Book 20: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness is amazing. The last installment of the Chaos Walking trilogy, this book had me breathless, speechless, and just simply astounded. Having read and loved the first two books in the trilogy (The Knife of Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer), I had high expectations for Ness’ final book. Ness manages to explore every aspect of human nature in a fresh, non-condescending way. I often find tropes such as love, war, and human nature to be stale, with enlightening stories few and far between.  Ness, however, achieves the opposite. Monsters of Men had me stopping to think about what I was reading, and had me shaking with emotions.

Fun fact: Chaos Walking marks the first time in history that every installment in a trilogy has either won or been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

This trilogy really is a must read.

5 stars out of 5.

3 days ago · 1 note

Book 19: Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Written by the ever-amazing Gail Carson Levine, Fairest is a loose retelling of Snow White. This book, written for tweens, was hard to get through. Admittedly, I’m not a tween. However, I love Levine’s Ella Enchanted, so I wanted to give this a try. In short: an interesting retelling of Snow White and tween girls will love it.

3 out of 5 stars

5 days ago · 0 notes

Book 18: The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #2)

The Ask and The Answer is the second book in the Chaos Walking trilogy. I really enjoyed it. I often feel that second books serve only to connect the first and third books (or as a way to get from A to B) in a series. This, however, is not the case with The Ask and The Answer. Ness always gives more twists and surprises just when you don’t see how he could have another. This is a really great book and a great trilogy. Between excellent characterization, visceral writing, and a twisted plot, it’s really impossible to read this book and not love it. This book becomes such a vessel with which you can experience and - more importantly - understand why and how people are the way the are.

I read this book at my cousins house in about two nights and I can’t even tell you how many times I exclaimed out loud. This book pulls you in, spins you around until you’re blind, and then spits you back out into the world, leaving you gasping for air - with a new understanding of the world and the people in it.

5 out of 5 stars.

5 days ago · 0 notes

Book 17: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Guys. Guys. This book is amazing. I have no idea how to begin explaining this story, so I’m going to post the publisher’s premise here:

Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

[source: goodreads.com]

This book is amazing. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but after a few chapters I was stuck. I read this book in one night, went back to the bookstore and bought the last two books in the trilogy, and forced myself to not immediately start them. Instead, I brought the second book on my trip to Tucson and instantly regretted not also bringing the third. 

Basically if that little book synopsis didn’t make you want to read the book then you’re missing out. Seriously. An amazing dystopian book.

Indisputably, 5 out of 5 stars.

1 month ago · 0 notes

Book 16: The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

As you can tell from my recent slew of books, I’ve been reading quite a few children’s books. This is because I spent my spring break in Tucson visiting my cousins and their children. My oldest cousin is married with three kids (aged 9, 7, and 6) and my next oldest cousin is married with two kids (ages 4 and 2). I decided that since I’m the most amazing, awesome, cool cousin ever (ahaha) I’d bring an abundance of books for the family. And I read them all to make sure that they were appropriate. This book,The Tail of Emily Windsnapby Liz Kessler, was for the 7-year-old girl cousin.

Emily Windsnap is in seventh grade and discovers while in her PE Swim Class that she turns into a mermaid when she’s in water. Emily, it turns out, is half-mermaid! She goes on an adventure with her friend, Shona, to try to find out about her parentage and her family history.  The adventure turns into a quite a fun story. I wasn’t personally too invested in the story, but the adventure bits were quite fun.  My cousin apparently really likes it (so that’s good!).

I give The Tail of Emily Windsnap 3 out of 5 starsHowever, it was clearly written for not my demographic, so if I were younger I probably would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

1 month ago · 0 notes

Book 15: Swindle by Gordon Korman

Swindle is essentially a children’s version of Ocean’s 11. When 11-year-old Griffin Bing gets swindled out of a million-dollar baseball card, he recruits friends and enemies alike to steal back his card. This fun caper involves fooling a nosy neighbor, beating the most high-tech security system of all time, and getting past a vicious guard dog. This book would be perfect for any kid around 11. However, seeing as I am 22, I found it rudimentary. I bought this book for my 9 year old cousin, and I think he’s going to love it.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. But if I was younger, it would probably get 4 stars. On the plus side, there are quite a few of these books in this series; so, if the children in your life love this one then there are more to choose from!

