Ugly Love | Colleen Hoover

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Can you believe this is my first encounter with Ms Hoover? Can you also believe I gave this 2 stars?!

(ALSO, GUESS WHOS BACK, ITS ME!!! IM BACK!! I FINISHED ALL MY EXAMS SO NOW IM FREE TILL I START UNI IN SEPTEMBER SO YAY!!!!!!! I have all the time in the world to read now.)

Lets jump right into the review, I have a lot to say...

Lets start with the premiss of the book: When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.

Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.

Promises get broken.

Rules get shattered.

Love gets ugly.

This novel captured the moments and dynamics of a very random? relationship that kind of spurred together but captured the essence of raw intimacy and love. The one thing I liked about the book was that it stayed true to the rawness of 'ugly love' something not everyone experiences but something that many encounter. I know this is an adult contemporary novel but nothing really screamed realistic to me. The characters seemed very real but the situation and dynamics were very...strained, possibly even forced. I was not having any of it!

This is written in consecutive POV's, first Tate and then Miles (but Miles 6 years ago). I don't know how I feel about the structure of the book, I'm glad the POV's were in first person though so we were able to have a greater scope of the characters thoughts and feelings. Although, I hated how Miles's POV was written my GOD it was so bad. I'm assuming the point of it was to kind of like spill his thoughts out, kind of like word vomit; for it to be something poetic but it just didn't fly for me. Apart from that, I enjoyed Hoover's writing. I enjoyed all of Tate's POV's because it was written normal and like a typical first person point of view would be written, I liked that, we got to understand Tate's thoughts and motives (even though I disliked Tate).  Some people felt like Miles was an asshole and to a great extent I understand this logic because I didn't love him either but I felt like that is precisely how she should have been written cause it stayed true to his overall character.

A great part of the book is emotional abuse and how Tate chooses to stay with Miles even though he treats her like crap but the sex is great so lets just continue right? 

NO!

That brings me to another aspect I cringed reading. The fact that Tate is a character with all the ingredients to become a beautifully, empowering, well-crafted female main but NO we have to deal with her constant battle with her libido! I hated that so much. The fact she is a nuRSE FOR F'S SAKE yet she cannot control her sex drive and emotions towards a guy who is so average and treats her like shit. Where is the logic???!??! Hoover conjures up a beautiful character - Tate but just diminishes her conscience and independence? Like, Tate is a nurse but we never delve into the field of her life apart from the 2% we get and the 98% is thoughts filled with Miles and Miles this and Miles that and sex with Miles. I was so over it!

Moving swiftly on....there are steamy scenes in this book which I guess I knew before hand and they were written well, not that I had any kind of inkling of how sex in books should be written but it wasn't gross or weird or anything to thats a plus.

I'm so on the fence about reading another one of Hoovers book or to let her go entirely. I feel as though everytime this has happened my instincts and intuition is right and the author and their book just aren't for me. You guys have experience me go through that on this blog when I review The Summer I Turned Pretty series, to  To All The Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han. Turned out, I hated the first book for a reason and I should have never decided to go ahead and read three more books by her and a short story from My True Love Gave To Me, because I don't like her writing, ideas or characters so I SHOULD have just saved myself the reviews and the wasted time reading.

p.s

Check out my most popular reviews:
Love and Misadventure by Lang Leav
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn 

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before | Jenny Han

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Okay so this was not what I expected at all. I hope ya'll like these images I took, look at all those 'to-be-read books in the back of the first pic. ALSO, I borrowed this from my friend Tess - whom I mention so much on this blog: here, here, here, here, here and here. I don't know if she wants this back so I'm hanging on to it for now, I did however Skype her the other day to tell her that I'm making this post right now and that she is gonna get a shout out, you can follow her on tumblr here. 

This is a Young-Adult, Contemporary, it is the first book in a trilogy I believe. This is a goodreads synopsis (you can follow me or add me on Goodreads here) because I will not bother myself to sit and tell you what this book is about: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all. 

I have reviewed Jenny Han’s other series: The Summer I Turned Pretty on this blog and the review of that is here. I have come to the conclusion after reading four of her books and a short story from: My True Love Gave To Me (I have a review of that here, it was my last blog post actually so you can probably scroll down!) that her writing... irritates me. Her plot and ideas - I don’t like. Yes, its ~cute~ and sometimes makes me feel warm and mushy but other than that it sucks so much. It should wow me, I should be wow'ed or at least enjoy the premiss of the book, which I did not....at all. There is nothing special about Jenny Han's writing, like truly this was a bland contemporary to me. I am giving it two stars and not one because I managed to finish the book because I wanted to, I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to. That should say something, even if it's just a little. 

