REVIEW: The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Title: The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Author: Emily M. Danforth
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+
Publication Date: February 7th 2012
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Format: Paperback
Pages: 470
Rating: 4/5

When Cameron Post's parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they'll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn't last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship--one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to "fix" her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self--even if she's not exactly sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules. 

* I read this book and wrote this review in mid February, but I'm a little delayed in putting it up.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post had been on my radar for a while. Originally, I’d be drawn to the cover because I thought it looked so serene and beautiful. I didn’t really know anything about it, and until one day I watching a booktube video and this was mentioned as having a lesbian protagonist, which sounded interesting. I almost picked it up in the bookstore so many times after that but I always put it down for something else. I probably wouldn’t have picked this up if it wasn’t for the Bookentine read-a-thon that I hosted with Michelle. I needed a book with an LGBTQ+ character, and this seemed like a good choice.

I didn’t really enjoy the first half of this. The first seventy pages take place when Cameron Post is eleven or twelve which was a little weird to read about, by part two she has gotten older, which made this easier to read. The thing I originally found difficult about this book was the fact I had nothing in common with Cameron. She’s a lesbian girl living with her grandmother and aunt in Montana in the early 1990’s. I’m a straight girl living with my dad and brother in Melbourne in 2015. We’re kind of different.  I think the hardest thing were the religious parts of the story. I knew that this was going to be somewhat religious when I started, but I still found it hard to understand and relate to that aspect having grown up in a non-religious family. I should clarify, religion is a major aspect of this book but it’s not shoved down your throat in a ‘you must believe in this’ kind of way.

Moving on to the things I liked. This isn’t a spoiler as it is mentioned in the blurb, but I was more interested in the story once Cameron was sent away to be ‘fixed’. I’ve never read anything where a character has been sent away but I learnt about those sorts of camps and programs in high school. Still, it was interesting to see it being portrayed in fiction rather than a documentary. I think I learnt more about it this way, and I also came to realise how truly horrible that would have been. It affected me a lot more than I thought it would.

The story is about more than just Cameron’s sexuality. It deals with family issues, friends, self-discovery and to an extent, guilt and grief. I might not have much in common in Cameron on the surface, but I could connect to her on a deeper level.

I think this is a very important book, and I really think that it deserves more attention than what it gets. I definitely recommend it.

Young Adult Series That I Will Never Finish

Wicked Lovely by Melissar Marr

I can’t say I hated Wicked Lovely, but I really did not love it. An even bigger turn off was the fact that the sequels were from a different point of view. If you know me, you’ll know that I hate when a series changes point of view. Especially when you’ve finally stuck with one character for a whole book and felt like you really connected with them only to discover that they won’t be in the next book. And I know that it’s the authors plan and it must work in the whole grand scheme of things, but give me a break, you just made me love a character and you are ripping them right out from underneath me.

Books Read in the series: 1

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

One of the things that turned me off from this series is the fact that the story is told from a character’s point of view who felt more like an observer to the main plot line, than actually being in it. I felt like he was always looking in to Lena’s life and the craziness that came with it. I mean there is nothing wrong with that. I guess I’m just used to having the main character be the one that things are happening to. It felt like I was looking through too many windows to see what was on the other side. The other side being the actual plot line and driving nature of the book. Ethan, if that is his name by memory, shouldn’t have been the main character. I felt helpless reading through his point of view. It made sense why I stopped reading this series. I didn’t want to be an observer.

Books Read in the series: 2

Matched by Allie Condie

Honestly,  I have never really understood the hype that went around this series. I thought the first book was okay but the majority of people said they really loved it. Then came the second book, which was horribly slow, and I think consisted of the characters walking across a desert for the majority of the book. Blah. Gah. Why? It wasn’t the worst, but it really wasn’t the best either. I got the last book the day it came out in hardback and then I just never ended up reading it. Will I ever read it? I want to say that I will because I am so close to finishing the series but I really don’t know if I will.

Books Read in the series: 2

House of Night by P.C. CAST and Kristin Cast

Ugh. I have so much bookish disappointment for this series. It was pretty much a waste of my life. That’s pretty harsh, I know. The series got to a point in which they were just milking the cow too long and I don’t know if it was for money or if the authors really just loved the story that much, but it exhausted me. I was so done with it. I am still done with it. I definitely know that I will never ever go back to this series. The first couple of books were bearable and then they started introducing new point of views with characters I couldn’t care less about. I heard a rumor somewhere that there will be 12 books in the series. I don’t know if it is true but that is ridiculous. Extremely ridiculous.

