I have no intention of finishing this book. I rarely DNF books, but this book is just not my thing at all. I'm not a big chick lit reader and this is chick lit in its purest form. And not even written properly. I don't want to say too much about this book as I've only read 20% of it. I would only recommend this book to hardcore chick lit readers who don't mind bland characters and uninteresting storylines.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/Having heard only a-ma-zing things about this book I was expecting one of the best reads of at least this year. Instead I ended up dreading to continue reading this book. I always force myself to finish reading books, even when it takes me several months, and I’m glad I finished Shatter Me. But I doubt I’ll pick up the sequel Unravel Me. And that makes me sad because I still want to read the Shatter Me I expected to read.
Shatter Me is about Juillet whose touch is fatal. She grew up thinking she was a monster and for the past couple of years she has been locked up so she can’t hurt anyone. But the Reestablishment releases her from her cell because they have great plans for her. They want to use her as a torture device.
My first problem with this book was Juillet. I didn’t like her at all. And since this book is narrated by her, the fact that I don’t like her is quite a big deal. What I don’t like about her is a combination of her personality and her writing style, the writing style of this book.
Most people love this book because of the prose filled with imagery and similes. I dislike this book for the exact same reason. The writing is way too dramatic to my liking and so is Juillet. I understand that her situation sucks but does she have to whine about everything over and over again?
Some examples:
“His shoulders are so close too close never close enough.”
“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”
“My body is a carnivorous flower, a poisonous houseplant, a loaded gun with a million triggers and he's more than ready to fire.”
“Hate looks just like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into the semblance of something too passive to punch.”
I don’t mind some imagery and some descriptions. But enough is enough. Neither do I mind an unusual writing style. For example in the Knife of Never Letting Go different types of fonts were used throughout the book and I loved that. But in Shatter Me Juillet crosses out sentences and gets too passionate to use punctuation properly. She also repeats words and sentences to emphasize how she feels. Again, this is too much for me. Turn down the drama a notch, Juillet.
The storyline could have added a star or two to my rating if it didn't take forever for something to actually happen. It wasn't until the last 50 pages that I was actually looking forward to finding out what would happen next. Then again, maybe I didn't like the story because none of the characters interested me. As you know by now, Juillet and I didn't really get along. But I’m not a big fan of her love interest, Adam, either. And let me not even start about Juillet and Adam together. Their relationship and especially the way it develops was awful. It developed way too quickly and their steamy scenes were a new kind of awkward.
Like I said, I really wish I liked this book. The prose, the slow-paced plot, but mostly Juillet and her relationship with Adam left me giving this book a low rating. The only reason why I might read Unravel Me is that it bothered me that it isn't explained in Shatter Me why Juliette’s touch is lethal. But then again I'd have to get through almost 500 pages of Juillet’s narrative. I'm not quite sure if that’s worth it.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comI saw the film first and absolutely loved it. Then I loved the book just as much. I tend to compare books and film adaptations in my reviews but I’m not going to do that now, because I figured that’s not of much use. But my advice concerning the film is: go see it and if you love it read the book.
So I loved the film and then read the book. The book differs a whole lot from the film (I know that’s comparing them, but I think saying this is essential for this review). And that’s not bad. I felt like whilst I was enjoying this amazing book, I was also discovering another part of the film after I’ve seen it. There’s so much more going on in Pat’s mind than you actually get to see in the film, yet as I was reading the book I still recognized bits that I hadn’t seen before. If that makes any sense.
This review is going all over the place. To come to the point, The Silver Linings Playbook is about Pat Peoples who’s going through some horrible stuff and ended up in a psychiatric hospital. In the beginning of the book he is released and goes home to live with his parents. You basically follow him for a while as he is adjusting to living in the “real world”.
What I loved most about this book is Pat. From the very first page I felt a very strong connection with him. I could relate really well to him and he is such a sympathetic character that you’re bound to care for him. Thinking of it, I actually kind of miss him now that I’ve finished the book.