In my honest opinion, this book was all over the place. There wasn't a single thing that created a consensus for everything to become one. Am I making sense? Because I felt as though everything in this book could have been a story in itself, there was just too much and none of it was adding up. Not to mention there were main characters that I disliked heavily in this book as well, maybe that’s another factor to why I didn’t enjoy the book in the end. I did not like the main at all. Lara Jean is sixteen and she sounds like a twelve year old brat. She is just so ??? I didn’t like it, she wasn’t as bad as Eadlyn whats-her-name or America Singer from The Selection series (I have a review of those here) but she was pretty bad. Her little sister was nice but I also disliked Lara’s older sister Margo. Everything was just ‘yikes’ for me. In my honest opinion the entire book was built at a very superficial level. I know this is a contemporary but like where?.....It was pretty bad.

I know this book is a trilogy (I believe). I will not be reading the next two books because there isn’t anything special about this series. APART FROM THE POC (people of colour)!!!! I really loved that this book has an Asian family (or at least half Asian) because it’s a step in the right direction. Even though everyone else was of course White, it’s good to submerge yourself in a teen novel where many individuals can possible relate more to a character than just her thoughts/personality. I applaud Jenny Han for this but in this day in age we shouldn’t have too, diversity should be one of the top priorities in bestselling novels because…..the world isn’t White and other races do exist believe it or not. I feel extremely strong about this because this world is filled with opportunity and all different beautiful kinds of individuals, if you are not capturing that in you’re books…what are you doing. You are not being honest to yourself or this world because there are so MANY types of people. Just trY. Another thing I want to mention before I digress, is that I will not be labelling this book as ‘diverse’, why? Because there is a single half Asian family does not mean this book is diverse (lmao). SO sorry (not sorry) but it’s not diverse at all.

To conclude, I will not be continuing this series, or reading anymore Jenny Han. Life is too short to read books that irk me and I mean I knew this was about to happen. I had read her other three books and they annoyed me so yeah. Also, the plot in this isn't exciting at all and I can already predict what will happen so I'm not at a loss here. If I were you I would read the synopsis and if you think this it up your ally, go for it. Otherwise, move on...it really isn't great. Contemporaries should be realistic, this was not.

p.s

Check out my most popular reviews:
Love and Misadventure by Lang Leav
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn 

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My True Love Gave To Me | a-bunch-of-amazing-authors

Long, cold nights are for falling in love...

This is depressingly very late. Christmas is over and I have exams in May. Schooling has slowly and painstakingly taken my sanity. Yes, I know it's not Christmas and that's now a whole year away but I did read this (shockingly for once) in December (I believe). Although I haven't had time to sit and write this until now...thirteen days into January. 

This is a short story collection by various amazing young adult authors edited by the one and only Stephanie Perkins. There is a mixture of authors I'm very familiar with and some that are new to me. The contributing authors consist of: Rainbow Rowell, Holly Black, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Stephanie Perkins (who also edited the book), Matt de la Pena, Kirsten White, Lani Taylor, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, Myra McEntire and last but not least Ally Carter. 

I've decided to review this book by individual short stories (author by author) as I think this would be easiest. I'll then compile and average for this whole book. This makes no sense whatsoever but lets just go with it. 

This might just be the most prettiest book I own (like ever). Hold on let me just pan over my bookshelves and see if there is anything better....yeah no. Lets talk about the cover of this book because are you not seeing how pretty this book is? I specifically got this hardback only because of the cover. There is an original cover with mini people ice skating and I thought that was cute but this is cuter and it has pink sides!

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell:

5/5

So this is the first short story and it's Rainbow Rowell so it's amazing as always. If you want so see some of my reviews on her books I'll link them here: Landline, Attachments and Fangirl. She is one of my favourite authors of all time. Anyways back to her short story in this instalment, I basically really enjoyed it. I expected nothing less and she delivered as always. This is such a wonderful quick read for the holidays. 

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link:
0/5 

Yeah I didn't even finish this or read it. Sorry. Let me know if it's actually any good and maybe I'll give it a go. 

Angels In The Snow by Matt de la Peña:

0/5

I have to give the short stories I didn't read a 0. As harsh as it sounds I do because...well...I didn't read them. Nothing to review. Let me know if this one is good and I will come back and read it. 

Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han

2/5

Okay I know that rating is harsh but honestly I don't even remember this story lol. When I went back into the collection to recount the ones I read and the ones I didn't I had to double take on this story. Only because I didn't remember if I even read it! The only reason I actually properly gave this a go as because it's Jenny Han. I read her Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy here, which I also have a review of here. What I do remember of this was that it was really cute. The main is super cute and the romance in this was very ~high school~ flirty; once in a while you do need something like that. Overall, this was good but not memorable. 

It's A Yuletide Miracle. Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins:

5/5 

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! ThiS WAS SO GOOD!!!!!! MY FAVOURITE IN THIS COLLECTION. AHHHH I adored this so much. I expected nothing less from Stephanie Perkins, she's a phenomenal author. This main character Marigold was honestly, so different to any of her other character in Anna and The French Kiss (I have a review here) or in my favourite book by Perkins: Lola and The Boy Next Door (I have a review of that here as well) OR the third instalment Isla and The Happily Ever After (I have a review of that here too, this also happened to be the first review I did in 2015). Everything in this story was perfect. It was nothing redundant you would have heard of in any other book, the situation was so weird and the circumstances even weirder. I loved it! 

Your temporary Santa by David Levithan 

4/5

This was so gay and I loved every bit of it! This story kept me on my toes the whole time. Like, whats gonna happen next? How about now?! It was written extremely well, I have never read anything else by David Levithan but now I want to. I have How They Met by John Green and David Levithan in my 'to be read' pile but haven't gotten time to read it. Let me know whether I should bump it up higher if its any good! 

Krampuslauf by Holly Black:

0/5

I know Holly Black is a great author, I've heard so much about her. But this just made me bored, I think I got 3 pages in and I was like nah. Do let me know if this is actually good and that I suck and should give it another go!

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman

0/5

Yeah I tried to give this one a go too but it just wasn't happening for me. Although, I have read Just One Day by Gayle Forman which I reviewed here. 

Ok so turns out there is maybe 4-5 other short-stories after this one and I didn't read any of those because none interested me. If they are worth the read, do let me know and I'll go back and have a look again. 

Thank you. Also, I posted in time this time! I promised I wouldn't be hiatus for long and I wasn't! Don't worry, I've got another 'proper' review coming in the next week (hopefully). I'm super excited for that one. Have a wonderful day everyone. 

x 

p.s

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I'll Give You The Sun | Jandy Nelson

✴ ✴. 5 

OKay, lets begin.

When I first got this book, I believe it was on my birthday (I did a birthday post on this blog as well, which I will shamelessly link here). My friend Tess...I feel like I mention Tess is every other blog post but the thing is SHE IS ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS and we love each other and she reads lots of books, like me probably more than me. We were in a bookstore and I saw this book and it was the hardback version but at a really cheap price for hardbacks where I'm from. Hardbacks are so expensive here but this was so cheap I was actually shocked. It was just this one book. There wasn't a second or third, just this one. I asked Tess whether it was good and she said it was so I just ended up getting it. I was really happy (~imagine me being happy here~). So I got this book on my birthday.

I'll Give You The Sun, is a young adult, standalone, contemporary, coming of age novel by Jandy Nelson. This novel is based with a first person perspective with two pint of views - Jude and Noah- This is the goodreads synopsis: 

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

When I first started it, probably a few weeks ago at the end of Octoberish, I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. SO MUCH! It was the writing style I despised. I know this is a recurring theme with a lot of other people who have read the book so it's not just me. HOWEVER, once I started to get like 50+ and 100+ pages into it, I started to work around the writing style and it got better. Not just that, but the actual plot (if you will) also got better and more intriguing. One night, I kid you not, I literally couldn't put the book down. It's kind of a sad book. It laments quite a bit. But it's a really lovely coming to age novel.

Another thing I really liked was probably the only realistic and genuine part of this book were the relationships between characters, romantically and platonically. The relationship with their parents was so interesting to read as well as the relationship with their friends. This is an LGBT+ book as those themes are present in this novel. This is my first LGBT+ book ever... WOW. I know right! What took me so long. I really loved that romance in this. It wasn't cliche or sexualised so much. It was mushy, cute, simple and I adored it. There is also heterosexual relationships, it's not all LGBT+. HOWEVER, I would like to stress that there is homophobic themes discussed in this book, if that triggers any of you, please don't read this. Your mental health and state is better than reading this book. 

Now to talk about everything I disliked.... 

Firstly, I did really like the characters in the book, although I thought they were just crafted too ~indie~ like. I just felt like they were just so.....I don't know....made to be so hipsterish and I really don't know how to explain this. It just felt artificial to me. The characters themselves were iffy. I loved Noah but I just liked Jude. They are twins but totally different people. I really liked some parts of the novel and some parts less. I didn't hate a particular scene or anything but this book was just eh.

