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 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 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
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 Agenda by Becky AlbertalliMy 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 Holes by Jasmine WargaMy 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
