Mark These Books Monday: I'll Give You The Sun & Carry On!!!

Hey there guys!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two books that count both towards my Diverse Reads Book Challenge as well as the Rock My TBR Challenge!

Carry On was my buddy read with Melanie from One Less Lonely Blog for #RockMyTBR and the other one, I'll Give You The Sun, I finally decided to read because of Mel too! It is one of her fave books, and I decided to read it while I waited for her to catch up with me on our buddy read!

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I cannot decide if I should give this one 4 or 5 stars. My gut feeling after finishing was 5 stars but this morning I was thinking of a few issues I might have with it...

I really enjoyed this one, it grabbed me and wouldn't let me go! I kept reading and reading and I really needed to know what would happen, what was going on, what happened in the past, simply everything!

The book is told in dual POV from Jude and Noah, the twins, but one is present time (Jude) and the other one is 3 years in the past (Noah). I loved both their voices, even if Noah's was the more bright and emotional, at least at first. He's the artist and he's falling in love with a guy and also has all his hopes up to join the arts school that's his dream. We meet a different Jude there that the one we spend time with as a 16 year old on her pages and Noah is also different in her pages, not just because we see him from his sister's eyes, but because of events that happened 3 years ago.

Changing from one POV to the other was quite a bit jarring because how different things and characters were in each of the narratives, but I really liked the character development and the complex family dynamics and relationships. I really loved also how important art was for both Noah and Jude, but how differently they both felt and lived it and expressed it.

After a bit of thought, I'm giving this one 4.5 stars but will leave the rating as a 4 stars here. The changing POVs sometimes interrupted the flow for me, even if sometimes they complimented each other very well, I was left a bit unsure about how I felt about the family complex dynamic and how it was resolved in the end. Also a bit unsure about the age differences in the relationships and how it was presented. I'm still not sure if I feel like they can be problematic or not, so those small bits are nagging me from giving it a full 5 stars.

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Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I absolutely loved this one! It has not dethroned Fangirl as my Rainbow Rowell favourite book, but it was close! I loved her take on the Chosen One story and the magical school, and I simply loved Baz and Simon and Penny and Agatha! I'm also extremely glad to have buddy read it with Melanie from One Less Lonely Blog because we've had a lot of fun chatting about the book as we progressed!

I know not everyone loved the Baz & Simon snippets on Fangirl, but I loved them as much as the story itself, so I was super excited to read their full book story when I was announced, but for some reason once it published... I was wary of starting it, I guess? I dunno, but since October last year it had been sitting in my Kindle. And boy, why did I doubt Rainbow Rowell? I was hooked probably since page 1!

The vaguely Hogwarts-y feeling was there but in such a way that it was different enough to be its own story but some winks that simply made me want to re-read the Harry Potter books! This magical world is different, and so is our Chosen One. But I must say, that my favourite part and what I think the strongest of the book is not exactly the magical world of Chosen One plot, although it is very well done and wrapped up in a single book. No, the strongest part of this book is the characters, their dynamics, relationships and their development.

The book is told on multiple POVs, the main ones being Simon, Penny, Baz and Agatha, althought we also get Lucy's which at first we aren't sure who she is, and the Mague. I really enjoyed all the main 4 POVs but I must confess my favourite has to be Baz! I really liked his voice, his self-deprecanting voice and how he accepted who he was, and how he made himself the villain if need be. I couldn't stop shipping him and Simon like mad since his POV chapters started! Simon seemed well obsessed enough with him too, even if he seemed to be think it was just concern for whatever Baz could be plotting against him (yeah right... denial is not just a river in Egypt, indeed).

As I say, I adored all the main characters, Penny was a delight, outspoken, loyal and not letting Simon be self sacrificing in stupid ways and Agatha? Agatha was trying to find her place in a world where magick is everything and she couldn't care enough about it, and I loved how she ended up being true to herself and her true feelings, not to family pressure. And I loved how Baz & Simon's relationship progressed in the midst of a murder investigation and the onset of a massive war.

The conflict was explained and solved in a rather more satisfactory way than I expected and I was happy to see what happened after, even if it was just the immediate aftermath. A bit unusual for a fantasy but pretty much in line with how unusual a fantasy story this one. After all, it was all about the characters and who they are/were.

Very well deserved 5 stars for this one!

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Saturday Pages: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell!!!

Hello guys!

Today I'll be delivering my first Piwicakes order for a co-worker's bf's surprise birthday party, which means I stayed up late last night getting everything ready! So today I'm a bit on the sleepy side of life.

