The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don’t.
With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.
In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she’s to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.” –Goodreads
As I write this the tears are streeaming down my face.
Never in my life have I ever felt so much emotion from a book before.
I mean I have felt every emotion you can think of from reading this book.
Sadness…you got it
Betrayal…you got it
Optimistic…you got it
Desperate…you got it
Literally every emotion ever.
I mean come on. That ending. It was so dramatic. It had me hating every single character and loving every single character.
Sarah J. Maas has never ceased to amaze me. She is my role model in life. I wish I had an eighth of her skill. I can barely write a 500 word review on her book without feeling sucky. Imagine writing the entire Throne of Glass series which has about 1,393,501 words. (That is probably not exact, some books I could not find the exact total so I took the best guess the websites could come up with.) I love Maas and everything she does.
Most readers have already read the series and if you have not I cannot do much in ways of reviewing it that does not spoil previous books. But, if you have not read the Throne of Glass series, READ IT! It has magic. It has adventure. It has a bad*ss b*tch who does is a role model for girls around the world (other than the whole assassin thing). The love stories and love triangles are amazing. It is just all around amazing and you will cry. I promise, you will cry.
This is literally one of the best published works out there that someone will ever read.
I have two more books of the series to read. I will be sad to let it go but watch out for my other reviews about it.
“It’s 2011 in America, the Iraq War is coming to a close, and the Occupy Wall Street movement has been gaining steam. And at twenty-one years of age, Billy Chute is sitting in the breakdown lane on the side of the highway in his ’98 Altima with his drugs in the cooler on the passenger seat floor, in the midst of escaping yet another stale reality. Still high on an opioid and amphetamine kick, his new escape crystallizes in a journal entry: Find dad. And those few simple words seal Billy’s fate- what started as another of his impulsive flights becomes a mission, and it terrifies him, for his father is like wildfire, burning all in its path, yet confronting his traumatic past may be Billy’s only sustainable way forward.
A propulsive story with profound insights about freedom and imprisonment, motion and stasis, chance and destiny, The Escapist delves deeply into the internal and external calamities that shape this special human life and mind. Mental health, family conflict and abuse, drug addiction, and sexuality are intricately woven together in a turbulent pre-Trump America in this dynamic and layered narrative of violence and hope.” -Publisher
Review:
I recieved this book off of NetGalley and shall be giving it an honest review.
Now when I say, I do not know how to feel about this book, I mean I REALLY do not know how to feel about this book.
The thing about this book is that it was not the most well-put-together book, but I honestly could not put it down. I devoured this book.
I am honestly disappointed that I finished the book. Or I am disappointed in how it ended, I am honestly not sure.
I could not stop reading it. There were such vivid, eye-opening details in the book. Every single thing about drug use and the violence was described so deep and hauntingly, it entranced me. I was so pulled in by the description of his drug use, family issues, etc., that I almost could completely ignore the huge plot disappointments.
The plot was absolutely wack. It was like a Catcher in the Rye, but completely high on drugs. It was super chaotic which I thought paired nicely with the book until the end. The ending left me in a huge ball of confusion. I understood everything but there was a certain part with Billy’s sidekick that I felt completely unnecessary. I liked the book until they began bringing back certain people. It was utter chaos. And I like chaos in some aspects. This was not one of them.
Billy was a great character except he had the voice of a 35-year-old heroin addict when he was about 20 years old popping pills daily. Sometimes when people mentioned that he was “too young” it took me by surprise. I feel as though for him to have been a better character, he needed that extra feel of being young and stupid. But, all I got from him was being old and f*cked (pardon my French).
All the negative stuff aside, I did enjoy this book. Yes, it did have its downs but, I will have to say that once I picked it up, I could not set it down. I think the book would have been a lot better with a different ending and a whole chunk of it taken out, but what can I do?
Anyways, thank you for reading. I appreciate it. I hope you guys all check out this book when it comes out in January!
“I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues…At first women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn’t stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one’s ever asked them before.” -Goodreads
Review:
A book of feminism and glory.
I loved the vagina talk. It was very empowering and the friend I read it with agreed with me.
It is an important book. It is important to hear these women’s stories and to understand the depths of the women’s body.
