Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Genre: Romantic Fiction

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I'm going to be honest: I cried. A lot. And I cursed and I cried some more.

Me Before You was not what I expected. It started off slow for me. It was hard for me to stay interested in the story. There was a handsome cripple, a caretaker with a selfish boyfriend who gets in the way, and constant bickering that will (obviously) turn into love. What kept me going, in the beginning before everything changed, was Louisa Clark.

Louisa Clark was the most quirky and fascinating character. She wore strange shoes. She was super friendly and chatty, but she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She was happy in a place that held peace and memory, and yet she still expressed herself enough to disrupt the peace with color. The way she handled everything was interesting, while the story around her seemed cliche.

Of course, this was not an ordinary book and it was surely not cliche, just as Louisa was extraordinary. I cannot go into detail without spoiling anything, but there are twists and turns and heart-wrenching moments. You will cry, without a doubt (unless you are absolutely heartless).

I loved this book, if not for it's characters but because of the way the author took a seemingly ordinary story so far that it became so much more. It was well thought out and so honest and real. Because this is how life really is, and Jojo Moyes was not afraid to show the truth. Sometimes, the happy ending isn't the ending you expected, but it was still happy, in the end.

4 stars.

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
Series: The Lord of the Rings Book 2
Genre: Fantasy

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As this novel was the second installment in a trilogy, I had low expectations. It isn't often that the sequel lives up to the standards of the original novel. Not only that, the movie adaption of this novel was the worst of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in my opinion. However, I enjoyed this novel far more than it's precursor, The Fellowship of the Ring.

In contrast to the first novel, The Two Towers was fast-paced and action packed. There were no lulls in the story and I found I was actually able to lose myself in the pages. I loved getting insight into the characters that I had grown up loving from their cinematic portrayal. It was nice to get a fresh perspective on the hobbits, who were portrayed as young and foolish in the movies. The characters were dynamic, as shown through their thought processes and storytelling. It felt as if I was sharing their experiences because of the attention to detail that Tolkien has.

It was discerning to find out that Eowyn, basically the only strong female character in the entire series (besides Arwen, of course), was given no more than two pages and barely any mentions, while other irrelevant characters were given more 'pagetime'. Tolkien did explore the role of Grima Wormtongue and the fall of Saruman further, while the movies just barely touched on the surface. And this book has helped me to fall in love with the Ents! They are not simply lethargic trees who wish to remain unmoving in their spots while the world dissolves around them–they initiate conflict and provide help where it is needed. It was refreshing to see this side of them when the movie did such a poor job portraying the Ents.

The Fellowship of the Ring bored me so much that it took me a year and a half to continue the series–but I am so glad that I did. This novel surpassed my expectations and left me excited to finish the series, unlike the books that came before it.

If you ever find yourself contemplating reading this series, I would definitely recommend it. Push yourself through the first book, because the rest of The Lord of the Rings books are worth it. Trust me.

4 stars.

Never Never Part 3 by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Never Never Part 3 by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
Series: Never Never Part 3
Genre: YA Suspenseful Romance Novella
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Frankly, I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this story was great. The interactions were believable (to an extent), the love story was adorable, and it was well written. However, as a final installment to an extremely suspenseful series, I was a little bit disappointed.

In the Part 1 of this series, there was a lot of suspense built and questions left unanswered. It seemed that there was something larger behind what was happening, something that had to do with all of the sub-conflicts mentioned and focused upon. There was a huge focus on the conflict between Charlie and Silas's parents, however this turned out irrelevant in the end. In Part 2 of this series, something that is seemingly large is revealed and it is shown that someone had a motive to do this to them, but once again the main conflict in a previous part was proven to be irrelevant.

What seemed to be important aspects of plot and story development turned out to be filler information to delay the big reveal. However, the big reveal turned out to be smaller, something far too simple and unrelated to everything else that was added. It seemed as if every single thing that happened was just another device for character development, and not to develop the plot.

This would have been a excellent as a stand-alone novel, not as a three part novella series. It made for unnecessary suspense and an even more unnecessary wait for something that explained all of the important questions with a simple one word answer.

I thought the meaning behind it was beautiful, and worthwhile, and something that is definitely important to recognize. However, the way Hoover and Fisher went about showing this meaning was incoherent and disorganized. The overall writing and description was good, the character development was great (only for Silas and Charlie, though, not any of the other characters), and the love story was cute. As individual scenes, they were excellent, but they seemed to be randomly thrown together as if there was no collaboration or communication in the creation of this series.

2 stars.

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir
Genre: Science-Fiction

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Having already seen the movie and receiving many recommendations from my peers and my English teacher, I finally decided to read this novel. I absolutely loved the story from the movie, so I was curious to see what more there was to find between the pages.

I was not disappointed. Throughout my experience reading this novel, I was never once bored, even while being bombarded with scientific talk on my anti-science ears. I have always hated science, especially chemistry, but I found the science in this book to be understandable. It was simple enough that it wasn't necessary to know exactly what they were talking about and it wasn't an overload of science. Yes, this was a science fiction novel and it was filled with science, but even I, being a lover of the arts and history, enjoyed it and was never bored to death with scientific speech.

On that same token, the science was so real that it was hard for me to remember that this novel was fiction. I would look up from reading a chapter and I would think to myself that this was such an amazing and inspiring story and oh how much do I want to meet Mark Watney.

Mark Watney's voice was so realistic and relatable, his attitude appealing and humorous. He was always so positive, so clearheaded, even when faced with unimaginable odds. I was always disappointed when I remembered he was not a real person, that I could not in fact meet Mark Watney, that we had not yet even flown past the moon, let alone to Mars' surface.

I think that is what made this novel so perfect. The humorous tone made the science bearable, and the science made the story seem real, and the story made my heart swell for all of the characters, and the characters made up the humorous tone. This, in conjunction with the spectacular movie, made this one of my favorite books to read. After reading this book, I cannot watch the movie without crying.

5 stars.