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.

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.

Roses Are Red... Violet Is Dead by Monica-Marie Vincent | Review

Series: Blood So Violet (Book 1)

Published: March 13th, 2015 by Booktrope Publishing

Pages: 214

Date Finished: July 10th, 2015

Rating: 3/5

Age Recommendation: 12+

Roses Are Red... Violet is Dead by Monica-Marie Vincent is a book about murder and thrilling events that are supposed to keep you engaged and right at the edge of your seat and that's what I was expecting going into this book. It seemed so promising but I was extremely let down and I was surprised when I saw the great ratings it had gotten on Goodreads because I felt like me and everyone else weren't reading the same book. Surely if everyone thinks it's amazing and I don't there must be something wrong with me... This book was a major let-down.

Roses Are Red... Violet Is Dead follows seventeen year old Violet Sumner as she goes about her life trying to be the grown up in the household. After her dad passed away in a terrible accident and her mom is left on disability and turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism, Violet is left to pick up the pieces as well as take care of her mother. One day Violet gets a strange text from a number she's never seen before. This text is the first to come of many. They are made up of the famous Roses Are Red poems except they say things like "Your best friend needs to mind her own business," but in poem form. Violet doesn't think much of it and just brushes it off until weird things start happening in the community such as people dying or going missing. For me though, I had a lot of problems with this book...

The main character is Native American and although I am not Native American myself, I was very offended at how the author stereotyped Native American people. She wrote Violet's mother as a drunk and constantly made offensive references to that culture. Another thing that annoyed me was the use of super excessive swearing. I'm not one of those people who can't handle swearing at all; honestly I don't mind it one bit but with that being said there was way too much of it in this book. There was a swear word on literally almost every page. In my opinion, the author used swearing as a way to cover up for a poorly written book. This book also had horrible teenage dialogue. Monica-Marie creates words and phrases that I've never heard of in my life. One example would be "Are you seriousing me right now?" Nobody says that that I know of and all those made-up words and phrases or things that nobody I know would say really annoyed me.

Even though the writing style wasn't that great at certain points, the story did keep me mildly entertained so I might want to continue the series when the next book comes out if given the chance but this book was just mediocre for me and because of that it gets 3/5 stars.