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Book Review: Carry On

Carry On Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On – The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story – but far, far more monsters.

After reading Fangirl, I knew I needed to read this book to see if I’d enjoy it just as much. And I did, maybe even more so for several reasons. But I found I couldn’t give it a higher rating than Fangirl because I found a lot more things wrong with it that I’ll discuss shortly.

Carry On is about the universe Cath fantasizes about in Fangirl. It’s about the world of Watford, a school for those with magic. It centers on Simon Snow, a boy who’s supposed to be the greatest mage the World of Mages has ever seen. In this book, he returns to school for his last year at Watford and his biggest nemesis/roommate Baz doesn’t return until several weeks later. It centers around the death of Baz’s mom along with Simon stopping the evil Humdrum who’s face is very similar to his.

What I enjoyed so much when reading this book is that it’s unique. While the storyline, characters and everything else in it are supposed to be a play off of Harry Potter, you can tell when reading it that it’s a completely different universe. I like that this story is very similar to the world I already love because it made it that much easier for me to understand everything that happened. The universe was very similar to Harry Potter, but in a humorous way that I appreciated. It was like Rainbow Rowell was writing a one novel parody of the Harry Potter series, but twisting it into something else that is just as enjoyable.

You Know You've Read a Good Book Paul Sweeney Quote
Via Popular Inspirational Quotes

I enjoyed reading Carry On so much that when I was finished, I was sad to see the story end. It felt like a piece of me had gone and went into Simon Snow’s world. And I know why I felt that way. This book has all of the elements I like in a story. It’s fantasy with a mixture of mystery, comedy, and its young adult literature that features LGBTQ characters. I like that the world Rowell portrays has magic in it, yet also has some real world elements mixed in that allow you as the reader to see magic alongside normal reality.

But most of all, one of my favorite features in this book is the relationship between Simon and Baz. Both characters are confused about their own identity, yet end up finding each other and connecting in a way you as the reader don’t expect: through the loss of a parent, aka, Baz’s mom who died many years ago at the hands of vampires. Simon could relate to what Baz was going through because of his own loss of not growing up with parents. So Simon did what he thought was right: to help Baz find out who really orchestrated the attack on the nursery that resulted in her death. This connection resulted in showing us their relationship continue to grow, from being roommates who hated each other to lovers. I loved seeing it come together because it was fun to watch the commentary between both of them as they uncovered the truth. It was entertaining, a breath of fresh air that I didn’t realize I needed. And it made moments in the story when things were turning weird more enjoyable for me. I could see the love for each other with each page I read and just couldn’t wait to watch their relationship continue to grow.

Carry On Simon Snow and Baz Pitch Because We Match Picture
Via Pinterest 

What also made Carry On an enjoyable read for me was the different points of view. I enjoyed reading this story from all of the character’s perspectives. It allowed me a better understanding of what was going on, gave me a clue about things I didn’t know before. It also made this book even more interesting because we were given access to these character’s thoughts and feelings, given an understanding as to what they were doing and why. I liked having access to all of the characters in this way because it allowed me to immerse myself even further into the story. It’s also different from any other fantasy novel I’ve read because there’s usually only one perspective that you have access to.

While Carry On is definitely a page turner, there were some elements when it came to the story that I disliked. For one, I thought the names of the spells in this world was ridiculous. I don’t know what Rowell was thinking when she came up with that idea, but it didn’t make sense to me. Especially because it wasn’t at all realistic to what magic is normally like in books. While this allows her world to be uniquely different, I don’t see how these different incantations would even be justified for someone with magic to say. I don’t know if she thought of this as a way to make fun of magic or something, but I just don’t see why magic wielders would have incantations that are nursery rhymes or common sayings that someone normal could say. That sounds like it could potentially lead to an accident, an incident that very easily could’ve been prevented.

I also wasn’t particularly fond of Agatha’s character. I felt like she acted throughout the story like she was above everyone else and just didn’t seem to care about the people she had called friends for the past seven years. Throughout Carry On, she was completely selfish, focusing only on the things that affected her life. She didn’t seem at all remotely interested in keeping up a friendship with Simon and Penelope, yet felt like she could criticize both of them for working with Baz to uncover the truth about his mother’s death. I felt like her character just existed in the story, but didn’t really belong. She was just in the story, wasting space that could’ve been better spent on other characters that played a crucial role in the overall plot.  I just didn’t like Agatha and wish she wasn’t a part of the story at all.

While this book was definitely a page turner for me, another criticism I have is that the overall plot was okay. It definitely had quite a chunk of holes in it that made it difficult to enjoy it as much as I’d have liked. I think part of the problem for me is that Simon Snow’s story is rushed. The whole plot structure in this story runs a little too fast, leaving very little room for making sure nothings being left out. I think part of the reason this is even a problem is because I feel like this story should’ve been spread out into multiple books. That would’ve given Rowell the chance to get the structure and story together and figure out how to end it. Instead, this story is at the final chapter of Simon Snow’s whole story. You learn most of what Carry On is about if you’ve read Fangirl, but I don’t think it’s enough because we miss out on all of the other years Simon Snow is at Watford. You get bits and pieces of some of the important details, but it’s not enough for us to just jump to the finale and see how everything will end for Simon Snow, which by the way is actually pretty disappointing too. With the plot, it feels like you’re missing something, yet not missing anything at all. It would for me be like only reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the Harry Potter series and expecting to know every detail of the whole series without reading any of the other books. I feel like we miss too much and that the details we are given aren’t enough and have holes in them that don’t really connect the story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Carry On much more than Fangirl. But because of the amount of criticisms I found myself having about it, it would’ve been unfair to give it a higher rating. But that doesn’t make it any less of a good read for those who want to be taken away to a magical world or for people who want to read about two boys falling in love.

