Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

After watching this movie a long time ago I bought the book. It's sat on my shelf unread. I'm so happy I finally read it. A lot of people describe this book as being "like Twilight only with zombies." This is a mostly accurate description.
Here's the book description: R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. 

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world. 

 Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.

In general, romance novels describe the power of love as being life changing and making one feel alive. In this story, it literally happens. As someone who loves zombie stories this one is refreshingly different.

R is different than other zombies. He's smarter. He's philosophical. He has a sense of humor. And he has a small grasp on the English language still. He also has met and fallen in love with a human. To say they are star crossed lovers is an understatement. Their love won't just save each other, it might just save all the zombies.

The story implies that what has happened to the world is some sort of punishment. This is best shown by the presence of the Bonies. These are supernatural monsters that are like demons, if demons all shared a mind like a group of skeletal robots. They are determined to preserve a certain order among the zombies that gets disrupted by R falling in love with Julie.

My absolute favorite quote from this book (and now my favorite quote ever from any book) goes as following:

What a massive responsibility, being a moral creature.

This sums up R's internal struggle. He has to fight his zombie nature and figure out how to be a human again. My rating is a solid

The Movie
The movie isn't as good as the book. The plot with the Bonies is confusing and the story feels rushed. The movie lacks the philosophical elements of the book but does keep the humor. It also lacks the more supernatural elememts that are in the book and is a more straightforward mmonster movie. Then ending isn't as dramatic as the book.

The Prequel
I had no idea that there was a prequel to Warm Bodies until I was at Amazon.com today. The prequel is called The New Hunger.

The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation Book 1) by Pembroke Sinclair

Book Description from Amazon.comKatie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell. Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the “good” guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the “bad” guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him? 
This YA book is a love triangle with one hell of a twist. Literally. 
Katie finds herself torn between two boys. The first is the boy she has been in love with since kindergarten. Unfortunately Wes has never treated her the way that a girl wants to be treated. All Katie longs for is true love, devotion, and a real relationship. Wes leads her on just enough to keep her hooked but never quite delivers.
When Katie meets Josh, the hottest boy in school, it appears as if all her dreams are about to come true. It turns out some of these dreams are something out of a nightmare because Josh is in fact, a demon from Hell. However, he always seems to be there for Katie when Wes fails.
To make matters even more complicated, Katie discovers that Wes is a Praesul, which is an ancient order of demon fighters. Katie finds herself not only trapped between bids for her heart, but smack in the middle of the war between good and evil that has gone on since the beginning of time.
Josh's pursuit of Katie is nothing short of relentless. He is, to put it bluntly, a controlling stalker. What I really liked about this novel is that even though Josh is a demon, he behaves the way any psychopathic stalker and abuser would behave. I think the book is a great lesson for young women on behaviors to look out for in guys that do not have their best interests as heart.
What I also liked about the story was that even though Wes is supposed to be on the good side, his behavior is sometimes questionable. Even though his heart is in the right place, he tends to make decisions over and over that hurt Katie. These behaviors sometimes seem no less manipulative than those of Josh.
This means the book is constantly asking the question, what is good and evil? Penbroke Sincliar does an amazing job of blurring these lines. She asks is a demon capable of love? Any stalker will tell you what he does in pursuit of his obeject of desire is because he loves her so much. Katie can't help but wonder does Josh just do what he does because cares about her so much? If it's because of that, how can it be so wrong?
However, like any situation with an emotionally controlling stalker you know things are going to eventually go bad. Sinclair does a great job of building up the tension in the love traingle. Sinclair doesn't skimp on the action either. I have often read YA books where the author is afraid to actually have anyone get hurt or physically fight. Wes and Josh not only use their minds to fight for Katie, they also use their fists. 
I do have a few complaints about the book. The first is that Katie's thoughts about the boys repeat themselves over and over. Sinclair does a great job of letting us into the mind of Katie, but at times she goes into streams of consciousness that are overwhelming and repetitive.
My second complaint is that Sinclair started what would have been a fascinating subplot of Katie's best friend having a Preasul in her family, but then never follows through on it. The plot thread is left dangling.
Hopefully Sinclair will go back to this story thread in the next book in the series. The way the book ended lets you know the next in the series will take you even deeper into this world of good versus evil and Katie is right in the middle of it. 
Unfortunately Book 2 hasn't been released yet. I guess I'll just have to wait to find out what happens next. Sinclair says she is currently working on the sequel.
My rating:

