Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Publication: April 7th 2015 by Penguin

Genre: Young adult fiction, Contemporary

Pages: 303

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Review:

 This is yet another book that has been sitting on my shelf since the summer and have finally pulled it out of my TBR jar, this was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed it.

*DISCLAIMER* Don't read this book when you are hungry or are a recovering Oreo addict, you will suffer terribly....

I loved this book from start to finish. Where to start...I loved the overall plot of this story, Simon has been emailing another boy from his school anonymously, Martin one of Simon's classmates finds out that Simon is gay and has been emailing this other boy and he uses this to blackmail Simon. Throughout the book we see Simon dealing with this and trying to keep his sexual identity hidden from other students while trying to figure out the identity of  'Blue' the guy he has been emailing. I just found the whole idea of this story to be very good at it kept my attention the whole way throughout the book.

I love the idea of the hidden identity of Blue.To be honest I could not guess that Blue was who it turned out to be, I was totally surprised which I really like because I hate when an ending is easily revealed from the start of the book because then there is no excitement or curiosity.

I liked the various friendships in this book between Simon and his other friends. The chapters in this book are split between real life and emails between Simon and Blue so I found you were never getting bored of either one and always craving the next email segment, I think this is one of the reasons I flew through this book!

I have not read too may books that deal with the LGBT community but I think books like this being there for teens to read is very good as in this generation it is something we hear a lot of and have come to accept the LGBT community more and more.

I really recommend this book for everyone as I think it is a book everyone would enjoy as it was realistic but funny read that contained a lot of Oreo references... that's all for now bye :)

Rating:

Review: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Title: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Publication: April 2nd 2015 by Walker Books

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 429

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Synopsis:

From the author of The Sky Is Every­where, a radiant novel that will leave you laughing and crying - all at once. For fans of John Green, Gayle Forman and Lauren Oliver. Jude and her twin Noah were incredibly close - until a tragedy drove them apart, and now they are barely speaking. Then Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy as well as a captivating new mentor, both of whom may just need her as much as she needs them. What the twins don't realize is that each of them has only half the story and if they can just find their way back to one another, they have a chance to remake their world.

Review:

I bought this book this summer as I had seen many Booktubers talking about how absolutely amazing it was and how it was there new favourite book. So of course I had to go and buy it for myself when I saw it on offer!

I think I shall just jump right in about how I feel about this book and judging from the reviews I have been reading on Goodreads I seem to be in the minority on this one..but I didn't find this book that good. If I was to describe this book in one word that word would be, MEH...(that's not even a word) I mean this book wasn't all bad but it wasn't what I was hoping for really.

I felt like I could relate to Noah and Jude the main characters in this book in some ways as Noah and Jude are twins and I myself have a twin brother (random fact about me). This book is not exactly split into chapters but there is sections where you follow Jude's point of view and sections in Noah's point of view, each time at different stages of their life as they both deal with their teen years and the loss of a family member in their own separate ways. I found that if I had to pick out of the two I would say I enjoyed Noah's point of view more as I found it less confusing to read, if you have read the book you probably know what I am talking about because in the book the character of Jude has a weird obsession with ghosts, superstitions and the ghost of her dead Grandma and you can even imagine at times this can be a very confusing combination to read. (I hope I explained that ok)

Sometimes I think I don't enjoy certain books because I just don't get all the in-depth metaphors and lines with deeper meanings and all that jazz....so if your like me this book didn't have a very gripping plot it just kind of sauntered along, yes I found Jude's and Noah's various relationships to be slightly intriguing but I think at that point I was clinging to anything remotely interesting to keep my attention on the book.

Like I said before and I think it is good to bring up as I did start this blog to promote real, honest reviews from a teens perspective and for a teen like me I felt the writing style in this book is very unique which isn't a bad thing but it can be hard for some people my age to wrap their head around, you know what I mean? And I felt the lack of a proper plot made it very boring at times.

I won't end this review on a bad note though, I think if you like reading unique writing styles and books that really make you think about the meaning of things and...if you really like art  I think you will really like this book. As I said I am in the minority for this one and a lot of people think it is amazing! So give it a go you may like it you might not! That's all I have for now if you read this book I would like to here your opinions on it in the comments below.

Rating:

Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Publication: April 12th 2012 by Orion

Genre: Young-adult fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor. Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try

Review:

After loving 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell, I decided to pick up Eleanor and Park which has been sitting on my bookshelf for a while now just waiting to be read. Eleanor and Park did not disappoint!

