DevTheReader

Okay but cute. Cute but okay. Whatever sounds better. But yes, very entertaining.

Life is such a mystery. You just never know what’s in store for you. You have expectations, phobias, predicaments, dreams, wants and needs. You want to fall in love or you already have. You dream of climbing the highest mountain or you wish to swim the deepest of oceans. Life is so beautiful and strange and time an unnatural yet natural entity. We live in a world where everybody’s running. We’re running to catch a train. We’re running to be the first and bag that job. We’re running to make it in time to attend our classes. We’re running with our children, nieces and nephews to help them get ready for school. We’re running to get in shape. We’re running against time to meet deadlines. All we ever do is run. In all this running, we sometimes lose ourselves and in a way, just forget to love ourselves. We’re so busy wondering about things in our life that we forget to stop for a while and just think.

You must be wondering? What’s with all this philosophical poop?

You have to understand. After reading this book, all I could do was stop and ponder. I’m remembering my younger self and what I did when I was much younger. I’m thinking about how I am today. And I just can’t help but wonder how my tomorrow is going to be. All Our Yesterdays was so refreshing. I’ve never read anything that consists of Time travel as an element and my my my, what a way to beginning my time travel-related books spree. I think Ms. Terrill has done something extraordinary here. It isn’t everyday that we get to read such books. There was the right amount of adrenaline! Thrill! Suspense! (Yeah, this surprised the crap out of me. AT EVERY SINGLE POINT.) There was love. And not just the romancey kind. The kind of love that creates relationships and makes us love life and ourselves. And the writing? So addicting. Once I started, I just couldn’t stop turning the pages. I was glued to it and refused to leave my reading position from the start to the very end. (My aching neck is a testimony to that.)

I just have to mention the importance of time travel here. One thing I always ask myself while or after reading a science fiction book is that the facts and ideas stated in the book actually make sense? I mean, eggs suddenly sprouting machines obviously won’t make sense, right? The idea presented here sounded pretty sensible to me. And boy, I loved every bit of it! There are so many elements to be looked at here. How far will that drive to achieve take you? How far will you go to do the right thing? This book has to be one of my favourites this year! OH YEAH.

AND THE CHARACTERS! Oh bloody hell. I’m still weeping. I love that the characters were given their space and that each had something to say in some or the other way. I loved the fact that every character was defined. Even the villain. Especially the villain and Em and Finn. *Bursts out crying ALL OVER AGAIN!*

Also, THAT END. So beautiful. I can’t stop crying. I just can’t stop. The last time I cried so much (If I remember correctly) was after finishing If He Had Been With Me. God. That book murdered me. And it had a Finn too. :’)

All Our Yesterday was beautiful, exciting, sad, thrilling and amazing. So much awesomeness. SO MUCH.
I’m throwing this book at you all. Yes, throwing. I don’t care if you get hurt or I bruise you. (And if I do, oopsy sorry.) BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO READ IT. And if you already have? Well, I can’t believe how awesome this book was.
I’ll leave you all with the quote I loved the most in the whole book,

”There is always hope for us.”, he said.

This review is featured on YA Fanatic.

Erm. Review to come.

IS a thrilling book, thrilling if fails to thrill you?

The Sound by Sarah Alderson, is supposed to be a romance-thriller and as far as I know, when it comes to romance, the ball is in Ms. Alderson's court... as for the thrill factor, not so much.

The Sound introduces us to Ren Kingston, a seventeen year old English girl who's on her way to Nantucket for a nanny job. Ren's plan of action? Lie low and enjoy. But her plan of action doesn't really work the way she initially intended it to work. Ren is introduced to a cliched summer of hot, beautiful boys who love to party and break hearts and a bad boy from the other side, who serves as a competition to the previously mentioned hot boys. So, Ren's summer is off to an interesting start. Do you wish to make the story more interesting? Enters the infamous character of a serial killer who likes to eat Nannies for dinner or lunch or breakfast or anything that suits his time. Our serial killer is sort of a rockstar. He likes them foreign and he's out there to get Ren..and then eat her. If this isn't enough for you, then wait for it, EVERYBODY HAS SECRETS and of course, Ren is the perfect candidate to unravel said secrets. OH YEAH.

When you're about to start The Sound, make sure that you go into it with zero expectations. I'm a romance addict and after reading so much, I've come to realize that fantasy, whether it be urban or paranormal, seems to be just my thing, Fantasy is closely followed by contemporary novels and then dystopian and then science fiction and then..well it just goes on. What I'm trying to say, is that it's because I'm more of romantic that I was able to tolerate the non-thrillyness and non-other-element-ness in the book and I think, that's precisely why, I liked The Sound more than I actually thought I would.

