The Sky Is EverywhereJandy Nelson Published: January 1st 2010 Publisher: Walker.
Goodreads Summary
Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.
The fact that I hardly remember this book truly shows how much this book meant to me... I marked it a 3 when I read it because it was a good enough book for me to reward it three whole stars but thinking about it now I think I might have over rated the book. I mean surely a book that I cannot remember neither enjoying nor hating just shows that I may have not cared one tiny bit about this novel.
I will keep this review brief and go on a hunt around my memory just to try and remember what I thought of the book while reading it. Lennie is a 17 year old bookworm and band geek who doesn't share her sisters spotlight and prefers to stay in the shadows. But once her sister dies unexpectedly she is catapulted into the main stage of her life. With no previous boy troubles Lennie now faces a love triangle with two boys. One her sisters boyfriend who is helping her deal with the grief of losing someone so close and the other a new boy with a fantastic grin who shines on her grief and manages to shine on her darkness.
I found the entire boy situation really strange. Closely after her sisters death Lennie is catapulted into boy trouble world? Especially with her dead sisters boyfriend. I'm not saying that Lennie should have been forever in despair and grief over losing her sister but I find it strange that all of a sudden her life is somewhat good. If that makes any sense to you guys. For all of you that read my reviews you will know that I love big emotional roller coasters in books when it comes to death or anything really.
So this book was a good enough read I guess. I'm not going to lie and say I enjoyed it blah blah blah when I clearly did not. The story line was not at all powerful for me to remember it.
There is one thing which I loved in this book. It was the notes that Lennie would leave on random pieces of paper. I did manage to absorb that habit of hers.
So, for anybody looking to read an okay book with an okay story line and you don't want to remember much of the book I do recommend it.
Halfway through the book a poem kept coming to mind when I was reading this (courtesy to goodreads for letting me update my thoughts while reading this novel) “Death arrives among all that sound like a shoe with no foot in it, like a suit with no man in it, comes and knocks, using a ring with no stone in it, with no finger in it, comes and shouts with no mouth, with no tongue, with no throat. Nevertheless its steps can be heard and its clothing makes a hushed sound, like a tree"
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira Published: April 1st 2014 Publisher: Farrar
Goodreads Summary
It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person.
Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to the dead—to people like Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, and Amy Winehouse—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating the choppy waters of new friendships, learning to live with her splintering family, falling in love for the first time, and, most important, trying to grieve for May. But how do you mourn for someone you haven't forgiven?
It's not until Laurel has written the truth about what happened to herself that she can finally accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she truly start to discover her own path.
I was so
excited to read this book, it looked really promising and I wasn’t at all
disappointed with this one!
Laurel’s
sister May dies young and when her English teacher assigns her class to write a
letter to a dead person Laurel choses Kurt Cobain as he died young just like
her sister May. Quickly her notebook is filled with letters to other dead
celebrities which she fails to turn in for her assignment, instead she begins
to find herself in the words she writes to those that aren’t with us anymore.
“I know I wrote letters to people with no
address on this earth, I know that you are dead. But I hear you. I hear all of
you. We were here. Our lives matter.”
The letters
started out as a somewhat diary, Laurel talked about her everyday life, missing
her sister and starting high school. Then the letters turn into confessions
about what happened to Laurel when she was little, she wrote about the things
that she couldn’t speak about to other people. Things that she believes caused
her sister’s death.
It’s an
amazingly beautiful novella and I was certain before even starting this book
that I would love it. Now after finishing it and after writing this review I’m
starting to doubt this. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful piece and I can
honestly say that I enjoyed every single word written by Ava in this book but I
can’t help but compare this to The Perks of Being A Wallflower. I don’t think I
would have noticed the similarities so much if I haven’t just finished TPOBAW
before I started this but there are so many of these similarities I felt as if
I was reading the same story just in a females point of view.
Laurel
starts in a new high school where she doesn’t know anybody. Where nobody knows
her name or what happened to her sister. (pointing out the obvious same thing
with Charlie in TPOBAW) it must be hard, I mean I know how hard it is stating a
brand new school and not knowing anybody and just feeling so alone!