In addition, there isn't a legit plot line. It's a contemporary coming to age story, so it's more of just lessons learnt and the growth of these characters. The concept of this book was good, I liked that cause everything really linked and fell together towards the end. Another thing I want to address, is that the POV's are like at different ages of Noah and Jude and I barley remembered how old they were cause it felt like they were doing so much at the age of 15? Which was weird for me. I mentioned before that I hated the writing style, and I feel strongly about that. Jandy Nelson is just not for me. Some people may think it's literary genius or whatever, but I despised it. There were times in the book I got hooked to a certain POV and I loved that but then it would go away and I'd find myself just skim reading. .

That brings me to my next point of issue: I hate skim reading. That's how you know it's bad. My English teacher actually said to our class a few week ago, that she would like to see us reading different genres of books such as: Ishiguro, Hosseini, Murakami, biographies, classics and basically not your typical teenage Y/A genre so that our sense of syntax, diction and overall language could broaden. She also mentioned that we didn't have to finish the book if we found it hard, just to read a few pages because sometimes that is all you need. I hate not finishing a book and just leaving it. Even if I hate it I have to finish it. No idea why I do this, it's just become my thing but I think I will start more of that in 2016. Life it too short to read shitty books.

You have to understand how disappointed I was because I made this up to be such some great panache; when I then got into it and the possibility of it being absolute shit got surreal. Although, I did get really emotionally invested with Noah's POV everything else was a blur (probably due to the fact I skimmed most of the book).  

Would I recommend this...I don't know. I wouldn't take just my review into account. Read others peoples reviews and maybe check the book out yourself if you're a bit off on whether you want to read this or not. I think I may just be the minority with this one.

Sorry for the extremely long sabbatical hiatus. I've been dying doing IB. I know it's been so long! Going through a break-up so that's also very hard to deal with. I'm really devastated that I cannot read lots and review much, but it's only because I don't have time, or I just really get tired/lazy. Hopefully I'll read over the Christmas holidays but then again I will also be revising for an exam in January. Wish me luck and I truly hope I'll get some reviews out for you all! 

p.s

Check out my most popular reviews:
Love and Misadventure by Lang Leav
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
To All The Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn 

follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy | Jenny Han

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Hope you're all well! 

This is so belated I'm in tears. These photos are basically my summer. 

I didn't actually have the time to finish all three so I just read two of them. This is a trilogy and I read the first and second books, 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' and 'It's Not Summer Without You'. Both I fairly enjoyed and at times I did cry. I get very emotionally attached. Shocker. I read them over the months of July and possible the beginning of August. 

This review is three months too late, I know and I am very sorry but stuff happens and this blog just went of hold for a long time. I don't know how long I'll be back though because I am not reading that much at the moment. Without further ado, here is 'ma' review.

I thought I should read the books over my summer holidays as they are contemporaries and summer was the best time, as well as the fact these books are set in the summer and they all have the word 'summer' in their titles. However, it's now October and I am a little dodgy on the events that took place in the first and second book of the series cause it's been almost four months since I read them and like I said before, this review is super late and I am sorry but I am also not sorry. I will try my best to remember what I loved and didn't.

Some summers are just destined to be pretty.

When each summer begins, Belly leaves her school life behind and escapes to Cousins Beach, the place she has spent every summer of her life. Not only does the beach house mean home away from home, but her favourite people are there: Susannah, her mother's best friend, and her sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has been chasing Conrad for as long as she can remember, and more than anything, she hopes this summer will be different. Despite distractions from a new guy named Cam and lingering looks from Conrad's brother, Jeremiah, Belly's heart belongs to Conrad. Will he offer his to her? Will this be the summer that changes everything?

Firstly, I don't like the whole idea of 'turning pretty'. I'm gonna start with that. These books are somewhat childish to me. I don't like 'turning pretty' because then it just becomes this terrible thing with teenage girls where then assume they have to be 'pretty' to gain attention and to be able to be loved, WHICH IS TOTALLY BONKERS! And should never be promoted especially in books. Don't put it into their minds that they have to suddenly change to start to be noticed. Puberty is another thing but to just suddenly 'become pretty' is ridiculous. I understand this probably wasn't Jenny Hans aim and I can see what she means and she probably didn't mean this. I say all this because, the main character - Belly - hangs out with these two brothers her whole life each summer and when she suddenly turns sixteen they start to look at her 'differently'... *rolls eyes to the back of my head*. Yes, it was probably the puberty BUT BELLY HAS ALWAYS BEEN BELLY FROM THE START, she didn't suddenly change as a person. OH MY GOD! Why is it always what the boys want and what the boys notice? There are bigger, better, time-worthy things in life than just impressing guys. 

