Procrastination and Books

Ok so I may have said in my last post was going to make  a new post that week. I also may have no actually posted anything in that week. I may also should be writing a final paper at the moment but have chosen to write this blog post instead due to lack of brain activity.

Okay guys, so I'm in college (sophomore year) doing pre-med and things are crazy. When I started this blog it was summer and I had  nothing better to do with my life. At the time I was writing a review on every book I read, soon after I read it, and I happened to read quite a lot of books over the summer. Since classes started in September, I've barely had any time to read. Well, actually, I've been doing a lot of reading but mostly mandatory class readings which are no fun. I've read maybe two books in the last three months. I don't know how I survived. On the bright side, I spent a lot of time this week on Goodreads browsing through my recommendations and now my to-read list is at 282 books! I wonder if there will ever come a day when that number will be 0, as in I've read all the books I've wanted to read. I doubt it. At the rate I'm adding books, my reading speed is never going to catch up. Besides, all my favorite authors are writing new books that I'm so unbelievably excited for and I'm discovering more and more great authors and series all the time. It's a never ending cycle/process.

I am blathering on. I think it might have something to do with this tiredness I'm feeling and the strong desire to not do anything productive as far as college is concerned. This weekend is going to really suck. I shall keep my reading to a minimum for the next week and when Thursday comes, after I finish my last final, I will be back to reading at full speed. I've already got a bunch of books lined up and I'll probably pick one that is guaranteed to be good just to kick things off nicely.
Until then, I will mention that I read Bloodlines and Girls in Pants since the last review.... No wait, I just checked I actually finished the Vampire Academy series, the first three books in The Mortal Instrument series, Rapture, Insurgent, Hush,Hush and The Selection. Yikes! I didn't realize there were so many. I probably won't be doing a review on any of them since it's been so long since read them but maybe I'll give a general idea of what I thought below.

Vampire Academy Series: loved it! So good! I didn't expect to like it so much but I did and Rose is perfect. Maybe one of my favorite characters.

The Mortal Instruments: It was OK. People get really excited about this series and I can kind of understand why but it didn't really live up to my expectations. I'll still be watching the movie though. I just can't pinpoint what it was exactly that kept this book from being great in my opinion.

Rapture: This whole series was very up and down for me. This was one of the better ones. I know a lot of people didn't like the ending but I thought it was great.

Insurgent: WOW! Perfection! AMAZING! I can't even begin to explain how in love I am with this series. Veronica Roth has not failed me yet. I had super high expectations for this book and it met all of them. Can't wait for the next one.

Hush,Hush: It was ok. Dull at times. I was expecting better. Fallen was a better fallen angel story than Hush,Hush

The Selection: The Bachelor meets the Hunger Games. That's what I was thinking while reading this book and I've read a lot of other reviews and discussions where people make the same comparison. It sounds like a horrible combination but somehow it works. I didn't like the ending though. It didn't seem like an ending to a novel so much as an ending to a episode on a tv show.

Girls in Pants: I was never that big of a The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but I read this just because I've read all the other ones and I was bored. The beginning was weird because the whole incident that changes their lives just felt wrong. I kept thinking there is no way that that would happen but it did and I struggled with actually accepting it. As I read on I realized that Anne Brashares just pulled a trick and made me feel exactly as the girls were feeling about the whole incident and the ending was just beautiful. I found Lena to be more relatable than ever. Bridget too.

Sorry for the Delay.

Hey Guys,

I know I haven't posted in a while. (since august) I guess I got caught up with classes and such and haven't had much time to read let alone write. The good news is I've noticed that people are still reading my blog even though I haven't been updating it and this has really inspired me to keep going.

Expect a new blog post this week (crossing my fingers).

The Vincent Boys : Review

Book two in my three day marathon.

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

★★★★☆

I can't choose between and 3 and 4 star rating so let's go with 3.5 (which I will put in as 4 stars just to give the book the benefit of the doubt).

Ash, Sawyer, and Beau have been friends since they were five. Ash and Beau were partners in crime and Sawyer was always the one getting them out of trouble. Then Ash and Sawyer start dating and the threesome's dynamic is disturbed. Ash changes herself for Sawyer and Beau and Ash's friendship is completely gone. One summer, while Sawyer is on vacation with his family, Beau and Ash rekindle their friendship and start coming to terms with other feelings that they may have had for each other all along.

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I never though I would like a guy named Beau, but there's always a first, right?

Beau has had feelings for Ash for a very long time, the problem is that his cousin (who is more like a brother) got to Ash first. Now Beau has to sit on the side and watch Ash and Sawyer together. He loves Ash and knows that he would do anything for her. The summer that Sawyer is away, Beau basically has to decide if his love for Ash is greater than his love for Sawyer.

Ash feels like she has to be the perfect girl because her boyfriend, Sawyer, has the reputation of being the good boy. The problem is that Ash has a inner wild child side of her. Growing up she's never been the goody-two-shoes kind of person and Beau seems to be the only one that remembers that side of her. Maybe she's had feelings for Beau all along but its hard to do anything about those feelings when she's dating Beau's best friend/cousin and when Beau has basically spent the last three years ignoring her. Plus, Beau is the town bad boy and there is no way that the town's "good girl" can date him.

I love Beau's love for Ash and his protectiveness. I totally get Ash's conflicts in having feelings for Beau. I appreciated that the story took place over a few months rather than a week or even one month cause that's a whole lot of happening for just one month.




There's a lot of stuff that happens throughout the novel. Things you may see coming and things you might not. Secrets are revealed, the bigger one happened towards the end and left me with my jaw on the floor. I never saw that coming, though maybe I should have.

Of course, Beau isn't all bad. There are other sides to him, some sweet and some sad. If you can't tell already, Beau was kind of my favorite character in this book.

This novel had it's awww, OMG, and WTF moments. It even got a bit steamy in the beginning. I'll probably end up reading the sequel. I'm in no hurry though because it isn't exactly continuing the story. The sequel is from Sawyer and Lana's perspectives (whereas this was from Beau and Ash' POV). It'll be interesting to find out more about Sawyer and to see how his and Lana's dynamic is going to be. I have a feeling that it might/probably not/won't be as intense as Beau and Ash's was.

