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Of Neptune (The Syrena Legacy #3) by Anna Banks || disappointing finale

First off, I know this review is quite late relative to when the book was released. 

I know. I’m a slow reader these days and also I have the flu. And by flu, I mean “death-by-sniffles”. Trust me. Nothing means death like sniffles.

Thanks Hardie Grant Egmont Australia for the review-copy! Of Neptune (The Syrena Legacy #3) by Anna Banks hit shelves in May, 2014.

Emma, who is half human and half Syrena, and her Syrena love, Galen, need time together. Alone. Away from the kingdoms of Poseidon and Triton. Emma’s grandfather, the Poseidon king, suggests the two visit a small town called Neptune.
Neptune is home to both Syrena and Half-Breeds alike. But Emma and Galen didn’t sign up to be peacemakers between the ocean-living Syrena and the land-dwelling, freshwater counterparts. They didn’t bargain for meeting a charming Half-Breed named Reed, who can barely disguise his feelings for Emma. And they especially didn’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a power struggle that threatens not only their love, but their ocean kingdoms.
In this stunning conclusion to her bestselling Syrena Legacy, Anna Banks thrills fans with more action and romance than ever.

add it on Goodreads

Probably the biggest thing I have to say about Of Neptune is that it surprised me. 

When I finished the second book in the trilogy, Of Triton, I could not see WHERE a third book could go. I didn’t feel it left anything open enough. But to her credit, the author certainly made an excellent go of a full-fledge plot.

One of the great things about Of Neptune? 

The Syrena world just got so much bigger! Instead of just having mermaid-things in the ocean, WELCOME HALF-BREEDS!! That’s pretty cool. I like it when things get bigger and deeper.

But I just need to put it simply, why I didn’t like the book. It didn’t feel like it needed to exist. 

Okay! I know that’s harsh! But as I said before, Of Triton didn’t need a follow-up and this book wasn’t a stunning conclusion. Why? It followed a rule book. Like this:

1) We need an epic conclusion to a thrilling trilogy. Okay… epic conclusion….

2) Got it. We need a love triangle! Yes! Let’s get a new guy in to flirt with the beautiful (and already engaged) main character.

3) Wait a second. She likes the guy she’s engaged to…. Okay. We need a kidnapping, complete with G-rated torture. (Don’t get me wrong. I hate torture in books, but I can also tell when it’s lame.)

4) A few more ingredients, like family secrets, family miscommunication, a town with a little civil-mayor-war, 15 or so awkward chats about the benefits of abstinence, that stinking love triangle skunk who WOULDN’T LEAVE EMMA ALONE WHEN SHE TOLD HIM TO TAKE A LONG WALK OFF A SHORT PIER AND SOMEHOW THAT WASN’T A BLEMISH AGAINST HIS CHARACTER, and not enough of my favourite character from the other two books, Rayna.

I’m sorry. I really wanted to like this book. But I think the only way to GIF verdict it would be like this:

Aaaad…

Aaaad…



 Unfortunately, it was a disappointing conclusion to a trilogy I enjoyed. Book #1 was undoubtedly my favourite.

so, what about you? how do you feel when a trilogy doesn’t end with the epicness you were expecting?

Mime is trying to get over this really annoying flu. To do so, she’s have a Hunger Games movie marathon, skipping school, and having her math homework turn her brain into mashed pumpkin. It’s unfortunate. On the plus side, she has some positive thoughts about Tomorrow When The War Began. Some.

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5 Things to do Before a Music Exam

I have recently done an AMEB flute exam. 

Now, anyone who’s not an Australian is going to read that and go, “Uh-huh?!” In Australia, we like to rank aspiring musicians. We have grades 1 through to 8 (followed by four diploma exams) and this basically means that kids can wave around pieces of paper that are an indication of:

-Their achievements
-Their stress levels
-Their tiger parents
-And whether they actually ARE good at music.

(Note: if you don’t know what a “tiger parent” is read this.)

So I, as one who just survived, am going to give some tips on how to survive:

1. NEVER under any circumstances drink coffee or red cordial before an exam. 

If nerves don’t give you enough bobbance and bounce to send you playing everything at triple speed, caffeine will make it worse. Or, more usefully, don’t start your pieces too fast.

2. NEVER let the examiner smell fear. 

They’re like Nazgul. They can sense it and prey off your weak mind. Okay, not quite. But examiners are happy people when they don’t have to feel nervous for you, so when in doubt, fudge. NEVER say, “Ah, this is my worst piece” or “I don’t know the answer” or “sorry for messing that up.” No! If you forget an answer, make something up. If you mess up, pretend it never happened.

3. ALWAYS warm up before hand. 

You know how people get better the longer they play? Yeah. If you’ve done scales or run some hard stuff ten minutes before the exam, your fingers/breath/whatever-you-play-with will remember what it’s doing better.

4. ALWAYS tune your instrument! 

Like, times x1000000. If you tune it between every piece, the Earth will rain beauty upon you. Especially if you play strings. Nothing has made me want to make a Frodo-face like out-of-tune strings.

5. ALWAYS read the syllabus requirements. 

It’s funny, but in the front of any syllabus (probably the Manual of Syllabuses, particularly) there are details. Oh-so-many details about what’s required for technique, sight reading, general knowledge, and playing maturity. Let me tell you, reading through all that helped me.

There you have it. My attempts at being all professional and musician-y. 

I do realise this is a bad time of year to post AMEB exam tips, as most exams are over, but still.

What tips do you have to make exams (or performances in general) easy instead of a take-the-ring-to-Mordor kind of experience? Ever done one? Does your country have music exams?

Mime is currently feeling very relieved that her certificate came today. She got an A+. She had a generous examiner. She also has to read Tomorrow When the War Began for school and would very much like to know if it’s any good. She is lamenting the fact she’s out of liquorice tea, and very excited because she has art tomorrow. Art is good, because abstract is easy. Throw paint, drip paint, make friends raise their eyebrows… good times.

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55 Questions About Books || Part 2

Welcome to Part 2, peoples!

Remember last week? We began our discussion of 55 quirky book questions as discovered from this blog (amongst others…it’s a tag gone far and wild). 

Part 1 showed us many interesting fact about your fabulous Notebook Sisters. Like how Mime doesn’t have much chance to read these days and Cait is raising a cucumber (who bets puberty turns it into a pickle?).
Feel free to do these questions on your own blog! And tell us about it, if you like, so we may sneak over and compare answers with you.

