#AYearAThon #Romance Girl Online: On Tour ~ Zoe Sugg (a.k.a Zoella)

Penny joins her rock-star boyfriend on the road in Europe.

When Noah invites Penny on his first-ever European tour, she can’t wait to spend the summer with her rock-god-tastic boyfriend.

But, between Noah’s jam-packed schedule, less-than-welcoming band mates, and threatening messages from jealous fans, Penny wonders whether she’s really cut out for life on tour. She can’t help but miss her family, her best friend Elliot, and her blog, “Girl Online.”

Can Penny learn to balance life and love on the road, or will she lose everything in pursuit of the perfect summer?

Book Review:

It only took me a couple of days to finish this book. Just like the first one, it was a super quick read. I just really wanted to know how things were going to end. Was Penny going to be able to figure out how to date a rockstar boyfriend? Was she going to be able to manage her anxiety on tour? Would she ever start blogging again, publically? Etc. 

I love Noah and Penny's relationship. No matter how big he gets, he really does care for her and she is on his mind. I just really hate the people that come between them. I really do love how Penny finds a frind in Leah Brown while they are on tour because she needs a good female friend. I do wish that Elliot had gotten to go on tour with them though. Oh and I really hate Noah's manager, Dean!!! 

Because this is a second installment I can't say too much without giving anything away so if you have read it, go on to my discussion. If not, read them!!!

Pages: 352                                                                                                                               Rate: 5/5                                                   

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

Probably the most exciting part for me was the end, when Penny starts blogging publically again. I feel like that was missing so much in this installment. I really missed it. I also really loved how Noah came back to help Alex win Elliot back being as a good part of their break up was because of him. 

So lets discuss Noah and Penny. They were so cute in the beginning but you could also tell that a rocky patch was coming. Noah was becoming this huge success and touring was obviously taking a lot out of him, meaning less time was being spent with Penny. I mean, I really liked that Penny got to explore the cities herself, because with her anxiety, I wasn't sure how comfortable she was going to be doing that and I didn't want her holed up in her room all of the time waiting for Noah. I was really worried about her with TheRealShift mailing them all of that weird blackmail after her phone was stolen. Now I was suspicious about this story line, and rightly so!! 

Noah and Penny's entire break up, courtesy of their already rocky situation and Blake making it worse, that lying bastar, broke my heart. I still pictured that as that sweet little Girl Online and Brooklyn Boy. I wanted those cute moments back again. When she finally texted him to talk while he was in town for a show, I'm pretty sure that I screamed! Then we find out that Dean is TheRealShift and Noah fires him!! I wanted to high five that boy so hard!!! Those entire few pages weree incredible. 

I also love that the ending wasn't definitive. Basically, Penny states that she loves him and that he loves her and somehow they will figure it out together. 

Favorite Quote:

“Sometimes the hero of the fairy tale isn't a handsome prince. Sometimes it's you.” 

I Was Here ~ Gayle Forman

When her best friend, Meg, commits suicide by drinking a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how did she miss the signs of Meg's depression? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, and some secrets of his own. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

Book Review:

If you want to feel just as frustrated as our main character, then this is a great book!! Cody is grieving the loss of her best friend, and I feel her pain because I don't know what I would do if I lost my best friend right now. But even more so than her pain, she is angry and frustrated that Meg didn't tell her what was going on, that she barely knew anything about Meg's new life. I also hate how isolated she feels from Meg's family. You can tell how much they want her to stay in their lives but you can also tell how painful it is for all of them too. But that is the reality about death, it messes up lives, it fucks with peoples' heads. 

Throughout the entire book, I want Cody to figure out why Meg killed herself. I want Cody to be able to move forward and be happy because the anger just resonates off of her, with each word. I have never lost someone to suicide, but I have a feeling that Forman portrayed the after effects of it so well. You can feel the anger that is trying to cover up the deep depression that just keeps seeping through. You feel just as confused as every single character. You see as all of the other characters move on with their lives while everyone else has to try and make sense of something that will never make sense. It really is just a whirlwind of emotion, as is every Gayle Forman book. 

I really loved the character development of Cody. She went from this angry and confused character whose best friend committed suicide, to this niave girl determined to figure out what happened, to a bold woman ready to move forward. I also loved the development between Cody and her mom. There relationship was terrible in the beginning. She doesn't even call her mom but she calls her by her first name. She states that she practically raised herself with the help of Meg's family and with no help from her nonexistent father. In the end, her mother does whatever she can to help her. She even uses a computer, which she is against, to book a plane ticket for her to rush home. Overall, their relationship, just like the book, is incredible in the end.

