Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Author: John Green and David Levithan 
Published: 2010
Pages: 310
My Rating: 3.5


One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.


I'd known about Will Grayson, Will Grayson for a while. I first about it when a podcast that I listen to did a book-club episode on the book. But now, I finally got around to reading it. I'm still undecided on what I really thought about it.


I was very interested in the fact that this is written by two authors, with two characters (by the name of Will Grayson, obviously), switching each chapter. I know I shouldn't. But I can't help but compare John Green books. I always love the characters, the writing and the themes behind them, so I was truly looking forward to reading this John Green book with a twist. 


The switching of the chapters between Will Graysons was very interesting. They were both such different characters, and you could see that through the writing. And I found myself liking one of the Wills and hating the other at the beginning. Yet once I'd read the whole book, my view had almost been switched.


I loved the first Will Grayson because he reminded me so much of the other typical John Green lead characters. Yet as the book went along, I found myself connecting with him less and less and I found that his side of the story was actually a little dull. I think his meeting with the other will grayson didn't affect him as much. At first, I hated the other will grayson. He was winy and unappreciative of everyone around him. But as his side of the story went on, I found myself really connecting with him. He was so conflicted and his meeting with the other Will Grayson really changed his life. I actually think that his story was the most interesting one at the end.


The stand-out character, by far, was Tiny Cooper. Tiny is originally in the first Will Grayson's story, but when the Wills meet, Tiny thrusts himself into the other's life as well. Tiny is the fabulous inspiration of the story and is such a strong component of both the Will Graysons lives. I don't think that there would have been a story, if it were not for Tiny. I also feel like the book itself could be called Tiny Cooper. 


I still don't really know how I feel about this book. I loved Tiny, the themes and the switching of POV. But overall, I don't think I really felt much about the story and some of the messages being put across. I didn't enjoy it as much as Paper Towns, and definitely not as much as Looking for Alaska (now one of my favorite books). But it still was a good clever read, and I would recommend it if you are a fan of John Green or David Levithan.

It's Monday What are you Reading? (8)

Monday's What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey!

Books read last week:

Paper Towns by John Green

The Dark Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Reading Now: 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

Coming Up:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Escape by Robert Muchamore

Specials by Scott Westerfield 

May Reading List!

These are some of the books that I'm hoping to read during the month of May. Obviously, I probably won't get through them all and I may read different ones as well. But this is just a rough hoping really.

I've linked them with their Shelfari pages, if you're interested:

• Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• The Escape  by Robert Muchamore
• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
• Stolen by Lucy Christopher
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 
• An Abundance of Katherines  by John Green

April (and March) Round Up!

It struck me, when I was about to write this, that I had never actually posted my March Round Up. I'd written it all out, but left it in drafts and forgot about it. So making up for that now, I'm going to post my March Round Up, along with my April one too.

I've linked all my read books for both months to their reviews!

Read in March:

• Feed by Mira Grant
• Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
• Poison Study by Maria Snyder 
• Across the Universe  by Beth Revis 
• The Killing Frost by John Marsden 
• My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
• Graceling  by Kristin Cashore 
• Candor by Pam Bachorz
• The Replacement  by Brenna Yovanoff 

Read in April:

• Plague by Michael Grant
• Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann
• Ravenwild by Peter Plasse
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Paper Towns by John Green
• The Dark Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Follow Friday/ Book Blogger Hop (10)

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee!

This week's question is:

If you were stocking your bomb shelter, what books would you 

HAVE to include if you only had space for ten?

First of all, can I just say how much I LOVE this question! It's tough, but I'm always thinking of things like this, so this is totally my question this week!

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K.Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green
4. Plague by Michael Grant
5. Lies by Michael Grant
6. Darkness be my friend by John Marsden
7. Burning for Revenge by John Marsden (these two are the next books in the Tomorrow series that I haven't read yet)
8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (the first book)
9. The Death Cure by James Dashner, from my TBR pile (amusing that it's out)
10. Divergent by Veronica Roth, from my TBR pile

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books!

"Summer is coming quickly - what 2011 summer release are you are most looking forward to?"

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take the boring route and say that I don't actually have a summer release I'm looking forward to at the moment.

Right now I'm still buzzing from the cover release of The Death Cure by James Dashner, which I can't wait for!

This is out in October (that's summer, right?)

Cover release! The Death Cure by James Dashner

The Death Cure is the third book in the Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner, and is due for release on October 11th 2011. 

And here we have the much anticipated cover of The Death Cure:

I love the Maze Runner and the Scorch Trails, and I love this cover! Looks like the Gladers are going somewhere cold in this final installment of the trilogy! 

In the UK, they released The Maze Runner with a different cover to the US version, but then never did it for The Scorch Trails, and I'm guessing not for The Death Cure anytime soon. So my trilogy is likely going to look pretty patchy for a while.

But anyway, I really like this cover, there's not much more to say.

What are your thoughts? 

Review: The Dark Hollow Places

Title: The Dark Hollow Places
Author: Carrie Ryan
Published: 2011
Pages: 384
Rating: 3.5/5

Annah knows she has a twin sister, but she forgot her long ago. Back when they went to play in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, she and Elias lost her, and after that there was no going back to the village. Life's been hard, but Elias has taken care of her, and living in the Dark City can help one to forget the horror of the Unconsecrated—if you try hard enough. But when Elias disappears, Annah's world crumbles. To her, life isn't worth much more than the walking dead who roam the wasted world she lives in. It's not until she meets Catcher that she cares to start living again. Yet Catcher has secrets. Dark, terrifying secrets that link him to a past she's longed to forget and to a future too deadly to consider. Annah must decide: Can she continue to live a world covered in the blood of the living? Or is death the answer to all her problems?


This third book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series follows the actions of the main character, Annah. The twin sister of Gabry (formally Abigail) who is the main character of the second book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, who's mother, Mary, was the lead in The Forest of Hands and Teeth. 


I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this third book to the trilogy(?). I loved the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but I didn't love The Dead Tossed Waves nearly as much. I would say that I enjoyed this one more than the second, but not as much as the first. 


As a stand-alone book, I really enjoyed this and thought it flowed well. But as the ending to a trilogy, I wasn't impressed. I felt as though the ending rounded things off for the one book well. But as a trilogy it didn't, as I felt like it should of gone back to some of it's old roots from the first book. 


The first two books proved that Ryan likes to put her lead characters through hell, and this book was no exception. Annah has had an even harder time physically than the previous leads, though I don't think she has as much weight on her conscience. I liked the strength in Annah. But overall I found her to be winy and surprisingly vain. There is not a chapter gone by where she doesn't talk about how much she hates the scars on her face or blames them for something. Even though it cannot be nice, there are far more things of colossal importance. I also hated how after one look at her sister, she spent the whole time moaning about how much more perfect than her she was, even though she knew nothing about her. But alas, she does develop well as the book goes along, and the vanity dies down. 


The plot-line of this book seemed to be split into three: the love square of the four main characters, the Unconsecrated and the Recruiters. This book was set in the Dark City, where Elias and Annah had been living since being broken up from Gabry in the Forest all those years ago. Our four leads go to the last possible resort to survive the Unconsecrated, and have no choice but to do what the cruel and evil Recruiters say. I also think that I liked the character Gabry in this book a lot more. Though that's probably because we weren't in her head this time.   


As I said before, I loved the story-line as a book alone. There was plenty of action, and Ryan really went into exploring how human's have degraded since the Return. And overall, I liked it, and thought the book came together well. My only problems were some of the traits of Annah and the fact that I didn't finish of the trilogy for me. If you were a fan of the previous books, however, I think you'll enjoy this.