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Sam (74 KP) rated Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? in Books
Mar 27, 2019
Within the first page, I was in love with this book. I love how Holly Bourne’s books don’t rely on romance to move the plot, and that is why she is one of my favourite authors.
Are We All Lemmings And Snowflakes is perfect if you enjoyed Juno Dawson’s Clean or Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It’s a bit of a mashup of the two but also manages to still remain original and unpredictable.
The story follows Olive as she stays in a ‘camp’ for people with mental illnesses. It’s set in a big stately home that has alpacas. ALPACAS! I promise I didn’t love the setting just because of the alpacas, but they did definitely improve the story.
The plot started off really quickly, which I wasn’t sure on to begin with, but then I could understand why. I’m used to novels with a build up before the main event, but this jumped straight to sending Olive to the therapy place, and I quite liked that. It meant that there wasn’t too much focus on why she was going there, and her story was more about her journey to getting better.
I enjoyed this even more than I enjoyed It Only Happens in The Movies, which I didn’t expect. I was completely gripped and felt a personal connection to every single character.
The mix of different people in the novel really shows how mental illness can affect anyone, no matter where people are from. It showed a broad spectrum of illnesses, while also fighting the stigmas they all have.
Let’s move on to the ending. When I was reading reviews for Are We All Lemmings And Snowflakes, I saw a lot of negativity about the ending. I’m not going to discuss what happens, but I feel that it really worked. A lot of people say it feels abrupt, but I feel that it fits the plot much better than a long, drawn out ending. If you loved the ending to Clean by Juno Dawson, you will love how this has been finished off.
Overall, I found this book amazing, and I can’t wait to pick up another novel by Holly Bourne.
Are We All Lemmings And Snowflakes is perfect if you enjoyed Juno Dawson’s Clean or Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story. It’s a bit of a mashup of the two but also manages to still remain original and unpredictable.
The story follows Olive as she stays in a ‘camp’ for people with mental illnesses. It’s set in a big stately home that has alpacas. ALPACAS! I promise I didn’t love the setting just because of the alpacas, but they did definitely improve the story.
The plot started off really quickly, which I wasn’t sure on to begin with, but then I could understand why. I’m used to novels with a build up before the main event, but this jumped straight to sending Olive to the therapy place, and I quite liked that. It meant that there wasn’t too much focus on why she was going there, and her story was more about her journey to getting better.
I enjoyed this even more than I enjoyed It Only Happens in The Movies, which I didn’t expect. I was completely gripped and felt a personal connection to every single character.
The mix of different people in the novel really shows how mental illness can affect anyone, no matter where people are from. It showed a broad spectrum of illnesses, while also fighting the stigmas they all have.
Let’s move on to the ending. When I was reading reviews for Are We All Lemmings And Snowflakes, I saw a lot of negativity about the ending. I’m not going to discuss what happens, but I feel that it really worked. A lot of people say it feels abrupt, but I feel that it fits the plot much better than a long, drawn out ending. If you loved the ending to Clean by Juno Dawson, you will love how this has been finished off.
Overall, I found this book amazing, and I can’t wait to pick up another novel by Holly Bourne.
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Some Sunny Day in Books
Nov 27, 2018
Full review on www.diaryofdifference.com
Some Sunny Day was one of those books that go slowly, and tell a story of another times, reviving memories and emotions. A story of a lady that is sent to India to take care for the British Soldiers in the Second World War.
A beautiful memoir, full of lively descriptions that make the scenes more realistic. A powerful story of love, bravery, tragedy, sacrifices and hope.
Madge is a character that all people can relate to. Even though a nurse, and sent to another country, Madge is also a lady just like any other, capable of making decisions, mistakes, fall in love, lose the people she loves and hope for a better future.
A very relatable and non-distant character, too realistic for our own good. I loved her so much, and I was eager to know her story.
The pace, however, for me, was too slow. It took me a while to finish this book, and I stopped reading it two times before I finally finished it. The line between this being a great read and a DNF was very thick. That is why a few of my stars have to go away.
I love memoirs, I love stories behind the scenes of wars. Being born and growing up in the Balkans, this is something that triggers us very close to the heart. Being taught in school to protect each other, and living with our father’s stories of how they went and served in the army is something we can all relate to, and respect all these people that are ready to give their lives for a country.
Those were times when I couldn’t have been easy at all, being away from your family, your loved ones. Hard times not only for the people serving the army, but also the people at home, that miss them and pray for them every single day.
What are we all fighting for? How can war bring peace?
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan, for providing me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Some Sunny Day was one of those books that go slowly, and tell a story of another times, reviving memories and emotions. A story of a lady that is sent to India to take care for the British Soldiers in the Second World War.
A beautiful memoir, full of lively descriptions that make the scenes more realistic. A powerful story of love, bravery, tragedy, sacrifices and hope.
Madge is a character that all people can relate to. Even though a nurse, and sent to another country, Madge is also a lady just like any other, capable of making decisions, mistakes, fall in love, lose the people she loves and hope for a better future.
A very relatable and non-distant character, too realistic for our own good. I loved her so much, and I was eager to know her story.
The pace, however, for me, was too slow. It took me a while to finish this book, and I stopped reading it two times before I finally finished it. The line between this being a great read and a DNF was very thick. That is why a few of my stars have to go away.
I love memoirs, I love stories behind the scenes of wars. Being born and growing up in the Balkans, this is something that triggers us very close to the heart. Being taught in school to protect each other, and living with our father’s stories of how they went and served in the army is something we can all relate to, and respect all these people that are ready to give their lives for a country.
