Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Title: Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Becky Albertalli

Release Date: 7th April 2015

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

In a Nutshell:

The Tales Compendium wishes to apologise for the excessive use of the words ‘awesome’ ‘adorable’ and ‘loved’ in this review.

My Review:

Over the past few months I have seen countless people rave about how awesome Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is. I’m so pleased to now be able to join in on the love fest because Simon lived up to my highly set expectations and left me in desperate need of more.

My first thought upon finishing was, “Well that was freakin’ adorable!”. I pretty much had a smile on my face the entire length of the novel. I love Simon’s quirky but cool music taste, his absolute love of Harry Potter, and his devotion to Oreos (they really should be in a food group all of their own!).

“As a side note, don’t you think everyone should have to come out? Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it should be this big awkward thing whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I’m just saying.”

There is such a wonderful cast of characters throughout the novel: Nick, Leah and Abby, Simon’s family, the Theatre Club kids and Nick’s soccer mates. Each character has something that draws you to them and I think there is someone for everyone to identify with. Each character could potentially fit into a high school cliché group/label yet they are all friends and I love that each person is recognised for who they are rather than their perceived differences. Or perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Either way, they are all awesome :D Yay for supporting characters!

“It’s Saturday, we’re in an empty, dark school, and we’re a bunch of theatre kids wearing pyjamas and jacked up on donuts. We end up singing Disney songs in the stairwell. Abby weirdly knows every word to every song in Pocahontas, and everyone knows The Lion King and Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. Taylor can improvise harmonies, and I guess we’re all warmed up from singing the Oliver! songs, because it just sounds really amazing. And the acoustics in the stairwell are freaking awesome.”

And then of course there’s Blue, who I was so smitten with when his identity was finally revealed. And I love that I didn’t pick who it was beforehand but when we learn who he is, he’s just perfect.

“He talked about the ocean between people. And how the whole point of everything is to find a shore worth swimming to. I mean, I just had to know him.” 

While reading, two-thirds of which was on a flight to Melbourne, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud and I was constantly putting the book down to take note of quotes and scenes I loved.

Speaking of scenes, I loved when Simon’s family were all together, doing their random family traditions like watching and commentating on The Bachelorette each week, or playing Facebook Scavenger Hunt over Christmas break. It sounded pretty fun actually, where someone picks a category, like a breakup, and then each person logs onto their account and the first person to find someone on their feed who has broken up, then gets to pick the next category.

The long running family joke that the three siblings are the chipmunks since their parents named them Alice, Simon and Eleanor (for those of you too young to know them, the cartoon chipmunks are Alvin, Simon and Theodore) was pretty adorable too.

“It’s actually warm enough for hoodies and pyjama pants and leftover ice cream cake and Scattergories.” 

An evening in the Spier’s household sounds like a pretty perfect evening I think!

As I said before, I didn’t want Simon to end, I was just so happy being in Simon’s world. What would make me really happy though is a companion novel featuring either Alice or Nora, Simon’s sisters. They both appear to have interesting stories to tell and I really wanted to spend more time with them.

Anyway, go read this book if you haven’t already because if you haven’t figured it out yet, here’s a hint: It’s awesome. Becky Albertalli, I’ll read anything you write.

The Tales Compendium wishes to apologise for the excessive use of the words ‘awesome’ ‘adorable’ and ‘loved’ in this review.

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: 14 August 2014

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. 

Companion Novels:

Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door

In A Nutshell:

Well-worth the wait! Where can I get myself a Perkins boy?!

My Review:

Three years ago, I had a reading slump and Stephanie Perkins pulled me out of it with Lola and the Boy Next Door. So I was hopeful that her latest book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, would do the same thing for me this time around. It did.

I adored Isla. I was completely absorbed from the first page and read it all in one sitting, refusing to let the characters go, even for a minute.

There were so many swoony moments with Stephanie’s trademark “awwww” inducing scenes and just like with St. Clair and Cricket in her previous books, Josh is just as desirable. Stephanie knows how to write the gooey, romantic stuff that just makes you melt and wish you had your very own Perkins boy.

