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kath_reads's review
3.0
I was so excited when I saw this on NetGalley and got even more excited when they approved my request.
This book is a compilation of different types of romance stories with the theme "love against the odds". Some are original short stories written by Malorie Blakcman, David Levithan and James Dawson. Most are excerpts from pre-existing novels like If I Stay, Forbidden and I Am The Messenger.
Some of the readers might find this book disappointing because they have already read some of the excerpts included or they will think that this book includes spoiler, which is not. My only problem with the excerpts was I had a hard time understanding what was really going on and most of the time I got confused with the characters. It's like you open a book in a random page and you don't have any idea why the character is crying.
What I love with this collection is the stories are not only about girl-boy relationships. There are also characters who belong to the LGBT community, people with disability, from different social statuses and religions.
I can say that this book will still make an awesome read with the original short stories alone. But it's not bad because this also introduces us to some of the great authors and their works. One thing is for sure, this book will make your TBR list longer.
Some of my favorites from the original short stories are Gentlewoman by Laura Dockrill which is about a boy who came out and changed himself into a girl with the help of modern medicine, The Unicorn by James Dawson is about the bittersweet story of a forbidden relationship between two Navy guys during the Korean War, and David Levithan's Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat which is a story about a girl who falls in love with the new girl in school and how she ends up with a realization when things didn't work for them.
All in all, I enjoyed reading Love Hurts. Ms. Blackman did a great job collecting unique, fresh, and interesting love stories for the readers to realize the real meaning of love.
This book is a compilation of different types of romance stories with the theme "love against the odds". Some are original short stories written by Malorie Blakcman, David Levithan and James Dawson. Most are excerpts from pre-existing novels like If I Stay, Forbidden and I Am The Messenger.
Some of the readers might find this book disappointing because they have already read some of the excerpts included or they will think that this book includes spoiler, which is not. My only problem with the excerpts was I had a hard time understanding what was really going on and most of the time I got confused with the characters. It's like you open a book in a random page and you don't have any idea why the character is crying.
What I love with this collection is the stories are not only about girl-boy relationships. There are also characters who belong to the LGBT community, people with disability, from different social statuses and religions.
I can say that this book will still make an awesome read with the original short stories alone. But it's not bad because this also introduces us to some of the great authors and their works. One thing is for sure, this book will make your TBR list longer.
Some of my favorites from the original short stories are Gentlewoman by Laura Dockrill which is about a boy who came out and changed himself into a girl with the help of modern medicine, The Unicorn by James Dawson is about the bittersweet story of a forbidden relationship between two Navy guys during the Korean War, and David Levithan's Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat which is a story about a girl who falls in love with the new girl in school and how she ends up with a realization when things didn't work for them.
All in all, I enjoyed reading Love Hurts. Ms. Blackman did a great job collecting unique, fresh, and interesting love stories for the readers to realize the real meaning of love.
megan7b386's review
3.0
I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley
This was sadly disappointing.
Malorie Blackman and many great YA writers come together to write a collection of romance stories about love against the odds. Stories my authors such as Gayle Forman, Markus Zusak and Patrick Ness.
When I saw Love Hurts on NetGalley I was so excited and requested it immediately. However, when I started reading I realised that a lot of the stories were extracts from previous books, and I'm not really sure which ones were original. I had already read some of the stories in this, as they were extracts from books that were already published. While there was a large amount that I hadn't read in Love Hurts, overall, I was disappointed.
I had a problem with the extracts and pacing most of it. Due to some being extracts of books already published it was sometimes very confusing. I think this was because most of them seemed like they were starting in the middle of something. It felt like I was missing something, and I was just dropped into the middle of a conversation and I struggled to pick up who the characters were and what was happening, like why they were arguing. This also made everything seemed very rushed and insta-love, with little character and relationship development. In some of the stories there was little chemistry between the characters and I just found it really hard to connect with some of the characters, or the story in general.
One positive about the whole of Love Hurts was that there was a lot of diversity which is always a plus in a book.
I will probably write some little reviews about each story, but at the moment my schedule is a little busy that I have barely any time to read.
Overall, I would probably recommend for fans of romance.
This was sadly disappointing.
