Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic (book review by Eleni)

Author: Zlata Filipovic
Release Date: February 1st 1994
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Pages: 208
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon

In a voice both innocent and wise, touchingly reminiscent of Anne Frank's, Zlata Filipovic's diary has awoken the conscience of the world. Now thirteen years old, Zlata began her diary just before her eleventh birthday, when there was peace in Sarajevo and her life was that of a bright, intelligent, carefree young girl. Her early entries describe her friends, her new skis, her family, her grades at school, her interest in joining the Madonna Fan Club. And then, on television, she sees the bombs falling on Dubrovnik. Though repelled by the sight, Zlata cannot conceive of the same thing happening in Sarajevo. When it does, the whole tone of her diary changes. 

Review:

In my opinion you can really review a diary, a diary written by a little girl that had her childhood stolen from the cruelty of war. A lot of people have compared this diary to the Diary of Anne Frank and I have to agree to that. It's pretty much the same situations but different times, and that makes you think how can things like that happen today? How people go into war without even thinking of the consequences that it will have on children, to their country, to their world?

We see Zlata writing in her diary before the war broke out and all you can see is a happy kid, a kid listening to Michael Jackson, and Madonna, going to her friends homes , watching MTV and dreaming of rock stars and pop stars, we see a kid that he utmost concern is homework and all that change in an instant with the declaration of war.

War transforms a person from kind to cruel, from soft to hard, imagine the impact that it has to a 12 year old child, the damage it can create. Suddenly, Zlata changes and starts thinking about politics and worry about things that kids their age should not, either because they are too young to comprehend or because simply they have other fun stuff in their minds. We see Zlata growing up and get more serious, more worried about her family's safety and her own and its heart breaking.

Although, most of us can only read diaries like these we should try and prevent situations similar to what Zlata and Anne Frank went through to occur again. 

Breathe Into Me by Sara Fawkes ARC (book review by Eleni)

Author:  Sara Fawkes
Release Date: April 8th 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 288
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon

How did my life get so broken?  It’s a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day.  Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker exboyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.  

And then, she meets Everett, who changes her entire existence.

Everett is an outsider who’s housesitting his family’s mansion off the coast, and for reasons Lacey can’t understand, he’s completely transfixed by her. He seems determined to show her that life can offer more than she’d ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself.  She desperately yearns to trust him, but what happens when she finds out that everything he’s told her is a lie? 

Review:

I received this e-book as an ARC on NetGalley from St. Martin's Press and I totally loved this book.
Although, there is not a lot to say without spoiling anything to anyone, Breathe Into Me had my attention from page one.

This is just not any romance book out there, its a story about self discovery, self-appreciation and the journey of finding yourself and the power with in you. The book itself it was so good written, the characters so well developed that I instantly liked the laid back conversations between Lacey and her friends, I could actually relate with Lacey ,I felt her happiness and sorrow ,her ups and downs, because honestly this book is an emotional roller-coaster and the ride is hard.

Coming from a broken home, with a dead father and a retired from life mother Lacey can only help her little brother. As she tries to find a way out of her abusive relationship and her ''friend'', she decides that she needs to change. Coming across Everett helped her a lot and he helped her too.

I loved the conversations between them and I appreciated that the author actually took her time developing their relationship slowly that it was almost a torture but the outcome was rewarding. You can actually see the attraction growing between them and you can actually learn a few things about them because the characters have depth, the have emotions and thoughts and that makes them awesome.

What made this book more interesting was the unexpected plot twist that seriously I didn't see coming, once I thought that everything is perfect bam! everything changes, from then on the book becomes a little more serious and the story comes packed with revelations that will everyone speechless. I was actually turning the pages like crazy.

The ending was really good and although I dont know if we will have a chance to see a second part of Breathe Into Me , I am more than interested to read one.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (book review by Eleni)

Author: John Boyne
Release Date: September 12th 2006
Publisher: Fickling Books
Pages: 224
Rating: 3 stars
Buy on: Barnes and Noble

Berlin 1942

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

REVIEW:

This is another book that I read during my experiment with World War 2 Literature and I have to say that I am little dissapointed. I made the mistake and watched the movie first before reading this book and usually the term ''the book is always better than the movie'' is true although it does not apply in this situation. The movie itself was not great but I expected the book to be for that reason only.

The first thing that I noticed was the writing of course. It was very good but no great but you get in the story pretty quickly. The author did a great job telling the story of a nine year old boy in Nazi Germany, son of an SS Officer , a boy who only wanted to explore everything, even the darkest corners of his home ,a boy sourounded by the world;s darkest time and humanities lowest point and be totally oblivious to what exactly was happening around him. 

