Lock & Key
Story behind the book... I first borrowed it from the school library when I was in year eleven, so about four years ago. Woah! I loved it then, and earlier this year when my uni friends and I were op-shopping I found it and another book by the same author for a dollar each, and there was just no way I was leaving them behind....
After I finished 'Kisses from Katie', I started reading 'On Fathers Day', which is a true story about a man who killed his three children to get back at his ex-wife. It is my friend's book and I had been waiting ages for him to finish it so that I could start it, weird I know, but it's a notorious case in Australia and I was interested to know the whole story. However, four chapters in, I had to stop. Not only was the story horrifying and heart breaking, as I knew it would be, but it was bringing up some memories I hadn't expected to submerge. Thankfully my friend came and went through the book, telling me about the court case and his convictions. But I knew I had to have something light and lovely before anything else, and so that is how I decided to reread 'Lock & Key'.
The book is about seventeen year old Ruby who is abandoned by her mother and is taken by the courts to live with her sister Cora and her husband, Jamie. Ruby is so against the new life she feels she has been forced into, and is angry at her sister, who she believes run off after high school and never looked back or cared about her or her mum. Along the road, Ruby meets a few people who make her rethink her 'people suck' philosophy and learns things about her sister that makes her wonder whether everything she has ever believed has been a lie. It is a truly a lovely story of friendship, family, second chances and hope that will warm your heart and make you thankful for kind words and beautiful people.
Rate: 9/10
Recommended if: You need a pick me up or are suffering from deep/heckers bookhangover
Favourite Quote: "This is Ruby" she [Cora] said. "My sister."
After I finished 'Kisses from Katie', I started reading 'On Fathers Day', which is a true story about a man who killed his three children to get back at his ex-wife. It is my friend's book and I had been waiting ages for him to finish it so that I could start it, weird I know, but it's a notorious case in Australia and I was interested to know the whole story. However, four chapters in, I had to stop. Not only was the story horrifying and heart breaking, as I knew it would be, but it was bringing up some memories I hadn't expected to submerge. Thankfully my friend came and went through the book, telling me about the court case and his convictions. But I knew I had to have something light and lovely before anything else, and so that is how I decided to reread 'Lock & Key'.
The book is about seventeen year old Ruby who is abandoned by her mother and is taken by the courts to live with her sister Cora and her husband, Jamie. Ruby is so against the new life she feels she has been forced into, and is angry at her sister, who she believes run off after high school and never looked back or cared about her or her mum. Along the road, Ruby meets a few people who make her rethink her 'people suck' philosophy and learns things about her sister that makes her wonder whether everything she has ever believed has been a lie. It is a truly a lovely story of friendship, family, second chances and hope that will warm your heart and make you thankful for kind words and beautiful people.
Rate: 9/10
Recommended if: You need a pick me up or are suffering from deep/heckers bookhangover
Favourite Quote: "This is Ruby" she [Cora] said. "My sister."
Just Listen
I got this book at the same time as Lock and Key. I hadn't previously read it but hoped that as I had loved Lock and Key which is also by Dessen that I would enjoy this one. And I did.
It was a beautiful book about friendship, family and not judging a book by its cover.
Sixteen year old Annabel had it all, a loving family, cool friends, popularity and a modeling career. Well that is what it looks like from the outside. The reality is a little more fragile. Annabel finds herself coming back after Summer break an entirely different person, but no one sees it or if they do she pretends she is fine. Until Owen that is. He is a music obsessed honest guy with issues of his own, but he sees Annabel for what she is and knows she is hiding something. Something no one knows, something she cannot even think about. Will she find the courage to let the new her be and deal with the past she is trying to hide? And will her family ever understand that she too has her own problems?
Rate: 8/10
Recommended If: You've ever judged a book by its cover
It was a beautiful book about friendship, family and not judging a book by its cover.
Sixteen year old Annabel had it all, a loving family, cool friends, popularity and a modeling career. Well that is what it looks like from the outside. The reality is a little more fragile. Annabel finds herself coming back after Summer break an entirely different person, but no one sees it or if they do she pretends she is fine. Until Owen that is. He is a music obsessed honest guy with issues of his own, but he sees Annabel for what she is and knows she is hiding something. Something no one knows, something she cannot even think about. Will she find the courage to let the new her be and deal with the past she is trying to hide? And will her family ever understand that she too has her own problems?
Rate: 8/10
Recommended If: You've ever judged a book by its cover
What Happened to Goodbye
I just love Sarah Dessen! Serioulsy; this is the third book of hers I've read and I have yet to be anything less than amazingly in awe of her writing. If you're listening Sarah (which... you're probably not) I love you!
I just found a collection of eight of her books on ebay for $70 but I know that I would most likely be murdered by my mother if I bought them. Hastagsadface. Mclean (super odd name I know) lives with her dad, and they travel around fixing up restaurants. Mclean loves this and would rather make up a new identify for herself in each new town than go back and live with her cheating mother. But when they arrive in the newest town, Lakeview, Mclean finds herself falling into old habits, falling back into herself. Life here may be everything she has ever wanted, but of course, your past always has a way of catching up to you, and Mlean and her tad have a tendancy of running away from it. Heartwarming as always, this book is like an new friend that I'm sure I will always keep with me. Rate: 9/10 Recommended If: You've ever wanted to be someone you're not |
The Moon and More
I want to marry Sarah Dessen. Because she is amazing. The end. This book, like all of her novels is so incredibly incredible it ought to nearly be illegal.
Emaline lives in Colby, which is a small beach town. She has a boyfriend, and best friend of both genders. She has her mum, her dad and her sisters. She also has a father, a stephmother and a brother. In the summer before she goes off to college, everything she never had in her summers which the tourists do begins happening. But does she want it to? I'm probably not doing this book justice with this review but whatever. The story is about friendship and finding out what is important in life and who isn't. It's self-discovery to the max and warm and all things a good summer read should be. Rate: 8/10 Genre: YA Format: Paperback Pages: 435 Got it From: The Mobile Library Favourite Part: "You know, some people say disappointment is best learned young" "That's true" Clyde said "But some people are arseholes" |
Along for the Ride
*sighs*
Another of Dessen's lovely works. This novel is set in Colby, just like The Moon and More and has lots of characters from all of her books intertwined and I just LOVE that!! Auden is driven, dedicated and bored. She has just graduated high school and has a whole summer before she starts uni. 'Hmm', she thinks, 'maybe I will spend it with my Dad and his new wife and baby at the beach'. At first she hates it; Heidi's overracttion to everything, Thisbe's constant crying, the boys hollering at her, the girls gossiping at Clementines and the coffee, the disgusting coffee. You see, Auden is a night owl, or an insomniac to be more precise. Cue cute and troubled fellow non-sleeper Eli who wants to help her create a quest of doing all of the things she missed out on while she wasn't being a child. At first it is just a bit of fun, but Auden realises that it is exactly what she needs, and soon it isn't just Eli she is making up lost time with, but is making actual friends. And she is changing, something her mother always says is impossible for people. This story is about true friendship, epic love and of course, finding yourself. Ahh Mcain you've done it again!!! What a book!! Oh, PS. I read this book in a single afternoon. And let me tell you, it's not a small book... :) Rate: 9/10 Format: Paperback Genre: YA fiction Pages: 383 Got it from: The Mobile Library Recommended if: You need something light and amazing! |