Malorie Blackman and many great YA writers come together to write a collection of romance stories about love against the odds. Stories my authors such as Gayle Forman, Markus Zusak and Patrick Ness.
When I saw Love Hurts on NetGalley I was so excited and requested it immediately. However, when I started reading I realised that a lot of the stories were extracts from previous books, and I'm not really sure which ones were original. I had already read some of the stories in this, as they were extracts from books that were already published. While there was a large amount that I hadn't read in Love Hurts, overall, I was disappointed.
I had a problem with the extracts and pacing most of it. Due to some being extracts of books already published it was sometimes very confusing. I think this was because most of them seemed like they were starting in the middle of something. It felt like I was missing something, and I was just dropped into the middle of a conversation and I struggled to pick up who the characters were and what was happening, like why they were arguing. This also made everything seemed very rushed and insta-love, with little character and relationship development. In some of the stories there was little chemistry between the characters and I just found it really hard to connect with some of the characters, or the story in general.
One positive about the whole of Love Hurts was that there was a lot of diversity which is always a plus in a book.
I will probably write some little reviews about each story, but at the moment my schedule is a little busy that I have barely any time to read.
Overall, I would probably recommend for fans of romance.
connieischill's review
5.0
Oh my God. I'm still in shock at this book. I knew that it was sad, but that- I wasn't expecting that. It is honestly heart wrenching.
1) Halfway through this book, I was already guessing at what had happened to the main character, Matt. I predicted he'd either killed someone, or cheated. But what really happened was so close, yet so far, from my predictions, that I got really emotional. Knowing that someone would do that to another people, make them feel as weak and low as Matt felt- God, it's disgusting. Not that he let it happen- he definitely had no choice, no way to fight back- but the fact that someone as close to Matt as the attacker was, did that.
2) This book was beautifully wrote. I was a bit iffy at the tense it was being wrote in, but I got really used to and comfortable with it and I think it made the book twice as real being told that way. How everything was just thrown at you, happening then, in the present, made it so much more real. The descriptions of how Mathéo felt had such a big impact on the way I read it- it sounded real, and sudden, as if he was just realizing and describing how he felt, as if none of it was planned. 'He feels so entrapped by the horror of existence that it is hard to comprehend why the whole world doesn't feel it too.' Like- How beautiful is that? The entire book is beautiful.
3) Even though the descriptions of the characters were basic, and didn't take up millions of pages, I could clearly picture them, everything about them, how they looked during different moments throughout the book- everything was just so clear.
4) The cover is absolutely beautiful. The girl who designed it, along with everyone else who contributed (wrote in the acknowledgements) did an extremely good job just capturing the entire essence of the book, and Mathéo, perfectly. Not to mention how beautiful the inside, under the dusk jacket, is. The colour co-ordination is amazing.
5) The situation was so realistic, and handled so well. There wasn't any bit of the book where I thought it was unrealistic, or that Tabitha wasn't handling any topic badly. I think one of the topics that hit me was the neglect that Matt's younger brother, Loic, felt. Seeing how his father disregarded Loic, everything he was doing and trying to achieve, was horrible: when he talked to Matt after he found him crying, he was being so mature and compassionate it just made my heart break. Knowing how sorry Matt felt about everything Loic was going through was just terrible.
I loved this book. 5/5 stars, and I'll definitely be reading more books by Tabitha in the future!
1) Halfway through this book, I was already guessing at what had happened to the main character, Matt. I predicted he'd either killed someone, or cheated. But what really happened was so close, yet so far, from my predictions, that I got really emotional. Knowing that someone would do that to another people, make them feel as weak and low as Matt felt- God, it's disgusting. Not that he let it happen- he definitely had no choice, no way to fight back- but the fact that someone as close to Matt as the attacker was, did that.
2) This book was beautifully wrote. I was a bit iffy at the tense it was being wrote in, but I got really used to and comfortable with it and I think it made the book twice as real being told that way. How everything was just thrown at you, happening then, in the present, made it so much more real. The descriptions of how Mathéo felt had such a big impact on the way I read it- it sounded real, and sudden, as if he was just realizing and describing how he felt, as if none of it was planned. 'He feels so entrapped by the horror of existence that it is hard to comprehend why the whole world doesn't feel it too.' Like- How beautiful is that? The entire book is beautiful.
3) Even though the descriptions of the characters were basic, and didn't take up millions of pages, I could clearly picture them, everything about them, how they looked during different moments throughout the book- everything was just so clear.
4) The cover is absolutely beautiful. The girl who designed it, along with everyone else who contributed (wrote in the acknowledgements) did an extremely good job just capturing the entire essence of the book, and Mathéo, perfectly. Not to mention how beautiful the inside, under the dusk jacket, is. The colour co-ordination is amazing.
5) The situation was so realistic, and handled so well. There wasn't any bit of the book where I thought it was unrealistic, or that Tabitha wasn't handling any topic badly. I think one of the topics that hit me was the neglect that Matt's younger brother, Loic, felt. Seeing how his father disregarded Loic, everything he was doing and trying to achieve, was horrible: when he talked to Matt after he found him crying, he was being so mature and compassionate it just made my heart break. Knowing how sorry Matt felt about everything Loic was going through was just terrible.
I loved this book. 5/5 stars, and I'll definitely be reading more books by Tabitha in the future!
alyce6d980's review
4.0
Containing twenty four short stories from popular YA authors, I was certain that this was going to be one of the most interesting and exciting anthologies that I'd ever had the pleasure to read. Curated by Malorie Blackman, featuring contributions from Philip Pullman, Gayle Forman, David Levithan and Jenny Downham - including many, many more? Mind-blowing stuff.
Alas, it was not to be the case. It turns out that a mere five of these short stories are actually new short stories - out of the other nineteen contributions, only two are actually short stories. Yep, utter disappointment. I couldn't believe it. The other seventeen "short stories" are extended excerpts from best-selling YA novels, such as 'I Am The Messenger' by Markus Zusak and 'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart.
I really dislike extended excerpts: I can't see any reason behind them. If I was going to read the book, why would I want a section of spoilers from it? This meant that I decided straight off that I was going to add the novels that I hadn't read to a list of ones to look up, and just read the seven short stories that are self-contained. I'm going to write small reviews of each of these, and the rating for the collection will be the average of the ratings I've given these seven.
Read the rest of my review here!
Alas, it was not to be the case. It turns out that a mere five of these short stories are actually new short stories - out of the other nineteen contributions, only two are actually short stories. Yep, utter disappointment. I couldn't believe it. The other seventeen "short stories" are extended excerpts from best-selling YA novels, such as 'I Am The Messenger' by Markus Zusak and 'We Were Liars' by E. Lockhart.
I really dislike extended excerpts: I can't see any reason behind them. If I was going to read the book, why would I want a section of spoilers from it? This meant that I decided straight off that I was going to add the novels that I hadn't read to a list of ones to look up, and just read the seven short stories that are self-contained. I'm going to write small reviews of each of these, and the rating for the collection will be the average of the ratings I've given these seven.
Read the rest of my review here!
thequeenofair's review
3.0
Leí tantas buenas reseñas de este libro, me lo recomendaron tantas veces, y hasta me dijeron que era más doloroso que Forbidden, pero personalmente hablando, no me causó nada.
La historia trata sobre Matheo, un chico con una vida envidiable, es popular, millonario, una estrella del clavadismo y, según él, tiene a la novia más hermosa del mundo. Matheo lo tiene prácticamente todo, hasta que un día, después de un desafortunado acontecimiento, deja de encontrarle sentido a su vida. A partir de ahí la historia se centra en el conflicto que enfrenta Matheo al tener que guardar su secreto para no perder a la única persona que de verdad le importa, su perfecta novia Lola.
La única razón por la que seguía leyendo era por curiosidad, quería saber qué había pasado y sobretodo quién lo había hecho. No voy a mentir, de verdad me sorprendí cuando Matheo confiesa lo que en realidad pasó, fue la única parte en la que el libro de verdad me causó algo.
Me aburrió muchisimo el tema de Lola y como el 40% del libro trata sobre Matheo describiendo lo perfecta que es Lola y lo bien que lo hace sentir y blablabla, a lo último ya salteaba esas partes.El suicidio de Lola me pareció totalmente innecesario, creo que la autora lo utilizó en un intento de hacer el libro mucho más doloroso o shockeante, no lo sé. Lo cierto es, que en cierta forma, arruina el final.
