First of, I'd like to say that it was a pleasure to read this book!

Now onto the review!

Twelve-year-old April O'Day's summer has gotten off to a flying start. As the new bat retriever for the Harpoons, her hometown's minor-league team, she's fetching bats and doling out great advice to players and coaches alike. In a word, she's becoming indispensable. But mysterious things are happening at Haney Field, which April and her best friend—and fellow baseball enthusiast—Darren Plummer are determined to uncover. As they quickly learn, this is no ordinary season. In fact, it's a whole new ballgame!

Review
I would like to start off by saying that this book is a great book! The character development was at a steady pace, coupled by the hint of time traveling, and history that is mentioned by the book, really does make it an all-around good book. I really enjoyed reading this book, (if you couldn't tell), and even appreciated the glossary, to refresh myself on the terms!

-Brandon

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (Jasper's Review)

My Rating: 4.9/5

“Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young
and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.”
— John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars,
for The New York Times Book Review
“Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.

“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be,” she says, “we’re 16.”

“What about Romeo and Juliet?”

“Shallow, confused, then dead.”

“I love you,” Park says.

“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be.”

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

OMG. 

   Oh. My. God. I have no reactions for this book... Haha... no, just kidding. But that gif really describes what I looked like after reading that book. Right now I feel really conflicted because 1) I love Rainbow Rowell for writing this modern holy grail of YA Romance but 2) I really hated her for making the book end that way. Believe me. You know what I'm talking about if you've already read this book. So let's get right into the review.

Part 1: The Characters

Fan art from the Special Edition of Eleanor & Park

Eleanor...

         What can I say? I'm in love :D She's the red head in the pictures above. I really don't get her. Sh'es one of those people that you wish that you would meet some time in your life but you never really do. She protects basically everyone before she thinks about protecting herself, she will do anything for the people that she loves; including going through a complete makeover courtesy of Park's mom...

Park...

       He's a complete idiot. He's probably one of those people that wouldn't know what to do even if the instructions were right in front of him. I guess, it's his idiocy that makes him "cute." That and his good looks of course... Anyways, Park is kinda sweet if you look beyond his joking surface. He loves Eleanor with al his heart and I guess that's really all that matters. I know that kinda sounds sappy but really... THIS IS A ROMANCE. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?

Part 2: The Book

 

Excuse me while I go laugh and cry at the same time. I mean like WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING. This book is more than just a romance. It's a lot more. Its a Romance, Mystery, Thriller, wait. There's a book genre for this. *Don't fail me now brain* ITS A TRAGICOMEDY *proud of myself* Yes. It was a Tragicomedy. It makes you cry and laugh and die a little reading every page. Reading through Eleanor's pain was really something. How she managed to survive astounds me. And that SOB step father of hers... Just, no. I don't think I could read through that again. As a guy, I should be saying that this book is for little girls and that I didn't cry at all. But as a book reviewer, I'm going to tell you that the little tears just came out of my eyes. I think that the last chapter from the book was the last nail in the coffin containing my heart. This book was just too damn good. Too. Damn. Good. 

Part 3: Bring on the firing squad!

Firstly, I would like to say sorry, not sorry, to all of those people that saw absolutely nothing wrong with the book. But I did see something wrong. Everything just felt kinda weird in the middle. I'm serious. Like, I get that the real "climax" of the book was supposed to be in the middle but... I kind of felt that was some what weak. I personally thought the book would have been perfectly fine skipping the middle calm period. I guess I'm just one of those people that kinda think that there really is no calm in the storm that is a relationship but maybe I'm a pessimist. But then again... Park getting beat up for Eleanor is cute.

Part 4: The Verdict

Read this book when you're happy and need to get a grip on life again. A perfect gift for all your air headed friends *cough cough*

-Jasper

A Rant from Mannytee about Fated

This is not a review. I haven't actually completed any books since Control. I actually have only read about two pages of this book since I finished Control. This is just my little post to let out my thoughts, in more common terms; a rant.




So I have recently been reading a book called Fated by Alison Noël (or as I like to call it, Fatted), and I have to say I'm incredibly disappointed. I originally wanted to read this book because it has a pretty cover. Yes, I do judge books by their covers, and I don't know many people who don't. Actually, I don't think I can name even one person who doesn't. The cover was absolutely beautiful, at least I thought so, so I decided to pick it up. I generally don't like pink, but the rest of the cover makes up for it. Crows flying around the edges, and a girl (who looks like Selena Gomez with a weird chin that looks lie it sticks out but is actually only covered by a shadow. Ha, ha.) who wears dream catcher earrings with very long feathers on them. The point is, the cover is beautiful. Oh, and 20 minutes ago, I discovered the yellow cover, which is also beautiful. It features the same girl, and some crows, it's just arranged a bit differently, with a different font and a different colour.






I think they're both quite pretty. I can't decide which cover I like better, though I suppose it doesn't matter.