 I loved this book, I think I liked the characters in this book the best. I loved the character of Eleanor, I love the way she comes across at the start of the book in the way she dresses and she just generally comes across like she doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. Later on in the book we see just like any teens nowadays that she still is quite self-conscious and has her own problems at home. I really like the contrast in character between Eleanor and Park, I think it shows a fine example of something I learned in science class...opposites attract!..well not exactly, but that's another reason I loved this book. This may be hard for me to explain but I have a love/hate relationship with those books were the main characters fall in love insistently and it was love at first sight and all that, as in I love them because we all dream of having relationships like that and it makes me feel good to read...but I hate them because they are so unrealistic, like seriously things like that just don't happen in the real world. In this book the relationship building was just perfect it had the all the awkwardness of young love and it happened slowly through out the book, from comics to cassettes....

My favourite additional characters were Eleanor's friends, DeNice and Beebi and Park's mom Mindy.

I found DeNice and Mindy's conversations with Eleanor after gym class left me laughing out loud sometimes while reading.I also thought Park's mom Mindy to be so funny, I don't think her character was supposed to be funny but I just found how brutally honest and to the point she is to be hilarious at times.

The relationship between Eleanor and Park in this book was the kind of relationship in a book where I could literally read a never ending book about it and never get bored, it just seemed so real and true, it wasn't always perfect and there was bumps in the road, but you could still see they were meant for each other.

But obviously to make a good story (even if we may not like it) there always has to be the bad guys to balance out the good. And lets just say that the plot twist at the end made it really clear who the bad guy in this story was, like holy crap Richie better go burn in the pits of hell. Obviously we know that he is the bad guy from the start as he seems to be abusive towards Eleanor's mom, but the ending of the book....I can't even, Richie is just the devil! That is all I have to say...

For anyone who has already read this book you are going to know what I am talking about, if not you might as well skip this part. The ending of this book left me so annoyed, I hate cliffhangers! What were the 3 words Eleanor sent to Park, I know the obvious answer would probably be "I love you" but I am the kind of person that needs a defiant answer to these kind of things After reading the authors note at the end of the book, where the author talks a bit about the last three words, I changed my mind a little bit as I like the way she explains that she felt it was a private moment between the two of them, and that it felt rude intruding on that special moment, that it should be kept to themselves, it didn't feel right to share what Eleanor wrote...It still kind of pissed me off though..

Although this story didn't necessarily have the happy ending I was expecting, I feel it suited the book the more I thought about it and the more I read the authors note in the back.They are only 17 years old! it may be the end of the book, but they have may more days ahead of them. Like Rainbow Rowell said "I don't believe that 17-year-olds get happy ending. They get beginnings".

Rating:

Comment below :) 

Review: Looking For Alaska by John Green

 Title: Looking For Alaska by John Green

Publication: February 28th 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers

Genre: Young-adult fiction

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback

Source: Gift

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Synopsis:

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. After. Nothing is ever the same.

Review: ( May contain spoilers)

I received this book as a Christmas present last year and I couldn't wait to read it. I had read John Green's other books such as 'The Fault in Our Stars','Paper Towns' and 'Will Grayson,Will Grayson'

and I have to say apart from 'Will Grayson,Will Grayson' which I found reading to be a bit confusing, I found all of John's other books to be amazing, I love 'The Fault in Our Stars' and I think the movie compliments the book well, and I found the movie adaptation of 'Paper Towns' to be good also.

I was expecting to really enjoy this book and could not wait to finally pick it up recently, only to find that it was kind of a let down to me....and before you click out of this review, let me explain why.

I like John Green's style of writing its just so out of the ordinary like how did he even think of the Black Santa thing from 'Paper Towns' like seriously! In this book, I see the quirkiness of John Green's writing as I find that only in a John Green book would the main character Miles Halter, have an obsession with knowing peoples famous last words.

This may sound strange but one thing I quite liked about this book was the fact that it was set in a boarding school, Culver Creek. I don't know why but ever since I was younger, when I really started to like reading and became a little bookworm, I was obsessed with books about boarding schools or set in boarding schools.I loved books such as 'The Naughtiest Girl' and 'Malory Towers' by Enid Blyton, I think I just found the idea of boarding school so cool, I never really planned on going myself but I still loved reading about them and I think a part of me still loves books set in boarding schools I just don't know why...

