Cova Reviews | The Wrath and the Dawn, by Renée Ahdieh | Diverse Reads Challenge

Hello, people! So here is the first post of the series of posts I am planning to make for the 2017 Diverse Reads Challenge I signed up for this year :) January was the month for Folktale/Mythology, and I decided to go for the first option. 

The Wrath and The Dawn, by Renée Ahdieh is a YA, re-telling of the One Thousand and One Nights tale. In some part of Arabia, a whole kingdom is terrified and outraged by their young boy-king Khalid. No one knows why, he takes a girl from the city every so often, marries her and kills her the next morning. Families are destroyed, and no explanation is given to them. One day, Shahrzad volunteers to be the next girl, but she has no intention of dying.

Cova Reviews | A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

Well, well, well. Now, what do we have here? A Monster Calls has been all over the media for quite a while now -especially now that the film has come out. I have been wanting to pick it up since before I even knew there was going to be a movie based on it, and around one week after I bought the book, a friend of mine came to me and said "You know what, Cova? I went to the cinema yesterday and watched A Monster Calls, and you want to know something? The monster is ****************". I almost died right there and then... I could kill him!! He'd spoiled a story that I had been wanting to get to for so long!! Luckily, he was just being an asshole and that had absolutely nothing to do with the story :D I did not have a good time, though!

We could say A Monster Calls is a fantasy book about loss, hope and growing up. I honestly did not know what it was about when I read it, and that went extremely well for me, so I'm just going to leave you here the synopsis from Goodreads:

"The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth." (Goodreads)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Michelle Hodkin)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin is one of those books I look forward to rereading every time. I have done so 3 times already, and I love it every single time. It is a Young Adult, kind of fantasy, kind of mystery novel about love, friendship and mental health (which I personally find fascinating). It's the first novel to the Mara Dyer Series.

"Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. 

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. 

She's wrong." (Goodreads)

Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma

Forbidden by British author Tabitha Suzuma is a young adult, contemporary novel  about two siblings who fall in love. I directly tell you it is an outstanding read.

"She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister." (modified from Goodreads)

Heima es hogar en islandés (Laila Soler)

Hello everyone! So this review will be in Spanish, as this book by Laila Soler has only been published in this language. Regardless, you can use the blog's translating widget that you will find on the right sidebar to have a look at it in case the novel ever gets translated into English or maybe just to satisfy your curiosity :)

Heima es Hogar en Islandés es una novela young adult de ficción y fantasía inspirada en un viaje a Islandia que la propia autora realizó con su familia. 

"¿Puede estar tu hogar a miles de kilómetros de casa?Ver la vida en blanco y negro no es divertido.Laura padece una extraña enfermedad que le impide apreciar los colores, pero si últimamente su vida es gris no es solo porque sufre acromatopsia. Acaba de romper con su novio y sus padres no dejan de pelearse tras el divorcio. Por eso, decide alejarse de todo y toma el primer avión que sale del aeropuerto.El destino la lleva hasta Reikiavik, Islandia. Allí conoce al simpático Orri, quien le propone emprender un viaje para recorrer el país con él y su no tan simpático amigo Guðjon. Quizá no sea una idea sensata, pero no es que Islandia ofrezca muchas opciones a una chica que se ha escapado de casa.Lo que Laura nunca podría sospechar es que los dos islandeses esconden un secreto imposible de creer, incluso para alguien como ella, y que ese viaje la cambiará para siempre." (Goodreads)

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why is a Young Adult, fiction novel which tells us the story about a guy, Clay Jensen, who randomly receives a box with his name on it in which he finds seven double-sided tapes recorded by his deceased friend Hannah Baker, explaining the 13 reasons why she decided to commit suicide. Only those people who made the list will ever listen to the tapes, which leaves us with one single question - what did Clay do to be in the list?

