A Corner Of White by Jaclyn Moriarty | Book Review

April 4, 2013 by · 13 Comments

A Corner of White Jaclyn MoriartyBook Title/Author: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
Publisher/Year: Scholastic April 1st 2013
Genre: A blend of fantasy and contemporary YA
Series: Yes, it is the first book!
Other Books From Author: Ashbury/Brookfield series

Amazon| Goodreads | Jaclyn Moriarty’s website |

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way swayed my opinion. Pinky swear!

You can win a copy of this book HERE!

 

A Corner of White is a story that spans two worlds — one is the one we know and the other is the Kingdom of Cello; a world where colors are physical beings and tiny fairy-like girls can drop from the sky and bring prosperous crops. Maddie and her mom have gone to England to get away from her father and she finds herself missing her dad and her old privileged life. In Cello, Eliot is trying to figure out what happened to his father who vanished on the same night his uncle was murdered by violent colors. Rumors say he ran away with another woman who disappeared that night but Eliot knows that can’t be the truth. When a crack between the two worlds opens up, which should be sealed up, Maddie and Eliot’s worlds collide and they start corresponding via letters and learning about each other and the events that are unfolding in both worlds.

Not going to lie, I almost put this book down. So very close but I decided to press on even though I’ve been trying to put down books I’m not enjoying and, well, A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty was on its way to the DNF pile. Fortunately, about half way through, it picked up for me and I absolutely could not put it down — much to Will’s dismay when he woke up at 2am to my book light in his face. DANG this going to be hard to review.

A Corner of White is not easy to pin down and it definitely doesn’t feel like everything I had ever read before. It’s this magical blend of fantasy and contemporary with alternating chapters set in two different worlds. One world is the world we know today and takes place in England. The other world is the Kingdom of Cello and it is this wholly imaginative and strange world. For example, colors are actual beings of sorts — some colors pass through and they bring destruction or others enhance your feelings. It was strange and hard to visualize at first but really kind of cool. Or seasons in Cello are not at all like what we know — they roam so it could be summer for a few days and then the next day it would be winter. I loved the Kingdom of Cello parts because of how crazy imaginative it was and how Moriarty wrote it.

Like I said, it DID take me a while to get into it. It’s definitely a slower paced read, which I DO enjoy very often, but I wasn’t really connecting with the story at all..in any way. I wasn’t curious. I didn’t particularly enjoy any characters. I’m glad I was patient to wait for the story to start to come together and take shape because when it did it got REALLY good and just captured my heart. I think the other thing that was hard for me to get used to was how it was told. It was third person but it could jump from character to character and give you their feelings and thoughts so it felt a little all over the place and I think probably contributed to me not connecting until way later.

I loved the way the two character’s stories come together. They are both living in their respective worlds and they both of this element of loneliness that just pervades their life. Maddie and her mother had run away from home and her father but Maddie missed him and she missed their old life. Eliot’s dad has been missing under mysterious circumstances and all he can think about is FINDING him when it seems like everyone else has kind of moved on. Both of them are so distracted and, in their heads, are somewhere else.  The more the story progressed I got more and more invested in their stories though I think I was definitely more smitten with Eliot and the kingdom of Cello. Maddie REALLY took a long time for me to feel anything for. And then obviously, as their worlds converge because of a crack that opens up between their worlds, I just LOVED their interactions and how they learned about each others lives. And then towards the end the story just became more intensely paced and urgent for me and there were so many surprises. It was just a PERFECTLY executed ending and the way the story just comes together was BRILLIANT.

Besides the interesting worlds and the story itself, I also loved how offbeat and comical it was. There were just so many charming parts of A Corner of White where I found myself laughing. And there are just this whole host of amazing characters, in addition to Eliot and Maddie, that I found myself smitten with. I honestly could see this book so clearly in my head as a super quirky and fun movie even from the beginning!

