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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
*No spoilers here*
This is the type of book you read alone, at night, under the covers and with a flashlight. Maybe that's just me. I couldn't focus on the story with loud people around and it hindered my like for the book.
If you don't mind profanity, this book was splendid and just . . . WOAH in every aspect. Even if you don't like profanity, the book is soul-screwing and tear-jerking. My friend who recommended this to me said she cried when she read this, but I couldn't get around the profanity.
Don't get me wrong--this was a gripping story with a mysterious protagonist and terrifying suspense. The love interest was adorable but also kinda mysterious.
I do totally recommend this book. But do not take it lightly.
This is the type of book you read alone, at night, under the covers and with a flashlight. Maybe that's just me. I couldn't focus on the story with loud people around and it hindered my like for the book.
If you don't mind profanity, this book was splendid and just . . . WOAH in every aspect. Even if you don't like profanity, the book is soul-screwing and tear-jerking. My friend who recommended this to me said she cried when she read this, but I couldn't get around the profanity.
Don't get me wrong--this was a gripping story with a mysterious protagonist and terrifying suspense. The love interest was adorable but also kinda mysterious.
I do totally recommend this book. But do not take it lightly.
Rating : 4.5
Really Really liked it specially the ending
I will definitely be rereading sometime hopefully soon
Really Really liked it specially the ending
I will definitely be rereading sometime hopefully soon
Awesome. It broke my heart when Josh had sex with his fuck buddy and Nastya heard them. Aww
Would I have enjoyed this book a lot better if they were 5 years older? YES. Do I love a shitty romance? YES. Let me enjoy my books BRIANA. 3.25 stars. Probably would’ve been higher if Briana didn’t shit on me
Nastya writes in her journal and runs for miles just to quiet her mind, after a horrific event left her hand crushed and her soul even more so. She ends up at the end of the driveway of Josh who she feels drawn too, maybe because he is just as damaged as she feels.
Josh has lost just about everyone in his life, his parents, sister, grandmother and now his grandfather is barely hanging on. Neither wants to get attached but they find a way to slowly build their lives again. The stories surrounding each is heartbreaking and sad. A few times I felt the story moved slowly but I loved the characters and it was very well written.
Josh has lost just about everyone in his life, his parents, sister, grandmother and now his grandfather is barely hanging on. Neither wants to get attached but they find a way to slowly build their lives again. The stories surrounding each is heartbreaking and sad. A few times I felt the story moved slowly but I loved the characters and it was very well written.
Beautifully written. Nastya and Josh are two broken teens who find each other and slowly, slowly start to open themselves up to second chances. The secondary characters are fully fleshed and add so much to the story-- especially Drew, who does a pretty great job of convincing folks that he's a self-centered jerk, although his true nonjerkiness slowly shines through. Not a five star book because I found the resolution a little too convenient. But absolutely worth reading.
Oh my heart. It broke into a thousand pieces and was put back together again. This book, it's everything a "YA" book should be. It is filled with broken characters that are real, and we are brought into their realness. They're not easily or readily fixed. They're troubled but they're not. And truly, these characters are not ones to be stuck into a "YA" genre, their reach is far greater and with breadth. This book is full with of despair, caring,compassion,tragedy, hope, hopelessness, dysfunction, functional, and the need to be known, accepted, secure and loved —all of this is not isolated to those of YA age, it spreads across all the generations involved within the pages and that speaks to realness of life far more than anything else. Oh my heart, the story of Nastya and and that of Josh is told well with writing that brings you into their world, their story (maybe not exact details) can be yours , it can be mine. My heart shattered, it's been put back together—I won't forget their story. I can breathe.
DNF at 21 pages.
