Yorum: Zac & Mia - A.J. Betts

Zac & Mia, 50bookpledge'in bu ayki seçimiydi. Eleanor and Park ve Aynı Yıldızın Altında'yı sevenlere tavsiye etmişler. Fangirl'ü okuyup pek sevmediğim için Eleanor and Park'ı okumayı denemedim henüz. O yüzden onunla karşılaştıramıyorum. Ama Aynı Yıldızın Altında, favori kitaplarım arasına girmekle kalmadı, beni John Green'e de hayran bıraktı. Ve Zac & Mia, Aynı Yıldızın Altında'ya çok ama çok benziyor. Ancak onun kadar iyi değil valla.

"Genç Yetişkin"in en iyileri: bölüm I

Bu yazının orjinali 3 Temmuz 2013'te CommunityBookStop'ta yayınlandı.

CommunityBookStop'un sahibi Paula, Genç Yetişkin türünde yazan, en sevdiğim yazarların listesini yapmamı istediğinde çok heyecanlandım. Oturup uzun uzun düşündüm... İlk 10 desem, olmadı. İlk 5 desem, olmadı. Hele ki tek kitabı olup da başka bir şey yazmamış yazarları da hesaba katınca işin içinden çıkamadım.

Duman ve Kemiğin Kızı kim?

Hiçbir şey beklemediğim bir kitap okur okumaz en sevdiklerim arasına girince çok mutlu oluyorum! Bir arkadaşımın tavsiye ettiği Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Duman ve Kemiğin Kızı) da bunlardan biriydi ve şahane bir sürpriz oldu. Gençlik kitap olduğunu gördüğümde biraz tereddüt ettim ilk başta ama ön yargılarıma yenilmeyip okuduğum için çok mutluyum. Yazar Laini Taylor'ın hayal gücü, mitolojiyi gerçekleklikle birleştirerek hayal ettiklerini net ve canlı bir şekilde okuyucuya aktarması çok hoşuma gitti. Bunun yanı sıra hikayenin Amerika'nın güneş görmeyen bir köyü yerine Prag gibi büyülü bir yerde geçmesine de bayıldım. Hatta ana karakter bazı bölümlerde Fas'a bile gidiyor ve kitapta İstanbul'un da adı geçiyor.

Is Louisa Cosgrove really crazy?

I'm sure by now most of you are aware of my love-hate relationship with the YA genre. My biggest problem with YA is that most of the stories are disturbingly alike, and the writing is way too simple for my taste. In addition, after the Twilight blowout, YA books about vampires and werewolves and angels are rapidly increasing. Even though I'm a huge fan of the supernatural, it does get boring after a while.

Book Review: The Blackberry Bush by David Housholder

The Blackberry Bush by David Housholder
Paperback, 208 pages
Will be published on June 1st by Summerside Press

Who are You, and what are you doing here?

Two babies—Kati and Josh—are born on opposite sides of the world at the very moment the Berlin Wall falls. You'd think such a potent freedom metaphor would become the soundtrack for their lives, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite his flawless image, Josh, an artistic and gifted California skateboarder, struggles to find his true role in the world, and his growing aggression eventually breaks him.

Kati, a German with a penchant for classic Swiss watches and attic treasure-hunting, is crushed with disappointment for never being “enough” for anyone—most especially her mother.

Craving liberation, Kati and Josh seem destined to claim their birthright of freedom together. After all, don't the “chance” encounters transform your life…or are they really chance?

ARC copy received from the author.

This book first got my attention when I saw its cover and its name. And then I was totally sold when I read "Two babies—Kati and Josh—are born on opposite sides of the world at the very moment the Berlin Wall falls." Seriously, how wrong can you go with a story line like that? Not very, but I so did not expect it to be as beautiful as The Blackberry Bush.

The story does start with two babies being born just as the Berlin Wall is falling. Right from the beginning, when you look at the family chart at the beginning of the book, you see where Kati and Josh are connected. Finding out how and seeing how they come together in life is an adventure, for lack of a better world, that takes you through different times, different people and different points of view. 

