Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi // My First Experience With a Graphic Novel in English Class

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi
Publication: June 1, 2004, by Pantheon
Genre: Non-Fiction, Graphic Novel, Memoir
Pages: 153
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: ½

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

My Thoughts:

 You can't even imagine how long it has taken me to write this review. Eight months, maybe? Nevertheless, I LOVED it. This is the second graphic novel memoir that I have read, and it was so intelligent and unique. It definitely gave me a new outlook on the Iranian Revolution, an event I previously read about in Marina Nemat's Prisoner of Tehran (if you read that and enjoyed it, then this will be just as good). Persepolis is an outlook on crises in the Middle East, and I completely recommend it for anyone of any age. We often hear about what the governments' roles are in these types of situations, however we have limited information as to what citizens are enduring. Marjane Satrapi provided us with this information, and I have grown a bigger sympathy for people because of this memoir. It has made me a better person, I can admit.

Persepolis paints a picture of Marjane's life and how she overcame the many struggles she faced. It's a deep story that is much more than what meets the eye. I adored it so much and found that the graphic novel style imagery just made the book's plot fly by faster. And to be quite honest, the book itself was absolutely in-depth to the point that it felt like fiction. Marjane's story felt like something an author wrote to make readers intrigued. However, this is valid and legitimate, proving that people's lives can be so complex to the extent that we feel that it is totally unreal.

I now feel intrigued to read more of Marjane's writing - I want to see how her story continues and how she became the person that she is. It's not everyday where you get to read a story like this, and I feel quite lucky that this book was chosen as a required read for my English class. It boosted my interest, simply because it is a graphic novel (and I once had an Archie phase so this made me nostalgic in a way) and because it was promising. It holds a unique topic that our world needs to talk about more often. It's an influential, inspiring story that can teach everyone that all we need is a little hope, that no giving up should ever occur or else that'll tear us down. 

Marjane's writing was also easy to read with bits and pieces of depth that is up for interpretation and analyzing. I love analyzing books as I read, so I definitely found many hidden messages in between the lines. I just can't get this out of my head, so I actually am going to request the sequel from my local library so I can see the continuation. It's SO good, and I feel like we need to raise awareness of these unknown books. GO MEMOIRS.

I am begging you to pick this up. IT IS WORTH IT and one of the best books I have read in English class. There's just so much to talk about, so let's have a discussion about this!

Are there any other graphic novel memoirs out there?

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen // A Lovely Work of Modern Drama

A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen
Publication: December 1879, by Hard Press
Genre: Fiction, Play, Drama
Pages: 122
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

A Doll's House (1879), is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle class marriage on stage. The play ushered in a new social era and "exploded like a bomb into contemporary life".

My Thoughts: 

A Doll's House was one of the three plays I was fortunate to read for English class this year, and I must say that it was just absolutely stunning and alluring. I have read about ten pieces of drama and this is one of the best for its different style of writing and subject matter. How often are we readers fortunate to read about a couple's crisis in the Victorian era in Norway? Never. Ever. After reading Ibsen's work, I feel more captivated to look into his other plays and see what he has in store for us. This can definitely be classified as modern drama, but it gives us the perspective of 1800s Europe before all of the violence and wars began. This was more about a couple's struggle in the sense of their marriage and social status.

We spent about a week reading this relatively short play and analyzing it in my class and I didn't want to miss a second of it. In the beginning of the play, we are introduced to Nora and her husband Thorvald who are a well-off couple living in a Norwegian town. The whole play takes place in a span of a couple of days, and it is so raw and real. Ibsen was definitely not influenced by any of the modern topics (like technology) that we are surrounded with, so he told us a different story about a couple that we haven't been surrounded with before. 

The characters were absolutely my favourite part of the play. Everyone, including Nora, Thorvald, Mrs. Linde etc. etc. are so well planned-out and amazing. Each of them has their own emotions and qualities that they are specifically known for in the play. We feel their pains, their struggles, their desires... and this is the reason why I appreciate drama so much compared to novels. There are only a few books that actually have the ability to create this raw feeling. A Doll's House did that. And it's so creative too; just look at the title. Occasionally we find these basic titles that are pretty much meaningless for the whole novel/play. In this case, IT BRINGS OUT SO MANY THEMES that can be discussed for decades and millenniums.... and forever.