You know what? Everyone has something of a sh!tty life. I spent a good deal of my childhood alone and unable to talk to anyone other than a journal about my inner-most thoughts - a condition that continues to plague me today. I was a fat, secluded homeschooled child whose biggest social interactions came from weekly trips to the grocery store or the 15 minutes before and after church. (Remember people: the internet wasn't really around when I was a teen.) I read books to figure out what people my age were doing - and envying them going to classes, having a locker, dating, kissing boys, dreaming about real boys instead of dudes from 30+ year old movies and TV shows, DRESSING UP in things other than sweatpants for school.
College wasn't that much more freedom. I went to a local community college, wasn't supported in getting a job, and let my parents talk me out of pursuing a degree I wanted vs one that was closer to home. My MySpace account lasted all of 3 days before my mom basically forced me to get rid of it. When I asked for faster internet (we finally got NetZero in the early 00's), I was accused of wanting to keep up with Britney Spears - as if I didn't need it to watch the videos and do research that was increasingly necessary for my classes.
During college, I was always the good girl - I went from class to home promptly. I didn't party; I made few friends; I dated no one. I didn't do drugs, drink, fail classes, hook up for casual sex, party until 1 am in the morning. I did nothing wrong - and yet more than anything, I wish I could go back and let my hair loose.
(NOTE: This is not to say my childhood and young adult years were 100% sh!t, just to say, we can all have sh!tty backgrounds.)
Given this background, I have very little sympathy for fictional characters who whinge about being effing gorgeous with no effort, who don't talk to pout around others (if I didn't talk to my mother, I got yelled at, I certainly wouldn't have been treated like Nastya, pretentious Drama Queen, who is allowed to live essentially without rules with her aunt), who dress in fashionable clothes that look good on their body, and who can GO TO SCHOOL with others their own age and interact with more people than your mom, dad, and sister on a daily basis.
Even thought it's been nearly two months since I tried to read this, I get enraged just remembering Nastya and her world of "Woe Is Me". I have no doubt something awful happened to Nastya, and I'm not trying to undermine what happened. But I can't be bothered to give two sh!ts about it when she has it "so good". She could easily talk to a counselor about her problems - but instead, she can mope and be silent and get all the sympathy from her family.
At first, I just threw this book from "Currently Reading" to "On Hold" for my "Summer Challenge" of reading what I liked. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way I could attempt to go back to this book, so much did the first 21 pages enrage me.
To those that love this (and there are loads of you): Very happy for you, but I cannot see the appeal.
To those who are fans that will now hop on this review and fansplain why I am a harpy: Why are you here in the first place? If you love this book so much, why don't you write a review or read the book for the 8 billionth time? Leave me in peace.
(And this was my set off for "Summer of Love: Rediscovering My Love of Reading"!! YAY!!)
You know what? Everyone has something of a sh!tty life. I spent a good deal of my childhood alone and unable to talk to anyone other than a journal about my inner-most thoughts - a condition that continues to plague me today. I was a fat, secluded homeschooled child whose biggest social interactions came from weekly trips to the grocery store or the 15 minutes before and after church. (Remember people: the internet wasn't really around when I was a teen.) I read books to figure out what people my age were doing - and envying them going to classes, having a locker, dating, kissing boys, dreaming about real boys instead of dudes from 30+ year old movies and TV shows, DRESSING UP in things other than sweatpants for school.
College wasn't that much more freedom. I went to a local community college, wasn't supported in getting a job, and let my parents talk me out of pursuing a degree I wanted vs one that was closer to home. My MySpace account lasted all of 3 days before my mom basically forced me to get rid of it. When I asked for faster internet (we finally got NetZero in the early 00's), I was accused of wanting to keep up with Britney Spears - as if I didn't need it to watch the videos and do research that was increasingly necessary for my classes.
During college, I was always the good girl - I went from class to home promptly. I didn't party; I made few friends; I dated no one. I didn't do drugs, drink, fail classes, hook up for casual sex, party until 1 am in the morning. I did nothing wrong - and yet more than anything, I wish I could go back and let my hair loose.
(NOTE: This is not to say my childhood and young adult years were 100% sh!t, just to say, we can all have sh!tty backgrounds.)
