Quote of the Day

"It's like Brad Pitt for us. You might not like blond men with pretty features, but c'mon, it's Brad. You're not going to kick him out of bed for eating crackers."

Something Borrowed

Bumped

Written by Megan McCafferty

Goodreads Synopsis: When a virus makes everyone over the age of 18 infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food. 
Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody's doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job. Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she's running from.
When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls' lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, and that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

My Confession: I'm going to make this short and sweet: no. Just no. And I'm so disappointed. I'm still struggling to comprehend that the woman who wrote the Jessica Darling series, a 5-book phenom that pretty much taught my angsty adolescent self everything I needed to know about life, could also write this thing. And I know I sound awful and harsh, but this story was just terribly flat. I should have known when I opened the first page and discovered the twins were named Melody and Harmony. Now, this could have been ironic and sarcastic, but it just wasn't. The story reeked of corny, and I just didn't buy that this kind of society would exist in 25 years. There was something weird and wrong in imaging teen girls getting paid to have sex and then give away their babies. Melody is wishy-washy at best; even by the end of the book, I had no idea who she was or what she really wanted. Her relationship with Zen had a lot of potential, but that too was under-utilized. His height (5'7'' which, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't make for an obscenely short man) seemed to be the only thing I knew about his character. And when [SPOILER ALERT!] he and Melody kiss at the end, I wasn't buying it. Neither of them seemed remotely attracted to the other. There's no Romeo and Juliet thing going on here, no deep attraction that's forbidden because of Melody's contract. She never even seems to contemplate what "bumping" with Zen would be like. That whole plot line just never appeared. Zen's presence ended up feeling convenient, a hook to get me to read the story. Not cool.

And Harmony? Far from some Bible-thumping freak. She too had zero personality, and her big "secret?" My Lord, it was lame. Flat, flat, flat. The twin sisters are portrayed as not being able to stand one another, and for the duration of the entire book, they're actually in the same room together once or twice. We hear both their voices, but we never actually watch them interact and grow together. By the end, I didn't see what they shared besides DNA. As far as I'm concerned, that is all they shared. And the big identity-mix-up plot twist? So predictable, I should have bet my life savings on it. I hate knowing where a book is headed before it begins, and I hate even more when that predictable plot does absolutely nothing for the story. I already knew what was going to happen. And I kept thinking how many different avenues this story could have gone down and actually portrayed a creepy-yet-possible future. But it never did.

Recommendation: If you haven't, don't. Megan McCafferty's pride and joy rests in the Jessica Darling series. Read those, I beg of you. I may have to just to wash the sour taste of this novel from my mouth.

Rating: 1/5

323 pages, published by Balzer + Bray (April 26, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"Love is one kind of abstraction. And then there are those nights when I sleep alone, when I curl into a pillow that isn't you, when I hear the tiptoe sounds that aren't yours. It's not as if I can conjure you there completely. I must embrace the idea of you instead."

The Lover's Dictionary

The Lover's Dictionary

Written by David Levithan

Goodreads Synopsis: How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

My Confession: This little book packs a big punch. It accomplishes in 211 short, small pages what most hefty novels dream of capturing: the reality of a true, nitty-gritty human relationship. Want the truth? It's ugly. Relationships aren't made of rainbows, butterflies, and cotton candy. Sometimes they're slow, boring, stagnant. Levithan's narrator, whose name we never know, discovers the hard way that faithfulness in a relationship isn't a given. His girlfriend cheats on him, and throughout the novel, he grapples with this truth and how he's going to deal with it. Interspersed as he goes over and over her confession in his head, we get glimpses into this relationship. Forget chronology, forget order--we're thrown into important (and sometimes the most un-important) moments in their lives, all classified under specific words found in a dictionary.

Sometimes the entries are longer, taking up a few pages and involving back-and-forth dialogue. Others are shorter, less involved. And somehow it's those that pack the biggest emotional power. Like the entry under the word indelible:

indelible, adj.
That first night, you took your finger and pointed to the top of my head, then traced a line between my eyes, down my nose, over my lips, my chin, my neck, to the center of my chest. It was so surprising, I knew I would never mimic it. That one gesture would be yours forever.

