Stay Strong & True To What YOU Want To Read; Don't Give In To All Of Those Shiny Early Releases, Enticing Blog Tours & Apparently Gripping Review Requests | One Year Blogoversary Celebration (7)

Look at these books,

Aren't they neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl,

The girl who has enough books to read?

IIn the very beginning, there will be books, FREE, EARLY, SEEMINGLY PERFECT books that peopel want you to read. I'm here to tell you some cautionary tales on why you should THINK CAREFULLY about eeach and every book you request, sign up to promote, and promise to review, because you will regret it ifyou have too much on your plate.

My #1 Tip for Blog Tours is: DO NOT sign up/request ALL of the books. Because even if you are blogger one your FIRST WEEK of blogging, you will STILL be accepted for at least one or more of these promotional events. My biggest downfall/stress inducer in the first four months of blogging was the fact that I signed up for EVERY blog tour that was categorized under "Young Adult." This led to stressing out because of scheduling, feeling guilty for not reading books I want to read, and a lot of unwanted pressure.

There have been SOOO many times where I have signed up for a blog tour, lost track of time, and then the night before, I am scrambling to finish the book. I kid you not, I have stayed up into the wee hours of the morning the DAY of the tour to write my review, and I have even pressed the "publish" button at the exact second the post is supposed to be live.

On top of that, blog tour books 99.9% of the time come in an eBook and I will now promptly direct you to a post where I express my issues with reading eBooks. The bottom line is that I read eBooks at a snail's pace 5 times slower than a regular book because of lack of access during school hours. Blog Tour books 75% of the time are self-published, and it tends to be (there are always exceptions) that self-published books haven't had as much editing/revisions as books that have been professionally edited/revised. This leads to issues as a reader such as boredom, cliche tropes, been-there-read-that plots, and occasionally, bad grammar.

Until you have a firm grip on what you can handle (how many books you can read a month, how many posts you can schedule, and what kinds of books you read from different sources), I would advise that you don't sign up for blog tours, and even if you do, sign up for a maximum of 20% of the number of books your normally read until you have a firm handle on the books you can read per month on a deadline. Because even if you only get onto 1 out of 4 tours you sign up for, you may still be over your head with books to read

If Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours reads this post, she will most likely fire me permanently as a host and never put me down on the blog tour itinerary again.

The same advice follows for the two programs Netgalley and Edelweiss. I have permanently ruined my Netgalley approval ratio. It aint even funny how many books I have requested and how many (to my utter surprise) that I have been accepted for, which leads me to the worse approval to feedback ratio in the history of man kind.

Something I was so surprised with and so honored in the BEGINNING of blogging was when authors would approach me to read their books. A year later, I can count on my right hand how many review request books I have, in fact, read and reviewed. If this is even possible, all of my Blog Tour book reading issues multiply by 5 (again) when it comes to review request books because of the aforementioned reasons and the fact that authors can't (if they aren't out of their minds) give you a strict post deadline, which lets you just put off and put off their book. It has come to a point where I will only accept physical books and even so, I will rarely accept. Unless I can tell the publisher has honestly researched myself as a blogger and read my policy, I won't accept. It is so unlikely for me to give into an email that doesn't even have my name on it, if it's clearly copy-and-pasted/sent as a mass email, and if its for a book in a genre I clearly don't read.

The bottom line is, if you are click-happy person in life/shopping/Blog Tour Sign-Ups/Netgalley/Review Request, do your very best to refrain because you will sorely regret it if you flail, sink, and die in the "books I wanted to read" ocean.

What made me discover that I was a mood reader was the simple fact that I had SOOO many books coming from all these different sources, and I had no idea how I was going to read them all. If you're a mood reader, you know that you can't/won't stick to TBRs, but I would advise as the very least to know how many books you can read a month and how many different sources you have books coming in. Once you delve into the dirty details of eBooks versus Physical Book, Promotional Books vs Pleasure Books, you will have one hell of a shock. Which is especially why you should stick to not being a click-happy blogger/vlogger.

