Review: It's Not Summer Without You and We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

The second book in the 'Summer I Turned Pretty' trilogy is a good continuation from the first novel in the series. Though a long time has passed in between the novels, they flow together as if in continuation. This means that many events are told in the form of flashbacks, but this helps the novel by adding a layer of drama that the reader cannot fully understand until everything has been revealed later on. This book takes us back to the sweet and carefree summer house that we knew in the first book, but everything has changed around the characters and it was interesting to read about how they tried to overcome their struggles which seemed a million miles away from what we would've thought they would have had to deal with in the first instalment of this series. In this book we start to see more depth to the characters we were introduced to in the first book and the development of each individual can clearly be seen throughout. Overall, this is a fairly light summer read that I believe many young teens would enjoy. However, it seemed at certain points that the love triangle was far too forced and predictable.

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A poor end to a series that had the potential to be a lot better than it was. For the main part of the novel, the plot ran dry with the characters continuing with the same mediocre activities in a failed attempt to keep the reader interested. At the beginning of the book, Belly's life seemed to be far too perfect and the only way to fix that in the writer's mind was ruining the trust in her romantic relationship. I started to lose interest in what the eventual outcome would be, but thankfully this book had two saviours which enabled me to give it a not too bad three star rating. The first was the comedy provided by Taylor; I actually laughed out loud at some points because of her. The second was the ending of the book. It seemed to be much more apt and less ridiculous than the main storyline in the book and I actually would have been happier as a reader if the last few pages of the book were made into the whole book. Overall, I'm disappointed. This book could have been so much better.

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Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

This book would be a great beach read, though I read it the day before I went on holiday and now it has got me in the mood for summer. There are a few darker aspects to this novel in theme, but mainly it is a fluffy read about first love and cringey moments that can happen when you are falling in love with someone. The interweaving of flashbacks with the main storyline help to explain the relationships between the characters better and gives a greater understanding of why Belly's summers are so important to her. There are a lot of potential male love interests, each of them likeable in their own way, but sometimes it can feel a bit unrealistic because of the amount of them. I would recommend this as a holiday/beach read as it can be read quickly and is what I would class as a 'summer' novel, especially to anyone in their early teens as I feel it would appeal to that age range the most.

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I think the title of this book lets it down in a way. It makes it seem very superficial and although parts are, the book does go deeper than that. It touches upon divorce, drinking and terminal illness, all of which are serious issues. When I picked up this book I expected it to be very superficial because of the title. Whereas I thought I would be getting groups of girls in bikinis trying to get with as many guys as possible over the summer, I actually got someone who was struggling to fit in and was dealing with the changes that being a teenager brings. I got a character who I could like, which was the opposite of what the title led me to expect.

The flashbacks in this novel were often to quite cringe-worthy scenes, but they led me to be able to understand each individual character better and gave me an insight as to why they acted the way that they did in the present day. It was interesting for me to see how things had changed between Conrad, Jeremiah, Belly and Steven over the course of the summers and how easily they went from being a group to trying to go their own separate ways. They changed as they aged and it is good to be able to see that as a reader because it means that we can feel like we know more about them and connect to them more.

Out of the three love interests for Belly introduced in this novel, I have to say that Cam appealed to me the most, though that is my own personal preference. He was smart and kind to Belly throughout the novel, even when he started to realise that she had feelings for Conrad. I think that we could all do with a guy like Cam and as it seems that Belly has given up on him, I would happily fill that spot in his life.

I can understand why Conrad would draw the attention of Belly and many other girls. Being honest, most cannot resist the pull of someone on the edge, someone who you're never fully sure about and that is what Conrad represents in this book. Personally, I found him to be more than a bit rude in places. Still, throughout the novel it was hinted at that he had feelings for Belly and I could see her making him a better person.

Jeremiah is someone who I felt slightly sorry for in this novel. He was being kind and nice and supportive, but that seemed to get him nowhere with Belly. However, I feel that a friendship between those two characters could benefit them both and would be best for the continuing storyline, though I guess it won't be done, as a friendship can be just as or even more important than a romantic relationship. That is something that is so often undervalued in YA fiction. I just hope that by the end of the series they are still friends.

Belly's courage is something that I definitely admire about her. She eventually told Conrad what she was feeling with no frills or beating around the bush and that is a very hard and brave thing to do. Admitting that you like someone is never easy, and that was only made harder by the fact that she knew she was putting their friendship on the line. Also, she dealt with the news that Susannah's cancer had returned as well as she could have been expected to, but in really quite a mature way. She didn't give up on her as other people might have, instead planning on sticking it out with her. That is something that not a lot of people who have the choice to leave can manage, as demonstrated by Susannah's own husband.

Overall, this was an interesting and entertaining read that is great for summer. There were too many love interests for my liking, but the storyline was good and I will be reading the next book when I can get it.