28. Favourite reading snack?

MIME:Chocolate. Obviously. I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. The world could run on chocolate. 

CAIT: Aren’t you eating chocolate right now, Mime?

MIME: Shhh.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.

CAIT: I have to confess (and don’t kill me, I’m too fabulous to die) that I didn’t like The Winner’s Curse very much. It looked great. It sounded great. And mostly everyone loves it. But me? I’m the annoying black sheep in this crowd.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?

MIME:More often than not, unless the critic is a troll, I do. (By troll I mean those people who find issues with every. single. comma.)

CAIT:Ah…well, actually I’m opposite. (I’m assuming “critic” is working for a magazine or newspaper and not just your average joe-blogger.) I find critics have sucked on a lemon before writing their review.

MIME: But lemons are great! I love sucking lemons!

CAIT: I need say no more.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

MIME: I used to love deep frying anything subpar. But now I think “how would I feel if I were the author etc.”

CAIT: I have to admit…it’s a lot easier to write a negative review. You can yabber on forever about their failings, lists and lists. And the GIFs you can use! Okay, okay, I digress. While it’s easier to write those reviews, it’s not nicer. And I’m in no way a fan of book bashing. Every author worked dang hard on their book and we should appreciate that!

MIME:

CAIT:Yes, I’m finished now.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?

CAIT: Didn’t we already answer this? Didn’t I already say Klingon?
MIME: Pretty much. Except, you’re going to have to go a couple of thousand years into the future to get any good reading material.

35. Favorite poet?

CAIT: Who wrote Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue?
MIME: Not you, that’s who.

CAIT:Mime! You may be my new favourite poet! (Although, I admit I do enjoy Lewis Carroll’s nonsense.) Do you poet, Mime?

MIME: I poet. See, we’re doing poetry at school right now, and we mentioned Banjo Patterson. Some of his stuff is pretty funny. That is, the stuff that is funny. The rest is kind of “OOOOHHHH THE WOOOOES OF OUTBACK LIFE!”


36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?

CAIT:Actually at the moment I only have 6 library books out! (Let’s not talk about the reserves waiting for me.) I’ve had up to 10, I believe. See how restrained I am? I deserve a cookie.

37. How often have you returned books to the library unread?

MIME: Embarrassingly often.

CAIT: On a scale of one to Gru-wearing-a-tutu, how embarrassing?
MIME:

CAIT: Fair enough. For me? If I get an unexpected conglomeration of ARCs, then I may send books back to the library. Just recently I sent back The Enemy and Alice in Zombieland and Anna Dressed in Blood, all WITHOUT reading. Too many ARCs. Too little time. (Also Anna Dressed in Blood had a suspiciously close plot to Supernatural. Complete with pinching names. This made me frown.)

38. Favourite fictional character?

MIME: Okay. Cait. Did I read this question correctly? Is it actually asking what I THINK it’s asking???
CAIT: They wish us to choose favourites between all our kids.

MIME: Not going to happen. See why this is such an impossible question? There’s childhood favourites like Peaceable Sherwood from The Sherwood Ring, right up to modern awesome like Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass, to hilarious ones like Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars.

 CAIT: And Katniss from The Hunger Games, obviously.

MIME: And Cinder from Cinder and Lemony Snicket himself. 

CAIT: And Cath and her introvertedness from Fangirl! And Cole and Isabel from The Wolves of Mercy Falls! 

MIME: Shall we stop?

39. Favorite fictional villain?

CAIT: I love villains! Let me go wild! Although, the villains in books I like are usually not-so-much-villains, like Warner from Ignite Me and…Caine from the Gone series.
MIME: Movie villains are usually better, though. You know. All the right combinations between terrifying and funny. Like Smeagol. Loki.

41. The longest you’ve gone without reading?

CAIT: Well, my first 5-years were pretty illiterate. I’m ashamed, really, of how little I read.

MIME: I think I learned to read at four. So HAHAHAHHAHAH!
CAIT: True geniuses don’t show all their skills at once. I perfected the Puppy Dog Eyes way before you did, miss. And who always got dessert? Me. And WHO can still wheedle ice cream on a Monday night? (We only get it on the weekends.) I CAN.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.

MIME: There are a few of such calibre. Most were school books that I felt insulted my intelligence. But also The Lord of the Rings. I read The Fellowship, but I couldn’t make it to Two Towers. I just… couldn’t. I’d like to one day, though.
CAIT: I have a Thing about not finishing books. It makes me twitchy to have unfinished books lying around. The I confess, I only got 50% into Two Towers before I realised I was reading it just to “say” I’d read it. Which isn’t a very good reason.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?

CAIT: Meal times. Small nephews who steal bookmarks. Small nieces with sticky fingers who try to “read” too. The call of dessert. My sister choking on her hot chocolate and threatening to spit it at me. Normal things, you know?
MIME: Just about everything distracts me when I’m reading, which is a reason I don’t do enough of it.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?

MIME: Catching Fire! No doubt about it.

CAIT: This is haaaard. I want to say Catching Fire, but The Book Thief is incredible! And it’s SO like the book…and Matilda. Matilda is a brilliant movie and the only thing they wrecked was moving them from being British to American. (No offence to the Americans, but a British Ms. Trunchball was scarier.)

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?

CAIT: Where do we start?

MIME: Percy Jackson…1 & 2…Eragon (not that the book was stunning)…The Cat in The Hat….Mr. Popper’s Penguins…
CAIT: Ugh. No more, please. Spare me the memories.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?

MIME: I actually have a great story about this one. When I did work-experience at the library, they sent me down to the bookshop and said, “Go nuts!” (Not quite. They said “buy 50 board books.”) Still. I spent a lot of library money there. It was brilliant.

CAIT: I spent $12 once.

MIME: That was Big W, not a bookstore.

CAIT: It was a big $12.

MIME: #cheapskate

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?

MIME: What?

CAIT: Who does that?

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through?

MIME: If it was impossibly awful, or if I had a really strong disagreement with it.
CAIT: For me, it’d have to be absolutely-awful-terrible-no-good-very-bad-writing.

49. Do you like to keep your books organised?

MIME: If by organised you mean a stack on my desk…
CAIT: That’s why I don’t lend you books. You mistreat my babies. I, on the other hand, have mine in perfect order on my bookshelf. (Okay, I’m lying. There’s no order at all. But they’re still nicely arranged.)

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?

CAIT: No. Mine.
MIME: I don’t own many books. Cait owns most of the books, so why buy my own when I can read hers?

