life drama – Page 34 – Down the Rabbit Hole

Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

September 2, 2014June 5, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen’s relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and — finally — a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith’s new novel shows that the center of the world isn’t necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

4 Drink Me Potions

It took me a long time to get into the story. However, my suggestion is to stick it out for say, the first third to half of the book, because The Geography of You and Me most definitely won me over by the end of it.

The beginning was slower than I had thought it would be. Sure, the boy-meets-girl moment happens almost immediately but I wasn’t feeling much for it. AT FIRST. But wait! As the story took its course, there were moments where I had to sit back and just pause to smile at the pages before me.

Owen and Lucy are rather normal characters, as main protagonists go. I wouldn’t say they’re unlikeable, ’cause for sure they are likeable enough for me to continue reading their respective stories, but they’re not excitingly memorable/unique. Each have something to deal with at the beginning. For Owen, it was dealing with the move to NY and over losing his mom. For Lucy, it was being left alone a lot, with her brothers away for school and parents always travelling around the world. I loved that over the span of the book, they both changed and grew from these experiences.

The romance was cute. It was also slow coming, but eventually I felt that irresistible pull they had on each other just as they were discovering it for themselves too. Long distance relationships are hard, and it requires a lot of commitment to one another. I loved that it explored the ups and the downs in any relationship like that.

Maybe my 4 stars are a bit generous, but how could I not be? The Geography of You and Me has some of my very favourite things in it. A beautiful starlit sky where our protagonists first felt the magic; travelling/exploring beautiful cities around the world; and a romance that conquers the distance between them. Sighhh, it’s just too cute for words.

By the way, I absolutely am grateful that Jennifer E Smith kept the ending realistic. It didn’t take away any of the magic of the relationship, maybe even added to it. The writing still melts my heart as I think back on it.

Overall Recommendation:
What started off slow and almost too boring to continue, The Geography of You and Me holds more promise to it than that if you just dig deeper. With sweeping descriptions of gorgeous cities in Europe and America, any traveller who’s been there (like I have!) or wishes to will enjoy the imagery. Just imagine yourself there along with them! And how could anyone resist a relationship that knows no bounds? Distance may just soften the heart.
I recommend this sweet story to anyone who loves travelling and cute relationships!

Review: Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

August 26, 2014August 20, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just…disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.

Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um…

Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane’s list. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go skinny-dipping? Wait…what?

4.5 Drink Me Potions

I enjoyed this book a little more than I anticipated. As I kept reading, my rating went up a little more. Yes, Since You’ve Been Gone was rather a long read, and occasionally felt drawn out. There is a chapter titled for every item on the list that Emily wanted to complete to find her missing best friend, Sloane. However, I was kind of glad seeing that there was a whole chapter for each one, as it produced a progression for the summer in how Emily came to find herself.

Character development was one of my favourite things. Emily started off panicky, shy and alone as she found herself best-friend-less at the beginning of the summer. It’s understandable, especially if you have a shy friend like that. But slowly, with each item she crossed off the list, they challenged our protagonist to come out of her scared shell and for once, BE BRAVE. She had to face her fears for many of them. Like come on, she has a fear of horses but has to ride one. If I had to face my worst fear…..my goodness, it would not turn out as well.

I also liked the minor characters, like the friends Emily makes over the span of the summer as she goes through the list. They each had a personality that didn’t make them just mundane pieces to surround her with. This included her family as well. Her erratic playwright parents and adrenaline-junkie little brother were fun sides to the story, although they may not have directly impacted the central plot: follow list, finish list, find Sloane.

I’ll admit, I had hoped for more romance between Emily and Frank for more of the story. He’s had a long-time girlfriend for most of the story, which made it somewhat more bearable to wait. But if you’re looking for an amazing romance here, this is NOT the book for you, I’m sorry. I appreciated their growing friendship and under-the-surface feelings that gradually came. It wasn’t just physical chemistry between them. They were good friends too, and I like a relationship that’s based on more than just attraction between 2 people that may have nothing in common.

As for Sloane, I was very satisfied with the ending. For most of the book, I couldn’t understand why she left, or where she could’ve gone that would inhibit her from responding to Emily’s texts/calls. Hello, 21st century here. It’s not as hard to communicate with people over long distances. But I came to see her point of things and the ending left me with an emotional taste of their friendship that wasn’t just seen in Emily’s flashbacks. I surprisingly actually liked her by the end. Hoorah! She’s not a villain!

Overall Recommendation:
A mix of a fun and emotional read, Since You’ve Been Gone is a wonderful story on best friends and finding new friendships. With memorable characters and a protagonist with strong development over the course of the book, I swear, you’ll have a lot of fun following Emily and her friends as they complete the list. What an epic summer! Oh, and a bit of underlying romance thrown into there as well. It’s a complete package!

Review: #scandal by Sarah Ockler

August 4, 2014August 20, 2015 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love…

4 Drink Me Potions

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started #scandal. I have read some of Sarah Ockler’s previous works, and I can see some of her unique writing styles in this one too. Has anyone else ever wondered why she gets the protagonist to narrate what an animal/pet in the story might be thinking in certain situations? Beats me.

Anyway, this story surprised me, though I’m starting to think that’s the trend with Ockler’s books. It may seem like just another romance story, with the big “OOPS, I broke the unspoken rule of never going after a best friend’s ex” kind of theme. Reminded me in areas of The Unwritten Rule. However, she always turns the story into something more than just melodrama. It looked into cyberbullying, a very real threat in this present day and age of social media. The anonymity of the internet provides an outlet for people to say and do things that would deter them if they had to do it face-to-face. It was interesting, and of course, sad to see how Lucy, our protagonist, would deal with it.

Although I was looking forward to a fun, light read, #scandal still had its merits.
1) There was the underlying intrigue throughout the story of who ACTUALLY posted up the incriminating picture(s) and got Lucy into trouble. Who that turned out to be may or may not be so obvious to you, unless you’ve read/watched as many mystery plots as I have.
2) The relationship and sideplot of Lucy’s famous (albeit scandalous) older sister was an interesting look into family relations. You don’t have to like the sister, but she felt real and her character does develop over time.
3) The new friends that appear out of this darkness are all different, quirky and unique. A cute French Canadian dude who follows Lucy with a cute puppy-dog kind of love? A not-so-bad stoner known as 420? A crazy group of anti-vanity social media (ie. Facebook/Twitter) led by a leader in a wheelchair? Man, what a variety of characters! Not to mention, our own protagonist is an ass-kicking warrior/princess/mystery girl—that is, if you’re a zombie on her game.

I do wish that there were more Cole-Lucy moments. The story could have centred on them a bit more. I know (hypothetically, in their world) it made sense to lay low in the public eye from each other, but in MY world, come on! I was waiting to see him pop up whenever he could, though there were not enough dreamy moments with just him. Le sigh.

Overall Recommendation:
#scandal is many things all at once. A sweet forbidden romance at one moment, and a pulsing anger of betrayal in the next. From friendships forming to cyberbullying (and physical bullying) from the school population, this book covers it all. So I hope you jump into this knowing that it is way more than what it first appears to be. Reminiscent of The Unwritten Rule, it considers the consequences of being in love with your best friend’s guy, and finally standing up for yourself.