Kelley Armstrong, I have a crush on you. Your writing, your prose, your char...more
Yes, that was my face when I finished this book.
It was that amazing.
Wow.
Kelley Armstrong, I have a crush on you. Your writing, your prose, your characters, all the shabang. God, this book left me wanting more. You astounded me with your The Darkest Powers series. But this was, it was....
This book had too much good stuff. I was overwhelmed, like the time I was a kid, and I ordered too much ice cream. It was soo good, so creamy and I finished it with a smile on my face. This is the same feeling.
Kelley, as your loyal slave fan, I will buy the sequel. You haven't steered me in the wrong path.
Prepare yourself for a long(extremely long) review. So sit back and enjoy. But I will warn you, they'll be a lot of spoilers...more**spoiler alert** Warning:
Prepare yourself for a long(extremely long) review. So sit back and enjoy. But I will warn you, they'll be a lot of spoilers and some ranting.
I first discovered this book about two and half years ago. Before I begin my long story, I will remind you that I am a otaku, in all senses of that word. If I could read mangas all day and still go to school, and actually get paid to work, then I would do it. No questions asked. I would even go as far as to say, that I must at least read one page of manga a day, or else I'll go insane and kick a puppy.
Anyways, on to my story. I was on a reading spree. I had just finished reading Special A, which I adore more than the air I breathe. Anywho, I was stuck. And beyond bored, because so far and unsuccesfully hadn't found a replacement to such an awesome manga. So I browsed and browsed and still found nothing remotely interesting to read. When one day, someone suggested me to read this.
(I couldn't find the first cover, but Prince Kail sexiness will have to do.)
At first, I was really reluctant to read this. It was the art. I'm really picky with my manga art, if I don't like it, then I won't read it, simple. But she yelled at me for judging the art and not the story. And finally after a bit more convicing, I agreed and let her win me over.
The first chapter was interesting, but when I got to the fifth and sixth, I got addicted. Yup, I was official hooked. During that time, I stopped doing homework, shoved the food in my mouth, and ran all the way home just to read a bit of this manga(I never said my addiction was healthy).
Summary:
Yuri, a pretty Japanese girl who just passed a college entrance exam, is ecstatic after her first kiss with her handsome childhood friend-turned-boyfriend, Himuro. Meanwhile, she starts to notice that water becomes agitated whenever she goes near it! One night, hands appear out of a puddle on the street and drag her into the water. She emerges from the water to find that she has been transported to an ancient village somewhere in the Middle East. She is then captured by armed troops and taken to the queen's palace, where she learns that the queen had her kidnapped so she can offer her blood as part of a ritual that will kill two princes in competition to inherit the kingdom.
So it begins. Now the summary really doesn't reveal much of what the story is about, but I can assure you, it's really good. I have read this manga about eight times, as of this day. I mean, all ninety-nine chapter eight times.
Let me tell you, how much it means for me to read a manga at least twice.
My Manga Reading Scale:
Reads Manga One Time: "I liked it, but I wouldn't read it another time. But I would forget reading this story in one day."
Reads Manga Two Times: "I really liked it, and I maybe could read it another time. I will remember it for maybe, a couple days."
Reads Manga Three Times: "Wow, loved it. I loved the characters, plotline and art. I will remember it for months."
Reads Manga More than Five Times: "Considered on my top-ten mangas of all time. I will cherish it forever."
As you can tell, I don't re-read any manga, only the ones I really really love.
Characters:
Yuri
I love Yuri, I consider her one of the best heroines in my opinion. Why? Let's see. I will make a list. But before I would like to say that I could connect with Yuri because she was completely normal. She had no super powers, and she reacts perfectly when she returns back to the past. It's not like she's liked immedialtely and knows exactly what to do. No. She's sacred and with good reasons.
List Of Reasons Why I Love Yuri:
1.) She's strong. She knows how to defend herself, and isn't afraid to show her true feelings. She also extremely honest and will do anything in her power to protect her loved ones.
Evidence:
In the case of Princess Sakura, who had teamed up with the Evil(Bitch) Nakia to kill her. Yuri protected her, even when she wasn't friends with her at all, and saved her from her death.
We can also use Tito, Rufusa, and Prince Z.(forgot his name) as examples.
