The Elite

by Kiera Cass

"Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.
Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending."
I enjoyed seeing America and Marlee's friendship develop further, and the way that America was really reflecting on whether she has what it takes to be a princess. It's refreshing to see a main character who contemplates things, and who is somewhat smart about falling in love. Having said that, America was still very fickle in this book; and being aware of that fickleness surprisingly did not help.
With only four girls left and Aspen still smitten over his ex-girlfriend, I really don't know how things will end. I'm not even sure how I'd like them to end; neither of the two guys deserve to be left after being played with for so long. I think it'd be really interesting if America didn't end up with either of them; but at the same time I don't want that to happen, either. Bring on the Spring!

~~~ The following review will contain spoilers! ~~~

 The Elite was such an entertaining read. America certainly took her sweet time debating over whether to choose Aspen or Maxon, and there's no certainty in if the events of the whole book have changed her stance on that so far. I really enjoyed the fact that there was more government and world building in this second book; it patched up on a few things I had felt The Selection was lacking. At the same time, I found certain happenings to be quite random and erratic; some things in this book that were supposed to be frightening, such as the rebel attacks, just seemed funny to me.

4/5 stars.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance."

The Night Circus was such a magical book, intricate descriptions paired with a cast of vast and vivid characters. It's written in a way that encourages you to step inside its world; to really understand the parameters under which it works. Although the initial events were confusing to me, as there was ambiguity in the world building, things came together as if a mystery were being solved along the development of the novel. I particularly enjoyed its lack of chronology and details of fashion, cuisine, incantation, romance. Very creative, and extremely contemplative.

4/5 stars.

An Abundance of Katherines

by John Green

"Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart 
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself."

I really enjoyed how unique of a character Colin was to me. His longing to matter reminded me of Augustus Waters, and that made me smile. He was different, however, in his yearning to live up to his title of child prodigy, and the way that he would say trivial things now and then (much of which, despite Hassan's insistence, I found to be interesting). The footnotes used throughout the novel were great. Hassan was very funny, and the humor clever. The plot, I felt, could have used more interesting events, as I found myself quite bored near its middle. 
The mathematics involved, though I barely understood it, was very interesting. Applying math to concepts that aren't generally numerical is so abstract, but I found John Green was able to concreticize it in a very creative way. Still, I think the idea that Colin actually dated that many Katherines, and only Katherines, is pretty mind boggling. Good thing he met L.
An Abundance of Katherines was, for me, a character-driven book, and I quite enjoyed it.

3/5 stars.

Boy21

by Matthew Quick

"Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in gray, broken Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish Mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, he takes care of his disabled grandfather, and at school he’s called “White Rabbit”, the only white kid on the varsity basketball team. He’s always dreamed of getting out somehow with his girlfriend, Erin. But until then, when he puts on his number 21, everything seems to make sense.

Russ has just moved to the neighborhood. A former teen basketball phenom from a privileged home, his life has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he now answers only to the name Boy21—his former jersey number—and has an unusual obsession with outer space.

As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, “Boy21” may turn out to be the answer they both need."

Boy21 incorporates cultural aspects that I have not frequently seen in other books, and I found these details to be very interesting, as well as, to a certain extent, shocking. I think it's important for books to expose the unfortunate situations of certain communities, and the danger of Finley's world was very vividly explained by the end of this novel. Finley and Russ were both characters whom I really grew to like, and seeing their friendship progress was both enjoyable and inspiring. Finley was a very selfless character, as well as a brave one. I really loved the basketball aspect of the book, as it is my favorite sport, and could relate to Finley in the way that I am also a point guard. His frustrations in the games and his claim that athletes simply shouldn't think were realistic to me, and it was great to see his trustful, mutually supportive relationship with Erin. Matthew Quick has impressed me once more!

4/5 stars.

Wonder

by R.J. Palacio

"August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels."

Wonder has inspired me to strive to be a kinder, more compassionate, and more empathetic person. Seeing the world through Auggie's eyes was amazing; I really felt as if I knew him, and I could truly feel sympathy for him. Accompanying his growth as he started going to school, and experiencing other's reactions and attitudes towrads him, felt very realistic. 
I thoroughly enjoyed the family aspect of this novel, as I felt it was so important in Auggie's development as a person. The way that his parents were so caring of him, as was his sister, despite her natural reservations, was inspiring. I completely understood some of the terminology used throughout; that Auggie's family saw him in one particular way, a different way than others did, because they knew him, for real. Others saw him merely through a "peephole", and that often limited them to act in one particular way.
My heart broke for Auggie in certain parts of the novel, while in others I couldn't help but feel proud at his accomplishments and the maturity of his thoughts. This book put into perspective the challenges I face in my own life, and helped me to realize that all of these can be overcome, and simply, if only one considers what is really important. Of course, this isn't always something that's easy to remember; but this book did that for me.

5/5 stars.

Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell

"A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .
But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?"


The characters of Fangirl were so impressively lively, each with their own quirks and habits, that I can imagine myself meeting individuals like them in real life. I loved reading from Cath's perspective, as I could really relate to her at times. Her neurotic tendencies and social fears made me sympathetic of her, while her writing abilities and the importance she placed on family led me to admire her character. The struggles Cath faces as a Freshman in college seem very realistic to me, and were especially rewarding for me to read about because I am a Senior in high school, and that reality is imminent for me. Levi and Cath's father were other of my favorites; even Reagan and Wren came around, and I did love Nick at the beginning. Rainbow Rowell did it again, just as I knew she would.