Penbroke Sinclair has a website and also can be found on Twitter and Facebook. Her book can be purchased here.
I was given a copy of the book for an honest review. No other compensation was received.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

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Book Description from Amazon.com

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

Bree Tanner was a very minor character in Eclipse. Stephanie Meyer explains that she was a character she couldn't seem to let go of and that's why she wrote the book. I do admit I honestly wonder if that's the whole truth or if the Twilight franchise just wanted another book to sell. This has been on my bookshelf for a long time so clearly I bought it at the height of the Twilight Saga frenzy. 

Now I must admit here that I loved the Twilight books. I read them all long before I started blogging. I still wish that Bella had ended up with Jacob though. Sorry but controlling, stalking Edward just creeped me out. Although had she ended up with Jacob a human pregnant with a baby vampire would have never happened and that story line was simply genius. 

However, the sparkly vampires idea is not so genius. It's the silliest thing about the Twilight Saga and actually is a key element in The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. Worse yet, in this novella, Meyer describes the vampires as "disco balls." As a reflex, I rolled my eyes at this. Although I'm sure they are fun at parties. 

The biggest problem with this story is the main antagonist. Riley is so inconsistent that he's unbelievable as a character. First, he convinces the entire coven of vampires to work together and then decides to pit them against each other. It's so inconsistent even Bree makes note of it.

Second to the ridiculous idea of sparkling vampires is the character of Fred and his power to make himself repulsive to everyone. For some inexplicable reason only Bree can stomach him. (You see what I did there?) Why the heck Fred didn't overpower Riley instead of just saving himself is beyond me. He's able to camouflage himself and Bree enough that they are allowed to stand around watching the other vampires train for three days. Seriously? Sorry, I guess that was a bit of spoiler. But it seems Fred's only purpose was to keep Bree safe. Once he couldn't do that anymore he split.

Another inconsistency is that it was hinted at that Bree had the power to make herself invisible, yet was too stupid to realize it. 

What was happening when Jasper was making her see all those images after the fight? None of it made any sense. It didn't even make sense to Bree so I guess it's a bit much to expect the reader to understand it.

I also would chuckle every time Bree referred to Volturi as "vampire cops." 

The Twilight Saga as a whole is cheesy but this novella took all the silliest ideas and put them in one small book. It was mildy entertaining but had the potential to go deeper. Since Bree appeared to be a good person I had hoped there would be some sort of moral conflict about taking innocent human lives but Bree doesn't ever think twice about it. Innocent newborn or not it was hard to like a cold blooded killer.

This book just wasn't that good. It had the potential to be good I think. Then I remind myself again of the phrases "vampire disco balls" and "vampire cops" so maybe not. My rating 

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and Emma Vieceli

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. The title is so cheesy. I think it's intentionally cheasy though. I chose it because I wanted a fun book to read instead of something so serious.

Not only was the book a fun read it was finally a very different take on vampires. I've been searching for a series that doesn't follow the cliche formula regarding vampires, especially teenage vampires.
Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. The Dhampir protect the Moroi from the "evil vampires" called Strigoi. Moroi vampires are good, peaceful, and have magical abilities but are not immprtal while the Strigoi are more your cliche bloodthirsty immortal vampire. The girls have been on the run foe two years from their boarding school but the school authorities have finally caght up with them and am forcing them to retrn to St. Vladimir’s. Unfortunately, this is the least safe place for Lissa. It's also a social nightmare with cliques and"queen bees" just like any normal high school.

I liked that the book had mystery and adventure along with the clique wars and some Harry Potter-like magic thrown in. Rose is kind of an underdog as a guardian. She has used her street smarts to protect Lissa despite never having been formally trained  At first I thought she was entirely shallow but my favorite thing about her is that she truly makes protecting Lissa a priority no matter what's going on with the friendship. That also happens to be her fatal flaw because she tries to control Lissa too much. Actually Lissa used to be "queen bee" at the school and has to deal with her jealousy when Lissa replaces her.

