A Million Suns by Beth Revis | Book Review

A Million Suns by Beth Revis 

Reading Group:  High School+

Personal Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. Everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to act on his vision--no more Phydus, no more lies. But when Elder learns shocking news, he and Amy must race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed, all the while dealing with the love that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart.

Beth Revis catapulted readers into the far reaches of space with her New York Times bestselling debut, Across the Universe. In A Million Suns, Beth deepens the mystery with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: THEY HAVE TO GET OFF THIS SHIP.

Cover: Again, I really like Beth Revis' covers for these books.  On this cover Amy and Elder are looking out of the ship together and seeing space.  Their holding hands and a bright light is covering them.  I think this shows that no matter what happens, they're in this together. 

My Review: They made it!  But not really because they made it years and years ago, but haven't landed on the new planet.  That was a plot twist I wasn't expecting.  I also wasn't expecting the entire ship t go into mass chaos as Elder and Amy tried to figure out how to get the ship out of the planets orbit and onto the planets soil.  I liked this story a little bit more than the first one in the series just because I knew the characters better and I felt like this one started off at a faster pace.  I do wish their relationship developed more though!  It did develop a little bit and I have high hopes for these two, but just love each other!  Maybe I'm reading too many Christina Lauren novels where the characters fall in love within the first 30 pages, but I just like the happy ever after stories and I really want this to be one of those.  Like the first novel, this one does have plot twists and stuff to keep you guessing.  I like that part of it.  The fact that it's a mystery story and you try to figure everything out before the main characters do is fun for me, sometimes frustrating, but fun.

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Across the Universe by Beth Revis | Book Review

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends--and planet--behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously unplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2,312 passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead. Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

Cover: I love this cover.  I think it's so pretty.  It's really simple, just Amy and Elder almost kissing in space, but I really like it.

My Review: Oh my god this went live when I didn't mean for it to!  I'm so sorry!!
I gotta tell you guys that this book came up on my Amazon recommended page and I only read it because of the cover.  It's so pretty!  Scify stuff isn't typically my thing, but I did end up enjoying this novel.  It took a little long to really get going though.  And I just wanted Elder and Amy to get together, but they never did!  The story itself was really interesting and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked The Giver or some other dystopian novel.  I think it's cute how much elder cares for Amy and he doesn't even really know her.  It was also interesting having the two of them coexist because they're the same age, but they know two completely different lives.  The scene where Amy almost gets gang raped was crazy though.  The entire mating season thing was something, but I really wish Elder found out about it.  I don't know why, I just feel like he should have figured it out somehow.  It was also fun trying to figure out the killer.  It is a murder mystery after all.   As much as I enjoyed this novel there were a few things I wish were different in it.  

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Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell | Book Review

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 Out Of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.

Cover: The cover depicts Eleanor and Park sharing headphones and listening to music.  I like this cover because it shows them from the back so it's almost like you are a few rows behind them on the bus with the other kids watching them.  Music and sharing was such a huge part of their relationship as well.  They made each other mix tapes and Park lent Eleanor many comic books.

My Review: This book was very sweet.  I liked that they ere two kids who didn't really know where they belong.  Everyone has felt that way at some point and this story showed that not only are you not alone, but there is someone out there who will love you anyway.  This novel also focused a lot on family and how they're not always good families.  Park's family is a pretty typical family.  They love him, but don't really understand everything he does.  They often compare him and his brother.  Eleanor was right to run away from hers.  Her birth dad tries to care about her, but doesn't; her stepdad is an absolute creep; her brothers and sisters are all over the place; and her mother smiles and acts like everything is okay.
When Eleanor runs away she is scared that her aunt and uncle won't take her in.  I can't imagine going to a relative for help and being turned away.  Can any of you?  But that's the life Eleanor knows, people don't want her.  Thankfully, her aunt and uncle take her in and it seem alike they help get the rest of her family away from her stepdad.
Park sends Eleanor letters that she can't bring herself to open, let alone respond.  She misses him so much.  However, at the end of the novel it says that Park gets a letter from her with three words written on it.
Now, I assumed that the three words were I love you because he said it to her so many times in the novel, but she could never get herself to say it back.  Even though it was evident that she did love Park.  However, that is a very vague thing to say.  There are a lot of the three word sentences:

I _____ you

hate

love

miss

need

tolerate

You're the _____

father

best

worst

one

You ___ me

saved

left

need

love

I thought it was fun to think of some three word phrases.  Can you guys think of any?

