book review: the space between

the space between by brenna yovanoff

official website

description: Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

review: i have a weird history with brenna yovanoff (not a real one, oh lord but that'd be rad!). i was extremely excited for the replacement, brenna's debut. i loved the premise and was impatiently awaiting its arrival in my library. but holy cow, when i got it ? it was so strange. i couldn't get in the story. brenna's writing style just throws you directly into the plot, leaving you to fend for yourself and it didn't work for me. one bit. i abandoned the replacement, bitter and unsuccessful.

however, i saw the space between in my library yesterday and read the summary and thought, hey, i'll give it another go! this sounds so cool! and i'm so glad i did. firstly, let's talk about the covers. they're gorgeous. for real. even paper valentine is so pretty. they have such creepy covers, to match the darkness within its pages. (hello corniness??)

the space between tells the story of daphne, daughter of lilith and lucifer. now, i have no idea about anything dealing with religion. seriously. the book that introduced me to religious things was the blue bloods series, and dude, i didn't even know that there were religious figures in the book. i thought melissa de la cruz made up those characters. i was christened (whatever that means) but was too lazy to get confirmed (also have no clue what that means) but on my island, it's important that i accomplish those two things, so i'm a pariah! anyway, they all live in hell. and have grey skin. but no, they are not homestuck characters. they live in hell, and daphne (loved her name, btw) hasn't discovered her calling yet. her sisters are all succubi, seducing earth men and being hot as hell (i'm so sorry mom for that bad pun, please stop crying). daphne's brother, obie, who works on earth, tells her that he's leaving hell, which they call Pandemonium, to live with an earth woman he loves. daphne can't stop him, and her mom "sees" that obie is is danger and sends daphne to get him.

the setting was really something. i pictured pandemonium as like a steampunkish place. there was this giant pit, which now that i think about it was something to do with religion, but it went right over my head. i liked the silver rivers and the ashy sky and i wished we could've spent some more time there. earth was pretty boring. the earth scenes were set in chicago and las vegas. those scenes reminded me of percy jackson, when they're in the hotel locus (or lotus?). and heaven was cool.

the main characters made me really sad. i liked daphne. i liked how she had no feelings, no emotions, and was just basing things off movies she watched from earth. she was also a fresh slate when it came to relationships and only knows her demon family. so her time on earth was fun. and truman, the half-human boy she falls in love him? he was so tragic. he almost died, and daphne saved him, yadda yadda. but their relationship just made my heart ache. they're such tender characters and i didn't wanna see them get hurt, but eventually they do because that's life, even in hell.

the plot was kinda dull. the reason i kept reading was to know what happened to daphne and truman. i was fascinated with their story (and like i said, hell) and i honestly wanted to see if a relationship between the two would work. all the characters were fragile and pitiful in their own ways. strangely, i didn't care for obie. i had no attachment to him, and that's unfortunate because the entire plot is centered on rescuing him.

i'm very fond of retellings and this one did not disappoint. the reason i couldn't get absorbed by the replacement was because yovanoff writes these grim, dark tales that usually involved characters that aren't human and i never know if the human know that this other world exists. for instance, truman (who we find out is half-human like halfway through the book) is so accepting of daphne's demon life. there's no lengthy paragraphs of him sitting in disbelief, wondering how hell could exist. he's fine with it. and there's other scene where daphne and truman travel to clubs and hotels and there's demon clubs there and everyone is so okay with it. demons are free to roam earth and it's acceptable.

in conclusion, i really loved this book. the characters kept me interested enough and i'm excited to see what else brenna yovanoff comes up with (i have a copy of paper valentine and i'll be reading it in the next week or so). pick up the space between if you're a fan of characters trying to redeem themselves, biblical references, and learning to love ~~

If she’d been a normal girl, he might have put his arm around her,pulled her close or smiled sympathetically or even just told her that the pain of loss would get better eventually. But she wasn't a normal girl and he could lie to a lot of people, but he couldn't lie to her. it didn't get better, it just got different.

