4 stars

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

16:00

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
By Benjamin Alire Saenz

Source: Gift, e-book
Genres: Young Adult, LGBTQ+, Realistic Fiction

 Goodreads Synopsis:
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.


First of all, please don’t let the title put you off this book. Although it’s long and unwieldy, and - in my opinion - could be shortened (mainly so it doesn’t take me forever to type out my post titles!) to something like “The Secrets of the Universe”. However much I dislike the title, I loved the book much more than I expected to! I have heard so many good things about it, and ever since I have read the synopsis I knew I would enjoy it, but not this much! It was very cute, light and fluffy - just what I needed. I almost read it in one sitting.



My favourite thing about it was the way that it was so relentlessly readable. It was the book I never wanted to finish - at one point I actually said out loud “it can’t be so close to the end already?!” I enjoyed the storyline so much, and although nothing much happened, I still enjoyed it a lot.


The characters were also another great element. Aristotle was a really interesting lead - I don’t usually tend to like male narrators as much, but I really enjoyed hearing what he was saying. He was an interesting person, and although at some points he was unrealistic (the metaphors and philosophical monologues sometimes felt like the author was trying too hard), he was original, yet was still down-to-earth and relatable in most parts.



The ending was the main thing that really let this book down for me. I was so disappointed, not just at the fact that the book had ended, but how it had ended. If the ending was different, this book would have easily been a 5 star read. Because I read it on my Kindle, I didn’t know that the last 5% was not part of the story (God it annoys me when that happens), so I was left confused as to why the ending was so abrupt. The actual ending was disappointing - it was very predictable, and the way it happened really irritated me. It was very open ended and didn’t give closure at all.  

Overall, I enjoyed this book so much. If the ending was different, it would have been one of my new favourites, but I liked the majority so much it almost outweighs how much I hated the ending. The characters were instantly loveable and felt like real people, and I really didn’t want this book to end!

 Me when finishing:
I need to re-read this soon!

My rating:


4 stars

Review: We all Looked Up

16:00

We all Looked Up
By Tommy Wallach

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realism, Romance

 Goodreads Synopsis:
Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever. 
But then we all looked up and everything changed. 
They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end. 
Two months to really live.
This book was so unexpectedly good! I definitely didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It’s fair to say I liked the first half a lot more than the second, but nevertheless I enjoyed the whole book. It was really inspirational, and gave me something to think about. I know I will still be thinking about it for a long time.
One of the main reasons I enjoyed the first half the most was because there wasn’t as much romance. In the second half, everyone seemed to pair off, and I didn’t like that as much. Also, I didn’t enjoy the romance at all, and on the whole, it felt a bit cringey.


Also, there was much more drama in the second half. There were lots of ‘plot twists’, which made things feel a bit rushed (especially because it’s quite a short book). The thing that I felt was hurried the most was the ending. It wasn’t rounded off well, and I would have much preferred it if the book was just a few pages longer. It didn’t give me closure, and I found myself actually wondering if my copy was missing a page!


Another thing I liked about this book was the writing style. Usually I don’t like multiple POV, but in this I really did. It was really interesting to see everyone’s story intertwine. Also, it was really well written, and there were no plot holes. Tommy Wallach is a really talented writer.

Overall, this is a great book. It really gave me something to take away, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower or Eleanor and Park (it just kind of reminded me of EaP). Although, I would recommend it to everyone.

My reaction:

My rating:

2 Stars

Review: All the Bright Places

12:32

All the Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mental Illness, Realism

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
 
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.

Although this book was compared to TFIOS by many people, I just overlooked that, and went into this book with an open-mind (well, someone spoiled the ending for me *angry face*, so I went in as open-minded as I could). I was wrong. This book - and I hate to compare books, but I just can’t help myself in this case - was so similar to The Fault in Our Stars.
This book has been described as “The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park”. I didn’t like TFIOS, but I liked Eleanor and Park (at the time - if I read it now (I read it around a year ago), I’m sure I wouldn't like it). Whoever said this definitely hit the nail on the head - if you enjoyed TFIOS and EaP, you are bound to love this novel.
My main problem with this book was that it was boring. I can see how some people would enjoy it (a lot of people enjoy this sort of thing), but it’s really not for me. I like more action, or if it is going to be purely romance, at least make their relationship have something more special about it.


There was practically no plot. For the majority of this book, it was just Violet and Finch falling in love (I promise this isn’t a spoiler - dual POV, really... what did you expect?), which bored me. I don’t mind romance, but I prefer the romance to just be a sideline plot, not the main point of the book.


The thing that bugged me the most about All The Bright Places was how it was told through Violet and Finch’s POV. I just found this unnecessary and confusing. I found it hard to keep track of who I was reading about, meaning I had to keep flicking back to the start of the chapter to see who was talking. This would have been easily fixed by writing in 3rd person, or just one person’s POV. This would have made the story much better for me.


The thing that I did like about this book (I know, I’m not an entirely bad person for giving a bad review on this book...) was how the relationship between Violet and Finch developed. It wasn’t some annoying insta-love. They grew to like each other overtime, which made this book a higher rating, and made me enjoy it much more.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this book. I found it boring as there was basically no plot. I think it’s definitely fair to say this one isn’t for me.