Recommendation: Levithan does a really fantastic job of letting the little things speak for themselves. This story is heavy without becoming overwhelming. It's relatable in its simplicity and normalcy, but the undertones of passion, fear, lust, confusion and pain shine through under almost every entry. I became the narrator myself, his thoughts and emotions clouding my own as I read this. It's a short, quick read that really makes you wonder about your own definition of the word love, a word even this narrator cannot define.

Rating: 4/5

211 pages, published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (Jan. 4, 2011)

Quote of the Day

Then she lost the battle and started to cry. All my annoyance melted. "You dumbass," I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. "You don't share me. You own me."

Where She Went

Matched

Written by Ally Condie

Goodreads Synopsis: Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate...until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to live with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My Confession: This book was creepy cool. I was drawn in by the cover, which is both beautiful and eerie. I wasn't entirely sure what this story was about, despite the synopsis. And for a good majority of the book, you're left a little clueless about all the rules of this new-age society. There's no long-winded explanations (which is nice), and we as readers are tossed into this dystopian world and expected to fend for ourselves, not unlike the displaced citizens of said society. As a reader, I hate being hand-held through a book that breaks the rules and creates new ones; that being said, it took me a little too long to grasp the concepts that Condie was trying to make me accept as fact. Now, don't get me wrong, once you get past the beginning and actually learn what this society expects of and does to its citizens, the read can't get fascinating enough. It's positively oppressing. Think Big Brother times a million. It's brutal. And I absolutely loved it.

I loved the overarching plot that followed Cassia as she tries to figure out her feelings for her Match and lifelong best friend Xander while grappling with the mysterious and forbidden passion she feels for Ky, the boy who might have been her Match had it not been for a glitch in the system. There is no clear winner in this love triangle, and as the story progresses and the feelings grow, I started getting anxious knowing that there could be no happy ending here. Not in this society, not with those rules. There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach realizing that no matter what, Cassia couldn't be with who she really wanted. The lack of free will and free choice, especially when it comes to who you're allowed to love, is beyond painful. The cliffhanger of an ending, where Cassia makes a decision between Xander and Ky, is both heartbreaking and exhilarating. The next book promises plenty of action and danger as Cassia flees the Society in search of her love, who has been sent away to his death.

Recommendation: The writing here is pretty fantastic, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. I could not put it down. The slow burn of desire that flickers between Ky and Cassia is just so good. And Xander? So adorable. It's hard to root against any one person in this book, probably because their environment is so absurd. Do I believe that this Society is an accurate (or at least believable) imagining of what our own society could become in the next century? I don't think so. But, just for those three-hundred-plus pages, I didn't have to believe it--I was there too.

Rating: 4.6/5

366 pages, published by Dutton (Nov. 30, 2010)

Quote of the Day

"One thing I can tell you for sure is this: we only regret what we don't do in life."

Firefly Lane

Something Blue

Written by Emily Giffin

Goodreads Synopsis: Darcy Rhone has always been able to rely on a few things: her beauty and charm. Her fiance, Dex. Her lifelong best friend, Rachel. She never needed anything else. Or so she thinks until Dex calls off their dream wedding and she uncovers the ultimate betrayal. Blaming everyone but herself, Darcy flees to London and attempts to re-create her glamorous life on a new continent. But to her dismay, she discovers that her tried-and-true tricks no longer apply--and that her luck has finally expired. It is only then that she can begin her journey toward redemption, forgiveness, and true love.

My Confession: I've said many times over that Something Borrowed  is one of my favorite books of all time. (I even have the movie on DVD now and watch it a little too often.) Because I stood so firmly behind Rachel and Dex, despite their indiscretion, I avoided reading this sequel. Frankly, I really disliked Darcy and didn't care what happened to her after the final page of Borrowed. I assumed (and was correct in doing so) that Rachel and Dex wouldn't make much of an appearance in this book, and I didn't think there was a way that Giffin could make Darcy a likable character.