The letters
that Laurel writes, they capture the person that she’s writing about. I learned
some things that I didn’t even know about them. In some of these letters I
actually got goose bumps while reading; Ava Dellaira managed to bring the
people back from the dead even in that short amount of time. But yet again I
can’t help it but mention that is exactly what Charlie did; I mean the letters
to his friend. This idea to write letters to dead people was clearly a somewhat
original idea and I loved it.
“I feel like I am drowning in memories.
Everything is too bright.”
What happened
to Laurel when she was younger, when her sister would take her to the cinema
and leave her with a guy so she could sneak off with her boyfriend. This is
what got me rather mad. At this point I hated May, I hated her character so
much! How could she not see what would happen? How could she not even for a
second think that something would happen to her younger vulnerable sister in
the hands of a strange guy! It’s so unbelievably stupid! I don’t think this
revelation caused May’s death, I don’t think that Laurel finally telling her
bigger sister what happened in a strangers car when she would leave her there
caused her to fall. But I have to bring this back to TPOBAW… Charlie was also
molested, his auntie took advantage of him and he never told anyone, he as well
managed to get his head around it in his letters. Just like Laurel.
I don’t
think I’m the only one that found these similarities to Stephen Chbosky’s
novel. They are both rather similar and I read in Ava’s acknowledgments that
they are close friends so I’m puzzled as to why both books are alike. I love
both Love Letters To The Dead and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower equally but I
have to say that I did connect with Laurel’s story more; and I do think that it’s
because she’s a female.
Life can change in an instant.
A cold February morning . . . a snowy road . . . and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one.
As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all.
Gripping, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be.
17 year old Mia has enough choices in her life; college,
music, boyfriend. While on the way to visit Mia’s grandparents her family car
is hit by another driver and all her choices are put on hold while the only one
matters. Whether or not she stays.
I don’t really think I have an opinion on this book. The
book was neither great nor terrible. It was just okay.
I read that the book was heart breaking, and beautifully
powerful. I guess I can see where everyone was getting that from. I mean death
was involved therefore a lot of depressing emotions were stirred up. But not
for me. I’m a sucker for depressing books and I was really hoping that I would
be moved by this book! Unfortunately I wasn’t moved at all, there were times
when I thought that I might tear up but I didn’t. It’s not because my heart is
made of ice or anything like that I just didn’t find this book as moving as a
lot of other people did.
The idea for it is great, it made me realise how silly some
of my choices where when it came down to the big choice in Mia’s life. One day
she’s planning her future and the next she’s watching her family die and her
lifeless body be brought into hospital as all her loved ones wait to find out
whether or not she’ll make it.
I wasn’t at all surprised what happened in the book. For me
everything was clear from the beginning I just didn’t know her family was going
to die. I thought that this teenage girl who is a quiet geeky girl who likes
classical music will be in a car accident one day and will then need to figure
out if she stays or goes. I already figured out that there will be some form of
out of body experience. I was actually shocked by her family’s death however
and I was sad, I mean they seemed like a great bunch and it wasn’t fair they
had to die. But apart from this I pretty much knew what was going to happen.
The whole love story between her and Adam, the ending of the book was predictable
as crap (mostly because I know there is a second book).
The characters in this book were good. I loved Mia although I
didn’t click with her much. Her brother is super cute and I wanted to squeeze
him, her parents are seriously amazing. Might be the fact that I like punk rock
and not classical music. I didn’t feel like I had a connection with any of
these characters which was a real shame.
The book itself was a really pleasant read, the way it was laid
out was great. The flash backs to when Mia was a child and remembering all the
great memories was super effective. I think that’s the part that I love the
most about this book.
I wish that I got to enjoy this book more and that it wasn’t
just an okay book for me. I probably won’t read the sequel but I hopefully will
reread it again.
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy Release Date: March 18th 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins Source: Edelweiss Buy: Amazon | Book Depository
Goodreads Summary
What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you? When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission. Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most?
First thoughts after I finished this book? Finally! This book was dragging for so long I was losing my patience with it.