The Sky Is Everywhere : Review

I've been reading like a maniac lately which is why I haven't posted anything in three days. I've been reading a book a day (like a maniac) which means I have three books to write a review on. So, here's the first one.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

★★★☆☆

Lennie Walker has just lost her older sister, Bailey, due to a heart arrhythmia. Now, she is trying to deal with the aftermath of it all. In some ways she's angry at her sister for the secrets that she apparently been keeping. She is angry at herself for the feelings that she is feeling. Lennie isn't  sure where to go with her life without her sister being in it and now she's torn between lust for Tobey, her's sister's boyfriend, and first love for Joe, the hot new kid in school.
This is a story about loss, grief, and first love.

--------------------

I'm going to be totally and completely honest and say that this book didn't really touch me. It's got everything it could possibly need to touch you on an emotional level, in a way that most books aren't able to do. For me, this magic just didn't happen. I didn't connect with Lennie. I didn't feel the sadness and grief she felt about losing Bailey. I didn't feel her anger. I didn't feel her love for Joe and I didn't feel her lust for Tobey. Maybe this is just because I've never experienced a loss like Lennie has, but still I would assume that loss is a unviersal feeling that everyone would understand even if they haven't experienced it first hand. Thus, when reading a book like this, people should just be able to "get it." Right?

All that aside, there were things I did like about the book. I loved Joe. He was the perfect dream guy/ first love. Lennie's initial descriptions of him were hilarious. (bat bat bat) I totally connected with him when he was angry at Lennie, later on in the book.

Tobey and Lennie's relationship was something that I did understand to some extent. The whole time I was reading about it, my head was thinking "No. No. No" but my heart was saying "awww."

Lennie's poems that are presented throughout the book are beautiful and the discovery about the poems at the very end was really sweet. My favorite ones were where she writes that her sister is looking down from heaven and listening to her music (Music is a big theme in the book) or even the one where she writes that her sister was the one who sent Joe for her.

All in all, the book wasn't bad by any means. It also wasn't the best sad books I've read. I didn't move me or touch me but it was a good read.

Across the Universe : Review

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

★★★★☆

 Amy has been cryogenically frozen, not to be awakened for another 300 years when the spaceship, Godspeed, lands on the new planet designated for human habitation. Things don't go according to plan and Amy is unfrozen 50 years ahead of schedule.
Elder is set to be the next captain of the ship, something he's known his whole life. As he trains under the current captain, Eldest, he begins to question the way things are run on the ship and becomes highly suspicious of Eldest for keeping so many secrets from him.
It turns that there might be a murderer on the ship who is trying to kill off the frozen people. Who is doing this? And why?

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This book is an amazing combination of sci-fi, mystery, and romance. The pace was great. It just got faster and better as it went on, and if you know me, you know that the pace is a big part of whether I like to book or not.

Elder and Amy are completely different. Elder has grown up on a ship where everyone is now monoethnic. There is no diversity because, according to Eldest, "difference is the first cause of discord." Everyone aboard the ship, except for the frozen, all share the same olive skin, brown eyes, and dark hair. Most citizens on the ship don't know about the frozen and have never seen anyone with different features. Then comes Amy with her green eyes, pale skin, and red hair. She's nothing like what anyone's seen before and to most people she is a "freak" but to Elder, her differences are what make her that much more special.

Beth Revis does an amazing job portraying both sides of Amy's presence on the ship. We see what Amy feels when she's forced into life on this ship, a life completely different from what she was used to on Earth. Now, Amy's side is something we could understand because her life on Earth is closer to what our life on Earth is than what life on the ship is like. What was more impressive was also being able to understand the mentality of everyone else on the ship. The regular people and the "crazies" in the hospital ward, alike.

Elder and Amy's romance isn't really much of a romance at first. Elder likes her from the very beginning but Amy doesn't know that and when she does come to find out she isn't sure if he really likes her or if it's a result of some other influence. Really, their romance doesn't start till towards the end.

The mystery aspect in the story was amazing! I knew who the killer was from around the middle of the book. Well, okay, I didn't know but I had an idea/theory which turned out to be right. Also, my other idea/theory about the killer was also right! I also found the connection between the people the murderer tried to kill before Amy and Elder did. Not to say that the book is very predictable. I mean, maybe when you read the book you might figure it out early too but, even though I knew and had a really good idea of who it was, it was still really exciting when the revelation happened in the book. Usually, when a book is predictable and you figure things out ahead of time, then when the revelation actually happens, it seems dull and boring. That was not the case here. The revelation happened but there were also other things, secrets and such, that I didn't know about. There were so many other things that were brought to light that I didn't guess. It's like, just when you think you know everything, you realize that you really don't know everything.

The ending! WOW! There was so much happening towards the end of the book. The pace of this book was like a ball rolling down a hill. It starts at a decent pace but picks up more and more speed as it goes. Maybe as more mysteries/questions are presented, the ball gets bigger and a larger ball means more force and more speed. It was amazing. So many secrets! So many revelations! Up till the last page, it was, OMG amazing! I forced myself to stay up till 5 am just to finish it because I couldn't wait till I woke up to find out what happens in the last 15% of the book. I'm sure I would have been restless in my sleep and so I had to finish it.


My favorite character was Harley. He was really sweet and his story was really sad.

The Season was absolutely bizarre!! It was crazy and disgusting and I felt exactly what Amy was feeling. Grossed out and disgusted. I'm getting back those nasty visuals just thinking about it.

Also, can I just mention how great the cover is. The cover is great. It took me a little while to realize that there were actual faces on there. I love the stars, this is important because they kind of play a role in the story.

Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure what is going to happen in A Million Suns but I can't wait to find out. I have one theory but nothing to base it on so I'll just keep it to myself and let you know if I was right about this one too.

Liebster Blog!

Looks like it's award season in blogville and yours truly is off to one amazing debut in the blogging world. I've been nominated for not one, but two different blogging awards in one week! Crazy, right? This is really exciting. I've never really been nominated for much of anything.... like, ever, in all my 19 years of life. I feel like Jennifer Lawrence after she did Winter's Bone, a movie not many people watched I'm assuming, and got nominated for an Oscar.

Maybe now I will rise to fame and star in the blogging equivalent of the Hunger's Game movie. A girl can dream.

The first award is the Liebster Award. I would like to give my bow of appreciation to KrizziaKaye from Off to My World for nominating me.

