A Tiny Review: We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

We'll Never Be Apart is a riveting psychological thriller from page one. It's told through the POV of a teenage girl named Alice who is in a mental hospital because her twin sister set a fire that killed Alice's boyfriend. Throughout the book, Alice tries to come to terms with what her sister Cellie did by writing her memories of her (honestly, horrible) childhood in a journal. So in the book we see what is happening to Alice currently along with learning about her childhood and what hardships she went through before turning up in the mental hospital in Savage Isle. 

Wow. This book was a doozy. Honestly it's kind of addicting and I just wanted to keep reading to figure out what Alice was going to do about her crazy sister Cellie (throughout the book Alice keeps promising she's going to kill her sister and what??!?! It's hard not to want to keep wanting to read to find out what she actually does). The ending, though. It's the ending that really got me. Throughout the book while you learn about Alice's crappy childhood you just keep feeling worse and worse for her. While she's trying to recover from emotionally damaging events, she realizes that a lot of people she loved weren't actually who she thought they were. Then at the end of the book a giant thing happens and wHAT?!?! I was shocked, I really didn't see it coming and wow wow wow. The very last line freaked me out, I actually let out a little scream: I'm going to be thinking about that last line for a while. 

This was really dark, exciting read that keeps you on your toes and at the edge of your seat. I picked up this book not really knowing exactly what I was getting into and with no expectations, and it really surprised me. This one is definitely worth picking up when you see it in stores in October. 

We'll Never Be Apart is quite the phycological thriller for sure. If you're a fan of Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas and Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley, this is definitely a book you should check out. Keep your eyes peeled for We'll Never Be Apart when it comes out on October 6th!

*I received this ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review*

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Also, yes, I'm going to address the fact that I haven't posted on my blog since April. I think I'm going to start using my blog to post mini/full reviews of books, but that's it. Any extra content (discussions, hauls, tags, etc.) is going to go on my YouTube channel. Hopefully this will keep, but my history with this blog isn't the best, so we'll see. 

March in Review

Hello readers! Sorry it's been about a week since I posted..still trying to get into the swing of blogging again. 

I thought today I'd show you what the month of March was like for me. I read 8 books (yay!), I hit a huge mile stone on my Instagram, got a lot of books..there's a lot to show you all. Let's get started!

As I mentioned, I read 8 books in March which is pretty good for me. Usually during the school year I get through 4-5 books a month. In general I really liked most of what I read in March; there was nothing that I didn't like!

Young Avengers V1 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie: For one of my English classes I had to read a comic book, so I chose the first volume of Young Avengers. It was basically just introducing the characters and their lives, but I really enjoyed it. It was serious but also kind of poked fun at itself and managed to make me laugh out loud a couple times. Overall it was just a really fun, really quick read and I'd like to continue on with. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger: This book really surprised me. Honestly, I expected it to be kind of a crappy book but I was totally wrong. It was full of teenage drama and raging hormones, but it was really fun. There was some deeper stuff in there along with the drama, I thought it was mostly just fun. I gave it 3.5/5 stars. 

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King: Beautifully written story about a girl confused about her sexuality. I thought King really captured how it feels to be a lost, confused teenager. There’s also a really great addition of magical realism that really adds something special. I really enjoyed this book and gave it 4/5 stars.

Salt & Stone by Victoria Scott: This is the sequel to Fire & Flood, and man was it a good sequel. The series is about a race in which the winner gets medicine that will cure any disease. The main character, Tella, enters with the idea of saving her brother, but the race ends up being more than she bargained for. There are 4 different phases the contenders need to race (and try to live) through: rain forest, desert, ocean, and mountains. This book takes place during the ocean and mountain phases and they’re so intense. This is a series that really gets your heart rate up because so many crazy things happen. If you haven’t read this yet, you really should. I gave this 4.5/5 stars. 

