Reached

Reached by Ally Condie is the last book in the Matched Trilogy (eep!).

(Summary from Goodreads)

After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

10/10 Oh gosh. Oh my gosh. This was my favorite book after I read it. It was one of those books that sits in the back of my mind days after I finish it, and I'm mourning the loss of a story that I loved so much...this happens a lot with final books. I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars right now though, and it's a close contender, (I'm not here to talk about that right now) but I really wanna read Reached again. Condie really stepped it up in this book. It was beautifully written, the type of writing that I wish I was capable of (or will be someday). I really enjoyed this book...all 512 pages of it--which brings me to my next point. The only thing not positive I have to say about this book is that the first 300 pages or so seemed like mostly filler. I mean, I didn't get bored reading the first half of the book or anything, but in retrospect, I felt like the beginning was pale in comparison to the ending. Matched is my favorite out of the three for that reason, but Reached is by far the most beautifully written. Oh and I loved the tri-perspective with Xander.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
This is the last book of a trilogy, so of course I have to talk about the ending and all of the surprises.

 Hey, well I saw this neat idea thing on some other book blog and just highlight the text to see the spoilers. (genius)

Okay well, Cassia ended up with Ky, which is no surprise. I mean, c'mon, Xander said it himself in the book that why would Cassia choose someone who was chosen for her. I felt so bad for Xander during the story, but I was so glad that he ended up with Lei (I never would've guessed her true identity). I personally never really shipped the whole "Xander Indie" thing. Okay Indie. I CAN'T BELIEVE INDIE DIED SHE WAS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER. NO. JUST NO. Condie really surprised me on some things, like how it turned out Cassia sorted for her own Banquet. She did a really good job with tying everything together, such as the "Red Garden Day". Like whoa. The ending was beautiful. It was amazing. It was breathtaking. I also felt pretty satisfied...the only things that I wanted tied up were Hunter, and who wins the vote. But, I was satisfied, and sad that the journey had to come to a close, but I couldn't have asked for a better final book. 

  

(End spoilers) 

♥Skittlez

I'm Back!! && The Book Thief

Hello peoples!! It's been quite a while, but after my last post, I got somewhat busy...my cousin came over, I had tennis tryouts and practices, and of course, school started which has just swamped me with all sorts of work and stuff. I'm trying to start reading again though, and hopefully posting more reviews for you guys!!

By the way, just saying, I read The Book Thief over the summer as my "pre-course reading assignment"...after that I don't remember reading much that wasn't for school.

(Summary from Good Reads)

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery....

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.

With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

10/10 Okay...this book was downright amazing. I didn't even mind that I had to annotate and write a paper on it. It was really nice and refreshing to have a break from the typical dystopian young adult romance novels. This book was like nothing I had ever read before. How it was written, the story, everything was just...I can't even think of the right word. It was very, very sad though. Just a warning. Also, I found this book to be quite...heavy, if that makes any sense. It's not a fast read by any means. But it was so worth it. 

And hey, I got 100% on my paper too. :-)

Coming Soon:
-To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (possibly)
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (possibly)
-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (possibly)
(those three I read for school fyi)
-Reached by Ally Condie
-The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
-Every Day by David Leviathan

♥Skittlez