Review: On the Jellicoe Road Audiobook by Melina Marchetta

Title: On the Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta
Narrator: Rebecca Macauley 
Goodreads .  Amazon
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A revelation.

That’s what this audiobook was to me. Even after many, many years of reading the book again and again. I used to think I had it memorized even, but then it's like you hear someone else’s voice, saying all those sentences that bring so many great and incapacitating new emotions that it was almost like lighting stroke my heart.  

I am pretty sure there are quite a few poor souls out there that have not come across this book, or audiobook, yet. So I’m going to review it again, in the hopes to make you pick it up and make this world better.

On The Jellicoe Road goes beyond any realm or genre in literature. It surpasses boundaries and defines a whole new category of incredible, tremendous, fantastic and wonderful. It’s one of the wildest emotional rides your heart can take. The story is so deep, so clever, so thoughtful and perfect that it’s life changing. It certainly was for me.

One of the most common complains I come across when I recommend this book is people not getting it. At first it is confusing, but not because it’s bad narrative, because it’s mysterious. You will want to figure this book, but you won’t be able to at first, because like I told you before, it’s clever. It’s intelligent and it knows deep and dark things you will only get to know as you read along.

What is magical in all of this, though, is that you don’t even have to know what is going on to be pulled in. To get engrossed. To become obsessed. Because this is one rich story, and Melina Marchetta is probably one of the most powerful story tellers of our time.

The audiobook, like I suspected, is amazing too. The narrator did a wonderful job at conveying the emotions we needed. She did a great job of representing the turmoil inside Taylor Markham, her confusion and pain, her annoyance and her spirit. And it is not even one of those high budget audiobooks that seem to be the regularity now. No, it’s simple but engaging. And to hear a story like this, a story I hold so dear to my heart, in the voice of someone else but me was so gut-wrenching that I spend half the time crying my eyes out.

And in the aftermath I can’t recommend it enough. For the people that have never read this book, to the ones that will be introduced to it for the first time, for everyone. This is it.

Review: Remembrance (The Mediator #7!) by Meg Cabot

Title: Remembrance (The Mediator #7!) 
Author: Meg Cabot 
Expected publication: 
February 2nd 2016 by William Morrow
Goodreads !  Amazon  
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So I realize you and I don’t know each other, that’s why it’s hard to explain how in love with The Mediator series I am, because if you have met me it would be so obvious. Probably every person I know knows that I love books, and pretty much everyone knows that The Mediator is my numero uno. It’s the series that got me hooked on Young Adult. It’s how I discovered God’s gift to YA, Meg Cabot. I have pretty much memorized each book on the series thanks to the number of times I have re-read the books in the last decade.

This is my obsession.

And I knew that Meg had plans to write another Mediator book for a long looong time. I have been waiting anxiously to revisit my favorite cast of characters and the gorgeous setting they live in. And it’s finally time.

When I started reading I decided I was going to write from the point of view of someone that is not familiar with the story. Just to see how I would enjoy it. But that thought flew out the window with the first sentence I read. I was transported to the golden days of my youth when the feeling of bliss reading gave me was nearly too much for my sanity. I swear it was so good.

Suze’s voice is still so inherent Suze, so familiar and true, that I can’t help but wonder if Meg even realizes it’s been nearly a decade since the last book. It was a big part of why reading Remembrance was so magical.

But then of course Meg seemed to have read my thoughts exactly. I wrote this pre-review on goodreads almost two years ago, when she said she started writing the novel, and every question I had, every thought, was answered to my highest expectations.

It’s not every day you get a wish come true, that’s why I was thankful to have this novel, even if it sucked. It didn’t. It was perfect. It was the same Suze that I have loved forever. The same Ackerman family, that has grown to be the best adoptive family in the world, I was so happy to see Suze’s stepbrothers had turned into brilliant men that I might have shed a tear of two. I knew Jake and Dave had it in them, but even Brad? I won the lottery. And CeeCee and Adam? The same loving, supporting friends. Father Dominic? AMAZING. Paul? He’s still a jerk but still I was infinitely happy to see him! He’s sort of the comic relief too, and I’ve always felt bad for him as a teenager. Now he’s an adult so it made it harder to sympathize with him, though I could never hate him.

Even the ghost busting was turned to the next level. The stories were harder and sadder. The villains ages above the crimes everyone in the previous books ever committed. Which made it easy for me to invest myself in the mystery and not only in the excitement of seeing my old pals.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t focus a whole chunk of my brain on them. Namely Jesse. Jesse who has been my boyfriend for longer than half my life. Jesse who loves kids and medicine as much as I do. Jesse who speaks softly in Spanish. Jesse who makes every other guy on earth pale in comparison. He was exactly the perfect guy he has been for almost two centuries. I can’t even keep on writing because I’d cry and my mom is watching because I’m supposed to be happy right now (I’m writing this review as everyone else is celebrating that the new year is coming in just a few hours).

