This Little Life of Mine: YA Book

Showing posts with label YA Book. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Vespertine - Margaret Roberson

Title: Vespertine
Author: Margaret Rogerson
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 Stars

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The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

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I loved this book -and there's going to be a series!!! There are not enough words to describe how much I loved this book, but I'll try (and I'll even throw in some gifs and memes just to really show you what I think.

The possession aspect: Hello! Who doesn't love a story about a good potential possession. Watching Artemisia struggle with the revenant inside her and learn to hone who she was was AMAZING.

The characters were great. Artemisia was my favorite character, but the revenant was a close second. I know, I know - the REVENANAT?! What am I thinking? Well, I mean, it did try to possess Artemisia.... And it was well spoken, well written, and fairly devious.

All the characters were great - well written and not as upstanding as you'd think considering they were nuns and a priest. That made the story very intriguing and definitely added that extra air of fantastic and depth to the characters.

I really enjoyed the writing and the narrator. The author did a fantastic job weaving together a story filled with twists, surprises, and story points that really fit in well, and the narrator of the audiobook did a wonderful job bringing it all to life. I'm really excited to see where the rest of the series goes. There was a lot of tension, a lot of humor (surprisingly), and just overall some great writing.

The book had more than enough twists and surprises, and Artemisia had a lot of great personality and a great ability to mess with her peers but also befriend them at the weirdest of times. There's a reason she's my favorite character in the book. I'm trying really hard not to spoil anything, so let me just say: the sarcasm is ripe in this one.

Overall, I personally cannot think of anything I didn't like about this book. It was great and I am hooked.

If you've read this book, let me know what you thought in the comments!

If you haven't read the book - what are you waiting for?!

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry - Joya Goffney

Title: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
Author: Joya Goffney
Format: E-Book
Rating: 5 Stars

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is a book that every teenager should be reading right now! It's well written, relevant, funny at times, and so full of heart and emotion.

Quinn is teen who loves to keep lists - she uses it as a way to get her emotions out because she hates talking about her feelings out loud. Enter Carter, a boy at her school who mistakenly grabs her journal, and then reads it and, after a busy moment in class, forgets it in a classroom. Bullying ensues, but so does a lot of really great stuff that drastically improves Quinn's life.

Quinn and Carter are teenagers who both face hurdles you'd expect like parental expectations, snotty "friends", all those wonderful teachers at school. They also have to try and navigate life around their white peers and friends, most of whom are completely unaware of their racism and the microaggressions they are committing.

I honestly can't think of a single thing I didn't like about this book. I loved the story, the characters the development of every single thing. This is definitely a book that will leave lasting imprints on me for a long long time.

The characters in this book were all so wonderful and so well written, and the author portrayed their experiences as teens very well. (Take that opinion for what it is - I am 40 after all, so it's been a while since I was a teenager.) Each character was unique unto themselves, and there was a lot of growth in our two main characters, Quinn and Carter. They both developed a great sense of who they were, Quinn especially. She grew from someone who was afraid to let things out, and bottled things inside, to someone her grandma knew she could be.

The connection Quinn and Carter had with each other was great. They started out in this awkward, weird, helping each other space, but the vibe between them was there from the beginning. They grew into that and developed and learned about and from each other so much.

I think the author did a great job of showing that these teens are still so young, but that they have the ability to grow and change and make decisions. Yes, teens are still developing, their brains and bodies are still changing, but they are smarter than people realize, and they have the ability, given the right skill development, to make decisions and solve problems. The author showed that so well.

I really loved everything about this book, and it's a book I'd recommend to everyone!

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Concrete Rose - Angie Thomas

Title: Concrete Rose
Author: Angie Thomas
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5 Stars

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International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.

If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.

Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.

Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.

Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.

When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can't just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

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SPOILERS AHEAD: Sorry readers. This is not a spoiler free review. So if you haven't read this book yet and don't want to know anything, skip the review for now.

Concrete Rose is the prequel to Angie Thomas's bestselling novel The Hate U Give. This book follows Starr's father Maverick Carter as a 17 year old struggling high school student and gang member in Garden Heights. Mav is just trying to live his life, playing ball and dealing, and then he finds out that the baby he thought was King's is actually his. This information is life changing, not just for Mav, but for his mother, his girlfriend Lisa, and Seven's mother Iesha, as well so many other people in this book.