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews | Book Review

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Reading Group Rating: High School

Personal Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.
        This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.
        Fiercely funny, honest, heart-breaking—this is an unforgettable novel from a bright talent, now also a film that critics are calling "a touchstone for its generation" and "an instant classic."

Cover: I don't really know how to describe the cover of this book.  It's divided in three sections so that everyone gets one, but they don't really have anything to do with the characters, it's just kind of a background.  It likes like a scene that they're trying to film or a play.  I don't know who to describe it or if it has a proper name, but I've seen it before in movies and commercials and stuff, with all the names on string and it swings through so you can read it and then it's tugged away.

My Review: I don't know, guys, this book just didn't really do it for me.  When I finished reading I was kind of confused as to the point of it.  Like, he got to know this girl, but he didn't learn anything from her.  And he and Earl kind of became closer, but at the same time drifted apart and went their separate ways in life.  There were parts where I wanted to stop reading altogether, but then the next sentence would be something like, "You're probably not reading this dumb book anymore."  And I felt like I had to finish it to prove a point.  Online it made a big deal about how funny this book was and I just didn't really find it funny at all...
However, I did like how it was written a lot.  I liked that it went back and forth from normal book layout to a script layout and how sometimes he would write in bullet points.  I thought that was really interesting.   

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My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick | Book Review

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick 

Reading Group Rating: High School Upperclassman 

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

Cover: Pretty simple cover.  A boy and girl together clearly all lovey dovey in front of a fence.  The fence that separates their two houses.  I like that it's really bright and colorful.  It just seems so happy.  The spine of the book is also really cute.  It's white and blue stripes.

My Review: I loved this story.  It was the perfect summer read!  I just loved how different the two families were, but how Jase and Samantha are able to come together and love each other!  Every single word out of George's mouth made me laugh and I fell in love with him very quickly.  I loved how different all of the Garrett's were and I think that coming from a big family (not as big as the Garrett's) I was able to relate to that.  The fact that, yes, we are all brothers and sisters, but we're also our own person, but we will also stand together when needed.  The only thing that kind of threw me off was that on the back cover it talks about 'an impossible decision' that Samantha has to make, which happens, but until the very end of the book.  So many different things happen in this book that by the time you get to that point in the book it's almost not as big of a deal as you might think.  Maybe because it's resolved relatively quickly?  Don't get me wrong, it was a major point in the book and I was glad that it was resolved so quickly, I think I was just surprised it happened so late in the book.  This book covers a lot about relationships; friends, family, boyfriends/girlfriends, addiction.  They are all woven throughout this story so naturally and realistically, I absolutely loved it!  I couldn't put this book down.  I read it in two days and then reread my favorite parts.  I would definitely recommend it to someone who was looking for a good, quick summer read.

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All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven | Book Review

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

Reading Group Rating: Sensitive Subject Matter/High School+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

Cover: The cover of this book is blue, like Finch's bedroom after he redecorates and his eyes.  It's also covered in post-it notes like Finch's room.  The post-it's are a huge part of this book and eventually become the missing piece to the puzzle that finds Finch.  One of the post-it's has a cardinal on it to represent the one Finch wanted so much to save but couldn't (Finch is the cardinal) and another has a violet on it to represent Violet (duh) and also the flowers Finch brings Violet and the ones he plants at the scene of the accident.

