{Review} Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy

Author: David Levithan

Format: Library, paperback

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Date Read: August 27th, 2013

Rating: ✭✭✭

This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.

Maybe I read Boy Meets Boy with the wrong perspective, I dunno, but I definitely did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would have. I think I expected more realism, something that is definitely lacking in this book. While it's not a bad book per-say, but it's not a very unrealistic one. 

Boy Meets Boy takes place in a sort of LGBT paradise, where there is no hate and gay boys can be extremely popular and trans girls are on the football team and almost no one hates on them. I can tell you for a fact that that's not how the real world works, or at least the large majority of it. 

karen's review explains what I'm going to try and say in the next few paragraphs very well so I suggest you go check it out before attempting to slog through my much less eloquent take on it.

As a gay teen, I definitely appreciated the break from reading about LGBT teens go through horrible, horrible acts of physical violence and verbal abuse. Boy Meets Boy was a happy, fluffy, cute read that made me really happy. The world of Boy Meets Boy was everything I could ever hope for, you know. A world where I can have a girlfriend in high school without risk of being hurt and socially outed. I dream of a world where I can be me without being bullied about it. 

Yet, I couldn't help but see how much of an unachievable utopia it was and it was kind of depressing. I read about how the home-coming queen can be the quarterback on the football team. But I can't help think about all the trans teens that are killed because of who they are and it almost makes it worse.
I'm not saying that BmB doesn't talk about serious topics such as familial intolerance but these are concealed by the overwhelming happiness in the book. It was almost overpowering at times like people get a grip, this is not High School Musical. 

While I really love how Levithan tried to change the norm of LGBT books but it made me almost sadder than a normal LGBT would make me because I know, this could never be real. The sheer unbelievable-ness of the scenario made the book as a whole less enjoyable than it would have been if it wasn't so... perfect.

But don't get me wrong, Boy Meets Boy has plenty of redeeming qualities to it. It's a cute and funny love story that explores the ups and downs of high school and of romance. The characters were really sweet and lovable as a whole. 

The love interest Noah is just a huge cutie and I love him. Paul was also very likable but as the story progressed, he really got on my nerves. Mostly because he messed up a lot because he was an absolute idiot when it comes to relationships. *sigh* Paul, you stupid ass.

Boy Meets Boy is an endearing, charming story that is worth the read even if it's bit too happy. It's a good fluff read and I would recommend it to be read directly after a tear-jearker because, damn if this doesn't make you happy nothing will.

Lisbeth is an American teenager who enjoys blowing shit up in videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.

{Review} Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

Title: Flyaway
Author: Lucy Christopher
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Chicken House
Release date: October 1, 2011
Date Read: May 28, 2013 - June 2, 2013
Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

One cold winter morning, Dad gets sick – and goes into hospital. It’s there I meet Harry, with his scruffy hair and firefly eyes. From his window we watch a wild swan on the frozen lake outside. There’s something different about her, truly different. Almost magical. Perhaps, if we can help her, everything else will begin to make sense.

While visiting her father in hospital, Isla meets Harry, the first boy to understand her and her love of the outdoors. But Harry is ill, and as his health fails, Isla is determined to help him in the only way she knows how.

Together they watch a lone swan struggling to fly on the lake outside Harry’s window. Isla believes that if she can help the damaged swan, somehow she can help Harry. And in doing so, she embarks upon a breathtakingly magical journey of her own.

One of the reasons I love Lucy Christopher's books so much are because they're real. She knows that the teenagers reading her books aren't stupid, and instead of treating her younger teenage readers like they're nine, she gives us a novel that can be read by anyone.

Seeing as the narrator of FLYAWAY is a thirteen year-old girl, Lucy Christopher could've written a juvenile middle-grade book with ridiculously simple writing and stiff dialogue. But she didn't. Lucy Christopher knows teenagers; she knows we're smarter than society thinks we are, and she doesn't fuck around. FLYAWAY was a smart book with beautiful messages and intricate characters.

I had a friend die of leukemia several months ago, and when I learned that Harry, one of the main characters in FLYAWAY, suffered from the same type of cancer, I nearly put the book down because it upset me so much. It brought back memories I wasn't ready to face and I spent most of the time reading this book with watery eyes. 

I've always loved the aspect of bonding with animals (I mean, SPIRIT is probably by favorite animation ever) and FLYAWAY gave me that and so much more. I mean, it also caused me a lot of pain and tears, but it was worth it. Every character is detailed and interesting, and Harry and Isla's romance friendship literally made me squeal and sob and scream at the walls.

