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Forever Breathless - Shirley Spain

“ You’ve been punched in the face. You’re disoriented. Everything’s a blur. The killer throws you into a body bag and zips you up inside. What will you do? Zoelle Spencer is divorced and looking for love. While working as a water fitness instructor at the local rec center, she meets several eligible bachelors including a handsome firefighter and several men in the Corvette club. One of them is a serial killer and has his sights set on her. Every five years, Franklin Wayne Bannock hunts for a new “Mary Beth” to torture, kill, and encase in a heavy-duty body bag for induction into his Forever Breathless collection. Two weeks before the class of 1975 was slated to graduate from high school, Wayne committed his first murder by killing the secret love of his life, Mary Beth Huntsman. Shortly thereafter, he moved. After changing his name and altering his appearance, in the spring of 1981 he returned to his hometown to celebrate his first murder with a ritualistic killing of a woman he named Mary Beth, 1981. Intelligent and charismatic, for thirty-five years Bannock has eluded law enforcement and believes he will never be caught. With his fortieth class reunion just around the corner, he’s on the prowl for his next victim, Mary Beth, 2016. Bannock is particular about his Mary Beths. He seeks an attractive single woman about his same age. She must have long auburn hair, work at a job dealing with the public, and be easily manipulated by flattery. Zoelle Spencer fits his criteria. Could the killer be operating as Glenn Fischer, aka Mr. April the firefighter calendar hunk? Joe Davenport, the sexiest single man west of the Mississippi? The rec center’s resident pervert, Willard Kent? Or one of the dashing men in the Corvette club? Will Zoelle find true love … or become Forever Breathless? “

I received this book for free from Voracious Readers.  I recently signed up to Voracious Readers. You choose your favorite genres and they send you several emails per day telling you about different books, according to your preferences. 

I’ve never read many mysteries/thriller books. I love Stephen King’s books but that’s basically all I’ve read of this genre.

I wasn’t that impressed with Forever Breathless. I kept reading, which is a good sign but, less than halfway through, I was reading to be sure I knew who the killer was and to say I finished it.

I discovered who the killer was a little bit over halfway the book. The author kept trying to make us change our mind about the killer by introducing three possible killers. Sometimes, though, it was too obvious that the author was making it on purpose, for example, when they all had cuts on their hands. 

If the author hadn’t kept saying that the protagonists were 60 something, I would never have believed it. I’m not saying that 60 something people have to act a certain way, but in this book, they certainly don’t have characteristics or mannerisms that portray them as 60s. Instead, they all act like 20s something. The protagonist is really really naive and annoying. I did not care for her at all. 

Besides being naive, she is not likable. She gets all these feelings and sudden rush of emotions as if she’s a horny teenager. She keeps thing about the “firepole” of Glenn and pretty much falls head over heels over Joe when he compliments her on getting thinner. She’s a woman always looking for reassurance that she is pretty and that someone is noting her. This trait could have made her a likable character, because we could have bonded with her. Instead, she acts like a teenager and is as naive as one. Who the hell rushes into danger, knowing there’s a killer? Who the hell goes after a killer? 

And, who, when with a gun and knowing someone would get hurt, doesn’t do a thing? She was fit, for god’s sake! ��Okay, she could have been frozen with fear one time, but 2 times? He almost killed 2 cops because she didn’t do a thing.

And she kept shaming her friend for being rapped! So her friend can’t go to a guy’s place wanting to have sex? Yes, he was known as a sexual pervert but there’s a big difference between a sexual pervert and a rappist. 

I liked the fact that we sometimes got the insight of the killer’s mind, but I woul dhave liked more explanation of his childhood, more descriptions. Alternatively, the cop’s point of view is barely mentioned. Only in the beginning and in the end.  That’s a shame because they are some of the most interesting chapters, which is saying a lot. 

I don’t buy the end. It was very very forced and I kept waiting for the to end. It could have ended several chapters before and nothing would be lost. In fact, it woul have been better because of the very failed attempt at a plot-twist. The fact that this is a stand-alone book makes the plot-twist seem a very feeble attempt to leave the readers wondering who called her. 

The book did make me want to finish it, even if only to be sure of the identity of the killer. I didn’t catch any grammar errors. If they exist, they didn’t make me want to gauge my eyes out, as it recently happened with another Voracious Readers’ book, so that’s a plus.

