Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Review:

Another one of my personal picks for the 50 Book Challenge. I had heard a lot about this book so I couldn't post-pone the reading anymore.

Jacob is a teenager troubled by his grandfather stories and a profound conflict between believing them or not. The pictures that used to illustrate those stories when he was just a kid lead him on an adventure to a strange Welsh island. Once there, the limits between reality and fantasy became blurry, and he finds himself immersed in a supernatural story with a time travel twist.

The book is supposed to be for children/early teens, but it contains such a great plot and well developed characters that it’s a becomes a good read for almost any age.
I really found way more that I was expecting, a very nice surprise.
Different, well rounded, with the addition of old photos peppered all through the story, it’s one of the most interesting proposals I've read this year so far.

Things I liked: The originality of the plot, the description of the island, all the vintage world/freak show introduced to us in a way we start looking at it with curiosity and we end up feeling the characters as if they were our friends.
Things I didn't like: not many, honestly. Perhaps Miss Peregrine’s character, I expected more from her, but there’s a sequel on the making, so nothing is final yet.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a complex story, very dynamic, and highly entertaining. The unsettling pictures just give it the right amount of spice without being completely creepy.
Don’t judge it for the cover, this book has much more to offer than a plain horror tale, in fact there’s not horror at all, just the perfect mix of weird events and peculiar characters.

Spectral by Shannon Duffy

This is a book I got from a friend, she told me to read it and write a review for her blog. So here’s my take for my personal files.

Jewel is not the typical teen, there’s a web of lies around her and she’s forced to hide and change cities. She’s never long enough in any place to make friends or any kind of relationship until her family moves to Pomona Park. Then, suddenly she makes friends and has two suitors, Chase and the mysterious Roman.

When Roman appears in the story, we’re introduced to the first supernatural facts and suddenly it all starts escalating. Jewel’s life is in danger and it’s difficult to tell who’s on her side and who’s the enemy.

What I liked: The plot is an interesting mix of witch elements, and it’s never too easy to anticipate the next twist in the story. The secondary characters are well developed and add to the plot without losing focus in our tortured little witch.

What I didn’t like: The way the two main characters get together. Personally I’d have liked them to get to know each other a bit more before they declared they’re undying love. Especially on Roman’s side, he seems too eager to betray just to be on the side of a girl he just met.

Overall, it’s a good supernatural YA story, with interesting and not overly used ingredients, which is refreshing. So far, it also completes the plot in only one book, another thing that’s not so common nowadays. Good stand alone for now, not sure if we’ll see a sequel sometime in the future.

The Future of us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Review:

One of my personal picks for this year’s 50 Book Challenge. I picked it because the idea caught me as soon as I checked it. I thought “Damn! Wish it was my idea for a plot!” and that, in writer terms, is a huge compliment thought it may not look like one.

It’s an interesting use of something that’s so close to our lives now like Facebook, to make a link with the future.

The story is written in the past, with no real time travel, but getting snippets of the probable futures through a social network in the future. Really a refreshing idea.

Usually I’m a little wary when I start a book I picked because I loved the plot idea, generally they don’t live up to my expectations. In this case, I think the story was what I expected it to be.

Josh character seems better developed and more likable than Emma, but in the end, she sounds like the teenager she is, so I can’t really blame it to the book.

Emma Nelson is an ordinary girl, at that stage of her life is likely she’d decide who to date considering the looks and not much more. I don’t think many of us could honestly say that we were so different at her age. Another thing we don’t have to forgo is the fact that she doesn't know how Facebook works, so she tends to read a little to much on everything written there. I guess most of us usually type random things on our walls that could cause a nervous breakdown to our own selves 15 years in the past if they could read them.

I felt the desire to kick Emma a few times, but that’s just personal. I wanted to tell her the problem was she was never really happy with anything in her life in her present life either, why she’d expect it to change without working on that, but then again: when I start trying to talk to characters in a book, it means the work is well done.

Highlights: The alternate POV between Emma and Josh, they’re effective to tell the story without being confusing, or retelling the moments over and over from different eyes.

The way their ‘present’ was treated, adding some nostalgia to us readers who lived during those years.

If you read it looking for more of ’13 reasons why’ you’ll probably get disappointed, because this is a whole different story. If you grew up during the ‘90s, then you’ll probably love it. Give it a chance, it’s a good story, well written without being overly mushy. 

Something Blue by Emily Griffin

Review

I started reading this book though chick lit is not really my favorite genre because it was in my self-imposed list for the 50 book challenge this year.

Trying to objective with a book one wouldn't actually pick is a hard job, but I’ll do my best.

The story flows well, and has all the elements expected. The heroine trying to marry Mr. Right, only that her concept of Mr. Right changes with her. A best friend, some other friends, family, a change of scenery, and a few different men in her life, with a pregnancy included are the principal ingredients.

I hated Darcy in the beginning of the book, though it was predicable that she was going to redeem herself at some point. Personally, I think her change was a little drastic and I didn't see the character grow gradually, but the result was the desired one.

If you read ‘Something borrowed’ before, you’d probably be expecting more of Rachel in here and you surely would find Darcy even more shallow, but if this one is your first pick, it works perfect as a stand alone.

Highlights: Mature heroine around 30 (not your classic high-school college girl), variety of situations and elements to keep the story entertaining.

Things I didn't like: The character development. It’s also lacking some fresh humor usually typical of this kind of stories.

If you like the genre, you’d probably enjoy the book.