Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why 
by Jay Asher 
Publisher: Penguin    
Release Date: 2009 

 You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play. 
Clay Jensen returns home from school one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, outside his front door. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them. 

If he listens, Clay will find out how he made the list - what he hears will change his life forever.

Having just finished 13 Reasons Why, I’m in two minds; on one hand, from a personal perspective, I didn’t like the portrayal of Hannah, her actions and did not agree with the overall message of the book. I am aware that the message I took from 13 Reasons Why is completely different to what the author's intended purpose was, but everyone interprets books differently and unfortunately, the intended message didn't resonate with me. Having said that, I do feel that with the right audience, this book can have a powerful effect on its readers. As someone who has never had suicidal thoughts/tendencies I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on the suicide aspects of the book. I mean, something that I think is completely trivial and insignificant in the grand scheme of things could potentially be the catalyst for someone else’s demise. This review is purely my opinion and I’ll try to be as non-judgmental as possible.

 I, like many other reviewers think that to enjoy this book, one must first and foremost be able to empathise with Hannah. Now, kudos to all the people who did empathise with her but good Lord, she was whiny, oversensitive and self-absorbed. (Sorry no more judgmental comments from me) I mean, I felt sorry for her, sure, but did that feeling transform into empathy? Unfortunately no. I won’t go into all the reasons why I didn’t like her because like I said above, I don’t think I have the right to judge her so I’ll leave it at that.

 I was often exasperated at the shifting of perspectives between Clay’s life/thoughts in the present day and Hannah’s narration on the tapes. I would be absorbed in Hannah’s story and trying to guess how the current guy/girl fucked up, when all of a sudden I’d be reading a line that made absolutely no sense given the context. I would re-read it and realize that it was actually Clay’s thought about something completely irrelevant to Hannah’s story. Not going to lie, I skimmed most of Clay’s thoughts and instead jumped to Hannah’s story. At the start of every chapter, I hoped that the next person would fuck up so badly that I would finally warm up to Hannah and understand her, but disappointingly that never happened.

 I’m definitely looking forward to watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix. I’ve heard the show doesn’t shy away from graphic scenes and I’m glad about that. Despite being disappointed with the book, I have high hopes for the show. Perhaps the acting will change my mind about Hannah.

 UPDATE: Watched the show and loved the acting!!! Unfortunately the message I took from the TV show was even worse than the message I got from the book. I did however start to understand Hannah's decision towards the end (after what Bryce did, which was by the way different from what happened in the book). Having said that, I did have A LOT of issues with it (primarily the fact that everyone was blaming each other but no one gave a shit about the rapist in town?). I'm considering doing a 13 Reasons Why TV Show review too but we'll see :)

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: The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

The Art of Lainey 

by Paula Stokes 
Publisher: HarperTeen  
Release Date: May 20th, 2014  
Format: e-ARC 

 "Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

 And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game. 

 What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

Despite enjoying The Art of Lainey, I must admit the storyline and characters have been recycled a millions times. The book commences with our main character getting dumped by her “too perfect, too-hot-to-handle” boyfriend. One minute they’re fine, and the next, he dumps her publicly with the typical “it’s-not-you-it’s-me” excuse. As you can probably guess, Lainey is wounded and confused, and decides to orchestrate this intricate plan to win him back. In comes Micah, Lainey’s classmate, workmate and someone who’s in the same boat as she is – just been dumped, and still hung up on his ex. So what happens when these two collide? They act as a couple, instigate jealousy in their respective exes, win them back…but falls for each other in the process.

The characters weren’t outstanding unfortunately. I mean, I did like them only because there was nothing to hate, but there was nothing spectacular about them. A few months down the track, they’d simply blend in with all other hundreds of characters I’ve read about.

What did make The Art of Lainey unique however, was Lainey’s use of the ancient Chinese military book titled “The Art of War”. As soon as I read this, I literally cracked up laughing. Which teenager reads or takes inspiration from a book written thousands of years ago? Okay, if it was above love, I’ll accept it but war? REALLY? I found it incredibly amusing how a book as antiquated and philosophical and The Art of War could apply to a purpose as insignificant as a teenager’s quest to win back an ex. (So maybe thousands of years ago, winning back – or kidnapping- an ex/lover/anyone triggered war between two territories, but NOW? No way….) I honestly didn’t understand how she managed to manipulate certain concepts to fit her situation and tactics, but nevertheless, it was quite interesting and rather intelligent of Lainey to utilise the book to her own advantage.