Alice and Harvey have been friends since they were children but going to high school they drifted apart with different social statuses, not really talking to each other until Alice is diagnosed with leukaemia. For a year and a half, Harvey has been there by her side during the good and the bad days falling more and more in love with her as her life clock begins to run out. But Alice goes into remission; becoming the miracle patient who will live. Now that she gets to live her, relationship with Harvey ends.
See this annoys me! The fact that she could only love Harvey while she was dying and knew she wouldn’t be with him forever. How stupid is that? I get the fact that she might be scared of commitment but that doesn’t mean you have to break his poor heart after he finds out the love of his life, the only girl he has ever loved will live but doesn’t want to be with him. Ugh. Not only this but Alice is a complete bitch to everyone but yet she gets this amazing guy to fall for her, and she does get what’s coming to her.
“I knew how to die. It was the living that scared me.”
I loved how the book was arranged. The “Now” and “Then”. Alice was completely different while she was going through chemo and was dying. Later on she turned into a shallow girl who decided she was too good for Harvey and didn’t want him anymore which I guess was how she was before her diagnosis. I guess it was good to see both sides of her but I was hoping this book was going to be about how she realises she gets a second chance at life and decides to change her life around and become a better person.
“That girl in the case was dead. And that girl in the case was me”
I think I liked Alice about 10 percent of the book and that was at the very start and while she was taking her revenge on her ex-boyfriend Luke and the girl he was cheating with. Harvey is a sweet naïve guy and I couldn’t decide whether or not I liked him. At times he was the sweetest guy that was caring for a girl that was slowly dying and at other times he was a total fool for letting her walk all over him!
This book wasn’t anything I expected. I was hoping this would make me cry, or laugh or even feel something but there was nothing. This book was below ordinary. It was annoying. Even the very end annoyed me. I hate cliff hangers!
All quotes have been taken from an uncorrected proof and may be subject to change
Title- And We Stay Author- Jenny Hubbard Published- January 28th 2014 Publisher- Delacorte Press Buy-Amazon
Goodreads Summary
Sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, seventeen-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, and begins to heal.
I was lucky enough to receive this book from Netgalley to review. I mean look at that cover and the blurb for this book! I expected so many great things. So why exactly was I so disappointed?
After Emily’s boyfriend shoots himself in the school’s library after a bad breakup and finding out that a girl he was in love with was getting rid of their unplanned baby. After the abortion, Emily is sent to a boarding school for girls where she wants to find herself and deal with both losses. The book seemed very excitingly mysterious with Emily’s life being a tragedy with her only escape being poetry. The blurb for this book looks amazing. Tragedy, loss, poetry and mystery; what else would a girl want in a book?
I could not connect with Emily at all. Nor with any other character in this book. The book is set in 1995 in third person; which bored the life out of me. Usually I don’t really mind a book being written in third person but how was I meant to connect with the character and her feelings when I didn’t know what was going on in her head?!
The poems were obviously meant to be the way for me to connect and understand Emily more, but I hated every single poem by Emily. I started to skip them after about reading ten of them. I usually love poems and trying to figure out what they mean and what they can all mean to me. However I’m not one of Emily Dickinson’s fans so all the facts about her life, and some poems from her really did nothing for me; seeing as Emily Dickinson was a big part of the book, really did no favours for me.
I continued reading this book because it’s an ARC and it just felt wrong to stop reading the book. However I wish I never bothered with even requesting the book. The blurb, the cover and the title mislead me. I actually thought that this book might be about ghosts (her boyfriend did kill himself after all).
Title: The Fault In Our Stars Author: John Green Published: January 10th 2012 Publisher: Dutton Books Buy: Amazon | Book Depository
Goodreads Summary
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
When I got the book I thought to myself. It can't be so bad. It can't ruin my life. It can't take over everything. It can't hurt my soul and everything inside me.
GUESS WHO WAS WRONG!!!!!!!
Hi. I'm Paulina and this book ruined me and I cannot live without this book because even though my soul has crushed and died I want to marry this little thing and forever hold it because I love it so much.
Me at the start of the book
Couple of pages in
Going so crazy I can't help myself.
Why. Who. Why would this book hurt me so much
Someone hold me.
Right. Literally. This. Is. What. Happens.
And I'm still like.
Just thinking of the book right now.
