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I expected more from this book, unfortunately. I absolutely loved Red Queen but that was the strongest book of this series.

This book could easily have been 200 pages shorter and it wouldn't have taken out anything that was really important. The first 250ish pages read really slowly and just dragged, not much interesting happened. It was very predictable at times and I felt like nothing majorly drastic happened, there was no big plot twist.

That being said there were some elements I really did enjoy, and I always love the battle scenes in this series and I love that it wasn't just two sides against each other but we had Maven together with the Lakelanders to begin with, The Scarlet Guard, Cal, The Ridge and Montfort working together as well but the only true alliance that never split up was Montfort and the Scarlet Guard. This aspect was extremely because even if some people have the same general goal more often than not there are different opinions on how to get there and what to do once that's a fact.
One thing that really kept the book going for me was the romance between Cal and Mare, I truly think that they're meant to be, and especially Cal's chapter somewhere in the middle of the book where he was just thinking of her made me really feel like there was a true connection between the two of them and I LOVED that. And while I do respect the ending on this matter I also wished we could have gotten just a little bit more, though I certainly felt the hope between them and am gonna interpret it as them getting together in the future.

This book didn't hold my attention as much as I'd hoped for it too, and unfortunately that's a sign for me that's it's not an amazing book. I also felt that some of the things that happened just worked out too well, the timing of a lot of things, like the battle with the Lakelands in the end where Montfort and The Scarlet Guard just happened to get there at the same time? I could see this as non-coincidental if it had actually been discussed in the book that they were trying to get there at the same time as the Lakelands, but they didn't. There was also not a single death on the "good side" that I recall of a person of at least some significant value and that in itself is extremely unrealistic.

Overall I was by this book, it too predictable, but still enjoyed reading it.

A few weeks ago I went to YANovCon in Millbrae and had the opportunity to meet the author of this book and let me just tell you she's one of the coolest people I've met in a while. BUT before I actually got to meet her I walked up to the stands where they sold the books and held this one and strongly considered buying it, but ended up with another book (trying to not buy too many books). Then I later went to a panel that she was on where she talked about it which made me go back and actually buy the book. When I later got it signed she also told me that if all goes to hell and I don't like the book I can use it as a coaster instead. But enough about me.

This book is about Fat Angie who in her first year of High School publically attempted suicide after her sister (who she was very close to) had gone missing in the Iraq war. Fat Angie is also fat, in case that wasn't obvious. These two things made it very easy for others to pick on her in school, and there's the main bully Tracy Ann who leades the rest of the school. However the big bully in Angie's life is at home. Her mom. But one day a new girl shows up to the school and Angie's life is strongly affected by that and we follow the story from there.

This book had all my emotions going and I felt that it had very strong characters with important roles to the book. A little over midway through the book I was incredibly mad at one of the characters for how they treated Angie that I actually had to put the book down and take a breather to calm myseld donw before I could continue. This books deals with some heavier topics (bullying, suicide etc) and I find that it does it in a very captivating way.

*SPOILERS*

I wanna take a minute to break down the different characters in this book, as I felt they all had very strong personalities.

Angie - Overweight, bullied, loves her sister who now has gone missing and struggles with self image. Her life isn't easy. Her brother has been acting all weird since their sister went missing. Her dad left town. Her mom is so focused on having the "perfect family" even though they really aren't, especially with recent events. Everyone keeps calling her "special". They say "You're a special girl" and this pissed me off so much. They talk to her like she's stupid, and treat her the same way. This is not okay behaviour, especially from adults. In reality Angie is a very determined and loving person who just struggled to keep up with the world at some points. But she proves everyone wrong when she tries out for thevarsity basketball team. She shows them that she can, just like her sister could. That there is more to her than just her body and some of her choices in the past.

Tracy Ann - She made life a living hell for Angie. I know that we get a redemption for her, but I don't find that redemption good enough. No matter what you don't treat another person like she did with Angie. Tracy Ann is manipulative and rude and atention seeking. she doesn't care about the people around her, she's the boss and she makes the rules. She made me so so angry, but she wasn't the worst -

Connie, Angie's mom- What a b*tch. The way she talks to her daughter is not acceptable. She demands her to loose weight before she can get any clothes that actually fit. She restricts what Angie can eat (even though Angie actively started thinking about this herself). She forces her to go to a special therapist, one that is supposed to be better, but from the notes we get is actually only making it worse for Angie. All the comments the therapist put down were degrading and actually rude. But back to the mom. She insinuated time upon that Angie was stupid, and even less worthy. That Angie is an embarassment and that it's wrong to be different. This woman is the kind of person who should never have been allowed to have kids. She is, wothout even realising, Angie's biggest bully. She was the reason I had to take a breather part way through the book because of how she spoke to Angie. I really REALLY felt that I wanted to go there and just smack that woman in the face.

KC - The new girl at school who dares to stand up for the girl everyone bullies, with all the consequences that might bring. She stands up for Angie time and time again when Angie is too scared to to it herself or just too used to it by now. KC helps Angie see that there is more to her. That she doesn't have to be Fat Angie, but that she can be just Angie. She can be herself. Thouggh she is not perfect either. Their relationship to each other is very flawed, but at the end of the day they always talk it out.. KC is also not only helping Angie, Angie is also able to help KC.

Wang- First of all, who treats their siblings with such disgust in public? He is extremely nasty to Angie at some points, but Angie actually stands up to him. I think he's the only person she was comfortable standing up to - because she knew him and what his life consisted of. She knew that he had reason to be acting up, even if that doesn't jusstify his behaviour. Though Wang develops a lot throughout the book. After he leaks the picture of Angie and KC he actually feels remorse and understands that he has gone too far. He stands up for Angie to their mother. He supports her trying out for basketball and even though he still has a lot to learn and can get a lot better still, he has started taking the right path most of the time by the end of the book.

Jake - The neighbour from the "perfect" family. A person Angie to begin with dispises because he's so "perfect". She keeps making assumptions about him that are not true and she throws these assumptions in his face. He treats her with kindness and she reacts with being hostile. Likely because she is not used to people being kind to her for no reason, since her sister went missing she hasn't had anyone do that to her and she doesn't know how to react. But even thoguh Angie is being rather rude to him he still keeps coming back to help her, to be there for her. He's tehre for her when no one else is, even when she is being rude o him. He's the kinda friend we all need, the kind of friend we all should be.

Coach Laden - As many characters she seemed to change a lot throughout the book. at first I didn't like her at all. She kept saying that Angie was a "special girl" and didn't really tell Tracy Ann off for her behaviour until KC stood up for Angie, even though Coach Laden knew perfectly well that it wasn't Angie who started anything. But then she gives Angie a chance. She starts supporting Angie in a way she hadn't before. I'm still not sure about her motives or why she did anything, and I'm still on the fence abouth wether or not I like her.

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, and I don't think I've ever felt as much anger while reading as I did with this book, but that is not a bad thing. It just meant that the characters were really convincing. We went from happiness and pride for Angie after her first game that she got to play in to only a page or two later feeling so incredibly sad for her and how unfair everything is.
I absolutely loved the Forrest Gump esque ending to this book, with them all running all the way around their town, even Tracy Ann - even though she didn't seem to like that she was there. That created a sense of community and belonging. I finally felt that people would accept Angie and no longer bully her.

All in all this was a very good read and I'm incredibly happy I liked it, since I read it after I met e.E Charlton Trujillo and reallly liked her as a person too. She was really nice and energetic, and not ashamed to talk about her rock bottom of life (at one point she had been homeless, and that was when she started writing this book) or how people would compare her to Fat Angie. She has a great sense of humour as well.

Until next time - hopefully a few years sooner than this gap!

Hi there!

I finnished this book yesterday, and I rated it a 3.5-4/5. I really enjoyed it, and it was a real quick read once I actually picked up the book!
You should proabobly read Will Grayson, Will Grayson before reading this one, since it is a musical novel from withing that book, so the musical is played in WGWG. (I'm not to sure if that sentence made any sense but I'll leave it like that anyways)
It was a bit hard to adjust to this book being written as a musical, but once I got my mindset to it, I found myself really enjoying it!
This book is basically Tiny Coopers love-history, so we get t follow his love life thorugh it!

I don't really have anything else to say, it was a great book, but you should read Will Grayson Will Grayson before reading this!

/Hanna

Hi there!

I finished of the last Percy Jackson book, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian tje other day.
I thought that this was a really great ending to a book series. I sat and smiled for the last few chapters, and this book was way above any expectations. I can't believe that I've never actually gotten around to reading these books before, and I really understand the fuss about them!
The entire series, and especially the last two books where action filled all the way through. There were times when I read the last book that I thought that the last battle would be there way earlier than it was, and when it finally came and I saw how much there was left of the book I was a bit surprised, but when I read the last bit I understood that it had to be done that way, and I thought it really amazing!
I rate the entire series a 5/5 stars and it is definetly one of the better book series I've ever read and I highly recomend it to anyone out there, even if this is a middle grade series. I'm soon to be 18 and I really loved this series!

Until next time!
/Hanna

Hi everyone!

So, earlier today I was in town shopping, and I went to the book store (where else to go when in town?) and saw that they had 20 % of at any intem you wanted, so I immediatley thought of this book. I started looking around for it, but couldn't find it but the lady who worked there helped me and so I purchased this beauty.

It's the new illustrated copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and it is just so beautifull. I had a flick though it in the bus on my way home, and I almost started crying because of how beautiful it is.
There's pictures in almost every spread, and there are full spreads with only pictures and no words. There is also pages with black background and white text which I LOVE.
I might have just starrted this book as well because of the prettyness even though I said I was gonna read the last Percy Jackson book. (oooops)

This was a more pricey book since it's a new realese and hardcover and so, but it feels like it's totally woth the money, especially when I realised that I've never felt like this for any other book, it's just purley Magic.

Having been a Harry Potter fan since I was about 7-8 or so I was really upset when the last movie had come out and there was nothing left to wait for. I then read the three "extra" books, and after that they announced the Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them movies, and now we get seven new really really nice editions of the books and I could not be happier!

The Harry Potter fandom carries on living!

See you soon!
/Hanna