Pages: 270                                                                                                                               Rate: 5/5

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

It takes a while to understand why Meg killed herself. At first, we have no idea why. Then we learn that she had a bad falling out with Ben MacAllister, and automatically assume that he caused it. And then we discover that Meg had found a "Suicide Support" group online, which is where others help you commit suicide, either by supporting your decision or helping you plan it. That is when Cody discovers the person on the group that Meg had been conversing with and sets out to find him and bring him to justice. Well, she eventually does, and Ben drives her across the country to confront this man. It doesn't turn out how I would have expected really. But, the way Cody ends the conversation is great and so real. She brings up how he would feel if someone had helped his son commit suicide and I believe that he even tears up. 

On this trip, she and Ben become even closer. They were fairly close previously and anyone could tell that there was some tension, but I think the fact that they were both dealing with Meg's suicide, just nothing could happen. But once Cody was able to confront the guy who Meg was talking to in the "Suicide Support" group made it easier for both of them. I was actually really excited when they got together, but when he didn't say anything the next morning I was so angry!!! Then Cody's mom comes to the rescue and that warmed my heart a lot. 

When Cody gets back home she tells Meg's family about everything she had done; about finding Meg's emails, then her online correspondence with the "Suicide Support" group, and then her confrontation with that man all the way across the country. That is when we learn the real reason why Meg committed suicide. Apparently Meg had been suffering from depression for years without ever telling Cody. She had been on medication but decided that she didn't need them anymore. This little piece of reality was heartbreaking because this happens so much. That killed me. I just felt so terribly for Cody, but then Ben comes to the rescue. 

Ben had driven all night without stopping to get to Cody and tell her how he felt. It was just so sweet!!!! I loved the ending.

Favorite Quote:

“I'm in love with you, Cody. And I know that this is all complicated and confused in a wholly fucked-up way. Meg's death was a tragedy and the worst kind of waste, but I don't want to lose you because of the fucked-up-way I found you."
"Fucking Ben McCallister. You make me cry more than almost any person I've ever met."
"I shed a few tears myself last night.” 

“...Sleepovers and dance parties and those talks we would have until three in the morning that would make us feel lousy the next day because we’d slept like hell but also feel good because the talks were like blood transfusions, moments of realness and hope that were pinpricks of light in the dark fabric of small-town life.” 

The Infinite Sea ~ Rick Yancey

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Book Review:

I don't think that this installment was as good as The 5th Wave but I have hopes for the last book. I just found that this one was a bit bland.There was no real character development or any building of relationships between characters. The only thing that I found interesting was Nugget's reactions to every situation. For a kid who is so young, I feel that the anger was properly faced and it kind of made me laugh, just picturing it. 

I wanted more between Cassie and Evan. After he came back, all I wanted was for them to have a nice heart to heart conversation. I wanted Evan to explain his side of things and for Cassie to try to understand because there are feelings there. And if that wasn't going to happen, I wanted Cassie to grow closer with Ben. I wanted her to pull the old Ben out of his current Zombie. I wanted him to open up to her, either way, about what happened with his family, namely his sister. 

I also really wanted to learn more about the other characters in this installment, but we don't learn much of anything about any of them. Except Ringer. We do learn a bit more about Ringer which I really did enjoy. I find the mystery of her to be very compelling. I want to know more about her.

Pages: 320                                                                                                                         Rate: 3/5

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

This whole story about Grace, who is like Evan, irritates me. I don't understand what her importance is to the story. I hate that she blew up the house, with Evan in it, before there was ever any sort of resolution between he and Cassie, or he and any of the other characters really. I also really hated the part with the bomb shoved down the little girl's throat. I understand that Yancey is trying to make a point of how ruthless the Others are, but I just found it to be a bit unnecessary, just as I found that part about Ringer's captivity (most of the book) to be unnecessary. None of it was interesting, other than the code that she was using which I am very much so interested in. 

Favorite Quote:

“And, for one– ten thousandth of a second, all of it fell away, the despair and grief and anger and pain and hunger, and the old Ben Parish rose from the dead. The eyes that impaled. The smile that slayed. In another moment, he would fade, slide back into the new Ben, the one called Zombie, and I understood something I hadn’t before: He was dead, the object of my schoolgirl desires, just as the schoolgirl who desired him was dead.”

Valentine's Day: Top 30 Romantic Reads

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!! If you are single or in a relationship, it doesn't matter; everyone likes a good romance book every now and then. I really love reading them this time of year because even when I have to put the book down there are hearts, cupcakes, chocolates, and other lovey-dovey things everywhere!! Here are my Top 30ish Romantic Reads, not in any particular order.

