Review: Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

"Sometimes I wonder if my whole life will pass by this way: me waiting in the shadows, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for someone else to make it happen. Something new or different or crazy or amazing. I've been there for so long, letting everyone else figure it out for me, floating along without much direction or conscious thought. Reacting. Attention-seeking, Mom calls it. Impulsive. Reckless."

(Fixing Delilah, Sarah Ockler, page 147)

I have read Bittersweet in January. When I finished the book, I was seeking another Sarah Ockler's book. That's how I've found Fixing Delilah. 

Delilah's family is a mess for the last eight years. When her grandmother died, Delilah and her mother don't have a choice but to come back to past and deal with it. As much as everyone wants to forget it. 

Sarah Ockler's writing is just as great as I've remembered. We can enter Delilah's head pretty easily and it was no problem for me to relate to her most of the time. Her feelings were clear and from the beginning, I've admired her knowing exactly what she's believing and what she wants. In the same time, she is insecure and scared. She was human, a believable character.

Some parts of the plot was dragged. I mean, the author planned to pass two months so we've gotten some a-week-break between chapters. I didn't like it but it didn't affect the writing nor the story itself. Besides, I wish we saw more of some of the characters, some of the community's scenes and the way everyone has been acting. Recalling Delilah's memories was great for the plot. 

I'll say it straight: I loved Bittersweet. I only like Fixing Delilah. However, if you like contemporary, I recommend you to check this book out. I've enjoyed it and I thought it to be smart and has some good insights about life. 

Review: Ninth Key by Meg Cabot

There are a lot of positive reviews of my friends about the series in Good reads. So I picked Shadowland (the first book in the series) a year ago. To be honest, I did like the book but that's all. I simply read it because it was quick read and I rather not to leave a book unfinished. Then, for my birthday this year, a friend bought me a book with contains the first two novels in the series. I read the second.

It was surprisingly better than the first book. Well, maybe not surprisingly since first book sometimes are the downside of a series. The story continues to become entangled, we get to know more about the characters and the main character? Well, no, Suze keeps being the annoying character she's been in the first book.

*The next paragraphs may include some spoilers for the first book. If you haven't read it, maybe you want to avoid them.

Meg Cabot is back with Suze, who is mediator and can see ghosts. She has to help them complete their issues in this world so they can make it to the afterworld. And she doesn't like it much- not that I can blame her since the ghosts are mostly selfish, frustrated or angry.

Suze is used to be working alone, running this service that she is forced to do. Now she's got Father Dominic, who is mediator like her, and Jesse, a guy ghost who lives in their room. They both try to tell her what to do but Suze won't give up easily. In the second book, she do whatever she wants and get herself into troubles time after time. 

She is actually what I like in main characters: she is strong, independent and she follows only her rules. However, I keep seeing her as annoying selfish girl. Yeah, she helps ghosts but she does it always in her grumpy ways. It seems she thinks badly of everyone around her and neverthless she keeps taking advantages of them. 

I am not sure if I liked the new aspect the story has taken in the second book. It was confusing to decide if the series is going to deal with another supernatural creature. But I liked the twists and that later we find out things are not that simple like we thought. This turning point, I believe, is going to work for the next books in the series. 

And lastly, Meg Cabot's writing is again humoristic and fun. It brings us the characters and their personalities (even if I didn't like them) in a great way. The dramatic and simple way of Cabot's words is working this time, too.

Review Question

A few weeks ago, I've written a review for one of my favorite books. I decided to write this one because I've not reviewed the book in the first time I've read it and that's was great chance after re-reading the book.
When the review was complete, I left it as a draft. I kept getting back to it but every time I just closed the post and moved on. I couldn't post it, because it was too personal.
Doesn't it? What we find in our favorite books?
My favorite characters are the ones I wish to be like, ones I can admire and look up to. My favorite books are the ones that find the way into my heart and stay there, they usually remind me something of me, something of my life. If the main character is dealing with a huge issue I've got, could I just go and share it with the world? No. I personally can't. As much as I love the book and as much as I want to go and say: "Hey! This author totally gets me. It's not only a story for my pleasure but a way to help me dealing. To point the issues I struggle with, to try to figure them out."
It can be an event in life, a characteristic in my personality or anything about me. I understand that if I want to review this book, I'll have to cut the personal stuff. The writing and the plot are awesome, but the characters and their life.. my favorite part of the story will be summed up into a few un-personal sentecnce which can't be said about any book. But it changed me and it left a huge impact on me. I wish I could say that.

Please share your thoughts! Have you ever dealt with this situation? Would you share a review like this or keep it to yourself?


Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator 

Top Ten Favorite Book Quotes

This weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I always want to take a part in these great memes but I usually don't do them. This week, I couldn't skip Top Ten Tuesday. I'd probably not have a better chance to share my favorite quotes. Sometimes I write them down and if it's really good one and I can't write it, I force myself to remember the page number. (and my memory is not that good!)

Well, I will try to do a quote per book so I'll not end up writing all the quotes from Vampire Academy or Harry Potter.. I have so many! I didn't include any spoilers (only tiny things) so feel free to check them out. All these books are amazing, consider this post as a recommendation to read them all.

With no particular order, there they are: 

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
— Albus Dumbledore. Harry Potter, J.K Rowling

"Okay, God, I thought. Get me out of this and I'll stop my half-assed church-going ways. You got me past a pack of Strigoi tonight. I mean, trapping this one between the doors really shouldn't have worked, so clearly you're on board. Let me get out of here, and I'll... I don't know. Donate Adrian's money to the poor. Get baptized. Join a convent. Well, no. Not that last one."

— Anything Rose have ever said. Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead

"Some thing are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is."
— The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen

 "Hello, Officer? Can you help me? My dad got turned into a zombie. You know, we've been travelling around getting rid of things that aren't real, and this time they hit back. I really need someplace to stay – but can you make sure I have some holy water or something wherever it is? And some silver-jacketed bullets? That'd be sweet. Yeah, that'd be totally cool. Thanks. And while you're at it, can you tell the guys with the straitjackets that I'm really sane? That would help."
— Strange Angels, Lilith Saintcrow

"...How nothing comes without a price, and when you make sacrifices to get what you want, sometimes you screw up and pick the wrong thing. But once in a while, you pick the right thing, the exact best thing. Every day, the moment you open your eyes and pull off your blankets, that's what you hope for. The sunshine on your face, warm enough to make your heart sing."
~ Bittersweet, Sarah Ockler

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."
— The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

"When I try to fly away, Will I be as lucky and find what I'm looking for?"
—The Alchemy of Forever, Avery Williams

“If there's one common thread throughout all of history, it's that people have always fallen for the wrong people.”
― Past Perfect, Leila Sales

“Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.”
― The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

“Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through you fingers. So much time you can waste it.
But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know.”
― Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver