Recent Reads #15 - Stranger Than Fanfiction

I can't believe how long it has been since I've written a post for my Recent Reads series! As many of you will know, I'm a huge bookworm and just cannot resist purchasing new books everytime I enter a bookstore, so not being able to read a book I genuinely enjoy for over half a year was really bugging me.

I hardly enjoyed the assigned readings I had to read before my exams, so I wasn't inspired to share them with you guys, and I didn't have any time to sit down with a book I had picked out for myself between classes, work, assignments and studying for graduation exams either.

Due to that, I've been all the more excited about the fact that I'm now finally able to work off my to-read list! Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer is one of the books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for longer than I can remember - which is a shame because I once I actually came around picking it up, I finished it within less than a day! 

Recent Reads #14 - You Know Me Well

Remember that time when I talked about how I was going to turn my Recent Reads series into a bimonthly thing? Yeah, I kind of slipped up on that on the second issue for October. As I was ill, I just couldn't bring myself to shoot the photos and write the post - sorry about that!
However. I'm now back, better than ever, with one of my favorite books from this summer.

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When I picked up You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour I knew next to nothing about it as I wanted to be suprised when reading it by the pool in Tenerife, and let me tell you, I was suprised.

You Know Me Well follows the story of the two teenagers Mark and Kate.
 Mark is hopelessly in love with his best friend who is afraid to come out of the closet, yet occasionally hooks up with Mark without wanting any commitment.
Kate is in love with a girl she was only ever heard about but never met. Violet is her best friends' cousin, well-travelled and cultured and extremely intimidating. When faced with the opportunity to finally meet the girl of her dreams, Kate is more than overwhelmed and runs away.

When a series of incidents leads to a meeting between the two of them, a whirlwind friendship develops. Even though they hadn't ever talked to each other before, they grow extremely close to one another in the space of just one week as they learn about the other's past and become each other's support system as they try to tackle their more than complicated romantic relationships.


Something I instantly loved about this book was all the representation it offered. Both of the main characters are gay, a lot of their friends or other side characters are also part of the LGTB community and the book is set during Pride Week, which I found super cool. I've been trying to read more books that feature LGTB characters this year (such as The Art of Being Normal), and the immense amount of representation and pride to be found in this one was amazing.

I also found it really easy to relate to Mark, he seemed like such a real character and all of his emotions and actions were so understandable I sometimes felt like I could reach into the pages and give him a squeeze. I rooted for that boys from the first few pages on, y'all.
Kate is a very interesting character, especially because she's a talented artist and by the way her paintings were describe, I could imagine them so vividly I almost saw them, and I also enjoyed her storyline, but at times she was a little too headstrong for me to comprehend. But you know, that's alright because it's also part of her character.

The only thing I didn't particularly love about this book is the short timespan it is set in. That one week is just too little to watch all of the characters grow and their development unfold and leads to a lot of my questions unanswered. I would've loved to see more about all of these unique, quirky characters - and believe me, there's a lot of them - but there was so little time!


Overall, however, I think that this is such an adorable read for when you feel like reading but don't want to start a too demanding lecture - there's of course some drama, but most of all it's the incredibly sweet story of two people how accidentally become best friends filled with lots laughs as well.
You Know Me Well might come off as your typical YA book, but I'm sure that this is one that not only young readers might enjoy.

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Recent Reads is a bimonthly series and comes out on every first and third Wednesday of the month.
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Recent Reads #13 - Eleanor and Park

If there's two things I'm head-over-heels in love with, it's got to be literature and music. Those two things are omnipresent in my life, always there to catch me, to make me forget, to make me remember, to inspire me, to make me feel something. So, how come I hardly ever read books that are based around music?

Granted, I didn't pick up Rainbow Rowell's "Eleanor and Park" because it included music. I actually didn't know about that at all. I didn't know about it because I tried to avoid as much information on this book as possible before actually reading it, because there are so many people who are in love with it and so many people who aren't and I wanted to steer clear from all those discussions and just experience the ride for myself.

As the title suggests, Eleanor and Park follows the story of two teenagers. Eleanor is chubby, poor and a ginger - and when she arrives at her new school, she is instantly disliked by all of her classmates. Park is Asian, really into music and tries to stay under the radar at school.

When the two of them have to sit next to each other on the bus, they take an instant dislike to one another as Eleanor starts drawing the other kid's attention to Park, who thus tries to stay away from her.
Over time, however, the two of them start to approach eachother. Park starts lending Eleanor his comics, and eventually, his mp3-player and mixes he has created for her. Over time, the two fall in love the way you do when you fall in love for the first time - in a very sudden, confusing, messy way.
Park would do anything for Eleanor and cannot imagine ever being parted from her again - but Eleanor's situation at home starts leaving its strains on their relationship.

I don't even know where to start with this review. This book literally took me by suprise, swept me of my feet and then, eventually, slammed me into the ground, no lie. In no way, shape or form did I expect this book to be such an emotional rollercoaster.
I loved that the plot wasn't your typical YA lovestory, it's not about the bad guy and the shy girl, it's not perfect. It's raw and realistic and rough at the edges, and that's what makes it so much more beautiful.

The characters in this were incredible. Especially Park was so well-written that he seemed so incredible realistic and relatable, like you'd want to reach into the page and give him a squeeze. I also liked the way he thinks and how fiercely he loves. There's so much depth to him. I also loved the way his family was portrayed.
Eleanor, however, was a different story. She's definitely a very strong character and my admiration for the way she held herself and handled her horrid situation is immense, but sometimes I found it a little hard to comprehend her actions; she was often quite stubborn and didn't look at the big picture. It wasn't completely out of character because of the situation she had to face at home, but it was, at times, still unnerving.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was that it's set in the eighties. Most of the books on my shelf are either set in modern-day time or in the future, so it was really refreshing to find yourself in a world without mobile phones and the internet. It really fit the story as it complicated the relationship between Park and Eleanor further as the latter doesn't have a landline, which means that the only way they were able to communicate was through letters or in person.