 

 

2

Book Review: Fangirl

Fangirl Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan…

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

I remember getting this book as a Christmas gift from my grandmother a couple years ago and when I read it feeling disappointed because it wasn’t as good of a read as I was expecting. But I decided to read it once again before starting to read Carry On and found myself enjoying it much better the second time around.

I don’t remember what exactly I disliked about Fangirl the first time I read it, but I can definitely tell you what I’ve enjoyed from this reading experience. One of the things I enjoyed reading this book a second time is how much I can relate to the main character. I don’t know if part of the reason I didn’t enjoy this book the first time was because I couldn’t relate to Cath, but after reading it again, I realize I can relate to her very well. For one, she’s an introvert like me. I can also relate to her because my own college experience involved me spending a lot of time in my room more than going out and socializing with friends. When I come to think of it, I didn’t really have a lot of friends in college anyway due to focusing so much on schoolwork and working at my job that I didn’t really make as much time to spend with friends as I probably should’ve. I also share Cath’s love of the written word and reading. I know most of her love for it is due to one book series in particular, but I still appreciate how Rainbow Rowell makes Cath so relatable to me. That she’s so relatable to me that I feel almost as if this book was written specifically about me. Even her sister Wren’s first year experience at college reminds me of my own sister even though we aren’t twins.

I also appreciate Rowell incorporating fanfiction into the mix. When talking about reading and writing, fanfiction is rarely incorporated into a story. I like how she includes fanfiction in Fangirl by having the main character be so in love with a series that she writes a story of her own with the characters, making them almost as if they are her own. It’s nice to see a story center around the world of fanfiction, something which I don’t really see too often when reading young adult literature. I like it too because the book series Cath is obsessed with sounds very similar to my favorite book series of all time Harry Potter.  Yes, there are obviously some striking differences between the two, but it makes it that much more enjoyable of a read for me because I feel like I can also escape into that world too. It also makes me even more curious about that world, wanting to understand why Cath likes that series so much.

What else I like about Fangirl is Rowell’s writing style. Her writing is very fluid, easy to read and makes reading this story that much more enjoyable to me. She writes like she’s a young adult herself, going through college and trying to survive the outside world. Every piece of dialogue between characters flows naturally, like it has its own unique place in the story. It’s almost as if she’s bringing all of these characters to life with each word written. It makes me feel as if I’m with Cath, following her journey as she experiences her first year of college.

But what I like the most with this book is seeing some of what Cath’s character writes and her relationship with Levi. I like that we get a little snippet of what Cath has written in the past as her Simon Snow fiction increases in popularity so we can see for ourselves how good of a writer her character is. It not only allows us to see her character write, but we are also given a glimpse into that world so we can see for ourselves why Cath loves it so much. I like her relationship with Levi so much because they go so well together. He’s someone when she first started going to college she got along with so well. He’s easygoing, friendly and you can tell he wants nothing more than to make Cath happy. The way the two of them interact together is great because it’s very relaxed and easygoing. To give a good example is whenever Levi becomes curious about Cath’s fanfiction and wants her to read some of it to him. She’s at first surprised that Levi wants to learn more about the world she writes about so much. But she does it anyway because she can see that he really wants her to read it. He’s just one of the characters in the story who seems to get her and they just seem really good together. So I like seeing their relationship grow.

While I overall enjoyed reading Fangirl, there are some criticisms I have about the book that I’m sure others have with it too. For while I like Cath’s character because I can relate to her, there are times when I feel like she’s too unrealistic or acts completely stupid. I feel like Rowell made her too antisocial in this book, almost as if she was trying to create a nerdy character that fits the typical nerd stereotype. To the point where she was avoiding going to the dining hall because of the amount of people that would be in there. To me, all of those moments she refused to interact with people was ridiculous because all the times she did interact with people she seemed completely fine, not at all like she was dealing with any social anxiety. I also think the way she reacted to Professor Piper accusing her of plagiarism was ridiculous. While I get that Simon Snow is a huge part of her life, I think she sometimes forgets she’s in college and that fanfiction doesn’t play a role in academics. This part of the story made me realize that while I do relate to Cath in some ways, she still has a lot of growing up she has to do and that Rowell didn’t really progress her character all too much throughout. While I do get where Cath is coming from, I do also think it would’ve been nice to see Cath have some sort of character development in the story.

Another criticism I have with this book is the lack of fandom in the actual story. We hear that Cath is such a great writer of fanfiction that she gets thousands of hits every time she posts a new chapter, yet we don’t really see her interact with other Simon Snow fans. It’s like she lives in this bubble with just her sister when it comes to Simon Snow that she won’t really let others be a part of. I at least expected her to act like she’s more involved in the fandom since she has such high amounts of followers. But we really don’t get to see too much of that in Fangirl, we just hear about it.  We also don’t really get an understanding of why Cath loves Simon Snow so much. I understand that she and Wren grew up with reading the books and watching the movies, but she never talks about why she loves this series so much that she feels like she has to write a work of her own about it. Again, we just hear about all of this but never get an understanding of why Cath loves this series so much. To me it’s frustrating because I feel like we are reading this story from her point of view, but aren’t being clued into important details that would really make this book shine.