My Review: Okay...This book...I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest and then tried to be put back.  I never cry at books or movies, but this one nearly got me.  I will forever be scarred by this book.  And I'm kind of okay with that... 
I literally just finished this book, that's why ^^^^ is there.  It's like my official reaction to this book.  But in all serious, this book is truly amazing.  Completely different to the typical happily ever after I usually read (I know now why I prefer those, I can't handle the emotions going through me right now) it's major theme was mental health which I think is a really important thing to talk about.  There's a part in the novel where Finch is afraid to talk about being bipolar because he doesn't want to be labeled.  And I think a ton of people feel this way.  They've already been labeled a freak or a weirdo or a slut or whatever, they don't need anything else.  I also thought how interesting it was how the chapters started.  It was either Finch or Violet's name, but then there was something else.  For Finch it counted how many days he was Awake.  However, it also felt like a countdown until he was Asleep again because the need for the count made you feel like it wouldn't last forever.  For Violet it started with a countdown to graduation.  She needed to have something to look forward to in her life, something to keep her going.  However, after she throws away her calendar it just starts to say the day it is.  Violet no longer needed something to aim for, she learned to live for the present day and not the future.
This book is so frustrating because Finch teaches Violet (and you) so many things about life and not only how to live and enjoy it, but also to deal with the bad things.  He tells Violet to write down the bad things, but instead of putting them on the wall rip them up.  However, he's the one who need the most help to see that life is worth living.  And it's so sad because I feel like that's always the case.  It always seem to be the kids who maybe have nothing to complain about.  And Finch knows his life could be a lot worse.  It reminds us that mental illness isn't just for kids who have hard lives, it's something in our brains.  It's how we're hardwired.  Something isn't right and we have thoughts we shouldn't be having, but that doesn't make us bad.  It's okay to ask for help.
Something else I found interesting was Violet and getting in the car with Finch.  It's been nearly a year since her sister died and she hasn't been in a car.  You have to imagine that her friends and family offered to drive her places.  Maybe they didn't push the subject too hard because they knew she was still suffering so they just took her decline and went with it.  But Finch didn't really need to push her too hard either.  She just got in the car.  And he was pretty much a stranger.  One who liked to drive fast.  Which he didn't do too much when Violet was in the car with him, but the fact that she got in the car shows how much trust she had in him.
There are so many themes that weave in and out of this novel.  It's definitely one for a book club.  There is mental health, bullies, post-it notes, quotes, death, wandering, water, cardinals, family flowers, etc. the list goes on.

So after you finish the book and you don't really know what you're feeling because so many emotions are flying in and out of you at a mile a minute (I couldn't have been the only one) you go on Jennifer Niven's website and discover that not only is Germ Magazine an actual thing, but so is EleanorAndViolet and just like that BAM! 50 more emotions are added to the fly list. 

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Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway | Book Review

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

Reading Group Rating: High School

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. In Emmy's soul, despite the space and time between them, their connection has never been severed. But is their story still written in the stars? Or are their hearts like the pieces of two different puzzles—impossible to fit together?

Emmy just wants to be in charge of her own life. . . . She wants to stay out late, surf her favorite beach—go anywhere without her parents' relentless worrying. But Emmy's parents can't seem to let her grow up—not since the day Oliver disappeared.

Oliver needs a moment to figure out his heart. . . . He'd thought, all these years, that his dad was the good guy. He never knew that it was his father who had kidnapped him and kept him on the run. Discovering it, and finding himself returned to his old hometown, all at once, has his heart racing, and his thoughts swirling.

Cover: This cover is simple, but I think it's really nice.  In the background is the ocean, which connects to Emmy and her surfing and that is how she and Oliver kind of reconnect when he comes back.  There is also a fingerprint heart, the focal point of the cover.  Oliver's fingerprint is what is used to find him and bring him pact to his mom and old hometown. 

My Review: I loved this story.  I thought it was absolutely fantastic.  The topic was incredibly interesting and makes you wonder how you would feel if you were Oliver and also if you were Emmy.  I mean you try to think of something that happened ten years ago and the person you were then, and then you wonder how you would be if it happened again or it undid itself.  And on such a huge scale as kidnapping?  
The book also used family as such a huge theme throughout it and how we don't always like our families or agree with our families methods, but they're still ours.  We don't chose them and they don't chose us so there must be a reason we were grouped together.  There are things that we hide from our families as well because we don't know how they'll react or we do know how they'll react and we don't want them to hurt.  It's a tricky balancing act trying to keep yourself and your family happy, but eventually you figure out that sometimes you have to be selfish.  Sometimes you have to do things for you because your family may be stuck with you for now, but you're stuck with you forever.  Emmy certainly figured that one out.
Another huge theme of this book is obviously friendship and the power of it.  Emmy was able to jump right back into her friendship with Oliver.  I mean, it was a little awkward at first, but not as awkward as it could have been and it moved on from that extremely quickly.  It'e kind of like when you hear a song again for the first time in years that was once your favorite.  You may stumble around the first verse, but you still know the chorus by heart, it comes back naturally like muscle memory.  Some friendships are just like that.  Those are the friends that you'll have forever.

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