The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler - Book Review

Hello friends! Today I have another book review for you. I've always been a fan of YA fiction but the last two I read were not so great. So if you have any suggestions for me please let me know! Thanks!

Yes, I probably could have found a great picture of of the book cover, but instead here's one with my adorable dog. Because why not? #zoramgerrard

Also the book title constantly made me think of this Taylor Swift song:

And also, I forgot about this music video. It's kind of funny and awesome. 

SYNOPSIS:

Alright so I'm just going to pull this directly from the inside book cover because it's what immediately drew me in. Listen to how cool this sounds:

"It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long—at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right—and wrong—in the present."

(Taken from GoodReads)

Doesn't that sound awesome? Doesn't that make you want to read this? Doesn't that make you jealous you didn't think of it first? 

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

While the idea behind the synopsis is awesome, if you look back at it the writing in the beginning part is very choppy, boring, and a little too direct. That's how the majority of this book was. Sometimes I worry when I critique these books and say the writing is bad that you may think that I consider myself some amazing writer. I'm not, by the way. I do my best at writing, but I do sometimes go back and find choppy sentences. However, I like to pretend I would never publish a book that way. 

There comes a point where reading this style of writing just gets too boring. When you're constantly being told everything so directly, it leaves nothing to the imagination. One of the points of reading is that you get to escape from the real world and imagine a different one, but in this book I didn't feel that way. I felt like I was reading a news story. Being given facts directly. Personally, I'm just not a fan of this style of writing.

Back to the synopsis, it is undeniably and awesome idea. Teenagers who get to see their futures? And then make changes in their futures by what they do in the present? It's such a cool idea and I was so excited for it... but I just felt let down. I feel like there were so many possibilities in which this could have been taken, but they took the easy, boring, simple route. There wasn't much of a plot or story and then it just ended. It was just... strange... the way this book was plotted out. 

CHARACTERS:

Emma and Josh are our main characters. Emma is crazy. Josh is pretty cool, he's fairly redeemable in this book, but Emma... 

If you don't want anything spoiled, maybe stop reading and skip over to "My Review", though this isn't a terrible spoiler. 

So there's a point where Emma sees who she is married to in the future and sees that they are getting a divorce. Emma, being the crazy teenager she is, finds the guy's number, talks to him, and changes her college plans strictly so that she will never meet this guy and never be married to him. After doing so, her future Facebook page shows her married to someone else.

Okay, so, this is crazy. Emma is so concerned with her future happiness that she makes very bold decisions that change her life in the future. This is the first instance, and probably the biggest, but she does quite a few other things to change her future. It was almost terrifying the kind of power she had. 

Now I think that if this book had been done differently, the fact that Emma can change her future by a simple thought would have been super cool. But because of the way this was written, she just came off as crazy. 

I did not like Emma. She also had a boyfriend that she hated and it really kept irritating me that she kept dragging him along for no reason. She then dumped him partially because he shaved his head, which was so petty I hated it. 

FAVORITE SCENE:

In the beginning it was really fun to have all the 90's references, but it got a little excessive. 

I thought it was really fun for Josh knowing who his future wife was and trying to get her to notice him and school. He wasn't nearly as drastic as Emma and it was cute just seeing how he did subtle things to get her to notice him. Josh was cool. The more I think about this book, Josh was cool.  

MY REVIEW:

I am torn on this book. Part of me wants others to read it because it is such a cool idea. But the writing is just not good and it ends so abruptly and without much resolve, I still have a few questions. 

But overall I was disappointed by this book. Such a cool idea and I just felt let down by how it all turned out. Take that as you want. Read it if you want, I won't really do much to convince you either way, because I'm personally torn. 

Have you read The Future of Us? What are your thoughts on this book? Let me know in the comment section below! 

Fan Art by Sarah Tregay - Book Review

All I do anymore is book reviews. Sorry that I'm not actually sorry.

Today's review is on Fan Art by Sarah Tregay. Before I get into the full review I want to say upfront that I was disappointed by this book. I'll get into the details later, but I felt it had a lot of potential, but didn't live up to it.

Photo Credits: www.sarahtregay.com

SYNOPSIS:

Fan Art is the story of Jamie Peterson in his senior year of high school. He's eager to leave high school and start a new life, one where he can be openly gay. But before that, he realizes he's fallen in love with his best friend.

While Jamie fights to stay in the closet, a group of girls are determined to get Jamie and Mason together. But will telling his best friend the truth ruin a life-long friendship or start a new relationship?

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Fun fact, when I got this book I was not immediately aware it was about a gay boy. Sadly, when I saw the name Jamie and skimmed through the description I thought this story was about a girl. (Sorry to my future nephew Jamie being born in a few months. Don't worry, I'll never mix you up with a girl.)

However, when I learned that this was a LGBTQA book I was even more interested in reading it. I have never read a book with a main character who is gay. I'm married to a man, so it's something I don't relate to, but I'm always open to learning more. So going into this I was excited to see this story from a gay perspective.

I feel that this is a story anyone, gay or straight, can relate to, to a point. Falling in love with your best friend and worrying about ruining the friendship. That's something that can happen to anyone, which is why this book was intriguing to me before I even knew it was about a gay teenager.

I also feel that making the main character gay and having him fall in love with his male, straight best friend is a great way to twist on the relate-able plot line. This book had so much potential to be something truly great, but I felt severely let down.

The story dragged on forever and I didn't understand why. This book was fairly long for what it was. I'm pretty sure I could explain the whole story in a few paragraphs (but I don't want to spoil anything in case you want to read it). There just wasn't enough substance and I had to force myself to finish it because I got very bored.

Yet somehow, this book ended so abruptly. While the boring things seemed to last forever, the ending seemed cut short. It was unfulfilling.

CHARACTERS:

I hate Jamie. I'm sorry. I do. He is incredibly annoying, moody, and he doesn't think straight (ha ha, that's punny and I didn't intend it to be). There were way too many instances when he would take something someone said to him and go off course with it. It was ridiculous. I kept thinking "There is no possible way anyone would get to that conclusion from what was said."

He wasn't a realistic character. Sadly, I have to blame the writing on this one. He's a seventeen year old who acted like a child, with tantrums, with not understanding basic speech by others, and just acting dumb. I've mentioned in other book reviews that I love YA fiction, but when an author can't form a good teenager voice and makes them either too smart or too dumb it can be very frustrating to read.

Jamie's family was interesting to me. His mother was so happy about him being gay. His step-father was very open and understanding about it. His younger, twin sisters were too little to know what was going on. But there there was his birth father, who was mentioned maybe twice. And each time he was mentioned I expected some conflict to come of it, but it never did, and they stopped talking about him immediately. It was weird.

Mason, his best friend, was a good person. Again, family issues were weird to me because there was always hints at conflict that never followed through. Mason wasn't that exciting of a character though, and you would think, with this book coming from Jamie's perspective, I would have fallen in love with Mason just like Jamie did, but I just didn't.

Then there was Eden, Jamie's girl best friend. She was a fun character, but still not a favorite. She also had family conflict that was never fully addressed or resolved. It's like every character had to have something strange in their family or past, but we just ignored it to focus on the love story. I don't understand why that happened, but I wasn't a fan.

I suppose my favorite characters in the whole book were Jamie's younger sisters... and it's probably just because I'm baby hungry. But none of the characters really stood out to me and I barely cared for any of them.

FAVORITE SCENE

Oh man... hmm.... I don't know. I really am not a fan of this book. Not a fan of Fan Art. I guess the one thing that stood out to me was Jamie's passion for getting a certain graphic novel published in the high school literary magazine.

Basically, a graphic novel depicting two gay guys playing a game and kissing was submitted for the magazine and Jamie very strongly wants it to be included, to a point where he's willing to get in trouble to make sure it gets done. I liked that. I liked his passion and that he was so willing to share the story with the whole school. That's probably my favorite part.

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

I read a couple reviews of this book on GoodReads because I wanted to see how this book was viewed by someone who is gay. I think that I'm not alone in saying this book had good intentions and had potential but didn't follow through.

There's a lot of great reviews on there, some positive, some not, but I would maybe suggest reading through those if you're still on the fence of whether or not you should read this book.

