Review: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Okay. I'm going to try really hard to do this book justice. I haven't read a book that honestly made me cry in a very long time, so that should tell you something right there.

Jill's dad died almost a year ago and she's having a really hard time with it. She was never close with her mom the way she always was with her dad. She has his personality, which is sometimes a little too blunt, causing him to always tell her to "try a little tenderness." When her mom decides to move on and adopt a new baby, Jill is furious. She's convinced that her mom is only trying to fill the void left by her dad's death.

Enter Mandy, a pregnant, socially awkward 18 year old. She reads an online post about a widowed lady looking for a baby to adopt, and knows in her heart that this is the person who is meant to adopt her baby. After corresponding with the woman, she's more sure than ever, so when her due date comes a little closer, she hops on a train to Denver. What she finds there with Jill and her mother is something she never expected.

This book rocked me. It was slow starting out, and I almost didn't keep reading but I am so so glad I did. I don't want to spoil it, but there was just something so inspiring about this strange little pregnant girl who has never known what it's like to belong anywhere, or to have someone love her, come into the life of this broken, grieving family and change them. It was beautiful, and it broke my heart, but in a really wonderful way. Read it.

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

What it's about: (From amazon.com) "Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong."

What I thought: I was pretty excited to read this. It looked dark, mysterious, and creepy. And it was. But I have really mixed feelings about this book... There were a few moments where I was like, "Oh my gosh this book is so crazy good!" But then it would turn into this Twilight-y, sappy, this-guy-is-so-perfect-how-could-I-ever-be-good-enough story. I think this would definitely appeal to teens who liked Twilight or the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, but I thought it lacked the depth and originality to captivate me the way I was expecting. I'll probably read the sequels just to satisfy my curiosity... maybe it will get better? Ha.

My feelings? Ehh.

Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

What it's about: Min and Ed only went out for a month. But two weeks was all it took for Min to fall in love. Min, who loves old movies and uses odd words and gets called artsy by people who don't really know her. Min writes Ed a letter - a very long letter - telling him everything their relationship was to her and why they broke up. Along with the letter, she gives him back everything he ever gave her, from the movie tickets to the cookbook to the box of matches. Why We Broke Up is Min's letter to Ed.

What I thought: The only reason I even read this book is because it was written by Daniel Handler. Who is also Lemony Snicket. The Series of Unfortunate Events books were some of my absolute favorite books as a kid and when I read that he wrote a book for teens I was excited to say the least. And I wasn't disappointed, despite the fact that the story was angsty and horribly high school-ish. But it was beautiful, you guys. Min is wonderful and I want her to be my new best friend. She's funny and clever and brave and dramatic and perfectly flawed. But the writing. Some passages I seriously read like 5 times because it's just worded so dang beautifully.

Oh, and I can't forget the art! Throughout the book are pictures of everything Ed gave Min that she is giving back to him. The art is really pretty and I felt like it fit the tone of the book perfectly.

My feelings? Love.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

So I love to read. (Obviously, since I work at the freakin library.) I love reading YA. I love reading about YA. And so I'm gonna pretend that I'm a cool book blogger person like all the cool book blogging people whose cool book blogs I always read. And for today's review post thingy-dealy... drum roll, please... we have Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.



What it's about: Karou, with her strange tattoos, bright blue hair, and sketchbook full of fantastical creatures, isn't a normal seventeen year old. She is an art student at a boarding school in Prague, but other than that, her friends know nothing about her. Even Karou herself doesn't know much. She disappears often, running strange, secret errands for the creatures who fill her sketchbook. Yes, they are real. They're called chimaera - half animal, half human - and Karou has lived with them since she was a baby. But Karou's life will get much stranger and more dangerous before she finally discovers the truth about her past.

What I thought: Finally, a book worth recommending! I haven't read a book this beautiful in a long time. The first half of the book seemed a little slow at times, but as a whole, it was well worth it. Karou is wonderfully developed; she is strong and beautiful and talented, yet she has a vulnerability about her that makes her realistic, without being angsty. Even the secondary characters are fantastic, from Issa, the half snake lady who has been like a mother to Karou, to Zuzana, Karou's quirky best friend. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but I will say that it involves a boy named Akiva, who is dark and mysterious and sexy and totally book crush worthy :)

Oh and it's a series! Which usually makes me groan because seriously, can there not be stand alone YA anymore? But in this case it actually makes me super happy because I really love this book!

My feelings? Love!

The Countdown has Begun!

Ahh, the joy. The horror known as "spring semester" has begun. Not only do I have to take algebra this semester, which I'm okayish at but hate, I have to take Chemistry 101. Which I hate. And am horrible at. Yesterday we were supposed to be converting metric units from meters to millimeters to kilometers, etc., and all that easy, first-week-review stuff. And my lab partners couldn't figure it out... And so then I was confused because I thought I was doing it correctly, but they said I was doing it wrong... but then I found out I really was doing it right... Ugh. Please don't confuse my anti-math-and-science brain any more than absolutely necessary! Makes me really miss my biology lab partners from last semester.

Anyways. 1 week down, 15 more to go.

On a completely different but much more wonderful note, I'm drinking a caramel hot chocolate from McDonald's. That right there, dear readers (of which I have none at the moment...), is heaven. In a cup.

:)

So today is my boyfriend and I's first anniversary... and we're getting married next February! I'd just like to shout that to the world :) Although we aren't technically engaged yet...

Hello there :)

Hey guys! I'm Cherokee... I'm a normal, 19 year old college student stuck in the midwest just trying to figure out life. I have a wonderful boyfriend who is basically my whole world. I'm a sophomore in college, with no idea what I want to major in (I need to kick my butt into gear, huh?). I work at a public library in the Children's department. It's a new challenge every day. Kids seriously make my life worth living though. Umm what else? I'm starting this blog mostly so I can just rant about life, and I really don't expect anyone to read it. So yeah. Whoohoo.