1. Girl Online duology by Zoe Sugg
• These are the first two novels released by the sensational beauty guru from Youtube, a.k.a. Zoella. She deals with anxiety, as do I, and so does the main character in the novel but her rockstar boyfriend helps her through it all as they both figure themselves out and love eachother. 
2. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
• Bad boy turns good boy to be with the preachers daughter. LOTS OF TEARS!! In my opinion the best of all of Nicholas Sparks's book that I have ever read. 
3. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
• Ronnie, our main character, has a rocky relationship with her father, where she and her younger brother are staying for the summer. But she does meet the guy of her dreams, who changes her pessimistic perspective on life.  
4. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
• A young couple from different parts of the social scale. 
5. Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Their families hate each other but they get married anyway. Lots of people die. Romeo is exiled. Sleeping potions. Failed letters. Two families lose everything. 
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• A lot like the forementioned, A Walk to Remember, but minus the bad boy and plus two sick kids falling in love, traveling to Amsterdam, meeting a jerk of a human being, and growing up. 
7. Paper Towns by John Green
• A story of revenge and friendship. Two seniors who have known each other since grade school fall back into each other's' lives, kind of unexpectedly. 
8. Looking For Alaska by John Green
• Pudge, is this awkward kid who is just trying to figure out how to be social. Alaska, is this badass, bookworm. Set in a boarding school with too many adventures to count and a whole new level of sarcasm and humor that I have never found anywhere else. 
9. Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen
• Girl lives a secret night life with a boy who has mysteries of  his own. 
10. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
• Just another love story with a girl and her music-obsessed boyfriend who is more than determined to make her happy. 
11. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• Sydney is just trying to figure out her family's issues after everything that happened with her brother, who has always been the apple of her parents eyes, when she falls into a group of people that will change her life forever.  
12. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• A socially awkward twin, struggling with anxiety, worried about her father, wondering what is going on with her twin, dating a new guy, trying to get by in college, and continuing to be obsessed with her fictional world. 
13. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• The fictional world that the main character in Fangirl is obsessed with, resembles Harry Potter in a lot of ways but with a huge romantic relationship. 
14. Shatter Me  trilogy by Tahereh Mafi
• Juliette is just trying to figure out her powers and be around people after years of being in isolation when Adam and Warner come into her life and change it forever. 
15. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
• A sweet southern romance. Girl meets bull rider who is just trying to save his mothers farm even if it kills him, which it very well could. 
16. Conquering Chaos by Tyler Baltierra and Catelynn Lowell
• The Teen Mom OG couple's memoir on their love story and their most difficult decision to give their first daughter up for adoption. 
17. The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han
• She has known these two brothers her entire life. It's the summer before college and a lot has changed. Their mother has died and it's the first time that they have been back to the beach house since. 
18. To All The Boys I Loved Before duology by Jenny Han
• For every boy that she has loved, she has written and addressed a letter to never send them, but to keep them in a safe box, packed away to never be read... until they are sent out and read. 
19. Safe Haven  by Nicholas Sparks
• As Katie runs from her abusive husband under a new identity she falls in love with a wonderful man and his kids, until her past comes to haunt her. 
20. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
• He found her picture when he was in Iraq and now he is living in her guest house and training dogs. 
21. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
• They meet and fall in love, then two weeks later he is shipped to Iraq. 
22. Water for Elephants by Sara Greun
• The memories of a 90 year old man who used to work as a stable boy in a circus and how he fell in love with one of the headliners. 
23. Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
• Two high schoolers. One girl living with her father in a small town. One vampire living in the same small town with his vampire family. 
24. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• A group of friends just trying to figure their lives out and the main character has to also deal with entering highschool while the others prepare to leave. 
25.  Lock & Key by Sarah Dessen
• An independent girl who is finally able to have a family and... maybe something more with the boy next door. 
26.  The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
• A girl who had her summer planned but it all changes when she gets a new job that she  happens to love as well as coworkers who happen to soon be her best friends. 
27.  Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
• Starting their senior year ina  boarding school in Paris, Isla and Josh have to figure out their relationship and their future, together and apart. 
28.  What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
• Is Mclean ready to figure out who she is with the help of a boy?
29. Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
• Two friends who have a strange bond get dragged back to school and happen too find some complicated love interests in their already complicated lives.
30. Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead
• The spin-off of Vampire Academy. It follows the Alchemist, Sydney, and a Morio, Adrian, as they try to protect the Queen's younger sister. 

Ignite Me ~Tahereh Mafi

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn't know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won't keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that's not all he wants with her.

Book Review:

The concluding novel to the Shatter Me trilogy was definitely not a disappointment. When I opened up to the first page, I just wanted to know how it was going to end, but as I continued, I never wanted it to end. I have fallen in love with these characters and this society. Mafi's writing makes you really believe that you have lived through the series with those characters, that they are your friends. I'm very upset that it is over. Every time I finish a series that I have invested so much into, I feel like a lost a part of myself, and I feel like that right now.