MY REVIEW

I don't think I can recommend this book to other people, because I just didn't like it. It's a cute story, I guess. It's not one of those depressing YA novels like what I've read a lot lately. It's very light and happy, there is conflict, but it gets resolved it a unique (abrupt) way. It's not the worst book I've ever read, so I wouldn't judge you if you go read it yourself, but I'm just not a fan myself.

What were your thoughts on Fan Art? Let me know in the comments below! Also, if you know a really good LGBTQA book I should read just let me know, I'd love to check them out!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - Book Review

Another book review? Yes, another book review. I'm currently in a rut. I want to blog, I want this blog to get more followers but I've been so discouraged because it feels like nothing I do helps me get more followers and it's just upsetting. So I'm sticking to what I enjoy, because it keeps me going, and for now, that's a bunch of book reviews.

Photo Credits: www.thelunarchronicles.com

Please keep in mind that this is a sequel. Scarlet is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles. So the synopsis alone had a spoiler to the first book, so maybe check that one out first. You can read my review on the first book, Cinder, by CLICKING HERE.

SYNOPSIS:

Scarlet is a retold version of Little Red Riding Hood. In futuristic France, Scarlet is looking for her missing grandmother. After meaning a street fighter named Wolf, who may have information about her grandmother's whereabouts, she is forced to trust him and they journey together to Paris unraveling mysteries together.

Also returning is Cinder, escaping from prison and teaming up with a fugitive space "captain" as she figures out what's next in her future.

I just realized how cheap these books are on Amazon. I should totally just buy them, I'm so sick of waiting for the library to have them available. The library in my city is not my friend. 

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Fun fact, I read this book in one day. Yes. One day. July 3rd, I got home from church, laid in my bed and read through the entire book. It's not like I do this often and it's a pretty long book too so I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment. 

I liked this book a lot better than Cinder. If you read my last review you may remember that one of my biggest problems was not connecting to the characters. In Scarlet I felt the characters were more interesting and I cared more about their stories. 

The story was well written and less predictable than Cinder. There was a good flow to it and you knew more of what it was leading towards so it kept me interested. I love stories where you know where it's generally headed because then I have something to look forward to. 

Scarlet and Wolf are awesome. I'm a huge fan of shipping love interests (any other Olicity fans here?) and Scarlet and Wolf are amazing. I find it entertaining to have two people so different that are drawn to each other. They have arguments and are more realistic as a couple than two similarly minded people. I very much enjoyed watching their interactions together as they traveled together. 

Also, I love how protective Wolf is of Scarlet even after just meeting her. It's adorable. 

But, on that note, Scarlet is one of the coolest characters ever. She is not afraid to speak her mind or fight, literally fight, for what she believes in. She is such a strong female lead and I'm obsessed. And while she doesn't always need Wolf's protection, she accepts it and is grateful for it. She's just amazing. I love her a lot. One of my favorite strong female leads I've read about in a long time. 

I've also heard (because I am terrible and look at spoilers way too often) that the rest of the Lunar Chronicles has strong female leads. So bravo to Marissa Meyer. 

I also enjoyed the sequences with Cinder. Thorne is an incredible addition to the series. He adds a different level of humor and he's just a fun character to have around. Again, though, I don't have much of a connection to Cinder, which I feel bad about because she's kind of the main person in the series. 

FAVORITE SCENE: 

Train scenes between Scarlet and Wolf. I think particularly jumping onto the train, because the intensity of him wanting to keep her safe is just amazing. 

I also really enjoyed the way Wolf's fighting sequences were written. As a street fighter, there were a couple of these scenes for him and they were enjoyable. As someone who is writing stories about super heroes I can tell you that writing fight scenes are difficult (so difficult, it's the reason I've pushed all my release dates back) but Marissa Meyer handled them very well. 

Scenes focusing on Kai were also good. I love his character a lot and I just feel bad for him a lot having to become emperor at a young age. But every time a scene with him comes along I get excited, even though in this book he basically stayed seated in the same room for every one of his scenes.

MY REVIEW:

I really enjoyed this book. I liked Cinder a lot but this one was so much more enjoyable for me and actually made me love the first book even more. It also got me more excited for the rest of the series. 

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, but definitely read Cinder first. While it is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood a lot of it is unpredictable and it's a book that definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

Side Note: I literally kept singing Little Red's part from "Into The Woods" in my head through this whole book. "Into the woods to grandmother's house!"