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?

MIME: There aren’t many I’m consciously avoiding, but there are an awful lot I haven’t gotten to, yet. Cait would list them out. But I won’t let her. Because it would take too long, and I would look bad.

CAIT: (I’m being silented against my will.) I’m avoiding Wicked, but only because it’s thick and not YA and…it somehow ends on the bottom of my TBR all the time. I’m avoiding finishing the Inkheart series too. My bad. Just basically I avoid most books over 400 pages.

52. Name a book that made you angry.

CAIT: Must that be singular?

MIME: Hold in the little green rage monster, Cait.

CAIT: Okay, I fiercely admit it. Thirteen Reasons Why made me angry. I think it sent a horrible message that condoned bullying and…and…it just ignited my fury. Also, The Last Thirteen series makes me angry because it exists. It’s — okay, I probably shouldn’t rant here. Ranting about books I don’t like is slightly mean.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?

CAIT: That’d probably be Mime’s book that I beta read for her.
MIME: I hope you’re buying a coffin.
CAIT: I’ve got myself a nice little plot in the cemetery too, don’t you worry. It’s taken care of.
MIME:
CAIT: Okay! I’m joking! Mime’s book was good. But also, actual-published books…I didn’t expect to like The Selection but I did!
MIME: I wasn’t really sure if I’d like Throne of Glass, but it got my full approval.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?

CAIT: Don’t get me started. I expect to like most books, I honestly do. Because I’m a very positive person.
MIME: Ha. ha. ha.
CAIT: But I expected to like Taken and A Midsummer’s Nightmare and both had me frowning into the dark night.

MIME: I have so many examples of this, I’m going to pull out a really obscure one from back five or so years ago. I thought I was going to adore Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott, because I’d liked Little Women. I fell asleep about a quarter of the way in. 

CAIT: The fact that it’s titled “good” wives leaves me dubious anyway.

55. Favourite guilt-free pleasure reading?

CAIT: Chocolate wrappers?

MIME: Guilt free? Really? Those chocolate wrappers are completely guilt free?

CAIT: I don’t feel bad about it. Nope. Not at all. Do I look guilty?

MIME: You know what? I’m at a loss here.

CAIT: I win? I WIN I WIN WIN!

MIME:

and, i’ll be nice and NOT ask you all the questions for the comments. instead! i want to know your answers to “favourite guilt-free pleasure reading?” and “what would make you put a book down?” because those are very interesting questions and i wish to know your thoughts.

Cait and Mime had quite a raucous time doing this two-part post series. They laughed till they cried. They spilt hot chocolate on each other. Even their mother questioned the sudden increase in frivolity. They also remembered a lot of movies they suddenly feel like watching, thanks to these gifs. Like Kung-Fu Panda. Currently, Mime’s reading OF NEPTUNE and Cait’s reading BOY21.

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55 Questions About Books || Part 1

You know what’s fun? Lists of questions.

We keep seeing this bookish-survey go around, with 55 quirky book questions. We’ve see it on copious blogs, but most recently Musings From Neville’s Navel. So! We googled and we believe it originated here.

Because 55 questions is kind of a lot, we’re splitting this into two posts of discussion awesome. You’ve been warned.

1. Favourite childhood book?


MIME: This is a really hard question, because the love of my childhood-book life was an even split between The Boxcar Children and the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary.

CAIT:After you finished rereading the same. books. over. and. over. GOSH! I had to throw books at her head to get her to try new ones. (Not that I minded…the throwing, that is.) I personally adored The Chronicles of Narnia. I had them on audio. I listened to them about 52 billion times and then I started them again.


2. What are you reading right now?


MIME: Of Neptune by Anna Banks. It’s a cross between chick-lit, action, and mermaids. Makes for an interesting combination, but I liked the first book better.

CAIT:I’m actually not reading anything right this second! I KNOW! You can take a moment to let that sink in. But the YA Aussie Book Club is reading Rebel Belle next, which I plan to join in. And I’m about to start The Book Thief, so RIP my feels.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?

CAIT: Mime, do you even have anything on reserve? Or do you just obediently read the books I give you?

MIME: I wouldn’t use the word “obedient”. It makes me sound way too “minion”.

CAIT: Well done! You’re finally learning your place! But, to answer the question, I have many books waiting for me at the library. I have Let It Snow and This Star Won’t Go Out and She Is Not Invisible. I keep demanding the library give it to me, but they’re asking for patience or something ridiculous. 

MIME: Let it snow! Let it snow!

CAIT:


4. Bad book habit?


MIME: Not reading?

CAIT: Reading too much?

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?


MIME: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. Australian, contemporary, and recommended by Cait.

CAIT: See, you are a good minion! Taking my recommendations! Good poppet. OKAY! Let me see, The Maze Runner and The Book Thief and —

MIME: Please don’t list all the books you have out. She has half the library out, let’s leave it at that.


6. Do you have an e-reader?


MIME: Yes, but no. I have an iPod. But I didn’t buy it to be an e-reader.

CAIT: She bought it to play Temple Run on. Don’t deny, Mime.

MIME: No, I bought it so my nephew can play Temple Run on it. He’s about as good as I am. He’s three.

CAIT: Babysitting fail. I also have an iPod as a Kindle, in fact, it’s identical to Mime’s and about 2 months older. (Mime is very peer-pressured. If I jumped off a bridge…well, she’d probably laugh. BUT STILL.)

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?


MIME: I like reading one, but I usually end up reading about two. Don’t know why. One upstairs, one down. Something like that.

CAIT: I only ever read 1 at a time. I’m focused and dedicated.


8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?


MIME: Uh… not really. But I do try to read more diversely.

CAIT: Yes. I read rather obsessively. I read everything. I stroke my books. And I sniff them sometimes.

9. Least favourite book you read this year so far?


CAIT: Ohhh, what can I burn. Let me see…perhaps Thirteen Reasons Why and Take Back the Skies. I loathe them with the fires of Mount Doom.

MIME: Settle down, Sauron.

CAIT: Sometimes I get angry, okay?


10. Favourite book you’ve read this year?


MIME: This question is hard, because I read both The Fault in Our Stars and Cress this year. And they are both wonderful.

CAIT: I can’t even BEGIN to list all the awesome I’ve read this year. Unhinged, Sinner, Cress, Dangerous Girls, Half Bad…aaaand I’ll stop? Unless you want to know about Paper Towns, Fangirl, More Than This…


12. What is your reading comfort zone?


MIME: I don’t like anything toooo violent. Or anything that has a central plot focus of JUST THE ROMANCE. It’s like, life doesn’t stop for love, people. You can still have a life outside of your crush.

CAIT: You clearly haven’t read much chick-lit, have you? If you get a crush = life starts. Break up = life ends. And in between? You’re not livin’, darl.

MIME: Says the girl who’s engaged to the fridge?

CAIT: We’re raising a cucumber, stop judging true love.


13. Can you read in the car?


MIME: Absolutely.

CAIT:

14. Favourite place to read?


MIME: On my bed.

CAIT: On Mime’s bed.


15. What is your policy on book lending?


MIME: If it’s me from the library, than, uh-huh. Good. If it’s other people from me… then my trust in them is pretty high.

CAIT: Would you like to explode?


16. Do you ever dog-ear books?


MIME: What?

CAIT: No.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?


MIME: WHAT?

CAIT: Who wrote these questions? Are they into book defacing?


18. Not even with textbooks?


MIME: I’m going to have to say no.

CAIT: Textbooks? I barely remember the things.

19. What is your favourite language to read in?


MIME: Quenya.

CAIT: Klingon.


20. What makes you love a book?


MIME: The feels! If I have the feels, I have the joy of reading. If a book can make me laugh, cry, (or both) then I bump up the rating.

CAIT: I have a list of very specific criteria for a book to match to make me love it. We won’t go into the exact details, but least to say, I require it to (like Mime) make me laugh and cry and possibly mention food. Delicious food.


21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?


MIME: A ridiculously fun fandom.

CAIT: If the book is feels shredding enough, I’ll definitely recommend it. I need people to suffer with me.


22. Favorite genre?


MIME: Right now, I really like contemporaries. They’re funny, they’re quirky… I like it. When I was Middle Grade age, though, I adored gothic books, like Lemony Snicket.

CAIT:As long as it’s YA, I’ll probably try it. Dystopian used to be my favourite, but writers seem to sacrifice individuality for a dystopic-checklist which sometimes bores me to tears. SO. I adore retellings and paranormal and moody contemporaries and horror.


23. Genre you rarely read but wish you did?


MIME: Classics — I wish I enjoyed them. But I don’t. So I don’t read very many of them. I’ll have to next year, though, for extension English. Whoppee.

CAIT: Epic fantasy for me. I love it and admire it…from a distance. They’re just so darn long and complicated and filled with family-trees of people who kill each other and then fall in love. Ugh. Confusing.

24. Favourite biography?


CAIT: Mime isn’t answering because she’s uneducated. I quite liked Mao’s Last Dancer and The Chinese Cinderella and…there was this book called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which was entertaining and disturbing. All these biographies are about Chinese people. I don’t know why.


25. Have you ever read a self-help book?


MIME: I made custard from a recipe once.

CAIT: It helped us. We helped ourselves. Quite a success.


26. Favorite cookbook?


CAIT: Speak of the devil!

MIME: I can’t be specific on this. Any cookbook with chocolate in it. (As long as the chocolate isn’t mixed with avacado. Ugh, no.) 

CAIT: Do I even know you?? I also like cookbooks that contain food. I like easy ones, without a million steps. Put it in a bowl, mix it up, put it in your mouth. 


27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

CAIT: Oh stop avoiding it, Mime. You obviously think my book is the best you’ve read this year. It was witty, fabulous and inspirational.

MIME: I hope you’re not taking about the child-abuse one?

CAIT: No, the one about futuristic slave-trade.

MIME: Ah! That one. Absolutely!
CAIT: (I’m ignoring that gif.) I AM witty and inspirational. Also, I personally have been very inspired by the Throne of Glass series. It makes me want to write better and it’s also inspired me to ship a certain couple very very hard. Let’s hope my ship isn’t a titanic.



Because there are 55 questions and we know you love us but probably not that much…this will be continued next week!


Until then, you may picture Cait as Megamind and Mime as Minion. (Obviously.) And we will get back to you with the rest of the survey.


i could ask you to answer all the questions yourselves in the comments…buuuut i will be nice. instead! i want to know your answers to what’s a genre you rarely read but wish you did? and how many books do you read at once? because those are very interesting questions and i wish to know your thoughts. also, you could totally do these 55 questions on your blog! if you dare…mwhahaha.

Cait is possibly the only person who can make Mime literally laugh her head off. In fact, after the cucumber comment, Mime needed to take a moment to compose herself. Mime is back at school doing petty tasks like maths and Cait is growing paper flowers. They now have a sudden hankering to re-watch Megamind but are contenting themselves with quoting, “L-O-L smiley face.”

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We Discuss Pizza and An Abundance of Katherines

It’s time Mime and I had another little discussion. 

Instead of a rather gritty interrogation (like last time) we’re having a civilised chat about An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Since Mime’s on holidays, we decided FOR ONCE to read the same book. We almost always read different books. At least, this way, we cover more ground. But it’s nice to be able to discuss once and a while, right?

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.
On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun–but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

add it on Goodreads

MIME: Perhaps The Fault in Our Stars has set the bar unusually high, but The Abundance of Katherines was…weird. Weird in a few different ways. Like, who writes a book about maths? Really? Maths?

CAIT: I personally hate maths. This may come as a surprise to you, but I legitimately do not like numbers. They’re so stiff and unimaginative. There’s only one answer! ONE! How narrow-minded is that?! Where is the creative license?

MIME: But it makes it easy to mark…I usually get my math tests back within a week! For a book about math, it was a bit improbable. Colin (the narrator) had 19 girlfriends over the course of his 17 years. All named Katherine. How likely is it to meet (in your area) 19 people with a name of Katherine all spelled the same way!? It’s not probable, statistically. I don’t know if that flavoured my opinion of the book before I started.

CAIT: He wouldn’t date Kates, or Katrinas or Catherines or Kits or Cats or Cates or Kaitlyns. It was Katherines or nothing for our little Colin McFussy. He’s CDO, which is like OCD, but the letters are in the correct order, yes?

MIME:You saw that on Pinterest.

CAIT: Sue me.

MIME: So the biggest things in any John Green book, is firstly death, and secondly, humour.

CAIT: Which is why we enjoy them so much. Death and funniness! Gallows humour! Yay!

MIME: Surprisingly, this book was more about break ups than death. (Though, apparently, break ups are like death for teenagers.) But as for the funniness! Oh, this books gets all the stars. Or most of them.