I also have a problem with the ending. It feels like all of a sudden the story comes to a halt with no real conclusion or anything. Cath goes to the bookstore for the release of the last Simon Snow book, is reading it and then the story ends. I’m frustrated that this is how Rowell chose to end this story because I figured we’d at least see what Cath thinks and feels about the final book in her favorite series. Instead, the story ends with no thought provoking conclusion and we are left wondering what’s going through Cath’s mind as she finishes the last book. While it was an interesting way to end, it wasn’t the ending I’d have chosen.

Despite these criticisms I have for Fangirl, I definitely enjoyed giving this book another chance. It was definitely a much better read for me this time around than the first and can’t wait to finish reading Carry On.

3

Book Review: The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1)

The Cuckoo's Calling Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

The Cuckoo’s Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

A brilliant mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel’s suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you’ve never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you’ve never seen them under an investigation like this.

When I first began reading this book, I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of it. I’d attempted to read The Casual Vacancy a while back, but never really got too far into it. As a Harry Potter fan who hadn’t really read any other work by the author who wrote one of my beloved favorite series, I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of this book. But after giving it a read, however, I found myself really enjoying it.

The main storyline in The Cuckoo’s Calling is about a famous supermodel whose death everyone believed to be a suicide. However, her brother John Bristow thinks differently and hires private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into her case. What he discovers investigating her death is a labyrinth of twists and turns to get to the truth of how she died.

What I enjoyed when reading The Cuckoo’s Calling is the characters. I enjoyed hearing in detail about Strike’s personal life, learning more about him and his relation to the world of the famous he was searching for answers. He’s a rough character I wasn’t expecting to be introduced to in this book, but I found his roughness to be quite alluring. It also helped explain certain details that came up as we learned more about him. I also liked Robin’s character quite a bit. She’s a very resourceful woman and I loved reading her interactions with Strike as these events unfolded. She’s also a character I could find myself relating to in this story because I’d probably react the same way as her if I found myself working for a private investigator. I’d want to get myself entangled into the investigation, want to find some way of helping solve the case or providing much needed information to help find the suspect. I wouldn’t want to accept a job somewhere else because the job I’d have would be exactly where I want to be. I liked the relationship the author gave between Strike and Robin. It was very cordial and friendly without being too intrusive. Robin allowed Strike to live his life without interfering, but was supportive of him whenever he needed it.

I also enjoyed the details Robert Galbraith put into the storyline. It’s a story full of richly deep plot that’s not too complex for any reader to enjoy. But it also has enough new vocabulary for the reader who wants a challenge when reading. The writing style is also unique because Galbraith tells us what happens throughout as Strike begins to investigate Lula’s death. You see the crime scene in front of you and hear the dialogue between Strike and all of the characters who were involved. You see how Strike uncovers evidence to the crime and find out how he knows who killed Lula. It’s such a good read that I couldn’t wait to find out how it unfolded.

Not only do I enjoy this book because it’s a crime mystery novel, but also because you get to see the underbelly of being a celebrity. Galbraith takes us into the world of being a celebrity by allowing us to see what they deal with on a daily basis. You see this whenever Strike interviews Evan about his involvement with Lula. You get to see him and Ciara being hounded by paparazzi whenever they leave a building and being followed home. In this book, you get to see both the good and the bad about being famous and how anyone is capable of murder.

There are two things with The Cuckoo’s Calling, however, I didn’t particularly enjoy. For one, I didn’t like how the chapters were divided. Galbraith divided the book into separate parts, and then had chapters in each part. The reason I didn’t particularly like this is because it felt completely random how it was done. I also felt like the story could’ve continued without it. While I don’t necessarily mind books being divided into sections like this one, I just didn’t feel like it made sense to do it.

My other criticism with this book is I felt like there was more telling in this story than showing. For example, whenever you find out who kills Lula, Strike explains it to you how he came to this conclusion instead of showing all of the details that made him get there. While I don’t mind being told what happens, it killed the suspense in the story for me.  It took away the element of surprise because I was told who killed Lula instead of being shown how that conclusion was made. And I felt like this happened a lot throughout the book, which at times seemed a little too much for me. There were times in the story where I wanted to be shown certain details instead of being told about them later on.

But despite these two criticisms I had with this book, The Cuckoo’s Calling was such an enjoyable read to me. It was full of interesting characters, intriguing mystery and details about being famous that really made me flip the page to find out what happened next. I can’t wait to continue reading this series to find out what happens with Strike and Robin next. Hopefully, The Silkworm will be as much as an enjoyable read as The Cuckoo’s Calling was for me.

0

If We Were Having Coffee: Room Reveals

If We Were Having Coffee 05

It’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these posts once again. A lot has just happened since the last time, and I just didn’t have the chance to share everything with you. We painted our whole upstairs, which took roughly two weekends to do because of me having to go to work. We also had our carpeting upstairs because it was starting to look outdated. Then, my older sister moved back home last weekend so I was busy because of that too.

But like I promised, I’m going to share the room colors for me and my sister’s rooms. I’m sure you’re interested to see how they turned out.

Painted Room Laneys Room

For my sister’s room, which no longer has the desk because it’s been moved into my room, we chose a dark green that she and Mum both liked. Originally, Mum had picked this pistachio green color that she thought would brighten up the room. But it didn’t turn out quite the way she expected so she talked to my sister and they both agreed on this color.  I actually like this color in my sister’s room because the way she has it looks really nice.

Painted Room My Room

Painted Room My Room 2

Now for my room, I chose blue! A blue that when I look at it reminds me of both the sky and ocean. The blue I picked isn’t quite as light as the pictures make it out to look, but it looks really nice with our new carpeting, which can be seen in the first picture.