A little bit of back story on my history with Fated: I originally started this book on the 6th of June. I then continued my attempt to read this book throughout half of June. Then I just gave up, read some other books. I rebooted my attempt to read this book, then started Control, which I completed within two days. (I still feel bad about reading other books while trying to read this one, but on the other hand, if I hadn't interrupted the reading of Fated, I would still have not read any books at all.) I am now back to reading Fated, and as I type out this rant, I have read exactly 76 pages. I am currently considering switching books again.


In my experiences, books with pretty covers tend to have a good plot and good writing. This book is not one of those books. Yes the writing is good, the plot is good, but it's too much and not enough. Too descriptive, too boring, not enough action, not enough awesomeness. It's ridiculous. I'm not even at page 100 and I'm bored to death. To be honest, I was bored to death before page 10. I may have to do a DNF review on this book. I'm determined to complete the book, but I'm seriously doubting my ability to forge through this utter boring-ness. The girl in this book just wants to describe everything. Like, she can't just say, I'm walking through a field and the dew is making my dress wet. No, she has to say, I'm gliding gracefully through a luscious green meadow, the damp grass making dark splotches on my dress with it's fresh dew. This didn't actually happen in the book, I'm just making up something as an example. But I find it irritating that every single sentence is so descriptive. Nothing is simple. It's just so ARRRGGGHHHHUGGGHHHHH. I'm trying to keep things PG...so sorry for that word that wasn't a word. It was just a sound of frustration in place of some swearing.

No offense, but this book is like the worst thing ever. I can't even fully explain how I feel about it. I had high hopes on this book,not only because of the cover, but because of the synopsis, and because of other people's rating on this book. I'm not quite sure what they were thinking rating it so high...I guess I shouldn't say that, because I haven't read even half of the book, and it's most likely going to get better throughout the book, but based on what I read, 4 stars is quite generous. I'm very frustrated. I don't know what to go with this book. I don't know whether I should keep trying, or just put it down until I can handle ultimate boring-ness.

This rant has gone on longer than I thought it would. I have so much more to say, but I think that if I continue, I would just start babbling. So I think I'm going to end it here. I'm considering doing a part 2 to this rant, just because I have so much to say. I'm going to keep trying for a bit, and if it doesn't go well, I'll come back with another (hopefully shorter) rant. See y'all later.

-Mannytee

BLOG TOUR: Lex Thomas QUARANTINE

Synopsis

"Lord of the Flies in a 21st-century high school setting.Welcome to Quarantine 3: The Burnouts , where readers of The Maze Runner, Gone, and Divergent go when they're hungry for more dark, compelling survival stories."

  When an explosion rocks David and Will's suburban high school one morning, a deadly virus is unleashed on the school. After a year of quarantine, with no adults around, the students have created their own society. All of the social cliques have developed into gangs-The Nerds, The Geeks, The Freaks, The Sluts, The Skaters, The Burnouts, The Pretty Ones, and The Varsity-and each gang provides a service with which they can barter for provisions. Without a gang, it's almost impossible to secure food, water, territory, or supplies. In the final installment in the Quarantine trilogy, the brothers are reunited on the Outside and it appears as if, for once everything is going right. But inside the school, Lucy is alone with no gang and no hope, until the Burnouts welcome her into their filthy arms.  (Goodreads)

Lex Hrabe (left) and Thomas Voorhies (right), the authors of the Quarantine trilogy

Are you afraid when you try to write? I'm afraid every time I sit down to work. Sometimes I'm afraid enough that I pop right out of my seat and instantly come up with a reason why I shouldn't start writing just yet. I'll lie to myself that there are important chores to be done first, that there is some issue in my life that I should probably worry about for an hour, or I decide that I need to make another coffee or tea before I start. I make a lot of coffee and tea.

I'd like to tell you that after publishing three novels the fear has gone away or has lessened. I guess it has lessened some. When we sold our book proposal for the Quarantine trilogy, neither of us had ever written a novel before. Being told your first attempt at a novel is going to be published is an incredibly frightening opportunity. I don't get to quite that level of scared anymore, but the fear is still there, waiting for me every day. I'm afraid of writing a bad book. I'm afraid that I don't actually know what I'm doing despite what I've written in the past. I'm afraid of looking stupid. Most times I don't even know what I'm afraid of, but I'm sitting at the computer feeling the fear, and wishing there was a way to know exactly what I should say and how to say it, but there isn’t one. There's just the blank screen and my own gut feeling of what should happen next, or oftentimes no gut feeling at all. The fear tends to lessen once I actually start, and continue to dwindle as the hours pass and my word count rises, but it is always there before I begin and somehow I never get used to it. I always feel convinced that I have a real reason to be afraid no matter how many times I push past it and have a productive writing day. 

You can bully yourself into starting, you can play loud music to rile yourself up, meditate to calm yourself down, or do whatever else to deal with the fear, but the best days are when you drown out the fear with excitement. The more you're falling in love with your idea, your characters, your scenes, your settings- the more the fear falls away, and the easier it is to start. And starting is the point. Regardless of how you get there, the only way to make the fear go away is to start writing and then keep writing. I know that to be true.

