Summer of Standalones wrap-up!

Hello everyone! Happy first of September:) The Hogwarts Express has officially left platform 9 3/4 and we all know what that means- summer vacation is OVER. (Technically, I've been back in school for a week, but in my mind I attend Hogwarts therefore...)

Anyway, that means we have reached the end of the Summer of Standalones Challenge. If you don't know what that is, it's a challenge to read as many standalone books as we can this summer hosted by Books with Cass. For more about it visit the intro post I did in June.

I set myself a goal of ten. Unfortunately I didn't get even within reach of this goal- I was (happily) much busier than I expected this summer and I only read four (for this challenge). Here are my reviews:

Bewitching by Alex Flinn
Dare You To by Katie McGarry
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

*sigh* It feels like summer started yesterday. I really enjoyed this challenge and would like to thank Cass for the chance to participate! Feel free to check out the reviews you missed and tell me what you think!
So long!
Esty

p.s. Just to clear up some confusion. My name is Es- TY. Like, ST. NOT LIKE BETSY WITHOUT A B. Esti just with a Y.

Review: Perks of Being a Wallflower

Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
Mature contemporary YA

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of this book- even without the movie and Emma Watson it had a reputation. I'll admit I've seen the movie already so the story itself was spoiled for me. Why am I telling you this? Because the great thing about this novel is that even knowing the whole story (the movie was very true to the book) it was still TOTALLY INCREDIBLE. 

Charlie was wonderfully smart and naive the way real smart people are. (that makes sense I promise) He was funny without an ounce of sarcasm (where do you ever see that nowadays?) and practically a little kid with the head of an adult. His observations were unique and beautiful- the book is abundant with great quotes. You're left with lots of food for thought.

The writing was flawless. There was little dialogue, with Charlie telling us that she said this and that. It was brilliant; totally reflective of the way Charlie thinks. The whole book is like being inside his head. It also comes with a bit of a lesson- Perks of Being a Wallflower is written as a letter to you, (the reader) a kid in his school. 

Everything about the story felt REAL- nothing exaggerated, downplayed, ignored, too perfect or coincidental.  The only thing stopping me from shoving it under the nose of everyone I know? Not really age appropriate for a kid below the eighth/ninth grade. 
Rating: 



Good weekend everybody, and happy new Jewish year!
Esty

I am back! with a Review: The Fault in Our Stars

I am back, people- I had an amazing month and hope you did too! I am now accepting review requests and taking emails/tweets/social whatever as usual:)


The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Contemporary YA, "Cancer Book"

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

If you get around in the book world, you've heard of this one. And in one sentence- EVERY BIT OF THE HYPE WAS MORE THAN JUSTIFIED. TFioS was one of the most sensational, touching, sensitive, funny, realistic, sad, TRUE, heartwarming, and overall emotion-inspiring novels I've ever read.

The writing: John Green, everyone in the world is dust at your feet. I've always said this.

The plot: speechless. And I thought Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns (the only other JG books I've read) were epic. He outdid himself. I just never knew what was going to happen next, but when things did happen, they made total sense. (that was coherent, right?)

The characters: three words- AUGUSTUS FREAKING WATERS. You think Will Herondale has the most beautiful, hilarious, insightful, make-every-female-on-the-planet-faint lines? Think again. Augustus Waters could make Einstein swoon. I would quote you the best ones, but I would just have to attach a pdf file of the whole book because, yes, EVERY SINGLE WORD IN THAT BOOK SHOULD BE QUOTED. Especially Even the word 'okay'.

The end: I can't talk about it. The tears. (not necessarily sad ones though...)

Whom I'd recommend it to: EVERYONE over the age of like 12. Yes, even those no-it's-a-cancer-book people. The Fault in Our Stars is not a cancer book. It's not about death, it's about life. I couldn't stop thinking about it for a few days, and when I shoved it under my sister's nose until she read it she came to me freaking out after. Also, not in a bad way. This book won't depress you, it will make you think. It's the kinda book I will take everywhere and make everyone read, the kind I myself will reread every year or so. It is the kind of book that as soon as I finished it, I flipped back to the beginning. The kind you can't read in public because you laugh so hard you snort. Or because you cry so hard you sob.

Basically? BOUNCE TO THE TOP OF YOUR TBR. I promise, you won't regret it.
Rating:


Have a great day and stay tuned for my Summer of Standalones check-in, two book tours, and tons more reviews planned for August!
Love,
Esty

Review: Dare You To (spoiler free)

Dare You To
Katie McGarry
Contemporary Romance

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

OH MY GOD. Dare You To was an amazing, sensational, and epic read. The two days in which I read this book went something like this:

Me: I have dance in a few minutes.
DYT: no. 

