loganshouldreadmore's reviews
464 reviews

This book was absolutely fantastic. I was not expecting to tear up at the end, but go figure I did. The ending was flawless and painful but oh so perfect, and I am so lucky to have met Gina Damico because guys, this woman can write a stellar book.

The thing is, it's a story of fiction. I think that's easy to tell. But Damico didn't write it like fiction. She included the awkward moments and the depression of goodbyes and the horror involved with death. She made the characters so relatable and made the town of Croak so realistic even with all the ridiculous corny names and places.

This book floored me and I would 150% recommend it to nearly anyone looking for a new book to read.

So excited to get my hands on the rest of the trilogy!

The concept was spectacular, and his style of writing was wonderful and I appreciated it as I read! But as a reader, there were some plot choices I either completely didn't agree with or was disappointed in. For example, the aspect of time warps and things was not something I anticipated from the first part of the book, and I was quite disappointed that it turned into that. Once I got over the initial disappointment however, I found the characters and photos to be absolutely lovely and I fell in love with each (I'm a sucker for Mr. invisible Millard and his ettiquette). I was a bit disappointed with the ending, though I suppose he didn't have many options. The way the book was heading he had very few options for how to end the book, so I suppose benefit of the doubt, he chose the lesser of the evils. I will also say that thanks to this book I will be spending much of my summer at tag sales and flea markets hunting for my own inspiration in abandoned (and peculiar) photos.

Honest to god, one of the absolute best books I've ever read. I marked over 100 brilliant quotes and there has only ever been three books in my lifetime where it was necessary to mark quotes.

I absolutely 150% recommend this and suggest that you randomly pick this up at your local book store ASAP because this book was absolutely beautiful and I fell in love with all of it more than I thought I was going to when I started reading it 12 hours ago.

There aren't many books that I commit to reading in a single day but you will read this book easily that fast.

So beyond what I dreamed it would be and I cannot even form a sentence to explain what it is actually about other than: everything you need to hear right now. I will put money on it that this book will just help you through whatever you're going through regardless of what it is because this book by far just encompasses every aspect of life without including too much of anything.

It's a perfect balance of real life and fiction and relatable characters and love and friendship and fighting and family and is honestly just beyond words.

Read it. Period.

There were a lot of points while reading this book that I wasn't sure I wanted to continue reading it. And then something would happen and it would entice me for just a BIT longer, which was all it took to convince me "eh, might as well keep reading."

Doretha was a very lackluster character. She didn't have anything that made me love her and in the beginning before she realized the world wasn't a big fluffy ball of niceness and revolved around her - I couldn't stand her. I liked her sassyness as she evolved as a character, and enjoyed her relationship with Kato.

I also liked Kato and Rexi as characters, but there was a good portion of my time reading Spelled that had me confused with what characters were doing, why they were doing what they were doing, and how they ended up in that situation.

The writing felt choppy and out of sync. It almost felt like there were portions that were skipped and pieces that were added that didn't need to be. This book also lacked something that I really enjoy - emotion. I never felt fear along with the characters, nor did I feel love or appreciation or loneliness...nothing and that is a huge miss for me.

The tone of the book (fairly sarcastic) was great. I enjoyed the realistic personalities and quirky traits each character had. I was probably the least biggest fan of all the phrases attempting to tie in other fairytales ("oh for Grimm's sake." "check flitter" "not a pixing thing we could do." "Hans Christian Louboutin Shoes") they all got very old and honestly a bit annoying after a while.

The plot was solid and I understood where it was going and really enjoyed the story. There were also a lot of good quotes - mostly the tidbits of advice from Fairytale Advice books and things that were a staple at the end (beginning?) of each chapter. However, unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and felt like a lot of important moments were grazed over and skipped, and the lack of empathy toward the characters made this book just okay for me.

This was unlike any book I've read, however it was beautifully written and transported me into a world with concepts I'd never even considered prior to opening this.

Let's start with Vida. She is an incredibly strong young woman who fought through so much and developed so much as a character. I was taken aback by her at first, not sure if I liked her. But through all her hurdles, she came away as an incredibly influential character who would help numerous people struggling to believe in themselves again.

Secondary characters were still a huge part of the story and provided such an influential platform to help Vida spring from into her new life. I fell in love with so many of the characters and how they helped to provide Vida with challenges, advice, motivation and support without ever feeling false or forced. Each character was built up and wrapped up perfectly and allowed the reader to grow with them and learn from them without ever feeling pressured or preached to.

The romance in this story is flawless. Without giving too much away, Vida's love interests helped her grow further into who she was meant to be.

There was quite a lot of religious and spiritual views mentioned in this book but they were all for the purpose of expanding the knowledge of the reader. I never felt preached to or as though Vida was being forced into anything. She went through her own changes and developments toward her beliefs as the book progressed - as realistically as anyone would in real life.

