Dan is a fifteen year old boy whose focus right now is just on school, working on his comic, and trying to get togethRating: 1.5/5 ***Minor spoilers***
Dan is a fifteen year old boy whose focus right now is just on school, working on his comic, and trying to get together with Erin, a girl he's been interested in for years. His mother has had a history of bad boyfriends since his dad left her several years ago, but not for any fault of her own. She's finally found a guy she loves and who loves her back, Hank, and doesn't seem to have any of the terrible behaviour her other boyfriends had. They're now happily engaged, but Dan isn't happy at all. He doesn't have faith in the guys his mom dates anymore, and he thinks that even if Hank seems to be perfectly nice now, he must have something hidden about him that's a deal breaker. Since Dan doesn't want Hank to be with his mom, he and his friend Charlie come up with a plan to make Hank so uncomfortable with parenting through a series of pranks that will hopefully make him leave his mother. What makes it even easier is that his mom plans to send them on a wilderness trip that will allow them to bond before the wedding.
This was a book I read for a book club at my school, and if I wasn't obligated to read this (since we have to know all the books for the competition against other schools) then I never would have picked this up. I think I knew I would never like this, especially after peeking at a review or two talking about what this book was about. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for humour books but I just didn't find this book funny, it was just cringy. I couldn't really laugh at all the pranks they were pulling on a guy who was innocent and did nothing wrong except love Dan's mother.
I also didn't like the characters very much at all. The adults were okay, but the three main teenagers were pretty annoying. Dan let himself be manipulated by his friend Charlie way too much. Whenever he started feeling an ounce of guilt he just let Charlie talk him back into the plan. Charlie was just plain annoying. He spoke in the same phrasing as you would read in a professional lab report. No contractions, big words, and generally unpleasant. He didn't feel very developed either. If he was just an app on Dan's phone instead, I feel like the book wouldn't change very much. Penelope was similar to Charlie in terms of the way she spoke, which was pretty annoying, but at least she felt like someone who had a personality and could joke around.
Overall, this one wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not a big fan of watching innocent people suffer at the hands of two pretty stupid boys, so I couldn't really laugh at this one. The plot was just not my thing, and the characters were for the most part quite annoying. I think you would only like this book if you're into the whole pranking trope. It got better towards the end of the book which is why I rated it more than just 1 star, but for the most part the pranking ruined it for me. However, if you're fine with that then you'll probably enjoy this much more than I did. ...more
Rating: 2.5/5 (I received a free copy through a Goodreads giveaway)
This book follows the author through his child and teenage years. It was stated thatRating: 2.5/5 (I received a free copy through a Goodreads giveaway)
This book follows the author through his child and teenage years. It was stated that some of these situations were fictional, but some were inspired by real life. I won't act like I'm able to tell what's real and what's not, but it's clear that there is some dramatization in some parts. I didn't mind too much since it made it a bit more humorous. However, at the beginning of most chapters there's a bit of a story with a knight and a damsel and I couldn't really follow what was happening there and what its purpose was, so that caused some confusion. I also wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, because it seemed like the author would explain some things too much, and sometimes get side tracked by something else to the point where I forgot what was being talked about in the first place.
Overall, this book had some good and some bad points, which made it seem quite average to me. It was a fairly quick read, which I liked. I liked how easy it was to read and some of the humour, but I didn't like the writing style too much. Although I didn't dislike it, I can't say I would recommend it to anyone. ...more
This review is going to be a lot more personal than my other reviews, seeing as it is an autobiography.
Although I saw this book hanging aRating: 4.5/5
This review is going to be a lot more personal than my other reviews, seeing as it is an autobiography.
Although I saw this book hanging around on the public library shelves for several months, I haven't been able to get to it until now. I was so glad that I finally got around to it. Before reading this book, I didn't really know all that much about Felicia Day. I've seen her around Youtube in other peoples' videos and a little bit on her Geek & Sundry channel, and the Do You Wanna Date My Avatar video. I'd begun to really take a notice of her after seeing her as Charlie on Supernatural, who became one of my favourite characters on the show.
