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yara_adorablebooks's review against another edition
5.0
OMG, dit boek!!!!! ALL the feels. Lees de recensie hier: http://adorablebooks.nl/sterrenstof-krystal-sutherland/
user927463892's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
amliham's review against another edition
2.0
This book was *fine* for YA fiction. My biggest complaint is how incredibly toxic Henry and Grace's relationship is and how the author tries to romanticize it all. This is a book about a relationship that should have never happened.
julie_reads15's review against another edition
3.0
Summary
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland is a contemporary young adult novel about how messy and complicated first love can be.
Henry is a 17-year-old teenager who has never been in love, but he's convinced he knows what it looks like.
When Grace walks into his drama class late on the second Tuesday of senior year, dressed in boys' clothing, looking unclean, and walking with a cane, she's not the kind of person Henry expected he would fall for.
Henry and Grace are assigned as editors of the school newspaper. Forced to work together, they get to know each other and Henry discovers there's something broken about her, and he's convinced he can help her put the pieces back together again.
Henry soon learns that the road to first love isn't as smooth and as easy as he expected it would be. It's complicated, messy and bittersweet. With Lola and Murray, his two quirky best friends by his side, Henry navigates the tumultuous journey of senior year.
Review
I liked how the novel wasn't an average love story. I think it realistically portrayed the emotions of how messy, complicated and bittersweet first love can be.
I like books that allude to a character being a manic pixie dream girl, but I didn't like how this book outright stated it. It's not something that should be stated in a book.
I liked the sense of mystery surrounding Grace. I kept reading in order to find out the answers to her secrets. However, it annoyed me how she was leading Henry on. She made him suffer in order to minimise her suffering.
I didn't like how Henry ignored Grace's mental illness by pretending she was the person he wanted her to be.
I really liked Lola. I loved her personality and I thought she was a great best friend to Henry. I also liked Sadie, I thought she was a great older sister to Henry.
The stereotype of Murray being an Australian immigrant who always spoke in Aussie slang felt forced and cliche.
The novel was brimming with pop culture references. I enjoyed the ones I understood. However, there were quite I few which I didn't understand so I couldn't enjoy them.
I liked the ending, it was realistic and relatable.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 14 years and older and wants to read a bittersweet coming of age novel about first love.
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland is a contemporary young adult novel about how messy and complicated first love can be.
Henry is a 17-year-old teenager who has never been in love, but he's convinced he knows what it looks like.
When Grace walks into his drama class late on the second Tuesday of senior year, dressed in boys' clothing, looking unclean, and walking with a cane, she's not the kind of person Henry expected he would fall for.
Henry and Grace are assigned as editors of the school newspaper. Forced to work together, they get to know each other and Henry discovers there's something broken about her, and he's convinced he can help her put the pieces back together again.
Henry soon learns that the road to first love isn't as smooth and as easy as he expected it would be. It's complicated, messy and bittersweet. With Lola and Murray, his two quirky best friends by his side, Henry navigates the tumultuous journey of senior year.
Review
I liked how the novel wasn't an average love story. I think it realistically portrayed the emotions of how messy, complicated and bittersweet first love can be.
I like books that allude to a character being a manic pixie dream girl, but I didn't like how this book outright stated it. It's not something that should be stated in a book.
I liked the sense of mystery surrounding Grace. I kept reading in order to find out the answers to her secrets. However, it annoyed me how she was leading Henry on. She made him suffer in order to minimise her suffering.
I didn't like how Henry ignored Grace's mental illness by pretending she was the person he wanted her to be.
I really liked Lola. I loved her personality and I thought she was a great best friend to Henry. I also liked Sadie, I thought she was a great older sister to Henry.
The stereotype of Murray being an Australian immigrant who always spoke in Aussie slang felt forced and cliche.
The novel was brimming with pop culture references. I enjoyed the ones I understood. However, there were quite I few which I didn't understand so I couldn't enjoy them.
