"Our arrival didn't exactly go as planned. I remember it was almost dawn when we landed because the streetlights were still on. We had hoped our descent would go unnoticed, which it mainly did, save for a thirteen-year-old boy doing a paper round."
There is a reason for everything. You might not be able to figure it out, and time might have made us all forget it, but the reason is there all the same.
Sharing Sam
By Katherine Applegate
Source: Library
Pages: 155
Book Description:
Alison Chapman has always believed she’d fall in love hard. And she does--with Sam Cody, a new guy with a gorgeous face and brooding eyes, a guy who’s impossible to resist. When Sam asks her to the Valentine’s Day dance, Alison is elated. . .until she finds out that her best friend, Isabella Cates-Lopez, has fallen for Sam, too. . .until she finds out that Isabella is dying. Now Alison wants Isabella’s last days to be her happiest ever--even if she and Sam have to hide their love. Even if, by sharing Sam, Alison risks losing him forever.
Katherine Applegate’s poignant novel of love, loss, and the sacrifices made for true friendship will stir readers’ hearts.
A quote:
Best friends were created so you could say all the things you could never say to parents.
Any thoughts:
Sharing Sam can easily be devoured in one sitting having gone through spiking, powerful emotions. Happy and sad -- I think I felt both at the same time. It was hard to tell the difference.
All the while, I wasn’t sure that Alison’s plan to share Sam to make her best friend happy was such a good idea. I was always on the fence. At one point my foot would go to the other side, and the next thing you know, I would be switching sides again. But I really admire Alison’s genuine loyalty towards her best friend, Isabella. From the very beginning, she proved to be a great character with a caring heart. Sam, the love interest, has a sweet, such caring interior beneath his mysterious shell. You can’t help but love him too.
The novel ended very quickly, which I was very sad about. I wished I hadn’t read it so fast. It was so touching and sweet and deep and heartbreaking all at the same time. Katherine Applegate has done well that I’m definitely going to be reading more of her books.
Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it.
But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know.
Cruel Summer
By Alyson Noel
Source: Library
Pages: 229
Book Description:
Having recently discarded her dorky image -- and the best friend that went with it -- Colby Cavendish is looking forward to a long hot season of parties, beach BBQs, and, hopefully, more hook-ups with Levin Bonham, the hottest guy in school. But her world comes crashing down when her parents send her away to spend the summer in Greece with her crazy aunt Tally.
Stranded on a boring island with no malls, no cell-phone reception, and an aunt who talks to her plants, Colby worries that her new friends have forgotten all about her. But when she meets Yannis, a cute Greek local, everything changes. She experiences something deeper and more intense than a summer fling, and it forces her to see herself, and the life she left behind, in a whole new way.
A quote:
Life brings nothing but change, Colby. Our job is to make the necessary adjustments, so we can continue to be fine.
Any thoughts:
I have never been to Greece before! After this fun, summer read with details of the scenery in Greece, I cannot help but dream of going to Greece more than ever. It’s definitely a destination I’ll have to check out sometime in my life.
The story begins with Colby, appalled that she is being sent to Greece by her parents who are in the middle of a divorce. As she starts to freak out because it seems that life is over in high school where she has built up to a great reputation, she writes letters, postcards, emails, and even creates a blog initially entitled ‘Cruel Summer’ that details her entire summer. The writing format is different and interesting, although I think it’s pointless. There is only one side to everything that is happening and that side is through the eyes of Colby, who starts from being a whiny, irritating, teenage girl to a person who slowly sees herself and accepts things as they are. It indeed is a novel of self-discovery, which others may find relatable.
Though predictable, Cruel Summer is a very short, light read. It’s perfect for summer, perfect for those who are searching for a cute, fluffy romance.
Life is like molten glass. It flows, it's flexible, it can be molded and shaped and...what do you say? Ah, yes. It holds vast potential. You have a number of uncertainties in your melt right now. But they will always be there in one form or another. Always. Unlike molten glass, life can't be fixed or frozen into a pretty vase and placed on a shelf to gather dust.
The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2)
By Patrick Ness
Source: Library
Pages: 519
Book Description:
The second thrilling volume in the Chaos Walking trilogy, The Ask and the Answer is a tense, shocking, and deeply moving novel about resistance under the most extreme pressure.
A quote:
A thing worth learning is worth learning well.
Any thoughts (No major spoilers) :
It got me hooked from page one and never failed to keep me on edge till the very last page. The build up, the anticipation, the waiting was entirely dreadful that I could not stop reading. This sequel is where all the action happens. It is where everything starts to become a living nightmare (for Todd and Viola). There is so much that goes on that you feel like expecting for something to happen.
What I loved most was how the story was told both in Todd and Viola’s perspectives. That way, there are two sides in the story, and the reader can almost figure out who is lying and who is not. Having jumped from one perspective to another, Patrick Ness certainly added flow and anxiety at the same time, arousing just the right emotions the reader is suppose to feel.
At many times during the novel, the thought of World War II sprung in my mind. The imprisonment of the Jews, the way they were numbered and forced to labour were very similar to the things President Prentiss ordered to have done. Through the parallels, there also quite some differences. But the overall message is about identity, power, and morals in life.
I was interested in how Viola and Todd separately dealt with the challenges they face, all along showing genuine care for one another. They struggled through tough times, as they faced decisions that were difficult to make without the other by his or her side. By the end, Viola and Todd proved to have grown throughout what they have experienced.
Just as the action was falling, just as everything was gradually settling down (as I had thought), something astonishing happens. And silly me, of course, I should have expected something unexpected. There was no way I could have known, however. Thus, Patrick Ness has done it again.
"My imagination no doubt. It tended to exaggerate emotions and see things that weren't there. Just like the black shape slinking between shadows. Or the brief movement to my left -- pure imagination. Right?."