Along with painting and carpeting, my room is now completely rearranged. We’ve moved a lot of my belongings around to give me more space, and it turned out splendidly. I have my bookshelves and television on one wall and my bed is now close to the window so that I can have cool air blowing on me. I also have the computer and desk that was once in my sister’s room since I no longer have my laptop, which allows me easy access to it whenever I want. Everything else is tucked away, either in my one big dresser or in one of my closets. Overall though, I’m really enjoying my room. It feels completely new and more adult and gives me more space than I expected to have.

If we were having coffee, I’d also tell you besides doing a room reveal, I’ve been doing a lot of other things too. Like usual, work has done nothing but keep me busy. My other job is supposed to be starting back up soon. But I’m hoping to get more hours at my new job so I don’t have to go back there again. I’ve also started rereading one of my favorite trilogies, which I wrote a blog post about a couple weeks ago along with started to watch Pretty Little Liars, which has been quite a pleasure to enjoy. I’ve also been listening to this podcast I heard about through one of the bloggers I follow called What Should I Read Next? which I’m debating about doing a review of. It’s something different from what I normally write about here, but it still has to do with books, which is why I’m really considering it. But I haven’t made up my mind just yet if I’m going to do that or not.

I’ve also ordered a couple books and eclipse glasses from Amazon, both of which have already come in the mail. The solar eclipse is supposed to be coming here on August 21st, so I needed to get glasses to make sure I can view it safely. The books, however, I bought for my own reading pleasure for in the future. What books I’ve bought I’m not going to say because I don’t want to spoil it for you. But after I’m done reading the trilogy I’m enjoying, these books will be the next ones I’m going to read and write reviews about once I’ve completed them.

I’d also tell you I’m finally doing something I probably should’ve done years ago: learning how to drive. A friend of mine had me get behind the wheel the other day and back out of where he parked only to drive forward and have me park somewhere else. The main reason I haven’t tried to learn to drive sooner is because the thought of it scares me. I don’t necessarily know what about driving scares me, it just does in a way I can’t explain. The only thing I can say is that I have a bad feeling about it for some reason. But I’m finally taking the steps to learn it anyway to the point where I’ve downloaded the manual that I need to read before I take the permit test. While I’m still nervous about the whole thing, I’m going to try the best I can anyway to be the best driver I can be.

Other than that, I haven’t done too much else. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. I would love to hear all about it.

1

Rereading Memories: The Inkworld Trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath)

Inkworld Trilogy Book Covers

Growing up, I didn’t always have as deep of a love for the written word as I do now. When I was a child, I actually spent most of my days playing video games and watching television. It wasn’t until one of my English teachers mentioned Inkheart in the sixth grade and I read that book during the summer that my love for the written word manifested into what it is today.

If you’ve read my blog post How I Became a Reader and Writer, you’d already know this. In that particular post, I talk about Inkheart’s influence on me. I’d like to further continue that conversation by saying that I feel like the Inkworld trilogy as a whole has taught me so much. It has taught me not only about myself and my own reading preferences, but also some important lessons every writer should at some point learn.

I say all of this because I’m currently rereading this trilogy once more and want to have an open discussion about the Inkworld and its influence in my life. Because while Inkheart out of all of the books in this trilogy really shaped me into who I am, I believe Inkspell and Inkdeath also helped contribute making me into the fantasy loving person I am today. This trilogy taught me lessons no other series (well, maybe except for Harry Potter) has taught me. Every time I read these books, I find myself discovering something new within their pages.

Inkheart opened me up to the idea that there are books I’d enjoy. As a child, I didn’t enjoy reading quite as much as I do now. But this book in particular sparked an interest in reading for me I never truly experienced anywhere else. It made me believe in the power of the written word, and that fantasy was truly the genre I was destined to enjoy. I read this book at a time when I still felt like I was a child, right before things changed in my life for the worse. It’s the first book that truly spoke to me, made me want to open myself to becoming a more creative person and brought about a spark in me I didn’t have before.

Inkspell completely set my imagination on fire. With its detailed description of the Inkworld, I found myself drawn to its pages, wishing I could go to this world myself, despite its many dangers. This book especially drew me into the fantasy genre because I could feel the magic all around me as I followed Meggie and the rest of the characters into this enchantingly dark world. Like Inkheart, I found myself continuously flipping through the pages to find out how this book would end, wanting to see if things would turn out alright for everyone involved. I read this book at a different stage of my life than whenever I’d picked up its predecessor. I was struggling because my life had been turned upside down and I needed a book to escape. This book was perfect for what I needed because I wanted to get away from the real world and this book helped me do exactly that.

Inkdeath made me realize that I can be the hero of my own story. It also taught me that every character in a story has an important part to play, even if you don’t realize it at first. This book also taught me that even when things seem bad, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. To never give up hope, even when that’s exactly what you want to do. For me, this book came at a point in my life when I exactly needed it. I was dealing with some difficult circumstances and this book helped me believe in myself and made me realize that I’m the hero in my story. And that when things seem dark and scary, there’s always going to be light too.

Rereading this series once again many years later, I find the child within me coming alive. I’m reminded of why I want to be a writer to begin with, and find myself inspired to keep writing even at times when that’s not what I want to do. I’m reminded of where my love for the written word truly came from and try the best I can to never forget that.

As a writer, Inkheart taught me some of the basics when it came to character development. I learned through the pages how to create life-like characters who I could imagine standing in front of me. I learned about dialogue, how to make the words that come out of a character’s mouth sound believable, even when you have a hard time with it. I learned voice because of Mo/Silvertongue and Meggie’s ability to read characters out of their stories. I could imagine the way they talked, almost as if they were using their gift in front of me.

In Inkspell, I learned about world building. I learned how to create a place so believable that people could see it in their imagination. About making things detailed so that when someone is reading your story, they can see it themselves without you having to give too much away. I also learned how to further advance the plot of your story so that the reader doesn’t lose interest along with including interesting information that’ll make your reader want to continue reading. Learned to end stories in a series with a cliff hanger so that my readers will want to read the next installment to find out what happens to the characters.

With Inkdeath, I learned about conflict. I learned how to build up conflict so as the keep the reader hooked. I also learned how to surprise readers by making the unexpected happen, such as having minor characters play a crucial role in the story arc. I also learned how to kill off characters only to bring them back changed in their development.

Each book in this trilogy offered so much to me as a writer. But this trilogy as a whole also taught me so much about myself and the things I enjoy. It made me realize how much reading and writing mean to me that it’ll always have a special place in my heart. I hope others enjoy this trilogy as much as I do every time I read it.

2

Book Review: Before I Fall

Before I Fall Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

With this stunning debut novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver emerged as one of today’s foremost authors of young adult fiction. Like Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why and Gayle Forman’s If I Stay, Before I Fall raises thought-provoking questions about love, death, and how one person’s life can affect so many others.

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—”Cupid Day”—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.

However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

I both enjoyed this book immensely and was frustrated with certain things about it all at the same time. But I really appreciated Samantha’s character growth throughout the story. In the beginning, she starts off as this mean girl who nobody can touch or hurt. She’s mean to everyone else who isn’t a part of her clique, and she doesn’t feel bad about it. But it isn’t until she dies and has to repeat the day of her death over and over again that she begins to realize how much harm she’s unintentionally inflicted on others. While I honestly feel like it’s too late for her to fix the problems she’s caused, it was nice to see her realize how much she hurt people and try the best she could with what she was given. Seeing her character go from being a total bitch to everyone around her to trying to set things right made me appreciate the way her character was written. While my dislike of her doesn’t improve, I’m glad Lauren Oliver gives her some much needed character development.

But at the same time, I feel like her actions are more selfish in nature despite how much her life has changed. I say this because most of the story she doesn’t focus on making things right with people. She spends most of the other days screwing around with other people because she knows it won’t really change anything. It takes her awhile to realize what she’s supposed to be doing, but she still manages to mess things up. Then, on her last day, she pretty much talks about how it’ll be the last time she sees her family and gets pretty emotional over the whole thing. While I know these things are a part of her character development, it still frustrates me because a lot of time in the story could’ve been saved for her to do something to further her along. I also believe this though because if the car accident hadn’t happened, she would still be the same character she was in the beginning of the story.

However, I appreciate this story’s message, which is that every action you take has an effect on everyone else in some small way. You see this throughout the story with the choices Samantha makes with each of these days. Some of her decisions result in a ripple effect that we are able to see when Oliver has her make certain choices on that day. I also like that each of these same days are handled differently and that we learn more about the other characters. I appreciate this aspect in the story because it allows us better understanding of these character’s actions, and gives us a better glimpse into their everyday life. You learn something new about each of the characters the further along you get into the story, and I really appreciate how that’s tackled.

I also like how realistic this story is about the high school experience. For some people, high school is one of the best times of their life while others really hate it. I appreciate that this story covers that experience really well by going into topics such as bullying, cliques, drinking, rape, sex and suicide. These are not only topics that need to be talked about, but are things high school teenagers experience during those years of their life. It made me feel like I was at their high school on that day, meeting all of these people and dealing with everything Samantha was going through. It made me better understand her group of friends and their choices as well as what some of the other characters were going through. I liked learning more about these characters because it gave you as the reader a better idea of what happened and the role Samantha plays in their lives.

I would have to say my favorite thing about Before I Fall is the writing. I like the way the story is written with each of these seven days as a chapter that Samantha explains what she did on that particular day. I also like the writing because I think Oliver’s writing flows really smoothly and has a poetic feeling to it. She gets really descriptive at certain points in the story which makes you want to continue reading to find out what happens next.

However, I also have quite a few criticisms for Before I Fall. While I think Oliver is a beautiful writer, I also believe she made this story a little too fluffy. You see this with the repetition of this particular day when certain aspects of the day aren’t changed, such as the party at Kent’s house. It’s to the point where I feel like this book could be chopped in half and we’d still get an understanding of what happened in the story. She’d just have to include the really important things, such as the background information on Juliet and why her past friendship with Lindsay came to an end.

She wrote so much in this book, yet didn’t include one of the most important details in the story: Why did Samantha have to repeat this day? We know that after she dies, she’s stuck in this limbo of repeating the day of her death over and over again, but she never once explained why she had to go through this. We also get an ending to the cycle that doesn’t make sense, because both these characters died on the original day. So it would stand to reason that Samantha is supposed to save both of them from death, but that ends up being far from what happens. While I understand Oliver has this as a way for Samantha to prove how much she’s changed, I find it to be a flaw with the story, since both these characters are supposed to already be dead.

Besides Samantha, everyone else has no character development. Yes, we learn more about her friends and the people they bullied, but we don’t see any of these characters grow. I understand that all of these events happen on the same day so we shouldn’t expect this much of them, but I feel like they’re could’ve been a way to make this possible. Like with Lindsay, you start to see a little shift in her when Samantha asks about Juliet, but that’s really it. The only thing that changes with the characters in Before I Fall is the way Samantha sees them.

