Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

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 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:

This book really makes you think about what is right and was is wrong

And I feel like this review could be really long as I try to say what this book made me feel and think but I feel like at the same time I will not make a lot of sense as I try to explain

I guess I will start with the fact that if you plan on reading this book you really need to be mentally mature for the content

It is not an easy content to read and it is definitely not for everyone

I had been wanting to read this book for a really long time but I am glad it took me so long to actually get to it because I maybe would not have been actually ready mentally to understand it

So I personally dont have any brothers or sisters but I do know that I have half siblings that I have never met, ever through my dads side (he has never been in my picture) so I dont think I would think the same or try to comprehend as much as someone who does

Well... I guess that with any option it just varies from person to person

Anyways, throughout the whole book I just kept trying to keep an open mind

Trying to think back to the times when people though homosexuality was wrong and in todays world more people have come to realize that it is not wrong but it is natural and its okay 

So I try to think of the whole incest think in that light, that we might consider it wrong today but maybe in the future we all realize that we were wrong and its okay to love whoever you want

But it was hard for me to imagine that and it would make me stop and try to come to terms with what I thought about that whole issue and trying so hard to stay open minded to the love but couldnt

Like I said, it could be because im a single child and I just dont understand what its like to have such a close relationship with someone blood related?

Its all just very confusing to try to grasp and maybe accept

But damn did this book make me think

It was a damn good book

As hard as the topic was, it was a damn good read and huge kudos to the author for taking this huge step and writing it and not being scared (probably was) for the possible backlash it couldve had

Such a taboo topic

Recommend it?

You really need to be fully mature for this read

it is not for everyone

It really isnt

Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

EVERY DAY THE SAME

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

UNTIL TODAY

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good? 

Review: 

This is one of the few thrillers I've read in my life and it is definitely a good one. 

I had been wanting to read this book for a while back, specially since I found out it was going to be turned into a movie. It's kind of a book lover thing I believe, to want to read the book before watching a movie, or even after, but to have to do both. 

I was even more excited for it when a friend of mine read it and told me hey, you're going to like this one. So of course, I got down to it. 

I wanted to start off saying it's an easy read but realized that that wasn't going to cover it for this book. It actually wasn't an easy read.

It wasn't hard but it kept you thinking. Thinking about the main characters, the why they do things, what they'll possibly do next and of course, who is the guilty party. 

What I would mean by easy is that you get into it from the first set of pages. For me, I personally don't read a lot of adult type books, and not a lot of thrillers either, so I was a bit nervous when getting into it but. Once I started, the only thing that stopped me was my growing set of book responsibilities. 

Hawkins does a phenomenal job of pulling one into the story.

One thing about the main character, Rachel, Hawkins makes you feel as bad for her and about her as the rest of the people in her world probably do, that Rachel is simply a mess that really needs to pull herself together. 

It is totally part of the experience. 

There are bits here and there of all the characters that lead you to believe that they are the guilty party but I would have to keep reminding myself, the more obvious the character who might have committed the murder is, the less of a chance it is that it was them. 

I forced myself to think, this is deeper than that, think psychological, who here is messed up enough to have done it. 

You get deeper into the book and you find out everyone has a secret, everyone has something that makes them not what they appear to be. 

If  you don't think deep or close enough, one would miss who the guilty person is until the very end. 

And even when you THINK you know.

You might just get it wrong. 

Recommend it?

Yes, if you like thrillers, this is 100% up your alley or if you want to start with them, this is also a good one. 

Review: Story Genius by Lisa Cron

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing guide reveals how to use cognitive storytelling strategies to build a scene-by-scene blueprint for a riveting story.

Story Genius is a foolproof program that saves writers from penning hundreds of pages only to realize that something's not working and they have to start again. Informed by story consultant Lisa Cron's science-based insights into how story structure is built into the architecture of the brain, this guide shows writers how to plumb the nitty-gritty details of their raw idea to organically generate a story scene by scene. Once writers reach the end of Cron's program, they will have both a blueprint that works and plenty of compelling writing suitable for their finished novel--allowing them to write forward with confidence. 

