Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me - Jenny Han

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

CHRISTMAS FEELS: ★★★★★

ROMANCE FEELS: ★★★★/5

CHARACTERS: ★★★★/5

HUMOUR: ★★/5

(It's too heartbreaking to be funny)

ORIGINALITY: ★★★★/5

ELVES!! There are ELVES in this book! When I read this story, I had just left an all-night screener of all the Lord of the Rings films. I was slightly delusional. Kinda losing my mind. And I immediately picked Legolas as the hot elf guy in this book.

When reading the story after a good night's sleep, I realized that the story is on the North Pole and this elves are Christmas elves - so don't make the same mistake I made!

Natalie is abandoned by her mother in South Korea on Christmas Eve. The person who finds her is Santa and he decides to adopt Natalie and bring her with him to the North Pole. Here she grows up amongst elves and even developed a crush on Flynn: the hottest elf her age. However, now that Natalie is 15, she is suddenly aware that she is the only human being on the North Pole and that her only interaction with a normal human was a few years ago when she kissed Lars when Santa was dropping off presents. This Christmas, she feels more alone than ever. 

What I loved about this story was that it reminded me of the kind of Christmas movies I saw as a child. I could perfectly imagine the North Pole and the elves - though they sounded way more beautiful in this book then they were in the movies (really think more Orlando Bloom).

I loved Natalie, but I felt so bad for her at the same time. I can imagine the North Pole being an incredibly lonely place when there are no other humans there and I just wished for a happier ending for it. Jenny Han leaves the ending kinda open, but I just wanted to see Natalie truly happy - she deserved it.

So far, this story is the highest ranking in the Christmas feels, just because it has Santa and the North Pole and the wonderful Christmas food. I loved it and I am longing for snow so I can read this story again and really imagine being on the North Pole.

Angels in the Snow - Matt de la Peña

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

CHRISTMAS FEELS: ★★★★★

ROMANCE FEELS: ★★★★★

CHARACTERS: ★★★★★

HUMOUR: ★★★/5

ORIGINALITY: ★★★★/5

It's a real Christmas story!! The third short story in My True Love Gave to Me is Angels in the Snow and this made me really feel like it was Christmas.

Shy lives in New York where he studies at NYU on a full scholarship. It is Christmas and Shy doesn't have the money to go back home and see his family so he cat-sits the cat of a friend. While he thinks he is completely alone in the apartment building (it is Christmas after all), it turns out there is someone else there: Haley.

As you can already guess, the romance factor is high in this short story. The two meet and though there is instant attraction, there is also lots of stuff complicating the situation. But my god, did I love Shy and Haley. They are realistic characters, young people that are worried about their futures, their lives, their school, their family,... I really could imagine both of them being my friend.

There is also the added theme of poverty and sharing when it's Christmas. And then there is a ton of snow (honestly, it's not really Christmas in books or movies when there isn't any snow) and Christmas music.

This story was reading a contemporary Dickens where you do not only enjoy the story, but also think about the real meaning of Christmas. Be grateful this year if you are with your family and have food to eat - it's more than a certain character in this book has...

The Lady and the Fox - Kelly Link

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

Christmas feels: ★★★★/5

Romance feels: ★★★/5

Characters: ★★★/5

Humour: ★★★/5

Originality: ★★★★★

Wow Kelly Link, talk about a completely unexpected Christmas story! I will be rating these stories from favourite to least favourite at the end and if there was a rating for originality, I am pretty sure this one would win!

Miranda is a young girl with a mother in Thai prison, so she celebrates Christmas with her mother's best friend Elspeth (I love that name!) and her son Daniel. One Christmas, Miranda sees a man standing outside. He can only appear when it snows and she has no idea if he is a ghost or real person...

I really liked this story because it reminded me of A Christmas Carol. Christmas and the supernatural work well together in my mind - it is the season of miracles after all. I also never read anything from Kelly Link before, but I adore her writing style; it's clear, concise and leaves enough mystery.

If you are looking for your typical Christmas story, then this isn't for you, but if you want something new and different, you'll love it!

Midnights - Rainbow Rowell

Until Christmas, I will be reviewing the short stories from My True Love Gave To Me. There will be a review every other day. These will be shorter than the usual reviews and will always include the same criteria on which they will be graded.

Find it on bookdepository here. 

Christmas feels: ★★/5

It is more New Year than Christmas, but it still has the end of the year feel.

Romance feels: ★★★★/5

Characters: ★★★★/5

Humour: ★★★★★

The twist at the end made me laugh out loud - it is original and funny at the same time!

Originality: ★★★★/5

If you have been on my blog before, you might have seen this review for Fangirl - in which I basically just Fangirl about how much I love the book. 