The Liebster Award is given to blogs/bloggers who have put a considerable amount of effort into their blog and have less than 200 followers. It's origins are German and Liebster means "favorite" (according to Google Translate) or "dearest, beloved, or friend." (According to Off to My World)

Rules:
1. Each person must post 10 facts about themselves.
2. Answer 10 questions the tagger has given you and give 10 questions for the people you've tagged.
3. Choose 10 people and link them in your post.
4. Give these people 10 questions to answer.
5. Tell them you've tagged them.
6. Remember, no tag backs.

10 Facts

1. I don't like chocolate ice cream or chocolate milk or chocolate cake (unless the cake has a fudgy icing or if its a brownie). Is brownie a cake? 
2. I'm a romantic in denial.
3. My guilty pleasure is pictures of food.
4. I have a feeling that I will probably be reading young adult novels way past my young adult days. 
5. I am a homebody.
6. I love music. I like to think I have a pretty diverse taste in it as well.
7. I love cinnamon-y foods.
8. Tarzan is my favorite Disney/childhood movie.
9. I am planning on become a doctor within the next decade. I can't imagine doing anything else, unless there was a job that paid me to just read books of my choice (and paid me at least decently), maybe I would consider that but I'll still probably ending up choosing medicine.
10.  I love quotes.

10 Answers

    1.  Ebook or paperback?
         I can't really choose. I haven't read a paperback in a while because I've mostly been reading ebooks. I also just got my Kindle on Friday and love it so much. There's a novelty to the pages and having a physical book but I'm okay with the Kindle books too.
    2.  Any favorite author?
        I think I have to say Sarah Dessen because I've read all but one of her books and I've loved each of them. She's also the only author that I've read various books from (not counting series).
    3.  Does a book cover effect your want to buy a book?
        Definitely! If the cover doesn't catch my eye I probably won't bother reading the synopsis.
    4.  Where do you usually read?
        In my room or some quiet place where I can isolate myself from the rest of the world.
    5.  Ever liked the movie more than the book?
        NEVER!
    6.  Aside from books what other things are you passionate about?
        Music (listening not playing), photography, movies.
    7.  Any favorite type of music or singer in particular?
        Taylor Swift, Eminem. I guess I don't have a particularly favorite type of music.
    8.  What country do you most want to visit? Why?
        Maybe the Maldives, or somewhere really tropical because I want to that blue water with my own eyes.
    9.  What is your favorite food?
         Chinese, Italian and Mediterranean.
   10.  What do you enjoy most about blogging?
         Being able to share my thoughts on a book and knowing that other people are actually reading my words.

10 Questions 

1. What book do you most want to see as a movie? (Can't choose one that is already a movie or in works to be a movie.)
2. Favorite character?
3. What is your biggest pet peeve?
4. Which book did you end up liking more than you expected to?
5. Any strange habits? What is it?
6. All time favorite book? One book that you would recommend to everyone?
7. Favorite quote?
8. Least favorite character?
9. Least favorite title/cover?
10. Fantasy (vampires, werewolves, angels, etc.) or dystopian (Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched, etc.)?

10 Blogs (I'll add till I get to 10)

1. Bookdictive Reviews
2. Leopard Kitty Books
3. We ❤ YA Books! 

Everneath : Review

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

★★★★★

Nicki Beckett makes a decision to take part in The Feed where Cole, an Everliving, will "feed" off her emotions in the Everneath for a century. Once the Feed is over Nicki makes a decision to return to the surface (where only six month have passed) and make things right by saying a proper goodbye before her impending return to the Everneath.

Cole is trying to convince Nikki to join him as an Everliving and, together, make a run for the throne. Jack, Nikki's boyrfriend from before the feed, is trying to find out why Nikki ran away (of course this is what everyone believes) and is trying to renew their friendship which seems to have completely dissolved.

The story switches between Then and Now (before the feed and after the feed) and we get to see why Nikki chose to take part and why she chose to return.
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Wow! This book was so much better than I was expecting it to be. It was just so good! So good! I've never seen mythology being incorporated into a fictional novel like this (the only other mythology infused novels I've read are from the Percy Jackson series) and the story was just AMAZING.

There is a true love triangle. There really is a decision to be made between Cole and Jack, though Cole technically cannot or should not be able to feel love. And I was completely engrossed in it all. I can't wait to see where the story is going to go with the next book. I have to hang tight till Jan 22nd. D:

I can't even explain how good this book was. It just got better and better and better. If you haven't read it, just go read it right now. It was amazing, phenomenal, fantastic, and every possible positive word that can be said about a book.

This wait for Everbound to come out is going to drive me crazy. I bet this is what people who read Hunger Games or Divergent right when they came out (before they became so popular) felt like.

There is going to be a book called Neverfall coming out. It will #1.5 in the Everneath series. According to Brodi Ashton (the author), "It will be a bridge book between Everneath and Everbound, and will dig deeper into Cole's intentions." She assures us that it won't be a necessary read in order to make sense of Everbound but I will still be getting it because 1) I kinda like Cole and 2) I need something to get me through these next 5 months or so.

Also, I found Brodi Ashton's blog if you want to check it out.

Vampire Academy : Review

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

★★★★★

Rose Hathaway is a dhampir in training. Dhampir's go on to become guardians to vampires and Rose's goal is to become the guardian of her best friend Lissa Dragomir, a vampire princess. Rose and Lissa share a special bond in which Rose feels everything Lissa does and at times can also see what Lissa sees. Rose and Lissa had run away from St.Vladimir Academy due to unknown dangers but now they've been brought back. As Rose's punishment, she is banned from all social activity and must train with Dimitri Belikov, Lissa's new guardian, in order to get caught up in her training.  Rose and Lissa soon discover that the danger they'd been running from is still presents. Secrets are unveiled. Romance is kindled . And so, one of the best series I've ever started begins.

I've seen Vampire Academy books around many times and not once have I been interested in reading any of them. Well, until now I guess. First of all, the name was a huge turn off. I'm not that into fantasy novels and especially not vampire novels. The only vampire novels I've ever read is the Twilight Series and even that I started reading after a lot of hesitation. Secondly, look at the cover. It's not that appealing to my eyes so I probably skimmed right over it. I know, I know. You're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover and all that but when you're in the bookstore you have to have someway of filtering the hundreds of book on the shelf in front of you, right? Who has the time to read the back/inside cover of each and every one? I sure don't. My filter is covers. Books that have covers like any of Sarah Dessen novels will get a chance while all the rest are ignored (for the most part).