You have to understand, if I were a person who loved mystery and adrenaline then this book would've been a downer for me. And now that we've established that I ignored the absence of thrill, it's safe to say that I atleast noticed that it didn't exist. Which again isn't a good sign, is it?

Alderson's writing style is very simple and clean and I love it. The Lila series is one of my favourites and I can only imagine how empty my life would be if Alex Wakemen never existed. Seriously, my life would've been a dull void of emptiness. I thank god everyday for Ms. Alderson's existence and for her beautiful author-mind that created Alex. *dies*

Anyway, like I said earlier, the writing is very simple and it's simplicity is what helps make the main protagonist sound more real and alive and entertaining. The romance is always subtle but no too subtle. It's there and it's sweet and it's tangy and it's all that the book needs. Alderson's writing works for this book and the romance (and Jesse. YUM.) is the ONLY thing that made this book what it is. I'm not sure how I feel about Ren as the protagonist. The first half felt very bland and slow to me and Ren's narration wasn't really helping it.

It was the second half of the book that redeemed the book for me. It was fun, fast, entertaining and exciting as heck. I'll give this to Alderson: she knows how to write those final-showdown scenes. So much adrenaline. So much anticipation. WOW.

Jesse Miller (the bad boy. *wink wink*) has made his mark. There's this one part where Ren describes Jesse as the mixture of Daimen from Vampire Diaries and Alex Fuentes of Perfect Chemistry. DO YOU SEE WHAT SHE DID THERE?
She used the Alex card on me. She USED the ALEX card on me. She USED the ALEX card on me.
Jesse Miller is perfection. He's intense, broody and oh so delicious. Listen, if not for the romance, read this book for the guy. Please. He's amazing and wonderful and he plays a guitar and his voice is beautiful and he can paint and he can land a solid punch or two. Also,did I tell you about his holy hotness's shirtlessness? OMG.

As I end, all I can say is that even though this book lacks the thrill of a thriller, it's romance and entertaining nature makes up for most of it. Do I recommend you to read it? Yes, definitely. But, I will ask you to proceed with caution. Ciao!

OMG. Review to come!

Meh.

I will just leave it at that.

This was just fun! Review to come! :D

Thanks for destroying me, Tarryn.--After reading.

I'm still thinking whether I should give it three stars or just five. I AM SO CONFLICTED.

Edit. 21/7/13

THERE'S A BLURB!! THERE'S A BLURB!!!

Note to Self

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love doesn't boast or brag.
There's no arrogance in love;
it's never rude, crude, or indecent-it's not self absorbed.
Love isn't easily upset.
Love doesn't tally wrongs.
Love trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.
Love will never become obsolete.
I'll fight for her.

Thief

Do whatever the fuck you want, just..... GET.HER.BACK.

I'll fight for her.

Oh my lord. So intense. :')

Edit. 3/5/13

'Caleb's POV'

THAT'S IT? That's all you have for me? DON'T DO THIS TO ME. Desperate need for a synopsis. NEEEEED.

Edit. 21/2/13
Sweet mother of lord. LOOK AT THAT HOLY COVER.

I have officially died and gone to heaven.

THIEF!

Caleb's POV!

Oh dear lord. Caleb sweety. You've already stolen my heart..
Now all you need to do is steal Olivia and kill Leah the bitch.

This is a combined review (sort of.) of both the previous book and this one. So, be smart and avoid reading anything you don't want to read.

I'll award this series some serious credit for being able to capture the right essence and beauty of summer. It was bright, light and sunny....and it was kind of fun. So..YAY!

I've had crushes on older guys. I remember giggling 'mentally' (Yes, I was too cool.) after sneaking glances to see THAT hot senior guy or group of senior guys in my school. I'd walk by their classes repeatedly and I'd keep looking inside and go all swoony and ah, well....I was creepy. So I understand Tess's infatuation.

I understand why seventeen-year old Tess was so enamoured by 22-year old Toby Morrison. I definitely see the appeal. It's quite natural, actually and frankly, pretty cute. Old and responsible guy with a cute, sweet girl? Nice dynamic.

The problem?

It wasn't believable.

Tess, Ellie and Adam are best friends and have a fantastic plan for the summer. They plan to work at the Onslow Hotel, swim in the Onslow lake, watch fireworks and have water bomb fights. So all in all, it's going to be an enjoyable summer. But here's the specialty of YA summer-themed contemporary books: You always have hotties.
And the Onslow boys, aka Toby, Sean, Stan, Chris and Ringer are just that. THEY ARE HOTTIES.
They are employed. They are sweet and they soon take Tess, Ellie and Adam under their wing which is really nice to read about because they come with buckets of banter and swoon swishing and swooshing over the brim, topped with the beauty of friendship, just like a cherry on a cake or..was it ice cream?