I must admit I got quite uneasy when I realized the religious aspect of the book because 1) I'm not religious, 2) Having been raised Muslim, I don't know much about Christianity, and I'm sure I got none of the bible references. The uneasiness faded away though as events started to unfold because it ended up being a spiritual journey for me, rather than religious.

When it comes to the characters, you can relate to most of them, and some of them I'm sure you know already. Kati I could most definitely relate to, being that she's weird-looking when judged by what's considered normal in most societies, and she struggles with it like most of us do. And her relationship with her grandfather Harald, whom she describes as being the only person who "gets" her was very endearing. It's amazing to see all the characters -- both the adults and the children -- learn from their struggles and find out that life actually IS beautiful.

I also really like the metaphor that the name of the book represents. First everything is all tangled up like a blackberry bush, then they all start eating the fruit without the thorns ripping their hands and arms. I think everyone should give this book a shot if only for the joy it makes you feel inside. This was most definitely one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

Related Links:

Book's website

Author's GoodReads Page

Pre-Order on Amazon

Book Review: Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl

Owl, 14, is charmingly offbeat; she hangs out at night in a tree near the home of her one love--science teacher Mr. Lindstrom. What makes her nocturnal vigils relatively easy is that she's a ``wereowl'' whose nightly transformation ruffles her feathers no more than does her diet of rodents. Wereowls run in the family, so Owl is comfortable with her identity, though the efforts demanded by her one-sided love are wearing her a bit ragged. When she observes a boy lurking near Mr. Lindstrom's home, the stage is set for shedding the schoolgirl crush for a more transcendent romance. Owl's perspective is no birdbrained view; readers are soon solidly immersed in her wild, wise, and witty ways. Lofty phrasing, wry self-awareness, and passionate musings frame and fill a delightful first-person narration. Owl's quaint parents play several scenes for humor and have foibles enough to complete Owl's typical teenage alienation. The tidying up at the end is a little overneat and abbreviated; otherwise, an unusually strong and original first novel.

I've been thinking about how to review this book, but I was mostly drawing blanks, so I'll just type it as it comes... I haven't read too much YA fiction, but I must say this was very, very different from those that I did read. That's something to be appreciated, but it just didn't work for me. Maybe it's because I'm way too old for this book, I don't know, but I didn't feel any connection with Owl. Honestly, mostly she just creeped me out...

Owl's a 14-year-old girl, who's also a shape shifter. And as you can guess from her name, she shifts into an owl. Her blood is black, unlike humans', which gives her skin a weird color, but people at school don't seem to care much about it. Before I get to her being in love with her science teacher, I'd like to say a couple of more things about her... She turns into an owl at night and hunts. She doesn't eat human food at all. She's seen microwaves in magazines, but jumps when it beeps. And her parents are just way off-beat for my taste, having nothing to do with the human world yet living in it. 

I felt like Owl was more of an owl than human. But then she always finishes her homework and is a good student. I just didn't understand why she even bothered going to school and studying when she has no intention of blending in and is condescending toward humans. Is it just because she gets to be in love with her science teacher? I don't know. But that creeped me out too.

Obviously, her science teacher, Mr. Lindstorm is way, way older than her. Being an "owl" though, as she puts it, she's pretty sure he's her destined mate. And when she tells her parents about this, they get all excited and tell her they should get married, which was one of my biggest WTF moments, honestly. Another one is her watching Mr. Lindstorm's room through his window at night, when she's in owl form. It was okay in the beginning because I thought, "you're 14 and in love, of course you're gonna wanna watch at every chance you get," but I draw the line at her giving us the brand and size of his underwear. That was just way more than I wanted to know.

Through Mr. Lindstorm, however, Owl gets to find a boy who's a shape shifter just like her. At this point, I honestly couldn't take anything seriously because, like I've said, the entire thing just felt way too weird and at times kinda ridiculous to me. Like when she puts a rat in between two slices of bread and eats it. I have a soft spot for owls, but I couldn't even watch Ratatouille without getting grossed out, so you my point.

If you're looking for a quick, different teen read, then you should check this out. Judging by the reviews I've read, there are people who list it among their favorites and read it over and over again, so it's worth giving it a try.