So early on in my blogging life, I don't really know how to write negative reviews but to be honest I found this book to be quite...boring. Nothing really stood out to me the characters were average, the plot was average and overall I just didn't get that feeling I enjoy from books, that feeling when you think " Wow this book is amazing, I have to drop everything to finish it" and that just didn't happen like it happened with other works by John Green.

 By the time I got to the After section of this book it felt like every time I went to read my book it was a chore. I think in some ways I found 'Looking For Alaska' and 'Paper Towns' to be too similar, the main characters both end up searching for the one they love, I know your all probably screaming at your screens right now  "how are they the same Margo was alive and Alaska is dead!", but its just my opinion...

I don't really know what else to say about this book...I didn't love it....but I didn't necessarily hate it either... I am just finding it hard to put into words why I didn't like it, but I can't seem to think of many definite reasons, I just simply didn't enjoy it very much. Sorry this review was not my best work but I decided to post it anyway instead of scraping it as practice makes perfect! The more books I review the better I will get at writing reviews,hopefully. Don't let this review turn you off John Green's books all together I highly recommend 'The Fault in Our Stars' to anyone who has not read it yet.

Rating:

Any tips on how I can improve my reviews? Comment below.. 

Review: Quidditch Through The Ages

Title: Quidditch Through The Ages by J.K Rowling, Kennilworthy Whisp (Pseudonym)

Publication: 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Genre: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

Pages: 105

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis:

If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the Bludgers came into existence or why the Wigtown Wanderers have pictures of meat cleavers on their robes, you need Quidditch Through the Ages. This edition is a copy of the volume in Hogwarts School Library, where it is consulted by young Quidditch fans on an almost daily basis.

Review:

I picked up this book over the summer holidays while scouting various charity shops for books. I do this every now and then before I make a book purchase online as you never know what you might find, you may save yourself a few euro, which if your anything like me,you will just spend on more books...oh the life of a book addict...

If I am to be totally honest I never even knew this book existed but when I saw it I knew I had to buy it, I didn't even read the back, I just saw Quidditch, J.K Rowling and I was sold I knew it was something I had to add to my ever growing Harry Potter collection.

This book is a must read for any Harry Potter fan. It gives you a quick taster of the wizarding world when you need to escape the muggle world for a while. This book is written and designed to look like it came out of the library at Hogwarts, with the library record inside the front cover showing that characters such as Hermione Granger has borrowed the book out of the library in the past. I also really like the "Praise for this book" page, for example:

"I've read worse"- Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet

I also found the introduction to this book to be very funny. Before the book starts there is a short introduction written by Albus Dumbledore about his struggles with Madam Pince the librarian at Hogwarts, and her horror at the idea of letting the book out into the muggle world for muggles to read.

The book itself is very short and I read it in two short sittings. You learn many things from this book about the game of Quidditch, how it came about, rules, teams and about Quidditch nowadays. It is kind of like reading a history book except you actually want to read it and its interesting, instead of nearly falling asleep over your history textbook.

If this review wasn't enough to convince you to buy this book,maybe this will...J.K Rowling kindly wrote this book for Comic Relief. Comic Relief is a charity that raises money to help some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the poorest countries of the world. Proceeds from the sale of this book went to Comic Relief.

In conclusion, I found this book to be a fast and enjoyable read and it is a must have for any Harry Potter Addict.

Rating:

Don't let the muggles get you down...

Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments, Book #6
Publication: May 28th 2014 by Walker Books Ltd
Genre: Fantasy, Young-adult, Urban fantasy
Pages: 733
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository
Rating: 4/5 Stars

Synopsis:

Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the internationally bestselling The Mortal Instruments series. Erchomai, Sebastian had said. I am coming. Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary's own brother. Nothing in this world can defeat him - must they journey to another world to find the chance?

Review:

I would like to start this review by saying that this review may contain spoilers...and I am blaming it all on this being only the second review I have ever written so I am focusing a lot on trying to write the review in the first place, that when I get started talking about something, I just won't stop, You have been warned....

So...where to start, I guess at the beginning. I picked up the mortal instruments series around the time I started watching booktubers, which was a good few months back. The Mortal Instruments was all anyone was talking about on booktube everyone doing reviews, reading it, ranting on about it in book talks and to be honest I felt kind of left out, why hadn't I read this series yet? So I went out and bought it and by the time I got around to finishing the series ( only recently) everyone else had moved on to raving about a new upcoming book.

