One Day
David Nicholls



rating: 6 out of 10 "books"

I don’t know if I find books that are going to be made into movies or they find me (okay, I often find them), but one of my most recent adventures to half-priced books landed me on One Day by David Nicholls. I’ve heard a lot of buzz behind this book, and I definitely know that a lot of book clubbers out there are reading this one, so I decided to give it a go. This one’s for you, guys!

One Day is the story of Emma and Dexter, newly graduates of University in England and blossoming friends after a one night stand on graduation night. As the title suggests, the story follows the two over a period of twenty years, beginning in 1988, and drops in on each character on the same day each progressing year. Sometimes Dexter and Emma are together, other times they are each doing their own thing. One Day looks at how each person deals with life, love, and the search for oneself. Non-apologetic playboy, Dexter, or Dex, spends a lot of his time partying and messing up his life, while ultra-serious Emma, or Em, contemplates why life has less than exceeded her expectations. Despite the seemingly polar opposite personalities of the two, Em and Dex find security and happiness most when they are together, but different their life paths often result in conflict between the two. One Day is ultimately a love story of how two peoples’ lives can be intertwined over a long period of time, whether knowingly or not, and the decisions and actions that can either bring them together, or tear them apart.

Before I endorse this book I need to throw in a disclaimer for those just beginning the book. While the book does get off to an extremely slow start it does get better. Let me repeat that: IT DOES GET BETTER!!! This was definitely one of those books that I had to put down and walk away from multiple times. Granted, I don’t like to give up on books easily, but I will give up on one if it completely (excuse my word-age), sucks! But let me say this, although One Day and I got off to a rough start, I found myself in tears by the end of the book. If I hadn’t of been reading in a very public place, I probably would have been bawling my eyes out. Call me highly emotional (I probably am), but this book was worth it to me in the end. The English slang does take some getting used to (it’s a little annoying and makes for a dry read in some places), but overall, I’d recommend picking up Nicholls’ One Day.

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro



rating: 6 out of 10 "books"

In the spirit of novels such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Unit,” comes a similar story that depicts the possibility of a not-too-distant-future, that while seeming hardly believable now, could actually come to conception when you really get right down to the root of the idea. An alumna of Hailsham, a mysterious school located in the English countryside, Kathy H. and her fellow classmates are not your ordinary human beings. Much of Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” is spent reminding readers that Hailsham students are “special,” a characteristic that up until the last quarter of the story, we can only guess at as to why. The students’ caretakers, or guardians as they are called, instruct Hailsham students on the importance of taking care of themselves, “keeping yourselves very healthy inside, that’s much more important for each of you then it is for me,” as one guardian puts it. As Kathy H. reminisces, “even at that age – we were 9 or 10 – we knew just enough to make us wary of that whole territory. We certainly knew – though not in any deep sense – that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us. But we didn’t really know what that meant.”

The little pieces Kazuo Ishiguro lets onto early on in “Never Let Me Go” deal with the Hailsham students and donations. We are told that “normal” people are overcome with revulsion and dread at the mention of Hailsham students, especially Madame, the strange woman who comes to the school from time to time to pick up art for her “gallery,” that students spend much of their time creating. If for nothing else, this story had me reading to find out the great mystery behind the Hailsham students and their donations and kept my attention with the beautiful writing. Truly a coming-of-age tragic story, the plot follows Kathy H. and her closest classmates, Tommy and Ruth, as they grow inside the walls of Hailsham and beyond, dealing not only with the hardships of day to day life and growing up, but also those that face them in their uncertain future. If you’ve recently seen the theatrical movie release starring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, or you’re looking for a pretty decent read, I’d recommend checking out Never Let Me Go.

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion (Book 4)
L.J. Smith


rating: 6 out of 10 "books"


*** WARNING: Contains Spoilers!!! ***
As Book 3, “The Fury,” ends with the deaths of both Katherine (who faked her own death so many centuries ago in hopes of bringing Stefan and Damon together) and Elena. When the brothers and Elena discover that Katherine has been behind all the recent awful happenings in Fell’s Church, it is Elena that manages to kill Katherine by pushing her into sunlight (while being held captive alongside with Stefan and Damon), and in the process dies herself after being exposed to too much sunlight. “The Fury” ends with the departure of Stefan and Damon.

“Dark Reunion,” the fourth and final book in the original “Vampire Diaries” series, begins six months after the horrible events occurred in book 3. This story is told from Bonnie’s point of view, which is somewhat refreshing. Just when Bonnie thinks things are returning to a somewhat normal state, she begins to have dreams involving Elena. At first she overlooks them, thinking they are just dreams. But after taking into account her ancestry (she is a descendent of the ancient Druids), Bonnie begins to wonder if these dreams are Elena somehow trying to reach her. When Caroline throws a birthday party for Meredith, the girls (including Vickie Bennett and Sue Carson), use a Ouija board to try to contact Elena. They do in fact contact her, but Elena does not have good news for them. Another evil being is out to get Fell’s Church and Bonnie must contact someone to help them. Things get interrupted however, and Sue Carson ends up dead after the electricity goes out and something comes after the girls.

The only person Bonnie can imagine being able to help Elena is Stefan. After a few more dreams, Bonnie has all the ingredients to summon Stefan; and Matt, Meredith, and she call upon Stefan and Damon from Italy. The boys arrive, and they begin investigating. The group grows suspicious of bully Tyler Smallwood, who seems to know an awful lot about the events at Caroline’s house for having not been there that night. Bonnie helps Stefan reconnect with Elena through her psychic abilities and in the process Stefan learns who the evil is behind all horrible events occurring. Stefan begins researching the history of Fell’s Church after coming up with a hypothesis as to what may be going on.

The end of the story leads up to a very dramatic climax with Stefan, Damon, Bonnie and the rest of the gang attempting to fight the evil in Fell’s Church. This was probably the most emotional part of the series for me. The end really doesn’t make any sense as to what happens, but then again, the whole series is very unrealistic with the whole vampires, psychic powers, etc. All in all, I was satisfied with the ending so that’s all that matters. It definitely still left me wanting more, which is why I am glad there is a follow up series entitled, “The Return.” I definitely think the “Vampire Diaries” series is worth reading. It’s only four books, and each can be read in a day if desired. The general storyboard is pretty repetitive (Strange things happening  the gang needing to figure them out  the gang figuring them out  suspenseful cliff-hanger), which gets kind of annoying but isn’t super noticeable whilst reading. My advice, if you like stories involving vampires, teen drama, and suspense, then I suggest you give this series a try!