Just for Pat alone, for getting to know this amazing character, I would highly recommend reading this book. But this book also has a very positive tone overall. This is a book that you should definitely pick up if you ever do feel a little down, because Pat is your very personal motivator to reach for your silver lining even though he doesn’t have it very easy himself at all.
This book in general is really good. But what really made it so wonderful was Pat. I can hardly believe Matthew Quick was able to create a fictional character that I feel so sympathetic for, but also a character that reassures and motivates me. All the other characters in this book were pretty amazing as well. I was able to picture them very clearly. There’s so much more to say about this book but all I want to say is “Pat”.
However, I just remembered there are two other things I’d like to say about this book. Much like Charlie from the Perks of Being a Wallflower, Pat spends a lot of time reading classics. Once he’s finished reading one he likes to tell the reader what he thought about it. Usually these mini-reviews are very critical and really hilarious. Furthermore, the idea of film comes back repeatedly in this book. Pat refuses to watch movies as he believes he is watching the movie of his life until he’s found the silver lining. The funny thing is that some chapters are described as movies, there’s even a training montage that I really enjoyed reading.
I just thought those two elements were worth mentioning, but other than that: you should read The Silver Linings Playbook because Pat is one of the most wonderful characters you’ll ever meet.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.comSchool Spirits is the first book in a spin-off series. Rachel Hawkins had previously written the Hex Hall series, a series I’ve always wanted to read but never had a chance to. Fortunately, Disney-Hyperion was so kind to send me an eGalley of the first book in the School Spirits series.
First of all I would like to say that you do not need to read the Hex Hall books before reading School Spirits. I bet School Spirits would be even more fun to read when you've read the previous books by Rachel Hawkins, but I did not feel like I was missing out on anything. In fact, I did not know School Spirits was a spin-off until I started doing my research after reading this book.
School Spirits follows Izzy Brannick who, at only 15, is able to defeat monsters. Pretty badass, huh? It’s tradition for Brannick ladies to hunt the magical evil and that’s exactly what Izzy, her older sister and mom do. Until Izzy’s sister mysteriously disappears on the job.
Her mom decides to give Izzy a break and they move to a new town where Izzy is to attend high school as well. She discovers that this small town isn’t as normal as it seems and she’s determined to prove her mother that’s she a true Brannick. And that all while discovering high school.
Izzy quickly makes new friends at school and she can include me as one of her new friends as well. What a likeable character is she! As are her new friends. Or maybe it is Rachel Hawkins who I really like. Her writing style is so quirky and funny and it makes me really regret not reading Hex Hall when I was a little younger. Because I have to admit that School Spirits is a little bit too bouncy to my liking, but sometimes that is exactly the kind of book I want to read. Perhaps that's a bit contradictory but it's true.
What surprised me about School Spirits was not the witty prose or the likeable characters, but the fact that I was not able to predict the plot. Honestly, I was not able to tell what was going to happen which is a good thing of course. Fun and light books like this generally go hand in hand with predicting storylines but that was definitely not the case with School Spirits.
I really wish I could go back in time and give the Princess Diaries-loving me these books written by Rachel Hawkins. The humor and the writing style slightly reminds me of Meg Cabot, but other than that School Spirits has different things to offer: magic as well as mystery. Although I did perceive this book as ‘fun’ and ‘light’ it also definitely left me on the edge of my seat not knowing what to expect at all. Are you looking for a light read filled with a combination of magic, humor and a hint of suspense than School Spirits is definitely up your alley.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/While reading this book I discovered that I might know a little too much about Meg Cabot personally. Like how she worked as an assistant manager of a residence hall in NYC similar to Heather Wells, the protagonist of Size 12 Is Not Fat. Or how she loves cold sesame noodles.
Actually, I’m not sure about the noodles, but I figured she likes them because Mia from the Princess Diaries eats them all the time and Heather wonders: “How on earth could anyone ever give up cold sesame noodles?”
Size 12 Is Not Fat is about Heather Wells who, in general, talks a lot about food. She used to be a teen popstar but after losing her recording contract, her life savings (which her mom ran away with) and her boyfriend and gaining a couple pounds, she finds herself working as an assistant dorm director at New York College. Up until now it sounds pretty chicklitty, right?