Speaking of which, I hate how Samantha and Kent’s relationship develops. Considering what’s happening in the story, I felt like having romance was completely unrealistic. Even though this is a young adult novel, I hate that she paired these two together because it didn’t make sense to me. I get that Samantha has known Kent since childhood, but that doesn’t mean they are perfect for each other. Especially with the way Samantha’s character is in the story, it just didn’t add up to me. It was almost like she was putting these two together since neither of them had anyone else. Yes, Samantha had Rob, but you could tell she didn’t care for him all too much. She only stuck with him because he was popular and someone she’d had a crush on for a long time. But you can tell she’s not right for Kent either, especially with the way she treats him in the beginning of the book. It seemed way too unrealistic to me because of everything that was going on that I wish she didn’t include any romance in the story at all.

While I enjoyed reading Before I Fall, it’s definitely not the book I expected. There are so many things with the story that if improved would make it the book people are raving about. But for me, it had too many flaws to meet those standards.

 

 

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If We Were Having Coffee: Another Beach Trip, Another Day in Paradise

If We Were Having Coffee 02

Hello everyone! Wow, it feels like it’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these. Luckily, I actually have a lot to say this time around, partly due to not doing one of these last weekend. But also partly due to having some good news to share along with it. Anyway, I hope you’ve all been having a good weekend so far. I know I have, and I haven’t really done anything since I’ve been awake.

Hmmm… where to start? Okay, I guess I’ll start with what I’ve been up to during the week leading up to going to the beach last weekend. I mostly spent a lot of that time sleeping, reading, watching television, and playing app games on my phone. Seriously, I really didn’t do too much else leading up to when my sister Laney and her boyfriend Lawrence came to the house Thursday night. Though since my last weekend coffee post, I’ve been a very productive reading reviewer. Since my last coffee post, I’ve completed a total of four books, each uniquely different than the previous. I liked each of these books for a variety of different reasons. But I find myself surprised at being able to read this many books in this amount of time. I think part of it is because it’s been awhile since I’ve given myself the chance to really sit down and enjoy reading. And now that summer is here, and I have so much free time, I feel like I can do that. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the time I’ve spent on the books I’ve been reading while I’ve been employed. It’s just that I haven’t quite had as much time to sit and enjoy them, though I’ve definitely made the point in doing so when I was reading them.

Along with reading these four books, I discovered two other games in the App Store that I’ve started playing and enjoying, one of which I’ve actually played before a long time ago but quit because I felt like I couldn’t really do too much with it at the time. The first game I came upon made me chuckle because I was amused by it, but now I’ve become really hooked to it. And that game is called Pokémon Magikarp Jump. It came out last week, actually on the day when I first heard about it so I figured I’d give it a try and see how I’d like it. So far, it’s been very enjoyable and addicting to me. It has some Pokémon nostalgia that really makes it a fun game to play, even though the Pokémon you’re raising is one of the weakest ones in the games. The other one is called The Sims Freeplay, which is pretty much a mobile version of the games out on PC and console. I think part of the reason I stopped playing it the first time was due to it not having as much stuff for you to do. I remember the first time playing it I spent most of the time in my house working on filling my Sim’s needs and not going out in the world to really do anything. But this time around, it seems like there’s more things to do, and I have quests to complete too. I’ve also been making sure to keep the Sims I have busy by sending them away to work or having them compete in a competition because these things take them hours to do in real time. This allows me the chance to do other things while they are increasing their skills and making money, but can also be a hindrance for playing the game. Especially because the Sims games normally don’t have that time feature in them. Usually when you’re having a Sim do something, you can make time go a little faster and be done with it within a couple minutes. You unfortunately don’t have that option in this one, but that’s okay because these things always give me something to look forward to whenever I do go back to check on my characters. While it’s yet to be as much fun as the ones I know and love, I know once I unlock and build more of the town the game will get better for me.

The Sims Freeplay Image

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you how much fun I had when my sister came to visit us last weekend. On Friday, Laney and Lawrence actually had to put in some hours for work so I for most of the day hung out in the living room playing Pokémon Magikarp Jump and reading. I also got my hair cut short, the pixie cut style I love because I like it so much while Laney had a job interview she had to go to. After all of that, we hung out at home for a little bit before going out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant with the people we love. We continued the night after dinner by buying some wine and beer at Total Wine to enjoy at our house. Then on Saturday, we drove two hours to go to Charleston and Sullivan’s Island. We first stopped by the Charleston Marketplace to see what all they had to offer. We saw a collection of all sorts of different things, from necklaces and jewelry to paintings to spices and even Christmas decorations. Then we drove around Charleston to show Lawrence some of the different homes and historic landscapes before heading to Sullivan’s Island to spend the day on the sandy beach. We also grabbed some barbecue to eat for lunch, which turned out to be really delicious.

Charleston Trip Marketplace
I love going to places like this and seeing what they have to offer. I also appreciate that all of this was indoors so we didn’t have to be out in the beating sun for too long.
Charleston Trip Charleston Homes
Some of the Charleston homes. Was too busy looking to take any more shots.

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip One

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Two

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Three

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Four
In this picture, you can see the wind moving along the beach and picking up the sand.

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Five

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Six

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Seven

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Eight

Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Selfie
Of course I had to get some pictures of myself there too.
Sullivan's Island Beach Trip Feet Selfie
Along with having my feet play in the sand.