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Review: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

This book isn't one that amazed me. After the turn of every page I wasn't totally emotionally invested in the story, yet I still wanted to keep reading; I wanted to know what would happen, even if I didn't particularly care about the characters. By the end, I started to care more about Lara Jean's dating life and who she would pick, but until about half way through, I was getting bored of Peter and Lara Jean's relationship.

A reoccurring focus in this book was the video of Lara Jean and Peter in the hot tub. I liked how this book explored the different expectations of men and women and how the video influenced them, but after hearing about it a few times, it started to become a tad repetitive. Just when we thought we could forget about the video, there it would be again like a small fly trapped in your room that you lose sight of for a while before it's buzzing in your face again. At first the video provided a great opportunity to test Lara Jean and Peter's relationship, but then it started to become tedious.

I feel like in this book, many characters changed for the worse. In the last book, I really liked Peter. He was nice, kind, funny and wasn't being an asshole. In this book though, he was the opposite. I had been expecting Lara Jean and Peter to break up for most of the book leading up to the moment when they did, however what I wasn't expecting was for him to ask for the necklace back afterwards. That is just a dick move. A few months ago a friendship ended between me and this girl, but I wasn't going to ask her for the earrings I gave her for her birthday back because they symbolise the friendship that we had at the time and me asking for them back would only make things bitter between us. Basically, I now no longer like Peter because he changed from the good guy we knew in the first book to someone I would happily leave in the dust.

On the other hand, I'm beginning to like John quite a bit. I think the fact that he and Lara Jean wrote letters to each other was sweet and in modern day romances letters aren't often written, which is a shame, so having that exchange between them was a new yet old, interesting thing. Also, I think that the memories he and Lara Jean built up over the course of this book are worth much more than the ones that she and Peter have. Things like playing in the snow in the middle of the night and plotting together for their game of assassins are fun and, especially with the snow, is something that really stands out to me in this book. The fact that it stands out to me so much tells me personally, that I prefer Lara Jean and John as a couple.

The development of Genevieve as a character in this novel was something that I had been looking forward to and though we didn't find out what was actually happening until the end of the novel, it was interesting for me to be wondering what could possibly be happening within her family throughout most of the novel. Obviously, your dad having an affair is a horrible thing and seeing, at eleven years old, your boyfriend kissing your best friend can't be a nice thing, but I still think that Genevieve's actions of, firstly, filming and secondly, posting the video of Lara Jean and Peter was childish and uncalled for.

My only other point to make is my annoyance at the continued actions of Kitty. As someone who has a nine year old sister, I know that the way Kitty is acting does not suit her age. She is acting more like a fourteen or fifteen year old and it is off-putting for me as a reader because it means I can't fully enjoy the novel because I can tell that something isn't right. I'm not saying that she should be more underdeveloped, but that her manners of speaking and acting should be more accurate to those of a ten year old.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book and if another one comes out, I will be buying it, purely to see if Lara Jean and John get together and/or if Peter improves his attitude.

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Holiday Reading - A Collection of Reviews

Over the past two weeks, my Easter holidays, I have read four books and I thought that instead of posting individual reviews on them, I should combine them into one post.

Scarlet -Marissa Meyer

Upon seeing that this book was not focused on Cinder, I became worried that we would leave her storyline completely and after the end of the first book, I was utterly devastated and confused by that. Thankfully, though this book did have focus on Scarlet, it also had focus on Cinder as well.

This book picked up the story very soon after Cinder had finished and that really reminded me of how little time this book actually covers. The number of events and depth of this book makes it seems as if weeks or months could have passed, but in reality it was only a few days.

The story of Scarlet I could instantly link to the fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood from the disappearance of her grandmother and her red hoodie. I do love how this series links into different fairytales and adapts them so that they can fit in with a more complex universe. As a person, I liked Scarlet for her passion and how she was not always wanting to rely on others. However, I did feel that she started to trust Wolf too soon and that meant that I wasn't totally on board with their relationship until she managed to stop him from attacking her.  As well as that, I could tell that he hadn't betrayed her and actually had feelings for her when they went into the old theatre from the way he was acting beforehand and though that may have been part of Meyer's plan as an author, to me, I would have preferred to be surprised and experience Scarlet's way of thinking.

Exploring Cinder's powers was something that I was hoping would happen in this book. I think that the phrase 'power is addictive' fits in well with what Cinder was struggling with and I am actually quite scared for how it will influence her in the future. We have already seen her break down because of her actions, but will the consequences in later books be more severe? As well as that, learning what Kai was having to do to try and keep the peace was also heartbreaking. It was good to hear that he was not repulsed by Cinder being a cyborg because after the ending of the first book, I was willing to cast him aside completely for what he had done. Finally the return of Iko and introduction of Thorne was something that really drew me into the book; I can't wait to see how their storylines will continue.

Overall this book was sublime and I can't wait to get my hands on Cress!

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I'll Give You The Sun - Jandy Nelson

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book. However, I was soon caught up in the parallel storylines that took place at different times and fell in love with both of the twins for different reasons. I liked Jude for her quirkiness and seeming rebellion from what she was expected to be and act like. I loved how Noah would imagine situations as paintings and how he wanted a life that he was never going to have because I think that can be applied to a lot of people's lives.

