Book Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Title: To All The Boys I've Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: 2014
Rating: 


Brief Overview: Lara Jean writes letters to all the boys she's loved and keeps them in a box in her room never to be shown to anyone...until, somehow, all the letters get sent. One boy's letter is returned to sender, one of the boys is gay, one used to be her friend, and one is her sister's (recent) ex-boyfriend. While all this is going on, Lara Jean's older sister leaves for college and Lara Jean ends up in a (fake) relationship with one of the boys from her letters.

Main Character: Lara Jean is a bit innocent for her age and she tries hard to be good. Her family is important to her and in the book she has to grow up a little when her older sister Margot goes to college and she becomes the oldest sister at home. She is fashionable and smart and although she is a bit naive and unsure of herself, you can tell she is tough on the inside.

Impressions: What I liked most about this book is Jenny Han's writing style. She does realism so well. She describes details down to the food they eat so clearly and yet somehow it never feels overly descriptive or wordy. This book is so sweet and captures an awkward time in Lara Jean's teenage life in such an honest way. I liked that while this book was about high school and boys, a huge element of it was about family and what it means to be sisters.

If you liked To All The Boys I've Loved Before, you might like: 
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith or The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

So You Want to Be In... Girl Online

Want to be in your favorite books? Here's what you need to be in Girl Online by Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella):

1. A set of luggage to travel to New York (this cute set is from Target)
2. Some delicious cake for Magical Mystery Day.
3. A guitar for your new musician boyfriend.
4. A pair of embarrassing unicorn underwear (Actually, these ones from Topshop are pretty cute)
5. and 6. A camera and laptop to work on your blog.

So now that you have your supplies you can either hop on a plane and blog about your trip to New York like Penny did, or you can read Girl Online like I did.

Book Review: Vitro

Title: Vitro

Series: Corpus #2

Author: Jessica Khoury

Genre: YA, Science Fiction

Rating: 

Brief Overview: Sophie has always known that her mother works on Skin Island researching cures for diseases like Alzheimer's. Sophie lives with her father in the U.S. and her mother visits only a few times a year. When Sophie receives an urgent email from her mom, she goes to Skin Island to see her, but when she gets there, she discovers that there are secretive and dangerous things happening and maybe her whole life has been a lie.

Impressions: Even though this book is in a series, it stands alone well and I was able to read it without reading Origins (Corpus #1). Vitro was basically Frankenstein meets Lord of the Flies. Intrigued yet? I definitely loved the weird science and unexpected twists. I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, so when I do read it, a couple things stand out: 

1. In this type of book, the focus is plot over character development, so in Vitro, like other Sci Fi books I've read, I found the characters impersonal and lacking in depth. 

2. It was a little unbelievable.  (Thus the fiction part of the Science Fiction genre, of course). 

For those two reasons, I only rated this book 3/5, however if you regularly read Sci Fi, I doubt these things will bother you. I really got into this book, wanting to find out what secrets were hidden on the island. The book left me with a lingering eerie feeling. I think this book was a good "starter Sci Fi" for people like me who aren't usually into that sort of thing. 

If you liked Vitro, you might like: 

Origin by Jessica Khoury or Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

P.S. Looking for more reviews?  or GFC!

Book Review: Since You've Been Gone

Title: Since You've Been Gone
Author: Morgan Matson
Published: 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Rating:

Brief Overview: Emily's best friend Sloane and her family have mysteriously left town, leaving Emily with a list of tasks to complete. The book also flashes back to Emily's memories of their friendship. As Emily completes her tasks with the help of her new friend and running partner Frank, she hopes to find some sort of clue that will lead her to Sloane.

Impressions: OK, seriously guys what did I miss that made you think this book was awesome? I was B.O.R.E.D. This book would have been a DNF except that I had read so many great reviews of it. I enjoyed reading about Emily and Sloane's friendship. It was one of the few things I liked and it made me think of my own best friend. The concept of a list of tasks for Emily also seemed like such a fascinating idea but I didn't think it played out in an interesting way. I also found the plot to be slow moving. I was expecting more of mystery or plot twist surrounding Sloane's disappearance. The characters had potential - like Emily's eccentric playwright parents, but even they didn't impress me that much. Overall, I think this book was okay but didn't live up to the hype.

If you liked Since You've Been Gone, you should read: 
The Year of the Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty or How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

Do you agree that it was boring? Or did you love it? Leave me a comment telling me why you agree or disagree.

P.S. Remember to  !