From the Bookshelf of Turning Pages At Midnight…

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Bryn Greenwood

Start date: July 20, 2024

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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Buddy Reads

* October 2025 Buddy Reads
By Diana · 18 posts · 23 views

last updated Oct 19, 2025 02:06PM

* Suggest a book for a Buddy Read in November 2025
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last updated Oct 19, 2025 12:08PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 10, 2016 Sera rated it it was amazing

Shelves: age-gap, taboo, 6-star-books, friends-gave-it-5-stars, for-review

I so needed that!!

...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Jun 26, 2019 🐉 PrinZessBookDragon 👑🌶️ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, books-mom-read-2024

This book should have a dark label on it!! That's #1....
My review: https://prinzessbtrfly.livejournal.co... ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2016 Alissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

How to review this book... It reminds me of the book, Forbidden, in that it deals with subject matter that we all have knee-jerk reactions to and feel very passionate about and choose to look at as a black & white topic, yet it just isn't that simple. At least to me, it's not. And I thought this book did a beautiful job of showing you how life is much more complicated than we'd like to believe.

This story is heartbreaking in the sense that at its core, it is about two lost souls who are sad, lone ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 11, 2016 kimberly_rose rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fic-romance-het, fic-romance-unusual-frowned-on-love, fic-present-day-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. With all my heart, I wanted this book to be emotional gold. It wasn't.

Not because of the age difference between the love partners.
Not because of the "underage" aspect.*

Because: Epic narrative choices fail.

Each chapter is written from a first person perspective. Not a problem when it's a couple--tops, three--povs. Often connects the reader more intensely. This book?

Fourteen--fourteen! (My quick count.)

Some for only a single chapter. Others more often. Absolutely chucked me out of the story wi ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2016 Brandy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: second-chance-romance, favorite, tragedy-romance, best-friend-romance, hot-alpha-male-that-rides-a-motorcy, female-mc-is-a-badass, unexpected-twists, in-love-since-childhood, family-dies-adopt-kids, sweet-love-story

DISCLAIMER TO THOSE READING MY REVIEW:
This review is my personal opinion, it may contain swearing, quotes, rants, and spoilers!!!
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK....

This is Wavy's story.
It starts in March of 1975 when Wavy was 5 years old and ends in December 1990 when she is 21. This book is not for anyone looking for a lighthearted read. It's raw, gritty, emotional, heartbreaking, fucking ugly, absolutely amazingly wonderful, unconventional, taboo, unorthodox, and for me it was beautiful. This is the fo ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 28, 2016 Diane (Books and Tequila Blog) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: listened-to, library, audible

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An amazing book that made me feel everything! I was lost in the story from the first page til the last and beyond. All of the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a story that will stay with me, it has etched a place in my heart!

"Those letters seemed so wonderfully tragic to me. Each one a message he would never get. A note in a bottle, bobbing on the ocean. Lost."

I don't know how to put words together to explain how much this story touched my soul. It is beautiful and ugly, poetic and hars ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2017 Jackie rated it liked it

Shelves: book-club, 2017

It's hard to like a book when you dislike all the main characters, and that was my biggest problem trudging through "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things". Wavy, the fairy-like girl who befriends, and falls in love with, the family friend Kellen, was unbearable. She didn't talk and when she did words came out in Tarzan-like utterances; she ate from the trash and snuck out at night and was mean to everyone she met. This behavior clearly stems from the abuse and neglect from her OCD and drug-obsessed ...more

Like · see review