I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

When I finally caved and picked this book up, and I was pleased to find the last few events of the prequel (mainly, Darcy discovering the affair between Dex and Rachel as well as how her own affair with Marcus began) told from Darcy's perspective. It made any doubts I'd had about Rachel exaggerating her best friend's personality a moot point. Darcy was, clearly and simply, a bitch. And Giffin pulls no punches making that known. Darcy is selfish, lazy, self-absorbed,, and childish. She really doesn't see her relationship with Rachel--or Dex, or Marcus!--clearly. She wants to be the center of attention at all times, no matter who she's with or what they want. It's why, ultimately, her relationship with Marcus fails and she moves to London. She lives with good-natured FOR (friend of Rachel) Ethan, who takes Darcy in despite a barely-concealed disdain.

I really enjoyed the development of their relationship and how Ethan's goodness seems to rub off on Darcy. Alone and pregnant in a foreign country, she comes as close to rock bottom as she ever has in her charmed life. And that's when she turns something of a corner. I don't know when exactly it happened, but I went from suffering through Darcy's innermost thoughts and skewed perspective to genuinely being interested in what was happening in this story. It was a subtle shift, but I can appreciate the way it happened. We're not hit over the head with some huge, momentous "change" in Darcy's behavior or attitude. The change comes through the reader, who realizes with a slow wonder that they do in fact care about what happens to Darcy. Just as our opinion about a particular person can change, so can a person.

Recommendation: I really wish there had been more Rachel/Dex action--I still found myself very interested in how their relationship progressed and evolved (even though, at the end, we do find out what has happened with them). I'm still on Team Rachel, but I don't hate Darcy anymore. The adage of "people can change" borderlines on cliche, but I really respect how Giffin managed to craft this novel without turning Darcy into a fake or unbelievable character. There was something innately genuine about Something Blue. That's why it's worth reading.

Rating: 4.5/5

338 pages, published by St. Martin's Griffin (June 1, 2005)

Quote of the Day

"Accepting all the good and  bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it."

What Happened to Goodbye

Sucktember

Hey Book Nookers! Sorry for the month-long hiatus. Things got crazy, nasty busy. I got a job (not the one I worked 4 years in college and a summer in NY for), but one that involves selling lotions and body sprays in the local mall as I await the big break that will either transform me into the next J.K. Rowling or land me in a fancy New York office discovering the next J.K. Rowling.

Eh, well. Someday.

But things have slowed down a bit, and I'll be able to read more again. Expect reviews soon!

Quote of the Day

"Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you--sometimes I swear that just for a second, time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever."

Delirium

Abandon

Written by Meg Cabot

Goodreads Synopsis: Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet, she's never alone...because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.
But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid. 
Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away...especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
But if she let. s herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.


My Confession: Once again, if Meg Cabot writes it, I'll pick it up. Especially her YA novels (which I really think are where she shines). I love the concept of this trilogy--modernizing the Greek tale of Persephone and Hades, lord of the Underworld. As the myth goes, Hades fell in love with Persephone, and after tricking her into eating six pomegranate seeds, forced her to live with him in his Underworld kingdom six months out of the year. (This was how the Greeks explained the change in seasons.) I find Greek mythology utterly fascinating, so any take on a tale like this is worth investigating. In Cabot's version, seventeen-year-old Pierce has a NDE (near-death experience) after falling into her backyard pool. While the medics desperately try to restart her heart, she's taken to the underground kingdom of the mysterious John Hayden, who tries to keep her there. However, she escapes, the medics having successfully revived her. Pierce spends the rest of the book both simultaneously avoiding and goading John, not really deciding whether she loves or hates her once-captor.