I loved and hated so much about this book. I loved the characters (most of them) and loved watching them grow throughout the book. Let's talk about those characters a bit. Mav and his mother were my favorite characters. Mav's mom was honest and blunt with him, and when they found out Seven was his baby, his mother made sure he took care of that baby like every parent should. Mav certainly had struggles in this book, and I'm not even going to pretend I understand what his struggles were like. I'm an old white lady from a small town. I've never had to deal with gangs, police violence, and the massive amounts of drugs pushed on communities of color. So, I will just say, I loved watching Mav grow and mature throughout this book. He started out not thinking that he could possibly take care of this baby because he was 17, and we all know how hard it is to take care of babies. They cry, they wake up in the middle of the night, the test you. But he did what he had to do, and some things fell through the cracks. But he learned some hard lessons throughout this book, and he stepped up and did what he needed to do make sure he and his son were taken care of.

I also loved Dre, and I think he was a great role model for Mav. He was always looking out for Mav, and I was so heartbroken when he got killed. I definitely saw a lot more struggle for a long time in Mav after Dre got murdered.

The other characters in this book, even the minor ones, added a lot to this book, and really helped give an idea of what life was like for Maverick and his friends when he was young. They were all so well written, and they were all part of this book for a reason.

The book was well written, which is what I have com to expect from Angie Thomas. The whole story was on point. If you've read The Hate U Give, you know that Mav was young when he got Iesha and Lisa pregnant, you know some of the background details of his life. And yet, this book still surprised me, and I loved it even when I was crying over what happened. Nothing in this book didn't fit. Even when I was pissed at what happened and wanted to rewind, I knew what had happened was important to the story and needed to be there.

I liked that this book showed such strong role models for the young people in Garden Heights. The owner of the store where Mav got his job, for example, was wonderful and very strict with Mav. Mav's mom, his counselor at school, Dre, and so many other adults, were always looking out for these kids and making sure that things were getting better for them. There are too many kids who don't have that kind of thing in their lives, and so it was good to see that here. I think that really helped Mav because it showed him that he not only had his son depending on him, but he also had all these other people around him who knew he could be more.

If you're up for it, here are some booktube folks who have also reviewed this wonderful book. Go check out their videos.

If you want to go check out Angie Thomas around the internet, here's her website:

http:www.angiethomas.com

Go follow her on the bird app too:

http://twitter.com/angiecthomas

If you've read Concrete Rose, drop your thoughts below. I'd love to know what you think!

Thursday, February 18, 2021

A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik

Title: A Deadly Education
Author: Naomi Novik
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 Stars

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A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets.

There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere.

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.

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El, short for Galadriel, is a student at Scholomance, a school for students who are magically inclined. When we first meet her she is knee deep in the middle of an attack from a mal, she gets rescued by Orion. However she views it as him letting this thing into her room, and chaos ensues.

They develop an unlikely friendship, mostly because El is convinced at first that he set the monster loose in her room, but also because he keeps volunteering to help with things like going to the shop to get tools.

This book has all the drama you'd expect from a book filled with all teenagers and NO ADULTS. With that being said, I loved every single second of this book. I loved it all. The blood, the gore, the monster intestines. Give. Me. More.

The Only Thing I Didn't Like:
*I just found it odd that there were no adults at this school. Like, they weren't even allowed into the school, it would literally spit out adults. With that being said, I do think that adds a layer of intrigue to the school and to the book. The school, because it's not just a school for magic but also a magical school, teaches them what they need to know, and gives them what they need to (hopefully) get out alive.

I Loved:
*The way the characters interacted with each other - especially Orion and El. They had a weird yet great relationship. They just had chemistry with each other, and even if they had decided to remain only friends it still would have worked. The other characters added even more to the story, even when they were being snotty brats (Hey, every school has those, right...)
* I know guts and gore don't work for everyone but I loved it. This book would not have been the same if it weren't for the mal attacking, and the students ripping them open and killing them.
*This story was well developed and worked so well from beginning to end. You get thrown into the action right at the beginning, and the whole story just builds from there. The author takes everything and builds on it from beginning to end.
*There was a lot of good character development in this story. Even though some of the characters have some more work to do on themselves, you could tell there was some sort of effort from them to be or do something with themselves.
*I Loved all the action in this book. I loved that the students always had to be on their toes because they never really knew what was going to happen. There was just this feeling of action and intensity weaving it's way through this book, and it worked.
*I found it intriguing what this school could do, and loved watching the students have to continue to learn and grow with the school because of how it changed from time to time on them.