This book was, of course, ignored, but I realized that there must be some reason that so many people are reading it and liking it. So I went and read the synopsis and realized it was more modern vampire than old school vampire novel. (I guess I was picturing something Dracula-esque or Middle Ages, or something) Also, in the synopsis it said something about "forbidden romance" and that definitely caught my attention. So I had to give it a try.

I'm rambling. I know. I'm getting to the point now.

I LOVED it! Seriously, it's one of the best books I've ever read. The narration was amazing. There was an easy flow to it and the story was relatively fast paced. There was always something going on and it was always entertaining. There was romance, as guaranteed, but not too much. I guess that's being saved for the rest of the books in the series. There was humor. I'm talking actual laugh out loud moments. There were great quotes, funny and sweet. And the best part of the whole book was Rose. She is the main character and the POV and she was amazing! She might actually be my favorite character ever. She's tough and has an attitude. I love her attitude. She has witty comebacks for everything and she knows how to tell someone off. I loved Rose.

This book could have easily been a stand alone. Generally, in the first book of a series there's a lot of introducing of characters, setting up plot and basically, laying the foundation onto which the rest of the series can build on. This book has all of that but it executes it in a way that you don't realize that that is what's happening. Generally first books of a series are slow(er) but this one wasn't. With first books, there's almost always a dull beginning(compared to the rest) where a ton of explaining is going on and the story doesn't really even start till half way through. That is not the case with Vampire Academy. If this was the dull beginning then I can't even imagine how great the rest of the books are going to be.

I can't wait to read the next one and the one after and the one after, etc. I can't wait to find out what's going to happen next and to see what's up with that forbidden romance. I didn't even want to read the synopsis for the second book, Frostbite, cause I wanted the whole thing to be a surprise. (Though I did read the first line D: )

P.S. Can you believe that the girl on the cover is a drawing and not a photograph!?

Book Review: Matched

Matched by Ally Condie

★★★☆☆

Cassia gets matched to her best friend, Xander. She is happy about this and is sure that the system and the Society is right about everything. As she views Xander's profile on her card, another face flashes on the screen, Ky Markham. Ky is an aberration. He has a very limited citizenship in the Society, one in which the privilege of getting matched is not granted. Even though the Officials assure her that it was just a glitch in the system, Cassia begins to question whether the Society really is right and who she is really meant to be with, Ky or Xander.

First of all, let me just say that I love the cover. Actually I love the cover for all the books in the series. They're perfect. (I just realized that this dress on the cover is probably supposed to be the dress Cassia wears to the Matching Ceremony). of

Alright, so I started reading in the beginning of June and just finished it last week. It took me a couple months to get through it and the whole time I was thinking that maybe this was because the ebook version just wasn't working for me. Or that I had hit a reader's block of sorts. I was basically coming up with excuse after excuse as to why it was taking me so long but now I've finally faced the truth. The book was slow. It was dull at parts and the story moved at a snail's pace. There wasn't all that much going on at times. The hiking scenes were inconsistent. Sometimes they were good and exciting and the rest of the time they were really boring. That being said, I did get through the book and my overall impression was pretty good. I liked the idea behind it and I love Ky. The ending was great, it did exactly what the ending of a book in a series is supposed to do. It made me want to read the next one. I will definitely be picking up a copy of Crossed and I hope that it turns out to be better than Matched. (fingers crossed... no pun intended)

On a different note, I've noticed people advocating Team Ky and Team Xander but I don't think there really is a choice to be made. It's not much of a love triangle. Xander likes Cassia, yes. Ky likes Cassia, yes. But I think Cassia's choice (don't worry, I won't tell, in case you haven't read it) is pretty clear for the most part. Maybe she's a little unsure in the beginning but then she knows exactly who she wants to be with and there is no question about it. The other person, the guy she doesn't chose, isn't even there that much in the book.

This is what I imagine Ky to look like.

All in all, Matched will not be going on my favorites list and it also won't be a book that will come to the top of my mind when recommending dystopian or ya or ya romance to someone but reading it wasn't a waste of time either.

100 Best Teen Novels

NPR did a poll of 75,000+ people on the 'best-ever teen novels'! 

Here is the list. 

I was just scrolling through the above mentioned list and noticed that there were two John Green novels in the top 10. Two. I haven't read a single John Green novel but now I'm going to have to move Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars higher up on my to-read list. Nevermind, I just remembered that I read An Abundance of Katherines. 

Wow! So many of these books I've either read or they are in line on my to-read list.

Ender's Game (The Movie): Part 2

I guess it's a good thing that it's taken so long for the movie to be made. It means we'll get great special effects that look completely real rather than old school tacky styled effects. Do you think it's going to be 3D? I hope not. I feel like 3D should be saved for movies that have the great visuals (like Avatar or Lord of the Rings) not for any random movie just so they can make more money. But that's business, I guess.

Here's the cast.

Character: Ender Wiggin
Actor: Asa Butterfield
As Seen In: Hugo, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
My Thoughts: Perfect! I can totally picture him as Ender and those eyes! Wow those eyes are just AMAZING!

Character: Valentine Wiggin (Ender's loving older sister)
Actor: Abigail Breslin
As Seen In: Little Miss Sunshine, My Sister's Keeper, New Year's Eve
My Thoughts: Hmmm. I don't really know how I pictured Valentine to be but I can see Abigail Breslin fitting into that character pretty well. She already comes off as very nice and sweet which is key for Valentine's character.

Character: Peter Wiggin (Ender's violent, potentially crazy older brother)
Actor: Jimmy "Jax" Pinchak
As Seen In:
My Thoughts: I don't know who this guy is and I've never seen anything he's acted in but based on this picture I can totally see him being crazy Peter.

Character: Colonel Hyrum Graff (Supervises Ender's training and places obstacles and challenges for Ender to deal with while and Battle School)
Actor: Harrison Ford
As Seen In: Star Wars, Indiana Jones
My Thoughts: I can't really picture Harrison Ford as Graff. This one I'm just going to have to see to really know if I like him as this character or not.

Character: Julian Bean Delphiki (Ender's classmate; Bean is very fond of Ender; He is also the main character in the spin-off series)
Actor: Aramis Knight
As Seen In:
My Thoughts: Bean is supposed to be younger than Ender but he looks older, at least in this picture.

Character: Petra Arkanian (One of the few girls at Battle School; she's also one of the first friends Ender makes)
Actor: Hailee Steinfeld
As Seen In: True Grit
My Thoughts: I can definitely picture this. Also, can we take note of how gorgeous she is!

