P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han – Review

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In order to write this review, there needs to be some background on my complicated relationship with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

I had heard of TABILB around, and when I heard it was being made into a Netflix movie, I immediately jumped at the chance to read it, I put it on hold at the library.

Fast forward to September, the movie is released, I am obsessed, I watched the movie over two days, slowly, making sure to enjoy it. I watched with quilts and tea, because the LJ way obviously. 

A perfect movie viewing experience. The book still hasn’t come in at the library. Now it’s early October and I am overloaded with books to read, I feel MONUMENTALLY stressed out, the book arrives at the library.

There were so many holds on it at that point that I had three weeks to read it, I skimmed it, skipping around in the novel. 

He was basically the jock, minus any features that distinguished him from the crowd, plus an ex girlfriend who just can’t let go.

Early November, I figured I would give the series another go, this time the second book, not wanting to go through the Peter vs Josh drama for the THIRD time. 

And, I must say, I LOVED IT!

This book has a new love interest, competing for Lara Jean’s affections, and John Ambrose McClaren, well, he was just the sweetest boy.

He was really everything I wanted Peter to be, he was sweet, kind, funny and smart. He had the tact around LJ after she and Peter broke up, and was unapologetically on her side, even when she and Peter were still together. 

On the actual novel itself, (more like my random thoughts and a rambling incoherent review) – 

I was glad that everything with Josh was over, I don’t know if I could have dealt with Josh being a main character again, I think having him as a side character worked better, and it made the book more enjoyable, not having to rehash events from the first book.

The Genevieve and Peter plotlines were a bit old, I’m tired of Genevieve STILL clinging on to Peter, even if it is just for emotional support, I think the way Lara Jean came to conclusions with that at the end of the book was really mature.

As one of the main storylines it did okay, it paved the way for the John, Peter and Lara Jean drama to go down. I think Genevieve is interesting, I would have been fine with her inclusion in the book. I didn’t like making her out to be the villain when she obviously has some stuff going on in her own life that’s really hard for her, and Peter has always been somebody for her to rely on, and it’s hard to cut those ties. Her constant manipulation of him was what was a huge problem. Emotional manipulation is never okay, and that was when her character started to go downhill.

The setting up of her father and Ms. Rothschild was sweet, it was a nice break from the high school drama of it all, and Kitty and her constant meddling was funny, that whole storyline was a breath of fresh air, in a story that would otherwise be stifled with hormones. 

Peter and Lara Jean. 

This was mixed for me. 

Peter, like I said before, just seems like a straight up high school jock, for me, really the only endearing thing about him for most of the book, was how much he loved Lara Jean. Everything else about him was a pass, he never seemed like anything special. And Lara Jean deserves the best, we know this.

In their relationship, it seemed like there were two constant extremes. There’s –  we love each so much extreme and oh my god you are the worst person I’ve ever encountered extreme. 

Peter has emotional highs and lows, either super indifferent or extreme anger. I love Lara Jean, and I relate to her hopeless romantic side, feeling all the feelings type of personality. And when reading the book, I really wanted her out of that relationship. 

It seemed toxic for her, emotionally. He has a super clingy ex girlfriend, who can’t let go, and she is soft person. She doesn’t want to push him, because she loves him, she wants to believe the best of him and she doesn’t want to fight. 

It felt as though she was being slowly stifled throughout the first half of the book. Lara Jean is sweet and loving, and she would never do anything to hurt him, but throughout most of the book, I was silently screaming at her to just tell him what she thought of him. I felt as though Peter was being a bit of a jackass, and that to him, having a relationship with Gen was no big deal, but what about her and John? 

Peter became a sullen teenage boy for the last half of the book, pulling away from her, and when she wouldn’t take the boy who treated her like garbage back, he was rude and sullen, to her and to John, who just happened to be there for Lara Jean.

And, at some point the book, just as he and Lara Jean and about to break up, she asks him, if she hadn’t come out to the hot tub and apologized, and Genevieve had been there, would he have kissed her? Peter’s answer, while honest, and I commend him on that front, was a simple – “I don’t know.” 

If you truly like her, or even love her, which at that point should’ve been given between them, you would have said, and meant it, that you wouldn’t have kissed her, you would never do that, just out of respect for Lara Jean. It just made everything that happened post hot tub questionable, does he really love her enough? 

I get that he was heartbroken over Lara Jean, and I haven’t read the book all the way through, and I don’t know all the background of the argument, but it just made Peter out to be even more of a player than he already appeared to be.

He said some sweet stuff at the end of the novel in the tree house, but i just feel like that relationship is slightly toxic for Lara Jean, or it was, we’ll see how the next book goes.

And, now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, (or I’ve been waiting to write). DUH DUH DUN.

John Ambrose McClaren.

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS TIME:

I liked him WAY WAY WAY more than Peter. 

Peter always seemed slightly oblivious to Lara Jean’s feelings, John was so tuned into how she was feeling and he was so kind and understanding after the breakup, not making a move, as any other teenage guy would have immediately done, because hormones. And, I mean, Lara Jean is a rockstar, saint and everything fantastic in between. 

John was a nice change up from Peter and Josh’s extremely heated and masculine debates in the first book, he wasn’t a jerk to Peter, only snapping at him once he made a move on Lara Jean post breakup. He had a nice vibe about him. The confidence and assuredness he carried wasn’t overly cocky and obnoxious as Peter’s, it was quiet and yet he seemed more confident than Peter.

Lara Jean and John’s relationship just seemed so wholesome, he seemed like he honestly cared about her, her feelings and what she wanted, he was always on her side, helping her and making sure she knew that she was great and that he supported her.

OVERALL OPINIONS – 

Peter K vs John Ambrose McClaren. 

John. 

Hopefully Peter will redeem himself slightly in the third book, maybeeeee…

I thought that this was solid YA romance, it read like a romantic comedy, all the characters were likable in their own ways and it was a breath of fresh air. 

I loved it, I mean, I stayed up past midnight over a romance, which never happens.

I love Lara Jean and her tendency to fall a bit in love with everybody, because I feel I do that too. She was so relatable as a character to me, that it is always fun to read a book from her perspective. 

All in all, I give this a solid 4.5 stars. I laughed, I yelled at the characters silently in my head and I adored it. 

EDIT FROM 2019 ME – THEY ANNOUNCED THE MOVIE ADAPTATION ON NETFLIX. I am ready. 

Mary Poppins Returns: Review

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What is the movie about?

It’s Mary Poppins, except she’s Emily Blunt now.

In more detailed terms, it has been twenty five years since the events of Mary Poppins have occurred, both Mr. and Mrs. Banks have passed away, and Michael, recently widowed with his three children, lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Jane is an activist (which was truly a highlight of the movie for me) and lives in a flat in London. And Ellen, now played by Julie Walters, still works for the family.

Soon after the start of the movie, we find out that Michael has mortgaged his house in order to pay for his wife’s medical bills, and can’t keep up with the payments required, the bank sends a notice, saying that if he cannot pay by a certain date, he and his family will be evicted and the residence seized. Then he and Jane discover that Mr. Banks had stocks in the bank and that could save the house.

