Stuti's blog for depleting ships

This book is SHEER BALLS.Gah, THE FEELS!!!!

GUYYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSI was reading this book and loving this back in MARCHHHH!!!But then I couldn't find my copy.And now I have the strangest urge to read it. READ IT! I WANT TO READ IT!

3.5I'm not very familiar with Marilyn Monroe; I haven't seen many movie of hers nor listened to her songs. Yet, I love the way she talks. And so I'd like you to hallucinate this review in her voice and accent.[b:The Year of Shadows|6706818|Working in the Shadows A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do|Gabriel Thompson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328751376s/6706818.jpg|6902633] has a lot to give to those who ask for it.Unfortunately, I'm not one of those. The book works on a banal concept, but the execution is diverse and that's where the strength lies.Olivia Stellatella's is the kid who's having to move into a concert hall, whose mother has abandoned her, and whose father is falling apart along with his orchestra that pays their bills. She's moved apart from her life and drifts through it like a ghost- that is, until she actually stumbles into one.But these are good ghouls. These are Casper the friendly ghost ghosts that you will love and they'll love you back. They all have infinite sadness inside them, wanting to move on, wanting to remember but forgetting all the same.In helping them, she finds motivation. To do something. To stop drifting. In them, she finds a family to fill the gape left by the one that's all but shattered. The book takes on tough subjects, topics that don't directly affect Olivia but are linked to her. Missing parents, both in body and mind, bullying, failing economy, wars and how all this affects a child. How it all converges and erodes away their innocence deliberately and assuredly.The characterization is bona fide and faceted. Every ghost has its story it doesn't want to divulge and every person has their ghost they desperately try to hide.[a:Claire Legrand|1074989|Claire Legrand|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1372861336p2/1074989.jpg] catches the spirit of a broken twelve-uear-old and stuff it into Olivia, even while employing some corny features. On the surface, Olivia is simply a version of Violet Parr- minus the superhero and invisible tendencies.Something like this But there's more to her. How she lives her life, in fear everyday that everybody will leave her. How she loves the orchestra, even as she blames and hates them for all her troubles. How she wishes her mother back but still can't help her abject anger for leaving Olivia.Henry(a live human) was also an interesting character. He has his fears and sorrow, sometimes he runs away and acts cowardly but he comes back. Always. And he stays till the end.The portrayal of the relationship between Olivia and her father, the Maestro will definitely break many a heart, even if mine isn't included in that. I appreciate the raw realism with which Legrand gives a view of a remiss parentage, whether deliberate or otherwise. Emotions run deep in this book and you'll have to be in a certain mind to fully realize every aspect of it, methinks.The imprecise nature of illustrations, while impressive on its own, doesn't truly complement the story, with its air of elegance and the little elaborate decorations on some of the pages. BUT like I said earlier, it's the execution of the plot that steals the limelight. It's simple at first: these ghosts want to move on but they can't until the find the 'anchors' that affix them to this reality. But they've forgotten most of their lives.They don't know what it is that holds them and to remember, they'll have to engage in possibly certainly perilous deeds.Possession. Or sharing, as the ghosts prefer to call it.Share the bodies of humans so they can relive their last moments and die again and remember.And as though, all this isn't dangerous enough, there are beings called Shades- ghosts who have lost it all and want it back. The light, the touch, the chance to move on. And since they can't, they'll do the next best thing: prevent others from moving on. So all in all, it was an engaging story.For me, though, it falls flat sometimes with revelations and action scenes and the pacing. But I'm just a sulky, old teenager grumbling about the scarcity of Oreos in this world and the abundance of trigonometric equations. A review copy was provided by the publishers.

Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}sMagicSéancesIllusionsWhat's to not like in [b:Born of Illusion|13000748|Born Of Illusion (Born of Illusion, #1)|Teri Brown|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351059808s/13000748.jpg|18161645]?There is nothing to overtly like either, IMO, except for a few characters.Overall, though, I think the pros balance out the cons and it comes down to your personal preferences.Anna Van Housen has lived a life of escaping, fraud, visions and performances all her life. She is the real daughter of a renowned(and fake) mother and the supposedly illegitimate one of Harry Houdini's. She does a thousand questionable and stupid things, never gets her priorities straight but in the end, she is a character worth rooting for. Anna learned early on to keep her counsel and moreover, since a kid, she's been playing this sorta dance of a game of a relationship with her mother.This is a girl who likes being the spectacle but is shoved out of the way every time by her mother. I love a good performer and boy, is Anna one ever. But there is her mother always shoving her out of the way, pushing her around. The voyaging into this tremulous relationship was fascinating and one of the best elements of the book. The ergo's and causes of this tough love is explored beatifically through all the different aspects and facets- both the demons and the strawberries, the jealousy and the misunderstanding and hidden love. My only complaint is that I wish their 'truce ' had been a bit more fleshed out. There seems to be a lot of unresolved stuff here.This is a girl who still looks for her father in billboards, in posters and in the eyes of a stranger; she bumbles around for respectability, wanting and regretting wanting to perform and do what she does best. This story basically is about this girl trying to find foothold in the sea of the moving society, of finding or rather discovering herself, who she really is.And then unbecoming powers grow and hot men rain. Okay, just these two guys.Cole, the first of the two, was of a banal and predictable disposition. His adherence to the norm of generalized characters didn't endear him to me any further. He was sweet and nerdy and caring but dude, where is the dark side? Until I see it, you are Noddy to me.On the other hand, Owen was a wholesome and realized character that I appreciated. He, along with Cynthia(a client of Anna's), were my favorite characters.However, there is this woman who turns out to be Owen's wife and her appearance and existence was redundant and jus unnecessary.The plot is too trite and simple for a book with such fantastic elements. The identity of the villain is quite easy to figure out.Yet, it isn't so for Anna and I actually liked that. It showed how she depended more on her psychic powers than common sense, and that turns out to be her undoing. But still it raises the question, why couldn't Cole?The climax of the novel, the final illusion and the showdown the book speeds towards is short, unattained and disappointing, without any definite consequences.The general vibe of early twentieth century in the book is subtle. [a:Teri Brown|1055343|Teri Brown|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1261104323p2/1055343.jpg] depends on nuances instead of overt descriptions or flat-out signs to construct her setting, which was just muchos grandos.While I wasn't particularly enamored with the [a:Born of Illusion], 'd probably check out the next installment as it deals with RASPUTIN!I'd recommend this book to those looking for a light, historical paranormal book, more about a girl's personal discovery rather than magic.

This is the third time I'm writing this review. First one was my fault, second effing GR's. Eff you! Eff you! But I'm a quite persistent and try as you might, you won't get rid of my review as easily, effing GR! It's just made me more determined to get on with it.NOT INFORMATIVE, NOT A REVIEW. READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK.The jury finds Socrates guilty.Me thinks the reason for that was not "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" or his horrible misogyny[1], but for his arrogance[2] or for forcing everybody to listen to him for hours on end in his raspy, old-man voice. Honestly, no matter, how enamoring the subject, if the medium is so improper, you will get bored.Or perhaps even for his habit of likening men, and the people judging him were mere men, to horses.Indeed, when mares and colts proved insufficient, he moved onto comparing demigods, who were revered, to mules.Like, dude. [2] Socrates fancies and poses himself as the entirety of the courtroom- the jury, the accused/defendant, the accuser and the audience. Moreover, he goes on to tell them in not these precise terms that they all are stoo-pid and eeg-norant. What an ass you are, mister. Truly.Of course, I liked him, or at least appreciated him to a certain level, in the same manner that I appreciate the character of Yagami Light. But besides all that, I was quite fascinated by this work and admit that it's a piece of philosophical and literary writing(oration?) of monumental significance. [1]So I had all those wonder eyes that take over the real me whenever I read something intellectual and it was about to end and I was enamored but then this dude goes and I think that they were a dishonor to the state, and that any stranger coming in would say of them that the most eminent men of Athens, to whom the Athenians themselves give honor and command, are no better than women.Fuck!Did he have to? Especially considering that he was one of the first public 'ruminators' on gender equality. Of course, all those expectations were based on hearsay but damn. Certainly, I didn't expect him to be some sort of ancient, Greek suffragette movement instigator and definitely, those were the times and thinking of then but that's no excuse.I almost rated it one-star but forced myself to think. Will you let some bad stuff overshadow this fabulous experience? Or will you judge it on the quality of matter, instead of the quality of orator? I don't know which one is right, but as you see, the latter one won out.