I found this book absolutely refreshing. The story is just so original and creative, and the flow of the story is very good. This is the first book I ever decided to listen to on audiobook, and I think I made such a good choice! I wasn't really sure about listening to something you are meant to read, but if you ever think about trying it out, this book definitely is the right one to do so because the story is mainly the tapes of Hannah Baker explaining her story, so I literally felt as if I was listening to the tapes. Moreover this audiobook has two different voices - a male one for the part narrated by Clay and a female one for Hannah Baker's tapes, which I think is a brilliant idea. The audiobook definitely got a 5/5 from me. If you ever have the chance, please try it out. 

Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard is the first book of a young adult, fantasy series with the same name about a world in which there are two kinds of people - those whose blood has a red colour and those whose blood has a silver colour. The Silvers have special abilities which enables them overpower the Reds, who live in very bad conditions and tend to hate the Silvers. Our main character, Mare, is a Red, destined to serve the military in her next birthday, but her story is much more complicated than that...

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

When I first heard of this book, I was a bit cautious with it because I thought the title implied it being a middle-school read which I wouldn't enjoy as much. However, I heard and read so many good reviews on it that I changed my mind about it, and decided to buy it. Here's what I thought about it.

First of all, let me please tell you that if you are thinking that maybe you'd like to read it, don't rely on the back-cover insight to the story. It's pretty poor, and it will make you think of it as a boring on, which is not.

It is about two 15-year-old boys, Ari and Dante, who don't really have many friends, and find each other at the town's swimming pool. From that moment on, they become really good friends, and you'll start knowing more about the two of them as the story goes on - as will them, really.

100 followers on Twitter & Thoughts on the Fifty Shades Trilogy - E.L. James

WE'VE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER!!

I just checked the page's Twitter account and discovered that there is already 100 of you following @W_Literature!! I am so grateful to you all, and to celebrate this fantastic achievement, I've decided to do a post of some very famous pieces of literature. 

Here's to reading!

So I read this ultimately famous erotic series at the very start of the summer, and as I recently saw someone's review of the books, I figured I would do the same, just to let you know what my thoughts were. It is a very polemic series, and without further ado, let's get started!

First of all, I will admit that I had no idea what the books were about before I started reading the first one, Fifty Shades of Grey. I just wanted to know what was it that attracted millions and millions of readers, and if the books were actually any good. So let me start by explaining a bit what the story behind the whole erotic thing is about. 

Senior college student Anastasia Steele steps in for her sick roommate to interview the owner of one of the most successful companies in the world, Christian Grey, for an article for the college newspaper. She is clumsy and shy, and hardly had any relationships in her whole life, but still something makes the billionaire feel surprisingly attracted to her, and soon she sees him everywhere. What she doesn't know is that the mysterious, utterly handsome businessman has some quite difficult and unusual habits with the girls he meets. 

Before I Go to Sleep - S.J. Watson

I did not know of this book before I found it in a bookstore at Dubai's airport, and I chose it because the story really intrigued me - I thought "how is it possible to write a story where the protagonists does not remember what has been written before?", and I have to say S.J. Watson completely nailed it. She does it in such a smooth manner that you don't even realise what she's doing to you until she's already done it, and it's too late and you're dead right there with the book in your hands. This book completely blew my mind! 

I will just write what comes on the back cover of the book, because it is what I read before I started reading the whole book, which worked just fine for me:

Memories define us

What if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?

Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten over night.

And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story.

Welcome to Christine's life.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

I read this book a couple of months ago and I really, really enjoyed it. It was, indeed, quite peculiar  itself. 

It is about a boy, Jacob Portman, who convinces his parents to let him travel to Wales (The UK) in order to learn about the truthfulness of his grandfather's stories -- who has recently died in what seems to Jacob some very strange circumstances. The old man used to tell him stories about his notoriously exceptional adventures with some really strange friends of his in an orphanage for war refugee children when he was little. At some point he stopped believing them, but he's not so sure they're not true anymore...

I have to say I bought this book for its appealing title and wonderful cover, but it definitely did not let me down. I found the story very new and original, and I surely did not expect what was coming. I think the characters are very interesting -- the main one is quite strongly developed while the rest are not a much, though I believe it was made on purpose, so nicely done (no spoilers, you'll see!). 