Until a dead girl is found at the bottom of the elevator shaft at Heather’s residence hall.
I’ve read a lot of Meg Cabot books. Some of them I loved, like the entire Princess Diaries series and Avalon High, others I wasn’t a big fan of, like The Boy Next Door. I was hoping the Heather Wells Mystery series would be like a more mature Princess Diaries.
Fortunately, Size 12 Is Not Fat has Meg Cabot’s humor and writing style. On those levels this book does not disappoint at all. With the exception of two recurring taglines (“Size 12 is not fat!” and “Dorm, I mean, residence hall.”) that got kind of annoying after a while, this book was very funny and a nice read.
What makes this book different from the other Meg Cabot books I’ve read is that this is a mystery novel. I think Meg Cabot did a great job with combining her usual type of storylines with mystery. This book didn’t really leave me at the edge of my seat, but that’s okay because I don’t want or expect that from a Meg Cabot book. What I want when I'm reading her books is to be entertained. And that is exactly what this book does.
Although I enjoyed Size 12 Is Not Fat, I'm sorry to say that it is wasn't as enjoyable as any of the Princess Diaries books. The characters in this book weren't by far as good as the ones from Mia Thermopolis' world. But other than that Size 12 Is Not Fat was a very nice read (and I shouldn't compare books anyway).
If you’re looking for a light read that isn’t too chicklitty but not too serious either, Size 12 Is Not Fat is for you. I liked it and I probably would have liked it even more if I didn’t start reading it with such high expectations.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/Warm Bodies was my first attempt at reading a zombie book. Zombies have never really appealed to me, I don’t watch the Walking Dead and I’ve only seen two zombie movies: Dawn of the Dead and Zombieland. The first was not a voluntary viewing and I was really young and I hated it. Zombieland, on the other hand, is hilarious and I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it.
But I don’t think Warm Bodies is the right book to introduce someone to zombies. Because you’re not supposed to like the zombie, right?
And I do like R. You could even say I love him as our main zombie and narrator of Warm Bodies. He is funny and honest and so likeable as a human person, not only as a zombie person. R doesn’t remember his name and has no memories of his previous life. He lives amongst his fellow zombies in an abandoned airport. Every now and then he joins his colleagues and they go hunting in a nearby city. When they finally find a group of humans, R meets Julie. For reasons unknown to him, he doesn’t eat her but instead saves her and he brings her back to the airport.
I’d like to keep this review short and simple just like the book itself. I don’t mean that in a negative way. The book is on the thin side and it contains lots of information and events without becoming overwhelming. And I really like that when looking back at my reading experience, Warm Bodies seems like a short and simple read although at the same time I’m aware that many things happen in the book. Kind of like how R experiences life I guess -Enya, you’re so deep I can’t even see you right now-.
I love the originality of this story. It just works. (Although I do hope that the ending will be explained in the rumoured sequel. The ending of Warm Bodies doesn’t really have a cliff-hanger, what has happened is just left unexplained. Which is basically the only thing I didn’t like about this book. But it does make sense, because R tells you the story and he doesn’t know what has happened, therefore he can’t tell the reader what has happened either.)
Other things I liked about this book: the parallels with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, thorough questioning of what makes someone (or something for that matter) human and Marion’s beautiful poetic writing. And for the first time at Three Cats and a Book, I will end this review with a couple of quotes from this book to show you how incredible Marion’s writing style is:
“My friend "M" says the irony of being a zombie is that everything is funny, but you can't smile, because your lips have rotted off.”
“I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I'm drowning in ellipses.”
“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”
Warm Bodies is original, funny, filled with action-packed scenes and on top of that all, beautifully written. I can’t wait to see how this story is going to be told on the silver screen.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/I’m a really big fan of guilty pleasure series. You know, those books that you’re not really willing to admit you secretly love and read. I love reading such books in between heavy reads, just to have something to read while not straining your braincells too much.
