To All the Boys I've Loved Before | Review

Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Published: April 15th, 2014 by Simon & Schuster

Pages: 368

Date Finished: December 22nd, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 12+

This book was so adorable... It follows sixteen year old, sweet and immensely innocent Lara-Jean Song who has loved a total of five boys in her life. Every time a love comes to an end, she writes a farewell letter to the boy as a way of letting go and then she stows it away in the teal hatbox her mother gave her as a gift, never to be seen by anyone but her again. But one day something goes terribly wrong. Lara-Jean's hatbox goes missing along with all her love letters which the boys all secretly receive.

I loved this whole book, which was a surprise to me since I had seen a lot of negativity surrounding it. The characters were so likeable. Lara-Jean was such a sweetheart; I found Kitty to be mature beyond her years and although I didn't connect with Margot all that much, I still liked reading about her. Dr. Covey seemed like such a laidback character and I was rooting for both Josh and Peter to be with Lara-Jean. Josh was very protective of Lara-Jean and I found that to be really heartwarming. I just wanted to cuddle him and whenever him and Laura-Jean had a semi-romantic scene, you'd better believe I was squealing. Especially when the jealous kiss happened. Eep! In the beginning, I didn't like how cocky Peter was but as the book went on, his "tough guy" wall came crashing down and by the end, my heart was mush for him.

This book is just so cute! I can't wait to read the next one. :)

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition) | Review

Series: -

Published: April 21st, 2015 by Amulet Books

Pages: 295

Date Finished: December 13th, 2015

Rating: 3/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 13+

I was really hoping to love this book. It has been compared to The <b><i>Fault in Our Stars</i></b> which made me really excited seeing as that book was one of my favourites of 2014 but honestly, <b><i>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl</i></b> was <i>nothing</i> like that book! The only similarity between them was that there was a character with cancer. And to be completely truthful, I don't know if it's just me, but Rachel felt like a side character with not much importance.

The book <i>mainly</i> focuses on Greg and how he refuses to make anything resembling a friend and Greg and Earl making crappy homemade movies. And again... Earl also seems of little importance to the story. Maybe it's just the way Jesse Andrews writes but I felt so disconnected from the story.

The book was also supposedly funny but I didn't laugh once... To me the story was quite bland and although there were very few redeeming qualities and characters that brought this book up to three stars for me (Mr. Mcarthy being one of them...) I wouldn't recommend this book. 

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging | Review

Series: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Published: April 11th, 2006 by HarperTeen

Pages: 231

Date Finished: December 12th, 2015

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 12+

I remember reading some of the books in this series in late elementary school and the early years of high school and absolutely busting a gut laughing and as I re-read this first installment recently, I was surprised that I almost didn't find it funny at all... There were rare moments when I giggled or cracked a smile but for the most part, I found this story just light and fluffy and even bland at times.

I never realized in the past how much dark humor is used in these books with references to killing, suicide, cutting, incest and perverted guys. All of which I probably had a reason to find funny years ago (being immature and all) but I just didn't anymore. More often than not I actually found myself cringing or rolling my eyes and while it can be entertaining at times --probably enough that I'll continue the series-- a lot of the time it was just really underdeveloped.

Not much more can be said...

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children | Review

Series: Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

Published: June 7th, 2011 by Quirk

Pages: 352

Date Finished: December 11th, 2015

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 12+

What would you do if you realized everything you'd ever known didn't hold the slightest bit of truth no matter how much you wanted to believe otherwise?

Jacob Portman is an awkward and lonesome teenager who believes his life is never going to amount to anything. He grew up breathless at his grandfather's countless tales that seemed to be woven from the most clever of imaginations. But one day, he decides he's too wise for his grandfather's laughable stories and seems to wish they never existed... That is until a tragic family trauma makes Jacob question everything he ever thought possible --the far fetched fables that his grandfather spun as well as his grandfather's marred past included.

<b>Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children</b> is the utterly fascinating first installment to Ransom Riggs' spectacular trilogy <b>Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children.</b> It will leave you craving for more long after the last page is turned. 

The way Riggs' writes is so smooth and flawless, it's like reading a fairytale fit for kings and queens. It's so fluid and detailed. The character's are fleshed out perfectly and each have their own quirks and intricacies.