I wish I could go see this performed. It would be quite entertaining to see.
I am reading this growing up in a non-“down there” era but still with some struggles with people embracing the word and I think this book does well to try and make vagina not seem like such a “nasty”word.
I thought the stories were really nice and sort of inspiring. They mostly discussed how they viewed their vaginas and others and showed people journey through vagina discovery.
This blog is really short and I am sorry about that but I do not have much to say. The book is short which means a short blog. Especially one where I believe everyone should read it and see the amazing stories. I don’t want to give away anything to much. I want people to experience the book for themselves.
Anyways, thank you for reading. Let me know down below if you have read it an your opinions on it.
“Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish…Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer.” –Top Ten Tuesday
Topic: Ten Books I Loved During The First Year I Started My Blog
So I just finished my first year I started blogging so this isn’t that hard and that is why I chose this topic.
The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon
Doon by Carie Corp & Lorie Langdon
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K Rowling & John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (even though I shouted out the entire series but I love this one so much)
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Okay guys I did it. I hate doing these lists because it takes forever but at the same time I really enjoy them because they are simple and I can reflect on stuff.
Anyways thanks for reading this. I didn’t link the book’s Goodreads because I am very lazy. I want to tag the pages so you can put them on your to-read list but I just aint feeling it today.
Thanks for reading!
Have you read any of these? What is your favorite on this list?
“With the witch of Doon on the throne, Jamie believed dead, and Duncan and Mackenna trapped in Alloway, Veronica has no choice but to put her grief aside and prepare her remaining followers for the impending battle against the false Queen and her forces. But while on a covert mission to steal a powerful elixir from the castle, Veronica discovers her true love may actually be alive and fighting a battle of his own.
With the Brig o’ Doon destroyed and the portal fragmented, Doon’s forces are not only divided but also isolated in different dimensions. With the help of a storyteller as ancient as the witch herself, Kenna and Duncan learn they must rebuild the bridge to have any chance of crossing back into Doon with their ragtag army. But when Mackenna insists on fighting as well, Duncan soon realizes the only way he can ensure her safety is to turn her into a cold-hearted killer.
For Vee, Jamie, Kenna, and Duncan, saving their kingdom while keeping their lives intact will take a miracle.” -Goodreads
Review:
My poor heart.
The series is up. It has ended. This amazing series which such adventure and love. This series has been a crazy ride. Up and down and all around. I am sad to see the series end.
This book was difficult to read at first because of the sadness I had when I knew this series was ending. I eventually got over it and threw myself into this wonderful world Carey and Lorie created. The story had a ton of ups and downs. It was a huge rollercoaster. I mean they jumped from one issue to the next so quickly. It didn’t seem like the other stories. The problems went by so quickly like the solution basically fell into the characters lap after a few minutes of contemplation. I liked the way the story went but I feel like some more suspense and explanation would have helped. Especially in the ending.
This book was always interesting always kept me wanting more. I rarely had any dull moments. I was captivated by every action scene, torn apart by every emotional scene, and thrilled at every suspenseful scene. I enjoyed this book thoroughly. The authors made this book hard to read. They put all the characters under tremendous challenges that made my heart break. Luckily they pulled through and somehow overcame many challenges that I would have just fell over and cried if put in their place.
The characters were extremely annoying in this book. I am just going, to be honest. Veronica, I feel like was the only one who didn’t bug me with her decisions. Jaime was also not as annoying as Mackenna and Duncan. They just really irked me. Their relationship was falling apart but it would have been an easy fix. I mean they could have just talked to each other. And then they just dragged it on and on and on. I mean come on, it was ridiculous. I am not saying I am an expert in relationships but I feel like they would have talked about their issues way before they did. They irritated me with how annoying they were. Jaime and Veronica were strong as ever I believed. They really balanced each other out. They supported each other. They influenced each other to be stronger and fight better. They honor each other’s strengths and help each other with their weaknesses. I love them too as a couple. Mackenna and Duncan are amazing too but they just need to communicate.
It was kind of depressing honestly. Lots of death and lots of heartbreak which don’t get me wrong are important in stories for motivation or to create emotion but the Doon series for me was a good empowerment series. I didn’t really think some of the unnecessary deaths were needed. The other books didn’t have so much destruction which gave this book a little more depressing feel to it. Also they, all four of the main characters, go through some serious trials which aren’t bad but I felt like the authors just decided to shove so much down into the characters and developed these sides you never saw until the last book. I think the authors could have spread some of the behaviors that were exhibited into other books. It just seemed so sudden.
Other than that the book was fantastic. I loved the growth from each character as we went through the book. It was a pretty quick fluid read. I was never confused once which I believe is very important in stories. The finale was a great book even with the flaws. Carey and Lorie were amazing and I love that they took me through such an incredible journey.
The Friday 56 is where every Friday you turn to page 56 in a book or 56% on your e-reader and then post a line or lines that intrigue you. It is hosted by Freda’s Voice.
“Would-Be Casanova Shakes Cute Girls Hand, Offers Her Home Loan with Reasonable interest Rate”
This is super funny. It is when Natasha and Daniel first meet and he is wearing a suit and shakes her hand when they introduce themselves. He gives himself this newspaper headline because he is ridiculing himself over his awkward greeting.
Read this book. I don’t care if you don’t want to. READ IT. It will change your life I swear it. That is all the promo I will be doing for this book. But seriously read it.
Guys go participate in the Friday 56 and go leave your link down below cause I want to check them out!
It is the end of the month and guess who didn’t finish their reading goals BUT made a very gallant effort.
This girl…
Yes sadly another Wrap-up where I dont finish the book I said to read AND the amount I said I would read.
Books I read:
So my goal was 4 and I read three. I wanted to read the three books I read and Forever Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon but obviously that didn’t happen. I didn’t want to rush and I wanted to enjoy the book, not finish it is two days. So these are the books I read:
Guess what! I actually kept it to a low number instead of buying 15 like last month. I bought 2 books which I wish it was only one but I had 30 dollars on a gift cards and I wanted free shipping from B&N. Along with that I also bought a cool book quote thing and a Fault in Our Stars bookmark which I shall put down below because why not. I bought:
I feel really accomplished because I am trying to do one blog every day and I did it so far since Thursday.
Now it is the time to wrap up my wrap-up. I want to thank you for reading this blog. I want to thanks you for liking it (you should do it so I am not thanking you for nothing). I also would like to thank you for commenting (same as the last parenthesis).
What books did you read? What books did you buy? What were some of your best posts? Leave a link to your own monthly wrap-up in my comments.
Hey, guys so it is Tuesday and sadly the feature that I wanted to do is on hiatus for this week and I think next week so I decided I wanted to try and do something of my own. I want to just give a little about my personal life and thoughts that aren’t just about books. So here it goes:
This past week I went on a trip to the capital of my state for a 4-H event to learn about the government. While I was there I participated in a mock trial because it is the judicial year. I was a witness in the mock trial. The witness I was playing was a 13-year-old girl and everyone kept saying I did so well and acted really well. Honestly, I don’t know what they were talking about because I pretty much just sat there and recited my lines having a nervous breakdown but maybe that is what a thirteen-year-old girl involved in an assault crime acts like. I don’t know. Anyways that event was super fun and informative.
This whole weekend has been so productive. I wrote all the blog posts for this week so I could have time to just breath over the week. I also finished two books.
I am riding better on my horse. I have realized I have been spending enough attention on my equitation so I am bouncing and my legs are flopping so I have made it a goal to get that muscle memory back because I used to be able to do it without thinking but now I’m a noodle.
It is the end of the month which is exciting because I this month has not been the greatest months for me and I am excited to start over. I have a lot of exciting things happening next month like a WAHSET competition, a school dance, and some great reads for next month.
My cats are so annoying. My tiny cat jake is sitting in my lap right now and is making it really hard for me to write this blog but he is still so cute.
I am started school this week and I am not happy. I have been on break for the past week and let me tell you it has been heaven. Not only do I have to go to school I also have weight training to do. I hate weight training but I go all out durig it so I better be super buff by the end of it.
I think I am gonna end this little talk today. I hope next week this will be more organized. I want to try and just write down my thoughts throughout the week. Hope you enjoyed this post. I may do it next week maybe not I don’t know yet.
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.
The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.” -Goodreads.
Review:
How do I begin a blog for such an amazing book?
I will start with my shame of course because we gotta get that over with. It took me so long to read this. I was not motivated and I really didn’t feel like reading it at times. I am such a bad book reader oh my goodness. I always do this and then I finish the book in a marathon session in the middle of the night like two nights ago. I also am ashamed that this is my third attempt to write this review. I cannot find the words to describe this book.
It wasn’t as good as it predecessor Heir of Fire but it came maybe close. I will probably say a lot of negative things about this because I have some negative feeling about it but I hope I can say god things because this book was good, just some of the story made no sense entierly. (Spoiler Alert: some things from the other books are said within this book so if you don’t want to be spoiled on the other books then don’t read this post)
Let me just say one thing that made me kind of mad and I think what made me not read the book quickly; the rivalry that occurred between Aelin and Chaol. I mean come on. He didn’t do anything wrong. Maas pitted Aelin and him against each other for no reason and then made Chanel look terrible by always bringing up Nehemiah’s death and how it was his fault and blah blah blah. Aelin blames him for everything wrong with Adrian and Dorian but if he would have done anything other than run we would have been killed and then where would you be Aelin, hmmm HMMMMMM. She was also a little hypocritical in saying he should have killed the king like so should’ve you. I mean you worked for him too sweetheart. What made me the maddest was that there wasn’t even any reason for it. When she left for Wendlyn they weren’t really that upset with each other. Yes he bit like her heritage and she hated him for what happened to Nehemia but they seemed to end it on terms where yes they have issues but when she came back I would have expected a little run to each other in a field of flowers with that one music that is always in that scene. I did not think what happened constituted utter hatred. There was nothing to even hate. Chaol doesn’t seem like he knows why he is mad. He goes under the pretense that she is a monster and that while she was off “flaunting” that she was Aelin in Wendlyn, he was working his butt off with the rebels. For one she sent her there to try and save her, two he hardly got any work done himself so…Also, I don’t know what aelin is mad about. From where she stands at the beginning she knows nothing of Dorian or Chaol to even hate him for doing anything. She just acts mad about nothing. Also, I would have loved to see some love triangle action going on but sadly that didn’t happen. I also thought Nesyrn was kind of an excuse to not have it which not saying I don’t want Chaol to be unhappy but I did wish to see a little more of the old feelings the two used to have. Also, the way she wrote Chaol completely unlike his character and when did Nesyrn even come in like I feel I would have been more okay with her if she had come into his life during Heir of Fire and they had grown close but she was just a random girl. They said she was from his past but that was coming from the guy who was blushing when the girls waited outside in the mornings to see him. Chaol Westfall deserves better than this. (I still support Rowaelin though but she could have played more with the Chaolaena plot more)
Aelin was amazing. I want to be mad at Maas for taking away my Celaena but I really can’t be. I read other reviews and they said they took Celaena away but really I feel like she is exactly the same if not stronger. I don’t think Aelin could do away with her completely I mean she spent ten years of her life disguised as she and she have been trained to be her. I really like Aelin during this story. I did think that her swooning over Rowan was a little unlike her but I mean you can’t blame a girl for loving someone like you have to let her live for liking a boy. She is only 19 like she still got hormones and stuff. I am wondering what Maas is gonna do about the whole Rowan-is-immortal-Aelin-is-not or if she will even address it which will be a major plot hole if she doesn’t, just saying. I know people hated Aelin because she doesn’t go to save Dorian or she doesn’t do things that make her seem queenly which may I remind you that she does think about Dorian a lot but he is not of total concern because she doesn’t know what to do about him because of Chaol forbidding her to kill him and she wasn’t raised to be a queen she was raised to be an assassin so…Aelin I am here to support you because I like you. I like you almost as much as I like Celaena. I do have to agree that Celaena and Aelin are completely different characters.