When he moved with his family to Poland, a few kilometers from Auschwitz he could see the chimneys of the most notorious death camp and yet he simply could not comprehend what this was...for him it was a farm with people that were wearing pajamas all day and the only thing that he wanted to do was find new friends in this new ''neighborhood'' and play with them. Until he meets one of the boys in that ;;farm;;.

A story nicely told with a tint of sadness and a friendship evolving in the two different worlds with just a wired fence to separate them, a sad ending and message so well passed, this is a book that should stand along with other novels about the holocaust with the exception of a few mistakes by the author.

How can a boy growing up in Nazi Germany does not what Heil Hitler means and how can he possibly believe that this is a form of saying hello? How can the author refer to the English name of Auschwitz (out-with) when this book is supposed to be taking place in Germany - Poland and the main characters speak German? Also there are some plot holes in the story that there are not hard to pass but anyone can notice them. Due to those little mistakes the book loses some of its just thus the 3 stars.

Night by Ellie Wiesel (book review by Eleni)

Author: Ellie Wiesel
Release Date: January 1st 1958
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Series: Night #1
Pages: 120
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon

A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

Review: 

While doing an experiment on reading books of WWII Death Camp survivor's accounts and memoirs I came across this little book and to be honest, this is the most memorable in comparison to the rest.

Like every autobiographical book, it starts with a little background on the authors life at the time and fast enough it progresses to the main events of the book - at this point the story turns into Nightmare.  Young Ellie was taken to Auschwitz - Birkenau in train vagons that were for animals - he and his family were treated like animals. Once in the death camp he is being separeted from his family and stays with his father and thats because an inmate warned them by telling them to lie about their ages.

From that point on we see the everyday life in Auschwitz - the nightmares those people had to go through, the starvation and the treatment they were receiving.The most important of all in this book is how a person changes - how war can change a human being from good to bad, from ethical to unethical. 

At some point in the book we actually read how Ellie wished his father was dead so he wouldn't bear his burden, how he was disgusted at himself a second later for thinking of it and how he realised that he was changed so much within those few months he was in the camp, but anyone would think that way, especially when you try to survive, when life becomes a struggle about your life and when you are willing to do anything to survive, sacrifice everything just to get alive from this nightmare.I felt so sad after reading this paragraph, so guilty for a reason I cannot comprehend.

The reason I gave this book 4 stars is because of the way the book is written, although I know that is is an abridged version of the book in comparison to the original one which is only available in Yiddish (the full version). I think the publisher went too far with cutting out shocking scenes from the book that it severed a lot the content and especially for those who wanted to read more and wanted more insight of Auschwitz. 

It;s a great account of the Holocaust that everyone should read.

Unteachable by Leah Raeder (book review by Eleni)

Author: Leah Raeder
Publisher: Velvet Pony Press
Release Date: July 27th 2013
Pages: 356
Rating: 5 stars
Buy on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

This novel contains graphic sexual content and strong language. It is intended for mature readers. 

I met him at a carnival, of all corny places. The summer I turned eighteen, in that chaos of neon lights and cheap thrills, I met a man so sweet, so beautiful, he seemed to come from another world. We had one night: intense, scary, real. Then I ran, like I always do. Because I didn’t want to be abandoned again.

But I couldn’t run far enough.

I knew him as Evan that night. When I walked into his classroom, he became Mr. Wilke.

My teacher.

I don’t know if what we’re doing is wrong. The rules say one thing; my heart says screw the rules. I can’t let him lose his job. And I can’t lose him.

In the movies, this would have a happy ending. I grow up. I love, I lose, I learn. And I move on. But this is life, and there’s no script. You make it up as you go along.

And you don’t pray for a happy ending. You pray for it to never end.

Review:

This book is beautiful..simply and amazingly beautiful. It starts with the main protagonist Maise, being in a carnival during a summer night doing nothing but wander around. Since the first sentence, we know that we have nothing to do with the classic heroine that falls easily in love, that gets excited with boys, we have a cynical, sarcastic, wild and no- fucks- given- girl that the author crafted so carefully I thought Maise was real.Apart from that, the whole plot falls under the category of contemporary and it is a cliche love story but  seriously the first two pages of the book did it for me and I couldn't stop reading until the book was finished.

The writing is so so so mesmerising and the words blend together in a way that makes you want to jump out of your bed ,chair whatever and run the world until you find real love. It's so intoxicating sometimes it hurt. While reading this book I remembered how I acted as a teenager in love , when you fear nothing and no one, you are your true self with no restraints and want nothing more that one person in your life. That's what I consider an amazing book, the ability of the author to make you relate with the characters and the story. 