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutcoskti: This is another sequel I read this month, the first book being The Winner’s Curse. It takes place in a fantasy setting where one very rich race owns slave of another poorer race. The main character, Kestrel, buys a slave and ends up having feelings for him. But that’s just the beginning. There’s so much scandal and betrayal in this series, it’s incredible. And it ends up being really political, too. The Winner’s Crime had less action than the first book and all the politics was interesting but made it feel like it was moving slowly. I really enjoyed it though, and you should definitely start this series. I gave this 4/5 stars.

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson: If you’ve been following my Instagram and blog, you’re probably sick of me talking about this book. But in case you don’t know yet: I. Loved. This. Book. Honestly one of my all time favorites now. The characters are gorgeous, the writing is beautiful, the story is painful. I wrote a review of this book if you’d like to read more of my thoughts on it. And, obviously, I gave this 5/5 stars. 

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona: THIS COMIC IS SO MUCH FUN. Kamala Khan, who's a Pakistani Muslim, is the new Ms. Marvel and I couldn't be happier. She's super cute and quirky and the most perfect girl to be a superhero. This first volume was just setting up her story and how she got her power, but it was still so great and fun. I gave this 4/5 stars and cannot wait to start Volume 2!!

Mosquitoland by David Arnold: This book was interesting. It's about a girl who lives with her dad in Missouri and takes a Greyhound bus back to where her mother lives in Cleveland, OH. I had heard a lot of great, great things from authors who got ARC's of this so I bought it the week it came out. It...didn't live up to my expectations, which was disappointing. But also my fault because I expected too much of it. It was a good story with very wonderful characters but it didn't end up being anything special to me and didn't really resonate with me the way I was hoping it would. It was a good story though! I gave it 3.5/5 stars. 

Another exciting thing that happened in March was that I hit 100k followers on Instagram!!! That’s so incredible, I can’t believe that many people want to hear what I have to say about books. It’s so awesome and I’m so grateful. As a THANK YOU to those who follow me, I’m currently planning a giveaway and I have a surprise for when I hit 1,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel, so stay tuned for those!

In March I got around 25 books which is crazy, but at least I didn’t buy them all myself. If you’d like to see all the books I got, my book haul will be on YouTube shortly (I'll update this with the link once it's uploaded).

So there’s my bookish March wrap up! Again, sorry, that was super late. I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things with the blogging. I hope you enjoyed and I’ll see you again with another post soon (I hope)!!

Favorites of 2015 (So Far)

Since this is only my 3rd post so far, you haven't really seen what I've read this year so I thought it would be fun to show you guys my five favorite books of 2015 so far!

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

If you follow my Instagram, you probably already know how much I absolutely love this book. It’s beautiful and passionate and heart breaking and has become one of my all time favorites. Jandy   Nelson’s writing is beautiful, poetic, and really pulls at your heart. I posted a full review of the book on here a few days ago, if you’re interested in reading it. 

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

This book is about a teenage girl’s incredible journey of self discovery that gave me a serious case of wanderlust. Reading about Allyson learning how to be her own person and how hard and wonderful it was made me nervous but mostly excited about growing up. Gayle Forman has a real talent for capturing what it feels like to be a teenager. 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but it’s a very different retelling. It takes place in a less-than-ideal fantasy setting where the main character Nyx has to marry the evil ruler of their kingdom in order to kill him. It’s a really dark, very weird and different retelling of the fairytale that really captures you attention. The chemistry between Nyx and the evil king was pretty incredible. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good fairytale retelling.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore Robin Sloane 

Mr. Penumbra’s is a perfect story for a book lover. It’s set in a very odd little bookstore and the plot revolves around a mystery behind the books in the store. Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore is a quirky, magical book about books with a multiple mysteries woven into these vibrant and lovable character's lives. If you want something that will feel like an adventure and will make your heart feel fuzzy with joy, read this special book. 

Ask the Passengers by A.S.King 

This book is a necessity to anyone who is questioning her sexuality. I've never read a better book about a teen who is confused with her sexuality and her journey in that confusion. A.S. King told a really heartbreaking and important story through really great writing. I definitely want to read more by her after enjoying Ask the Passengers so much.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

I'll Give You the Sun / review

I’ll Give You the Sun is one of the most beautiful, passionate, emotional books I’ve ever read. The writing by Jandy Nelson really pulls you in and makes you feel every little thing that the characters feel. And, oh, the characters. Noah and Jude Sweetwine are some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever had the privilege to read about. They’re so real and make a lot of mistakes and are honest, heartbreakingly so. The two just feel so real, I wanted to pull them out of the pages and give them giant hugs and blankets (because they go through a lot in this book). 

The way this book is written, in two different time streams from two different characters' points of view, was so brilliant. The sister Jude’s chapters were written when the twins were 16, and the brother Noah’s  chapters were written when they were 13. This created a very interesting dynamic. We learned things that had happened and things that were happening, but there was a space of time where events were kept from the reader until the end of the book. It created a very different kind of tension, one that I’ve never experienced before and I thought it was absolutely genius.

The characters in this book are incredibly precious to me. Noah Sweetwine is probably one of the most beautiful and passionate and heartbreaking characters I’ve ever gotten to read about. He made my heart ache and I felt for him the entire book. His chapters were very beautifully written, mostly due to the fact that he’s an artist and everything is amplified to him. Noah will always have a very special place in my heart. Jude is also a very wonderfully beautiful character. She makes a lot of development throughout the book and there’s nothing I love more than great character development. She made a lot of mistakes in her life and seeing her try to deal with the consequences was heartbreaking but also really made you cheer for her. Regardless of what she did, all I wanted was for her to be okay. There are a couple secondary characters in this book that are very vibrant and memorable, but no one was more important than Noah and Jude. 

The thing that really sticks out about this book was how it made me feel. Boy, did it make me feel a lot of things. I felt every emotion that the characters went through. I cried when they cried (and even when they weren’t because, let’s face it, I cry at most things). I loved when they loved. I was angry when they were angry. The way that their emotions were written and described were so painfully real and believable that my heart ached throughout the majority of the book. Probably from page 2 on. No book has made me feel such a range of emotions and feel them so intensely within 370 pages like I’ll Give You the Sun did. It was such an incredibly beautiful experience. 

5 out of 5 stars? I’d give this book 3000 stars if I could. I’d give it the sun.

Welcome! + Currently Reading

Hello and welcome to the all new BlueEyedBiblio book blog! I originally started this blog about 2 years ago, but it never really worked out for me and I sort of forgot about it. Now that I have a pretty decent Instagram following (75k+?!?!), I thought it would be fun to try out blogging again. I asked my followers if they would like to read my blog if I wrote one, and a lot said yes! So hello. This is your doing. 

On this blog I’m basically going to talk about all things bookish. I’ll have reviews, hauls, discussions, and maybe even some giveaways *wink*. Please, sit back and make yourself comfy!

For my first post, I thought I would take it easy and show you what I’m currently reading. This only works out a little bit because I’m not actually currently reading something as much as I’m about to start something. Mosquitoland by David Arnold is going to be my next read. This book is about a girl named Mim who moves away from her family home in Ohio to live in Mississippi. Soon after, though, she finds out her mother is sick. Mim decides to jump on a Greyhound bus headed for Ohio to spend time with her sick mother. The book revolves around the trip Mim takes from Mississippi to Ohio. I’m pretty excited about this one because, even though it came out about 2 weeks ago, I’ve already heard a lot of great things about it. Also, I’m from Ohio so a book where someone jumps on a Greyhound to Ohio is so something I’ve never read about before (there aren’t a lot of books about Ohio in general). I’m expecting some funny stuff about the Midwest (because let’s be real, the Midwest is hilarious). 

I can’t wait to jump into this book, and continue blogging! (if this was boring for you I promise my posts will get more exciting soon).