Across the Universe by Beth Revis

photo from Goodreads

Amy joins her parents on Godspeed, a ship headed for a new planet where her parents and ninety seven people like them will colonize a new planet. They are cryogenically frozen and will sleep for three hundred years while the ship travels to this new planet. However, she is awoken fifty years earlier than anticipated due to someone who is trying to kill her. She then meets Elder, and together they work to unravel the secrets of the ship.

I am not a massive sci-fi fan. That title belongs to my mother. But this book was awesome.

What the plot summary doesn't tell you is that the point of view is divided between two characters- Amy, the girl who is cryogenically frozen and Elder, the boy who will inherit the leadership of the ship. This is good because there's a couple chapters where Amy frozen and there really isn't a lot going on on her end. However, because of this we get the best of both worlds- a familiarity with the world with Elder and the awe of seeing it for the first time with Amy.

This a very plot-driven book. Though may lag towards the beginning, especially with Amy still frozen and we really don't get why we're reading through Elder's point of view. And the plot is complicated. Like, I finished the book and I have no idea where this trilogy is going to go. There are a couple "Surprise!" moments, which are good. I'm excited to see how this story arc expands.

My only concern is that I felt the characters were a little- uninteresting. Which was okay, because the amazing plot more than makes up for it. I really couldn't connect with either of the narrators, though they were both written excellently. I liked them both all right, but I don't have any I adored. While there was some character development, I'm hoping that there will be a little more in the next book.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Review

Photo also from Goodreads

Plot Summary from Goodreads:
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

So I originally picked up this book simply because I had seen a lot about last summer and I have been reading a lot of contemporary recently so I decided to pick it up. And I read it in one day.

This book was really not what I was expecting. I was expecting a light contemporary with the two brothers kinda bickering over Belly and shenanigans. However, this book was darker and had a lot of secrets that come to light. Overall, the plot is pretty simple. It's the summer before she turns sixteen and her relationships with all the people at the beach house, especially Conrad and Jeremiah. It's also about her first love and a new love.

I liked Belly. She reminded me a lot of one of my friends and I could identify with her easily. Both the brothers were interesting too. I definitely had a preference for Jeremiah, but I could see Conrad was hurting and that was why he annoyed me sometimes. I liked how it explored Belly's relationship with her parents.

One things this book did is it flashed back to previous summers they had spent at the beach house, which I think helped us to understand what the characters are going through present day. I especially liked the story arc with her best friend Taylor.  Also, I really loved how it took place at the beach, but because it was kinda a darker beach read, I cannot imagine the beach as a hot, sunshiny place. When I think about it, I can only imagine it as overcast. 

My main issue with this book is actually the title. I don't really like the title. It just sounds silly, like it's some seriously light chick lit. And while it does kinda fall into the chick lit genre, it's a little more complex than the title would lead you to believe.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you like summer reads that take place at the beach, but am looking for some depth.

Brief Update Post

Hey guys! I realize it has been awhile. I went to a conference for my co-ed honors fraternity and then went on vacation with my mom. And now I leave for school and a new job tomorrow. So posts will be less frequent but I will still try to update on a weekly basis.

The Boy Book by E. Lockhart (Ruby Oliver #2) Review

photo from Goodreads

The Boyfriend List didn't need a sequel- it would've been good as a stand alone novel. Happily, it did get a sequel and it is just as good as the first. The Boy Book shows Ruby's life after all the drama of sophomore year. She's still going to therapy and now's she got a job  working in a zoo. Her only real issues are what she refers to as her leper status. Throughout the fall semester, Ruby is faced with a lot of difficult decisions. 


This was very much a life-after novel; it tackles a lot of unresolved things from the previous book, such as what happens to Noel? Do Nora and Ruby become friends again? Does Ruby keep going to Doctor Z? And all these questions and more are answered. While there is a fair amount of drama in this book and it sometimes feels like too much, it's accurate. When  I think back to when I was in high school, these scenarios actually seems plausible. 


I enjoyed being in Ruby's mind again, and since it was her telling us what was happening versus telling us what happened, I feel like we as readers were able to delve into her psyche better. I am happy we got to see Megan more- if you read my review of TBL, you know that she is the one I identified with- but in this novel, I kinda identify with Nora more, as we both like to read. I really didn't care for Cricket in this one, same with Kim. As for the boys, I really liked Noel. In fact, I think he is my favorite of the boys. 


Rather than the chapters being the names of boys like The Boyfriend List, this book''s chapters were titled with the chapters of The Boy Book, which if you read the last one, you know that The Boy Book is the book that Ruby, Kim, Cricket, and Nora wrote to demystify the strange patterns of boys. I thought this was a cute concept. 


Overall, if you liked The Boyfriend List and want to read more about the shenanigans of teenage girls, this is definitely the book for you.  

WWW Wednesday #6

WWW Wednesday is a meme created by Should Be Reading. To play along, simply answer these three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you just finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next? 

All links lead to Goodreads. Let's get started!

What are you currently reading?
I am about halfway through Across the Universe  by Beth Revis. I've been reading a lot of contemporary young adult recently and wanted a change of pace, so I decided on this! I'm really enjoying it thus far. It's been awhile since I read  a science fiction book that wasn't really dystopian (though it still kinda has a dystopian feel to it).

What did you just finish reading?
I finished two books this week. First, I finished The Boy Book by E. Lockhart last weekend, which was excellent and will have a review coming soon. Then on Monday, I started and finished The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, which was a lot darker than I expected and that oddly makes me want to read the next one.

What do you think you'll read next?
I still have a lot of book out from the library, now including Fire by Kristin Cashore. I am also looking forward to reading the next book in The Ruby Oliver series, The Treasure Map of Boys. 


What have you been reading this week? Let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, there is a new topic and you make a list based on that topic. This week's topic is Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings. Note: I am listing them by book title rather than world name.
1. The Harry Potter series
I dare anyone not to put this on their list. Seriously, Harry Potter is fantastic world building.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Collins describes the suffering of District 12 really well, especially when compared with the excess of the Capitol.

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth
I love the factions and seeing how different they are from each other.

4. Knightley Academy by Violet Haberdasher
This one is similar to Harry Potter, but has the same great world building.

5. Anything by Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley is excellent at world building and describing everything. Everything I've read by her is excellent.

6.  Warriors series by Erin Hunter
It's about cats! And I really enjoy the simplicity of the setting.


7. Poison Study by Maria V Snyder
This one in kinda similar to The Hunger Games, but I really enjoy the world building in this one and the distinctions between the North and the South.

8. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
I just read this one recently and I really enjoyed the descriptions of the different kingdoms and how Katsa would compare them to where she was from.

9. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
GWTW gives such a vivid description of every thing! During some of The Civil War scenes, I would have to take a break because some of the writing was too gruesome. I love the descriptions of the southern landscapes!

10. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
This book is very thick- and for good reason! It is packed with vivid details about travelling through Paris and the catacombs. If you like Paris, you'll enjoy this.

What are some of your favorite fictional settings/worlds? Let me know in the comments.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore Book Review

Photo from Goodreads

Katsa can kill a man with her bare hands- she's a Graceling, meaning she's been "graced" with an extreme skill. You can tell someone's a Graceling by their eyes- two different colors. Although Katsa in the king's niece, she is forced under his thumb to be his thug because of her Grace. When she meets Prince Po-someone who almost matches her in terms of combat skills- she has no idea how her life is about to change.

When I first heard about this book, I was very skeptical mostly because I didn't trust the judgement of the people I had heard about it from. So I put off reading it for a long time because of my skepticism. I don't really regret that, but I do wish I had read it sooner because it was excellent.

There is never a dull moment in this book. There is always something happening, some sort of plot progression going on. The plot itself is excellent. You definitely can't tell from the very beginning what is going to happen, though what happens at the very beginning is very important.

I liked Katsa, but I didn't love her right off. I actually disliked how rude and cold she was. It was like she was just running around, screaming, "I CAN'T BE TAMED!" which is all right by me but it got annoying after awhile. I grew to care about her about halfway through, and now I'm disappointed that it doesn't look like she'll be in the next book. I also liked Po and all the other characters. I liked Katsa and Po together.

The world building in this book was excellent. I definitely got a feel for all the different kingdoms that we visit with Katsa. My favorite was Lienid. I'm intrigued by the next book because it takes place in a world outside the seven kingdoms.

I'm thinking I will read Fire soon, but I kinda want to just skip to Bitterblue because I don't think Katsa's in next book. But I don't want to skip around in the series so I'll end up reading Fire. 


Have you read Graceling? What did you think?