The Art of Lainey is a quick, fun and relaxing read, with characters and a storyline that has been recycled countless times but is nevertheless very enjoyable. Fans of Sarah Dessen and Kasie West will definitely devour this J Unfortunately, this isn’t a book I’d invest my money in but I do recommend borrowing it from the library. Perhaps you’ll learn some helpful tips if you ever decide to start a “war” with someone!

A massive thank you to HarperTeen for providing a copy of The Art of Lainey for review! 

Review: Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Side Effects May Vary

by Julie Murphy
Publisher: HarperCollins  
Release Date: March 18th, 2014
Format: eARC, 300 pages

 What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you? 

 When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.

 Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most? 

 Julie Murphy’s SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.

*WARNING*: I swear a fair bit in this review. I don't usually swear in reviews, but the main character pushed me over the edge. Apologies for the profanities! 

I’m currently torn over what to rate Side Effects May Vary. On one hand, I despise the two main characters so much that my overall enjoyment of the book equates to only 2 stars. However, upon reflection, I’m rather relieved the author decided to take on a different approach to the cancer-related stories, which deserves at least 4 stars from me. Having said that, I’ll leave my rating at 3 stars since I suppose my ratings reflect my enjoyment of the book rather than the quality of it, though be warned: there will be massive rants and hate-filled paragraphs in this review, aimed mainly at our vile, despicable and completely infuriating main character, Alice. 

I honestly can’t remember the last character I hated as much as I do Alice. Gosh, just thinking of her completely selfish, obnoxious and patronising personality makes me want to pelt cartons of rotten eggs at her. I absolutely loathed how she never treated anyone the way they deserved. She took advantage of Harvey’s love for her and fucking used him because guess what? She won’t be punished, nor be faced with any form of comeuppance because she’s dying, and no one dares to be anything but kind and considerate towards a dying girl. I hated how she would manipulate Harvey, and convince him to commit atrocious acts of revenge with her without first fucking telling him what she intended to do. He was like a slave her. One call, and he would be by her side, obeying her every demand. And more than once, when she felt Harvey becoming a tiny bit distant, she would lightly touch his arm, or give him a warm smile, or peck him on the cheek and she knew he would immediately soften and obey her every wish. AGAIN. Unfortunately, I found no redeeming qualities in her that could counteract all those negative aspects of her personality. Honestly, I fucking HATED HER. 

Just like every other contemporary YA fiction, there was a character who would constantly mock/ “bully” our protagonist. While I usually disliked those characters, in this case, it was the other way around. I applauded Celeste and Luke for threatening Alice. I was overjoyed when Celeste insulted her. The girl deserved it and needed to be put in her place since Harvey sure wasn’t going to do it anytime soon. As for Luke and Celeste’s combined act of revenge at the end? I didn’t feel and ounce of pity for Alice. All I thought was “You had it coming. IT’S FUCKING KARMA.” Someone who is low enough to mock someone’s size DOES NOT DESERVE MY PITY. 

Also I've lost all respect for Harvey. The ending is a little ambiguous but obviously we know what will happen in the future and I can never see Harvey in the same light again. He's no longer the guy I respected, admired and pitied. I can't see him as the type of noble person to sacrifice everything for love. Because he's just plain stupid. He doesn't fucking 'love' her. He's obsessed with her. He has no fucking pride, dignity nor respect for himself and those around him either. He's essentially brainwashed and living on la-la land. It's unhealthy, it's dysfunctional and I don't give a shit about him and his supposed all-consuming LUUUURRRRVVVEEEEE for Alice anymore. Go do what you want. You want to be led on and cast aside mercilessly without warning? Go ahead. You want to be used and disposed? FINE. But don't go crying to everyone when she decides she has commitment issues again. Oh and Alice isn't 'mean'. She's rotten. Evil. Disgusting. But I suppose if you won't 'love' her no one ever will because most people will not be able to accept that black heart of hers.

Okayokay, so I probably went overboard with my hate-filled rants but that’s exactly what I felt when I read the book. (Also, there are major past/present tense issues since I wrote the paragraphs at different points in time.) Basically, I didn't love this book but the author is undoubtedly spectacularly talented if her character can evoke so much hatred, anger, annoyance, and impatience in me. I can’t say whether I would recommend this to y’all, but I guess if I try to consider everything objectively, the book itself isn’t bad, just the main character ruined it. 

A massive thank you to HarperCollins for providing a copy of Side Effects May Vary for review!