Given this background, I have very little sympathy for fictional characters who whinge about being effing gorgeous with no effort, who don't talk to pout around others (if I didn't talk to my mother, I got yelled at, I certainly wouldn't have been treated like Nastya, pretentious Drama Queen, who is allowed to live essentially without rules with her aunt), who dress in fashionable clothes that look good on their body, and who can GO TO SCHOOL with others their own age and interact with more people than your mom, dad, and sister on a daily basis.
Even thought it's been nearly two months since I tried to read this, I get enraged just remembering Nastya and her world of "Woe Is Me". I have no doubt something awful happened to Nastya, and I'm not trying to undermine what happened. But I can't be bothered to give two sh!ts about it when she has it "so good". She could easily talk to a counselor about her problems - but instead, she can mope and be silent and get all the sympathy from her family.
At first, I just threw this book from "Currently Reading" to "On Hold" for my "Summer Challenge" of reading what I liked. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way I could attempt to go back to this book, so much did the first 21 pages enrage me.
To those that love this (and there are loads of you): Very happy for you, but I cannot see the appeal.
To those who are fans that will now hop on this review and fansplain why I am a harpy: Why are you here in the first place? If you love this book so much, why don't you write a review or read the book for the 8 billionth time? Leave me in peace.
(And this was my set off for "Summer of Love: Rediscovering My Love of Reading"!! YAY!!)
this book wowed me :-) sometimes its better to communicate in silence....
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
So I get why people love this book. I also get why people hate it.
It's full of clichés, but they are well executed clichés. It's got a girl and a boy with respective sob stories. It's got a shit ton of drama. It's got high school. It's got ridiculous nicknames. It's got a pretty cute love story.
SPOILERS AHEAD
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..
.
.
..
...
Here are some things I didn't get:
• Why Nastya decided the best way to be invisible was to dress like a hooker. It seems a little counterintuitive, though she explains it by saying that she is drawing people's attention away from herself by keeping them busy looking at her outfit. In theory, this might fly, but in real life everyone knows that the only thing dressing like a hooker will get you is a lot of staring. I know everyone deals with their problems in different ways, but the hooker getup never quite sold with me when she claimed she wanted to be unnoticed.
• The Sunshine nickname. It worked the first two times, when he was using it sarcastically. Because that's the only time it's ever ok to call someone Sunshine – when they're being anything but. Only Josh takes it to a whole new level, using it all the time and (as a previous reviewer pointed out) it in such mundane contexts as thinking to himself, "Sunshine sat in the chair," and "I passed Sunshine the plate."
Other problems:
• I think I lost a lot of my sympathy for Nastya when she went all "I'm ruined, you ruined me," on Josh, and then when that hurt him was like, "After seeing his pain, now I'm ruined." And then later, after more drama goes down, was like "I wasn't ruined before, but now that I know Josh is moving on with his life and trying to get over me, now I'm officially ruined." For realz guyz.
• She waited until a guy was trying to rape her to decide that she didn't want to continue choosing to make bad things to happen to her.
• I also didn't quite understand the depth of her self-loathing. I understood that she didn't like being the cause of her family's pain, but it went well beyond that to the point where I just couldn't comprehend where it was coming from.
• She broke 90% of the bones in her hand, i.e. it was completely crushed. In real life, this would have resulted in the amputation of her hand. At best, total disfigurement and loss of functionality. In the book, though? She has no disfigurement except for a few scars and full functionality, i.e. can open and close her fist, can hold and pick things up, etc. The only problem with it is the occasional loss of muscle control and the lack of coordination which keeps her from playing piano apparently, though she doesn't even try. Even more astonishing still, she doesn't have pain in the hand. All things considered, that's pretty fucking lucky.
• Her attacker didn't remember beating the crap out of her. That I might buy. But then apparently he didn't remember dragging her into the woods, either? Nope, no go. The act of trying to hide her demonstrates that he was using logic and therefore had come out of whatever beserker rage he was in during the attack, so by that reasoning, he would have to remember at least the aftermath of what he'd done.
