Because Books!

Now when it comes to YA Contemporary, I have a tendency to be very picky. I am a harsh critic and let's face it, some books in this genre can be highly pretentious.But this book here did it just right. I adore Robyn Shneider's writing. She made Ezra a very likable and real male protagonist. I liked his thoughts and his attitude. He was far from perfect and he was an asshole at times but that helped develop his character and as a reader, I could relate to him. My favourite thing was his sense of humour. I love me some puns. I liked Cassidy and Toby and the rest of the "outcasts". I found myself in each of them and really when I read that's exactly what I want. I want to be able to not only relate but to learn something about myself from the characters I read about. They were witty and smart without being "showy". These characters were well-written because they had deep, wonderful insight yet they still managed to sound like teenagers.But what I liked the most is how though Ezra and this group were "outcasts" and they occasionally made fun of the "popular kids" it wasn't overdone. They didn't act like they were superior because they told intelligent jokes and didn't get wasted every Friday night. They just accepted themselves and had fun! Although the popular kids were very cliche, I liked reading about them. They weren't the "evil guys". Mean and superficial, yes. But honestly, I understand them. They are teenagers after all. They were still friends with Ezra even as he stopped being exactly like them and that's admirable.I loved the romance because it wasn't instalove. It was based on friendship and compatibility. I loved their interactions. It was cute without cheesy. It was sexy without being crude.This book is about Ezra's personal growth. The last page took my breath away as his character development revealed itself. What an amazing journey of self-discovery! I really do recommend this book. It has angst, it is sad but it's also hilarious and intelligent. I loved the Doctor Who references and Ezra's music taste. I could go on about how great this book is but really, GO READ IT.

I'm a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk but this book didn't do it for me. I'm usually fascinated by his complex characters and his cynicism but it didn't work for me this time. I was mildly amused for a while but then I got bored and when I wasn't bored I was downright appalled. I know he aims for the "shock factor" and it does work(see: Lullaby, Invisible Monsters, Guts, Diary) but for some reason here it was disgusting and annoying. Even the repetition I usually love was a pain in the arse eventually. And did he really need to use the word "dog" for penis, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?Maybe I didn't understand it. It is "satire" after all. Maybe the main character's misogynistic, sexist attitude is suppose to represent/symbolise something but I didn't get what that was. Some quotes are wonderful but only out of context. The context/plot is what didn't work, I guess.This was just a miss for me. Sadly.

The first 50 pages or so were really promising. I sympathised with David and his situation. I wanted to know more about his "psychosis". And I guess I did find out but not in the way I wanted.Too much but nothing happened in this book. I don't know how to review it because it is quite forgettable. The "twist" on fairytales felt monotonous and forced. Cannibalism? Obesity? Really...I would have been happy if this book didn't have this other world David went into and we just went with him as he learned to cope with his grief and situation. I'm not sure who the target audience for this book is. Because it's too dark for children but too "childish" for young adults/adults.

What cute, sweet and fluffy book! I really liked this, not because it's David Levithan and his writing style captivates me and I just love how I feel like every sentence pierces my soul, I liked it because of how refreshing and light it felt. It's written in a "fantasy" world where LGBT is accepted by everyone and there isn't the bigotry that exists today. I loved Paul. He was imperfect and he messed up but because of that I could really connect with him. I liked what he went through with Kyle and I liked how much he valued his friend Tony and just his general kindness.Infinite Darlene is probably one of my favourite characters from David Levithan's books. I loved her and I wish there was more of her! NOAH I'm in love with him. I know that we don't really get to know him much but I just really liked him. Maybe it was because of how Paul felt about him and because of great writing the reader feels those things too?I liked all the characters except for Toni and Chuck and I wish that relationship had been explored more or rather that there was some sort of conclusion. I liked Toni before Chuck and I hoped to see her return to the gang.It's a short and quick, enjoyable read. I would have loved a sequel because this leaves you wanting more.