So when I opened My True Love Gave To Me and saw that the first short story was from Rainbow Rowell, it immediately made my day better. My parents just left London, the weather is shitty, there hasn't been any snow yet and I needed a pick me up. What better author than Rainbow?

Since it is a short story, I can't really say much about the plot without giving everything away, but here is a very basic summary: Mags celebrates New Years Eve each year with a bunch of friends. New Years 2014, the main setting of the story, is the first New Years every is celebrating together after going away to college. The friends are reunited and it turns out certain things have changed.

As per usual with Rainbow, it is a love story but it isn't cliché at all. She always manages to bring in a surprising element and this short story is no exception - you have to read it to find out a cute and funny twist at the end.

It wasn't really Christmasy, because it takes place on New Years Eve, which was a bit of a bummer, since I expected a lovely Christmas story. But still, it was a really good read and it definitely gives you the feels. I hope the other stories in the book will be more within the theme, but this was a good start to the book.

What I read this month: November

Oh sweet November - I look forward to you every single year, but I am SO happy whenever Nano month is done and I won. And I get excited for December - a month in which I have loads of time to read.

First, my November wrap up: 9 books, which is an exciting amount of books. No clue how I did that with Nano.

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Antigone by Sophocles

Antigone by Jean Anouilh

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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Can this book count as four? Because at 1200 pages it is about four YA books. I read this for my book club and read it in ONE DAY. It was hell and I was delusional at the end of it, but I hate not having read the book for my book club. Yay me! 

What did I think about this book? I actually have no clue. I read it so quickly that I missed half of it, but I must say that the Count must have one hell of a make-up artist to be able to change personas so quickly!

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Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I discussed this book in a review here. Though I didn't really enjoy the book, I absolutely adore the cover. Just look at that picture! It deserves a cover award.

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Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

I love book suggestions from other book lovers, so when I saw Colleen Hoover all over my Tumblr dash I knew I had to read it. The review for this is still coming and I haven't finished it yet, because I'm not sure how I feel about it. I read it really quickly, put it down and said "wtf is this for cliché book? I HATE IT!", but now, a few days after finishing it, I'm finding that I can't get the main characters out of my mind. It is not the most original story, but somehow it grips you anyway.

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling

I mean, does this need any explanation? Who doesn't know these books? This one is SO MUCH BETTER than The Chamber of Secrets. Sirius. Sirius. Sirius.

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The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

My favorite read of the month! So good! You need to check it out. 

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And then there were two e-books:

The Paragraph Ranch by Kay Ellington 

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

What did you read this month? What was your favorite book? 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E Lockhart

Rating: ★★★★★

I think We Were Liars was possible one of the best books I have read this year. It had a great narrator, an amazing setting and the plot twists were out of this world. So when I saw The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart, I immediately bought it and started reading it on the tube ride home. 

Frankie is my new favourite narrator

I love YA books (obviously), but at times I get so annoyed by the females in the book. They are either heart-eyed naive girls who get used or bitches who don't let anyone close to them. That's not real life - real life is about girls who are both; they fall in love, but are still strong.

Cue Frankie, the teenage narrator you can't help but fall in love with. She goes to a prestigious boarding school called Alabaster and discovers that there is a secret society there. How to become a member? Be from a wealthy family (think Nate Archibald from Gossip Girl) and be a man. Yup, even though the school is mixed, only guys are allowed to become members of The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds and Frankie's dad used to be a one of the important members. 

Nowadays the society doesn't really do much, but Frankie's new boyfriend Matthew Livingston is still a member and refuses to tell Frankie that the society even exist. Unfortunately for him, Frankie isn't the average girlfriend that takes no for an answer. She decides to follow Matthew to a society meeting and then even decides to get secretly involved... 

Which is why I love Frankie so much; she doesn't dump Matthew, because she is strong and doesn't need a man blabla, nor does she just accept his "no there is no society" as a truth. She keeps him, because she likes him, but also goes digging for answers herself. 

Feminism

My timing of reading this book is perfect, since it centres mostly about feminism and that has been the hot word of the past few months. Frankie is not happy with the patriarchy in her school, which is very strongly present, and decides to change things. She doesn't label herself a feminist, she's not even consciously doing things to improve the position of women, it is just her nature. And that's a true feminist for me. She's just not happy being the underdog, only being 'cute and sweet', but not worthy of the secret society. When I have children, I'll give them this book to show them how unfair the world can function and how you can change it. Don't just talk about it, but do stuff in your own environment to open people's eyes.

