Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski

Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Series: N/A
Publisher: Henry Holt & co.
Format: ARC
Pages: 288
Source: Won.

In Famous Last Words by Jennifer Salvato Doktorski, sixteen-year-old Samantha D’Angelo has death on the brain. Her summer internship at the local newspaper has her writing obituaries instead of soaking up the sun at the beach. Between Shelby, Sam’s boy-crazy best friend; her boss Harry, a true-blue newspaper man; and AJ, her fellow “intern scum” (aka the cute drummer for a band called Love Gas), Sam has her hands full. But once she figures out what—or who—is the best part of her summer, will she mess it all up?

As Sam learns her way around both the news room and the real world, she starts to make some momentous realizations about politics, ethics, her family, romance, and most important—herself.

 

The one thing I absolutely loved about this story was the focus on Sam's job. I loved seeing how her job was a major part of her life and everything that went on in the office. However that was not enough to make me completely fall in love with this book.

 

For the most part I didn't connect with the characters. Sam bugged me. I just could not grow to like her. She was focused and hard working, two traits I usually really enjoy in a character but she was also kind of spineless in the beginning. I tried to like her I really did but in the end I liked AJ a lot more. AJ was awesome, a drummer and really into music. I could really identify with that aspect considering music has played a huge part in my life.

 

This was a pretty cute read. There just wasn't enough going on to keep me entertained however. The mysterious aspects in the story were fine for a while but I found myself not really caring whether they solved the mystery with the mayor or not.

 

 

 

 

Bubble World by Carol Snow (ARC)

Bubble World by Carol Snow
Series: N/A
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)
Format: ARC
Pages: 352
Source: Won

Freesia’s life is perfect. She lives on the beautiful tropical island of Agalinas, surrounded by idyllic weather, fancy dress shops, and peacocks who sing her favorite song to wake her up in the morning. She has so many outfits she could wear a different one every day for a year and not run out.

Lately things on the island may have been a bit flippy: sudden blackouts, students disappearing, even Freesia’s reflection looking slightly . . . off. But in Freesia’s experience, it’s better not to think about things like that too much.

Unfortunately for her, these signs are more than random blips in the universe. In Bubble World by Carol Snow, Freesia’s perfect bubble is about to pop.

 

 This was a difficult book for me to rate. On the one hand I did enjoy it, on the other however, I wasn't wowed by it. Going in I wasn't really expecting much and I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the whole revelation about Freesia's perfect world.

We get to see quite a bit of the world Freesia is living in. With it's fancy clothes, perfect weather and extremely laidback style. Though as the book progresses it becomes clear that things aren't exactly as they seem. Things start to get weird on the island and pretty soon Freesia is exposed to the truth of Agalinas.

My one major issue with the book was the made up words. Face-linking? Couldn't they just say kissing? There's quite a few more that could have been left out or at least explained.

I wasn't a fan of Freesia. She was shallow and vain. She talked about people and was a pretty nasty person if you weren't one of her "friendlies". My favorite character had to be Ricky Leisure. He was totally laidback and just kind of chilled all day but you really get to see a whole deeper side of him as the story goes on.

This book is an extremely quick read and would be perfect for the beach. It doesn't take long to get through and is also a pretty easy read.

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block (ARC)

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block
Series: Love in the Time of Global Warming, #1
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Format: ARC
Pages: 240
Source: Won

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

I wanted to love this book, I truly did and based off the description I really thought I would. But when I started reading it I just knew I wasn't going to. I had to constantly stop and ask myself what just happened throughout the novel. Maybe I'm just getting pickier with books but I just couldn't get into this one.

The writing style is definitely something I have never seen before, it's unique but I found it really hard to get into. I've never read something that used The Odyssey as a guide, I never even read The Odyssey and that factor was really interesting for me. The giants were cool and their reasons for existence was interesting, but my enjoyment only went so far.

When it came to the characters I either loved them or hated them. I wasn't a fan of the heroine. I found Pen to be rather annoying. The city is dangerous but she wanted to go to a museum that her mother took her to once and was willing to risk not only her but her friends lives as well. Most of her decisions aren't very smart and I found myself not connecting with her. I loved Hex on the other hand. His story could have been developed a little more but from what is shown to us he's an extremely complex and interesting character. Ash and Ez just kind of seem to be there, I liked them but there wasn't any real connection to them since not much is really learned about either of them.

Love in the Time of Global Warming was a quick read and though I didn't enjoy this one maybe you will, it all comes down to what your looking for. If you want a deep book about the end of the world maybe you should pass this one, but if you want a quick light read that even after all of the faults I had with this seem like something you would enjoy I say go for it.