Around this point, Mary Poppins arrives, she begins to take care of the children, taking them on some patented Mary Poppins adventures, one of which involves falling through the bathtub to a magical underwater world. I will not deny, that one, that one was a little weird.

We are introduced to Jack, who Lin Manuel Miranda portrays having a great sweetness and care about him, and his and Jane’s slow-burning romance throughout the movie was one of my favorite things about the movie.

Eventually, Jane and Michael go to the bank, and talk to the head of the bank, who also happens to be Colin Firth, he promises to help them track down the official certification for the stocks, Jane and Michael leave, and then he turns out to be evil, burning the proof of stocks that he didn’t show them. Because the system is corrupt, and the Mary Poppins franchise KNOWS it.

The children go on adventure, reminiscent of the horse race escapade in the first movie, however this is a music hall and it’s on their mother’s old vase. They end up at the music hall, watch an above average musical number by Mary Poppins and Jack, and then the youngest, Georgie, gets kidnapped by some of the animals who work at the music hall. There is a strangely dark chase scene and they end up escaping unscathed, if a bit emotionally scarred.

Then Meryl Streep is in the movie for 5 minutes, has an average musical number. We return to the actual movie, because that scene feels like a complete brag on how they can have anybody they want in the movie and get them to dye their hair red.

The children end up finding out that the wolf who tried to kidnap their brother is, in fact Colin Firth, and they are disregarded and yelled at by their father. You know it wouldn’t be Mary Poppins without some parent-child friction. They are in process of moving everything out of their house and it is discovered that what Georgie used to patch up the kite (that was actually the one from the first movie) he found, was the certification.

They race to the bank, enlisting the help of Jack and his squad of everything men, who turn Big Ben back, allowing them to have more time. A climatic sequence of events happen, which end in Dick Van Dyke emerging, declaring himself Colin Firth’s uncle and the true owner of the bank. And he has quite the beard.

Everything works out for the better, and the movie ends with them holding magical balloons and flying into the air for a musical number, Mary Poppins leaves with her usual secrecy, and we cut to end credits.

So, was it any good?

Remember, I am a highly cynical person, however, that rarely applies when it comes to childhood nostalgia. I do love watching movies that I loved as a kid, and I will always be soft for them. I will admit that I did melt a bit for this movie.

I thought that they captured the spirit of Mary Poppins relatively well in the movie. It will never truly live up to the original, simply because of Julie Andrews, and how immortal and untouchable her portrayal of Mary Poppins has become. Emily Blunt did do an excellent job, and I think the movie excelled in large part due to her performance. The one and only critique I have is that when Julie Andrews was playing Mary Poppins, she was able to juggle several emotions at once, she could be stern and severe, but have a loving and caring air at the same time, and that was super unique, and I have yet to see somebody who pulls off that as effortlessly.

The soundtrack was good, there were two songs on there that I would listen to again, (A Cover is Not the Book and Trip A Little Light Fantastic), but the rest fell flat for me, I don’t remember any of the other songs and none of the tunes stick in my head, so while good, the soundtrack was easily forgettable.

I thought the movie was enjoyable, a worthy sequel. I believe that if movie studios keep pulling out reboots and sequels at the rate they are now, they need to be as good quality as this, AT LEAST.

Mary Poppins Returns may begin to stand as the golden standard of reboots/sequels, and I see myself being fine with that. The movie was excellent and worthy of the praise it received.

My opinions –

This is is my FAVORITE part.

Because the amount of opinions I have for this movie are many, I’m going to do this bullet point form, because otherwise it’ll be a mess –

  • I thought that having Meryl Streep and Colin Firth in the movie was just a flex, they wanted some big names that they didn’t need in the mix and it felt like they were trying to boost the big name aspect of the whole cast, which felt unnecessary. Neither one of them brought anything important or different to movie. They could have found somebody much better than Colin Firth to play the bad guy. It felt very much like a Hugh Grant in Paddington 2 situation, great actors, but don’t have them in these roles, it doesn’t suit them and it doesn’t feel like a good performance.

 

  • I thought that performance wise, Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda knocked it out of the park, they both pulled off their characters with lots of charm and great singing, their chemistry was fantastic, the characters had great respect for each other and they had a friendship that really brought that whole relationship to another level. One that Mary and Bert never seemed to be able to reach, simply because it seemed like there might be something romantic there, but I found that the pure friendship between Mary and Jack was all the better for lack of romance.

 

  • I felt that Mary Poppins was very about the children, the movie was about Jane and Michael, and their family to an extent, but it felt centered on the two of them. In this movie, the children felt a bit shunted to the side when they were with Mary, it was completely about Mary Poppins and when they were with the adults, it was very much about the problems that the adults were facing, they didn’t feel like the heart of the movie, they were there to accompany Mary Poppins, who was the true star of the movie.

 

  • I loved Julie Walters as Ellen, even simply as a background character, she has the sweetest vibe about her, and whenever she appears I feel so happy, she deserves much more recognition than she’s getting, and I think casting her was a smart move.

Conclusion –

An excellent movie, that proved itself to be a worthy sequel/addition to the Mary Poppins franchise.

I truly believe that this movie can be summed up in a single sentence –

Mary Poppins Returns.

Bohemian Rhapsody Review –

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I wasn’t planning on going to see Bohemian Rhapsody, it was released on November 2nd and I am writing this on December 2nd.

The showings were starting to wind down, only one or two a day, I had no free time coming up to winter break. Somehow I found time to write this.

As it happens, my best friend chose this for her birthday movie trip, and I HAD wanted to see it.

I went into not knowing what to expect. I had watched a YouTube video or two on the movie, movie review, criticism, nothing with anything concrete about the movie.

I LOVED it.

I’ve always loved Queen, my dad has been playing their music for as long I can remember, I have always loved Bohemian Rhapsody especially. Therefore, you can imagine me in the theatre, freaking out whenever my favorite songs started playing.

I never knew about Mercury’s Persian heritage. It was really surprising watching the movie, I had been hearing Bismillah in Bohemian Rhapsody, I knew it was there. I didn’t know it had any sort of significance to Mercury himself, and it was really nice to see Freddie’s background captured a bit in that song, and in the movie.

Rami Malek’s performance was fantastic, it was utterly captivating. I knew he was a superstar when I saw him in Night at the Museum. He did a great job at capturing the journey of Freddie Mercury throughout his life. I hope that he nabs an Oscar nomination for this role, at least he has a much deserved Golden Globe nomination .

* a note from March 2019 me *

AHEM.

I knew it.

A BAFTA, GOLDEN GLOBE AND AN ACADEMY AWARD.

I know talent when I see it.

* end of note from March 2019 me *

Also, he was in the Legend of Korra, so I am officially a fan.

Now, I have covered the good stuff, let us get into the fact checking.