I liked the romance between Rose and Dimitri but I did find the age difference to be just a little bit on the creepy side. My favorite character was Christian but I'm always drawn to the misunderstood bad boy with a heart of cold. The villian behind the whole mystery was rather unexpected and a good plot twist.

Even though I enjoyed this book there were a lot of things I didn't understand or like. Here's a list:

• Why are the Moroi and Strigoi feuding in the first place? What's the history behind this vampire conflict? 
• Why are there two races of vampire and where id they come from?
• Vampires are Christians and go to church? I can accept that they may go to church but wouldn't they be more likely to have a religion of their own? 
• Morai are magical vampires but can't protect themselves? They need half-human guardians who have to learn combat skills and use weapons against the superpowerful Strigoi? This isn't even believable.
• Lissa is a cutter. While I thought this part of the story was done pretty well, at the same time I felt is didn't belong in a vampire fantasy novel. 

I liked this book enough that I want to read the entire series. My rating  

The Movie
I knew the movie had bad reviews but I never expected it to be so bad. The actors and actresses did what they could with the script but the writing was just atrocious. There were some clever one liners but it overall it was pretty hard to sit through. The book was so much better.

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening by L. J. Smith (contains spoilers)

Book Description from Amazon.com

A deadly love triangle Elena: beautiful and popular, the girl who can have any guy she wants. Stefan: brooding and mysterious, desperately trying to resist his desire for Elena . . . for her own good. Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Elena finds herself drawn to both brothers . . . who will she choose?
I am a huge fan of the TV series The Vampire Diaries. It's embarrassing to admit considering I'm 38 yrs old but I completely fangirl over Ian Somerhalder. My computer background is fanart of Elena and Damon. Yesterday I was wearing a Damon t-shirt. If you ask me about the most recent season finale I may choke up a bit. I'm still traumatized.
Because of the heartbreaking season finale, I decided to keep myself busy reading The Vampire Diaries novel series. Unfortunately most of the first book left me feeling anything but anxious to read the rest of the series.
Elena Gilbert is the queen bee of her school who can have whatever boy she wants. So when the mysterious Stefan Salvatore starts school and completely ignores her, she makes it her mission to make him her boyfriend. The reason Stefan ignores her is because, as a vampire, every time he's near her he can't think straight because all he wants to do is taste her blood. She also happens to look like the woman who broke his heart in a love triangle with his vampire brother about 500 years ago. 
Elena is pretty much unlikable. She's vain, cares too much about her status in the popular clique she's in, and spends an unbelievable amount of money on a custom made Halloween costume then admiring how beautiful she looks in said costume. Most people who read the book complain about Elena's character but I think they forget this is a book series. If the character did a 180 and became a different person in the first book what's left for her to do in the rest of the series? I am going to read on only because I hope Elena grows as a character into someone well...not so shallow.
As a fan of the TV show one thing that I love is the supporting characters. In the book, all the same names are there but very little is written about them. The other characters don't factor into the story much and are never developed.
Stefan finally starts paying attention to Elena when she is a damsel in distress and he needs to rescue her when a drunken Tyler tries to rape her. Yes, you read that right. The main character is almost raped! After Stefan rescues her he beats Tyler almost to a bloody pulp. Yet neither of them get in trouble with the police. Elena refuses to press charges against Matt and the police are too busy dealing with a dead homeless man that got his throat ripped out.
The love story left me rolling my eyes most of the time. Elena instantly fell in love with Stefan declaring how much she loved him only days after they have had their first kiss. There is absolutely no development of their relationship even though months go by.
Nor is there any buildup of Elena suspecting that Stefan is a vampire. Almost the whole story is just utterly boring. Even Catherine is boring. She's a sweet and innocent vampire who just couldn't decide between brothers. Anyone who watches the tv show can't possibly imagine Catherine as sweet and innocent much less boring. I'm hoping the bad ass version of Catherine is in the later books.
The novel's saving grace is Damon. Damon is just as sexy, dark and tempting as he is in the tv series. What's even better is that I didn't have to wait several seasons before Damon and Elena are attracted to each other. The attraction is there from the first time they meet. In fact, Damon makes it his mission to make Elena his. Whether it's because he's truly in love with her or doing it as revenge on his brother isn't clear. At one point the vampire brothers are literally fighting for Elena. That scene alone made up for the rest of the book being dreadfully boring and pretty predictable. (It wasn't hard to figure out who really was the murderer.)
Not to mention that Damon has magical powers in the book. He can shapeshift into animals and control the weather. Why wasn't that in the tv show?
I will continue reading the book series mostly for the character of Damon but do hope Elena becomes a better person. Stefan's character is mildly interesting. As for the rest of the book and characters, it just, forgive the pun...sucked.My rating

