The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Here's are the good, the bad and the ugliest books of 2016.

THE GOOD:
I read a grand total of 42 books this semester! Yay! And they were all good, for the most part. I'm not a super harsh critic on books (except for the ones that I really hate), but I like to think about this: books are entertainment and they are meant to make me happy. If they made me happy, then they did their job. I think all of the books this semester did that to some extent. I'll list a few of my favorites from this semester.

1. This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills was such a fun read. The story follows Sloane, who just moved from New York to Florida, as she finds friends and then finds a reason to show them just how hard she'd fight for them. It takes her on an adventure to find something that her friends lost, and Sloane takes it upon herself to track it down, even if it takes her out of state. I really love this book because I loved the characters and how the adventure developed while Sloane did, and it was such a fun read. I picked this book up because I read Emma Mills's debut First & Then and that book is on my favorites shelf, and this book delivered a wonderful follow-up book. I know I will read and love every book by this author. Go Emma!
2. When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore was another great read. I picked this book up for the same reason I did with This Adventure Ends: I read Anna-Marie McLemore's debut novel The Weight of Feathers and adored it and, again, this book was such a good, engaging follow-up. The story follows Miel and Sam, best friends that protect each other from the evil Bonner sisters. I loved all the twists and turns this book took, and especially the magical realism of it because it made the book feel so magical. It also explored something that I've not seen at all in YA Fiction books: transgender teens. This is a definite must read for everyone, I don't care who you are, because trust me, When the Moon was Ours is definitely worth everyone's time. Keep writing Anna-Marie! 
3. One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards. Where do I even begin? I've met Natalie multiple times, and I've read all her books, and I think she's an amazing human, but I'm not letting that cloud my judgment because One Was Lost stands great on it's own. It follows four teens who get stranded out in the middle of the woods and their phones and provisions are destroyed, but by whom? Probably the person who wrote labels on their arms: Damaged, Deceptive, Dangerous and Darling. This book will twist and turn, and there were times where I was confident I knew the person who had tricked them, but then I didn't! It's so creepy and spine-tingling, so I don't recommend for the people who don't like to read that kind of stuff! Again, I've read all of Natalie's previous books, so of course I was going to pick up her fourth one, and I'm so glad I did. I can't wait until her fifth one comes out! (You better write a fifth one!)
4. One Moment by Kristina McBride was so different from what I expected, but it was perfect in every way. I met Kristina at the same event I met Natalie, and she gave my sister and I free copy of this novella (I think that's the right term) and I was thinking, of course, "Free book!" When I read it though, I was so surprised by how great and in depth and meaningful it was. One Moment follows Maggie's life after the one moment that changed it forever: the death of her boyfriend Joey. Throughout her grieving process, she finds out more about herself and about who Joey really was. It was so well-written and wonderful that I can't believe I got it for free! I feel like I should have paid for a book so amazing! This book is something everyone needs to read, pronto. I read Kristina's other book, A Million Times Goodnight, and that was so awesome too, and even if One Moment doesn't sound like quite your style, I think Kristina is definitely an author you should check out.
5. Summer of Supernovas by Darcy Woods was a book I binge-read like people binge-watch Netflix. I had just finished a book before Thanksgiving dinner, and I had a car ride back to Ohio from Illinois, so I made sure I had an extra book in my bag, and that book was Darcy Woods's Summer of Supernovas. After Thanksgiving dinner, I had two espressos, and then we took a five hour car ride, in which I read that book and finished it (I purposefully drank two espressos so I could stay up reading and wow was it worth it!). Summer of Supernovas follows Wil, a girl who loves the stars, which are telling her that the time to find her one true love is now. But there seem to be two "the one"s! One who matches what her astrological chart, or the one that will end in "cosmic disaster". What will she do? That question kept me up all night, and I was just so, so happy with the ending that it has earned a spot on my favorites list for making me feel so happy. I believe this is Darcy's first book, and I will read every book she publishes from now on after this wonderful debut. Go Darcy! Keep writing!
6. Life After Juliet by Shannon Lee Alexander was a book I was actually really nervous to read, because I read the companion novel (the one that comes first) and it actually wasn't the best book I've ever read (see more below), but I knew that this one existed, and I can't just not read it, you know? But I loved Life After Juliet. It follows Becca after the greatest tragedy of her life and how she's coping so far (not very well, it seems). So, instead of living in her own tragedy, she gets pulled into the drama world and is casted to play in Juliet's tragedy instead. There, she meets all kinds of people, techies and drammies alike, including Max and Darby, two people that just might turn her life around. I loved this book a lot because I related so much more to Becca than I did with the character of the companion novel, and there were times where I wanted to raise the book up high and shout, "YES!" because I felt the same way that Becca was describing when she was talking about how she felt. If you love books, and reading, and are possibly in the drama club, then you should read this, because you will relate, and reading relatable books honestly give you the best feelings. I'm so glad I gave this book a chance after the first one, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have found this amazing book! Congrats Shannon! I can't wait to see what you write in the future!
7. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon makes my heart so happy. I read Everything, Everything (if you haven't, go to Barnes and Noble right now to make the purchase), and I was expecting something just as great, but I got something that was so much more. It follows Natasha's last day in America before she's about to be deported to Jamaica, and Daniel, who's about to have the biggest interview in his life. Is it fate that they meet on that last day in New York? Is it destiny? What I really loved about this book is how the characters were Jamaican and Korean, instead of just your average white protagonists, because it opened the door for learning about different cultures and having different character conflicts. Another thing that I loved was that you followed the main characters, Natasha and Daniel, but every person that came in contact with had a short chapter giving background on their lives and why they're doing what they're doing. I felt that it just gave a neat new perspective for all the other minor characters in the book and I looked forward to reading them. I recommend to everyone who wants their heart to be happy. Nicola, you are the best, honestly!

And now for the bad . . .

THE BAD:
. . . but a clarification first. These books weren't bad. They were just okay. They were less than I was expecting. I still read them all the way through. That's the other thing I believe in: if you picked it up, you have the responsibility of seeing it all the way through. So even though they're under the bad category, they were all still good, but they weren't my favorite and I think all three didn't deliver the way I anticipated. So now for the bad.

1. Everyone We've Been by Sarah Everett follows Addison, who's been in an accident and then starts freaking out when she realizes that she can see a boy that no one else can. This becomes a rollercoaster ride of choices and discovery about Addison herself, who seems to be missing some pieces. The one thing that upset me was the length of the book: it's about 400 pages, and it seemed like it could have been a lot shorter. I think the writing kept it long, and I liked the writing, just not necessarily where the story was going. I loved the characters, all except Addison. I felt like she did everything wrong. I don't want to give anything away, but I just really hated the choices she made, and it becomes sort of moral issue that I don't want to get into, but I strongly disagree with what she did. Anyway, it had a very interesting premise, and I'm sure thousands of readers will enjoy, I just can't say that I liked it as the books I read up above. Either way, I'm a big believer in second chances, as I said above and will reiterate below, so if Sarah wrote anything else, I'd be interested in reading it!
2. Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander was the companion to the book I talked about above, Life After Juliet, but this is the one I didn't like so much. Yikes! I had a lot of expectations for this book, because it said fans of John Green would love this book, and yep, I love John Green, but this book was . . . hard? I don't know how to explain it. It seemed like just my type of book, but I think it made me realize how cheesy? No, mainstream? Yeah, how mainstream YA Fiction can be. I felt like I'd already read this book before, and that disappointed me. I felt like I knew what was going to happen two steps before it did, which was also disappointing. And let me just say this: girls are girls, right? And so girls in the book have to be extra special. They have to be cool and artsy and smart and beautiful all rolled into one. Now, I'm not saying girls like this don't exist in real life: they do! But rather than extra special girls with tattoos and artsy talents that are all overused, I think there should be girls who don't have all these things. Charlotte's character did feel very overused, and that's why I loved Becca, a girl I related to more, and a girl I don't see often in books, rather than Charlotte, who felt like she was an old shirt that I loved so, so much, but was ready to get rid of to get a new shirt. I don't want to be too harsh, but that's just the honest truth. From what I understand reading the acknowledgements section is that Shannon lost someone important to her from cancer, and I can understand her premise for writing the book. I love the message in the book, I really do! I just think it was the characters that I couldn't get behind. But I'm glad I decided to give these characters another chance in Life After Juliet, with Becca as the protagonist, because I loved that a lot more. If Shannon wrote any more books, I would love to read them, but I don't think my opinion on the first one will change.
3. The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi follows Ella in two different time lines: the first is when she first meets Matt, and the second is a year later, when Matt comes back. She falls in love with Matt in the first timeline, but then has to figure out why Matt came back in the second one. The two stories intertwine, and that is the first thing I didn't like about the book. There are books I've read with intertwining timelines, and with this one, I got confused. Now, don't tell me it was me. I've read three books at once and have never mixed them up. I can read something and mouth the lyrics to a song I'm listening to at the same time. I don't get confused easily with books. This one, however, was so hard to keep track of, because the story lines kept bending together than I had to go back in the book and in my brain to pick each story line apart. I loved the idea: "Let's say yes to everything tonight!" but I don't think what the characters said yes to was very full of adventure. I would have liked to see different activities instead of going out to eat at their restaurant. I can't quite place why else I didn't like it, but I loved her other book, Autofocus, so much better. it was better developed, well written, and I loved the characters, so I'm glad I read that one. The Night We Said Yes was her debut, so maybe it was just a rocky start, but I would love to read more of her books.

And now for the ugly . . .

THE UGLY:
. . . Okay, so no book was ugly to read. It's just this thing my school does with sports: the good play, the bad play, and the ugly play. I thought it would be fun to do something like that for the books. although . . .

1. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare was so hard to read. Shakespeare is so hard to read to start with, but luckily I get the Sparks Notes publication so I can read the play translated to modern day speech, and Twelfth Night was actually hilarious. Go Sparks Notes!
2. A Midsummer Night's Dream also by William Shakespeare was also hard to read but again, I got the Sparks Notes version, and wow was this play hilarious too! I think Shakespeare is very funny, which is probably odd, but I think these two were fun to read and were humorous.
3. Macbeth by William Shakespeare was awesome! I originally read it because I know we're going to read it in school and I wanted to form my own opinion about it before the system tells me what I need to think about it in order to pass tests and succeed and stuff, and I loved it. Also, with the Sparks Notes version, I actually understand what Macbeth was saying!

Reading Shakespeare isn't so ugly when you get the Sparks Notes version! That is the lesson today, everyone!

That concludes all the time I have here today, everyone. Hope you enjoyed this edition of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Five stars to all and to all a good night!