Wonder - R.J. Palacio

Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Published by Knopf on February 14, 2012
Pages: 313
Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age
Format: Hardback
Source: Purchased

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I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.


Wonder quickly become of my favorite reads, not only of this year but of all times and it’s easy to see why. The narrative of this story can be kind of childish for some people since it’s very straight forward, doesn’t make very turns to make things more pretty and also this story has a lot of show and not tell which usually bothers the hell out of me, but I only noticed it 20% into the book! This really shows how effective this narrative was in make me get into the story and connect with these characters and their feelings.

About the characters, it was a surprise to me when I looked inside the book and saw there was different POV’s and at first I thought it would make hard to get to know anyone but really it wasn’t, like I said the narrative is very simple making the feelings and personalities of each of this narrators really get out of the pages – all of them are so realistic and still so different. I think the narrative I most connect with was Via’s, she really got me teared up at so much times.

Also, this book is a lot more positive than I first expected, I mean I knew that it would end on a lighter tone but still I’m a big crier so expected to have some sobbing moments but no, I cried but always just a little bit – the narrative often goes from sad to lighter and funny. What made these turns so easy were the very short chapters, not making them weird turns.

 Anyway, I loved this book with all my soul, it carries an amazing message about bullying to kids, but I think adults/young adults also can get great things from this book. It’s an easy read, that really makes you think about people and the world around you and how you perceive it.

Recommended to: everyone really, it’s one of these books that I just want to push on everyone because I think every single people can take a message from it.

Atlantia - Ally Condie

Atlantia by Ally Condie 
Published by Dutton Children's on October 28, 2014 
Pages: 368
Genres: Dystopia, Fantasy, Mermaids
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths.

Characters & Relationships: Despite Rio, our main character being a mermaid and having such a powerful voice she sure as hell read very... Blant. She is passing through a hard time, with her sister gone, without any family, having to hide from everyone what she really is, but still I couldn't manage to connect with the girl or fell anything for her, the secondary characters too just never felt fleshed out enough for me to care for them. I still really enjoyed the sisters relationships in this book, they're pictured as such strong bound between two people, more books should have this, unfortunately the romance front didn't hit me as strongly first because this book has so much more that could have got away without any romance but mostly because I didn't care for these characters.

World building & pace: Okay, so first let me clear out that this is a dystopian book where something happened with the clima on the above and some selected people went to live below, but then some weird thing started to happen to the people below and some of them started to become mermaids, for some reason unknown. So if this kind of thing bothers you - things happen and are never given a good reason - just stay away from this book, for me it wasn't a major turn off, it bugged me a little but I could suspend my disbelief and keep going. But the thing that DID bothered me was the pace, oh boy this book was slow, and slow, and slow, and them BAM! everything happens in like 10% of the book and it's finished and that was it. Now, I don't mind slow books - hell, The Vanishing Season was more slow than this and it's one of my all time favorites - but it bothers me when there is things that should be happening and are not, and them pisses me off when things are rushed to make it fit on the ending, NOT PLEASED.

Recommended to: readers who want mermaids or really liked the atlantia idea when they're kids (which is why I picked this one up), readers who liked Ally Condie's other works.

Boomerang - Noelle August

Boomerang by Noelle August
Series: Boomerang #1
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks on July 8, 2014
Pages: 325
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

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The first book in a sensational New Adult trilogy from Noelle August.

Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up.

Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.

Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well . . . one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi . . . to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.

What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.

As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?

So, I really liked some parts of this book but to others parts I was just kinda… Not so head over heels. Let’s talk.

What I really liked was the job aspect, Ethan and Mia got the same internship and now (after hooking up) they need to compete for the same job AND the company has a rule against relationships between co-workers – it was so much fun seeing both of them struggling against their attraction (and there was a LOT of attraction), day after day and seeing what kind of crazy things they would do/pass during this time.

But this inconvenient situation also gave room for them to really know each other which is something to love on a romance - the building up for the relationship - and I have to admit that they seem a pretty good match. They really seemed to get each other despite the little interactions they had, however they still had a few bumps on the road like any normal couple.

And despite Ethan and Mia being good together they also had different ambitions outside the romance world, which made me connect with them so much. I loved how Ethan is still struggling to know what he wants to do with his life, how he always had a plan and now isn’t so sure anymore that it’s going to work or even if is what he really wants – I just started college and always thought I would do veterinarian but now I’m not so sure anymore, and it really hit home how difficult it is to admit that to yourself, make a new plan and tell to yours parents that sacrificed so much already to make that older plan work. On the other side Mia biggest struggle is to record a documentary of her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer, that will make the world never forget of her, my grandmother also has Alzheimer so it was easy to feel Mia’s pain on losing her role model.

So despite all these good things there was still one thing that keep throwing me off the book and it was Ethan’s narrative. It felt kind of… Fake, like he would say all this swear names on his head and them Mia’s POV wouldn’t have any, it just felt like something put there because it’s a “boy thing” you know? Also, oh my god, how many times does this dude can get his dick hard?? Seriously, on the beginning of this book he only needed to see Mia to have an erection.  

Still this is the one of the best New adult books that I read and this kind of style – more of a romantic comedy and real struggle that new adult’s have, this is the kind of new adult books I’m willing to give a shot. More new adult that is focused on to the new adult peeps okay guys?

Recommended to: fans of romantic comedies, readers on looking for new adult that isn’t just sex and dark deep troubles, readers on their 20’s.  

Anatomy of a Misfit - Andrea Portes

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
Published by Harper Children's on September 2, 2014
Pages: 336
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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This emotional, hilarious, devastating, and ultimately triumphant YA debut, based on actual events, recounts one girl’s rejection of her high school’s hierarchy—and her discovery of her true self in the face of tragedy.
Fall’s buzzed-about, in-house favorite.
Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?
Anatomy of a Misfit is Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Anika’s hilariously deadpan delivery will appeal to readers for its honesty and depth. The so-sad-it’s-funny high school setting will pull readers in, but when the story’s dark foreboding gradually takes over, the devastating penultimate tragedy hits like a punch to the gut. Readers will ride the highs and lows alongside funny, flawed Anika — from laughter to tears, and everything in between.

Honestly the only good thing that I can say about this book is that is really short so even if you don't like it, it will end fast. But that’s it, the rest is just downhill. And maybe the humour will click with some people, with me it never clicked and was just annoying and childish the way Anika thinked everything in a ironical way 24/7, I love irony ok? But it was just bad on this case, trust me. 

Let’s start with our main character, Anika, she starts as one of the most popular girls on the school and is a terrible person in general – she slut shames her sisters, even her supposedly best friend (and also calls her dumb or similar in various occasions, usually together with some remark on how her friends looks), she also drugs her boss (I don’t care if he’s a terrible person, no one can just ‘slip’ some sedative on someone else drink, also the medicine she put in there is a addictive drug which means that after some time the person will not be able to sleep without medicine and will probably suffer insomnia for the rest of her life). Delightful person is Anika right?

Then we have the “romance”, I put romance between quotes because this isn’t really romance, we basically have two cases of extremely instalove. Logan is an outcast, but a really hot outcast that for some reason unknown starts to like Anika, so he starts giving her rides home on his super cool motor bike – but no one can known or Anika’s popularity will be ruined. Despite the fact that, supposedly, Logan gives Anika rides every day after school we only have like four scenes with them before “I love you” come into picture – which made me really not like their relationship. On the other hand we have Jared a super popular dude that every girl wishes to date, for some reason also unknown, wants Anika. Now I may have let Logan intalove slide if their scenes were cute because of the whole “forbidden love” but Jared and Anika scenes made me roll my eyes with intensity, it was so ridiculous the supposed intensity Jared adored her after like 5 seconds talking to her.

But, I mean this is a contemporary book, so of course Anika will grow past all this right? She will get past the appearances and found love and accept her weird family right? She will come of age and found her true self right? Right but only because of a “twist” that really bothered me. The first thing was that the “twist” wasn’t really a twist since I called it on the first time Anika visited Logan’s family, seriously hints need to be more subtle. Second, and what really bothered me, was that Logan’s history was a very painful one and could have been an amazing book all by itself but for some reason it was used only as a background on this one and the only point for being here was to make Anika have a big cheese moment and plot device which, for me, shouldn’t have been the point. Overall this is just the story of a spoiled girl who realizes that live isn’t all about herself.

Recommended to: no one really.

Seasonal Recommendations | Summer 2014

Hey guys, so today I'm gonna start a new (and the only for now) feature here on the blog that is very simple really, the name is self explanatory. Basically at the end of each season I'll recommend to you the best books that I read that season, I know that fall is already half way done BUT I wasn't around when summer ended so today I'm gonna recommend the best books that I read during the summer of 2014 (June 21 to September 22).

1. Just like the movies by Kelly Fiore 

2. No place to fall by Jaye Robin Brown 

3. Falling into place by Amy Zhang

4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

5. Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer 

Top Ten Places Books Made Me Want To Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly feature hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.

Hi guys, I usually don't do Top Ten's but this week theme seems so much fun & is something that I was thinking of doing a list myself these days ago. This weeks theme is places I want to go because of books, so primarily I choose places that I wouldn't have any interest if I hadn't read a book that picked out my intention to that book.

1. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure, on Universal Studios at Orlando & 2. King's Cross Station & 3. The Warner Bros Studio Tours, both on London: Well, I don't even need to splain those do I? It's Harry Potter which means my childhood which means I'm probably gonna cry when I visit this places.

4. Baker Street & 5.  The Sherlock Holmes Pub near Charing Cross & 6. The statue that there is of Sherlock somewhere, all of this on London: THERE ARE SO MANY SHERLOCK LOCATIONS IN LONDON THAT I CAN'T EVEN! Seriously, my love for this detective started on my first year of high school and since them has only grew.

7. The Who Shop & 8. The Doctor Who Walking Tour & 9. Basically Tardis hunting on London, all of these are in London: SERIOUSLY A WHO SHOP, AN ENTIRE STORE TO DOCTOR WHO STUFF I'M GONNA BE SO BROOKE WHEN I LEAVE IT AND WON'T EVEN CARE!!! Also seeing places from the show and The Tardis is gonna be awesome. Also Doctor Who have books (I just didn't read them yet).

10. Cadair Idris, on Wales: Okay, there is a LOT of places outside the big cities on Europe that I want to visit, but I really want to visit this place because of my love for Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter world. 

Okay, I think these are the purely based on my fandoms. Some of them are in your list of places to visit? Or totally not? Tell me all on the comentaries!

Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Published by HarperCollins on January 3, 2012
Pages: 374
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Romance
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

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In a world of danger
an unlikely alliance
breathtaking adventure
and unforgettable romance...
Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim. Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive. If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

Characters: Aria was a really good lead for this book, she started the book very naive and even kind of... Dumb in certain situations, but I really enjoyed reading her grow, she isn't the kind of character that commit the same mistake twice. On the other front we have Perry, he was definitely a different character, coming from a tribe with different costumes & values was interesting to see his way of thinking - also about the POV's I really enjoyed them, and the funny thing is that their voices aren't particularly different but their personalities are, kind of hard to explain but basically it was easy to differ their POV's. Others characters also deserve a say like Roar (which is my fave 'cause he makes me laugh <3) & Cinder (that I really want to read more about).

Romance: I was kind of "meh" with it, eventually on the book Aria & Perry enter a romantic relationship, but despite I having saw their development and it was nothing like instalove, it still was weird how easy they moved from their hate dynamic (or at least Aria did) to lovers, also there are a LOT of scenes of just the two of them thinking (& mopping) about each other - even before they got together - and just, normally I don't mind romance but this book had a lot of things to do so the romance seemed to have weight it down.

World building & pace: I think the strongest thing of this book is the world building, we have the virtual world kind of matrix-y that Aria lived all her life but also the "savage" world where Perry lives, that has its own magic thanks to the Aether. I really wish we would see more of Aria world because I love this idea of created worlds that you can go but I think this series will always focus more on the real world, but also this whole setting the world & characters made the beginning of this book really slow for me, more towards the middle/end it picked up  but still it isn't exactly a fast paced book.

Overall this book had a lot going for it but ended up being just a little more than an average read, I did enjoy it and want to follow with the series right away so that's good but it missed something.

Recommended to: readers looking for a new take on the whole dystopian world, readers that like matrix, readers who like to read books about people with power, readers looking for something fresh & unique inside the dystopian and sci-fi gender.

The Young Elites - Marie Lu

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Series: The Young Elites #1
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on October 7, 2014 
Pages: 368
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Vilains 
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

Characters & Relationships: the thing that I most liked about this book is the complexity of its characters, they aren't any character that can be classified as just good or bad, all of them have shades to their self & unique personalities. Adelina is our main focus, despite the other POV's, give the more clear vision of this - despite doing some pretty bad stuff we always see her reasons for it, there isn't violence just for violence or bad decisions made just for some rushed reasoning, all the decisions Adelina takes are for a very deep reason and is what make her the person she becomes. Of course that with complex characters we have complex relationships friendships, romance & family all are painfully real and complicated, I can already see the heart ache that the next installment in this series will bring me.

World building & pace: The world building in this one is definitely one of my favorites, Marie Lu does that thing where she describes this world while narrating and you don't even feel like it's world building, you just start to imagine the descriptions in your head and BAM! when you realize you're already totally immersed in this new world. I have to say that I found this book rather slow, there is some action in it but I think most part of the time was spend on building the set for the rest of the series - which is awesome because this series has so much promises to become even greater.

Recommended to: lovers of fantasy, lovers of fantasy looking for a more dark setting/characters,  readers that like complex characters & characters that are usually bad, readers that like to read about people with powers.