Overall, this was a fantastic read. Eleanor and Park is one of those stories that takes your breath away and stays with you, even after you've closed the book. It makes you think and it makes you laugh and it might tear you up a little, and mostly it'll remind you what it feels like to fall in love.

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Recent Reads #12 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

When was the last time you read a book that was so good it made you forget the world around and seemed to absorb you into its very own world? I know exactly when I did. When I was reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs at the pool back in Tenerife, the noise around me seemed to die down and I didn't even realize when little kids splashed me or dripped ketchup from their hotdogs on me.

This book is a very special one, pretty much one of a kind, at least on my shelf. I can't be the only one who has seen it sit on a shelf in the bookstore a thousand times and never picked it up. To keep you from passing up this gem, let me spill the beans about it to you.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children follows the story of Jacob Portman, who appears to be a completely normal American boy at first sight . Jacob thinks of his life as boring and doesn't really feel comfortable with his family's wealth. The one member of his family he has a real, strong bond to is his Polish grandfather, who used to tell him the most fantastic storie about the children he grew up with when he was a kid. Children who had strange abilities, like making plants grow, flying or foreseeing the future.

But when Jacob wants to visit his grandfather one day, he comes to find that his grandpa has been  murdered viciously. Before he dies, however, he tells Jacob to "find the bird in the loop on the other side of th old man's grave on September 3 1940, and tell them what happened". Even though everyone tires to tell Jacob that it was dogs who killed his grandfather after the incident, he can't stop feeling like that it wasn't like that at all - he saw a man-like figure. With tentacles coming out of its mouth. In fact, he keeps seeing them.

Jacob feels like he is losing his mind, but then he finds a small box when cleaning out his grandfathers house. A box containing the pictures Jacob's grandfather brought out when elling his stories. Only that suddenly Jacob feels like those aren't stories anymore.

As Jacob tries to unravel the mystery surrounding his grandfather's life and death, he has to realise that there is a whole other one surrounding him, and that peculiarity can be found even in the most blunt of people.



While I really like the book overall, I have to admit that it might take you a while to get into the plot if you are not an avid lover of fantasy or mystery novels. After the first fifty pages, however, all hell  breaks lose, and you'll read like your hands are glued to the pages because everything that is happening is so strange and yet so wonderful.

What I also found extremely interesting is that this book has two different time settings - modern day America, and 1940 Wales. Every peek back into Wales during the second World War was really intense - I really enjoyed that as I don't think I've ever read a book set in that historical period, even though I've learnt so much about it during the past few years.

I haven't even touched base on the best thing about this book yet. It's actually not just your average book - it's filled with pictures that help introduce characters, set atmospheres or just plainly freak you out. The photos used in this are all original, vintage photographs the author collected, and they were chosen so perfectly that they tie into the book's plot seamlessly. They're incredibly fascinating to look at and make the book even more exciting and intense!


Overall, this books an incredible piece of work that draws you in completely and doesn't let go of you for a while, even after you manage to put it down. It has incredible characters, especially if you take into consideration that the majority of them are children, and an awesome plot that is carried by fascinating yet sometimes terrifying, authentic photographs.

If you want to see if all the stories are true, you can pick up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children from Amazon for 7,99€.

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Recent Reads #11 - Vanishing Girls

It's been months since I last chatted to you guys about my recent reads, and that's because I hardly had the time to read for my own pure pleasure with all my finals crashing over my head as well as working on my thesis.

However, you will know that I've made a promise to myself to read as much as I possibly can during my summer holidays if you've seen my summer book haul. I actually managed to make a lot of time for reading this summer - especially during my time in Teneriffe. A lot as in devouring a book a day. Is there anything better than reading a great book on the beach or by the sea?

One of the books I read while I was away was "Vanishing Girls", a thriller by Lauren Oliver, which I didn't know anything about prior to purchasing it. But as it was praised to live up to the likes of "Gone Girl", I decided that I should give it a shot. But was it worth it?

Vanishing Girls follows the story of the two very different sisters Dara and Nick, Nick being the studious, quiet child while Dara always seems to get herself in trouble for partying, drinking, smoking and the like. The two of them had used to be as thick as thieves until they got into a car crash one night that left half of beautiful Dara's face completely scarred and the bond between the siblings broken and poisoned.

When Dara disappears on her birthday, Nick supposes that her sister is just playing another one of her games with everyone. However, as time progresses, Nick starts to connect the disappearance of her sister with that of an eleven year old girl from their town. As more and more evidence proving that the cases are linked shows up, Nick's search for her sister becomes more and more urgent because she is convinced of one thing - Dara is running out of time.

Now, how did I like this novel? Was it really as good as I was told it would be?

Well, for one, it was quite hard for me to get into the story at first, I'm not going to lie. It takes at least a third of the book for the whole thriller aspect of it to pick up, which can be quite annoying when you expect something to finally happen for a hundred pages.

I did, however, really like the way the plot ended up unfolding once it finally did. The storyline is pretty intense and - if you're a young woman and can imagine yourself in a similar situation to either of the two sisters - even terrifying. It's a clever and incredibly thought through book - but you will only realize this once you reach the book's plot twist, which I could never have predicted. I actually had to put down the book for a hot minute because I couldn't believe what I had just read!

I also really enjoyed the dynamics between the two sisters, and I think everyone who has siblings themselves would, too. I myself have a younger brother who I have a real hot-and-cold relationship with (really, it's either "Don't breathe in my direction" or "I'll help you burry the body" and nothing inbetween), so I could really identify with Nick, who is the older sister. I often felt like Lauren Oliver somehow took my thoughts and feelings and put them into Nick's mouth, and that's also what made her so incredibly relatable for me!


Overall, I think this book is a great read, especially if you're into thrilling and/or dark reads. It's an incredible potrayal of the relationships between siblings and sibling rivalary as well as the dark depths of human nature - and the plot twist is incredible.

If you want to see and find out how all this turns out in the end, you can get "Vanishing Girls" off Amazon for 8.99€.

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Recent Reads #10 | The Serpent King

I don't think I've ever gone into a book completely blind, as in I literally knew nothing about it besides the title and the author because I didn't read any summaries or previews.

Due to that, "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner has definitely been a first for me - the book showed up as a recommendation on my Goodreads feed and it had suprisingly high ratings, so as I was looking for new books for my "to be read" bookshelf anyways, I just decided to order it without even knowing the slightest thing about the plot.

Let me tell you, I was in for a suprise.
Going with the title, I had suspected everything but the story that unfolded before me as I started reading the first few pages, but I'm glad that that didn't make me put down the book because once again, Goodreads wasn't lying.

This book was great on a lot of levels, and you're about to find out why.

The the story is told from the points of view of three teenagers from a smalltown in Tennessee, all struggling with different problems - some sad, some sadder and some absolutely neck-breaking.

Dill's father, a preacher, serves a prison term for owning child pornography, leaving Dill and his mother struggling not to drown in the "family debt" - so much even that Dill's mother urges him to drop out of school to work full time.
Lydia is a popular fashion blogger, harassed in her tiny hometown for speaking up about things she doesn't want to put up with anymore and dreaming to finally break free from the smalltown to go to college in New York.

Travis prefers reading fantasy novels to escape his real life, in which his older brother has died serving the military, leading his father to turn to alcohol and abusing his son and wife.

It seems that those three don't have anything in common, but that's what makes their friendship so extraordinary. All three are outcasts, struggling to break free from everything that's holing them back, and their friendship is the one thing that carries them through it.

The novel is a breath taking portrayl of how smalltown life can make, break or shape its inhabitants in different ways, some predictable and some so unpredictable they hit you in the face while you're reading, and hard.


So, now that I've tried to lay out the plot in a way that doesn't give away too many spoilers - because the book is so amazing that I think everyone should experience the story for themselves - what makes this damn book so special?

First off, I love how this book depicts smalltown life - most of the books I read are set in really big cities that tend to feel a little disconnected and overwhelming, but in "The Serpent King", you find yourself in a tiny town where everyone know everything about everyone - or so it seems.
Also, as someone who has a soft spot for the South of the US after spending some time in there ,myself, I adored how realistic the area's portrayal was - the fact that Jeff Zentner actually lives in Tennessee made it feel ten times more authentic.

I don't think I've ever read a book that covers religious themes, even though I'm a quite religious person myself - I explained how religion was a very personal thing for me before on here.
Because of that, I was somewhat sceptical about the book once I realised how religion was a major part of it, but I was overwhelmed how great the author handled it.
The book in no way tries to force beliefs onto the reader but rather deals with how people can also struggle to have faith and question their religion, which I really enjoyed.

If you're not new to my 'Recent Reads' series, you'll know that for me, characters either make or break a novel.
As for "The Serpent King", I was sort of unsure of how I felt about the three main characters, especially during the first few chapters when you still know so little about what's hiding under the surface, but I've come to really feel for them.
While Lydia, with her ambition and willpower and fear of failure was one of the most 'me' characters I've ever stumbled upon, all three of them are so raw and relatable, they feel like they were taken right out of the real world, like they could be your neighbors.


Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who isn't afraid to delve a little deeper into all different kinds of angst and to touch base on topics that could essentially concern all of us, no matter how heartbreaking and breath taking they sound.
"The Serpent King" is available for 11.40€ on Amazon.


Have you read any outstanding novels lately? Please let me know, I'll happily add them to my 'to read' list!

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Recent Reads #9 | The Art of Being Normal

I have come to the realisation that I might have a soft spot for coming-of-age stories. A very big soft spot. I refuse to call it an obsession because I like to keep up the illusion that I can control myself at least a bit.

Keeping that in mind, you can imagine that I was thrilled when I saw that Lisa Williamson's "The Art of Being Normal" was our first read for The Girl Gang Book Club on Goodreads - I'm very active over there, so feel free to send me a friend request!

I went into this read knowing nothing about the book other than the fact that it's a coming-of-age story and that one of its main characters was transgender, but that had me sold on it right away because for me, it was the first time I saw a transgender character in the spotlight of a novel.
I had great expectations for this, but were they all met?

"The Art of Being Normal" is told from two teenagers' points of view, David Piper and Leo Denton, both outcasts in their own way.

David has always known that he's different than the other kids - he wants to be a girl. He's way too timid and nervous to tell anyone but his two best friends about how he feels, but the other kids at school still sense that there's something different about him and because of that, they call him "Freak Show" and bully him.

Leo appears to be the complete opposite of David. He's the rough, dark and somewhat mysterious guy that transfers to David's school at the beginning of the new year - no one knows for certain why he transfered, but there's a lot of fantastic stories surrounding him.

The two of them meet for the first time when David is being bullied in front of the entire school in the cafeteria and Leo sticks up for him, punching one of the bullies right into the face.
In the detention that follows this event, the two boys get to know each other better, and even though Leo doesn't seem to be interested in any form of social contact, he even goes as far as helping out David, who struggles with Maths a lot - over the course of a week, they become somewhat close to friends.