We dive into a real dysfanctional family with a long gone father and a mother who does nothing more than drink all day and according to Maise *suck her clients dicks in her van for more money* , while Maise has to fend for herself on her own. Her whole personality kind of reminds me of a slut or that is until she meets Evan at the carnival and then in his...classroom. 

The forbidden love makes the whole relationship a lot more interesting and anticipating. Maise starts to change her view of the world and the people around her , Evan is just as cute and broken as her. Although, they both are in love they deal with their problems on their own, they box them up and put them in the back of their heads and those boxes are starting to make a wall so tall and crammed up until everything comes down. I loved the fact that they were understanding of each other no matter their age gap and made their mistakes as a couple and then learned and moved on after forgiving each other.

While they try to be careful with what they do and when there are slip ups and a dark figure obsessed with Maise documents her everyday life. Sneaking in classrooms and making out with your teachers must be a huge dose of adrenaline and recklessness and you lose track of time and place until someone sees you. 

The narrating was in past tense giving the sense that Maise was in a different place and time when she was telling the story and that had an extra bit of biterness and sadness in it, I felt like I could hear the rise and fall of her voice while she was telling me the story. It was so alive. 

The 75% of the book is fast and intimate...like really really intimate. Although, I would like a little more talking between them than raw (sometimes) masochistic sex I liked the sex scenes a lot. 

This is a book about growing up and learning from your mistakes, whether you are 18 or 33 you still make mistakes and you still learn. How a person can change her whole life in just a few months and how she sees things after she finds trust and love to the most forbidden person - her teacher.

Unteachable is the kind of book that I will read again some time soon...really soon. Hope you like it too.

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis (Book Review by Eleni)

Author: Antonia Michaelis
Release Date: January 1st 2012
Publisher: Amulet Books
Pages: 402
Rating: 5 stars
Buy at: Amazon , Barnes and Noble

Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?

Review:

I have been staring the screen for half an hour now trying to come up with a review for this beautiful, heart wrecking book. I can't...so i will let everything out.

I had this book sitting lost in my nook library for like months now..I always passed it by without even thinking of reading it until i decided i should on those weird moments every bookworm has...grab a book any book and read. I never read the synopsis of books because i hate it. I just open a book and read and this time I was blown away.

It starts with blood and it finishes with blood...the in between is just a heart breaking story of a well bred girl falling in love with the school drug dealer and his cruel reality. The need to help and the need to be understood and loved goes beyond imagination in this story. Was she staying with him because it was something different and exciting to do or because he pitied him or because he loved him? Did she care about him or felt sorry for him and his little sister?

The answer to all those questions came towards the end of the book where Anna forgives the unforgivable act of Abel - then any reader can realize that if you love someone enough you forgive , you continue to care and put yourself second. The relationship between those two made me re-evaluate some things. Some things that I learned long ago and never actually thought about. 

This is one of the books that emotion swallows you full and you can't do anything but continue reading because you love the perfect made characters. Some readers said that they got annoyed with this book but i dont know what...for me it is a perfect read. A perfect depressing love story that will appeal to all the fans of Forbidden.

I loved how the fairytale can be mixed with reality and mystery in a love story so strong that Romeo and Juliet seem like kids love.  The translation seemed a little stiff but knowing German this is how it is supposed to be. The author did a good job with the usage of words and i guess the translator should get credit for it too. 

The Storyteller is one book I will never forget and probably go back to it at some point in the near future.

How To Love by Katie Cotugno book review by Eleni

Author: Katie Cotugno
Release Date: October 1st 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 389
Rating: 4 stars
Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists…until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After: Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Review:

I AM SO CONFUSED AND CONFLICTED OVER THIS BOOK THAT I KEEP THINKING AND THINKING ABOUT IT.
The book tells the story of Sawyer and Reena two completely different individuals who fall in love and do everything wrong or at least wrong in the eyes of a 20-year old that went through this shit and thought it was right. sigh. 
  Reena was in love with Sawyer since she could remember herself and at the age of 15 - socially awkward and by nature quite sees her best friend hooking up with Sawyer - then life goes to hell.
She stops speaking with her friend and spends 7 months alone working after school and trying to cope with life and heartbreak until Sawyer reaches out to her.
The book is divided in before and after chapters making it totally exciting for the reader (no sarcasm there) to want to read more from the Before and more of the After story. Now here comes the conflict. I don;t know if i hate Sawyer from the Before or I love him because he is an 18 year old that messed everything up for himself and Reena due to personal problems and drugs but he is there every time for her because he loved her. 
Now that I think about it i have an explanation for his actions - it was Reena, because she wanted to leave the shitty town , travel the world and leave Sawyer behind to bear with heartbreak. Eventually he is the one that walks out on her leaving her pregnant (he didn't know) and alone to cope with her religious father and a judgmental town.