I can’t say this was a favorite book of mine just because of how little of a draw I had to pick it up at first and how I just wasn’t feeling any sort of connection. However, it really became a very solid and delightful read that I’m so happy I was patient with and let myself slowly slip into its fantastical pages. It is truly one of the most original books I have ever read — imaginative, a little offbeat and strange in a GOOD way and a great set of characters. The story really, by the end, had captivated me and I just felt so invested in the characters lives and didn’t want to pry myself out of the kingdom of Cello it all its quirky glory. I don’t think this is going to be a book that will be universally loved. If you are a patient reader who doesn’t mind a slow start and are looking for something wildly different and unique — I’d definitely recommend it. I’m glad I stuck with it and cannot wait for book 2!

 

 

A Corner of White Jaclyn Moriarty

Let’s Talk: Have you read this one??  Heard of the series?  If you’ve read it, did you enjoy it? Did you have an awfully hard time in the beginning getting into it like I did or were you into from the start? For me it was no connection to the characters, feeling no interest in the story and not being able to picture some of the concepts. What was your favorite element of Cello? I thought the seasons were really cool but would be TERRIBLE in reality.

Filed Under: book review, YA fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Program by Suzanne Young | Review

March 28, 2013 by · 29 Comments

The Program Suzanne Young Book ReviewBook Title/Author: The Program by Suzanne Young
Publisher/Year: Simon Pulse – April 2013
Genre: Dystopian I guess? It has a very contemporary feel minus that suicide is an epidemic and the way that society deals with it.
Series: YES! This is the first book!
Other Books From Author: A Need So Beautiful series, The Naughty List series

Amazon| Goodreads | Twitter |

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way swayed my opinion. Pinky swear!

 

In The Program by Suzanne Young the world is experiencing an epidemic — teen suicide. To combat this epidemic a program (called “The Program”) was created to help anybody who failed at committing suicide or anyone who is flagged as being depressed or suicidal. The Program basically erases all memories that they deem to be associated with what is making you sad or depressed. Then you leave The Program and are integrated back into society without those memories and start anew. Sloane and her friends who haven’t yet entered the program have tried to stay under the radar and keep their emotions in check so as not get flagged and taken to the program. Despite the fact they have watched so many friends and family commit suicide or come out of The Program like zombies, they know they can’t let those emotions or feelings surface.  As Sloane and her friends are slowly starting to succumb to those feelings they’ve ignored and the pressure to keep it together they know The Program will be their next stop if they can’t keep it together.

Oh my goodness — this is a series I am so excited about after finishing The Program. I know it sounds trite because we say it a lot but I SERIOUSLY could not put this book down. One of those “OMG IT’S SO LATE AND I’M NEVER GOING TO WAKE UP TOMORROW BUT I MUST READ” books. The Program was the ultimate kind of page turner for me because it had suspense, tension, an emotional investment and I was never sure what was going to happen despite picking up vibes about certain things. I appreciated its uniqueness and how Suzanne Young took a subject that really IS an epidemic in our society and amplified it — it felt unsettling and frighteningly REAL to me.

The Program is broken up in three parts — I don’t want to tell you what those three parts consist of even though you could maybe guess from the summary — but each part made me more and more invested in the story and layered that suspense even more. Each part opened me up to more emotions and explored a lot of things about this society and I became more and more invested in this story. I cried, I smiled, I felt like somebody took a cleaver to my heart and I felt extreme ANGER sometimes.  There is just SO much to this story and, aside from being wholly invested in it, it made me think a lot, too!

It was seriously scary to be thrown into this world. I immediately felt unsettled — teen suicide is like your every day thing here and, while they’ve grown numb to it in a way, you can feel the profound pain and agony of those left behind. I was emotional just thinking about my friend who committed suicide and then thinking about how in this society it is perfectly NORMAL to have lost lots of friends and family to suicide & it just made my heart hurt and gave me that “this is going to be an intense book” feeling. It broke my heart at how they had to keep a lid on their emotions because ANY sort of sign of sadness or anger or anything, even if it was healthy, was enough to get you flagged. To watch them slowly start to succumb to the FEELINGS they’ve been holding in towards those who have died and those who have come back not themselves is so painful. You just feel the weight on their shoulders. My heart was in an absolute frenzy.