So anyway, you see why I am biased and would never write a perfectly coherent review for this book. But what I hope I transferred to you is this… Is not for nothing I have kept this series by my side for such a long time. It’s full of everything that makes Young Adult great. It’s a classic. It’s something you can’t miss.

Review: A Charmed Life by Jenny B. Jones

Title: A Charmed Life

Author: Jenny B. Jones

Published May 1st 2012 by Thomas Nelson Publishers

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depo

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What can I tell you about this series except that it is genius and that you shouldn’t miss it.

A charmed life is a compilation of three novels about Bella Kirkwood, a NYC kid who has to move to Oklahoma due to her mom’s recent new marriage to a tampon-factory-working man with 2 kids.

Bella is not thrilled, to say the least, but she is trying to make it work, even though her new patent leather shoes got ruined while walking through manure, and even though the chief of the school’s paper gave her a story about recycling (trash diving is so not her thing); oh and did I mention someone is always trying to kill her?

This is one of my favorite series ever. Full of wit and laugh-out-loud moments, Bella’s adventures will keep you entertained and satisfied. And the continuous mysteries that unravel in this small-town are another plus that will for sure give you a fun time.

I love pretty much all the characters, but Bella is my favorite of course, because she might love her fashion brands but she has a huge heart and a lot of courage. Her nosiness is comical but her braveness is real. She's the perfect main character because even though her life is much more interesting than yours you just have to love her because she is adorable, and I want to be her BFF.

Luke Sullivan. Oh Luke, can I marry you? He’s the most perfect guy I have ever read. So chivalrous and smart, and even though he likes Bella, he is not going to put up with her games. I love how dedicated he is, and certainly, I love his preppy style. Oh, and I can't forget, he looks like this -->

Now guys, if I tried to mention every character in the series I will be here all summer but  one character I really have to tell you about is Ruthie. 

Ruthie is amazing. The funniest side-kick ever, she is snort-you-drink-out-your-nose funny, I do not recommend you read this book in public if you have one of those witchy/piggy/hey-look-at-me laughs because people will be looking at you weird.

In conclusion, there's only a couple series I can say that have managed to stay my favorites through all my life, A Charmed Life is one of them. No matter what age I am I always enjoy re-reading the adventures of Bella Kirkwood and now with this make-over you have the chance to own the 3 books in one for a great price and I asure you, it's money well-spent! ;)

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Title: Graffiti Moon
Author: Cath Crowley

Hardcover, 272 pages

Expected publication: February 14th 2012 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Goodreads | Buy at Amazon: Graffiti Moon


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In celebration of the harcover publication of this incredible book, I'm posting my review of it. A quick and short review would be: I LOVE IT, FAVORITED, GIVE ME MORE.

The long version:

What a flawless, excellent, fabulous, to-die-for book!. Now I don’t throw these words around loosely, only for my heaven-sent authors like Melina Marchetta or Jennifer Echols. But this! This! Left me speechless.

It was a spur of the moment to have picked this ARC and gave it a go, and I’m so glad. I wish I could give this book the articulate and amazing review it deserves, so you could all go and pick up this book the day it is out but it’s hard because I’m not good at words, but you know what I have? Passion. I just can’t contain my love for this story so let’s start.

Lucy’s parents are artists. She is an artist, the thing she loves the most in life is art, and that’s why she feels the biggest attraction to Shadow, a graffiti boy who paints with his soul. Shadow is a troubled guy; his walls are the place where he can unload the weight that’s oppressing his heart. This two are the perfect couple.



I figure Shadow's walls are something along these lines. Eclectic and beautiful.



But right now Lucy is celebrating the last day of school with her friends, Jazz and Daisy. They’re all hanging out in a bar when these cute guys come in, Dylan (Daisy’s ex-boyfriend), Leo (tall, gorgeous and whose fine form has caught Jazz eye) and Ed (who is a high school dropout), they’re all hanging out and then Jazz spills that Lucy is obsessed with Shadow. Dylan, Leo and Ed know who Shadow is, so the girls convinced the boys to help them find Shadow and his friend Poet.



The journey begins...



This book is also hilarious. All of my status updates on goodreads were either “Bwahahaha” or “THIS IS HILARIOUS!” The quest to find Shadow is the funiest, most entertaining, most heart-warming, most nail-biting thing I’ve ever read.

