Novella Discussion: Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

Title: Finding Cinderella (Hopeless #2.5)
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Source: Simon & Schuster Australia. Thank you!
Goodreads | The Reading Room

This novella is a companion novel to the Hopeless series, but can be read as a standalone.

A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love comes with conditions: they agree it will only last one hour and it will only be make-believe.

When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them only seemed perfect because they were pretending it was perfect. Moments like that with girls like her don’t happen outside of fairytales.

One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in insta-love is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. Daniel soon realizes the way he pretended to feel about Cinderella and the way he really feels about Six may not be so different after all. Especially when the two loves of his life end up being one in the same.

Unfortunately for Daniel, finding Cinderella doesn’t guarantee their happily ever after…it only further threatens it.

Review by Nara

LGBT Month: Aristotle and Dante "Review"

Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (i.e. the ridiculously long yet apt title)
Author: Benjamin Alire Saenz
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT
Goodreads | The Reading Room

A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

Review by Nara

Not-Really-a-Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Release Date: 13 May, 2014
Source: Delacorte Press via NetGalley
Goodreads | The Reading Room

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Review by Nara

Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Taking (The Taking #1)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Release Date: 29 April, 2014
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads | The Reading Room

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Review by Nara

Fairytale Parallels in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

**Spoilers for the Lunar Chronicles. If you've only read particular books, please only read those sections. If you haven't read any of the books, please don't read any of this post.**

Since Cress has now been out for a while, I thought it was time to publish this post: an examination of the fairytale parallels in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. It's mostly just going to be in dot points/rambly thoughts rather than actual paragraphs. It's easier to read that way anyway, so don't complain :P

ANOTHER SPOILER WARNING IN CASE YOU MISSED THE FIRST.

Review: Tease by Amanda Maciel

Title: Tease
Author: Amanda Maciel
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: 29 April, 2014
Source: Balzer + Bray via Edelweiss
Goodreads | The Reading Room

Emma Putnam is dead, and it's all Sara Wharton's fault.

At least, that's what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma's shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who's ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media.

During the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her role in an undeniable tragedy. And she'll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

In this powerful debut novel inspired by real-life events, Amanda Maciel weaves a narrative of high school life as complex and heartbreaking as it is familiar: a story of everyday jealousies and resentments, misunderstandings and desires. Tease is a thought-provoking must-read that will haunt readers long after the last page.

Review by Nara

Reading Update (18/4/13)

Aaaaand it's time for another update.
I don't really have anything to say.
Except that I recommend everyone read this deleted interlude from Words of Radiance. Don't worry, you don't need to have read ANY of Sanderson's works to read this (although it does have slightly more meaning if you've read WoR). It's extremely clever and just some really excellent writing- so I do recommend you read it. It's quite short- only a few paragraphs.
Anyway, onto the update!