Mini Reviews: What Happens Next, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
Publisher:  Little Brown Books
Date Published: October 9, 2012
Buy: Amazon

I’ve had this book since last year and I kept on putting it off because I kept on finding other books. I think I own an apology to this book.

Dear Book,
I am so sorry for putting you off, I will accept whatever punishment you have in store for me.
Lots of love,
Rashika

Now that that’s done, I should probably talk about the book.

So I think you’ve figured out that I loved this book. The characters were great, the relationships were great, the plot was great. WHAT WASN’T GREAT?

This book is about a girl who was raped but she cannot remember what happened. It takes her a while to figure out that that was what happened and after that she starts sinking in to herself.

She doesn’t like her body because she is always getting unwanted attention from older guys. She blames the way she looks for what happened to her. So she starts having these “urges” where she vomits out everything she eats so that she can weight. She hides her body. She wants to blend in so no one will notice her.

Then she meets Corey. Their relationship develops slowly and she finally lets Corey in. Their romance is so sweet.

Her own character development is amazing; she doesn’t change in just a day. It takes her a year to finally have some hope for herself. To finally make peace with herself. To really open up.

The author does a great job with this concept, it’s a big thing and to pull it off is hard. The book is heartbreaking yet beautiful and I recommend it to people looking for a moving story.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Date Released: February 21st 2012
Buy: Amazon 

I waited a long time to read this, well not such a long time, more like a week. I wanted to wait until I was officially on vacation to read this since it was supposed to be a summer read. Now I think I'll just 'forget' to return it or... just buy myself a copy :P

This is my first official GLBT book. I didn't read any before this because that would have required me to step out of my comfort zone. It's kind of like when I was a kid.. I thought books that involved some sort of romance were scary and I got over that fear once I read a book with a good romance.

I think I am lucky to have been introduced to this genre with such a beautiful book. 

I love how the author manages to capture the essence of Aristotle. I cannot think of Ari without thinking about myself because he is so relatable. It's hard to come across characters that reminds you exactly of yourself and reading about Ari, for me, is almost like looking in a mirror. So his journey makes me question things. I tend to think a lot anyway but I am at the same stage in life as Ari (with some differences of course) so his character has a lot more appeal to me.

Dante is an equally relatable character and although he doesn't remind me of myself, I can relate to his cultural issues and his fear of disappointing his parents. 

This story captures the difficulties of growing up. There are so many things you don't understand and so many things you probably won't but that need to find answers remains. It's like a battle inside of you. It's hard and people think teenagers have it easy but we don't. You make some of the most important decisions of your life at this stage without a lot of experience and you cannot go back in time to change them if things don't work out.

This is one of my most beautiful coming of age stories I've read and if you haven't read it, stop waiting for the apocalypse.