That's What He Said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

Today's quote is from:

Tess, Tess, Tessa. 

Was there ever a more beautiful sound than your name?

Clockwork Prince

Cassandra Clare

Will Herondale to Tessa 

Hope you keep reading!
Grace

Friday 56

Welcome to Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.  You grab the book nearest to you, open it to page 56, and post a quote from that page that catches your eye.  The important thing is to not go for your favorite book, or the most intellectual, go for the closest.

Today's meme is from

"So our narrator is gay...," he said. "And he's named after me..."

"I love love stories," Cath said. 

Fangirl 

Rainbow Rowell

Hope you keep reading!

Grace 

That's What He Said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

Today's quote is from:

“Two things you should know about me; The first is that I am deeply suspicious of people in general. It is my nature to expect the worst of them. And the second is that I am unexpectedly good with computers.”

From Four to Tris

Divergent

Veronica Roth

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

Friday 56

Welcome to Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.  You grab the book nearest to you, open it to page 56, and post a quote from that page that catches your eye.  The important thing is to not go for your favorite book, or the most intellectual, go for the closest.

Today's meme is from

"Isabelle, you know it's bad luck to talk about death in a sick room."

City of Bones

Cassandra Clare

Hope you keep reading!

Grace 

That's What He Said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

Today's quote is from:

“Aw, come on, sweetheart. I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I got my arm around the prettiest escort on this block—how could I not be lusting over you? Don’t I look like I’m lusting? This is me, lusting.” His lashes flutter at me.

Prodigy 

Marie Lu

This is one of my all time favorites.

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

Teaser Tuesday

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, a weekly feature hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, in which you open the book you're currently reading to a random page and share 2 sentences without spoilers, along with the author and title of the book. 

Today's Teaser is from 

“Is this the part where you say if I hurt her, you'll kill me?"
"No" Simon said, "If you hurt Clary she's quite capable of killing you herself. Possibly with a variety of weapons.” 

City of Glass

Cassandra Clare

Hope you keep reading! 

Grace

Friday 56

Welcome to Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.  You grab the book nearest to you, open it to page 56, and post a quote from that page that catches your eye.  The important thing is to not go for your favorite book, or the most intellectual, go for the closest.

Today's meme is from

"Wow, a world without darkness. How Beautiful was that?"

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

That's What He Said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

Today's quote is from:

"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.” 

The Fault in our Stars

John Green

Hope you keep reading!

Grace 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe By Benjamin Alire Saenz

Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe
By Benjamin Alire Saenz
Published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published on April 1st, 2014
359 Pages
4 Stars

Dante can swim. Ari can't. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari's features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.

But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

It’s so Beautiful. It’s just so beautiful. This is one of the best unplanned reads I have ever done. The book was calling to me off the self and I am extremely glad I listened to it. I never had even heard of this book and I picked it up and I LOVED it. 

Aristotle or Ari was a deep and secretive character, yet I could still see through him. He is a social outcast that doesn’t want to bother with all the coming of age drama, but he still gets caught up in ti anyways. Ari was a symbol of all the guys out there who just want to sit down and try to avoid your awkward teenage years. You can;t avoid them though. This guy is the definition of awkward teenage years. It was sometimes just so frustrating on how much he din’t know himself. Every time he did something that seemed real and not awkward subconsciously I felt like jumping up and cheering. Then he would immediately take it back and I would get frustrated again. One of my favorite parts about him though is is love for rain. It is one of those character traits that you have to go deeper into to really characterize a person. He liked the rain because it was sad, mad, and beautiful at the same time. It was a lot like him. 

Dante reminded me a lot of St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss. Now no one can be as awesome as St. Clair, but this guy was close. They both were funny, happy, and yet they had this dark side to them that makes them really interesting. He was more aware of himself than Ari which made it easier for me when Ari did something frustrating. I really loved how he loved his parents. I envy their relationships at some point. He embraced his sexuality which did get him into trouble, but still was cute and came out well in the end. 