I found her life very inspiring. I can relate to her a lot, especially her high goals and striving for perfection to the point that it was giving her anxiety but she would never stop aiming as high as possible. She had points in her life where she was extremely addicted to video games, and had bouts of depression and anxiety due to the different stresses in her life. She not only had an inspiring life but also a unique one. After being home-schooled and entering into college at only 16, she graduated with a double major in math and violin. Right after college she went to LA in the hopes of fulfilling her dream to become an actress, and it definitely wasn't easy for her. Personally, I've never read or heard of the personal story of somebody with no Hollywood experience attempting to become an actor. It was enlightening reading about her experiences in LA and how hard is it behind the scenes, and also how stressful.
It was amazing reading about how her web-series The Guild was actually made. She somehow managed to get together a group of actors, write the script, and was able to film with basically no money to spend. It's really eye-opening how all her success came from her determination to do the best with what she had. It makes me feel like all my hard work at this point in my life will help me succeed in some way later.
Overall, I enjoyed this much more than I expected. I never thought it would be so enjoyable to read about someone's life story. Felicia has a witty humour that is noticeable as you read and makes it a much more fun experience. Personally, I don't think you need to know who Felicia Day is to enjoy this story. If anything, this is a story about a girl who worked hard throughout life, went through some fun times and tough times, and came out successful. She's such an inspiring person and I would definitely recommend for you to read this book when you can. ...more
After a severe wind storm on Mars that caused Mark Watney to be impaled, Watney's crew were forced to leave without hRating: 3.5/5 ***Minor spoilers***
After a severe wind storm on Mars that caused Mark Watney to be impaled, Watney's crew were forced to leave without him, thinking him dead since their bio readings implied such. The thing is, Mark isn't exactly dead yet. And now he's stuck on Mars, a barren wasteland that can't support life. His best hope is to survive until Ares 4 lands on Mars, which is in another few years. In this book, we follow Mark's struggle to survive on a planet that is not made for humans. He struggles to find the food to support himself for another several hundred days, and to attempt to reconnect with NASA on Earth.
Last year, I saw this book popping up all over Goodreads with fantastic reviews and I had decided that I needed to read it. I wasn't able to read it then (it had an insane amount of holds at the library) but my friend got it for me for Christmas and I've just now gotten around to it. I tried my best not to read any reviews before starting this book to stop me from having opinions formed already, which means I didn't know what to expect besides for it to be good based on the star ratings I saw. This is the first adult sci-fi I've ever read, and I must say that I'm pretty satisfied with it.
Surprisingly, Mark's point of view wasn't really my favourite. I much preferred reading about NASA's point of view, mostly because they were the ones that were able to say what would likely happen to Mark, since they're the ones with eyes on the whole planet. During Mark's areas of the book I was always in anticipation of NASA's POV because I wanted to know what they saw from their end. Also, Mark's POV tended to get very science heavy in some places and it for some small stretches it bored me, so the NASA chapters were when I got a break from thinking "huh?" all the time.
That said, I enjoyed Mark's character a lot, and I envy how positive he stayed throughout the whole situation. If I were in his shoes I would be freaking out quite a bit, so kudos to him. The ending was my favourite part of the book, and I definitely teared up there.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I'm excited to be able to see the movie now. While it was pretty science heavy in parts, Andy Weir does a good job dumbing it down so that readers are able to understand (although I was still confused in places). It has it's boring stretches for sure, but I think the rest of the story made up for it. I think you should definitely give this one a read!...more
I absolutely loved this book. This is my first 5 star rating since I started using this Goodreads account in June, so IRating: 5/5 ***Minor spoilers***
I absolutely loved this book. This is my first 5 star rating since I started using this Goodreads account in June, so I REALLY loved it. When I first read the summary I thought it would be really cliche, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The Deal is told from two perspectives. The first is Hannah Wells, a music major who is also a rape victim from when she was 15 years old. The second is Garrett Graham, a history major who is also captain of the hockey team and son to a famous pro hockey player. Garrett failed his ethics midterm and needs to get his grade up so he can maintain his average to be on the hockey team. He asks the only person he knows who got an A on the midterm, Hannah, to tutor him. Hannah wants nothing to do with him, but makes a deal with Garrett that she'll tutor him if he helps her get her crush, Justin's, attention.
