Author: laannalise

“By the time I was sixteen, I’d forget this moment. But then I’d remember it again. And everything would change.”

The best way I can describe Still Life With Tornado is to say that it’s intriguing. It’s the kind of book that you can’t predict how it will end, and it really makes you think because there are so many ways it could go. There is something unexpected in every chapter.

Still Life With Tornado is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Sarah who is having an existential crisis. As a reader, we watch this crisis progress and piece it together with chapters alternating between Sarah’s point of view, and her mom’s point of view, and chapters that are flashbacks from the past. I think it’s especially interesting to read because Sarah is going through this existential crisis in real-time in the book, and as a reader, we hear her personal thoughts. I think that in almost all of the books I have read where a character has a mental breakdown it’s told as a reflection with the character looking back on it, not as something that’s happening in the moment. 

To be completely honest I am just a little over halfway through the book at the time of writing this, so while I can’t say how I feel about the book overall as I don’t know how it ends, I can say that I am completely hooked and I am so excited to finish it. I am very curious to see where this goes, and I genuinely don’t have a guess as to how it will end. It’s the first time in a while that I have read a book this unpredictable. 

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something that will really make you think.

“Irony: The year I decide that central New York isn’t a total dump after all, my dad finally admits that it was a mistake to move here.”

This is My Brain in Love by I. W. Gregorio is a good book to read if you are looking for something hopeful and inspiring. This book tells the story of Jocelyn Wu and her family as they struggle to run their family restaurant, A-Plus Chinese Garden. 

The Wu family moved to central New York for the restaurant, and in the beginning, there’s nothing there for Jocelyn. Then she meets Priya, who shares her love of film and becomes her best friend. Just when everything seems okay, Jocelyn’s father decides to move back out of central New York, and give up on the restaurant. This would mean leaving behind Jocelyn’s hopes and dreams of going to film school, and her ambition to keep A-Plus Chinese Garden running.

Jocelyn decides to hire another person to help out at the restaurant, and that’s when she meets Will. From the beginning, Jocelyn and Will have a connection, and as they work together it becomes more.

Jocelyn’s father tells them that they can only be together if they keep the A-Plus Chinese Garden running, so it falls on them to save the restaurant and their relationship. 

I thought this book was really well written, and as someone who loves to make films, I appreciated that element of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who enjoy YA romance novels.

“It sounded like a dream come true, but it conflicted with another, more important dream I had. Summer was almost five months away, and my list would be completed by then.”

Before reading List of Ten by Halli Gomez, I only had a vague understanding of Tourette syndrome. This book really opened my eyes and made me realize just how hard it can be to live with Tourette syndrome. 

Troy is a teenager with Tourette syndrome and OCD, and because of this has an obsession with the number ten. He makes a list of ten things, nine that he wants to complete before the tenth anniversary of being diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, and the tenth he plans to complete on the anniversary:

1. Get my first kiss

2. Meet someone else with Tourette Syndrome

3. Be pain-free

4. Find a babysitter for my baby brother

5. See the space shuttle

6. Talk about Tourette in public

7. Give away my Tim Howard autographed picture

8. Drive a car

9. Talk to Mom

10. Commit suicide

Troy is the kind of character that makes you feel like you know him personally and he isn’t just fictional. The kind that makes it hard to put the book down because you need to know that he will be okay in the end. I was rooting for Troy from the beginning of the book, hoping so badly that he could find a reason to stay. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, some parts were heartwarming and others heartbreaking, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me cry.

I really think everyone should read this book and I would absolutely recommend this to anyone.

“If you’re quiet in the woods long enough, you’ll hear something die. Then it’s quiet again.”

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis is one of the most gripping books I have read in a while. I was hooked enough that I was sad when my study hall ended (which never happens), and I kept reading in advisory because I needed to know how it ended. 

Be Not Far From Me was nominated for a North Star YA Award but sadly did not win. I haven’t read the books that did win, so I can’t compare them, but I can say this book was most definitely worthy of the nomination.

This book tells the story of a teenage girl named Ashley, who gets lost in the woods after she runs away from a party. She finds herself in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the clothes she is wearing, and with a badly damaged foot that has been crushed by a boulder. Fortunately, Ashley has many survival skills that she learned from her former camp instructor, Davey Beet, and she puts them to good use while fighting an infection and trying to find her way back to civilization.

Throughout the story, Ashley learns a lot about herself and connects with Davey Beet on a level she never thought she could. I found this book really inspiring, and I admire Ashely’s determination and strength. There were many times in the story when I thought about how if it was me, I would have given up, but Ashley found a way to pull through and do things most people couldn’t. 

There are a lot of graphic details in this book, and as someone who isn’t usually bothered by anything gory, I’ll admit it was worse than I thought it would be. So if you don’t do well with graphic descriptions of open wounds and animals dying (among other things) I would suggest skipping those pages or finding a different book. 

If you enjoy wilderness survival stories and thrillers, I recommend this book to you and I think you will find it hard to put down.

“But even in a sea, every life rippled far beyond it’s end.”
― Joan He, The Ones We’re Meant to Find

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He is a futuristic dystopian novel that tells the story of Cee (Celia) and Kasey, two sisters who have been separated. The chapters alternate between their points of view, and tell the story from two perspectives. Cee finds herself alone on a deserted island, with a single memory of her sister. Meanwhile Kasey is trying to find Cee, despite everyone telling her Cee has died.

I found this book slow in the beginning, but the pace does pick up and the plot gets deeper. Readers who enjoyed The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Shrefer would likely enjoy The Ones We’re Meant to Find, as both books have a similar plot and overall mood.

There are many themes in this book that readers can connect with. Romance does play a part, although the main focus of the story is the bond and connection that Kasey and Cee share as sisters. Another important element is climate change – this book is set in the future and Kasey and Cee live in an eco-city that was built for people who are taking care of the earth, where they have clean air and water, but the rest of the world has become dangerous and difficult to live in.

Overall I did like this book, but I didn’t love it. However I can very much see how a lot of people would love it, and I would recommend The Ones We’re Meant to Find to any reader who enjoys sci-fi, dystopia, romance, and thrillers.

The Darkness Outside Us, by Eliot Schrefer, is an amazing combination of sci-fi and romance, with elements of trust and betrayal, and life and death.

This book starts out as just your classic futuristic sci-fi set in space when 17-year-old Ambrose goes on a mission to rescue his sister who is stranded on the planet Titan. Ambrose soon realizes that he is not the only person on the ship when he meets his shipmate Kodiak. Ambrose and Kodiak come from opposing countries that are at war with each other. 

Set in the future, The Darkness Outside Us tells the story of Ambrose and Kodiak as they build trust in each other and take on the challenges of their mission (and trust me, there are many).

Despite the seemingly typical beginning, there are many unexpected twists and turns which make this novel a thrilling page-turner that will keep you guessing until the end.