Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited 
by Becky Albertalli 

Publisher: Penguin   
Release Date: 11th April, 2017  

 Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love-she's lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can't stomach the idea of rejection. So she's careful. Fat girls always have to be careful. 

 Then a cute new girl enters Cassie's orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly's cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness-except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny, flirtatious, and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.

 There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's an awkward Tolkien superfan, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

The Upside of Unrequited

I’ve discovered that with time and age, my reading preferences have changed. I’m certain 16 year old me would have swooned, gushed and raved endlessly about how cute The Upside of Unrequited is and talked excessively about how adorably slow and perfect the romance between the Molly and Reid is. Unfortunately, 22 year old me thought the whole push and pull between the two was too cute for my liking - I think I can only tolerate small doses of cuteness before I go “Yeah, nah”, onto the next book.

I’ll start with what I enjoyed about The Upside of Unrequited, and then I’ll address the main issue I had with it. I think most people would disagree with

A relatable main character

The Upside of Unrequited had the ingredients for the perfect YA book. In particular, I found Molly’s actions and the situations she found herself in very relatable. Molly has had 20-something crushes in the past and none of them moved past the ‘crush’ stage because she never communicated her feelings in fear of rejection. Yeah, guess what – same here. The whole time I was thinking “wow….this is so me”. Some other examples of some things I do that I didn’t think anyone else did until I read this book.

“I google the number, but Google doesn’t know, and I feel dumb asking who it is. So I ignore it. “

So yes, when I receive a random call and he/she doesn’t leave a voicemail, or when I receive a random text from someone I always google the number first and then decide whether or not to call back. Usually when they don’t leave a voicemail, I ignore the number.

“It’s the second time, because you’ve already used up all the obvious topics of conversation.”

This one is so applicable to me when I meet people I don’t ‘connect’ with. I mean, I can keep a conversation going during our first meeting – no worries – but if we randomly bump into each other again, say the next day then sorry, but what the heck am I suppose to talk to you about?! All obvious topics of conversation have been exhausted! Hhahahahah obviously this doesn’t happen all the time, but when I read the quote above, I just thought of situations in the past where I had nothing to say to someone I’d just bumped into.

Diversity

I've been on and off on twitter over the last few years so sometimes I miss out on important bookish news and trends. Sometime last year/ this year 'Diversity' became a top trending topic between readers, bloggers, authors and publishers. From reading a couple of tweets it seems the gist of it was readers wanted more diversity in books. Well, turns out, you asked and Becky Albertalli delivered.

Now, I’m going to say something that may not be well received since after reading a few reviews and general comments on Twitter, I’ve concluded that my feelings belong in the minority. While I appreciate Albertalli’s attempt at creating a world with all types of diverse characters, the impression I got was more of a 'diversity dump' or a shopping list of diverse characters. I personally felt it was a desperate attempt to incorporate all these diverse characters into one book to appeal to readers to the point that the characters didn't feel realistic anymore. They felt like chess pieces brought in for the sole purpose of writing a book about diversity; there was no substance or depth to any of the characters beyond their labels. I remember at least one character was Jewish, and others had different skin colours, religion, sexuality but that was it. The terms were thrown around and then the story went back to the cute interactions between Molly and Reid.

I was slightly annoyed at Albertalli’s representation of Mina. The first time I realized she was Asian I thought “Oh yay! An Asian character, I like this book already!” Then after a few chapters I got the feeling that Albertalli was desperate to reiterate to the readers that Mina‘s A PERSON OF COLOUR, that it felt like she was shoving this fact in my face. Cassie was constantly saying how Mina is "Korean-American" and the whole time I just imagined Mina with a banner above her head with the words LOOK AT ME. IM KOREAN-AMERICAN. A DIVERSE CHARACTER.

So my point is I like books where the author doesn’t tell me once, twice, or five thousand times that someone is pansexual, or Asian or Jewish. Please do your research and show me this information. Having said all that, The Upside Of Unrequited wasn’t bad – it was a quick read and I definitely enjoyed it but I probably won’t be coming back for more.

Review: Come Back to Me by Mila Gray

Come Back to Me
by Mila Gray

Publisher: Pan Macmillan   
Release Date: June 19th, 2014  
Format: e-ARC 

 "Home on leave in sunny California, Marine and local lothario Kit Ryan finds himself dangerously drawn to his best friend's sister, Jessa - the one girl he can't have. 

 But Kit's not about to let a few obstacles stand in his way and soon Jessa's falling for his irresistible charms.

 What starts out as a summer romance of secret hook-ups and magical first times quickly develops into a passionate love affair that turns both their worlds upside down.

 When summer's over and it's time for Kit to redeploy, neither Kit nor Jessa are ready to say goodbye. Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for. 

 Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.

 A breathtaking, scorchingly hot story about love, friendship, family and finding your way back from the edge of heartbreak.

I’ve been a bit iffy about NA books lately, mainly because the majority of new ones are attempted carbon copies of the original titles released during the New Adult fever back in 2012. Once upon a time, I loved books about college students finding love, partying, and ultimately throughout their college life, discover who they truly want to be and what they want to do with their life but nowadays I feel that NA books have lost their purpose. The more recent ones I read went something along the lines of “Girl-meets-guy. Lust. Sex. Talk. Sex again. Drama. Sex again. Break up. Get back together andddd Sex again.” Basically I feel that just because the original ones had a few sex scenes, newer NA books are attempting to replicate this….by adding unnecessary sex scenes to spice up the story.  Obviously there are readers out there who enjoy this kind of plot, but for me? No…just no. 

It’s become increasingly difficult for me to find a decent NA book, and honestly, I’ve stopped searching. Come Back to Me is written by one of my most respected and adored authors of all time, so even though I was still dubious about the new NA titles, I jumped at the chance to read her newly released NA book because I had no doubt she would blow me away. Unfortunately….I was wrong.

Mila Gray (Sarah Alderson) remains one of my favourite authors, and I do love her writing style, but Come Back to Me did not stand out like I expected it to. Only the last quarter had substance and was worth reading, but the other ¾? A waste of my time. It followed the formula that I mentioned above, but in this case the guy and girl have known each other for years. As soon as they kissed for the first time, I suspected the story would spiral downhill from there.

And I was correct. For the first ¾, it was mainly Jessa and Kit making out anywhere and everywhere while hiding from Jessa’s overly protective brother and dad. Yeah…I don’t appreciate having to read 300 + pages of two people making out and/or having sex. There are better things to do in life.

Come Back to Me had the potential to be a fantastic book as Jessa learned to chase after her dreams, but if only the author didn’t make the book centre entirely on the romance! Jessa grew up around a man who was violent, with an uncontrollable temper. Everyday she would walk on eggshells around her father and scurry for shelter at the slightest indication of rage or annoyance on her father’s face.  Her whole life, she’s been submissive and acted the role of a “good daughter”, letting her father dictate her life and never once did she contradict him. However, the only time she can forget about her life, her fears, just everything, is when she’s on stage and acting. Chasing her dream to be an actress could have played a pivotal role in the story, and with Jessa and Kit’s developing romance intertwined, I think I would’ve liked it a lot more. Instead, Jessa’s dream to be an actress wasn’t even important enough to be labeled a “subplot”; it was simply thrown in there a few times, whenever the two weren’t making out.

Having said all that, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t fall for Kit. He was charming, passionate, extremely swoon-worthy – basically my kind of guy. I did like him as a character, but it’s just a shame the book wasn’t my kind of book.

I personally won’t recommend this to anyone who wants to read a decent, well-structured, well-written and well-thought-out NA book but I suppose if you’re simply looking for a book with lots and lots of kissing and sex, then this is for you. I don’t think I’ll be back for more of Mila Gray’s NA books, but I will continue reading Sarah Alderson’s YA titles J

A massive thank you to Mila Gray for providing a copy of Come Back to Me for review! 

Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars        (Starbound #1)

by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Release Date: November 20th 2013

Format: ARC

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets to the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 

 Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

 Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder - would they be better off staying in this place forever? 

 Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it. 

 The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

I’ve heard nothing but praise and rave reviews for These Broken Stars long before its release in December this year. All my blogger friends cried their hearts out, loved Lilac and Tarver to smithereens and could not stop recommending this and I couldn’t help but want to try it out myself. Unfortunately, as soon as I read the first page, I knew it would be a struggle for me to finish the book. This is another “it’s-not-you-it’s-me” situation – These Broken Stars just isn’t for me.