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Tell me reader friends, if you've read this book what did you think? Are you as anxious for a sequel as I am? Let me know what you thought in the comments!

Saturday, February 2, 2019

P.S. I Still Love You - Jenny Han

Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Format: Paperback
Rating:

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Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever. When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing.

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This sequel to the novel To All The Boys I've Loved Before felt just marginally more well developed than the first book. Although I did like this book ever so slightly more than its predecessor, there were still too many things about this book that I did not like.

What I Liked:

Once again, I found that Kitty was my favorite part in this book. She expresses everything that is just so charming and yet morbid and dark.

Chris was actually present more in this book as a friend figure, and I felt like that was something that was really lacking from the last book. I still don't know that I see what Chris and Lara Jean have in common to be friends, but at least she is more present in this book.

The Assassins game - I think this just sounds like a fun idea!

I do love that this book, just as the first, shows great family dynamic and has Korean characters in it. I think it's important that their dad is so present is important, because there are so many YA books with absentee parents. As if teens don't need their parents?!

What I Didn't Like:

THE "LOVE TRIANGLE"! I put love in quotes, because I felt like, even though there was this introduction of a third person in the series as an interest, there just wasn't much of a love interest between Lara and John until after she and Peter broke up (again, and for real.) At least, it didn't fee like there was much there to me - especially from Lara Jean's perspective. This was forced and completely unnecessary.

In this book Kitty turns 10. She's young. But yet, Chris and Lara Jean did not have any issues talking about sex in front of her. Not only that, but Kitty - little 10 year old Kitty - KNOWS MORE ABOUT SEX THAN LARA JEAN! Now just to be clear, I believe in teaching people age appropriate comprehensive sex ed. However, a 10 year old knowing more about sex than her 16 year old sister is not age appropriate. Kitty should be learning about periods, not sex.

Why did Peter think it was okay to be there for Gen all that time but not for Lara Jean?! I fully understand that Gen is Peter's first love, blah blah blah. BUT, they aren't together anymore, and given how toxic their relationship is, he really should be cutting her out for a while - especially since Lara Jean is his girlfriend now! I think it's fair that their relationship ended, and I can't for the life of me figure out why Lara Jean was back together with him at the end. He treats her like crap because "Gen needs me" and she just takes him back?! UGHHGGGGWFHIO

Monday, November 19, 2018

Save the Date - Morgan Matson

Title: Save the Date
Author: Morgan Matson
Format: E-Book
Rating: 1 Star (And that's just because I feel bad for the author.)

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Charlie Grant's older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can't wait for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster. There's the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won't stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.

There are the relatives who aren't speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo. Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner's nephew is unexpectedly, distractedly cute.

Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she'll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.

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I don't even feel like there are enough words in the English language to adequately describe how much I hated every single second of this book. Frankly, it's a miracle I even made it to the end.

In this book, Charlie's older sister Linnie is getting married - and literally every single thing that could go wrong during the weekend of her wedding did. Every. Single. Thing. Her brother Mike showed up even though he hadn't been home in 18 months. Her brother Danny brought his girlfriend home even though Danny didn't RSVP for a plus 1. Danny's girlfriend acted like a spoiled obnoxious brat the entire weekend. Mike didn't even stay with his family - he stayed with his best friend Jesse (we'll get to that story in a second). The family got a dog for the weekend (because they had a dog in the family comic strip and GMA is filming their family on Sunday), and the dog won't stop howling. The alarm won't stop beeping all weekend long. The wedding planner quit, the absentee wedding planner was charged with embezzlement, Charlie ruined the wedding cake, the groom got the wrong suit, the friend who was supposed to marry them couldn't because you can't be ordained online in Connecticut. There was so much more - I mean at some point, you just want to keep reading to see how much more outrageous and ridiculous this could get. There is NO WAY that all these things and more could possibly go wrong at one person's wedding - there just isn't.

It got to the point where I wanted to look at the author and every character and just scream out:

Let's start with Charlie. This child is just about as mature as I would expect from a fucking 5 year old. I didn't believe that she was someone who was just finishing high school and about to go off to college in a few months. For starters, it's May and she still hasn't notified the colleges she got accepted to where she wants to attend. She keeps saying she wants to go to Stanwich, but she keeps thinking about Northwestern - all the time. So go to Northwestern! (She keeps saying she won't because her parents are selling the house, and she doesn't want a new house, and a new city within just a couple months.) Charlies is also so rude to Brooke, Danny's girlfriend. Now, I can't stand Brooke, but she was a guest in the Grant's home and Charlie treated her like crap.

