Books that made my 2014

It's been a great year for books overall, but when I think about the ones that have changed me or have had a huge impact on me this year I know exactly what I'm talking about.

- Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell. This is probably my favourite book that I've read in 2014. After wanting to read it for a really long time, I was able to buy it and read it asap. I had never been as excited while reading a book, but everything was just so real! I could relate to everything that was going on, and I am just really proud of being a fangirl. I keep telling the rest of my family to read it, but I know you won't think of it as highly as I do if you aren't a teenager in the 21st century. I want my children to read it in the future and learn about the best things of being a teenager right now. It has nothing to do with all those novels who say they depict teenage life while mentioning alcohol and drugs; this shows what the Internet has done for our generation. It was just so wonderful that I want to keep reading it over and over again. 
Read my review: Fangirl
- City of Heavenly Fire, by Cassandra Clare (TMI #6). The ending book in a saga like this deserves to be recognized everywhere... I can't say I'm happy that I read it because the series which had accompanied my teenage years has ended, and that is very sad. But I really liked the book, even though the ending and some details could've been better. But, we all know Cassie and love her for that. So this is a must-read that I definitely want to read again (when I get over the series ending, that's it). And I'll be waiting for The Dark Artifices this next year 2015 with joy and anticipation. 
Read my review: City of Heavenly Fire
- Allegiant, by Veronica Roth (Divergent #3). This was published at the end of 2013, but I wasn't able to read it until earlier 2014, so I'm just going to talk about it now. This book was the death of me. As the last book in a trilogy, the ending had to be great, but this one was sublime. I want to thank Veronica Roth so much for this. The death of the main character isn't something usual, and it was both one of the best endings and one of the worst (as a reader who suffers and suffers), so I'm glad it exists. 
Read my review: Allegiant

So, what were your highlights of 2014? Do you agree or disagree? And what are you looking forward in 2015? Happy New Year everyone!!

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

Synopsis: 

Cath and Wren are identical twins and until recently they did everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She would rather bury herself in the fanfiction she writes where there's romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life. 

Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realizing that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible...

This book is the best thing ever. Most relatable piece of YA literature I've ever read. Definitely one of my favorite things these year. It was just... wow. Cath is... me. Like, I feel so identified with every thing she says. All these quotes..., such as "In new situations, all the trickiest rules are the ones nobody bothers to explain to you. (And the ones you can't Google)." Everything is so true. 

The book was really unique in its way, being the exact life of a 21st century fangirl and every day problems. Family. Friends. School. Love. The Simon Snow thing is just exactly like the Harry Potter one. I guess that was the point though, and everything was so accurate... The characters are great, every one in their way, from Reagan to Wren, Levi to Nick... 

All the details in the book were so accurate... Creating FanFixx.net for fanfiction.net, the Simon Snow series for the Harry Potter one (all the quotes, the newspaper articles about it, the story itself... so perfectly done), everything had been thought. 

Fangirl has provided me some of the best and most realistic and relatable quotes ever. From "How do you not like the Internet? That's like saying 'I don't like things that are convenient. And easy. I don't like having access to all of mankind's recorded discoveries at my fingertips. I don't like light. And knowledge." to "Have you been watching me sleep?" "Yes, Bella. Are you awake?" "No.” (the moment when you know you're a 21st century teenager). I'm gonna use all the quotes from now on. And I can't wait to have more of Rainbow Rowell in my life. I need it. It's addicting and necessary. 

I loved the story. And the characters. And the fact that Cath wrote a gay fanfiction. 

And Levi. Wow. I would definitely fall for him too (besides the fact that the guy I'm in love with in RL is exactly like him in almost all the details... Like, who else speaks of bisons?). Levi was a real guy, as in not too fairytale-like, but not too movie-like or unreal. Not too perfect. His behavior was true, it was real, and that's what I appreciate the most in this book. How there's always an outgoing sister, and there's the fangirl one (who I am). There's always people who disappoint you, people who surprisingly friend you and are there for you, no matter how different you are. People who don't look like they are. People you need to care about. People you need to let them care about you. 

Fangirl is a book about life. Just like I said about Eleanor & Park, so I guess that's what Rainbow Rowell writes about. In its better way. Being a teenager nowadays is something special, something different. And, if like Cath, real life is something happening in your peripherical vision, that's being a fangirl. And you should be proud.  

Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell

Synopsis:

Two misfits.

One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

I ran into this book by pure chance. I was looking for Fangirl, but I couldn’t find it, no matter how many bookstores I checked, so I decided to meet Rainbow Rowell by Eleanor & Park instead. And it didn’t disappoint me a bit.

Eleanor & Park is a story about life. It shows us the worst part of it, but also the best one, and it’s both depressing and hopeful at the same time. Eleanor and Park are both so different, but also similar in so many ways. This book made me smile a lot, but it also made me sad so many times. There are all those hopeless scenes when you think everything, no matter how unfair it is, can’t be helped and I don’t know what to do about it. But then there’s another scene where everything, no matter how awkward, is better only because Eleanor and Park are together. They are just so brave, fighting to be together no matter what.

But then the ending arrives, and everything just breaks down into pieces. I don’t understand Eleanor. Then I cry. Then I still cannot understand. Why does it end like that? And then, last sentence, a trace of hope. The end. It’s like the whole novel had a pace, a getting-to-know-each-other pace, and then suddenly she’s gone and everything comes crashing down to the ending.

But I loved the book so much… Hope, dreams, disappointments, tears, laughs, music, comics, family, friendship, love…; the story is life. And we should all read a love story as hopeful and realistic as this one.