All The Bright Places

The Bookworm says... Absolutely. I am sitting here, a heart broken mess over this book. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven was absolutely outstanding. Violet and Finch meet on the bell tower, 6 floors above the ground. It becomes clear that they are there for the same reason: death. Whether desire for death, fear of death, or memory of death, it brought them there. The rumors fly- Violet Markey rescues resident suicidal freak, Theodore Finch. Wandering through Indiana's not so typical but oh so lovely wonders, the unlikely pair that is Theodore Freak Find and Ultrviolet Unremarkey-able are able to connect to each other in a special way. They show each other all the bright places within the state borders of Indiana, and within themselves. 

I cannot describe how much I loved this book. I'm speechless. Here is the best way I can describe my love for it: when reading, if I come a cross a passage or a page or a thought that I really truly love, I fold the bottom corner of the page down. Most books, around 1-5 pages get turned. 14 pages. I turned 14 corners of pages. Jennifer Niven, I am in love with your lovely book and the characters that live in not only the fictional realm of this story, but in all of our lives. 

"I grew out of my clothes because, it turns out, growing fourteen inches in a summer is easy. It's growing out of a label that's hard."

Every Day

The Bookworm says... Absolutely! Every Day by David Levithan was a brilliant book. Every day, A wakes up in a different body. Always a sixteen year old. Accesses the body's memories, and lives its life. At midnight, he changes bodies again. He leaves lives untouched, and doesn't remember any details about former lives. Until one day, he's  in a boy named Justin's body. While in this body, he falls in love with Justin's girlfriend Rihannon. Every day, A tries to contact Rhiannon. Every day, A loves her more. Every day, she doubts him. Will Rhiannon be able to overlook the constant body/gender change, or will A be able to stop changing bodies? This novel was absolutely breathtaking. The ending was not very satisfying, I'll admit. Ending aside, an amazing book. I wish there was a sequel to this fantastic story. 

"If you stare at the center of the universe, there is a coldness there. A blankness. Ultimately, the universe doesn't care about us. Time doesn't care about us. That's why we have to care about eachother."

Previously reviewed: Will Grayson, Will Grayson  (cowritten with John Green)

The Maze Runner

The Bookworm says... YES! The Maze Runner by James Dashner was an absolutely enticing novel. From the moment I started reading, it was painful to put it down. When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only think he can remember is his name. He gets hoisted out of the lift into an utterly unfamiliar setting: The Glade. When all the boys start talking with slang words he doesn't understand and talking about locations he doesn't recognize, his head begins to spin. He learns that they are stuck in a maze, and they have to get out. They get one new person a month, always have and always will. Once Thomas arrives, things start to go haywire. He gets attacked by a boy Ben that was stung by Grievers, crazy half animal half machine creatures in the maze. The next day, they get another recruit. Two in one month. And it's a girl. She delivers a message sure to terrify them all, and then slips into a coma. Thomas learns the rules of the Glade, and the jobs. He feels a need to be a Runner, those who run the maze and learn it. One problem: the walls change every night. One night Thomas breaks the number one rule, and goes into the maze. He gets trapped overnight, but manages to survive. When he returns from the maze, things get weirder. He hears a girls voice in his head, and realizes it's the new girl. She tells him she triggered The Ending, whatever that is. The doors stop closing. The sun disappears. Even worse, one person gets killed by a Griever per night. They need to do something, and quick. Will Thomas sacrifice himself? Will they sacrifice someone else? Will someone voluntarily get stung by a Griever to get back some memories? Will they find a way out of The Maze? And if they do, is what's outside any better? This book was amazing, and had me up until the break of dawn reading. 

"If you ain't scared, you ain't human."