Now, this is a book that you should go out and put in the hands of your kiddies. I, being past that stage and all, can't become as enthralled as they'd be. This book has all the stuff that my little self was once enamored with. Still am, sometimes.Talking beasts; evil, non-understanding adults; good adults and a girl who doesn't sleep at night. Can't sleep at night. And the two main kids have freaky names. Bitter and Green.Such unfortunate lives they live.The main character is one with whom we all are intimately familiar. The girl who's brave and senseless when her friends are in trouble. The girl who's tired of humans and joins a mice-vegetable band.The story is likable, with a little in fabricated past(which was interesting itself) and new creatures, and witch helpers. The illustrations are wacky sometimes, but when it's just little details around the border, it amalgamates with the tone of the story.Overall, the book was adorable and the plot imaginative. But the best thing about it is the propagation of inter-species relationships.Just kidding.Though, if you look at it, most kiddie books do that, even more than those porno for zoophilic people.

Eh?!This is hurting my head.Like, giving me an actual migraine. Or what I think a migraine feels like. I've never had one before or I did and I just couldn't identify it. When DOES a headache turn into a migraine? Is there a significant and distinguishable margin, like you coalesce from one range of pain into another much more terrible one? Or is it just more cool to say you've got a migraine? I'm not good at biology. The only thing I've figured out by far is that migraine gives you that weird pin-in-your-brains-and-eyeballs feeling, but then if you jump into a pool at the wrong angle, and water goes up your nostrils at an even worse angle you get that feeling as well. Which makes you want to rip out your eyes. This book didn't make me want to rip out my eyes but it definitely bored me with its endless and clunky info-dump, cookie-cutter characters, late beginning, lame dialogues, unrealistic relationship, and world-building & its telling that could have done with a bit more emotion and feeling. Moreover, one scene jumps straight into another and when its time to get back, dude, it beams out of the sky. No guiding smoothly or amalgamating the story sequences.I'm going to try and relax.I'm going to ALOOOHHHAAA!!!Aloha, baby! Do it with me! Two simple steps. Wave your hands and shake your ass. To the right! To the left! Do it alone if you're shy!Or do it with me!It's fun either way.

This is a demure, delightful, enchanting book. If it were a color, it'd be mauve.Think rescuing a lighter for noble purposes was the most whimsy task you'd been sent to accomplish? Well, here's another.Try searching fifty years for a suitcase.It was a very old suitcase, but sturdy and well-loved, boxy and large as a small child, with worn corners and three small dimples near the left clasp. Across the top a cursive scrawl of silver thread spelled out the brand: St. Anthony’s.But now now, this isn't a crazy book. There is a cast of adorable and cute characters: Sir Will who is looking for monsters and cakes, the boy whose spit demolished his home, the archaeologist who stole the flying bone, the woman who lost it all, the man who lost it all, a cupid woman and many others. But my absolute favorite was Cady because she provides the best portions of this book: yummy, yummy drool-inducing baking recipes.How wonderful is that?Not only does it have an adorable story, [b:A Tangle of Knots|15780279|A Tangle of Knots|Lisa Graff|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359234306s/15780279.jpg|21495195] is also a cookbook. What could possibly top that? Okay I could grant an exception for this one.The book reminded me a bit of Dragon Tales, which I loved as a kid. Still do, actually. I'm sure if Ord and Cassie and Emmy and Max and the twins read this, they'd love it too.It's simplistic and about everyday adventures. A slice of life looked though magicked glasses. Simple vanilla cake with complicated frosting: a mishmash of spices, garlic, chocolate, peach, lime, peanut, almond, cherry.But it's the chef's work to make them cooperate.The writing is unfussy and sorta cute-sy, perfectly complementing the story and setting a realistically magical ambiance. Told in multiple viewpoints, the story has many diverse plotlines but in the end, it's about an old man looking for his suitcase and an orphan looking for a family.There are tangles of coincidences, and fate and destiny, and a mysterious, helpful man whose grin suggests he knows more about the world than he lets on and his hot air balloon run amok in this short, short novel.The ending is tooooo prefect and a bit [a:Roald Dahl|4273|Roald Dahl|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1311554908p2/4273.jpg]-style. As in some stuff happens but people make the best of it and live happily ever after.This is sweet, unabashed happiness and fun for those tired of monsters and villains.I'd recommend this book if you are in a slump and it's raining outside(it actually is ! IN MID-JUNE!) and you don't want to read anything that is sad or depressing or makes you think. If it's a breez you need, this is the book for you.