But both of them have things that are eating at them that put their still fresh bond to the test - David cannot bear to tell his parents, or anyone else, for that matter, about how he feels and it claws at him from the inside, while Leo hides the haunting secret of his past that brought him to David's school in the first place - sooner or later, it will be revealed. But how will Leo cope with that?

I really enjoyed this book's plot, which is why I tried to spoil as little as possible about it in my summary - it might seem predictable at first glance, but there were so many turns and twists that I didn't seem coming which kept the book a good read for the entire ride.

The characters, however, were really driving force of this novel.
If you've read any other installment in my "Recent Reads" series, you'll know that I'm a sucker for character development - and there definitely was a lot to be had in this babe.

Obviously David changes a lot as a person throughout the book as he learns how to accept who he is and even gets confident enough to start dressing as a girl, which made me feel like a proud mother and want to give him the biggest hug.
But Leo was on a whole other level regarding the character development - while he doesn't want to talk to, let alone befriend anyone at his new school, he starts to slowly open up to David and grows so close to him throughout their journey that he trusts him with his biggest secret. But it's not that Leo learns how to trust people again, he also learns who to love himself more, how to stop beating himself up and that there is a future for him to live and work for. I was cheering him on from the sidelines the entire time, and it was so heartwarming.

Seeing the relationship between these two develop was the most precious thing ever.

Most importantly, though, I feel like Lisa Williamson's portrayl of transgender characters was so satisfying - in most pieces of pop culture, they're still displayed in a negative light most of the time and used as a target to get some good gags running.
But not in "The Art of Being Normal". Williamson's characters are raw and real, they're relatable and they explain in depth how they feel and how they work with it to become the person they want to be - in my eyes, it's a valuable clarification for all the people who struggle to understand what being transgender means for those affected, or even worse, those who put them down for who they are.

Overall, I think it's pretty clear that I absolutely loved this book.
It deals with an important topic that still isn't talked about nearly enough in the media, and it gives it's readers a better understanding about this topic in a way that is easy to understand and to emphasize with - with a good plot and outstanding characters who make it the great piece of work that it is.

If you're interested in finding out about everything there is to this story yourself, "The Art of Being Normal" is available on Amazon for 10.45€.

Have you read any books that knocked your socks off? If you have, please let me know in the comments - I'm always on the hunt for a good read!

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Recent Reads #8 | The Martian

I always read a book before I watch its movie adaption. For some reason it's so much easier for me to enjoy a movie even though I already know the story, but reading a book when I already know everything that is going to happen just bugs me. It feels so wrong.

That is exactly why I haven't seen 'The Martian' yet, even though everyone keeps praising it - I wanted to read the book first, but as I hardly had any spare time since the beginning of the year, it just sat on my shelf and judged me.
But I finally managed to pick it up, and man, it really was a ride!

'The Martian' by Andy Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut who strands on Mars after he is pierced by an antenna in a crazy sand storm, leading his crewmates to believe that he is dead - so they just abandon him. On a planet where Mark should be doomed.

But Mark Watney isn't just an astronaut, he's an engineer and also has a degree in botany, so after he miraculously survives his accident, he's as inventive as one can be to find a way out of what seems like a lethal situation.
He uses some of his supplies - potatoes, to be precise - and works out a crazy way to actually grow them in his base.
The storm destroyed his base's means of communication, so he cannot contact NASA to let them know that he is in fact not dead, so he takes a tiny Mars rover that is supposed to be used for short distance drives only and drives for twenty days just to find an outdated communication system that he tries to fix up - and manages to do so.

Meanwhile, Mark notes his experiences down in a log - at first, just so someone could find it long after he had died, but as the story progresses, it becomes so much more than that.

As all of this unfolds, the entire world is watching.
NASA works day and night to work out means to get supplies to their stranded astronaut and eventually, how to save him - but the pressure of time prompts them to make some horrendous mistakes.

And then there's Mark's crewmates on the Ares 3, lightyears away from their friend as well as Earth.
At first, they're kept in the dark about Mark being alive, but how will they cope when they have to face that they just left him there? What insane ideas will it make them have?

'The Martian' is honestly one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

Mark obviously is the driving force of this story - and he's the realest damn person to ever be a character in a book.
He's funny, dorky and relateable, and even when he is faced with situations that might possbily kill him - which there are a lot of on Mars - he keeps his wit. But then he also writes an e-mail to his best friend, telling him how to explain their sons death to his parents. There are many faces to Mark Watney, the geeky botanist, the clever engineer, the reckless survivor - but also the somewhat broken human. And it's wonderful.

I'm not going to lie, there's quite a lot of science involved, because we are technically talking space travel here.
But even though I was a little overwhelmed when Mark described the way he worked on all sorts of things or people working for NASA spat out some crazy terms, it's actually all explained fairly easily once you've settled in and gotten used to it, even for people like me who don't know the first thing about science.

What I also really loved about this book was the way its plot was structured.
There are so many twists and turning points that it always stays fresh and gripping - you don't get tired of this story at all. There's always something going on that keeps you turning the pages, muttering "just one more chapter" at three am.

All in all, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone.
'The Martian' is a book about space travel, but then it's also so much more than that. It's a story about how much one person can endure, a story about the lenghts humans will go to to help someone else, a story about insane devotion and friendship.
It made me laugh, it made me sniffle, and most importantly, it also made me think.

If you're interested in reading this book yourself, it's available on Amazon for 7,58€.

Have you read any good books lately? Feel free to recommend them to me!