I’m just really good at ignoring it.

                                                                                                                  

 -Thomas Voorhies

Teaser Tuesday: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Review: Eleanor & Park Review

Teaser Tuesday is a book meme hosted by Should be Reading. Description: Grab your current read, open to a random page and share 2 sentences from somewhere on that page (no spoilers please).

I know I'm a bit late reading this book. But I've heard a lot of good stuff about this book so I decided to buy it and read it. I actually just finished on Sunday, but since I have no other book to tease for you, here's an excerpt for all of you.

   He tried to think about why he'd defended Tina.

   Why did it matter to him whether Tina was good or bad?  Eleanor was right: He and Tina weren't even friends. They weren't anything like friends. They hadn't even been friends in the sixth grade.

And that's it for today! Check back tomorrow.

Control by Lydia Kang (Manali's Review)

Control by Lydia Kang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Oh, wow. This book...just wow. This book was so good. So...wow.

When a crash kills their father and leaves them orphaned, Zel knows she needs to protect her sister, Dyl. But before Zel has a plan, Dyl is taken by strangers using bizarre sensory weapons, and Zel finds herself in a safe house for teens who aren't like any she’s ever seen before—teens who shouldn't even exist. Using broken-down technology, her new friends’ peculiar gifts, and her own grit, Zel must find a way to get her sister back from the kidnappers who think a powerful secret is encoded in Dyl’s DNA.

A spiraling, intense, romantic story set in 2150—in a world of automatic cars, nightclubs with auditory ecstasy drugs, and guys with four arms—this is about the human genetic “mistakes” that society wants to forget, and the way that outcasts can turn out to be heroes.

I feel very bad. I read this book while I was in the middle of another book, because the other book was boring me...and I finished this book. I am still reading the other book. After around 5 weeks. And I finished this book within 2 days. So I feel a bit sad. but I don't regret reading this book, because it was awesome, and just so wow.

So my first thought on Dylia, was that she was a bit of a b****. Yeah. Like, she was so girly and ew, and I don't want to say that she was a w**** but she seemed like it. But I liked her better after Zelia found out that she liked poetry, and that she was a lot different on the inside...but I still kinda thought of her badly after she revealed to Zelia that she got pregnant by choice, by a guy she met only a few weeks prior. And I found that so sick and so gross and just...bleh.



On a completely different note, how cool was Zelia? She is so smart, and so cool and just brave and just awesome on all counts...and I can't even explain. I like that she's short and small, but still smart. I feel like in books, we see too many tall, strong female characters. I don't just mean physically strong, I also mean emotionally strong, which is something Zelia is a bit lacking in -- emotional strength. And I feel like, though Zelia is physically weak, a bit emotionally weak, she is too smart, which makes up for it. And she's pretty (wink, wink). Like her weakness in one area makes room for complete domination of the other area. Which is lack of strength, dominance over intelligence.

Next, how cute is Cy? He's just like, so awesome. Strong, smart, typical dude, except for that weird torture thing...and of course, his soft spot for Ana. Now I really like Zelia's relationship with the William siblings. Cy, he hated Zelia (or at least pretended to) at first. And then he follows her to Argent after begging her not to go, and then he gives her mouth to mouth, and then he kisses her, and then BOOM! it's Zyrad...or Cylia? I don't know. But I ship it. I think they're brilliant, and cute. And he sacrificed himself for her, and she doesn't deserve him, but I don't care because they're just so cute! Ah, fangirl moment.



I was a bit upset with the ending though, for the sole reason that they didn't end perfectly together. But I suppose this book ended with reality. Because most stories shouldn't end happily, because that's not how the real world
works.



Zelia's relationship with Ana is really sweet. At first,Zelia treated her exactly as what she was -- someone crazy, someone who's been damaged so badly that they will forever be trapped in the mind of a child. But I think after that. after Zelia and Ana connect, Zelia brings out some kind of sanity in Ana. The way Ana helps her, the way Ana treats her before she leaves...I just think it's something that Zelia brought out in her, as if she were a close friend, or a sister, something that made her mature like that, like the realization that Zelia was walking into a dangerous situation sobered her up.

I love Zelia's new family in general. Ana, Cy, yes. Ireally like Hex -- he's so brotherly, and happy, and genuine. I think it's refreshing. Then there's Vera. The at-first-b***** sister, who eventually grows to like Zelia. Marka, she's just too nice, and too protective. Wilbert though, I don't want to talk about him. I don't like traitors, period.

Micah, I felt like there was something wrong with him from the beginning. The way he was acting so nice, so perfect, trying to prove himself as the obvious guy to pick, just made him seem so much more wrong. And he's so ew, getting both Ana and Dyl pregnant. He's gross, and I hope he dies soon.

Well I'm just going on and on now, so I'm going to end this review here. I just found out today that Control was going to a sequel, called Catalyst. I'm a bit disappointed with that, because Control would have done just fine as a stand-alone. But I really liked this book, and the writing in the book, so I actually and really eager for this book to come out.

- Mannytee :)



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