Also, can I just emphasize just how well this book describes creativity and the act of writing fiction? I found myself nodding my head as I read the sections in which Cath sat in her fiction writing classes. It was pretty amazing.
This book made me want to curl up in bed with a book, or my laptop, alone with hot chocolate, and just appreciate the originality and creativity of things. This book described a nerd as being one who prefers fictional worlds to the real one, and I can't help but think that, at times, I do just that.


5/5 stars.

Before I Die

by Jenny Downham

"Tessa has just a few months to live.

Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex.

Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.

Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out.

BEFORE I DIE is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge."

Before I Die was gritty and blunt; even pessimistic at times. Tessa has fully accepted her imminent death, and though this may have been empowering, it felt to me as if it was, instead, cynical and dark. Tessa's father did all he could to ensure his daughter was being looked after, and he was a foil character to Tessa in the way that he believed she could find a cure. He was the highlight of the story for me; a loyal character who hoped for the best.

I didn't enjoy reading about what Tessa did with her last few months, but perhaps that's because our values do not coincide. It felt depressing to me; and yes, that may be generally realistic, but I was looking for a redeeming factor. Tessa was able find peace eventually, and those moments were indeed uplifting and a pleasure to read, yet I found these to be sparse and limited.

I found myself lost, not knowing what to feel, for the story lost its sensibility for me in the shallowness of some of the actions taken. Though I see they were likely incorporated in order to communicate the idea of ephermerality and the lack of importance of things in general, they weren't very effective in this objective, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for me, as a reader, instead.

2/5 stars.

Every Day

by David Levithan

"Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day."

Every Day was not what I expected, but I say that in the best possible way. Its analysis of the dynamics between the individual and the whole was intriguing and insightful; its emphasis on "the enormity", inspiring. I couldn't put the book down, and I loved it from cover to cover. I felt welcomed by the storyline, as if its characters would not judge me, because of all of the experiences A has gone through. This book encouraged me to try and see things from the perspective of others, and to be more considerate of people I know. Amazing.

I've really got to get my hands on some more David Levithan novels...

5/5 stars.

A Monster Calls

by Patrick Ness

"The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth."

I found A Monster Calls to be very realistic in dealing with the troubles a thirteen year old boy must go through in Conor's situation. This story was dark, but it was real, and I learned a lot from it. 

Conor has a lot more responsibilities than other kids his age, and everybody knows it. He's treated differently because of it; given more sympathy, less punishments. All Conor wants is to be treated like any other kid. But he's well aware of the fact that it isn't any other kid that lives alone with his cancer-stricken mother.

So Conor begins to see things. The yew tree claimst to have come because Conor has called him, though the boy does not recall anything of the sort. I found the monster to be very harsh at times, in places where he could have been more thoughtful, but his methods are specifically aimed at getting Conor to admit the t-r-u-t-h.

I loved the paradox at the end, and the way the four tales came together. This story was crafted intelligently, and I admired Conor for the realizations he came to. I couldn't help but feel, however, uncomfortable at times, with the way the yew tree treated the young boy.


4/5 stars.

by Johan Harstad

"It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.
Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.
Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.
Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.
In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true."

This was insane.

Alright, so I probably shouldn't have read the ending while I was sitting at home, at night, and on my own. Probably not the best idea.
172 Hours on the Moon had so many interesting sci-fi elements to it, and it kept me in awe at just how much research must've gone into it. The characters involved were of different backgrounds and each had their motives for wanting to travel to the moon, though each of their reasons seemed to revolve around escaping Earth rather than wanting to explore a foreign territory.
They sure all regretted trying to escape...

Just thinking about the ending creeps me out. I did not expect the various turns the storyline took. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and sent a few chills down my spine. I have a newfound respect for astronauts! Keep in mind that I'm a person who gets scared pretty easily. 172 Hours on the Moon was psychologically endearing. A wonderful read.


4/5 stars.

The Crane Wife

by Patrick Ness

"The extraordinary happens every day...

One night, George Duncan - decent man, a good man - is woken by a noise in his garden. Impossibly, a great white crane has tumbled to earth, shot through its wing by an arrow. Unexpectedly moved, George helps the bird, and from the moment he watches it fly off, his life is transformed.

The next day, a kind but enigmatic woman walks into George's shop. Suddenly a new world opens up for George, and one night she starts to tell him the most extraordinary story.

Wise, romantic, magical and funny, The Crane Wife is a hymn to the creative imagination and a celebration of the disruptive and redemptive power of love."

I went into The Crane Wife not knowing what to expect. A new author, and a story with a synopsis which I did not read. It's been a while since I've done something like that, and the uncertainty of it was exciting.

I found this book to contain a lot of magical realism, and it was based on a Japanese folk tale. I was unfamiliar with the original tale, which didn't help my understanding of the unraveling of events, and at times I was confused as to how the main storyline and this alternating, mythical one coincided.

On the other hand, Patrick Ness's narration really captivated me. Though I was not particularly enjoying the storyline, I still looked forward to reading this book whenever I picked it up, and I believe a lot of it is in merit of its writing style.

Overall, I found The Crane Wife to be unexpected, quite strange and difficult to grasp, and yet intriguing. Just as Amanda was stupefied in finding Rachel at the scene of George's burning home, I am left confused with the distinction between the realistic elements to this story and the mythical ones. It is as if the lines between the two have blurred, and yet they have failed to become one in my understanding.

3/5 stars.

Eleanor and Park

by Rainbow Rowell

"Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK 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."

~~~~ The following review will contain spoilers! ~~~~

This book was so many things. Adorable and heart warming, but also heavy and heart breaking. I really didn't expect such a contrast. Eleanor and Park were both such unique characters who I enjoyed discovering even the littlest of details about. Their relationship progressed naturally, and never did I feel an action or comment was out of place.
I understood the three words with which Eleanor left. They could've been three very different words, and though that certainly would've made for a happier ending, I feel the way she said her goodbye was so powerful. I didn't like it, as Park would similarly say to Eleanor. But I understood it.
I am so glad to have read this book, and I hope to read more of Rainbow Rowell's works in the future, as this one was special to me.

5/5 stars.

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare

"When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end."

The humor in the dialogue of this book was fantastic. I'm a fan of sarcasm, and there was plenty of that in here, and though there seemed to be several O.K. moments of actions of City of Bones, the places in which characters interacted with one another compensated for them. Furthermore, the relationships were fleshed out and I enjoyed reading about them - Clary and her mother, Clary and Luke, Clary and Simon... Speaking of Simon, did I enjoy his character! Dorky, sweet, loyal, funny. I'm glad Clary didn't take him for granted throughout the novel.

The twist at the end caught me off guard and seemed to require a very complicated explanation. I'm not sure how it's going to develop in the books that are to come, and I'm intrigued, but also concerned. Valentine was quite disturbing to me, as he spoke condescendingly all the time and seemed to be very cold, detached, inhumane. I guess he's supposed to be that way.
And as for Jace... He almost fell for it all there, during those last few scenes. He did the right thing in the end, but I still worry about him.

The City of Bones had its highlights, and though I was bored at times with certain aspects of the plot, I am looking forward to reading the next books, accompanying its characters, laughing at all the sarcasm, and discovering more about this world.

3/5 stars.

1984

by George Orwell

"Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while the year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions. A legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time."

1984 is set in an extremely frightening dystopian world where violence is rampant in the minds of children and grown men dedicate themselves to changing the past through false documentation. The Thought Police is everywhere save the darkness, and telescreens watch your every move. I was mesmerized by this story, developing a near hatred of Big Brother myself, as well as a sharpened fear of the potential power of government. George Orwell has created a world with its own political conflicts and extremeties, and yet in the reality of my mind it exists, in the particular way of Big Brother, alongside our own.

5/5 stars.

Sarah's Key

by Tatiana de Rosnay

"Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life."

Sarah's Key wasn't what I expected - not only did it deal with what happened to the children of France during a tragic time of Jewish oppression, but it also provided a contemporary perspective of its happenings, as it affected a woman living in mondern day France. I began reading Sarah's Key with the impression it would solely be a historical fiction novel, and the book's different focus caught me by surprise.