I liked the ending, it was realistic and relatable.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 14 years and older and wants to read a bittersweet coming of age novel about first love.
ella_eaves's review against another edition
3.0
3.5☆ a very deep, heartbreaking story, which i loved, but had a little too much language/talk imo
15/16+
15/16+
chezzreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
ettorditaget's review against another edition
4.0
”Our chemical hearts” är en så fin bok. Det är inte den klassiska ”pojke och flicka möts och blir hopplöst förälskade”-historien utan den har något särskilt.
Absolut är den lite klyschig, sådär som en tonårs-kärlekshistoria brukar vara, men inte på det där sättet att man ständigt vill himla med ögonen, utan snarare som att man medan man läser hela tiden sorgset tänker ”Det är för bra för att vara sant.” Och mycket riktigt, utför går det så småningom. (Och nej, det är ingen stor spoiler att jag säger det- för alla böcker byggs ju generellt upp tills man når en konflikt). Efter det följer flera vändningar i handlingen och jag slukade den här boken snabbt även om jag inte ville att den skulle ta slut. Det är en så sorglig historia och mitt hjärta gick sönder lite mer för varje pusselbit som föll på plats.
Jag vill att Grace och Henry ska finnas på riktigt, jag vill ta en fika med dem och om så bara för en liten stund få vara en del av deras värld. Jag vill läsa Henrys texter och jag vill ha djupa diskussioner med Grace.
Jag är lite sugen på att köpa en egen kopia av den här boken eftersom jag lånade den på biblioteket och därmed inte kunde kladda i den. Jag har tänkt mycket på den här boken efter att jag läst ut den!
Absolut är den lite klyschig, sådär som en tonårs-kärlekshistoria brukar vara, men inte på det där sättet att man ständigt vill himla med ögonen, utan snarare som att man medan man läser hela tiden sorgset tänker ”Det är för bra för att vara sant.” Och mycket riktigt, utför går det så småningom. (Och nej, det är ingen stor spoiler att jag säger det- för alla böcker byggs ju generellt upp tills man når en konflikt). Efter det följer flera vändningar i handlingen och jag slukade den här boken snabbt även om jag inte ville att den skulle ta slut. Det är en så sorglig historia och mitt hjärta gick sönder lite mer för varje pusselbit som föll på plats.
Jag vill att Grace och Henry ska finnas på riktigt, jag vill ta en fika med dem och om så bara för en liten stund få vara en del av deras värld. Jag vill läsa Henrys texter och jag vill ha djupa diskussioner med Grace.
Jag är lite sugen på att köpa en egen kopia av den här boken eftersom jag lånade den på biblioteket och därmed inte kunde kladda i den. Jag har tänkt mycket på den här boken efter att jag läst ut den!
starrysea98's review against another edition
4.0
This book made my year. Honestly. I've been reading so much crappy YA books - marketed as John Green meets this or Gayle Forman meets that. Nothing ever lives up to the hype.
And then there's this one. The blurb says it's John Green meets Rainbow Rowell (and if you didn't understand the hint for the ending, I'm so sorry). I had high hopes for this book. And boy were they fulfilled.
Henry is a hilarious protagonist. His point of view is refreshing and pretty much perfect for telling his story. He's a romantic, the kind that believes in happily ever after and love at first sight. That automatically endears him to me because honestly, that's so cute.
His love interest, Grace Town though. I loved her so much at the beginning. I mean, man, adventures in the middle of the night to some abandoned train station? HELL YES. (Although that was a bit Paper Towns-y to me). Grace is like the ultimate quirky girl; she's weird. But of course there's a reason why she's like that.
(Please tell me everyone saw it coming too).
At the end, my heart just broke. It was breaking for Henry, breaking for Grace and for their love. I thought Sutherland handled the ending really well and I had the last few lines in my head for days on end. This isn't a five star book because I felt that there was some potential in certain characters that went unexplored and okay yes, because of the ending. But I love that this tells you to love a girl, not just the idea of her.
