TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN By John Green

April 29, 2024 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN By John GreenTurtles All the Way Down by John Green
Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers on 10/10/17
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

Short and Sweet Review

Aza is in her head a lot and not like the average person but she worries about things like microbes and bacteria. When her friend Daisy brings up the idea of trying to find the fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, Aza is reluctant but she ends up agreeing. Aza used to go to camp with Davis Pickett and that’s what Daisy sees as their way in. We see throughout the book Aza try to be normal and please people around her but the more she does that the more she spirals.

Aza is our main character and she’s really interesting in the fact that you can tell that she struggles with her mental health. She’s usually thinking about how unclean things are and if she wasn’t so afraid of the microbes she’d make a good microbiologist. Her best friend is Daisy and she’s more outspoken and adventurous and she gives a lot of Grace to Aza. When Aza is reunited with Davis he already knows what she and Daisy want, the hundred thousand dollar reward. Davis and his younger brother are now alone and Davis is taking care of Noah while their dad is on the run, so he just wants Aza and Daisy to be honest with him. Aza starts to spend more time with Davis and she likes him and for a while the whole search for Russell is put off. You can tell Aza likes Davis but she knows they can’t be happy while she’s dealing with her own issues. I think it was interesting to see how Aza being in her head so much affected those around her and as much as she tried to play it off she wasn’t going to get better until she realized that she does need help. The book starts off with a bit of the mystery of Russell and where he could have gone but it morphs into a contemporary romance with more of a focus on mental health. I will say that sometimes Aza is a bit much with her thoughts and she’s really lucky to have the people she does that support her.

Overall, this was a good book. This is my second time reading it and I did remember from my first reread that I didn’t like something and looking back it was because I thought Ava’s thoughts were so intense and debilitating, but the second time around I think I understood her more. I do think this book is worth reading and I’m interested to see how the movie will portray these characters.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE SURVIVAL LIST By Courtney Sheinmel

September 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE SURVIVAL LIST By Courtney SheinmelThe Survival List by Courtney Sheinmel
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/17/19
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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ReviewedbyDani

Sloane Weber is devastated when her older sister dies by suicide. Talley was a bright light who made everyone want to step closer. Why had she made that unthinkable choice?

The only clue Talley left behind for Sloane is a puzzle—a list of random places and names, along with the phone number of a boy named Adam, who lives in California and claims he didn’t know Talley.

Sloane heads west, enlists Adam’s help, and together they search for answers. But while Sloane is drawn to Adam, she can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something. Is Sloane ready to learn the truth—about Adam, her sister, or the secrets her family has been hiding for years?


Short and Sweet

After her older sister Talley dies, Sloane finds a list with random places and names that are unfamiliar to her. Sloane thinks that if she can decipher the meaning of the list she can understand why Talley did what she did. The clues on the list lead Sloane to California and once she’s there Sloane learns that maybe she didn’t know Talley as well as she thought she did.

Characters

Sloane: Sloane is our main character and she’s dealing with the loss of her sister. Sloane doesn’t understand why Talley would have killed herself so when she finds the list Talley left behind it was like Sloane could try to figure out why Talley is gone. I know that Sloane is dealing with a lot but I don’t like the way she acted people would try to comfort her and she would tell them that they don’t know what she’s going through and at one point she does talk to someone who also lost a loved one to suicide. I thought that she lashed out at people who didn’t deserve it.

Talley: We don’t know much about Talley since she’ s gone but she is Sloane’s older sister and most of the characters would describe her as fearless and brave.

Adam: Adam’s phone number was on the list that Talley had in her pocket. Adam has no idea who Talley was but Sloane and Adam connect when she comes to California. Adam drove Sloane everywhere mainly because he was trying to avoid his own problems with his parents. I thought Adam was nice and he was helpful to Sloane.

Juno: Juno is Sloane’s best friend. I really liked Juno she was there for Sloane and even got Sloane the plane ticket to California just so that Sloane could find out what the list meant. Juno was very supportive and I felt bad for her because at some point Sloane ends up putting Juno on the back burner.

My Thoughts

~ Sloane loses her older sister Talley and finds a list in Talley’s pocket and all the random names and places on the list lead Sloane to California.