Noah at thirteen was someone who I admired for his talent and love of art and also someone who I felt sorry for as he couldn't express himself as he really wanted to, especially with Brian. There was the competition of sibling rivalry on top of that, which Jude experienced as well, and wanting something so much that he focused so much of his time and effort on. Then a few things started to change and I was very happy for Brian and Noah, but I knew from Jude's perspective that something must have gone wrong, which only made the end of their relationship more terrible.

Jude at sixteen was someone who was living with a lot of regret and shame, who instead of sharing it, was letting it all pile up on her shoulders when screaming it out would have probably been better for her mind and soul. Carving her sculptures was a way for her to scream it out and her relationship with Oscar was something that she was not prepared for because at that point she hadn't yet learning to let go of the past. As a character, I loved her immensely because I could feel the weight she carried as if it were my own and I was pleased that she tried to make up for her past mistakes.

I especially loved this book because of how all the events interlinked and how all the characters were involved in each other's lives. The realisation of those connections really left me in a state and I can't thank my friends enough so listening to my ramblings on this book that probably made no sense because I was so emotionally invested in the story.

After reading this book, I would highly recommend it and I think I will have to go on a search for more Jandy Nelson books as a result of how this book made me feel.

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Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins

I have been told by numerous people that Isla is their favourite book in the series that started with Anna. I cannot agree with that opinion and think that this is more a 4.5 star book, though I think I prefer it to Lola.

Having the first small section of the book months before the rest of it started was a really nice ease into the book as it introduced Isla to us in a simple way and also let us in on her crush on Josh without taking away from the aspect of her going back to school, which it would have done otherwise.

As a character, I did quite like Isla. She was hard-working and quite self-sufficient as she only really had one friend. That one friend, Kurt, I ended up feeling quite sorry for because it became plain that as soon as Josh started taking an interest in Isla that their relationship would change. As well as that, the fact that he had autism reminded me that this book was not supposed to be about perfect people living a perfect life. It didn't overly restrict him, but it made the book feel more real.

Josh was a main character in Anna's book, though I have to admit that I didn't pay as much attention to him as I should have. So, for me it was really interesting to get a deeper look into his life, his love of art and how he dealt with certain situations. All his friends had left the year before and he was struggling with his school life, which I had got from the first book, but I barely knew anything about Josh then - it was nice to see more into who he really is in this book.

This book was different in its set up to the others. It didn't focus on the characters getting together as much, but rather what happened once they were together. It felt odd to have a teen romance book set up in that way and though I am not against it (I liked how this book got to focus on the actual relationship rather than some 'friendship' that could be put into question), but to have Isla and Josh go on a trip to Barcelona to have sex less than halfway through the book did feel a bit soon. I think that it made me question their relationship more than I did the other couples, but also made their relationship feel like it was closer to what would happen in real life because not all couples spend ages pining after each other, they get together and then things progress from there.

I was happy that we got to see the other characters again, though in a way their introduction in this book did feel a bit like it was pinned on the end. I think I preferred it to Anna's constant involvement in Lola's book though as I want them to be able to be read as separate stories.

Overall this was a good read, but definitely not Perkins' best. Maybe I set my expectations too high after hearing so many amazing things about it.

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To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

Even though I have given this book five stars, I would say that it is more accurately 4.5 stars. The concept of this book was something totally different to romance books that I have read before and that really made it so much more interesting. The idea of writing someone a love letter to get over them is not something that I would have ever thought about before, but thinking over it, it actually makes sense. This book was not based off something that would never happen, just something that was unlikely to happen and that is what made it special.

I also love that this book wasn't your typical 'white girl' romance book. The infusion of slight differences in culture made this book stand out as well and though we don't learn much about the girl's deceased mother, her absence was felt throughout the whole book by the girl's having to be a lot more mature than anyone would expect someone of their age to be.

In terms of the romance, I am left totally confused. We are presented with two boys, one of whom Lara Jean thinks she fancies and the other she used to fancy but no longer feels that way. Then there is the concept of fake dating from which a true romance blossoms, but because of lasting ties and other people's views, it is a romance that doesn't work out the way that both parties would want it to. At the beginning, I was thinking that Josh had it in the bag, but now I am utterly on Peter's side.

My criticisms of this book are that, for a nine year old, Kitty seemed far to mature. I have a nine year old sister myself and feel like sometimes the language she was using and way she was acting reminded me more of an eleven or twelve year old. As well as that, the fact that Lara Jean  was never questioning of her elder sister put me on edge a bit. Real sisters never seem to me to be as perfect as they are and it made the words on the page feel more like a story than I would have liked.

Overall, I really liked this book and cannot wait for the next book to come out! The cliff-hanger we're left on may not be as dramatic as in some action novels, but it is raising my heart rate just as much.

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