Mini Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St Martin's Griffin

Released:  February 2013

Summary: 
"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says. 
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers. "I’m not kidding," he says. 
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen." "What about Romeo and Juliet?" 
"Shallow, confused, then dead." '
'I love you," Park says. 
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers. 
"I’m not kidding," he says. 
"You should be."
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.- Goodreads    

Eleanor & Park is cute and sweet love story between two misfits set in the 80s. However it's not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows (despite the name of the author) for these two teens. The novel has quite dark overtones, and big dose of realism which of course I loved. From the the first couple of pages in I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and my own personal reading of this book was clouded by a sense of dread and fear for the characters. Despite this, or maybe because of it, I enjoyed reading about Eleanor and Park as they were quite interesting characters. Eleanor's self-esteem issues and troubled home life made her a more relatable character, and Park's own identity issues, being half asian and slightly effeminate were refreshing to read about. I just wish Rowell had touched more on some of these issues and themes, especially Park's relationship with his father. I agree with a lot of other readers who felt that the ending falls flat, but nonetheless Eleanor & Park is a story that has enough grit, substance and sweet moments to make it a satisfying and thought-provoking read. 

Recommended for people who like: Freaks & Geeks, The Smiths, Pretty in Pink, comic books. 

What did you think about Eleanor & Park? 

Waiting On Wednesday #10 : This Is What Happy Looks Like

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. 

 Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs? -  
Goodreads 

I love cute email exchanges, books about celebrities and Jennifer E. Smith's writing. You can read the first chapter of this book here. I did, and I'm hooked already!

What are you waiting on this week? 

Leave your links and I'll be sure to check them out. 

Book Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Title: My Life Next Door

Author: Huntley Fitzpatrick

Publisher: June 2012

Released: Dial Books 

Summary: A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another. One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.” The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?   - Goodreads    

My Life Next Door is for the most part an eezy breezy summer love story, of similar ilk to the entire works of Sarah Dessen. However, as we Dessen fans well know, there is more going on under the surface. In My Life Next Door the tension and drama comes in the form of the protagonist's, Samantha Reed, mother; an upper class, soon-to-be Senator, with an unhealthy love for her vacuum cleaner, and a extreme distaste for the large, noisy, sprawling family next door. When boy-next-door Jase and Samantha embark on a summer of love, these very different families collide with shocking results. 

Fitzpatrick paints these two differing families with such detail and thought that it's easy to immerse yourself into their lives. The Garrets, you just can't but help love them. They're a huge family; totalling 8 kids and everyone of them as precious and funny and real as the next. From Patsy, the youngest, whose first word was boob, to George, who has an aversion to wearing pants and is a little encyclopedia. And of course the main love interest Jase. While it seems like bad guys are all the rage as of late, I really love a good guy. And that's exactly what Jase, and his family, are; good people. The well developed characters meant that each emotion was felt more vividly on the page, and when things take a turn for the worse I felt Samantha's pain deeply. Samantha, and the reader, are drawn to this vivacious family next door, who are a bright spot in Samantha's cold and sterile world. 

Fitzpatrick really pulls this story together in the last quarter of the novel, as we see Samantha have to make some hard choices and stand up for herself and her beliefs. My Life Next Door, is a can't-put-down book. Its complex characters and beautiful, realistic romance make it a must read, and put it up there with some of my favourite reads from 2012. 

Recommended for people who like: contemporary, Sarah Dessen, summer romance, star crossed lovers. 

Who was your favourite Garret? 
Do you think Samantha's mother is an irredeemable character? 

Songs About Teenagers... Part 2

 photo credit: austinanomic via photopin cc

You can find Songs About Teenagers Part 1 here.

I really do think that you experience some of the best years of your life as a teenager. Maybe when you're living it it doesn't feel that way, and maybe it's a case of looking back with rose colored glasses and nostalgia and all that jazz. But really when has anything felt as important, as life changing, as it did when you were young. When have the lyrics of a song meant so much to you.  To me a great song or YA book about teens has the ability to capture those teenage feelings of  vulnerability, rebellion, invincibility, and of believing nothing will ever be as important as it did when you’re a teenager.

