Every Friday I recap what I’ve read during the week.
(Yes, I know this is Sunday. Better late than never!)
I post the picture of the book
that I took when I finished reading it,
and underneath, my thoughts.
This week was fun, and sort of crazy.
Friday I had a work field trip.
I woke up in Tustin at 6:00, traveled to San Diego,
got back to Tustin by 5, then on a plane at 9,
to San Jose by 10:30, and home by 11:30.
But I still did a lot of reading!
And a LOT of writing.
NaNoWriMo is crazy, but in a good way.
ILLUMINAE
By Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Kady just broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra, yesterday.
And today her planet is getting attacked.
Somehow they both manage to get off the planet,
saved by ships coming to their aid.
Ezra is in the battleship, Alexander,
learning how to be a pilot
since they need every fighter they can get,
and Kady is on the Hypatia, a research vessel,
hacking into the computers to find out
what she can and trying to get transferred
to the Copernicus, the other ship with them,
the ship that her Mom is on.
All three ships are still being pursued by one of the ships, called the Lincoln, that took out their planet,
and the artificial intelligence on the Alexander,
called AIDEN, has taken a lot of blows.
Then the Lincoln attacks the Copernicus, or so it seems,
and AIDEN orders the fighter pilots (Ezra one of them)
to shoot down the escape pods that fire from the ship.
His squad doesn’t,
which leads to dire consequences for some of them,
and everyone finds out
the people from Copernicus have a deadly virus
that turns them into insane murderers.
Kady is trying to figure out the truth behind it all.
Ezra is trying to stay alive.
They are both trying to figure out how they feel about each other.
I loved this book! The characters, the story, and the format. The story is told through documents collected in a file by the mysterious Illuminae group.
Files included are : IM transcripts, official military documents, schematics of the ships, photographs, journals, reports from surveillance footage, and even the thoughts of AIDEN. It is SO COOL!
The bad words are censored out too which means you can use you imagination. This is such a cool way to tell a story! The characters are awesome, the world is cool, and I cannot WAIT for the next book. This one is a game changer.
Check it out!!!
CRENSHAW
By Katherine Applegate
5th grader Jackson is worried. There’s not enough food in the house again for his parents and his little sister Robin. And he’s seeing Crenshaw again.
Crenshaw is this imaginary friend he met and named when he was seven, a large, classy cat. Jackson can’t believe he’s back. He’s way too old for invisible friends, and he really doesn’t want to deal with Crenshaw. He wants to figure out what’s going on with his family and if they will lose their apartment and have to live in the van again. He doesn’t want to move or lose his friends, but he’s afraid he’s the only one taking this problem seriously and he can’t do anything about it. What will happen to his family
I loved this book, and Jackson’s character and point of view. He flashes back to the time they DID have to all live in the van, and it shows the realities of being hungry, worrying about money, and stressful family situations. Jackson is so mad that his parents are trying to smooth things over and that they won’t tell him the truth. He feels like the one scientist in his family of artists.
Crenshaw is a great character too. He tells Jackson that he came because Jackson called him, and he’ll always be there for him. This is a powerful book that will make you think about things we usually take for granted and really open up the eyes of kids to the realities of struggling and hungry families around them. A great read!
THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY
By Jenny Han
Isabel, aka Belly, loves summer. That’s when her family heads out to Cousins Beach to stay with her mom’s best friend Susannah and her two boys, Conrad and Jeremiah.
It’s always been Belly, her older brother Steven, Conrad (who is two years older) and Jeremiah (one year older) having fun every summer, and since she can remember, Belly’s been in love with Conrad.
This summer she’ll turn 16, and the boys act differently around her. Conrad is sulking and drinking and smoking more. Steven leaves halfway through to go to look at colleges with their Dad. Jeremiah has a job at the country club. They still hang out together, but there are changes, and new things and challenges. Belly’s Mom and Susannah are gone a lot too.
Belly tries to figure out her new relationships with these boys that have always been her friends, new boys she meets, and what her future may look like. Told from her point of view, the story also flashes back to past summers to share memories and lay the groundwork for her crush on Conrad and something that happens that hurts everyone.
I loved these characters and this place; I am a sucker for summer love stories. It is an absolute fact that I have only ever fallen in love in summer. I’m so excited this is a trilogy because I cannot WAIT to read the next one!
(Got this version, all three books in one, at Target!)
IT’S NOT SUMMER WITHOUT YOU
By Jenny Han
*spoilers if you haven’t read the first book!*
It’s summer again, but no one is at Cousins. Susannah has died; Belly was sort of dating Conrad but after what happened at Prom, she is definitely not anymore. Belly’s mother is still grieving. Out of the blue she hears from Jeremiah; Conrad, who is supposed to be at summer school, is missing. Belly and Jeremiah try to track him down and discover that maybe his reason for leaving wasn’t as selfish as they thought it was initially.
During this whole thing, Belly comes to realize just how dependable and steady Jeremiah is. Has she had her heart set on the wrong boy this whole time? Or is she still in love with Conrad? I like that in this book we get Jeremiah’s POV too. There’s some heartbreak and some growing up going on, and the love triangle is as strong as ever. Flew through this one too!
WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE SUMMER
By Jenny Han
*spoilers if you haven’t read the first two books*
Conrad made it pretty clear at the end of the last book that he had no interest in Belly; he even gave Jeremiah the go ahead to date her. This book is two years later; Belly has graduated high school and is finishing up her first year of college. She and Jeremiah and even Taylor, her best friend, are allay the same school. She and Jeremiah have been dating for two years; Belly can’t believe how lucky she is have him.
But then she overhears at a frat party that Jeremiah hooked up with someone when they were taking a small break, over spring break. This devastates the both of them, and when Jeremiah finally apologizes, he also proposes! Belly accepts, and the 18 and 19 year old start planning their wedding back at Cousins.
Their parents are not too happy, and neither is Conrad, who is back for the summer. Belly saw him at Christmas and it seemed like a spark was still there. But she would be forever happy with Jeremiah, so what should she do?
I have to admit that I loved hearing how the story played out, but this one felt a bit off to me. Jeremiah seemed like he changed A LOT at college…into a typical frat boy. He’s still sweet and cares about Belly of course, but he’s different, which I think makes it easier for Belly to make her final decision. Also, I could not believe that hey didn’t have sex after being together for two years.
I loved getting Conrad’s POV, but honestly don’t know why it took him so long to say something to Belly. The wedding felt like it was out in there to make the decision and tension super final; it did that but it felt a little forced. I wish the epilogue would have been the book! I wanted to see Belly and Conrad navigating things. I still liked it, but the way the trilogy ended means I probably won’t be keeping this set on my shelves.
Have you read any of these?
I’d love to hear what you thought of them!
See you next Friday with more books!
Bye for now,
KE
P.S. Full disclosure: The links above go to Indiebound and are affiliate links. If you buy at Indiebound, I’ll get a little kick back. That would of course be nice, but really I’m happy to be linking to an Indie site 