For this week's Saturday Pages review, I have a book is an adult contemporary that I absolutely adored! In case you are wondering what's so special about it... it's cause I don't read that much contemporary, even less adult contemporary! BUT it's a Rainbow Rowell book, and everything that woman writes I love, I think I want to read even her grocery lists!

Since this one was published in 2011, I'm also counting it towards my poor overlooked 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge!

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


You know how I always say that contemporary books are not usually my thing? And you know that I almost never read adult contemporary books? Well, clearly all of that doesn't apply to contemporary adult books written by Rainbow Rowell. Anything this woman writes I love, simple as that!

Attachments is not a new release, but it's a book that deserves as much praise as Fangirl or Eleanor & Park and that I feel has been largely overlooked. I'm hoping that will change as Ms Rowell's popularity continues to grow, because this is simply a fantastic book!

Lincoln has started working as part of the IT team as security guy, so he's the one that reads the flagged e-mails in a newspaper where employees have just recently got company e-mail accounts and access to the internet. It is a boring job, but he has just moved back to town, into her mother's house and he's trying to find his own way. He finds himself reading the flagged e-mails of Beth & Jennifer, that are using the company e-mail to talk about their lives and he doesn't send them a warning but instead continues reading their conversations.

It is a bit creepy, cause both girls consider them private conversations, but I can't really blame Lincoln. Beth and Jennifer are both witty and adorable, and through their e-mails you see their friendship and how they care for each other, with what they discuss and what they don't. We learn a lot about who they are through their e-mails and by the end of the book, I felt like Jennifer & Beth were old friends of mine already!

This book is not only about the romance, but it's also about all sorts of human relationships, friends, marriages, the relationship with your siblings, your parents, your friends. And finding the right equilibrium in all of them. Change is never easy for anyone and we're never sure what can trigger the change we might be afraid of that can end up being for the best.

I felt almost all the emotions with this book, I felt for awkward Lincoln, I was annoyed at the situation with his mother, but ended up feeling for her too. His sister was equal parts nosy and caring... and Beth and Jennifer? Those girls... I felt like I wish I could be part of their e-mail messages and chat with them all day! I laughed (out loud, a lot), I giggled, I swooned, I cried, I bawled and I felt awkward, I felt angry and I felt confused... and when I reached the last page of the book, it couldn't have been more perfect!

If you've read other books by Rainbow Rowell, you must read this one, and if you haven't read any books by her... start now! With this one for example! 5 well deserved stars (and maybe a few extra more!).



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Just Couldn't Put It Down July Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Just Couldn't Put It Down July Giveaway Hop hosted & organized by the amazing Val of Stuck in Books!

This blog hop is all about those books that we loved so much we just couldn't stop reading from beginning to end, forgetting about mundane things like eating or sleeping! One of those books for me was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell! I stayed up reading till I finished it, around 4 to 5 am in the morning! Lack of sleep ensued the next day, but I regret nothing! ;) And because somehow I failed to mention it, the contest is open INTERNATIONAL (from Spain with love!).

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Check out the rest of the participants on the blog hop so you can win more books!! And in case the linky doesn't work... Go check out Val's post on her blog HERE!



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Waiting On Wednesday #47!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

What book I'm excited to get my hands on this week? Landline by Rainbow Rowell!

Goodreads Summary:

"Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?"

Why am I eagerly awaiting Landline? Well, Rainbow Rowell is one of my auto-buy list after reading and loving both Fangirl and Eleanor & Park! Though given my emotional state & situation right now, I'm not so sure this will be the right book for me right now!

What are you all (im)patiently awaiting this week?

Banned Books Week: Review of Eleanor And Park by Rainbow Rowell!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to an unexpected stop in the blog schedule, but I felt it was a really necessary one.
Last week I found out via Epic Read's Tea Time that this week was Banned Books Week in the US. I wouldn't have thought it'd still be an issue nowadays, the banning of books but it apparently really is a big issue in many areas all around the US. For more info visit this page.

I must say I'm not entirely sure if that ever happens here in Spain, but I really highly doubt it... maybe in private and more religious schools they might have different lists of recommended reads, but I don't think censorship is relevant in public libraries, still I'm going to do some research and ask in my local library about the issue.

Banning books and censoring them... it just sticks of repression and exertion of power without good reason, even more when you actually look at books that were banned and the reasons for banning them: 15 books banned for the crappiest reasons and then you can also read EpicRead's 12 Signs You're A Banned Book Reader.

As an absolutely book lover, total bookworm and enthusiastic reader that never had her taste on what to read questioned at home... this is absolutely bewildering! My parents apparently trusted that whatever I read wouldn't damage me and weren't questioning what books I took out of the library. At 14 I was devouring books about mythology where intrigues, infidelity and cold blood murder were rampant, I was devouring science fiction and books about alternate theories about Christiany all through high school, along with historical fiction and whatever else I could get my hands onto. And I believe that books are safe place to read about equally good and bad things about life, before you have to face them yourself, and they're also your best friends when you need to hide away from the world around you. No one has a right to impose their views on what others should or should not read, even more when half the time is clear they don't even know what they're talking about!

Once that rant is out of my system, to the review at hand! Eleanor and Park is one of the books that has had to deal with censorship and banishment more recently, so I decided that I really needed to read it for Banned Books Week!



Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had heard so many good things about this book from other bloggers but since I'm usually wary of contemporaries I was a bit reluctant. Then came the author's Fangirl and after even more gushing from my reference bloggers, I gave it a chance and absolutely loved it! After that it was a question time that I read Eleanor and Park, but my timing was given by the news that an association of parents from a school district in US wanted to ban it. Cue my shock (and indignation) face of "does that really STILL happen in a democratic country??" Because I wouldn't have been surprised to hear of any book being banned in a country with a teocracy in charge, or a dictatorship, since those aren't big on thinking for yourself but in the so-called "land of the free"? Colour me shocked! (and again indignant!).

Then Tea Time from Epic Reads & Harper Teen talked about the issue and Banned Books Week, and I knew I would read Eleanor and Park for that week and would support the author and the freedom to read whatever you want!

And boy, am I glad that I did! This is a brilliant book! It's a tough book to read, full of real life issues. It's raw, it's real and it's full of what's ugly out there, yes. But it is also treated in a very realistic way with loads of hope. And does show us that there's always light in dark places. The biggest message I get from Eleanor & Park is that one, hope.

Hope that we can find someone that will make us smile even in unlikely situations, hope that friends can be found even when you are trying to keep everyone at a distance, hope that love can happen even to those who don't believe they deserve it. Hope that good things can happen even when you had given up on hope itself.

Eleanor and Park is a story about two kids that fall in love, with their very different backgrounds and their own different stories. It's a story with gritty and dark corners cause life is not all rainbows and fluffly unicorns, so it's raw and real and so are the characters, flawed, real, with issues, damaged and growing.

The characters feel real, the story feels real, the pacing, the progression, the issues, the ending... everything feels real, like this might be a story that has actually happened to someone and we get their story through the very expert hands of Rainbow Rowell.

I know now that I will read everything that she writes, because this book is a very much deserving 5 stars for me!



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Friday Reads: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell!!

Friday is here, and with it a few reviews in the shape of Friday Reads posts.

For starters, a fantastic book that lived up to the hype and more!


Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


You know that feeling when you read so many good reviews of a book that you expect it to be great and then when you read it, and you don't even know how, but it totally exceeds your expectations and you are happy that you totally disregarded your TBR list and schedule and stayed up till almost 7 am reading it?

Yep, that was how good Fangirl was for me. Another hint of how good it is? My tablet run out of battery around 4 am, I got out of bed, found the charger, plugged it in and continued reading!

I loved Fangirl so much that I'm shocked! I'm not usually a big fan of contemporaries, and Fangirl is a contemporary read through and through, but it is full of all the things that make it an outstanding book.

Fangirl is the story of Cath, a girl that is not good in social situations, even less in new ones, a girl that doesn't deal with change too well, a girl that loves things that are known and safe, and a girl that loves fiercely, from her dad, to her sister to the ever important fanfiction she writes for her favourite book series.

The thing about this book is that it all felt so real! The characters just seemed alive in those pages, being scared, being in love, growing up, refusing to face things... it all happened and it all felt real! The relationships between Cath, her twin sister Wren, her dad, Reagan the room mate, Levi... ah Levi! Nick the writing partner... Everything feels so alive, so genuine, so real!

The story is full of growth, on how to deal with life, how to face those things we don't love, how to not just stay with what's easy but take risks, and how to deal with our messed up selves. As it is, this is not a story that requires plot twists but there is a wonderful progression, with ups and lows, starts and stops... just like life.

The romance is just perfect. Perfect for the story and the characters, and perfect to just make you root for both of them, despite feeling like smacking Levi at one point, from the beginning to the end!

The addition of the Simon Snow quotes and Cath's fanfiction throughout the book is simply genious! It helps you relate to Cath more, and with its slight Potteresque hints, it made me want to read more both of the original stories and of Cath's fanfiction!

All in all an absolutely brilliant read that made me cry, made me laugh and made me all fuzzy inside! 5 of 5 stars without a doubt!



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