Character:  Mazer Rackham (A hero from the last war with the Buggers)
Actor: Ben Kingsley
As Seen In: Shutter Island, Ghandi, Schindler's List

Character:  Bonzo Madrid (leader of the first army that Ender is put into in Battle School, Salamander Army)
Actor: Moises Arias
As Seen In: Hannah Montana

Character:  Major Gwen Anderson (Second in Command under Col. Graff)
Actor: Viola Davis
As Seen In: The Help

Character:  Alai (Ender's first friend in Battle School; they're both in the same initiation group and Alai is a big supporter of Ender)
Actor: Suraj Partha
As Seen In:
My Thoughts: I always thought Alai was African, but this works too.

Character:  Fly Molo (was Ender's second closest friend, the first being Bean)
Actor: Brandon Soo Hoo
As Seen In:

Character: Dink Meeker (Ender's toon leader in Rat Army; he was the first to really trust that Ender knew what he was doing)
Actor:  Khylin Rhambo
As Seen In:








P.S. I know I said (in the last post) that I was going to post this the next day and this is obviously not posted on the next day. Sorry, but I've been busy reading. Finally finished Matched (I'll do a quick review on it soon) and now I'm working on Vampire Academy, which, by the way, is really good.

Ender's Game (The Movie): Part I

Has anyone else read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card? It's a sci-fi novel with aliens, spaceships and the whole shabang.

via the Wikipedia page

The story is about a young boy named Ender. He lives on Earth during a time where kids are monitored from a young age to determine if they are fit for battle. If deemed fit, they're sent to Battle School in space to prepare them for potential future war with alien species. Ender is chosen for Battle School and sent to live on a space station. Normally, new recruits spend a certain amount of time in basic training before they're put into the "armies" of Battle School, but Ender is special and he gets put into an army much earlier than everyone else. He's the smallest and the weakest and no one looks at him as a threat. Ender, though, happens to be very smart, especially when it comes to strategy and his actions in the training room begin to get noticed as his name makes it to the top of the rankings. In the spirit of not spoiling the story, I'll just say that the rest of the book follows Ender's journey while he's at Battle School and what happens not long after.

Ender's Game is part of a series, though the following books are about Ender as an adult, whereas this one is childhood and early teenage years. (There's also a spin off that follows some of the characters from Ender's Game, on Earth, right after the end of this book.)


Anyways, the whole point of this is to let everyone know that they (as in those Hollywood people) are making a movie! This is ridiculously exciting for me right now. I've read pretty much the whole series (except Xenocide) as well as the spin-off series and I was kind of disappointed to know that a movie didn't exist. I mean, this book has won multiple awards, is relatively popular/well-known and it's been around for a while. Nowadays, a book comes out, becomes crazy popular and a movie is made withing 5 years. Ender's Game came out in 1985. It is now 2012. That's 27 years and no movie. Not even a tv movie!

Artistic interpretation of Ender Wiggin

I should probably explain at this point why this movie is so exciting for me. I guess there's the obvious, when one of your favorite books gets turned into a movie you are going to experience some level of excitement. It's inevitable. Actually, you'll probably experience some excitement even if its not one of your favorites. But this book is not only one of my favorites but it also happens to hold a very special title in my reading career (if I may call it that).

See, I'm not a big sci-fi fan. I run far away from sci-fi. If it's aliens and other planets kind of sci-fi, I won't even so much as give a second look to the book. Nope. Thanks but no thanks. If it's not such an extreme sci-fi but still has hints of it, like books set in the future but not too far into the future (think Hunger Games and Matched) I am usually pretty hesitant at first and so far the pattern has been that I only read these kind of books when nothing else seems to interest me at the time. Obviously, based on what I've just said, Ender's Game falls into the category of sci-fi to which I don't give a second glance. My dad, on the other hand, is a huge sci-fi fan. I'm pretty sure that 99% of the books he reads are sci-fi. He's been trying for years to convert me and has failed over and over again with every book he's suggested, except... Yeah, you guess it, Ender's Game. So I read the book thinking "Fine, I'll give it a try just for my dad." Little did I know that I would like it as much as I did.

Phew. Deep breath. I didn't realize I was going to have so much to say so I guess I'll save the details about the movie for tomorrow.
Stay Tuned.

Book Trailers! WHAT?

Ok, so I just recently discovered that book trailers are a real thing! As in, theres a trailer video for the book same way there is a trailer for a movie. The only difference is that to find out the full story you have to read rather than watch. I know. Crazy, right?

This is a breakthrough in the world of literature.

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I love watching trailers, for movies, music videos, tv shows, etc. It's kind of a hobby (I know, it's wierd... but whatever). The bonus to having a trailer for a book is that you get a visual to what the characters look like and what certain scenes look like! It's almost as exciting as finding out that one of your favorite books is being made into a movie. Almost. Not quite there because obviously a trailer is limited, but something is definitely better than nothing.

In case you aren't sold on this idea, I present the trailer for Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles. This is official.

And, Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles.

Need I say more? I think not.

Food Photography

Have you ever seen pictures of food that look like this?

from here 

 Or this?

This ones Martha Stewart. Go figure!

And then wondered how they got their food to look so amazing and perfect? Have you ever wondered why your food always turns out looking like this?

From here 

Yeah, me too. I've come to the conclusion, after hours and hours of browsing through amazing food pictures via pinterest and tumblr that the people who took those pictures have some sort of magic wand/oven/stove/etc. that made that kind of perfection possible. There is absolutely no way that food could look like that without some kind of magical factor involved. There is no way! I've tried and tried and my cooking doesn't even come close.

The Perfect Boy : Review

The Perfect Boy by Hailey Abbott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Ciara is a bit of a "player" and has the reputation to go with it. She decides she's done being a player and goes to stay with her dad in Santa Barbara for the summer. This is where she plans on finding "The Perfect Guy" and is convinced that this guy is AJ, a childhood friend who has transformed from nerd to hottest-boy-around. She teams up with Kevin, another childhood friends who has gone through a similar transformation, and they come up with Operation Woo-ha. The plan is to get AJ interested in Ciara and Maggie, nice-girl-turned-wild-child, interested in Kevin. The problem is that Maggie and AJ seem to be interested in each other. Ciara is so sure about AJ being the perfect guy that she is willing to do almost anything to get him, even if that means betraying her friends. Ciara discovers that her perfect guy may not be whom she's thought all along.