No stars for you book! And don't you dare question my authority!This book is so sweet, I'm practically choking on its sweetness, in a good way. What I liked:EverythingWhat I loved:Holling and his friendsHolling and his sister"Did you find yourself?""What?" said my sister."Did you find yourself?""She found me," I said.This stuff is gold, guys. Molten, pure gold.What I didn't like:How everything sweet happened to everyone except Holling.But conversely, I also found this to be the best part of the book.The kids and the teacher in this book are so awesome. I can't believe this is all just seventh grade.I wonder what I was doing back then. Oh that's right- I was standing in punishment in the hall, and playing human chess on the back and white tiles. Not much seems to have changed. What a loser I am.......

It's been such a long time since I've actually, truly, with all my occasionally blasphemous being I wanted to be that character. Especially a superhero. A Megahero. And my megahero right now is Dani "Mega" O'Malley.Ergo, this is a superbook. No, no a megabook.It has its kryptonites(that's weaknesses, right? I hate Superman) and fair share of belligerence, cockiness, misdemeanor but at the end of the day, it saves the fucking town. I love it when my perspective gets flipped and flip it did. Back in the Fever series, I remember being indifferent and sometimes cold towards Dani. She pissed me off and now I'm wondering whether the installments after the Dani O'Malley trilogy will be as interesting.Undoubtedly, this was an awesome, refreshing and fun read.Oh and reason I've been avoiding it: fear of possible certain encounters with cliffhangers and pedophiles.Let's take it form here. I didn't find it particularly off-putting, probably because there's a contender within the age purview for Dani's affection and for the time being, she seems smitten with him. There are insinuations that something more could develop between Ryodan and Dani but as far as this book is concerned, Dani is fourteen, has intermittent ruminations about sex and sporadically finds herself thinking that Ry-O might be hot, feels Christian is a creep and Ry-O also comes off as a perv.All is good and jazzy in the Mega world.Except the monster that's randomly freezing everybody and thing it happens to come across. Or something.Now, because millennia of eternity didn't give him and his an ounce of brain and because he's already an established perv, Ryodan enlists Dani's help in solving the mystery. And here I use the term 'help' very loosely.The mystery is engrossing and the monster is, being a creation of [a:Karen Marie Moning|48206|Karen Marie Moning|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1350594088p2/48206.jpg], positively fascinating. The book lacks the complexity of Monie's previous Fever books but that doesn't mitigate it's venerability by a smudge. Moreover, there are other matters to be dealt with that were left off in [b:Shadowfever|7304203|Shadowfever (Fever, #5)|Karen Marie Moning|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320474645s/7304203.jpg|6967072]. With Christian McKeltar turning into an UnSeelie prince, Cruce being locked up in the leniently fortified abbey, inner sidhe-seer politics and the bloody world being a ruin. There aren't many answers in this book, nor are there questions raised. It's short and simple mystery being solved.Problems arise and kryptonites fell the Megabook off its five-star peg.Like I said, inner sidhe-seer politics and that involves chapters from Kat's(remember her? she who divulged secrets? she who was clearheaded when Rowena and Mac weren't?) perspective and by peeps, they were boring. Boring enough to make me eat my own face. Kat talks with herself so formally and she has so many worries(and rightly so), it felt disconnected from the whole book and just kinda floating by itself in a haze of consternation and not exacting an ounce of interest.Secondly, there are many parallels to be drawn between Dani's life and Mac's. And I'm not talking about the superficial romance interests- one fae and one whatever-the-hell-Barrons-and-his-eight-are. There's even this conversation ripped straight from the Fever series. And other unwholesome, unbecoming stuff that I don't begrudge but come on! But dudes, it's awesome nonetheless.There are these few chapters from Christian 'the fine pervert' MacKeltar's POV that are just gross, with him thinking sexual thoughts about Dani and waiting for her to grow up so her can fuck her. Sheesh! But good thing is, they actually come across as creepy and pervy. The conversations between Ryodan and Dani that were supposed to come off as hot felt funny and cool to me. I didn't find the sexual tension from Dani's side; it was all Ryodan the Perv. Does it work that way or am I just fucked up and insistently draw lines and demarcations where they don't exist?ANnnnnnnnndddddd the Megahero of the day: DANI!Dude, I wanna be her. I'll have hot men chasing my back whom I don't give two fucks about and a hot genius teenage guy who's also after me. Superpowers, no scarcity of cockiness and attitude, sarcasm, belligerence. Dani is cool and fun to boot, peeps. I don't what else to ask of anybody. She lives in the moment, gives separate fucks about people and what else can you ask for?Other than avoidance of Nicki Minaj. But everybody has at least one crappy tastebud, right?Wrapping it all up pretty nicely is a KMM-style cliffhanger.Really, what else was I expecting.I've actually figured out the reason why KMM leaves her books at such crucial points. It's not to convince us to stay addicted longer towards her books by anticipating the next one but so that we'll go back and re-read all the previous books and love them even more. Which I did but it's getting old. Not the books, but the technique and I can't imagine how all the other guys who read this book so long ago are still surviving. I've already read this one twice and can't imagine starting any other book except the Fever series.So long, dudes. Me's gonna go and imagine myself as Dani.Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s