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Recent Reads #7 | About A Boy

If you know me, you'll know that I like to shout from the rooftops how much I hate assigned readings.

That's not because I don't like reading, I actually love reading. I'm the biggest bookworm you'll ever meet, but I'm a picky reader, and that's exactly why I hate assigned readings.

My teachers always managed to pick out some book that sounds promising at first, and ends up being so bad that I don't want to finish it, but I obviously have to for class. I could pull out my hair thinking about it.

Keeping that fact about me in mind, I really wasn't thrilled when my English teacher told us she wanted us to read something over the holidays. However, that changed when I actually picked up the book in question, which is 'About A Boy' by Nick Hornby.

To my suprise, it was good. Not decent, 'I'll get through this somehow', but really good. At times, I even struggled to put it down.

Now you're wondering, what is that miracle book about, Franzi? Well, let's get into it.

This story is unfolds from two points of view, and what essentially makes that so oddly charming is the fact that those two are so very different.
One of the people telling the story is Marcus, a twelve year-old boy who moved to London with his mother after his parents' divorce. Marcus, a shy and rather intelligent kid, is strongly influenced by his mother, who is somewhat of a hippy - because of that, he's considered "uncool" and "weird" at his new school, simply because he dresses differently and doesn't listen to the mainstream music, which results in hideous bullying.
But then we also see the story through the eyes of Will Freeman, a 36 year-old who lives a life in luxury, even though he hasn't worked a day in his life. After inheriting a fortune from his father, Will enjoys the "good life", partying, drinking, and most of all, avoiding any form of responsibility, especially when it comes to having a family.

Now, how would one of those two people ever fit in the other's life?
After Will dated a single mother for a while, he realized how much better everything about that realtionship was compared to his previous ones, so he sets himself a goal to only date single mothers from that point on.

The only problem is that single mothers don't just fall out of the sky at random. Struggling, Will makes a horrifying decision - he makes up a three year-old son and joins a single parents group.
You think the situation is looking awkward now, but it gets worse.

When Suzie, one of the mothers Will starts seeing thanks to the single parents group, takes him out to a day in the park with some of the group's kids, he meets Marcus for the first time and, judging by how utterly different the two are, you can imagine how well they get along.

But then Suzie and Will bring Marcus home at the end of the day and find his mother lying unconcious the sofa, a pill of bottles in her hand, and shit hits the fan.
After the whole process of calling an ambulance, spending the night in the ER and living of vending machine food, Will and Marcus are inextricably linked with each other in a weird way. His mother's attempted suicide drives Marcus even further away from her, and seeing that he doesn't really have anyone else to go, he goes to Will.

At first, the relationship between the two is rather awkward, and how could it not be? But over time, they start to warm up to each other more and more - whether Will likes it or not. Will defends Marcus against his bullies and even goes shopping with Marcus to buy him clothes his mother refuses to get him.

But how long can a relationship like this one really last, especially when one half of it is an unreliable, unresponsible teenager in an adult's skin?


Now, I've got to say that while I did still enjoy this book quite a bit, there were still things that bothered me about it, so much even that I sometimes had to step away from it because I was getting a little too frustrated,

I loved the book's plot. I tried not to reveal all there is to it in my review because there was so much to it that it always kept me interested, sometimes even on edge. Not every author manages to construct a conherent story that doesn't get boring, so kudos to Nick Hornby for that.

Now to the characters, which were my main problem about this entire thing.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Marcus - I hardly ever read books that are written from the point of view of someone this young, so that's one thing I found very interesting. He's also a character with quite a lot of depth, and he's so adorable in his own way that I sometimes wished that I could pat his back and ruffle through his hair.

But Will. Oh man, Will Freeman, sometimes I wanted to reach into the book and downright slap you.
It's hard to read someone's story when you don't relate to them one bit, and I really didn't relate to him at all. He completely has his head in the clouds most of the time, he's very selfish and, especially at the beginning, a downright jerk. He stops talking to his friends after they had a baby simply because he hates the idea of having a family, let alone children. Huh?
Even though he does, to an extent, show character development throughout the book, he never changes completely, so for the whole 278 pages, I either grunted in disgust or made some other feral noise that made people change seats away from me on the bus. Cheers guys.

And then there's also the issue with Fiona, Marcus' mother. The reader is introduced to her as someone who's struggling with a lot of emotional baggage, she's later revealed to deal with depression. Now, the reader can play the guessing-game to find out what more there is to her illness, but as Marcus is too young to fully grasp the concept of depression and Will doesn't care too much, we don't really find much about Fiona's struggles at all, even though she does attempt suicide quite early into the book.


Despite its issues, 'About A Boy' is still an enjoyable read. It tells the story of an extraordinary relationship, and an even more extraordinary young boy who is struggling to find his place in the world when the whole world seems to turn against him.
'About A Boy' is available on Amazon for 9.99€ - and if you're not one for books, 'About A Boy' was turned into a movie back in 2002, so you could check that out as well!


If you're interested in what other readings I get up to, you can check out my Goodreads - and while you're at it, please send me a friend request, I love meeting other bookworms like me!

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Recent Reads #6 | Cinder

When I was a child, I was pretty much obsessed with fairy tales - I would always get my Mom to read some to me before bed, or forced my parents to watch pretty much every Disney movie with me.
Those fantastic worlds fascinated me, and they still do to this date, so when I heard that there was a book series that was basically a modern spin on the stories I loved in my childhood, I was more than excited.

What I'm referring to are the 'Lunar Chronicles', a series by Marissa Meyer.
I had never read a book of hers before picking up "Cinder", and boy am I annoyed at myself for not doing that earlier!

"Cinder" is set in the futuristic town of New Bejing, which was founded after World War IV. So much damage had been done during that war that the Earth was split into six big countries - the United Kingdom, the European Federation, the American Republic, the African Union, Australia and the Commonwealth, which New Bejing is part of.

The book follows the story of Cinder, an European teenage girl who was turned into a cyborg after barely surviving a horrible car crash that killed her parents at the age of eleven. Following her surgery, she was adopted by Linh Garan - who ended up dying soon afterwards, leaving Cinder with a stepmother who hates her. Sounds familiar? I told you, it's a futuristic Cinderella story.

But it's not just Cinder's stepmother who hates her - all over the Commonwealth, cyborgs are shunned and despised - so you can imagine that Cinder's job as a mechanic isn't exactly a walk in the park for her.
Well, up until one day, the Commonwealth's prince, Kai, shows up at her booth, practically begging her to fix an android of his that appears to hold some extremly important information.

And if Cinder's life couldn't get any more overwhelming, her younger stepsister Peony, the only human being that showed any sort of affection for Cinder, catches a lethal ilness called "letumosis" - one there isn't a cure for.
When Cinder's dreadful stepmother loses it and sends Cinder to a scientific organization looking for a cure for letumosis as a "volunteer", the scientists discover that there is something more special to Cinder than her just being a cyborg - she is immune to the disease that millions of people have fallen victim to.

What results from that is an even bigger downward spiral of chaos.
Cinder becomes so devoted to finding a cure to save her sister's life, and then there's Prince Kai who appears to be falling for the young mechanic - until the Queen of the moonfolk, the Lunars, comes to visit Earth to negotiate about peace between the two nations.
There appears to be only a small price the Earthern Union has to pay - she's asking for Kai's hand in marriage...

Looking back on that summary of the book, I can see how it might appear pretty confusing and all over the place at first - I did feel that way when I started reading the book, not gonna lie.
I feel like with fantasy books, I always need some time to make myself comfortable with the world, its rules and characters - but once you're fully settled in, you're in for a real treat with "Cinder".

There is so much the book has to offer.
For one, it has an amazing plot, one that keeps you hooked and has interesting and unforseen twists and turns that keep the book exciting. 

Besides that, I really love Marissa Meyer's writing style. It's easy to read without sounding like it was written for kids or teenagers entirely, and it contains a good portion of humor and sarcasm, which is basically me in a nutshell, so I thoroughly enjoyed that.

And then there's the characters, which to me either break or make a book. In this one, they're so complex and carefully structured, that sometimes you feel like you might actually see them in front of you or hear them talking. Especially Cinder and Kai often felt so damn real to me that I couldn't help but not only relate to them, but actually feel for them - I got so attached to this book's characters that I sometimes squealed or swore out loud while reading, no joke.

All in all, I can definitely recommend this book to everyone, even if you're not too into fantasy books or the like, because Cinder is so much more than that.
It's a gripping story told from the view of two rare, relatable main characters - and the best things is that this is only the beginning! There are three more books for me to explore - in fact, I have "Scarlet", the second installment in the series, already sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for me.
Yes, I'm that excited about this series. That's when you know it's great.

If you want to check it out for yourself, "Cinder" is available on Amazon for 9,05€.

Have you read a really good book recently?

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Recent Reads #5 | Love Letters To The Dead

I seriously have no idea why I'm often drawn to books with rather dark plots because in all honesty, I'm pretty much a chicken shit in real life, but for some reason there is something about reading about sad or scary things that just gets me.

And, knowing that about me, a friend of mine recommended 'Love Letters to the Dead' to me - without really giving me any hints about the plot, just saying that I would probably really enjoy it.

So, I did what I always do - I looked for it in my local bookstore. And to my suprise, it was sitting there as if it was waiting for me - so home with me it went.

Now, maybe you're not so much about diving into a book without knowing anything about it as much as I am, so let me break the plot down to you first,

'Love Letters to the Dead' follows the story of Laurel, a fifteen year old freshman in High School whose sister May just died. The twist, though, is that it is told through letters that Laurel writes - letters to deceased, well known personalities. The entire thing starts as an assignment for English class in which Laurel's teacher asks them to write to someone who is already dead - so Laurel decides to write to Kurt Cobain because her sister loved his music so deeply.

 But after a whike, it seems like Laurel can't stop - she continues writing those letters for almost an entire year, to Amelia Earhart, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix - to name a few. And with each letter, Laurel reveals a little more about herself and all the things that have led up to her sister's death, but also lets the reader in on happier things, like the new people she meets and becomes friends with at her new school and her personal growth.

Through the letters, the reader eventually discovers that May, who was older than Laurel, was a very outgoing and social person who loved to party. Both her and her sister's life changed when she started seeing an older guy, whose friend sexually abused Laurel whenever they met.
When confronted with what had happened to her younger sister after meeting up with the men one night, May gets furious, climbs onto a bridge and ends up falling to her death. It is unclear to Laurel whether it was suicide or a horrible accident.

Following that incident, Laurel's live falls apart. Her already divorced mother moves across the country, she has to switch school.

I will admit that the entire letter situation made it a little difficult for me to get into the book and connect with Laurel at first - I had the exact same issue with 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower' back in the day - but eventually, I warmed up to it. 

And thank god I did, because this book has amazed me on so many levels.

For one, the way that the story unfolds for us as the reader might seem slow at first because we obviously only get as much information as Laurel is comfortable with sharing, which at the beginning is basically none. But every time she does reveal something about herself and/or her past, you get so sucked into it - you want, no, you need to know more about what happened to her.