Charlie's siblings are about as mature as she is, which is just sad, because Linnie, the oldest, is 10 years older than Charlie! They all act like the world revolves around them - and take very little consideration for people outside themselves and their little nuclear family. J.J. spends the entire time bemoaning the fact that he claims he RSVP'd for 2, and doesn't have a date, and talks all weekend about how the new wedding planner is named Billiam - because that's obviously what Bill is short for, right?! BILLIAM! I wanted to reach out and strangle him if he said Billiam one more time.

Anyway, I'm ranting. So let me be a bit more concise about this.

1. Is Charlie something else? I just wonder, because at one point she makes a comment about how the puppy actually managed to walk and howl at the same time. She's amazed that a dog can walk AND howl at the same time?! CAN YOU WALK AND TALK AT THE SAME TIME, CHARLIE?!

2. Do you really expect me to believe that every single chapter is going to end with a huge, we need all hands on deck type disaster?! Look, reader friends - I know there needs to be some tension and drama in books to help them move forward. But this was just over the top. Not only did each chapter end with disaster, there were mini problems on every single page. First, the alarm keeps going off. Then the crew from Good Morning America shows up Friday, with a dog, to get everything set for Sunday morning. Then Charlie's uncle Stu shows up at the house wanting a place to stay because he's too cheap to pay for a hotel - AND he makes Charlie's dad pay for the cab. Rodney's suit gets misplaced because the dry cleaner gave it to someone else, the power goes out the day of the wedding, they can't find a new wedding officiant - and when they do, he's wearing Rodney's suit. They drop donuts on the floor, J.J. scoffs by saying the word scoff, and enters in Chapter 3 already pissed because he never told anyone to get him at the airport so nobody picked him up! I just can't even with the drama.

3. Why didn't Charlie even suspect that her parents might be getting a divorce? She's the one who still lives at home. She even saw that once they sold the house, they stopped fighting! Just stopped - that was the end of the fighting - and she never figured a damn thing out. She just figured everything was peachy keen. Now, I know teenagers are sort of hardwired to think about themselves a lot - but most teenagers aren't so selfish they couldn't stop to figure out about their parents marital problems.

4. The characters are all so one-dimensional. They are not fleshed out or well-developed. It got tiring reading after a while because they were all just stuck in their sameness and one-dimensional selves.

5. The story was about as well written as a name in a pair of underwear. There were so many things in this story that were just unbelievable - I didn't for a second believe that everything that happened in this book could happen in 48 hours.

If you have a paper copy of this book, the only thing I could recommend is using it as toilet paper. It's not worth the time.

Saturday, October 13, 2018

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee

Title: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Author: Mackenzi Lee
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5 Stars

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Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

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There is nothing I don't love about this book! Every single page of this book is pure gold.

The story itself has pirates, highwaymen, thievery, and love - so much love!

So, let's just be honest here: Monty is potentially unlikable at best. He is a cad and rather selfish. He drinks too much (he's an alcoholic. Let's just call a spade a spade.) and the only person he seems to truly care about other than himself is Percy. Despite his feelings towards and love for Percy, he's still very selfish even in that relationship. That being said, Monty is an essential part of the main trio in this book. And I do love him because I feel like he does change and grow a bit by the end of the book (if you disagree, I'd love to here why.) I think he still has a lot of growing up to do, but I do see him making an effort.

Percy is just so amazing! Percy and Felicity are tied as my two favorite characters in this book. Percy deals with a lot shit because he's black. He was born in England, but it's the 1700's so of course everyone assumes he's from Africa. (Of course, people still make those assumptions in 2018 - and we need to stop that!) So, Percy deals with a lot of racism because of his skin color. And he deals with it in such a classy manner - Percy is the true definition of a gentleman. He also deals with having epilepsy, and with people thinking he's like possessed or that there is something wrong with him. I like that the author included this!

AND FELICITY! She is so, so amazing. She is fierce, and she wants to be a doctor - which I am sure you know was impossible for women at that time. Felicity is a feminist, in a time when people probably didn't even use that word. She is so kind as well. She stands up for what is right, and she doesn't allow other people to tell her she can't dream!