This book really didn't do it for me. I pushed through the first half and once I realized that the second half wasn't any better, I skimmed through it in about an hour. The whole thing just dragged on and on and there wasn't much of anything happening. The narration was a bit dull, the story wasn't convincing, the characters seemed very one dimensional, despite the author's efforts ( I felt like every time Ciara said something about her parent's divorce or AJ about his fame, they were just saying it because maybe that's what people say when they are in those situations, I didn't feel like they actually meant it or that they were genuinely feeling those things. I didn't believe any of it) and.... Well, it just wasn't up to par with the better YA romance novels.

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Book Review: When It Happens

When It Happens by Susane Colasanti
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warning: This review may contain hints of spoilers

Half-Way Point Impressions:
Sara is a romantic who has her own idea of the perfect guy and desperately wants that guy to be Dave. Dave is a popular kid who is dating Sara but might be doing it for all the wrong reasons. Dave might also be huge poser, pretending to be a certain way to fit into the cool crowd even if that way is not at all who he is. Tobey really likes Sara and is trying to figure out how he could get Sara to like her. Tobey also knows what a jerk Dave is and why he really wanted to be with Sara.
Sara has a troubled home life, in the sense that her dad isn't really in the picture and her mom doesn't really care much about her. Sara's mom seems to be someone who is dating someone different every other week and Sara is tired of. At one point in the book Sara even says that she wants someone to want to be with her (or something along those lines). Sara is also one of the smart kids.
Tobey is in band and is also smart but a huge slacker. He really wants his future to be about music and nothing else. He really likes Sara and hates that she likes Dave because he knows more about what kind of person Dave is that Sara does. Tobey recognizes that he could easily tell Sara the truth about Dave to get on her good side but he doesn't do this because he wants Sara to like him for who he is and not just because he's better than Dave.
As Sara dates Dave she seems to like him less and less and once she finds out that Tobey likes her, she finds herself becoming more attracted to Tobey, a guy she barely knows, than Dave, the guy she's dating.
I'm interested to see where this story is going to go from here.

Finished:
You know what I liked best about this book? The fact that even though there was a main story line (the relationship between Sara and Tobey) there were other things going on in the lives of the characters that didn't necessarily serve a direct purpose to the main story. What I mean to say is that there were other things going on in Sara and Tobey's lives that didn't have much to do with their relationship. This made them seem very real. For example, Tobey's conversations with his dad about college, or Sara's relationship with her mom who was there yet not there. Sara's issues with her mother didn't necessarily reach an epic climax where all was good and now they have the perfect mother-daughter relationship. There might have been a slight, miniscule improvement but definitely not the happily ever after kind. I like these kind of things in a story. I thought the book was about Sara and Tobey's romance but now I'm thinking its more about Sara, Tobey and their friends in their senior year of high school.

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Ramblings of a Logophile.: Cover Reveal: Lengths by Steph Campbell and Liz Re...

Ramblings of a Logophile.: Cover Reveal: Lengths by Steph Campbell and Liz Re...: A couple weeks ago Steph Campbell and Liz Reinhardt made this announcement. And it was an amazing announcement. It went a little some...

Yes! I want to read this book.
I have a theory that when the characters names are uncommon the love story turns out to be wonderful! (Take Sarah Dessen for example)

Book Review: Divergent

It's a futuristic dystopian novel in which people as divided into factions based on a certain characteristic. For example, Abnegation is for people who are (or want to dedicate themselves to being) selfless; Dauntless is for the brave; Erudite is for those who value/desire knowledge; Candor is for those who believe that "honesty is the best policy." There are 5 factions in total (I can't remember the fifth) and once you're 16 you take an aptitude tests that tells you which faction you might be best suited for and you then get to choose which faction you want to be a part of. The intention behind the factions was based on the theory that war was caused by varying opinions on what could bring peace. This way you divide people up on their idea on what brings peace and all will be peaceful. That was the intention, at least .
The story follows Beatrice Prior (AKA Tris) who chooses to abandon the faction she was raised in, Abnegation, and join the Dauntless. Most of the story follows Tris throughout her grueling Dauntless initiation in which she must learn what it takes to be brave, at the same time Tris is also trying to figure out what it means to be brave. She makes friends and enemies throughout the process and also finds someone who is more than just a friend. This someone is Four, her instructor. During this time Tris discovers that she may be Divergent, though she doesn't quite know what this means. All the information that she gathers points to the fact that being Divergent is dangerous!

Think Hunger Games.... but better. Way better!

Quick Book Reviews: Part II

This collection is made up of the series books that I read.

Fallen by Lauren Kate
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The beginning half was pretty slow but now it's starting to get really interesting. (at the 70% point)
The epilogue was interesting, makes me want to read the next book. Overall though this book seemed like an introduction to the entire series and thus went pretty slow. Hopefully the other ones are a bit more fast paced.



Torment by Lauren Kate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(I don't really have a review on this one. Just thoughts at various points in the book)
21% - Lots of mysteries and secrets needing to be discovered. Daniel is not telling Luce everything. I wonder what his secret is? I also hope he comes back soon and doesn't stay away all 18 days, though i guess he has to because of the truce. If he isn't coming back for a while, I hope Luce starts discovering some really interesting stuff. Don't know what I think about Miles or Shelby yet.
Okay so I'm really liking this. Things are moving at a relatively fast rate, at least fast enough to keep me interested. Still lots of mysteries and tons of questions that need to be answered. I think Luce is finally starting to figure things out.
45% - I wonder what Cam is up to and why in the epilogue for Fallen he says he would never hurt Luce and Daniel knows why. What's Cam role in Luce's story. Also, why is Roland at Shoreline? awww, poor daniel
ok. what in the world is going on!
100% -next book. now.

Passion by Lauren Kate
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As cool as it was that Luce was traveling through time and living vicariously through her past selves, I didn't see the need to write an entire book on it. At the end of it, all she realizes is that Daniel's love for her is real and her love for him is too and that she would choose him. An entire book just to learn that much. Honestly it could have done the same job in a much more condensed form. The good stuff is at the very end when you learn about the curse and the fall, something I've been wanting to learn since Fallen and had to wait till the last few pages of Passion to actually learn. I'll give it 3 stars, it was okay but not that great. I really liked Torment better.
I really feel like the first 3 books could have been condensed into 1 book or even two books and had a much bigger effect than the three books do. Oh well.

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was ok. Didn't get me too excited.