I did some various research on the basic facts and then went a little deeper –

The biggest thing that discredits, oh, the last twenty minutes of the movie, was that Freddie didn’t test HIV positive until somewhere between 1986-87. Live Aid took place on July 13th 1985. So when rehearsals for Live Aid were happening, he would have no idea that he had HIV, and therefore no heartfelt scene with the band.

I get that they wanted to make that scene a conclusive and heartfelt scene for the movie, but they did move some important dates in Mercury’s life around, just for a better ending to a biopic about him and his life.

Another thing to point out about the whole Live Aid ending.

Live Aid wasn’t a reunion, the whole band was burnt out, took a break in early 1983, and started work on their new album late that same year, then went on tour, the last show being a mere two months before Live Aid.

Then, I went into Freddie and the rest of band’s relationship, also his band member’s influence on the movie.

Freddie Mercury has died. His band mates are still alive. The dead don’t get to tell their side of the story, they can’t, the living can.

I did some background research on how Queen formed. Roger Taylor, (the drummer) met Brian May (lead guitar) and Time Staffel (lead singer for the band at the time) and the three of them formed Smile, which consequently broke up when Staffel decided to join the band Humpy Bong (which is the band’s real name, I am not joking).

Mercury knew Staffell, as they went to same college and he tended to hang around with the band in their free time, and became a fan.

When Staffell left the band, Mercury joined, and consequently Queen was born.

The members of Queen are some of the people who were closest to Mercury, some of the people who knew the most intimately and honestly, spent countless hours of time with him, knew maybe the most about him.

All this to say, they came out of this movie looking like angels, like beautiful angels who had to deal with this guy, who was a genius, but also kind of a screw up.

I feel it’s important to mention, that when Freddie says he wants to go solo about halfway through the movie, that he was being held back by the band members, Roger Taylor and Brian May had their own solo albums and EP out at the time.

Taylor had released his albums, Fun in Space in 1981 and then Strange Frontier in 1984. May had released his first solo EP, Star Fleet Project in 1983. Freddie himself, released his only solo album Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 when Queen was on hiatus from recording.

John Deacon, is the only former member of Queen who hasn’t released a solo EP or album, he was the most upset by Freddie’s death, he only played with Queen live three times post Freddie’s death, his last performance with Queen, was a live show with Elton John. He is on the record stating – “I’ve been trying to get Queen out of my system, I know that probably doesn’t sound very nice, but in a way it’s unhealthy to be just clinging to the past.”

Brian May has since stated that John Deacon is still involved on the business side of things, preferring to stay out of the spotlight.

Brian May and Roger Taylor are executive music producers on the movie.

Not executive producers, but still, they were high up in the making of the movie, probably included in the important discussions and decisions. They were also probably consulted on some finer details of the film.

Jim Beach. Miami (if you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about). The longtime manager of Queen and the individual members of said band, is a producer of the movie. As well as Robert de Niro, but that isn’t the point.

The manager of Queen, who still looks after the image and the well-being of the band, is a producer, he is literally in charge of them looking good, and it’s a complete coincidence that the current members of Queen come out looking all shiny? I don’t think so.

And then, I was scrolling through IMDb looking for some familiar names, when I came across the production companies –

The company credits. Under Production CO. We have – GK Films, New Regency Pictures, and Queen Films Ltd.

Queen Films Ltd. They have released many of the official Queen recordings, and the active directors include, you guessed it – Brian May and Roger Taylor, formerly John Deacon, but he retired from his directorship in 2016.

The men who came out of this film looking shiny and angelic, also happen to run one of the production companies that funded the biopic.

We see Freddie Mercury through other people’s eyes, this movie is what is on tape, TV, radio and what resides in the memories of other people, who knew him well, or thought they did.

Without Mercury here, we can’t go into his personal life, everybody who knew him will say different things, because people show certain sides of themselves to different people they feel comfortable with, there is no way to make something so personal without the man himself.

And this movie is described as a biopic, Merriam and Webster define biopic as literally a  – biographical movie. Which is still a movie.

So, when we talk about creative license when it comes to this movie, how far we willing to take the term?

This movie was supposed to be a biopic of Freddie Mercury, and Queen to an extent.

How accurate can we say this movie is? His former band members have a ridiculous amount of power of their images in the movie, as well as a lot of pull of the way Freddie is portrayed, and without Freddie Mercury himself, how accurate can this movie truly be?

This movie is a surface level depiction of Freddie Mercury, as an entertainer and showman, not as a man.

I did enjoy the movie. The movie’s dialogue and pace was fast, there is no denying that, but I like it, the pace suits the story of Queen, never stopping and legendary.

The soundtrack is of course going to be FANTASTIC.

I wanted to do some research on this movie, see how truthful it truly was, and how deep it went into Freddie and his life. This movie brings up the truly important question of creative license, how far can be justified and how far can it go?

When I Realized That Han Solo is the Absolute Worst –

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I love Star Wars. I always have, probably always will.

Although, after rewatching the movies, my affection is waning.

And Han Solo is one of my favorite characters.

Actually, BREAKING NEWS!

He WAS one of my favorite characters.

I’ve sure, at some point in your life, even if you’re a teenager, you think back to something you loved as a kid, and still love with that sense of nostalgia.

Then you watch it or read it, and realize how bad it is, what bad quality and you wonder how you could loved it so much.

Or you are met with the infinitely more disappointing other option.

That what you loved, in this case, a character, was awful, inappropriate and wasn’t a good role model in any sense.

That’s how I felt when rewatching Star Wars.

I have experienced this previously, most notably when I looked back at Rory in Gilmore Girls, who I looked up to SO MUCH, and realized what a brat she was.

In this case, I was sitting in the basement with my tea, with my family, watching the movie, being slightly bored, waiting for Han to enter the story.  

He appears on the screen, flooding the room with a unique kind of nostalgia that only certain things or characters bring, and Harrison Ford, as Han Solo or Indiana Jones, always has that vibe.

Everything is going relatively smoothly, until Han and Leia start interacting.

And oh boy, the problems were obvious from the first moment.

Throughout the three original movies, Han talks to Leia as though she is an idiot, telling her to do this and that, yelling at her when she doesn’t do something perfectly right, calling her “princess” and “your majesty” in degrading tones.

He has no respect for Leia, she is a general,  respected woman, and, to boot, a fantastic woman, who knows her own worth.

Except when it comes to relationships apparently.

You could say that he calls her “princess” and “your majesty” because he doesn’t like authority, and this is what he does when confronted with somebody who is considered above him.

Which Leia is, because she is ten times the person he’ll ever be.

But it shows a lack of confidence in Han, that he has to resort to degrading people who are comfortable in themselves, because he feels intimidating.

This isn’t where this ends, OH YES.

He’s so much worse than you remember.

Han is constantly grabbing Leia in the movie, her arm, pushing her, pulling her places, there is constant physical contact there that Leia doesn’t want, and brings up serious issues of consent.

And MAYBE, at the time it would have seemed fine, the scruffy underdog saving the princess, and he has to manhandle her a bit to save her.

However, I now know why they call it manhandling.

I know I’m using the word respect or disrespectful in this post, I honestly do not how to describe the complete and utter lack of basic regard, courtesy and RESPECT.