While my usual go-to guilty pleasures are Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Lairs books, this time I opted to try out a different series: The Sookie Stackhouse series. Funny thing is, a lot of tv series are based on these guilty pleasure series. For instance, you might know Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood.
I had never seen an episode of True Blood and I was completely unfamiliar with the storyline of Dead Until Dark, the first book in the series. Sookie Stackhouse lives in a world where vampires aren’t hiding in their coffins anymore. Well, they do, during the day, but at night vampires are free to walk around town. But of course, you already know this if you watch True Blood. But for those who don’t watch True Blood, Sookie isn’t just your average waitress in a bar that serves synthetic blood. She can read minds. Except for Bill, Bon Temps’ only vampire.
I liked Dead Until Dark. I liked Sookie a lot and the story was exciting enough to keep me reading. Other than that, I don’t have anything else positive to say about this book. But that’s okay, because a book like Dead Until Dark doesn’t need a lot more than this.
I didn’t like any of the other characters. The use of language wasn’t special. And I wasn’t charmed by the sex scenes either. Actually, those scenes were too frequent and at times I didn’t even know characters were getting it on until someone... Well, reached their climax, I guess.
Dead Until Dark was a nice book to read in between heavy reads. I didn’t expect much from it and I don’t think you should when you are going to read this book. Although I liked this book, I didn’t liked the ending of it at all. Actually, I feel like this book lacks an ending which kind of makes me feel betrayed as the reader of it. Hello, I spent quite some time reading this books and I expect to get a satisfactory ending in return!
If you’re looking for a quick and fun read in between those mandatory books for school I would rather recommend Pretty Little Liars than Dead Until Dark. Unless you like vampires. Or are a fan of True Blood of course.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/I devoured If You Find Me about a month ago and I absolutely loved it. I set myself the goal to write a review before its release day. Time and time again, I set down with my computer and tried to write a review that expressed my feelings towards this book well. I guess it shows that I’m only a starting book reviewer, because today If You Find Me was released and I still don’t have a review yet. But I am going to keep my promise and try my very best to tell you why I love this book so much. And if that doesn’t convince you to read If You Find Me, I highly recommend that you check out The Midnight Garden’s review and Emily Murdoch’s guest post here. (Psst, you can also win a copy of If You Find Me there!)
Here we go. If You Find Me is about fifteen-year-old Carey who lives in a camper in a forest of Tennessee with her younger sister, Jenessa. Carey has lived here as long as she can remember with her mother. But since recently, her mother has been leaving her to care for her sister for long periods at a time, until she doesn’t come back at all. Two strangers take Carey and Jenessa to the world outside of the forest where they are introduced to hamburgers and french fries, new clothes and school.
Slowly, Carey learns the truth about why her mother hid her in a forest for nearly ten years while keeping secret why Jenessa hasn’t spoken in over a year.
The interesting thing about this book is that as you read, it only gets better for the two main characters, Carey and Jenessa. At the same time you find out more and more about their past. While the situation for the two girls only gets better as you’re reading, the story itself gets darker and more gruesome. As I was reading, I felt conflicted: I wanted to know why Jenessa doesn’t speak and what their dark secret is, but at the same time I knew in my gut what their secret was and I didn’t want it to be confirmed by the ending of the book.
The main thing I loved about this book were the characters. The characters were so real and had great back stories and their actions were thoroughly motivated. And I’m not only talking about the two main characters, also Carey’s father, his wife and her daughter were fantastic characters. Although this story was told through Carey’s perspective, I could relate really well to the other characters which added more dimensions to the story.
Speaking of Carey’s perspective, I loved this form of narration! Actually, I just really loved Carey. Because Carey grew up secluded from anyone but her mother and sister, she speaks with a heavy accent and uses crazy sayings. This came back in the narration continuously. Although she knows living with her father is better for her and her sister, she often yearns to go back to the woods. She describes how she misses the smell of campfire smoke in her hair and the rustling of the leaves in the wind. I really liked how these inner conflicts came back throughout the book as well as her character development. And her love and devotion to her sister is so heartwarming.