Sadly, it didn’t make me nervous or scared or even tempted to keep reading because I was scared. It didn’t even thrilled me. I read it with a very bored expression, actually. It didn’t grip me like Stephen King’s books, either. It didn’t have any gore (in my opinion) and it all felt rather lame. I get that it’s a tough genre but it was a sad attempt.

Overall: 5/10

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The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin

“ If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds. “

SPOILERS ALERT

My first thought was that the book sometimes had a crude language.

Right in the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Varya as having a "dark patch of fur between her legs". A few pages ahead, talking about Simon, the author talks about “long thrust of the cock”. I starting disliking this book after these random sexual mentions.

In the beginning it’s really confusing. We have 4 characters that are really different and a lot of different stories and it took me a while to start confusing people and to understand what was going on.

The question that was in my mind during the book was: Do they die in the date the psychic said because she was right? Or, having a date makes them take chances and live lives that make them die young/old? By knowing the date, they cause their own deaths?

Simon is the first person to die. He has several several several times unprotected sex with a man. Until he gets AIDs, which wasn’t called AIDs - it didn't even have a name at the time.  He lives his life dangerously because he thinks he’s going to die at a young age. But isn’t that living dangerously that causes him to die young?

Klara has a depression. She has had one for some time and keeps thinking that Simon is talking with her via knocks. She eventually kills herself on the day she was supposed to die. I don’t get her. She had a daughter, a husband, she was living the life she wanted. Or was she? Maybe she also rushed things because she thought she was going to die at an early age.

Daniel was supposed to be one of the smartest. He’s a doctor, he has a wife, he’s in love. But he’s about to get laid from his job and starts talking to a cop that was in love with Klara and was the first person to get to her after she killed herself. He starts trying to find out who was the psychic until he tracks her down. Then, of course, he basically gets himself killed. He has a gun, he's pointing it to the psychic woman and the cop shoots him on the leg. And, of course, it hits the femoral artery and he dies.

Overall, it was meh. A solid 6/10, I think. It could have been way better if the author had decided to focus on different things. And I still don’t understand why the book is called The Immortalists. Is it, maybe, because the focus of the book is Klara’s husband and daughter? Who knows.

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Crazy in Love - Annabelle Costa

 “ They call her Crazy Anna. Anna Flint won’t shake your hand. She collects tin cans. She cleans her cubicle at work with Lysol several times a day. But Anna doesn’t care that they call her crazy. She’s absolutely satisfied with her life of perfect organization, cleanliness, and most of all, solitude. Matt Harper likes Anna Flint. He likes that she’s the smartest person he knows and he likes her big blue eyes. He doesn’t even mind her can collection. In fact, he pretty much likes everything about Anna. As his body and his world are falling apart, she still manages to make him happy. Matt is the only person Anna has ever wanted to be close to. But how can she go on a date with him if the thought of dinner at a restaurant fills her with terror? How can she ever kiss the man she loves if she can't even touch him? Maybe it’s time to stop being Crazy Anna. If only she could. “

Here I was, happily reading my notes to start reviewing this book, when I go to Goodreads and I see that this is a series. This thought doesn’t make me happy but neither does it make me sad. It’s “meh”.

The review will contain small spoilers.

From the very beginning, you know what’s going to happen. You know Matt and Anna are going to be together. They already have a crush on each other so it’s only a matter of time.

I liked Anna. I really liked her but I really disliked Matt. He’s certainly not perfect - he has crude language, he rates women as numbers, even after he’s reduced to a wheelchair. There isn’t any problem in using a wheelchair or in not using a wheelchair but, since he was sick and he was losing his ability to walk, he might have more respect for women?

Even after all that, he still says things like “ She was a 6 but I don’t mind”, or “Before I wouldn’t have looked at smoene lower than a 8″.

There aren’t any plot-twists. Some things happen but there isn’t any third lover or a love triangle or someone is suddenly married. It’s just a cute, sometimes annoying, love story.

I think the characters could have been more developed. The only characters that are frequently mentioned are the two protagonists and one asshole. Other characters appear but they aren’t developed, they are just there to further the plot, to serve as extras, kinda.