The only thing I want is for a greater sense of background information in Thorvald and Nora's relationship. AND THE KIDS. AND THE MAID. We just need a sequel play, okay?

A Doll's House is lovely. It's a work that I would want to come back to all the time and analyze the themes over and over again. In addition to Shakespeare and Hamilton and all of THOSE lovely plays, read this. NOW. 

What are some other brilliant modern plays?

Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat // Heart-Wrenching and Memorable

Prisoner of Tehran, by Marina Nemat
Publication: May 6, 2008, by Free Press
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: ½

What would you give up to protect your loved ones? Your life?

In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini's brutal Islamic Revolution.

In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, "If you don't like it, leave." She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed.

Soon she was arrested with hundreds of other youths who had dared to speak out, and they were taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Two guards interrogated her. One beat her into unconsciousness; the other, Ali, fell in love with her.

Sentenced to death for refusing to give up the names of her friends, she was minutes from being executed when Ali, using his family connections to Ayatollah Khomeini, plucked her from the firing squad and had her sentence reduced to life in prison. But he exacted a shocking price for saving her life -- with a dizzying combination of terror and tenderness, he asked her to marry him and abandon her Christian faith for Islam. If she didn't, he would see to it that her family was harmed. She spent the next two years as a prisoner of the state, and of the man who held her life, and her family's lives, in his hands.

Lyrical, passionate, and suffused throughout with grace and sensitivity, Marina Nemat's memoir is like no other. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth -- each of whom she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness.

My Thoughts:

Prisoner of Tehran is one of those books that I will just never forget. I read it A LONG time ago (not kidding; it was November 2016) but it is so raw that I feel like I just read it last night. This was one of my English class' required reads, and I expected to like it less because (A) I watched a movie about someone escaping Iran, which was AMAZING, but I didn't want to experience the same kind of storyline again and (B) the cover is definitely not the prettiest. Nevertheless, I adored it and I couldn't wait for all of my friends who had English class after me to pick it up and enjoy it as much as I did. Marina Nemat is a lovely writer who writes like she experienced all of this not too long ago. It has been quite a while, but you can feel the pain and sorrow in every word she writes. 

I actually was fortunate to "meet" Marina (she came to speak at our school) and it was a perfect experience since I can hear the thoughts of the brilliant author who changed my life. Everything she told us was life-changing. She spoke about inclusion and diversity, and how we (this generation) are the key-life-changers of the world. When she spoke, she made it seem like we are able to conquer anything. It was amazing to see her in real life and (sadly) see how affected she still is after all of her traumatizing experiences in Iran.

Prisoner of Tehran starts off pretty normally. We readers feel the tension because we know that there are going to be (many) rough moments throughout this story, but we first learn about Marina's life before the Islamic Revolution... before things changed and got her into prison. I'm going to make a generalization here: we constantly think that people who take big risks in life are only in the movies, or are one of a kind and come along once every few generations. Marina showed that she thinks she is an ordinary person though took a risk to speak up. Because of speaking up, Marina ends up in the notorious Evin Prison and her life changes from there. She has a life sentence, but she occasionally feels that death is the best way out of her troubling life. Ali, one of the prison guards who beat her, begins to come into her life more and more, and we see that the tensions between the relationship of a captor and captive become clear and kind of... interesting.

The people who Marina talks about are characters, in reality, as this is a novel, but we have to keep in mind that this story is as real as ever. It's a beautiful story that moved my whole class and I, and a story that told us about someone's life in somewhere across the world. Marina now lives in Canada, half an hour from where I live, and it's amazing to see how successful she has become. She was first successful with having courage to do what she did, but she is now even more courageous to tell her story. I felt such a connection to this book like never before and I seriously am so thankful that I was able to analyze it and pinpoint every literary device Marina uses because why not? She is a writer who easily told her story but left some important messages in between the lines.

This is such a lovely story and I wish that Marina would make a film based on her story. She is such an influential woman who mastered the art of writing with this memoir. I never knew much about the Islamic Regime in Iran, and in the midst of learning about this woman's life story, I learned so much about that. 

What are some other books about the Iranian Revolution that you know of?

Othello by William Shakespeare // My Favourite Shakespeare Play

Othello, by William Shakespeare
Publication: January 1, 2004, by Simon and Schuster
Genre: Play, Fiction
Pages: 314
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual devotion and that ends precipitately with jealous rage and violent deaths. He sets this story in the romantic world of the Mediterranean, moving the action from Venice to the island of Cyprus and giving it an even more exotic coloring with stories of Othello's African past. Shakespeare builds so many differences into his hero and heroine—differences of race, of age, of cultural background—that one should not, perhaps, be surprised that the marriage ends disastrously. But most people who see or read the play feel that the love that the play presents between Othello and Desdemona is so strong that it would have overcome all these differences were it not for the words and actions of Othello's standard-bearer, Iago, who hates Othello and sets out to destroy him by destroying his love for Desdemona. As Othello succumbs to Iago's insinuations that Desdemona is unfaithful, fascination—which dominates the early acts of the play—turns to horror, especially for the audience. We are confronted by spectacles of a generous and trusting Othello in the grip of Iago's schemes; of an innocent Desdemona, who has given herself up entirely to her love for Othello only to be subjected to his horrifying verbal and physical assaults, the outcome of Othello's mistaken convictions about her faithlessness.

My Thoughts:

Othello is the third Shakespearean play I have read, and I must say that it was the best out of the three. Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth all stunned me, but this was something special and interesting. Even though Shakespeare lived SO many years ago, his talents of writing about racial prejudices, stereotypes that still live to this day, jealousy and romance shine in this gorgeous play. I read this play for school, and as with every Shakespearean play, we spent a long time examining this work and learning about its purpose and setting. I adored all of the characters in this stunning play and the whole underlying message. PLUS IAGO WAS THE BEST. Even though I despise villains in most books/plays, I kind of wanted Iago's ultimate plan to succeed. Towards the end of the play, my class was required to give this HUGE 15%-worth presentation on the play, and I talked about Iago's reasoning for doing what he did. 

READ THIS PLAY. If you are not able to understand some of the phrases and scenes, which I don't blame you for, you can totally go onto Sparknotes and read it all. It'll help so much. The romance here is deep and meaningful—you can't go wrong with reading Shakespeare and seeing how different and special it is. 

GO READ THIS PLAY RIGHT NOW. It'll change your life in so many ways and you'll want to become a Shakespeare hoarder. I believe many people hoard his plays like obsessed (cool) freaks. :)

What is your favourite Shakespeare play? What are some other issues he covers?

How the Cold War Began by Amy Knight // Excellent Research Novel

How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies, by Amy Knight
Publication: November 1, 2005, by McClelland and Stewart
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Format: Hardcover
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

Just weeks after World War II had ended, a young cipher clerk named Igor Gouzenko walked out of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa with secret papers stuffed under his shirt and headed straight for the offices of a city newspaper. His action would change the course of the twentieth century.
Gouzenko’s defection sent shockwaves through Washington, London, Moscow, and Ottawa. It was the first from a Soviet Embassy, and the smuggled documents, which suggested that agents in North America were feeding atomic secrets to Moscow, sparked a witch-hunt for spies, including not only Americans and Canadians, but a leading British nuclear scientist, Allan Nunn May.
FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover used Gouzenko’s defection to demonize the Soviets and discredit the leftists in President Harry Truman’s White House. All he had needed to push his agenda was evidence of spying, and Gouzenko delivered the goods. The FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee used Gouzenko’s revelations to go after Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White, and many others. And all the while, infamous MI-5 double-agent Kim Philby kept his Soviet masters apprised. The Cold War had truly begun.
In this first book to tell the Gouzenko story, Amy Knight uses newly declassified files as well as interviews with several of the key players to examine the substance of Gouzenko’s revelations and delve into his hidden motives for defecting. She explains how Gouzenko was really a pawn in a much larger game. And she brilliantly connects these events to the hardening of relations between Moscow and the West, the practice of guilt by association, and the end of the movement for international control of the atomic bomb.