I am gonna stop bashing the book for a bit and talk about the plot because I haven’t talked about it yet. I thank Sarah for making this book wonderful and for giving a thrilling last 300 pages. The first 300 pages needed work see above but if you look past all the issues above then it was good. I am glad she tied all the characters together. I was so scared she wasn’t going to add then we would just have all these loose ends. As always in her book the first half of the book is slow paced and you can usually get pretty bored pretty early but then halfway through the real action kicks in and BAM all this action gets thrown at you and if you’re like me you marathon 300 pages in the middle of the night. I almost cried a few times near the end due to either relief, sadness, sweetness, and happiness. I think the end of the book was good. It wasn’t a jaw-dropping ending like I was hoping for but that was alright because the book did leave the story open for the next book (sidenote I don’t know when I will get around to the next book because I want to get a dent in my TBR list).
Okay, I am going back to talk about characters. I have already discussed Aelin so I won’t talk about her but let me talk about the others. First up is Rowan. He is a hunk okay I am saying it and he is like every man you could dream of. He is big, strong, sweetheart, in love with Aelin, and is a magical Fae prince. How could you not like him? I see why people hold a grudge against him because he ruins Chaol’s chance with Aelin but really people get over it. You knew that was over the moment he walked into Aelin’s life and I didn’t see you complaining about him in Heir of Fire. I am excited to see where he takes the story. I like him a lot because he is predictable but also mysterious. I don’t really know what I mean about that but it is a good thing. He just makes me happy that he is there for Aelin.
Chaol Westfall did not deserve what came to him all throughout the book. I know he made some mistakes but I jeez give the guy a break. He already lost Aelin because of his mistake but now he has to get hit after hit about it. I find him so sweet and so caring because he cares so much about Dorian and all her wants to do is save Dorian. I don’t know what else to say about him because I already ranted up above about him so…
Manon Blackbeak story made me mad this time around. I don’t think she gets that many times on the playing field. I wasn’t really that happy that I didn’t get to see more action between her and the Thirteen. I felt like she was just there to be there. The spotlight was more around Elide a new character in the series. I felt like Manon didn’t have too much real importance until about the middle of the novel and then that was it. I think she did learn a lot and had a lot of growth throughout the story.
Now to Elide which is a girl whose father I think was on the court of Terrasen. I don’t want to spoil anything for her so I won’t talk about her with specific details. I found her to be a really nice character. At first, I was confused if she was acting nervous or she really was. I think as her story progressed Maas decided to drop it. I am glad she was in the story. I didn’t see her significance, like all impacting significance, until the end, not to say she wasn’t important but she didn’t seem as important as I thought she would be. I probably thought that because all I wanted to hear was Manon’s story instead of hers.
Sweet Dorian oh sweet sweet Dorian. You don’t hear much from Dorian when it is his chapter you get maybe a page sometimes two but not much. He isn’t given much spotlight because (SPOILER ALERT IF YOU AINT READ HEIR OF FIRE OR THE OTHERS I GUESS) of the collar around his neck which holds a Valg prince in. The thoughts we do get from him are just short ones illustrating his struggle with the demon inside him and I feel like he wasn’t too necessary to hear from but I feel that Maas didn’t want to leave out. And it is good to hear what is going on inside the castle and to see what having a demon inside you feels like.
Lastly, I guess I should include Nesryn. We don’t get her narration but now that she has taken Chaol’s heart which that a bit of a spoiler but hey I knew if from the moment I started reading the book. She kind of just follow Chaol around the place and she doesn’t really do much. Not to say she isn’t a strong female character just in book terms she doesn’t do much to affect the plot. She is just there to give Chaol an excuse to get over Aelin. I feel like she was suddenly put in there randomly just to close up his love story. I think if she wanted to make readers happier she would have started making her evident in Heir of Fire or slowly brought her into the story not just make her Chaol’s sidekick in the short break of time between stories. I mean really how do you just decide to trust someone like he does when he meets her. I mean he only had a week or two to bond with her but that doesn’t seem like enough time to gain anyone’s trust especially Chaol’s trust. She wasn’t introduced to the story until this book and as I said to make her less random and more believable Maas should have put her in Heir of Fire somewhere even if it was just for a little while.