E. Lockhart

Though this book still has plot twists and unexpected events, it was a lot more predictable than We Were Liars, which means (at least for me) that a lot more of the reading experience had to come from good writing. With We Were Liars, you wanted to keep reading because you had to know what was happening. With The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks I kept reading, because the writing was so good. Besides a strong Frankie, the side-characters were all well-rounded too. Matthew is the cool guy, who then clearly seems to have some issues. There is his friend Alpha, who is (surprise!) the alpha male of the Basset Hounds and who is just a mess of contradiction. We see, through Frankie's eyes, how contradicting Alpha is, but there is enough mystery left to keep you wondering - and praying for a book about Alpha! To get a reader involved with all the characters in a book is the ultimate sign of a good writer and E Lockhart doesn't disappoint. 

Empty feeling after finishing it

However, do you know that feeling that you just finished a book and feel empty? You put the book down and feel like the story wasn't, couldn't, be done. There was so much more left and you needed more resolution. This is what I got from this story. Now I know this is often a deliberate choice from the author (Gone Girl is the perfect example of this), but I just don't like it. Frankie does whatever she does and then we get a small glimpse in her life after that, but that's it. I wanted so much more. Does she go off to college? Does she change the world? What does Frankie do?! I just wanted a bit more at the end of the book.

Conclusion

Is it really a surprise that this book is a five out of five? I ADORED Frankie, I loved the feminist undertone in this story and my only complain is that I didn't get enough of the story, which only means I really loved it. I think it is a must-read for every YA lover and just every person who wants to see their world a tiny bit differently.

My Nano advice

Hello everyone,

if you read this blog more often then you know that I am participating in Nanowrimo this month (which is why the reviews have been a little bit more slow than usual). My college friend and writing coach Kelly Meulenberg asked me to write an piece about my past Nano experience and what I would say to people participating now.

You can find the article in dutch on her great website, but this is the English version. If you need a little pick me up now that we are SO close to the end (which I know I do), then read this. 

Writing this guest article reminds me a lot of my Nano experience - staring at a blank screen, thinking of something witty to start off with. Because if the start is not perfect, it will all fall to pieces, right?

And just like with Nano, I have to get over myself and just start writing. Because I don’t prepare for anything, most of all writing. 

I participated in 2012 and signed up the day before. “A novel? Cool, I want to do that.” No plan, no real ideas, just me and my computer. The first day I sat down and just started to write and low and behold, 30 days later I had a novel. (One that was deep down a bag in the closet somewhere, but that I’m actually editing right now and hopefully I’ll get it to some publishers next year!) 

And this year, I started on the 4th of November. Missed the deadline, but again thought “A novel? Cool, I want to do that”. I guess a year off made me forget the struggles that go into writing so many words a day. 

What saves me during Nano is a schedule. I was still an undergraduate student during my first time, so my schedule revolved around classes. Regardless of whether you work or study or just write full-time, set aside a few hours every day to write. My hours were from 8pm until 10pm (I’m a quick writer). After dinner and before I got tired or would do social activities, I would have to write for 2 hours. Even if I hit my word count at 9 - I would have to continue until 10. Because, as you all might know by now, having the buffer of being over your daily word count is a gift send from God during this month. I’m doing the same this time, and so far so good. I almost caught up with the word count (by the time you read this, hopefully I’ll be ahead of the word count)

This schedule also meant that sometimes I wouldn’t hit my word count in those two hours. Somedays you’ll wake up and just be creatively empty. You want to scratch the whole story. Start over. Just stop Nano. You can’t do this. But you can. I would go outside and take a walk, completely distancing myself from my computer. Or I would go to my roommates and tell them where I was stuck and ask them to fix it. Towards the end I even did the cliché thing : I killed a character. I was so stuck that I had to kill one of them. Was it a good plot element? No. Will it survive editing? No. But it did keep me writing and made me hit that word count, which is all that matters this month. You can take stuff out or replace stuff for years to come. But this month: Just write.

Also, don’t be scared to take a day off if you really can’t focus. You’ll have to pay for it later, but sometimes you just can’t write - and that’s okay.

The biggest problem for my during Nano is my constant fear of not being original enough as a writer. I write young adult and not the science fiction type. This means that my first story was a cliché teenage love story and that this year I’m writing about the self-discovery of a young girl. These are not groundbreaking topics and often times while writing I want to scratch the whole thing. I keep thinking “this has been done before and by a way better writer”, but it doesn’t matter. I just have to keep on writing and I’ll see what happens. For me, Nano isn’t about creating a perfect novel, it’s about expressing myself and letting characters that float around my head for years finally get out on the page.

The biggest tip I can give anyone is to really ignore your inner doubts. You’ll have days where you’ll feel like an awful writer and that’s ok. We all do, but what makes you a winner is if you keep writing. And I’ve never been more happy than on that last day in 2012 when I send in my 50,000 word story. It was perfection and you can do it - just write.