I knew it. I knew that reading the sequel to one of my favourite books would be a bad idea. Usually if I dislike a book, I just get angry and I rant a low but right now, I feel sad. So freaking sad because how is this book even associated with Slammed? Colleen Hoover, you shouldn't have. You really shouldn't have.So this book picks up a year or something after Will and Lake get together and apparently in that period they both became immature and unbearable. In Slammed, I liked how flawed they were but now, it's just vexing. I finished it within hours because I was really excited and I had faith in Hoover's writing. I hoped it would get better but it really didn't.Now before I list the long negatives and the rants, I still loved the slam poetry. It was beautiful. I loved the introduction of Shelly and Kiersten and I liked the friendships between all the characters. That "plot twist" really had me on the edge of my sit and Colleen Hoover is still a great writer.Now what I hated the most: cliched, pointless drama. I saw every twist 50 pages before it happened and as I imagined that's what would happen, I really hoped it wouldn't actually happen. But it did. Think of every obstacle couples face in romantic dramas and chuck them into this book and there you have it, the "plot". Then when Will and Lake weren't having that drama, they were expressing their love for each other. Whilst in Slammed I loved this, in this book it was way too cheesy. Their make out sessions weren't as sexy as I found them. Maybe because it was from Will's POV and well, the one thing that ruined this book was: WILL.Colleen Hoover chucked the Will we met in Slammed and replaced him with an immature, creepy, whiny, insecure, clingy and controlling version of him. Because this book was in his perspective, we're supposed to get to know him better but I wish we hadn't. I wish this was from Lake's point of view so I didn't have to read Will's incessant whining and obsession over Lake. Will, you're a 23 year old man. Why are you acting like a 15 year old boy? You didn't talk to Lake for TWO DAYS and you acted like a dying man. Seriously? It's unhealthy how obsessed and stalkerish you are. So you decided to detach the battery in her car so she would be forced to ride with you? CREEP. That's not cute. Looks like we have another Edward Cullen here. Then you weep and you cry and you talk about how beautiful she is and we get it, Will. The way you were so excited over having sex with her convinced me you really were a 13 year old. An entire paragraph dedicated to the word "sex". ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Ugh. I hate you Will and I loved you so much in Slammed so I feel like I broke up with you now I'm going to whine and whine and write poetry about you. Hope my friends trap you in a booth so you're forced to listen to me recite it to you and I can take away your freedom and use manipulation at the same time. Lake wasn't any better either. At the end of Slammed, she had matured but then in this book, she forgot all of that and went back to acting like she's still in primary school. Honestly. I know this was all for the purpose of following through the stupid dramas, but couldn't these characters be a little more smart? Lake losing her mind because Will kissed his ex on her forehead...ON HER FOREHEAD WILL, ON HER FOREHEAD, Lake cried out and I almost chucked the book out the window. I know it was special to her but really. For people who claim to love each other so much, they don't trust each other at all. I'm not a fan of slang created by authors. I mean once or thrice it's fun but when it's in every page, it needs to stop. "carving pumpkins" was ruined and don't try to make "Butterflying"(I really love what Kiersten said when she invented this) happen because it's not going to happen.There's a third book. I'm not touching it... Especially since it's written from Will's POV. I don't know if I can handle disliking him any more.Really disappointed. If you loved Slammed, I suggest you walk away from this book. But although I didn't like this, Slammed is still special to me and I'll pretend this never happened.

David Levithan, why do you do this to me? Why do you rip my soul open and plant your stories right in there? Why do your stories leave me so vulnerable and lost but content with it? WHY ARE YOUR BOOKS SO FRIGGING GOOD?!I don't know how I can review this book...It's a unique, refreshing YA book with so many characters who are all so wonderfully written. I'm a fan of Levithan's writing and this book just made me love him that much more. It's a gripping story of "A" who wakes up in a different body everyday and so experiences life as someone new each day. A falls in love with a girl A met whilst in the body of this jerk and that's the romantic aspect of the book. I love this romance because despite the odd circumstances, it felt genuine. Whilst on A's part, it was insta-love, Rhiannon did not automatically love A. She had to know A more and she wasn't blinded by this love either. She had other priorities and she stuck to them. I love her. She's kick ass. But my favourite part was the different lives A lived. In total, there are 40 people this novel talks about. This is where my breath was taken away because I felt and understood all these people through the eyes of A. This book taught me about people. How different and similar our lives are. There is some inspirational insight written here and I hope I can apply that to my life. I love that David Levithan represented different people from various walks of life. There is so much diversity, which actually represents reality, unlike what we're used to in most YA books. I love A as a protagonist. What a wonderful person. I would love to meet someone like that. The only problem I have with this book is the ending. I wanted more! But of course, everything must end. And I think the ending made the impact of the events leading up to it hit even more. I felt so much loss, loneliness and sadness .As usual, when a book really connects with me, I find it difficult to review it because my mind is still recovering and as usual I will say it's up to personal interpretation. Whilst what I adored about this book was the different people and the writing, someone else might have loved the romance more.I don't know if this review even makes sense but forgive me, I'm just so taken by that book.It's art.It's exactly why I love reading.This feeling, this daze, this confusion, is exactly what I want after I finish reading.Thank you, David Levithan.

I really didn't like how this book went. I hadn't read any zombie books before this one, but I have read a lot of Dystopia novels and this one was everything I dislike in one. It was promising at the start but it soon turned bland despite the action. I found this world building shaky and confusing. I couldn't get a vivid image of how their world was. I still don't know what exactly happened to our world for it to become like theirs. I think the author got away with not explaining much because we all know how zombies happen, right?I never knew any of the characters so I couldn't sympathise with any of them. I did feel a dull ache when certain events happened but I'm sure if I really knew these characters I would have been completely wrecked.I hated Mary so much. Her selfishness and idiocy astounded me. I hate the attempted love triangle. I hate her for being so naive and I don't care that she was following her dream because that is selfish anyway and how many people had to die before she realised that? Why did everyone love and care about her anyway? She was boring and one dimensional and there was no character development at all. I think this would have been a better book if Travis hadn't happened. Because Mary revealed what a horrible friend and how selfish she is. I don't care to find out what happens next. Nope.But I will say the writing is fair because I did have some moments of suspense and there were some decent plot twists in there.However, I am so unimpressed. I blame it on Mary.

I can't really review this book because like I said, I'm only reading it for school. But I really didn't like it at all. Maybe as I study it, I will.I get classics are classics for a reason. I know there's so much symbolism and metaphors in this book and the writing is beautiful but I didn't understand it half of the time. It felt all over the place. One second he's talking about this character then he's talking about another one without indicating that he is talking about a different character now so I kept having to re-read some paragraphs. Although the writing was pretty(I love words as much as the next person) in this case it just pulled me out of a story I was struggling with already. I didn't really want to know every detail about Daisy's dress or something. I hated all the characters and I really didn't care for their rich people problems. I know that's a big thing that we will be discussing in class. I kind of felt sorry for Gatsby. Poor, delusional fool.I'm sure I'll update this review when I have studied or when I re-read it because I really have to.

It took me 18 days to finish this book. I'm so ashamed. This is the longest reading slump I've had in a while. And as I'm getting out of it, I'm swamped with school work!Anyway...I liked this book. I guess I could see where it was going and what it was trying to achieve. The premise was interesting and original(as far as I'm aware). At first glance, you wouldn't think this is a paranormal book. It feels like it's realistic fiction and I guess that worked pretty well. I loved Stephen and Laurie, especially Laurie. I loved Stephen's point of view more because of my adoration for Levithan's writing. My main problem with this book is the world building. I feel like it lacked stability and was underdeveloped. Especially with Elizabeth. Firstly, I couldn't connect with her and I grew to dislike her as the story went on. Then came the "paranormal" part of the story and I lost it/her. I don't know why she is special enough to see Stephen and I don't know what causes these "powers" or whatever. Although they vividly described the spells, I still couldn't connect with what she was seeing/hearing.I didn't like the romance/love between Stephen and Elizabeth too. I felt it was rushed and unbelievable. I'm probably being a cynic here, but less than 2 months into a relationship, you're willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of love? Do these YA characters really not value their lives much?Overall, it was a promising book. But there's so much lacking. If there's a second book, I'll check it out. But let's replace Elizabeth with Laurie as the other voice of the story?

