Hey Guys,
I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you for joining me today on The Preppy Book Princess :)
Today is of course Valentine's Day, so I definitely want to say Happy Valentine's Day everyone 💓💓💓💜💜💜💙💙💙💚💚💚💚
Do any of you guys have exciting plans for tonight? Typically my hubby and I never do anything too major for it, but over the weekend we went on a little road trip to our favorite small town theater to see Forever My Girl. I ended up really enjoying it, and I'm now even more looking forward to reading the book it's based on by Heidi McLaughlin. It was a nice low key Valentine's Day celebration which was exactly what we were both wanting, especially since we both have to work longer shifts today on the actual day.
But speaking of Valentine's Day, I thought today would be the perfect day to share my review of a recent YA contemporaryish romance book I read a few days ago, and I'm excited to share my thoughts with you about this book I'd really been looking forward to reading.
Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider:
Source: Library
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: May 26th, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Synopsis:
When he's sent to Latham House, a boarding school for sick teens, Lane thinks his life may as well be over.
But when he meets Sadie and her friends - a group of eccentric troublemakers - he realises that maybe getting sick is just the beginning. That illness doesn't have to define you, and that falling in love is its own cure.
******synopsis from goodreads*****
My Review:
Life seldom goes the way we planned, and that's something the resident's of Latham house know better than anyone. After being diagnosed with TDR-TB (which is a disease that the author fabricated for the story, and doesn't actually exist), teenagers are sent to this sanitarium type institution in order to rest, and try and get their health back on track by living a less stressful, more simple way of life.
Extraordinary Means emphasizes the fact that life is short, and there's no guarantee how it'll turn out, or end up. Sometimes all we're blessed with is a short time period in order to leave our mark, and no one really knows what'll happen tomorrow, or even a few short hours from now. For Lane and Sadie, this is a harsh reality, as they watch other resident's life end way too early, and other resident's leave to enter back into the real world where no one wants to accept them. Sometimes you have to make the most of what you're given, and this is why Sadie and her friend's refuse to conform to Latham's ideals and principles, and instead try their best to live life to the fullest, and soon Lane is also swept up in their circle of friends. However, these attitudes can often have harsh consequences, as these five friends will soon find out, and the result is a breathtakingly beautiful look into the world of disease, isolation, expectations, and the harsh reality that often is life.
Sadie and Lane were both characters that took me awhile to warm up to for some reason, and unfortunately I never fully felt a true connection to them. I enjoyed their story, even though the romance slightly felt like insta-love, but they never truly redeemed themselves in my eyes, and I think this slightly hankered my enjoyment of this novel. I loved the writing style, the setting, and the in depth look into a modernized part of history that I think a lot of us today weren't even aware actually existed, but it wasn't quite as good as the expectations I'd built up in my mind for it. First off, like I said, I never cared about the character's enough to feel for them, and so some of the heartbreaking moments of the plot were kind of lost on me, which is odd as I'm usually the type that tears up over all those type of moments in books. Secondly, I found some of the pop culture references to be a little strange, and seemed to be thrown in just to emphasize how "cool" the book was, and a lot of them really didn't seem to fit with where they were placed. Thirdly,, I really found myself not enjoying the romance that much as I felt there wasn't enough build up towards it. It literally felt to me like as soon as Sadie found out what had truly happened at summer camp five years prior, then her and Lane were instantly a couple, and it just didn't seem that believable. And Lastly, I felt this book was slightly less enjoyable for me than it could have been due to the presence of a bunch of more vulgar content that I didn't feel was necessary.
I'm still really glad I took the time to read this one, as despite some of the negative feelings I had towards it, I really did enjoy it overall honestly. It's unlike anything I've really read before, and I loved the way the author wrote about the outside world panicking over the disease, as they couldn't understand it, and the way these victims of it would forever be outcasts because of it. I think it so accurately represents the way we as society act every time an outbreak of any disease occurs, and it was really interesting to get an in depth look into how those experiencing and living with the disease have to learn to cope with stereotypes and unfair judgments. I ended up giving this one three out of five stars, and really enjoyed reading a YA contemporary on such an original idea. I only wish the characters had been a little more connectable, and that the love story hadn't felt quite so much like insta love.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope to see you all in my next post :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
I hope you're all doing well, and I want to thank you for joining me today on The Preppy Book Princess :)
Today is of course Valentine's Day, so I definitely want to say Happy Valentine's Day everyone 💓💓💓💜💜💜💙💙💙💚💚💚💚
Do any of you guys have exciting plans for tonight? Typically my hubby and I never do anything too major for it, but over the weekend we went on a little road trip to our favorite small town theater to see Forever My Girl. I ended up really enjoying it, and I'm now even more looking forward to reading the book it's based on by Heidi McLaughlin. It was a nice low key Valentine's Day celebration which was exactly what we were both wanting, especially since we both have to work longer shifts today on the actual day.
