Review: Eleanor & Park

My rating.

Review.

"She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

This book. I don't know what to say.

Even though I am writing this review days after finishing the book, it still gets me emotional. And only Rainbow Rowell's books can do that. I never expected this simple story of two strangers to affect like this. I mean I don't have any words for this unusual book and its characters.

Eleanor & Park doesn't talk to each other, and after reading this book you won't find it odd because their whole relationship starts with them sitting there on the bus and Eleanor trying to read Park's comics and him trying to share it with her and their songs playlists exchange and......well, I can go on forever because this book is just....too adorable, and sad :( Those cute exchange and small gestures still manages to make me smile! *Please don't pay attention to the number of 'and' I have used in this paragraph* lol

“Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”

Review: More Than This

My rating.

Review.

Okay, first of all, I just want to say that no book should ever end like this. And I mean it. The ending was torture. I know there was a reason behind that ending and I do get it now that I've thought a lot about this book, but still I hated the way the story was left off! Because after completely confusing myself over the logic behind this book and getting confused even more, I expected more than this. (see what I did there?) But since I don't want my review to come off as a rant,( it's not, guys, this book is awesome!) I am going to stop using () and start writing a review that makes little bit of sense and convince you all to read this book!

More Than This is a suspense filled story which starts off with the main character, Seth, waking up and finding himself alone with bruises all over his body. That too after he gets hit by the rocks in the ocean and dies. Yes, the main character dies on the very first page and then starts his story. The world Seth wakes up into seems familiar at first, but it's not. There is no one else except him and he sets off to figure out how he landed there.

This book is serious without being too heavy. While the overall concept is very serious, it has been balanced with the light and hilarious moments between our characters. Many things that happened in this book were totally unexpected: the creepy scene after first half of the book. Let me tell you, this book does not prepare you for such scenes, it just comes out of blue and leaves you thinking what the hell you just read. And that was me while reading almost entire book because this book has nothing but plot twists. And as if it wasn't enough, it throws some serious emotional stuff at you! God, just thinking about those scenes is making me sad!! This book will leave you with nothing but question marks at the end. And you will still love it.

24 in 48 - Wrap Up Post

This was the first time I participated in #24in48 readathon in which you had to read for 24 hours out of 48 hours, and the readathon was held on in Twitter by @24in48readathon on 23 & 24 of this month! Though I didn't read for 24 hours, I did complete 18 hours which I am very happy with! And needless to say, it was crazy keeping up with reading, updating your progress, and in meanwhile struggling not to get distracted on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter! I don't normally read this much, and it amazing to see how much I was able to read in only two days when it takes me about a week to read the same.

So here is the final update of what I read during the readathon: 

I started off with More Than This which I was already reading when the readathon started so for exact count, I read last 50% of  More Than This which took 3 hours to complete( I read it on Kindle so it's not in the pic). 

After that I started Dumplin', which was a light read but I was able to finish it in 6 hours! ( I know, even I was surprised to see how many hours I usually spend to read a book!) 

Eleanor & Park was probably the second best book I read (first is More Than This) in this readathon, I loved it and finished it in about 4.5 hours hours. 

And the last book was The Last Star, which took a bit more than 4.5 hours but I rounded off. 

...........................................................................................

And yes, I will be reviewing all these books in next few days! This readathon was so much fun! I really didn't think I would be able to read for so many hours considering all the other things I had to focus on in personal life, and even though it exhausted me, because....very little sleep,  I am still happy that I was able to reach at 18 hours mark. Also it was great to see so many other readers' updates on Twitter, and to everyone who was able to finish the 24 hours goal- You guys are AMAZING!! If you want to participate in next readathon, do follow 24in48 Readathon page for updates. The next #24in48 readathon will be on 21-22 january, 2017!

Do let me know if you had participated and how many hours your were able to read in comments! 

Review: The Grownup

My rating.

Review.

Okay, guys, I haven't been reading much these days so there weren't any recent reviews to post. But I am finally getting back to reading and here's a short review of The Grownup which I just finished! 

“I heard you could do that—buy books by the yard, turn them into furniture. People are dumb. I’ll never get over how dumb people are.”

So this book was sitting on my shelf for over a while and since I liked Gone Girl so much, I thought it would be a nice idea to read this short book. It was a quick read, but like Gillian Flynn's any other book, a story with completely messed up characters and even more messed up plot twist.