2.) She falls in love with Kai, in good time and for all the right reasons. You see, this happens once in a century when a young heroine loves the male characters, loves not lusts. Yes, Yuri felt attracted to him for his looks but she never said, "I love him because he's a prince, and has a lot of money. I'm so in love."
Evidence:
When Kail kisses Yuri at the beginning, she doesn't like because she doesn't love him. She pushes him away, stating, "I can only kiss the man I love."
Now by no means I am saying you can only kiss who you love. If you wanna kiss someone, then go ahead. But in Yuri's case, it's how decides who to kiss. And in months or even a year, they both fall in love.
Not like the usually mangas nowadays, where one look, then there's love. Nope, I don't approve of lust at first sight.
Flaws
There is only one thing I absolutely don't like about Yuri. How many suitors Yuri has, or how many men are in love with her.
Let's count:
Prince Kail
Prince Z.
Rufusa
Prince of Darkness
Ramses
When you have more than two men who love the main girl, you're starting to go down the Mary-Sue train. And I hate the Mary-Sue's.
I will leave you with gifs for the other characters.
Prince Kail:
Queen Nakia:
I deeply love this series. And would recommened it to anyone. But I understand they will be people who won't like it. Which is fine. Everyone has there own tastes in manga and books. Nonetheless, this book belongs in my forever will read shelfs. Thank you, Mrs. Shinohara for such a wonderfully made manga.
I was too stunned to close the book but my face was bit like this...
and a bit of this too....
This book was better, awesome, mind-blowing and ab...moreWow.
I was too stunned to close the book but my face was bit like this...
and a bit of this too....
This book was better, awesome, mind-blowing and absolutely gut-clenching. I was amazed and stunned into silence, but when I read the prologue, tears filled my eyes and I lay the book down, and cried. That hasn't happened since reading, Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver. Which is another equally fabulous book.
But I surprised myself, by actually crying that my family gave me weird looks. The story affected me that much, it was too good. So good in fact, I'm going to a shelf dedicated to stories such as these ones. Stories filled with so much pain, love, happiness and absolute dose of reality.
This book to me was...
And frankly, I enjoyed reading every page of this beautiful story and gosh, the writing was amazing as well. I was a bit amazed at the glowing reviews, and it this book left me speechless and I stared sobbing.
And if I ever met the girl on the waves, this is what she would tell me:
Sometimes rescue comes to you.
It just shows up, and you do nothing.
Maybe, yo...moreAnd if I ever met the girl on the waves, this is what she would tell me:
Sometimes rescue comes to you.
It just shows up, and you do nothing.
Maybe, you deserve it, maybe you don't.
But be ready, when it comes,
to decide if you will take the outstretched hand
and let it pull you ashore.
If there is anything I particularly desire for a book- it's the ability to reach inside of me, and destroy me. It doesn't matter what genre it falls upon, be it: science fiction, romance, action, adventure, or mystery, and crime. If by the last page, I have been emotionally ruined, the author has done his/her job, and exceptionally well. Finding a book like, Story Of a Girl, is hard to come nowadays.
In today's young adult genre, romance and dead boyfriends with a side of soft-porn seem to be all it can offer. As for my taste in literature, I prefer strong-willed young women who actually experience ACTUAL character growth throughout the book. THAT is what I look for.
And, Story Of a Girl offers this so well, that early in the book, I was amazed by what I was reading. This book might be a rough hundred pages, but it is filled with so much heart, so much emotion that I couldn't resist the tears and sniffles. This book is simply a jewel of a novel. EVERY character had such a depth to them, and they felt so real, I felt I could reach out and touch them with my bare fingers.
Kudos Mrs. Zarr!
I also could strongly relate to Deanna because of my own relationship with my father. I wanted to hug Deanna, I wanted to punch her father. This book was simply beautiful and my heartstrings were destroyed.
I look forward to reading Mrs. Zarr's next book. (less)
It took me about two days to write this review. This has to be the most hardest and the most emotional review I've written so far. It's not easy, my f...moreIt took me about two days to write this review. This has to be the most hardest and the most emotional review I've written so far. It's not easy, my friends.
After finishing the book, I couldn't stop crying. And I'm not talking about a couple of tears either, I'm talking about full-blown crying with snot coming down my nostrils. I wasted more than half of my tissues that I found.