Anyway, the idea sounds so compelling and fun but it all fell apart in the book. I had some serious issues with Tess and her behaviour. I won't judge her for what she did but I, as a person, just couldn't agree with any of it. Ergo, I didn't like her. At all.
I loved Ellie and Adam, though! They were amazing bestfriends but by the second half, their characters started..diminishing? Fading away? So I was a tad disappointed. Some of the twists and turns in the book were unacceptable and I felt like pushing my kindle away before I seriously lost it. Sean's and Stan's and Adam's characters were the comic angle of the book but in the end, not much happened for them as well. Although, I wouldn't say that for Sean, because Sean was the only character in the book who actually managed to swoon me off my feet.

Now, Toby is a different character. I like Broody and intense. I was made for broody and intense but hell no will I accept broody and intense, especially after I've done the deed....with you.
Toby as a love interest didn't sit well with me. I kept on vouching for a Tess-Adam or Tess-Sean dynamic because it made sense. They cared about Tess. They were protective, supportive and responsive which obviously, I didn't think Toby was. It wasn't normal and there was a point when all I could so was roll my eyes. Rolling eyes=Not good.

“Do you want some words of advice, Tess?”
I glanced at Adam’s profile as he sipped.
“Don’t give your heart away too easily.” He turned to me. “Make him earn it.”

And now for, An Endless Summer...

*Drum rolls, please.*

THIS WAS GREAT!

I lean towards feistyness. Timid and shy girls just don't do it for me. I think maybe that's why I didn't like Tess all that much, but Amy, well, she's somebody I liked. And trust me, I liked her A LOT.

We met Amy Henderson in the previous book when she was just fifteen years old.Being the Onslow Hotel's owner's daughter, she was spoilt, irritating and easy to dislike. She was known for throwing tantrums and had a temper nobody wanted to be the victim of. But after almost losing her life when she was sixteen and after being saved and sent to boarding school, things were put in a perspective for this hot-headed train of spirit.

And guess who saved her?

Presenting to you, the swooniest guy amongst the Onslow boys, Sean Murrrphyyy. I've always liked Sean and I didn't really like how things ended for him, in The Boys of Summer, so the fact that he was getting a book of his own appeased my angry heart.

It's safe to say, that Amy and Sean were perfect for each other. There was so much banter, humour, swoon and hot-displays-of-chest (OMG.), that I don't think I have anything to complain about.

I loved Amy so much. I loved how she didn't want to let go of the hotel and how she wanted to bring back the hotel to it's former glory! I even started to like Toby which is funny considering how much I disliked him in the previous book. Even Tess seemed sane. HAH! Chris, Adam and Amy were the perfect cousins to each other. Even though, Chris was a tad dominating. Adam comes back to play a MAJOR role as the comic angle of the book and boy, his success in being funny is commendable. AND DO I SEE AN ADAM-ELLIE THINGIE IN FUTURE?

Oh wow.

What I love about such books or any book in a series, in general, is that they always shine a spotlight on the underdogs. I've always loved secondary characters and their potential and when these secondary characters get a book of their own, it just makes me immensely happy and I think that's why I read even the dorkiest of books. I read them because I want to know how the character's life pans out.

And An endless summer was satisfyingly good enough to make me happy.

“Come on Amy, I saved you once, I’ll save you again.”
I met his stare unflinchingly. “I don’t need saving.”
A wicked grin formed slowly. “Don’t you?”

This review and many other things @ YA Fanatic

I must give this five stars because I'm a certified biased pig.

Tormenting Lila, has nothing to talk about. It's a small novella of some 40 pages and it has absolutely nothing in it. Alex (OMG!!!) and Lila are on a holiday in Nantucket and Alex being Alex, makes senseless things sensible. So I'm not complaining.

I will, however, apologise to all those other books that were oh-so-beautiful but were just awarded four or three and a half stars. But you have to see, this book has an 'Alex' in it and I'm sorry, but I'm a desperate groupie when it comes to him.

If you're a Hunting Lila fan and really love its characters, then this novella is just for you. Meet Suki, Nate, Jack, Amber, Lila and ALEX, again and remind yourself why you fell in love with them in the first place. You have shirtless Alex. Horny Alex. Protective Alex. Irritated Alex. Swoony Alex. ALL IN ONE. So go ahead, read it!!

On the brighter side, it's safe to say that this one isn't all that useless. We're introduced to the characters and plot of Alderson's new novel,[b:The Sound|15740944|The Sound|Sarah Alderson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362220428s/15740944.jpg|21427336] which comes out on 1st August. And the prologue and the first chapter have been given along with the novella.And let me tell you all, the prologue is crazzzy, in a good way of course. The bad guy of this novella will be the bad guy of the actual book. So yay!
Also, WOW. I had always wished for a possible something between Amber and Jack and wohoho. Please Ms. Alderson, I will do ANYTHING if you are nice and actually write something about both of them! And now that we're talking about other characters, can something be done we have something with Suki...again?

Mini Review posted here with the review of the next one. : HERE.

Review to come.

WARNING: This is the third book in the Breathing series and it has mini spoilers. So if you haven't read the series or if you haven't read the book and don't wish to spoil your book experience, then I suggest you avoid this review because there is a lot of ranting coming your way, if you continue. So it's all upto you. Proceed with caution, if you're proceeding.

I've made an observation about myself and I'm not sure whether it's healthy. I have never thought of myself as someone who's patient and tolerant. I'm one of those people who love easily and then get angry easily too. If you like me, I like you too. If you irritate me, I won't stop myself from being vocal about it. If you hate me, then of course, I'll hate you too. It's a very simple explanation. If you're someone who I think deserves my attention, then you have all of it. You have my appreciation. You have my support. You have everything of mine that counts. But if you disappoint me, I just won't relent from saying what needs to be said.

This series disappointed me more than any other book or series, this year.

FRUSTRATION. IRRITATION. EYE-ROLLING seemed to be the overall theme and feel of the book. This book was long. And when you write long books, you bloody well make sure that the length doesn't bore the crap out of the reader. To be honest, this book didn't really bore me all that much since I was too angry and irritated to be bored. Why Ms. Donovan? Why must you disappoint me THIS way?

Out of Breath picks up, two years after Barely Breathing and introduces us to a very closed off and quiet Emma. She is different and you can see it. And why won't she be different? After everything that she's been through, I think it's natural to see a person who's distant and not very open about anything related to her and her past. In Reason to Breathe and Barely Breathing, Emma was a person, I quite honestly didn't know what to think or say about. Her thoughts and ideas got to me and I liked how even after all the crap that she had been through in life, she was determined to go past it and live life to the fullest. While I didn't agree with most of the decisions that she made, I did go with it because none of it upset me that much. I wasn't even mad when she made the worst mistake of her life by deciding to leave Weslyn and Evan without saying goodbye to start a new life in Stanford, because I knew that this stupid mistake of hers would eventually set the storyline for the third book and I really do love Ms. Donovan's writing, so what do I care,huh? I'm getting what I want. I'm getting another book where I'll get to see Evan and Emma and Sara and Jared AGAIN. Yay.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

I get that Emma is psychologically damaged and that she is distant and weird and quiet. I get how everything that's happened, things can't be that simple. BUT THEN THERE IS ALWAYS A LIMIT and My missy, you ANNHILIATED that limit. While the obvious solution was to go to a psychologist, Ms. Emma here was finding reasons to make us feel sorry for her. Seriously, Emma? If people destroy you, you fight back. YOU DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GO GALLIVANTING AROUND WITH A BOTTLE OF VODKA IN YOUR HAND AND BECOME A PAIN IN THE ASS. You want to forget your pain? Try finding solutions to cope up with it, bitch. YOU JUST DO NOT FORGET THINGS EASILY. Lots of people do it. Lots of people drink to let go. But after finding yourself in a random guy's bed and regretting your actions and finding yourself with a serious case of hangover after drinking AGAIN and then finding yourself hating alcohol and then going back to it AGAIN and then regretting it AGAIN and then promising yourself that you won't do it and doing it all over AGAIN, you do not get to hold on to the 'I just wanted to forget because I'm in SO MUCH PAIN' bullshit AGAIN. Because guess what, bitch? YOU DID IT TO YOURSELF. And then when you're bestfriend tells you that you HAVE TO STOP before you become your mother, you DO NOT have the right to yell at her and push her away! BECAUSE SHE WAS RIGHT and you need to realise what you're doing is wrong and how you're ruining not only your but the lives of others as well!

