Review | Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

I saw a book haul video on YouTube, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette was one of the books shown. I instantly knew I had to read it. Call me shallow, but the cover was pretty awesome and intriguing!

<blockquote>Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.</blockquote>

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At first I really wasn’t sure if I would like this book. The format it was written in was not something I was familiar with (okay, it’s just a bunch of emails); it felt really disorganized and I had trouble remembering who was who. Mea culpa: I really think it was my fault for not researching more on the book before diving in. I didn’t know who was telling the story, or how all of these emails were related.

But I really wanted to like this book. I had waited for it to be available at the library (!), the ratings on GoodReads were great, there was no way I’d let my ADD brain win this one. And I’m glad I kept on reading, because about 90 pages in, everything sort of fell into place, and the book was excellent!

“One of the main reasons I don't like leaving the house is because I might find myself face to face with a Canadian.”

The writing is funny and witty. The characters are great. The plot is borderline crazy but totally enthralling! I laughed out loud quite a few times and I couldn't put it down. Even though the story is far from being realistic, Bernadette is easy to relate to if you are dealing with any kind of anxiety. All of that, in my book, is recipe for a fantastic novel!

“This is why you must love life: one day you're offering up your social security number to the Russian Mafia; two weeks later you're using the word calve as a verb.”

In the end, even though I had a hard time getting into the story at first, I do not regret picking up this book. I highly recommend it to everyone who likes light contemporary adult fiction. I doubt you would be disappointed!

P.S. The author kept making comments on Canadians. Being Canadian and all, I'm still not sure how I feel about these comments :p

My Rating: ¶¶¶¶

You can buy it HERE.

Review | Red Sky in Morning

This book was sent to me for free (from the book depository) in exchange for an honest review. I did not get paid to write this. All opinions are my own.

Published by: Quercus Books on April 25, 2013
Genre: Historical fiction/thriller
Pages: 230p.
Format: ARC

When I was first contacted by the book depository I was beyond thrilled to be given the opportunity to review a book! I was given a list of books to pick from, and Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch was one of them.

The story takes us back to 1832, in Ireland. Coll Coyle and his family are being evicted from their house. The landlord’s son decides he want them off their property for no apparent reason. With a baby on the way and another very young child, Coyle decides to confront Hamilton and tries to get him to change his mind.

But bad luck seems to be following him, and soon Coll finds himself on the run. With no money and nowhere to go, he eventually ends up on a boat to America. He has no plan, only one goal: getting his family back.

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Red Sky in Morning isn’t a book I would’ve picked up on my own; it wasn’t something I am used to reading, and to be honest I hated this book at first. I started to read it on the bus on my way to school and I couldn't get into it.

I found the writing dense, and it is a really slow read. I was frustrated with myself because I couldn't get through it. But, I decided not to give up on this book, and so last night I got comfortable in bed, and was ready to give it another fair chance. And I'm glad I did. 

Even though the prose is heavy, it has a lyrical tone that matches the mood of the narrator. You can feel that he is leaden with sadness. You get wrapped in his troubles and can’t help but feel infuriated by all the injustices he faces.

I was really mad at Coyle at the beginning because of how he reacted to the situation he put himself in, but then I felt he was also disappointed with himself, he wants to redeem himself for his actions, in a way, and that’s what made me fall for this book. He is definitely not a selfish man. He is perfectly and beautifully flawed.  It was hard for me to relate to any of the characters, but I found myself admiring Coyle a lot throughout the story.

Like I mentioned, the story is slow paced, but constant. It is not a read where you’ll want to race to the end to see what will happen. The writing style, once you get used to it, is beautiful and you want to enjoy every single sentence.

"People aren't people. They are animals, brutes, blind and stupid following endless needs they know not of what origin. And all the rest that we place on top to make us feel better is a delusion. The price of life is the burden of your own weight and some people are better off without it."

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this book to people who like historical fiction. I ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I originally thought I would, and I wouldn't be against reading more of Paul Lynch’s writing.

My Rating: ¶¶¶¶¶

You can buy this book here!

P.S. This book is not vegan friendly, hah!

Review | Fallout

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins is the third and final instalment of the Crank trilogy. I started the series about 5 years ago, and decided it was about time I read the last book. I was a huge fan of the first ones (Crank and Glass) and I really wasn't disappointed with Fallout.

In this last book, the story isn't focused on Kristina, but on her 3 oldest children and how their lives have been affected by their mother's relationship with the monster.

We first get to know Hunter, the eldest of her children. When he was a baby, Kristina's parents decided to adopt him because she clearly wasn't able to take care of him. Hunter is now 18, is in a serious relationship, works part-time at a radio station and goes to college. 

We then meet Autumn, Kristina's eldest daughter. She's 17, and has OCD. When her dad went to jail, her aunt and grandpa took her in and they were very careful and made sure her parents (or other family) would never find her. 

And then we get introduced to Summer, 15. She suffers from severe asthmas due to her mother using while she was pregnant. She's been from one foster family to another for most of her life, taken away from her grandparents when they got "too old". 

                    

These kids have nothing in common except for an irresponsible mother and a predisposition to substance abuse. Wherever Kristina goes, she brings drama, and this year at Christmas is no different. In this last novel, unrelated events bring everyone together in what seems to be like a path towards change and recovery. 

Once again, the author totally blew my mind away. Ellen Hopkins has a gift when it comes to writing contemporary young adult fiction that’s for sure.

It was really nice to take the focus off Kristina and have her children on the spotlight. To see drug addiction from a child’s point of you and how it doesn't only affect the user’s life.

All the characters felt real, and it’s very easy to relate to them. That’s one thing I've always liked about her books.

“It's just so hard to feel good, you know?" I do know. And more than that, it's just so incredibly hard to feel.”

I really can’t say anything bad about this book, but I wish I could have more. I want to know what happened to each one of the children. I really want them to be okay, to have a great future.

Hopkins has a very unique way of writing her books, and I really like it. You can easily get sucked in and read it all in one sitting. Fallout is really not a hard read, but it’s very emotional. It’s difficult to be indifferent to the characters.

I really recommend this book (the series) if you like YA novels. Or even if you don’t! It’s just one of these books!

My Rating: 

You can get a copy HERE

Have you read any Ellen Hopkins? Which one is your favourite?

Review | Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is a dystopian novel for young adults. I went into this book with high expectations, and to my surprise I wasn’t too disappointed!

Tally is a few months away from turning sixteen and she cannot wait. Not only will she finally be reunited with her best friend Peris, but she will finally get to be pretty. In her world, everyone undergoes surgery at the age of sixteen and they can move to New Pretty Town. 

In this part of the city, everyone is always having fun and they all look stunning. Everybody is the same and everybody is happy, but at what cost?

Tally meets Shay, another Ugly who’s waiting to turn sixteen. Both being the youngest of their group of friends, they quickly become really close. Shay brings Tally outside of the city where she wants to show her another completely different way of living. 

“Perhaps the logical conclusion of everyone looking the same is everyone thinking the same.”

Shay doesn’t want to be pretty, and she decides to run away. Tally isn’t convinced and stays behind. 

On her sixteen birthday, Tally is brought to the Special Circumstances quarters, where she is given an ultimatum: either she helps them find this mysterious and “dangerous” city where Shay is hidden or she stays ugly forever. 

Torn between betraying her friend and turning pretty, Tally is pressured into a journey that will completely shift her view of the city.

This was my first book by Scott Westerfeld, so I didn’t have anything to compare Uglies with. I had heard a lot of good things about the book (a lot of booktubers also raved about it) and I decided it was time I picked it up to see what it was all about. 

When I first picked it up, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like it because the writing felt really childish and I had a hard time getting into it. I felt rushed into the story, but I found myself slowly getting used to it. 

The book is really fast paced and I never felt like it was dragging. I read half of it in one sitting. I loved how we got to see how the runaways live. The back story of how they ended up in Pretty cities makes a lot of sense. 

This might sound weird, but when Shay was explaining to Tally why becoming a Pretty and the way they were living isn’t right reminded me of conversations I’ve had with people about veganism.  When it’s all you have ever known, it can be really hard to acknowledge that things you are doing or things you’ve always thought to just “be the way it is” might be wrong. 

When Shay tries to explain to Tally that being Pretty is actually giving up your true self, Tally brushes it off and doesn’t believe it.  

The characters are all pretty simple; not a lot of depth to them. We don’t really know a lot about them except the essentials to make the story flow. I would have loved to know more about the Boss. He seemed like a really interesting character, a lot more than Tally to be perfectly honest.

I really recommend Uglies by Scott Westerfeld if you want to read a light YA dystopian. I myself am not a fan of that genre, but I really enjoyed it. It had a lot more meat to it than I thought it would. I’m definitely going to pick up Pretties at some point because of how the first book ended.

My rating: (more like 3.5)

You can buy this book HERE!