The book is told in Anna and Matt’s point of view in alternate chapters. Sometimes they tell the same story but with their own ideas. At least one time, they had different ideas of a talk.

For example, Matt said: “What are you doing?” while Anna tells that he said: “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”. I’m not sure if this is simply a plot error or just to show us that sometimes we think we’re being nicer than we are.

I just didn’t like Matt. What happened to him made me hate him a little less but I still thought he was an asshole. He said he liked Anna, but he still judged and didn’t try to know why she was “crazy”. She always tried to be considerate of him and tried to get better because of him while he was always judging her.

At least there weren’t any love triangles. Yei! It’s a love story. It doesn’t have an amazing plot, but I liked it. I just wish the male protagonist wasn’t that much of an asshole. 

Overall: 6/10

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Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion

“R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization. And then he meets a girl. First as his captive, then his reluctant guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn't want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight. “

Seriously, the only complaint I had about this book is that it ended too suddenly because I THOUGHT IT WAS A ONE STAND BOOK.

BUT GUESS WHAT, IT’S NOT.

I started reading this book yesterday at 11 pm. At 1 am I was finished and was writing in my notebook. And today I decided to write this review. And I went to Goodreads to get a synopsis and I SAW IT WAS A SERIES. AT LEAST 3 BOOKS, one more to come!

As I began reading the book, I thought it vaguely reminded me of “The Host”. In both books, someone gets other people’s memories and, in doing so, change their attitude. R fell in love with Julie, Wanderer fell in love with Jared.

It’s a really cute and sweet romance. It doesn’t start with a romance and, based on the cover and the plot, we know he’s falling for her. But does she fall for him? Read the book and you’ll know!

It has a lot of “quotes”. A lot of ideas and thoughts and those kinds of sentences that you know will one day be printed and framed with a cat picture. 

I do think it’s weird that Julie stops fighting so early but, reading the book, I guess she didn’t really care if she lived or died. 

It’s a funny cute book. It makes you think a little bit - it has a new idea for the origin of the zombies - No “virus”, no “epidemic”. More like hatred, hate, selfishness. 

R is a cool protagonist and it makes you want to read the other books.

Overall, 8/10. I liked it a lot.

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The Elite - Kiera Cass

“ The Selection began with thirty-five girls. Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon's heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen? America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America's chance to choose is about to slip away. “

As soon as I finished the first book, I wanted to read this one. I thought I had already reviewed the first book and wanted to start to read this one. I had already read it twice so I knew what was coming.

I recently started to write in a notebook my thoughts about whatever book I was reading. 

I disliked Aspen. The love triangle was really annoying because America basically only had eyes for Aspen. Despite him being a little chauvinist and having a backward thinking, she was still considering being with him? Despite knowing that she couldn’t be in a relationship with someone else while she was in the castle?

Since I already knew what was happening there were a lot of subtle hints about what was happening with Marlee. That’s a beauty about re-reading a book: you read it with knowledge so there are little things that you start to add.

Aspen is familiar to her - they spent two years in a relationship but Maxon is better for her. He calms her, they are cute together. Aspen broke his relationship with America because she spent money making them a meal. What kind of stupid guy does that? I understand that he thought he should be the provider, that he should help her and that he always felt bad because she was a 5 and he was a low 6. But, still.

America is really annoying and insecure. She simply doesn’t understand that Maxon has a lot on his plate: he can’t be always next to her, cuddling her. Whenever she decides he isn’t paying him enough attention, she suddenly doesn’t love him anymore.

Her change of feelings is so so so annoying. It’s like nothing happens in the book except she keeps changing her mind! One minute Aspen sucks and she loves Maxon; The next minute Maxon is a bastard and she always felt safe in Aspen’s arms.

It annoys me greatly. It would be better if she didn’t know whom to turn but DIDN’T CHEAT ON EITHER OF THEM. She is constantly kissing one, then the other, and changing her mind every few seconds.

If I didn’t know the ending, I would have already thrown the book against a wall

.Or against someone.

I swear: in 7 paragraphs I wrote in my notebook, 5 are about my annoyance at America. If she loves Maxon so much, how can she be kissing Maxon in one minute and 5 minutes later, making out with Aspen? It’s degrading and I despise it, honestly.