I enjoyed reading from Julia's point of view and found her conflicts with her husband to be very realistic, and I was sympathetic with her. The cultural elements of France were interesting to read about, and the way her character was formed by a mixture of her American background and French mannerisms made Julia more real to me.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as strongly connected to the story as I would've liked to be. For me, there wasn't enough of the second storyline, that of Sarah's, of 1942. Perhaps I felt that way because it was what I was expecting to read when I picked this book up, but I just wasn't able to fully emotionally invest myself in this story.

Having said that, the writing style of Sarah's Key was very clever, contemplative, and moving. I enjoyed this book.

3/5 stars.

The 5th Wave

by Rick Yancey

"After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up."

The Fifth Wave was intense, fast-paced, and made up of a wonderful cast of characters. Cassie, Ben, Sammy, Ringer - I was rooting for them all, and even Evan, but only sometimes Evan. I read with caution, feeling Cassie's paranoia, knowing it was foolish to trust anyone involved. Although I did anticipate one of the twists, it didn't bother me much, because there was another, larger one, revealed, and it caught me completely off guard.

Cassie's sarcastic tone, side comments, and frequent references to things like the Wizard of Oz made for such a great protagonist. Her internal conflict of needing someone to trust, but knowing it was stupid to do so, was very well portrayed in this book. I kept imagining myself in a world attacked by aliens, and wow, it just got really creepy at times.

The Fifth Wave also references a movie I watched, Close Encounters with the Third Kind, by associating owls to aliens. That really messed with my head.
The romance happened too quickly for me, but I mean, these people are thinking they need to be entirely alone in order to survive, all while the world is falling to pieces around them, so I can understand their situation a little better. Though I found Evan to be kind of a creep at first, I saw how he was such a complex and interesting character by the end of it.

I have invested myself in some of these characters, and I have no idea where their stories will take me next. I can't wait for the next installment! Will there be a sixth wave? Let's hope not...

5/5 stars.

The Time's Traveler Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

"A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.

An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come."

This book made me believe a little bit more in the strength and companionship of a romantic relationship, appreciate the loyalty in waiting, and wishing, and not knowing. The Time Traveler's wife is a fantasy, a love story, but it is completely realistic. Henry and Clare are people who exist, because they're living in my head now, with so many dimensions of detail and likes and dislikes and intertwined experiences. This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and most of all it made me hope that such a relationship can really exist. Alba and Henry and Clare, meeting in the past and the future repeatedly until there is no way to distinguish them both, are a family, existing at all times, at any time. Time is nothing, as Henry says, and that is what I've learned.

5/5 stars.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor

"Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hairactually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?"

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is set in Prague and follows Karou, a seventeen-year-old artist named after hope. With her radiant blue hair, graceful mannerisms, and best friend, Zuzanna, Karou is eccentric and independent. This is only one part of her life, however, as she is also dedicated to running errands for her foster father, Brimstone. And with this more secretive truth to her daily routine is revealed the magic of her world.

I was intrigued the whole way through. Laini Taylor writes beautifully; her words flow as she crafts a fantasy realm that is created by wishes, hope, and magical creatures. The reality of this novel is so different and innovative, yet Taylor is able to tell the story in a way that it is entirely believable.
Karou and Akiva's relationship seemed, at first, to have developed quite quickly. However, with the history of Madrigal's story being introduced and explained, everything fell into place. I was left in awe by the Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I am very much looking forward to reading the next installment.

Also, can I just add that Brimstone is an amazing father figure?

5/5 stars.

Rules of Attraction

by Simone Elkeles

"When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado. Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now."

Rules of Attraction is quite similar to Perfect Chemistry in the way that it is centered on an unlikely romance between two teenagers. Carlos, the male protagonist, is very similar in his ways to his older brother, Alex. I did think, however, that he was even more extreme than his brother, more stubborn in leaving his past and accepting the possibility of change. Kiara, the female protagonist, is a tomboy who loves a challenge. It's fitting enough that her growing relationship with Carlos becomes just that.

I liked this companion novel more than the first, as I felt it included less high school stereotypes and was more original in its plot. The pranks Kiara and Carlos played on each other, and the banter in their dialogue, was enjoyable to read. Tucker, Kiara's best friend, was a lot of fun. This time around, I didn't feel that every thing that happened to the main characters was exaggerated, and they seemed to react to things more realistically in this book.

I've been comparing Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction, but I do so because I can't help it: both books are undeniably similar. That being said, I did think Rules of Attraction was a better book overall.


3/5 stars.