Cameron
Two stars for two reasons.
One: The length. It was too long and I felt that it dragged in places. I was bored for a majority of it.
Two: Winter didn't do anything significant and she really didn't have to be in it. I don't know why she was in it, but oh well.
Also, I started reading a physical copy of this book but I got so bored that I turned to the audiobook which didn't really help, but it helped that I could listen to it on double-speed. The audiobook was...meh.
I guess that's three reasons.
This was such a fun read! I didn't know where it was headed in the beginning, and I wasn't completely along for the ride, but I found myself hooked once we got to the school.
I don't know how I feel about this.
For one, the dual perspectives really confused me at first. Tris and Tobias practically sounded like the same character. But I got used to it quickly, only finding myself fumbling a few times when one of them had multiple chapters in a row. Another thing that bothered me was how slow this was. I felt that the story dragged on and on for no specific reason. I felt this book could have been shorter if certain things were cut. I don't know what else I have to say. This book didn't really impress me or make me cry like it did to other people. I'm not pissed at Veronica Roth, either. I'm just all ‘eh'.
This series is ‘eh'.
And I am now done with it! Omg, A.S. King is such a good writer. I love this book, but Everybody Sees the Ants is my absolute favorite so far. I've yet to read her other two books, Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Ask the Passengers.
Review may come up soon! (Meaning, maybe in a week or two)
I forgot to write the review to this after I had finished reading this... I won this in a giveaway, so it was pretty much an ARC (from the cover it would be ARE, but I like ARC better)
Eleanor & Park is a story about two star-crossed misfits who don't fall in love at first starts. The story is told in dual 3rd person (you'll read more of Eleanor than Park), but you won't mind reading from Eleanor more than the latter–or that's just me.
The characters are fleshed out and different. Different. I love different. Eleanor is this big girl with way too curly red hair, and who doesn't match at all. Park is a Korean. Korean. KOREAN, which was a nice add to the story, because I've never came across a book with an Asian MC, and I rarely come across a book with someone who has color to them.
Now, what I enjoyed about this book was the romance. Like I said earlier, this isn't a story about love at first sight–that's just impossible, and I'm glad that Rainbow decided against that. Instead, they aren't even friends in the beginning. Eleanor and Park's relationship blossoms like a flower instead of pre-blooming. They get to know each other–embrace each other with their cuteness ^.^
I also enjoyed (really enjoyed) what was happening with Eleanor's life. It was miserable–both home and at school. Though I'm glad that she toughened up through it all. Eleanor is probably one of my favorite girl characters now. She isn't into makeup; she's into comics. She doesn't dress like a girl, she dresses like Eleanor. And just the simple fact that Park didn't even care about these things made a smile curl across my lips.
Overall what I'm trying to say is, is that this book is now one of my favorites. It isn't your sappy, lovey-dovey love story, it's almost it's own thing. And the ending...oh, my gosh, the ending.
Just, please read this book...
I. loved. this. book.
Everybody Sees the Ants is the story of a boy named Lucky, whose life isn't so great. His dad is a turtle, his mother is a squid, and his grandfather has never returned from the Vietnam War. And on top of that, he has been bullied for a long time, by the evil Nader McMillan.
But Lucky has a secret to get him out of this torture–he escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos, where his grandfather is still trapped.
I don't have anything to say about this book besides the fact that it is amazing. The characters are fresh, and I honestly felt really sorry for Lucky and what he was going through–I never feel really sorry for characters. His emotions are just so real, and I cannot emphasize that enough. It's like...well, it's explainable what it's like. I just felt for him, you know?
I enjoyed every time he visited his grandfather in his dreams, when he visited his aunt and uncle in Arizona, and how he made a friend who was really nice to him, while out in Arizona. Gah, I just enjoyed it all.
(This review is weird and I apologize)
This review is long overdue. It's so long overdue, that I don't even know what I really want to say about this book.
For one, I would like to say that I loved this book, but I didn't love it enough to give it five stars instead of four. There was only one minor thing that made me give it four stars: the footnotes. To me, footnotes in a story just throws me off (I am looking at you, An Abundance of Katherines). This story, Forgive me Leonard Peacock didn't have a lot of foootnotes, but when they would some would come, they would be long and possibly go over into the next page. At first I only ran into maybe two, and I vowed to give this book a 4.5, but when I came across another, I was all, “Fuck it I'm giving it a four!”
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy them though. They were a nice addon, just not enjoyable on my end.
The characters were one of my favorite parts in the story. I loved reading about them, especially Herr Silverman. I wish I had a teacher like him; someone who cared about the students and went out their way to help them. Leonard, too, was a fun person to know. He was always brutally honest in everything he said, but was he like that always, or just because he was hurt? And his mom. I did not like that woman one bit. I just wanted to smack her, or for Leonard to smack her, but you don't get everything you want in life.
I don't know where I'm going with this review. If I had wrote it the day after, it would be more well thought out, but since it's been a while, it's all weird and stuff. What I want to say is that, in the end, this is one of the most brutally honest books I have ever read in my seventeen years of living. It made me feel things I have never felt before or care for a character like I have never cared before (well, besides in Perks and Aristotle & Dante). This has easily become one of my favorite books ever, without a five-star rating, too. It's just that good.
I'm starting this thing where after I finish reading a book, I review it rather than just giving it a rating. Now, with that said Where Things Come Back is, in my opinion, one of the hardest books that one could review.
There's nothing wrong with the book at all. I think it's an amazing story, and could possibly be one of my favorites. But it holds a lot of drawbacks. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.
For one, the author uses: “When one (name of something happening), he (what he does)” more than it should be used. You can never go through a chapter with Cullen saying this, and later on in the book it takes up a hefty load of pages. It bored me, and I would even want to skim over it, but I knew that I could bare through it. What the purpose for Whaley overly using this is beyond me, but if he had just used it once, I would have been fine.
I only have two complaints after this. One is: Why in the hell was Cullen having all of these zombie hallucinations? It didn't happen as much as my first complaint, but when it did, my face seemed to contort into this weirdness of some sort. My next complaint is the weird names. I couldn't even pronounce some names, which was a little unsettling. And when he [Cullen] would mention the characters full names, I would passively roll my eyes.
All in all, I think this is a good start for Whaley, since it is his debut novel. I don't know if I'll check into Whaley's newer novels...that is if he writes any. This novel isn't meant for everyone, though, so if you don't want something that switches POV after every chapter, read of all the ass-hats (which is absurd. Who doesn't want to read of all the ass-hats?!), and especially if you don't believe in God, then this story is not meant for you.
i don't think i like annabeth as a character, so that's why i'm giving this three stars
I don't know what to say about this story. I'm torn between giving it 3 stars or 4 stars. A lot of things just didn't work for me. One, being the slowness to the story. It bored me to death for the first half of the story, or the half before Ruby met up with Liam, Chubs, and Zu. If I didn't have the sequel already on my bookshelf, I probably wouldn't have finished it, but I'm kind of glad I did.
Although much didn't happen in much of the book, there was a part of me to want to see why everyone was raving about the ending. And, when I finally got to it, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little shocked. I didn't find it emotional or anything, but I was like :O for a while.
And I'm glad that there's a sequel too, because I want to know if Chubs is okay (he was my favorite character). Speaking of characters, Ruby annoyed the hell out of me. I was confused as to why she didn't use her powers in certain situations when she got to East River and certain things happened and I was all, “Ruby? Why you no use powers?!” She was just ugh, and I did not enjoy her one bit. Chubs all the way!
There's so much I need to know after that ending though. Ah!
read this for a kid i work with. i didn't enjoy this as much but i guess the message was good.