If You Find Me made me feel all the feels. It is a strange experience, caring so much about characters in the first place (but I’m used to that by now), but mostly knowing that the characters are much better off than at the start of the book, yet feeling so sad after finishing it.
If You Find Me is Emily Murdoch’s debut novel and I can’t wait to read her other books in the future.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/This is one of those books that I don’t own but MUST ADD TO MY BOOKSHELVES because I loved it so much. Maybe I’m the only one, but whenever I read a book from the library or borrow a book from a friend and end up loving the book, the bookmonster in me awakes and demands to own the book.
Harlequin Teen was kind enough to send me Saving June in digital version. Unfortunately, that means that I can’t showcase this a-ma-zing book on my physical shelves and am bound to buy a copy eventually.
I’m sure you understand now that I love this book. I basically read it in a day because I could and because there wasn’t anything I’d rather wanted to do at the time. I’ll try to keep it short, because I just want you to start reading Saving June as quickly as possible. Saving June is about Harper who is having a very difficult time coping with her older sister’s suicide. Harper has always felt like she was standing in June’s shadow and doesn’t know where she stands without her sister. Add to that a disappeared father, a mother who tries to find comfort in alcohol and an aunt from hell. Trying to run away from all that, Harper goes on a road-trip with her best friend and a complete stranger (who seems to know June) to the one place June always wanted to go to: California.
What I loved about this book is that it seemed to get me. I know that sounds super cheesy and cliche, but I’m sure you have some books that completely get you too. And the funny thing is, this feeling of a book or a song ‘getting you’ is described in Saving June:
“It's just nice, I guess. Knowing that someone else can put into words what I feel. That there are people who have been through things worse than I have, and they come out on the other side okay. Not only that, but they made some kind of twisted, fucked-up sense of the completely senseless. They made it mean something. These songs tell me I'm not alone. If you look at it at that way, music... music can see you through anything.”
And I recognize this feeling described by Jake. Although he talks about music, I have this feeling with music as well as with books. And this book is one of them. Although my situation wasn’t similar to Harper’s, I did lose family a little over a year ago. The way Hannah Harrington described exactly how Harper felt was weirdly so comforting and reassuring. Despite the fact that Harper is a fictional character, it still feels reassuring to know that someone else has been through this or even worse (like Jake mentions).
Harper’s feelings came across as very authentic to me, but maybe that’s because I recognized Harper’s feelings. Actually, all the characters in this book are so realistic. Of course there’s Harper, who tells you her story herself. Her best friend, Laney, is not just any quirky best friend who’s funny every now and then. Their relationship is very special (and I also recognized a little bit of myself and one of my besties in them). Then there’s Jake, who’s so mysterious and such a charmer. Yet Harper does not get along with him all the time at all! I also love that their relationship is not your typical ‘boy meets girl’ kind of story.
And then there’s the road-trip element. I like the adventurous element of a road-trip and the additional tension of having our three main characters locked up in a car most of the time. And the mixed tapes and the little music history lessons given by Jake go hand in hand with the road-trip. This book even comes with the tracklisting of the mentioned mixed tapes in the back of it.
Just go read this book. Please?
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/With the theatrical release of the movie just around the corner I picked up Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl to read. A month ago. It took me over a month to finish this book, which is quite long for me as all I do is read. In the end I did like this book, but the beginning was just so slow. I think this book would have been just as good (or maybe even better) with at least a 100 pages less in size.
Beautiful Creatures is set in Gatlin, South Carolina and Ethan Wate’s goal in life is to move away from this small town as soon as possible. Until the girl of his dreams, literally, she’s in his dreams, moves to Gatlin. I don’t want to spoil too much for you, so I’ll just leave it at that Ethan is determined to understand their connection.
First of all, I liked that this story was told from a boy’s point of view. But considering the fact that this book was written by two women, I’m not entirely sure to what extent they got a teenage boy’s thoughts right. If you ask me Ethan is way more sensitive than most guys. But then again, how would I know, I’m not a boy either.