Did I enjoy the first and second? Yes I did. But I don't like the idea around these books where there is a clear love triangle, maybe even square. This is because the girl in the books will always get tossed around. It's unfair and boring. To be honest, Belly goes through so much emotional trauma I literally cannot believe she is still putting up with this shit. These books, however have a way because Jenny Han is a cinnamon role and I adore her writing, it's very easy to get into but not for everyone.

The thing with love triangles and love squares is that it can be literary genius and amazing and then it can just get predictable, stupid and boring. There is a thin line. It also just gets so frustrating for the reader if it drags on and on, cause then its like "JUST PICK ONE OF THEM OHMYGOD!". There are some books where a love triangle/square is necessary to the plot and what not; then I see it's purpose but for miscellaneous other times it's just there as filler to drag on with ~who will she pick~. Just, unnecessary.

Secondly, the characters are worth it. I think that the characters were written very well especially the main character: Belly. There is a lot of back story with many of these characters as all three books are based from Belly's point of view (first person) and in each book she gets older. So in a sense it is a coming of age trilogy. Belly does really develop from the beginning of the books to the end, even though I haven't read the last book, I'm sure she flourishes in that. The rest of the characters were extremely realistic and also written very well. There are characters like the brothers - Conrad and Jeremiah - that at times I highly dislike and then I like again which is a recurring theme for me. All in all I don't like either brother as her love interest to be honest. They are both pretty bad. I could write and tell you how problematic and dickish they both are but I won't waste your time like that.

Thirdly, I would like to touch on that the writing is really easy to read and flows well. I may have mentioned this at the beginning briefly, but yeah, I have nothing against the writing. The plot is centred around Belly and her Summers as well as her growing older and wiser. I got the trilogy in a box set for such a bargain! I highly recommend if you're interested in the books to start with the first book The Summer I Turned Pretty and work your way down. 

ALSO SIDE NOTE, HAVE U ALL HEARD Hello BY ADELE?!?!?!??!?! When I listened to it, I swear I was crying about a relationship I don't even have. Here's there link if you haven't heard the song. GO DO IT PLEASE.

p.s

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Amy & Roger's Epic Detour | Morgan Matson

✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴

NOW I JUST WANNA GO ON A ROAD-TRIP!

I always do this thing where I read books that are PERFECT for the summer time and for when I go on holiday yet I read it literally the month/few weeks before summer begins. This is one of those moments. I'm so mad about that but so glad I read this. 

Also before I go into this review, my lenient and wonderful friend Tess (who I mention in many reviews/blog posts: here, here, here and here) lent me this book, so I just want to take this part of the review to thank her (Tess I love you), you can follow her on tumblr here. (She hasn't actually even read this book yet so when I give this back to her I will whack her in the head with it!) 

This is a Young Adult, Contemporary, it is also a standalone. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour follows Amy Curry who is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way. This is the synopsis on goodreads. 

I hope none of you find this cliche. I didn't. I give props to whoever wrote the blurb cause it got my attention and I had never read a road-trip book before and let me tell you, this being my first is going to be hard for any other books to top this. As well as this being my first ever road-trip book, it is also my first standalone in a very long time (my first one this year I believe). This is definitely a favourite and possible my favourite book I've read this year so far! 

Contemporaries are supposed to be realistic and that is one of the reasons most people read them in the summer when they have a couple months off to do nothing and have more free time to read, however me being a total nut decided to read this before my summer holidays meaning I'm one contemporary down from my summer tbr. Tragic. 

The google definition of a Contemporary romance book is: a subgenre of romance novels, generally with the setting after World War II. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels are set in the time when they were written, and usually reflect the mores of their time.

This in a way means that in our 'time'/'era' would be modern and realistic to our daily lives. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is super realistic. I used to be iffy about contemporaries because I thought most of the 'romance' is forced and unnecessary at times. In a way I think the romance in this was forced almost as if Ms Matson was like "Oh, the book is about to end, lets make them kiss now." Although that is very debatable. I slept on this thought and the next morning I realised you could take it both ways. What I'm trying to say is that the romance part of this book can be realistic. Don't get me wrong, it didn't lessen my love for the book I just thought it was abrupt but then later realised it was realistic for the book to steer in this direction. If you don't agree I can see why but the rest of the book was so realistic, like the whole road-trip. 