CAIT: Colin was quite like Mime, actually. High achiever. Little genius. Terrible sense of humour. (Just joking, Mime, you’re mildly funny a few times a year.) It was his BFF, Hassan, who was hilarious. Even when Colin fell and bashed his head on a rock, did Hassan run to the rescue? Nope. He just let Colin lie there. 

MIME: Because Hassan is just like Cait!

CAIT:I reject that. Then there was Lindsey! I’d like to call her the “love-interest” but Colin has this THING for Katherines, so he basically could not fall in love with Lindsey. SO, Mimey, do you think the characters here were similar or different to John Green’s other books?

MIME: Well, this makes the third of his books I’ve read —

CAIT: (I’ve read 4! I win! Ha ha!)

MIME: (What are you, five?) — and I have to say, they were not the same characters. Colin was maybe closest to Pudge from Looking for Alaska, but in a way that they would get along as friends rather than be twins. Actually, Colin was a difficult character, because he had a lot going on. In fact, he was almost a bit self-absorbed at times, because he had so much happening in his head.

CAIT:Smart people do have to suffer a lot. It’s so sad. But what can we do? All these thoughts! All these ingenious plans! It’s tiring, honestly. Being a genius is like this:


It’s very hard to contain, very hard to upkeep. Which is Colin’s problem actually. He’s having a mid-teen-crisis about if he’s a genius or not. 

MIME: He’s not a genius, he’s a prodigy.

CAIT:Exactly! Crisis! The book is basically about WHO ARE YOU. 

MIME: Actually, the book is about Colin being a control-freak because he wants to find a formula to predict exactly when he’ll get dumped in each relationship. Who does that? People are not math!

CAIT: I’d probably rate An Abundance of Katherines as my least liked John Green book. (TFIOS is still my favourite. Probably Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns are tied.)

MIME:I guess my real problem with the book was who the target audience is. I’m 16, in Year 10. Typical reader of YA contemporaries, right? I had no idea what the maths was, and I’m doing the advanced stuff.

CAIT: Are you tooting your trumpet, Mime? So advanced…yet you say “stuff”. 

MIME: I said maths. Not eloquence.

CAIT: But! Fun fact: John Green doesn’t get maths either! He actually had a friend help him with all the maths in this book. I read it in the appendix. Did you read the appendix, Mime?

MIME: No, it was about maths.

CAIT: So we can basically conclude that, if a book is about maths, Mime and I and our puny brains will struggle. 

MIME: My brains is not puny! Advanced in maths! And I still didn’t get Colin’s theorem. So is this book for seniors and university students and the really, really smart… who are going to be so brainy they might be bothered by the fact the book has no plot other than the discovery of this theorem and Colin’s love-life?

CAIT: Fussy, fussy. You’re so hard to please, aren’t you? Who will read this book? DFTBA fans, that’s who. And they’re smart. Or smart wannabes. I’m a wannabe. Because I can’t math. 

MIME: I gave the book 3 stars. I really did have a good time reading it, but too many things bothered me the whole way through.

CAIT: I gave it 4-stars, because I’m a better Nerdfighter than you are. 

MIME: I’ve watched more vlogs than you have.

CAIT:I filled out the Nerdfighter survey!!

MIME: I bought you Paper Towns for Christmas!

CAIT: I bought myself TFIOS for no reason! Ha!

MIME: I’M SAVING THE PLANET BY NOT CUTTING DOWN EXTRA TREES!

CAIT: WELL I LIKE PIZZA. 

MIME: That’s the best you can do?

CAIT: 

we obviously need your opinion on this matter: “pizza is the answer” — yay or nay? oh and also, how many John Green books have you read? have you tried An Abundance of Katherines? thoughts on it? and if you’re brave…is maths your nemesis?

Cait and Mime are rather intelligent human beans, despite being woefully opposed to maths. Who needs those sneak little numbers anyway? They’re evil. Mime has just spent the last 3 days at Youth Orchestra with her flute whilst giggling at squeaky violins. Cait has spent the last 3 days sick and may or may not have watched a bit of Sherlock to pass the time. 

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The Interrogation of Mime: Is she or is she not a bad blogger?

If you’re new around here, you probably wonder why this blog is called the Notebook Sisters. Because, it’s usually just me (that is, Cait). And I know, I know, I am bucket loads of awesome. But. There is a sister. Do you remember Mime?

Of course you don’t.

I will remind you.

She is my little sister and she’s here today for an interrogation (because discussions are mainstream) wherein I can put all my watching of FBI shows and movies to use. I will put her in the spotlight. I will make her talk. And you will find out the truth: is Mime or is Mime not an incredibly bad blogger?

INTERROGATOR: So Mime, thanks for joining us today for an interview about your hopeless and pathetic life as a school student who must live through strict regimes in order to obtain a piece of paper that tells your life’s worth. Question #1: Tell us about your life. Please be honest.

MIME: Am I under truth serum here?

INTERROGATOR: No, you’re under I-will-defenestrate-you-if-you-don’t-cooperate serum. Now answer the question. 

MIME: Uh… right. Strict regimes? I guess you mean being a normal person.

INTERROGATOR: Stow your “normal” rubbish, mortal. Don’t you realise the similarities between prison and school? Get up at a certain time. Everyone wears the same “uniform”. Fights break out between in mates. You’re all vying for the guards/teachers approval. If you’re bad? THEY FLOG YOU.

MIME: Okay, I don’t know where you went to school —

INTERROGATOR: My mother taught me. 

MIME: — but the difference between school and prison, for me, at least, is that I actually want to be there. Shocker. I enjoy it. There are some really great things about school. Also, my school uniform is not prison orange, so I’m totally okay with it.

INTERROGATOR: So, Question #2: What’s your favourite activity in the restricted organisation you refer to as…school. (Excuse me, I just swore.)

MIME: Music. I adore our music class. We get to play in bands, play instruments we wouldn’t usually use, accompany other people, perform, do solos… it’s great.

INTERROGATOR: Question #3: Do you think your preference of the Musical Activity has made you blind to the fact that you are being brain washed?

MIME: Yeah, they’re totally brainwashing me.

INTERROGATOR: Well, you still wear that dorky uniform and strut around your house under the impression that you look “nice”. 

MIME: Okay, here’s where I will say something against school. What is with the uniforms? The sizes, I mean. The Uniform Shop lady tried to get me into the biggest Russian Circus shirts possible, and skirts that came to my mid-calves.