Review:

The cover of the book is absolutely gorgeous, I am a sucker for good covers.

I found this guide to be incredibly helping and love how it gives you an idea of what you should be focusing on when writing a book and makes you think about how the true successful books do focus on those points. Authors often overlook a character and focus solely on the plot and while having a solid plot is important, a book will be bleak if the character is bleak. 

Recommend it?

If you want to improve your story telling this is a must on your desk.

Review: Mirror in the sky by Aditi Khorana

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

For Tara Krishnan, navigating Brierly, the academically rigorous prep school she attends on scholarship, feels overwhelming and impossible. Her junior year begins in the wake of a startling discovery: A message from an alternate Earth, light years away, is intercepted by NASA. This means that on another planet, there is another version of Tara, a Tara who could be living better, burning brighter, because of tiny differences in her choices. 

As the world lights up with the knowledge of Terra Nova, the mirror planet, Tara’s life on Earth begins to change. At first, small shifts happen, like attention from Nick Osterman, the most popular guy at Brierly, and her mother playing hooky from work to watch the news all day. But eventually those small shifts swell, the discovery of Terra Nova like a black hole, bending all the light around it. 

As a new era of scientific history dawns and Tara's life at Brierly continues its orbit, only one thing is clear: Nothing on Earth--and for Tara--will ever be the same again.

Review:

Im not 100% sure what I was expecting of this book but I just know that whatever I did expect of it wasnt enough compared to how I ended up feeling with this book

I loved it, I really did, I feel like I think I know how I would react if this was to happen to us but Tara really nailed the reaction that we all probably would have. Things change when you know what is out there, and this book totally proved that with the slight or major changes that some of the characters went through. Some would use the New World as an excuse for their changes but in reality, that change was already in them, Terra Nova just brought it out of them. Tara spends a good amount of time wondering about the Tara of the Terra Nova world, just how different that other Tara is and if she is better. 

When she points out the differences that the other Tara probably has it would get me thinking of my own differences and what this other alternate person would do in a situation and where she would be at the point of our lives. 

Cults are built, relationships broken and built. There is a particular scene in which for the main characters, all of the truths come to life and they slowly try to process that and apologize, that was just so refreshing, it all happened fast and it reminded me a lot of Gossip Girl for some reason and I freaking loved it. 

For one of the characters, I actually had a suspicion of it actually, for others I had no idea. 

Tara is also trying to cope with the fact the Hale, the most popular girl in the school and Nick's girlfriend seems to be absolutely perfect and her new best friend and it is hard for her to like her completely, only to find out that she really cares for Hale.

I mention this because I was also thinking of Hale as being pretty Regina George but how both Tara and I were wrong.

There is just a lot of meaning packed in this book that I wasn't expecting but just made for a completely amazing read.

Recommend it?

100% I had been in a serious reading slump before this book and I got majorly pulled out of it thanks to this read

Review: Royal Wedding Disaster- Meg Cabot

Rate:

5/5

Goodreads Description:

You are invited to a Genovian Royal Wedding in this second book pulled FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF A MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCESS, a Princess Diaries spin-off series, written and illustrated by New York Times-bestselling author Meg Cabot.

Olivia Grace Clarisse Mignonette Harrison still finds it hard to believe that she's a real live PRINCESS OF GENOVIA. Not only does she get to live in an actual palace with her newly discovered family and two fabulous poodles (who all love her and think that she's anything but ordinary!) but she also gets her very own PONY!

Of course, things aren't going exactly like she imagined. Her half-sister Mia is very busy learning how to take over the country while trying to plan a wedding and her father is actually getting remarried himself-to Mia's mother!-and spends most of his time "renovating" the summer palace, although Grandmere says he is just hiding from the wedding preparations. Olivia hardly gets to see either of them.

