, because it’s probably also the only book about spontaneous combustion I will ever read.

Otherwise, this book sounded awesome. Such a cool concept, fun and humorous. I expected (and wanted) it to be so good – which is maybe why I was so devastatingly disappointed.

While reading this book, the first word I thought of to describe it was ‘honest’. Because that’s what it is. The story is about a senior class full of students that blow up. And by blow up, I mean combust in a bloody mess that ends up over the walls, floors and fellow students. The first time this happens, the reader may be a little shocked. And then it happens again, and again, and you get used to it.

Mara is possibly the most honest and sarcastic narrator I have ever known. Is that a good thing? Not necessarily, and not always. Unfortunately it made me feel a little disconnected with her and therefore her story, where there could have been the possibility to really feel emotional with her situation.

Mara unfortunately wasn’t the only issue I had with this book. Another was the plot, which felt so slowwww.

Like, this book really dragged. It’s a long book anyway (well, anything over 300 pages is long to me), but I just didn’t feel motivated to read it. It just felt boring. Maybe if I’d been worrying about Mara and her destiny (or even another character), I’d have felt differently. But honestly, I didn’t care what happened. I didn’t care if her boyfriend or best friend or even her herself blew up.

I also disliked the ending. It seemed confusing and pointless. I felt like I was completely back where we started. Like what? I want clarification. I want to know what happened, and if anyone found out anything. Not some kind of poetic bullsh*t from someone otherwise portrayed as sassy and cold-hearted.

Oh, and one more thing. All the feels? Really? For non-readers of this book, Mara talks about this novel she wrote including a main character called Xaiver or something. Not only is All the Feels the name of a published book by Danika Stone, it also includes a character called Xander.

So what did I like? Well, I guess I kept on reading, so Aaron must have done something right. I also liked the concept and the original idea. I just feel like Aaron took too much of a risk, and in the end it didn’t pay off for me.

★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |

Book review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review20 Comments

18692431

Goodreads | Amazon

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Before I start: This review is spoiler free! You can carry on at your leisure.

To celebrate the US release of Everything, Everything, here I am with my book review!

Wow. I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just say this was a refreshing read after Thirteen Reasons Why. It was just what I needed – to find my love for books again.

“I was trying so hard to find the single pivotal moment that set my life on its path. The moment that answered the question, ‘How did I get here?’

Let’s try and break this up into a manageable review, and stop my head spinning around and around at the emotions I feel towards this book.

I always say the best books are the ones that make you feel everything. And this book did. I felt everything along with Maddy – I laughed at Olly’s sense of humor, I felt despair at her condition and the restrictions it included, I felt joy at her sense of adventure, anger at the plot twist and finally, hope.

That is what I loved most about this book – among many other things – the emotions. The journey. The sheer inability to guess what was going to happen.

But it’s never just one moment. It’s a series of them. And your life can branch out from each one in a thousand different ways.

So why has it taken me so long to get round to reading it? After all, it’s been on my TBR since release. Honestly, the hype put me off. That might sound ridiculous – but I was in a bitter post-TFIOS stage and I didn’t want to read anything with too much hype because I thought it would all disappoint me.

How wrong could I possibly be? Instead of hating this book, it’s become my favourite of the year so far. It might even stay there for my end of year summary.

Maybe there’s a version of your life for all the choices you make and all the choices you don’t.”

So..why? Becuase I just felt like everything in this book fit together. It had everything. It had characters I understood and felt a connection towards. It had perfect – yet cliche – romance. It had lovely, flowing, poetic writing that didn’t feel over the top in it’s beautiful quotes. It even had an amazing plot, with a plot twist I didn’t see coming.

Last but not least – a shoutout to Nicola Yoon for that plot twist. Unfortunately, good plot twists are few and far between in contemporary romances. If they do occur, they’re usually pretty safe and predictable. But Yoon took a risk with this one, and it paid off.

How I admire her for creating such a wonderful novel.

I give this book (undoubtedly)….

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

| Goodreads |Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Redbubble |