I've also had an obsession with James Corden lately and the very end of this clip always makes me laugh.

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven - Book Review

Hello friends! As I think I mentioned (maybe not) this summer I'm trying to get through a lot of books. I set a goal on Goodreads to get through 40 books this year and I've only finished 9! I'm so behind! But this summer I'm working on catching up.

Today I have another book review for you and if I could give this review a sub-title it would by "The Right Book at the Wrong Time." You'll learn more about why in my review. Heads up, this review gets personal, but I'll try to keep it spoiler free.

Photo Credits: www.jenniferniven.com 

SYNOPSIS (from Amazon):

"Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. 

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink."

MY REVIEW:

This book is so difficult for me to review so I'll start with a checklist then explain why this was one of the hardest books for me to read (which may hint at spoilers so if you don't want anything given away then you can stop reading after the "Anyways..." below).

Good writing? Check.

Relate-able characters? Double check.

Well thought out plot? Check.

Researched material? Check.

Tugs at the heart? Major check. 

So yes, this is an amazing book. Initially after reading it, here is the review I posted on Goodreads (Can I advertise this app enough? My goodness!):

Five star book. I stand by that. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone and not just a soft recommendation, I believe that as time goes on I will shove this book into the hands of everyone I meet. I will read this book time and time again because it is worth it. This is one of the most important books I have ever read and I will force it on all my friends and family. Read it. Just stop reading my blog and read this book now. 

This book can easily be compared to The Fault in Our Stars as far as themes go. I loved TFIOS (the book, never saw the movie) but this one blew it all away. While very similar, Finch and Violet are much more relate-able than Hazel and Augustus Waters (how can you not say his full name, it's awesome). Not just in their situation but they were written as actual teenagers. 

Violet and Finch are very realistic teenagers and are written as teenagers, not overly intellectual showing it was clearly written by an adult, but also not incredibly dumb-ed down showing it was clearly written by an adult... one who seems has a low opinion of teenagers (I'm looking at you, book I'm reading right now). 

I'm such a fan of young adult fiction but get a bit annoyed when it's so clearly written by an adult. All The Bright Places is a smart book with smart characters, but they are a realistic teenage smart, which is something I really appreciated in this book. 

All The Bright Places also has a realistic and easy-to-follow plot. It tells a story in a very clean and concise way. While this is the first book I've read by Jennifer Niven, I believe that this is one of her talents, simply based on her "Twelve Writing Tips" on her website, which I highly recommend reading if you're an aspiring author like I am. 

There is sometimes a struggle with books like this where there isn't a clear ending you're working towards. Take something like Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, you know where it's headed the entire time and so each new chapter you know it will lead you closer to the ending. A book like All The Bright Places doesn't have an obvious ending it's headed towards. Yes there are hints, but for the most part you're just going along for the ride not knowing what's ahead. 

In many books with this structure, where it's just a story of people's lives rather than a specific "quest", I tend to get bored. A lot of books like this often through in random fluff to help with the word count and it gets monotonous to read. I did not feel this way with All The Bright Places and this book kept me reading. I read this book fairly quickly because I could not put it down. I basically did not sleep while reading this book. Just worked and read. What a life.

I very much enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, BUT it was incredibly difficult for me to read and while I suggest you continue reading the rest of my review, if you want to avoid any and all hints at a spoiler, maybe you should stop now. 

Anyways... 

As I mentioned this was also the hardest book I've ever read. The reason for that is that it touches heavily on the topic of teenage suicide and mental health, both of which are things I have personal experience with. 

At the age of 17 I attempted suicide and I can tell you right now that the emotions someone feels during something like that are portrayed incredibly accurately in this book. Suicidal tendencies and mental health is a serious topic and as someone with a personal knowledge of it, this book handled it very well and accurately. 

The problem was not the book. The problem was me. With my depression I have the annoying ability to "absorb" the emotions of people around me. If I'm in an upbeat environment I feel happy and when I'm around people who are sad, I get sad. Basically if anyone cries around me, I'll be crying too. Not to mention already dealing with my own depression, which makes feeling other people's sadness only harder on me. 

