Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Author: Jenny Han
Series #: 1
Genre: YA/Contemporary/Teen
Rating: ★★★★

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is amazing in its own way. So the story begins in the summer, introducing Belly or Isabel's family on their way to their Summer house in Cousin's Island. Cousin's is where Belly and her family has spent most of their summers. The house is owned by her mother's best friend, Suzannah, who has two gorgeous sons named Conrad and Jeremiah; with Belly having been in love with Conrad ever since she was 10.

As much as I don't want to post any spoilers, I think The Summer I Turned Pretty is one of the most memorable books I've ever read. It's on the right side of clichè and the right side of awful. There's just books that are too clichè making it too awful, but Jenny Han made TSITP perfect. I love how Belly's just the average girl. She's 15, turning 16, she's going through this social anxiety phase, she has a jerk of an older brother, she's a bit experimental, she doesn't find heels and mini skirts comfortable, and she doesn't even have a lot of friends.

It's your typical teen story. There are fights, crushes, loves, first time's, parties, dressing up, everything that the current generation teen experiences. I think that Jenny Han wrote The Summer I Turned Pretty ordinarily while making it extraordinary to its readers. Some of you might find it too cheesy or too idealistic, but I saw the side where it is pretty realistic, that it does tackle some kind of shallow teenage issues. How pasts can create presents, how much over-thinking can influence anything.

I recommend it to anyone who loves to read contemporary in the perspective of a teenage girl. I think this book is worth a shot. Hopefully you will, too. If ever you enjoy it, read its sequels!

Book Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

Title: The Selection
Author: Kiera Cass
Series #: 1
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Sci-fi
Rating: ★★★★

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

This is one of my favorite covers of all time. I honestly bought this because of the cover (and of course the back cover synopsis...) because who wouldn't get attracted to frilly gowns and pretty colors?!

So I agree with the thought that it's like Hunger Games (without all the gore) and the Bachelor mashed together in one book. It's set in a futuristic time, where Illea (previously North America) is divided into eight Castes (one being the highest), and all girls between the ages of 16-20 are given application forms to join the Selection (similar to the Hunger Games, except the Selection is not mandatory), a competition to search for the next queen of Illea. And of course, we have the ever so stubborn protagonist who doesn't believe in the whole process, America Singer, from the fifth caste. She was basically forced into entering the competition by her family and secret boyfriend.

What I didn't like about The Selection is that you'd love-hate-hate America. She's just so indecisive, and trust me, she's a sweetheart, but sometimes there's this part of her that would make you pull your hair out of your head. It's like, "GIRL DO YOU REALLY WANT THIS OR NOT BECAUSE I COULD REALLY FILL IN YOUR PLACE AND MAKE MAXON FALL IN LOVE WITH ME INSTEAD" most of the time. The writing was a bit off and I kind of noticed that sometimes it wasn't that consistent regarding the use  of the words (e.g the presence of the repetitiveness of the vocabulary) and the story itself, but I guess it had a good plot. I seriously think the plot was amazing.

What I liked about this book is it's so original. You don't get to see books like this everyday, don't you? It's about everything a common girl hopes for - but it's nothing like the Carrie Diaries or The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants, it's all crowns, handsome boys, royalties, grand palaces, banquets, and extravagant gowns and dresses. But there's also this side of the book that kind of deals with action, and somehow it teaches the girls not only to be soft and feminine queens, but a queen who can handle these situations when it actually arises. (And in my point of view, I think all girls should possess that quality, not just the women in the line of royalty in the present and/or in the future.)

Because of this, I did not only love the series but I loved Kiera Cass as well! She's so witty and amazing in all aspects.  I enjoyed it, and I think it's worth a shot. You guys should try it. (It makes you feel all tingly inside because of all the sweet Maxon-America scenes!)

P.S. I'm definitely on Team Maxon.
P.P.S. You guys should also try reading the novellas (The Prince and The Guard; POV's of Maxon and Aspen respectively). I think those support the story a lot and can make you change your views of the story/book.

Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Title: An Abundance of Katherines

Author: John Green

Genre: Contemporary/Young Adult

Rating: ★★★★

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washedup child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun–but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

To be honest, upon reading the first few chapters of this book, I was determined to stop reading it and move on with another book in my shelf. It took me a year and three months to actually finish it. But there were a few things at least, that made me go through it. 

What I liked about this book was John Green's descriptions. He wrote about things very vividly, and you could always visualize them in your head. For example, a Pepto-Bismolly pink house; Another were the endless footnotes that were factual and interesting for me, contradicting to how Hassan sees them uninteresting; the plot points that you'd least expect; Those were, in my opinion, the aspects of this book that entertained me and kept me from hiding it at the back of my shelf.

One last thing, I like how John Green emphasized that Colin is a smartypants, as Lindsey calls him, a boy with no talent other than anagramming, typing, coming up with theories; a boy who has a lazy, overweight best and only friend; a boy who has this huge, constant obsession with dating girls named Katherine, to transform into someone who had discovered his own eureka moment in a series of events during a roadtrip. 

John Green made his readers realize that Colin's as normal as anyone. Insecure, maybe. Sensitive, maybe. That everyone has a problem. May it be someone who's a child prodigy, someone who's popular or not, someone who's obsessed with dating girls, and maybe someone who makes theorems to calculate the future relationships that he might have. Colin not only showed that, but the rest of the characters as well. I loved how at first Colin was just seeking for time to finish his theorem and leaving a unique mark for the next generations to see, to becoming someone who became connected to people, finding things in common, and that he finally felt part of a whole. And I love how Lindsey, Hassan, the whole place of Gutshot, the road trip, were just the things Colin needed to fill the hole in his gut created by the 19 Katherines he has dated.

I'd recommend this book who's in need of a good "spiritual awakening" as Hassan puts it, or a good laugh. This is another well done book by John Green.