Leia is treated pretty horribly by Han, that relationship is toxic for Leia because she is lacking the love, respect and compatibility that a healthy partnership requires.

And finally, a scene in the movie, that disgusted me, officially made me dislike Han and brought up even more serious consent issues.

The Empire Strikes Back.

The best movie of the Star Wars series.

I don’t know about that.

Han, Leia, Chewy and C3PO have just escaped Darth Vader and the Empire’s attack on Hoth, and there are numerous repairs to be done around the ship. Leia is fixing something, (we have no idea what she’s fixing, but she’s in a cramped room).

And Han comes into said cramped room.

I don’t even want to write about this, in all honesty, it makes me sick, and trying to find a way to depict it and not feel ill, is hard.

The video exists somewhere on Youtube, watch it if you feel the need to know what I’m writing, and feel free not too, it can be triggering, and in itself is a disgusting, repulsive thing to watch.

No means no.

No will ALWAYS mean no.

Always.

This brings up EVEN MORE serious issues of consent in the Star Wars franchise.

Leia was disrespected in one of the most abhorrent ways possible. What she wanted, or in this case what she DIDN’T want, was pushed to side for Han’s disgusting, male need to be in power and have some sort of repulsive hold over her.

Han saw he had the upper hand in the situation, and in that moment he became a special kind of monster.

Here, I realized the name of this post should actually – When I realized Han Solo was a sexist, misogynistic, womanizing asshole.

 

The Selection by Kiera Cass – A review, but really a RANT

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I don’t even know why I picked up this book.

I don’t know.

That was my thought process while reading this book.

I knew I wouldn’t like this book, I knew from the moment I saw the reviews on Goodreads, I knew it when I put it on hold at the library, when I picked it up from the library and when I started reading it.

There were many many many things I didn’t like about this book, a countless number, but I am going to try and cover them all in the shortest blog post a book like this will allow.

The moment I started reading this book, I made a note.

My first note on this novel was – What kind of name is America?

HER NAME IS AMERICA SINGER.

America Singer.

And her talent is singing.

The sheer unoriginality of the name is sigh inducing, but when you think about how her last name is Singer and she sings for a living. you want to bash your head into a wall.

America Singer.

MOVING ON.

America and Aspen’s relationship is toxic.

Not even talking about the fact that his NAME IS ASPEN. Maybe that’s a popular name in whatever era this book is set it in, which we never find out by the way, it’s in the future, and that’s enough apparently.

Aspen is jerk, he treats America terribly and doesn’t know the meaning of a relationship. He lets his fragile male ego come between him and and his, apparently, true love, even though they are what? Seventeen?

Your girlfriend provides food for you because you are slowly going hungry and your first reaction is anger? You’re angry that your girlfriend is a strong independent woman who can provide income for you both?

I was hoping that in the future that we wouldn’t still have firmly held gender ideals, apparently it must get WORSE.

Aspen is an insulting character, he is trying to be the boy she left behind, her first love.

He comes off as that guy who is clingy, won’t let go and treats you like crap when he’s with you.

Reverting back to the review this is trying to be –  

I was disappointed in the setting and world building. In the future, going back to arranged marriage that is almost mandatory for the lower classes, so that they have a chance to become royals, is really backwards. I want background, what happened so that we were like, the good ol’ days, the sixteen hundreds, let’s do that again!

The world building is shoddy, and the names and labels for everything aren’t that much better. Early in the book, you learn about class systems, (they are ranked by numbers, I don’t think it gets more cookie cutter dystopian than that). And that our characters live in a country called Illea. Halfway through the book, the girls in the Selection have a history lesson, (because world building can’t be done any other way) and we get the bare bones of what we need not be supremely confused for the rest of the novel.

Apparently, sometime in the future, China invades all of North America, and renames it: The United State of China.

*screams*

Yes. The United State of China, and then Russia invaded and then the people of the former United State of China rebelled and renamed it Illea.

*screams into pillow because she’s been told to stop screaming*

So.

Yeah.

The world building is world building you would do in NaNoWriMo, then go back later and look at it and go: no, no, just, just no.

At the beginning of the book, everybody is telling America how beautiful she is, and how the prince is sure to choose her, when America suddenly decides to do an aside, and basically whines about how everybody should stop talking about her as though her beauty is the only thing that is important.

BUT THIS IS THE DYSTOPIAN VERSION OF THE BACHELORETTE.

Does she see anybody who isn’t drop dead beautiful? See? I thought so. It was a cringe worthy naive moment, that really irked me.

I was hoping there would be some strong female relationships in this book. Everything about this screams girls vs girls vying for a guy. I was hoping SO MUCH that this book would pull out some seriously great female friendships.

There were some friendships in this book, America’s relationship with her maids for example, which were really endearing, and made me like America a TINY bit. And she and Marleene, but we know that if they get down to the top two they would turn on each other.

The female friendships in this book were lacking, they are all there to woo the same guy, and the hope of them casting that aside to be close and not bitter enemies was futile in the first hundred pages.

And then there are REBELS. Because it’s a dystopian novel, and it won’t qualify without a rebel resistance.

The rebels come as a completely unexpected and not at all welcome plot point, it seems as though Kiera Cass is trying to give the book other plotlines, besides the Selection. But countless rebel attacks while they hide in a safe house, that doesn’t really qualify. The rebels were just thrown in as an effort to dispel the romantic focus, as if to say WE HAVE OTHER STUFF TOO!

In my opinion, Cass should have stuck to the Selection, and then if she ever wanted to write another series, have the rebels come after America and Maxon get married (because they are going to get married, it’s painfully obvious) and have the newlyweds deal with that, testing them.

I am not pitching anything. I am not endorsing this idea. But if this becomes a reality, I want to EDIT it.

The addition of a resistance was confusing, it made me want to scream. The author can’t decide what she wants to write, the addition of the rebels was sloppy, an afterthought, when they should have been the focus in another series in the same world. The two plotlines don’t work in the same series, and maybe if it was written better, I wouldn’t mind.

But we’re stuck with this.

And now, let’s turn to a subject in this book that vies with everything else for thing that irritated me the most – Feminism in this book.

The girls are fighting each other for the prince’s affections, (but they can’t fight physically, no, seriously, it’s a no no in the rule book for the Selection girls).

In spite of the whole look, feel and synopsis, I was hoping for some kick ass female characters, and America was trying to be a badass.

She didn’t succeed.

There was one point in the novel, she had just arrived at the palace, and she was having a freak out because she wanted to BE WITH PLANTS AND NATURE. But her balcony had bars on it, and apparently that isn’t good, she needs to BE FREE.

Like Dobby.

Then, our fearless heroine runs through the palace, which is frequented by rebel attacks, and arrives at a CAGED garden in the middle of the main courtyard, and begs the guards to let her in, the guards say no, because they are doing their job.

Then she promptly falls in one of the guard’s arms and practically FAINTS. Then the prince comes and makes the guards open the doors. And then she races inside and gulps in the fresh air she couldn’t get from her balcony.

