Thursday, April 23, 2015

The Last 3 Books Jamie Has Read

 Let's take a peek at the last 3 books I read! All of them were YA contemporaries (no surprise) and my reactions definitely varied!

 

 

The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre


MAN, I wanted to love this one more. My lukewarm feelings for it are definitely in the minority so take that for what it is. I thought it was cute and felt the swoons for the romance (though it went from insta-attraction to insta-love REAL quick but I wasn't super bothered by it). I liked the main character Sage and her Post-It note kindness that she spread around school. And I liked the idea of her story -- a girl with a hard past trying to become this happy, bubbly girl as armor to shove down that old self -- but I just never really felt much more for it. I never felt that those cracks of her old self were really there. I think that's the whole of the problem...I wanted to feel more and didn't. One technical issue I had was with the pacing -- sometimes I was racing to devour it and other chunks of it I was skimming. By the time I finished I felt like the only thing I had to say about it was, "well that was cute?" Read my full review of The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars


 

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven


Oh this was my book club pick and there was so much to talk about! This was one of the saddest books I've ever read by the end. The sobbing just kept happening to the point I had to put it down. It deals with two teens who both want to commit suicide so it's a pretty heavy book but it was balanced with the quirkiness of Theodore and the relationship he and Violet had. This was a book I had to really digest. I couldn't wrap my feelings around how I felt about it.  Overall I think I really liked it but I have some issues centering around it that I'm still mulling over and they would be very spoilery. It's one of those times though when the blurb ACTUALLY kind of nails it -- Fault In Our Stars meets Eleanor & Park. I would actually really agree with that but it totally does its own thing.

Rating: Ah I can't in good conscience rate it quite yet while I'm still mulling it over. I do recommend it though.



All the Rage by Courtney Summers


Oh this book is so important!! I wish I could require all young people to read it. What I love about Courtney Summers' books that shines here is the raw and unapologetic way she writes about important things. It's honest and it made me very very emotional -- sadness, a whole lot of anger, etc. It weaves a lot of important things into this story -- slut-shaming, victim-blaming, rape culture, feminism -- without being too heavy-handed and when combined with the mystery of what happened to Romy and Penny made it SO hard to put it down.  Read my full review of All the Rage.

Rating: 4/5 stars



Have you read any of these? What did YOU think?

2 comments:

  1. I've read All The Bright Places, and really enjoyed it. It's one of those books, though, where it's hard to pinpoint my exact feelings for it. Like you said, overall I really liked it and I would definitely recommend it. I have been really wanting to read All The Rage - I'll have to pick it up really soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the Rage and All the bright places were so amazing!! I was sobbing at the end of All the bright places.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails