Little Brown and Company | Breathing Books

This Is What Happy Looks Like

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

In This is What Happy Looks Like, Jennifer E. Smith’s new YA novel, perfect strangers Graham Larkin and Ellie O’Neill meet—albeit virtually—when Graham accidentally sends Ellie an email about his pet pig, Wilbur. In the tradition of romantic movies like “You’ve Got Mail” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” the two 17-year-olds strike up an email relationship, even though they live on opposite sides of the country and don’t even know each other’s first names.

Through a series of funny and poignant messages, Graham and Ellie make a true connection, sharing intimate details about their lives, hopes and fears. But they don’t tell each other everything; Graham doesn’t know the major secret hidden in Ellie’s family tree, and Ellie is innocently unaware that Graham is actually a world-famous teen actor living in Los Angeles.

When the location for the shoot of Graham’s new film falls through, he sees an opportunity to take their relationship from online to in-person, managing to get the production relocated to picturesque Henley, Maine, where Ellie lives. But can a star as famous as Graham have a real relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie’s mom want her to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?

Just as they did in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, the hands of fate intervene in wondrous ways in this YA novel that delivers on high concept romance in lush and thoughtful prose.

Expected publication: 2013 by Little Brown and Company

The Gift (Witch & Wizard, #2)

Title: The Gift (Witch & Wizard #2)

Author: James Patterson and Ned Rust

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre(s): Young Adult (Fantasy, adventure, dystopia)

Source: Bought – paperback

Rating:

Summary (Goodreads):

When Whit & Wisty were imprisoned by the wicked forces of the totalitarian regime known as the New Order, they were barely able to escape with their lives. Now part of a hidden community of teens like themselves, Whit and Wisty have established themselves as leaders of the Resistance, willing to sacrifice anything to save kids kidnapped and brutally imprisoned by the New Order.

But the One has other plans in store for them: He needs Wisty, for she is “The One Who Has the Gift.” While trying to figure out what that means, Whit and Wisty’s suspenseful adventures through Overworld and Shadowland lead to a jaw-dropping climax and conclusion: the highly-anticipated fulfillment of the heart-pounding opening prologue of book one… The Execution of the Allgoods.

My Review:

As you start the book, you are swept into the world of a fast paced story that in the end, you have trouble putting the book down. The story is interesting and well formed that you love it no matter what others might feel about it.

It’s interesting how James Patterson is always able to keep that ‘interesting’ factor alive that you never have to be told twice to buy the second book in the series. I really enjoyed reading this one as much as the first and i can’t wait to get my hands on the third and final book.

Patterson wrote this series for his son who was not interested in reading at all. I feel that this book should be given to all those who run from books. At the moment i am trying to get my brother to read this series because he runs from books of any kind. Here i am, loving books and he hates them.

In the first book i pictured Byron to be this fat kid, who bullied. You know that stereotypical image of a bully. But in this book when we see this confused, sensitive side to him i try to picture him in a more favourable way. By completely changing his appearance in my head.

Whit was rather annoying in this book with his whole crying for his dead girlfriend Celia. I wanted to smack him!

The book was short-ish and goes by super fast and you are left wanting to read more!