Now I need to talk about both their parents for a second. Their parents seemed like omniscient  gods. They could always tell what their sons were thinking and/or feeling. Ari’s parents had to explain his feelings to him a lot. The main point though is how supportive they were of their sons. Ari’s parents didn’t even blink when he acme out. They knew before him and were the ones that had to give him the pieces of himself and help him put them together. Dante’s parents were surprised, but settled into it quickly and did everything they could to make sure their son was happy. The book would not be the same without them. 

There was no plot really. It wasn’t problem and in my option it made it more likable. It was just a bunch of mashed up scenes of their lives. It could come off as slow to some people, but it never affected me. When it did seem like it was starting to get slow something would happen and pick it back up again.  The theme was LGBT, but there was also a lot of mention of race. They were both Mexican and talked about being Mexican and joked around about being Mexican. The romance was kind of nonexistent, but there was tension. At some points you could feel it there, but it was never formally addressed till later. 

I really did love this book it was beautiful. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to read LGBT fiction or a good story about coming of age. 

Hope you keep reading!
Grace 

Teaser Tuesday

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, a weekly feature hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, in which you open the book you're currently reading to a random page and share 2 sentences without spoilers, along with the author and title of the book. 

Today's Teaser is from 

“I've never swum naked in the Thames, but I know I wouldn't like it."
"But think how entertaining for sightseers," said Tessa, and she saw Jem duck his head to hide the quick flash of his grin.” 

Clockwork Prince

Cassandra Clare

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

The Apothecary

The Apothecary
By Maile Meloy
Art by Ian Schoenherr
Published Date: October 4th, 2011
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
362 Pages
Book One in the Apothecary Series

It’s 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows—a fascinating boy who’s not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin’s father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary’s sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies—Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

Because I have been watching Fullmetal Alchemist I have been trying to find some good books that include alchemy. So I picked up the Apothecary which said included some alchemical like action. After reading it found that the book was geared towards younger readers. The story also takes place around the cold war and the races to build atomic bombs. Other than that there was really no historical element that I found. I would say the alchemical magic was interesting and was the only thing that kept me interested.

Janie came off to me as a very generic character. I categorized her in loyal, nice, and curious which can be good traits, but they were not written well. She had no deeper level and the most emotion that I got from her was that she missed home and her parents. Being an American in London she felt like she did stick out when she first went to school and besides turning into an American robin it was she forgot all about it. She just had no depth, and that made her really boring. 

Benjamin was a better character. He was funny, daring, and always had something up his sleeve. He was less boring than Janie though still not that good. Always wanting to be a spy came off as a childish dream, but he did more then just a nosey three year old. Still he was not that good. He lacked a lot of depth, but his character traits were more interesting. 

The plot was not the best. It was a little too dry. Sometimes it moved to fast and left some parts unexplained and other times it was too slow and needed something to move it along. One of the most intriguing things about it was it’s alchemy. Turning people into salt then returning them back into human was a good element. There were other parts that seemed to forced though. The major one was school. Yes, we know they are students and that they still need to go to school and skipping school would be a bad example, but when you are being hunted down by the government and your dad is missing or dead school does not seem like a top priority. Characters also seemed forced in their as well. One character came in as a teacher, but then he turned into a spy. That particular transition was really rough and had back ground, but could have gone a lot smoother. 

Like I said in the beginning, the book is geared towards younger readers. I would not recommend it to any big young adult readers, but I would recommend it to younger children or people who like children’s books. 

Hope you keep reading!

Grace 

Friday 56

Welcome to Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Storytime with Tonya and Friends.  You grab the book nearest to you, open it to page 56, and post a quote from that page that catches your eye.  The important thing is to not go for your favorite book, or the most intellectual, go for the closest.

Today's meme is from

"What's your name?"

"Jacob Jankowski, sir."

Hope you keep reading!

Grace

That's What He Said Thursday

That's What He Said Thursday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Chapter Break. Just take a quote from one of your favorite male characters that they said to the lucky female love interest.

Today's quote is from:

“The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightening, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to each of us. I could have seen it rain frogs. I could have stepped foot on Mars. I could have been eaten by a whale. I could have married the Queen of England or survived months at sea. But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.” 

Hope you keep reading! 

Grace