Guess who is now emotionally unstable because of something that happened in a book.
So all in all. This book is amazing. Everyone go read it, the movie is coming out soon just go and read the book and join me being this broken shell.
What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.
The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.
What if you died and had to relive the
same day over and over?
Erm I would
go crazy.
As much as I
love this limbo thing that Sam seems to be stuck in; at the same time it’s very
annoying. She is stuck in some weird dimension after being in a car accident
(don’t let your friends drink and drive while you’re in a car with them) waking
up every day on the 12th of February and reliving her day until she
dies again. How very morbid. It made me think about the day I die. I want to
think that there is literally nothing just peaceful darkness and nothing out
there, but this made me wonder what would happen if once I die I get stuck in a
limbo dimension and keep reliving that day. Yeah I don’t want that at all. If
this happens, I am never dying.
Popular girl
Samantha has everything she might ever want. A perfect boyfriend, perfect
friends, perfect popular life. Until she dies and has to relive that day over
and over again to realise just how much her life has not only affected other
people but also to realise that she’s a bitch. What perfect day to relive than the Cupid Day
her high school hosts to show exactly how popular you are with the number of
roses you receive.
I like the
book for bringing out emotions and having the main character Sam find herself
and realise that she’s a little if not a lot of a bitch to people. She finally
realises how her popular lifeis not as perfect. But at the same time I really
dislike the mean girl attitude that all the characters have. I really disliked
Sam at first although she did grow on me, but her friends. No. They are spoiled
little girls who think that they can rule the whole school because they have
perfect hair, perfect lives and perfect boyfriends; and yes I know some of them
do hide secrets and their lives aren’t perfect on the inside but I am talking
about the outside right now.
The book did
not make me cry or feel sorry for the characters or actually be obsessed and
crazy about it. Lauren Oliver’s style of writing is amazing and I loved the way
she told her story, I just wasn’t keen on the story she was telling. Some of
the bits were repetitive and got a bit boring to the start of the book. The main
key bit that I loved in the book was the way Sam found herself even though it
was too late. She was already dead and she was just figuring out how much of a
bad person she really was. To the end of the story I was beginning to like Sam.
Kent was my favourite character though. He reminded me so much of Spencer Reid
from Criminal Minds that I couldn’t not love him.
Okay so the
ending. I get the bit where Sam needed to learn to be less selfish and sacrifice
herself for other people in order to be a better (dead) person. But how did she
die when she was already dead? I can’t wrap my head around this! She was
already dead, and to save herself she needed to die again saving someone? How
does that automatically save her soul. It makes literally no sense that just
one tiny good deed in a fake dimension will save her from all the bad stuff
that she committed over the years.
This quote
is so beautiful. “So many things become beautiful when you really look.” It
really did make me think more about the way I was looking at certain things and
people and it did make me realise that things can be beautiful at times.
Positive.
Negative.
It's how you look at it. . . .
Someone shoves a photo negative into Rowan's hands. She is distracted but, frankly, she has larger problems to worry about. Her brother is dead. Her father has left. Her mother won't get out of bed. She has to take care of her younger sister. "And" keep it all together . . .
But Rowan is curious about the mysterious boy and the negative. Who is he? Why did he give it to her? The mystery only deepens when the photo is developed and the inconceivable appears.
Everything is about to change for Rowan. . . . Finally, something positive is in her life.
Award-winning author Jenny Valentine delivers a powerful and life-affirming story of grief, friendship, and healing that will resonate long after the last page.
Jenny Valentine tells a sad, realistic story of a teenage
girl who had to grow up fast. Rowan was forced to grow up within a couple of
weeks after her older brother Jack suddenly dies on a trip leaving her family
in bits. The book focuses on the struggles of Rowan trying to look after her
5-6 year old sister Storma, dealing with her mother who cannot get over the
death of her son and on top of that, she has to lie to her dad about everything
that is happening in the house. So a not so happy themed book. However even with
the dark theme and the depressing bits, the story is heart-warming and charming
(obviously not the depressing and horrible bits), I absolutely love this quote
“I smiled back and I
thought how incredible that was, that they would find the time to smile. There
was goodness in the world still, even if you couldn’t always see it.” It sums
up the book and the feelings behind it. I was expecting the book to break my
heart, to make me sick with feelings and cry my eyes out but I smiled and
laughed and even gasped when I read the book because as sad as the story is
there was still a lot of things that were really happy and really joyful.
