Review: LANDLINE by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publication date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: a hardcover provided by the publisher for an honest review

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

It's official, folks. Rainbow Rowell is amazing. If you don't remember, I fangirled over her Fangirl. While I still haven't read Eleanor & Park, I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful finished copy from the publisher. Boy, I'm grateful. 

I used to read mostly all adult books (because I didn't know how great YA could be), but ever since blogging, I've barely read any adult novels. If I have, I'm sure it's been only rereads. Landline made me want to go scour for uncovered treasures again. Because this rocked. 

After doing another fingerling session over Rowell, the main question now is how did it rock? 

1. Georgie. She is a completely flawed human being. She's a workaholic, has a reputation of siding with her coworker (and male and ONLY best friend) over her poor husband, and just makes poor choices. She's not portrayed as a young, perfectly put together writer and middle aged mother. She "lost" herself and as a result, her hair isn't too great and she's put on weight. Yet, while she's way older and in a completely different situation than I am, she's absolutely relatable. I had to remind myself that she was older (but in a good way, it wasn't like Rowell sounded too young). There was sympathy and I felt like we became friends, just like I did with Cath from Fangirl.
2. Neal. I knew it. All fictional Neals are good. Exhibit A: Neal from Once Upon a Time. Exhibit B: Rowell's Neal. He may have a barrier around him (at least in flashbacks, oh glorious flashbacks), but he's adorable. I wanted to marry him. He's a geeky artist-turned-father. He's frustrated with Georgie and especially with Seth, but he's supportive.
3. Flashbacks. Remember those flashbacks I talked about? Well, along with the time machine phone, we're also treated to Georgie's flashbacks. To me, they were crucial to the story. They helped us understand everyone's backgrounds and the evolving feelings, assisting in where our sympathies lie. 
4. MAGICAL PHONE. I'm a sucker for time machine books. They're not always good, but I give props to an author for making a somewhat-trope into their own plot. Yes, I may screamed at Georgie once or twice to do a sensible thing she wasn't thinking about, but I enjoyed her journey in discovering it, using it, and deciding what to do. 
5. Rainbow Rowell. I can't help it, I'm a total fangirl of her writing. She's one of the best third person narrative writers, in my opinion. 

I think Rowell's books are one of those love 'em or hate 'em books. Not everyone will be crazy for them, but she can definitely create a cult following. She manages to give the main characters—Georgie, Neal, and Seth—such LIFE, but still create so much personality for the supporting characters—like her sister and mother. 

Verdict: St. Martin's Press and Rainbow Rowell need all the celebratory food NOW.

Review: UNITED WE SPY by Ally Carter

Title: United We Spy (Gallagher Girls #6)

Author: Ally Carter

Publication date: September 17, 2013

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Technically me since I pre-ordered it, but Disney-Hyperion was SO nice and sent me hardcover.
Warning: This is the end of a series so there MAY be spoilers for the previous books.

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

Review:

First line: The water was still as we walked beside it.

How are you supposed to review a book that you anxiously awaited for because it is the conclusion of your all-time favorite series and your feelings were overwhelmingly mixed at the end? Can someone tell me? I wasn't even going to attempt this since I did a fangirling post about the series right before United We Spy came out. Then the publisher was their usual nice self and sent me a hardcover so I felt like I had to convey my emotions somehow. The gifs at the bottom of the review summed them up nicely, actually.

There were revelations and twists throughout, of course. Some didn't even make me blink while others made me pause for a moment. To no one's surprise, Carter wrote this final installment nearly perfectly. Also to no one's surprise, I read it in one night and once I finished past midnight, I stayed up for another hour or so rehashing all the events and possibly crying over the end of the series while nostalgia choked me.

The girls—Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey—yet again had me wishing that I was a part of their group. There was romance sprinkled throughout between Cammie and Zach (we'll get there) and Macey finally came to terms with her feelings for Preston, but I think the best aspect of this series is the friendship. We clearly saw in the first book that boys may come and go. We witnessed how family is important, but sometimes you need a best friend and that you make your own family. So, yes, once again, the Gallagher girls get an adventure together. Ally Carter knows how to write a touching friendship.

There is romance.

Romance = more feels

I felt pretty satisfied with all the Zach and Zach/Cammie moments. Let's be honest though, no matter how much we get, there can always be more Zach/Cammie moments. Thank you, Zach, for being amazing. We do not get to see Josh, the love interest in the very first book, anymore, unfortunately. I actually would have liked to have seen him and possibly DeeDee one last time. I say Carter does a spin-off or novella with one or both of them. Even though Josh was not the right pick for Cammie, he was still sweet.

The only true negative that pops up in my mind involves a spoiler. SPOILER Townsend is Zach's father, but then it doesn't get really mentioned again and I wanted father/son moments! Emotion, tension, conversation...something. SPOILER DONE. However, even that negative couldn't take away my love for this sixth book.

What else is there to say? There's mystery, answers, adventure, tears, FEELS, friendship, and happy endings. I know there are questionable conclusions to series in the YA world recently, but Carter successfully ended this beloved series in the best way.

Now, when can I get a copy of her next series Embassy Row?

Verdict: EXCELLENT, the end.

No one was fooled.

What series do you have nostalgia over or go completely fangirl about? Have you read The Gallagher Girls?

Review: FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publication date: September 10, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's

Source: a finished copy A HARDCOVER! provided by the publisher for an honest review.

 In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review:

First line: There was a boy in her room.

How I felt about this book.

I love this book. I have written and rewritten this introduction who knows how many times because I simply cannot find the words to express how much I fell in love with this book. So I'll simply leave it at "I love this book." And, of course, you can picture me dancing along with Genie. 

We meet Cath. Unlike her twin sister Wren, she's antisocial and way nerdier. Both of them have enjoyed fanfiction—Simon Snow fanfiction to be exact—but Cath took it way farther. Her life was revolved around writing the stuff, even doing it so long that it made my butt hurt just thinking about how long she was sitting.

What I really loved about Cath is that she embraces her geeky life. Some might say that she embraces it too much, but Rowell writes her in a way that it just made me love her even more. Unless you have never been fanatical about something which is so against human nature, are you a robot?, then you can relate to Cath. While I have never associated with fanfiction (we'll get to that later), I have been so personally invested in some form of entertainment that I easily connected with her.

So there's Cath, who not only is being thrown into the scary world of college with a new roommate and  experiencing separation anxiety from her sister and her unstable father, but then you add in the potentially lethal element of boys.

...Cath kept noticing things. 

Boys. 

Guys. 

Everywhere.

She doesn't understand them (another thing we connect on) because, hey, she barely understands people. What's amazing is that even in third person, Rowell manages for me to feel what Cath is feeling and sympathize with her on a level that's hard for authors to do even in first person. She's confused. Wary. Suspicious. Vulnerable. They're a mix of emotions that I had no problem connecting with and giggling at as she tries to wade through all the situations in her life. 

"Look..." Cath said. "I can't just let strange guys into my room. I don't even know your name. This whole situation is too rapey."
"Rapey?"

"You understand," she said, "right?"

He dropped an eyebrow and shook his head, still smiling. "Not really. But now I don't want to come in with you. The word 'rapey' makes me uncomfortable."

And we meet Reagan. She was one of my favorite characters, providing humor and snark. After they ignored each other, Reagan decides to help a pathetic sister out by bringing her into the real world. 

"I feel sorry for you, and I'm going to be your friend." 

"I don't want to be your friend," Cath said as sternly as she could. "I like that we're not friends."

"Me, too," Reagan said. "I'm sorry you ruined it by being so pathetic."

Reagan was actually like Cath in the way of people. Even though Cath was socially awkward and therefore, did not want to be around people, Reagan just didn't like people. I love people, I do, but I felt like I was a mix of them both. Similar to Cath, I always/usually sometimes would rather be with my beloved fictional characters than people and like Reagan, I also just look at people and think, "Why do I have to be around you?" 

Wren was sporadically absent, but that was fine with me because less Wren meant more Reagan. And with Reagan comes the charming Levi. I have so many wonderful amazing, swoony, did I say amazing? quotes for him, but really, they're best when you read them as you're reading from the book, in context. 

I never understood fanfiction before. I always judged it as someone being lazy or even to the point of being rude. That's someone else's work, characters, and setting. Why are you messing with it? But I thank Rowell because I see the pull of fanfiction through Cath's eyes. She explained it in the book that she fully believes that they're the author's characters, she won't take credit, and she doesn't seek money from her fanfiction. Instead, it's her way to manipulate her favorite characters, to play a what-if scenario on her terms. I mean, who doesn't sometimes imagine how your favorite book should have turned out? Ahem, Mockingjay.

I really can't explain this book better than in gifs so for your gif-looking pleasure...

What Cath was like...and what I'm like

What I was like during a "revelation"

The romance

What I was like after I ended the book at an ungodly hour

Because I hated that it was over.

Verdict: An outstanding book that most definitely lives up to all the hype.

Cover Love #14

Hosted by Bookshelvers Anonymous

Title: United We Spy

Author: Ally Carter

Publication date: September 17, 2013

Publisher Disney-Hyperion

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

Why I love: 

WHY WOULDN'T I LOVE THIS?

So I may be bias in my thinking that this cover is absolutely wonderful considering that I am Ally Carter's biggest fan and would read her grocery lists and clean up any pet poop in her yard just for her. Does that sound too creepy and out there? I have read all of the Gallagher Girls, introduced them to Shelver and my other sister as well as friends and people on the internet.

Cammie is now in a graduation gown on the cover with a really nice red for the background (I knew it! Ally mentioned red in her interview as an "example"). The spine is also really pretty and I love how they have different colored spines for each book in the series. The title is cute, the outfit is cute, everything on the cover is cute.

Excuse me as I go fan-girl in the corner and wipe a tear.

What cover are you loving this week? 

I Dreamed a Dreaaaam!

School reading always equals boredom to me. Dreading agony that I trudge along with and try to get out of as much as possible is what I associate school reading with. "Fun reading" would be books I pick out and can either toss if it's not for me or devour in a day's time if it's SO good, which hopefully it is. School reading is something I'm forced to stick with and is full of words I don't usually understand. To me, it's like trying to read the King James Bible. Don't get me wrong, I love the Bible. But King James version? It's full of thee's, thy's, and thou's and takes me so much longer to decipher than the "normal" version.

Why did I say all that? Well, folks, if you look to the picture above, you would know I'm about to rave about Les Miserables! Les Mis was a book that I picked out from a list to read for school. Unlike other school books, it actually grabbed my attention. My cousin though was first to read it. She called it the greatest love story and even named her child after one of the main characters. That's true fandom.

I read the book late last year and held off watching any of the movies because my mom didn't care for them and I wasn't about to taint my image of Les Mis. But this new movie? It's coming out Christmas Day and I have already declared repeatedly that I WILL be seeing it. Unfortunately, I won't be going out tonight for the midnight showing. Instead, after present-opening and lunch, I will be dragging my mother out to see it.

Me on Christmas Day

The trailer? Goosebump worthy. The actors? Fan girl is jumping up and down.

On our way to see The Hobbit, another school book I read last year that I was intrigued with, we passed by the poster I posted on the top of the page. Also, the poster which is posted on the left. Let's just say that when we passed by the huge poster, I made a spectacle out of myself.

But honestly, look at the posters. Gorgeous. I personally love the poster on the right. It shows all the characters and the flags being waved.

Two other posters that I love. 

The poster on this left isn't that whoop-dee-doo, except for the line on the top. The poster with Cossette (higher up left) has the same line, but not as noticeable. "Fight. Dream. Hope. Love." Everyone knows the saying "Live, Laugh, Love." I personally am tired of everyone saying it and making little tweaks with it. I have a feeling that "Fight. Dream. Hope. Love." might be on every status in America, but right now, it makes me feel empowered. I want to yell, "HUZZAH!" 

To conclude this jumbled mess devoted to Les Miserables, here is the trailer for you to drool over. 

Goosebumps! 

Are you going to see Les Miserables? 

Merry Christmas Eve!