That way, you actually start to care about the girl telling your her story, you start to connect with her, even empathize with her.

I also really enjoyed the character development taking place throughout the story - not only Laurel's, even though hers was definitely the strongest, but also her family's and her friends'. There are so many different people involved in this who all have different stories it might seem confusing at first, but it does tie together quite nicely and gives and insight into various difficult issues like toxic relationships, illnesses and homosexuality.

Overall, 'Love Letters to the Dead' is an amazing coming-of-age story about grief, friendship and recovery that is definitely not a light read but will leave you with some very deep, raw feelings.

'Love Letters to the Dead' by Ava Dellaira is available on Amazon for only 7,30€.

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Recent Reads #4 | Finding Audrey

I seriously love reading, especially now that it's starting to get colder and fall's slowly creeping its way back into our lives, most of my evenings are spent on the sofa, cuddled up with a blanket, fuzzy socks and a cup of tea - and those are never really complete without a good book.

Now, me being a bookworm and all, I like to say that I read a lot, and that I'm also a pretty quick reader. Seriously, there was a point in my childhood when my Mom would stop buying books for me because she thought that spending 15€ on a book that I read in three days was unnecessary when I could get them at the library.

But jokes on you, Mom, because you got me this book after I had heard so many great things about it and I finished it in less than 24 hours. It was that great.


'Finding Audrey' by Sophie Kinsella, the author of the 'Shopaholic' series, is about Audrey, a teenage girl who experienced bullying at school, leading her to fall into a depression and developing a 'Social Anxiety Disorder'.

Because she is too imtimidated to talk to anyone outside her family, Audrey becomes a prisoner to her own home. Even inside her house, the teen never takes off her sunglasses - eye contact is overwhelming for her.

As she didn't have contact with anyone outside her family and a mental health institution after leaving school, meeting Linus, who's a friend of her brother's is a completely new experience, one that more than just scares her at the beginning.
But Linus kind personality and his open approach, Audrey slowly warms up to him.
Linus convinces her to do something that makes her stomach turn - going outside again. Hey, Starbucks is a start, right?

Having Linus at her side makes Audrey feel like she can do ever more things that scare her - and, even more importantly, she starts feeling that she can find her way back into the real world again.


I don't want to spoil too much of the book's plot because it's something you'll want to read for yourself. The story is narrated by Audrey herself - and even though you might've thought that as this book is about mental disorders, it might be deep and dark, she still makes it feel so light. And she's hilarious.

I loved seeing Audrey grow throughout the book and follwing her on her way too discovery. She is a brave, witty and bright girl. What's great about the way she's written that she's not supposed to attract pity - she manages to make the reader laugh, and once that things start getting serious with Linus, it's obvious that despite her state, she still only a normal teenage girl.

I also loved that her family was so present throughout the book because, and that might just be me, but y'know, they reminded me so much of my own - especially because my brother, much like Frank, is really into gaming. And who knows, maybe my Mom might end up throwing his computer out of the window as well? Stay tuned.


All in all, 'Finding Audrey' is a very sweet coming-of-age story with relateable characters you'll probably fall in love with and some seriously good humor - I mean, it made me laugh out loud while on the bus. And I regret nothing.
One of the best, if not the best book I've read so far this year!



What's the last book you read?

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Recent Reads #3 | All The Bright Places

Summer has begun, which means the season for binge reading is offically here! I don't know why, but every summer I manage to read a pile of five to ten books back to back - that might be because, y'know, I actually get to choose which books I want to read, unlike the assigned readings that my teachers like to throw at me.

As I mentioned in my post exams haul, I went to the bookstore for the first time in months the other day and found a bunch of books that I'd like to read this summer, but out of those, "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven stood out to me.

That was probably because even though you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at the cover, the story this book is telling is not a light-hearted one. It's the story of two teenagers who want to die.

One of them is Theodore Finch, who comes from a broken home. His father abused both his mother and Finch himself, and ended up leaving them when he was still a boy. Finch is an outcast at school, called "Freak" by next to everyone besides his two close friends. From a young age, he knew that he was different from other kids. He's rather intelligent, but he falls into deep depression after his good periods - he later finds out that he has bi-polar disorder, but in order to not worry anyone, he is easy-going an funny around the people he loves, leading them to be completely blind to what is going on with him.

The other one is Violet Markey, who used to be a happy girl with a perfect boyfriend, a great group of friends and a passion for writing.

Her life changed when she got into a car accident with her sister Eleanor on a snowy winter night, which she survived - but her sister didn't. Violet never really got over the events of said night, blaming herself to be responsible for her sister's death, leading her to become depressed, as well.

The first time our two main character meet is on the ledge of their high school's bell tower, which is the point where you should realize that this is not a happy-go-lucky kinda book that you've gotten your hands on.
Finch is thinking about what would happen if he commited suicide right there and then, when he realizes that he is not alone up there, and that in that exact same moment, another student is about to take her life - Violet.

After he talks her down the ledge, the two of them don't speak a word about that event - the rest of the school obviously does, because come on, this is high school we're talking about - until they are set up to work on a project for their U.S. history class together.
For that project, the teens are supposed to travel their home state, Indianna, and explore the great and the small, unkown places it has to offer, and report about them at the end of the year.

While they work on that project, Finch and Violet start growing closer. More hesitantely at first, as Violet doesn't want to open up about how she really feels and everything that has happened to her, but eventually, the two end up falling in love.

It's not the heart-eyed kind of love, though, because both of them are still convinced that they are broken, especially Finch, even though he doesn't let anyone see what he really thinks about himself.

You realize where this is going, aren't you?

