A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Title: A Monster Calls

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Rating: 4-and-a-half stars


Conor O'Malley has nightmare and he's afraid the monster from his nightmare will come to him in real life and the nightmare turns into real. So when a monster shows up, he's not afraid at all. That until the monster interferes in his life and shows him what's hidden under his nightmare.

Patrick Ness did it again! That's the first thing I had in mind after I finished reading this book. In my opinion Patrick Ness is one of the authors who aren't only good at creating loveable and believable characters but also good at create engaging plot. A Monster Calls shows exactly a great author he is. It might be short but it's deep nonetheless. There are stories written for more than 300 pages and you can't still feel the connection with the characters and there are stories written only 100ish pages and you feel in love with the characters since the first chapter. A Monster Calls fall into the later.

Conor is a poor kid; his mother is sick and has been through many treatment with barely a result. I've experienced what he experiences in this book and it wasn't easy for me, who undoubtedly an adult and has many people supported me. Conor on the other hand, is alone and has to deal with all those stuffs by himself. He doesn't have friend at school because everyone pities him, and it doesn't help him at all. And that's why the monster comes to him. The monster comes to tell him a story and after that, Conor must tell him his story, the story in his nightmare.

It's great story with a great message. It's also beautifully written. It's a must read for anyone had experienced loss in his/her life.

Lynossa

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Title: FreeFall
Series: None
Author: Mindi Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: Paperback, 315 pages
Rating: 4 Excellent!

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Summary:

How do you come back from the point of no return?Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend, Isaac, alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time when Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn't wake up.
Convinced that his own actions led to his friend's death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.
Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he's ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth soon realizes he isn't the only one who needs saving...

Review

Seth McCoy or better known as DICK has been wicked after his best friend’s death last summer, Around months ago. He’s been blaming himself since then. Everybody has moved on except him.

Freefall is a story about :
Letting go.
Moving on.
And Facing your fears.
It focuses on letting go and facing your fears as there are issues here that needs to be done. The story is believable and well made.

Freefall is a fun read. The characters were all good in their own way, the pace was also moderate. The scenes were realistic. The emotions were normal for someone who is still mourning and moving on. The humor was good! It made me laugh in some scenes there. And the romance was kinda cute. I like how Ms. Scott builds the relationship between Seth and Rosetta. It didn’t start of as “boom! They click”. It was a roller coaster yet it’s cute.

Seth’s character is firstly seen as a very disturb guy trying hard to move on and face the reality that his best friend is dead. He became a drunkard and his confidence suddenly went low. Isaac was everything to him. Without Isaac he is simple Seth. Not wild and away from trouble. It sounds best but when Isaac is around he can be himself. But now that he is gone. He became no one. Not obviously himself. But gradually as the story progresses we come to know him well.
Rosetta’s arrival to his life indeed made a big impact to himself. He became aware that there is another world out there waiting to be discovered. And there is someone who needs to be saved.

I bought the book for a several months ago but I shove it aside thinking that I might cry while reading the story. I thought it was a sad story so I prepared myself. The story started off in a bad way. That turned me off. But forced myself to give it a try. So it took me several try outs and I finally decided to stick with it for some time. And Yep it did worked. And I ended up liking the story.

The first thing that bothers me are of course the characters.
The characters were introduced in a not so good way. But at least it made me aware that this book is about teenagers nowadays. Second the Ending. I was glad that Seth’s issue was solved. But I was really looking forward to Rosetta’s. It left me hanging and made me thought that the ending is rushed. But its not. It’s just fine. The story is good that it made me not aware of how far I am nor what time it is. It wasn’t fast. But it’s just well written. I was savored in the story too much to think of letting it go.
I’ll be sure to look for more Mandi Scott’s book.

Kay-c

Freefall by Mindi Scott

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

Rating: 4 and a half (my maximum score!)

"But a knife ain't just a thing, is it? It's a choice, it's something you do. A knife says yes or no, cut or not, die or don't. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again. "

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee - whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not - stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden - a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought? (from Goodreads.com)

---Warning: Contains lots of spoilers---

Dear Mr. Ness,
When I first decide to read your book, I have no idea what I will encounter. I thought it will be another awesome story with awesome action and awesome characters. And it is true; The Knife of Never Letting Go is an awesome story with awesome action and awesome characters. But apparently it wasn't just that. It didn't stop at being awesome, it went further more beyond awesome, I couldn't even find the right word to describe it. How could you? How could you made me care and abandoned me? how could you made me love and broke my heart? How could you gave me hope and stole it away?

I couldn't even remember when was the last time I felt this way. I've read many great books this year but most of them I could see things coming and I've prepared myself for what will come; but not like this. You've wretched my heart, Mr. Ness.

I always have a thing for loyal non-human sidekick and Manchee was my favorite character and you've made me love him and then you took him away and shattered my heart. You've given me hope when Ben opened his arms and embraced Todd, only to be separated again and also when Todd and Viola finally reached Haven, only to find Aaron on their heels as well.

So thank you Mr. Ness for making me looked like an idiot for shedding tears on the train, for not giving me a warning that this is NOT a train novel, or airport novel, or any public-area novel; that this is the kind of novel that will consume all my mind and attention. And after all that you've done to me, you can guarantee two things for sure, the first one is that I'm going to read The Ask and The Answer PRIVATELY and the second one is you got yourself one devoted fan right here because even after you wretched my heart, just like Todd and Viola, I still have hope.
Though I'm not sure you'll consider yourself lucky or what for that.

Lynossa

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Title: Invincible Summer

Author Hannah Moskowitz

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Rating: 4 stars

---May contain some spoilers!---

Chase and the rest of McGill family (his parent, his older brother Noah, his younger sister Claudia, and his younger deaf brother Gideon) always spend summer at the beach together with the Hathaway family. Noah always had a summer fling with Hathaway's oldest daughter, Melinda, and Chase always be the one who act like oldest brother. But things doesn't always stay the same and as they grew older, more problems starting to show up: ranging hormones, puberty, school, and parents. Trying to keep his brother Noah stayed with their family, helping his parent took care Gideon, keeping eye on the more-mature younger sister, Claudia, while pressing his sexual interest toward Melinda, Chase took the changes in one huge gulp and felt devastated by it. This is not a book about romance, this is about a boy who grew up in somewhat dysfunctional family, forced to be mature before his age, and finally learned that no matter what happened, family always comes first.

The cover and the blurb were misleading. I thought it was a summer romance story, but I was mistaken. I was completely blown away by the ending and ended up giving this book 5 stars at Goodreads, however after I remember all the details and my reading progress, I have to drop one stars. That doesn't mean the book sucks though, quite the contrary, this book is awesome. The characters are interesting; the connection between them were real although the bromance between Noah and Chase made me lift my eyebrow a bit. I felt in love with Gideon, Chase's deaf brother, half-amused half-cringed by Claudia's attitude, and curious about what would happened between Chase, Noah, and Melinda.

Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

If I Stay - Gayle Forman

Title: If I stay
Series: If I stay #1
Author: Gayle Forman
Pages: Paperback, 259 pages
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
My Rating 4 Excellent book! Go buy it!

Amazon|Book depository| Goodreads


Summary:

Mia has everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future. Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left - the most important decision she'll ever make.

Review:

One moment Mia had a perfect family, supportive and loving parents and a funny and adorable little brother Teddy. Then the next, they're all gone by a tragic accident that took all her family and left her in coma.

The story is about family, friendship and loss with a mixed of music.

Mia's soul was separated from her as she takes that opportunity to observe and watched her love ones come to visit her.

Throughout the story, Mia give us insight about her life as we go take a one day ride back to her past where her family used to live. How her Parents would support her cello lessons, how she met her boyfriend Adam and her best friend Kim and how her mom and dad would tell her stories. How they used to be a happy family.
And by that I was able to learn more about Mia. How she grow up and she started loving music.

Mia also reflects how she might have disappoint her parents, by choosing Classical Music instead of punk rock, where her parents lineage. Not to mention, having this different hair color and eyes color, Mia doesn't feel she belongs to her family at all. But even so, they never fail Mia. They are and will be always there to support her whenever she needs it. All she needs is to ask them to.
And now she lost that chance.

I feel devastated. It's a pity to loss such a perfect family in one tragic accident. I feel sorry for Mia for her loss and even cried for her. Since she’s not able to mourn for her family, I feel like I should mourn for them instead. It pained me to continue reading the book with such a beautiful story yet ended up tragic. I felt her loss and thought it was mine.

But I admire Mia for making such a big decision that I couldn't imagine myself to make. If I were in her shoe, I would have chosen the other. I can't even bring the idea of losing them all in such a one moment.

If I stay - Moved me to the point that it made me cry. I stayed away from the book for awhile because I couldn't take the story to myself. It's just heartbreaking and depressing. The plot is perfect and nice. It’s such a nice story that will made you reflect and think.

Kay-c

Review: Where she went (Sequel)

If I Stay - Gayle Forman