Far From You

Far From You
Tess Sharpe
341 pages

Summary: Tess Sharpe's website (http://www.tess-sharpe.com/books/)

“It doesn’t start here.You’d think it would, two terrified girls in the middle of nowhere, cowering together, eyes bulging at the gun in his hand.But it doesn’t start here.It starts the first time I almost die.”
Sophie Winters nearly died. Twice.
The first time, she’s fourteen, and escapes a near-fatal car accident with scars, a bad leg, and an addiction to Oxy that’ll take years to kick.
The second time, she’s seventeen, and it’s no accident. Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina’s murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.
After a forced stint in rehab, Sophie returns home to a chilly new reality. Mina’s brother won’t speak to her, her parents fear she’ll relapse, old friends have become enemies, and Sophie has to learn how to live without her other half. To make matters worse, no one is looking in the right places, and Sophie must search for Mina’s murderer on her own. But with every step, Sophie comes closer to revealing all: about herself, Mina, and the secret they shared.

Opinion:

Warning: This book involves bisexuality and lesbianism. If you aren't comfortable with that, then don't read the book.

This book was a page turner. I'm a big fan of mysteries. With a little dash of romance on the side, this was the perfect book for me. I loved the characters-Sophie and Mina. Their "friendship" was one of love and semi-understanding. Mina seemed to remind me of myself in a way. It was interesting hearing about Sophie's several accidents and her life before Mina's death. The flashbacks helped me, as the reader, see the characters before all the hardships (Sophie's first accident) and when Sophie started her down spiral, and just the love of the whole friend group. You always hear about accidents occuring to people across the world, but you the aftermath, how they survive afterward, is never included. The mystery surrounding Mina's death was one of twists, barbs, and tangles. I did not predict the killer at all. Its crazy! (Spoiler: Its a character you only see about 3 times). Sophie's confession at the end of the book gave me life. The last two chapters were wonderful ends. Everything was wrapped up with a little bow and that beautiful. I have one question though: how much older is Tre than Sophie? Because that was never stated and i think thats a little weird. But besides that main question, I loved this book and all its flawful characters. I hope you chose to read it and love it too

P.S. Please leave a comment below. How am I doing, i really wanna know.
P.P.S.

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
250 pages

Summary: Direct from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/The-Scarlet-Letter-Nathaniel-Hawthorne/dp/1500759120)

When Hester Prynne bears an illegitimate child she is introduced to the ugliness, complexity, and ultimately the strength of the human spirit. Though set in Puritan community centuries ago, the moral dilemmas of personal responsibility, and consuming emotions of guilt, anger, loyalty and revenge are timeless.

My Opinion:
Old books, ones from before the past 50 years, are wild, especially books set in Puritan society. Puritans were not as pure and close to god as they thought. They were some of the most hypocritical people i have ever heard about. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is wild from start to finish. I can see why it is called a classic but many chapters were just a chore to read. This might be because it was a book i had to read for school. I liked Hester and how she grew more knowledgeable during her seclusion time. She became a nihilistic feminist.  Pearl was a joy, as well due to her shady comments and actions. Hester's belief that Pearl was the devil reminded me of the Poltergeist and the possessed children. Chillingworth was everyone's least favorite character. He was so unnecessary. He could have just gone somewhere else and lived a better life without Hester and the crazy Puritans.  He could have returned to England. I firmly believe Dimmesdale is a damsel-in-distress. He basically did nothing but whine about his guilt and let it consume him. The whole book wouldn't have happened if Hester had just left the town and started over. Honestly, the book was just crazy. I enjoyed certain parts and dragged through others. My enjoyment waxed and waned on how much homework (essays, response logs, and rhetorical analysis) I had to do on the book. You can read it if you want. It is something that you can join a club saying you have read it. Happy old American romanticism literary  period book reading!



P.s. Puritans suck
P.p.s. Puritans believed in a pure Church of England with strict, laws and doctrine. They were also followers of the simple life. They were the people around who condoned the Salem Witch Trials.  Truly crazy people that several writers feel it is necessary to dedicate books to. Blegh
P.P.S Please leave a comment below.
P.P.S There is a modern movie adaptation of the book called Easy A. I haven't watched it, but I heard it was good.

The City's Son

Sorry I havent posted in so long. It has been a couple busy weeks with school, finals, and family. Luckily, I have read a couple books and pre-did a few reviews. So here you go:

The City's Son
Tom Pollock
422 pages
The Skyscraper Throne Trilogy

Summary: Direct from Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Citys-Son-Skyscraper-Throne/dp/0738734306)

Running away from her traitorous best friend and her distant father, teenage graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for a new home. What she finds is Filius, the ragged crown prince of London’s underworld—a place where glassy spiders steal voices on telephone wires, railwraiths terrorize the train tubes, and deadly scaffwolves stalk the shadows.
Reach, the malign god of demolition, is on a rampage, destroying the creatures of hidden London to lay claim to the skyscraper throne. Caught up in helping Filius raise an alleyway army to battle Reach, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when the enemy claims her best friend, Beth must choose between the acceptance she finds in the streets and the life she left behind.

My Opinion

Wow! This book was so original. The author had wonderful world building. Pollux was able to create a fully functional world right beneath London Society. The world was very dark too. As my lit class is learning about American Gothic romanticism works, this book reminded me of those, especially works by Washington Irving.  It was just as dark with a slight part of romance, but the major theme was family and relationships. My favorite character was Pen, due to the author's use of diversity. More POC in Books is my cry.  BOOK DIVERSITY PLEASE! ! Also, Pen was a strong friend and an even stronger person for going through what she did. All the characters were interesting.  I hope more backstories are included in the story. The true lives of spiders and statues was interesting, but i want to know how they get there. Also, what happened to the Fleet? What happened to the Railwaith? The one thing that i disliked is how the story opened with unanswered questions.  The first chapters with Filius had me confused, because i could not picture the monsters/creatures. The scenes were just fights with not enough description on the creatures. That's the only thing i was displeased on, but once i got past that i loved the book. It was definitely refreshing and interesting to read. I could not put it down. Lol, the British slang is a favorite. I recommend you guys to read this book. I very much want to know what happens next.

P.S. Please leave a comment below. How am I doing? Did you miss my reviews? Do you enjoy my blog? Leave a message please!

P.P.S: I'm going to another great skyscraper city this holidays: New York! Happy Holiday's Everyone!!