How this an example of the lack of feminism?

Let me explain.

She can’t get fresh air from the balcony, and has to run through the palace in her SEE THROUGH nightgown, then almost but not quite faints in a guard’s arms. Then the prince saves her.

It’s supposed to be a swoon moment. But it’s when you realize how not feminist the book is.

The whole book is America trying to be badass, but really sulking and being a brat when things don’t go her way, she was flat out annoying and disappointing character.

The women in the book didn’t support each other, or even have any affection for one another, they were backstabbing, cruel and vicious to their fellow women.

All for a guy.

The lack of feminism was a let down, but not surprising.

The editing in the book was also terrible.

At one point America notices that she’s the only 5 left in the room (eight is the lowest, don’t know why the author stopped at eight, and one is the highest, ones are members of the royal family). America wonders if Maxon knows if she’s a five. BUT SHE HAD TOLD HIM THE NIGHT BEFORE THAT SHE WAS A FIVE.

At the end of the book, thirteen girls are just sent home, we are given no explanation and then America says she is now part of the Elite.

WHAT?

Any editor would have caught mistakes like this, I read this book in about forty eight hours and I am a teen girl. A person who edits novels for a living  should have caught this.

Before I go back to ranting about this book incessantly, I just have praise one thing, the only thing that kept me reading this book despite the pounding headache I could feel inching towards me with every page read.

That thing is Maxon.

Maxon was the only reason I kept reading. He was sweet, caring and funny, and was the only redeemable character, he made America more likable when they were together, if that is even possible.

He put in a hunger prevention program because America said she and her family were constantly hungry. He is the best.

My only qualm about him was that he had to exist in a series that I will likely not continue.

To wrap up this completely coherent review  let’s talk about Aspen and America, and his untimely, annoying, irritating, throw the book across the room inducing return.

Aspen is a useless character, he serves no purpose other than to be weak rival to Maxon, Maxon and America are going to end up together. The PLOT of the book gives that away. Aspen has no value SO WHY THE HELL is he sticking around?

So that America can reject him, apparently.

He returns to see Maxon and America getting along like a house on fire, and he is picked to guard America’s DOOR.

Around the clock.

Can you see where this is going?

Because I wanted to hurl the book across the room.

Another love interest? Fine, I am down for a competing love interest. BUT ANYBODY BUT ASPEN.

He shows up, being all concerned, and then, of course, sneaks into her room when he’s off guard duty.

The first night he sneaks in (that right people, there’s a more than once) they ak-may out-yay, and then he leaves before they can talk about him being a major jerk, because if the head guard discovers him making out with one of the girls who is competing for the prince’s eternal affection, he would be killed.

Now, the thing about the make out scene, it didn’t seem consensual. However, it could be the bad writing.

When reading it, Aspen just comes in and starts kissing her. There was no – “I broke your heart, and you thought I was with another girl the week after we broke up because I was holding her like we were, which I shouldn’t have been, and now you’re trying to win the Prince’s heart and we could both be killed for me even being in here. But I am so sorry for hurting you, and I love you so much.”

Nope. None of that. He just starts kissing her. He doesn’t ask for her permission, he just starts kissing her, and she never gave any sign that she wanted to be kissed, she probably wanted to, y’know TALK.

The scene didn’t appear consensual, and that was one of the biggest problems of the book for me.

The second night, America has decided on which guy she preferred (she can’t decide who she loves, because that’s asking too much in just the first book).

So she kisses Maxon (technically for the second time), and then breaks up with Aspen when he sneaks into her room, even though they were never together.

And then the book ended and my pounding headache gradually subsided.

MY EXTREMELY OBVIOUS CONCLUSION –

I highly disliked this book.

It doesn’t warrant the highly avoided spot on my I HATED THIS BOOK WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING shelf, because I did finish it, which does say very little, because I finish most of the books I start.

I’ll settle for a strong dislike. There was barely anything redeemable about the plot, characters, world. Maxon was sweet, and that is where my praise for the book ends.  

The Selection is based purely on taste.

If you’re somebody who enjoys fluffy romance that you don’t have to think about, this might be a good read for you.

But if you’re somebody like me, who takes notes and reads every book, even if it’s just for fun, a bit critically, then this book just falls apart.

It falls apart anyway.

But you might be willing to overlook that.

Can’t Wait Movies of 2019 –

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This is a list of movies being widely commercially released this year, this doesn’t include indie movies or anything comes around award season, I’m writing another list for those. These are more superhero movies and action movies 🙂

What Men Want (RD – Feb 8th) –

A feminist remake of the 2000 misogynist movie starring Mel Gibson? Where Taraji P. Henson uses her newfound ability to take down the sexist men at her workplace?

SIGN. ME. UP.

Captain Marvel (RD – March 8th) –

Brie Larson is badass and this is going to be fantastic, and it’s about time a female Marvel superhero had her own movie.

And I am seeing this AT LEAST once.

Shazam! (RD – April 5th) –

I am unreasonably excited for this movie.

For the longest time it seemed as though it was too much to ask for there to be a DC movie that wasn’t depressingly morbid.

BUT MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED.

Hellboy (RD – April 12th) –

Hopper? Why are you red? And you have HORNS?

Avengers: Endgame (RD – April 26th) –

I would put a spoiler warning at the beginning of this paragraph, but if you haven’t seen this movie you are dead to me.

EVERYBODY IS DEAD AND I AM RECONSIDERING EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER BELIEVED IN LIFE.

And Cap doesn’t have a beard anymore.

Everything truly IS lost.

Detective Pikachu (May 10th) –

In this case, it’s can’t wait for it to be OVER.

I have no need to go see Ryan Reynolds play Pikachu for however long this movie lasts.

But my sister is making me go with her, as she came with me to see Burn the Stage: Seoul, so that way I could avoid my father coming with me.

DETECTIVE PIKACHU HERE I COME.

Men in Black: International (RD – June 14th) –

A Men in Black remake starring THE Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth.

JUST TAKE MY MONEY NOW.

Toy Story 4 (RD – June 21st) –

To be honest, going to see this film is less because I feel the need to how these suddenly animated, previously unanimated toys lives play out, it’s mostly a childhood nostalgia.

It feels similar to how going to see Mary Poppins Returns was, where it was more to get a sense of what it was like to see those movies as a kid.

And also to judge it.

HARSHLY.

Spiderman: Far From Home (RD – July 5th) –

SPIDERMAN.

YOU’RE ALIVE.

Spoilers for Endgame, jeez.

The Lion King (RD – July 19th) –

My family will know that I have a strange habit of randomly, in situations that do not require it, sing the AH ZABENYA song.

These situations include: when making breakfast, when people are arguing to defuse tension and when I don’t want to answer a question.

I have a duty to go and see this. It would be the biggest regret I will ever have if I didn’t.

And I have to go see it in IMAX. #notsponsered

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (RD – July 26th) –

So this looks fascinating.