The Secret Circle: The Initiation by L.J. Smith (Spoiler Warning)

Dewey's Read-a-thon Check-in: I read The Initiation which was an ebook and had 268 pages. I started at 12;45 pm and ended at 6:20 pm.(Note this ebook also has book two titled The Captive Part 1) Oh and I loved reading it as an ebook! I thought I would hate it but I have carpal tunnel and I didn't have to grip the book. I could just rest it on my thighs and have both hands free.

My Review
I hate to write reviews that have spoilers but with this book it's hard to review it without giving some away. So if you don't want any spoilers, please turn back now.

While at her summer home in Cape Cod, Cassie meets a strange boy who can read minds and whom she falls instantly in love with and believes she is destined to be with. She also spontaneously remembers a spell from her memory or a past life while out on pier. Did the boy set off her newfound powers or is just a really contrived coincidence?

Cassie then learns that she is not going to be returning home but her mother is taking her to stay with her grandmother in a town called...wait for it...New Salem. She can't stop thinking about how much her crone of a grandmother looks like an ugly witch. Come on L.J. Smith! Was the cliche of an old ugly witch, wart and all really necessary? You lost a bit of credibility there with that cliche. (Actually the entire novel reeks of cheese.)

There she meets a gang of nasty girls that are led by a girl name Faye that bully her but is saved by a girl she has admired from afar and wants to get to know named Diana. This girl befriends her and she discovers that the bullies and Diana are all actually part of a mysterious "Club." The girls show off their strange powers and Cassie soon suspects that they are witches. There is an opening in "The Club" aka The Secret Circle and Cassie wants nothing more to be chosen to join. There's an opening because the girl who was supposed to be chosen is murdered. Dun dun dunnn! The witches suspect it was done by an Outsider aka a Muggle. (L.J. Smith does not actually use the term "muggle." Cassie is also half muggle so I wonder if that plays a part in the series.) All the adults in the town think the girl's death was just an unfortunate accident.

Well actually Cassie does want something more. She wants to meet the strange boy she fell in love with who turns out to be her new best friend's boyfriend! This was sooo obvious the moment Diana said her boyfriend "was away." Cassie spends all her time feeling sorry for herself and neurotically obsessing about needing to belong. She latches herself onto Diana in a way that makes me cringe. Diana will protect me! I can get through anything as long as Diana is there! It's not healthy. Not at all.

All the girls (the nasty ones and Diana and her friends) in the Circle know that Cassie is actually a hereditary witch and spend about 5 seconds mourning the death of their friend (And sister. Two boys in the Circle were her older brothers.) before deciding to initiate Cassie. They are so grateful that she has moved there so the Circle can be completed. Isn't it just a contrived...I mean amazing coincidence that there's a spare witch when one gets offed? Lucky them. They then explain Cassie's heritage and how the original witches of Salem escaped and moved to a town where they would be safe. Outsiders only live there because witches allow them to.

After the initiation Adam suddenly returns and Cassie realizes who he is and is devastated. She decides to keep her crush a secret. David has finally found one of the original Salem witches tools called the lost Master Tools. It's a crystal skull that was used by an evil witch named Black John who was a leader of the original coven. Faye wants to "activate" the skull but Diana the temporary leader refuses because it's too dangerous. However, Faye wants to be the permanent leader of the Circle and blackmails her into doing a ritual with the skull. The ritual accidentally releases an evil entity (hello, setup for the antagonist in the next book) and causes the group to disagree about how to handle what has happened.