As a family, we’ve actually never gone to Sullivan’s Island before. We’ve been to other beaches before, but this was our first time at this one and it was really nice. It was a beautiful day outside, which was something we hadn’t seen for a little while due to dealing with a lot of rain. The only downside was that it was very windy there so I didn’t do as much laying out in the sun as I’d have liked. But that was okay because I didn’t have to worry as much about getting burned. It was so windy that when I attempted to lie down I struggled because my towel was trying to blow away from me. I also ended up getting sand all over me because the wind was so crazy that it was blowing the sand along the beach. So I ended up going into the water to wash myself off, which proved to be a little difficult since I had sand in places I couldn’t reach. Once again, I enjoyed the feel of the sand between my toes along with the touch of cool ocean water brushing against my legs with the smell of the sea lingering in the air and the wild winds blowing against my face. I felt the sense of peace and tranquility I normally feel when I’m at the beach but it was wilder this time around, like the wind was nowhere near close to slowing down. It was a lot of fun though, despite the harsh winds because I was spending relaxing time with the people I care the most about. After our time on the beach, we went and grabbed some pizza to eat before heading back home. On Sunday, we showed Lawrence downtown, then went and grabbed some ice cream to snack on before heading back to the house. After that, Mum, Laney and Lawrence went to the gym while I took a nap. Once they were home, we started cooking food out on the grill for dinner and invited a friend over to eat and watch some movies we rented. After watching these movies, we then all headed to bed so we could rest and get ready for Monday. On Monday, we woke up early so that Laney and Lawrence could start packing up their things. We then went to Cracker Barrel for one last meal together before Laney and Lawrence headed back to Tennessee. Overall, I enjoyed the time we had together, and it was nice to meet Laney’s boyfriend for the first time.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say besides one more thing. The good news I have to share with you is that I have a job interview coming up on Tuesday. I have a friend that works at a new deli that’s opened up downtown and in several other places, and he’s mentioned my interest to them. So after completing my application, I heard back from them about meeting with them for a job interview. This is exciting/good news because I might finally have a job again so that I can make money while the other place I work at is closed. It sounds like they really need some good people so I’m really hoping this interview works out so I can get started right away. I also hope it works out to where I’ll be working full time or something because then I can leave the company I’m at now, since I’m not happy being there anymore. That place has just gotten so full of drama that I’m ready to be somewhere else where I don’t have to worry about that anymore. So wish me good luck because I feel like I really need it.

I hope you all are having a good weekend so far. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

 

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Book Review: Color Blind (Dr. Jenna Ramey #1)

Color Blind Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

SYNESTHESIA: 
A neurological condition characterized by automatic, involuntary sensory perceptions triggered by seemingly unrelated stimuli.

There is something unusual about Dr. Jenna Ramey’s brain, a rare perceptual quirk that punctuates her experiences with flashes of color. They are hard to explain: red can mean anger, or love, or strength. But she can use these spontaneous mental associations, understand and interpret them enough to help her read people and situations in ways others cannot. As an FBI forensic psychiatrist, she used it to profile and catch criminals. Years ago, she used it to save her own family from her charming, sociopathic mother.

Now, the FBI has detained a mass murderer and called for Jenna’s help. Upon interrogation she learns that, behind bars or not, he holds the power to harm more innocents—and is obsessed with gaining power over Jenna herself. He has a partner still on the loose. And Jenna’s unique mind, with its strange and subtle perceptions, may be all that can prevent a terrifying reality…

Wow, what an enjoyable read! This book was quite the page turner. It was a mixture of crime fiction and neurology. The story centers on Dr. Jenna Ramey, a woman with the ability to read people through a neurological condition that allows her to see colors surrounding people. She uses her special ability to help profile and catch criminals. But she also had to use this ability to save her family from her wicked mother when she was younger. Now, she’s called to help with a case involving a mass murder who holds power even when he’s behind bars and who might possibly be connected with her mother in some way.

What I enjoyed about reading Color Blind is seeing the story from Dr. Jenna Ramey’s perspective. I loved learning more about her condition, being able to see the detail put into describing the colors she was experiencing from the people she talked to. I’ve never read a crime fiction story that went this much into detail, and I found each piece of information I learned about Dr. Ramey more and more interesting. It made the story that much more interesting for me to want to continue reading to find out what happened next. It also showed that Colby Marshall did her research on synesthesia, a condition I’ve never really heard of myself until now. Makes me want to do my own research on the topic to see what more I can learn.

I also enjoyed this read because I found the story and characters to be interesting. I liked getting to hear more about Dr. Ramey’s background, find out about her mother Claudia and how she saved her family from uncertain death. I like how personal this case ended up being for Dr. Ramey because you could see her doing the best she could to save those around her. I found myself really engrossed in this story because of how interesting the storyline became that I couldn’t put this book down. I wanted to find out how Isaac was connected to Claudia and how that resulted in the events that followed. I also found Dr. Ramey’s relationship with Yancy to be most interesting, even though I don’t really understand why her connection with him is stronger than what she had with Hank.

I also like Color Blind because it’s crime fiction. I especially like that they showed Dr. Ramey as someone who doesn’t bask in her celebrity status. She’s a sincere person who wants to do things to keep those she cares about safe from the harm her mother will cause. Because once her mother gets out, she knows her mother will come for her and those she holds dear. This book was just such a page turner for me that I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.

I appreciate that they include some video game talk in this book. I like that Marshall has Isaac and Sebastian meet each other to make their plans in a video game that they both play. It’s something you normally don’t see in crime fiction stories, so I was surprised by it, but really liked it.

There are only a couple of things with this book I didn’t particularly like. For one, I felt like the connection between Isaac and Claudia was too disappointing. While it was an interesting spin I didn’t see coming, it wasn’t all that surprising for me to begin with. You could tell there was a connection between the two from the beginning just from the way Isaac interacts with Dr. Ramey and how he knew more about her than anyone else.

