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review

Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

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ABOUT THE BOOK

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
young adult contemporary published by Dial on 14 June 2012

first book in My Life Next Door companion duology


‘One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.’

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.

As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase’s family embraces Samantha – even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha’s world. She’s suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

My Life Next Door is one-of-a-kind read of 2013 for me. No, not because it’s outstanding or extraordinary but because I went through the phase commonly known as everyone-loves-the-book-I-just-can’t-see-why. There were just too many factors at play and I was irked by almost all of them. I went into My Life Next Door thinking that I’d be awed by the characters, their story and of course, the Garretts. I wanted to admire Samantha and swoon over Jase. But as it turned out, for me, the story lacked the punch to blow my mind away. 
Samantha Reed is a not-so-typical girl living in a not-so-typical neighborhood which could only be because of the loud and large family of Garretts. Having always been lived in a small family consisting of a mother who’s too busy trying to advance her career in politics and an elder sister Tracy, who’s too busy with her life. Samantha feels alone. Yes, she had Tim as a best friend once but his habit and an uncaring attitude towards her drowned that friendship. Samantha did almost nothing to save it despite feeling as if she should have at least tried. Then she found a best friend in Tim’s sister, Nana. Nana the ambitious one. It always comes back to bite you, doesn’t it? 
Samantha’s summer days are going to be more dull than ever because of her mother’s constant lectures on how to fill her days working, Tracy leaving for her last-summer-before-college experience, Nana being too busy with her boyfriend and finally, the new man in her mother’s life, Clay Tucker. The name begs for some attention and instant suspicions sprout in her mind. Samantha accepts all this because she lacks courage to stand up and speak for herself to the point of being a pushover. Sometimes it seemed that she used to watch the Garretts just to spite her mother secretly. There had to be some solid issues than a parent just driving you to work harder for her to actually speak up on the said issues. So she continues her habit of watching the Garretts from the trellis outside her bedroom window. But this is the summer everything changes. 
Jase Garrett is literally the boy next door; he’s gorgeous, caring and loving. But I wasn’t blown away by his words and I couldn’t figure out why he was interested in ‘a girl with a trust fund.’ You know there’s going to be some serious complications. I was honestly more interested in the eldest Garrett, biker Joel. What I did like about Jase though, was the way he really cared for his family. Alice always found a reason to whine about babysitting and what not but Jase’s feelings about his siblings are genuine. The guy really has no flaws and I admired the way Huntley Fitzpatrick portrayed the budding relationship of Jase and Samantha. 
Out of the Garretts, George Garrett is the best part of My Life Next Door. His curious questions is what made me enjoy this book as much as I did. Honestly, he’d be the sole reason for me reading the sequel. But there is another reason: Tim. He’s raw and actually tries to improve himself. These two are the reason I liked My Life Next Door as much as I did. Nana seemed like a bad news to me early on and I hated how that dealt with. Alice had quite a spunky attitude which I liked a lot. Mrs. Garrett is another character that I admired. 
However, the involvement of her mother and Clay Tucker with the Garretts just seemed fake to me. The whole thing could be realistic but the way they were handled is most certainly not. It bothered me to see how Samantha reacted to a very grave situation, I so wanted to shake some sense into her. Yeah, I understand her desire for love and attention which were so easily attained when the Garretts were around. She clearly suffered under her disguise of being the responsible and sensible child and I could see the appeal of living life the Garretts way. They didn’t stop their children from pursuing whatever they wanted to, they gave their children the freedom. So yes, she belonged more in the Garretts household than she ever did in her home. I liked that part, it’s the drama that really put me off. In the end, all the characters made up for the conveniently dramatic storyline in the book. Sometimes it’s just hard to genuinely connect with a book and sadly, this was one of those times.

THE QUOTES

‘Maybe if I can just sleep for a hundred years, I’ll wake up in a better story.’

‘It’s as though I don’t make a ripple as I drop off the face of the earth.’

Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

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ABOUT THE BOOK
young adult contemporary road trip published by Simon & Schuster on 14 May 2013 

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.
Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.
Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

THE RATING

THE REVIEW
There are books that leave you feeling breathless, then there are the ones that leave you feeling overwhelmed. The ones that leaves you restless like a thought that has come to a halt after reaching a point of realization and words that die on your lips. Golden left me feeling all three of these and more. So much more. A ‘love and a question.’
Each chapter begins with a line from a poem, the words just enough to travel inside the words written on the page. The beautiful, beautiful words which made me fall in love with the book. I’ve always been attached to words. Silence is something which will always be something you put in a corner and pick it up from time to time. But words, words are alive, the center of the being. Especially written words because they’re a mixture of silence and sound. The words of Julliana Farnetti.
Parker Frost is someone I could’ve been a few years back if I haven’t gathered my bearings and took a stand to study something in life that I wanted to instead of just driving myself crazy in order to become a doctor. It’s just something I thought I needed to become so I completely understand the choices she makes and why.
However, Parker is one of those who needs proof they can see and feel before they can believe in something. It is stupid yes, but for certain things in life, it’s all you need. A shock, a trigger, a flash and belief is there. Just like Kat’s believe in carpe diem. 
Kat, the one I admire so much. She’s one of those people who make you realize that it’s okay not to be perfect and do your own thing. A reminder like that never hurts because really, it is all about seizing the day which cannot be done if we’re acting on choices others make for us.
In between Parker’s hesitation and Kat’s boldness in life, Trevor Collins proved to be awesome. Really, there is no other word to describe him. His words are full of smiles and are true to the core. He’s substantial and real and yin to Parker’s yang. Chasing after the mystery of the love that was, it’s beautiful to read about the love that could be.
Golden is one of those books that do more than just tell a story. They change something inside of you. As I read Golden, I was reminded that poems are essential in life. They’re the fire and ice of words in life. And in the end, ‘nothing gold can stay.’ But y’know what? I’m glad the words of Golden will forever stay inside me.
THE QUOTES