Most of these songs I listened to as teenager...and they meant something to me. Maybe they'll mean something to you too. 

1. Anthems For A 17 Year-Old Girl - Broken Social Scene 
People change, growing old sucks. 

"Used to be the one of the rotten ones, And I liked you for that. Now you're all gone, got your make-up on, And you're not coming back"

2. When You Were Young - The Killers ( Noisettes Cover)
Less about being a teen, and more about dwelling in the past (something I do a lot of) when you've been dealt a hard lot in life. The Noisettes do a great cover of When You Were Young, which I ALMOST like more than the original. 

"He doesn't look a thing like Jesus, But he talks like a gentlemen. Like you imagined when you were young"

Waiting On Wednesday #9

Expected publication: March 1st 2013 by Point

A hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom. 

 Don't mess with a girl with a Great Personality.

 Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup). 

 Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection. 

 The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it. -  Goodreads 

Unlike the majority of readers I wasn't very fond of Eulberg's 2011 Pride and Prejudice retelling, Prom and Prejudice, however I'm willing to give her another shot with her latest novel Revenge of the Girl With The Great Personality. It sounds like it could be great, (who doesn't love a great personality and strong, individualistic, female characters). I'm remaining cautiously optimistic for this one.

What are you waiting on this week? 

Leave your links and I'll be sure to check them out. 

YA Holiday Reading List

I've always loved reading but the last couple of months I've experienced a bit of a low point (in both life and blogging and reading). I'm in the midst of what I like to call The Great Reading Slump of 2012. However, I'm not gonna let this bring me down (much), and am looking forward to diving back into YA books.

I'll be heading over to the US for Christmas and plan to fill my Kindle and carry on with lots of the books I've missed over the past two months (14+ hour flight, yo). So without further ado, I present:

(I really tried, but I just couldn't resist the sparkles. Sorry, I'm not sorry.) 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E Smith 

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

I feel like I've been wanting to read this book forever and it seems like the perfect in-transit book. 

Meant To Be - Lauren Morrill

Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question. 

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

Another cute travel type book, with a gorgeous cover. 

Time Between Us - Tamara Ireland Stone

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.

San Francisco and Chicago are two of the stops on my US trip. So it's kinda educational right? In any case I like reading novels set in places I've been/am going to. 

A Midsummer's Nightmare - Kody Keplinger

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorcé dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancée and her kids. The fiancée's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.

Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.

While there is nothing particularly holiday/christmas-y about this book, if there is one author who is sure to bring me out of a reading slump it's Kody Keplinger. Everything she writes is golden. 

The Secret of Ella & Micha -  Jessica Sorensen

Ella and Micha have been best friends since they were kids. But one tragic night shatters their friendship and their lives forever.

Ella used to be a rule-breaker with fiery attitude who wore her heart on her sleeve. But she left everything behind when she went to college and transformed into someone that follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. But now it's summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home. 

Ella fears everything she worked so hard to bury might resurface, especially with Micha living right next door. If Micha tries to tempt the old her back, she knows that it will be hard to resist.

Micha is sexy, smart, confident, and can get under Ella’s skin like no one else can. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. And he’s determined to bring his best friend, and the girl he loves back, no matter what it takes. 

Again not a "holiday" read, but I'm excited to read some books in the new adult genre as these books are more in my age bracket. I would love to see more books in this genre being published in 2013, and I believe that it will really take off in the coming years. For me, Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo is a standout in the new adult genre. A definite must read. 

Happy Holidays! 

Got any good holiday/feel-good book recommendation? Let me know! 

Saturday Snapshot: Spider

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home With Books. Post photos YOU (or a friend) have taken, old or new. Just keep it clean folks.

I participated in a photo a day challenge/contest last month (well it was more like a 5 photo a day challenge to be precise) which was loads of fun. I didn't win, but I had a blast participating and once it was over I felt a tiny bit forlorn that I was no longer having to snap pictures everyday. I thought this meme would be a good way to share some of the pictures I took over the course of the contest, and a way for me to keep up my new instagram addiction. 

Taking a spider in its web photo is actually harder than you might think. Well, at least it was hard for a photography novice like myself. 

Ever had a scary spider encounter?