My Thoughts:

I am telling you that I did not plan to read this book. I really wasn't interested in those boring American history books about subject matters that could be explained much better. BUT. (There's a but!) I needed to read this for a research essay for school about Igor Gouzenko and how he basically affected society politically and socially/culturally. This was the only book available about the Gouzenko Affair and to be honest, it wasn't too terrible. I based much of my research paper on this book and everything that Amy Knight highlighted. How the Cold War Began was an interesting novel that provided me with the just the right amount of information that I could base my paper on. I was able to learn more about the other Soviet spies who had similar jobs to Gouzenko, and I was able to also learn about how Gouzenko achieved the courage to defect and announce his role. 

This was difficult to read, and that was a major flaw for me. I ended up skimming some parts because I felt that some chapters were not relevant for my paper. This is not the ordinary kind of book I would pick up and read, so I decided that I would only bookmark the important parts. On a road trip back home from the lovely New Orleans, I picked this one up and spent my two-day journey reading it, sticky-tabbing it, you name it. I would honestly prefer to read a contemporary-romance, but it was pretty enjoyable since I chose the subject matter.

Would I recommend this? Sure. If you are an avid history reader/lover who wants to learn more about the initial moments of the Cold War and how Russia, the United States and Canada played a role, go for this. It truly is quite interesting.

How the Cold War Began was the perfect book to read for the purpose of what I was writing about at the time. I wasn't 100% interested in the writing at all times, but that's history for me (and most people).

What is an actual GOOD history novel? What subject matter should I begin with?

Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall // The Fluffiest (And Cutest) Book You'll Ever Read

Signs Point to Yes, by Sandy Hall
Publication: October 20, 2015, by Swoon Reads
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Rating: ½

If only Jane’s Magic 8 Ball could tell her how to get through the summer. With her “perfect” sister, Margo, home for her “perfect” internship, Jane is not going to be able to spend the summer writing fan fiction, as she had planned. And her emergency babysitting job requires Jane to spend the whole summer in awkward proximity to her new crush, Teo, a nerdy-hot lifeguard with problems of his own. With his best friend out of town, Teo finds himself without anyone to confide in…except Jane. Will Jane and Teo be able to salvage each other’s summer? Even the Magic 8 Ball doesn’t have an answer…but signs point to yes.

My Thoughts:

Signs Point to Yes is like a batch of pink, fluffy cotton candy. Sometimes it only works to compare books to food, haha. This is such a fluffy, adorable story by Sandy Hall, an author who I really look up to, because she writes so magnificently, and with a concept that is easy to think of, she just mastered this grand story. This is even better than A Little Something Different, her first novel that was written in many perspectives—even that of a squirrel. Believe it. If you have never heard of Sandy Hall and her books, what are you doing here reading this review? Go out and purchase her beautiful stories, because when I read this one especially, I felt that love exists, even with teenagers. I read this in a jiffy (literally)—I read it in a sitting because I was too obsessed with it and after reading some hardcore HUGE books (some were even disappointing), I needed a quick read that carried fluff, instead of science-fiction that I have to deal with frequently. This is the perfect read for anyone at any time of the year. Agh.

I LOVED THE CONCEPT OF A MAGIC 8 BALL. Romance can be romance, love can be love and fluff, but adding some extra thing in is literally the best. Jane, our heroine, spends a big chunk of the novel wondering about her future and how things will end up to be, and for starters, she uses her Magic 8 ball to make these decisions initially. Afterwards, once her connection with Teo blooms and they start having feelings for each other (it's a no-brainer!), she realizes that she doesn't need the Magic 8 ball anymore and that she should just let life flow like water. That's inspiring and adorable. I LOVE WHEN BOOKS HAVE SPECIAL MESSAGES LIKE THAT. There are honestly some contemporaries in the world that are just so cheesy and the author spends the three hundred or so pages writing about making out. I swear, I have seen that before. This? Never. There is also a huge focus on superstitions and fear—Jane has a fear of thunderstorms, which I could really relate to because I'm downright terrified of them. FOR ONCE. FOR ONCE I CAN RELATE TO A CHARACTER IN TERMS OF FEAR.