The story starts off with a narrator who is manipulative, pretends that she can read people's auras, and also gives hand jobs to men.( Well, it's Gillian Flynn's book, so what else did you expect? ) She's also very ambitious. Her past work with begging was pretty impressive, by the way. Especially how she got so competitive.

Review: The Serpent King

My rating.

Review.

People are born and die. Seasons change. Rivers flow to the sea. Earth circles the sun and the moon circles Earth. Everything whirring and spinning toward something. And I get to be part of it for a little while, the way I get to watch a train for a minute or two, and then it's gone.”

I can't remember the last time a book had left such a strong impression on me. This is, no doubt, one of the best books I've read this year, and I will also go as far as to say that this has become my all time favorite book. Jeff Zentner's debut novel, The Serpent King, deserves all the praises and hype it has been receiving. This story, its writing, is so powerful that from the very first page, it makes you feel like you are there, witnessing everything happening to the main characters, crying and laughing with them, getting your heart broken (if I might add, a lot of times), and then leaving you at the end with a smile on your face.

The Serpent King is a captivating tale of three friends, who are different from each other in every way possible, but still manages to form a strong and beautiful friendship. The story is being told from each character's perspective, and each one of them taking this story forward with their own. It is also connected to characters' past, which I believe is the main focus of the story as it has huge impact on their lives, but I also like how much character driven the story is. There is a lot of character development throughout the book, and that is what I loved the most while reading it.

Review: The Night Circus

My Rating.

Review.

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.” 

This circus is nothing like what you have in mind. It is not any ordinary circus, where there are tricks to entertain people; this one is real and will change the way you imagine a circus to be. Magic is not just a thing here, it is as alive as any human being. Everyone in this story is somehow bound to the magic.

This is probably one of the most unique and fascinating books I've read this year. The imagination and creativity of the author knows no bounds. I loved the concept of The Night Circus, and more than that, the way it is presented. A circus, which is open only at night, entertains the audience with their lively performance and illusions, and also has many secrets of its own. The circus is also a platform for a competition between two players-when it will end? No one knows. The only thing that has been told to the players is that they have to keep performing in order to win. No rules. Nothing. There's also more: there are different tents for the people performing in the circus, and each one of them is better than the previous one. I mean, an ice garden, a Labyrinth, a wishing tree, and many more mesmerizing places.
^ This is what I loved in the book, and for people who are wishing to read it.

Review: The Wrath and the Dawn

My rating.

Review.

“I love you, a thousand times over. And I will never apologize for it.”

Let's go through some main points of this book, shall we?

A strong and fearless heroine? check.
Shahrzad is, no doubt, one of the best heroines. She is fierce, strong, and just have one thing in her mind: to avenge her best friend's death. She is one of my most favorite characters from the book.

An arrogant but caring hero with secrets? check.
And here comes Khalid! This thing of falling in love with a mysterious guy never gets old, and I fall every time for such characters! Just mention of his name melts my heart!

Beautiful writing? check.
Just read below quotes for this one. The writing is everything in this book.

Love-triangle? *shudders* check.
I don't know why there has to be a love triangle in almost every book! I understand how much this love-triangle affected the story, but I just can't go through will all this same stuff again.

Review: This Song Will Save Your Life

My rating.

Review.

“Sometimes people think they know you. They know a few facts about you, and they piece you together in a way that makes sense to them. And if you don't know yourself very well, you might even believe that they are right. But the truth is, that isn't you. That isn't you at all.”

This is a kind of book that won't keep you at the edge of your seat, or keep surprising you with plot twists; it's just a simple story about a girl who has never been popular in her life, does all the silly things teenagers does-some quite serious,too, but somehow it also inspires you and manages to leave a very strong impression. This is my second book by the author, and the thing I love most about her books is how well crafted and flawed her characters are that even such simple story could mean so much. Her simplistic writing and the way she handles such serious issues like bullying and suicide takes her books to the another level.

This book is from a perspective of Elise, who has never been famous in her life, has always been kind of a person who sits away from the 'cool' group, and not because she doesn't like them, because she feels like she could never fit in that cool group. The first half is basically Elise trying to become one of the cool kids, and for that she even had a list of things she was supposed to do. She also attempts suicide, just to get attention. And while I do not agree with that sort of thing, or in any way can come up with an excuse for her behavior-because it's just wrong, I've also heard about real life incidents like these around me, so as stupid as may sounds, people actually do this. But that didn't stop me from loving the book, because thankfully, that was only a small part of the book, and the rest of the book is actually very interesting and fun when we get to know about this underground Dj party, which in some way changes Elise's life.