Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion
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Kim
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rated it 4 stars
Jan 31, 2013 07:00PM
What do you think of Bittersweet so far? No spoilers please!
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The cupcake recipes definitely made me want to go buy a cookbook from the store! Silliness aside, I was really touched by the journey Hudson went through during the span of the months covered in the book. I really loved how fleshed out her mother, Bug, Dani, Josh, and Will were. I thought the slow romantic build up was nice because it gave room for her friendship with Dani and her relationship with her mother to develop fully and give a greater sense of reality. Much like real life she was being bombarded by things on every side and it made her a more likeable character because at times her stubborn habits made it hard to feel sympathy but then she had to miss out on something to help out her mom, or she was reminded of how horribly her father abandoned her and the family and it was hard not to root for her, whatever the outcome may be.I think my favorite aspect was the relationship between her and her mother. Both had been thrust into a situation that neither had much control over and they were both trying to deal with it as best they could without accidentally ripping open the old wounds. I really found it great to have a teenage character who was able to not only be selfish at times with her actions but who also was capable of being compassionate for the place her parent was in. It would have been easy for Hudson to have been egotistical and pout about how unfair her life was every step of the way, but it was refreshing that she could step back and handle the responsibility thrust upon her, even if it was a crummy deal.
I'm so excited to read this one! Just patiently waiting for it to become available at my library... *taps foot*
I'm only on chapter four and so far its good! Her brother is adorable and smart. (:
I'm starting it today! I will be posting my initial thoughts tomorrow :)
My initial thoughts would be that Hudson is trying to balance everything out. She's trying to balance out the fact that her father isn't there supporting her anymore and she's balancing her working with her mom and loving on her little brother while he's trying to figure out abut what happened to their dad and she loves to ice skate and now she's on her "ah-ha moment" with her best friend. I have this feeling everything is going to become interesting.
Just started the book today. I hope it's good!!
Mod
I wanted to read this with all of you during the month of February but I ended up finishing it already! It was a five star book for me so I hope you all like it as much as I did. Happy Reading! :)
I'm actually starting to like it more now!
I'm currently on chapter 9 and I am loving this book!!! :)
Samantha wrote: "So far so good. I'll admit that it is making me a little hungry. Perhaps I should have thought ahead and had a supply of cupcakes ready for when I read."I have read that in some of the reviews too. I didn't have a problem after the first few chapters. Some of the cupcake descriptions got a little weird for me.
I think the descriptions of the cupcakes define her mood...or idk. If you guys like this book, you should definitely read twenty boy summer. It's awesome!!
Not the kind of YA I normally go for, but I'm at chapter 6 and it's growing on me.... :)
I'm a huge hockey fan, so I loved that this book had a hockey element to it.
I liked the hockey element too. It's not often a sport that appears in books.
Samantha wrote: "Did anyone else find Bittersweet was Stephanie Perkins-eque? This isn't a complaint. Anything that reminds me of Perkins writing is a-ok in my book. Just wondering if anyone else felt the same."I didn't really see the connection with Stephanie Perkins until you mentioned it. One thing is sure, I'm more likely to read another book by Sarah Ockler, or Stephanie Perkins, than I am to read another book by Sara Shepard.
I finished the book today, but I'll limit my comments to my first impressions. I liked the prologue - it really set the stage for the rest of the book and made me want to continue reading. I don't know anything at all about figure skating - other than what I've seen on television - but I really enjoyed ready about Hudson's sessions skating on the edge of Lake Erie.
I also liked the cupcake descriptions at the beginning of each chapter. I tried to imagine what each cupcake would look like and considered how the description and the chapter title hinted at what to expect in the next chapter.
I put that book on hold so I could read Cinder because It was super interesting but, i'm about to start back on it right now. I love how she's leaning towards one guy but finds out about someone and is slowly leaning towards another guy even though her ex best friend dated him haha. let's keep seeing what happens. I hate how much things she has to do at one time to keep everyone and herself happy.
Grace wrote: "I didn't really see the connection with Stephanie Perkins until you mentioned it. One thing is sure, I'm more likely to read another book by Sarah Ockler, or Stephanie Perkins, than I am to read another book by Sara Shepard..."I didn't see the connection either, but totally agree that a comparison to Stephanie Perkins is a compliment. I certainly plan to read more Ockler too. As for Shepard, I like her stories, but she really drags them out. I wish she'd stop that.
Kim wrote: "I liked the hockey element too. It's not often a sport that appears in books." I know. I've been trying to find more books about hockey. I read one that looked really promising but it ended up being a really poorly written self published book.
I'm not very far in. So far, I love Dani and Hudson's friendship. They are hilarious! And the Cupcake descriptions at the beginning of each chapter are really creative. I think this will be a fun and fluffy read for my snow day today. :)
Jennika wrote: "I'm not very far in. So far, I love Dani and Hudson's friendship. They are hilarious! And the Cupcake descriptions at the beginning of each chapter are really creative. I think this will be a fun a..."I liked Dani and Hudson's friendship too. And definitely a good winter read :)
At first I wasn't sure I would enjoy it because of the figure skating/hockey thing. I'm not into sports, whether it's in real life or in books. But I found that even the parts about sports were interesting and I found myself rooting for the Wolves. I think Sarah Ockler did a nice job with the writing and especially with the description of the competitive ice skating. It was fun to read those parts.
Mod
I was excited about hockey too.. and I like football a lot more!