After finishing the last word on the last page, I literally couldn't stop crying. At all. I mean sure, I've cried reading books before. In the cases of the heartbreaking tragedy of Before I fall and the sadness of losing a loved one in Jellicoe Road.
But those were tears, and just about three came out. I rarely cry while reading any book. That's why I was so taken back, when I burst out crying with snot running down my nose, and my face was flush, my eyes were swollen.
That's how much I cried.
And the surprise didn't end there. After my little breakdown, I qiuckly went into an emotional state. I got a bit depressed, and for two days, I couldn't keep this story out of my head.
That's what sacred me. Sure, I knew what I was getting into. I was aware that I was going to cry a bit. But not like this, nope. Not in a million years did I believe I was going to react this way. I knew it was going to pull on my heart strings. But in degree that it has affect me, I was honestly blown away.
The Plotline:
The plotline isn't original. I'll tell you that. It's about two teenagers, named Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters(God, I love his name). Who meet in a support group for young people, who suffer with life-ending diseases, such as cancer, leukemia, etc. They soon become friends and fall in love.
And so it begins. The awkward, yet beautiful relationship blooms into love. I have to say that althought the plotline lacked a bit. The characters totally made up for it. I mean without my-crush-worthy-my heart-stops-and-turns-to-mush-lover Augustus, I probably would have to give at least three stars.
They were some moments I laughed, cried and smiled. And truthfully, I loved every moment.
But gah, the ending! It tore my heart apart, then threw it into the furnace, where it shattered and turned to ashes. My poor heart had no chance.
The Writing:
John Green. I'm in love with your writing. It's not pretty or poetic, but gosh, it's flipping awesome. It's deep. Not one meter deep, but the deepest part of the ocean abyss deep.
I would like to add some examples:
"There will come a time," I said, "when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time where there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything.
My reaction:
Yup, that some deep stuff.
"That's the thing about pain," Augustus said, and then glanced back at me. "It demands to be felt."
"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
"Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed. That's what I believe. I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is improbably biased toward consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys it's elegance being observed. And who am I, living in the middle of history, to tell the universe that it- or my observation of it- is temporary?"
This quote wow-ed me. That's why this book is bloody awesome, it's not just about love or death, and specially cancer. It's about life and the meaning of why we live in this world.
But my most favorite quote has to be:
"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is evitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been turned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I'm in love with you.
My reaction:
and...
Many people will only see the love aspect in it. But it's so much more than that. He's telling her, that although he is aware that the world will be destroyed in the future, and their love will not change the universe. Because the universe will still be swallowed, and that no will ever remember, who they were or what happened to them.
He is still in-love with her.
The Characters:
The characters were the ones who captured my heart, and Augustus stole my heart in the first scene, he appeared in. These characters are cared about it, and I laughed when they laughed, and cried when they did. They felt real to me.
I know, I know. There fictional characters, but gosh, they captured my heart and didn't let go. I geniuetely cared about them, and loved them.
That's why, I had a huge problems with Perfect Chemistry, Angelfire, The Goddess Test, Ice and the horribly written Fallen.
I never cared for any of those characters in any of those books. But these characters, in this book were real and their happiness was mine as well. That's why the ending affected me so much.
Hazel Grace Lancaster
Man, I loved this girl. She was sarcastic, funny, and overall, a great characters. All of her emotions were beautifully described. She felt real to me. She is a girl suffering from a life-ending disease, and somehow found a little bit of more time to live.
Her outlook on life was interesting, and I liked that she had her own personality. It wasn't the usually, it wasn't stereotypical. She was her own person.
Augustus Waters
God, I love his name.
Augustus made me do this:
Yes, I've fallen for a fictional character.
But the reason I love Augustus so much is because, he was a regular guy. He wasn't this god-like creature, he wasn't abusive, he wasn't selfish, and he certainly, truthfully loved Hazel.
He was funny, charming, loyal, and down-to-earth. Yes, it did help that he was attractive. But he had this side of him that just made me swoon over him.
Some of my favorite quotes from him include:
"Augustus half smiled. "Because you're beautiful. I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the pleasure of existence."
That was adorable.
What else? She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have a say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.