The book isn’t all bad. But the love triangle is really awful. 

We see Marlee and America share a special bond and their friendship and America’s ideals are okay. I like that she continues to try to do what’s right, even though she doesnt think about the consequences and only cares about what she is feeling at the moment.

She hates Maxon? Let’s abolish the castes. 

She is also constatnly sabotaging her relastionship with Maxon, although I can understand it. She is insecure and feels she doesn’t deserve him.

In the end, after Maxon gives up on her, she decides to fight for him.

Overall: 7/10

It was okay. The love triangle reall really made me hate the book but it had good moments. Her relationship with Marlee is a plus; her ideals and her family is also a plus.

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The Selection - Kiera Cass

“ For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. “

I’ve read this book three times now.  The third times was because I wanted to review it and, to do so, I had to read it again. I remember the book, I remembered the characters and I knew what had bugged me the first time, but I wanted to write my thoughts as I read it so I would remember stuff to write in here.

The first thing I thought was that it reminded me of Hunger Games. It’s a dystopian book and the population is divided by numbers: here in castes, in Hunger Games in regions.

It starts simply enough: America is part of a family that kinda struggles with money. She has a secret: she is in a secret relationship with Aspen, a chauvinist angry guy.

Okay, so Aspen is in a lower caste. America and her family are a 5, they play music or paint. And Aspen is a 6: he does house chores and works in whatever appears.

Marriages between castes are kinda common: normally you marry in your own caste or, as a woman, you marry higher.

And here comes my first problem with Aspen: The Selection is coming. The young prince will have 35 girls in his palace and he will choose someone to marry. And Aspen pretty much forces America to sign in. He would never forgive himself if she didn’t, at least, apply. 

After she signed up and, since she now has more money, she bakes and cooks all day to have something to give to Aspen. She wants to please him. And here comes Aspen who decides that HE should be the provider and that is basically an insult to him that a girl, a woman is giving him stuff.

This was my first thought:

I guess I understand that he feels insecure. He should be providing for her and he isn’t. But come on! She baked you food. That’s all!

Quickly enough, we get a love triangle. I don’t mind it much because, in my eyes, America is obviously gonna be with Maxon. To hell with Aspen!

I do like the fact that we get different girls and different personalities. Thanks to the eliminations and American being kinda anti-social, we don’t meet many girls until the end. 

Honestly, not much happens. Girls get eliminated, America screws up, Aspen appears. Maxon is sweet, hard-working and is trying to meet lots of girls. America and Maxon’s love is really cute, it’s that kind of romance that gives me butterflies.

The book isn’t too long and, since it’s a series, the plot doesn’t end here. The book ends with America finally wanting to be a part of the selection.

Overall: 10/10. It’s a series I love to re-read!

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This Is Me: Loving the Person You Are Today - Chrissy Metz

“Chrissy Metz grew up in a large family, one that always seemed to be moving, and growing. Her father disappeared one day, leaving her mother to work a series of menial jobs and his children to learn to live with the threat of hunger and the electricity being cut off. When her mother remarried, Chrissy hoped for “normal” but instead experienced a form of mental pain that seemed crafted just for her. The boys who showed her attention did so with strings attached as well, and Chrissy accepted it, because for her, love always came with conditions. When she set out for Los Angeles, it was the first time she had been away from her family and from Florida. And for years, she got barely an audition. So how does a woman with the deck stacked against her radiate such love, beauty and joy? This too is at the heart of This is Me. With chapters that alternate from autobiographical to instructional, Chrissy offers practical applications of her hard-won insights in a series of “Bee Mindful” interstitials. There she invites you to embrace gratitude in “Say Thank You” or to be honest with your partner and yourself in “The Shrouded Supreme.” Blending love and experience, Chrissy encourages us all to claim our rightful place in a world that may be trying to knock us down, find our own unique gifts, and pursue our dreams.”

  Who here hasn’t seen This is Us? Who hasn’t cried, laughed, felt hollow or feeling too many emotions? 

If you have, you are familiar with Kate and with the actress that portrays her, Chrissy Metz.