~ In California Sloane meets Adam whose number was on the list and he ends up trying to help her figure out what everything on the list means. When Sloane learns more about the things on the list she also learns that she didn’t know her older sister as well as she thought she did.

~ I think the best part of the book was that Sloane got to spend time with her aunt, and she also learned more about her mother that way.

~ At one point I did get annoyed with Sloane because it was like she was ignoring Juno and it was awful. I know Sloane was invested in figuring out what everything meant, but Juno needed Sloane at that moment.

~ There’s actually not a romance in this book, which was fine with me. I thought it was nice that Sloane and Adam just stayed friends.

~ Sloane and her father also had better communication by the end of the book and it was great especially because they were both grieving differently and they weren’t seeing eye to eye on things

Overall

I thought this was an enjoyable book I liked the premise of the list and Sloane trying to figure out what everything on it meant. I also liked that Sloane learned things about Talley and her family that she didn’t know because it led to more communication with her father. I thought it was great seeing how Sloane processed everything about Talley and learned about herself in the process. I would recommend this book its a realistic fiction that does deal with the hard topic of suicide but it portrayed how the people left behind deal with the loss and their emotions.

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Filed Under: Reviews

ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS By Francesca Zappia

August 2, 2019 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS By Francesca ZappiaEliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Published by Greenwillow Books on 5/30/17
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

ReviewedbyDani

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl meets Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona in this acclaimed novel about art, fandom, and finding the courage to be yourself. “A must-have.”—School Library Journal

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community.

Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.


Short and Sweet

In reality Eliza Mirk is shy, she doesn’t have many friends, and to others she’s weird. But online Eliza becomes LadyConstellation, she’s the anonymous creator of a popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. When Eliza finds out that Wallace a new student at school is a big fan fiction writer of Monstrous Sea she just writes him off as another fan. But as Eliza becomes closer to Wallace she begins to wonder if maybe she could have a life outside of Monstrous Sea.

Characters

Eliza: Eliza is shy and is mainly in her own world, and that world is Monstrous Sea. Eliza is comfortable when she’s working on Monstrous Sea and when she’s online. Eliza was a relatable character just trying to get through senior, trying to figure out what she wants to do after high school and Monstrous Sea.

Wallace: Wallace doesn’t talk much after something that happened to him in the past. Although he doesn’t talk much it doesn’t bother Eliza because she also rarely talks in school. I thought Wallace was a great character he wants to be a writer and we also learn about his background and what makes Wallace who he is today.

Romance

Eliza and Wallace: Wallace is new in school and is in Eliza’s homeroom. After learning that they’re both Monstrous Sea fans they start to spend more time together. I liked these two together. As I mentioned earlier Wallace doesn’t talk much so when they’re in school they pass notes back in forth. What I liked most about this couple was that Wallace helped Eliza get out of her comfort zone, and Eliza helped Wallace believe he should follow his dream and become a writer.

My Thoughts

~ Eliza has worked hard on Monstrous Sea and its a popular web comic. One of my favorite things about the book was that we get to see pages from the web comic.

~ Eliza has two younger brothers and she lives with her parents. Her parents don’t understand why Monstrous Sea is so important to Eliza and they just want to spend more time with her. I think that even though Eliza doesn’t spend much time with her brothers they definitely came through for her in the end when they supported her after everyone found out that she was the creator of Monstrous Sea.

~ Eliza two friends are Max and Emmy and they’re her online friends we get to see their chats and text with each other. I liked how supportive they all were of each other even though they haven’t met in real life.

~ Eliza suffers from social anxiety, anxiety, and depression. Eliza try to keep everything bottled up but in the end she ends up having to see a therapist after everything becomes too much for her to handle.

~ I thought the plot was great and so was the pacing of the book. I liked seeing how at the start of the book Eliza isolates herself from people, then she meets Wallace and tries to get out of her comfort zone, to Eliza having to deal with her issues instead of keeping them bottled up.

Overall

I loved this book and I fell in Love with Eliza’s character. The plot and the characters were great and I loved getting to see some of the pages from Monstrous Sea and seeing the hard work that Eliza puts into her comics. The writing was realistic and it was hard to put this book down and it is now one of my favorite books!

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Filed Under: Reviews