• Something else a different reviewer brought up: all the "good" characters are beautiful and talented. Where are the normal people?
A few things did pull my heartstrings, like when Josh made a chair for her, and when Clay asked Josh what emotions she made him feel, and he was like, "All of them."
I also thought they were sort of cute in their domestic glory, though having her ditch her family did seem like a plot ploy to get her to spend time with him. I mean, if she feels so bad for causing her family so much pain, would she really move away?
Anyway, these are mostly just snippets of my overall impression. I'd say it's worth reading for yourself to discover whether you can overlook it's faults to enjoy it's good bits.
So I get why people love this book. I also get why people hate it.
It's full of clichés, but they are well executed clichés. It's got a girl and a boy with respective sob stories. It's got a shit ton of drama. It's got high school. It's got ridiculous nicknames. It's got a pretty cute love story.
SPOILERS AHEAD
...
..
.
.
..
...
Here are some things I didn't get:
• Why Nastya decided the best way to be invisible was to dress like a hooker. It seems a little counterintuitive, though she explains it by saying that she is drawing people's attention away from herself by keeping them busy looking at her outfit. In theory, this might fly, but in real life everyone knows that the only thing dressing like a hooker will get you is a lot of staring. I know everyone deals with their problems in different ways, but the hooker getup never quite sold with me when she claimed she wanted to be unnoticed.
• The Sunshine nickname. It worked the first two times, when he was using it sarcastically. Because that's the only time it's ever ok to call someone Sunshine – when they're being anything but. Only Josh takes it to a whole new level, using it all the time and (as a previous reviewer pointed out) it in such mundane contexts as thinking to himself, "Sunshine sat in the chair," and "I passed Sunshine the plate."
Other problems:
• I think I lost a lot of my sympathy for Nastya when she went all "I'm ruined, you ruined me," on Josh, and then when that hurt him was like, "After seeing his pain, now I'm ruined." And then later, after more drama goes down, was like "I wasn't ruined before, but now that I know Josh is moving on with his life and trying to get over me, now I'm officially ruined." For realz guyz.
• She waited until a guy was trying to rape her to decide that she didn't want to continue choosing to make bad things to happen to her.
• I also didn't quite understand the depth of her self-loathing. I understood that she didn't like being the cause of her family's pain, but it went well beyond that to the point where I just couldn't comprehend where it was coming from.
• She broke 90% of the bones in her hand, i.e. it was completely crushed. In real life, this would have resulted in the amputation of her hand. At best, total disfigurement and loss of functionality. In the book, though? She has no disfigurement except for a few scars and full functionality, i.e. can open and close her fist, can hold and pick things up, etc. The only problem with it is the occasional loss of muscle control and the lack of coordination which keeps her from playing piano apparently, though she doesn't even try. Even more astonishing still, she doesn't have pain in the hand. All things considered, that's pretty fucking lucky.
• Her attacker didn't remember beating the crap out of her. That I might buy. But then apparently he didn't remember dragging her into the woods, either? Nope, no go. The act of trying to hide her demonstrates that he was using logic and therefore had come out of whatever beserker rage he was in during the attack, so by that reasoning, he would have to remember at least the aftermath of what he'd done.
• Something else a different reviewer brought up: all the "good" characters are beautiful and talented. Where are the normal people?
A few things did pull my heartstrings, like when Josh made a chair for her, and when Clay asked Josh what emotions she made him feel, and he was like, "All of them."
I also thought they were sort of cute in their domestic glory, though having her ditch her family did seem like a plot ploy to get her to spend time with him. I mean, if she feels so bad for causing her family so much pain, would she really move away?
Anyway, these are mostly just snippets of my overall impression. I'd say it's worth reading for yourself to discover whether you can overlook it's faults to enjoy it's good bits.