The After story is two years later when Reena has a baby and suddenly Sawyer returns from the dead. No one knew where he was or what he did and of course they were not sure if he was alive. She turns her life upside down and the old feelings start to resurface again once she spends a little time with him. She makes some hasty decisions right there and then and goes back to his house for ''dinner'' and she totally loses it when they kiss -so she takes 5 steps back. I hated the After story because the only person that actually showed some kind of emotion was Sawyer and at some point i really really threw the book on the wall because Reena was so stupid. 
The writing makes the reading even more interesting and simply you can;'t put the book down no matter how much you want it to. I loved the characters but I would like to see a little more emotion and a little more of Sawyer. Reena was a Snow Queen with absolutely no expression of emotion and that was really frustrating because -lets all admit it - who likes a character like that?
Otherwise the book is an amazing read that I totally related with the characters and the story itself because as a sketchy teenager I was i went through the same shit- sans the pregnancy - and now I am married to the boy that made my life so interesting and crazy.

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen Book Review by Eleni.

Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication Date: June 4th 2013
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Pages: 435
Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

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?

Review:

     The book for me was a piece of art. Although I am not familiar with Dessen's novels I have to say that she did a great job when it comes to character development and realism.  All the characters have human traits and no one is perfect there is so much diversity that I believe anyone can relate himself to one. Not lot of authors have the ability to do that. 
      There is the girl that cares about all, the b*** who is also sentimental deep down, the overly attached - overly worrying mother and of course the awesome but douche boyfriend and the cool friends and sister. I found all the characters funny and clever (except a certain person who in the end turned 160 around) thus the book has a good sense of humor and i like funny books.
      What I didn't really like was the story. I saw the whole book but I continued reading because I went through a same phase when i was leaving for college a couple of years ago. I liked that Dessen showed how a departure of one person can change not only his life but others too. How everyone is start seeing this person and how they try to figure out how to treat him. As an adult or as a child? Through my experience this is the worst thing that can happen to a parent - the kid wants freedom the parent refuses to see that due to fear of what might change.
   The writing was really really good and I felt like i was walking around Colby and i liked that a lot!!!
I am sure the book will appeal to anyone that is ready to leave for college and also likes summer readings.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma book review

Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Release Date: May 27th 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Pages: 432
Rating: 5 stars
Buy at: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Review:

I didn't even know such book existed...someone recommended it to me and i thank them so much.
The author is british and i have to say that i admire her guts to write and to publish such a book...in the western world.

i have read a lot of manga that have to do with incest or brother - sister love and sex and all of that (Angel Sanctuary,Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru) there are also anime...
what i dpnt understand is why Asians seem to be a little cooler with that issue. i know that is genetically weird to have a physical relationship with your brother or with a cousin but i know that a lot of us have seen a cousin and thought something improper..its just the nature of the human...we love to play with fire and when something is off limits subconsciously we want to make it ours.

Apparently the book wants to teach us not to be so judgemental of people and their likes. through my early childhood to my late adolescence i experienced a lot of judgemental people and i dont really do that. i know a girl that she has a relationship with her brother (not a broken family) and i have no problem with them since they dont do anything to anyone.

of course i am not saying that everyone has to go and have sex with a family member cuz after a generation the earth would be full with hybrids due to genetic anomalies but i want to say is that things happen and instead of judge people we should put our feet in their shoes and think how we would react if we were them.

To the book
i have never ever read something like that in my entire life. the book itself it was provoking and great. i would not recommend a hormone-unstable teen to read this due to descriptive sexual scenes and the theme of incest. it falls under the category of young adult but i would totally put it under the category of adult.

the characters were greatly developed to the point i cried with them, laughed, anguished and *hhmm* wanted them epicly bad to find some time alone. the book itself is good written, i felt like i was in the same room as Maya and Lochie watching them.

To be honest with you i didnt really like the ending but thats just me. i could have turned out completely different and i felt it was not fair for the characters.

Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook book review

Author: Kristin Halbrook
Release Date: January 29th 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 272
Rating: 3 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon

Will

Maybe I'm too late. Maybe Zoe's dad stole all her fifteen years and taught her to be scared. I'll undo it. Help her learn to be strong again, and brave. Not that I'm any kind of example, but we can learn together.

When the whole world is after you, sometimes it seems like you can't run fast enough.

Zoe

Maybe it'll take Will years to come to terms with being abandoned. Maybe it'll take forever. I'll stay with him no matter how long it takes to prove that people don't always leave, don't always give up on you.