How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars







How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

1. awwww, why avi? why?
2. ok.fine. i accept your excuse
3. amy you're crazy and ridiculous and that is what makes you so funny.
4. hotel room scene! Earth is shaking! lol
5. The ending part: hahah of course this would happen. Only to Amy.
6. This is definitely not my favorite Simone Elkeles series but i still kind of liked it. The biggest issue for me was that I didn't really feel like the chemistry between Amy and Avi was as strong as any of the other couples in Simone Elkeles books. I loved Alex and Brittany and Caleb and Maggie, those two couples are tied as my favorite. Amy and Avi are definitely at the bottom of that list for me.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

no! you cant end! not like that!
now i must go get a copy of Insurgent.
(more on this later)

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Quick Book Reviews : Part I

Like you may or may not know, I didn't post anything on here for a while and during that time I read several books. I reviewed all of them but most reviews were just a few sentences or maybe even just a rating on the 5 star scale. Instead of having a separate post for each of these I will collectively place them here.


Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like Caleb! He is definitely one of my favorite characters. Caleb and Maggie's love story is a great one. This Simone Elkeles novel/series rivals Sarah Dessen's (and Sarah is my favority YA author, so....).



The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story was simple yet sad. I felt for Victoria in the beginning, thought she was absolutely insane in the middle but understood her perspective by the end. I was skeptical about reading this one because it's not the kind of book I normally read but it turned out to be better than I had expected.


The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first Nicholas Sparks novel. I liked it but not as much as people seem to like Nicholas Sparks. I guess I'm just not a Nicholas Sparks fan because I would much rather watch the movie.




Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Aah!!! How can you end the book that way? Now i have to wait to find out what happens next!? Argh. This is so frustrating... but at the same time so great. The last three pages are perfection. Actually, the entire last chapter is perfect. The last word killed me. Such a good/bad cliffhanger depending on how you look at it. If you don't want to spoil the book for yourself DO NOT go to the ending until you've read everything else first. (I know some of you do that!)

Favorite Quote: "don't believe her."
You would have to get to that part to understand why.

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was really impressed with this book.Didn't really know what to expect because it's not the kind of book I usually read but I ended up really liking it. The writing style had a really nice flow to it and the story was nice. There were themes of friendship, secrets, finding yourself, and some superstition.
Yeah, I really didn't expect that I would be giving this 4 stars. (You might be able to tell that I'm still surprised by how much I liked the book, even as I write this review) Maybe three at the most. But this book is definitely deserving of four stars (that's really because i reserve my 5 stars for the books that I am absolutely obsessively in love with and this doesn't quite reach that point, but it's very close).

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars







Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, so when I started the book I wasn't sure that I was going to like it because it seemed very stereotypical and dull. I was expecting a boy and girl meet, they have undeniable chemistry, fall in love, face a challenge, overcome challenge and happily ever after. That isn't exactly what I got. There are so many twists and turns in the book. I read it on kindle and there were so many times where I thought "Okay that's it I'm almost done with this" Then I check my progress and I'm only 50% through or 70% through or whatever. I still have a long way to go and I'm thinking what more could happen and the story kept going but not necessarily in a long stretched out kind of way. There were a bunch of turning points and through all of them I found Jordan to be easy to relate to. I mean, no, my dad is not a big shot NFL player and no, I don't play football and I definitely don't have a lake named after me but other than that...
I loved how the story progressed because it never seemed over the top or super dramatic. There wasn't a point where I was reading and then thought, "Sigh if only that happened to me... but what are the chances, cause life is just not that dramatic or coincidental." Everything that happened seemed believable and realistic. It moved at the right pace and there wasn't a ton going on all at once in the kind of way that could only happen in stories and not reality.
Catching Jordan is a great read.

Leaving Paradise: Book Review

I realized that I never really posted a review on Leaving Paradise so here it is.

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved it!
It was all that I expected and more.

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It's short. I know. I wish I'd written more right after I finished it but, whatever. I will add that Leaving Paradise is one of my favorites now and I could definitely see myself reading this one many times.

Guess who's Back!

Looks like the inner crazy reader in me is finally back!
Yay!
I'm so happy about this.
I know I haven't posted in a while and that is partially due to laziness on my part but also I lost any desire to read as soon as summer started. Before summer I was reading obsessively, completing a book in a day or two. Which is kind of ridiculous considering that I should have probably spent that time studying for my classes. Oh well. I thought that once finals were over  I would just read all day, everyday for the entire summer. Instead I wasted my time on internet and tv and read not a single book until this week. Actually, I should correct that. I did read in the last month and a half but I didn't complete any book until this week.
So let me just update you on the books I've completed since the last post as well as the books I'm reading right now. ( I will do a separate post on my reviews of the completed books.)

Completed:
1. Return to Paradise - Simone Elkeles
2. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
3. The Luck One - Nicholas Sparks
4. Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
5. The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen
6. Fallen - Lauren Kate
7. If I Stay - Gayle Forman
8. Where She Went - Gayle Forman
9. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation - Simone Elkeles
10. How to Ruin your Teenage Life- Simone Elkeles
11. How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation - Simone Elkeles
12. Torment - Lauren Kate
13. Fallen in Love - Lauren Kate
14. Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
15. Catching Jordan - Miranda Kenneally
16. Passion - Lauren Kate
17. Divergent - Vanessa Roth

Phew! I didn't realize I read so many books. Note that Passion and Divergent are the only ones I completed this summer and Passion doesn't even really count because I started it before summer.

Currently Reading:
When It Happens - Susan Colosanti
The Perfect Boy - Hailey Abbott

Leaving Paradise

I just started this book called Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles. (I've been reading a lot of books by her lately).

It's a story about Caleb and Maggie.

One night, Caleb gets drunk at a party, decides to drive home and ends up hitting Maggie who also happens to be his next door neighbor. Caleb gets sent to juvie for about a year while Maggie spends that same year getting numerous surgeries and attending weekly physical therapy sessions and trying to forget the nightmare that was that night.

The story picks up when Caleb gets a review at juvie and is allowed to leave earlier than his original sentence. It just so happens that Caleb gets released right before senior year is about to start and Maggie will be going back to school for the first time since the accident (she completed much of her junior year with the help of tutors). Caleb and Maggie are both kind of returning to what used to be their norm and they approach this situation with different attitudes. Maggie realizes that over the past year, she went from being pretty popular to not having any friends. She is now the outsider and is receiving much unwanted attention due to everyone knowing about the accident and the fact that she now has a very obvious limp. All Maggie really wants is to get out of this town, Paradise. Caleb on the other hand returns home thinking that he's served his punishment and is now ready to move one and make up for what he did. He is realizing that it won't be that simple. His parents don't really know how to be around him, his sister has gone goth, and Maggie hates him for what he did.