With looking after Storma, Rowan literally has no social
life. Until a boy (a cute boy) hands her a negative for a picture and assures
her that it belongs to her. Even though Rowan is positive it doesn’t. I
absolutely love this part. The negative of the picture, the mystery behind it,
not knowing what it is or whom it belonged to. It was great.
The characters in this book put a positive spin on Rowan’s
life. I love that about this book. Rowan is so caring and loving that she is
the mother figure for her sister even though it must have been horrible and
hard for her to adjust. Bee brings a funny side with her almost bubbly
personality, Storma is just adorable, sweet and funny; she nearly made me cry
when I was reading her letters to her dead brother and Harper helps Rowan get
some of her life that disappeared along with her brother.
The fact that the book was set in England made me happy. It
was so much easier for me to relate to it, however after reading so many books
based in America it was weird getting used to it. But once I did I was excited.
The book is such a fast read that I finished it within a
couple of hours. It seemed so short, it felt like I turned the page and it was
over. I am so glad I read this book. The only reason why I’m not “in love” with
this book is only because the story was predictable in an unpredictable way. I
could kinda guess what might happen and sometimes I was right or just about
right but I still liked the little twists. I never saw the last twist however.
That shocked me.
Title: Thirteen Reasons Why Author: Jay Asher Release Date: October 18, 2007 Publisher: Razorbill Buy:Amazon
Goodreads Summary
You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret. . . is to press play.
Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.
Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-- and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.
All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town. . .
. . .and what he discovers changes his life forever.
Stop whatever you are doing right now. I don’t care if you
are drinking your tea or saving a kitten; stop right now and read what I have
to say about this amazing book… Okay everyone apart from those who are saving kittens stop; you guys can read
this after you save the little baby.
Oh my freaking lord did I love this book! I don’t know if
you’ve noticed but I’ve recently been looking for a book to break my heart and
jump around on it while laughing at me and even though I haven’t come across
such book after The Fault In Our Stars this little book was kind of near… It didn’t
rip my heart out, but it did shoot me with a lot of emotions.
So about the plot- Hannah commits suicide. But not before
recoding the reasons for this choice. There are exactly 13 reasons that made
her decide this is what she wanted to do. All the reasons link together and
Hanna describes that as the “Snowball effect” I love that by the way. It is
just so true! One thing starts something off like a rumour or a picture being
sent out and every time someone joins in on this and comments or takes it further
to hurt the person receiving the hate it creates a little snowball starting on
top and going down the hill picking up speed and collecting more snow creating
a much bigger snowball. Jay Asher was brilliant by adding this into his novel.
You never truly know what you cause some people. Even if you do not mean it to,
it can cause the sort of snowball effect for them by people making it worse and
gradually it’s something you can’t even stop. “You
don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with
one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part.
Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one
part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life.” -page 201. I love this quote! It’s just so true and so sad
and so beautiful- If this doesn’t persuade you to read this book I have no idea
what will.
Clay who received the shoe box of the cassettes listens
patiently blaming himself for not helping Hannah and not realising sooner that
she was having a problem and even considering ending her life. It’s so
heartbreakingly beautiful! Because even though there were rumours and things
being said behind Hannah’s back that may or may not have been true, Clay still
had feelings for her. I feel bad for the guy. He did nothing wrong and yet he
received a box full of cassettes with a dead girl talking to him telling him
exactly how everyone did her wrong and what they all did. Throughout the book,
he tortures himself listening to all the stories before him trying to work out exactly
how a nice guy like him fits into all this mess. And he genuinely is a nice
guy, he actually didn’t do anything wrong to anyone. By the end of the story
Clay is so remorseful and feels so guilty that it breaks my heart. If he only
knew how to reach out to Hannah and how to help her deal with everything before
she took her own life he would have.
The style of the book is done so well that I wanted to weep
before even reading the book. You get to read all of Hannah’s reasons and read
all of thoughts that rush through Clay’s head as to why this all happened.