the space between/brenna yovanoff  

update: it's been two months and i'm really sorry for everything ever

hello internet friends

i've neglected this 

i've been reading, but not young adult and finals kinda killed me

but without further ado

i present to you the books of summer 2013 that i will be reviewing

*super crappy android photo

well, i lost a lot of my friends and i'm transferring schools so i'm gonna have a lot of time this summer

so i'll redo the blog, start reviewing more, generally be more involved

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

White Cat by Holly Black

If Jack's in Love by Stephen Wetta

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

(also s/o to brenna because the last time i was around, she just debuted the replacement)

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton

(idk dude i was just feeling magic)

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S King

(heard so many beautiful things about this)

yeah so if you don't already, friend me over at goodreads

i'll be around, i promise!!

book review: my life next door

my life next door by huntley fitzpatrick

official website

description: The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

review: I LOVE SUMMER BOOKS. mainly because this new york winter sucked, but seriously these romantic summer books are my cup of tea lately. obviously you can tell my love of books set during this season by my adoration of the summer i turned pretty series.

i picked this book up because of its pretty cover. i liked the lighting and the typeface. and the synopsis sounded cool. i love books with "boy is from 'x' type family and girl is from 'y' type family". because i'm a slump and like stereotypical things. (lamest girl in the young adult book reviewing game).

my life next door tells the story of sam reed. sam's mom is the local senator, who lives the perfect life. her house is always neat and clean, and she prides herself on her picturesque daughters and wonderful life. this is in stark contrast to the garretts, who have 6(?) children and messy, messy lives. there's toys strewn all over the yard and there's always some commotion. samantha grew up watching the garretts, hoping to be a part of their chaotic life. this is mainly due to the fact that sam's mom hates the garretts, looking down upon mrs. garrett for having many children and pitying her. this book is about the relationship between sam and the middle garrett boy, jase.

i'm gonna be blunt. the characters had no substance for me. i didn't feel bad for them, and they were just too cookie-cutter. i got through the book solely for the fact that i wanted to know how sam would get herself out of the situation. i don't wanna spoil it for you, but it's bad. sam's mom does something stupid to a member of the garrett's and then lies about it and it's a bunch of bullshit, but it was a nice young adult fiction problem.

i went into this book thinking i was going to connect with sam on a very high level. i'm like sam in the beginning of the novel. she craves that chaos, the big family. she wants to be a part of the madness. i don't know how to say this without sounding like an over-privileged girl, but i would have loved to grow up in a huge family like that. my brother is 5 years old than i, and yeah we got into some shenanigans when we were younger, but it was nothing exciting. it was just the two of us. i would have loved to have little siblings running around and helping out my mom. and like sam, my mom created this perfect household. my room isn't lived in, because everything is in perfect place and it's just not me. and that's why i understood why sam would watch the garretts. because she wanted to just be loved by so many people. (eventually she was because she starts hanging out with jase ayo).

i didn't like how the author did not tie up the ends with nan. nan was sam's best friend, and sam learns a secret about nan and just like that, nan dropped her. and never spoke to her again. it just didn't seem natural. everything else was resolved and nan just disappeared. it seemed unnatural.

i just wasn't a fan of this one. the characters left no impact on me, but maybe it was just because i hated the mother with a passion.

the romance was nice, though. it was a very good first love, "oh my god i'm losing my virginity to this boy" story. 

overall, my life next door is for fans of first loves, corruption, and doing what's right even if it sux.

"but i'm not that watcher anymore. what jase and i have is real and alive. it has nothing to do with how things look from far away and everything to do with how they are up close. and that won't change."

-my life next door//huntley fitzpatrick

book review: dream school

dream school by blake nelson

book series: girl # 2

official website

description: Andrea Marr—, heroine of the classic 90's novel Girl—is back. And she's at college!
Imagining a typical “J. Crew/college catalogue” experience, Andrea leaves Portland to attend prestigious Wellington College in Connecticut. Surrounded by the best and the brightest, she works hard to adjust and keep up.
But Andrea has a way of finding her own people—not the well-heeled and well-scrubbed—but the weird, the wild, and the brilliant.
It isn't long before her college career veers wildly off course. Suddenly her entire future is in question. But in her darkest hour, Andrea will find the key to her own destiny.

review: girl is my favorite book. when i first read girl, i was going through a shitty time in my life where i had no idea where i was going and my friends had it figured out and i had this really dumb boyfriend and i felt lost in my community. and girl was the book that reassured me that my life isn't stupid and that it's just growing pains. and i've NEVER associated with a fictional character as much as i do andrea. not even with liz lemon. i had all these high school feelings and andrea mirrored that. (this gets really personal, so if you don't care about my numb pre-twenty something life, just know i loved this and i'm sorry i've been away xoxo)

and then i read that there was a sequel. about college. and i FREAKED OUT because i too was going away to college. so i went to strand with my roommate and bought the sequel. and i got nervous, as you can tell from my goodreads update four months ago. i don't remember what i was feeling during the beginning of the novel. maybe i thought it was too slow? i'm not sure. but i do know, by the end of the novel, i was sobbing in the library of hunter college. once again, blake nelson has me spot on.

andrea got into this ritzy private school called wellington, which is on the east school. and that's so BALLSY, applying to a school that you have to take a plane to get to. i totally did not expect that from andrea. but she gets in. and she gets so overwhelmed. these people are so cultured. and i absolutely got that. do you know how terrifying it is to come from a small sector of the universe and get thrust into the city that never sleeps? granted, i lived on shaolin, but it was really different there and i was never put into a more diverse experience than i was during college. (i felt and still do feel like sheep in the big city)

it's just, college is scary. i went from being with the same people for six hours a day, seven days a week, to just feeling lost. all the time. i wasn't myself from november to january, but things are starting to look up. some of my most important relationships were either strained or severed, and that really fucked with me. my mom and i used to be best friends, and now we argue every day. i still have my best friend, which i thank goodness for each and every day.

it seriously changes everything. and i saw this through andrea's eyes as well.

i'm gonna be blunt: i'm not an intelligent person. (i even needed spell check to spell intelligent) i don't have common sense, i'm not educated in politics or religion, and i need help sometimes figuring out what i can and can't put in the microwave. and at first, i thought i was an idiot. i thought that my 4,000 student high school didn't prepare me for college (still think it didn't). people are so cultured here and the only thing i could talk about are young adult novels, movies, tv, and 90's emo. NOBODY WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THOSE THINGS. NOBODY. i even went to the lit mag and they're just so dedicated, i can't do this shit. i spent so many hours just sitting in my dorm, watching breaking bad, crying about how i'm not getting the proper college experience. needless to say, my freshman year of college was not expected.

again, i'm in love with blake nelson's writing style. it reads just like how i would speak to someone* and it made me feel comfortable and alright again with the world. i have this idea for a movie that the main character is never shown, only in glimpses in the mirror. and you see the world through this character's eyes. i have no idea how this would work, but that's how i picture this novel would be like. andrea is hardly described, and her name isn't really mentioned unless someone is talking to her. it makes the novel more relatable, like that could totally be me.

i loved how it was fast. it's extremely symbolic of how life really is. (college made me d33p) i mean, i'm already a freshman in college, but if you asked me, it's still 2007. it's just so weird. but you get through andrea's junior year of college. she grew so much. and that's how a character should be. whenever i'm in an angsty teen mood, i'll pick up girl. i love it so much. but this book tied up loose ends and gave me closer for andrea, knowing that she'll be okay.

overall, i'd recommend this book to anyone who read girl, who just thinks their life sux, and wants to live their life vicariously through a 20 (omg andrea is TWENTY. I AM 18 WHAT THE HELL) year old.

"What would happen to me seemed so much more unclear. I just had no idea. But it was starting to happen. I could feel it. What I was going to do and be in my life was going to come to me very soon. In a way, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "

dream college//blake nelson

*i also never knew how thick my accent was. whater.

book review: what happens next

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton

Official Website

Description: Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader, a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid – including a lock of her perfect red curls – and she can’t remember any of it.
Back home and alienated by her friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect… or so she thinks.
Humorous and thoughtful, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a moving exploration of one girl’s triumph over tragedy.

