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. 

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. :)

Different Stereotypes and Why I Hate Them

Hey guys! So... I'm currently reading a book that I got off NetGalley and it has me extremely frustrated. As I was reading, the author threw in two stereotypes that I didn't see necessary and they quite honestly ticked me off. That's why I decided to make this post because it got me thinking of all the times authors have thrown in useless stereotypes that not a lot of people can relate to. So here we go!


Race


The first stereotype is one of the most common ones that I've come across. In most of the novels I've read, the main characters are always white. This annoys me because I can't believe the world still sees problems with other races or views interracial/differently raced couples as a "wrong" thing. The world is much more diverse than most authors make it out to be and love is the same way.


LGBTQIA+


This brings me to my next point: LGBTQIA+ relationships in books. More often than not, most of the couples in fictitious novels are straight. Authors need to realize that not everyone in the world is straight and that some of their readers may not be able to connect with their characters. If they were more exploratory with what they wrote, that would be really awesome. Granted there are more books being published about gay and lesbian couples nowadays but there aren't many books for the less well-known sexual orientations and sexual/gender identities.


Physical Attractiveness


More often than not, the female protagonist in a book is super slim, tan, gorgeous, blond, has the perfect body and a bubbly personality. The male protagonist is a hunk with a defined six pack, sexy smile, sometimes he's a jerk or a bad boy, and he's almost always into sports. The majority of society is not like this. We come from all different walks of life; we're all different sizes and body types and most of us don't have the money to buy super expensive cars. The way these characters are built up is especially bad for younger readers because they think they have to be super fit or slim and look and act just how they think society "needs" them to be.




Those are just some of the stereotypes that come hand in hand with fictitious novels that I've read and they really annoy the crap out of me. I hope this post didn't seem too rant-y and I'll see you all next Wednesday. Happy reading!