The Carls Just Appeared

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: Hank Green

Hank Green may be playing the role of little brother copying big brother, John Green, but he did so well! I really enjoyed his debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and am still living on the cliff he left me hanging on. April May is a 23-year old art school grad who is living her life the best she can with her girlfriend Maya and pal Andy. When she sees a mysterious statue on her way home one night, she calls Andy and the two of them make a Youtube video interviewing the statue they have named Carl and it goes viral. Everything starts to snowball for April as she starts getting weird dreams that involve Carl and a Wikipedia post that continues to have typos that spell out some kind of message. With the help of Andy, Maya, and new friends, Miranda and Robin, April May learns she was chosen by the Carls and must overcome an addiction to the internet and save the world.

I finished this book literally 4 hours ago and I am still reeling! Hank really uses his platform as a Youtuber to relate to his target audience by inserting modern slang and websites into his character's lives and personalities. For instance, April, Maya, and Andy use Wikipedia to find the first clue from Carl, they also use Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to communicate with others in the world who are experiencing the same dreams they are to solve each sequence, even going so far as to make an app. For anyone that wants to read something that is going to grab them by their shirt and won't let go until the end, I highly recommend Hank Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. 

Weddings Aren't For Everyone

The People We Hate At The Wedding: Grant Ginder

As much as I enjoy contemporary, this book really does live up to it's Goodreads rating. The story is good in conception, Perfect older sister, Eloise, is getting married in England bringing with her a ton of family drama; her half-sister, Alice, who recently had a miscarriage and is having an affair with her boss; half-brother Paul, who is realizing her boyfriend doesn't want to be monogamous anymore; and her mother, who is still missing her life traveling Europe with her ex-husband but is also having a hard time with the loss of her second husband to cancer. When Paul hasn't spoken to his mother in three years and refuses to go to the wedding at the last minute, a whole lot of family secrets and drama unfolds the wedding weekend.

I absolutely did not like this book. The author spends way too much time going into detail on very inconsequential things, such as what each and every character is eating at each and every meal but doesn't go into detail on more important things, like more of the family dynamic when the sibling were growing up. It almost reads like he needed a specific word count before he finished the book. The perspective also is pretty difficult to get through. switching between characters is fine but doing it in third person just makes it so annoying. Unless you also plan on reading the worst rated books on Goodreads, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Pros:
Fantastic idea

Cons:
Terrible execution


 

And Now For Something Different...

I have seen a lot of different booktubers doing a "book challenge" that I would also like to take part in and that is the "Worst Book" challenge. Seems simple enough, go to your GoodReads page and sort your Want to Read list by average rating and do worst to best and read the five worst books! so here are my five for the next month:


1: After Alice by: Gregory Maguire, GoodReads rating: 2.78/5
This Alice retelling has been sitting on my shelf for a few years but I haven't been inclined to really pick it up. I'm intrigued to read this as it tells of Alice's friend Ada who follows Alice down the rabbit and must follow behind all her adventures.

2: The People We Hate At the Wedding by: Grant Ginder, GoodReads rating: 2.85/5
I'm starting to push myself more toward adult romance and take a break from YA and I was hoping this book would do that. I got it for a steal in the bargain section at Barnes & Noble after seeing it full price at Target earlier in the day.

3: Revenge Wears Prada by: Lauren Weisberger, GoodReads rating: 2.88/5
The sequel to The Devil Wears Prada was one that I wasn't expecting to be on this list but now that I think about it, it makes sense. Not many people want a sequel to their favorite stand alone and this is one that I would agree with but I am excited to see what happens to Andy, Emily and Miranda.

4: The Love Interest by: Cole Dietrich, GoodReads rating: 3.20/5
I'm not too sure about this one to be honest. I picked it up because the premise of rival spies trying to woo a girl seemed interesting but the more it sat on my shelf the more I was worried it was going to be a literal love triangle trope and it turned me off, so here's hoping.

5: The Midnight Dance by: Nikki Katz, GoodReads rating, 3.20/5
I was really hoping this was a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling, which is my second favorite fairy tale) and was kind disappointed when I realized it wasn't or at least couldn't tell from he description but I'm hoping it's something good!


I encourage everyone to do this if only to give you some kind of incentive to get those To Be Reads read!!