Besides the fact that Brad Pitt is in it. (I have something against Brad Pitt, I don’t even really know what it is, it might have been those frosted tips in the early 2000’s

*shudders*

Now I just need somebody to go and see it with me. Which won’t be easy. The rest of my family also has something against Brad Pitt.

Must be genetic.

The Goldfinch (RD – Oct 11th) –

I will probably be thinking “MIKKKKKKKEEEEEE” the whole time I’m watching this.

But this gives me a solid deadline to actually read the Goldfinch, and it does come out the day before my birthday….

Now I know what I’m dragging my family to see!

Charlie’s Angels (RD – Nov 1st) –

BELLA,

Sorry, wrong franchise.

PETER.

Wrong franchise again.

FINNICK.

WRONG AGAIN DAMMIT.

Jumanji 2 (RD – Dec 13th) –

I don’t know why this is here.

I thought the first one was funny?

*shrugs with no taste*

Star Wars: Episode IX (RD – Dec 20th) –

Even after all the research and analysis of SW I did back in January, I am still all in for the new trilogy.

Possibly even more in, after rewatching the first six.

PLUS WHO ARE REY’S PARENTS? WE WOULDN’T HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM ENDLESSLY FOR TWO MOVIES OVER THE SPAN OF 4 HOURS AND 48 MINUTES IF IT WASN’T IMPORTANT.

If Rey and Kylo turn out to be related, I’m going to flip my lid.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han – Review:

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The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy and I have a long and fraught history, filled with highs and lows, the fantastic and the terribly ugly, Peter K vs everything that constitutes a healthy and loving relationship.

I am here to detail my final stop in the trilogy. That is if we aren’t counting the movies that are coming out on Netflix, (which I am totally going to review).

And Always and Forever, Lara Jean was a ride, believe me.

First up, THE CHARACTERS –

Lara Jean was as charming as ever, pulling out an impressive amount of Hamilton references and being 10x more mature than anybody else in the novel. However, in this installment of the series, LJ was a complete pushover. And that isn’t to say that she wasn’t in the other books, because she always was a LITTLE bit, but not enough to seriously annoy me.

Most of this book concerned her and Peter’s relationship, which had been front in center in the other books, but never without it’s obstacles. A.K.A, the entire relationship being fake and JOHN AMBROSE MCCLAREN. And when seeing the relationship and their roles in it in without anything to shake it up, Lara Jean’s behaviour when it came to Peter was disturbing.

She is constantly forgiving him for being a jerk (“I don’t want to be mad. I just want things to go back to how they were before.”) and not expecting anything (“That’s okay I didn’t expect anything.”)

Maybe the worst of all, she spends most of the novel planning her life choices around Peter:

“You mean you and Peter have a plan. That’s why you’re holding back.”

“Okay, Peter and I have a plan. But it’s not the only reason.”

“But it’s the main one.”

All this for a relationship, even she at some point realizes is likely not going to last –

“I can see the future, Peter. That way lies heartbreak. I won’t do it.  Better to part while we can still see each other in a certain way.”

Lara Jean takes a majority of the blame for anything that disrupts or causes trouble in their relationship, even if Peter was the sole cause of it. Peter is blameless and free of fault in the relationship and I do attribute most of the problems to Peter Kavinsky himself for being so terrible.

That brings us to Mr. Peter Kavinsky himself.

Lara Jean’s and his relationship is a whole other story, but Peter as a person has some major problems of his own. He must have some sort of anger management issues, he takes his anxiety and worries out on Lara Jean, while being thoroughly insecure about their relationship constantly.

However Lara Jean, who, unlike the first two books, seems to be secure and comfortable in her and Peter, (utterly refreshing by the way). Peter’s insecurity brought out some emotion that we never saw in Peter before and having a main male character be that vulnerable was the only upside to his character in this installment.

Taking on the Covey-Song clan as a whole, including Trina. LJ’s dad, Trina and Kitty were all written to perfection in the book, Kitty comes across as more mature and has considerably more time on page in this book which was a gift. Trina was the character you honestly didn’t know the series was missing, she adds the older, carefree, motherly type to novel, which adds really nicely into the Covey-Song family. LJ’s dad is still the sensible parental aspect and is always good for some comic relief.

Margot.

Margot drives me insane. She can’t seem to get behind the fact that her father is getting remarried, takes it out on Lara Jean and is patronizing and exasperated for the entire novel.

In this installation, there isn’t really anything else to say. Chris, Lucas and all the side characters are fine, you see a bit more of Chris, besides her convincing Lara Jean to go UNC, there was nothing that made me like her character more.

John Ambrose McClaren makes a few appearances in the novel, all of them much too short in my opinion. He shows up, once just talking to Lara Jean, and then a second time at Peter’s beach house during beach week, with his girlfriend Dipti, somehow making Peter jealous and that resulted in Peter and Lara Jean having a fight.

Apparently John Ambrose showing up and not going along with Peter when he teases him, results in LJ and Peter getting into a fight.

Makes you think about Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship.

Speaking of Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship, let’s talk about that.

Lara Jean and Peter are the main couple in the novel, the WHOLE series is about them and the trials and tribulations of their relationship.

I WOULD enjoy a sitcomy romantic trilogy.

If their relationship wasn’t a disaster waiting to happen.

LJ and Peter seem to be in a constant state of insecurity, in one book Lara Jean is insecure, then Peter is insecure, and then they break up or fight incessantly until the novel ends.

The people in the relationship aren’t the problem (I have a PERSONAL problem with Peter Kavinsky), it’s the way they function as a unit.

Peter and LJ can’t go two months without one feeling jealous or worried over what the other is doing. They both seem to have trust problems, believing the other wants to end things, doesn’t love them or is cheating on them.

They can’t seem to have a comfortable, secure relationship, letting the readers enjoy the couple without all the drama and worry that is a given with them.

The biggest problem I had with them in this novel, which I did talk about earlier in the post, was Lara Jean basing all of her choices on the movements of one Peter Kavinsky.

Peter had already made his decision, he was going UVA on a lacrosse scholarship. However Lara Jean spends all her time basing a decision that decides and changes her life on her HIGH SCHOOL boyfriend.

Even Lara Jean, as I pointed out earlier, realizes the relationship isn’t going to last, and that the future only contains hurt for them both, a conclusion that I highly agree with.

However they stay together and go off to different colleges, completely confident in their ability to maintain a long distance relationship.

*sigh*

The conclusion in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy is a slightly disappointing, not without charm, romantic comedy in which one half the main couple is utterly unlikable and throws everything off balance and ruins the relationship without even trying.

Everything else was good though.

February Reading Wrap Up

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The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan, four point five stars –

“Memories that tell a story, if you look hard enough. Because the purpose of memory, I would argue, is to remind us how to live.”

God, this book was utterly beautiful, I finished it, set it down, and just lay there for a few moments, taking it all in.

Emily X.R. Pan wrote a lyrical, deep and completely unique novel, I have never read anything like it. She talks about suicide and depression in way that is real and emotional. The novel has an energy that is entirely its own.

The writing is absolutely stunning, evoking colorful, sometimes harsh, sometimes light images and the description is some of the best I’ve read in a LONG time.

