Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a 

few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final 

chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist 

named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support 

Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.


I usually don't read popular books. 

I just don't. 

I never understand why, but there is just something holding me back every time I want to pick up a hyped up book. 

I have read a couple more recently (We Were Liars and If I Stay), but that was after the hype had died down. 

I had heard so much about this book that it was strange actually reading it. I expected that I was going to love this book, just like everyone else I know. Everyone was always talking about how they cried so hard in the book and movie and how it was their favorite book ever. I was sure to like it! 

Wrong.

I seriously don't think I have ever read a more overhyped book in my life. 

I don't really mind romance in books and sometimes it almost adds to the book. However, when there is romance in books, I want there to be some decent action that overpowers the romantic aspects in the book. I want the romance to take a back seat when it comes to the adventure. The Fault in Our Stars did have some decent romance, but I wasn't a huge fan of it. The action was practically nonexistent. I know that this wasn't supposed to be an action/adventure type book, but something exciting other than the romance needed to happen. The cancer sections were the most interesting parts of the entire book! 

I found John Green's writing style addicting. However, I still didn't find that it was as good as everyone said it was. I did like how he wrote his characters with flaws and quirks, but I wasn't that attached to Hazel. Augustus was okay, but Isaac was the coolest one. The whole scene where he was throwing eggs at the car was really good! 

The sad thing was that I really wanted to be attached to these characters and I wanted to cry at the end. I was spoiled for the ending, but I thought I would still be sad at the end (kind of like If I Stay and We Were Liars). I was sad during the eulogy scene. Other than that I didn't really care that much. The whole book didn't have the effect that I wanted it to have on me. 

I ended up giving this book 3 stars and I think that it is appropriate for 14 or 15 and up. 

PS: Even though I didn't enjoy this book, I really did enjoy This Star Won't Go Out which is about the girl who John Green kind of based Hazel on. I highly recommend it. You can see my review for that here.

So long!

Hannah Claire

If I Stay Playlist

I really enjoy making these playlists for the books that I love. I've also made playlists for Gallagher Girls, Series of Unfortunate Events, and We Were Liars. Let me know if you'd like to see more.

Challenge: Like This, Try This

Well, it's been a couple of days since I last posted. I started school on Wednesday and haven't posted since then. I did finish The Elements of Style on Tuesday night and I am now over 130 pages through The Fault in Our Stars.

Today I thought I'd do a challenge. This one is called Like This, Try This. If you would like a list of rules click here.

If you liked this...

You should try this...

Both of these books are very touching and are beautifully written. They both also contain a romantic subplot (if you're into that sort of thing...). 

And that's it!

I hope to be updating soon and reading more, but until then...

So long!

Hannah Claire

Book Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.


This book.

This book...

Wow...

This book was so good! It was such an interesting story. I loved how different this book was from anything else I've read. It was full of mystery and you were never sure of what was exactly going on. 

Cadence was the main character and she was very interesting. I really felt that I was put in her mind (kind of like I was in Maze Runner). I felt so bad for her all throughout the book -- especially the end! I wasn't as attached to the other characters as much. Johnny was cool but I felt like I didn't get to know him well enough. I wasn't quite sure of what to think of Mirren, and I just wasn't a big fan of Gat. The aunts, the mom, and the granddad weren't likable at all. I don't think we were meant to like them though. That was kind of the point.

The writing style in this book took some getting used to, but once I did, I fell in love with it. It is so unique and fresh. E. Lockhart uses many metaphor-type scenes to really illustrate how Cadence was feeling. If you've read this book, you understand what I mean. It really confused me at first, but after a while, it was just... wow.... 

I was kind of spoiled for the end, but it still deeply affected me. I felt so sorry for Cadence and the rest of her family. I thought I was going to cry, but I kept it together.

This is the kind of book that you want to go into without knowing much about it. You don't want to be spoiled at all and you don't want to be overhyped. You need to appreciate the book for what it is, not for what other people say about it.

I give this book 4 ½ stars and I plan on rereading it in the future so that I can catch all of the foreshadowing I missed! 

I recommend this book for everyone 14 and up. While the sexual content was lower than I expected, there is language. The whole theme of the book also feels more mature so I wouldn't recommend it for middle schoolers. 

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

So long!

Hannah Claire

Challenge: Book Spine Poetry

It's the morning of the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon Day 2 and I have done absolutely no reading so far today. I did, however, start reading The Fault in Our Stars last night!

Anyway, the challenge today is to make a poem out of the titles of books. You are allowed an extra word for every book you choose (those will be in bold). The poem has to be at least 3 books long. If you want the full list of rules click here and the link will take you to the blog.

So here is my poem!

Matilda, The Giver,

Left Behind

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,

And now,

Because of Winn-Dixie,

Dorothy Must Die,

In cold blood,

at,

Fahrenheit 451

This poem was so much fun to make! I wasn't sure if I had enough books, but I'm proud of how this turned out. Stay tuned for my day 2 update and more challenges!

So long!

Hannah Claire

Bout of Books 11.0 TBR

I know I said in my last post that I wasn't going to do a TBR for the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon, but I changed my mind.

I do have a tentative list that I can work my way through if time allows.

1. We Were Liars

I've actually already gotten through this book, but I was planning on reading it for Bout of Books. 

2. The Fault in Our Stars

That's right. I haven't read it yet. I was number 845 on the hold list at the library last time I checked, but today I found it available on the Kindle library. I'm planning on starting this one next and I can't wait!

3. Rebel Belle

There was so much hype surrounding this book when it came out and that was probably one of the reasons I didn't read it. I have a tendency to never read hyped up books. I just can't do it! Now that the hype has died down, I'm ready to read this book!

4. The Break Up Artist

My friend, Lune Lenore Violette, recommended this book over on her blog and it sounds so interesting. 

5. Out of Sight, Out of Time

This is the fifth book in the Gallagher Girls series which is one of my favorite YA series' ever. I am really looking forward to this book. These books don't take long to read at all so I'll probably be able to fly through it.

6. The Arctic Incident: The Graphic Novel

I've read the first two books in the Artemis Fowl series and have reviewed the second one. This is the graphic novel edition. Graphic novels are great for read-a-thons or just when your really busy because they don't take that long to read. I'm really excited to see how they draw some of the scenes in this book!

7. The Plain Janes

This is one more graphic novel. I don't know a ton about it except that it sounds good!

So that is all for my Bout of Books TBR. I probably won't get through all of these but these are the books that I will be choosing from.

I'll see you in my next post!

So long!

Hannah Claire

Challenge: Playlist

Bout of Books has several challenges that you can do and possibly win books and stuff like that for doing them.

This is the playlist challenge.

You can see all of the rules if you click on the link above. Basically, I make a playlist for one of the books I plan on reading for Bout of Books.

I chose We Were Liars because I just finished it. Here are my songs.

1. Safe & Sound (from Hunger Games)
2. Trouble is a Friend
3. Say Something
4. Story of My Life
5. In Summer
6. Bohemian Rhapsody

I had a lot of fun doing this challenge. Stay tuned for more!

So long!

Hannah Claire

Bout of Books 11.0 Update 1

Hello everyone! Today is the first day of the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon 11.0.

I did not do a TBR for this read-a-thon for two reasons. The first being that I forgot, and the second being that I start my AP English class at my high school on Wednesday. This is my first real exposure to public school life and I know this class will be difficult. I don't know how much reading I will be able to get done and how much reading I will be required to do for the class this week if any. So I'm just going to read whenever I can and whatever I want to.

Today I managed to finish the last 37 pages of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (yes, her last name is Lockhart!).

I really enjoyed it even though I was kind of spoiled for the twist ending. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for something different in their contemporaries or books in general. It's best to go into it without knowing much and without being spoiled.

I have some Abide With Him work to do, tennis practice this afternoon, and plenty of things to do for school so I don't know how much more reading I will get done today. 

I do need to finish reading The Elements of Style, which is pretty much a guide to the English language, before Wednesday, and it would be great if I could finish it today. 

If I do have any extra time today I will start reading Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins, The Break Up Artist by Philip Siegel, or the fifth book in the Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter. 

I hope to be posting on here again today to do the challenges (or at least one) for today.

So long!

Hannah Claire

Bout of Books 11.0

I just wanted to quickly let you all know that I will be participating in the Bout of Books 11.0 read-a-thon. I love read-a-thons and I'm really excited about this one.

Here is the link if you would like to sign up as well. I hope to have more posts coming soon!