So, I liked this book. I liked it because it's Sarah Dessen and there is always something about her books I like even if I see many faults in the story/characters. The writing and setting is all familiar, in a great way, and God, I love it when she mentions my favourite characters from her previous books!I didn't care for Auden though. She was whiny and too judgmental. I can blame this on her awful mother of course because she later "grows out of it" but I don't really know if she totally did. I couldn't really connect with her either. She was distant to me. I could connect to Heidi and Eli and even Maggie but her, there was just something off about her character.I liked the side characters; really loved Heidi. I feel so sorry for her because Auden's dad is a horrible excuse for a husband and father. I think I'm staying away from writers when it comes to dating/marriage. As I mentioned before, Auden's mother was truly awful. I've never met such a pretentious, hypocritical, elitist character before. She's meant to be a feminist but she spends 90% of the time judging other women and they even mention that she's "wary of other females"... I think you missed the point of what feminism is about. My very big issue with this book is how recycled it feels. Now I know, we all know, that Sarah Dessen has a "method" for all her books and we like that. But this one was too much. This book was "The Truth About Forever", "This Lullaby", "Just Listen" and "Lock & Key" combined. I see now that these are Sarah Dessen's top books so I guess it makes sense... But wow, I found myself rolling my eyes at how obviously recycled all these characters and situations were. But I think it's more like a bad, first draft of The Truth About Forever. What sucks is that the romance part wasn't captured well enough this time around. Maybe because we didn't learn much about Eli, but I didn't fall head over heels like I've done with the guys from the previous books. In fact, he's very forgettable.I feel that Sarah Dessen is trying to recreate her best books but it isn't working. I hope she can just change direction completely. Because her writing is engrossing. I never put her books down once I start reading them. She can really develop her characters and the dialogue is witty and funny. But with her latest books, she's still going in circles trying to make "The Truth About Forever" etc happen but it can't. It won't. And we will always notice her attempts and it will make the book less enjoyable. I'm sure someone who doesn't follow her books completely enjoyed this book and I can see why. It is a great book. But come on, Auden is basically an unlikable Macy. Also, it's a good thing I guess that I read "the moon and more" before this one because WOW ARE YOU SERIOUS? The whole Beach party thing that happens in that book is exactly what happens in this one. I'm begging Sarah Dessen to ditch this path. Or if she wants to keep regenerating her old books, how about Dreamland?

I'm giving this book 2.5 because it was slightly more than okay, but it wasn't good or great either. My opinion might change as I review it.So I finished this book in a few hours. I don't know if this is because I was bored or because it's a gripping story but as someone who's recently discovered how ok and satisfying it is to give up on books, it surely means something!I liked Annie. She had so much spunk and she was pretty badass. I liked how she took care of her family, and I love a girl who doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger if she must. There were things she said and did that were hilarious and I love how unlike most YA protagonists, I don't think she fully let her love consume her. The love-interest was cool, I guess. I feel like I don't know him much though. But I'm also glad he wasn't a love-struck idiot. We've seen too much of this in YA so it's refreshing to get characters who aren't so smitten that they drop absolutely everything including their common sense and dignity for the sake of their love. For this, their love felt more real. I can understand why they like each other.Now, the plot and world-building is weird. I don't know why this is set in the future because it doesn't seem much different from our world right now. I guess just that chocolate is illegal... I found this really cheesy and weird because really, there's an entire industry just dedicated to illegally selling chocolate. But hey, it's YA!I liked the crime/mafia aspects of the book. I wish there was more of that. And I wish there was more about what the world is like. I get that they no longer know what "OMG" means and there are vague references to how digitalised everything is(NO MORE PAPER BOOKS), but there's not much and that's annoying. What kind of world-building is this? Why not just base it on this time period then?I don't like Annie's religious beliefs because they're dumb. I'm not saying religion is dumb, but I think choosing which "rules" to follow so you don't go to hell and ignoring others, which are probably worse, is dumb. I don't really get the point of that, unless it was just for the antagonist's sake near-rape scene...if she wasn't a Catholic she probably would have slept with him Overall, I just have mixed feelings. Will I continue this trilogy? Possibly. But only if I haven't got any other books to buy.