And if that wasn’t hard enough, Part 2 and 3 really were equally as compelling and painful in their own right. There were absolutely agonizing moments where we got to learn how The Program operates and what goes on inside and how they “fix” you. It was anger-inducing and scary and heartbreaking. And then Part 3 is where it got bittersweet but also hopeful and intense in more of an action-packed way towards the end. It got me excited for book 2 until I remembered WAH I DO NOT HAVE IT.

Book 2, I MUST HAVE YOU because there is still so much to learn — like HOW society got to the point where suicide was this bad? Or why people were okay with this solution? Can you fully get your memories back? And, book 2, I need you most because I haven’t felt so INVOLVED and intrigued by a series in a while.

The Program by Suzanne Young was such an interesting, frightening and suspenseful story with the power to poke and prod at my emotions in the intensest of ways. Each of the three parts of this novel heightened the suspense and really added layers to my emotional connection. One of the most exciting and page-turning books I’ve read this year and I cannot even contain myself for book 2. Very unique and unsettling and I highly recommend it for fans of all types of genres as it is set in a world very much like our own but with the fact that suicide is an actual epidemic and society has allowed something like The Program to exist to “contain” it.

 

 

The Program Suzanne Young Book review

Let’s Talk: Have you read this one??  Heard of it?  If you’ve read it, what did you think? Did you enjoy it as I did or did you feel differently? Let me know what you thought!

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Top Ten Series I’d Like To Start But Haven’t Yet – Top Ten Tuesday

March 5, 2013 by · 93 Comments

toptentuesssTop Ten Tuesday, as  always, is hosted at my other blog — The Broke & the Bookish

This week’s topic: Top Ten Series I’d Like To Start But Haven’t Yet

This could easily have been a list of 50. I tried to pick series that have been on my shelf for a while or were older because there are so many first books in a series that I’ve meant to pick up released in the last year!

grisha-trilogyacross-the-universe-series

seven-kingdoms-serieslunar-chronicles

vampire-academy seriesbright-young-things-seriesdustlands-series

iron-fey-series

daughter-of-smoke-andbonethursday-next-series

1.  Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo: Pretty much everyone  I know has read and RAVES about this series.
2. Across the Universe by Beth Revis: I pre-ordered this bad boy when it came out and still it sits. I had really good intentions after I saw her at a Breathless Reads tour but here we are…
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore: I’ve been wanting to get into fantasy and everyone says START HERE. I’ve had this on my shelf for years just because I had heard so much about it.
4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: This one never interests me before it came out but the blogosphere started buzzing about it and everybody I know LOVES IT SO MUCH. It’s sitting here from the library and is a few days overdue…OOPSIE.
5. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: My friends are going to start to disown me if I don’t read this soon.
6. Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersem: This came out around the same time as Vixen — another YA historical full of flappers — and I read and loved Vixen so I decided I’d wait and start BYT after a little so I didn’t compare them too much.
7. Blood Red Road by Moira Young: I bought this at a Borders closing sale because I was super intrigued by post-apocalyptic lit and heard great things. But soon it got lost in all the new books I bought. haha
8. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa: So much love for this series amongst bloggers and I even met her at BEA and she was delightful!
9. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: Seriously. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long!
10. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: I bought this like 5 years ago at a used book sale because I thought it sounded cool. Then I got on Goodreads and saw it was a very popular series and got excited. But then I went down the rabbit hole of Goodreads and found millions of other books to buy and this got neglected.

Also, *cough cough* Harry Potter & Divergent. Pleasedonotnoticethis.

So tell me…which series off my list have you read/not read but are wanting to? Which series do I need to BUMP up the TBR list?