Worried that an Outsider might attempt to kill them too, they all travel in pairs and Adam is told by Diana to walk Cassie home after the ritual. Cassie has been avoiding Adam because she feels pretty guilty about being in love with her best friends guy (whom she's known for what, two days?) Now Cassie and Adam are unable to avoid each other. One thing leads to another...then yada yada yada...Adam realizes he's in love with Cassie too and makes out with her. Both decide they don't want to betray Diana and vow never to be involved again.

But this just isn't any vow. They make a blood pact with the Powers (elements) that if they break their vow that they will be cursed. The curse says "fire burn me, air smother me, earth swallow me, and water cover my grave." Oh for goodness sakes, I've never found the melodramatic death of Romeo and Juliet believable and that was written by Shakespeare! This is quite possibly the most melodramatic guilt trip I have ever read in my life. I know they're teenagers but may the universe strike me dead if I kiss my best friend's boyfriend? Come on now!

Cassie goes home thinking her secret is safe but then discovers that the nasty Faye knows what has happened and now is making Cassie do whatever she wants or will tell Diana about what happened. Faye calls it holding her "captive" which is the title of book two and three in the series.

I suppose maybe I'm being way to hard on this book. It's a YA supernatural romance and meant to be fun, right? I am willing to chalk it up to a cheesy but somewhat entertaining read up until the "universe strike me dead if I kiss my best friend's boyfriend" part. That was just over the top and utterly ridiculous. Still it kept me reading to the end and in one sitting so despite the melodramtic cheese it wasn't all bad. My rating

It does make me want to watch the tv show but I've read the book is different than the show. That's disappointing because I would love to see that melodramatic universe strike me down scene. Yeah, you got me. It's so I can make fun of it.

Paper Towns by John Green

Book Description from Amazon

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

I've kind of had my fill of Young Adult novels but I promised my 12 year old son I would read all of John Green's novels. Considering he's obcessed with PC gaming and anime this was one of the rare things we actually have in common. (Although had I read Green's novels first I may have refused to let him read about so much drinking, sex, and general shenagins. Whenever I complain about how the novels are too inappropriate for him he says something like "Oh Mom. Kids read this in school!" I read things like the Red Badge of Courage in school.)

Paper Towns at first seemed different than John Green's previous books for the first third of the novel. The first part of the novel is about Margo begging Q (Quentin) to help her with a night of revenge and teenage shenigans. Quentin has been in love with Margo since age 9 and even though she hasn't spoken to him since they shared a traumatic experience at that early age, he obliges her request even though it involves breaking the law.

Quentin expects Margo to suddenly become a regular part of his life again but is disappointed when she runs away from home again. He knows she leaves clues about her whereabouts and this time Margo has left clues just for him. Quentin along with a mix of his and Margo's friends team up to use the clues in an attempt to track down Margo. Time is of the essence because they fear this time Margo will commit suicide or worse, is already dead. The more clues Quentin finds, the more he wonders if he ever knew Margo at all.

If you have read Looking for Alaska, the plot to Paper Towns will seem quite familiar. The themes are even the same. The main characters are both obcessed with girls that have never loved them back. The books are just too much alike for me.

In one part, Quentin talks briefly about Moby Dick yet never realizes that he's Captain Ahab and Margo is the white whale. The difference is instead of wanting revenge he has a savior complex. Not only is Quentin obcessed but he's also a grammar Nazi and frankly seemed to be completely unable to let loose and have fun. He looked down on his friends for behaving like normal teenagers. I didn't really like him. Just as in Looking for Alaska, it is solving the mystery that kept me reading not because I actually cared about the main characters. 

The idea that Margo has left Quentin all of these clues about her whereabouts without having spoken to Quentin in years simply isn't that believable. What's even more unbelievable is that Quentin's band geek friends end up dating Margo's friends who are in the popular crowd. 

What bothered me the most about this novel is that at no point does anyone step back and say, "Maybe Margo is batshit crazy? Maybe the fact that she repeatedly runs away, does so with such needy drama, and likes to stay in condemned buildings means she has a mental illness?"

The worst part of the novel is that the four teenagers sacrifice walking at their graduation to go on the final rescue mission to find and possibly save Margo. Because parents of four teenagers would say "Sure, make a 21 hour road trip across the country on your graduation day with 5 minutes notice." In fact, permission was never given. The teens basically tell their parents they are missing gradation for this trip and they just need to deal with it. Did I mention they do all this with 212 beers in the van?

