The Rest of Us Just Live Here by: Patrick Ness

The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by: Patrick Ness

Edition: U.S. Hardback
Pages: 352
Published: August 27th, 2015
Publisher: Walker Books

Purchase: Amazon | BookDepository

Goodreads Synopsis: What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable.


My Thoughts:
I've been so behind on the Patrick Ness bandwagon that it isn't funny and after finishing The Rest of Us Just Live Here, have decided to read his other books because his storytelling is pretty awesome!!

I went into this book completely blind and let me tell you, this is by far the weirdest book I have read thus far. This book follows a group of kids (the normal ones!) in their last year of high school and also another group of kids, the Indie kids (which are the weird ones) which for some odd reason bad things Always happens to them.  That's about all I can say without spoiling anything...I want you to be able to experience the weirdness for yourself!

Honestly, I ended up liking this book way better than I initially thought I would.  Although, Patrick Ness adds some interesting twists to the main story line, I love how the characters seem so real and go through real life situations (at least the "normal" characters).  In most YA novels I notice that the characters seem to overcome all the issues they face throughout the book, whereas the characters in The Rest of Us Just Live Here, don't necessarily overcome their issues but just deal with the issues at hand, and that's what I enjoyed most!

This is definitely one of the most clever books that I have read this year, and recommend it to anyone! Next up on my list from this author, is the Chaos Walking Trilogy.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars

Breathe by: Sarah Crossan Book Review

Breathe by: Sarah Crossan

Series: Breathe #1

Published: October 2nd, 2012

Edition: Hardback (1st edition)

Pages: 384

My Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

The world has no air. If you want to survive, you pay to breathe. But what if you can't? And what if you think everything could be different? Three teens will leave everything they know behind in Sarah Crossan's gripping and original dystopian teen novel of danger, longing, and glimmering hope that will appeal to fans of Patrick Ness and Veronica Roth.

Ever since the Switch, when the oxygen levels plummeted and most of humanity died, the survivors have been protected in glass domes full of manufactured air. Protected . . . or trapped? Or controlled? Alina's a revolutionary who believes we can save the environment. Quinn's a Premium who's never had to worry about having enough air. His best friend, Bea, is an Auxiliary who's never worried about anything but having enough air. When the three cross paths, they will change everything. Sarah Crossan's thrilling and provocative novel is about passion, about yearning for something better, and about breaking free for the very first time.

My Thoughts:

I was very hesitant to read this book because I had not heard a lot about it.  Not saying that all good books have to be commonly talked about, but it helps to get an idea of what I will be getting myself into.  With that being said I was really shocked how Sarah Crossan portrayed a world with limited air.  After all you need air to to survive! I thought this book was really good and Sarah's descriptions of what the characters were doing were so vivid that it literally felt like I was watching things unfold right before my eyes.  I do have to admit that some situations in the book were predictable but so many were not.  I was not prepared for all the hurt that these characters felt, it truly saddened me to read what they went through.

So you may wonder if I loved this book so much why did I give it a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star rating... Well this is because of the relationship that was "forming" (for lack of a better word).  I completely hated it and it just did not feel right to me.  Romance and love triangles do not bother me, but what does is when a character makes a bad choice in choosing the person that would be a better fit for them. Overall this book was amazing and I loved Sarah's righting style, I will be reading the sequel, Resist very soon because I have to see where this story goes from here.

Recommendation: I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good dystopian novel!