Filed Under: Top Ten Tuesday Tagged With: , , , , ,

Review: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (No Spoilers!)

March 4, 2013 by · 21 Comments

13104080Book Title/Author: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Publisher/Year: HarperTeen 2013
Genre: YA Dystopian
Series: Yes, read my review of  Shatter Me — book 1 in the series!
Other Books From Author: Shatter Me (book #1 in series)

Amazon| Goodreads | Twitter |

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way swayed my opinion. Pinky swear!

** Some spoilers for Shatter Me (book 1) may be lurking around here **

We pick up where Shatter Me leaves off and Juliette, Adam and Kenji have escaped the Reestablishment and are underground at Omega Point. Juliette is trying to learn the strength of her abilities and power and learns more about the gifts of all the other people who are at Omega Point. She realizes that the freedom isn’t all that she thought it would be and that simply loving Adam isn’t as easy as it sounds with the power that brews inside her. The Reestablishment is still reeling from Juliette’s escape and will stop at nothing to find her and silence the spirit of a resistance they’ve only heard about.

“There was too much kissing in this book.” — SAID NO ONE EVER. Seriously, Tahereh Mafi. You upped the sexy in this book. I had to fan myself quite a few times even if I didn’t always LOVE what was going on. I wish there was an award for good kissing scenes because Tahereh has a whole arsenal of them in Unravel Me that proves why she would win this award. As much as I enjoy swoon and kissing and romance, I don’t know that I’ve ever started a review out talking about the kissing nor have I devoted an entire paragraph in a review to it. But, here we are. You need to know it.

So Unravel Me. WOW. What an incredible follow-up to Shatter Me — it was sexy, daring, gripping and certainly didn’t lack in excitement.  I really enjoyed learning more about this underground resistance and watching Juliette trying to learn how to fit IN with other people and come to terms with her abilities. There are some explosive moments in this book and I was constant state of being riveted and then completely blindsided by THINGS — aka a huge twist that is a BIG deal and a certain chapter that definitely changes the course of this series.

I love the way all of these characters are written. Tahereh isn’t afraid to lift the curtain and make us see characters in a different way — even if it makes us have conflicting feelings. Juliette becomes my least favorite character in this series — she is whiny and acts stupidly sometimes and just has way too much self loathing going on…but at the end of the day I’m still rooting for her to realize her own strength and feel comfortable in her skin. I love Adam but he becomes stale for me this time around and I’m left wondering what is so special about him but I STILL LOVE HIM SO MUCH and want Juliette to be with him when she can sort her damn feelings and emotions. Kenji doesn’t really change but just becomes my ALL TIME FAVE and so incredibly awesome! And Warner…oh Warner. He is so complex. I got that feeling from Shatter Me and most of my suspicions were true in terms of there is something else within him and that he probably had a hard childhood that hardened him. I’ve never had such polarizing feelings towards a character. I will say, I am NOT a person who switched to Team Warner but I do understand him more and believe he can be redeemed but not quite on board with a romance (because ew he was her captor and he has done some beyond horrible things and is manipulative). I believe there is more to him but could not even entertain anything romantical. But HOLY EFF, Tahereh. I have never ever before seen such a passionate switch of teams by readers and an even more passionate resounding HELL NO by others.

The emotions she brings to Unravel Me just astound me — I seriously felt a myriad of things. Things I never knew I felt. It was kind of like how after you work out or do a new workout and the next day your muscles are so sore because you are using muscles you’ve neglected or barely worked out but never realized. That’s how my heart felt — these deep aches and soreness from places in my heart that have rarely seen the light of day. It’s amazing the kind of emotions I felt reading this book — sadness and aching and anger and longing and ALL THE FEELS. My heart was a volatile organ while reading this and I just always felt I was on the brink of uncertainty.

