Giulia
THIS BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME BY EDELWEISS+ IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
OVERALL
The idea was there but I felt like the author didn't go deep enough to make us feel something and feel connected with the characters. If you like character-driven novels in verses, this could your book!
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I didn't know what to expect about this book, I read the plot and the reviews and I decided to start it. I thought it was kind of a light reading but I was definitely wrong, I'm still in shock after the ending. But I liked it, I liked it because I didn't expect anything. So if you're looking for a book with a shocking ending, this is your book. Don't let yourself fooled by the cover or the title or the plot, I read it in 3 days and it was worth it!
I have a big thing for Belles and the South (blame on Hart of Dixie) so when I first discovered this book I had to read it even though english isn't my mothertongue.
And I really loved it. Until the last pages.
It is an amusing, full of suspence book, even though I found the storyline a little slow in certain points but it's definitely a good story and I enjoyed a lot.
But the beginning and the end are the most important parts of the book and the end was totally disappointing.
What was the point of Saylor dying and passing her powers to Ryan??? It was surprising and a heck of a plot twist but I didn't like it at all.
And what about Bee? She's taken somewhere by Blythe and Harper does nothing about it? But who cares, she has two boys at her feet.
In the end, it is a lovely book but it left me a little disappointed.
My mothertongue is Italian but I read it in English because I couldn't find the italian pdf anywhere... maybe that's why i didn't fully enjoy it. But it's John Green and he can make you feel connected to his characters. I loved every single one of them and it's a beautiful book about self-discovery. The end is pretty predictable but there are some lines that you can't but love them.
I suggest it!
And the stars were burning brightly is a book about hope, friendship, and family.
The two protagonists are Megan and Nathan, two very different teenagers brought together by a tragedy: Al's death.
Al is the weird kid everyone picks on at school, just because he was obsessed with stars and poetry and didn't fit in. He's also Nathan's brother and Megan's friend and the continuous bullying brought him to kill himself.
Both Megan and Nathan blame themselves because they could have done more. Megan hid the fact that she Al's friend because she wanted to fit in with the cool kids and didn't want to be bullied too while Nathan didn't pay much attention to his brother because he was busy with his friends. To honor his death, Megan sets up a Facebook memorial while Nathan tries to understand why his brother would do something so extreme.
Nowadays, teenagers feel pressured to conform to the norms of society and pretend to be someone they're not or they look up online to models and influencers and feel bad about their body. It's so important to raise awareness about this and I think the author really managed to talk about this issue in a flawless way. I love that Megan realizes that there's no point in trying to change yourself for the sake of others and she encourages everyone to be more like Al and stay true to themselves.
I really loved the message of this book and I think it's relatable for every age. At some point in our lives, we all felt pressured to hide parts of ourselves, just to appear more interesting in the eyes of others.
The ending was very heartwarming, and I loved that everyone got their little happy ending.
To sum up, this was a great book and I'd recommend it to everyone that felt lost at some point of their lives.
A Convenient Marriage is not a book about marriage. It's a book about friendship, accepting yourself, letting go of family's expectations and lastly, about love.
This book was different from all others because it brought attention to two very important stigmas: mental health and homosexuality, all in the context of conservative Sri Lankan families.
The protagonists are Chaya and Gimhana, both workaholics and excellent in what they do but not so much when it comes to love. Chaya still suffers from letting go her first love because it was considered unsuitable by her family and her culture while Gimhana is a gay man who works in a very conservative company and therefore can't come out and have to keep appearances in order to succeed in his field. Their families are both pushing them to get married, so since they get along great and none of them wants to settle down, they arrange a fake marriage. All seems to work out until they fall in love.
When I talked about it with some friends, they highlighted that I'm picky and that's totally true. If you look at my Goodreads, you'll mostly see positive reviews because I don't usually finish books that don't really resonate with me.
When I started reading A Convenient Marriage I wasn't so convinced about it. The characters seemed bland and the writing seemed basic but I didn't give up on it because I was intrigued by the plot and the fact that the protagonists were Sri Lankan.
So I kept on reading and then I found myself hooked. The writing style improved and the characters became more well-rounded and relatable. When I wasn't reading, I couldn't wait to get back into the story, to see if Chaya was making progress with her mental health and Gimhana was accepting himself a bit more.
Seeing a strong and successful woman dealing with anxiety was so important for me because it reminded me that I'm not alone and everyone deals with something different, even if they seem perfectly fine from the outside.
I found myself rooting for Chaya and Gimhana and their respective love interests because I could deeply understand them and they deserved love, despite the mistakes they made in the past.
I adored the ending, I was grinning so hard reading the last pages that I kept on smiling even after I finished the book.
To sum up, despite a weak start, I really connected with the characters, I both loved the original plot and setting. It was definitely an enjoyable and quick read and I recommended it to my friends.
If I read about hockey one more time.... I mean I knew the whole premise of the book was hockey but I didn't expect THIS MUCH hockey! I like Fredrik Backman and his writing style but this book felt too clunky and not so smooth, so sadly I had to dnf :(
I received a eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Angst, so much angst!!
Iris is a great football player at her work company's football team and a proud lesbian while Cam is a blunt American who just transferred from the US because of her fiancé's new job. They become incredibly close in a few days and what starts as a beautiful friendship, then becomes something else entirely...
This book was full of feelings and the author punched us in the gut with some breathtaking lines. I related so much to the character of Cam, she's always been the good little girl who always put other people's wishes before her own, always too scared to make her own choices. Then Iris came along and she realized that she wasn't living the way she wanted, the way she deserved to. The end left me all fuzzy and I ‘m a sucker for happy endings.
In conclusion, if you are a fan of slow burn, friends to lovers and lots of angst, this is definitely the book for you!