Book Review: We All Looked Up

I read We All Looked Up by Tommy Walach. I thought this book was, overall, a decent well-rounded novel. It had many advanced syntax techniques that drew the reader in, and made you want to keep reading. However, although there were exciting and thrilling parts throughout the novel, there were also sections of the book where it seemed to drag on. They were mostly dialogue, but there was no real characterization during these times in the plot. Also, when dialogue was presented, there seemed to be a lack of suspense and action that were able to move the story along.

Some good aspects of the plot, were that during the high action times there was elements that drew the reader in. Most of the high action scenes were important and that also kept the audience entertained. The final-and in my view the most essential-element of the novel was the fact that they were told from varying perspectives of the different characters that appeared in the novel.


WARNINS SPOILERS!!! (If you do not want the book to be ruined STOP READING!)



LAST WARNING!



The thing I disliked the most in the book was that in the end, one of the main characters dies. Now, I am not normally for the whole sappy-romance lovey-dovey type of novels, however with this novel I thought that the book ended terribly. Eliza and Peter (both main characters) are unlikely lovers and this was one thing that I didn't think was as clichè as most novels. Because of this, I began to read more and more, that is until the ending. Peter dies near the end of the book. Not at the end, near it. After the truth was revealed I immediately wanted to stop reading the novel because of this.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel despite the (again, in my opinion) the dragged on parts and horrible ending.

Books This Summer

These are the 5 books I want to read this summer:

I want to read these books mostly because I was either recommended to read them by my friends, or my friends had already started reading the book. I also want to discover a wide variety of genres, as you can see Hollow City is thriller novel, while Milk and Honey is more of a poetry book. For these reasons, I want to read these 5 books for my summer reading.

Book Review #2

I am reading The A-Z of You and Me by James Hannah. So far, I love the book. The style of writing is unique and interesting and I mainly picked up the book because I thought the cover was interesting. (Who says don't judge a book on it's cover?) After I picked up the book, I read the back excerpt and I found it really compelling to read. So, I started reading it. I must admit that the beginning is pretty confusing with the main character starting out in a hospital. The story is a tale of backstories and reality. It gives the audience questions that makes them want to keep reading in order to find out the answers to their questions. I also found that the style of the writing in the novel lead me to love the book. I enjoy the balance of character development and dialogue that the book has.

I thought it would also be important to mention  how the style of the alphabet in the writing brings the story to life in a way. Each letter is like one chapter of the novel, with the letters repeating. The character narrates the story in his perspective, and he tells each memory as a letter of the alphabet. The nurse that has been helping him throughout the novel told him to start an alphabet game, where he names something with each letter of the alphabet. This leaves the audience on their toes wondering what the next letter and story of the novel will be.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a mysterious story. Although I am not very far into the story and the novel is not in the mystery genre, I think the mysterious element of the novel allows it to be a "mysterious" story. I would rate this novel 5 stars because of the elements and the quality of the writing.

Blog #12

Book covers can change the image of the book and the way the audience perceives it. Basically, book covers can make or break the book.

In my opinion, book covers should be clean and exact. They shouldn't contain unnecessary pictures or images just to "add depth". (P.S. this is not adding depth, it's just cluttering a page) Some examples of keeping it clean and exact that I love include:
Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Simplistic is Everything

Covers that I absolutely hate. Anything with a face or any real people on the front page makes me immediately want to turn down the book. It doesn't capture the audience and draw them in, it just leaves them more than a little freaked out. I don't know about you, but up-close and personal is not my forte. Some examples of book covers that I hate include:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Clutter, Clutter and more Clutter

Not only do I hate book covers that give a close-up of somebody's face, I also hate book covers that make the awful decision of putting the cover for their upcoming movie as the front cover of their recent book. I'm not saying I hate the book, I'm saying I hate the cover of the book. Examples that I hate:

Martian by Andy Weir (Although I love the book)

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Our movie cover stinks so we'll put it on the book too

Most of society will argue the point that they're all good people and they never base a book off of it's cover. However, all of society is lying. They base books off their covers all the time. Have you ever picked up a book, read the back and then looked at the cover only to put it down? What about the opposite-have you ever looked at the cover and read the back thinking the book was going to be bad but read it anyway because the cover was so good? People today are judging book based on their covers, they just aren't realizing it. 

I know I have based a book on it's cover before too. As shown earlier in the "Simplistic is Everything" section, Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon has a wonderful cover that immediately drew me in and made me want to read it. I read the back and it wouldn't have been my first choice in book but the cover was so good and I bought it anyway. Fast-forward a week later and I had the book finished. I loved the novel, even though I was certain it wasn't by genre. I based a book on it's cover and it turns out, I loved it. 

I'm not saying go out there and buy any book based on the cover, but I am saying that sometimes the cover can make or break the book and society has the right to know this. 

Blog #11

The book I chose to read for our "any-choice" book was Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan. I downloaded this book on my phone because it was all sold out in stores and I am now on page 99. I LOVE  this book! It is hilarious and very unexpected. I like all the twists and turns in the novel that keep the audience on their toes. I also enjoy the fast paced action in the novel. Dinan is able to balance the development of the characters along with the quick moving action that gives the story a variety and makes it readable by most audiences. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes humorous stories that can make them laugh and most of all people who enjoy a well-rounded story.