And then the book proceeded to get awesome-er. I was literally hooked from the first page.

The romance: was beautiful. Every moment between Ryan and Beth was real and perfect and made me swoon. The characters problems made sense, their reactions made sense, the thoughts and dialogues flowed flawlessly. 

The characters: Oh, the love. I just loved everyone. I wanted to jump in and make everything right in their lives. With Beth, in the beginning I didn't understand why she kept running even when that clearly wasn't the smart thing to do. But as the novel progressed, we start to see who she was and the fears she had. And Ryan? Can you say NEW FICTIONAL BOYFRIEND? On one hand, a troubled, daring boy, and on the other, a perfect gentleman and talented baseball player and writer. What more could you want??

The plot was realistic and great, and I enjoyed EVERY SECOND OF IT. 

The side characters: needless to say, I'm dying to get my hands on Pushing the Limits (Noah and Echo's story). Also, it seems Isiah's book will be coming out soon! Sooooo excited. 

The title and cover: check and check! I LOVE IT when the title perfectly ties in with an element of the story, and this couldn't have been a more perfect fit. 

 What more can I say? There were sad scenes, there were happy ones, there were literally-laugh-out-loud bits. Basically? JUST GET IT. It was worth every minute. Rating: 

Love, Esty

Review: Bewitching

Bewitching
Alex Flinn
YA Paranormal

Bewitching can be a beast. . . .

Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn’t.

I go to a new school now—one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I’m not still here because I’m stupid; I just don’t age.

You see, I’m immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years—except for when to take my powers and butt out.

I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in theTitanic lifeboat? I don’t even want to think about it.

Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn’t get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl—and it isn’t an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching.

Beastly..... ring a bell? Remember? Great book, later adapted into great movie (*cough* Alex Pettyfer *cough*)? Yeah that! So the witch, Kendra, now has her story told. Partly narrated by her,  Bewitching tells the surprisingly not typical at all (!) Cinderella story of Emma punctuated with some really enjoyable anecdotes from Kendra's life including Hansel and Gretel, the Princess and the Pea and The Little Mermaid. 

The back gives the impression that the book will be told from Kendra's PoV. It was not- she basically put in little notes, which, after I got over the initial disappointment, I really liked. Emma was an ok MC, more or less realistic. The beginning was a little frustrating for me because of her naivete, but she grows throughout the novel and I liked her quite a lot at the end. About the Cinderella bit, I implore you, DO NOT PASS THIS UP BECAUSE OF THAT. It was done soooo differently than anything out there, even if it may not seem so at first. 

The ever-changing POVS kept the book interesting and refreshing, though I do wish we got to hear more from Lisette. The conniving stepsister had a hard life and we get to hear a little about why she does the things she does, but I'd have loved to have read more of that. 

Bewitching wasn't as amazing as I remember Beastly to be, but a really great read all the same. It's a companion to Beastly and Lindsey's Diary (called The Kendra Chronicles), though is a completely different story and can be read as a standalone. Which is why, this is my first book to be read for the SUMMER OF STANDALONES CHALLENGE. To read about or sign up for the challenge, go here. Rating

 

Love, Esty

Summer of Standalones Challenge!

I have been a bad, bad, blogger lately. *slaps myself*. But now that all my tests are taken and reports handed in, I'm back. At least until July.

Anyhoo, the wonderful Cassie over at Books with Cass is hosting a challenge which I think is seriously needed- Summer of Standalones. You basically need to read as many standalones as you can this summer. It's low-pressure, so click on over to her blog and sign up! So this is the June intro... my goal for this challenge is 10. These are the ones I plan to read:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky
Dare You To by Katie McGarry (Netgalley)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nigh-time by Mark Haddon
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Piece of My Heart by Lynn Maddalena Menna (Netgalley)
A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest (at least, I THINK this is a standalone) (received for review)
At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks
House Secrets by Mike Lawson

I'll add two more next check in (which I will do late July, NOT mid-July like Cass because I will be away at camp at the time.) I'm soooo excited for these and can't wait to review them for you guys! Unfortunately I don't think I'll reach my goal of ten but I'll try! Anyway, have a great weekend! If you're participating in the challenge leave me your link and I'll check yours out:) Adios!
Esty