Anyways, I think that is all for characters and now onto romance. I know I have already talked about that a lot, like a lot, a lot. But I need to talk about it some more because this book’s major flaw is with the couples. I mean Rowan and Aelin are perfect like they are the dream couple (sorta) and Chaol and Nesryn are cute too but they only really are out in the end. I don’t really have much to talk about really. I just love romance and talking about book characters in love so her goes nothing. Rowan and Aelin are the best. I do still in the deep down parts of my soul believe Chaol and Aelin should still be together but I know that with Rowan and Nesryn in the picture it will never happen which is good. Chaol didn’t love certain parts of Celaena/Aelin and as people said multiple times: he couldn’t choose which parts to love and which parts to love. I think Nesryn is a better fit for him because she is more Chaol’s type. She isn’t his mortal enemy or a “creature” (if that is the right word for what Aelin is). She is just a warrior type of girl and I think that is what Chaol wants. Rowan and Aelin are beautiful together. I don’t know how they are gonna work out in the long run. He is a LOT older than her but we will see how that plays out eventually ~maybe~.
This ends my blog. I have written this and there are about 2500 words on this page which are flipping awesome so if you stuck around to read this then you’re awesome. Thank you so much for reading this blog. Go check out this book and this series because this lady named Sarah J Maas writes amazingly. Now I am going to die in a hole because I don’t know when I will get my hands on Empire of Storms. I hope you all have a good day and a great weekend.
Star Rating: 4.5 (would have 5 if Chaol wouldnt have been so attacked)
Have you read this before? What was your favorite part? If you said no, what are you waiting for? Have I influnced you into reading this book? Please comment down below.
“My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster” –Goodreads
Review:
Well, let me just say that THIS BOOK WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. NICOLA YOON HAS KILLED ME AGAIN.
Okay, okay I am done freaking out…maybe.
But seriously this book started well proceeded well and ended well and when I say well I mean OUTSTANDING with capital O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G (you know just in case you didn’t notice that the first outstanding was in all caps already I just had to spell it out for you again ugh). I mean how does she do it. I read The Sun Is Also A Star and that book was the book to end all books. Now, this is a book to end all books. I realize that I say this about a lot of books in my reviews but I tend to only read really good books because of other people’s review (don’t let me lie to you I am a shallow book lover and most of these books I have read based on the cover and people’s awesome IG pictures). Anyways, this books was great.
For a debut novel, I believe it was the best one anyone could have (other than but close to Harry P) and rightly so. I mean I saw this book everywhere, all over IG, all over Youtube, and it seemed like everyone was reading it. I bought the book back in January after I read Yoon’s second novel which left me as dumbfounded as this book did. I didn’t read it right then even though it was short and easy and fun. I had other priority’s and other books I needed to finish which I didn’t until this month but that is beside the point (#eternalshame). Then one marvelous day this month I was scrolling through Twitter when the trailer for this movie comes up. when I started watching it I didn’t know what movie it was but it seemed familiar and the at the end BAM the title popped up. I was so in love with the trailer it motivated me to read this book which if I just would have picked up the book I wouldn’t have needed the motivation from an outside source. So that is the story of why I decided to pick this book up today.
I opened this book up this morning after just coming off of another book which that blog post will come after this one because I thought I could make this a quick and easy blog post but of course I am ranting about this book but that is a good thing because I only have a lot to say about a book when I really like a book. Anyways you may be thinking what she only opened up the book today. No, that isn’t right, she procrastinates too much to read this in one day which is SOOO true but no I read this book in one day. If you are familiar with Yoon’s writing then you would see that a lot of her books are white space. She has lots f pages but a fifth of then are one lined or short little fragments of writing. This book even has drawings and pictures and diagrams and such. So it was a really quick and sweet read.
The plot of the novel is what makes this story the most amazing. A girl sick and can’t leave her house falls in love with a boy on the outside world. I mean it would be a pretty generic love story if she wasn’t sick but adding her disease into the story brings this whole new rebellious and dangerous vibe to the story. And then the ending of the story just left me in shock. I was dumbfounded by the events that occurred and couldn’t believe what happened. It was similar to the heartbroken but hopeful feelings I had at the end of The Sun Is Also A Star. Everything that occurs in this story makes you feel every type of emotion. I wanted to cry, laugh, dance, and love with these people in the story because of how amazing their story is.