When reading this book the same thing happened. I very easily felt the emotions being described in this book. I literally had to stop reading in the middle of the night, pull my husband off the couch where he had fallen asleep, and have him hold me until I could regain control over my emotions. It wasn't about being sad because of what was happening in the book, it was literally feeling what the characters were. And it was terrifying. 

Now I feel so strongly about the importance of this book and if I had read it at a better time in my life I would not have reacted so negatively. But (in case you're new to my blog) I had a miscarriage last November and since then my depression has been at it's absolute worst. Even when I was seventeen and wanting to kill myself I did not feel emotional pain like I have this year. 

THIS WAS THE RIGHT BOOK AT THE WRONG TIME. 

This book is perfect. I want to buy it, I want it to be mine, I want to frame it in my home, I want to buy hundreds of copies and send one to each and every one of you, but I should not have read it at this time in my life. 

I finished it about a week ago and I have been recovering since. Part of me wanted to write up this review right away but I was too emotional. And then people spoiled Me Before You to me and I was also angry. Just a mess of emotions really. Still am a bit. Story of 2016 for me. 

Overall I recommend this book so much. I realize that's a weird sentence, but it's 100% true. 

UPDATE: Jennifer Niven replied to my Tweet about this post, so she's basically my new favorite author. Yep.

What were your thoughts on All The Bright Places? Let me know in the comments below! 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer - Book Review

Hello friends! I am so excited to be doing a book review for you guys! I've been trying to get back into the habit of reading, which will hopefully lead into the habit of book club!! Remember my book club? I do, and if you want me to start up again I need your help! Unless I get at least 10 people to join the Dancing Cow Book Club on GoodReads then I will not take the time to do it. So if you want book club, log onto GoodReads and join the club! It'll be awesome and much more planned then previously so let me know if you want it to start up again!

Anyways, today's post is a review on the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It is the first book of the Lunar Chronicles and it's kind of awesome. So without anymore chatting, let's get into my review.

Photo Credits: www.marissameyer.com

Don't want to read a review? You can watch a quick two minute review of Cinder on my YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE! 

Here's a quick synopsis before I get into my review:

Cinder tells the futuristic story of Cinderella. In New Beijing lives a world of androids, humans, and cyborgs. Our heroine, 17 year old Cinder, is one of these cyborgs. As the plague Letumosis moves through across the world, cyborgs are being drafted in to find the cure. And when Cinder is drafted in, they find that there's something special about her, something that could change everything.

I loved that this was a futuristic fairy-tale. Cinderella as a cyborg? Heck yes! That sounds awesome! And it is pretty awesome. Cinder is also a mechanic which I found to be a very unique trait. How many fairy-tale princesses are mechanics? Not any I can think of. The setting is very cool, I personally haven't read any books I can think of that include androids, cyborgs, and people living on the moon... oh yeah, there are people living on the moon. 

There's one particular scene between Prince Kai and Cinder in an elevator that I've honestly read three times now because, yeah, it's kind of hot and amazing. I love reading about budding relationships and page 225, it's a good page. It made me smile. But spoiler alert, they're teenagers, it's not going to be that hot. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I'd say my biggest problem with this book is that I never got fully invested in the characters. It could be a personal thing, but none of the characters really stood out to me and made me fall in love with them. There is also a disadvantage to writing a book based on a fairy-tale. I was just waiting for the announcement of a ball and was not moved in any way when it came. 

I also thought it moved slowly. Marissa Meyer is a fantastic writer and was amazing at descriptions, but there's a point where I don't need play by plays of what hand gestures are being made, I need plot. It was a slow moving plot and I was a little disappointed by that. More importantly, when I finally got truly excited for the story and couldn't put the book down... it ended. There are more books in the series but I was very disappointed that I was only truly interested near the end and had to see it end abruptly. 

Despite my grievances, I highly recommend this book. While it may be able a 17 year old girl, it's not just another young adult novel. This book is so well written. I've been obsessed with YA novels but let's be honest, they aren't all written that well. Marissa Meyer did her research throughout this book and let me see a futuristic world that she created. I think that all ages and all genders can really get interested in this book. 

I recommend this book. It's definitely worth the read and I'm really anxious to read the rest of this series.

What did you think of Cinder? Let me know in the comment section below! 

