Review: Going Geek by Charlotte Huang

Going Geek by Charlotte Huang

Published: September 13th 2016 by Delacorte Press

Number of Pages: 304 Pages (Hardcover)

Series: No

   A girl forced out of her comfort zone finds that being true to herself is the best way to live her life, in this second novel from the author of For the Record.

   It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Skylar Hoffman’s senior year at her preppy East Coast boarding school should have been perfect:

   amazing boyfriend

   the coolest friends

   the most desirable dorm

   But it’s far from it. To her dismay, Skylar’s not going to rule senior year because she’s stuck in Abbot House, a tiny dorm known for, well, nothing. Living with a group of strangers everyone thinks is lame is bad enough. Worse is that Skylar wasn’t exactly truthful about how she spent summer break in Los Angeles—and her little white lie is causing her once rock-solid romance to crumble fast. And when it turns out that Skylar’s best friend is the one responsible for having her booted from Lincoln? It’s an all-out war.

   Stepping out of her comfort zone never felt so scary—or necessary. But everything is different now. Including, maybe, Skylar herself . . . (goodreads.com)

* Thank you to Random House and Delacorte for sending me an ARC 

in exchange for my honest opinion *

   I absolutely loved For the Record last year, so when I heard about Charlotte's next book, I knew I had to read it. Thankfully, I was one of the very lucky people who got ARCs of it, even though shipping took 2 months for unknown reasons.

   Going Geek is set at a boarding school and is all about Skylar who, upon arriving, finds out that she won't be sharing a dorm building with her popular friends but that she's been transferred into the least popular dorm of all. On top of that Skylar's family is struggling financially and she gets booted out of everything she used to be part of. On top of that she looses her friendship with her popular best friend and the relationship with her boyfriend, solely because everyone finds out that she lied about what she did over the summer, alas that in reality she spent it working.

   Across the novel we follow her as she tries to figure out her new life and also the fact that maybe the traditional and typical high school way of thinking of the "cool" and "popular" people isn't the only one.

   It took me a while to warm up to Skylar since she isn't necessarily your typical likable narrator, but once I did, I got really pulled into the story and started to root for her. Her arc is really interesting and different, especially since, for once, we don't read about the typical wallflower grey mouse type girl, but someone who used to belong to the popular crowd, who has strong opinions and doesn't fear to speak her mind, even though it doesn't always work in her favor.

   Another thing I really liked about Going Geek was the diverse cast of characters and the fact that even the secondary ones seemed fleshed out and fun, not just like shadows that were needed to push the plot along. I really liked the girls Skylar shared her dorm with!

   Just like in For the Record, Charlotte's writing was amazing. The descriptions interesting and fun, her characters full of layers and dimensions, quirks and weirdness that made them unique and realistic. But, even though I really enjoyed Going Geek, I still have to admit I preferred For the Record, maybe even only because it was about music and it was the first book I ever read from Charlotte. Still, Going Geek was a fun read I can definitely recommend!

I give Going Geek by Charlotte Huang 4 stars.

Review: Hitman: Agent 47 (Movie, 2015)

Hitman: Agent 47

Release Year: 2015
Length: 96 minutes
Cast: Rupert Friend (47)

Ciarán Hinds (Litvenko)

Thomas Kretschmann (Le Clerq)

Zachary Quinto (John Smith)

Hannah Ware (Katia)

   HITMAN: AGENT 47 centers on an elite assassin who was genetically engineered from conception to be the perfect killing machine, and is known only by the last two digits on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. He is the culmination of decades of research and forty-six earlier Agent clones -- endowing him with unprecedented strength, speed, stamina and intelligence. His latest target is a mega-corporation that plans to unlock the secret of Agent 47's past to create an army of killers whose powers surpass even his own. Teaming up with a young woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies, 47 confronts stunning revelations about his own origins and squares off in an epic battle with his deadliest foe. (imdb.com)

   Welcome to my unpopular opinion on Hitman: Agent 47. I, unlike many people I've seen online or spoken to, actually really enjoyed this movie. Sure, it's not a state of the art type of movie that will change your view on movies and the world, or win an Oscar for something, but it is great at what it is: an action packed movie centered around a kickass assassin and badass female lead.

   Personally, I think action might me one of my favorite movie genres, so of course I felt drawn to this one the moment I saw the first trailer many months ago. I was really hyped until the movie came out and suddenly everybody said that it sucks. I admit, I felt discouraged and didn't watch it for a long time, obviously. But, now that I've watched it, made myself my very own opinion, I can say that I don't get why everybody is hating on it so much. Unlike many other movies, this one doesn't have some forced love story just kind of squished in there for no reason, which makes me very happy. Furthermore it features lots and lots of fighting scenes, shootings, hand to hand combat, car chases and also a few stealthy scenes. I know many people complained that 47 didn't act like an agent would, because he shot in public and everything, but what else was he supposed to do? Let the bad guys just shoot him and the others?

   Sure enough, the character development is a little lacking, but I don't really mind that much? I really liked Rupert Friend as 47. He had that stoic face going on, that calm and collected stance, and he just looks like a badass, especially in that suit with the red tie. He might not be the best actor out there, but I think he did his job well, he delivered a killer who didn't crack out of character jokes or bust out smiles.

   I also liked Katia. She was a great female lead that showed that for once a woman can also be the special one, the best one of them all, even without taking all her clothes off or running around in something really, really tight. She was determined and didn't whine around, like some heroines tend to do in these kinds of movies.

   Katia and 47 were great together. They had an interesting dynamic going on, and let's face it, they were brilliant at what they do: kill people and get the job done.

   As I mentioned before, this might not be the most eye opening, brilliantly executed and thought out movie there is, but at the end of the day it doesn't have to be. This is a action movie about an assassin,  what I expect from such a movie is that it should have lots of action and fighting, and that's exactly what I got so I'm happy. The music was also really good.

   I give Hitman: Agent 47 4 out of 5 stars.