Review: i didn't know this was a 'book about rape.' i'm gonna be honest, if i'd have known it was about rape, i wouldn't have picked this up, despite the nice cover and the interesting synopsis. (i even read the description, and i just thought this dax character made sid more outgoing and brave.) i don't like speaking about rape because it's a really delicate topic, and i feel like since i am someone with no experience of rape, i have no right to talk about it. kinda like how white people can't write about racism. i just, i feel like it's out of my grasp, and i have no jurisdiction writing about this. but it was a really spectacular book, especially coming from a debut author.

what happens next tells the tale of sid murphy. the book opens with sid and her two best friends, paige and kirsten, at a ski resort. sid meets a guy who thinks she interesting and attractive, and this is completely opposite of how the boys at her high school find her. she winds up sneaking away from the group and staying with this man, dax. the next morning she wakes up, in a shitload of trouble, alone in dax's apartment, with a wetness between her legs that indicated she was raped.

this entire book was the most realistic thing i have ever read. like i said before, i don't know anyone who was raped, but this is how i picture the story would play out. the characters were so raw and real, and i felt like i was watching this played out before me, in form of a production or something. sid's family life, her friend's family life, her high school, the high school interactions; it was all so real. maybe i fell in love with these characters so much because the last book i read, i despised the m.cs.

let's take sid, for instance. sid is this big, obnoxious and loud junior who is cheerleads and takes a.p classes. she shits on her friends lives and hates the boys that go to her high school. she is extremely self-conscious, being that she's larger than most girls her age. not even her stomach, but her breasts and ass. it was infuriating how this girl couldn't embrace her body, and love herself for who she was at the beginning of the novel, but it just went along with sid's demeanor. the isolation, the fearfulness, everything she did was something i expected of a character who has gone through a recent trauma. i really liked how she started running. i have this weird bond with characters who run. i have no idea why, since i'm the human equivalent of a sloth, but i relate to characters who run for the sole purpose of running from something, from escaping their terrible past.

then there was corey. ugh corey, my brokenhearted little stoner. sid meets corey when she drops her computer science class and instead takes a.v. she bonds with corey, and visits him at work, and eventually falls in love with him. what is it with misunderstood boys who smoke weed and drive trucks? i fall in love with them. it's a true problem, and i'm seeking help, but i always adore them. corey was so nice and gentle with sid, i can't. he almost made me believe that a man could be that understanding and loving of a woman. almost. i'm not that naive. (i'm joking, boys are great, h a h a) and it was so wonderful how he treated her mother and brother, like he was the electrician and would help them around the house. the scene where he hangs up the pinata for sid's little brother is so adorable.

and, wait for it, this is the first young adult book where i don't hate the parents and the best friends?? (maybe it's not, i always forget about the books i review, hence why i have this website) sid's mother, katherine, was not a pushy, annoying single mother, which was a huge reliever. i thought she was going to try and push it out of sid, and badger her about it, but no. surprisingly, she acted like any mother would. she trusted her daughter when her daughter said that nothing happened, that she was fine, and there were no angsty, running-away-from-home, i-hate-you-mom, scenes with katherine and sid. and the kirsten and paige? they were perfect supporting characters. you know those characters that just exist to assist the main character, and pretty much have no life besides being the main character's best friend? not these two. they have their own lives, and likes, and interests, and they did not revolve around sid, which was lovely. they weren't annoying or harpers. they fought with sid for about 100 pages, but wouldn't you hate someone who ditched you on a winter trip and then got you suspended?

i'm 98.3% sure that i have never read a young adult fiction novel where the main character is sex positive, and enjoys her body, and is proud of herself, and doesn't seek to change her ways. it's weird, i feel like this should have been done plenty of times, but i don't think i've ever picked it up. maybe it had a crappy cover or something? i dunno, but please point me in the direction of something along these lines.

overall, what happens next is a realistic telling of rape, forgiveness, and moving past tragedy.

also, i will absolutely pick up anything else this author writes so long as i live.

