Category: Novels

A family full of love, tragedy, laughter and fun – sounds just like the Gadsby Family, Natasha Farrant created. Three years after the tragic death of her twin sister Iris, Bluebell Gadsby (13 years) is still filled with grief. With her parents always flying on business trips and her being invisible in school, not even her three siblings can help her get out of misery. However, it all begins to change with the appearance of her new neighbor Joss, who is in fact, not as bad as she thought he was.

This book tells the tragic story of a broken family with so many funny and loving side stories that you can’t help but fall in love with this book. Besides the heartbreaking story of the dead sister, this book also brings up the perks of being a teenager: bullying in school, fighting with your siblings and first love.

While Joss starts off with just being a great friend for Bluebell, she soon realizes she is falling in love with her three year older neighbor. But not only she seems to like the new boy in town, so does her 16 year old sister Flora.                                                                      After the death of Iris, Bluebell started to become invisible in class. She neither talked to anyone nor did she keep her old friendships up.

Without spoiling more, let me just say that this book is fantastic to read on a daily basis due to its simple but great writing and funny stories!

Have you ever made a list of the TOP 10 most hilarious/ funniest / most awkward moments of your life? This book counts down the TOP 10 moments of the friendship between the two high school graduates Ryan and Gabby.

Ryan and Gabby are completely, one hundred percent different: Ryan is a popular hockey player who has had NUMEROUS girlfriend which never lasted longer than a week. Gabby however is struggling with anxiety and fear. She is afraid of anything involving parties, attention or conversation with strangers. Two completely different characters and the story of a great friendship is told by Katie Cotugno.

The interesting part about this book is the order it is told in. It is not told from beginning to the end nor from the end to the beginning but separated by the importance of their friendship. Therefore there are moments where you can’t be certain you understood the meaning – but you’ll find out in the next sequel.

Katie Cotugno writes with such a passion and simplicity which not many authors are capable of. She makes her characters come to life and makes you love them. This book is perfect for a short trip or a couple of relaxed days by the pool because it can be read any time and everywhere!

I can not longer write about this book without spoiling important facts: just go read it yourself!

Fair question, but actually not. Probably everyone who has at least read one of his books has seen the high value of his writing, the reflection of his stories and the humor his characters have. So far I have read three books he has written (The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns and Turtles all the way down) and I am deeply impressed by his writing skills. Continue reading “Why I am obsessed with John Green”

“Paper Towns” by John Green is the third book I’ve read by John Green so far and he hasn’t let me down. This book tells the story of a high school Senior Quentin who has always loved this girl Margo, but had never really talked to her – except when they found a dead guy in a park at the age of nine.

Now being the last month before graduation, Margo slips through his window one night, asking him to goy on a revenge tour. That night the two teenagers make up for all the bad things people have ever done to them and Quentin finally feels like he knows Margo. But does he really? Because the next day, she isn’t turning up at school. To be honest, Margo has always been wild – she left the city several times without telling her parents for over a week and has never been afraid to break into houses.

But Quentin can’t just unsee the fact that he feels like she wants to find him, so together with his friends Ben and Radar he picks up trails to solve the mystery about Margo and to reveal her true self.

In my opinion, this book is really filled with a lot of fantasy, imagination and humor. The characters are well thought of and resemble different personalities and qualities. The search for Margo is addicting to read because you can never be quite sure that you have found the right Margo because of the many different Margo’s revealed along side the journey of finding her. It is amazing to be able to see inside the head of a person you didn’t get to know and to see what Margo’s world is made of.

Quentin is a lovely character because he resembles the kind of person who would go through hell for you and who does not quit after everybody else has given up on you.

Although the end is not as fascinating as I imagined it, this book is really worth reading.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you have any interest in still reading the book because it would spoil you the whole search!!! The thing being that Margo left Orlando because she couldn’t take it any longer and wanted to travel is a little lame in my opinion. For quite a while you think that Margo would turn up dead and that could have been played with  – a suicide trip or something like that. Another while I thought of Margo as a bitch (sorry for using swear words but this is the only way I can describe her right now) because she made Quentin worry for over a month, without a letter and then when they finally find her she doesn’t even react appropriately. I know that gets sorted out but I kind of found the ending disappointing.

So, even with the end a little disappointing, this book is really amazing to read, you get stuck up in the journey and wonder yourself: Who and Where is the REAL Margo?

The new bestseller novel “Turtles all the way down” by John Green deeply impressed me. After the long pause from “The Fault in Our Stars” he has really set off his career by writing a novel, almost better than the touching story of Hazel Graze.

His new novel is telling the story of the 17 year old Aza Holmes, who is together with her best friend, searching for the fugitive billionaire because of the 100 thousand dollar reward, while the book actually struggles with Aza herself.

Being “terrorized by thoughts forced to think”, Aza struggles with anxiety and self dought. She is trying to find herself, but is there really a your self, if you are made up by millions and billions of cells? And if these cells make up yourself, do you actually control your thoughts or do your cells do and are you only the result of circumstances? Finding her self obligated to live with the “demon” inside of her that is making her unable to live a normal life, she is trying to be a good friend, daughter and detective.

You really fall in love with the character of Aza because she can’t live her life without overthinking everything, making you overthink it yourself. This book just makes you realize the circumstances we all life by and the treasure of thoughts only being thoughts and not carried out actions. While Aza is trying to escape her condition, you have to think about how it feels living her life. Being obligated to overthink everything, not being able to touch things because you might get sick and not being able to take your medicine for being yourself – but if you take the medicine wouldn’t it change you and therefore make you a result of the medicine?

It is crazy to live the life Aza is living and that’s what is turning this novel into deep thoughts, making it interesting and absolutely irresistible. The new novel by John Green is a page turner and therefore a MUST READ!

This story “The Smell of other People’s Houses” by Bonnie – Sue Hitchcock has really knocked me off of my feet. How she manages to link all of the four stories so they find an entangled end is stunning. Alaska 1970 – eleven years after Alaska becoming the 49th state of the United States of America – is about to be very nerve racking for the small village named “Fairbanks”. The four 17 year olds Ruth, Alyce, Dora and Hank are living separate lives, three of them already calling Fairbanks their hometown.

As Ruth gets pregnant at the age of 16, her coldhearted grandmother sends her of to an abbey in Canada (because her father died and her mom is mentally ill). But does Ruth know everything about her grandmother or does she have some secrets to reveal as soon as Ruth returns?

Alyce is about to become a great dancer, but having to miss the auditions by going fishing with her father is breaking her heart. As she rescues a 16 year old boy named Sam her life on the boat takes a unexpected turn…

Because Dora’s father has abused her in the past, she is now living with her friend’s family. As they go to fish camp in summer, Dora’s friend Dumbling has a message from Ruth to give to her mother. But what does Ruth has to do with Dumpling’s family and why has Dumpling suddenly bonded with the pregnant girl?

Hank and his two brothers Jack and Sam are running away. No specific goals in mind, just trying to get away from their mother’s crazy boyfriend and the thought of their dead father. Leaving home on a ferry, Sam falls into the ocean. Believing he is dead, the two brothers get off the ferry, trying to start their new lives. Making acquaintance with a pregnant girl and the long journey to a village named “Fairbanks”, the two boys have to get used to the thought of their dead brother.

In my opinion this novel is one of the greatest of all time, being absolutely stunning and mysterious because everything has a meaning. Every person you meet has a function for the story: the night- watchman on the ferry, the abbess in Canada and even Ruth’s evil grandmother seems to know more about loss than you would have expected…

It is a absolute MUST to read this book because each story is worth telling, about loss, giving birth, friendship and family…

“The Fault in Our Stars” is probably the most famous book of 2012. The novel by John Green has changed the lives of many, describing the heartbreaking story of the 17 year old Hazel Grace, who is diagnosed with lung cancer.

It tells the final chapter of her life filled with cancer, sadness – and love. As she meets Augustus Waters in the “Cancer Kid Support Group” her life changes, and therefore also her view on death. Full of ambition, John Green tells the story of these two teenagers, their lives ruled by their diseases, who find a great friend and understander for their destiny in each other.

With humor, sadness and tragedy this books gives you a new perspective of illness by being able to explore it along with such a young woman sentenced to death. Being together, and being able to live and to love, changes their life.

As Augustus makes Hazels dream come true, they fly to Amsterdam together to meat Hazels favorite author. Together they learn, that things aren’t always as you want them to be, that people can turn out different and most importantly: that they both have the will to live…

The end of Hazel’s story was really emotional for me because you wouldn’t have expected this turnout.

This book is perfect for anyone, because it gives you perspective on death and life, on illness and the power of friendship.

PS: the movie is also worth watching!