The novel is mainly about a group of unlikely friends and their lives. Essentially, a group of prankers known as The Chaos Club pranks the group, and they soon look for revenge. I am really excited to keep reading and this is one of the books I've really enjoyed in a long time. It is nice not to have any pressure to read a certain amount of chapters, and the fact that there is no assignments with the novel allows me to both read and enjoy more of the novel. My favorite character is Max, the main character because his voice is so funny, yet a lot of thought was put into the character. Now Max is not very popular as you will realize as soon as you pick up the novel. But Not Max (you will find out who he is)  on the other hand, will begin to take more risks, not be as scared of what others think of him all while keeping the same humorous voice.

Overall, I really enjoy the novel because of the balance of action and development along with suspense that keeps the audience on their toes throughout the entire novel. This novel is so unexpected and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a humorous and witty novel. (Not to mention I love the cover)

Blog #10

BOOK REVIEW: EDGE BY JEFFERY DEAVER

I read the novel Edge Jeffery Deaver as my choice for the genre fiction book. This book is a classic detective novel where the agent tries to solve the crime and find the criminal. I understand how crime and detective novels are going to have a lot of dialogue but I think many others will agree with me that this book has too much of it. I was surprised when I started reading because it was actually an interesting plot line and I thought it had unique characters. Once I started reading however, I realized that this book does not have much other than the overwhelming dialogue. I found it boring once the characters only spoke to each other, where the goal was to describe the plot to the reader. I understood the plot of the novel, and hearing in my head the characters restate the plot over and over again left me to feel the book drag on and on and on. I think that this book could have a greater amount of action, without over explaining what is happening in the story.

Overall though, I found my book to be awfully boring. I did finish this 500+ page book, but it was a slow read. By looking at Goodreads, I have noticed that Deaver has written many other novels which honestly seem to have more interesting plot lines then this one. I think this novel could have been one of his lower-selling novels but I still think the writer's language and use of craft in the novel could be beyond better.

Overall, I thought that the novel was boring and awful; and I am not normally one to critique novels and their craft (knowing I can not do anything better) but I am also not a published writer and published writers should entertain their audience not bore them and try to drag them along through the story. I would give this book a 1/5 stars and wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to anyone unless you love dialogue, and lots of it. :)

Top 5 Books

I have read many books, and this was a hard list to come up with. But here is what I came up with as my top 5 books--ever.

1.Room, by Emma Donoghue
2.The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
3.The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
4.The Fifth Wave, by Rick Yancey
5. The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau


These are some of my favorite books ever. There are many more books that I would like to put on this list, but I could only have five, so here are my "top 5".

The first book on my list, is Room by Emma Donoghue. I loved this book because of the unique perspective, told through the view of a 5-year old. I liked the language used in this book and how nothing was named properly. This added some depth to the book. The story in a short summary is this mom and this little boy who basically live in a room. The book tells about their life in the room,. The boy has never been outside of this room, and he doesn't know the world outside of the room. I think this book is a book for everyone. I would recommend this book to teens mainly because of the setting and style of the book. Overall, though I think anyone and everyone would enjoy this book because of the perspective.

The second book on my list is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book is (yes a tragic) love story between two people. A girl named Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters otherwise known as Gus. It tells of their life, and the struggles of their lives. They travel to Amsterdam together, this being Hazel's "last wish".  Hazel Grace has cancer, and has to battle cancer in the novel. However, at the end of the novel something unexpected happens. This event will change Hazel's life forever. I love this book, and although I am not normally into sappy love stories that are  basic, I really enjoyed this novel. Why? This novel was different somehow. It had an unexpected twist at the end and I really liked it. (Although I do not support it.) I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good love story with an unexpected twist. Unpredictable is how I would describe the book. So, if you like anything unpredictable this would be a great book for you.

The third book on my list is The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. This book is basically about a bunch of kids that go to an arena and fight to the death, with one victor standing. There is more to the book than this, a love story, challenging of the government and so on. But in the simplistic form, the book is mainly about this death match. I enjoyed the novel because I liked the fast-paced action and suspense of the novel. I think that the action in the book wasn't too repetitive because although Katniss Everdeen, the main character, suffered many challenging problems the problem was not repeated every time she ran into an obstacle which I liked. I enjoyed how it was mixed up a little bit. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with fast-paced action and strong suspense. People of all ages would definitely like this book. I read this book in 5th grade, when it was super popular and the fandoms of this book were actually unbearable. But, anyone would like this book in general.

The fourth book on my list is The Fifth Wave, by Rick Yancey. This book is about the world becoming invaded by aliens. Cassie Sullivan has to survive this invasion and find her brother who has gone astray. Along the way she meets Evan Walker, someone who has brought her in when she was hurt. Of course, like every other YA novel a love story occurs. Shocker, I know. However, I believe that this book has unbelievable suspense that adds incredible depth to the book. I really enjoyed this book, and although it was over 500 pages I read it in the span of a weekend. It was a quick-read because you would just flip the pages and keep on going, you never really wanted to stop reading.I would recommend this book to people who enjoy science fiction and YA novels because this is basically what the book is. Also, if your into aliens I would definitely read this book. Overall, this book was number four on my list because it had so much action ad suspense.

The fifth and final book on my list is The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. This book is about a girl named Malencia Vale, otherwise known as Cia, and how she must survive the testing a process where she will be placed in a new world and have to travel tons of miles to Tosu City, this will mark the final stage of the Testing. If she completes this she will be assigned to a University and she will learn and grow farther. Before this third stage of the testing she also must pass several written tests where she will test her wits and strength of her mind. I enjoyed this book because of the action in the book. I also liked Cia's internal thoughts and her mind and voice. She had good humor and educated thoughts. I enjoyed the characters in this book because I thought they added a lot to the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an unexpected book because this book is filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Overall, this is my top 5, hope you enjoyed!