When We Collided By: Emery Lord Review

Confession: I decided to borrow this book from the library and read it because of the author's Twitter account. LOL! I wanted to read the book anyway, but her twitter account made me bump it up and read it now. I'm glad I did! I saw on someone's TTT post a while back that Emery Lord is a good one to follow on Twitter. So I followed her and I just love her hilarious and relatable tweets.  Then I figured well if she writes this well on Twitter then surely her book is good, right? Well I absolutely LOVED it and it's all thanks to Twitter. How cool is that? I think more authors need to remember that Twitter can be such a great promotional tool! (Instead of getting involved in book blogger drama... but this post isn't about that.) 

#AuthorsUseTwitterWisely

When We Collided is the first book by Emery Lord I've read and I'm still trying to get my emotions in check. Are all her books this way?? If they are then I need to read more of them. When I first started reading this one I kept thinking, "Oh this is such a cute summer romance novel." Then BAM! Emotions. I started noticing a few things about Vivi pretty early on and then I knew where the story was headed.  I was not prepared for how accurately mental illness was depicted though. Many kudos to Emery Lord for doing her research! 

#TooManyFeels

I really fell in love with Vivi and Jonah. I rooted for them to be together and I wanted so badly for both of them to be in a good place at the end of the book. I don't always root for a happy ending, but this time I really did. I don't mean that I wanted them to end up together either. I just wanted both Vivi and Jonah to be healed and happy at the end of the book regardless of the relationship. The romance (Do we even call this a romance?) was so well done, but there is much more to this story. The romance is only a small part of it. When We Collided is cute, messy, fun, and thought provoking. This book is really like a mixed bag of emotions.

#ViviAndJonah

I also loved all of Jonah's siblings! I can't recall reading a book where a main character had so many siblings. Plus they were actually IN the book, not just background people, and each sibling had their own distinct personality. Probably the only character I disliked was Jonah's mom, but I'm sure you're supposed to dislike her some. She had her own healing to do. 

#SIBLINGS!

Overall When We Collided was more emotional and meaningful than I expected it would be. I love emotional books! Everything was worded so perfectly and really hit me in the feels. I love these characters and I was so invested in what would happen to them. Also, I just can't get over how accurate the depiction of mental illness is. I think that takes some major talent! 

#Meaningful

I recommend When We Collided to fans of emotional YA contemporary novels. Even though this is a deep read it's still a perfect one to read for summer!

#SummerReading

We Are The Ants By: Shaun David Hutchinson Review

I don't even know where to begin for the review of We Are The Ants. This is one of those rare books that is SO GOOD that you don't even know what to say about it to others. Just read it. That's all that needs to be said really. One of my friends bought this book (she also LOVED it) and let me borrow it (thank you to her) and as soon as I finished I gave the book to my husband and told him to read it ASAP.

In We Are The Ants Henry Denton has been abducted by aliens since he was thirteen and now the world is going to end and the aliens are giving him a choice. Let the world end or push a big red button to stop it. The aliens give Henry 144 days to stop it. Henry just has to decide if the world is worth saving. His dad left them, his brother's girlfriend is pregnant, his grandmother has Alzheimer's, his mother is barely coping, and his boyfriend committed suicide last year. Then Henry meets Diego Vega who forces Henry to question everything.

I'm sure this whole review will be pretty inadequate at explaining perfectly how I feel about this book. I mean I was entranced by this novel from the very beginning. By page 7 I was already laughing my butt off at some of the things Henry said. Here's two quotes from that page alone that had me cracking up:

"It's comforting to know that regardless of our vast differences and the light-years that separate our worlds, we'll always have nipples in common."

"Before you ask: no, the sluggers have never probed my anus."

But don't let the humor in We Are The Ants fool you. There is a very deep and dark story underneath the surface.  For example here is a beautiful quote that I will just love forever:

"He didn't kill himself because of a single overwhelming problem; he died from a thousand tiny wounds."

Which brings me to another thing that I loved so much about this book. I adore the way mental illness was written in this book. There are some very real and very important things to be learned from this book about mental illness and also bullying.

I also have to praise the author on writing a book with a gay character and it's NO BIG DEAL. I'm all for LGBTQ pride and the best part about it in this one is that it's not the main focus of the book. Henry is gay and that's that. Welcome to 2016 where we can have diverse characters and not have to have it pointed out in every page of the book that the character is "diverse."

Overall We Are The Ants is a deep and thought provoking book that delivers big time on some very important subject matters and all under an umbrella of hilarity. I just can't get over how well written this book is on some tough topics, but it never felt like I was slogging through a depressing book. That is talent.

That quote still just gets me. It's definitely going down as one of my all time favorite quotes. :)

I would recommend We Are The Ants to any ant, I mean human, who is alive. This is definitely worth a read. If you still aren't sure that this one is for you then I recommend you also read this review We Are The Ants ARC Review-- Dear Shaun, Thank You by Tika over at Fangirl Confessions. Her review is what really made me interested in reading this one. So thanks Tika!

Underwater By: Marisa Reichardt ARC Review

View on Goodreads

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for allowing me to read and review an ebook copy of Underwater by Marisa Reichardt.

Underwater is about a girl named Morgan who after a tragedy has become an agoraphobe. She feels like she is underwater and she can't move on. She does school at home online and makes grilled cheese and tomato soup every day for lunch. But when a new neighbor, Evan, moves in next door he makes her want to go out of the house and do the things that she used to.

I don't think Underwater is a perfect book, but it was a really powerful book. It deals with some pretty heavy things such as anxiety, agoraphobia, and PTSD. The writing is so beautiful, honest, and well done on these difficult subjects.

I really loved Evan and how understanding he was with Morgan. I'm not sure how realistic that is of a high school boy, but the romance was super cute. I also enjoyed seeing Morgan progress throughout the book and begin to move on.  I found the plot line to be pretty predictable, but the writing is so emotional and raw that it didn't really matter that I knew what was coming.

Overall Underwater is a spectacular debut by Marisa Reichardt and I think when it is published (January 12, 2016 is the expected publication date) it will be a big hit. I can't wait to read Marisa Reichardt's next novel.

I recommend this for fans of books about mental illness, contemporary YA fans, and for anyone looking for a book that has a powerful and beautifully written story.

Follow