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller set in London and its outskirts. It is bestseller book, so I thought I would give it a try and see what I thought myself.

It is narrated from three different perspectives, thought only one of them belongs to the protagonist - Rachel. She got divorced some years back because of a drinking problem that she developed, which she still has not overcome. Everyday, she takes the same train to go to London and back, even though she also lost her job a couple of months ago because of the same problem. While in the train, every time she observes the houses she passes by, though there's two in particular that she is interested in: her old house, where she used to live with Tom (her ex-husband) and where the latter still lives with her new wife; and one on the same street where a couple that seems perfect to Rachel lives. One day, the woman in the perfect couple disappears. 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender - Lesley Walton

Simply wonderful.

To my great misfortune, I was once mistaken for an angel

I am completely destroyed by the effect this book had on me. As a quick description, I will just say it is such a beautiful story, so beautifully written. 

"Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.
Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.
In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.
That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human." (Goodreads)

Cova Reviews | Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson tells the story of two guys who have the same name - there are two guys called Will Grayson living nearby. They do not know each other, and their lives are pretty different: one of them has a stable family, with two surgeon parents and a gay best friend; the other Will Grayson lives with his mum, needs pills for his mental health issues, does not want any friends and has a big secret. Eventually their lives intertwine in the most unexpected circumstances. Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a book about love, friendship and finding one's sexuality.

As you have probably already noticed, it is written by two different authors, who have tremendously different writing styles. They write alternate chapters, each of which is about a different Will Grayson. This means that each author writes only about one of the Graysons, following the order Green, Levithan, Green, Levithan... This makes the book and the characters so much richer, because the writing of the authors is as different as the two main characters, shown through the 1st person narration. 

Sway, by Kat Spears

"Boy meets girl. 

Boy charms girl...

For someone else."

Sway is a young adult novel about a guy, Jesse Alderman, who makes a living at school out of arranging stuff for people. Whatever you want, he can get for you. He has everything under control, but one day he is asked by the captain of the football team at school to get him the most beautiful girl in the school, Bridget Smalley, whom he's asked out before, with no good result. However, everything is turned up-side down when Jesse starts to have feelings for this girl, who is not only pretty, but also the most attentive, intelligent, and good person.

I personally really enjoyed this book, mainly because the story is original and refreshing. 

The writing is good, though nothing spectacular. Spears uses different types of language depending on the situation the main character is in, which also helps the reader learn things about Jesse's personality, and the style changes quite a lot when the narrator (Jesse) talks about Bridget.

The characters in general are well developed, and I think the author did something quite impressive and original with the main character: the reader learns more things about him, his past and what he does the more he realises that he likes the girl. As it is written in first person, it feels as if he started giving secrets away to the reader the more he opened his heart to himself.

Something else that really caught my attention is that the chapters are very much differentiated one from another, which I am still not sure how I feel about as, even though it is another thing that makes the book original, also causes for a certain discontinuity in the plot.

What really got to me was the story per se, and the development of the main character throughout the book. He makes decisions that, even thought are not the ones I would have made, are justified through his beliefs and the consequences that different ones would have brought. As you read further, you learn enough about him as to guess the lies he tells other characters and himself, which is somewhat rewarding.

I really liked this book as a whole, and I gave it a 3.5 out of 5 stars (3 stars on Goodreads).

Let me know what you thought about it or the feelings you got from the review!

wonderful literature.

Anna and the French kiss - Stephanie Perkins

Hey there!

Anna and the French kiss is a romantic novel for teens. 

The story is about an American girl, Anna, who is forced by her father to spend her senior year of high school in a boarding school in Paris. There, she makes new friends, but she starts feeling attracted to one in particular, Étienne St. Clair. However, he has a girlfriend, so she starts denying to herself that she actually really likes him, because she know it's impossible. Moreover, one of her new friends, Meredith, has an eternal crush on him too, and she can't do that to her.