What I liked the most about this book was that it was set in Gatlin and all its Southern characters, like the four (or three?) sisters. Ethan has these great-grandmothers that he visits every Sunday and they were just hilarious. The plot itself was alright. Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to predict the storyline. Actually I had no clue what Lena was (was she a vampire? a werewolf?). But then again, this book would have been much better if some of the chapters were left out of it because it made the story so slow at times. In case you are thinking of reading this book, I wish you the best of luck with the first 200 pages or so. I promise you, once you’re past those it all gets better. And it’s even worth it in the end.
I am looking forward to reading the sequel Beautiful Darkness because I did like the story and I want to know what happens to Lena and Ethan. In fact, if Beautiful Creatures would have been more fast paced, I would have definitely given it 4 out of 5 stars. In stead, I gave it 3 stars.
But before I start with the sequel I am going to watch the movie! Unfortunately, it isn’t going to be released here in the Netherlands for at least another two weeks.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/I should probably stop expecting things from books, because once again I was sort of let down by a book. Fortunately, this time it wasn’t such a disaster like Matched. I ended up giving Delirium three out of five stars, or paws if you will, because I didn’t really hate it but I didn’t love it either.
The concept of Delirium sounds super interesting and it is what made me want to read it in the first place. I wasn’t familiar with Lauren Oliver’s previous work and I didn’t know what type of reviews Delirium was getting. All that made me want to read this was that Delirium is about a dystopian version of the United States where 18 year olds are forced to have a procedure done which unables them to love. People believe love is a disease, they call it amor delirium nervosa, which along with horrible side effects ultimately leads to death.
Our main character, Lena, is 17 years old and you’d expect her to completely rebel against society and refuse to be cured, right? Because as the main character in a dystopian she has to be rebellious. WRONG. Lena is counting the days until she’s going to be cured because she has lost her mother to amor delirium nervosa. She is terrified of love and can’t wait to be cured like her older sister.
Of course, she meets a boy, they fall in love and he shows her a world that’s been kept hidden from her.
The problem I had while reading this book, is that I didn’t really like Lena. Sure, I felt sorry for her. I really did. And Iencouraged her to stand up againt society and run away with her beau Alex. But Lena still has her doubts once she’s with Alex. She’s been brainwashed to believe that love is life threatening her entirely life so there’s always a part of her that is scared of love. Also, it’s not in her nature to stand up and rebel like, say, a girl named Katniss Everdeen I know.
I take back what I said about not liking Lena. Her struggle and her doubts are realistic and are in fact what I liked about this book. What I didn’t like so much is that sudden waves of rebellious feelings would hit, when she would basically want to burn the entire town down. But then on the next page she would do whatever her evil aunt from hell would tell her to do. Every girl suffers from PMS every now and then, but these extreme highs and lows were a little too much for me. Also Lena’s relationship with Alex developed a bit too fast, if you ask me.
What I really did like about this book was Lauren Oliver’s writing style. I think you’ll either love it or hate it as it can get a little too much at times. I certainly put this book down at times because I didn’t feel like reading such ‘heavy sentences’, if you know what I mean. The sentences are very layered with plenty of beautiful imagery. At times this worked really well for me, like when Lena would describe her memories of her mothers. But at other times, like when Lena was with Alex, it became dangerously close to Bella describing her sparkling, blood-sucking god.
What I also really liked about Delirium is the character Hana. Hana is Lena’s best friend and she isn’t as much part of this book as Alex is, but I wish she was. I absolutely love her and her positive energy. The fact that she’s blonde, pretty and loves running reminded me of Bridget Vreeland, a character from the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants who I, somehow, absolutely love.
I’m not sure whether I’m going to read the sequel, Pandemonium. Delirium ended with, not exactly a cliffhanger, but a very unexpected event. I don’t want to spoil anything. I am curious what is going to happen next but there are many books that I rather want to read. In case I’ll every find myself not knowing what to read at all, I’ll read Pandemonium. Or the short story Hana, aka Delirium 1.5, which shows Hana’s point of view of a couple of chapters from Delirium.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/
If you’d be able to travel back in time and ask wee little Enya what her favorite Disney princess is, she would jump up and down and say: “Sleeping Beauty! Sleeping Beauty!” Or actually, she would say “Doornroosje!” as she can’t speak English yet.