An amazing sequel to a book that captivated me from the start.  Suffice it to say — my mind is reeling and in complete and utter awe of Tahereh Mafi and everything about this series — the realness of the characters, her exquisitly unique writing style that just captivates you, the KISSING, the depth of emotions she unearths and the risks she is just willing to take. If you haven’t read Shatter Me, get on it so you can experience things that your heart might not experience every day — including being smashed to pieces, writhing in agony and possibly this polarizing feeling when it comes to the boys in this series.  I love that I could hate characters or be frustrated by them and even be opposed to the direction that the story was going but I still undoubtedly loved this book and BELIEVED it wholly.

 

 

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Let’s Talk: Have you read this one??  Heard of the series?  If you’ve read it, did you enjoy it?? Are you Team Adam or Team Warner? EXPLAIN YOURSELF IF YOU ARE TEAM WARNER!! Did anyone else just fall in love with Kenji?? I OH SNAPPED when he told Juliette off basically. ALSO, did you see the REALLY BIG SHOCKING TWIST COMING?? I did not. At all.

Filed Under: book review, YA dystopian, Young Adult Fiction Tagged With: , , , ,

Another Bookish Fear I Have..And I Totally Didn’t Realize I Feared It!

February 8, 2013 by · 31 Comments

By now, if you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, you know I have sometimes irrational fears  (or sometimes not irrational depending on who you ask) — like this one or this one. Well, this one, I didn’t even realize I HAD it or could pinpoint it until recently.

I realized I have this irrational fear of moving on to the next book in a series.

tumblr_medrmroR5o1ro2d43

I love the first book, anticipate the next and then I get my hands on it…but then I am so scared to pick it up. It’s like I psych myself out.  How I realized it? I’ve been STARING at two of my most anticipated books  Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi and Requiem by Lauren Oliver for MONTHS (not to mention a zillion other books in a series). Just staring at them on my shelves. I feel like I side eye them every time I walk into my bedroom as if I’m afraid they are going to jump out like a snake at me.  I also realized I have this fear because I’ve been talking to lots of people about Unravel Me and everyone just keeps saying “GO READ IT ALREADY!” and then I say “I Will!” and then 5 books later I still haven’t picked it up. It makes me scurrrrred. I don’t wannnna.

With Unravel Me my fear is what I’ve heard about how a HORRIBLE character suddenly becomes beloved and seriously EVERYONE has turned and now loves him. I don’t want this to happen. I DON’T WANT TO LOVE HIM! Furthermore, I don’t want to KNOW how Tahereh Mafi SLAYS us enough to make us get to that point. With Pandemonium, I’m just seriously afraid for how Lauren Oliver is going to end this series. She is fearless in with the things she does in this series and is not afraid to rip your heart out. Also, it’s the end of the series..so there’s that. I always fear that just as much as I am SO ANTICIPATING IT.

I guess it’s just this fear of what the author is going to DO TO ME and the things that they may put me through knowing how INVOLVED I feel in some of my favorite series.  How they could KILL a character I love. Or make the character go through something horrible.  How they might make me FEEL so intensely knowing what I know from the previous books.  Or that they might take it in a direction that I hate or don’t want to go…even though I trust them. I’m just too afraid of the slaying that might occur on my heart.  Then my little heart trembles thinking about the next book (if the series is still ongoing) and how it is going to pain me to wait and, if the series is over, how my heart will just ache forever and ever. Look at all the psyching myself out I do??

I love series. I do. I get so excited about the next book in a series and progressing in the story but apparently I fear them, too. And it takes A LOT OF COURAGE for me to pick up the next book. I guess perhaps this explains part of the mystery I posed in my Series SUCK post). I do know that this isn’t the SOLE reason for why I accidentally leave series hanging but I see now that I’m just a big ol’ scaredy cat in actually STARTING the next book but typically welcome being back in the world and with the characters.

Am I the only one who psychs themselves out about starting the next book in a series? Or do you just dive right in to the next book easily? If you are like me, which series have been like this for you where you were just almost putting it off because you were fearful of WHAT the author was going to do? Or am I just completely a weirdo and need to get a grip?

