Review: Just One Day (Just One Day, #1)

Just One Day (Just One Day, #1)

Author: Gayle Forman

A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay.

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!

Published January 8th 2013.

Allyson is self-effacing, and if anything, ordinary. LuLu is enigmatic, and if anything, attractive. If Allyson rouses bland uninspired prose composed by pimply laboratory nerds, LuLu inspires an epic modern-day romance-- at least, enough for a striking boy-actor who can sprout Shakespeare to offer to bring her to the City of Lights (or Love. Or Fashion.) on the spur of the moment.

Well, here comes the interesting part, Allyson and LuLu are the same person.

I think the reason why this novel is such a tour de force in the contemporary genre is simple: it hits all the right notes with the readers. As I honestly can't find any other coherent way to convey how much I adore this book, I shall aim to do so in the most empirical way possible.

In terms of rhetorics, if Gayle Forman had aimed to persuade me to root for Allyson/LuLu and Willem, she succeeded beyond her wildest imagination with only half of the book -- the first half of the book is titled "One Day" and the second part, "One Year" -- using pathos and kairos.

In terms of pathos (appealing to my emotions), I almost cried at two points in this book. This isn't just some frothy novel about "a privileged girl having an epiphany away from home". No. It takes a philosophical and nuanced look at what it means when a girl finally comes of age in a transformative day in Paris -- understanding the differences between falling in love and being in love, surrendering herself to the accidents of fate and saying "yes", grabbing freedom at its knees and finally, realizing that the key to feeling always a little less than the whole of herself has never been about not knowing who she is, but knowing that and not wanting to be that person anymore. 

The messages packed here in that one day in Paris are just so powerful and self-empowering that Allyson's growth into LuLu and sudden loss of her newfound identity jars me. Her scenes with Willem make me dreamily doodle invisible hearts all around the book, but the abrupt end to the "One Day" section of the book is painful.

And that brings me to kairos, a look into the timeliness of plot lines, in the subsequent "One Year" after that fateful day in Paris. There are some magnificent flashes of Shakespeare in this section that cement my belief that Shakespeare must have been a most epic lover. Along with that, Allyson's transition into college life and her inner struggle between letting her parents down versus letting down herself pushes her to come to terms with that one day in Paris and how much she is willing to let it change her.

He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found.

I had thought the "One Day" section a triumphant portrayal of Allyson's growth, however, Allyson only truly blossoms in the second section of the book as she heads back once again to Paris, then across Europe, in search of Willem and a lost part of herself. And the way she collects clues to find her way back to him and misses him closely each time had my heart knotted into tangled strings -- oh, Gayle Forman, you have me in the palm of your hands.

Gayle Forman has the knack for looking into the hearts of her readers and showing us a side to us that we didn't know we had with astonishing simplicity. Undoubtedly my favourite contemporary of 2013, let me tell you one thing: if you have to fall in love with one book this year, let it be this one.

“You're just trying on different identities, like everyone in those Shakespeare plays. And the people we pretend at, they're already in us. That's why we pretend them in the first place.” 

Source: From the bookstore

Mini-Playlist

1. She Will Be Loved Maroon Five (here)
2. Clarity Zedd ft. Foxes (here) 
3. 사랑은 벌이다 (Love Is Punishment) K.Will (here) 
4. Crazy In Love Jisun (here)
5. How Long Will I Love You Ellie Goulding (here)

Hopefully, it seems quite obvious where each song fits! If you want to know specifically, feel free to email me!

Did you guys get wanderlust from reading this book? 

xoxo,
Sel

Review + Playlist: The Promise of Amazing

The Promise Of Amazing

by Robin Constantine

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release Date: December 31st, 2013

Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she’s not popular, but not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet, “good” girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change, but doesn’t know how.

Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe’s. Star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, on a fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a “term paper pimp.” Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change, but doesn’t know how.

One fateful night their paths cross when Wren, working at her family’s Arthurian-themed catering hall, performs the Heimlich on Gray as he chokes on a cocktail weenie, saving his life literally and figuratively. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.

This book promised something pretty amazing (at least to me, the Cinderella-esque premise of the sweet poor girl and bad rich boy romance never gets old), and I write this review with a relatively simple message: it delivered its promise. 

But, one thing for sure, it most definitely didn't go the way I expected. I was readying myself for a sweet, fluffy tale of first love with little emotional strings attached on my part, and expecting the most complicated thing in the story to be the Arthurian-themed catering hall which Wren worked at. It went the exact opposite way. The backstory of Grayson was dark, bordering on the gritty, with many surprising nuggets of information that were thrown onto my path as we went along. The complications along the way were not only numerous, but also, extremely real troubles that made their love much more tumultuous but gratifying for me since I love me some good drama.

As for Wren, while her character arc certainly was solid, Grayson's parts of the story (the novel was in two P.O.V.s) stood out more for me, hands-down. Much of Grayson's history before he met Wren made this novel so much more than just a regular contemporary romance, his growth into a boy that Wren could be proud of was heartwarming-- it included coming to terms with his divorced parents, his friends (goodness, Luke was one hell of a character) and perhaps, some sort of closure for his multiple identities as a brain, an athlete and a criminal.

More than all of the above, at the end of this book, I chose to see it as a strange sort of discourse on modern teenage love: There's no one convenient time for falling in love. Sometimes, it just happens. It's quick, redolent of insta-love. Yet, at the same time, it's intense, gorgeous and beautifully alive. 

As we watch Wren and Grayson amble into a fragile love built on rocks, we know that their ending would be a happy one. That's the solace of reading books like that. 

There's always the promise of something amazing. And for me, that's more than enough.

I think everything about you is amazing, Grayson Barrett. -- Page 100, Uncorrected E-Proof

I'd go anywhere for you, Wren. -- Page 140, Uncorrected E-Proof

Source: From the Publisher (HarperCollins) for review purposes 

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A Playlist (in chronological order; once you've read it, you would know where each song fits, hopefully)

1. Catch My Breath Kelly Clarkson (here)
2. Try P!nk (here)
3. Promise Me Beverley Craven (here)
4. Let Me Love You Glee (here)
5. Say Something A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera (here)
6. Unconditionally Katy Perry (here)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Constantine is a born and bred Jersey girl who moved down South so she could wear flip-flops year round. She spends her days dreaming up stories where love conquers all, well, eventually but not without a lot of peril, angst and the occasional kissing scene. 

Her YA debut, THE PROMISE OF AMAZING, will be released in 2014 by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Tumblr

The book: Goodreads | Amazon Paperback | Amazon eBook | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | The Book Depository

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Lots of love,
Sel

Tour Kick-off: Click to Subscribe

The official CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE blog tour kicks off today and over the next two weeks, read reviews about this adorable Young Adult contemporary featuring an internet romance, and get to know the author, L.M. Augustine, through guest posts and interviews!

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1,135,789. That’s how many subscribers sixteen-year-old West Ryder has on his web vlog series. But he only has eyes for one of them. 

As one of the internet’s most prestigious video bloggers, West talks about high school relationships under the name “Sam Green.” As far as he knows, no one from school, not even his best friend, Cat, has seen his videos. But the highlight of the whole thing is Harper Knight, who comments every day at exactly 2:02 in the afternoon. He doesn’t know anything about her aside from the occasional deep philosophical messaging on why pizza tastes so delicious, but as stupid as it sounds, he might be falling for her. So when they finally agree to meet in real life, West’s hope for romance seems more and more in reach. But that all changes as soon as he arrives at their meeting spot and sees Cat walking toward him, wearing the same “I <3 Sam Green” T-shirt Harper promised she'd have on.

To his alarm, West realizes he is falling in love with the best friend who has always been a sister to him.

252 pages 

Published May 9th 2013.

Buy links: Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | B&N | Smashwords

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Author Bio:

L.M. Augustine is a YA romance author who is obsessed with writing about dorky teenagers, love, and happy endings. He currently lives in New England, where he spends far too much time reading books and screaming at his computer, and he believes that the solution to the world’s problems can be found in chocolate cake. Click To Subscribe is his first novel, but it won’t be his last.

