Category Archives: books

Book Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

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Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)Where She Went by Gayle Forman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh man, this book gutted me. I’ve read If I Stay several times and loved it, even though on occasion I felt like I was reading a path that had already been covered. Where She Went felt like brand new territory. Seeing everything from the point of view of Mia’s angry, bitter, vulnerable, unlikeable and somehow lovable ex boyfriend not only made for a compelling story, it shed brand new light on everything that happened in the previous book and made it seem that more poignant and believable. Now that I’ve read both books, I don’t think I’ll be able to read them separately. The two together make for one solid story and I will absolutely enjoy reading them again.

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Sometimes, when you’ve had the week from hell, you just have to take it easy- a chai latte, my comfy @whositswhatsits crew for when I get chilly, and the beautiful book that my best friend wrote and recently published. Things are going to be okay. (at Starring Rolls Cafe)

I went thrifting with @embersonfire and @lcsence a few weeks ago and came home with just a couple of books. But I’m lazy, so they’re just now going on my bookshelf. I’m running out of room, though!! #bookwormprobs (at The Dollhouse)

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

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22 Britannia Road22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think I need to sit down and reread this one. Or maybe not.

I was mostly just…unsettled by this story. The story was intriguing but I just couldn’t get myself to love any of the characters. Each one was viciously unlikable in their own ways. But as for the core of the novel, the story behind it…I enjoyed that.

Maybe I’ll just try reading it again and see how I feel.

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Delirium by Lauren Oliver

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Delirium (Delirium, #1)Delirium by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up on a total whim, just looking for something to keep me entertained while I waited in the parking lot to my husband to finish up at work. It was an intriguing premise (the idea of love as an illness; the systematic “cure,” the arranged loveless marriages) and started off rather predictably (ooh, she met a handsome boy and they fall in looove), and then it got a little more complicated.

It was an easy, fun, breezy read, and then the ending is like a suckerpunch. I loved the ending- it literally took the book from something rather average to incredibly gripping and memorable. I’ll definitely read it again, and I need to get my hands on the sequel!

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Zombies vs. Unicorns ed. by Holly Black

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Zombies Vs. UnicornsZombies Vs. Unicorns by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn’t realized I liked story anthologies so much before discovering this one! I hadn’t read anything by the two editors before I picked it up, but I’d read a few things from some of the contributors- Scott Westerfield and Meg Cabot, mostly. I loved the funny argumentative intros before each one. And I loved that no two stories were alike, and that the tones shifted from serious to the hilarious.

My favorite unicorn story was probably “Princess Prettypants” by Meg Cabot or “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” and my favorite zombie one was probably “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Alaya Dawn Johnson. But I liked all of them, for a myriad of different reasons, and couldn’t really put my finger on what I thought was the strongest or the best. Which is the sign of an excellently put-together anthology, I suppose!

As to the big question: am I team zombie or team unicorn?

Uh…I might have to think about this one.

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