THE BOOK REPORT 6
This April set of books has an interesting backstory. Growing up my mother always took us to the library, and as an adult, she even signed me up for the adult summer reading programs. I'm not a stranger to libraries, but I was always too lazy to get a library card and check out books (and return them on time). But there I was needing to read "I'll Give You the Sun" for a book club not wanting to actually buy the expensive hardcover. So I thought it was finally time to get that library card. On a Monday Lance and I went to Vestavia Hills Library, known as "The Library in the Forest". We got our library cards and a stack of books, and these three books were my first borrows. (yay!!) We visited the library two more times that week because we were seriously like kids in a candy shop. I went to library, and now I'm addicted. It was both magical and life-changing. Oh how I missed out all these years!
THE BOOKS OF APRIL
This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
This book is totally young adult fiction. A famous teen star accidentally emails a girl in small town and they fall in love. It's so predictable and ate it all up. Each character is protecting a sort of secret life and only finds solace in the other and the anonymity of their email exchanges.
I'd recommend this to anyone who's ever read Teen Beat or had a celebrity crush.
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Oh I love this book! It was a little slow starting, but once I got into it I loved it. Jude and Noah are two twins whose lives change dramatically when they share a tragic loss. The book follows Noah's story as it leads up to the event and Jude's as it traces backwards to the it. I really enjoy how Jandy Nelson writes. Her descriptions are so vivid. I loved her other book, The Sky Is Everywhere, which is very different from this book.
I'd recommend this to anyone to teeters between reading young adult and adult fiction. The story will feed your craving for YA and the writing will appease your adult side.
One Plus One by JoJo Moyes
This book is like Little Miss Sunshine meets an epic-after-college-one-last-hurrah road trip story. Also, it has some interesting similarities to Silver Bay: a young pretty woman with a child(ren) meets a wealthy, successful man and he saves her after a bit of unspoken attraction. This was one of my least favorite JoJo Moyes books, and ironically, this is the one that's being turned into a movie.
All in all I still love Moyes' books, just unfortunately the main character, Jess, was very annoying. Her character is independent to a fault, struggling with her inability to accept help, even to help her children. While opposite her, Ed is very likable even with all his faults.
I'd recommend this to anyone who loves JoJo Moyes, because otherwise you might not really like this book.
Paper Towns by John Green
I love a good John Green book. I appreciate his character development and love how his stories unfold. Quentin is a senior in high school when his life gets turned upside-down after a brief reunion with his childhood friend. I love these coming of age stories with a nerdy protagonist. However it felt fairly similar to An Abundance of Katherines and especially Looking for Alaska. All three are about nerdy teenage boys, their nerdy/quirky best friends, their crushes on free-spirited girls and some sort of epic adventure/prank. With all that said, I still loved reading Paper Towns. John Green is such a great writer; I love how he inserts nerdy facts into his stories.
This is no doubt a great book.
I'd recommend this to anyone who was a nerd in high school and had perfect attendance or who is aching for a great change in their life.
The Room by Jonas Karlsson See my review here!
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
My inner teenager enjoyed this book. I picked this book so I could devour another Jennifer E. Smith book. Her books hit that sweet spot of teenage romance. This book, however, was a little different, the story, of course, was predictable like her other books, but it didn't tie up in a neat bow leading up to the ending. You still know that they're going to end up together, but in this book, Smith puts in a lot more obstacles.
The Geography of You and Me is about taking chances and having faith in that guttural feeling you have about someone. In a way this book made me a little nostalgic about my relationship with Lance. While I didn't get stuck in an elevator with him during an epic blackout, I did know right away something about him was pulling us together. Through travels and relocations Lucy and Owen keep in touch over a series of postcards and emails, much like me and Lance. These kind of stories make me fuzzy inside.
The Geography of You and Me reminded me of a modern, teenybopper version of An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.
I'd recommend this to anyone who's had that one epic night with someone where you learn everything about each other then feel like you're floating for days.
Read my other book reports and check out all the books I've read over the years here.