I do, Augustus. I do.
Finally reaction:
and...
Overall:
Wow. This book was amazing, touching and absolutely heartbreaking. Yet, it was beautiful. The relationship between both characters was real to me, their actions, their emotions touched my heart. This book isn't about cancer, it isn't about death. It's about love, forgiveness, and life.
After buying this book, months ago. I am still left feeling amazed after reading this story. I completely fell in love with the novel....moreWow, just wow.
After buying this book, months ago. I am still left feeling amazed after reading this story. I completely fell in love with the novel. The hot sun, the desert and specially the star-watching scene left me, loving this story. It has been years, that a book has left me having conflicting feelings towards a character. And in case, it's Ty.
I don't regret buying this book. In the beginning, I hated Ty. I was on Gemma's side, I wanted her to escape and found myself getting angry everytime her escape plans failed. But it was during the middle, when Ty locked himself inside my heart. He has such a tragic past and you start to feel sorry for this guy but at the same time, I had to remind myself, he kidnnaped her against her will.
In the end, I felt the story was complete. But days after, I felt my heart going for Ty. Damn it, Lucy. This was her fault, she had me wrapped around her finger.
Anyways, my favorite scene is the star watching scene towards the end, that made me swoon at Ty. When he held her, and they watched the beautiful stars, while holding each other.
It has been a long time since I book has kept on the edge. After I finished, I cried. I knew this book was going to make me cry, but not to this degre...moreIt has been a long time since I book has kept on the edge. After I finished, I cried. I knew this book was going to make me cry, but not to this degree. This book has left me feeling hollow but most of all: it made me realize that life is too short to care what people say, life is meant to live and live to the fullest. I first heard of this book when it was first published. The premise and the glowing reviews was all that convinced me that I needed to read this book.
I have to say, I am happy that I read this book. It was beautiful, raw, full of heartbreaking moments and overall, a book that has changed a bit of myself. This book needs and has been added to my favorite books of all time.
I must say, I HATED Sam. She was a stupid, selfish and a bully. Her popularity, and her good looks made her one of her most popular girls in school. She in the beginning, made horrible decisions and would hurt people because she felt she was better than everyone else. She in other words was BITCH. And in a sense, I hated her as she made fun of people and thought to herself that somehow she was better when in reality she wasn't.
And that's when the beauty begins: she relives February, 12 for seven days. Her transformation from day one to day seven was so beautiful to me, I cried every step of the way. It was so natural, and I loved that the transformation didn't happen in two days, but seven. I cried when I felt the pages thinning, I knew what would happen. I think everyone does when they pick up this book. Anyway, Sam turned into a beautiful girl.
I can say with pride: Bella Swan, Nora Grey, Luce Price and Zoey Redbird are ugly without comparison when you compare her to Samantha Kingston. Sam is real, while the other girls need a man, vampire or an angel to realize that their worthy, Sam does all by herself. This is what young girls need to read not shitty books that tell them, you need a man to make you happy. All you need is yourself, that's all you need.
And Kent McFuller.
One word: perfect.
My heart would beat loudly when he entered a scene. He in my mind, is beautiful as well. He wasn't drop dead gorgerous, he was 100% human and man did I fall in love with him. It was so sweet and heartbreaking beautiful when they shared their last moments together. Kent to me is one of the best male leads I've had the luck to read about. So what if he doesn't have superpowers, he's so unperfect, he's perfect.
And the writing was just FUCKING GOOD!
Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your 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.
I think I'm in love with Lauren's writing. Actually, I am.
There are some scenes where I had to grimace in disgust, and some people have mention them. But I say to them, continue to read. And I promise you, it will not disappoint. And to the other people claiming it's too sad, or I couldn't relate. I understand but I could relate to Sam, because I was like her in middle school. I was stupid and a bully. I regret and I will regret all my life, but I have changed. It hurts but I feet that life is too precious to spend it regreting the past. I still wonder what I would do if I could relive the past.
I loved this book, I have already ordered to buy it. The best 20.00 dollars, I've ever spend.
The transformation of Sam, who in the beginning of the novel is a dead rose and in the end, blossoms into a beautiful rose is exactly what happens. I loved this book so much, I hugged it to sleep. Haven't done that since I was in grade school.
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