Filed Under: discussion Tagged With: , ,

Mini Reviews of Hallowed & Boundless by Cynthia Hand

February 4, 2013 by · 11 Comments

If you haven’t read Unearthly (book 1) of this series, you can take a look at my review of Unearthly or my guest post on Epic Reads of the top ten reasons why YOU should read the Unearthly series!

Hallowed by Cynthia HandHallowed by Cynthia Hand

If I had to pick a “least” favorite book of the series, Hallowed would probably be it — but that’s not even fair because SO MUCH BIG STUFF happened in it …things that made me cry, things that made me rage and things that made me have a really hard time finishing this book off at while at the hairdressers without them kicking me out for being crazy.  I really did LOVE it.  Cynthia Hand wrote some of the most intense and gut-wrenching scenes in this one and REALLY made me Queen FlipFlopper when it comes to my Team loyalty. After reeling from the ending of Unearthly when we find out that Christian is an angel, I was so torn because suddenly Christian isn’t just the “guy she’s supposed to save.”  I commend Cynthia Hand for how she continually manages to really flesh out the characters of Tucker and Christian and make us really fall in love with them and really KNOW them — wish makes us dread Boundless for we KNOW she can only have one…unless there is a polygamist sect of angels that Cynthia is going to throw out at us.  I also really thought after the events of Unearthly, in addition to the continually building character development,  Hallowed did a good job of showing Clara’s guilt and confusion after her seemingly failing her purpose and I loved that because we really got to see her grow in this book. Girl went through some TOUGH things. So many tears were shed for MANY reasons.  Book two brought the feels and showed us a new depth to Cynthia Hand’s storytelling abilities. I fell even more hard for this series!

 

Boundless by Cynthia Hand

Boundless by Cynthia Hand

OH MY GOSH. I’m just going to tell you that this was one of the BEST LAST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ and honestly the best book in the series. Was everything wrapped up the way I wanted to? Not exactly — one thing left me a sad panda and there were a few issues I had because I didn’t feel like we understood the purpose of some characters — but honestly EVERYTHING ELSE was perfect. Just perfect. You know how I said Hallowed brought the feels? Well Boundless showed up and was like “You haven’t seen anything yet. Get out your tissues, bitches!”  And sob I did during three very poignantly written parts where I was crying for very different reasons. The action and the story arc were just PERFECT oh my gosh. I was clenching that book so hard and ravenously turning the pages until the final pages because Cynthia built the suspense with the precision of an architectural genius. Not only was I DYING to see how Clara and company would tackle their purposes and her super intense vision but I was anticipating/nervous for/neurotically biting my nails over which boy Clara would choose. Because if you thought you were confused about who Clara should end up with, well your head will be spinning during this one! I honestly didn’t put ANYTHING past Cynthia the way things were going down! ALSO. SAMJEEZA. That is ALL!  Super sad to see this series end but I had a great time binge reading it!

 

 

Have you read this series? What did you think of Hallowed and Boundless? Were you happy with the series ending? What were some of YOUR most memorable moments from these two books? If you want to check out my top 5 favorite scenes of the Unearthly series (as drawn by my 6 year old niece), go here!

Filed Under: book review, YA paranormal, Young Adult Fiction Tagged With: , , , ,

Review: The Darlings Are Forever by Melissa Kantor

November 30, 2012 by · 10 Comments

Book Title/Author: The Darlings Are  Forever by Melissa Kantor
Publisher/Year: Hyperion 2011
Genre: YA Contemporary
Series: Yes — The Darlings In Love
Other Books From Author: If I Have A Wicked Stepmother, Where Is My Prince?, The Breakup Bible, The Amanda  Project, Girlfriend Material, Confessions of a Not It Girl

Amazon| Goodreads | Melissa Katnor’s Website |

I checked this out from my wonderful library. LIBRARIES ARE COOL, y’all!

