Ruby Loves Adventure

There has been a lot of buzz about Rainbow Rowell's books so I decided to jump in the bandwagon and borrowed one of her books from the library. Seeing that Fangirl is the newest book out, I decided to borrow it (and partly because the waiting list for this book was shorter than Eleanor & Park).

Fangirl revolves around Cath, who grew up with her twin and has to go to Uni. But then her twin, Wren, has told her that she doesn't want her to be her roommate and pretty much have her own college experience.

Cath was devastated and keeps to herself most of the time and create her Simon Snow fanfics (Simon Snow being their equivalent of Harry Potter - a series of books and movies and they're huge) - until Levi comes along..

So that pretty much is my own version of the book summary - seeing as I can't log in to Goodreads to get a summary using this PC I'm typing the blog in at the moment.

This book has been.... disappointing. At first I was really intrigued because of all the praise for Rainbow Rowell's books, but then I started reading and realized what a loser Cath was... and I was really turned off by her personality (ie she has none) in the first 100+ pages of the book until Raegan and Levi came along to at least help develop her.
Given her twin sister's limited appearance in the book, I find myself rooting for Wren sometimes as Cath is just too bland for my liking - I mean how can you like someone who just wants to stay in their own room and who doesn't even want to make friends? Give me a break! (I know, I know - to each their own, I'm just saying I can't relate with the main character. It took me ages to convince myself to pick the book up and give it another chance, read it until the end!)

In page 180+, the book FINALLY picks up with Levi and Cath's cute scene in Cath's dorm (FINALLY, Cath seems to have more of a personality now!)

And then it went downhill again. After finishing the book, I was still highly disappointed - I was thinking - "This was one of the greatest books for 2013? Bummer" To each their own, I guess.

For me:
1) Cath didn't really grow as a person in the book - sure, she had Levi but her resolutions about not going much out of the house/dorm and not being friendly enough to other people, and getting over Simon Snow and the obsession about the fandom wasn't really addressed at the end of the book
2) What about the other characters? What about Wren, Raegan, Levi, her dad? What happened next to them? For me they were just cameo appearances to the book but they were quite essential to Cath as a person as a whole.
3) Simon Snow - it was confusing trying to follow the mini stories within the book. I know it's fictional, and I know that it is sort of based on the Harry Potter series but how does it end? Any closures in the story?
4)  400+ pages of a story that went nowhere for me. Gaah..

Good thing I just borrowed this book from the Jacksonville Public Library - at least I did not pay any money to buy this book.

Overall Rating: 2/5.

Summary from Goodreads:


Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket.
In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat.
The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist.
Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/ bloke–about–town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous–though utterly romantic–results. But will she ever see him again?
Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.

This is a cute, cute book. I never expected to pick it up when I was back home - well, because I have a rule back home that if it isn't available at a second hand book shop, I won't buy it. Since I've moved to America and knowing that the nearest district library is just two blocks away, and my boyfriend's apartment building is beside the main library, I decided to track down a copy and borrow it.

This was originally recommended by a good friend of mine, who has read it a few years back and said it was a good read - she was correct. From the summary, Ginny receives a package from her dead aunt, who tells her to travel to different places and do several tasks - all expenses paid, of course. Now who wouldn't want to do that, right? I sure would love that. Travel for free? Hey, I'm in!

Ginny goes to London, Edinburgh, Paris, Greece, and Denmark (did I miss any countries) while following the letters - although she did not stay long in many of the places, which bummed me a bit. I mean, why spend all that money just going from one place to another, right? But oh well, every person's travel itinerary is different, and that's hers.

So, what do I think about the book? It's wonderfully written, and I also love anything that involves travel (not sure I mentioned that above too). I also love how realistic it is about the hostel senarios and meeting other people on the road. Oh, and also losing your stuff - did I mention that I lost my camera when I was backpacking? Oh well. I did also get my fair share of horrible hostels that I stayed in, ahh those were the days.

So, overall, I would say - PICK UP THIS BOOK!

Book was borrowed from my local library (Jacksonville, FL - Main branch).

Philippa Gregory presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as the Wars of the Roses.


Known as the queen of historical fiction, Philippa Gregory is well known for her TUdor novels, one has even been made into a movie (The Other Boleyn Girl, anyone?). The White Queen is the first novel I've read from her and I can say it was a bit disappointing.

I expected detail, but I didn't expect detail to the point that parts of the novel is redundant - another character already said one thing, only to be repeated a few paragraphs later by another, and that goes on again and again. I also don't like the magic factor. Mixing magic with historical fiction don't really go well with each other, but who knows? Maybe in the old times, they really do believe in curses, magic, and whatnot. Not that it is true!

I originally liked the first part of the novel, but got bored when King Edward died and the story was all about Elizabeth. For some reason, her character became bland, desperate and annoying. When King Edward was still around, there were tales of wars and of love (of course, their love story was part of it).

I forgot to say that this book was the first of a trilogy which focuses on the three strong women within the House of Lancaster: first book is about Elizabeth Woodville (who married Edward, who became king), the second is about Elizabeth's daughter, aptly named Elizabeth as well (and makes things hellishly confusing as in the old times, your child's names are normally named after the parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents!), and the third is based on Jacquetta (Elizabeth Woodville's mother). Now, would I say that I'll buy the second and third part? Hmm maybe if they were on sale (like for $2 or less. I definitely won't buy it full price).

What else can I say about this book? It could be better - I think that it was rushed at some parts, and more detail could have been given about the places and more background on the characters could have been explained (then again Philippa Gregory has this tendency of releasing a few books per year so she could just be writing without considering any of these factors, but that's just me).

I'll read The Other Boleyn Girl some time and hopefully that book would be to my expectations!