"i don't know how it happens. it just does. i search and search for clues to tell me what happened, where he is, who else he has done this to. i find nothing but inner sickness. i get so torn up and panic-stricken that i have to slam my laptop shut and taise my window, stick my head out into the cold night, and try not to scream. i don't know what to do with it, this lack of peace, this need to know. i want it to go away, but it won't.

every night it comes back.

every night i am searching."

what happens next//colleen clayton

book review: eve and adam

Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Official Website

Description: In the beginning, there was an apple—
And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker’s head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.
Just when Eve thinks she will die—not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.
Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect... won’t he?

Review: i first saw this book in a swanky bookstore in brooklyn, and i didn't wanna buy it cause it was $17 and i needed $40 to get my septum pierced. i wrote down the title, and figured i'd pick it up at the library. it caught my eye because of the unique title, michael grant, and the cover. it's so high-resolution and eye-catching. i love it. the colors are just so vivid, and they compliment each other perfectly.

i'm not sure which direction this review is going in. that has been the case for my past few reviews, and i apologize. i didn't like the characters one bit. they were nothing, they had no backbone, and i harbored no feelings toward them. i never felt bad for their situation, and it was almost like two stick figures running around the city, trying to save humanity.

however, i really liked the storyline. the topic was interesting, and kept me coming back for more. i finished this book in one sitting (mainly because i was at the gynecologist, and it was a long wait). i liked the background characters. they kept my attention, and it's unfortunate, because the main characters are supposed to draw you into the story.

eve and adam tells the story of evening spiker, who has just gotten into a terrible car accident. her leg and arms are mutilated, and there is little hope for survival. but, wait for it, she survives it. her mother, terra spiker, who owns this huge multi-trillion dollar company that finds cures to popular diseases, moves eve into her super high-tech offices where the best doctors treat her.

of course, there's a boy that makes eve question everything. solo plissken grew up in the spiker headquarters, raised by terra and always helping out the 'big brain' scientists. his parents """mysteriously""" died. they were two of the best big brain scientists in the company, so terra took solo in.

eve recovers, and her mother gives her a project to create the perfect man. the problem is that eve recovered too quickly, within like four days. solo knows the reason of course, and he stars telling eve the secrets of the company. also, eve's best friend, aislin, is very present throughout the novel, which i enjoyed. since the main characters were boring as hell, she was a nice phoenix amongst pigeons. aislin is fierce, and she would flirt with solo throughout he novel in a completely joking matter. i think the reason i disliked solo and eve so much was because their relationship was forced so much. it was so unnatural. solo knew all about eve, but eve never even heard about solo, ever, so it was weird. and when they met, they would joke around and not flirt, but yet, they both wanted to kiss each other so deeply. like, it came out of nowhere. and then solo said something about loving eve and i started choking on the cherry coke i was drinking. their "love" was so unreal.

the storyline was so interesting, like i've said many times, and i could totally see this being made into a movie. the progression was so similar. it's such a genius idea. it kinda reminded me of spy kids, or agent cody banks. solo's parents started developing a serum that made people recover quickly and made them like superhuman (*eve*) and it's totally illegal. however, solo was raised thinking that terra created this serum, so he vowed to take her down. and then eve comes along, and he falls in love. (or however much in love someone call fall between 4 days)

overall, eve and adam is a book about playing god, trifling in the family business, and creating a cute boy in the process.

edit: also, shout out to micheal grant for referencing titus andronicus.

"because gods wants to be seen, and they want to be served."

eve and adam//michael grant and katherine applegate

Book Review: Across the Universe (AND 200TH POST)

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Series: Across the Universe # 1

Official Website

Description: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Review: I usually don't review the really popular young adult books, mainly because my reaction to them mirror everyone else's and it'd just be another glowing review. And I wasn't planning on reviewing this one, either, because I really enjoyed it, and this review was going to look like everyone else's (except with a shittier layout and theme and grammar). for example, i've yet to review a john green novel, mainly because i'm still crying weeks after i've read the book, so it's pointless to write anything.

however, across the universe really moved me. and that sounds so lame. (and i've stopped capitalizing words, so you know i'm serious) (i think i'm gonna start writing reviews like this) but about 300 pages in, when my favorite character dies, i was in tears. it was such a beautifully written death that i couldn't help but smile through my tears and be encouraged to write something about this book. and it's giving me goosebumps just thinking about it.