I have a feeling a lot of people haven't read this because it's a middle-grade novel, technically, but if you're avoiding this book because of its age group...

GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND READ IT

OKAY

Also, a million hugs to Vanessa, for sending me a signed copy of FLYAWAY all the way from England. Thank you so much. I love you.



of course i'm not ugly crying who told you that hahaha

Oceana is a French-blooded teenager who enjoys stalking British boys and asking them to marry her. She was diagnosed with severe fangirl disorder in 2011. Able to curse like a sailor with an angelic voice.

{Review} Various Positions by Martha Schabas

Title: Various Positions
Author: Martha Schabas
Format: NetGalley ebook ARC
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release date: February 14, 2012
Date Read: March 17, 2013
Rating: ✭

Trapped between the hormone-driven world of her friends and the discontent of her dysfunctional family, fourteen-year-old Georgia is only completely at ease when she's dancing. When she is accepted into Canada's preeminent ballet school, Georgia thinks it is the perfect escape. Artistic Director Roderick Allen singles her out as a star, subjecting her to increasingly intensive training, and Georgia obsesses about becoming the perfect, disciplined student. But as she spends more and more time with Roderick, it's not so clear exactly what their relationship means. Is he her teacher and mentor, or is there something more? These blurred lines will threaten both Roderick's future at the academy and Georgia's ambitions as a ballerina.

For VARIOUS POSITIONS

Dude, that was a really weird book.

Weird in the way that you're going to remember it, but not in a good way.

VARIOUS POSITIONS I'd love to see you try to come up with a dirtier title than that shit is the story of fourteen year old Georgia and her adventures in seducing her ballet teacher, copying porn poses, acting like an idiot, and hurting everyone around her.

I mean, it sounds about right to me.

VARIOUS POSITIONS had a really strange plot, because it wasn't about the ballet. It was about a seriously fucked-up girl from a fucked-up family living in a fucked-up world.

Sounds like me.

I didn't enjoy the odd plot. I had high hopes when I first read the blurb, mostly because it was being compared to The Black Swan for teenagers (which I loved). However, it wasn't what I was looking for at all.

I understand that VARIOUS POSITIONS is about a girl experimenting with her own sexuality, but as someone Georgia's age and ten times more perverted (hey, I was raised in a French family), her sexual thoughts were downright disturbing.

She gives forty-year old men 'suggestive faces', tries kissing her ballet teacher Roderick, and can't look a single person in the eye without imagining herself having sex with them. 

I mean, I don't even do that and that's saying something.

The writing, I had to admit, was beautiful. Schabas is a very talented writer, because the style was quite beautiful. However, the plot and characters dragged her debut novel down. VARIOUS POSITIONS never got dull, but it was never quite absorbing, either.

I hated every single character in VARIOUS POSITIONS. There was not one redeemable character that I grew to love, and most of all, I hated Georgia.

Georgia screws up massively, and then blames everyone but herself. She constantly shames the more 'sexual' girls for not acting as virginal as she does. By sexual, I mean swiping on some lipgloss. That's right: Georgia mentally taunts the other girls and makes fun of them for wearing an ounce of makeup.

Bitch, when I go shopping, I do go for the shirt that makes my boobs look big! And I do like wearing makeup, because it makes me look better. I feel more confident with it, and as a result I TURN INTO A FUCKING BADASS.

And I have plenty of 'self-respect', so fuck you.

Georgia doesn't take responsibility for her actions, and her age is not an excuse to act like a fucking moron. Georgia puts her friend in the hospital for anorexia with her seriously flawed 'diet' and doesn't think about it twice. She has consensual, willing unprotected sex with another guy and suddenly gets up, calls him names, and acts like he's raped her. Georgia believes that her ballet teacher Roderick lusts after her (though there are absolutely no indications) and tries to make out with him. Even though he pushes her away immediately, he gets in huge trouble, and is labeled a pedophile and a predator.

I'm probably more immature than Georgia, but I know not to take naked pictures of myself and send them to Roderick.



I MEAN SERIOUSLY DOES SHE HAVE HALF A BRAIN

Roderick is an asshole and a dickface, but he doesn't deserve what he got. Even though Georgia promised to tell everyone he wasn't the one that kissed her, his reputation will be forever tainted, and Georgia will just be that poor girl who made a little mistake and got to go to another new.

It's so unfair and I nearly threw the book across the room.

All of Georgia's 'friends' are bitchy, one-dimensional, and unlikable. Georgia's parents seriously screwed her up, and their relationship with her was strained and sad. I despised them all, really.