Book Review: Divergent

If you look at my Book Club page, you will see that I am not doing Book Club for the beginning of 2014. This is because of my hectic semester where I have to read like ten Shakespeare plays. So I have to focus on those rather than reading for fun (although, when I understand what's going on, I usually find Shakespeare fun). I do apologize for this! But if I do read anything in my little bit of spare time, I will write a review and link it up on my Book Club page, like this one.

My Backstory:

I've been wanting to read this book for over a year. I got a preview of it on my Kindle Fire and read the first few chapters. I loved it but the preview was over. So I rented it from the library, but life got in the way. It was when I was working multiple jobs for long hours a day, I was planning a wedding, I was living two hours from my fiance, life was hectic and crazy, so I sadly returned the book to the library, never reading it.

Flash forward to Christmastime when I'm casually walking with my husband through Sam's Club and I see Divergent on a shelf and say out loud "Oh! I need to read this book before the movie comes out!" But my husband hears, "Oh! Buy me this book for Christmas!" ...which he did and I'm truly grateful for that.

The Story (No Spoilers): 

Divergent is about a Dystopian society where everyone is divided into Factions. There's Abnegation, the people who are selfless; Dauntless, those who are fearless; Candor, those who are honest; Amity, those who are kind; Erudite, those who love to learn; and the Factionless, who don't fit in any of the five Factions.

At the age of 16, each member of the society takes an aptitude test to see which Faction they would best fit in, then at the Choosing Ceremony, they get to decide which Faction they want to devote their lives to, potentially leaving behind their family forever.

Beatrice is one of this 16 year old and goes in to take the aptitude test, only her results are inconclusive. The test says she could be Abnegation, Dauntless, or Erudite. She is what they call Divergent. The test doesn't work on her making her a threat to the way society works.

My Review:

I finished this book in two and a half days. I basically didn't put it down after opening it on Christmas. I am not a fast reader, so when I finish a book super fast, you know it has to be a good one. This story does have some slow parts that I struggled to get through and sometimes the author doesn't explain things all that well, but I absolutely LOVED this book!!

Honestly, I may like it better than The Hunger Games , and I'm a big fan of that! The story is very different and it is so compelling. Quick spoiler (but a lame spoiler) the romantic portions of this book are a million times better than The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter. Their relationship grows and builds and feels real, not incredibly forced and fake like in most teen novels.

I don't even know what else to say except that I loved this book and I am anxiously, not patiently, waiting to get the second book so I can read through that. I'm also excited for the movie, because while Tori seemed cheesy in the preview, it overall looks like it'll be a good movie. I'm currently forcing my husband to read this book and he is going to the movie premier with me.

As a side note, I will be making a Divergent craft for said movie premier and will do a tutorial on this blog. I don't want to tell you what it is yet though, but it'll be awesome!

Also, my sister and I took the test to see what Faction we would be. We took the test two different ways: the first way was the straightforward way where you pick one answer for each question, but the second way we wrote out all answers that applied to us for each question and then made a tally of how many of each letter answer we got. I feel the second way is more accurate in determining what you are and gives levels of what your second choice could be and so on. Anyways, I was in Abnegation. I'm not sure if that's what I would choose, but in both tests I was highest in Abnegation. I supposed it has something to do with my Charity of the Month.

Anyways, I highly recommend this book! I absolutely loved it and think that anyone who enjoys the current wave of dystopian books should read this one, because it's one of the best. 

Book Review: Jurassic Park

Chris and I decided to become true Logan-ites and get library cards to the Logan Library. Although, to be honest, I miss the libraries back home. Chris checked out a bunch of books about fishing. I only checked out one book, Jurassic Park.

I've seen the movie a couple times before but have never read the book before. So I decided to give it a try... I finished the book in two days and hardly ever put it down.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton is about an amusement park of sorts. John Hammond buys an island and begins to create his amusement park/zoo. But unbeknownst to the rest of the world, the animals are being created from the DNA of animals from a long long time ago... they were recreating dinosaurs.

This book is terrifying and I for one was glad that I had seen the movie previously, because it kept me from freaking out. Despite the fact that this is the scariest book I've ever read, I LOVED IT!!! This book was so captivating that I literally couldn't put it down or stop thinking about it.

