Thursday 29 March 2012

Someone Like You

Someone Like You


By Sarah Dessen

Summary:



Halley and Scarlett have been best friends forever. Scarlett is the popular one, who is outspoken and outgoing and Halley is the shy sidekick who is always known as 'Scarlett's best friend Halley'. The two girls balance each other perfectly though and have an unbreakable friendship.

Now it's summer and it's the day after Scarlett's only true love, Michael died in a motorcycle accident, and now Scarlett finds out that she is pregnant with his child. For once it's Scarlett who needs Halley's support.
Scarlett is heartbroken about Michael's death, but is uncertain about what to do about her baby, keeping in mind that she is only sixteen and that her future lies in front of her.

Scarlett's mother is forcing her into abortion, but Halley is telling her to do what she feel's is right. Realizing that her baby is the only bit of Michael left in her world, Scarlett decides to keep her baby and go on an incredible adventure with her best friend, Halley, for the next nine months of her life.

When the two best friends go back to school, Scarlett introduces Halley to Michael's best friend Macon Faulkner. Halley and Macon soon develop a good relationship, which leads them to start dating. But before Scarlett and Halley know it, Scarlett is five months into her pregnancy and Halley is sneaking out to see Macon. Everything seems to be going perfectly, but when Macon asks Halley to take their relationship to the next level, Halley is unsure about developing her relationship even more with Macon if their is a chance that she might end up like Scarlett...

Scarlett and Halley soon get into a fight that might ruin their so-called-unbreakable-relationship and for once both girls need each other more than ever...

Along the way of nine months Scarlett and Halley realize that life is the worst place not to have a best friend.

Can they make it through together without ruining their one of a kind relationship?

Review:


Someone Like You. Wow. I am speechless. Once again Sarah Dessen had written a masterpiece. Absolutely incredible. Someone Like You is the ultimate coming of age book that all teens must read. I read this book in about four days and it was extremely thought provoking.
In this book, Dessen, forces us to reflect and to think about our future life as teenagers. Dessen also write about all of the mistakes that the teenagers at Scarlett and Halley's school make and the mistakes the two best friends themselves make. I think that the book prepares us in some ways, for the next step in our life.

The plot of the story was a good one which combined all of the elements of a teenager's life; heartbreak, worry, friendship problems, insecurities and growing up. I think that all tweens want to be prepared for their teenage years and want to know what silly things not to do and what to do when you have a friendship problem, or any kind of problem and I find that Dessen has done a very good job of explaining many things.

I also find that Halley is a very believable character and I think that any tween of teen would be able to feel as if she was Halley in the book, just the way that I felt while reading the Someone Like You. Halley is real and alive and the description of her actions is well done that makes us, the readers, feel as though she is coming off of the page and telling us all about her life as a teenager with so many worries and uncertainties in her life.

I do think though, that I might have been a little too young to read Someone Like You and I think that teens should read it when they are about 13 or 14 years old, because of Halley and Macon's relationship. But having said that, I am extremely happy that I read this book because I was waiting for a book like this to come along on my list!

What a magnificent and thought-provoking book, one of Dessen's best!

Recommended for all teens age 14+

Saturday 17 March 2012

Mockingjay

Mockingjay

By Suzanne Collins

Happy St. Patrick's Day Bookworms!!! In honor of St. Patrick's Day, we have a guest blogger! The Anonymous Pug! Happy St. Patrick's Day, and a special shout out to all of my Irish bookworms! -Gia

Summary:

Katniss Everdeen, aged 17, has managed to make it through two Hunger Games, the second of which being the third Quarter Quell, where the tributes were picked from a pool of surviving victors, meaning that Katniss and Peeta were sent back into the arena. Near the end, she sent an arrow into the 'chink in the armor' of the force field, effectively destroying the entire arena. She, Beetee and Finnick were successfully rescued by the rebels; however, Peeta, Johanna and Enobaria were taken captive by the Capitol.

Katniss and the other two were taken to district 13, which was destroyed by the Capitol at the end of the dark days, 75 years ago, for rebelling. They rebuilt their society underground, doing everything in and orderly (and rather boring) fashion. On the way, Katniss learns from Gale that district 13 has been bombed, that 90% of it's people are dead, and that he organized the escape of the 900 or so who survived. 13 have been planning to take over each of the district one by one, ending with the Capitol. Panem is in a state of open warfare, and the rebels are desperately trying to get the rest of the country to side with them. Meanwhile, Katniss is being forced to accept the truth. Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, has become the face of the rebellion, the rallying point for all rebels. She has become the Mockingjay.

Review:

Once again, big thanks to Gia. This is probably my favorite book in the trilogy, primarily because now Katniss really started to take action against the Capitol. The are some EXTREMELY intense battle scenes, and readers must be prepared to lose many of their favorite characters.
As Katniss and Finnick say themselves, it feels, towards the end, like they really are back in the Hunger Games, the Capitol watching their every move. The rebels are deadly and unforgiving, determined to make the Capitol suffer as they have suffered. The battle is very frighting, as it seems so incredibly real.

This book has an undeniably sombre air to it. They are constantly watching people die, and many of them their close friends. The final battle everyone has been dreading has arrived. Some of the deaths are rather gruesome, which is saying something, given the amount of gore in the earlier books.

A truly incredible book, and the last of the Hunger Games trilogy.

445 pages