A few months back I was visiting some family out of state in a rural area. Whenever I go there I always end up reading like 2 books a day, after a long time of lugging around a bag of books, I remember I have a nook! After resetting my nook to escape all the childish books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, I browsed the nook store and stumbled upon this new book. I bought it in a desperate attempt to get in as much reading as possible. I do not, nor will I ever regret this decision.

The Begining of Everything is about Ezra Faulkner, a boy who had everything: Prom King, captain of the tennis team, smart, popular, has a girlfriend who is also popular. Basically, he has a “perfect life”, that is until one fateful night at a party where he discovers his girlfriend was cheating on him, and he tries to leave the party when a reckless driver crashes into him shattering his knee and his perfect life.

Ok, first I just wanna say puns are the key to my heart. Ezra, who narrates this story constantly thinks of different puns he could use in different situations and I loved that with all my heart. Second, I love how this book (as unrealistic as it can be) tries to show how there are not always happy endings. It’s important (in my humble opinion) that people understand that life is not all rainbows and puppies, stuff happens, mistakes are made, and not everything is a perfect rom-com.

Time to talk about flaws because everything has at least one. First I wanna talk about Ezra’s ex-girlfriend: Charlotte Hyde. Charlotte is a huge problem. I found her character offensive because of all the stereotypes used to make her, her. I did however like that her character was used as a villain and someone I could dislike without any guilt because there was basically no attempt to humanize her. Second, I was disappointed with how certain character handled situations (I can’t really go into specifics because I hate spoilers). Sometimes people would overreact and other times they would under-react. To me, it seemed the author was trying to even out the reactions of characters but it just wasn’t working.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone, its a quick read (and I even put it in as a quick read in a previous post). The Beginning of Everything is one of my favorite books ever and I hope everyone can find a book that fills them with as much happiness and sadness that this book fills me with!

This book can be purchased at Barnes and Noble, and to find more reviews/information the link to Goodreads is here! Have a grand day/night!

Sarah Dessen was an author I had never heard of until I went to a small used bookstore a few towns away from where I live. I was browsing the shelves of the YA/Teen section when the cover, name, and size caught my eye. I was in a sort of slump, I couldn’t find anything that sounded good, that is until I stumbled across this title. I bought this book with hopes to read it that week, but I was unable to find enough time to just sit down and read. Recently I stumbled across this book on my shelf and decided it was time to finally read it. Right now I’m seriously regretting opening this book.

“Lock and Key” is about a girl named Ruby Cooper, a 17-year-old senior in high school whose mother abused and abandoned her. Ruby was forced to move in with her older sister Cora and her husband Jamie because she is a minor who was living in unsuitable conditions without a parent or guardian. In this book, Ruby struggles to try and learn how to accept help from those around her and let people in.

This book was in a few words, a disappointment. When I’m reading a book I want the main character to be someone who I would talk with and not want to run away from, someone who I could love and/or consider one of my many (fictional) children. Ruby, the main character does not fit my expectations, she was complaintive and snobbish the entire book. She tried to escape a “horrible” place (a million dollar house with people who cared about her) by jumping over a fence. This was all on the first night. Not only was I displeased with the characters, but I was also displeased with some of the topics that were just kinda thrown in. For example, Ms. Conyers, Ruby’s “Literature in Practice” teacher, assigned a project to the class that would have them define a word that had several meanings. Ruby’s word was “family”. This project was definitely a clever way to incorporate a theme, or a lesson without screaming “HEY LOOK, THIS IS THE LESSON FROM THE BOOK!” but the author kind of threw it in and out of the story. Ruby occasionally talks about how the definition isn’t one solid thing and kinda complains about it then moves on to something else.

I didn’t fall in love with all the character like I had hoped, I do feel like Sarah Dessen did a good job with displaying the distance created by time between Cora and Ruby. At the beginning of the book, we as readers are led to believe Cora and Ruby stopped talking because Cora decided to cut ties with Ruby and their mother, as the story progresses we learn that is not the case. In addition to the display of distance between Ruby and Cora, The author also uses a sense of familiarity to draw the reader in. Recently when discussing this author with a friend (who had recently read one of Dessen’s other books) I discovered that Sara Dessen overlapped her stories, putting characters from her other novels and placing them in different stories. These overlap characters often don’t have big parts, but it’s still interesting to hear what is happening in their lives, and definitely makes me want to read her other novels just to see who else pops up. However, this isn’t something that someone would know just by picking up one of the novels, its something that you would learn by reading more of Sara’s books or talking with people who have.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cheesy unrealistic (but not paranormal or anything like that) Teen/YA literature, the story though not always good or logical, but definitely had a good message and meant well. This book fails to include realistic (and likable) characters and situations so it’s not something I would pick up and read again.

For more information on this book, check out the author’s website here, additional information and reviews can be found on Goodreads. You can also purchase this book at Barns and Noble