One last thing, though. A ballet dancer in VARIOUS POSITIONS was considered chubby because of her thighs, but by ballet standards, 'chubby legs' are probably more thin than mine are ever going to get.

*looks down at thighs guilty* I should've probably written this review on the treadmill, huh?

Even though I wasn't a fan of this book, Schabas sure knows how to reel us in and keep us interested. I'll probably read future books of hers.

Oceana is a French-blooded teenager who enjoys stalking British boys and asking them to marry her. She was diagnosed with severe fangirl disorder in 2011. Able to curse like a sailor with an angelic voice.

{Review} The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher

Title: The S-Word
Author:  Chelsea Pitcher
Format: NetGalley e-book ARC
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release date: May 7th 2013
Date Read: February 4th 2013
Rating: ✭✭✭

First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker.

But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it —in Lizzie's looping scrawl.

Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living.

And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Even though my rating doesn't really show it, THE S-WORD is a book that I really enjoyed. It's not perfect, as my rating shows, but it's very enjoyable. I would love to give THE S-WORD a full 4 star rating or even a nice shiny five star rating but I can't because it's my job as a reviewer to look deeper into a book. I've given plenty of books an initial 5 star rating and then dropped it to 4 or 3 (once I dropped a rating from 5 to 1 star) after I thought about it. 

The beginning of the book was addicting and all around amazing. If I just counted that part of the book, this would be a 5 star read. No doubts about it, the beginning to around 50% is a sure 5 star read. After that 50% mark however, the book started slipping. I began to skim a bit here and there and forget important details. I still enjoyed the book but I felt that I sort of had to push myself just to get to the next chapter. 

It became a chore to finish the book I had loved so much before. 

This lasted till the last 20% but then I found a whole newproblem. One that didn't go away after a few pages. It was called "predictability". In the last 20% all the big surprises were unveiled but I guessed every single one of them. It was so disappointing and sort of ruined the ending for me, causing me to deduct another star.

Characters

Angie had a lot of similarities to other main characters in books such as Sam from the heartbreaking and wonderful Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and Chelsea Knot from the beautiful Speechless by Hannah Harrington. She was the bad girl, that high school bitch who rules the school. She was despicable like these girls started off as.

However, she didn't have such an impact on me as Chelsea or Sam did. Angie was just not a character who really resonated within me like Sam did. I only really felt something at the end where I almost cried. It was just so utterly heart breaking. The only thing I could think after I finished was:

and then...

and finally...

If you don't know me, I'm not exactly an emotional person. I'm what people call "heartless" and "unfeeling" (mostly when I tell them I didn't cry while/after/before reading THE FAULT IN OUR STARS). I get really unexpected feels when reading some books though. This was one. 

The other characters were, for the most part, interesting. I did enjoy many of them but for some, I just found them less then satisfactory. I can't really name any but there are some characters that I just didn't feel anything for.

Plot and Writing

Plot

As I stated above, this isn't exactly the hardest book to guess the plot. In fact, someone who is really bad at guessing plots for most books was able to guess the plot of the entire book. The plot wasn't bad really but the best part was really the ending.

Not the part where all the surprises are revealed but the last 10%. That really just destroyed me. It was wonderfully done and I applaud Pitcher. Fantastic work there. It was honestly... beautiful. It reminded me of the ending of BEFORE I FALL. It wasn’t nearly as heartbreaking and utterly devastating but depressing all the same.

Writing

The writing wasn't exactly THE S-WORD's strong suit. As reviewer Emily May said in her review said quite well: 

Some of the similes didn't sit quite right with me, one example is this "'Give it a rest,' I say casually, like I'm asking which celebrity they're most itching to bang." I found this particular comparison odd, shouldn't you say something along the lines of "like I'm talking about the weather" when you're being all casual, banging celebrities isn't exactly what pops into my head when I'm thinking of casual things but maybe I'm just more boring than I realized. Another thing that felt so unnatural I almost laughed was "It wasn't nice of her to sleep with my boyfriend", I mean, who actually says things like that? Who here could walk in on their partner and best friend getting it on and think oh my, that's not very nice, is it? But look, I have a broken nail.

Another point that I didn't like about the writing was the sense of detachment. I didn't really care what was going on during the middle of the book. That detracted from the overall reading experience greatly even though I only felt detached for around 30%.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

- Characters

- Plot

- Ending

Dislikes:

- Plot Twists

- Middle of the Book

- Writing

In conclusion

I really wish I could have loved this as much as other reviewers and readers did but sadly, it didn't really live up to all my expectations. I still recommend it whole-heartedly but THE S-WORD is not a perfect book but it's still a very enjoyable one.

