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We Are Inevitable
We Are Inevitable
Gayle Forman | 2021 | Music & Dance, Young Adult (YA)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
"Fact: Dinosaurs still exist. Here's what they look like. A father and son in a failing used bookstore, spending long, aimless days consuming words no one around here buys anymore."
Life has left Aaron behind. He still lives in his hometown, running his family's bookstore with his dad, Ira. Running is probably overly enthusiastic--the bookstore is failing. And family is a stretch, too--both his brother and his mom are no longer helping. He thinks maybe his luck has changed for the better, though, when he meets Hannah, a beautiful musician. Could she be what he needs to turn his life around?

This book was not what I expected at all, but it's an engaging story that I consumed in two sittings. It's an ode to bookstores and book lovers, sprinkled with a lot of book related references. It also incorporates music into the story. It's truly very sweet and captivating. The characters are well-written, though Aaron frustrated me to no end in the beginning, as life has given him the inability to trust and he was unwilling to accept help or friendship from anyone!

If you're not able to embrace quirky tales (or many references to dinosaurs), this book won't be for you. It's not really a romance, even though it's sort of pitched that way, but more a tale of family and how the bookstore can bring people together. It touches on serious topics, such as the power of addiction. Still, I enjoyed it overall and the characters are still with me several months after reading it. 3.5+ stars.
  
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Merissa (12919 KP) rated Shatter Me in Books

Dec 17, 2018 (Updated Apr 11, 2023)  
Shatter Me
Shatter Me
Alex Grayson | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.

There is a trigger warning at the start of this book and with good reason. The images that Alex Grayson conjures within your mind are horrific and heartbreaking. They will make your heart pound faster as the adrenaline pumps through your veins, your breath hitching as you read faster and faster, praying that the main female is going to be okay, even though you 'see' most of it through flashbacks so that you know she is... sort of.

This is also a story about trust, hope and friendship and the love that can follow if someone is prepared to be patient and help someone who is suffering from trauma instead of riding roughshod over them. There is darkness, there is beauty. There is horror and humour.

Shatter Me will make you sob, not just cry. There will be big, fat, ugly tears rolling down your face but you won't want to stop reading. I read this in one sitting as there was no way I was going to bed halfway through.

This is an exceedingly well-written and well-paced story that will blow your socks off. When I found out that this was a debut novel, I was astounded! I honestly can't wait for the next but at the same time am dreading it (if that makes any sense).

If you can read 'dark' subjects then I highly recommend this. However, please heed the trigger warning!

December 18, 2018