Wrong About the Guy - Claire LaZebnik

You guys remember what I said about Last Best Kiss, right? In the words of Elle Woods, THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT (though, in her case she was talking about four hours of sexytimes in a hot tub...).

I really liked The Last Best Kiss, but this I LOVED. Ellie is my kind of MC. She's selfish and spoiled and overbearing and a bit of a dictator, but she does it right. She's charming and, more, she undoubtedly has a good heart. She's open to change and willing to admit when she makes a mistake and goes about fixing it. She handles constructive criticism like a boss.

Also, other pros:
-George is very Josh a la Clueless, but somehow so much better
-this book reminded me a bit of Clueless, the 90s film if you don't know (a/k/a the 90s version of Mean Girls and literally one of the best movies ever)
-one of my favorite family dynamics ever: cooky, upfront grandma (she gives the sex talks around here), best stepdad ever, loving mom, and adorable half brother - this family TALKS, communicates, goes through hurdles together, has a PRESENCE, but one that fits incredibly well in a YA story all about Ellie trying to get into college, make decisions about boys, struggle with friends
-deals with autism wonderfully
-has a guy-girl best friendship with no REAL threat of romantic entanglement without either one of them being gay (come on, that is a trope we all know)
-boyfriend who's uncomfortable but willing to deal with said guy-girl best friendship
-sex is openly discussed
-teenage feminism is done believably and well from what i know of feminism (Ellie gets the principle and applies it in how people see her/treat her, i.e. her approach when faced with topics of slut shaming and women being "domestic")

Cons:
-Heather and Ellie's friendship at times put me off, I thought that avenue could've been handled a little better, with a little more love, but not totally off putting

Overall, I loved Ellie. She reminds me a little of Celaena Sardothien in a modern-day, our-world setting. A girl who's both good and flawed and eccentric and selfish and charming and i downright adore.

Basically, LaZebnik is now an auto-buy author. I've since purchased Epic Fail during an ebook sale and can't wait to try it out while I'm abroad! ^^

Rating: 4 stars

#AlltheRage by Courtney Summers

This is a rape book. And All the Rage by Courtney Summers says a lot.

But, did you hear me? This is a book about rape. A rape book.

The word 'rape' often rolls around uncomfortably in my mouth before coming out, and I get the feeling that's true for a lot of people. So, they use words like 'forced' and 'overpowered' to hide behind other words, safer words, than to let a word like 'rape' rise out of the dark, where everybody will see. Not everybody can bear it, to see. I'm not going to spare myself the discomfort.

This is an important book. Yes, the subject matter pertains to rape. But, it speaks to the before and after of rape, speaks to what so many of us are still afraid to acknowledge, let alone voice. It says something like,

I can outrun the boy in the truck bed. I can outrun the boy in the truck bed and all the other boys he's made in his likeness and all the boys who made themselves in his likeness since, just because they could, just because no one said they couldn't...

No one said they couldn't.

When you read something like that, All the Rage by Courtney Summers makes you wonder just what you have condoned or enabled simply by ignoring, by pretending away the truth. Makes you hate ever having thought because someone dresses provocatively or has feelings for a boy or comes from a bad family that they've put themselves in a position to be harmed. That they were asking to be harmed. Because they provoked, they incited, they can't be trusted.

Reminds us of how shitty a species we are. To be frank. And this from an optimist.

And that's the thing about All the Rage by Courtney Summers... there's no bullshit. Summers brandishes her words and dares you to face them, to have the guts to meet this awfulness head-on. And if you can keep reading, without looking away or cringing for too long, then there might be some hope for us after all.

The writing is all the more beautiful for it's sharp edges and grim, jaded inflections. Romy has a story inside her that's as broken apart as she is, and it tears and rends and grinds and pulls to read each piece. Because it leads to something that makes you want to close your eyes and keep them shut.

look at me.      I want you to look at me.