Ok, firstly I'm high on caffeine right now so that could influence this review but seriously.... HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.What. did. I. just. read?So after so many good reviews and so much hype, I was prepared to be blown away by this book or you know at least like it but wow, I want to sue. I want the time and money I spent on this book back.I know I always say "nothing happens" in books but usually something would have happened but in this one? NOTHING AT ALL. Possibly the most boring book I've picked up this year. I got to page 200 and I started skimming hoping for something but then the book ended and I started laughing hysterically because really, this is what I was supposed to love?Maybe I should have known better since the front cover has "Romeo and Juliet" and "Twilight" on it.Lena is what you get when you animate a plank of wood. She has zero personality unless you count being whiny and idiotic. I know we all have low self-esteem but I actually wanted to drown Lena. Shut up with comparing yourself to your best friend, Lena. We get it, she's better than you and yes we agree that she's better than you.Then Alex appears and I guess I'm supposed to feel something for him but he was so boring and one-dimensional and I couldn't care less about him if I tried. He was so generic and everything he did and said was typical and dull.Lena and Alex were predictable and annoying together. This isn't a ship I care to stand by. Which is a good thing because I'm not touching the second book with a 10m pole.Hana was the only promising character and if YA wasn't so unoriginal, she could have been the protagonist. But no, it's YA so because she's obviously pretty, rich, charismatic and other positive descriptions, she can't be. That has to go to the "plain but actually really beautiful girl".There's no plot. Interesting premise, but why should I care about Lena? Why is she relevant? What even was the point of this book?!I get some love quotes because I'm quite the pessimist when it comes to love. Some parts I agreed with and I understood them. But I know this is fiction and Dystopia but this was just unrealistic and weird.I'm not even giving this book any stars at all. Because even the writing was bad. Some descriptions were borderline scary. Careful how you use "literally" Lauren Oliver.

THIS BOOK!I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I put it aside for a few minutes, I pulled ugly faces, I made seal noises. I lived this book for the hours it took me to finish it!It was wonderful. I'm still not over it. This is why I love reading. This is exactly what I want to experience when reading.I love Lake. She was far from perfect and I occasionally wanted to shake some sense into her but this girl is strong. Her strength leaves me in awe. She has every reason to breakdown and give up, but she doesn't. She carries on and she lives. She lets herself feel this unpredictable, heartbreaking love and I envy her and I learnt something from her.I love Will. What a wonderful guy. I love how real he was. His worries and conflicts were so real. I felt that he aged beyond his years because of what life did to him. But he didn't sit back either. He lived his life too.That's what I adore about this book. I find it so inspiring. It's about living when there's every reason to quit. It's about family, friendships and death. It teaches you how to survive. The poetry in here is so beautiful. Will, you won my heart. How can I ever expect anything but what you gave to Lake now? That poem made me put the book down and cry. Lake's mother will haunt me forever for the advice she gave Lake. The insight in this book can change your life and I want it to change my life.The writing is wonderful. This is my first Colleen Hoover book, but it won't be my last at all! I don't know if I want to read the sequel though because I'm afraid it might ruin this story?I don't want to give anything away because it is up to personal interpretation. I have a feeling it will connect with every reader in a different way. I recommend to everyone and anyone and I give it all the stars!I'll stop "reviewing" it now and say, READ IT.

