The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

A stunning debut about how grief can open the world in magical ways.

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door. 

This is one of those books that I was hooked on from the first few pages. It made me look at grief from another perspective, when you just can't handle reality so you fixate on anything to help distract you and try to create another ending.

Behind the intelligent yet slightly dorky musings of the main characters, Suzy, were some pretty important messages for YA about bullying, the pressure you can feel to fit in, the struggles of High School, and on top of that, there were some pretty cool facts about Jellyfish! (I never realised how interesting Jellyfish were - when I came to the end of the book, I actually spent another 30 minutes googling random facts about them! To me that's a sign of a good story, if it makes you keep thinking about it after you've finished.)

A short but bitter-sweet story (I finished reading it in 2 days!) It left me feeling very similar to Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close and The Age of Miracles with their quirky out-of-place teenage angst and nostalgic for something I can't quite put my finger on. 

Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1) by Sylvain Reynard

"Dante was a poet. Beatrice was his muse. He met her when she was very young, and he loved her from afar his whole life. Beatrice was his guide through Paradise." 

Enigmatic and sexy, Professor Gabriel Emerson is a well respected Dante specialist by day, but by night he devotes himself to an uninhibited life of pleasure. He uses his notorious good looks and sophisticated charm to gratify his every whim, but is secretly tortured by his dark past and consumed by the profound belief that he is beyond all hope of redemption.

When the sweet and innocent Julia Mitchell enrolls as his graduate student, his attraction and mysterious connection to her not only jeopardizes his career, but sends him on a journey in which his past and his present collide.

An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love and redemption, "Gabriel's Inferno" is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible...forgiveness and love.

Wow…SNORE!

The first 40% wheld promise of an exciting story, and it was enough to keep me hanging on in hope that it would pick back up again, but unfortunately it just seemed to draaaag on and moved so slow. At times I was skim reading the text thinking blah blah blah in my head. 

It kinda went like this: "Are you ok? No, are YOU ok??; Did that please you? Yes, very much thank you; I love you more. No, I love you more; ARGH! Never before have I been so bored while reading supposed passionate scenes. 

Another spectacular example of how boring it was - when they FINALLY did the need (at the 98% mark) he was putting lubricant on himself and her response? "You're very kind" I mean, WTF!!!??

And not only was it allow moving, but the lead female (whose name I already can't remember, that's how forgettable she is) was so wimpy and self conscious that I'd feel like slapping her just to get a reaction. 

Don't waste your time reading this…unless of course you have trouble getting to sleep, then this will probably be your cure.