Saturday, April 18, 2015

Saturday Pages: Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda and My Heart & Other Black Holes!!!

Hey guys! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, in my case I'm hoping to have slightly less busy shifts during the weekend! And I hope to have some time to read ARCs because I need to catch up and finally reach the ever ellusive 80% on NetGalley!

For this week's Saturday Pages I have two mini reviews since I don't want my pending reviews to end up piling up as usual! Both books are contemporaries, both highly recommended by The Midnight Garden ladies (thank you Wendy & Kim) and both will be counted towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge and my 105 Challenge as Contemporary YA is one of my categories in that challenge!








Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaSimon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm usually not a big fan of contemporaries but when one comes as highly recommended as this one, I know I need to check it out, and Simon didn't disappoint at all.

Simon is a wonderful character, one that feels real and genuine, a teenager struggling with not just his being gay and coming out to his friends and family, but with many of his choices and actions, since he sometimes feels like he has to explain himself to everyone around him, and that can he hard enough when you're not sure about yourself.

I loved that this book dealt with many things, some lighter issues and some tougher issues. From bullying, to underage drinking, to misunderstandings with friends, family dynamics, falling in love and coming out and being upfront about who you are.

Simon & Blue start talking to each other via e-mail, and they slowly but surely become friends, support each other and help each other to be brave enough to face whatever's to come. They end up falling in love and it was so heartwarming and cute and adorable and *sigh* full of feels!

I loved the rest of the characters, because they're all there, real and genuine and with their own strenghts and flaws. Simon's family are wonderful, with great sibling dynamics & support and very present parents that are both supportive and parental enough to set up boundaries and limits.

A wonderful debut and contemporary read, a book that made me so very happy and made me cry and left me with a wonderful book hangover and a massive craving for Oreos! Very much deserved 4.5 stars!





My Heart and Other Black HolesMy Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is one of those fantastic books that need to be read despite the fact that it will break your heart, but it will also give you hope. And I must thank my dear Kim from The Midnight Garden for telling me that I HAD to read this book no matter what!

This book deals with the very tough themes of depression and suicide, and it does so in a way that feels genuine and realistic and that makes it very easy for you to feel what Aysel and Roman are feeling.

Both Aysel and Roman are at that point of feeling that they want the sadness and the pain to stop, and since they cannot see a way out of the blackness, they feel like they need that to stop and so they're planning their own suicide and find each other as "suicide buddies".

I love how by getting together to plan their suicide, they end up talking about their reasons for wanting to end it all, and how that made Aysel feel a lil different, how it make her finally find some hope, even if it was just the tiniest bit and she decided that she wanted to hold onto that hope. And how she decided that she needed to hold onto Roman and try and spark the same hope in him.

Prepare yourself for being overloaded with the feelings of sadness and black tunnel and then feel the relief of finding a lil spark that can make you see that there's more than just that darkness. A fantastic contemporary book that gave me a massive book hangover! Very much deserved 4.5 stars!


View all my reviews

25 comments:

  1. I'm so so so glad you loved SIMON! <33 He was just such a fabulous character and I love how he respected those who weren't part of the norm. And he and Blue together were just super asdfghjkl!!

    A feeling of darkness... and then a bit of hope? Yes please! Bumping this up my TBR a bit. :)

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    1. MHAOBH is a tough but wonderful book Aimee, I hope you'll check it out!
      And Simon and Blue and their e-mails were adorable overload!!

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  2. Gorgeous reviews Pili. <3 I'm so glad you loved both books a whole lot :D I am planning on reading Simon one day. <3 It looks so cute! Thank you for sharing your amazing thoughts about these two books :)

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    1. Thank you so much for always commenting Carina! And yes, you need to read Simon, it's a lovely and adorable book that makes you feel all happy!

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  3. Both of these books would have placed you on both sides of the emotional spectrum! So glad to hear you loved Simon, mann it gave me so many feels and was so incredibly sweet. My Heart sounds like it explores the issue of suicide in a really real, authentic way. Lovely reviews Pili! Glad to hear you enjoyed them both.

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    1. Simon was so sweet and I simply adooored it! And MHAOBH feels so very genuine and you can really feel the sadness of depression!

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  4. Loved Simon! Haven't read Black Holes yet but I do want to try it. Great mini-reviews :)
    Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen at YA Romantics

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    1. Thank you so much, Jen! You do need to read Black Holes!

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  5. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is all over the place with 5 star ratings. Contemporaries are always way down on my tbr, and usually stay there, because I never have extra time for "exploratory" reading, but these stellar reviews are inticing me!

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    1. You know I don't read many contemporaries either, but these two are very much worth reading!

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  6. I'm so SO incredibly happy that you enjoyed Simon's voice and the book as a whole! Wasn't it special? I really thought so. Not overstated, not flashy, but simple and oh so important. I wish everyone would read it.

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    1. YES! It's never flowery or preachy, but it feels real and wonderful and... I just feel like hugging the book!

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  7. Both of these! Both of these are two highly recommended novels! I personally can't see myself reading either book, at least anytime soon (due to my crazy reading schedule through June), but I definitely want to give both a shot. I'm glad to see that you loved both, Pili!

    Fabulous mini reviews!

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. YES!! I do hope you'll add them to your schedule during summer, maybe even add them as Pili Pushed books! ;)
      Thank you dear!

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  8. Thanks for the lovely reviews!! I actually very much want to read both of these bad boys. Now if I only could find the time! ;-)
    ❤️Britt

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    1. I do ope you'll manage to squeeze them into the reading list Britt, because they're very much worth it!

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  9. www.lite-rate-ture.com
    I read that last year. It was a tearful book but I kinda thought the romance at the end and the whole sacrifice thing went a bit over board. I can't believe the guy wanted to kill himself and not be with her... Huhuhu

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  10. I am so looking forward to these books, like, a LOT. Especially Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda. I read that it's one of the most realistic LGBT portrayals ever, if not THE most realistic. I'm so excited to grab a physical copy!

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. Both were fantastic IMHO Faye! Both had characters that felt so real and genuine!

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  11. Simon is just so adorable! Everytime I see it around I want to grab it and do a re-read. Simon and Blue were just so adorable! And I loved Simon's story.
    I've been hearing great things about My Heart and Other Black Holes and your review has definitely made me want to read it, but I think it might be a bit heavy for me just now. But hopefully I'll get around to it one day.
    Brilliant reviews :)

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    1. MHAOBH is a bit of a tough &heartbreaking read, but it leaves you feeling hopeful too!
      And Simon... Simon is wonderful!!

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  12. Great reviews! I think the Simon story might not be for me but I am glad that everyone is liking it, even you when contemporary is not exactly your genre! I am very interesting in My Heart and Other Black Holes though because stories about suicide intrigue me and I am a fan of emotional reads.

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    1. Thank you Olivia! I do hope you'll enjoy MHAOBH!!

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  13. Great reviews! Both books sound so good and I can't wait to read them (:

    Mandy's Books and Beauty

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    1. Both were amazing Mandy, I do hope you'll get to read them soon!

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!