But, as proven with This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers, as much as I can listen to what Summers has to say and what her characters have to say, I hate where our conversation ends up. Because it's vague and open and is always supposed to mean something, but I end up feeling lacking when I'm not satisfied by what it's all supposed to mean. It's not about making my own determination. I just hate feeling like I don't know the truth, that it's being hidden for the sake of my own interpretation.

I really wish Summers would stop doing that.

The Last Best Kiss - Claire LaZebnik

Claire, why is your last name so unfortunate? Every time I'd like to recommend this book to the hearing, I stop myself because I hate tripping over my own tongue and sounding like the fool I most probably am but no one need know. Go to the last name factory and pick a new one, please. For my sake, goodness!

And that, my friends, is MOST of the negative I have re: this book. Because when I take out my label maker, I'm slamming an 'ADORBS' sticker on it. It pulls away from being disgustingly, sugary sweet and is just plain feels-good-when-you-snuggle sweet.

On my last major expedition to The Big Guy - aka Barnes & Noble and not God and I almost made a crack about Barnes & Noble being a god but that felt sacrilegious even to my unbaptized soul so I couldn't do it... Why don't we start over? I shall dub thee Barnes and Noble The Big Barn instead. Yes. Yes, I like that. It makes me giggle *giggle*. So anyway, the last time I'd gone apeshit in the aisles of The Big Barn, The Last Best Kiss was not supposed to make it into my cart. . .. Bahaha. No, that's not right. The Big Barn doesn't have carts because they're not there yet in advance technology.

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY
BUT INSTEAD SHE LOOKS POSSESSED. MY BAD. 

And why am I so rambly this afternoon? ANYWAY.

The Last Best Kiss looked nice and sweet and harmless like that guy you had a lovely first date with but never called again. So, yeah I imagined myself having a cheery time with it but if push came to shove-out-the-books-in-my-hand-because-oops-no-money I wasn't keeping it. Then that moment came at checkout where I had to decide and my mom so graciously bought it for me to save me from the hard decisions in life. I thought, well that's good and all but this better be bloody worth the expense of my mother's blood money.

AND IT WAS. She's very pleased.

In The Last Best Kiss, Anna made a huge mistake freshman year (then again, what freshmen didn't? *shifty eyes*). No, she didn't get pregnant. But she may have invited herself into one of the narrower circles of hell for humiliating the most adorably enthusiastic, passionate boy I wish had been among the flock in MY school. A boy who proudly displayed cool or beautiful pictures he'd found on the internet during car pool. A boy who was never ashamed of who he was. A boy who held Anna's hand by the sea. A boy who liked Anna for Anna. And she let him go. After denying his role in her life (boyfriend) to her friends, her family, and the rest of the general public, after rejecting his sweet, risky approach at the school dance, Finn Westbrook disappears without a word.

 Well, you can guess what happens next.

AS IF. HE'S ONLY SEVENTEEN.

But seriously tho, Finn comes back looking like a much more filled out, sexy self than the gawky, adorbs teen remembered from the beginning of Anna's story. And, oh it's both painful and reassuring to see him again. But, as to be expected, he does not hold out his waiting arms to the remorseful Anna awaiting his return. No, instead he's polite but distant and I DID NOT BLAME HIM.

I loved that this story was hard. It was hard to be completely pissed at Anna, because you get it. You get that high school is a jungle, hell, a shark pit, etc. and it's DIFFICULT so it's easy to want to blend. But you get Finn too because he was too cool for school and didn't give a shit about what people thought in a disarmingly non-agressive way. In a casual, I like myself so THERE way. In the best way, frankly.

So I cheered for them like a maniac. Because in the end I wanted them to understand each other and where they were coming from back then and to make peace with it. More, I wanted them to want each other despite all that jazz.

There's a #ship in the harbor people. GET ON IT.

The ending could've been better, but whatevs. I'm over it. (Last of the negative.)

The Last Best Kiss is the kind of book that makes you wonderfully warm, comforted by the knowledge that some things just work out wonderfully despite all obstacles. You know, that love conquers all semi-bullshit. Sometimes, #lovejustwins.

rating: 3.5 stars