Chrissy Metz wrote a book, a memoir. A book about her life, what she went through and with tips. With cute little bees, she tells her life story, things that were important. In each chapter, she gives us an “advice”, something she was told or knows that was important to her, that mattered in that particular chapter.

She gets very frontal about what happened to her. She tells us all about her step-father, her life growing up, her struggle with her weight, her struggle to be an actress. Sometimes she goes back in time and tells us something that was important, that made who she was.

I spent several almost sleepless nights reading it. I wanted to read more, I wanted to know more about her, about Chrissy Metz and her life, her struggle.

It’s a light read, although it has some “disturbing” moments when she tells us about the ‘fat camp’ or about her step-dad. I recommend it to everyone. People who want to know more about her, who want some tips or ideas on how to “get better”, some general self-help.

Overall: 10/10

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By the time you read this I’ll be dead - Anne Peters

“Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she’s determined to get her death right. She starts visiting a website for “completers”— www. through-the-light.com.While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up. Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up. And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life... isn't it?National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.“

I was really mad at this book. Not because of the plot, nor during the book. But as soon as I finished it, I said “What the hell? Are you kidding me?!”. Then I went to Goodreads to see if that was really the end.

It was.

Daelyn Rice is depressed. She has been since she was 10 or so. She has tried to kill herself several times, the last one destroying her throat because she drank ammoniac and bleach. She wears a neck brace but can talk. She just chooses not to.

She is bullied at school, she was bullied at fat camp. The story begins when she discovers a website where people can set a date to kill themselves. The website provides a list of different ways she can kill herself, forums where people share what they suffered, and the list of people who killed themselves.

The book is depressing, meaning that it shows - in an okay way - what’s it like to suffer from depression, what bullying can do to you. 

I say it was okay because I didn’t feel that much emotion coming from her. I know she was depressed, I know she wanted to kill herself. But, talking fom personal experirnce, when you want to kill yourself, you’re desesperately trying to get help. You want  someone to help you, you’re “calling for help”, you’re doing whatever you can to show people that you need someone to help you, you want those feelings to stop. 

She is all set to kill herself when a boy starts appearing. A boy that is becoming her friend. She also starts feeling stuff for him (because why the fuck not?).

I just hate those books where (typically) a girl is depressed, and a boy appears and, BAM, saves her. She just falls in love with him and, just like that, her depression ends, she is saved from eternal sadness because she fell in love. 

This book isn’t much like that. I mean, we still get the idea that she is falling in love, that she is going eventually decide not to kill herself.

That is open for interpretation - will she kill herself or try to get help and go to Santana? Who knows?

That is the thing that I hated the most about the book - the ending. The book ends with her saying that she knows what she must do. I don’t like open endings, Ii like to know what the character will do. I guess it’s okay if the character looks into the sky and wonders about the future. But that is after a decision has been made.

It would have been okay if she went to a hospital and asked to be taken care of.

Although the title makes me wonder if she didn't, in fact, kill herself.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad read. I won’t read it again, but it was okay.

Overall: 6/10 

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30 Days of Animorphs

Day 4: Favorite book 

The Beginning.

I love the way that the series ends, because in my humble opinion it’s the ultimate crowning moment of the themes that the whole series has been building toward.  It’s so rare to see this kind of ending in science fiction or fantasy: not just that the characters don’t live happily ever after, but that the ending is neither simply happy nor simply sad.  The characters don’t so much die to save the world as they give up something much harsher and more painful to lose.  The world gets a happy ending, at the cost of six children’s souls.  And that is a disturbingly accurate portrayal of how war often ends.

The series offers us an incredibly harsh portrait of what it really takes to combat evil, especially in the tried and true “five plucky kids save the planet” trope that comes up again and again in children’s fiction.  And, once again, it’s not a simple matter of sacrificing one’s life.  It’s more complicated than that, and messier, and involves almost as much bad press as good.  I love that Rachel dies the hero and Jake lives long enough to see himself become the villain.  I love that the characters don’t just live happily ever after.  I love that K.A. Applegate actually spends an entire book on just reactions to the war instead of cutting the series off the second the bad guys are defeated.  