With A Little Bit of Fanfiction

Fangirl: Rainbow Rowell

Now, I'll admit I dive into fanfiction every once in a while and that I will live on some of the fictional worlds of my favorite books, but I don't do it as much as Cath. She and her sister, Wren, spend most of their time writing fanfiction for their favorite series, Simon Snow (similar to Harry Potter).
When they go to college and Wren starts to branch out, Cath hides in her writing, Cath learns she must leave the comfortable world of Simon and live in the real world around her, including and tough roommate and her overly friendly buddy, her writing professor turning away everything she turns in and Wren wanting to reconnect with their birth mother. This book is one of the best books to read before you leave for college to prepare you for leaving home and having the confidence to do you.

There are three books I make a point to read every year, Beastly by Alex Flinn, the Harry Potter series, and Fangirl. I'm not super into contemporary but this is my favorite. There is just something about the community of fangirls and fanboys now with so many different genres, being books, movies, shows, etc. but this book just speaks at a level that can reach so many people. I can't wait for my yearly jump into this world and fall back in love with all these characters.

Pros:
Totally relatable to today's youth

Cons:
None. It's perfect

I Admit That In The past I've Been A Nasty...

Part Of Your World: Liz Braswell


As much as I despise the little mermaid, this retelling wasn't too bad. Liz Braswell's Twisted Tales series takes a much darker look at our favorite Disney movies and tales told from the perspective as if the villains won.  In Part Of Your World, we see how the story would have ended if Ursula had won the big fight at the end and married Eric under the guise of Vanessa, and Ariel returned voiceless to rule Atlantica. While on land, Ursula/Vanessa had the country under a foggy spell to make them think that her wedding to Eric went off without a hitch. That is until Scuttle the seagull sees what he thinks is King Triton kept in a bottle on Ursula/Vanessa's vanity and immediately alerts Ariel.  This starts a series of ongoing events including Ariel getting her voice back, everyone remembering the real events of the wedding and everyone trying to find the now hidden king.

Alright, I'm going to say this once and only once, ( but you will more than likely hear me complain about later) I  hate The Little Mermaid. I hate the movie, the original story, the character, all of it. Ariel is such a bad example for young girls that I really just can't stand it. Who leaves her family for a guy she just met and literally has said zero words to, plus gives up her voice. Who does that?!? Liz Braswell's retelling of this made the story a bit better by making Ariel realize her mistakes and act more grown up in her decision making. I would recommend this book and all the other books in this series to anyone who loves Disney and Disney villains. 

Pros:
A darker take on a popular story

Cons:
I hate The Little Mermaid


 

1696 × 2560

All You Need Is Inside

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Meridith Rusu

I don't want to spoil a movie that's not out yet, but the novelization of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms was so good! I can't tell you haw excited I am for this movie to comeout. Diseny has been on a great live action adaption kick so I had some high hopes going into this. Clara and her family are still greiving the loss of her mother, Marie, at Christmas. At Uncle Drosselmyer's Christmas party, Clara is lead into the entrance of the Realms, a land that was discovered by Drosselmeyer and Marie when she was young. There, Clara meets Phillip, a soldier who helps her fight off the Mouse King. When Phillip brings Clara to the palace, he introduces her to the regents of the Realms; Hawthorn of the Land of Flowers, Shiver of the Land of Snow and Sugar Plum of the Land of Sweets. They tell her of Mother Ginger, a former regent of the Land of Amusments who tried to take of the Realms for herself when Marie became too ill. Clara must defeat Mother Ginger and retrive the key left to her by her mother to bring the Realms back to what they once were.

Like most Disney adaptions, there is a semi-preidictable plot twist that I saw coming from a mile away but some of you might not. There were also a lot of call backs to the original Nutcracker story, like Clara throwing her shoe at the Mouse King so the Nutcracker can defeat him.  I also enjoyed the multiple perspectives in this novelization to give more backstory that the film may not, like how Marie found and created the Realms and everything in it and Sugar Plum's backword thoughts about the proceedings. Put of all the recent film novelizations from Disney, this is the best and will give you more to the film.

Pros:
fantasic twist on classic holiday tale

Cons:
Plot twist was pretty predictable