In general, the story isn't anything that I haven't seen before: girl is annoyed about moving away from her friends, girl meets boy, boy makes her forget about her past in her old town, they fall in love. The fact that he has a girlfriend and she left the possibility of a "something" with a guy back in Atlanta could be the addition to this typical romance. But, as you go through the story you'll find that there are other topics (that I won't mention, due to a possible spoiler) that have been quite used as well and, honestly, when I got to a particular one, I thought "Oh, please, not again". Luckily, that particular topic I'm talking about and that you'll surely recognise when you read he book is not a huge part of the novel and does not interrupt the flow of the story. The book as a whole is quite entertaining - not too long (around 400 pages), and quite a good one for in-between long, complex books. 

Something else that caught my attention is that in this book, the main male character (Étienne) is not the typical strong, tall, perfect guy. He does have that self-confidence factor, but he also has some weak points that make him unique, and I think that is something many authors lack lately. I'd say he is quite an interesting character.

The writing is quite simple and thus the book is easy to read. 

Overall, I quite liked it, and I gave it a 3.5 out of 5 stars (3 stars on Goodreads). Hopefully you'll soon get used to my rating and will understand what I mean with these numbers!

See you soon!

wonderful literature.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Hello everyone! Today I bring to you my thoughts about a book unlike any I have read before. Bird Box is classified as a Horror Book in webpages, but I wouldn't say it's one of the most scary ones - not that I have read many horror novels. It really impressed me because it is completely different from what I am used to reading. I am not going to write any synopsis because I didn't read any before getting myself into this wonderful book, so I'd recommend that you do the same. I will write something for you, though - the little text that made me buy it in that bookstore:

If you've seen what's out there... it's already too late.

Most people dismissed the reports on the news. 

But they became too frequent; they became too real. 

And soon it was happening to people we knew. 

Then the Internet died. 

The televisions and radios went silent. 

The phones stopped ringing 

And we couldn't look outside anymore.

This and, let's be honest, the awesome paperback cover of the edition I bought made me not think twice about buying this book, and it definitely did not let me down. 

The story is absorbing, and the characters are very interesting. You keep wanting to know where it is the writer is trying to go, and WHAT IS HAPPENING. I think Malerman did a very good job keeping the suspense, but it really killed me... Also, the story itself is very, very original.

The characters are interesting, and it seems as if every one of them has a specific role in the story. There are no characters just standing in the background. Very well done!

I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars (4 stars on Goodreads), and the only factor that took away that one half star is that it lacked that special factor that kind of forces you to not close the book until you get to the very end - even though, as I said, the story did keep me reading. Also, I found it a bit slow at times. Other than that, I really did enjoy it. 

I would definitely recommend this book to book lovers in general. It's easy to read and the story is very refreshing.

Happy reading!

Hello first readers!

I have just started this blog today, after a long period of hibernation from my blog on other platforms. I just thought that maybe having a fresh start would motivate me to write more about the things that I like - a.k.a books! 

This blog is going to hold reviews from the books I read, no matter how much I like them - that way you who are reading this can be sure that what I write is solely my own opinion about a particular book. The aim of this page is not only to help other people who might be interested in learning what the general public things about a novel they think they might like, but also to create something like a little journal for myself to read in a few years time and remember all those amazing stories I devoted my hours to.

So just for you to learn a bit about how this is going to work, let's just say that I will write a brief synopsis of the book, followed by a written opinion and highlights of what I have loved and what I haven't quite of the book. All this will be culminated by a rating on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very bad and 5 is absolutely amazing. Hopefully we will encounter many more of the latter in this magnificent adventure! 

One more thing, don't expect regular uploads of reviews, because you won't find them here. When I finish a book, I will write a review. Some weeks, I may finish three books, but some others I won't even finish one. That's just how it is!

Lastly, the only thing left to do is to wish you all a Wonderful Reading. Hope to see many of you guys around!

See you soon, Wonderful People!

wonderful literature.