- The Retribution of Mara Dyer
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
- Throne of Glass
- 13 Little Blue Envelopes
- Sarah's Key
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Hi guys, remember me? Its been such a crazy past few weeks, I haven't had the time to update, and when I finally did have the time, I didn't have access to a computer. Basically, I've been running and rehearsing nonstop for these past 3 weeks and I went to Chicago for the 4th weekend. I will be uploading some pictures I took on that trip shortly, once I get my routine back in order. I'm still editing my cosplay summary and am going to start on my Paper Towns review, since my notes got buried.
Anyway, today I have my June wrap-up. There are two reviews with spoilers, but I did mark the spoilers with a warning before and have also marked where the spoiler ends, so just try and gloss over that part, sorry, I can't code on this platform. • The DUFF- The DUFF is a YA contemporary about a girl named Bianca who's having a rough time in high school, causing her to resort to some extreme measures. I didn't really know a lot going in to it and I honestly think that's better for this book. It definitely had more of a new adult vibe to it, even though the main characters were all in high school. I didn't really like Bianca very much, but I did like her friends and Wesley, the main romance. Overall, I'd rate this at a 3-3.5 stars, not awful but not spectacular either. It sent a lot of mixed messages throughout the book and didn't really seem focused on covering all the presented problems. I probably won't be doing an in-depth review of it just because I feel like there wasn't a whole lot of substance to talk more about. • I Was Here- TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE 3.5 STARS I Was Here is a contemporary mystery novel by Gayle Forman. It's about a girl named Cody who's 20 and her best friend, Meg, goes to college out of their small town. One day, out of nowhere, Cody gets an email from Meg which is a suicide note. Meg never seemed depressed, and Cody is convinced that some kind of foul play was involved in her best friends death. As the book goes on, she discovers this whole other side to Meg that she never knew existed. I gave this book 3.5 stars because I was able to guess the ending right off the bat, and I want books (especially mysteries) to keep me guessing until the very last page. I also felt like the romance in this book wasn't really necessary and it took away from the true message of the book. Gayle Forman handled the fragile topic of suicide very well, saying that there is a difference between being suicidal and imagining your death. At times, I just had to put the book down because I was scared out of sorts by how easily Cody missed SPOILER that Meg was depressed END SPOILER. It left me scared that one day I would wake up and get an email that one of my best friends had committed suicide. Some of the writing seemed less poetic than If I Stay or even Just One Day. Overall, this was a very moving book with a believable set of characters but a very heavy topic. • Noggin- Noggin was the teen book of the month. It's about a guy named Travis who had cancer in his entire body except for his head. He had an awesome best friend, a loving girlfriend and two wonderful parents. Not wanting to die, he signed up for an experimental treatment in which his head would be removed and placed on a donor body, giving him life once more. 5 years later, Travis is alive again, but nothing is the same. Throughout the book, Travis tries to rebuild his life once more. I thought this book was okay, but there were a lot of stupid decisions made in it and the end just felt way too abrupt. I didn't really like Travis very much because he just assumed that everyone would put their lives on pause until he came back. That really annoyed me because it seemed very selfish of him to want everyone he cares about to not move on and just put hope in a possibility. He also handled a lot of situations really badly, like trying to get back together with his girlfriend and talk to his best friend. There were some moments that were entertaining, but I laughed out loud only a few times. This book is kind of average, it didn't make any lasting impressions on me, but it was a very creative idea. • The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer- 4.5 STARS Wow. This book. I definitely am going to do a series review of this trilogy because this book just blew me away. It's got a creepy feel, kind of like when it's 2 am and you're walking to the kitchen to get a glass of water but all the lights are off, so you don't know if anyone is there. It's about this girl named Mara who has just been in an accident in which her best friend, her boyfriend and her boyfriends sister died. The problem is, Mara doesn't remember anything about that night. She's suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) along with hallucinations. The accident causes her family to move to Florida and as she attempts to cope with her PTSD, she also meets mysterious bad-boy Noah Shaw, who may have more to do with what's going on with her than he lets on. This book is very eerie and supernatural, and most of the book you have no idea what's going on. I really liked the dark tone it had and how 'fresh' the premise felt. Even though the romance was quite the cliché, I still really liked Noah. I gave this book 4.5 stars, just because of the cliches, but points to the author for creativity. • The Evolution of Mara Dyer- The Evolution of Mara Dyer is the second book in the Mara Dyer trilogy. I didn't like it as much just because I felt like a lot of the things I liked in the first book (such as the hallucinations and having a hard time telling fact from fiction) just weren't there. I still did like it, but something just wasn't clicking for me. I gave it 4 stars because I felt like it was a little lacking for the second book in a trilogy. • Between the Lines- Between the Lines is about a high school girl named Delilah who is secretly obsessed with a fairy tale called Between the Lines, particularly the prince named Oliver. One day, when she's reading the book, Oliver talks to her and asks her to take him out of the book. After realizing that Oliver is, in fact, alive, Delilah spends the entirety of the book getting him out of the fairytale. I thought Oliver and Delilah were okay as characters, but there was nothing about them that I found to stand out or be very unique. The illustrations in Between the Lines were beautiful, I didn't realize there were illustrations until I started reading it, which was a pleasant surprise. Also, I found myself just skimming though the excerpts of the fairytale in the book because I felt like it didn't add any depth to the story. I gave this a 3 stars, because it's a light, casual read, but nothing spectacular. I actually spent majority of the book reading Delilah as Delia with an h at the end. It wasn't until I'd seen Jesse and Christine's book talks that I realized that I was reading it wrong XD. • Off the Page- 3.5 STARS Off the Page is the companion novel to Between the Lines. It reminds me a lot of the Disney movie Enchanted, which I just recently rewatched. It starts off with Delilah having gotten Oliver out of the book and him trying to live in the real world. In this book, I was really bothered by the fact that there was a lot of people coming in and out of the book, even though we spent a whole book before this trying to just get Oliver out. It was really frustrating because I feel like Between the Lines was a waste if it was just that easy. I also felt like Delilah and Oliver didn't really have many moments as a couple where they just went, Oh wow, I really love this person. We just start the book where they've already been together for a month, and other than some really stupid drama, just don't FEEL anything with them. I did love the scene in the mall, and the little sass-off in the food court. Something I really didn't like was SPOILER that Edgar's mom was spared from death because it feels like it gives people false hope that something terminal can be avoided END SPOILER. I enjoyed Off the Page more than Between the Lines just because it was a bit more fun and we got a little more insight on a lot of the technicalities of the world. I'll see you guys soon with my TBR, Caramel |
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