But Sleeping Beauty has always been my favorite princess (until Tangled was released that is. I heart Rapunzel). I couldn’t be more excited to find out about A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan which is a fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Or so they say.
Although I really enjoyed reading this book, I should warn you that this is not so much a retelling of Sleeping Beauty than a book inspired by the classic fairytale. Or maybe I’m just not very familiar with the phenomenon ‘fairytale retelling’.
Either way, A Long, Long Sleep is about Rosalinda Fitzroy who awakes about 80 years from now by a kiss. She was locked away and forgotten in her stasis tube in which her body and mind were basically chemically frozen. She finds out that her parents and her boyfriend are long gone and that she slept through disasterous years called the Dark Times.
What I loved most about this book was that I did not see the ending coming at all. I expected some kind of love triangle, like in so many other YA-books. But, spoiler alert, there isn’t a love triangle in A Long Long Sleep. Another thing I loved about A Long, Long Sleep was the world it was set in. Then there’s Rose, a character I absolutely adored. I felt so bad for her. She’s thrown into this entire new world and she doesn’t know anyone, which leaves her completely clueless. And what’s down to her is so cruel. I could really relate to her because if I ever would find myself in a situation like hers, I would react exactly the same.
There were some parts in this book that I would have liked to see explained more. For example, Rose’s friendship with whatshisname, the alien friend. It seems like her relationship with him is going to be a very important part in the story because a lot of attention is paid to it. But in the end their friendship is just that, a friendship, and it isn’t an important part in the plot. Which makes me think that there is going to be a sequel.
I'm not going to write an elaborate review on this because I think it is safe to say that my opinion on these books is biased. I love this series and I basically grew up with them during High School. This last book in the series is somewhat different than the previous ones, as it checks in with our friends from the Upper East Side every New Year's Eve for three (or four?) years straight. I loved finding out how Serena, Blair, Nate, Dan, Chuck and Vanessa were doing and the ending was satisfying.
This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/This is the third book Rachel Cohn and David Levithan wrote together. You might have heard of their first book, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, as it was made into a movie starring Michael Cera.
I really enjoyed reading Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares. I wasn’t really planning on reading a Christmas book and I didn’t know a lot about this book when I picked it up about a week ago. Imagine how surprised I was when I found out this book is set in December!
There’s not much to give away about this storyline. If you want to read a cute Christmas story you should really pick this up. But for those who wander, it is about Lily who has left a red notebook with challenges in her favorite bookstore and Dash who finds said notebook. Both were left home in New York while their parents were celebrating the holidays elsewhere. And together they have lots of adventures and fun.
The fact that it was set around this time of year made me enjoy it more than I would have initially. Usually I’m not a big fan of chicklit or romantic lovey-dovey stories. But this was written in such a way that the plot wasn’t predictable or cliche and I really liked that. What I also liked about this book is how Rachel Cohn and David Levithan took turns in writing it. Rachel Cohn wrote the chapters from Lily’s point of view and David Levithan wrote the ones from Dash’s point of view. They emailed these chapters back and forth so they didn’t know what would happen next.
I’m really glad I accidentally read this Christmas story. Not only was the plotline really sweet, the characters were very interesting as well and this book was in general very funny as well. The following quote wasn’t particularly funny or anything but it did stand out to me most:
“I saw a girl who looked college age, dressed like Hermione Potter. [...] I've always resented Hermione, because I wanted to be her so badly and she never seemed to appreciate as much as I thought she should that she got be her. She got to live at Hogwarts and be friends with Harry and kiss Ron, which was supposed to happen to me.”
Despite the fact that Hermione’s last name isn’t Potter at all, I thought this bit was really funny. Also, although I absolutely love Hermione, I understand where Lily is coming from. She does have a point, don’t you think?