not only am i reviewing a really popular book, but this is my 200th post AND i'm not using capital letters!? taking big risks, lauren.

alright. here goes. across the universe tells the story of Amy. Amy and her parents were frozen and put on this ship so that they can wake up in 350 years and lead a new civilization on a new planet. now, i'm not sure if the author explained why they left earth in the first place? i began the book before finals, and the first 100 pages are a blur. but needless to say, amy's chamber is opened and she wakes up 50 years early, without her parents, to an entirely new world. this huge metal ship, called godspeed, is spiraling through the sky, houses over two thousand people, who are all perfectly content with just living and dying on this ship. there is no conflict aboard the ship, because everyone is the same race, and there are no differences among the people. amy causes a ruckus, as one would expect, with her pale skin and fiery red hair.

the other main character is elder. elder is sixteen or seventeen (sorry) and he is the future leader of the ship. ever since an incident aboard the ship called 'the plague,' there has been an almighty ruler who is in charge of protecting all aboard godspeed. elder is chosen from birth, and raised by the current ruler, who goes by the name of eldest. they have access all over the ship, and can do whatever they want.

the chapters alternate between elder and amy. i really loved how the romance wasn't thrown in our face, like LOOK AT THIS, THEY'RE THE SAME AGE, I AM GOING TO MAKE THEM LOVE INTERESTS LOOK, LOOK, THEY'RE TALKING HUH DO YOU SEE THE CHEMISTRY HERE?? it was casual, and i thought of them as friends who care for each other's wellbeing. amy would cry on elder, and they'd explore together and discover godspeed's secrets.

but the romance that did take place was really cute. you learn a huuuuuge secret at the end, regarding the relationship, but besides that, the connection between elder and amy is so strong. elder knows there is more than this ship life out there, and amy knows only about earth and what wonders it held. they balance each other beautifully, and the scenes were their true emotions are revealed are the most heartbreaking.

this book was obviously extremely thought out, and for books of this type of genre, it is very crucial that they are. readers can see through bullshit, and this book was very believable. there were no plot holes as far as i can tell, and the book itself read very fluid and smooth.

i think i enjoyed this book so much because i saw something of people i knew in each character. in elder, i saw this boy that i follow on tumblr who listens to sad music all the time, and has so much on his plate, that i just feel sad reading his posts. in amy, i saw my friend dani. she's relentless and would never stay pacified in that type of situation. in harley, i saw my friend will, who is just so artistically creative, it makes me vomit.

the main characters were so unique and three-dimensional that it made me feel that i can never write truly believable characters. and these characters were travelling on a space ship to another planet. i'm trying to write about dorks in high school. everyone is that damn book was so intense and scared. and they had RIGHT to be. it i was on a space ship, with another 50 years ahead of me, and they had an artificial sun and fake sprinkler rain, i'd be petrified. the entire setup of the ship was a farse. the people of the ship were just treated so badly, and i won't spoil it for you, even though i LOVE SPOILING BOOKS, but it was dreadful. they were treated like animals that someone could just control with the flip of a switch. it was disgusting, and cruel, and i'm glad for rulers like elder, who believe that people should thrive and have emotions, and should be able to make their own decisions and i'm just thinking about the sequel and getting so excited. i'm not big on politics (pretty sure i failed my poli sci final) but people need direction. they have souls and desires and dreams and those dreams shouldn't be suffocated just because of mental illness or chaos.

i'm just really sad about the events that took place in across the universe, but i'm happy about the optimism of the ending and i'm curious about what's gonna happen. the sequel is called a million suns and i'm reserving at my library as we speak. seriously though, i didn't think i was gonna get attached to this book. curse you, tragically flawed characters.

overall, i loved this book, and i hope when i'm 23 and living in brooklyn and have a rockin' bookcase, this lovely is sitting right on the shelf. across the universe is good for fans of sci fi, hard decisions, and fighting for what you believe in.

this whole ship has been held together with metal and lies, everyone either deceived or a deceiver. except for elder.

across the universe/ beth revis