Sidenote: If any of the books I review here look interesting to you, but you'd like more information about them before committing your time to reading, just leave a comment down below, and I'll write up one of my full, non-spoiler reviews for it. Or if you just want more content specifics, I can address that in the comments. Sound good? Awesome.
Without further ado, here are my three mini-reviews for some contemporary books I read recently.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
My rating: ★★★
Description: A girl who's allergic to the world meets the boy next door. Things happen.
There's one thing I've found from reading Nicola Yoon's two published books (the other being The Sun is Also a Star) and that's: I really like her writing style. There's something about the way she writes that sucks me into the characters' stories and doesn't let me go until I'm finished. Both The Sun is Also a Star and Everything, Everything were super hard for me to put down. But Everything, Everything did have some issues that made me not willing to give it a higher rating.
First of all, about halfway through the book, some characters (including an authority figure in Maddie's life) made some really poor decisions. I couldn't really understand the motivations behind these decisions, and so I had trouble with the next whole section of the book.
There was also the sex scene. It bothered me for a lot of different reasons, but in a literary sense in terms of how unnecessary it was. It didn't add anything to the story, nothing at all, and that bothered me. A lot.
So overall, I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Sun is Also a Star, but if you liked Nicola Yoon's writing style from that book, I still recommend trying Everything, Everything.
My rating: ★★★★★
Description: Two boys from the "wrong side" of town get into a fight with some rich kids, and things goes badly wrong.
I feel like it took me way too long to actually pick up this book. I ended up really, really loving it. There's a reason this one became a classic.
The book itself is really short, so I'm finding it hard to say anything without spoilers. But. The characters were really well crafted, especially considering the page count of the book. The emotions were well-written and some scenes were honestly like a punch to the gut.
There is definitely some gang violence here, as well as teen drinking and smoking. As far as I can recall, there was not much swearing. Maybe one or two swear words, but most swearing wasn't written in the text. A few sexual references.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
My rating: ★★★★
Description: Eliza is the anonymous creator of the popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. She's built her whole life online, but when she meets Wallace, she begins to wonder if a life off-line might be worth it after all.
There were moments while I was reading this book when I was planning on being so angry at the author for how the story turned out. Especially as the book neared the climax. But thankfully, everything was resolved in a way that made me happy, and now I'm glad I took the chance and read this book.
I loved how Eliza was a storyteller, and I found that aspect of her life super relateable. I'm an amateur storyteller myself, and I could definitely relate to Eliza's attachment (and sometimes obsession) with her story. I also thought the descriptions of anxiety in this book were really well done while also not taking over the story or being romanticized. Another thing I liked: that Eliza wasn't perfect, and that she grew from the events of the story.
The only thing I wish could have been resolved has to do with Eliza's parents. While I do think their relationship with Eliza did get addressed, I feel like it could have been gone into a little more. It's only one small nitpicky thing, though, and I really enjoyed the rest.
There were a few sexual references and some instances of strong language. I'd recommend this book to ages 15 and up.
And there you have it! Three contemporary books that I read recently.
Have you read any of the books I mentioned here? What did you think of them? Are there any books I mentioned that you're interested in? Let me know in the comments!
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