Two stars because it pains me to give Gayle Forman just one star after how much I loved "If I Stay" and "Where She Went".Positives: the writing is good. I like the way Forman writes. I love the "unusual" vocabulary and the descriptions are beautiful without being too flowery. The first part of this story is great. It was cute, similar to "The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight". I liked Willem. There's an element of finding yourself and "coming of age" too. That's great, I guess.Then Allyson happened. I hate her so much she ruined what could have been a great story. I started disliking her within the first few pages. She is such a whiny brat. Allyson, your parents paid for an expensive trip to Europe and you have the opportunity to meet new people and enjoy yourself, but what do you do? You whine about how boring it is and how you don't fit in with the rest of your group because you exclude yourself! She finds what London, Rome, Belgium or wherever not as good as she would like it to be. Apparently the historical, beautiful sights are too bland for her. America really must have it all, right?Then she meets Willem and she starts being extraordinarily dumb and annoying. She lets this guy call her the wrong name. If this is meant to be cute, I don't see it. People call you the wrong name to avoid getting to know you or to be demeaning. I know this because I have experienced bitchy girls mispronouncing my name just for the sake of stripping me of my identity and making me less than I am.So she literally knows this guy for a day and within that day she gets jealous and overly sensitive if he's so much as looking at another girl. Worse, she calls him out on it. Thing happen, more things, Allyson gets creepily attached then they have sex, within a day of knowing each other and Willem is still calling her the wrong name. I'm sorry, Allyson, do you even see this going well? then Willem leaves her and she goes back to America, starts college.But wait. So one day spent with this guy who goes AWOL after, causes Allyson to spiral into a whiny, moody, annoying, cold person for NINE MONTHS. She shuts everyone off, she complains about everything and then when she gets her mindset together, what does she do? She goes after Willem she GOOGLES HIM, FACEBOOKS HIM, WRITES A LETTER TO HIM THEN TAKES A DAMN PLANE TO PARIS TO STALK HIM AND FOLLOWS HIM TO HIS HOMETOWN!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE IS THE ROMANCE? I AM NOT SEEING IT!I don't care to find out what happens between these two, so I'm not going to read the next book.I rolled my eyes so much I have a headache.So disappointed.

I can't really review it... But I'll say it wasn't how I expected it to be. I thought there would be much more insight than what I got. But I do feel like I understand John Winchester better and I learned a lot more about Dean and Sam's relationship from when they were young right up to when Sam leaves for college. I like that there are other characters talked about that aren't mentioned in the show and Mary is more "alive" in a way. The way she's talked about here makes me miss her even more therefore understand how her death affected John and why it's just really tragic.There's a LOT of information on the monsters John hunts and on the exorcisms etc to use. I skipped most of it because I wasn't interested though I did read a few little stories. Overall, I think I wanted more than what I got. Still alright though. Since it's like a photocopied version of the original journal, the font used at times is barely legible and that was rather annoying.

What did I just read?I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this book, honestly. It was a mess. It was two trains colliding over and over again yet for some reason the author expected a different outcome each time. I won't be all negative and I'll say at least I finished it so surely Em Bailey did something right, right? And there was a twist halfway that was constructed perfectly as it hit me out of nowhere and I put the book down to think about it.But straight after that, the book became a wreck.I'm also annoyed because the blurb mentions that Katie dies so you would assume it happens within the first few chapters so it can be the catalyst to what happens next. But, no. It happens halfway into the book which means there is no suspense and everything that happens to Katie doesn't really matter because she will die anyway. It has worked in other books but it didn't work here.Olive is stupidity personified. First half, she was not bad. Yes, she was whiny, blind to the obvious, unbearably pessimistic and rude. But it was not too extreme. Nice attempt(no pun intended) at keeping "the Incident" from the reader until this supposedly big reveal. But we all know what it was and Olive, seriously. SERIOUSLY, did you even think for a second that was going to work?So Miranda was a nasty piece of work of course and Olive was suspicious of her until the second half were she has a complete change of heart and forgets everything she ever thought before and even her little brother tries to remind her but like I said, she is stupid. Lanchlan or whatever his name is comes along as nothing but another cliche in YA Romance and really, Lanch there's too many guys in this genre and you did nothing for me. He has a gorgeous body and he swims but hey plot twist: he writes music and is different to other "shallow" swimmers and he for some reasons like the bland Olive because hehehe YA hehehe awkward hehehe so cute.Stereotypical characters can only mean one thing: stereotypical dramas. All these characters are one-dimensional and boring. The situations Olive finds herself in made me role my eyes and what kind of climax was that? Miranda confessing she's a shapeshifter and that's the end of the paragraph because it's supposed to be SHOCKING. Hello, just because Olive is dumb as nails it doesn't mean the readers are. WE KNOW. WE HAVE KNOWN SINCE PAGE 1. The ending was probably supposed to leave me thinking about this story and wondering what ever happens next.But you know what? I do not care.It's a shame because this book had so much potential.