And then there's this one. The blurb says it's John Green meets Rainbow Rowell (and if you didn't understand the hint for the ending, I'm so sorry). I had high hopes for this book. And boy were they fulfilled.
Henry is a hilarious protagonist. His point of view is refreshing and pretty much perfect for telling his story. He's a romantic, the kind that believes in happily ever after and love at first sight. That automatically endears him to me because honestly, that's so cute.
His love interest, Grace Town though. I loved her so much at the beginning. I mean, man, adventures in the middle of the night to some abandoned train station? HELL YES. (Although that was a bit Paper Towns-y to me). Grace is like the ultimate quirky girl; she's weird. But of course there's a reason why she's like that.
(Please tell me everyone saw it coming too).
At the end, my heart just broke. It was breaking for Henry, breaking for Grace and for their love. I thought Sutherland handled the ending really well and I had the last few lines in my head for days on end. This isn't a five star book because I felt that there was some potential in certain characters that went unexplored and okay yes, because of the ending. But I love that this tells you to love a girl, not just the idea of her.
bluedaisygirl's review against another edition
4.0
I have to say, I didn't know much about this book going in other than 1. It's currently being made into a movie by Netflix, and 2. The official description.
It was not what I expected, but not in a bad way. And while I liked it, I didn't feel as emotionally invested in the main characters and what happened to them as I am in other books.
I liked the main characters, Henry, Grace, Muz and Lola, and their relationships with each other, but I just didn't connect with them or feel like I got to know anything deep about them except they were always there for each other.
The narrator is a teenage boy who falls for a girl that's broken by a tragedy, and I felt like he was really slow to figure things out that should've been pretty obvious way earlier.
I've been in love before, (several times) and I do understand that feeling of wanting to be with someone even if they aren't good for you, or if the relationship is hard, but that chemical reaction in your body says you need them anyway. I totally get that he wanted her to love him, and that it would somehow make him worthy of love (or at least prove that there wasn't something wrong with him) because I've been in that situation before myself, but I feel like the narrator just told us it hurt to be tossed around by Grace's confusing actions rather than making me feel for him. I wasn't rooting for them in the way I usually do for romantic leads.
The pop-culture references and insights into the human heart, and love, and relationships were interesting and it made the book fun and current and realistic, which I did appreciate.
In the end, this book is very thought provoking, interesting and explores a lot of deep issues about relationships--what it takes to make them work, what they are, what they aren't, and what's important in the end.
Just don't expect to be deeply immersed in the characters and emotionally connected to the outcome.
It was not what I expected, but not in a bad way. And while I liked it, I didn't feel as emotionally invested in the main characters and what happened to them as I am in other books.
I liked the main characters, Henry, Grace, Muz and Lola, and their relationships with each other, but I just didn't connect with them or feel like I got to know anything deep about them except they were always there for each other.
The narrator is a teenage boy who falls for a girl that's broken by a tragedy, and I felt like he was really slow to figure things out that should've been pretty obvious way earlier.
I've been in love before, (several times) and I do understand that feeling of wanting to be with someone even if they aren't good for you, or if the relationship is hard, but that chemical reaction in your body says you need them anyway. I totally get that he wanted her to love him, and that it would somehow make him worthy of love (or at least prove that there wasn't something wrong with him) because I've been in that situation before myself, but I feel like the narrator just told us it hurt to be tossed around by Grace's confusing actions rather than making me feel for him. I wasn't rooting for them in the way I usually do for romantic leads.
The pop-culture references and insights into the human heart, and love, and relationships were interesting and it made the book fun and current and realistic, which I did appreciate.
In the end, this book is very thought provoking, interesting and explores a lot of deep issues about relationships--what it takes to make them work, what they are, what they aren't, and what's important in the end.
Just don't expect to be deeply immersed in the characters and emotionally connected to the outcome.