This is a sad book.This is a treacherous book.This is a book stuck in purgatory.Can't move forward.Can't go back.I want to un-read the ending of this book.I want to re-read the ending of this book.Sutter Kelly is selfish to boot.Sutter Kelly is too kind for his good.I tried hoping for you, Mr Kelly.Life is fucking up my hopes, Mr Kelly.Please don't drown, Mr Kelly.He did.Lemons were too sour.

4.5WARNING: I couldn't bring myself to use commas(,) in this review because for some reason they are pissing me off. Please bear with me.Note: The extra half-star was given in the throes of subjectivity because this book brought me out of what could have been depression.This proved to be a very challenging read for me. First off it's been a while since I've read of a totalitarian or tyrannic or just any bad type of government that tells you when to marry and when to have kids and sometimes who to marry. Secondly I'd been reading a lot of sad books and everything depressed me. Moreover this isn't much of an action-oriented novel.And then they tell me Jews are going to take over the world.PssssstttttThere burst my bubble of hope that this book will help me get better.Not that there's anything wrong with Jews; it's the taking over the world part and the "we'll keep our culture alive" that depressed me as it very rightly should. But you know what? There came this point in the book and I had an epiphany. No, not one of this kind.See at this point I was laughing happy sad and relieved laughter. And I realized the marvelosity and awesomosity of this book and then I had to go back and read it all over again. *please insert mad and sad fangirl raving*I haven't felt the need to insert so many spoilers since [b:The Eternity Cure|13581990|The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #2)|Julie Kagawa|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362772965s/13581990.jpg|19167673] but I will start right and proper now with the review since I didn't before.[b:Starglass|15945897|Starglass|Phoebe North|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350302413s/15945897.jpg|18317900] is a mellow sort of book. The rebellion the murders the fates of peoples is all in the background. This is a coming-of-age(you tell me a better term and I'll use it) in all its entirety. Terra the protagonist is a teenager who's lived all her life inside the Asherah. She's like a normal teen when we grow up and realize that the world wasn't what we expected it to be.(Except we don't have to take part in rebellions and go up against murderous government-types. Well most of us.)She knows there's something off-kilter about her world and that she doesn't fit in but this is all she's ever known; hasn't even the slightest clue as to what could be different or what should be.So instead she tries to fit in; she tries to grow into pretense and maybe come to tolerate it.Terra was a terrific character. She makes mistakes she owns up to them in her mind but it's difficult to do so to the wronged party like it's for all of us. Terra does bad things doesn't defend her friend when she needs it and above all tries to take the easy way out thus not remaining true to herself in those moments. She is just looking for acceptance and love after losing every bit of it she had in the past. Her dreams are consumed by it and so are her actions.And I could relate with her every step of the way. The rest of the characters are also touching and ambiguous- which is yet another thing I want to madly and sadly rave about.Rooted in Jewish culture and perverted to meet the people's needs the world was fabulously crafted in every aspect. It's rich and terrifying and utterly not what I expected. The fundament of the ruling and working of this world is good deeds- mitzvot. There is a hierarchy in the social structure correlating with their professions and it's a spiral(can't say anything proper as it will be a spoiler but you'll see if you read this book). This is a very strict world and every bit of your life is monitored and tailored to achieve tikkun olam- which you should look up. There is tightly wound tension in the backgroundAnd then what we've been waiting for- the rebellion. For revolution junkies I'm sad to say that Terra is on the very lowest of the low pedestal in this rebellion. She wants to overthrow the government just about much as the other person but be realistic. She's naive young and quite a recent addition so obviously nobody will put her at the center.Unless they did. Or maybe they didn't.o_O*giggles like a maniac if maniacs actually giggle*Like Phoebe North said in her very own review in other words that this is not a fairytale and there is no evil queen to overthrow and Terra wield no sword. In the end there is no black or white or even gray and the evil queen is in-existential, a notion.[b:Starglass|15945897|Starglass|Phoebe North|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350302413s/15945897.jpg|18317900] is about growing up finding your place or making your own cave. It is about the distinction between what sounds right and what feels right. All the pain of growing up and losing and losing yet again and finding yourself in this one fantastic book.There is some abundance of predictability and a couple other things I couldn't figure out like- but spoiler! Moreover the beginning found me nodding off at places and there isn't much action but the cons are so so few I don't mind them. At all.Now I'm going to do something bad and quote from the ARC(oh please S&S give me that one liberty)I lost something in waking. I always did.Note 2: Did the lack of commas piss you off disorient you? Good. Humans have become so dependent. Depending on commas! Hmph!So many thanks to the publishers for providing a review copy.Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s

