Review: Carry On

★★★★☆

I'm glad that I had the time and motivation to end my journey with Simon now.

I started Carry On in November and thought it was going to take make just a couple of days before I finished it. In reality it took me over two months!

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Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. Honestly, I don't even know how he got through his education to his last year. He can't do normal spells and then when something dangerous in going on, he just ''goes off''. In other words, explodes (and sets everything on fire). But there's something charming about Simon and his clumsiness. He doesn't think like an aristocrat or think he actually is the most valuable asset to the World of Mages.

Baz. I don't know what to say about him. He's awfully a handsome and a vampire. His mother was the headmistress before the Mage. He just is the opposite if Simon. When Simon doesn't know what to do, Baz knows. When Simon can't do something, Baz can. They're completing each other all the while they claim to hate and plot to destroy the other.

At the beginning I couldn't dive into the story, so to me it felt like it dragged a lot. Half way through the plot picked up pace and it started moving better. The last hundred pages were pure perfection. Things I thought would be real awkward in real life weren't on the paper and that just amazed me a lot.

But one thing is sure: the words that sum up the book perfectly are Carry On.

Review: The Here and Now

                              ★★☆☆☆

 Wow. I don't know where to start. Should I start with the good or the bad?

I'll start with what I did not like in The Here and Now.

1. No plot.
this book would've been a hundred pages long if there wouldn't be anything to fill the blank places. Yeah, no I know the names of some card games and how awkward the talk of sex that openly would actually be in real life.

2. What characters?
There definitely were characters, but I did not connect with them at all. Which makes me kind of sad, since without great characters the book can't be a great one. I can't even describe how they look like. All I know that the main couple had an insta-love and that's it. No real love nor the actual emotion could be felt.

3. Future or past?
I have to say that for the first hundred or so pages I couldn't say that was Prenna from the future or the past. Not before she said/thought it straightly; ''I'm from the future.'' It might be just because I was careless while reading and missed it earlier.

4. The ending.
Crap. I don't even want to talk about the ending. It was so subdued. No emotions just dumping all the characters and saying the end. Ugh.

What actually liked?

I likes that Ann Brashares had created a futuristic world where  everything was in a puddle of mud. And then the time travelers tried to fix it by changing the past. That made me think that the present day is also important, not just the future we work so hard towards.

What I'm confused of:

The date 17th of May 2014. It was traveled through the story nicely and everything was build around it. Still, I think that there was no real use of it. I could've been left out.

Now I'm starting to think that maybe I should've given this book only one star, but I liked the beginning, so I'm gonna stick to the two stars.

Review: Eleanor & Park

'''Because...' he said quietly, looking at his desk, 'because people want to remember what it's like to be young? And in love?'''

                       ★★★★★

Eleanor & Park gave me shivers from the very first page. The first page defines the mood to the book, and making me almost cry on the first page... Well, the only thing that was on my mind, was why? Why would the story lead up to that situation in the end? Could it still end differently or was it doomed to have a heart-breaking ending?

Eleanor is the new kid. She moved back to her mom and Step dad's place after her step dad had banished her a year earlier. Her step dad, Richie, is a total ass. The whole family is afraid of him and they have no freedom or money to do anything in their lives. Eleanor wears too old, too big and too noticeable clothes.
 Eleanor wants to be herself, not anyone else. Not even to share a resemblance with another person. And when she looks like someone else she gets really antsy and wants to run from the situation. I think that her anxiety and need to be her own person is because she hasn't ever been able to do anything to help herself, and not being able to make decisions of what you do in your life is horrible.
Another thing that at first look you couldn't believe of Eleanor. She is shy. Like, really, really shy. Although her clothes beg her to be noticed, inside she just wants to disappear. Many people who read Eleanor & Park might disagree with me, but to me Eleanor is shy.

Park is the kid whose mom is from Korea. He has a little brother and seemingly perfect, happy family life. Or at least to Eleanor his family is perfect. Park wears only black, reads comics, listens and mixes tapes. He tries to learn how to drive a stick-shift.
Park is not the popular guy, nor is he the hated guy. He's just the guy in between. Wanting to go unnoticed, living his own life. He has succeeded until some girl with red hair and freckles got in the school bus. Park tries to ignore Eleanor, but it's hard. Her looks just beg him to notice.
Park. How to describe Park? He tries to be nice to everyone, but he has a bad temper when somebody insults someone close to him.

Their journey together starts from the school bus, sharing comics and not talking at all. It ends also. The journey in between is full of growing, exploring and pain. They grew from the pain they found while they explored their pasts, presents and futures.

This book was not a happy book. So if you're looking for something light to read, then don't. This book contains so many emotions that sometimes I had to put it down and continue the next day. It's rough to read it, but in the end, you are glad you did.

Thank you again, Rainbow Rowell, for such an amazing book.

December Wrap-Up

2015 is over and it's time to start 2016, but first the books I read during December:

Yeah, three. I must say, I'm ashamed, but what can you do when you've got the world's worst reading slump?

And since it's January and the start of 2016 it's time to set your Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge goal! I set mine on 100, but if I'm really fast, I'll up it to 120. Only time will show that.