I found the series as a whole quite enjoyable even though I am only now starting to read more fantasy books. Although I did find towards the middle of the series that it was dragging on a bit too long and I was getting slightly bored of reading about the adventures of Clary, Jace and the gang, but one habit I can never break is that once I start a series I can not read anything else until I finish it ( unless it is under serious circumstances such as a dreaded reading slump) so I pushed through and manged to complete the series.

To my surprise I actually really enjoyed the last installment of the series 'City of Heavenly Fire' as I was nearly ready to give up on the series toward the end and when I saw the size of the last book...lets just say it didn't help, but I think it was my favourite of the lot.

I like how well the author balanced the characters relationships with action and plot twists, as I don't want to read 200 pages on two characters being all soppy and in love and yet I don't want to have to go through 200 pages of action and fighting in order to see how their relationship has progressed. I personally think the author hit this balance just right and I really enjoyed the relationships that were formed between all of the characters not just Clary and Jace.

I have to say the villain of this book, Sebastian, was kind of creepy to me. I get that he wants to rule over hell and what-not, but I found his relationship with Clary to be kind of disturbing at times.Although the ending of the book changed my views toward Sebastian slightly as that ending was just incredible...like holy crap the feels..I was not expecting to feel even the tiniest bit sorry for Sebastian, but the way the ending was written had me feeling sorry for him, or shall I say Jonathan.

Overall, I think what I most enjoyed about this book was the ending. Okay, the rest of the book was good too but it's nothing we haven't already seen in the other books in the series in my opinion. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the action leading up to the ending, but it was those last few chapters that made me thankful of my habit of completing a series once I start.

This may not make a lot of sense to a lot of you guys, but the first thing that popped into my head when trying to think of how to explain the ending was William Shakespeare. You see I don't know an awful lot about Shakespeare, but in my English class in school we have studied 'The Merchant of Venice' by William Shakespeare and I remember my teacher saying to us that there are two types of Shakespeare plays: Tragedies and comedies. In tragedies everyone dies and in comedies everyone lives happily ever after and gets married....The ending to this book definitely reminded me of a comedy, everyone gets together, Simon comes back, Magus and Alec make-up, the wedding....I am a sucker for endings like this and this one was no exception.

In conclusion, I found this book good, but it was the ending that was unforgettable to me, I would recommend this series to lovers of Fantasy and anyone who is just starting to get into reading Fantasy like me as there is still references to the real world so it doesn't feel totally made up.

Rating:

That's all for now...

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

         

Title: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Publication: October 2013 by St. Martin’s Griffin

Genre: Young-adult fiction

Pages: 433

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought

Buy: Amazon UK / The Book Depository

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Synopsis:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park. A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review:

So...my first ever time trying to write a book review, lets see how this goes...

Fangirl is the first ever Rainbow Rowell book I have read and I am sure it won't be the last because of all the great reviews I am seeing about ' Carry On' the spin-off that compliments Fangirl.

I have to say I loved this book! It was a very quick read for me and I had it finished in a few days.

I love this book as I feel that its very relatable for all us fangirls out there. Weather you fangirl over bands,books, or whatever...we have all come across the term 'fan-fiction' most like myself have probably even read a bit or two and some going as far as writing their own ( I have...) and that is a main focus of this story in my opinion.I love the way Rainbow Rowell has written the book in such a way as although the main plot is about the relationship between Cath and Levi, I find myself looking forward to the end of the chapter so I can have myself a little Simon and Baz action as well.

My favourite character in this story is obviously Cath as I find myself in her in so many ways, first off the whole fangirl thing...but also how she is quite shy and anti-social around those she doesn't know or has just met, but once you get to know her you realize how weird and crazy she is ( In a good way).I also find the character Levi perfect, in my opinion he is the stereotypical proof of: "Boys in books are always better"

I found this book to be quite a light hearted read, it wasn't a very fast paced book but at the same time I just couldn't put it down and although I really enjoyed it I found the ending quite disappointing as the book doesn't really lead anywhere, if you know what I mean..it just kind of ends ( I am so bad at explaining things) Overall I found this book quite enjoyable and I would recommend this book to everyone who fangirls over anything....anything at all...it could be pizza for all I care, but this book will not disappoint!

Rating: 

That's all for now