Review- Holes (Louis Sachar)

Synopsis

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so he isn't too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boys' juvenile detention centre. At Camp Green Lake the boys must dig a hole a day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the dried up lake bed. The Warden claims the labour is character building, but it is a lie. Stanley must dig up the truth.

                     - Goodreads.com

Review

I must admit this isn’t my first time re-reading Holes, in fact it’s not even my 2^nd time. I’ve probably read this book a good half a dozen times at the least, and it never gets old. I first read this book when I was in middle school (I even stole unknowingly the copy from my school library), and ever since then I feel like I give it a reread every couple of years. There are very few books that I can do that with, besides maybe Harry Potter. 

The story starts with Stanley being sent to Camp Green Lake as the more favourable option rather than going to jail for a crime that he was wrongly accused of. But Camp Green Lake is anything but green; A barren wasteland where every boy is made to dig a hole a day to help ‘build character’. But what are they really digging for? And why is the warden so interested if they find anything of value?

Stanley is a great protagonist, he’s easily likable from the start and you want to empathise with him. There is an array of wacky and odd side characters who all play their roles perfectly.

There’s not much I can say about this book except that I adore it. It’s a quick read with adventure, suspense, and a great woven tale between the past and the present. I highly recommend for all age groups, you'll wizz through it in the blink of an eye and wonder why you didn't read it sooner. 

My Rating 5/5

2017 End of Year Book Survey

   

Originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner

 

Number Of Books You Read: 45

Number of Re-Reads: 4

Holes

Throne of Glass

To All the Boy’s Ove Loved Before

Paper Girls Volume 1

Genre You Read The Most From: YA Contemporary

1. Best Book You Read In 2017?

 Traiter to the Throne

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

In Real Life

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  

 None of the Above

       

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

Rebel of the Sands

 5. Best series you started in 2017? Best Sequel of 2017? Best Series Ender of 2017?

  

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2017?

AGH so many to choose from…Tamora Pierce

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

 Probably the only book I read out of my comfort zone this year was Apeshit; a bizarro fiction.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

 Crown of Midnight

 9. Book You Read In 2017 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

 A Madness So Discreet

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2017?

 None of the Above. I'm usually a fan of the girl in the pretty dress, but I really liked the basic idea behind the cover of None of the Above. Simple but striking.

11. Most memorable character of 2017?

Alanna of Trebond- from Song of the Lioness Quartet.  

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2017?

 A Walk to Remember- Nicholas Sparks

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2017?

Plain Truth- Jodi Picoult

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2017 to finally read?       

 Reboot and it’s sequel Rebel

 

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2017?

“The thing is, sometimes people grow from breaking.” 

― Julie Buxbaum, What to Say Next

“It's funny how once you start pretending, you realize how much everyone else is too.” 

― Gayle Forman, I Was Here

“Remember, the opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.” 

― Gayle Forman, I Was Here

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2017?

Shortest- Owning the Beast

Longest – Traitor to the Throne

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most?

Crown of Midnight- a certain persons death came as a surprise and just so much happened in this book that I didn't see coming. 

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

Caelena and Rowan.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Grace and Thornhollow- A Madness So Discreet

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2017 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Coming up for Air Miranda Kenneally.

21. Best Book You Read In 2017 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

 Alex, Approximately.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2017?

   Rowan Whitethorn. Damn he was mean to begin with, but oh my my how he came out of his shell. 

23. Best 2017 debut you read?

I didn’t read any debuts ☹

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Reboot and Rebel

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

 Wesley James ruined my life.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2017?

Crown of Midnight

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

What to Say Next

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

 Brave New World- only because it was so drawn out.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2017?

None of The Above- see my review HERE

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Heir of Fire- I hate the king, and that ending had me riled.

Review- Blood and Chocolate (Annette Curtis Klause)

Synopsis

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He’s fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.

Vivian’s divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate?

                     - Goodreads.com

Review 

As far as werewolf books go, Blood and Chocolate is one I can read again and again (and indeed I have). Written quite some time ago (1997), long before the hype of Twilight and other supernatural books like it. Blood and Chocolate follows the typical path of werewolf girl falling for a human boy, but it’s not all candy and roses.

Our main character Vivian finds kinship in a male teen, Aiden, from her high school, after she reads a poem he’s written for their school newspaper. The poem speaks to her wolf side on many levels and shows an understanding that she would never expect to find from a human. Teen romantic escapades ensue, and Vivian begins to believe that she could actually reveal her true self to Aiden and have a somewhat normal life.

“It's only a game, she told her herself, to see if I can snare him. But she wanted to know what was in a human head to make him write that poem, and she wanted to know why he'd stolen the breath from her lips"

- Annette Curtis Klause (Blood and Chocolate)

Vivian is hard character to empathise with. The author did a great job of giving her a lot of ‘canine’ traits that I would expect to see in a werewolf; aggressive, hyper-sexuality, conceited and drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for an easy character to like. There are a lot of instances where her dominant wolf-side comes out and it’s not necessarily pretty or nice. 

“I'd like to feel my teeth in her throat, Vivian thought. I'd like to slit her gullet"

- Annette Curtis Klause (Blood and Chocolate)

Aiden on the other hand is your typical teen boy, who falls for a mysterious, beautiful girl. While his character loses some esteem in my eyes, I really can’t blame him for his faults. A teen boy can only accept so much.

I have a feeling there will be many ill feelings regarding the ending, but for me it makes perfect sense. I don’t want to spoil it, but Vivian learns that having someone who truly accepts and understands you as a mate is better than hiding who you truly are. Unfortunately, this may disappoint some people who were hoping for a romantic ending about love overcoming all obstacles blah, blah.

The wolf pack itself and all the main players really gave off the vibe of a pack. There was hierarchy, fights for mates, dominance, and a hell of a lot of misogyny going on. Which while may be difficult to read in this day and age with equality between the sexes as the ideal, it pretty much nails the principles of pack and canine behaviour on the head.

Overall an enjoyable re-read, that I will more than likely come back to again in the coming years. Definitely one of my favourite romance werewolf novels that appears to grasp the morals and conventions of a wolf pack, without any of the ‘sparkles’.  

My Rating 4/5