Overall, this book was incredibly relatable. Though I never experienced something as Vida has, I have a new understanding of it. I learned an incredibly large amount of culture through this book, and find myself wanting to learn more. I loved that it was in verse, and allowed the author room to write just enough to keep throw story on track while still including the beautiful words and phrases necessary to keep verse writing interesting.

I would absolutely recommend this book to people. It is a flawless, quick read and provided insight into a world of someone coping with loss in a way most of us never will.

I just spent a good portion of my reading life reading 300 pages that led up to....nothing. In life, most of the time there is no life changing revelation or moment of realization that life is short and that you should change and do something to make your life more meaningful. And I understand this book is trying to portray that fact. Sometimes death doesn't change who we are and the way we look at things.

But I promised I'd be honest in my reviews. Never brutally rude, because I understand how much effort is put into writing a book. But I do need to be honest.

I didn't like this book. I didn't care for Greg. I've been a high school student that wanted nothing more than to blend in and attract as little attention as possible, but Greg takes this idea to a whole new level. A lot of reviews I've read have people saying how funny they thought this book was. I really didn't find much humor woven in. I cracked a few smiles but nothing that made me burst out laughing.

I liked Earl and Rachel. I thought they were realistic, and relatable on a lot of levels for a lot of people. Greg though....I've never met anyone quite like him. And he just seemed so removed from the world and obsessed with not drawing attention to himself, I couldn't help but question what kind of character he was.

I was waiting for a switch. Something meaningful about this book I could grab onto and say "Yea, most of the book was a waste, but at least this character learned something about himself or grew as a person or something." I'm really disappointed to say that this book had none of those things (at least from my perspective.) Greg didn't learn anything. He didn't grow as a person, and he was still the same immature, slightly off senior he was at the end of the book as he was when he started writing it at the beginning of senior year.

I guess I just like things that have a point. This had no point. But I guess that was the point.

I'm almost ashamed it took me nearly a month to finish this book. I learned early in the reading process that this book needs time to digest and savor. It's not to be rushed. Enjoy a chapter an evening and let that simmer on low in the back of your head for a while. Stir. Continue.

I fell in love with The World Needs More Love Letters movement in 2012. I was a senior in high school and I wrote to Hannah saying I wanted to be a part of it. But she was this goddess running this piece of magic that was changing the world and I was incapable of doing anything to help outside of my busy high school life. And yet, through her busy schedule, she found time to reply to me - a girl with a dream to change the world (or, help someone change the world) and a girl with terrible time management. But I attempted to do it anyway and started leaving love letters. I now leave letters in books, to bookworms who potentially need a pick me up mostly, as well as the occasional sticky note and envelope tucked into the confines of my work place. I'm indebted to Hannah for giving me the opportunity to make my own little mark within her big one.

When I found out she was writing a book, my heart soared. I preordered it on Amazon 2 months before it came out and fell in love with her words all over again within the first 4 sentences of cracking the spine. I hope she knows the impact she's made on a now 21 - year-old girl, providing me a role model with a healthy addiction to love and words as I do.

I suppose I should get to the book review now, but I think I already did. Hannah and her project gave me something to aspire to be. Someone to idolize and want to be more like. Her book only reinforced that idea, reading that she started out rough and slowly her edges began to smooth out. I relate to this more than she will ever know and I consider myself lucky to have been blessed with her story for more than 3 years.

I'll end with this:
If you don't know what you're doing anymore, read this book. Find hope in her words, realize that anyone and everyone needs to learn to swim sometimes and your life is bigger than this. You'll think it's a few sizes too big at first and if awkwardly hangs off you like a dress, but darling, you can learn to become a decent tailor and make it look like it was made for you. and Hannah can help with that.

I was contacted by Charlene Carr and offered a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As I was reading Skinny Me, I couldn't help but develop a bad taste for Jennifer. I've had family that have lost hundreds of pounds and I understood that there is more to getting healthy than the physical side. It's an emotional battle. And yes, by the end, Jennifer redeems some of her more unlikeable qualities from earlier in the book. But the way she treated people, especially her own cousin who was nothing but kind to her for the entirety of her life? That really bothered me.

Even when she was trying to be happy with herself she was still jealous of what others had. It seemed very petty and childish and as though she wouldn't be able to flip a switch with those sorts of character traits holding her back.

She wasn't the worst character though. And I enjoyed all the other characters and their diversity. Part of me thinks Jenn was written as a character we were meant to "love to hate." Kudos to Carr for achieving that, as it's not an easy feat.

The plot was sound and wrapped up nicely, though rather quickly.

Overall a good, quick read. Just be prepared to not love Jenn. She'll make you roll your eyes and appreciate what you have for how little she appreciates everything she's been granted. But she definitely portrays how extreme the mental aspect of losing weight can be.