Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.
A young adult fantasy about angels and devils falling in love? Sounds a lot like your typical trashy, angsty romance novel, huh? Oh, but how wrong you’d be. This is definitely one of the best young adult fantasy novels I’ve ever read. It’s sophisticated – the writing is rich and the storytelling is masterful. This was my first Laini Taylor novel and I was not disappointed. Continue reading
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publish Date: September 18th 2012
Paperback, 408 pages
My Rating: ★★★★✩
There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.
Every year, in late April, Blue Sargent accompanies her clairvoyant mother, Maura, to a churchyard where they watch the soon-to-be-dead walk past. Usually it’s just her mother that sees the spirits of people who will die within the next twelve months, but this year, Blue herself sees a spirit of a boy. Continue reading
Genre: Contemporary, Humor, Chick-Lit
Published by: Harper Collins
Publish Date: May 21, 2013
Paperback, 329 pages
My Rating: ★★★★✩
‘But I’m not good at understanding what other people want.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ said Rosie for no obvious reason.
I quickly searched my mind for an interesting fact.
‘Ahhh…The testicles of drone bees and wasp spiders explode during sex.’
HAHA. This book was so charming. I laughed out loud on so many occasions.
I know, I know. I totally missed the bandwagon on this one. The book was originally published back in 2013 but I recently picked it up at the thrift store, read the back and was like, “why not?” I’m actually surprised how much I enjoyed this light-hearted story.
Our protagonist, Don Tillman, is a quirky genetics professor with a brilliant scientific mind, but is often confounded by social situations. Aged 39, Don embarks upon The Wife Project: a sixteen-page questionnaire to find the perfect non-smoking, punctual, mathematically competent partner. But then he meets Rosie, an always-late, smoking, potty-mouthed bartender in search of her biological father. Soon enough, Don discovers you don’t find love: love finds you.
‘Asperger’s isn’t a fault. It’s a variant. It’s potentially a major advantage.’
In reality, Don would probably be diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum, but I do appreciate Simsion’s decision to deliberately omit any mention of a diagnosis for Don’s atypical behaviour. Instead, Simsion portrays Don as a very capable, intelligent individual, who simply has challenges understanding and communicating with other people (and this makes for some very LOL-worthy situations).
The point of view and the writing style in this book was so key. I found Don’s narration to be very intriguing (and comical, of course). I do not have much experience with Asperger’s Syndrome, but I thought Don’s perspective was both insightful and refreshing. The book does make you think a little about what it’s like to be a fish out of water, without getting excessively sentimental.
I always enjoy a romantic comedy, but I thought the ending of this one was too unrealistic (no surprise there), especially considering what we learn about Rosie’s personality and attitude towards men in general.
Despite its cheesiness and highly predictable plot line, The Rosie Project was an incredibly charming and heart-warming read that sparked the perfect amount of “feels”.
Until next time, nerds 🙂
Rebecca xx
P.S. Has anyone read the sequel, The Rosie Effect? Was it any good? I’m always so hesitant to read sequels of popular contemporary books… It only got a 3.54 on Goodreads (compared to 4.01)…
Becky and Books 