Pierce's Pomegranate: The thing is, Pierce isn't as strong a character as I would have wanted. She seems utterly wishy-washy when it comes to her relationship with John, and I kept getting the feeling that there was something more there that we weren't being told as readers. By all means, she should fear and loathe the guy; he seems to stalk her, and he once held her captive. But instead, she's drawn to him, and we're not really sure why. At school, she doesn't seem interested in making friends, but quickly falls in step with a group of popular kids who are so transparent and superficial, it's hard to like Pierce for keeping their company. A lot of questions are raised about Pierce's past, which we know is shady, but the answers are drawn out for far too long, and they're not quite as satisfying as you would expect. As a writer, I totally understand the art of keeping the reader hanging on a certain plot point, but there were too many balls in the air at one time, and I just got a little lost. A new villain is introduced at the end, and it seems to come out of left field--how long was this person a villain? There was just a lot going on here, and even though the pace was good and kept me turning each page, occasionally the information withheld ended up dragging the story down.

Recommendation: I'm happy that this is just the first book in a trilogy. Because I think the next book has the potential to be much better. Judging from how this one left off, there will be more action and more peril in the sequel. Not unlike some of Cabot's past series, this first book gets weighed down under a lot of plot and backstory set-up. I didn't feel like a lot actually happened. It feels like a really long prologue to a story that just began during the last chapter. Yes, John's kind of sexy and mysterious. Yes, he and Pierce are probably "made for each other." But I want to see more than some kind of star-crossed romance. I want action, I want danger, I want to see some obstacles. I want Cabot to get right to the meat of this story in her next book.

Rating: 3/5

304 pages, published by Point (April 26, 2011)

Quote of the Day

"And it's time you learned there's a big difference between your writing and your life. To do it right, your writing takes an incredible amount of work. Your life takes more."

Love Story

One Day Movie Review

When I reviewed One Day this past June, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation over the film adaptation. I fell in love with the story, fell in love with Emma and Dex. It's a spell-binding, magical tale of love and friendship that slaps you in the head with its blinding ending. The pace is magnificent, and the attention to detail really makes you feel like you're experiencing all these things with Emma and Dex.

I was so pleased with the film, for a few reasons. First, David Nicholls (the author) also wrote the script, which pretty much guaranteed that the movie would honor the book, which it did. And the few places it wavered--I liked them even more. They made sense, cinematically. Not all scenes in a book translate well to the screen; sometimes the drama needs to be heightened, the senses assaulted in a different way. And this adaptation did a fantastic job staying true to the novel while taking liberties that made the film version even more engaging.

Jim Sturgess is amazing. I can't say enough good things about how wonderfully he portrayed Dexter. He was absolutely perfect in this role. Dex was the character who moved me the most in the book, perhaps because he's the character who goes through the most change. And, in the end, he's the character who has to live through numerous personal tragedies. I love Anne Hathaway, and in many ways, I think she embodied Emma very well. But her British accent is just awful. A few times, it even sounded like she slipped into an Irish or Scottish brogue. She had the face and personality for this character, but her voice was painfully distracting. But the two of them together? Pretty perfect. They played off each other so well, and the chemistry was definitely there. And since the whole story is about this deep-rooted and undeniable connection between two characters--despite how long it takes them to realize and then accept it--finding actors who could really become these two people was so important and necessary for the film's success.

In the end, the love is center-stage, as it should be. And, happily, the film producers didn't pull a My Sister's Keeper  and completely change the ending. It's a rough ending; I've said that a few times. But I love the way the film does it, and I especially loved the final scene. It sounds corny to say it was beautiful, but it was. I was moved. It was something extremely special to watch on screen, especially after reading the book. They did a wonderful, lovely, careful job with an ending that is, at the very least, extremely emotional. But it's poetic. And stunning. It's not a Disney tale of a prince or princess, but it has that true-love-never-dies quality to it. The message that real, genuine love is beyond the grasp of everything in the world. It's a story of hope. And, despite everything you watch over the course of the almost two-hour film, you'll leave the theater with a smile on your face and a slightly damp tissue in your pocket.

Photos courtesy of Google Images, and video courtesy of YouTube

Quote of the Day

"It has to be something about contrasts. Something about the perilous art of uniting extremes and forcing compromises, or perhaps about acknowledging that life is a delicate balance of great forces, and that good would lose its potency if there was no evil left to fight in the world."

Juliet