Lisbeth is an American teenager who enjoys blowing shit up in videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.

{Review} Last Cut by Wren Handman

Title: Last Cut
Author: Wren Handman
Format: NetGalley e-book ARC
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company 
Release date: April 1st 2013
Date Read: February 3rd 2013
Rating: ✭

Caitlin Myers's greatest ambition is to be a star, and she can outshine anyone at her school. But then Lianne comes to town and starts to give Caitlin a run for her money, even getting top billing in the school play.

So when Caitlin's offered a bit role as the bikini girl in a low-budget slasher flick, she ignores the warning bells (and her parents), lies about her age, and takes the part.

It's not long before Caitlin finds herself out of her element when it comes to bossy directors and experienced film crews. Her only way out is to fess up about her age, but if she does, she'll have to come clean to her parents, her friends, and her boyfriend about the things she's done

Being that first reviewer on Goodreads is a lot of pressure. Well, at least that's what I feel. It's just kind of scary knowing that you're the first out of every person on Goodreads. I don't mean to sound full of myself but it's kind of like I have the opportunity to make or break an author's book.

While I enjoy writing rants about books I hate, there's always this little part of me that says: "This isn't who you are. These aren't the reviews you write". And it's true. When I write rants, I'm bitchy, crude, and honestly, not very good. 

I'll admit it to everyone: I write rants for the views. My rant of FROM ASHES is one of my most liked and commented on reviews of all time and I like that. Who doesn't like the attention? I certainly cannot say I don't like being popular for a few meager moments.

However, I never feel that my purposely ranty-reviews are my favorite or my best. They're just not as good as my other reviews. My favorite review out of all that I've written is actually a favorable review (five stars and all that). 

So, even though this book is definitely among the books I hate, I will not be ranting in this review - or at least I will not be purposely ranty. I will be expressing my honest opinions, which aren't really favorable.

Now, with that out of the way, let's get on to the actual review.

LAST CUT is a book that I normally would never pick up but it was on NetGalley and it's physically impossible for me not to request everything and anything from that site because well it's free and this is me on a day to day basis:

So, I requested it and got approved because everyone loves me there and promptly forgot about it because I do that - a lot. However, I soon remembered it and picked it up. LAST CUT is an extremely fast book to read since it's smaller than my 7-year-old brother's chapter books. 

My main problem was with the MC, as I'll be covering in the next segment. 

Characters

Caitlin Myer isn't the worst heroine I've ever encountered but she definitely is pretty high on my I-really-hate-you list (and yes, I really have one). Caitlin is a pretty generic heroine - for the most part at least. I could go over her "generic qualities" but I'd rather go with the one worded explanation: Mary-Sue.

What I really hated about her was her tendency to slut shaming. If you don't know this about me, I really really hate slut shaming and her overall hate of girls. Caitlin just seems to hate every female that she meets - including her "friends". Some examples for you:

What does she have that I don't? Other than a tiny waist and gigantic breasts. And she acts soinnocent, like she has no idea that her tank top is three sizes too small.

And the second example: 
"Book?"

"Ender's Game..."

..."Didn't you say that if there wasn't a love triangle in it, you weren't interested?"

"That was two years ago," Hannah says defensively and I shrug. She's probably just trying to seem smart for some guy.

Seriously? This is what the whole book was like. I could go on but honestly? It's physically painful to go over these again. The other characters were lifeless and the only real character in this was Caitlin. The other characters really just were there to pamper Caitlin and tell her how amahzing she is.

Plot and Writing

Plot

The plot is basically a caution tale except it was done horribly. The plot to this is basically Caitlin applies for a job in a movie, gets the job but needed to lie about her age, has to take of her shirt for boob shot, people find out she's sixteen and is kicked from the movie, and the ending? Everyone leaves her. I'm serious. The last scene is her boyfriend walking away after Caitlin's friends had walked away. 


I think Handman was trying to say something with this. Maybe it was "don't lie" or something to that key but in the end? It failed terribly. It didn't teach me anything. It didn't do anything except leave me thinking "Did I really waste half an hour reading this?".

Writing

By the 5%, I was sure this was fan fiction or written by a twelve year old. I'm sorry but the writing was atrocious. I really don't think that Wren Handman had an editor because there were so many grammatical errors and poorly phrased sentences (and don't say that's because this is an ARC, it's not - LAST CUT is a republished book since it was originally published August 13th, 2012).

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

- N/A

Dislikes:

- Characters
- Plot
- Writing

In conclusion

LAST CUT is a really bad book and I do not recommend it to any one.

Lisbeth is an American  teenager who enjoys killing people on videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.