The novel was a bit of slog, it took more time to read then I was expecting, but the writing and the story, by the end, make it worth your time.

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo, three stars –

“The risk of the bad stuff was so worth the good stuff. People who would be there for you even when you messed up and behaved like a little jerk? They were the good stuff.”

I had SO much fun reading this book.

It has a chill, LA vibe (the book is set in LA) to it, it doesn’t hurry anything. It has a nice pace, the characters are INSANELY likable. There wasn’t a character (except maybe one) who you didn’t feel any affection for.

The narration from Clara is fantastic, she’s a troublemaking teenager who just wants to spend some time with her social media INFLUENCER (god, I loathe that term) of a mom. Her journey in the book is fun, meaningful, but it never becomes heavy or weighed down.

The novel was filled with excessive pop culture references, and any character who does a good, sufficiently disdainful impression of Trump ranks very high in my book.

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, five stars

Puddin’ by Julie Murphy, three point five stars –

“Most people would mistake Callie’s honesty for ego. And trust me. She’s got plenty of ego. But there’s something more to it. Something that feels like self-awareness. And I like it. Because I think maybe Callie would probably admit her flaws in the same way she recognizes her strengths.”

I didn’t like Dumplin’ at all. Everybody else was talking about how good it was.

Nope.

I found Willowdean to be annoying, her and Bo’s relationship to be INCREDIBLY toxic and the book wasn’t nearly as body positive as it was made out to be.

Therefore, I went into Puddin’ with very low expectations. And I came out pleasantly surprised.

Millie was a badass, she knew who she was, what she wanted and owned it. Callie was the complete opposite, she didn’t know what she wanted to do, or who she was and tended to be a complete jerk. And in part, I think that’s why the book worked.

Julie Murphy took two characters with COMPLETELY opposite personalities, wrote them in the same novel and had the story revolve around the two of them.

The book was insanely quotable, (at the end of the post I will be inserting some of my favorite quotes), and the characters were funny and heartwrenching at the same time.

But however likable all the characters in the book were, Hannah still reigns as my favorite character in both books, followed, if not closely, by Callie.

And now for my favorite quotes from the novel – 

“I tell you,” she says, “love comes and goes, but lipstick is forever.”

“Oh, I think you saw me.” I lift my hand up to give her the middle finger. “This jogging your memory?”

“Ah,” she says. “That’s more like it. I didn’t recognize you without your shitty attitude.”

I grin. “Never leave home without it.”

“One day you’ll wake up and find that there’s a woman, or maybe a few, who have outlasted every changing season of your life.”

Ms. Marvel, Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson, five stars –

I first read Mrs. Marvel about a year of two ago, hearing about it from somebody, and was immediately in love with the series. Kamala is so funny and relatable, she endears herself to you right away. Her family and friends make for a great supporting cast.

The only thing I would say I’m not crazy about it the art style, it isn’t my favorite, but does have a more realistic side, which I do appreciate. But I wouldn’t say I LOVE it.

There are plenty of moments in the comic, (between Kamala and her family especially) that made me laugh and then reflect on how real that is, and more than slightly similar to my own family.

Ms. Marvel is definitely a comic series I’m going to follow for a while.

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer, two point five stars –

“Nova forced a close-lipped smile, though her heart was sinking from the implications of his words, and what she had become in the eyes of the Renegades. Someone to admire, to respect, to emulate.

She was Nova McLain. The superhero, and the fraud.”

This installment in the Renegades trilogy just confirmed what I had already suspected – This series is just not for me.

The first book was okay, I had no strong feelings about it.

Except that Nova and Adrian were making me roll my eyes so hard I thought they were going to fall out of my head.

Both books have vibes that work great for the superhero shtick that the series is obviously going for, epic and fast. However, there is one thing that works for superhero MOVIES, but not superhero BOOKS. The constant monologues from Nova about good vs evil, Renegades vs Anarchists. And every fifty pages or so, that would have been fine.

BUT NO.

There was a monologue every ten pages. At some point you’ve heard it so many times, just in a slightly different situation and slightly different delivery, you just want to scream.

The only other problem I had with the book, were Nova and Adrian. That relationship seeped its way in every other plotline in the book. Whatever was happening, their thoughts would just go to the other. The book felt completely overtaken by the romance, and nothing else seemed able to escape from the infection.

Ms. Marvel, Vol 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson, three stars

Ms. Marvel, Vol 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson, three stars

Moonstruck, Vol 1: Magic to Brew by Grace Ellis, three point five stars

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han, three stars –

“I can see the future, Peter. That way lies heartbreak. I won’t do it.  Better to part while we can still see each other in a certain way.”

Ugh.

I loved P.S. I Still Love You (JOHN AMBROSE MCCLAREN) and wasn’t that crazy about To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I was hoping that this book would come through, and just tip the scales on the series.

It didn’t.

Lara Jean is fantastic, she can be a bit of a pushover, (which got to me more in this installment), but she is a character who has special charm to her and it gets me every time.

I am NOT a fan of Peter Kavinsky. I love movie Peter, (Noah Centineo has a way of playing Peter that brings out all the warmth and love that he’s lacking in the books).

Book Peter is just everything in Kavinsky that I loathe and nothing that I like. He is insensitive, mean and harsh to Lara Jean. He treats her terribly, and then Lara Jean forgives him and wants to go back to the way things were.

I can safely say, the reason I liked P.S. I Still Love You more than the other two books, was that it had the least amount of Peter.

John Ambrose McClaren is FAR superior.

Ms. Marvel, Vol 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson, three point five stars

Save the Date by Morgan Matson, four stars –

“I could hear my siblings talking – J.J. was apparently exchanging texts with some girl he’d met online, who wanted to come to wedding, but might also be a felon.”

Save the Date was just fantastic.

The novel was a solid YA contemporary, it had charm, great characters and a superb sense of humor. It read like a comedy, that was still emotional and had a romantic tilt to it.

The characters were what made the book. Charlie and her family were hysterical and relatable. The only thing I wanted, that the novel didn’t seem to have was more Mike, he was by FAR the most interesting character, and him just slotting back into the family like that so easily didn’t make sense, and more screen time with the other characters would have brought that transition forward in a more realistic way.

I have a REALLY big family, like REALLY big. My family is also very close, and reading the book was so much funner because I could SEE those scenarios unfolding. Almost everything that happened in the book I could see going down in my own life.

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang, four stars

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, five stars –

“Stevie had no fears of the dead. The living, however, sometimes gave her the creeps.”

I never read mysteries. And certainly not MURDER mysteries.

They freak me out, (I am maybe the most easily scared person on the planet) and I find that there is very little about them that I enjoy. Therefore I tend to avoid them.

Truly Devious changed my ways.

Truly Devious is one of the best books I have read in awhile, that’s for sure. Maureen Johnson’s writing fits right in with the murder mystery format, making it all feel smooth and effortless.