There is no happy ending to this story. There's a certain point in the book where you realize what the end is leading up to, and you watch the events unfold in front of you, and you cover your mouth with your hands because how could the worst thing happen?

I struggled with putting all that this has made me think and feel into the right words and I realized that I need to voice my opinion on it in two different ways.

On one hand, I absolutely loved this book in every way possible. The subject it has is obviously no laughing matter, and even though it is hard, and it is very sad, it is funny nonetheless. Jennifer Niven did a great job at creating a book with a message that is not eating at you, but giving you moments of light, moments of humor, so dry and dark and true.
The main characters were very well written. I hardly ever come across a book that doesn't have a leading character that makes me roll my eyes, but this one was an exception. Seeing the story unfold from Theodore Finch's eyes was a new experience for me because I have never seen from the view a person with a mental ilness before, and it was shaking, but it felt true, authentic. Violet is a character that I sympathized with because she blamed herself for what happened to her sister, and because of the relationship she had lost because I have a strong bond with my family - yes, even my annoying younger brother. She didn't seem overdramatic. I could feel her pain, I could follow her thoughts, I could see why she chose to do certain things. Just like Finch, she felt so damn real.

On the other hand, there is the aspect that what Jennifer Niven did by writing a book about people with mental illnesses. 

In my opinion, it is more than important to read this book. Because most of us will have read "The Fault In Our Stars", or any other book that will include a main character suffering with a physical illness, but mental illnesses are still a subject that is not discussed widely enough. There are still way to many people who think that they are freaks, people who don't search for help.

This is why I feel like the book had to end the way it did. It might be an eye opener to some, like it was to me.

That turned into quite a long ramble, didn't it? Phew. I just had to get these thoughts out of my system, because I finished this book at around 3pm, and around six hours later, it is still on my mind and I'm still trying to progress all that has unfolded in front of me.

It is one of those books that has that certain effect on you. And that's exactly why I would recommend it to anyone. Obviously, it's not the lightest of subjects, but in the way it is written, it makes you feel a kind of warmth, it kind of gives you an 'at home' feeling with its so human characters. And behind that colorful, unremarkable cover, this book carry and important message, one that should be read by as many people as possible,

"All The Bright Places" is available for 10,49€ on Amazon.

What book have you picked up this past month?

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Recent Reads #2 | The Young Elites

I've got a confession to make. When my finals started mid May, something changed. And by changed, I mean that my life turned into somewhat of school, eat ,work, sleep, repeat.
You might've guessed that there was next to no space for any other interest there, and you're damn right. Guess how long it's been since I picked up a book. Two months. Two months.
Alright, technically I have picked up a few, but those have been books that I not so voluntarily read for classes, or books that I actively did not want to read, but obviously that had to be done anyway. Long story short, my assigned readings totally took the pleasure out of my private ones.

However, I was looking for something that would help me get my mind off everything that has been going on lately, so, just as I used to, I turned to my bookshelf. And I realized that one book had been sitting there for a while - ever since I got it for Easter, to be precise.
It was time to give it some love.

"The Young Elites" is a fantasy novel - yes, this is kind of a first for me, too - and is the first installment in what is going to be a trilogy, which is written by Marie Lu. If you feel like her name sounds familiar, you might've heard of the Legend series, which was another trilogy of hers. (That was really flippin' good as well, might I add.)

The story takes place in Kenettra, a city that is losely based on acient Venice in 1361. It revolves around Adelina Amouteru, a sixteen year old girl who survived the blood fever which swept across the country, killing all of the infected adults and leaving its young survivors, the malfettos, marked - changes in hair- or eyecolor, streaks of color across their bodys, the like. Adelina herself lost an eye due to the disease, making her stand out and being an outcast.

Rumor has it that some of the malfettos have mysterious abilities - people call them "The Young Elites". Trying to provoke those abilities in Adelina, her father both physically and mentally abuses her for years, until she manages to kill him and escape.

Her freedom does not last long, though, as she is captured and meant to be excecuted for showing signs of having those mysterious, "demonic" abilities. But before that can happen, the Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites saves her.

Adelina learns that the Daggers did not save her out of pure kindness, but because they were looking to recruit her for their mission - their leader, the crown prince Enzo, was banished from the palace after being marked as a malfetto, leading to his sister marrying a Duke who then became king and soon started his mission to rid the country of all malfettos.
Adelina decides to join them, and so her stories really begins...


Let me say this first and foremost. This book does not have a real protagonist. Adelina is not a nice girl, and she definitely is no hero. She is drawn to fear and anger, both of which help her powers grow stronger, and also power itself.
I like that she is no victim. Obviously, she might seem inferior due to her disability, but Adelina can definitely still kick ass.
But seeing the story unfold from her point of view is nothing for the faint-hearted. Being in her head is quite scary - because how could it not be? Adelina's past is dark and filled with pain and terror, which keep following her every step of her way. As her powers grow over the time she spend with the Daggers, so does the darkness inside of her.

I'm not saying that she is entirely bad, because she certainly is not. There are scenes that bring out the good in her, scenes that make it seem like there is hope for her. Where she resists doing the wrong thing. I think those scenes were the most important ones in my eyes.
Adelina's flaws make her human, even among all those things that are so unhman about her, and it's clear that she is not entirely lost.


In my opinion, "The Young Elites" is definitely a novel that is so worth the shot. Yes, even though you might've been sceptical ever since you heard the word fantasy. I myself had never read a fantasy book before this one, and while it took a while to get used to at first, the effort I had to make then was so worth it a hundred pages later.
It's an unusal book for sure, but passing it up would definitely be a waste.

"The Young Elites" by Marie Lu is available on amazon for $11.54.


What book did you pick up recently?

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