The ending. I was shattered by this. There’s Clay walking
into school trying to hold himself together after understanding how someone
that he spoke to, that he knew, that he kissed took her own life. Now he faced
all the people that wronged her, all the reasons why she thought her life was
worthless and why she wanted it to stop. When all the hope was, gone Asher sprinkles
a spark of hope when Clay gives hope for us by hopefully saving a girl called
Skye from going down the same path as Hannah. The ending was such a great way
to say goodbye to a book that made me feel so many emotions towards a dead
character that it was nice having the thought of her stories helping out a fellow
character in need. That her death will not seem like a complete loss and she
could even help other.
Okay that was quite depressing. I’m sorry for those that
stuck around to read to the rest of the review (because obviously those who
have not finished my review are off buying this book) If you want a good fast
read and are not too afraid of feeing a lot of raw emotions at once then
seriously check this book out. I know I go on and on about how everyone should
read all the books, I love but this is something else.
Title: Saving June Author: Hannah Harrington Publisher: Harlequin Teen Date Published: May 11, 2011 Buy: Amazon
Goodreads Summary
Everyone’s sorry. But no one can explain why. Harper Scott’s older sister, June, took her own life a week before high school graduation, leaving Harper devastated. So when her divorcing parents decide to split up June’s ashes, Harper steals the urn and takes off cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going–California. Enter Jake Tolan, a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession…and an unknown connection to June. When he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanor and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what Harper needs. Except…Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn her life upside down–again.
I am not big on tragedy novels. It’s probably because they don’t always work out. They either become too unrealistic, or somehow the author forces the romance so it sucks the sadness of the book away. There needs to be a balance, where everything isn’t depressing but you get how the person is dealing with it. It’s there. The main character isn’t just forgetting the loved one and is making out with someone else. It doesn’t work that way. Most people are broken by stuff like this. I may have wanted Harper to scream at her dad at some point because he sucks. I think I even understand why June did what she did and it’s okay. The author kind of knits these things together, you see how much Harper loves June despite how she is always rude. I also like how Harper becomes a bit more open. It isn’t that all of a sudden she feels like pouring her feelings out. Or that she readily trusts Jake and thinks well hey he is hot, he knew her so he is going to understand. No. It’s a gradual process and I love her for it. I like how Harper deals with things. Yeah she has issues and she isn’t close to perfect but I like how even during the trip she doesn’t forget June while having fun.
I am glad I read this novel. I really am because it’s so different from other one’s I’ve read (not that that’s a lot.)
I keep on comparing this with In Honor and I see what went wrong with In Honor, that Harrington here managed to perfect. I think it’s all the relationships. You see how her friendship with her best friend works out. How she absolutely loves her best friend despite how different they are and how her best friend loves her as well. I love how her relationship with Jake is an gradual process. And how after discovering what he was hiding she doesn’t JUST forgive him. He made a mistake, mistakes cannot be easily forgotten. So when she DOES forgive him it doesn’t mean she isn’t angry it just means that she doesn’t want to not talk to him anymore. I love how realistic their relationship is.
I probably will read Speechless at some point and I really hope it’s as good as Saving June.
The Program bySuzanne Young Series: Program #1 Publisher: Simon Pulse Release Date: April 30, 2013 Buy: Amazon
Goodreads Summary
In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.
Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so confused about a book. One on hand I enjoyed it while on the other it goes against a lot of my opinions. The main reason I was able to enjoy this book at all without tearing all my hair out was because I did my homework and stalked the hell out of this book before reading it. The reviews told me what to expect and the ‘possible disappointments’.
It took me a while to get off my ass and to actually write this review. I took too many notes and seriously sorting through all of them is kind of hard. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much to say.
I’ll say what everyone else has said, do not expect this book to be a meaningful read about suicide. It’s not.
I think that was one of the things that really bugged me, this book made suicide seem like a disease that was contagious instead of showing it for what it actually is, a psychological issue. It disturbs me how these teenagers can commit suicide without a reason and without even thinking twice about it. Most of the time there aren’t wasn’t any reason (at least from what I gather). It’s what the main character says, one day a lot of teens started committing suicide.