But speaking of Valentine's Day, I thought today would be the perfect day to share my review of a recent YA contemporaryish romance book I read a few days ago, and I'm excited to share my thoughts with you about this book I'd really been looking forward to reading.
Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider:
Source: Library
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: May 26th, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Synopsis:
When he's sent to Latham House, a boarding school for sick teens, Lane thinks his life may as well be over.
But when he meets Sadie and her friends - a group of eccentric troublemakers - he realises that maybe getting sick is just the beginning. That illness doesn't have to define you, and that falling in love is its own cure.
******synopsis from goodreads*****
My Review:
Life seldom goes the way we planned, and that's something the resident's of Latham house know better than anyone. After being diagnosed with TDR-TB (which is a disease that the author fabricated for the story, and doesn't actually exist), teenagers are sent to this sanitarium type institution in order to rest, and try and get their health back on track by living a less stressful, more simple way of life.
Extraordinary Means emphasizes the fact that life is short, and there's no guarantee how it'll turn out, or end up. Sometimes all we're blessed with is a short time period in order to leave our mark, and no one really knows what'll happen tomorrow, or even a few short hours from now. For Lane and Sadie, this is a harsh reality, as they watch other resident's life end way too early, and other resident's leave to enter back into the real world where no one wants to accept them. Sometimes you have to make the most of what you're given, and this is why Sadie and her friend's refuse to conform to Latham's ideals and principles, and instead try their best to live life to the fullest, and soon Lane is also swept up in their circle of friends. However, these attitudes can often have harsh consequences, as these five friends will soon find out, and the result is a breathtakingly beautiful look into the world of disease, isolation, expectations, and the harsh reality that often is life.
Sadie and Lane were both characters that took me awhile to warm up to for some reason, and unfortunately I never fully felt a true connection to them. I enjoyed their story, even though the romance slightly felt like insta-love, but they never truly redeemed themselves in my eyes, and I think this slightly hankered my enjoyment of this novel. I loved the writing style, the setting, and the in depth look into a modernized part of history that I think a lot of us today weren't even aware actually existed, but it wasn't quite as good as the expectations I'd built up in my mind for it. First off, like I said, I never cared about the character's enough to feel for them, and so some of the heartbreaking moments of the plot were kind of lost on me, which is odd as I'm usually the type that tears up over all those type of moments in books. Secondly, I found some of the pop culture references to be a little strange, and seemed to be thrown in just to emphasize how "cool" the book was, and a lot of them really didn't seem to fit with where they were placed. Thirdly,, I really found myself not enjoying the romance that much as I felt there wasn't enough build up towards it. It literally felt to me like as soon as Sadie found out what had truly happened at summer camp five years prior, then her and Lane were instantly a couple, and it just didn't seem that believable. And Lastly, I felt this book was slightly less enjoyable for me than it could have been due to the presence of a bunch of more vulgar content that I didn't feel was necessary.
I'm still really glad I took the time to read this one, as despite some of the negative feelings I had towards it, I really did enjoy it overall honestly. It's unlike anything I've really read before, and I loved the way the author wrote about the outside world panicking over the disease, as they couldn't understand it, and the way these victims of it would forever be outcasts because of it. I think it so accurately represents the way we as society act every time an outbreak of any disease occurs, and it was really interesting to get an in depth look into how those experiencing and living with the disease have to learn to cope with stereotypes and unfair judgments. I ended up giving this one three out of five stars, and really enjoyed reading a YA contemporary on such an original idea. I only wish the characters had been a little more connectable, and that the love story hadn't felt quite so much like insta love.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope to see you all in my next post :)
This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.
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