The main character Amy was interesting. I really loved her only because she was relatable and made me laugh (out loud!). Another thing is that the way she acted towards the road-trip and Roger is probably the exact way I would react but she has more balls then me. We mainly follow Amy and Roger (as it's their road-trip and it would only make sense..) At the beginning I didn't like Amy at all but she grew on me just like the book did. I really like the way Roger was written and characterised, he was very loveable. Both of them were. Morgan Matson's writing is wonderful and humours. I don't have anything bad to say about her writing because I truly savoured this book. If anything I just wanted more, I wanted to follow through but the book ended and I felt like I had just lost a friend. 

There are so many thing I adored about this book; one of them are the playlists. Actually give me a second, I think I'm tearing up. The fact Morgan Matson decided to include playlists in each chapter/every time the main characters were heading to a new state was so thoughtful and really added to the book. You know that saying "someones music taste says a lot about the person" (I think I made that up) and I totally agree (with myself) cause it added to my perception of these characters. Also the songs are legit and most of them I hadn't heard before so I was (no joke) searching them all up and I just wanna thank Morgan Matson for getting me into some new tunes and adding to my never ending playlists. 

Not only that but Morgan Matson added scrapbook pages of Amy doodling her trip and receipts from diners and motels they stayed in. Throughout reading the book I was questioning whether Ms Matson actually went on a road-trip to write this and SHE DID! Which is a whole new level of dedication but she had a wonderful time! Not to forget that the book was amazing! I really enjoyed it. 

I just feel like the experience of reading this book and following the journey is a story in itself. Now I just feel like reading more road-trip books (any recommendations?) and going on a road-trip. 

Who wants to go on a road-trip with me? 

p.s

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follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

Isla and the Happily Ever After | Stephanie Perkins

✴ ✴ ✴ . 5

meow

Happy new year lovelies! Better late than never.

How are you all? I'm eating strawberries! Not that anyone cared buuuuut I hope you all had a great start to the new year with all your resolutions and whatnot, one of mine is to eat more fruit because I don't when I really should. It's a struggle to eat an apple when I can Nandos all day everyday.

Sadly the first book I read this year wasn't all that great. This actually makes me really mad because if you know me you would know THAT I ADORE STEPHANIE PERKINS AND HER BOOKS but this was a one off and with this book it was like I most related with the main character -Isla*- but I was extremely detached from the storyline.

Isla and the Happily Ever After is a Young-Adult, Contemporary. 

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart

I again, try not very hard to explain the order of these books in my other reviews of this companion series. Anna and the French Kiss and my favourite from the three, Lola and The Boy Next Door.

Many and I mean many people have disliked this book compared to the others Ms Perkins has written and I totally see why. I read a few reviews on Isla* before I picked it up just to see what everyone was saying and most of the reviews I came across was filled with more negativity than positivity. I gave this a 3-3.5 out of 5 stars, it's an 'alright' book but for Stephanie Perkins I was just hoping for better to be honest.

I feel as though the first half and the third half of this book was easier for me to read and captured the essence of her other books whereas the middle half was very iffy. This book also had an element of bore. It got so bad that whenever I picked the book up I would only get through a page or a few lines at most and just put it down and do something that felt more productive.....I have never and I mean n-e-v-e-r felt like this with any other book before. It actually scared me.  

The thing is with Ms Perkins, is that she has a 'way' with the way she writes and how she creates 'love' to be so tangible and realistic (really realistic). She is a phenomenal writer even though this -in my opinion- may not be one of her best works nevertheless I will continue to read whatever she comes out with because I do love her writing and I know she can excel and deliver. There is a downside as if I'm correct she only has works in the genre of young-adult, contemporary, romance and chicklit and I don't know if she is versatile enough to change it up as I know she is currently working on a horror novel. 

With this particular book by Stephanie Perkins I mentioned that I felt detached and bored. This is because I didn't connect with the setting as I did with Anna or Lola and I've never felt like any of Ms Perkins's books were cliché at all but it felt very prominent with this book. I also mentioned that I related so much with this character - Isla - that I have done with any other book that I have ever read! Isla is literally me in a nutshell. I'm an INFP and I have social anxiety, I am Isla, Isla is me. It's never announced that Isla has social anxiety in the book but that she is very shy in which Stephanie Perkins actually tweeted that originally Isla was supposed to have social anxiety but with a lot of things going on in the book her publicist or someone said to leave it out and make her extremely shy. 