1 month ago · 0 notes

Book 14: The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

As you can tell by the title and author of this book, this series revolves around a secret. In fact, the secret is so secretive that the narrator shouldn’t even be telling you! The narrator tries to talk you out of reading the story, insists on chapter breaks at awkward moments (because doesn’t that anticipation make you want to continue reading?) and encourages you to choose whichever name you want for characters. In fact, the entire first chapter is X’d out - because the first chapter is where you get character details- which are too secretive to be shared.

Doesn’t that sound like a great book? The author’s style and secretive self is reminiscent of Lemony Snicket, so if you enjoyed his Unfortunate series, you will probably enjoy this Secret series. I bought this book for my 9 year old cousin (who doesn’t quite like reading fiction) in the hopes that he enjoys it. I’ll let you know how it goes with him.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth a read, but I probably won’t be continuing in the series unless my cousin loves them.

[Edit]: So far, my cousin is loving the book!

2 months ago · 1 note

Book 13: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society is a delight! “Witty”, “smart”, “engaging”, “stylistically perfect” … these all come to mind when I think of The Mysterious Benedict Society. Seriously: read this book. It doesn’t matter that it’s for “young children” - I think it’s for everyone!

In this series, four genius children go undercover to help protect the world and in doing so, discover things about themselves.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I finished this book two days ago, and am currently at the bookstore to buy the next two! AND! They’re only $6.99! NICE! Go read these books!

2 months ago · 2 notes

Book 12: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is an amazing book!

I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a strong female protagonist with flaws. This book is so smart. Not only will you be laughing your head off, you will also find yourself immersed in this community. Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at Alabaster Preparatory Academy and finds herself suddenly a part of the popular crowd. Frankie, however, finds herself excluded from the all-male secret society on campus, and decides to take matters into her own hands. As one might expect, the consequences are many. Lockhart creates a strong, intelligent female protagonist and takes you along for the ride. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!

2 months ago · 0 notes

Book 11: Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith

This book is the last in the final follow-up to Smith’s Child-44 and The Secret Speech, and follows Leo Demidov across decades and countries as he tries to solve a tragic mystery despite threats to his and his family’s well-beings.

While not nearly as good as Child-44, Agent 6 is a page-turner. It took me some time to get into the story, but once I got past the first few chapters I found it impossible to put the book down. The biggest issue for me was that the book wasnothinghow I expected it to be - from the form to the content, I was surprised.

All in all, I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. Also, if you haven’t yet - read Child-44!

2 months ago · 0 notes

Book 10: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

This book took me a long time to read; I had to be in a certain mindset to read it.  I like the typeset and how Foer plays with page design and layout, but I had some issues with Oskar. I found the ending of the story made every minor issue I had with the rest of the book pointless. The ending is simply amazing.

A must read.

4.5 out of 5

2 months ago · 3 notes

Book 9: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

This book is awesome. Set in a 24 hour period, the story follows Hadley on a trip to England for her father’s wedding. While the premise is nice, I had moments where I felt that Hadley’s emotions weren’t quite genuine. Although, I’ve never had to deal with divorce parents or attending a parents wedding, I feel like Hadley didn’t really react the way I would have.

All in all, this is a fun book that keeps you turning pages.

4.5 of 5 stars

2 months ago · 0 notes

Book 8: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

Why We Broke Up - Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

This book is seriously amazing. Formatted as a long letter to an ex-boyfriend, Why We Broke Up explores a relationship and how each good or bad moment contributed to the end of the relationship. Not only is the story fantastic, but the illustrations are also amazing.

I highly recommend this book.

4.5 stars out of 5

3 months ago · 3 notes

Book #7: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

You know, this book got a LOT of flack when it came out last year. This was my second reading of the book, and I still hold to my original assessment: Suzanne Collins did the only thing she could do with the series. She stayed true to the tone of the series. I’m not a mega fan of the series, and I personally find Katniss a bit nauseating, but I appreciate the difficult and brave choices that Collins made in regards to the main characters throughout the series.

The series certainly is not a difficult read, but is still a fantastic page-turner. Read them!

3 months ago · 2 notes

Book #6: The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The Pearl - John Steinbeck

I read this because a student of mine is reading it, and I wanted to make sure that I knew the story. I really hated Steinbeck in school - I didn’t like his long sentences, and his focus on seemingly mundane things… and I just wasn’t really ready for him back in 10th grade. BUT! I really enjoyed The Pearl. I read it in one night (at 90 pages, it really only took about an hour) and, despite being fairly predictable, the book really pleased me.  A good, fast read.

3 months ago · 1 note