Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

“Everything's a risk. Not doing anything is a risk. It's up to you.”

...

“Life is a gift. Don't forget to live it.” 

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. 

What a good girl Madeline must have been to never questioned her disease. I understand that you would probably never think your Mother would be capable of deceiving you on such a massive thing, but she seems like such an intelligent woman that I find it hard to believe that it had honestly never crossed her mind before. And what about her full time nurse? Why did she not pick anything up? Especially after she disclosed she had a hunch that there was something not right?

I was about halfway through when I had my suspicions that this was coming, and I was kind of hoping that it wouldn't. I was kind of hoping that Olly and Maddy would build on their love and overcome the massive health obstacle and that it would work out that way, but it didn't happen like that. 

I read/watch the news, so I know that (particularly in America it seems...) things like this actually do happen to real people, so it didn't make me enjoy the story any less when it panned out this way - it was still really well written and I loved the blossoming love between Olly and Maddy - I was just less surprised.

It had similar stirrings to Room, and The Fault in our Stars, while not being exactly the same as either of those other books. I also really loved how the books referenced throughout the story were real - I've even downloaded a few of them to read!

Read my review on Goodreads

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

“He darted a look at the uncovered basket behind me, saw what I was eating, and glared at me. "That's appalling," he said.
"They're wonderful!" I said. "They're all coming ripe."
"All the better to turn you into a tree," he said.
"I don't want to be a tree yet," I said.” 

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

I loved this book so much I bought a copy as a friends birthday present, just so I knew she would read it too!

I couldn't fault the book at all, the characters were exactly what they should be and the plot had me reading with my arms hugging my knees in suspense. 

{This next sentence has mild spoilers: I did initially think that Agnieszka and Kasia were in love, so the paragraph where Agneieszka and the dragon first make out took me by surprise at first, until you saw her feelings grow a more on paper}

At the end I think underneath all the fantasy and magic there was actually a good moral - if you hold on to hate, regret and revenge it will ruin and disfigure you, it's much better to learn to let it go and be at peace.

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

“It is not so incomprehensible as you pretend, sweet pea. Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard. It can be light as the hug we give a friend or heavy as the sacrifices we make for our children. It can be romantic, platonic, familial, fleeting, everlasting, conditional, unconditional, imbued with sorrow, stoked by sex, sullied by abuse, amplified by kindness, twisted by betrayal, deepened by time, darkened by difficulty, leavened by generosity, nourished by humor and “loaded with promises and commitments” that we may or may not want or keep.

The best thing you can possibly do with your life is to tackle the motherfucking shit out of it.” 

Life can be hard: your lover cheats on you; you lose a family member; you can’t pay the bills—and it can be great: you’ve had the hottest sex of your life; you get that plum job; you muster the courage to write your novel. Sugar—the once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild—is the person thousands turn to for advice. 
Tiny Beautiful Things brings the best of Dear Sugar in one place and includes never-before-published columns and a new introduction by Steve Almond.  Rich with humor, insight, compassion—and absolute honesty—this book is a balm for everything life throws our way.

I have never highlighted so many paragraphs in one book before. 

The advice given by 'Sugar' is so raw and real, and even though the situation she is replying to might not apply to my life, there were so many things I want to remember because they touched a cord with me and I want to keep them for my future self, or so I can pass them on to someone I know at some stage. 

The words that I would use to describe this book are: Motivating, Passionate, and Heartwarming.

• Motivating: it made me feel like I should get off my butt and stop reading to sort my life out. Be a better friend, be a better Mum, stop feeling sorry for myself.
• Passionate: her advice is blunt and direct and she says it like it is. You can read the honesty in her words clearly, and you get the sense that the responses stems from the same talks she might give herself in the mirror every now and then - they are words she lives by herself.
• Heartwarming: you can tell there is a genuine care behind her responses. Even when she is telling someone to pull their head in, it is done in such a caring way that it makes you genuinely want to comply because she makes you feel like it is the right thing to do.

I wish I knew of an advice column like this one to read when I was a teenager! It would be interesting to see my 'sister life' and see if it would have helped me navigate my younger life with less angst and confusion.

After finishing this book it makes me want to read even more from Cheryl Strayed (I have already read Wild)