INTERROGATOR: This is because if a boy looks at you, you will get pregnant and you will DIE. They’re trying to save your life. 

MIME: No, it’s because I’m short.

INTERROGATOR: Question #4: My super ears have been burning with news that you also enjoy sport.

MIME: Woah. What? There’s a difference between “enjoy” and “have to participate in order not to get a bad mark.” See, I am blessed with a spirit of over-achieving. Which meant that despite the fact I run like Jack Sparrow, I work very hard to get an A in PE.

INTERROGATOR: Question #5: So did you or did you not sell your soul to get said A?

MIME: I did not.

INTERROGATOR: Interesting. Question #6: This all leads me to conclude that you have a very busy life in school. What about outside of school? How would you describe your home life?

MIME: After I come home and feed you, I practise. I practise flute and piano. For ages. I’m doing an AMEB Grade 7 flute exam next month. Do you know what that means?

INTERROGATOR: We get two biscuits instead of one?

MIME: It means a whole lot of work. It means 6 pieces (Which can have multiple movements), scales, arpeggios, sustained exercises, sight reading, aural, memorisation, and extensive knowledge about what stupid chord each stupid bar is made up of!! Savvy?

INTERROGATOR: Keep a civil tonuge in your head, FOOL. I sense you are stressed. Question #7: Are you stressed?

MIME: No. Not at all. Why would you ask? I’m taking it all in my stride. (Don’t make any snide remarks about tripping on my own toes.)

INTERROGATOR: We’ve already established you suck at sport. SO. Question #8: How do spend your time when you’re not a) serving time in prison or b) practising your steel instrument that brings joy to evil?

MIME: I get the feeling you don’t like flutes.

INTERROGATOR: You’re the one summoning Beelzebub. Answer my questions. 

MIME: I Pinterest to de-stress. I listen to music. And I fangirl with you. Don’t deny it.

INTERROGATOR: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU HAVE NOTHING ON ME. NOTHING. Ahem. Question #9: So how often would you say you have time to blog?

MIME: A lot less than I’d like, honestly. I don’t get much time to read at the moment, either. It’s really unfortunate, but that’s the way it works at the moment. Because I’m not reading or writing a lot, I’m not getting a whole lot of book blog ideas to work with, and that makes it a little difficult to write posts.

INTERROGATOR: My sources tell me you have read less than 30 books?

MIME: Your “sources” are probably my Goodreads, which is why I shouldn’t have friended you.

INTERROGATOR: Ask me how many I’ve read. Go on. 

MIME: And now we see that the interrogator is feeling left out and needs some ego stroking. Pray tell.

INTERROGATOR: 106 BOOKS READ IN 6 MONTHS YEAH BABY!!!!!! 

MIME: Careful your Cait is showing.

INTERROGATOR: Silence. NOW. Back to the topic at hand: Question #10: This entire discussion leads me to several conclusions, the first of which is: You are a horrible blogger. How do you plead?

MIME: Guilty, but not ashamed. I try —

INTERROGATOR: Save your pity party for someone who cares. I’m going to be easy on you, because I’m a really nice person. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. It’s YOUR choice. SO. Option #1: You can be a better blogger (also: say that 5 times fast). Or Option #2 I can cross you out of the header until the blog looks like this:

MIME: Ouch.

INTERROGATOR: I have spoken. 

MIME: I thought you were an interrogator, not a judge. Make up your mind.

INTERROGATOR: I AM A GOD YOU DULL CREATURE AND I WILL NOT BE BULLIED.

MIME: 

INTERROGATOR: Make your statement. 

MIME: I’ll try. Because no one likes a drawing of me with a red X in my head.

of course, YOU, blogglings, are not under interrogation not yet anyhow, Cait has fiendish skills FYI…but do you ever feel uninspired to blog because life is hectic? how do you battle it?

Cait and Mime are really very awesome sisters who treat each other very nicely and lovingly. Do not think otherwise. Though if you want the FULL truth, Cait is the awesomer sister. Just sayin’. Cait also really enjoyed the title of “interrogator”. This may go to her head. Mime is, of course, practising as we speak. Such dedication. Sickening, really.

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Disney Destroyed My Soul and Made Me Narrow Minded

Remember those movies your parents put on for you to watch? Those bland, same-same movies that taught you never to think for yourself, and (if you’re a girl), to always rely on a guy? The ones where everyone wore pink and singing animals solved life’s problems so the girl at the centre didn’t have to do anything at all?

Me neither.

It has come to my attention that Disney gets rubbished for nothing. 

Basically, the “big one” is that Disney princess movies are sexist, teach girls to only think about love and being rescued, and feature an abundance of pink. 

I’m going to dispel these myths.

1. First up, we have Snow White.

Understandably, this is probably the most sexist of Disney movies, since it was made in the 1930’s. I can’t talk much about her from experience, because I haven’t seen this movie since I was a miniature. Snow White’s evil queen stepmum wants to annihilate her because she’s prettier. Prettier? On face value Snow White’s innocent beauty–a feature about herself she can’t even control–is a hugely sexist thing to be the tipping point of the story. But wait! Reexamination, please! 

Evil queen. Evil QUEEN. The land is ruled, undisputed, by a woman. Not one character goes, “Hey, wait. It’s a bad idea that she’s queen because she’s a woman.” No! They knock her out of power because she’s bad. Not because a guy can do it better. Also, she wants to kill the pretty stepdaughter and reign supreme. The villain is a woman, and a pretty stinking powerful one. I don’t really see how women are downgraded in anyway. (Also, Snow White wears blue and yellow — not pink.)


2. Cinderella, dear poppet. 

Here’s a fun one. Firstly, the villain is a woman who can rule the roost just fine on her own. Also, Cinderella eventually stands up to her cruel treatment by defying the stepmother and going out anyway.

Note: Mr. Saving Prince has nothing to do with the real catalyst of the story. He’s just a bonus at the end. She didn’t have the prince on her mind when she went. She got there with a woman’s help, anyway. Her Fairy GodMOTHER. (Also, she wears blue.)

3. Aurora

She does ultimately get saved by a bloke again, but in her defence, she was dead at the time. Or asleep for a hundred years, but same difference. The villainous woman, again, has extreme power. Interesting to note, ONLY WOMEN had powers in this movie — all the fairies. The guys like the kings and Prince Phillip? Mere mortals. Aurora was rescued by women when she was a baby, too. Women who were terrible housewives, something absolutely not normal for the 1950’s. I am a little sad that Aurora herself didn’t do much at all, but anyway. (And yes, she wears pink.)