Isla lives in her own little world with her childhood best friend Kurt, while she dreams of Josh, who she’s had a crush on for three years. And before you make any assumptions, this isn’t a ‘love triangle’ thing. Kurt is practically her brother. Moving on, I’m sure most people can relate to being infatuated by someone from afar. Isla has little confidence in herself, partly stemming from being the shy, softer-spoken sister amongst her more outgoing siblings. But Isla also shuts herself away, sometimes enjoying her own company, but shutting others out to avoid the potential hurt that comes from letting someone into your life.

After a brief, chance meeting back home in New York over the summer, Isla and Josh have gone from zero interaction, to sharing small smiles across the halls at the School of America in Paris. And while this small amount of interaction means the world to Isla, she can see that Josh is no longer the outgoing guy she has watched the last few years. After an assumption is corrected, Josh and Isla begin spending more time together. But the reasons for Josh’s sadness and how he deals with it, and Isla’s own lack of self-worth, could potentially become their undoing.

My heart burst with love for the characters Stephanie has created and for the cities they spend their time in. Set amongst the magical streets of Paris and the bustling environment of New York and Barcelona, to me, Isla felt like a sort-of ‘love letter’ to those cities. It was so nice to once again get lost in their descriptions and be reminded of the wonderful times I have experienced there. Particularly Paris. I miss it so much and Isla just left me with a deeper yearning.

Just like in Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie’s characters from Anna and the French Kiss, as well as Lola, show up in her latest offering. The cameo appearances of Anna, St. Clair, Cricket and Lola were like catching up with old friends and it was such a treat to gain insight into what their lives are like now, and how they are connected to the world of Josh and Isla.

Isla and the Happily Ever After has all the feelings of falling in love: the nervousness, the uncertainty, the butterflies, the racing heart, the blushing, the can’t-contain-the-excitement that bubbles out of you… it’s all there.

Isla and the Happily Ever After was well-worth the wait (for a number of reasons). I loved it and I hope you do too. Enjoy!

Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista

Title: Reaping Me Softly

Author: Kate Evangelista

Release Date: 30th October 2012

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.

At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?

In A Nutshell:

Reaping Me Softly is about the things people do for love, loyalty, strength and the ability to overcome the terrible things that can happen in life. An enjoyable read but be prepared that the ending may not be your cup-of-tea.

My Review:

Reaping Me Softly is about the things people do for love, loyalty, strength and the ability to overcome the terrible things that can happen in life.

I liked Ari. I thought she was strong and while I was annoyed with her for putting up with the bullying, I admired her ability to do so and her values that prevented her from exposing why she was getting bullied by Darla in the first place. I liked the relationship between Ari and Ben. It was nice to have a boy-girl friendship without the usual romantic tension that tends to show up in YA novels as a love triangle. Theirs was a true friendship, one of honesty and loyalty and I’m glad that this dimension was included in the novel.

I liked the reaper world and the hierarchy that Death created. The different personalities of all the reapers made Niko’s world ‘real’, rather than him being part of a world we knew nothing about, and in their weird way they were family to each other. I even liked Death. His character was quite amusing, as were Niko’s minions (Ha! ‘Minions’ still makes me laugh, maybe I’ll just call them his helpers?).

Ari and Niko’s relationship was sweet and predictable. What was not predictable was the ending! Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil anything. What I will say is that I loved the whole book, until the ending. Suddenly, I was in tears. It just felt so…extreme. I mean, I know we are dealing with Death but I kinda got to the point where I liked the guy, and then BAM, he went all brutal!

Don’t let my shock at the ending deter you though. I know some people think it was a fantastic ending and I really did love the rest of the book. So I suggest you give it a go.

I also highly recommend Kate’s first novel, Taste, which was really, really awesome. Read my review here.

 

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Links

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Everything Left Unsaid by Jessica Davidson

Title: Everything Left Unsaid
Author: Jessica Davidson

Release Date: 1st August 2012

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
Tai and Juliet have been best friends forever – since they met at kindy and decided to get married in first grade.

They understand each other in the way that only best friends can.


They love music, beach walks, energy drinks and, they are slowly discovering, each other.


As they dream of adventures beyond the HSC – a future free of homework, curfews and parents, a life together – their plans are suddenly and dramatically derailed.


For Tai is sick.


And not everything you wish for can come true.


A poignant story of first love, hope, grief, family, and the twistedness of life.


In A Nutshell:

Everything Left Unsaid beautifully shows the pain and confusion two people can feel when faced with losing the other through no fault of their own. This is an exceptional read that I highly recommend, although make sure you have a box of tissues within reach.

My Review:
In one word, this story is heartbreaking. Just thinking about it now, weeks after finishing the story, it still makes me sad. Even though I know it is just a work of fiction, I’m sure this kind of story is very real for many people.

Generally, we all love stories where the two people we want to get together eventually do. In this case, they get together at the beginning of the story. It is what happens next that changes the path their story takes.

Sickness and death are always sad. But when it happens to someone who is so young, it often hits us with our own morality and it somehow seems much harder to face. Young people still have their whole lives ahead of them and this is a key aspect of Tai and Juliet’s story.

Everything Left Unsaid is told from the alternating perspectives of Tai and Juliet. With these dual perspectives comes the different emotions, feelings, and thoughts about both themselves, and the other. It interestingly and effectively examines the dynamics of a relationship between two eighteen-year-olds who should be focused on finishing high school, getting their driver’s licenses, spending the summer doing who-knows-what before hopefully starting university. They should not have to worry about what happens when one of them gets sick and has a very real possibility of dying. It’s heartbreaking as Tai comes to grips with everything he will never get to do, and Juliet realises everything she and Tai planned to do together, she will now have to do without her best friend.

They’re losing me – but I’m losing everything.

Tai’s illness is portrayed realistically and his process of coming to terms with his imminent death is one of shock, disbelief, denial, anger, fear and isolation. He hides a lot of what he is feeling and experiencing in order to save his family and Juliet from seeing him in pain and frustration. In turn, Juliet struggles with her emotions; to show Tai how distraught she is feeling or to try and stay strong for him? Because when it comes down to it, it isn’t about her, it is about Tai and what he is going through.

Does she know how lonely I feel, even when I’m surrounded by people?

Everything Left Unsaid beautifully shows the pain and confusion both sides endure. This is an exceptional read that I highly recommend, although make sure you have a box of tissues within reach.

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz

Title: All You Get Is Me
Author: Yvonne Prinz

Release Date: 21st December 2010

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:
Things were complicated enough for Roar, even before her father decided to yank her out of the city and go organic. Suddenly, she’s a farm girl, albeit a reluctant one, selling figs at the farmers’ market and developing her photographs in a ramshackle shed. Caught between a troublemaking sidekick named Storm, a brooding, easy-on-the-eyes L.A. boy, and a father on a human rights crusade that challenges the fabric of the farm community, Roar is going to have to tackle it all—even with dirt under her fingernails and her hair pulled back with a rubber band meant for asparagus.

In A Nutshell:
A pleasant tale to while away an afternoon with as Roar experiences a summer unlike any other.

My Review:
Roar is ready for her summer break. She’s looking forward to sleeping in, hanging out with her best friend Storm and taking copious amount of photographs. But life isn’t that easy and despite the agreement Roar brokered with her father when he decided to move them out to a farm, she is roped into helping out with all the chores around the farm, which includes 4am starts.

On their way to their farmers market stall one morning, Roar and her dad witness a head on crash between a rich, real estate developer and an illegal Mexican worker, leaving the worker dead. Roar’s dad, an ex-human rights lawyer, doesn’t want to see the death swept under the rug and so sets out to fight for the rights of illegal workers. Things get complicated for Roar when she meets Forest, the son of the developer who was driving the car, and is instantly drawn to him. As their relationship blossoms in secret, her father continues to aggravate locals with his views on workers’ rights, causing friction and trouble not only for Roar and her dad, but their farm workers as well.

This is a coming-of-age novel that documents an unforgettable summer for Roar in the lead up to her sixteenth birthday as she tries to balance farming life with boys, an out of control bestie, the resurfacing of the mother who abandoned her, and threats against her father and the farm.

My favourite parts of the story were the ‘family’ dinners Roar and her dad have with their friends and workers, Roar’s passion for photography (not the digital kind!) and the simple moments she shares with Forest.

A pleasant read to while away an afternoon.