Did I even tell you guys how awesome this book truly is? No? My bad. This is a perfectly molded pot of colorful cookies you are not likely to find at the end of a rainbow. Makes me want to grow a fu manchu or handlebar mustache so I can twirl it. I don't know what else to say. It's different, it's unexpected it's fun and I LOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEE the ending plus what comes before.I feel the urge to stuff my face, and yours, in it, just for the giggles and happy-feels it gave me.I know, real helpful.

I'm not going to rate this book because I just don't want to and I don't feel like rating anything. But this was awesome.I read this slowly. Or rather, erratically. Started this back in Feb, read a few chapters, left. Then picked it up after a few weeks, read it halfway through, abandoned. Read a few pages in the months in between and finally finished it today.Don't know what was going through my head when I felt it. But let's move on.The last hundred pages of this book are the most commendable, IMO. Not only because more stuff happens in those pages than in the entire book but also for the fact that I finally started to care for the side characters as well. I hated Somiss throughout the book, but towards the end I appreciated his character a bit as well. Plus, I really, really like Gerrard now, and when the hell are Gerrard and Hahp going to get it on. On the back of my copy of Sacred Scars, it's written,'...Duey's dark and powerful trilogy.'Those two words describe this novel perfectly. They are subtle yet vicious, the emotions in this book.Man, it's refreshing and unique but at the same time leaves me with a gutted feeling. My stomach feels hollow and I'm scared to start Scared Scars and who knows how long I'll take to finish that one. I can laready predict there won't be a happy ending. Heck, there is no need for prediction, it is glaringly obvious once you start the book that shit is gonna go down and for the first time, i want shit to go down but at the same time don't want it to hit the characters.

Magic beansI want them but I won't tell you why.Okay, it's so I can defeat the monster, annex his huuuuuuuge mansion, have Silvertongue bring all the Marchetta characters to life and live happily ever after and so on.AND STOP FUCKING CRYING.Because that's all I can do, day in and day out whenever I remember I read this. In the shower, late at night, whilst watching this(which is humanly and inhumanly impossible but you guys watch it anyways, it's only like 10 minutes) and everything else that constitutes my day.Now, this is how you do a sad book; this is how you do an emotionally traumatic book. And it's not just sad, it also has happy moments, and there's nostalgia and those sly funny bits trademark of MM that make you snort during gloomiest of scenes.Even, for worse or for better I don't know, there is also the tale of a middle-aged broken couple and boy, I was actually invested in that(I thought it was beautiful but damn if I'm gonna admit that outside of these brackets). Frightening.It's Saving Francesca's sequel- you know, that book with overused story but awesome characters that made it a unique experience? which you are a fool if you haven't read. Same set of characters, five years later, Thomas's story, Thomas's family and a few adorable new characters. You have your old Francesca, Justine, Will(for a while) and Luca as well. There's a bit about Siobhan, too. But Jimmy Hailler, who didn't want to go home, who brought Frankie's mother back, who waved to her neighbors, is missing.This is a rich and complex novel of problems, families, friends, grief, forgiveness and love.And how life and time can't always tear you apart. So stop fucking blaming the lemons.This is a recipe for lemonade.And I need a Jimmy Hailler novel, asap(that's not a request, Ms Marchetta).