 

 

Jane, Victoria and Natalya have always be best friends — they do everything together and have been through everything together. They’ve always had one another by their side through the years at their tiny private school so the girls are nervous as they begin 9th grade at different high schools without each other in Manhattan. They vow to still be as close as they’ve always been and not grow apart but as they begin to navigate their new lives they struggle with balancing their friendships plus all the new things life has thrown at them. Jane feels the pressure of trying to land a leading role at her performing arts high school and figure out a crush she shouldn’t have.  Natalya lands herself a spot at an extremely prestigious school with some of the wealthiest families but she tries to fit in with the popular girls without letting on that she’s a scholarship student and not actually rich. Victoria tries to blend in at her new private school — which is hard to do with her dad running for office & her sister’s legacy at school. As the girls navigate boys, peer pressure, fitting in and making friends, they realize trying to keep the closeness of the Darlings in tact is harder than they realized.

I don’t know about you all but sometimes I just wander the library and pick up something I’ve never heard of and give it a try. I picked this one up on a whim, thought it sounded fun and cute and checked this baby out! What a pleasant surprise this was! It was very reminiscent of The Sisterhood of The Traveling pants in that it was a very friendship oriented book (YAY!) with romance and general high school pressures weaved in. It was cute and fun and not really over the top — lots of realistic situations and a little bit of drama (especially with a dad who is in the political spotlight and one of them who is falling for a teacher sort of figure — I’ve totally had a crush on a younger teacher in high school. LISTEN, his ass looked mighty fine in those Banana Republic pants he wore). I can’t say it was particularly a standout or a favorite but it satisfied my need for something fun and light as I’d been reading lots of darker type stuff that weighed heavy on my mind.

It definitely was a bit of a younger novel being that they are starting out their 9th grade year so I’d keep that in mind for you older readers. However, I really enjoyed reading about each of the girl’s transitions into their new high school lives and the issues they faced. I really loved their friendship and rooted for them to stop taking each other forgranted and figure out how to balance their friendship and their new friends and love interests. To be honest, I really enjoyed watching them grow on their own and have to be courageous and bold without one another. I really loved Victoria’s storyline the most I think — but a lot of that was how sweet her romance was!

I had mentioned how this book made me want to find a close-knit group of girlfriends and it’s true — the loveliness of their friendship and how they worked through all the changes in their lives made me want to go all “GIRL POWER”! Speaking as a girl who has had a hard time keeping relationships with my gal pals, it was such a wonderful story to read as they come to terms with their changing lives and try to find out where their former besties still fit in. Such a relatable plot! And I LOVED how the girls were always trying to reach out and do things that they were afraid of doing and I feel like that’s such a good message no matter what age you are! It’s easy to let fear take over and continue to do the same things because you feel complacent. They had a motto they said but I can’t recall what it was and unfortunately the book is back at the library!

 

 

The Darlings Are Forever was such a fun book about friendship, growing up and living boldly despite how much things scare you. Definitely a great book if you love books about enduring friendships between a VERY close group of young girls — a la Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I loved the ups and downs of the girl’s life in New York City as they try to navigate through their new high schools without each other while they face many normal pressures! A pinch of drama, some cute romances and a big feeling of girl power made this such a fun read!  It felt a little young to me at times, being that I AM 27 years old, but it was still totally fun and I would think that younger readers of YA would LOVE this one especially! Won’t say it was a favorite but it was the kind of fun, light read I needed! Definitely recommend to younger YA readers!

 

For Fans Of: The Sisterhood of the Traveling pants-esque stories, books about friendship, cute & fun reads with not too much angst

The Darlings series Melissa Katnor

 

Let’s Talk: Have you read this one? Heard of it? Which girl did you like to follow the most? Did YOU have a close knit group of girl friends/or do you still? Any other good friendship type books you’ve read and enjoyed?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Filed Under: book review, contemporary YA fiction, Fiction, Young Adult Fiction Tagged With: , , , ,