Review:

** spoiler alert ** 3.5 stars and thats because i didnt like the ending...its so not fair.

i loved loved loved this book. initially i didnt know if reading it would be a great idea because all of us know where the runaways end up. and i tend to be one of those people who think about a book for a long time after they finished it.

anyways i am so glad i read this book it was great!!!! 
the story was awesome and i liked that you could see the thoughts and actions of two people through their perspectives!!!

what i didnt like was the ending and that the main characters acted really really stupid at some points in the book.it felt like they didnt think before they acted which made me pull my hair is despair.

i totally recommend this book although i have to warn you that you will totally get dissapointed with the ending!!!

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski

Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Release Date: June 7th 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 368
Rating: 3 stars
Buy At: Barnes and Noble , Amazon.com

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

Review:

this is an easy to read book...i actually read it in one breath and it totally reminded me of my stupid teen years.

i enjoyed the book but come on why cant it be a coming of age book with a realistic plot. Many things that the protagonists did were unrealistic...nevermind the bad parenthood.

the author did a really good job writing about the relationships and how unimportant and small things seems so big at the eyes of a teenager and how they deal with that. as for the sex issue well it was great during the book but it ruined everything at the last chapters.

Nevertheless i would recommend this book.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Book Review

Author: John Green
Release Date: January 10th 2012
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 316
Rating: 5 stars

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.







Review:

    Okay let me get this straight. this is the best novel I have ever read.period. I have never ever experienced feelings of happiness and sadness at such excess. ever. 

     While reading this book I felt myself laughing at the amazing humor and at the same time feeling depressed. it wasn't an emotional roller coaster...it was a roller coaster with two speeds. happy and sad and that was pretty much it. 

     I suddenly found myself sobbing tp the point my husband woke up asking me what was wrong and to the point I mumbled don't you ever die on me while trying to catch my breath. Cried while reading a book before? Never happened and I think it wont ever happen again.

     The whole theme of the book had to do with cancer and how people find a way to love and to forgive and appreciate life and family and friends. How through a disease a person can change so much and how love can be found...and lost. The book also concentrates on the side characters that also play an important role in the book and to the main characters. Enough with the analyzation just go read the book and get your minds blown away.
      I fucking totally recommend this awesome book.

The Boy Who Sneaks in My Bedroom Window By Kirsty Moseley book review

Author: Kirsty Moseley
Release Date: April 30th 2012
Publisher: Create Space
Pages: 256
Rating: 2 stars

Amber Walker and her older brother, Jake, have an abusive father. One night her brother's best friend, Liam, sees her crying and climbs through her bedroom window to comfort her. That one action sparks a love/hate relationship that spans over the next eight years.

Liam is now a confident, flirty player who has never had a girlfriend before. Amber is still emotionally scarred from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Together they make an unlikely pair.

Their relationship has always been a rocky one, but what happens when Amber starts to view her brother's best friend a little differently? And how will her brother, who has always been a little overprotective, react when he finds out that the pair are growing closer?


Review:

okay here comes. i am so dissapointed from this book. i was looking forward to it because my boyfriend used to come to my room every night after my parents were asleep but it wasnt so cheesy.
1) The Characters:
while you are reading this book you will have to deal with a bunch of 16 y.o and some 18 y.o. who act like they are five and they only thing that actually cross their minds is sex and how to nail each other by betting (yup and i mean a lot of money). The protagonist is supposed to be suffering from sexual abuse BUT i dont see her dealing with it when her bf is all over her (who by the way only thinks on how to tap her ass...like all the time)
2) The Plot:
i dont know what the hell crossed the writers mind...it seemed like she didnt plan it at all and she was just writing whatever dropped in her stupid mind. its unrealistic and most of the times stupid and you can even connect with the protagonists.
3) The Writing:
those of you that have read it you have noticed...those of you who gonna read it you gonna notice too. the writer is repeating herself over and over again with the words pourring, winking, smirking, groaning etc etc. its like before she started writing she decided to just write down 7 words for expression and thats whats she been using through the entire book. i dont even want to comment on the sentence construction.
4) Sex scenes:
wtf???? like seriously why didnt she published this novel through Harlequin? that book would be perfect under this category. there was so much sex and description that it was seriously disturbing. okay i not say that i was fun of the twilight- no -sex -at- all -to - the-point -that - you -scream-for-it but she could have keep it down a notch and actually show to the reader that Liam and Amber have a deep relationship and they talk about other stuff apart from sex and how to make each other horny.


In a few words read it only if you have nothing to read and you prefer Harlequin romance.