I also noticed at the end of reading this that her books are equally quite whitewashed and her book as really do need more diversity in my opinion, it could be better. I feel as though it's not just Stephanie Perkins but all authors, aspiring writers or anyone writing narratives should have a diverse set of characters and even settings. 

There are many young-adult books that swerve or try to bypass the theme or scenes of sex for some unknown reason I cannot seem to understand. Sex is normal, to put it bluntly we need to normalise it and it has to stop being taboo. Why you would aim to write for young-adults where the themes of sex, puberty, romance, relationships and love are major factors of their lives and seize to write a sex scene is beyond me! There are also authors that refuse to swear.....like really? That's a whole other thing I will not go into as I do not have the effort to address stupid decisions. 

My point is that Ms Perkins didn't do what others have done. She did explore all that because THIS IS A YOUNG ADULT BOOK AND THESE CHARACTERS ARE YOUNG ADULTS. If you're going to sit there and tell me that the majority of teenagers don't go out, curse, have fun, hang with friends, have sex, get drunk etc I will actually scream from the obliviousness. Another reason I applaud Stephanie Perkins is because she screws gender society roles and empowers women in her books. You would expect a petite, shy girl like Isla to be a virgin or prude but *shocker* she isn't. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD and stereotypes like these need to be shut down! 

I HOPE I'M NOT PUTTING ANYONE TOTALLY OFF FROM READING HER BOOKS BECAUSE DON'T GET ME WRONG HER BOOKS A FABULOUS AND SHE IS A GREAT WRITER AND YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY LOOK AT HER OTHER BOOKS, this one not so much for me. Or you could go look at some other reviews if you're very interested and see what other people have to say.

Also before I forget the cameos that Anna, Etienne, Lola and Cricket make in this book are so heartwarming that I think if you've read the others you should probably read this for them. Also Josh and Isla make me very happy as well. Just so cute ohmygod.

*this has nothing whatsoever to do with the book but can I just mention how Isla is such a pretty name because ITS SUCH A PRETTY NAME. Isla like Island not Izla.

this also has nothing to do with this review but as it's now 2015 (if you don't already know) I'm setting myself a goal on goodreads to read 70 books this year and you can follow me on that here.  

Attachments | Rainbow Rowell

✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ . 5

Yes, I know my 'book-tripod' holding up Attachments consists of an array of odd books. I am aware. Nevermind them...stop looking at them and look at Attachments because it doesn't completely display how cute the book is compared to how it made me feel. 

I try to keep the reviews on my blog strictly young adult with a few exceptions and Rainbow Rowell is one of them. This is an Adult, Contemporary novel although it can totally be read by Y/A readers so don't worry about that. Rainbow Rowell's books can all be read by the same audiences (Y/A and Adult/New Adult) even though she writes both adult and young adult. Rainbow Rowell is one of my favourite authors ever! I love literally everything she writes; I can now officially say that I have read all the books she has released so far and I cannot wait for what more she has to come. 

*clears throat* Attachments is set in the year 1999 where the internet is still an oddity. It follows 28 (i think) year old Lincoln, a shy IT guy responsible for monitoring peoples email, just to see that it's all professional and no one is emailing about how they have just adopted another cat or what they had for lunch. As well as Lincoln, at the newspaper office, two colleagues: Beth and Jennifer are emailing back and forth discussing their lives humorously and instead of sending them both warnings about the nature of their emails, he rather spends his hours reading every single exchange. The more Lincoln gets invested in their emails, the more he sees himself falling for one of them. A very heartwarming story about following your heart and finding out if there is a such thing as love before first sight. *squeals* 

If you're not familiar with Rainbow Rowell's works, I will recommend you some:

*...In another edition of Fiona recommends you...* 

Fangirl (I reviewed this here.)
Eleanor and Park (read this ages ago so no review :( but I did enjoy it and it was very heartwarming.)
Landline (my all time favourite by her and I reviewed this here.)
and of course Attachments (this is the review...)
She also did a short story in the Twelve Holiday Stories called My True Love Gave To Me.

I have also realised that in EVERY SINGLE RAINBOW ROWELL BOOK I CRY MY EYES OUT! THIS IS A MONSTROSITY but I still adore her books. It's a recurring theme and I've come to embrace it. 

So here's the sitch, my lovely, beautiful, wonderful friend Tess lent this to me and I cannot thank her enough for that (you can follow her on tumblr here) and she lent this to me on my birthday back in October....and it has taken me almost three months to get to it which is horrible but I've read it and now I will share. 