The worldbuilding is so well thought out and infused that I didn't ever want to stop reading and there was action to boot.

The only flaw I saw within this book was the chapter lengths which could be very tedious to get through and I could get a bit flustered at times but if you want a unique story, I highly recommend this book. It's full of fantasies, horrors, a little bit of romance and just a hint of humor everyone is sure to love.

Flawless (Pretty Little Liars #2) | Review

Series: Pretty Little Liars

Published: February 19th, 2008 by Harper Teen

Pages: 330

Date Finished: December 4th, 2015

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 13+

Okay... Let's be real here. That book just blew me away. Honestly. There were even more plot twists and lies and grimy secrets. I couldn't believe it. This series just keeps getting better and better.

Spencer and Hanna did piss me off a little though with the way they treated guys. For example, Andrew Campbell was so adorable and you could tell he really liked Spencer. He was practically giddy over her and when he asked to do karaoke with her, Spencer's reply really rubbed me the wrong way. My heart instantly broke for Andrew. Same with the way Hanna treated Sean. She was just awful to him at times. Especially when he was with Aria at Foxy.

Now... There's something on my mind that is making me feel like a disgusting, putrid human being... I was sympathetic toward Toby and when he took the pills and died, my heart broke just a little. I know what he did to Jenna was horrible and disgusting but it seemed that he had really changed or was at least trying to. The things he did for Emily were just so sweet and I'm so torn over his character.

There's only one thing that I wasn't too fond of in this book... With every new secret/lie/bit of information, it became hard to follow the story at times as there was so much going on. The story itself was amazing but it could be confusing at times which is why I docked half a star.

I can't wait to continue this series and if you don't mind investing a lot of time in a series that has tons of books, then I totally recommend this.

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard | Review

Series: The Pretty Little Liars Series

Published: October 1st, 2006 by HarperCollins Publishers

Pages: 286

Date Finished: November 30th, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 13+

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard captured my attention from the very first breathtaking page to the last. I had previously read most of the Pretty Little Liars series a couple years ago but decided to stop out of boredom and there being too many books but there were so many things I liked about this first installment.

Pretty Little Liars is the first of many books following four teenage girls -Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna- after the mysterious disappearance of their friend Alison DiLaurentis.  Ali has been missing for three years and she was the only one who knew her friend's deepest, darkest secrets.

Just when the girls are starting to recover from the loss of their friend, they simultaneously start receiving creepy text messages holding within them all the secrets from the girls' pasts; things only Ali herself would have known. This book definitely keeps you gripping the edge of your seat.

As for the characters... Even though they have some tremendous secrets under wraps and make some really horrible decisions, most of the time you can see their reasoning behind those mistakes.

Aria is probably my favorite character. I just love how out-there and unique she is

There were also some things that I viewed as bonus material in this book. Even though there were 35 chapters, the chapter length ranged from about 5 pages to 12 so the reading experience really breezed along.

Another thing that helped with that was Sara's writing style. It's very simple but it flowed seamlessly and her vocabulary kept you wanting more.

If you haven't read this series yet, I highly recommend it! Now, off to read book two.

Wet Silence by Sweta Srivastava Vikram | Review

Series: World Voices

Published: July 1st, 2015

Pages: 56

Date Finished: September 4th, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: 16+

I received Wet Silence by Sweta Srivastava Vikram in exchange for an honest review and I was really excited to read it. I haven't read much poetry before and when I got to the final page of this book I was blown away.

Wet Silence is a collection of beautifully crafted poetry based on the true stories and interviews of  Hindu widows in India and how society treats them as well as how they feel after the deaths of their husbands. Each poem was seamlessly written and I was left with a new perspective after each one.

Some of the things depicted in this book had me in shock. I had no idea this type of thing happened in the world and I my heart truly goes out to anyone who has been affected by events like these. The poetry was raw and real and stunning and I couldn't have asked for a more fabulous book to review. It really opened my eyes and made me be grateful for all of the good things in my life.

I highly advise everybody to give it a read if they are looking for something full of amazing strength and courage and something that will make you extremely thankful.

If you have a moment please take a look at this wonderful video of Sweta doing a reading of Wet Silence in Queens. It would be greatly appreciated.

About the Poet

Sweta Srivastava Vikram, featured by Asian Fusion as "One of the most influential Asians of our time," is an award-winning writer, three times Pushcart Prize nominee, Amazon bestselling author of nine books, novelist, poet, essayist, and columnist, who currently lives in New York City with her husband. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, and online publications across nine countries in three continents. A graduate of Columbia University, Sweta reads her work, teaches creative writing workshops, and gives talks at universities and schools across the globe.

Sunshine by abstracts | Review

Series: -

Published: April 22nd, 2015 by Wattpad

Pages: Unknown

Date Finished: September 1st, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: -

Sunshine by abstracts was a wonderful short story. I wasn't expecting much at all going into it but as soon as I dived in, it turned out to be amazing. It was light, fluffy and adorable with all the right points of seriousness thrown in.

It follows the story of Rain and his ex-best friend Sunny as Rain writes unsent letters to her about how she hurt him by just leaving their friendship without a warning. Rain just thinks Sunny left because she wanted to be friends with the popular kids at school and she thought Rain was too lame for her, but it turns out there is a much deeper plot and the reason for Sunny leaving the friendship is not the reason Rain thought of at all.

In the beginning, I really disliked Sunny because I didn't know her true intentions and I felt horrible for Rain but after finding out why Sunny did what she did, I understood her a lot better.

I loved the cute things Rain would say and how deeply in love he was with Sunny even though he doesn't know it.

This short story was amazing and I'd definitely recommend it.

Velvet Vests by xPureChances | Review

Series: The Garments Series

Published: July 29th, 2014 by Wattpad

Pages: 14

Date Finished: August 29th, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: --

Velvet Vests by xPureChances was just as amazing as the other books in The Garments Series. I was not disappointed at all and was quite pleasantly surprised that the book featured a disabled person since I am disabled myself. I could identify with lot of the situations Reed had to go through on a daily basis because I've dealt with them myself. The author did a great job at approaching things with an open mind and didn't come across as offensive at all, which I really appreciated.

Velvet Vests is the wonderful love story of Reed -who is wheelchair bound after a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down- and Leo, also known as Ghost -an able bodied teenage boy who loves Reed with all his heart, much to Reed's dismay. It follows Reed as she tries to overcome the denial that Ghost is just using her and maybe even wanting her for unspoken things and Ghost who, despite being shot down by Reed time and time again, continues to pine after her heart in the most adorable ways. That all gets wrapped up in a short while with an end you definitely don't see coming.

I absolutely loved Reed and -as stated before- could really identify with her. Especially since I've felt the way she felt numerous times about Ghost, just in my personal life with other guys. I admire the author for taking such a brilliant, risky step with Reed as a character and refusing to shy away from reality that, yes, people do stare and many people are not at all comfortable with the fact that there are people with different struggles around in our everyday lives. I also enjoyed how she showed the kindness in Ghost and made me realize that not all people are out to get disabled individuals and sometimes people really do love and care about you. Ghost is such a sweetie. I do wish Velvet Vests was just a little bit longer though... It was sort of short compared to the other books in the series.

I loved Velvet Vests and I will surely be continuing the series with Cotton Cardigans and Hodden Hoodies. 

Lacy Leathers by xPureChances | Review

Series: The Garments Series

Published: July 8th, 2014 by Wattpad

Pages: 23

Date Finished: August 28th, 2015

Rating: 5/5 stars

Age Recommendation: --

This whole series has been amazing so far. The author really has a clear idea of where she wants each story to go which can sometimes be quite difficult. I couldn't wait to dive into Lacy Leathers by xPureChances. The book definitely lived up to my expectations. I honestly couldn't get enough of Valerie and Shar.

Lacy Leathers follows the story of Valerie and Shar and how they deal with the horrible racism thrown at Shar by Valerie's parents and the rest of society because of Shar's ethnicity. He has darker skin while Valerie is white.

Shar and Valerie face unbelievable situations in this book and things that nobody should have to go through, yet they still won't give up on one another and they're determined to prove that the color of your skin means absolutely nothing, especially in terms of love.

I really enjoyed the romance between Shar and Valerie. It was really cute. Also, the love triangle aspect as well as the gang elements were wonderfully executed.

I will definitely be continuing the series with Velvet Vests. It's gonna be great. :)