I loved so many things about this book. I love how Hannah is such a strong female lead, especially regarding her rape. She says things like "I was raped. Yes, it so extremely terrible and I'll never forget it, but I've moved on and I'm okay." She can definitely be someone to look up to for a rape victim or a victim of other types of abuse. I applaud her for keeping such a positive outlook on life even though she's had to go through extremely tough times. She shows that we can fight past the difficulties, big or small, and still come out on top. Regarding the rape, I also appreciated that the author came right out and told us. I don't really enjoy books that you know there's a secret being kept and there's this huge buildup, and the secret is that the protagonist has been raped. It makes it feel like it was placed in the story to make people cry and/or to make them surprised, so I liked that the author didn't skirt around the topic.
The romance felt real, and it wasn't insta-love. The character development and the romance were both gradual and it was fantastic. Hell, Hannah starts off really disliking Garrett. Hannah didn't take any of Garrett's nonsense. I also appreciated how the relationship wasn't the sort of romance where the woman has all the problems and the man is the one who has to help her through it. Both Hannah and Garrett have their share of problems and they help each other.
This book made me feel so many emotions. I went from super happy to incredibly sad to laughing out loud. I love the humour in this book so very much. There's a lot of sarcastic humour and Hannah's thoughts are just so fun to read. (view spoiler)[ Especially that locker room scene near the end. (hide spoiler)] I must say though, I had more fun reading from Hannah's POV than Garrett's, but that just might be that I can relate more to her because she's female.
Overall, I loved this book so very much. The characters, the romance, the humour, all of it is amazing. If you're a big fan of romances/NA romances (such as Colleen Hoover) you NEED to pick this up. It's SO, SO good and definitely worth your time. ...more
It's been a very long time since I've read a book by Libba Bray. It's been maybe 4 of 5 years since I read A Great and Rating: 3/5 ***Minor spoilers***
It's been a very long time since I've read a book by Libba Bray. It's been maybe 4 of 5 years since I read A Great and Terrible Beauty and the rest of that trilogy. While I don't remember them whatsoever, I know I enjoyed them. So when I saw a post on Tumblr praising this book, I recognized the author and put it on my to read list. This ended up being a good read, but a very different style.
This book follows a group of girls whose plane crashed on an island in the middle of nowhere. The plane was on its way to the Miss Teen Dream pageant, and it was full of 50 girls (one from each state) and the film crew. After the plane crashed, only 13 of the girls survived. The girls have to band together to survive and find a way off the island. Throughout the book we learn that there's some weird stuff going on as well.
I've read some reviews, and a lot of people have compared this book to other books or accused Bray of copying someone else, especially Lord of the Flies. I've never read Lord of the Flies, and I've never read anything else that had a plot like this one. The closest thing that I've read/seen that I can think of is the show "Lost" and I've only seen like 3 episodes of it. So, unfortunately, I can't speak to any similarities between other books.
I thought this was interesting at first. I started disliking it a bit because I found some of the characters irritating, especially Taylor and Tiara. I also found some things a bit confusing, like the first few "Classified" bits in the book. Thankfully though, things get cleared up later. Throughout the book, the girls get more likeable as well. I liked how there was a mix of humour and realistic issues like sexism, racism, and objectification.
I did have a few problems with the book. Some parts were pretty confusing and it took too long to clear it up. By the end of the book I still had questions about things that happened. (view spoiler)[ Was the plane crash a setup? Why did the berries affect Taylor that way? What happened to her anyway? (hide spoiler)] Also, the writing style was pretty unique but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or not. It's pretty different from what I usually read.
Overall, this was an enjoyable enough read. It has a nice mix of humour and realistic issues. It's a lot more light-hearted than other books, even though it has its fair share of problems. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to read a book that's written in a more different and unique way than other books. If you enjoy a unique writing style, I think you'll definitely enjoy this....more