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl 

by Rainbow Rowell 
Publisher: Pan Macmillan  
Release Date: April 1st, 2014
Format: Paperback, 300 pages

 Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She's horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life. 

 Without Wren Cath is completely on her own and totally outside her comfort zone. She's got a surly room-mate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

 Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realizing that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible . . .

Fangirl was possibly my most anticipated book of the year (after I discovered it would be published in Australia – PAN MACMILLAN, YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!) and I’m thrilled to announce Fangirl was extraordinarily awesome! I have to admit it was different from what I had expected, but I loved it all the same :) Fangirl was cute, relaxing and relatable, and it was exactly the kind of book I needed to keep me sane while I studied for exams.

When we were first introduced to Cath and Wren, I was completely nonplussed as to how they were ever friends, let alone attached at the hip. Even though they’re twins, they’re polar opposites. One's the shy, nerdy, fan-fic writer who barricades herself in her room and is scared of meeting new people while the other is outgoing, energetic and the life of the party. Basically Cath and Wren did everything together from the day they were born, all the way till right before college. When they entered college, Wren wanted to experience the whole package that college has to offer – partying, drinking, developing friendships with a new network of people, but Cath only wanted to continue to continue writing fanfiction about Simon Snow and pretty much continue the life she led before.

I felt I could easily relate to both Cath and Wren (although I did become annoyed at both of them several times throughout the book). I could relate to how Cath was intimidated by the size of the college, and the huge mass of people everywhere. She’s the type of person who would mind her own business, keep her head down wherever she goes and avoid eye contact with everyone. That’s kind of like me so I was able to understand how she felt. On the other hand, I could also understand Wren’s desire to live the college life. You know the saying “You only live once” (YOLO)? Yeah, well that’s exactly the kind of mindset many first years have when they decide to experience the social side of Uni.  Partying, drinking, stumbling home at 6 in the morning and rocking up disheveled to a 9am class while nursing a hangover happens. While I disliked how Wren treated Cath during her ‘transition-to-Uni-phase” (mocking Cath and her fan fiction, ignoring her sometimes) it did feel like normal behaviour to me. At times Wren’s indifference to Cath’s life, and her reluctance to share her thoughts and feelings to Cath irked me. I mean, they were still best friends….right? Likewise, Cath’s adamant refusal to participate in any social activity got on my nerves after a while.

Now, at first I thought ‘Fangirl’ was a book about me as I tend to fangirl over everything. (Yes, just ask my friends. I’m pretty sure they’re sick of me fangirling over hot celebrities. ) However, after reading Fangirl I can safely say that compared to Cath, I’m no where near deserving of the title ‘Fangirl’. This girl is literally nuts. (In a good way!) She’s so obsessed with the series Simon Snow to the point her room is covered from floor to ceiling with posters of Simon Snow; she’s the most popular/famous author of the fanfiction Carry On, dedicated to Simon Snow; she wears T-shirts with the words ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’ AND she can write 10 000 words – if memory serves- of Carry On in one day on top of her Uni workload. This girl is freaking insane! But she’s so insane I love her to smithereens. I mean, I love certain books, movies, TV Shows and actors but I could never devote half as much time as her to these favourites of mine.

The only downfall was a lack of resolution for some of the subplots. I felt that even though there was an attempt to wrap up each of the subplots, it could benefit from a more solid resolution. There are still so many ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s’ and ‘will this ever happen’ circling in my head and I guess I’d be much more content if these questions were answered. Nevertheless, I’m happy with how everything turned out in the end!

Also, special mentions to:

• o   Cath and Wren’s father for being the COOLEST father on the planet. He seemed so chill about everything; even when Cath brought home a guy for the first time, he didn’t even bat an eyelid. Plus he’s very lenient about everything!
• o   Levi for being the SWEETEST boyfriend ever<3 Also, he needs to stop being a ‘nice guy’. Levi is the reason girls friendzone so many of their guy friends. You’re too nice mate, wayyyy too nice!
• o   Reagan for being the most UNUSUAL best friend<3  Reagan isn’t your usual sidekick. Hell, with her fiery personality, she’ll never be the sidekick. I love how she took Cath under her wing and looked after her! Reagan deserves a massive gold medal J

As you can tell, I genuinely adored Fangirl. Rainbow Rowell is an incredibly talented author and I shall be hunting down all her books now! Guys, you HAVE TO READ THIS. I recommend buying/reading this ASAP.

A massive thank you to Pan Macmillan for providing a copy of Fangirl for review!