I love that Rachel’s death destroys Jake and Tobias instead of causing them to grow as people.  I love that Cassie grows up and moves on, finds her own life and actually manages to grow from the war, and that the book itself commends her for doing so instead of condemning her.  The ending is painful.  It’s brutal.  It doesn’t leave the reader comfortable or happy with the sense that good has defeated evil and so can you.  It’s uncomfortable and realistic and genuinely subverts the trope of the happy ending.  

#54 accomplishes what I’m not sure any YA series has done before or since by making the sum total of Animorphs a tragedy.  It takes more to make a tragedy than having the main character die, or even end up sad.  A tragedy has got to be a story of a main character who, despite being appealing and agentic, is deeply flawed, and ends up punished way more than her or she deserves as a direct result of his or her own mistakes or misdeeds.

Jake uses his family members as weapons and eventually loses Rachel, Tom, and himself.  Rachel forgets how to live without the war and then dies at its end.  Ax becomes a glory hound who dies (possibly) along with his whole crew because he’s so eager to find the next battle.  Cassie and Tobias and Marco all get what they asked for, in the end, and for both Tobias and Marco it ultimately proves hollow.  They get punished.  They die.  There’s no uplifting message at the end about how it was all worth it, because that’s not how war works.  They don’t live happily ever after because that’s not how war works.  

Anyway, what else could these characters possibly expect but to go out fighting?  Jake and Rachel as early as #21 have a whole conversation about how neither one of them would know what to do with themselves if the war ended that day.  Tobias and Marco both drop out of school, and Jake is already on the verge of failing out when they flee to the hork-bajir valley.  Rachel admits she could never be happy in a world without war.  All six of them are showing signs of complex PTSD by the midpoint of the series.  The war has already eaten their lives.  Portraying all of them shrugging it off and moving on would be at best disingenuous and at worst disrespectful to the reality of war.  

This book set the bar almost too high for me, because after this kind of ending I’m endlessly disappointed by the sad ending (Divergent series), the happy ending (Harry Potter), the nonsensical ending (The Hunger Games series), the ending where none of it makes any sense (A Series of Unfortunate Events) or the ending where everything gets closed off nicely (The Maze Runner series).  #54 is the perfect cap to the series because it finishes what the series started with the very first book where the characters try to save the world and fail: it suggests that children’s fairy tales need to be complicated enough to capture the dark reality of the universe, and that anything else is simply not accurate.

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Jane Eyre Manga Classics

“ As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education, and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her. When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers. Charlotte Bronte’s classic tale of morality and social criticism takes on an entirely new life in this Manga Classic adaptation of Jane Eyre. “

This book combines two of my favorite things: Jane Eyre and Manga. Could it get any better? Pretty sure it can’t.

Jane Eyre has been one of my favorite books ever since I saw the 2006 NBC adaptation. Trust me, it’s way better (in my opinion) than the others. The actors who portray Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester have so much chemistry that it was hard not to bounce every time they came into contact.

If you love Jane Eyre, I’m sure you’ll love this manga adaptation. It’s really sweet and cute. The major points of the history are present and they capture really well the quirky and cute relationship of Rochester and Jane Eyre.

They include all the cute defining moments: The money question/leave of absence, the fire, Mason appearance, Bertha, the Red Room, the “witch”. 

Of course, since it’s an adaptation, there were a few things that were different, because you have to comprise a lot of pages into mangá, which consists primarily of pictures.

I loved the cute drawings when they were being cute. Those little drawings and the hand moving. You feel what’s happening just by ooking at the pictures. You get all the feelings, all the emotions.

I really really liked the adaptation. I am, for sure, reading the others Mangas Classics.

Overall: 10/10

[readtillyoudie]

A Tale of Two Mommies - Vanita Oelschlager

“ A Tale of Two Mommies is a beach conversation among three children. One boy asks another boy about having two mommies. A young girl listening in asks some questions too. True to a child's curiosity, practical questions follow. "Which mom is there when you want to go fishing? / Which mom helps out when Kitty goes missing?" To which he answers: "Mommy helps when I want to go fishing. / Both Mommies help when Kitty goes missing." A Tale of Two Mommies is intended for 4-8 year olds. This book lets us look inside one non-traditional family, a same sex couple and their son. As the children talk, it's clear this boy lives in a nurturing environment where the biggest issues are the everyday challenges of growing up. “

Just like “A tale of two daddies”, this is a cute book about a family. This time a boy has two mommies and, throughout different adventures, the boy answers his friends' questions about who does what in his family

Just like the other book, it tries to tell us that gender doesn’t matter, that things and chores aren’t gendered, aren’t meant for only one gender to make. Woman and Men can do whichever chore and thing they want. Men aren’t required to teach kids how to play football and Woman aren’t required to do the laundry and the dishes.

