Book Review: All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Published by Penguin Teen Australia on 7 January 2015
384 Pages
Goodreads Book Depository

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

I just spent the last hour in my bathtub sobbing so this isn’t going to be my best review but god its going to be heartfelt so prepare for that. Up until writing this review I actually hadn’t read the synopsis for All The Bright Places, so I had no idea what I was going into and simply picked up the book on the recommendation of Kelly over at Diva Booknerd who said it would destroy me and boy was she right.

This book is being sold as a combination of Eleanor and Park and The Fault In Our Star the later of which I have read. I fall into the unfavourable opinion that The Fault In Our Stars was just okay, as I couldn’t really relate to the characters. This book blew it out of the water. It is really awe-inspiring is how relatable it is I’ve never connected so much with two characters and wished for them to have the best circumstances possible. I personally suffer from depression and anxiety and have at time been suicidal and to say that Jennifer Niven captured every emotion I’ve ever felt perfectly is an understatement. Jennifer Niven truly is a goddess of writing.

 So this book follows what happens when two completely different people meet in circumstances that no one ever wants to meet someone; up on bell tower both thinking about what it would be like to jump.  This is how Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet and start their adventures. God they have such a beautiful adventures, and even that is understating it.  Dealing with topics like mental illness, post-traumatic stress and most importantly suicide this book isn’t a walk in the park but it is a must read for everyone.

Finch is now officially my favourite male character of all time; I really just want to hug him over and over. He is spontaneous, outrageous, a gentleman and just so alive. Finch has periods where he is asleep to the world and just doesn’t function and this makes him feel different than everyone else. Throughout this book Finch really struggles to find who he is and tries out a bunch of different personas like 80’s Finch and Nerd Finch and god I understood exactly what he was going through. It’s hard being weird and Finch is constantly reminded by everyone at his school that he’s weird. All of these things combine somehow to create the most realistic and beautiful character. On the other side of the spectrum is Violet and she is also perfect.

Violet suffers from post-traumatic after a devastating car crash took her older sisters life and her will to live. She quit all her hobbies, doesn’t drive and wears her sisters glasses like they make her some how Eleanor. Violet is stuck in a constant cycle of want to not live and also be alive that gives her an inexplicable connection to Finch and considering the circumstances they met, they both find it hard to forget each other. I did find that I connected with Finch better than Violet but I think that was purely because I understood him better than Violet.

This book has duel a prospective alternating between Violet and Finch they both had such individual voices without either of them losing the underlying beautiful prose that just captured my heart. I’m not really one for adult book but I’m going to be reading all of Jennifer Niven’s other books just in the hope that it’s there as well. I also really loved that quotes littered this book they ranged from Virginia Woolf to Dr Seuss. Each quote was meaningful well placed and just added generally to the story.

All in all if you’re even mildly considering reading this book please do and if you’re not considering reading it please think about it. I honestly can’t express my love this book enough it really just hit all spots.

Book Review: Me Since You - Laura Wiess

Pub. Date- February 18th 2014 Publisher- MTV Books

 Pages- 320 Genre- Contemporary/Young Adult  Rating- 5 Stars

I received this courtesy of MTV Books through 

Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Goodreads - Book Depository

"Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?
Before and After. That's how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old--a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.
If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger's shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother--and herself--from the endless replay of heartache and grief.
Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?"

The most  heart-wrenchingly sad and beautiful in equal quantities that when I try to explain the love I feel for it everything hurts award goes to this book. Laura Wiess has the most beautiful realistic way of writing that made the heart-break and hopelessness so present and over whelming without ever stopping the flow or pacing. Now yes this book is incredibly sad but it’s not pointless sad, everything that happens is for a reason and a lot of the emotions come from watching Rowan grow stronger and dealing with the horrible things that occur in her life.

Rowan starts the story being your average teenager who just wants to go out with her friends be popular.  Everything changes for her when her Dad is the closest cop on duty to a horrible crime. Her dad is only the closest because Rowan picked that Friday to skip school with a friend and then in a chain of events everything goes wrong. The crime happens, a video goes viral and nothing will ever be the same again. The whole plot of this magnificently written book is all about Rowan’s healing and try to get her family back together.

One of the best elements of this is the romance. The relationship between Rowan and Eli main focal point in the sense that they meet and everything is made mystically better.  This doesn’t happen in life; nobody is every going to be a heart mega-bandaid. Laura Wiess plays this out perfect and realistically both in a sense that Rowan and Eli do help heal each other but they don’t solely rely on each other to the point where the whole story feels unhealthy.  

As much as I could go on and on about this for years just thinking about the story has made me tear up. I did cry for an hour of my 2 hour reading (it’s way to good to put down) so this isn’t the book to read on the bus to work, more of an in bed with tissues and chocolate book. I really hope you’ll give this a read; it has quickly become one of my top books of the year. I'm so looking forward to buying a physical copy of this and maybe some of Laura Wiess' other novels.

Have you read this? Will you do your heart a favour and do it?
(If you had read this, you should leave a comment so we can sob together, or let me know if you hated it)

Book Review: A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Pub. Date- 2013 Publisher- Candlewick Press Pages- 206 

Genre- Fantasy/Contemporary YA Rating- 5 Stars

Goodreads - Book Depository 

The monster showed up just after midnight.As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting, the one from the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming....This monster is something different, something ancient , something wild. And it wants the truth.
Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of the finest writers for young adults.

How do you describe a book that is nothing like anything you've read before? I have no idea how to do this book justice but I'm going to try. Patrick Ness has long been one of my favourite authors since the day I first picked up The Knife of Never Letting Go, but with this book he knocked every expectation I had out of the park. If someone asked to recommend a book that made them feel everything without a second thought, I'd reply A Monster Calls.This the kind of book that leaves you thinking about it for weeks in advance..

The first spectacular thing about this book is it beautiful illustrations by Jim Kay. That add so much depth and ambiance, to give the story a whole new dimension. The images really help to set the stage for everything that's happening even its just leaves on the side of the page like they are scattered on the floor or full page spreads illustrating the monsters stories in frightening detail.

The illustrations perfectly match the eerily beautiful writing style that seemed to flow effortlessly creating a seamless transition between the fantastical elements and the contemporary more serious moments. The way sentence are structured in this brilliant tale isn't like anything I've read before and I really enjoyed it. The short punchy sentences felt very to Conor an angry kid who is just trying to keep everything under control. When the monster  is speaking the writing changes just enough to give the feeling that the Monster is ancient and all knowing without changing the rhythm and pace that rest of the book has.

With a book so packed full of emotions and events it would be to hard to give a summary of Conor or the monster without giving away spoilers so I'm just going to leave it at this has fast become one of my favourite books of all time and I've already brought it for 2 of my friends. And finally here's my favourite quote just to give you a teaser.

“You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”   

Have you read this, what did you think? If you haven't will you add it to your tbr?