I was afraid to read this one because I didn't want this to be a love-fest that is so cheesy that my throat will hurt as if I ate ten chocolate bars. I read many negative reviews prior to, and I was a little more scared than I should have been. Sandy Hall, you wrote this magnificently. I loved the simplistic writing, the fact that this takes place during the summer (which it is here in Canada) and how there wasn't insta-love. I swear, if there was an instant romance between Teo and Jane, I would've thrown this book out of the window. They have known each other since they were kids, which I always love to read about since the guys I was friends with when I was young go to a different school than me currently. THANK GOODNESS.

There is a big influence on perfection throughout Signs Point to Yes. For once, we have a protagonist who is in no ways perfect. Jane struggles with the subject of stupidity and perfection so much that I just felt so bad for her. She has to live with her "perfect" older sister, Margo, who actually has some secrets of her own that could change how other people look at her. Jane feels stupid and that she has no potential, no reason to go to college because she feels that she'll end up achieving straight C's. Even Teo's as*hole friend, Ravi (who I HATED), thought she was stupid and basically said it to her face. But Jane was like so many other characters I have read about: she was so intelligent and I admired the decisions that she made. Although I am not planning on doing the same things that she wants to do in terms of college and her future, it's a change from your ordinary perfect Harvard/Brown protagonist who still gets into so much trouble and is a character who is never doing schoolwork in the actual novel. Those books are seriously unrealistic, while this one absolutely is. 

I began enjoying it from the first page where Jane speaks of being antisocial over the summer. This is such a hilarious, realistic story that could honestly happen to anyone. Honestly, I'm thinking of seeking a babysitting job so I could find someone like Teo along the way, because hot damn, HE'S HOT. I loved Teo and his sweet, playful personality and aw. He has my heart. I say that with every male character I meet in books, but this is serious. JANE AND TEO ARE ADORABLE. I loved their shy personalities and how those two personalities mingled. They are legitimately perfect for each other. *heart skips a beat*

What made me not want to give this a perfect 5 star rating was Jane's (dumb) incident having to do with Teo's father. I would have never done what she did in this situation: snooped around in Teo's home, discovered that he was looking for his father, found his birth certificate, found his father's name, and tried to find him. I would've never done that. I was frustrated for about twenty pages, including during the fight that she and Teo had when she revealed all that she discovered to him. OF COURSE HE SHOULD BE UPSET, YOU WEIRDO. Hah, but I got over it. That was just a minor plot detail that could have been presented differently, in my opinion. I really did admire the whole theme of discovery, though. Teo seeking his father is something that is rarely written about in YA (or in books at all), and it gives us readers a first look at how life can be when you don't know anything about your family. 

We also see a SISTERLY RELATIONSHIP between Margo and Jane. AW. They eventually head on a road trip together (alongside Ravi, ew) and they are goals. I always admire sibling/parent relationships in books, and this was just another great one. Yay for diversity of Teo (Spanish) and Ravi (Sri Lankan) as well as the fact that JANE WRITES FANFICTION. Okay, so I'm not a fan of Doctor Who, but it was a great addition for the crazy fangirl audience we reviewers are these days. Yay for that, and yay for the whole book!

This is just a book for a teenager, you know? I sought that, and that's what I ended up getting. It's fluffy, cute, has a swoon-worthy romance (perfect since the publisher is Swoon Reads) and will make your heart flutter because it's so addicting, raw and real. It's more than just the relationship between Teo and Jane—it has so many messages that it would take me a year to explain.

Signs Point to Yes is perhaps one of the brightest, best contemporary-romance/chick-lit novels I have read this year. It's not for everyone, but if you were/are in the depressed sci-fi mood as I was before reading, this will be the uttermost perfect read for you. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be jetting off to find my own Teo and swoon over him. At least, I'll be doing that in my dreams. Currently, I'll be binge-reading Sandy Hall's next book, arriving in bookstores in August, Been Here All Along. Woo!