The plot is captivating. The book switches between present day and 1936, both stories move at the same pace, you’re getting two stories for the price of one. The plotlines are written in a way that is different enough that you don’t get confused about which chapter/viewpoint you’re reading and you feel intrigued and invested in everything.

The book is what a great character driven story looks like. It is the epitome of good characters. You feel intrigued, suspicious and fall a bit in love with all the characters. They are all out of the box characters, and not cookie cutter out of the box characters, (which I bet you didn’t know you could have). Each character is completely different from each other, there are so many personalities in this one story, and they all seem to mesh so well together.

Truly Devious keeps you utterly hooked and guessing throughout the whole book

Paper Girls, Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughn, four stars –

2019 seems to have become the year of me reading books I said I’d read a long time ago.

I’ve always been interested in the Paper Girls series, I’ve always flipped through the comics whenever I’d come across them in the bookstore, assuring myself that I would eventually get to them.

And I finally did!

I enjoyed the first installment in the series, I loved the characters especially. The girls are funny, smart and quick witted, they are all very different, which always makes for a great reading experience. I really love the art style, it fit the tone of the book really well.

The plot is bizarre, but the kind of bizarre where you are completely fascinated and invested, and you eventually get a hold on what is going on, and then everything makes WAY more sense.

I’m not CRAZY about the novel, but I do think it has serious potential.

Paper Girls, Vol 2 by Brian K. Vaughn, three stars

Waiting for Spring #10 by Anashin, four stars –

My sister actually introduced me to this manga, she loved it, and when I said I wanted to read some, she immediately suggested this series, saying I would love it.

She was right.

It’s essentially a cheesy, romance, teen comedy, with killer characters and excessive amounts of charm. The series is written with such a sweet tone to it, they are extremely quick reads (I read this volume in about half an hour) and you just somehow end up COMPLETELY invested in everything.

I know I am.

They are such fun, tune out the world reads. Unfortunately the next volume isn’t coming out until June, so you wait a long time in between installments.

You just have to reread the others 🙂

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol, four stars –

Whenever you look at best graphic novels or comic lists, Anya’s Ghost always seems to make an appearance.

I’ve seen this graphic novel in particular appear in my Goodreads feed and in almost all graphic novel concerned lists for YEARS. And years. And years.

I had always wondered how good the book was, having seen it ALL THE TIME. And since recently I’ve been making an effort to read more graphic novels/comics/manga, I figured it was the perfect time to pick it up. It was a very quick read (forty five minutes to an hour)

The novel wasn’t anything special, I wasn’t completely and utterly blown away by it, and I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece.

However it was a great story, the art and story worked together very well. Vera Brosgol covered the high school and supernatural mix well, bringing in lots of common teenage elements, but also managing to make it a ghost story.

The novel isn’t one that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life, but it is a solid graphic novel that I wouldn’t mind picking up again in a while.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, three stars –

“I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way.”

I love Jane Austen. My mom loves her, and as a kid I was introduced to her books very early. I read the young readers abridged books, and watched the mini series and the adaptations, mostly Pride and Prejudice.

And I’d always heard that Sense and Sensibility versus Pride and Prejudice was a big deal. Almost everybody I know who loves Jane Austen, has loved P&P and hated S&S and vice versa.

I never really understood why there was such an argument.

CAN’T JANE AUSTEN FANS JUST GET ALONG.

However, now.

Now.

I kind of get it.

Sense and Sensibility is filled with drama, the whole book is drama, somebody’s heart is broken literally ALL the time. Which makes for plenty of well written passages about heartbreak, but also gets a bit annoying after the first hundred pages.

There is a lack of time spent on Marianne and Colonel Brandon’s relationship, we see Marianne getting over Wiloughby for a hundred pages, and then a total of two pages of the last ten pages are spent on her and Colonel Brandon.

Most of the last ten pages is spend on Edward reconciling with his family, while Marianne and her happiness are an afterthought.

There were some great quotes throughout the book, the characters were fantastic, but I honestly do not see how it’s any better than Pride and Prejudice, I think it’s an average Jane Austen, Georgian era esque read, nothing that makes it more special than any other novel from that era.

The only three things that saved the novel from my eternal disdain, were – Mrs. Jennings, Colonel Brandon and Marianne’s highly emotional speeches and outbursts.

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, two stars –

“Back then I was always looking ahead to who I wanted to be versus who I didn’t realize I already was, and the wished-for-me was most likely based on who other people seemed to be and the desire to have the same effect on others that they had on me.”

I wanted to like this book. I swear by how annoying C3PO is, I wanted to like it.

I couldn’t.

Carrie Fisher is a funny person, there’s no denying that, she has a great sense of humor, is razor sharp, has a great personality and undeniable charm.

Her writing, while funny, is scattered. You feel as though you are being dragged in multiple different directions at once, confused because of all the tangents the memoir goes on and left turning around and around wondering where you left off and if you’re in Kansas.

The account of her and Harrison Ford’s affair was interesting at some points, but it took over the book. I would have enjoyed reading more recollections of her time on set, and less time on EVERYTHING about the affair.

I did know going into the book that it was mostly a recollection of that relationship, and it was the centre stage of the book, but I didn’t expect the book to solely focus on that.

The subjects that she touched on regarding her relationship with Leia and Star Wars were interesting, but seemed as though they were randomly drawn out of a jar, they seemed more like essays than a memoir itself. A good part of the memoir was excerpts from the diary she kept while filming and half of the entries were just bad tumblr poetry with one or two good lines sprinkled throughout.

The memoir itself was still interesting, and the way Carrie Fisher talked about mental health throughout the memoir was true and very well put.

I didn’t get the writing, and our senses of humor weren’t aligned and that lead to the charm of the book being lost for me.

Orange, The Complete Collection, Vol 1 by Ichigo Takano, five stars –

“- It’s a bit late to say something now… I’ll just live with it!

– If all you do is «live with it»… then that’s not much of a life.”

This manga ripped my heart out of my chest, tore it into a thousand pieces, stitched it back together and shoved it haphazardly back into my chest.

Repeat for the whole series.

Orange, The Complete Collection, Vol 2 by Ichigo Takano, five stars

Future (Orange #6) by Ichigo Takano, three point five stars –

I didn’t know what to think about Future. I think that having a manga from Suwa’s POV was great, (he was my favorite character in the original Orange series). But it didn’t feel like a continuation of the series, it felt forced.

I still cried. Very hard.

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol 1 by Ichigo Takano, three stars –

I was fine with everything in this manga.

Well, almost everything,

The characters are actually quite good, (even if Shimana gets annoying every now and again), the dialogue is not bad and it’s super funny.

I don’t know whether that is the intention. But I find it hilarious.

However, the premise.

The premise.

The premise disturbs me slightly.

15 or 16 year old girl (assuming that’s her age, we never find out exactly), runs away from home, stumbles across a hungover 21 year old man who offers her a place to live.

*cough* what the hell *cough*

She answers his questions, finds the key to the apartment in a bush, and then consequently moves in with three good looking guys.

*stares blankly at the wall, trying to imagine a scenario in which this would ACTUALLY HAPPEN*