I am one of those people who can’t handle embarrassing events happening to the protagonists, I hate cringe-inducing books, and from one of the first scenes I thought “man! This is going to be embarrassing” but it wasn’t, this book takes the comedic route to soften the deepness of the story, it was an absolute joy to read what these group of teens go through. Teens like these don’t exist in real life! And if they do please point them out to me so I can hang out with them (:

My only complaint though is I wish the book was longer. I turned the last page and I had to contain myself from crying out in pain “MOOOOOOOOORE!”, and you know most of the time I wish books were shorter, most of what I read turns to be 90% BLAH and 10% Action. But Graffiti Moon was entertaining from page 1 to the acknowledgments.

So anyway, you don’t want to miss this story, people. It’s one of this generation’s gems, I’ll save it for humanity for when the apocalypse comes.

 

Review: On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Title: On the Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta

Paperback, 300 pages

Published August 28th 2006 by Penguin Australia

Goodreads | Amazon: Jellicoe Road

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On the Jellicoe Road is one of the most amazing books I have ever read in my life. The story is so touching and the writing so captivating that you cannot help but fall in love with it. And it's also a book you have to experience, even if you've read all the reviews this book has, you will never ever begin to imagine how amazing it is.

The book is actually composed of two stories, one about a group of kids that are brought together by the biggest tragedy that has ever happened on the Jellicoe Road. The other one is the story of Taylor, a broken, asmathic girl with a mysterious past life; mysterious even for her.

I particularly love Taylor. I think she's super amazeballs. She has more guts than anyone I have ever know and the best word to describe her is kick-ass. All through the book we see her trying to unravel the mistery that is her past. She seems to have no one, her father is dead, her mother abandoned her at a 7-eleven when she was 11 years old, and since then she's been living in the Jellicoe School, were she was just got chosen leader. For the war.

Because you see, there's this territory war that has been going on for ages, between the "townies" and the "cadets" and the kids at Jellicoe School. And this war is taken seriously, each "team" has a leader. The townies have Santangelo, the Jellicoe S. kids have Taylor and the cadets have Jonah Griggs. <3

Taylor is the first girl to have been chosen since, like, ever. And the most probable reason is because she is ballsy. But don't worry the war is very mature (well, sometimes), the leaders meet at times to talk about their options and to trade locations and you know, negotiate. And as that happens, a real friendship and some other relationships start to blossom.

Every character from this book is absolutely kick-ass. I wish I had a quarter of the coolness these kids have. All of them are incredible despite the sad sad stories some of them have in their backgrounds. But the real tragedy is the other story, the one about the kids that were involved in/with the car accident. That story is so so heartbreaking, like nothing I've read before.

Despite I'm making it sound like a sad read, it is not. I am not a person who wears her heart on her sleeve but when I read this book it's like I'm a tornado of emotions. I cry and laugh and shout and swoon and smile and sob, and I get so emotional, it's not even funny. And a book that can evoke that kind of passion in me is a real keeper. And a forever favorite.

I've already said that I love the characters from this book, but I haven't really stated that this book contains one of my favorite favorite characters ever. Jonah Griggs. If there's a male character more perfect than he is then please point him out to me, and even then, I won't believe it. Because it simply does not get better than that. My dear Jonah is the one everybody else gets measured with, even though no one ever gets close to the amazingness he is.



Imagine Channing Tatum at 17, that's Jonah for me :)



I might have made it sound complicated but it is not. You just have to give this book a chance because it's not for nothing it won all those awards. It has mistery, and tragedy and friendship and romances and amazing quotes, and amazing characters and it is just unbelievably intense. It's a book difficult to forget and one that can be re-read an infinite amount of times without getting tired of it. This book is perfect.

My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.

I counted.

It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I'd ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-la.

epic.

Review [!] The Fine Art Of Truth Or Dare by Melissa Jensen.

Title: The Fine Art Of Truth Or Dare
Author: Melissa Jensen

Paperback, 380 pages

Expected publication: February 16th 2012 by Speak

Goodreads || Amazon

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Remember this book from my very first extra special edition of Waiting On Wednesday?

You know what they say, it’s not very bright to get your hopes up because you know nothing is going to be as good as you make it in your head to be…
this book went past my expectations and up and up until it made them look like little ants in the ground.

No really, I loved this. I love this.  The story is incredibly adorable and witty and deeper than what I could have guessed from the synopsis. Let me write you a quick recap.

Review: There You'll Find Me by Jenny B Jones

Title: There you'll find me

author: Jenny B. Jones

Published October 4th 2011 by Thomas Nelson

Goodreads | Amazon

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Remember I was crazy excited about this book?

remember I even made it my first Waiting On Wednesday ever? I thought I was definitely going to love this book.

Turns out I was absolutely and 100% right. Well, kind of. I l don't think I imagined I was going to love it this much.

I read it four days ago and I still think about it and smile, but let's get down to business, here's the review: