Eleanor & Park

In the book, Park says “Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.” and my goodness does this book make you feel SO MANY THINGS!

Rainbow (I loved her a thousand times before even reading this, for her name) wrote this like an art piece. It's rough and moody, honest and captivating, sweet and filled with deep love, and its colours fill every little piece of your heart.

I love that it's set in the 80s. I love the song lyrics and band names, the cassette tapes and the landline phones. I love that Eleanor and Park are broken in their own delicate way, but that neither tries to change or redefine the other. Their love is a 'let me learn you, I want all of you' kind of thing. And it never feels like they're trying to fix each other, because they don't see any part of the other as broken.

I thought this was going to be another cute love story set in a difficult-to-be-together situation, but it was nothing like I could ever imagine. The way Rainbow writes Eleanor's home life and internal thoughts, is more intimately realistic than my heart could take.

And while this book is filled with the heartbreaking, harsh realities of life, it is also filled with thousands of tiny adorable moments of discovered love. Wildly vivid descriptions of moments shared, and observations about each other that sound like whispers. They're entranced by each other. I love that she smells like vanilla, and the way she is one of the kids and set apart from them at the same time but loves them completely. I love the role that Park's parents and their past plays into Park and Eleanor's relationship and future.

I really feel like I'm playing down the cuteness of the couple, but oh gosh you need to know they're adorable! Their story is filled with giggles and electric touches, and kisses that they never want to end. Their conversations are filled with life, strong opinions, song lyrics and love for other worlds. It's a sweet, sweet strong love that will make your heart sing, and you'll find yourself giggling into the book cover.

Eleanor and Park are in high school, and share a brief time together, but the love feels real, and mature and heavy in a way that can only make you feel light. Dealing with obstacles simply by being there for each other and in each other's hearts.

Wow, I think I have said 'each other' a million times here. Just, read the book. Like I will, a hundred more times this year and for many years to come. It's a book that leaves you with the feeling that you just read something incredibly important. It doesn't feel like just a story, it feels like you lived through something courageous and hopeful.

I love the way John Green ends his review of this book (I just found it while looking at fan art of the story) and so I will end mine with his words:

Early in the novel, Park’s English teacher asks him why “Romeo and Juliet” has survived 400 years. With Eleanor looking on, Park says: “Because people want to remember what it’s like to be young? And in love?” After a moment, he adds, “Is that right?”

It is. “Eleanor & Park” reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.

If I ever get to meet Rainbow, I'd want to give her a hug, and a very simple, sincere 'Thank you.' for sending a gift this beautiful, with so much heart, into the world.

Gone Girl

I started reading this book after seeing Lea Michele was yet another celeb to be reading it, and ohhh myyy it's been a thrill! It's trippy in the loveliest way; it keeps you guessing! It's filled with the sweetness of first marriage and growing as a couple. It's also twisted and dark and captivating. 

The book starts with so many cute little moments about the start of their love story, and the way Nick and Amy began their marriage. The mood of the book is such (and this is what I kept telling people about the book) that you literally have no idea who to trust and what is actually happening. I loved that!

And then you start getting both perspectives, and just when you think you're figuring it all out, the chapter ends with another jaw-dropping moment that changes everything! I think it's best if you don't read up on the plot, it's such a fun adventure watching it fall out in front of you.

The second part of the book is all sociopath-paranoia-plotting, it's magnificent and terrifying! I spent most of this last part, panicked about what I would do if I was in Nick's situation, and hoping with everything in me that someone is on his side. I was of course, completed entranced by Amy's every thought and wondering what her every move would be. 

Up until the very end of the book, you have no idea how things are going to play out. It's complicated and beautiful and fascinating and overflowing with human realities: of society and prejudice and manipulation and personality weakness.

Reading this book was like watching a couple balancing on a tightrope, at a big show with a million distractions. It's only really about their dynamic, but they have somehow involved all these other people's opinions and desires and.. It's messy and they fight dirty, but it's all so controlled, so planned. You'll know what I mean when you read it! (Read it!) 

and just like I said at the end of Follow Me Down, if you've read it I would love to discuss the ending. 

Golden

This is a lovely book! A wonderful weekend read!

'Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.'

It's filled with beautiful imagery, so much emotion, fills your heart with the winds of change and challenges to really live. I especially loved the journal aspect, and the beautiful way it's written. Every chapter starts with a floral illustration, and a line from a poem or a poignant quote. I really liked that. 

The first line I highlighted in the book is this: "Today the wind and I burst through the double doors together, and it carries me like someone who's going places, because now it's official. I am." and the book kind of carries you on a journey with this feeling. It's a book about really living, and enjoying the experiences while you chase your goals. "A life made of beauty and love and chance." It asks the question, "What will you live for? Be passionate about? Define yourself by?" while you read Parker's story, as she reads Julianna's story and tries to live them both out as best she can. 

Julianna writes so beautifully of a boy who 'feels like someone I've always known, but also someone I need to know more' and it changes the way she sees her life and her relationship and, the course of her life in it's entirety. 

I believe that every moment matters and happens for a reason, that you see things in conversations or the corner of your eyes and that one day it all matches up to have a magnificent meaning. And I enjoyed that aspect, but I also enjoyed the way *not really a spoiler* it ends with possibility, no defined answer or 'happily ever after' - though to me, that's the real kind of happily ever after.

