Birthday Mini Book Haul!

February Wrap-Up!

Series Review: Shatter Me Series by Taherah Mafi

It still is a little difficult for me to find words to describe this series and how beautiful it is. Let's start off with the writing style, which is a huge key point to the magnificence that is the Shatter Me series. The writing is poetic and is filled with breathtaking metaphors that makes you sit back for a second, just to process this one line that single-handedly blew your mind. This writing style is so important when in comes to understanding the characters and their psychology, the main case being Juliette, our main character. The most apparent expression of this is through the "crossed out" style, where a line will be written, crossed out, and then rewritten, showing how Juliette really feels. This is also a remarkable representation of Juliette's development, which leads me to my next topic. The character development in this series in extraordinary and inspiring. Juliette has had a horrible upbringing and had learned to shut so much of herself away, and her journey of learning to accept herself was so much more than I could have hoped for.

The relationships, for the most part, drive this series (which I am not complaining about). I adore the way that Mafi handled the comparison between infatuation and love, and representing the idea to do what is best for yourself, even if someone who you care about (or cared about) disagrees, which i think is so important for young women to understand. Juliette is strong all on her own, she doesn't need Adam or Warner to protect her, and I wish that I had read a series like this when I was younger and a bit more impressionable (rather than say, Twilight, which isn't exactly empowering to women). But I digress, my point is that I love the relationships, but I also love that Juliette is strong without having to be in one.

I do have one complaint though, I would have loved a bit more world building, and for the ending to have been a little longer. I want to see the entire Reestablishment be brought down, not just one sector. I am happy with the ending of the series, but I want more, so so much more (this might just be caused by the fact that I don't want to series to be over).

Definitely a new favorite series, and one of the best YA series I've read in a while. I whole-heartedly recommend :)

Book Review: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

5/5 stars. The Book of Lost Things had everything that I needed in a novel. Although it is not a direct fairytale retelling, it does pull many elements from quite a few Grimm tales, which are woven together so beautifully that the story feels so incredibly familiar, yet brand new all at the same time. It felt so much like reading a new fairytale, and Connolly made sure to keep the darker aspects that are so prevalent in the Grimm tales. This novel took a concept that I had always imagined to be epic (becoming apart of the tales that you read) and made it so much darker and twisted. I, for one, would not want to journey into this universe, where the Grimm fairytales have taken a shape of their own. I loved how John Connolly developed the main character, David, who held so much grief and anger, and is able to look past those things, move on, and learn to accept the world he lives in. This is a truly incredible novel and I look forward to reading more of John Connolly's work.

An Epic Chart of 162 Young Adult Retellings

An Epic Chart of 162 Young Adult Retellings

Reviews to come!

I'm sorry that there has been a delay in reviews recently. But I'm excited to announce that soon I will be posting reviews for Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi, Cress by Marissa Meyer, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Blankets by Craig Thompson! So look forward to those in the near future! :D

Happy reading! -Caitlin

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I really adored this book, and I, like so many other people, related to Cath on an incredible level. However, people related to her because of her dedication to Simon Snow and her fangirl-y qualities, whereas I related to her based on her mental issues. I myself suffer from crippling social anxiety, and it infuriates me that people have been saying that Cath just needed to "come out of her shell". THAT'S NOT HOW SOCIAL ANXIETY WORKS. Honestly, since I know exactly what Cath was feeling, I think she made tremendous strides in dealing with her anxiety, and opening herself up to new things, and I applaud her for that.

Okay, rant over, onto the review.

As far as characters I felt that they were all very well fleshed out, and they felt like real people to me. I loved the romance between Levi and Cath (although Levi did piss me off a little bit there, but such is life).

I felt that this was the perfect time for me to read this, since I too am a freshman in college, and this book held such an important message for me to learn; you don't have to change everything about yourself in order to grow up, you're awesome the way you are and people will see that and love you for it.