For my first official blog post I thought I would do something fun. On this blog I want to do these things called "Emily Recommends" where I pick a book genre and recommend 5 books I've read recently that I want to recommend to everyone. So here are 5 contemporary books that I've read and you should too!
1. Title: I Was Here Author: Gayle Forman Published: January 27, 2015 Blurb (taken from Goodreaads): When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question. Disclaimer: This book has a trigger warning for suicide and depression, so obviously if that’s something you struggle with I don’t recommend this book to you. My thoughts: I loved this book! I just breezed right through it. I Was Here is my favorite Gayle Forman book to date – although to be fair I’ve only read this and If I Stay. I really connected to the main character, Cody. I found it enjoyable and sad at the same time. I enjoyed seeing the character development between Cody and her mom. I had a small issue with the romance, but it wasn't such a problem that it kept me from enjoying the book. There were scenes in this book that broke my heart, made me laugh out loud, and had my heart racing. This book definitely did not disappoint me. My rating: 5 out of 5 stars 2. Title: Stolen Author: Lucy Christopher Published: May 4, 2009 Blurb (taken from Goodreads): Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit, and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? My thoughts: This book…whoa. That’s probably how I would sum up my experience reading this book. I thought this book was fantastic. Stolen had me interested right from the beginning. I talked about this book so much that my mother, who has a very different taste in books than I do, read this book and also really enjoyed it. I like how the author was able to make me sympathize with Ty even though he kidnapped Gemma. I felt that how Gemma handled her situation was very mature. How the book was written was very different to me, with it being in letter form to her captor. I like how there was a bit of Stockholm syndrome; I’ve never read a book where a character experienced that, so that was new and exciting. I thought the ending wrapped the book up nicely. I definitely want to read other books by Lucy Christopher! My rating: 5 out of 5 stars 3. Title: Fangirl Author: Rainbow Rowell Published: September 10, 2013 Blurb (taken from Goodreads): Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan… But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? My thoughts: Since I will be attending college in the fall I’m very drawn to young adult/new adult books that are in a college setting. Fangirl is one of those books. Although, to be honest, I was drawn to this book mostly because I'm a huge Rainbow Rowell fan. Unlike the first two books I recommended on this lists, Fangirl nowhere near as dark and heart-racing. Rainbow Rowell knows how to write books, she knows how to write her characters. While reading Fangirl, it did not take me long to feel connected to Cath. I felt what Cath felt and to me that makes a good book. One thing I didn’t like about this book, however, was the fan fiction aspect of it. I have never read the Harry Potter series (gasp, I know. I’m working on it.) and that’s what Simon Snow is, essentially. I've never written or read fan fiction so that was pretty much out of my element. Aside from that I found the book very easy to relate to. It was just the right amount of awkward and cute. (Plus, it pays homage to my favorite book The Outsiders, so that gives it bonus points.) My rating: 4 out of 5 stars 4. Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Author: Benjamin Alire Saenz Published: April 1, 2014 (originally published in 2012) Blurb (taken from Goodreads): Dante can swim. Ari can’t. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari’s features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself. But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side. My thoughts: Aristotle and Dante was a beautiful book. This was another book that a breezed right through. The writing was simple and so easy to digest. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did, but I ended up loving it and I found the book to be more connectable than anticipated. I thought the characters were beautiful. I really enjoyed that the adults played a part in Ari and Dante’s lives, because so often in young adult books you don’t really see the parents, the parent(s) is dead, or something of the sort. But in this book the parents are kind and understand and they really help the main characters be who they were meant to be. This book is a LGBT book, I thought it was handled so tastefully because even though Aristotle and Dante developed feelings for each other their feelings never felt forced. The actions in the book never made me roll my eyes. As a matter of fact, I was rooting for them as soon as they met. My rating: 5 out of 5 stars 5. Title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) Author: Jenny Han Published: April 15, 2014 Blurb (taken from Goodreads): To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all. My thoughts: I thought this was such a light, fluffy read! I really enjoyed this book and I read it fairly quickly. I liked mostly every character. I liked reading from a characters point of view that had such a strong family dynamic and I liked the character development. One thing that I didn’t really like was how young the writing was. I felt as even though Lara Jean is in high school she still sounded as if she was around twelve. I did enjoy the writing in the book despite that, though! The second book, P.S. I Still Love You, comes out May 26, 2015 and I can’t wait because the ending of To All the Boys was such a cliffhanger! My rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
So there you have it folks – my 5 contemporary recommendations! Let me know what contemporary books you’ve read recently, and if you think you’ll check out one of these!