Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Book Review: Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira



Blurb:
"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. In a voice that’s as lyrical and as true as a favorite song, Ava Dellaira writes about one girl’s journey through life’s challenges with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty." - Ava Dellaira's Love Letters to the Dead


***
This is not my type of book. I knew it already as I read the blurb, but the title is so catchy so I decided to give it a try. 

I like how the author narrate the story through a letter-writing style. I thought I'll get bored, but yaaay, because I didn't.

This story kind of reminds me of Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower. Honestly, I enjoyed reading Love Letters to the Dead because of how it was narrated. But story-wise, Perks of Being a Wallflower is still better.

Character wise... I don't love Laurel, the protagonist, but I don't hate her either. Let's just say that she's okay. As for Sky, he is okay... at first. He's that mysterious guy most girls love in a fictional character. I just expected more from his character. But like they say, expectations lead to the disappointments. As for the other characters, they are relevant no matter how small their roles may be. They are not the type of characters which were put in a story just to add more characters. 

To be honest, I expected too much from this story. (You could put the blame on me.) I'm not disappointed at the outcome but I'm not amazed either. It lacks something. Maybe it lacks story about May or May's reason why she did what she did. I don't know.

Still, I enjoyed reading this book.


***
“Why are some things harder to lose than others?” “Because of love, of course. The more you love something, the harder it is to lose.” “I think it’s like when you lose something so close to you, it’s like losing yourself."

 "The universe is bigger than anything that can fit your mind.

 "You know when you think you know someone? More than anyone in the world? You know you know them, because you’ve seen them, like, for real. And then you reach out, and suddenly they are just.. gone. You thought you belonged together. You thought they were yours, but they’re not. You want to protect them, but you can’t."

 "I think a lot of people want to be something, but we are scared that if we try, we won’t be as good as everyone imagines we could be."

 “There are two most important things in the world – being in danger, and being saved.” “But if those are the two most important things, what about being in love?” “Why do you think that’s the most profound thing for a person? It’s both at once. When we are in love, we are both completely in danger and completely saved.”

Book Review: The Fill-in Boyfriend by Kasie West



Blurb:
When Gia Montgomery’s boyfriend Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she’d been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend – two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it’s not the real Bradley she’s thinking about but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn’t even know. But tracking him down doesn’t mean they’re done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor, and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend’s graduation party – three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her newfound relationship.


***
This will contain spoilers. You’ve been warned.

The Fill-in Boyfriend is the first book of Kasie West I’ve ever read and it won’t definitely be the last. It is a fun light read tackling love, friendship, family and one’s self. So yeah. You could say it’s an all-in-one story which highlights the romance part more.

Gia is the most popular girl in her school. With her clique, she’s considered by everyone as the leader but she doesn’t get along with everyone in her group. Jules, a member of her clique, is finding a way to bring her down because as she believes, she wants to take away her friends. Initially, I’m not very fond of Gia. She’s like a coward, selfish, whining brat. But as the story goes on, her character development is palpable. So I begin to like her after all.
 
On the other hand, I immediately liked fill-in Bradley’s character. He’s like this gentleman, humorous, kind guy you want to meet in real life. And I love the fact that he didn’t take advantage of their situation. He takes things slow so it’s a plus point.

As for the supporting characters, I have issues with them aside from Bec and her mom (I love them!) and Gia’s family. (His brother is so messed up but so is she so… I guess it’s fine.)

I’ll start with Jules. She was okay but when I found out her reason, I just thought that it’s too shallow. Then, Claire. Claire is Gia’s bestfriend that’s why I’m hoping more from her. But I ended up being disappointed. Then there’s this other friend whose name I forgot because her existence wasn’t that important. Honestly, she could be kicked out from the story and nothing will ever change.

And last but definitely not the least, Bradley. The real Bradley. Out of all the supporting characters, I was hoping more exposure for him. I was expecting he will enter the scene and complicate things because she wants Gia back, but he didn’t. He just popped out of nowhere and boom. The blurb is so misleading. I swear!

Despite my issues with the characters, I had fun reading the story as a whole. It even send me butterflies in my stomach which I last felt two years ago caused by Perkin’s Cricket. So, that’s it.
I recommend this book to some teens out there. It’s really a fun read.

***
  • “There are other fish in the sea. It’s a big ocean. Sometimes we need to catch and release a few before we find the keeper.” – Mr. Montgomery

  • “Everything is different now and it’s pointless trying to make it the same.” – Hayden

  • "We rarely find depth by looking inside of ourselves for it. Depth is found in what we can learn from the people and things around us. Everyone, everything, has a story, Gia. When you learn those stories, you learn experiences that fill you up, that expand your understanding. You add layers to your soul." - Olivia

Book Review: For One More Day by Mitch Albom


For One More Day is an inspirational book written by Mitch Albom. It tackles the story about a son and his deceased mother.




Basically, the story revolved around Charley “Chick” Benetto, a former baseball player. All his life he’s trying to chase his father’s love and baseball is the only thing that keeps them together. In doing so, he took for granted what was in front him - his wife Catherine, daughter Maria and especially his mother Posey. He wasn’t even around when his mother died. He’s playing baseball that time (but he told his family he’s working.) Because of guilt and shame, he became alcoholic. Ever since his mother died, everything fell apart. His family had financial issues (thanks to him), and eventually he and his wife separated. Even his relationship with his daughter has been damaged. (He wasn’t even invited to his daughter’s wedding!) Because of all those things, he decided to end his life. But the more he wants to die, the more death eludes him. And when he came to the point where he’s emotionally, mentally and physically injured, something happened. He saw his deceased mother. He was given a chance to spend a day with her. Then… things changed.

Honestly, I’ve read the book too many times already. And every time I’m reading it, I just can’t put it down. It’s like there’s a magnet pulling me in the story. It always amuses me no matter how many times I read it.

The timeline of the story moves back and forth between past and present, but that won’t confuse the readers. It’s actually better that way. In order to elaborate the story more, the author made the right decision to write it that way.

Posey Benetto represents the mothers out there. She showed in this story that a mother’s love is the greatest gift one could give to her child. Despite the disappointment, the betrayal, the pain, a mother will still and will always love her child.

On the other hand, Chick Benetto, the son, represents most of the children. Admit it or not, we all have this “Chick” inside us. There will come a point in our life where we’ll take our parents for granted. Sometimes we won’t realize the things they sacrificed just to give us the things we want.



I admire Chick for realizing his mistakes and taking an initiative to change his life and fix the damages he made. He may have made a lot of mistakes in life but what matters most is that he learned from it and he’s willing to change just so he won’t make the same mistake again.

It is also shown how one day could change a lot of things – one day with a person you love.
I’ve learned so many things in this story. But what strikes me most is that we shouldn’t waste time thinking that we still have so much of it. We have to make the people we love feel that they’re important – that we love them. Because time is a playful element. We’ll never know what will happen next.


***
This story is recommended to everyone. No matter how young or old are you, I’m sure you can relate to the story.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
2015 Ai Dangs. Powered by Blogger.