It’s a perfect book to show to kids. It has pictures and small writing, so your kids don’t need to be able to read perfectly. Kids aged 8-9 can read this perfectly. Or you can read to your kids! :)

Overall:10/10

[readtillyoudie]

The Complete Photo Guide to Soap Making-David Fisher

Having wanted to start making soaps for a very long time, this book felt like a God-send! I told my boyfriend that I got this book and his immediate reaction was "uuuuuuh, nice!". 

It's a wonderful guide! It has pictures of the process, instructions, recipes and all sorts of guides! This is going to be my guide to make dozens of soaps! Pretty sure I won't buy soaps again!

And this a wonderful gift for someone who likes DIY or soaps. I already have a gift to give to my boyfriend: dozens of soaps!

[readtillyoudie]

Retro Cross Stitch- Veronica  Enginger

This is an easy learn, cute, cross-stitch book. It has all kinds of patterns from the kitchen to kids, passing by travels, clothes, cars, beach, planes and so much more!

I really like the fact that it has the colors and not symbols. Symbols always complicate cross-stitching to me!

Sometimes the pictures form a set, making a pretty picture but you can, of course, make individual pictures from the whole set.

I'm, for sure, gonna make some cross-stitches to my family from this book! A plus!

[readtillyoudie]

A Tale of Two Daddies  Vanita Oelschlager

“A Tale of Two Daddies is a playground conversation between two children. The boy says he heard that the girl has two dads. The girl says that is right. She has Daddy and Poppa. True to a child's curiosity, practical questions follow. "Which dad helps when your team needs a coach? / Which dad cooks you eggs and toast?" To which she answers: "Daddy is my soccer coach. / Poppa cooks me eggs and toast." It becomes clear that the family bond is unburdened by any cultural discomforts.“

Provided by NetGalley, this is a cute sweet little book about a girl that has two daddies. The main character and her friend are playing in different settings and with different things. Her friend starts asking her questions, such as “Who helps you with math?” and “Who tucks you in at night?”, and she answers with either Poppa or Daddy.

It’s a short little book that has a pretty nice message: It doesn’t matter if you have two moms or two dads or a mom and a dad. Each parent does different things, but they also do things together. They both tuck her in at night, and they both sleep early.

It’s a perfect book to show to kids. It has pictures and small writing, so your kids don’t need to be able to read perfectly. Kids aged 8-9 can read this perfectly. Or you can read to your kids! :)

It’s even more perfect for adults. To show them that there is no need to be prejudiced, or be homophobic and whatnot. Kids aren’t born being prejudiced, so showing them this book helps them reinforce that there is no problem having two dads or two moms or only one dad or one mom.

Overall:10/10

[readtillyoudie]

Runaway - Wendelin Van Draanen

“Words can't fix my life. Words can't give me a family. Words can't do jack. You may be a teacher, Ms. Leone, but face it: You don't know squat.” Synopsis:  Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she's had enough. She's run away before and always been caught quickly. But she's older and wiser now--she's twelve--and this time she gets away clean. Through tough and tender and angry and funny journal entries, Holly spills out her story. We travel with her across the country--hopping trains, scamming food, sleeping in parks or homeless encampments. And we also travel with her across the gaping holes in her heart--as she finally comes to terms with her mother's addiction and death.

This is one of my all time favorite books. This is one of the books that inspired me to write my own story. It’s about a girl named Holly who has been through a lot of fosters home that have been an absolute shit. So she decides to run away. 

The book is written in a diary sort of way. Actually, she starts this book because her teacher told her to. That writing might help her. Holly starts the journal so angry. She’s angry at her foster parents, at her teacher, at her colleagues, mad at the world.

Slowly the journal becomes her lifeline, her way of connecting to the world. Over the days we see how she runs away, her plans  (becoming a sea gypsy!)

