Blankets by Craig Thompson

And the most heart-achingly beautiful, stunning, depressingly true, and unique novel I've read all year is...

Blankets is an unforgettable story.

Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith.

Words in this book are as scarce as they are blurb, but we have drawings, and Craig Thompson tells a better story with these drawings than most authors could do with words.

Just, like, look at these.

I'll keep my post just as short.(i'e I'm too lazy to write any more). Just read this book, I recommend this to everyone and I promise you won't regret it.

Needless to say, I fell in love with this book. (and it broke my heart into tiny little pieces and then left a scar)

5 STARS

My Goodreads

      Tumblr

The Merciless by Danielle Vega

I went Into this book expecting a stand-alone YA Contemporary with something like mystery or mental-illness...

Guess I should have checked goodreads better.
Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned
Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.
 Sofia Flores knows she shouldn't have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn't realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . .
 In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?

 Sofia Flores knows she shouldn't have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.
Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . .
 In this chilling debut, Danielle Vega delivers blood-curdling suspense and terror on every page. By the shockingly twisted end, readers will be faced with the most haunting question of all: Is there evil in all of us?

 

Don't be misguided by the overwhelmingly pink cover.
It's a short read, and I flew through it. The creepy atmosphere and weirdness certainly helped. But really, the first half or so I thought this was just a YA Contemporary. It had the standard set-up for that genre: New Girl, Clique of popular girls with a two-faced leader, Popular boy who falls for the new girl, one eccentric friend, blah blah blah. Boy, was I wrong. "The Merciless" is actually a paranormal fantasy/ horror novel. I sure realized that when I was in the last chapter or something. There's a BIG, jaw dropping plot twist that will leave you stunned. 

Just my type of ending. Except that I found out later that this is part of a series. *Sigh* It would've been really cool if the story had ended just with the first book, but now we'll be getting another Mean Girls-esque paranormal fantasy.

so, read this if you 

1. Like creepy books                          
2. Can tolerate a mostly cliché plot
3. Like twisted endings                          

I give "The Merciless"

3.7 STARS

My Goodreads

      Tumblr

Graphic novels/ Comic books

Whatever you call it, pictures and words together are a heavenly combination.

I love reading, I love drawing. I appreciate both equally, but when I can enjoy both together...

 It's perfection, really.

I recently became obsessed with this, It started with manga, which of course isn't exactly in the "comics" category but technically, It's about the same. I've been watching anime for a long, long time, but not reading manga, so when I did, I was completely in love with the feeling of being able to both read and see. Obviously, while reading novels you can use your imagination to picture things too, but here it's a given.

So after reading a manga called "Silver Spoon", I ventured into the graphic novel territory by reading "Blankets", I'll write a separate post on this one, because this book is just too beautiful to be fit into a small para. Then I read a few more ("Asterios Polyp" and "Ghost World"), and that's how I came to love graphic novels. 

And that's about it.

My Goodreads

      Tumblr

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Finally read it. Again this was supposed to be read during "booktubeathon"

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

“I miss him so much, but it's confusing, because I missed him long before he was dead, and that's the bitch of it all. I missed him long before he was dead.” 

I've already said it but average ratings on goodreads can be seriously misleading. Like, "Under The Never Sky" gets 4.04 while THIS gets 3.94. Really? REALLY?

Please Ignore Vera Dietz made me feel so sad without ever making me cry (okay, maybe I did tear up). There's so much more going on in the book than what that summary tells. The relationship between Vera and her father was one of the highlights of the book for me. A.S King writes beautifully, one minute I'm cracking up, the next I'm thinking that I shouldn't be laughing in such a situation. Vera's POV is amazing, but what's even more amazing is the notes between the parts of the story. There are notes from Charlie, Vera's dad, the Pagoda (YES.) 

Every character was so real and I wanted Vera to end up well so badly and every time she was drinking, I felt like slapping her to her senses and when she did the right thing I was just so happy. A.S. King made me root for the main character, and that's what I loved.

This kind of reminded me of "Hate List" which is one of my favorites.

My favorite character was probably Vera's dad. (or maybe the Pagoda) 

Despite how much I wanted to, I couldn't, just couldn't hate Charlie. I pitied him. I hated the way things had to turn out.

**POTENTIAL SPOILER**

“I wish we could go back in time and climb trees together again. I love you, Vera. I always will.” 

5 STARS

My Goodreads

      Tumblr

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

It took me 4(ish) hours to finish this 500 page compilation of the strongest feels. It seems like I was misguided by the trailer of the movie adaptation to think this was a typical chick lit/fluffy read. GODS NO.

 (Lily Collins and Sam Claflin just looked so good and cute in the trailer, I knew I had to read the book)
Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S. 

She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex. 

Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.
There were a few more lines in the summary about how this book keeps you laughing and guessing till the very last page.(It doesn't) (not really complaining) and LAUGHING TILL THE END! pfft more like This book is not a LIGHT HAPPY READ. It could be frustrating to many readers, not to me, I LOOOVEEEEDD this book. I've tried to read Cecelia Ahern's "P.S I Love You" but couldn't really get into it. Love, Rosie though...
The book is written in epistolary form, It's a compilation of e-mails, letters, notes, messages and stuff. Read it, pleeease read it, because it's sad and happy and tragic and joyous. But skip it if you hate books that cover a reaaaally long period, because the only thing I truly HATED about this novel was that *SPOILER ALERT*
It took 50 FREAKING years for the main characters to get together. YEP.*END OF SPOILER*
So yeah, this book just missed my favorites shelf because of that.
Calling all those die hard romantics, this is the book for you.
I give it (guess guess)

5 STARS

for leaving me like this

My Goodreads
      Tumblr

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo

It's time I read this..... you see, booktubeathon didn't work out so well...

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

*reads it out in that lame voice that you find in trailers*"...and the secrets of her heart." REALLY?
Anyway, this book was great! And for the second time (First:TMR), I found myself completely surprised with how my ships ended.
Yep, this book has a love triangle. But don't go all like this....
Because the ending leaves you like this, 
This book had AWESOME world building, which I have learned to appreciate after reading a certain book series *cough cough* The Selection*cough cough*.
Plus, obviously, great writing:
“I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me why we don't belong together," he said fiercely.”
 See, this book does things to my heart.
I'll give it

4 STARS

I'm coming to you! Book 2!!!!

My Goodreads
      Tumblr