‘But it seems to me that the experiences that stay with you, the things you’ll always remember, aren’t the ones you can force, or go looking for. I’ve always thought of those things as the ones that somehow find you.’

‘I sink into it completely, letting everything else fall away so all that’s left is this. A moment like a poem.’

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
young adult mythology fantasy published by HarperCollins on 24 January 2012

first book in the Everneath series

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.

THE RATING


THE REVIEW

I went into Everneath with a very particular mindset: I wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary. I added it on my to-read list because of the mythology aspect as the story of Persephone and Hades is so intriguing. However, Everneath surprised me. A lot. Brodi Ashton captured the essence of the characters perfectly. I could feel the emotions that made Nikki go over the edge. I could feel Jake’s hurt and I just couldn’t bring myself to hate Cole.
At the beginning of Everneath, Nikki is waking up after lying in an uncomfortable position for a long time. She doesn’t want to let go yet a face is compelling her to. It made me curious. I like reading books where the main character’s fate is already written and the story is really a story of accepting that fate. Redemption, regret and the desire to make everything right drove Nikki. The core of Everneath is what humans go through: realizing the value of something after it’s gone.
Nikki is a complex character from the very beginning. Life has been tragic for her and she had to get away. The backstory is told in pieces; what happened in the past is synced with what’s happening in Nikki’s life now. It provided a refreshing perspective on how Nikki’s life took such a sharp turn. From having a whole life to feeling empty of emotions. I just felt that more focus should’ve been put on Nikki’s best friend, Jules.
Jack is the one who got left behind. He acts pretty normal when he sees Nikki after six months. He went through a hard time when Nikki disappeared but Nikki doesn’t know that. Their relationship dynamic is done so beautifully by Brodi Ashton: there are questions, there’s hurt, there’s love but there’s also patience. The true love of Eurydice and Orpheus shines through in Everneath.
Cole is as dark and hell bent on convincing as they come but he isn’t broody. He has accepted the sacrifice of humans in order for the Everlivings to survive which is where Nikki disagrees with him. I understood where he was coming from and how he tried to stop Nikki from spiraling into the Everneath with him in the beginning. So I know he’s just looking out for himself. However, I could feel his defences lowering when it came to Nikki. He’s deep that way.
Everneath is beautiful. The writing sucked me in, all the emotions in the book overwhelmed me and the characters felt real. The character of Mary was perfect the way it was and she added a little more substance to the essence of Everneath. A fantastic start to a series! Brodi Ashton weaved a perfect modern day mythological story. I’m glad to have read it. More, please.

THE QUOTES

‘Sometimes, when something hurts us, our hearts break a little-in a slightly more … literal way than for humans. Our pain sort of spills out and onto anyone around us. We call it a cracked heart.’
‘We’d both been stripped of all the evasiveness, all the lies, everything we’d ever kept from each other. Layer by layer, we had given up our defenses and our excuses and our demands for whys and hows, and what was left were two broken beings. Clinging to one last shred of hope. Tethered to each other.’
I read Everneath as part of Secret Readers feature by Paperback Princess.

Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

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GFJOD

ABOUT THE BOOK

Just One Day by Gayle Forman
young adult contemporary published by Dutton on January 8th, 2013
first book in Just One Day duology

When sheltered American good girl Allyson first encounters laid-back Dutch actor Willem at an underground performance of Twelfth Night, there’s an undeniable spark. So when fate brings them together a second time, Allyson takes an uncharacteristic leap, changes course, and follows Willem to Paris. After just one day together, the spark bursts into a flame. . . until Allyson wakes up after a whirlwind day shocked to discover that Willem is gone.

A life upended in one day turns into a year of self-discovery as Allyson embarks on a journey to break free from a lifetime of limits in order to find her true passions, and maybe even a true love.

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Review: How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

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JSDHMSWUIF

ABOUT THE BOOK

How My Summer Went Up in Flames by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
young adult contemporary road trip published by Simon Pulse on May 7th, 2013

 

First she lost her heart. Then she lost her mind. And now she’s on a road trip to win back her ex. This debut novel’s packed with drama and romance!

Rosie’s always been impulsive. She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.

To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…

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