Find L.M. on Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Blog

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Tour Schedule

May 13

http://mystorywithyouandher.blogspot.com/ (Tour Kick-off)

http://eileenlisblog.blogspot.com/ (Interview & Review)

http://globugandhootie.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://twimom101bookblog.blogspot.com/ (Interview & Review)

May 14

http://alifeboundbybooks.blogspot.com/ (Review & Guest Post)

http://www.maryelizabethscrazybookobsession.com/  (Review)

http://mybookmarkblog.com/ (Review)

May 15

http://thereadingdate.com/ (Review)

http://nuzsaysitwithbooks.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://allaboutyanovels.blogspot.com (Review)

May 16

http://www.coffeebooksandme.blogspot.com (Review)

http://yabookmark.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://ecstatic-for-books.blogspot.com/ (Review)

May 17

http://bookreaderchronicles.com/ (Review)

http://chrisbookblogemporium.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://the-soul-sisters.blogspot.com (Review)

May 18

http://www.booksoverboys.blogspot.com/ (Guest Post)

http://sweettreatblogblog.wordpress.com (Review)

http://mylibraryinthemaking.blogspot.com/ (Review)

May 19 – *No stops on Sunday*

May 20

http://forever17books.blogspot.com (Interview)

http://avasmith.org/ (Review)

http://www.queenofcontemporary.blogspot.co.uk/ (Review)

May 21

http://www.briannaleereviews.blogspot.com (Guest Post)

http://alittleshelfofheaven.blogspot.ca/ (Review)

http://www.paperrdolls.com (Review)

May 22

http://lissalynnsreviews.blogspot.com (Review)

http://www.leisurereads.com (Review)

http://snugglingonthesofa.wordpress.com (Review)

May 23

http://insatiablereaders.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://www.fueledbyfiction.blogspot.com/ (Review)

http://www.readingtostayalive.blogspot.com (Review)

May 24

http://mrbookwonder.tumblr.com (Guest Post)

http://dreamer-avidreader.blogspot.sg/ (Review)

http://books.lollibean.net (Review)

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Giveaway (Aw, yeah!)

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xoxo,
Sel

Review: The S-word

I'm the last stop on THE S-WORD blog tour hosted by the awesome Shane @ Itching for Books!

The S-word

Author: Chelsea Pitcher

Summary:

First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker.

But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie's looping scrawl.

Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she's caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie's own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.

Debut author Chelsea Pitcher daringly depicts the harsh reality of modern high schools, where one bad decision can ruin a reputation, and one cruel word can ruin a life. Angie’s quest for the truth behind Lizzie’s suicide is addictive and thrilling, and her razor-sharp wit and fierce sleuthing skills makes her impossible not to root for—even when it becomes clear that both avenging Lizzie and avoiding self-destruction might not be possible.

Release date: May 7th 2013

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Purchase: Amazon

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A friendship severed.

A girl scorned.

A secret shattered.

The S-Word alludes to the story of Angie, who is coping with the death of her best friend Lizzie-- the daughter of a preacher who cheated on Angie with her boyfriend, Drake.

Moving, illuminating and brutally honest, this novel grabs the curtain of high school and yanks it back with little hesitation and much unpretentious flair.

The story stumbles and sprints at a fast, engaging pace, told through the eyes of Angie who is one of the most complex high school characters I've ever read about. Every other member of the supporting cast is also each an enigma in their own right. There's Kennedy, the school's golden girl, who has a dark childhood secret; there's Drake, the most sought-after boy in school, who has a hidden personality that will inexplicably rip him and others apart; there's Jesse, the pretty boy who dresses like a girl, but is a true man; and finally, there's Lizzie, who lives through Angie's recollections and her leaked out diary entries that touch, stir and ultimately, heal the inner demons of every person in the school.

The story is filled with the vibrance and messiness that make up high school-- we see both the dark, twisted cruelty of teenagers and the powerful bonds of friendship that thrive beyond the boundaries of life and death. Angie and Lizzie's intricate and complicated history of friendship is filled with betrayal and life-changing revelations which stun us into silence again, again and yet again.

In the end, the S-word is an euphemism for so much more than just "slut", but also "sorry". Angie's regret for her role in Lizzie's death drives her to uncovering the truth behind that night of prom and letting those who had a role to play in Lizzie's suicide to have a taste of their own medicine.  But truly, the last shaking lesson to take away from the story is not one of revenge, but one of forgiveness and the power of words to both destroy and make whole.

Source: From the publisher for review purposes in the blog tour

Via Netgalley.

ABOUT CHELSEA

Chelsea Pitcher is a native of Portland, OR where she received her BA in English Literature. Fascinated by all things literary, she began gobbling up stories as soon as she could read, and especially enjoys delving into the darker places to see if she can draw out some light. 

Official links: chelseapitcher.com | @Chelsea_Pitcher

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xoxo,
Sel