Para resumir. No me gustó.
La historia trata sobre Matheo, un chico con una vida envidiable, es popular, millonario, una estrella del clavadismo y, según él, tiene a la novia más hermosa del mundo. Matheo lo tiene prácticamente todo, hasta que un día, después de un desafortunado acontecimiento, deja de encontrarle sentido a su vida. A partir de ahí la historia se centra en el conflicto que enfrenta Matheo al tener que guardar su secreto para no perder a la única persona que de verdad le importa, su perfecta novia Lola.
La única razón por la que seguía leyendo era por curiosidad, quería saber qué había pasado y sobretodo quién lo había hecho. No voy a mentir, de verdad me sorprendí cuando Matheo confiesa lo que en realidad pasó, fue la única parte en la que el libro de verdad me causó algo.
Me aburrió muchisimo el tema de Lola y como el 40% del libro trata sobre Matheo describiendo lo perfecta que es Lola y lo bien que lo hace sentir y blablabla, a lo último ya salteaba esas partes.
Para resumir. No me gustó.
jenk2020's review
3.0
My full video review can be found here
I've not rushed into reviewing this book. I needed some time to reflect. It's difficult to talk about this book without hinting at the story line. I'll hide spoilers where I can.
Tabitha Suzuma is known for centering her books around tough subject matters. So from the moment Matheo can't remember what happened to him on that fated night, I had my inclinations as to what went on.
It took me back to a Hollyoaks storyline, over ten years ago, where one of the male characters was gang raped by a group of men. It was the first time this had been done in a soap opera and the storyline won a lot of awards. It was dealt with sensitively and realistically and I felt this book did much the same.
I have read a few books deemed 'controversial' and hated them. Mainly because I felt the authors had cashed in on extremely difficult situations, with seemingly little research or thought to those who may have actually been through these things *cough* [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], [b:The Ice Cream Girls|6780522|The Ice Cream Girls|Dorothy Koomson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1279481064s/6780522.jpg|6940583] *cough*
Suzuma hasn't done this. I felt Matheo dealt withthe rape like any teenage boy would. The repercussions on his relationships, sexual and platonic, were realistic and painful. Suzuma captured the turmoil and hurt an event like this would cause, perfectly.
I had no inclination as towho the rapist was , until I re-read the tagline on the front cover. Which on reading, makes it rather obvious.
There were a number of reasons why I didn't rate this book particularly highly. I felt, right up until the end, that Suzuma had gauged reactions perfectly. But whenLola kills herself I felt she let herself down. Pulled a cheap shock tactic to end on an extreme downer. I felt it would have been more realistic if Matheo had got to Lola's and the police had been there, with Lola having reported her father. Lola gave no inclination as to being mentally unstable and I just didn't feel like she would have reacted like this.
I also couldn't understand why nobody noticed Matheoand Jerrywere covered in cuts and bruises. People would notice! The book was also overly descriptive in places. If I'm having to skim read to get to the bits that interest me, then you're over doing it.
Over all I did enjoy this. It's telling that it completely distracted me from what I should have been reading and I'd finished it in just three sittings. But some major flaws in the plot and unnecessary detail let it down for me.
I've not rushed into reviewing this book. I needed some time to reflect. It's difficult to talk about this book without hinting at the story line. I'll hide spoilers where I can.
Tabitha Suzuma is known for centering her books around tough subject matters. So from the moment Matheo can't remember what happened to him on that fated night, I had my inclinations as to what went on.
I have read a few books deemed 'controversial' and hated them. Mainly because I felt the authors had cashed in on extremely difficult situations, with seemingly little research or thought to those who may have actually been through these things *cough* [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], [b:The Ice Cream Girls|6780522|The Ice Cream Girls|Dorothy Koomson|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1279481064s/6780522.jpg|6940583] *cough*
Suzuma hasn't done this. I felt Matheo dealt with
I had no inclination as to
There were a number of reasons why I didn't rate this book particularly highly. I felt, right up until the end, that Suzuma had gauged reactions perfectly. But when
I also couldn't understand why nobody noticed Matheo
Over all I did enjoy this. It's telling that it completely distracted me from what I should have been reading and I'd finished it in just three sittings. But some major flaws in the plot and unnecessary detail let it down for me.
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