And dear 'other' characters of the book, YOU GUYS ARE FULL OF SHIT.
Sara, YOU ESPECIALLY ARE. You're her bestfriend. You care about her. I get how you need to baby her. BUT YOU CAN'T BABY HER ALL THE FUCKING TIME. People need to fail once to succeed. So what, she's going through a rough patch? SHE is the one who's going through it. SO she's the one who needs to see things clearly. NOT YOU. She needs your support, not your 'OMG. Don't say anything to her or she'll break nonsense'. So much emphasis on the fact that SHE WILL BREAK, is why Emma was what she was in the book. I mean, all this while you all were being Einsteins in the book by trying to get her her out more and taking her to parties so that she could live a little, but none of your smart asses came up with the idea to send her to a FREAKING THERAPIST before? Or Wait. Were you waiting for Evan to that? Because he did it but it was still after such a long time. And what sort of friends were the girls in the book? 'OH LET'S HATE EVAN BECAUSE HE HURT EMMA?'
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?

What pissed me off more is that the ones who were doing the right thing were the ones were being shouted at. Nate was such a badass when he went and asked Emma to try NOT to hurt Evan AGAIN. That's what a bestfriend is. Not you, Sara. You were being an obssessive Momma.
Anyway, what does Nate get after that? Emma's tears and Evan's anger? I mean nothing happened, but STILL. And when you tried to attempt suicide? GAAAAAH. Have you noticed how others have been tolerating YOU, Emma? Emma why won't you just sort your crap out and face it head on than being an ass who bottles everything within? Emma,why can't you see that you destroy people only when you destroy yourself?

And what about Cole? Poor Cole. I really loved his character.

And Emma, if a guy relentlessly tries to make you happy, stop telling him to hate you. How are stupid are you anyway? WHY WOULD A GUY RUN BEHIND YOU EVEN AFTER YOU LEFT HIM IF HE HATED YOU? He's been through shit. He's almost watched you die. And even after all that crap, he wants to be with you! The least you could do is say things nicely. And what the hell was the 'I'm not ready to be with you' crap, anyway? You say it once, makes sense. You say it twice, okay. You continue with your tirade, I still won't say anything. BUT AFTER THAT? OH EMMA. You're lucky you're just fictional.

Out Of breath shouldn't have been that long. This length stretched the matters more and it made me angry. And here's where I come full circle and tell you about my observation. I observed that I was very patient and very tolerant. But here's the thing is taking crap because you like the thing you're tolerating a better option or saying to hell with it? Because I certainly went along with the first option throughout the book and as I stated before, It wasn't really healthy. I'm giving this book two stars because there were too guys who I really liked and who I thought were probably the ONLY sane people in the book. Cole and Evan.

I still love you, Ms. Donovan. I just hope to see a dazzling next from you.

And Emma,
Grow a pair. Please.

Rating- 3.5

Dear Authors,

If you wish to win my heart, all you have to do is keep the main guy's name Alex. That's all.

Sincerely,
Obssessed.

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not."

WOW. THIS was magical.

I don't know about the others, but The Night Circus spooked the hell out of me, right from the very first page. It was mysterious, dream-like, captivating, confusing and frankly, very pretty. It was black and white fused with a tinge of scarlet and I honestly, can't think of any other adjectives since my mind is flying in a totally different direction and in an absolutely different world with no relevance to the present context. So let's just stick with the aforementioned words that I've used to describe this beautiful book and lets begin.

The writing is exceptional.
Morgenstern's writing style is a visual treat to the mind. We're easily transported to the world of the protagonists and we can easily visualise ourselves as one of the many characters in the book, because the detailing is so vivid and brilliant, that you feel like you're a part of the whole cycle. The Night Circus captures your attention and keeps you suspended into it's gooeyness of magic and awesomeness.

The book's one and only negative was the disappointing way things in the story played out. According to the storyline of the book, we were supposed to witness a fierce competition between extraordinary magicians and were supposed to see how this competition affected the lives of not only themselves but also of those around them. I don't exactly know where those 500 pages went but when it came to the competition it all fell flat because I saw absolutely nothing competitive about the competition. I saw the gruelling aspect of the competition because it was pointed out to me in the book, but how does any of it matter when the foundation element of the storyline itself was so weak. The end wasn't the one I was hoping for. I felt that it was too convenient considering the events that happened in the book.

But while the plot failed to deliver the essence of the book, it did include some defining moments of awesomeness that absolutely took my breath away. The characters redeemed the book to an extent. Each had a story of their own and each one of their story's played a pivotal role in the storyline. The romance, for a change, was something I absolutely loved. It was subtle, slow and believable. Whatever happened between the two protagonists, Celia and Marco made perfect sense and I loved every bit of it.

The Night Circus was a book, I thoroughly enjoyed. Its beauty lay in it's writing style and the author's imagination. While I did have my issues with the plot, the pros outweighed the cons and in the end, I was surprisingly satisfied.

This review can also be found at YA Fanatic.