We Were Liars

The Bookworm says... Yes. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart was a very interesting book. The Sinclairs are a perfect family. No one is a thief, no on is a liar. No one is a failure. Cadence is the eldest Sinclair grandchild, therefore heir to the private Beechwood Island. All of the cousins go to Beechwood every summer. The Liars have been a group since summer five when Gat started coming to the island. Gat and his father Ed are the only non white residents of the island. The Liars are all best friends planning revenge and crazy pranks. Cadence is in love with Gat. Was in love. Is in love. Whichever. One summer, everything goes wrong. A rebellion with a bad ending. Cadence is found on the beach unconscious after "The Accident". She lost her memory. This is the tale of Cadence, trying to remeber what happened that summer, Summer Fifteen, the fate of her loved ones, and if the motto still stands. Are the Sinclairs perfect? Or have they just created a perfect facade? 

Amazon Book of the Month.

"Someone once wrote that a novel should deliver a series of astonishments. I get the same thing by spending an hour with you." 

The Symptoms of My Insanity

The Bookworm says... Maybe. Symptoms of My Insanity by Mindy Raf was a good book. Izzy seems like a normal girl. A normal girl with a not-so-normal mom, and a not-so-normal bra size. Izzys mom has a rare stomach cancer, and her condition is worsening. Izzys sister is at college, leaving her to care for her mom. Also, she is constantly self conscious of her large breasts. On top of this she is extremely paranoid about everything, and tends to self diagnose herself with various diseases using Symptomaniac.com. Plus, she has a huge art portfolio due. In three weeks. Her best friend starts to act strange, and Izzy has no idea what is going on. Then, her major-long-time crush starts hitting on her. She tries to handle everything, but were her impressions of people wrong? Does he really like her, or is he using her? Is her mom keeping things from her? And at this rate, will she ever make it to graduation? In my opinion, the book itself was great. But, there is always a hamartia (fatal flaw). This story's fatal flaw is the subplots. There are subplots upon subplots upon subplots, which I was not a fan of. 

"The only prescription is a dose of reality." 

Willow

The Bookworm says... Yes! Willow by Julia Hoban was a fantastically real book. It was a dark and rainy night, and Willows parents had an extra bottle of wine at dinner, so they asked Willow to drive them home. On the way home, Willow hit a tree and both of her parents were killed. Now she is stuck living with her older-college professor-brother David and his wife and daughter, and the pain that she killed her parents. She has to move out of her house, and start a new school. The only way she is able to deal with the pain is by cutting herself. She engages in this activity daily, and it is her secret. Until a student she is helping at the library names Guy spots the bleeding scar ripped open. He immediately makes Willow his project- but she eventually becomes less of a project and more of a friend. Will they become more than friends? Will Willow be able to talk to her brother like a normal person? Will she stop cutting? Will she ever turn the page of this tragedy that happens to be her life? This book was brutally honest, which isn't something you see every day. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. The book ended with a "..."  The story actually finished with a dot dot dot. I HATE books that end like that. The three little dots almost killed the book. But, aside from the dot dot dot, this book was stunning. 

Florida Teens Read Nominee

"It's hard to keep a secret when it's written all over your body..."

Hate List

The Bookworm says... Yes! Hate List by Jennifer Brown is a very original story. A good original. Valerie is going out with a boy named Nick, and couldn't be happier. They are the "losers" at school, and are picked on often. To vent, Valerie starts a "Hate List". Nick helps her with this list, and they hate the popular kids together. On May 2nd, 2008, one of these "popular kids" broke Valerie's MP3 player, and Nick says he has the perfect revenge. Valerie assumes he is going to insult her, maybe spit on her shoes or punch her boyfriend. But instead, he walks over to Christy Bruter, and says "You've been first on the list for a long time", pulls out a gun, and shoots her. He then proceeds to shoot many people on the list, and some that were just in his way. Valerie jumps in front of a girl named Jessica Campbell, with whom she is not even close to friends, and saves her life. Nick then turned the gun on himself. It is a long recovery for those injured,and a long grieving process for those who lost loved ones. Valerie is a suspect of the shooting, because it was her hate list. Valerie struggles to get her name cleared, her leg healed, and her conscience cleared. Will the stress of this event be too much to handle? This book was excellent, and surely not anything I have ever read before. 

ALA Best Book for Young Adults

VOYA Perfect Ten

School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

"The list was my idea. I didn't mean for anyone to die. Will you ever forgive me?"