Fortunately, Grandmere has her own plans for Mia's wedding, and needs Olivia's help to pull them off. Just when Olivia starts to think that things are going to work out after all, the palace is invaded by a host of new cousins and other royals who all seem to be angry at Olivia (although Grandmere says they are just jealous).

As the day of the wedding gets closer and closer, Olivia becomes more and more worried. For such a carefully planned event, it seems like a LOT of things are going wrong... Can Olivia keep this royal wedding from becoming a royal disaster?

Review:

I always take most middle grade books in my bookshelves as a light in between reads but this one in between reads I was excited to get to.

Meg Cabot has never failed to make an interested read for me, the way she rights is simple but interesting. There isnt complicated situations that you feel like it is even complicated for you to understand but rather makes scenes that make you want to know what is going to happen and any kid any age would be able to read it.

This one was of course no exception to that.

Royal Wedding Disaster is the sequel to the companion series of the Princess Diaries and if you are a fan of the Princess Diaries you have probably heard of it if not read it already. This time the story is set in Genovia and Olivia is set to start school at the Royal Academy but must also get ready for her sisters Royal Wedding.

Now, I LOVED the parts that we still get to see Mia and what shes doing which is the premise for a lot of the book if not the whole series, we get to see that she is still the same old Mia we loved but you know, with some Royalness mixed into her. So kudos to Cabot for making that happen in the best way possible. 

So back to the writing. It is nothing out of this world, its basic , making it a fast and easy read. 

Recommend it?

Yup, if youre a Princess Diaries fan, this is for you

Review: The Cruelty by S. Bergstrom

Rate:

3.5/5

(More detailed rate below)

Goodreads Description:

When her diplomat father is kidnapped and the U.S. Government is unable to help, 17 year-old Gwendolyn Bloom sets off across the sordid underbelly of Europe to rescue him. Following the only lead she has—the name of a Palestinian informer living in France—she plunges into a brutal world of arms smuggling and human trafficking. As she journeys from the slums of Paris, to the nightclubs of Berlin, to the heart of the most feared crime family in Prague, Gwendolyn discovers that to survive in this new world she must become every bit as cruel as the men she’s hunting.

Review:

Lets take a second to enjoy the nice and pretty cover....

Second over

Okay so the whole over line plot line of the book was up my alley. My problem was that from the very beginning, Gwen, got on my nerves. 

Okay so there is this bad as chick that pretty much goes to Europe to rescue her father and goes into the whole world of gangs. 

Spoiler alert, ill talk about the scene that pretty much did it for me. So there is a bully who is mocking her and well... Bullying, long story short Gwen tells her to go F herself and the mean girl slaps her and a teacher spots this.

Great, Gwen will get some justice. 

WRONG!

Gwen ends up in trouble for telling the girl off.

Lets ignore the fact that the girl was bullying her and slapped her.

Way to go adults.

There is also the scene that Gwen finds out about her dad. It just felt a bit heartless to me.

Now, the way that the book was written just felt off to me but of course, that has never put me down because I am a firm believer that there are scenes in books that just MAKE a book soooo much better.

So Gwen undergoes a transformation in which she turns into an undercover agent

IN THREE WEEKS!

I mean she becomes like the opposite of what she was three weeks before.

Like seriously this bad ass ready to kill kid. 

In what world?

This one.

Now, I'm trying VERY hard to to spoil specially because I JUST finished reading this like 5 minutes before writting this review (a few days before this post goes live) 

There are scenes in which her badassery leaves you like

But I still couldnt shake off her as being annoying, I mean I understand that the author did her the way he did to show a greater contrast to her change later in the book. 

So as to not be like oh yeah she was born this way she just needed someone to tell her she was special.

BUT I guess my brain prefers that?

Im not sure what it was about her exactly.

So all in all. 

Plot: 4.5

Gwen: 1/5

Recommend it?

Yeah, I mean there arent a lot of thriller crime YAs 

At least not many that I have come across