Review of I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and Noah are the twins of a dreamer and a realist. They grow up within these poles never knowing that their world would break. When Noah is 13 he falls in love with a boy. When Jude is 13 she does something terrible to Noah. And their mother does something terrible to them. And their father to their mother. In a few years Jude will wake up and see their messy lives and will try to piece the world together again.

Lots of people - myself included - Jude and Noah have a strange fascination with the bond between twins. I have had the pleasure of befriending a few twins and while they fight like any other siblings, they are always each other’s protectors. Jandy Nelson creates the twins’ relationship with their games, traditions, ghosting their similarities. Following their lives, Nelson captures something very special - as close as I will get to understanding that ethereal connection.

I greatly enjoyed this highly acclaimed read. While it had the humour and lightness inherent in teen fiction, the characters had depth and matured as the book went on. As promised in the blurb, I did at one point laugh and cry at the same time. I loved both completely different POVs, especially Noah’s way of labeling the still images of his life. This is a book I will be recommending to everyone to not only read but to buy. It looks so pretty on the bookshelf :D

Favourite quote:

“What is bad for the heart is good for the art.”

Cinder by Marrissa Meyer - Book Review

Status: Have already purchased books two and three.
Rating: 7/5 stars.

I haven't had a book completely blow me away like this since The Fifth Wave or The Hunger Games. I went into this thinking it was a retelling of Cinderella and boy was I wrong. I was hooked from the first page. We are immediately introduced to a mechanic who has just detached her own foot. This is not your classic Cinderella. This is Cinder.

Cinder is a mechanic girl adopted by a horrible stepmother and living in New Beijing. She is first approached by Prince Kai to fix his personal android which contains important information not available on the imperial internet. Just a normal boy meets girl scenario. Except that Cinder is cyborg, 36% machine and a servant to society at large. She is volunteered by her stepmother to become a vaccine tester for medical research undertaken to cure the plague spreading to the Commonwealth. What follows is an epic adventure through a new world, government system and some bad ass  non-Disney princesses.

The novel was heavily reliant on dialogue to keep a fast pace. Not many witty one-liners but certainly lots of chemistry with Prince Kai and Iko. And the pace was what made this book for me. I was never bored and was always ready for the next mystery to present itself.

In short I ate this book up. I reveled in its creative homage to the classic fairytale and the fantastic twists and turns I never saw coming. The world-building was truly amazing and akin to the dystopian worlds I hope I can build for my stories in future. This is one series to keep on your YA fiction horizons.

Favourite quote: 
It was not her fault he had liked her. 
I was not her fault she was cyborg.
She would not apologize.