What is the best contemporary-romance book you read this year? What do you seek when reading chick-lit?

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland // Fun in the Sun (This Statement is As Cheesy As the Book)

Nantucket Blue (Nantucket #1), by Leila Howland
Publication: May 7, 2013, by Disney-Hyperion
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 294
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.
Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.
When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.
But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.
A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

 My Thoughts:

Nantucket Blue is one of those books that I added on to my TBR list ages ago when I underwent some kind of YA contemporary-romance chick-lit phase. It happens. I never stopped wanting to read it, either. I finally found a copy of it available when I went to the new library by my house. Seeing a copy in good condition also intrigued me, you know? I borrowed it, sat down in one of their uber-cool noise-cancelling chairs, and read half of it there. The other half? At home. It's currently summer vacation, and although I won't be spending any time on the beach until August, Leila Howland converted me from reality into Nantucket. You cannot imagine how much I want to visit Rhode Island, tour Brown University and take a ferry to this gorgeous island that I now know so much about. For some, this may be a cheesy chick-lit where we could all predict the ending. Yeah, it was extremely cheesy, but that's the fun of it. I really loved Nantucket Blue, and I am excited to read the sequel!

This story revolves around soon-to-be-seniors in high school, Cricket and Jules. They have been best friends since the eighth grade, and since Cricket doesn't have a good relationship with her divorced parents, Jules' home has become Cricket's, in a way. After a huge tragedy strikes, the two friends' lives change forever. This is right at the start of summer vacation, and Jules' family is still going to their summer home on a small island called Nantucket. Cricket follows Jules to show that their friendship still exists and gets caught in a summer fling in the midst of it all... yada yada yada.

You can most likely predict it if I tell you all about each of the characters and how Cricket gets involved with them. That's not why I read the book, to catch the predictability and make fun of the story. I read this book because I was looking for a book that will capture the great moments of summer and make me have this inexplicable feeling. This book is your perfect beach read, a book that you will fly by in a sitting and squeal over. 

Leila Howland is just such a good writer. This story was fast-paced, and although it takes place over a matter of two months, it never got boring. Boringness is a HUGE book pet peeve of mine, and if I get bored reading a book, I feel like it's a waste of time for me to read. Nantucket Blue was just so addicting and like bliss. It had this kind of 90210-like drama, but it was narrowed down a touch and made extra fun. 

Our protagonist, Cricket, was kind of the issue at times, but I liked her anyway. Overly attached characters are no fun. There were moments where I just wanted to slap the book and scream at it because Cricket never made the decisions that she should have made! Like seriously, making out with two guys in a day? Being nice and overly attached to your ex-best friend? NOOOO. Cricket Thompson is your stereotypical example of a bi*chy teenage girl. I honestly am so against stereotypes (they're the worst things possible), but Cricket Thompson fulfilled the ones that have been made for years because of shows/books like Gossip Girl. She had no respect for her parents, didn't care about anything she did, and was so boy-crazy that it blew my mind. 

At least the romance was cute when it came around. Screw Jay though. I can't believe that Cricket was obsessed with this douche-bag. ZACK, GUYS. I don't understand what was the big deal with the whole dating-best-friend-brother thing. I guess people have different opinions on all of this. The age difference kind of frustrated me, though. (Zack is a sophomore. Cricket is a senior).

My favourite thing was Nantucket itself. I've read books about The Hamptons, about Martha's Vineyard or Cape Cod, but never about Nantucket. I wouldn't have known about Nantucket if it wasn't for Leila Howland's duology. I WANT TO GO THERE. I want to eat fried clams, as well.

Nantucket Blue is one of the most summeriest books you could possibly read. Next time I go to the library, I'll have to grab a copy of the sequel and be introduced to another summer of Cricket's in Nantucket. Any lover of Melissa de la Cruz's contemporary novels should definitely go for this pretty. 

What is your favourite summer romance? What is an island that you would seriously like to visit in the future?