They never realize that Margo is mentally ill and cannot be rescued without some serious professional help. This is made all the more unbelievable because Quentin's parents are psychologists and Quentin routinely listens to their conversations. You would think he'd at least pick up some of the symptoms of mental illness or at the very least ask his parents if Margo's lifestyle choices are normal. 

The ending of the novel tried to be really deep but it's really just Quentin unable to see past Margo's insanely self-centered and bratty behavior. There's a lame attempt to convince us that Margo had always cared about Quentin even though she hadn't talked to him for nearly a decade. This book seems to almost teach kids that running away is the answer and living in condemned buildings with rats and rotting floors is adventurous and glamerous, not incredibily dangerous and stupid.

Looking for Alaska treated depression and suicide with the seriousness that it deserved, but in Paper Towns it's treated as mere eccentricity and wanderlust. Had Green written about Margo's behavior with more seriousness, I would have enjoyed the book more. Or at the very least if he had someone at some point suggest she get mental help.

The book endly badly as well. It's never known how the hunt for Margo even affects Quentin. The book ends without giving Quentin any time to process what happened. You never find out whether or not he thought it was all worth it in the end or how it changed him.

My rating: 

(*Note* Since this technically wasn't a romance. I'm not sure it can really be counted for the VaVaVoom Read-a-thon.)

Looking for Alaska by John Green (Spoiler Warning)

Book Description from Amazon

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .

After. Nothing is ever the same.

**Spoiler Alert**

This is one of those books where reviewing it is impossible without revealing spoilers. In this case the spoiler would ruin the entire story. So if you do not want the entire book ruined, please do not continue reading this review. I hate writing reviews with spoilers but I can't figure out a way around it this time.

First, what I didn't like. Now, I've never lived at a boarding school but these high school kids seemed to behave more like college kids to me. There was just so much drinking and smoking! Yes I was in high school once and I suppose I actually did drink about as often as these kids (never smoked) but maybe because I'm a mother, there was just something off putting about all that drinking and smoking.

I wish I had read Looking for Alaska before I read The Fault in Our Stars because since I knew what kind of writer John Greene was, I saw it coming. Each chapter is a countdown to something big. Granted this made me want to keep reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen on the day Pudge was counting down to.

Okay, I'm going to give you one more chance to stop reading this review. I'm going to start revealing spoilers!

To be honest, I didn't really like Pudge all that much. He treated Lara really badly because he was in love with Alaska. Oh that cliche teenager issue of unrequited love. Actually now that I think about it, I didn't really care too much about any of the characters. Don't get me wrong, I liked most of them but I didn't care deeply about what happened to them. The entire book is a mystery and I enjoyed it so much because I wanted to solve the mystery. (Which makes me wonder if I really should start reading some mysteries, but I digress.) 

I really should say "mysteries." First, I wanted to know what Pudge was counting down to. Once I learned what the life altering event was, I wanted to know why it happened along with Pudge and the gang.

But like I said earlier I kind of knew what was going to happen from the very beginning. I just knew Alaska...and here's the big, huge spoiler....was going to die. I didn't know how and it honestly didn't happen the way I expected it to. Alaska dies in what appears drinking and driving accident that may or may not have been a suicide. 

Pudge and her other friends spend the rest of the novel struggling with their feelings of guilt because they knew she was drunk and let her drive anyway as well as investigate like Mystery Inc. (Scooby Doo and the gang) into clues about whether Alaska killed herself. 

One scene that I found completely and utterly unbelievable was how the students at the boarding school was informed of Alaska's death. No school headmaster in his right mind would tell Alaska's closest friends during a school assembly like that. 

I'm going to get personal here. Real personal. 

Reading this book was actually very hard for me because my husband died 7 years ago in a head on crash a week after admitting he was suicidal. However it's because I've experienced this that I know what John Greene wrote was realistic. In fact, he nailed it. 

I remember pouring over clues trying to figure out if my husband's crash was accidental. I called the truck driver's work to speak with him and asked to meet with him about the crash. I met with him and asked almost the same questions the kids as the police officer. I spoke with the coroner's office and asked then a dozen question. And I waited the excruciating weeks for the police report because they did a toxicology test on the truck driver. My one clue that is wasn't a suicide was that my husband braked before the impact.