Above all, she keeps pretending she’s not homeless. She’s a gypsy, she’s in between homes, she’s traveling the world. But she’s not homeless. She hops on a train, travels in the luggage space in a bus, sleeps in a library, in a cave, you name it. She goes through a bunch of adventures, always keeping her journal, always talking to someone. In the beginning, she talks to her teacher, Ms. Leone, but slowly, over time, she doesn’t, not so much.

She also writes poems, stanzas, you name it. Poems about her life, about what she feels, what she went through.

I identified a lot with Holly. I laughed at some points, I commiserated with her, I felt close to her, I believed in her, I wanted all the best for her.

It’s that book that I think that everyone must read. It’s... awesome, really. You just feel so close to her, you feel her pain through the pages, you feel her sadness.

I recommend it to everyone, really. It's heartbreaking, it's funny, it's inspiring... It's something you should read when you expect to grow a little bit.

Quotes:

“Street people use cardboard all the time, and bum alleys are just shanties or lean-tos, though. They’re nothing like my house! Mine is deluxe! It’s a big, thick, super sturdy refrigerator box that I found at an appliance store!”

“Words can't fix my life. Words can't give me a family. Words can't do jack. You may be a teacher, Ms. Leone, but face it: You don't know squat.”

“I've decided this is all your fault, Ms. Leone. I've run away before, you know, but stowed away or jumped trains or broke into buildings, I just ran away and got caught. But I think all that stuff you told us about the Underground Railroad got lodged in my subconscious, and somewhere inside it gave me the strength or courage or insanity to really get away. So see? This is all your fault.”

Overall: 10/10

[readtillyoudie]

Divergent - Veronica Roth

“ In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her. “

I had already read this book when it came out. Two days ago I went to Lisbon to a doctor’s appointment and while I was there I went to a store that sells second hand things. I bought 11 books spending a total of 16 euros. 4 of the books were “Divergent”, “Insurgent”, “Allegiant” and “Four”. I spent 7 Euros buying all the four books. What a treat eh?

Like I said, I had previously read Divergent and I stopped there. Why? Because usually when reading a book series I don’t know, I go look for spoilers.

Yes, that’s right. I GO LOOK FOR SPOILERS so that when shit happens, I know what’s going to happen and I won’t be so surprised. I swear. I went and saw that - DUDE I’M GONNA SPOIL YOU RIGHT NOW - Tris died. So, when I saw that, I immediately decided not the read the books. But that was a few years ago.

So now, I read the book and in two days I had read the entire trilogy + “Four”.

But let’s talk about Divergent. Usually people say it’s a book for Hunger Games’ lovers. Sure, it has similarities. I mean, one. There’s a strong hot female protagonist. And... that’s it. There’s no love triangle. 

There’s a strong girl who is trying to understand who she is and what that implies. Beatrice lives in a world ruled by Factions. Once you turn 16 you have to choose your Faction. We have Abnegation, where she’s from. In Abnegation you have to be selfless, you must think always about the others, you can’t be curious, you can only look in the mirror once every three months when your hair is getting cut.

Then we have Erudite. As you can imagine, it values knowledge above everything. (imagine a Ravenclaw). Knowledge leads to prosperity. 

Amity.  Cute amity, values peace above all. Love to sing and hug. (A little like Hufflepuff)

Candor. Never lie. Totally honest.

And Dauntless. Brave, reckless, strong. (Gryffindor and Slytherin)

Beatrice discovers some shocking news the day before the Choosing Ceremony, a thing she has to keep hidden from EVERYONE. Shockingly, or not, she chooses a faction (read and discover which) and has to battle her way in.

She has to adapt to the faction, makes friends, enemies, tries to do what she feels she must do, stumbles into something really big, and a whole lot of awesome stuff.

It’s a pretty awesome read, I’m re-reading the books for the third time and I love them. Whenever you start read, you get pulled in. You just want t o keep reading, to know what’s going to happen.

Based only in this book, you should read the heck out of it. If you usually like YA, adventure books, even mystery books. It’s a wild paced read. You start reading and you JUST CAN’T STOP.. That’s what I love about reading. There are books that are so good that you get sucked into the world.

I can’t tell you much about the book without spoiling some things so I guess it’s time for you to pick the book and read. And then devour the rest of the series.