Books Read in the series: 8

REVIEW: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Title: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Classic.
Publication Date: 1996 (first published 1963)
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Format: Paperback
Pages: 234
Rating: 5/5

We follow Esther Greenwood's personal life from her summer job in New York with Ladies' Day magazine, back through her days at New England's largest school for women, and forward through her attempted suicide, her bad treatment at one asylum and her good treatment at another, to her final re-entry into the world like a used tyre: "patched, retreaded, and approved for the road" ... Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.

I don’t remember how I discovered The Bell Jar, but I know it’s been on my TBR for the longest time. I’ve checked it out from the library two times before and I always returned it unread for some reason. I don’t know why, but I do know that I regret that because I totally needed this book in my life.

I think it’s actually become one of my favourite books of all time, and definitely one of my favourite classics. There are so many reasons I love this book. Firstly, the writing – it’s just beautiful. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s amazing. Some of the ideas and events in this book are quite confronting at times, but the language is so beautiful that I didn’t feel like I was reading about such a heavy subject. I feel I should probably mention at this point, that this is my first experience of reading Sylvia Plath (and now I love her). Back to the heavy subjects- I think they were expressed really well in the book. I’m sure you’re all aware of Sylvia Plath’s own history of depression, so it makes sense that it was written so realistically.

Finally, I want to talk about Esther Greenwood – the narrator. The Bell Jar is semi-autobiographical, so it makes sense that Esther is quite realistic, but I found that I could connect to her a lot more than I anticipated. There are a few superficial similarities between us – we’re the same age, both writers etc. but there’s a deeper level to it to. Esther doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life, and I was feeling the exact same way only a few months ago. She’s definitely not a role model for how to sort your life out or anything, but it’s a nice reminder that you’re never really alone- there’s always someone who feels the same way you do, even if she’s just a character in a novel.

Tell me your thoughts about The Bell Jar, if you’ve read it or suggest where I should go next with Sylvia’s works. If you haven’t read any Sylvia, you should definitely try her out.

Also, I decided to post this review today because it would have been Sylvia’s eighty-second birthday today. So Happy Birthday Sylvia!

Review: REBOOT + REBEL by Amy Tintera

Title: Reboot (Reboot #1) + Rebel (Reboot #2)

Author: Amy Tintera

Genre: Young Adult/Sci Fi/Dystopian.

Publication Date: June 2013 + June 1st 2014

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384 +352

Form of Review: Series Review - Non- Spoiler.

Rating: 5/5

REBOOT:

'5 years ago, I died. 178 minutes later, I woke up.'

In this post-apocalyptic thriller a deadly virus mutation sees teenagers raised from the dead and trained to be vicious soldiers until Wren, the deadliest Reboot, joins forces with Callum, the most innocent, to try to overthrow the organisation that has corrupted their world.

REBEL:

The sequel and exciting conclusion to the action-packed Reboot.

Wren and Callum finally reach the Reboot Reservation, a safe haven from HARC, which controls the cities. But it isn’t the paradise they’d hoped for. As they learn more about Micah, the bloodthirsty Reboot who runs it, they discover that he’s been creating an army with one goal in mind: to kill the humans in the cities … ALL of them. Wren’s first instinct is to head out for new territory, but Callum can’t stand by and let his human family and everyone else be hunted down. With HARC on one side and Micah on the other, saving the innocent and forging a lasting peace between humans and Reboots is a nearly impossible task. But Wren and Callum have never let that stop them before.

Since this series is a duology (only two books) I’ve decided to review the two books together. And since this is a review based around the whole series, I’m going to try and keep it unspoilery. Before we start, Ely and I received these books to review but that no way alters our opinion of the book. If you would like to view Ely's review of Reboot click here. If you would like to view Ely's review of Rebel which has spoilers, click here.  So have fun!

I personally am not a big Zombie fan, and like Ely, when I heard that it was Zombish I was kind of thrown off. Like, when do us Young Adult readers normally see Zombie’s mixed in with dystopia’s? Like never. But the thing is, it worked perfectly. Amy Tintera sure knows how to keep you intrigued and this sure did that exactly.

The pacing off the series was excellent and Wren and Callum are both lovable and the world building is crazy. I seriously don’t know how people come up with these kinds of ideas but all elements combined beautifully. Normally one may see a decline in quality throughout a series but this was the opposite. The first book served a basic foundation and the second finished it off nicely. Even thought I would’ve liked more of Wren and Callum!

One of the things I also loved the most is how we enter action as soon as we open the first page. The Ideas that Amy develops gives an insight to the variety of perceptions of humanity. In the end, what does it really mean to be human?

One of the most outstanding things was the character development with Wren. Once each layer was peeled back you could see her more distinctly. It wasn’t obvious but once you look back you realise how much all the characters actually changed. Applause to Tintera for being able to swiftly develop characters and make the reader still love them throughout the whole entire way.

Finally, Thank you to Lara from A&U for providing Ely and I with the copies to the series.

Love you all!