Those were times when I couldn’t have been easy at all, being away from your family, your loved ones. Hard times not only for the people serving the army, but also the people at home, that miss them and pray for them every single day.
What are we all fighting for? How can war bring peace?
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan, for providing me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
The Foreign Correspondent
Book
From Alan Furst, whom The New York Times calls “America’s preeminent spy novelist,” comes an...
Dean (6927 KP) rated Murder on the Orient Express (2017) in Movies
Nov 9, 2017
All star cast (1 more)
Picturesque views
Pretty remake but lacking charm
I'm a bit Agatha Christie fan and love a Whodunit. I've seen the original Albert Finney version a few times and the David Suchet made for TV one. This is behind both of those. Although it has a great cast and some nice scenery it lacks any charm, suspense or tension. Maybe because I know the story so well but the flash backs, clues and final summing up weren't as good as the other versions. Might be more fun for those who haven't seen the other versions. I wasn't keen on Branagh's portrayal of Poirot either... But it's still a good story.
Jenny Bee (1 KP) rated Hardcore Twenty-Four: Stephanie Plum Book 24 in Books
Jan 6, 2018
Typical Stephanie
Contains spoilers, click to show
So I love Stephanie and I have ever since I read the first book. So the fact that her story hasn't progressed much over the last 24 books isn't too much of a deal breaker for me. If you're prepared for that, you'll like it. Its typical Stephanie and Lula show, with the usual nonsense and jokes.
I don't like that Joe is basically an afterthought in this book since I'm Team Joe all the way. And she already can't choose between him and Ranger and now you're throwing ANOTHER guy into her bed?
All in all, the story line wasn't bad, and the jokes were good. Much better than the last few books.
I don't like that Joe is basically an afterthought in this book since I'm Team Joe all the way. And she already can't choose between him and Ranger and now you're throwing ANOTHER guy into her bed?
All in all, the story line wasn't bad, and the jokes were good. Much better than the last few books.
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated The Night Circus in Books
Jan 15, 2018
Oh my gosh! What an awesome book!! I'm not even quite sure how to describe it. This book is quite unlike anything I have read before. It is part coming of age tale, part fairy tale, part love story. Celia & Marco are interesting characters who possess extraordinary abilities while still being real. The story sucks you in from the first sentence and doesn't let you go even at the final sentence...I found myself in denial that it was over. It was one of those books you just don't want to end but yet you can't seem to put down.
I finished this book a huge fan of Erin Morgenstern. I hope she will write more books as excellent and addicting as The Night Circus!!!
I finished this book a huge fan of Erin Morgenstern. I hope she will write more books as excellent and addicting as The Night Circus!!!
EcoFriendlyNerd (40 KP) rated My Eyes Are Black Holes in Books
Sep 3, 2017
A weird, but fantastic read!
Easily the weirdest book I've ever read (and I've read quite a few). A great book to read for those who want to know what it's like in the mind of someone who suffers from schizophrenia. Well written (so much so that even I as the reader had a hard time distinguishing between reality and fantasy). I would love to know what happened prior to the book (an unmentioned event seems relevant to the story). I will say that, despite having read this book, I'm still not entirely sure what happened (that may have been the point though). All in all, well done, Mr. Smith.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Steelheart in Books
Sep 4, 2017
I enjoyed reading a superhero story rather than the traditional graphic novel format, and feel it was quite well delivered.
The narration is a little too fan-boy for my liking and at times is quite irritating.
The plot is great and action rolls along at a good pace, with mostly good characters introduced, though they all feel a little clichéd.
I did like the premise where those with superpowers are in charge and the world does their bidding. I would love to read a prequel book where the superheroes fought and divided the world up into fiefdoms for all the most powerful, though at the same time having little on the "origin story" works out quite well in this case.
The narration is a little too fan-boy for my liking and at times is quite irritating.
The plot is great and action rolls along at a good pace, with mostly good characters introduced, though they all feel a little clichéd.
I did like the premise where those with superpowers are in charge and the world does their bidding. I would love to read a prequel book where the superheroes fought and divided the world up into fiefdoms for all the most powerful, though at the same time having little on the "origin story" works out quite well in this case.
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Kick-Ass Vol. 2 in Books
Sep 6, 2017
I wanted to like it, I really did.
Okay my low rating isn't because it was necessarily a bad comic because it wasn't, it had some really awesome parts and I love the super group so much but it was like Millar saw how much people loved the violence, myself included, and kind of just went so overboard with it in this volume that it really took away from the story because it was just violence for the sake of violence the hyper violence this time around just didn't add anything to the story and one instance really was just cringe worthy and honestly ruined the rest of the comic for me.
So as much as I wanted to like this one I just didn't.
So as much as I wanted to like this one I just didn't.
saheffernan (157 KP) rated Daisy Jones & the Six in Books
Mar 31, 2019
Daisy Jones and The Six has it all love, Lust, heartbreak, rock n roll, sex, drugs, addiction to it all. The interview style which it is written in with so many points of view was easy to follow. It reads like a behind the music show with a little of where are they now thrown in. I can't say enough amazing things about this book. I was laughing and then crying following the story of the band and how they became Daisy Jones and The Six. A story so layered with emotion it speaks volumes in more than just the words. Including the lyrics of the songs along with this book makes it truly unique.