Rainbow Rowell has a way with words; building characters and her amazing sense of capturing love and what it feels like in her books. She is truly a terrific writer and I'd read anything she ever wrote! Her writing is filled with humour and at the same time you never want to stop reading; that's why every time I finish her books I feel as thought THEY ARE NOT FINISHED because I want more. She is a very flexible writer in the sense that her characters in each book she writes are really different to each other, the only thing she really keeps the same throughout all her books is the link to Omaha (Nebraska) is in literally all her books (but that's where she's lives so...) Her characters are filled with compassion and are always very funny you can't help but get attached (see what I did there....ha.....h...a....) and feel for these characters. Maybe that's why her books coax the waterworks back for most people. There is an emotional aspect in her books although there is always, somewhat a happy ending. There just has to be. 

I still feel as though Landline is my favourite and that's only because it was the book I most related towards and felt all nice & mushy on the inside. Not that I'm in my mid-twenties and am married with two kids but the ordeal that this couple go through in that book is just....*sighs*....very cute. Read it. Did I mention I had a review on that here? Well I do! It's here. Don't get me wrong, I did love Attachments but I didn't love it as much as Landline (ya feel? hence the 4.5) and I felt as though there could be more in Attachments as I thought it was quite abrupt and slightly obscure. But I still felt all nice & mushy. 

I've also been in a reading slump for a month and this is a fabulous 'pick-me-up'. 

Seriously read her books! You won't regret it. 

Magnolia | Kristi Cook

✴ ✴ ✴ 

Sorry about the crappy pics guys, my dad has my proper camera and I'm using my phone for now.  

I actually read this in October and this was the last book I read in that month but it has taken me a very long time to review it. (1) because I was in Japan for a holiday, (2) I wasn't in the mood to read/review, (3) I was sick with hay-fever for a week or so, (4) I'm lazy as f$*%. 

I didn't have an urge to review this at all and that may be another reason as the book was alright; nothing special. I enjoyed it and that's about it. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting! I thought it would be cliche as hell and I would just hate it. In a turn of events I actually didn't hate it and it wasn't cliche, cheesy? maybe but not cliche. 

There aren't enough books where school and uni/college aspects are dealt properly whereas Kristi Cook did a fab job in re-creating the mood of senior year and the stress that teens go through. It's always the most straight forward things you never see in a y/a contemporary. I actually cry every time! Why can't authors create contemporaries where it's some what realistic with periods, school, stress, exams and not filled with insta-love? It's obviously not what everyone goes through and it's not a perfect representation but I respect the fact that she included the issues at hand in senior year. 

'In Magnolia Branch, Mississippi, the Cafferty and Marsden families are southern royalty. Neighbours since the Civil War, the families have shared vacations, holidays, backyard barbecues, and the overwhelming desire to unite their two clans by marriage. So when a baby boy and girl were born to the families at the same time, the perfect opportunity seemed to have finally arrived.

Jemma Cafferty and Ryder Marsden have no intention of giving in to their parents’ wishes. They’re only seventeen, for goodness’ sake, not to mention that one little problem: They hate each other! Jemma can’t stand Ryder’s nauseating golden-boy persona, and Ryder would like nothing better than to pretend stubborn Jemma doesn’t exist.

But when a violent storm ravages Magnolia Branch, it unearths Jemma’s and Ryder’s true feelings for each other as the two discover that the line between love and hate may be thin enough to risk crossing over.'

Magnolia is a young-adult contemporary. It's a very southern book (southern bells holler). It's located in Mississippi and I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO VISIT THERE. I just really want to go to Mississippi sometime in the future, it's really pretty. Southern accents are v cool as well. The things they said in this book and the way they said them at times were just hilarious, the dialogue was epic. I remember laughing lots n lots, most of the time I was laughing at how cheesy it was and because I'm a sucker for romance. bYE!

I found myself all through the book wondering how it was going to end, only because it's one of those novels where the guy and the girl hate each other but then the like get together, I don't think that's much of a spoiler because it's said in the blurb and come on! Where could it possible go if it's a contemporary? Yes cliche but it motherofgod there were some  crayyzeee plot twists; you never really knew what to expect. Although I've read enough fanfic to know where it was going, however there are times where I was like 'what is happening' there are some intense moments in this book and in the end it all adds up. 

The characters are loveable and refreshing, it's a good quickie. Perfect for read-a-thons or a great book to get over another book. It's a really cute book. Sorry for the late review (I am indeed alive and have not died, yet) I will be trying to catch up on some of the other review I have.