I think this would make a great movie adaption, or even tv series. And I'd kind of like a second book, maybe written the way Lola and the Boy Next Door is.. where you see them again but in a different story. Maybe from someone like Orion's perspective, or Hope's thoughts. 

There's a boy who has like Parker for years, Be a miracle. Be alive, and living a beautiful life somewhere new, however impossible it seems.

The Spectacular Now

This book was a wonderful weekend read. It's as lush and sunlight-filled as the movie posters for the film adaption are. It's sweet and sincere; also real-life messy, honest, unpredictable and entertaining. A lovely coming-of-age story about a boy who sees the world as it is, and embraces the weird.

I loved Sutter from the very beginning, for his incredibly vast and genuinely kind insights into the hearts of those around him. He's so very aware, of his impact on their worlds, which can often be complicated but to him reality is a simple truth. 

It's a story that made me wonder if I am doing everything I can to be as alive as I can be in this moment. It made me realise that things can seem messy but, with the right person and the right perspective (and maybe a shot of Whiskey) the world is a bright adventure waiting to be had. 

Sutter changes Aimee's life, and she changes his. -For the simple reason that their hearts are open, to change and light and opportunity. We learn about different kinds of love and the effects of heartache. But also of sacrifice and the wonder in how transient relationships can be.

Pandemonium (Delirium #2)

I'd been sure I'd give this book three stars, pretty much the whole time I was reading it. The first half I was, waiting for something to happen, and finding my way around these flashbacks while I figured out what Lena's 'now' was. And then I was like 'oh.' when things really did happen. I kind of wanna say it was boring. It wasn't so boring that I didn't want to finish it; it was good enough that I wanted to keep reading, but.. meh. There were cute moments though. I think, also maybe it didn't get deep enough into the new characters. Like maybe because of the past and present happening at the same times, I never really knew where we stand and whether to care about them.

The main feeling I had when reading this book was, disbelief about Alex, just wanting him to come back or not be dead and like. That was my main feeling I was hoping and waiting for him. So, meh.

But then the last scene happened AND I WANTED TO GIVE IT AT FIVE OR A SEVEN and needed to rush to the next book. Because I KNEW IT! And I ALSO LIKE JULIAN NOW BUT. Ugh I'd hate myself if I was her, but then also hate him, but then also hate myself if I was Alex. TOO MANY FEELINGS I CANT. So, there.

Also, I prefer this cover.
I just feel like it's more, related to the story.

The Bling Ring

I've been so interested in this story. -The idea of fame-obsessed teenagers successfully robbing celebrities of millions of dollars! While the media has mostly been obsessed with 'why', I've been excited by the 'how!' 

The book is written Nancy Jo Sales who did the Vanity Fair story that inspired Sofia Coppolla to make this into a film. 

(I've been watching the Made-for-tv movie in between reading this book, before I watch Sofia's film, and it's just made me so much more interested in the Ring as individuals. Also, Austin Butler is the main character!! I will do a review when I've finished the movie*) 

My first thought, when I heard the story, was 'How had this not happened before? And how is it teenagers who did it first?!' 

Nancy answers this question beautifully, explaining the context of the situation. Hollywood was always a sparkling area of unattainable wealth, it was an us-and-them situation. She writes, 'It was fame itself that acted as a shield, an invisible force keeping the non-famous out. Until recently, the fame bubble has always seemed magical, impossible to pierce.. actors were respected and admired. 

'Stars-they're just like us.' US Weekly tells us. Well, now they are. Reality television leveled Mount Olympus like a nuclear bomb.' At the same time as it said 'celebrities are just people' it said, 'hey, you can be just as famous.' And suddenly the us-and-them idea, is no more. 

The most enlightening moment so far for me, is this quote: 'the Bling Ring kids felt they could just walk into the stars' home because stars no longer shined.'

With Twitter and Facebook and weekly tabloids, we knew these celebrities, intimately, but never intimately enough. When you think of it like that, with a sudden change like that, becoming so deeply a part of who we are as a society, how could something like the Bling Ring not happen? 

Anna and the French Kiss

It's a cute love story, set in Paris. It's a beautiful combination of quirky American girl, the magic of Paris, boarding school dynamics and the difficulty of moving away on your own. I loved the intricacy of each character, and the way I grew to love each of them in a different way. They're the kind of friends I'd like if I were away at school. Friends who get crepes together on Sunday mornings, and eat breakfast together in the week. A boy who is always drawing passionately, a girl who loves the Beatles and wears glitter rings, a girl who is forgiving even though she's lonely, and a charming boy from many different worlds who becomes home to Anna.

It made me want to explore Paris, and meet a cute British boy who speaks French; I want to see museums and paint for days, eat lunch on Cathedral steps and see Paris from way up high. It also made me long for all those beautiful cinemas. I love that about YA books especially, there's always some lovely kind of knowledge about the main character that sets her apart. Anna is passionate about and filled with, a love for film. She knows the history of it and all the best and worst parts.

I especially love the idea that home is a person and not a place, because that's how it's always been for me.

(Also, I learned the word 'meretricious' which is so very fun to say!)