4. Ariel 

She is probably the dumbest of all the princesses. I’m sorry, but it’s true. She changed for her man, which is about the dumbest thing a girl can do. But in her defence, she catapulted her own story into action by SAVING THE PRINCE. Eric would have been fish food if it wasn’t for her. The villain is a woman, once again, with more power than the average mortal. 

(Ariel used to wear pink in group shots, but recent princess modifications now have her wearing sea green. Goes well with the hair.)

5. Belle

If anyone tells me Belle’s story was sexist, I will laugh. And then cry. Because Bell ran the entire show. Belle sacrificed her life for her father, stood up to Gaston (notably the first male villain), TAUGHT the beast (not just said, “Oh, I love you.” She took up a leadership position and taught him how to read and be a good human.) Oh, and she rescued the beast from enchantment. And then she rescued the rest of the castle. And she wears yellow.

6. Jasmine 

She doesn’t do much. The movie isn’t about her. But she does tell those sexist jerks that she’s not a prize to be won. Then she stuffs Aladdin’s hat in his face when she realises that he’s just there to win a pretty bride. Yeah. Weak woman? Huh. Also: Blue outfit. Sensing a pattern?

7. Pocahontas

 I’m not going to say much here, because the only way to think Pocahontas is passive is to NOT watch the movie. She only said, “You must kill me before you kill John Smith” and then saved the environment while she was at it. I could go on. I won’t. (Brown dress.)

8. Mulan

She only saved China…nothing major or anything, right?. (Yellow and green outfit–when she’s actually wearing a dress.)

9. Tiana 

She is certainly a hard worker. And her love interest is pretty much a slacker. Tiana is the star of the show that whips him into shape. She also said that she had no interest in finding a man (at the beginning). Oh, and she had to save Naveen. Because he was an idiot. And everyone knew it. (Though he was a great character. Like, Captain Thorne. Anyway.) (Green ball gown, note.)

10. Rapunzel 

She is maybe a nod back to Disney’s less feministic days, as she doesn’t exactly save the day (technically, the horse does, but anyway.) She does smack Flynn in the face with a frying pan. That’s anything but passive. She also helps him be a better person. Rapunzel has an agenda she will do anything to fill, and that definitely does not make her a sit-back-and-let-the-prince-do-the-work girl. (Purple dress. I love her dress. It’s my favourite.)

11. Ah, Merida. 

Who doesn’t love a girl with a bow? Especially one with NO love interest. At all. In fact, she basically tells everyone the idea of only having life option–being a good queen and mother–is absolute rubbish.

And a green dress. Wow, I love that she does the whole action-packed movie in an ankle-length dress and it doesn’t compromise her fighting for a moment.

12. Anna is great.

She’s definitely not weak. She’s a romantic, yes, but she’s not afraid to boss Kristoff around. Or yell at an angry snow monster. Or throw punches. Oh, and she saved herself and her sister. No guys involved.

 (And purple and blue clothes.)

13. Elsa

She’s also a princess (Queen!) with no dude to slow her down. Oh, yeah. She rules, with no one questioning whether she’s “good enough” due to being a girl. She almost skewered a bloke with an icicle. She broke out of a prison using only ice. And covered an entire land in a deep winter. In summer. In high-heels. Power, much? (Wearing blue.)

Tell me again how Disney presents women as passive and/or damsels in distress? Because I think that’s a pretty naive statement. Same as the pink thing. The franchise DOES make all the toys, backgrounds, decorations insanely bubblegum pink. But think about it! Everything that’s NOT the dresses needs to be pink…or else it blends. It’s a rule of design. The focal image stands out better against a contrasting, light background. Also: many little girls like pink. I did. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

what is you’re stance on Disney Princesses? are you a Disney Kid, or a bit more skeptical? does Disney portray their females as weak or strong? (No, really! I want to know!)

Mime is relishing her holidays. All except for the homework. But you can’t have everything. She’s reading Bird by Crystal Chan and is thinking about weird things like making money off mermaids. Yeah. She’s not really sure where to find one, but if you know, please tell her. 

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Vlog: Why are book blurbs so frustratingly vague?!

Just to prove that we’re real live people (we know you were curious), we have filmed a new vlog! Last year, we had quite a bit of fun vlogging for our Insanity Linkup. Mime really enjoys it. Cait? She humours Mime. SO. We present to you another wonderous vlog.

CAUTION: Involves Cait getting thumped in the head with a book. May disturb viewers who care about Cait. 

why are book blurbs so frustratingly vague?

We’re using CROWN OF MIDNIGHT (THRONE OF GLASS #2) by Sarah J. Maas and DEAD ENDS by Erin Lange. Their blurbs and links to them on Goodreads are posted below.

Don’t you love where it freezes? Gosh we’re adorable.

Crowned by Evil. Bound by Duty. Divided by Love.
Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood — but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, puts those she loves at risk.
Torn between her two protectors — a captain and a prince — and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart, or the fate of the kingdom…

Dane Washington and Billy D couldn’t be more different.
Dane is a bully. He says he has “standards”: he doesn’t hit girls, and he doesn’t hit special ed kids.
Billy D is too kind to hit anyone. He has Down syndrome and hangs out with the teachers in his lunch break.
But one chance encounter leads them to realise that they have more in common than they think…

we want to hear your thoughts!
do you think book blurbs are way too vague? does it intrigue or frustrate you?
and how would you feel about a monthly vlog from the Notebook Sisters?!

Cait and Mime are not usually violent. They’re just unusually clumsy. Once Mime fell up the stairs (Cait was standing behind her but swears full innocence) and once Cait fell into a river. That was unfunny. And her brother was laughing so hard he didn’t even pull her out. Currently, Mime and Cait are eating chocolate and lazing around since it’s holidays.

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5 Ways to Make Your Librarian Happy

Because I’m in Year 10, I had to do Work Experience (that is, go to some sort of company and pretend they’re paying me to work for them for five days.) I’m not really good at making decisions. So I panicked a fair bit, and thought, “No! I don’t want to work any of these places! Customer service is scary, childcare is cute but terrifying, and I’m not good at talking!” Then I calmed down and thought logically.

Duh. Do it at the library.

It was a good decision.

I have a thing where I love to see what goes on behind the scenes, be it a stage, a library, whatever. It’s just cool. It’s like everything’s a performance, and there’s so much that goes into it coming out perfectly, but nobody sees it or realises the work it takes. I like seeing what people have done to get something ready for the public eye. It’s cool.

