Random Things In Action

"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers."

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

"Everyday I am someone else. I am myself - I know I am myself - but I am also someone else. It has always been like this."

This book is real inspiration and enlightenment. This book is a metaphor of life and love in complete and true package. This book is an irony. This book is perfect. From the beginning to the way it ended—priceless.

This book deserves to be read real slowly, which was what I exactly did. Not because it was uninteresting, but because of the reflections I learn and realize at the end of every chapter. David Levithan is a genius. Where else to explain the meaning of life and love and perspective but in this book which inclines us to the truth, importance, and differences of every individual—put into action by the story of A waking everyday to spend a different person’s life, while falling in love with the same someone every day. Imagine how hard that case is. Now imagine how Levithan managed to pull it off perfectly. Exactly. He managed to inject beauty into it, his words painting the world in such wonderful colors, making me imagine skylines and oceans and sunsets, but at the same time the loneliness, misery, and longings along with it. His work is an irony of happiness and sacrifice, possibilities and wrong decisions, great moments and bad moments, desire and acceptance, rushing on with life and patiently awaiting for it to happen.

Life—its purpose and its meaning—is presented with each day A lives as someone—as a wallflower, a soccer player, a drug addict, a Baptist, a cheerleader, a homo, a geek, a bully, an inferior, an actor, a traumatic, a metalhead, a lesbian, an obese, somebody abused, somebody’s twin, somebody depressed, somebody rich, sometimes somebody typical, somebody he likes to be, even somebody he loves. It contemplates a new perception of somebody’s self and gives a deeper truth and understanding to who we really are inside. It also imposes the thought that how we encounter life, how we see and experience the world, how we live it up—is sometimes governed by our perspective. Whether we want to live it easy, or we strive to create the definition of who we really are, if we want to make our mark or if we choose to lay back and watch.

There are times when we just give up and live about how people expect us to, the person we just allowed ourselves to become. But this book teaches me that if we look deeply within we will see that it’s not about how people see us and what they think, but the reality underneath the skin. Some cease to live as nobody, but if we have limited time in our hands, if we live one day at a time and exist in only the present, we’ll learn the wealth and enormity of every moment—as this book tries to convey. It also tells me that we have to do the conquering for love to do anything at all. It is in every person who believes in us, the ones we love and who care. We fight for them, because life is built in the foundation of people we need. We learn to accept the love we think we deserve, but can we really deserve anything at another’s expense?

This book also imparts that love is also sacrifice. So much happiness in love can also cause too much sadness. Love is in knowing and understanding. Love is in searching and finding. Love is recognition and obedience. Love is being at peace. Love is the nice note. So amazing how one book could become part of me so much. I swear, it was like ninjas cutting onions at the last part. So many onions. I was honestly almost afraid to write about it, scared that I might not put in the right words and ruin it but I thought, “Oh well, no review could probably describe how great this book truly is, so alright.”

Every Day is such a big big inspiration and I just love love it. From the very awesome cover to the acknowledgment (Yeah, I like acknowledgments of great authors). And oh, sorry for the long review but I feel there’s just too much to say. And I say, gotta live the enormity of the moment. :) This said, I wanna share some of the best parts that moved me in this book: (that’s actually all of it, but I think I gotta choose, so here goes)

Like I said.. crack. And I enjoyed this more than The Opportunist so imagine how fast I could have finished this book if I had no exams. I only got until chapter 4 of Dirty Red when I decided to drop it in favor of Caleb. Didn't want to know more of Leah's shit but.. maybe I'd finish it soon because I kind of liked those first 4 chapters even though I hate Leah.

This book is like crack. I dunno what to feel about the whole thing yet. When realization strikes, my rating might differ but there's this part in me that liked it. And I sure as hell am gonna fcking kill everyone in this book if I fail my quiz.

Nah. I'm kidding. I don't have a quiz. I have exams.

Bwahahaha. Bad example in the house! lol. I already studied - this is my idea of a break. Finish a book in one sitting. The worst that could happen is that I'd fall asleep in class. But seriously, don't make an example of me :)

Full review soon because, yeah, exams.

FULL REVIEW!!
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/09/review-opportunist-by-tarryn-fisher.html

Full review:
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-girl-with-iron-touch-by-kady.html

"Hey I heard you were a Wild One.. oooooohhh."

LOL. Will post my review tomorrow :)
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*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well? It's a David Estes book so even though I only read The Moon Dwellers, I absolutely loved it that when someone asks for readers and reviewers of his book my only answer would be 'Heck, yes!'. I don't know much about this series and when I picked it up I haven't even read the blurb so I was anticipating whatever surprise was hidden in it. But I did hear that the Country Saga is a sister series of The Dwellers so I was pretty much expecting something like it. But fret not. Mr. Estes is not the kind of writer who will give you something you are expecting.

Fire Country is a lot different. A LOT. The world-building, for one, made me feel like I was living in a whole new era where there's only heat and drying plants and tents and all that. It really felt like I was living in a desert the whole time I was reading it. I can tell because when I read a sneak peak of the sequel, Ice Country, it actually gave me the opposite feeling - the chills, the fresh and cold air, the more urbane way of living. Yup. Living in yet 'nother world. I am not kidding. You try reading the whole first book and proceed immediately to the second and you'll know what I mean.

The main character, Siena, is used to all the name-calling and punishment she gets everytime she so much as move. She's not physically strong, she's skinny, she has two left feet but reading the book in her point of view is very engaging. She doesn't have many friends but she has Circ who sees the strength in her. I see the strength in her. Many times throughout the book I will say 'poor Siena' or when she does something out of pure will and determination 'what are you doing? no. no. don't!' but the she does and I just can't help but cheer her on saying 'You can do it. YOU CAN DO IT!' even if she really can't. She has a wonderful heart and I just wish everything good for her so when it came to a point where all of my emotions just can't take it anymore, I am the one exclaiming 'WHEN WILL THIS MADNESS STOP? THIS SEARIN' HURTS!' like it happened to me instead of Siena. But really, I did cry a river.

What else can I possibly say about this book? Oh, here's one thing. If you are expecting anything from Mr. Estes' books, drop 'em. It won't happen. Just go with the flow and be surprised all you want. It's part of the package. And then you can go ahead and appreciate every new experience these works of art brought you.

More reviews: http://haraiah.blogspot.com

Full review:
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-written-in-red-by-anne-bishop.html

Full review:

http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-carnival-of-souls-by-melissa-marr.html

I don’t know where to start. I have a lot of good things to say about Unbreakable and to be honest I’m still in the middle of calming myself after reading it. First of all, I did not know this is the last book. I only have a hundred pages left when I decided to call it quits since I have school in the morning. Before I decided to continue reading the following day, I visited my Goodreads page and saw one review of Unbreakable saying there will not be any sequel. Now I did not exactly expect it to be a long series but imagine how I would feel to know that little info when I am 1/5 left to finishing it. Panic attack. Of course I freaked out. I find it really hard to read endings in a series I absolutely love. And now that Janelle’s story has been concluded and let go (not fully, but still) I am going to say that IF this really is the last book then it is a good one.

FULL REVIEW:
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-unbreakable-by-elizabeth-norris.html

Full review:
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-girl-in-clockwork-collar-by-kady.html

Full review!! :)
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/08/review-girl-in-steel-corset-by-kady.html

This is just so sad.. what I'm going to say to you. 3.5 STARS *covers self*

So glad with how it ended.

Full review! :)
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-ascend-by-amanda-hocking.html

Full review/rant, whatevs :)
http://haraiah.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-spell-bound-by-rachel-hawkins.html