Memento Nora review

Description: A teen struggles to hold onto her memories-and her identity-in a world that wants everyone to forget-and keep on shopping. Three dynamic teens come together to create a comic book of their memories. 

My thoughts: I didn’t realized how small the book was until I ripped it out of its package. I wondered how, from the description, they would be able to include everything without it feeling like the author rushed the story. It’s true that I wish it was longer, but not because it was rushed, but because it was good!

When Nora started the “project” she was doing with a guy named Micah, and a girl named Winter, I wasn’t too confident in her passion for their cause. These comic books they were creating could get her in a lot of trouble, so I wondered many times why she decided to help out with the comics. I have plenty of reasons why I think she did it, but she never actually says why (initially) in the book.

It was amazing how their world seem rough from the very beginning. But as you go on, more information is revealed, and you find out that their world was even worse than you thought. Not only the government, but the “supporting cast” surrounding Nora, Micah, and Winter.

Although I didn’t like the ending, not because it was bad but because that’s not how I thought it would go, it had the most action near the second half of the book. I was shocked by the last page and can’t wait to find out what happened in the next book. It wasn’t a cliffhanger, but it left me wanting more!

Something extra: I loved Winter. She was weird. But she’s just the kind of person who’d be pleased with that statement. Plus she’s B.A. with her mechanical inventions! And her grandfather is just plan B.A.

Darkness Becomes Her review

Description: Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.
She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.
Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

My thoughts: I love book descriptions like this one (most of the time). They tell you enough to make you want to know more about the book. That technique can lead to a negative or positive outcome. Fortunately in this case it was the latter because this book was freaking awesome!

It was fast paced from the very beginning, starting with a scene most authors would have waited till a few chapters in to present. But it works for this story. It also steers clear of a lot of background info. that was better being told throughout the story instead of just the beginning anyway.

The characters were quirky but easy to love. Other than Ari and a couple other characters, my favorite people in the story were only in the book for a few scenes or chapters. They were just all so kickass that it didn’t matter how long they were in the book! The world of New 2 (formerly New Orleans) was also impressive. With powerful families and a distinctive culture, I could see why Ari was so charmed by it.

Something I really loved about this book was the Greek mythology. The description doesn't tell you it's there, but most reviews do, so I knew it was there even if I didn't know how much would be included.

Since this book involves mythology, I took a crack at trying to find out what made Ari so "special". Technically I did figure out what was unique about her early on, but the author wrote the story in such a way that I was still unsure up until a couple chapters before the “revealing point”. And even though I already knew what she was, I was still amazed by the way it was brought out and how it affected Ari and everyone around her.

Darkness Becomes Her had an epic feel to it, or the beginnings of it. Every story has to have a problem the main characters need to solve. But some stories, supernatural ones in this case have a problem that is just important to the main characters and a few other people. And the problem seems like it could be solved in one book rather than a whole series. In Darkness Becomes Her, Ari is a part of a larger problem, affecting the people around her as well as herself and even her ancestors. This was the first epic type book I’ve read in a while. I was just telling my mom a few days before I started this book that I missed reading epic stories, so this book came at the perfect time!

Random but somewhat related comment: In honor of the setting of Darkness Becomes Her, I got the voodoo pork sandwich (taste so good!) at one of my favorite restaurants in my hometown (told you it was random). :)

Please Ignore Vera Dietz review

Description: Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

My thoughts: I didn’t look at too many reviews for this book, but it wasn’t hard to tell that a lot of people loved it. I saw it online and decided to buy it. I had no intention of reading it anytime soon. But once it got to my house, it called out to me and I had to read it. Looking back, it’s so amazing that I started 2010 with Paper Towns (a favorite!) by John Green, and ended 2010 with Please Ignore Vera Dietz (another favorite). Initially with King switching from past to present, and giving people like Vera’s father their own chapter, I was concerned it wouldn’t flow. But everything worked, from Vera’s father’s flow charts, to the talking pagoda, and transitions from past to present. King successfully goes back and forth between past and present, even though I initially thought it was a bad idea.  Sometimes I’d finish a chapter based in the past only to find that the next chapter was also set in the past. At first I thought, “No, this is too much of the past, I’ll get tired of it pretty soon.” But then she’d reveal something important and startling, and I’d say a quick sorry in regards to assuming King couldn’t write a good past tense chapter.

Seeing as how this has now been deemed one of my favorite books, you’d think it would be happier. It’s not. It’s sad and depressing with humor sprinkled in between, but so are little sections of our life. Of course, having a dead best friend that wasn’t even a friend let along best friend before he died doesn’t make you want to sing Glee songs while skipping down the road (lol I don’t know where that image came from). Especially when you find out, as you read that the situation was much worse than you imagined. Until the very end of the story I saw myself go from “that sucks,” to “ok that really sucks,” to “Vera you deserve better cause he’s a douchebag.” But there’s this version of Charlie (her dead bff) that she sees, which at times seems wrong and at other times seems like it represents his potential or former self. And through Vera’s point of view, it’s very easy to understand both the love and hate she feels for Charlie, even if it’s at the same time.

There are so many things Vera has to deal with. There’s her relationship with Charlie, her Dad, or just herself. She has so much she has to deal with, that you eventually forget about Charlie, not that he becomes less prevalent. He just becomes a thing that is so constant; his presence just becomes a part of Vera’s background. It’s interesting how a book about death is actually about living. Through all her trials, Vera is forced to deal with her problems. Acceptance and growth are a huge part of this story, and it’s these kinds of aspects that helps make this book one of my favorite books!

Random great thing about this book: The freakin pagoda gets its own chapters! How cool is that?!!

Never Let Me Go Movie (Mini) Review

Not long after I'd first heard about this book, I heard a movie was being 

made for it. I liked a review I saw for Never Let Me Go, and had every 

intent to read the book and then watch the movie. But then time flew by,

and it turns out that by the time I found out the book was being made into 

a movie, it was actually already close to its release date. I was still 

determined to read the book first, but I couldn't resist the opportunity 

to see it this week.

I know that there's a possibility that I  could change my mind after I 

read the book (which I definitely WILL). There's a chance that they 

messed up what was in the book, but as a movie by itself, it was

perfectly haunting.I don't remember the last time I've felt this emotional 

during a movie! There were times where it actually felt like my heart was 

aching.I don't want to give anything away, but this was a sad,heart 

wrenching yet awesome movie!This is definitely movie I'll be buying 

when it comes out!