What I liked about the book is that Pudge and gang never come to a definitave answer. Instead they learn that they have to let go of trying to answer all the questions and focus on remaining close friends. They do this by bonding together to plan a hilarious and epic school prank involving a stripper at a school assembly. I loved that it was humor that helps all of them heal. I felt like all the loose ends were tied up, even if the mystery was not totally resolved.

Now here's what I hated about the ending. For being a group of kids as close as they were, they didn't seem too broken up about leaving boarding school and each other to go back home for the summer. I thought the way they were so nonchalant about it was completely unrealistic.

Another thing I loved about this book was all the "last words" quotes. Last words as in the last thing famous people said before dying. I found this absolutely fascinating and wish John Green had included more than he did. It made me want to start collecting my own "last words."

I also loved how philosophical the book was. Unlike The Fault in Our Stars the way the teenagers discussed philosophical matters was a lot more realistic. It didn't bog down the story or ever seem pretentious like it sometimes did in The Fault in Our Stars. 

Also one issue I think Greene seems to have with both of these books is that he doesn't know how to realistically write about teenage love, dating, and relationships. He also always makes his teenage characters far too mature. They are always deep and even wise beyond their years. Just once I'd like to see someone that reflects current teen culture.

Considering I plan on reading all of his books I probably should look for a John Green reading challenge as this point.

My rating is a solid  

The book is being made into a movie. I have to admit I think this book would make a far better movie than The Fault in Our Stars.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Book Description from Amazon.com

In The Fault in Our Stars, John Green has created a soulful novel that tackles big subjects--life, death, love--with the perfect blend of levity and heart-swelling emotion. Hazel is sixteen, with terminal cancer, when she meets Augustus at her kids-with-cancer support group. The two are kindred spirits, sharing an irreverent sense of humor and immense charm, and watching them fall in love even as they face universal questions of the human condition--How will I be remembered? Does my life, and will my death, have meaning?--has a raw honesty that is deeply moving. --Seira Wilson

I loved this Young Adult book in all its pretentious glory. Then again I love anything where people discuss philosophy and existential crises. I sometimes wish every human being on earth talked like Hazel and Gus. Okay maybe that would be too much. I'd settle for one person in my life who talked like these completely unbelievable but completely enchanting characters.

Hazel is a 17 year old who has terminal cancer. She meets and begins a romance with Augustus who is a cancer survivor. The story is about their journey through first love, the meaning of life and death, and of course, cancer. 

I found Hazel and Gus to be utterly charming. I loved that this book made me think. Think about the meaning of words, ponder various existential issues, and remember that prose can sound like poetry.  I also loved the fictional book An Imperial Affliction. I loved it so much I actually went to Amazon hoping it was a real book. Sadly it is not. I love so many of the lines in this book that I was sad my copy was a library copy and I couldn't highlight them.

This book made me cry a few times because these teenagers fight with cancer seemed very real and touching. I admit it did get overly sentimental at times but death and family and first love is overly sentimental. However, I laughed twice as much as I cried and this is another reason I fell in love with the book.

Like some I got the feeling while reading the book, this book is one of the best books I have ever read. It's written so well in places that you forget overall it's actually pretty badly written overall. The idea that two teenagers like this would happen to find each other is a bit unbelievable. The idea that they would talk like this is completely absurd. Yet I loved that they did. The teenagers debated the deeper meaning of scrambled eggs for goodness sakes!

What bothered me most about the story is the subplot with Peter van Houten. I wish I could say what bothered me so about what happens with Peter van Houten but that would be a MAJOR spoiler. I will simply say this one word: contrived.

In fact, that kind of sums up the entire plot of this story: contrived. Oh and of course, pretentious. But like I said I loved that it was pretentious. I think the pretentiousness of it all was actually a metaphor. Ironic even. As much as we like to give life and death deep meaning, in the end it's all kind of bullshit. 

This makes John Green kind of a genius in my eyes. 

Even with the incredibly contrived plot there was so much I loved about this book that I'm giving it

.

Movie Review coming...not so soon!
The movie version is due for release June 6 of this year. I predict that it won't even be close to as good as the book.