The beginning was great but the middle kind of dragged on I thought. I feel like more could have been done in the middle than was. In all reality there were scenes in the middle, that needed to happen, but more often than not, they were just page fillers.  

I probably would have given this book a 4.5 but because of how it ends, I'm giving it a 5. The love triangle that has been a main focus since the first book, ended perfectly. Juliette ends up with the right person, in my opinion anyway. He understands her and he put up with a lot while she was trying to figure out her own feelings. 

More explained in the discussion.

Pages: 416                                                                                                                                   Rate: 5

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

So at the beginning, when Juliette wakes up, I was so scared of how she was going to handle it. I wasn't sure if she would retaliate before Warner could fill her in on what happened or not. At that point, I was mainly terrified for Warner. Thankfully, she listened to him, skeptically. That's when I started to realize how much she liked him. Mafi hinted at Juliette having feelings for Warner in the second book, but I wasn't sure how far that was going to go after he took off from Omega Point. 

When Kenji finds she and Warner at the sight of what used to be Omega Point?!!? Did anyone else want to scream and cry at the same time. I was so excited!! Their entire friendship was just so incredible throughout the entire series. They may have annoyed each other to no end sometimes but they were always friends first and last. That was another thing that I really loved about this novel in particular. We see so much more of their friendship than before. 

Adam, was an asshole in this novel. I understand that he had a right to be upset. She was falling for his half-brother, but they weren't really together anymore. Juliette kept pushing Adam away because she was scared of hurting him and I felt that their relationship ended a while before she started to like Warner, even as a friend. And she faught her feelings for Warner, for a very long time, because she didn't want to hurt Adam; yet, Adam responded like a completely different person than we had ever seen him be before. His initial reaction, though overly dramatic, I kind of expected, but how he acted afterward made me hate him. 

The end... Juliette finally kills Warner's, Adam's father. She finally takes over the Reestablishment. The world can finally go back to normal. But then I got scared again... everyone is dragging themselves out of the Battlefield so Juliette can see them, but Warner is no where to be seen. After everything that it took to get those two together, I was about ready to throw the book, and just then, he climbs up to where she is standing. I about died. 

Favorite Quote:

“I am no longer afraid of fear, and I will not let it rule me. Fear will learn to fear me.”

The Marvels ~ Brian Selznick

In this magnificent reimagining of the form he originated, two stand-alone stories--the first in nearly 400 pages of continuous pictures, the second in prose--create a beguiling narrative puzzle.
 
The journey begins at sea in 1766, with a boy named Billy Marvel. After surviving a shipwreck, he finds work in a London theatre. There, his family flourishes for generations as brilliant actors until 1900, when young Leontes Marvel is banished from the stage.
 
Nearly a century later, runaway Joseph Jervis seeks refuge with an uncle in London. Albert Nightingale's strange, beautiful house, with its mysterious portraits and ghostly presences, captivates Joseph and leads him on a search for clues about the house, his family, and the past.
 
A gripping adventure and an intriguing mystery The Marvels is a loving tribute to the power of story.

Book Review:

This, according to my best friend, is the second Brian Selznick book that I have read. She is very adamant that I read The Adventures of Hugo Cabret when we were in middle school and she is probably right because if anyone would know what I have read, it's her.  Selznick's novels are middle grade with a slew of black and white illustrations that make up the first part of the story. You can't just skip over the pictures and you wouldn't want to because they are wonderfully done. 

Once the written part of the story begins you just really want to know what is happening. You want to know what is up with our main character's uncle, the theatre, and you want to see how Joseph is going to figure it all out. It was a very quick read and something that I would probably read again. 

Be prepared for quite a bit of confusion because throughout this novel, you can't help but feel what Joseph feels. Also be prepared to cry at the end because I most certainly did. The book deals with some harsher issues than what you would think would be in a middle grade novel but it does it in such a way that you would really have to understand those elements to realize that they are there. I find those types of insertions to be the most important when they are in middle grade novels because though they aren't fully developed or explained, they subconsciously tell the that these types of things happen in life and that though they are painful, you will pull through them. 

Pages: 665 (including illustrations which make up the first 400+)                             Rate: 4/5

Book Discussion: SPOILERS:

The story behind the house!? I was not expecting that. I was not expecting that this house didn't have a full real history. I was not expecting that it was just created by a band of three men, ranging in age and skill. That was the most shocking part of the entire story but at the same time it made me realize why Albert was so protective of the house, and why he was so specific about how things were handled.