 My reaction:

Rating:

5 Stars

Review: I'll Give You the Sun

16:16

I'll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson

 Source: Book depository
Page count: 371
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realism, LGBTQ+

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

 My Review:

 Ohmygosh this book was amazing! I loved every part of it (especially the cover - it's so beautiful!), and in my opinion, it definitely could have been longer. This could be continued into a 10 book series and I would love them all. Everything about this book is just so great, and I could read (and re-read) it forever!

 I was hooked throughout the whole book. From the very beginning I was gripped. I would have even read it in one sitting if I could have.

 It was so cleverly crafted - everything linked back together at the end (which must have been even harder because it was told through 2 different narrators, who were in 2 different times) really well. It had so much emotion in it - I actually welled up at the end with happy tears, which doesn't often happen to me! I was grinning, laughing, and burying my face in my hands with embarrassment at different points in the book - it really reached out to me.

 My only minor (and this didn't really bother me at all, I'm just nit-picking here) problem was that the British character in it didn't seem British at all. He just sounded like what an American would do for an impression of a British person (the author is American...), which kind of annoyed me, but it didn't bother me too much. As I got into the book, he just sounded like all the other characters, but I feel like I can't write a review that's all good!

 I think everyone should read this book. I recommend it to everyone, and it's instantly my absolute favourite contemporary. It might even be one of my new favourite books!

 Rating: 

2 Stars

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

21:00

Thirteen Reasons Why
By Jay Asher

 Source: Physical copy
Page count: 288
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realism, Romance, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.
Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.
Review:
When I was coming to write my initial thoughts for the review on this book, I found it very hard. I have really mixed opinions. I found it to be gripping, interesting, and beautifully written; but at the same time I found it to be frustrating, boring, and totally unbelieveable. For example, Clay - the narrator - described the letters on the building: "Each letter flinches on one at a time, C-R-E-S-T-M-O-N-T, like filling a crossword puzzle with neon letters". There was no plot holes, and it all came together like a puzzle towards the end, so I can't disagree that the book is well-written. But what I can disagree with is Hannah's reasons for suicide.
According to the NHS website, some of the main reasons for committing suicide are: having a mental health problem, being bullied, genetics and family history, and lifestyle (like being a drug addict or an alcoholic). Hannah did not experience any of there. I found all of the 13 reasons for Hannah's suicide just ridiculous. One of them was her first kiss was not everything she expected it to be. A ridiculous reason for taking your own life. Yes, I agree that according to the tapes, she did not have a good life, but - in my opinion - I think that they were not valid reasons to take her own life away. Committing suicide is a really big deal - the people who usually go through it have usually had much worse done to them than Hannah. 
I understand that for a YA novel, Jay Asher couldn't make his novel too depressing - which suicide definitely is - but the fact that the book is based around such a big topic means it should have been hard hitting for the book to be effective. The purpose - in my opinion - of the book is to teach the reader that suicide can affect anyone, and that if you see someone, or you are thinking about suicide, that you can talk to someone, and there are people who still care about you. To be honest, the reason's lack of justice (for being a reason - it was not a valid reason) makes the book's purpose not as effective on the reader. The potential reader who is thinking about suicide, they may not be able to relate to Hannah, because they have had it so much worse, meaning they think that they can't branch out to talk to someone, or they were bullied much more than Hannah, leading them to think that there actually is no-one that cares, not like Hannah, who had people caring about her, she just didn't know it. This made the whole book not-that-great for me.
Another thing I didn't like about this book was Clay, the narrator. The first thing I didn't like about him - which irritated me throughout the entire book - was that he kept interrupting Hannah's speech. As he was the narrator of the book, he kept saying things to the reader that were totally unnecessary, and didn't enhance the story at all. For example, "I sit on the platform". This is a perfect example - this was totally not needed, and these bits of pointless information should be definitely cut down. Another reason why I hated Clay telling us things was because it got really confusing. The only difference between Hannah's and Clay's speech was that Hannah's was in italics. This really confused me because when I'm reading, I don't really look at the paper as such, more like just imagine what's happening. With the writing style being only slightly different, I got mixed up when Hannah and Clay were both experiencing the same event. 
To add to this, I really hated Clay as a character. He was really annoying, and kept disagreeing with what Hannah said, saying things like that she was over reacting, and believing that Hannah was lying! I found this utterly disrespectful and rude, because everyone is allowed their own opinions, but Clay said that he loved Hannah and really missed her, yet was rude to her when she was dead! This outraged me because Clay was saying how he missed Hannah, despite the fact that he thought about her in an angry way, and believing what she was saying wasn't fair on the people on the tapes (people who she believed caused her suicide). Whatever Hannah would say about them would be fair - they made her kill herself. Anything she says about them is fully deserved. Any truth about themselves they deserve. In my opinion, causing someone to take their own life is one of the most terrible things anyone can do - and Clay was defending them! This was appalling. 
Though one thing I did like about was Clay was how he changed at the end. At the very end of the book, he sees someone with the same symptoms as Hannah, and goes to help them and talk to them. I like this in a character because it shows the book was worthwhile, for them and us. And, that teaches us as readers to look out for people, which I think was a very good way to finish a somewhat depressing book (although the main feeling I had when I finished it was pure annoyance).
Rating:
I would recommend it if you enjoyed If I Stay.