Their story could have only been made amazing by Nicola Yoon. She has a really unique writing style that I find the most intriguing and why I can eat up her books in minutes. She keeps it clean and simple but still vividly detailed and always interesting. She also leave you begging for more at the end of her books which I think really gives her a greater appeal because when the books end all I know is that I want more but I know that her books are standalone books and there will never be more but that makes us desire more which I think give the greater appeal aforementioned. That may have made no sense but I am going to leave it there because this is my blog and I do what I want. Anyways, Yoon just engulfs you into the story and I don’t remember one moment today that I wasn’t begging for more.
Now to talk about what I hate talking about the most: the characters. I never really know what to say cause I always think characters are awesome even the bad ones because I don’t hate. I always end up just saying that the characters are amazing which in this book they were. I have four characters I am going to talk about because they to me are the main characters.
To start, we got Madeline a.k.a Maddy. Maddy is the girl that is sick and has lived her entire life in her house. The sickness is all she knows until Olly shows up. Olly flips her world upside down and makes a rebel of an angel child. Maddy is amazing. She is this strong girl but she is trapped in a cage. I feel sorry for her because she missed out on so much in her life because of this sickness. I thought her actions throughout the book are exactly what I would have done. I thought her to be a really good actual earthly character. Lots of characters are always doing things and making decisions I wouldn’t think I would do if I was stuck in the situation and I assume that I am a pretty normal girl that I am an average person like most of the authors portray their character to be. Anyways Maddy is a great character and I love her a lot.
Now to talk about the hunk of the bunch, Olly. Oh, Olly. I think I have a new fictional boyfriend. He was what every girl would dream of. he cared for Maddy, he wanted to be with Maddy, and he was so sweet with her. I wish I was Maddy. He treated her so right and genuinely cared about her sickness. His background was sad and I was fighting for him the whole time because I was afraid of what Yoon might do to him. Olly was just a perfect guy and you don’t meet many of those in books anymore.
The next two on the chopping block are Carla, Maddy’s nurse, and Maddy’s mom. I don’t have much to say about them because one Carla is only in the novel off and on for a short time and secondly because I don’t like her mom that much. Carla was probably what you hope a nurse to be, a best friend, especially when she has to watch her 8 hours a day every day. I feel like she was a real rock for Maddy when she is going through so many drastic changes and she is really there for her. Get yourself a best friend like Carla. Maddy’s mom to me was just kind of over bearing. I mean I get that all she wants to do is protect her daughter but sometimes I feel she could have been a little (or a lot) lenient on the rules and allowed some things and maybe her daughter wouldn’t have been so rebellious but hey I don’t have kids so I am not an expert on how to rule your teenager but I feel like I am an expert on being a teenager so… Also, I felt that she was just so crazy about her staying inside I don’t think she even thought about Maddy’s life and how what she was doing the wasnt living.
Love is the big motivation for this whole book. I mean love fuels all the action. Maddy, Olly, Mom, and even Carla are all motivated by love. But the love I am focusing on is the biggest one, Maddy and Olly’s. Okay, so most people on their reviews say they hate the instalove thing which is why I think this story is perfect for them. I don’t think it is instalove since they haven’t talked and then haven’t even met when they first see each other. It is only the fascination of a young girl who probably hasn’t seen many boys in real life before for a long time. I just wanted to say that before anyone knocks this before the try it due to their hatred of instalove which in my opinion is great and I love a little cheesiness now and then or all the time. Olly and Maddy have a love so rare it is amazing. Like you can chalk it up to hormones and such but I really do think they are in love because you can’t have such an epic journey together without love forming. At the beginning, they remind me of Romeo and Juliet ut don’t worry it doesn’t end the same. I am not going to talk about it anymore because you need to read it for yourself if you haven’t already.
Okay, I think that is it for today. I don’t have much else to say about this book except that it is AMAZINGLY AWESOME. I hope you all read this book or have read it. I really like this book and I highly recommend it to anyone. So this is the end of my post. I hope you enjoyed the post and I hope you have a swell day/evening/afternoon or whatever you may call the time your reading this. Thank you for reading!
Star Rating: 5
Have you read this book before? If so what was your favorite part (no spoilers)? Why haven’t you read it if you answered no? Will you read it now that I have written an amazing review on it? Please comment your answers below.
Author: Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon
