Mini Reviews #1

All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor
Published: May 15th 2018 by HarperTeen
Number of Pages: 432 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No

   Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.

   Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.

   Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’d known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined. . . . (goodreads.com)

   This story was wild, there is no other way to put it. It was also highly addictive. I was certainly intrigued by the premise of four teens befriending their favorite author (I mean that's kind of the dream, isn't it?) and things turning out not quite how they expected or hoped it would in the end. I really enjoyed the way the story was told through both interviews and excerpts from Fatima's new book, and the way you could see all the pieces coming together. It was fascinating to see how Fatima manipulated herself into the heads of those teens and made herself appear like their best friend and so interested in what they had to say and what was going on in her lives while knowing the reason why, and also how it made all of them feel and how they looked on it later on.

   This was the first time I read anything by Lygia Day Peñaflor and I really loved it. Despite my reading slump this year, I just couldn't put it down and finished it in about a day or two. I highly recommend it.

I give All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor 5 out of 5 stars.

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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Published: September 7th 2017 by Walker Books
Number of Pages: 290 Pages (Paperback)
Series: No

   Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?

   Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

   Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

   But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

   Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . . (goodreads.com)

   This book was certainly not what I expected it to be based on the description, but I was blown away by the story and how it unfolded. It alternates between emails and Romy's narration and it builds slowly, things come together piece by piece, the tension rises at the perfect pace, and it's also mixed with a bit of space science and a study on the mind when you're literally the only person in a radius of years instead of miles.

   I liked the fact that Romy sounded her age, but that her mind and knowledge also showed that she really could be someone born in space and training to be fit for the mission she was born into. Seeing her get to know J and also her love for her favorite show and even the (slightly cringy) fan fics she wrote for them, it was so much fun. But it was also genuinely thrilling, creepy, and downright terrifying, especially in the second half, even more than just thinking about being alone day and night for years on a spaceship. 

   Absolutely amazing read full of twists and turns and mind games.

I give The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James 5 out of 5 stars.

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Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Published: May 30th 2017 by Greenwillow Books
Number of Pages: 385 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No

   Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

   In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

   Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

   But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart. (goodreads.com)

   Francesca Zappia is one of my auto buy authors, though I'll admit that it took me way too long to actually pick this one up and read it. I absolutely loved her debut, Made You Up, and I loved this one just as much, though for different reasons.

“I made Monstrous Sea because it's the story I wanted. 

I wanted a story like it, and I couldn't find one, so I created it myself.”

   The idea of being someone whose art and story can spark such a vast interest, create a fandom and be something you can live off of, that's the dream of every author and artist, isn't it? So it was fascinating to actually read about a character like that, see how she sees her fame, how reluctant she is to claim it, show who she truly is, her doubts and worries, and how her friendship forms with someone who is an actual real life fan of her web comic. I loved Eliza and Wallace, how reluctant Eliza was at first to interact with him and what a beautiful thing became of it, how she didn't judge him for the fact that writing came easier to him than speaking, and all these other small things.

   The fact that the art in the book came from Francesca was even cooler so kudos to her for doing it. Both the main story, and the snippets we saw of Eliza's web comic, were absolutely fantastic and I can only recommend this book to everyone. Read it, you won't regret it.

I give Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia 5 out of 5 stars.

3 Year Blogversary Celevration feat. Francesca Zappia (Made You Up)

   Today I'm here with the awesome Francesca Zappia. Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing her about her novel, Made You Up, which, if you want, you can totally check out right here. Also, I completely, from the first to the last page, loved her book since it was amazingly written and just so good in general (find my review here).
   When planning this entire thing I knew I had to ask her if she'd want to participate and, luckily, she said yes so let's check out her As to my Qs below:

   1) What does YA mean to you?

   To me, YA means two things: the ability to have a lot of fun with your plot and characters, and a responsibility to your audience to portray the reality of things, even when writing fantasy. So YA is a very important balancing act.

   2) Since this is a blogversary, is there anything you'd like to say to the blogging community and are there any blogs you like/follow?

   I absolutely love the blogging community. What author doesn’t? (The bad ones, probably.) Book bloggers are so vital to YA publishing, it’s hard to imagine any of the very popular YA books becoming popular without them. So I’d like to say thank you to book bloggers and vloggers—thank you for all the work you do, thank you for your unwavering enthusiasm, and thank you for getting the word of mouth started on so many books that otherwise might fall under the radar—like mine!

   One of my favorite blogs (and vlogs) belongs to my friend Christina at Christina Reads YA (link here: http://christinareadsya.blogspot.com). (She also goes by Tina in her Twitter handle.) Not only does Christina give me consistently excellent book recommendations, she’s an awesomely astute beta reader and is even taking part in the Because You Love to Hate Me anthology coming out next summer!

   3) Could you tell us something about yourself and your book?

   I have a degree in computer science and by day I work as an IT specialist (weird, right?). Probably eighty percent of my free time is spent writing or working on something related to writing. My book, Made You Up, is about a girl with paranoid schizophrenia working through her last year of high school. It features two of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, Alex and Miles. And more than anything, I hope it helps the people who are able to find themselves in the characters or the story.

   Thank you so, so much to Francesca for coming and answering my questions. What do you guys think of them? Also, have you read her book? If not you totally should give it a chance!

   The next post will be up July 23rd and feature the next awesome blogger.

   Thank you so much for reading!

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Cover Lust Friday: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

   Cover Lust Friday is a new weekly meme that's all about covers. Pick a cover that stands out to you, add your reason why you've chosen that particular one or what you like about it. Let's have fun with it and share the love for our favorite covers.

   The Cover:

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Published: May 19th 2015 by Greenwillow Books
Number of Pages: 428 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No

   Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
   Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
   Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. (goodreads.com)

   The Reason:

   I love this cover, and the book it belongs to.
   This cover truly looks like someone actually sat down and put a lot of thinking into what the cover should be like so it would mirror the story perfectly. I really like covers that look like they've been painted and, let's face it, the rain looks amazing! Alex, the protagonist and girl on the cover, looks really cool with that bit of red hair showing and that comfy looking sweater.
   This cover is perfect!

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Want to join in? No problem! Just follow the 'rules' below:

1. Write a blog post about a cover you love.
2. Add your link in the comment section of the original post (click here) so we can have something like a list going on.
3. And if you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
4. Check out other posts, and have fun!

Review: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Published: May 19th 2015 by Greenwillow Books
Pages: 448 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No

   Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
   Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
   Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. (goodreads.com)

“Dear Asshole: Thank you for keeping your word and believing me. It was more than I expected. Also, I'm sorry you were inconvenienced by my gluing your locker shut at the beginning of this year. However, I am not sorry that I did it, because it was a lot of fun. Love, Alex.”

   Made You Up was my most anticipated book of 2015. I fell in love with the cover and fell even more with the blurb which made me truly hope that I would end up liking it. Even more so after I had interviewed the author, Francesca Zappia, and realized the book comes out on my 21st birthday.
   After reading it I can honestly say it was one of my favorite reads of 2015 so far, maybe even my favorite. Made You Up was honest, captivating, extraordinary and weird in the best way possible. I've read many books but none were quite like this one.
   I loved the plotline and the characters which Francesca has created. I loved Alex's voice and just how truly unreliable she was. While reading certain scenes I found myself questioning her description of the scenery and the people because you could just never be entirely sure if it is really there. I was very happy to see that her mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia, really was a big part of her and the story, that it wasn't just something that was mentioned a couple times and soon forgotten, but something that was ever present. We got to see Alex try and deal with the things that were going on in a very realistic way and I loved her fascination for lobsters. Free the lobsters!
   Francesca's writing style was brilliant and on point. She managed to capture the atmosphere and mood of certain scenes perfectly which allows you to imagine it easily. I enjoyed the different bits of history that were simply part of what all the characters knew and were passionate about, which on the other hand made me feel like I know nothing, probably because it's been 4 years since I've last taken history in school.

“The only thing missing was Miles. But he was probably circling 

somewhere, destroying villages and hoarding gold in his mountain lair.”

   Miles Richter, the love interest in Made You Up, was fantastic. I love the fact that his nationality, German, played an actual role in this story, that it was mentioned and used in certain ways. And, thank you so much Francesca, the bits of dialogue that were in German were actually correct German which is always great to see in novels written by American authors.
   Seeing Alex and Miles interact was great because they were just so vastly different. On one hand we have Alex who cannot believe the fact that she may have found the boy she believed she had made you years ago, and on the other side we have Miles who was unable to deal with inter human relations in every way possible and it was brilliant. I love seeing characters with such prominent flaws and personalities which they keep up over the entirety of the book and not just drop at some point.

“Believing something existed and then finding out it didn't was 

like reaching the top of the stairs and thinking there was one more step.”

   One of the big reveals in Made You Up, which of course I will not spoil, has truly made me cry because it turned out that something I took for granted and real, just like Alex did, turned out to be not real at all and it was just heartbreaking to see Alex realize it and just read her thoughts and emotions. I love how real and honest it felt.

“I didn't have the luxury of taking reality for granted. And I wouldn't say I hated 

people who did, because that's just about everyone. I didn't hate them. They 

didn't live in my world.

But that never stopped me from wishing I lived in theirs.”

   All in all Made You Up is an extraordinary read definitely worth a shot, especially if you are into books which deal with mental illnesses and/or are just completely different for your average YA contemporary novels. I had a great time reading it and simply loved the way the story unfolded, slowly and beautifully. The ending fits perfectly, the characters are unique and different. I highly recommend this book.

I give Made You Up by Francesca Zappia 5 out of 5 Stars.

Ask the Author: Francesca Zappia (Made You Up)

   Hey guys!
   Today I have something really special for you, something that's never been on Bettgeschichten before and I am super excited because of it. I got the chance to interview Francesca Zappia for you guys! Her book, Made You Up, is currently way up there on my list of most anticipated books of 2015, and it also happens to be her debut novel.

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Published: May 19th 2015 by Greenwillow Books
Number of Pages: 448 Pages (Hardcover)
Series: No
Pre-order it: Book Depository
~ Free worldwide shipping ~

   Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.
   Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.
   Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up. (goodreads.com)

Interview with Francesca Zappia

   1 - Describe Made You Up in the shortest way possible.
   Schizophrenic teenage girl must survive her senior year of high school intact.

   2 - What was the first initial thought or thing that sparked the idea of Made You Up? Was it a name or the most basic idea of a story about a girl with schizophrenia?
   Made You Up started a LONG time ago, and the story has changed a lot since then, but one thing that has always stayed the same are the main characters, Alex and Miles. I think they're the initial spark--them as people and their relationship together.

   3 - How much research did you do on schizophrenia? And did you, at some point during research, feel discouraged or anxious in terms of writing about it, or rather incorporating it into your story?
   I wrote most of Made You Up while I was in high school, and I did about as much research as a high school student could do. I read books on it, I watched documentaries, and I went online to forums where people who have schizophrenia were discussing the illness. Weirdly enough, I never felt anxious or discouraged while writing about it. I do get anxious now, though. Many people have said they're interested in reading the book because they know someone who has schizophrenia, and I just hope I don't let them down.

   4 - Did you have a personal motivation behind writing a story with schizophrenia or was it out of pure interest in the illness itself?
   I actually didn't want to write the story because of the schizophrenia. I wanted to write about Alex and Miles, people who needed help but didn't quite know how to ask for it. I don't have any personal ties to schizophrenia, but it has interested me for a long time, and I wanted to explore that.

   5 - How long did it take you from first thought until publishing deal? Out of curiosity, how many queries did you have to send until you found 'the one'?
Oh, gosh. Probably ten years? Like I said, it went through a lot of changes since the very first draft I ever wrote, and I probably queried with it and other stories for around five years before I landed an agent. I believe the final time I sent out around seventy-five queries before signing with my agent (whom I actually didn't even query). In the entire five years of trying to get an agent, I sent out hundreds of queries. It was a very long process.

   6 - How do you feel about the fact that in only a few more months thousands of readers will be able to hold and read your debut novel?
   Very, very nervous. But it's also exciting, because it's like, "This thing I've been working on my whole life will finally see the light of day! People will read it!" It's awesome.

   7 - Why do you thing the readers out there should pick up Made You Up?
   Because it's way more lighthearted than they'll expect. It's not just about Alex's problems, it's about this whole community around her, the friends she makes, and the mystery she unravels. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I think people will have fun reading it.

   8 - While writing the story did you ever imagine how a cover might look like and what do you think about the absolutely gorgeous final version?
   I did sometimes think about what the cover might look like--and even tried making some myself, when I was in high school--but I never imagined it would end up looking the way it does. The cover Greenwillow came up with for Made You Up is stunning, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. What I love most about it is that it encompasses so much of the story without giving away anything.

   9 - Did you listen to any particular songs or artists while writing Made You Up? If so, could you give us an example?
   Yes! I always listen to music while writing. Every story has its own flavor of music, and if I can't find any music for an idea, that typically means the idea isn't going to go anywhere. For Made You Up, it was a lot of music that makes me feel nostalgic--like Eve 6's "Inside Out" or Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta". Then there's "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz and "Touches You" by Mika. My favorite songs, though, are the German ones--particularly "Guten Tag" by Wir Sind Helden. If anyone wants to know what kind of mindset I was in while writing Made You Up, listen to "Guten Tag."

   10 - Any final words or message to your future readers out there?
   I hope you enjoy the ride!

About the Author

   I'm a YA writer represented by Louise Fury of the Bent Agency. My debut, MADE YOU UP, will be out from Greenwillow/HarperCollins on May 19th, 2015. I like writing, reading, drawing, anime, playing way too much Pokemon, and other things.
   I'm on Twitter @ChessieZappia, Tumblr (exeuntstormtroopers.tumblr.com), Instagram @ChessieZappia, and on my website, www.francescazappia.com.