Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen | Book Review

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Reading Group: 17+

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars 

Given Summary: Sydney's handsome, charismatic older brother, Peyton, has always dominated the family, demanding and receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention. And when Peyton's involvement in a drunk driving episode sends him to jail, Sydney feels increasingly rootless and invisible, worried that her parents are unconcerned about the real victim: the boy Peyton hit and seriously injured. Meanwhile, Sydney becomes friends with the Chathams, a warm, close-knit, eccentric family, and their friendship helps her understand that she is not responsible for Peyton's mistakes. Once again, the hugely popular Sarah Dessen tells an engrossing story of a girl discovering friendship, love, and herself.

Cover: The cover of this novel has the carousel that Mic finds in the woods behind his house.  They only visit the carousel once in the novel and I do wish that they went a few more times because it seems like it would be more important if it's on the front cover.

My Review: I enjoyed this story because I thought it dealt with a very different scenario than any other books I've read.  Sydney has to deal with the guilt that was left on her when her brother hurt a stranger and it's hard for her to admit that guilt because it would mean going against her brother and her family.  She also has a mother that only likes things a certain way while Sydney just wants to be noticed.  That's why she spends so much time with the Chatham family and out of her own house.  The Chatham family is one that I think everyone needs in their life.  The family that is "crazy" but also the family that would do anything for each other.  I liked that they were all so different from each other.  In this story, Sydney found out who she was and what was important to her.  It's something a lot of people can relate to because we all have moments when we feel invisible and moments when we wish we were invisible, but at the same time we want to know who we are and be accepted as such.  We also all need people looking out for us and Sydney found that in the Chatham family and I liked how Mic gave her the saint pendant so she had someone above looking gout for her.  I think this one is one of my favorite Sarah Dessen books (I've got a huge soft spot for Just Listen) and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys Dessen's works.

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Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke | Book Review

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke 

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars 

Given Summary: The intrigue of The Raven Boys and the "supernatural or not" question of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer coalesce in this young adult mystery, where nothing is quite as it seems, no one is quite who you think, and everything can change on a dime. 

Every story needs a hero. 
Every story needs a villain. 
Every story needs a secret.  

Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous. 

What really happened? 
Someone knows. 
Someone is lying. 

For fans of Holly Black, We Were Liars, and The Virgin Suicides, this mysterious tale full of intrigue, dread, beauty, and a whiff of something strange will leave you utterly entranced.

Cover: The cover of this book shows a bunch of different things that made me think it would be supernatural, but it isn't.  It also says "A hero.  A villain.  A Liar.  Who's who?"  I guess Midnight is the hero, Poppy is the villain, and Wink is the liar, but I think that can also be up to interpretation.

My Review: I'm not going to lie, I was definitely expecting this book to be able witches and wizards or something supernatural and it wasn't.  It was just about kids with odd names.  Which is fine, I thought it was cool that they had the names they did, but even the cover was a little misleading.  This has nothing to do with my actual opinion of the book, and I know I shouldn't judge a book by its title or cover, but I did and I was completely off the mark.
I liked this book because it was a form of a mystery.  I often found myself saying to myself, 'What is going on' and trying to figure it out.  I was able to guess some of the ending, but not the entire thing.  This book was weird, but in a good way.  I don't even really know how to describe it.  It was a story of revenge, but also a story of helping someone who maybe didn't deserve the help.  I have a feeling this book is one that you just have to read to understand, and I would recommend it because it was a good story.  The only thing is that I wasn't really a fan of the ending.  Midnight just leaves and it's unclear whether he and Wink were still dating or if they broke up or what.  And even though Wink and Poppy messed with Midnight and lied to him, I didn't want him and Wink to break up, so I was confused by the ending.  

Has anyone else read this story and want to add something?  Do you agree that you just have to read it to understand or did you find it more simple than I did?

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes | Book Review

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes 

Reading Group: 17+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 

Given Summary: The beloved New York Times bestseller—with more than five million copies sold. The stunning sequel, After You, is available now.

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

Cover: The cover of this novel is very simple, it's just the title and the authors name, but I like it.  It's almost as if this book doesn't need an image to it, which if you read it is true.  Everyone in this novel was someone else before Louisa and Will met than they were when Will died. 

My Review: I loved this book.  I finished it in one day.  It left me feeling the same way All The Brigth Places left me.  In a weird sad, but happy I don't really know what to feel way.  I loved this story, but it was definitely heartbreaking.  For me especially, the idea of dying is super freaky so for someone to chose it in the way that Will did, because it was suicide, but at the same time it wasn't just throws me for a loop.  And I felt bad for Louisa because she fell for him, but he already knew his expiration date.  How can you spend time with someone when you know it's going to end.  My sister also read this story and we went and saw the movie and she said that truthfully how long would Louisa stay with Will.  He can't do anything and she wouldn't be abel to have kids or anything so who long would it last?  And that's exactly Will's frame of mind.  His life ended when he go hit by the motorcyclist, every day after that was just borrowed time.  He wanted so much more for her and that's exactly what he was able to do.  Taking that job was the best thing Louisa could have done for herself, even if it was the saddest and hardest as well.  I loved this novel and I loved the movie, even though I know many people didn't.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is willing to have their heart ripped out from their chest. 

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The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen | Book Review

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. 
 
He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

Cover: This cover isn't really a big deal.  I mean, it's pretty, but it's just a girl walking down a boardwalk.  And it's not even the boardwalk described in the book.

My Review: I've read all of Sarah Dessen's books, but for some reason I stopped after I read What Happened to Goodbye so I was kind of excited to read this one.  However, I had some mixed thoughts about it.  Having already read Dessen's works I knew the boyfriend Emaline started out with wasn't going to be her boyfriend throughout the whole thing, but I did not like Theo.  First off, he was way too much like her father.  Which obviously was done on purpose, but I didn't understand why Emaline didn't see it.  Then I thought Theo was going to be similar, but better than her dad, but then he ended up being pretty sleazy and I was very happy they didn't end up together.  I thought Luke was great, sure he kind of cheated on Emaline and I understand that once that happens you may want to take some time off from someone, but he was super apologetic and it was clear that he loved Emaline.  The end of the book comes to them being friends and I kind of read it as a hint that they still had a chance to get back together someday, but I just wish they did before the book ended (However, I know I am super biased about this kind of thing.  You guys know I love love.)  I did like that Emaline spent the summer trying to figure out who she was and what she really wanted to do and I absolutely loved her little brother.  I think he was exactly who Emaline needed in her life, someone younger who maybe doesn't understand everything she's going through, but whose there to give an honest opinion and take her mind off of things.  I did enjoy this book and I would definitely recommend it to friends.  

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