I also felt like most of the ending was pretty rushed because the last half of the story moves along very fast. Everything happens all at once, like the pieces were there just waiting to be lined up. While I usually don’t mind that, in this story the pieces that came together were pretty disappointing. For example, they made the capture of Thadius too easy to me and I found myself actually feeling for Sebastian. Despite his ties to Isaac, he didn’t seem like too bad of a kid, just troubled and in need of serious help. The end itself while interesting just didn’t do too much for me other than make me sad that the book was over. The only thing interesting about it to me was what happened with Claudia because I find her character to be really intriguing.

Despite these small things most people wouldn’t have minded, I found Color Blind to be a fantastic read. It had a little bit of everything I enjoy about crime novels, plus gave me the chance to learn something new. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to read the rest of the series to see what happens to Dr. Ramey next.

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Book Review: A Little Something Different

A Little Something Different Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.  

 But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship. 

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together….

 A Little Something Different is a cute and easy read, which is one of the things I like about it. It’s a book that doesn’t take too long to read because the writing flows smoothly and the story is very simply told by those surrounding the two main characters.

I also like that the author kept everything so short and simple with all of the characters. While I normally enjoy reading stories with a lot of character development, I feel like that wasn’t needed with this story since everyone else was talking about these characters. Which reminds me, I really like that the author told this story from so many different perspectives. While at times it could be a little annoying because the points of view changed on every other page, I like that Sandy Hall had friends of the two main characters telling their story along with people who saw them and thought they would be cute together. It added something different to the story, let the reader know what people thought of these two characters instead of hearing the characters talk about themselves and their troubles. I especially thought it was cute to have a squirrel’s point of view in the story because you never see that type of perspective in books. And I found the perspective of the bench to be amusing because having a bench talk about the perfect butt just made me giggle.

I especially like Lea and Gabe, who I felt like I could relate to. Both characters are pretty shy and awkward, which is something I completely understand since I’m the same way. I have a hard time interacting with people socially, except for the people I’m closest to, like my friends and family. But I also don’t like people that much, which makes it hard for me to want to socialize with anyone except for the people I care about. They are also like me because I’m also very geeky. They both like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a television show I’ve seen a couple episodes of here and there but haven’t really watched all the way through and both of them are into writing, something else I obviously enjoy. I really liked that Hall had these two awkward college students as the main characters because it was something I could really relate to, and it made me want to find out how their love story would unfold. I also found them as a couple to be really endearing and it wasn’t hard to root for them to end up together.

One of the things I like the most about A Little Something Different is hearing about Gabe’s physical handicap. Not a lot of teenagers have a physical disability like Gabe, and it’s nice to see her acknowledge how this impairment affects his life. I also appreciate that we get to see him struggle with this disability throughout the book, and then see his character once he’s able to do something about it. It shows that the story does have a little character development even though it’s not much, and promotes a positive message about people with physical disabilities.

A Little Something Different is a good read because it’s such a happy book. With the amount of horrible things that happen in the world on a daily basis, it was nice to read this book, and get away from that for a little bit. I also like this book because of the romance aspect of the story. I like romance literature, and reading about this couple was exactly what I needed.

But while this story is cute, there are some aspects of the story I didn’t like too. For one, I didn’t like that the whole focal point of this book was about their romance. Every conversation the characters in the story have is about both of them, and how cute they’d be together. But I felt like the author could’ve had these characters focus on their own lives while also talking about these two characters. It was almost like all of the characters didn’t have lives of their own, like Gabe and Lea were the only thing they had going for them. It was like these people were obsessed with having these two get together, that they couldn’t talk about anything else because of it.

I also hate how hard Hall was using these secondary characters to push Gabe and Lea together instead of letting them get together if it was meant to be. While I think these two characters are cute, I find it annoying how hard the author was pushing for their relationship instead of letting things happen naturally on their own.

I was also frustrated with Lea and Gabe’s characters. I get that both of them are awkward and shy, but I feel like the author used this as too much of an excuse during the course of the story. She had them literally at the same places all the time, yet they had very little physical conversations with each other. They would just awkwardly acknowledge each other with a wave or smile each time they saw each other and that was it. I found this to be frustrating because it’s not completely realistic. I get having a crush on someone and having a difficult time getting the courage to talk to the person you like. But after a certain point, you have to make the decision to make a move or the person is going to believe you don’t like them and move on, which is actually what almost happened. I get that it’s not easy, but I felt like the author told the reader both these characters were shy too much. To the point where it made you as the reader wonder if Lea and Gabe really actually liked each other because there were times were it was hard to tell.

What I also don’t like about A Little Something Different is the way Hillary and Victor’s characters are portrayed in the story. These two characters are the only ones who don’t necessarily want Lea and Gabe together, and everyone else in the story gives them a hard time about it. While these two characters weren’t my favorite (especially Hillary, who I found to be quite annoying), I felt like their treatment was a little unfair. Especially Victor because he really didn’t want anything to do with the two of them, but ended up near them almost every time something happened. I felt sorry for him more than anything else, especially since Gabe was constantly kicking his seat during class.

I overall enjoyed reading A Little Something Different because the story was so cute and happy and it was very easy to read. It was exactly what I needed, but unfortunately had some imperfections that if fixed would’ve made this story even more enjoyable to me. I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a book to read to cheer them up, a book with many different character perspectives, and is a romantic at heart like me.

 

 

 

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