I'm not that far into the book yet but so far it seems really interesting. What attracted me most was really the thought of how someone might fall in love with the person who basically turned your life upside down, and not in a good way.

How do you fall in love with the person who ruined your life?

I guess I'm going to find out.

Chain Reaction: Book Review

I've been reading like crazy lately. Finished the Perfect Chemistry series by Simone Elekles. It's a series in the sense that each book is about a different brother of the same family and the characters overlap but it's not the kind of series where you have to read it in order.

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, I'm going to keep it short a simple for this one.

Luis is very different from his Alex and Carlos. He still has the confidence/cockiness that is a Fuentes brothers trademark but what he does not have is the bad boy image that his older brothers had. Niki experiences something very personal and traumatic that results in her losing trust in all boys, especially the ones from the South Side.

The story itself was interesting and much more dramatic towards the end than the other two were (and there is no denying that the other two had dramatic endings). I loved the Alex and Brittany wedding scene and Carlos and Kiara panty discus scene (you'll have to actually read it to know what I'm talking about because I'm not going to ruin the amazing-ness by summarizing it).

Now that I've finished the series I can say that my favorite of the three is probably Perfect Chemistry because it was the original, everything was a surprise and the ending was just perfect. Second is Rules of Attraction, I love the chemistry between Carlos and Kiara and the moments they have together are a lot more intense and passionate than in any of the other books. Last but not least is Chain Reaction. (so basically I like them in the order they came out)

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Rules of Attraction: Book Review

This is the second book in the Perfect Chemistry series, which by the way is probably going to be on my list of favorite book series. I love the cheesy romance and the opposites attract cliche.

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Also reviews on my blog

Finished reading "Rules of Attraction" and I have to say it went really fast. I couldn't put the book down and now I think I'm becoming a huge fan of Simone Elkeles.

Reading the other reviews, I noticed that many people commented about the similarities between Rules of Attraction and Perfect Chemistry. I gotta say, yeah there are similarities (two people who are polar opposites meet and fall in unlikely love; bad boy involved with gangs; resistance to love; boy thinks about giving up the girl for her own sake but eventually changes his mind, etc.) but I still felt that the book was different and unique in its own way and the characters were different and really it wasn't all that much the same... just similar structure.

I loved Carlos. He was different from Alex in that he tried harder to put up the bad boy front whereas Alex seemed like he didn't really try for that. I liked that Carlos was a hard candy with a soft center.

Kiara was the shy girl breaking out of her shell. I found her feelings for Carlos to be real and believable and most of the time I was right there along with her getting annoyed or enticed or whatever else.

The relationship itself was much more sudden than in Perfect Chemistry. The build up was different. In Perfect Chemistry there was a slow progression to the first kiss, the sex scene, and the ending. In Rules of Attraction, it was a lot more jerky. It was like one second they hated each other and were resisting their feelings for each other, the all of a sudden there is a kiss, then the almost sex, and the sex, and the climax. It was all just really fast, though I think that was appropriate for the relationship between Carlos and Kiara.

Anyway, I really like this book and now it's time for me to move on to Luis and Chain Reaction. :D

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Perks of Being a Wallflower

I'm currently reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. Here's what it looks like in case you were wondering.

I've already read this book but that was four or five years ago and frankly I don't remember it much. Now, they're making a movie based on it and Emma Watson, AKA Hermione Granger, is playing Sam which is really pretty exciting. So, I figured I might as well re-read and refresh my memory on the story. I'm only on page 75, which is about a third of the way through, and boy is this book good. So for those of you who haven't read this or don't know what it's about, I'm going to give you a quick description. It's a coming of age story about a boy named Charlie who just started high school. He is what's called a "wallflower" which basically means that he sorts of stays on the sidelines and observes rather than being in the action itself. So Charlie just started high school and he's having his first experiences with the real world. The book is written in letter format, Charlie is writing letters to an unknown person, and in these letters he describes events that are happening in his life as well as some of his own thoughts.

Like I said, I don't remember this book from the first time I read it and I'm thinking that's probably because it didn't really connect with me on the same level at the age of 14 as it does now. At 14, I was probably in the same period of my life that Charlie is and was too busy being a wallflower and completely naive towards with reality of the world that the book was... well just a book. Reading it now, I find myself connected with Charlie so much more and realizing that a lot of these thoughts that he's writing about are things that I've probably though of too.

One of my favorite parts is the end of the November 15, 1991 letter where Charlie is talking about photographs and glory days. He basically says that children look at their parents old photographs from when they were kids/teens and think that they their parents were a lot happier at that age than they (the kids) are now. Charlie says that he wants to tell his kids that they are just as happy as he was at that age and he hopes that they believe him. I read that and had a sad smile on my face because I realized that I do that too. When I go through something bad, something that's a normal teenage problem/challenge/insecurity, I find myself thinking that I won't want my kids to feel the same way. The weird thing is that I'm only 18 and thus not planning on having kids any time soon but yet I still think about the ways I want their life to be better than mine.

I didn't realize I was going to write this much but I think I like writing my thoughts on a book as I read it so maybe I'll be doing more of that in the future. I'll end this post with a quote from the back cover of the book.

"Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor." 

Book Review: What Happened to Goodbye

I read this book a while ago but felt like writing a review for it... maybe its just me procrastinating about studying for my midterm. Anyways, I absolutely love Sarah Dessen books and I could read every one of them over and over again and not get tired. Here's her latest masterpiece.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As much as I liked this book (I don't think there is a single Sarah Dessen book that I don't like) I don't think its the best one or even close to the top 5. I don't know what it was exactly but I felt like this book lacked something, that things that made all the other books so great. Maybe it's just that I didn't really connect as well with the two main characters (especially Dave).

With all that being said, I still really enjoyed the book and the three stars I felt like giving are probably just a result of having really high expectations for Sarah Dessen books. I liked the story, I liked the character's ups and downs and McLean's realization moments and it really was a good read. It's just not my favorite Sarah Dessen book I guess.

By the way, in case you are wondering, my favorite is Along for the Ride. I could dream about Eli all day. sigh.
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