There are so many books coming out in a year, so many of the young adult, so many readers of the young adult genre. The number intimidates me. I, myself, am one of them. We read these books and we read more and mostly, we move on. I don't want to move on from this book; I don't want this to be just a blip of 288 pages and 2 days in my life. I'd like to come back, coast through this again and take away everything I did and didn't the first time.Because this is just that kind of novel. It's a beautiful, sad story of a girl finally mustering up the courage to make a choice by unraveling the story of a girl in a different time, different circumstances yet facing the same problems.Choice, we all love the idea of it. The fact that it's hovering just within our reach and we can jump up and grab at it but really, how many of us can say honestly that it doesn't daunt them? Personally, I like the idea of it, love the knowledge that the reins can be in my hand. But when it comes to it, making a choice feels dreadful.For there are no right or wrong choices, no fifty or thirty-three percent chances of making everything and everybody happy by taking the one road and not the other. That's what terrifies me the most; that there are choices that will make me happy and then the ones that will make you happy and rarely the ones that will make us all happy. Once these choices are made, they are set in stone and there's no going back. This is the story of Parker, a believer of true love and happy endings; this is the story of Julianna, who dared to break away from the path that was set out for, no matter how enticing it seemed. Parker's life has played out according to the script her mother wrote and just when high school is about to end, she finds the diary of a girl who lives on a billboard that's faded into the background, who exists in the patronage that will help Parker live her life, who suffers still in the biased memories of the townees, and who was never brought back from the bottom of the lake.Parker is that character whom most of us can appreciate and connect with by virtue of her circumstances, if nothing else. She wants a fairytale, she looks for it everywhere, because she's never had one herself. She lives under her eternally disappointed mother, who made the choices that don't make her happy or satisfied and who doesn't want the same for her daughter, so she makes all her choices; she's been crushing on the same boy since seventh grade but is afraid to take the chance for fear of ridicule, rejection or disappointment and she's about to leave the only town she's known without ever having really known anybody around her. Her life has been a long stretch of walking where other hands pointed.And then we have, Julianna who made her choice and will never know if it was the right one, or ever be happy with it, and we'll never be able to ask her. The scars left behind are too deep for her to smile without grimacing. Her story is told through a series of diary entries and both of these intermingling lives have a foundation in [a:Robert Frost|7715|Robert Frost|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1183232004p2/7715.jpg]'s poem, The Road Not Taken, one of the best poem I've ever read and even back in fourth grade when I first read it, I could see it for the true and accurate life lesson that it was.This whole book gave me a constant, prolonged feeling of sadness. It was light(if pain could ever be light) and barely there in my stomach but when something lasts for a long time, going out, it always packs punch.This starts out a hopeful book and in the end, the raw simplicity and conventionality of the story is the most tender and sad.And did I mention this is like [b:On the Jellicoe Road|1162022|On the Jellicoe Road|Melina Marchetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1212708945s/1162022.jpg|6479100]? Well, I find everything similar to [a:Melina Marchetta|47104|Melina Marchetta|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1277655889p2/47104.jpg]'s books but this truly is. So by default, I loved this book.The ending was disappointing but the rest of the book is pure, liquid gold and like they say, nothing gold can stay.*snickers* On a different, unrelated note, I had no fucking clue what I was going to review this book with, I didn't have any words or phrases. My mind was blank but then i started and I just typed it all out; I love this thing most about reviewing and writing in general. When words come out on their own. Cross-posted on Books behind Dam{n}s