To add to that our main character isn’t really suicidal so we only have second hand experience of what it must be like. See when I first found out about this book I thought we would have a main character who has to fight depression and fight the urge to give in and make the pain go away. So really we don’t see anything about suicide, it’s just (standing) there (in the corner), not really explored to the extent which it could be.
I usually avoid books that are about sensitive issues such as this one because I know it is very likely that the book won’t be able to capture the seriousness of the issue or do it justice and that is exactly what happened in this one.
Furthermore the dystopia really annoys me. I used to be a huge dystopia fan but with so many stories that read along the same lines I kind of just gave up. They make things seem so black and grey (this is of course a generalization, I’ve read dystopias that don’t do that), and that is exactly what this book does. The Program people are the bad guys and the teenagers are the good guys. What really disturbed me about this was how The Program ‘cures’ this kids of ‘suicide’. How can someone take such a serious thing and well mock it? I know I know it isn’t really mocking but how can you make people who are trying to cure this issue the bad guys? Of course I am not saying that The Program people are the good guys in anyway and that is exactly my point, how can people who are trying to accomplish something good be turned evil? To me it seems like they were bad for the sake of being bad and not because they actually had motives. These kids aren’t allowed to feel, they aren’t allowed to mourn for their friends, they are forced to bury all their feelings deep within, if that isn’t going to cause depression what is? And that is my point. How does The Program gain anything from erasing these kids’ memories for the sake of a cure?
The cure itself…umm I don’t get it. I don’t understand how a bunch of pills can take your memory away. I am sure in the distant future that would be possible but technically speaking, this book takes place 4 years from now (well 4 years from a time when things were normal which I am assuming to be our present). Things like that just don’t happen that soon, it takes years and further more I am not sure how it really cures depression in the first place.
I personally didn’t want to know about The Program and what happens in it. I wanted to know what was going on in the outside world and how people were being affected by this, the whole program part of the book? The only good thing about it was some of the memories about her and James. I didn’t want to see her losing bits of her memory bit by bit because well I value memories. They make you who you are.
The only relationship in this book I actually liked was her and James’ relationship. That was the saving grace of this book (well technically the whole first part of this book). I think their relationship is one of the best teenage romances I’ve encountered. You know they are in love and it’s actually believable because they don’t sit around making googly eyes at each other, they support each other and well you know they are teenagers so their relationship has a physical element to it as well.
I absolutely despise her parents (her mom in particular) and I hate the fact that I do. What is it with YA portraying parents the way it does? I actually share a rather good relationship with my mom so I guess maybe that’s one of the reasons I am so baffled. How can the mom not understand in the least what her daughter is going through, I know you’ve lost one child but how would stripping the remaining child of her identity be any better? It’s just sickening. Oh sure she is doing it for her daughter’s good but I personally believe that it’s totally selfish of the mother.
Our main character isn’t that bad except I thought she was too dependent on James in the beginning, I may have understood it but I felt horrible for James. He is so focused on trying to make sure that everyone else makes it through that he cannot focus on his own pain and I think that’s why he kind of just lost it.
Miller was a great character but we saw next to nothing of him. I thought the author was going to go somewhere with him but I was wrong. He committed suicide and that closed his chapter. I am sorry if I don’t believe his reason for doing that in the first place. You are an effing teenager, you do not know the meaning of true love, you cannot kill yourself over that, you have friends who love you, parents who love you. Why would you do that? And what more, HOW could you give up so soon? Seriously. If things can work for James and Sloane I am not sure things would have worked out for Miller eventually.
Realm. I don’t even know what to say about him. I didn’t care about him at all. I don’t even understand how he fell in love with her in the first place. Oh wait of course he did, she is the main character, why wouldn’t he? The world revolves around her does it not? Also he was kind of an ass so bleh I don’t care about him.
HIDDEN CONTENT HERE
I guess I make it sound like I hated this book but despite all my issues with it I cannot seem to hate it. It was an okay read and if you know what to expect when you dive in, then you won’t be disappointed and have the same issues as I did (and some other people as well).
The Sky Is Everywhere Jandy Nelson
