Phenomenal Reads With Emily: Landline

  About a week ago I finished Landline by Rainbow Rowell. It was truly an amazing book that was very realistic. I loved the characters, and enjoyed the plot. It was really different from other books I usually read, which is part of the reason why I liked it. In many books I read, the boy and the girl are together in the end, you you assume they live happily ever after. However, that is not the case in the real world. This book tells you about the fairytale part, the part where everything is happy, where the boy and the girl get together and you assume they will be together forever, and the realistic part, where after they are married, work, kids, and differences grow them apart.
   However this book also includes one other thing that puts it apart from other books; a magical phone. Yes, you read that right, a magical phone. In this book, the main character, Georgie, struggles what to do when she finds a phone where she can talk to her husband, Neal, from the past, while he and their kids are visiting his family for Christmas without her. Is this an opportunity to fix her struggling marriage. Or, is it an opportunity to stop it before it even happens? Georgie is not sure.
   I loved how the characters interacted with each other. Everything was so realistic. I really understood what the characters were going through, and why they did certain things. I loved how Rainbow Rowell really shows what the character are like through their actions. They all had their little quirks, and they all had their struggles. I loved every single character, and found myself rooting for every one of them.
    The ending of this book was fantastic. Ever read a book that was so good, but don't like the ending? That you find yourself thinking it was a bit too rushed. Well that didn't happen in this book I'm glad to say. It really summed up everything well, with also leaving a little bit of mystery. This book grabbed my attention and kept it. I think every one should read this book; it really is something quite special.

Check out another "Phenomenal Reads With Emily"

I'll Give You The Sun

Or check out a "Bookworm Review"

Skyscraping

Phenomenal Reads With Emily: Made You Up

  Recently I've enjoyed Made You Up by Francesca Zappia. This book is truly phenomenal. At first I only read it when I had the time, getting up to page 68, but then I began reading it more seriously, and over the course of two days I finished the rest of the book. While looking for good books to read over the summer, this book was number 4 on my list, but really should have been at least in my top three picks.

   I fell in love with this book almost instantly. From the cover, to the interesting prologue, and the great characters, this book is literally perfect. I couldn't stop reading! I just don't have the words to describe how amazing this book is (Miles does)! It was so hard to put it down I felt like it was super glued to my hands (fault of Alex). I loved how it was realistic. Everyone has their flaws. No one is perfect. All the characters had flaws and weaknesses, which made the book really relatable.

    Alex. Alex has Schizophrenia. This means that sometimes she has delusions, and is also very paranoid. She often struggles to figure out what's real and what's fake, so she takes pictures. I really liked her character. She is kind, and understandable. Everyone at her old school judged her because she is schizophrenic, so I feel bad for her. She just wants to fit in, and to be treated normally. This is why at her new school, she wants no one to know.

    Miles is a very interesting character. However, I still really liked him. His home life is not the best, but of course he doesn't tell anyone that. He has many layers to him, and even though the whole school is convinced he is a complete and total jerk, he is just misunderstood. He does things for people to earn money, for reasons I'm not going to mention (because it will spoil the book), but I'll tell you one thing: you won't see it coming!

    In this book, I found myself guessing what was real and what was not, and more often I found myself wrong than right. This book is a 

must-read. The characters are well thought out and relatable. The story is interesting and complicated. What's not to love about this book?
    Recently I have reread 1/4 of this book,(this part of this post is added on after it was published), and I completely fell in love with it all over again. The characters are amazing and have so many layers. I love the voice Alex's mind respond to things. For example

"Stop thinking about him, idiot!"

Oh, and how I love how Alex asks a Magic 8 Ball questions. Or more tells the Magic 8 Ball. Some things she says to it are not questions. This book is wonderful. Yes, Miles, it made me cry, but it also made me smile. And that smile is permanent.

Check out another "Phenomenal Reads With Emily"

I'll Give You The Sun

Phenomenal Reads With Emily: I'll Give You The Sun

  You know you love a book when you ask Siri to call you one of the characters names. She now calls me Jude. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson is mostly about two twins named Noah and Jude, their family, and people they meet. Noah tells the story when he and Jude are 13-14 years old, and Jude tells the story when she and Noah are 16. Noah is a boy with little friends. He draws to pass time, while Jude is popular and surfs. Each twin has a secret that they are keeping from the other. Jude worries if she tells her secret, Noah will never talk to her again. Noah believes that by keeping his secret, he is protecting his family. All The characters are connected in wild and unbelievable ways.
   Now I'll Will talk about the characters.
   Noah: Noah is absolutely my favorite character in theis book. With only a few pages into his point of view, I already felt I knew him and was in love with his character. He is just do devoted, sweet, and super talented. His character was just simply perfect and likeable.
   Jude: Jude is also very talented, she just doesn't really know it. She is an excellent person, that you'd think is on a path to success, but she gets a little lost along the way. She starts hanging out with the popular crowd, and after something happens that hurts her family, and completely destroys her brother, she changes dramatically- and so does Noah.
    This book is great. I finished it in 5 days, because it was so interesting I couldn't put it down. I felt that the characters were extremely realistic and in depth. Jandy Nelson describes the characters like she actually knows them. Also, both characters are very relatable. There are many surprises in their path, all of which you will not see coming. I can not stress this enough; read this book. It will forever change your life. 5 out of 5 stars. Fantastic work Jandy Nelson.
                                                                          - Emily

Check out another "Phenomenal Reads With Emily":

All The Bright Places

Or look at this "Bookworm Review":

Every Soul A Star

Phenomenal Reads With Emily: All The Bright Places

 

  Recently I have read All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Let me tell you this: I could not put it down. I finished this book in about 3 days, not because it was a quick read, but because I literally could not put it down. All The Bright Places is about two teens: Theodore Finch (Theodore Freak) and Violet Markey (Violet Remarkey-able). They first meet at a bell tower at their high school, and save each other from jumping off. Violet is depressed because her sister died, and she blames herself. Finch is mentally ill, and has been bullied most of his life. When they team up on a school project, they become friends. This is where their beautiful and tragic story starts.

   I came across this book looking for novels to enjoy over the summer. In an hour of looking, I found myself  with a long list of a little over 15 books, with All The Bright Places at the very top. I was so anxious to get my hands on this book, that I got it from the library the very next day. Jennifer Niven is a genius. I repeat, a GENIUS. This book is one of my new favorite books. If you do not read it, your life will not be complete (I might be exaggerating just a bit). Overall, this book was lovely.

                                                                                       -Emily

Check out another "Phenomenal Reads With Emily":

The School for Good And Evil

Or look at this "Bookworm Review":

Out of my Mind

Phenomenal Reads with Emily: The School For Good And Evil

Hello! I am writing you this from the nerd side! I'm here to tell you about books that I really enjoyed! Here's my first book that I'm reviewing, The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. This book takes you through the fantasy word of Sophie and Agatha, two BFFs in their town of Gavaldon. In this fast paced adventure, the girls learn that it's the inside that really counts. Here you learn about both girls and watch as their personality change throughout the story. They become who you might not think they were in the beginning. Even though I am only on page 213, (there 488 pages), I can tell this book is going to be AMAZING!!!


                                                                                             Until next time,
                                                                                                    Emily

Also, write who your FAVORITE character is in the comments 4 this post! Go Team Leo Valdez,  from the Heroes of Olympus series!!