These Broken Stars focuses on the survival of our two beloved characters, Tarver and Lilac. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Tarver and Lilac are the only survivors of the Icarus, which is I believe some sort of spaceship that falls out of space and crashes on a deserted and foreign land. So, for 300 pages, Tarver and Lilac are wandering around the land, trying to survive and waiting for help to arrive. All I can say is, it was a very boring book; I wanted something to happen, I wanted a strong plot, I wanted more than two people walking around and making camp every night.

It seems the majority of readers immediately disliked Lilac but loved Tarver. My feelings toward the two of them are neutral. I didn’t hate Lilac, nor did I like her. Same with Tarver, though he probably left a more memorable impression on me. Despite knowing he had to stay away from Lilac due to their difference in status, and after how inexcusably cruel she was to him, he still protected her and stayed by her side throughout the entire journey. I suppose the only time I felt anything more than indifference towards Lilac on the other hand, was when she nurtured Tarver back to health.

I hate to say this, but I got so bored by the book that after ¾, I skimmed the rest of the way through. The major “twist” was completely lost on me. I had no idea that was the twist until I finished and nothing else exciting or unexpectedly remarkable happened. The whole reason behind the strange hauntings and revelation at the end were also lost on me. Unfortunately the writing style made it difficult for me to continue the book word for word. I should also mention that the book is told in alternating POV – Lilac and Tarver’s- and their voices were so similar I had trouble distinguishing between the two.

The only part I liked (or possibly loved…at one point) was when Lilac and Tarver finally admitted their feelings for one another<3 Every touch, every kiss, every moment together after their confession was passionate, and I was so giddy with excitement <3 I couldn’t stop smiling!

This may not have lived up to its hype IMO, but so many of my blogger friends consider this one of the best 2013 debuts. I’m definitely the black sheep here, so I’d suggest giving this a go J

 A massive thank you to Allen & Unwin for providing a copy of These Broken Stars for review! 

Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic

by Lauren Oliver 
Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: March 4th 2014

Format: e-ARC

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. 

 Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought. 

 Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for. 

 For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

As a Lauren Oliver fan, I knew I had to get my hands on her latest YA novel, Panic. To be honest, I didn’t think too much before starting this; I didn’t set exceptionally high expectations upon beginning the book, but I certainly hoped it would be as adventurous and well written as Delirium. I think I’ve said this one too many times this year for several books but I must say it again; I was very disappointed with Panic.

Heather wasn’t annoying, immature or unlikable but she certainly wasn’t memorable by any means. I admired her love and devotion towards her little sister, who she obviously cared for more than anyone or anything else in the world. I didn’t care for her at the start and all throughout the first half of the book, but when she risked her life in the game – all for her sister – she left a pretty good impression on me. I didn’t mind Bishop either; I liked how he was in the shadows, assisting Heather throughout the entire game.

However, the other characters (as well as Heather at times) were all...bland. Sometimes they were simply 'sad', or 'happy' ( I kid you not, those were pretty much the words used to describe the characters' moods').It was like, they couldn’t feel any other emotions, or a combination of different emotions but rather, could only be just ‘happy’ or ‘unhappy’ . It was difficult for me to sympathise with the characters despite their difficult upbringing and family situations because I personally felt the characters needed to be fleshed out more. This in particular applied to Nat and Dodge who were the dullest of them all.  

Panic read more like an MG book than YA, mostly because of the writing style. I loved the writing style of Delirium, and Pandemonium but this felt like a completely different author wrote it. (Though honestly, I probably shouldn't judge just yet since I haven't read her MG books.) Basically, the entire book was written with short and simple sentences, (and no, I wouldn’t say the sentences were succinct) with absolutely no depth at all. The words 'bad' and 'mean' were used repeatedly to describe people- and mind you, the characters weren't 10 or anything. I'm not sure whether my reading preferences have changed the past few months or my limited vocabulary has suddenly expanded, but this definitely felt like it lacked sophistication and depth.

The storyline was also very, VERY predictable. There was virtually nothing exciting that was revealed throughout the book. I'm not sure if Lauren Oliver purposely made certain parts easy to guess, but it sure as hell didn't take a genius to guess some things.

I can’t say I didn’t like this at all since I managed to finish it but it was very disappointing for a Lauren Oliver book. However, it does seem a large proportion of GR readers liked it, so I suppose you should read it for yourself :)

 A massive thank you to HarperCollins & Edelweiss for providing a copy of  Panic for review!