Seeing all the processing and learning about the Dewey Decimal System was very cool. (Thank you, Lemony Snicket, for explaining the system to me so I didn’t show up and have no idea what they were talking about.) I got to watch Baby Bounce (it’s like a playgroup and my nephew and niece showed up and sat with me, which was cool.) I changed about forty-thousand DVDs into lockable cases. I stamped discarded books. All very, very interesting.

The best part was when they sent me to the bookshop down the road and said, “Buy fifty board books.” And while I’m not exactly up on the picture book trends, how cool is it to go to a shop and say, “Yeah, I’ll take fifty?”

If you, like me, are a person who can’t buy brand new books very often, I expect you like the library a lot. I know I do. It’s just plain handy. But like any business, customers can be kind of annoying sometimes.

So I have a list of 5 easy ways to thank your librarians for supplying you with free books. 

1. Put it back in the right place. Everyone messes this one up sometimes. You’re perusing. A cover catches your eye. You read the blurb, and go, “Nah, not this one.” You put the book back. Not in the same hole it used to be in. You don’t mean to, you just don’t think about it. This is extremely annoying for librarians. Because when someone reserves that book later, and the librarians go looking for it, they can’t find it. And it wastes a lot of their time searching.

2. Don’t sit in the aisles. If you want to sit on the floor and read, go ahead (though most have some forms of seats for your convenience.) But don’t sit in front of a bookshelf. Not only is it a pain for the other patrons who want to see that book that’s right behind your fat head, but the librarians on shelf-stacking, A) can’t get past, B) can’t access all the books, and C) might accidentally run over you with a book trolley. Which would be messy and look bad on their resumes.

3. Don’t reserve books that are in the local branch when you are. It may be easier to get the librarian to find it for you, but if you can take a couple of minutes to look, you’ve given the librarians a couple of minutes to, I don’t know, do something that you’re not qualified to do. Like, buy new books.

4. Take a moment to look at the book/CD displays, and borrow! Go ahead, do! Because it took a librarian about an hour to find the right amount of books/CDs and check them into display status and set them up alphabetically. It makes them happy when they see that it’s working, and people are borrowing those books/CDs.

5. Look on the Bottom Shelves, too! This is more beneficial for yourself and the author than the librarian, but still. It’s annoying to actually squat down and read the titles that are close to the floor, but at my library, Suzanne Collins is on a second-to-bottom shelf that you wouldn’t see automatically from above, and John Green is on the floor, practically. Think of the loss that a top-shelf-skimmer would experience by never noticing they were there? Also, if those books get read a lot, too, they’ll wear, and when books show an awful lot of wear, they get discarded. Then the library buys more books. More reading material for you. Read widely from the alphabet of author names. (Psst! Librarians like buying new books… or at least, I did.)

So, fellow librarians, did I miss anything? And what does everyone think of these ideas? how often do YOU go to the library?

Mime is recovering from work experience (haha) and cross country (ha*wheeze*ha). She is starting to get excited about the holidays, because she’s broke and the needs to go busking. Also, she needs time to write, because school and writing have it out for each other. She’s also hugely excited to get her report card. She’s a nerd. 

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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (quiet fangirling involved)

Believe it or not, I read this before Cait. (Though she read it right after me and fangirled so much she decided I should write the review because she was too emotionally invested.) You can catch Cait’s review on Goodreads.

Thank you Pan Macmillan Australia for the review-copy! FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell hits shelves on April 1st, 2014!

Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they’re off to university and Wren’s decided she doesn’t want to be one half of a pair any more – she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It’s not so easy for Cath. She’s horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she’s experienced in real life. Without Wren Cath is completely on her own and totally outside her comfort zone. She’s got a surly room-mate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words …And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. Now Cath has to decide whether she’s ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she’s realizing that there’s more to learn about love than she ever thought possible …

add it on Goodreads
Rainbow Rowell writes books. Sometimes she writes about adults (ATTACHMENTS and LANDLINE). Sometimes she writes about teenagers (ELEANOR & PARK and FANGIRL). But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they’re screwing up. And people who fall in love.

When she’s not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don’t really matter in the big scheme of things.

She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

If you want a book that basically sums up the Internet age? This is the one. 


I love all the references to pinterest/tumblr/meme culture. It’s fun and hilarious, but it does have a fairly da-da-da type of plot.

I really enjoyed the characters. While Cath, the narrator, isn’t someone who will get on my list of Most Memorable protagonists, she is undeniably well-written. I am fairly introverted, and Cait is very introverted, so I know how socially uncomfortable people respond to situations. Cath is so realistic. The way she actually does cry. The way she’s bold as anything on the Internet. She has a fettish for peanut butter. And she loves her twin sister SO MUCH.


I was kind of mad at Levi the Love Interest a few times… (HOW DARE YOU, YOU STUPID BOY!) And Nick…don’t get me started.

I think Cath and Wren (her twin sister) could be a little stereotypical as a pair. I mean, the super-introverted nice girl with the super-extroverted party girl as a twin?? On the surface it was very “Yep. Expected.” Underneath, I like it that Wren wasn’t as shallow as she first appeared.

The plot was, as I said before, not very fast.  I have trouble picking out the main plot. The whole thing wasn’t about the romance. It wasn’t all about Cath and Wren. It wasn’t just about Cath’s writing. And it was more than a college story. It was kind of a whole bunch of threads tied together, and they all worked gorgeously. But while they each had a climax (and a good one), they didn’t all come together to make the plot memorable.

It was funny, and I identified with Cath. It was beautiful, and a tiny bit bittersweet. It wasn’t hilarious, though, which I’d hoped for, and it didn’t leave me in a puddle of tears. I didn’t have the feelz. (Hence the 4-stars, not 5.) But it’s totally enjoyable and absolutely worth the read.

Expectation:

Reality:

Mime is doing work experience at the library. This is a simultaneously scary and exciting thing, as she’s never had a job before. She is extremely relieved that all the exams are over for Term 1, and the holidays are coming up. Unfortunately, so is Cross Country. She hopes dearly that she doesn’t get lost. Unlike last time. 

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2018 Reading Challenge

2018 Reading Challenge
Cait (Paper Fury) has read 12 books toward her goal of 200 books.
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C.G. Drews’s books on Goodreads

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The Boy Who Steals Houses

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ratings: 3 (avg rating 5.00)


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