I love that the trio deals with so much and comes out on the other side stronger and more sure of who they are. They lose their bear-leader, get hijacked by highwaymen, stowaway on ship and get napped by pirates, and so much more.

The story is so well-developed and well written as well. It's fun, and funny at times. I have heard that some people are describing this book as fluffy - don't believe a word of that! There may be moments of smush, but this is not a fluffy book.

If you haven't read this book yet - get out to the bookstore or library and get a copy right now!

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Like Water - Rebecca Podos

Title: Like Water
Author: Rebecca Podos
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 2 Stars

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A gorgeously written and deeply felt literary young adult novel of identity, millennial anxiety, and first love, from the widely acclaimed author of The Mystery of Hollow Places

In Savannah Espinoza’s small New Mexico hometown, kids either flee after graduation or they’re trapped there forever. Vanni never planned to get stuck—but that was before her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, leaving her and her mother to care for him. Now, she doesn’t have much of a plan at all: living at home, working as a performing mermaid at a second-rate water park, distracting herself with one boy after another.

That changes the day she meets Leigh. Disillusioned with small-town life and looking for something greater, Leigh is not a “nice girl.” She is unlike anyone Vanni has met, and a friend when Vanni desperately needs one. Soon enough, Leigh is much more than a friend. But caring about another person stirs up the moat Vanni has carefully constructed around herself, and threatens to bring to the surface the questions she’s held under for so long.

With her signature stunning writing, Rebecca Podos, author of The Mystery of Hollow Places, has crafted a story of first love and of the complex ways in which the deepest parts of us are hidden, even from ourselves.

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Like Water had an intriguing premise, but it fell short for me.

The only thing I liked:

This book talked about what it's like for a kid to have a parent with a chronic degenerative illness. A lot of book don't talk about degenerative illnesses.

What Was Medium:

Vanni - the main character wasn't super, but she wasn't terrible either. She was just medium. She struggled with her sexuality. She struggled with being "trapped" in her hometown because she felt she had to be there to help care for her dad, since he has Huntington's Disease.

The secondary characters - most of the secondary characters were what made this book worth reading.

What I Didn't Like:

Leigh - she was terrible and mean throughout the entire novel. I understand that she is struggling with something big and trying to come to terms with being genderqueer. Does that give her an excuse to be so selfish and treat eeeeeeveryone around her like shit? No - I don't think it does.

There was, from my observation, no actual chemistry between Leigh and Vanni. It felt like a relationship of convenience, instead of a relationship where they actually liked each other. Not only was there zero romantic chemistry between Leigh and Vanni, they also had nothing in common. But hey, why not form a romantic relationship, right?!??!?!??!?

The story didn't really feel that fleshed out, and the writing was just mediocre. I didn't really care one way or another what happened in the story or to the characters.

There were to many events in the book that felt forced. This book did not flow smoothly.

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Overall, this was a low read for me - I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to be bored.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Book Vs Movie: Simon V Simon

Hey y'all! With the large amount of totally awesome books that have been made into movies, I thought I would do a little Blog Vs. Movie of books and their movies that I loved.

Today: It's Simon V. Simon.

That's right: We're taking a look at Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and its movie counterpart Love, Simon.

THE BOOK:

First off, you can read my review of Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda here! (Spoiler Alert: I LOVED IT!)

The book dealt a bit more with racism - which I like and appreciate. I wish the movie would have been more upfront with this aspect of the book.

It wasn't until later in the book that Simon thought Bram was the one writing to him. In fact - he felt like it might be any number of theatre dudes, and at one point I believe he even thought it was MARTIN!!

THE MOVIE:

I loved the actors cast in the movie. I think they all did a great job!

HOWEVER, there were things the movie missed out on.

1. Why didn't Leah confront her friends about their racism toward Abby?

2. Why is Leah straight in the movie?!?!?!??!

3. How come Simon thought it was Bram first, then went to thinking it was all the other dudes.

I Did Love:
*Simon's family!
* This moment with Simon's dad:

*And This Moment:

*And the moment when his dad asks if he got someone pregnant! Or if he was pregnant.

* AND THE BEST MOMENT IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE RIGHT HERE:

Saturday, September 1, 2018

September {2018} YA Book Releases

Reborn by Alex Scarrow

Series: Plague Land #2
Release Date: 1 September 2018