I loved the writing in this book. Michael Crichton is a very talented writer and an amazing story teller. He allows you to feel the same stress and fear the characters are feeling as they encounter the dinosaurs. Everything feels so very real while reading this book.

I highly recommend this book to others. It's thrilling and worth the read!

Matched by Ally Condie: Book Review

So I finished reading Matched by Ally Condie a few weeks ago and have started on the second book, Crossed. These books are wonderfully written! Ally Condie is very talented, she's beautiful with words and ideas. 

Matched is a young adult novel taking place in a dystopian future. Cassia's whole life is decided and orchestrated by the Society. On her seventeenth birthday she is "matched' with the boy she is destined to marry. But when she finds an error in the system and learns she's matched to two different boys, her life gets changed in so many ways. 

This book is incredibly similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry. In both book the "society" the live in is very much planned out and organized. They are very similar to each other, but both have their own distinct story. This book has also been compared to The Hunger Games, which is possibly my favorite book series, but I'm not sure if there's a huge connection between the two besides a female lead and a twisted society. 

I really liked Matched. I felt it was slow in some parts so it was difficult for me to get through. Characterization was a little weak. I feel like I don't know the characters enough to really feel for them. If we're comparing Matched to The Hunger Games, Katniss is much better developed and you feel for her character so strongly, while Cassia you just follow along in her story. I love when books can just completely pull you in, rather than just bring you along for the ride. Matched only took me for a ride. Ally Condie is a very talented writer and I loved this idea! Her story line is fantastic! Slow, but fantastic. 

 I do recommend this novel, especially to the young adults for whom it is written. It is worth the read. 

As a note, the third novel in this series, Reached, comes out November 13th, four days from now. I'm currently on page 68 of the second one, Crossed, so I might not be there to buy it as soon as it comes out. 

If you've read this novel and have your own thoughts to share, please leave a comment! Thanks for reading! 

--Kaylee

Book Review: After Hello, Lisa Mangum

So I'm in Logan for the weekend and am currently sitting in my boyfriend's apartment while he's at work. Super exciting! But he is letting me use his laptop so I can update this and my other blog. Yay!

So I finished this book a while ago entitled After Hello by Lisa Mangum. You can read a synopsis and other reviews here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13599163-after-hello (I also recommend becoming a user of Good Reads. Why? Because you can win free books!)

So I hate to say this, but I was disappointed by this book. For anyone who doesn't know, Lisa Mangum is also the author of The Hourglass Door Trilogy. I loved those books! They are a simple-to-read series with a good love story and exciting plot (okay, if I was giving a full review I would have a few complaints, but overall I recommend it). However, Lisa Mangum's newest book failed to excite me as much.

After Hello is about Sara on a trip to New York. She meets a guy, Sam, and they set off on an adventure together. Wonderful story line. Very addicting book. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop! I have no complaints about Lisa Mangum and her writing, she is a very talented writer, she really draws you into a story.

Sara and Sam are very unrealistic characters though. As I was reading I found myself thinking "No one on earth acts like this, especially at the age of 17." And the whole situation they were in was unrealistic as well. SPOILER ALERT! The actress they meet up with, Piper... yes I've never met a real celebrity, but her character is so over-the-top and so un-likeable that I was irritated with what she was causing Sam and Sara to do. People don't act like this.

I loved the scenery and the way that Lisa Mangum describes the scenery. She is a very artistic writer and having her main character, Sara, be a photographer really allowed for the story to have beautiful scenic elements. Lisa Mangum is wonderful at describing a scene and that's one of the reasons I love her writing style.

This book had beautiful written quotes. For example:

"If you don't know what you want, you'll never get it. What's more, if you don't know what you want, you'll never know when you do get it." Page 62

"Passion is what makes the world go round. Passion is what drives us to be better than we are. Passion is what makes our emotions -whether love or hate or laughter- ignite and blaze into life." Page 107

This is a teen book, so if you're a teen looking for a fun, simple love story, I highly recommend reading this book! But if you're in your twenties, like me, it might not be the best read for you. It's nothing intellectual and it's not a passionate romance. Just a simple teenage story of a crush. It's cute. I liked it overall, but it's not something I'll want to read again.

If you've read it and have your own opinion, please leave a comment! I LOVE MY READERS!

--Kaylee