If you could possibly manage to stick to a TBR or some semblance of one, this is what I would advise

20% | Blog Tour/Review Request Books

20% | ARCs

60% | Leave it up to the reading gods (aka your mood) to decide

How To Translate All Of Your Bookish Feels Without Using "asdfghjkl" | One Year Blogoversary Celebration (3)

For the longest while, I had always wondered why I was so deviant when it came to my review format. Sometimes I use GIFs, sometimes I talk about specific elements of the story, and sometimes, I just ramble about my thoughts pertaining to the book (okay, this is 99.9% of the time, but you get my point). It is only recently that I came to this conclusion. As a reader, each book I finish impacts me in a different way. I have different feels, I get different things out of a story, whether it's a new perspective or just some good laughs.

Says every book EVER!

There's this theory, that whenever you get a new car, EVERYONE around you has that car as well. So... why did it take so long for you to notice the boatload of [INSERT CAR NAME HERE] driving around your town? It's called the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon (according to Google). That's the same way it is with elements of fiction for me. I feel like I'm in the mood for a book with a kickass female protagonist, I snap my fingers, and PRESTO! A kickass female protagonist shows up, not just in the book I'm currently reading, but EVERYWHERE.

This also applies to my philosophy about providence and every book that you pick up is for a reason. Especially in these tumultous teenage stages of my life, I need comfort that can only be found in books and fictional characters to prove that I'm not alone. Somewhere, somehow, SOMEONE is experiencing the sheer amount of crap that I am, and even if they didn't, the author is hella good and at the very least knows about how I'm feeling at that moment and has managed to encaspulate those feelings without going through the exact thing I have just experienced.

So that's my concusion, I review all books differently, because all books are different, and if they aren't, then at least I have something fun to rant about.

In the same way that I (almost) always know how to rate a book, I know how to review it. Maybe it was the mood this book put me in, maybe it was the thoughts and ideas this book inplanted into my head, maybe it's sheer laziness because of how much I didn't enjoy it.

Let me unearth the ways

So now, I'm going to break it down into the "How to?" section of this post. Below, I have listed 5 different review styles/formats and how they're used with the appropriate feelings. If you disagree, I beckon you tell me what format/style YOU would use and why. I love learning, especially if what I'm learning is related to books because I want to make my reviews the most well-written, most succinct, most entertaining reviews possible for you to read.

Random GIF for your seeing enjoyment in case you didn't know what those moving picture thingys were

GIF | : Most of the time, this kind of review is used when I have ALL of the feels, but no easy way to express them I am so overwhelmed that I can't voice my words (something extremely rare in my case), and all I can do is show you pictures of Seal Memes and Guys Tripping Over Inconvenient Banana Peels. As a fellow blogger, these are fun, quick, and easy to read, I get your point über fast, and have had fun while doing so.

Plot Element | The Rose Master: Valentina Cana: This is the kind of be-all-end-all review for the kind of reader that would like to know if the book is worth their time by doing heavy-duty research beforehand in order not to waste thheir time iwht a book they hate. This is also the most time-consuming review because (to make things harder on myself) I have come up with a total of 15 categories. They range from what characters peeved me off, how hard the case of the feels struck, if I have found any new OTPs in this novel, and even the most superficial layer of the book - The cover and the title.

Individual Plot Aspects: Peaceful Genocide: J.A. Reynolds: This is what I would like to call the "lazy person's guide to the Plot Element review." This kind of review is generally much shorter, and its where I simply discuss certain elements and aspects of the novel. Whether I pick and choose a few of the 15 categories, or whether I start rambling on and on about my hatred for arranged marriages and princesses who attempt to escape them. I'm concise about what topics I cover, yet detailed about what I did and did not like.

---- Quotes | Breaking Free: Winter Page: Occassionally, there will be a book that is lyrical, so profound, that I have to quote entire passages from it. Most often, I will list a quote, and then start to ramble about how this wonderful quote that has impacted mankind pertains to that certain aspect of the plot.

Fangirling/Rambling | This Song Will Save Your Life: Leila Sales: 100% self-explanatory. I write, and write, and write, until I can feel no more at that immediate moment (because like contagious diseases, they keep coming back). While I rarely edit my reviews (shush! Don't tell anybody), these are the kinds where I usually have to go through, add headers, maybe bold some words and try to make my review have some form of pattern or logic. When the feels are THIS intense, you're lucky you even get intelligible sentences.

Pro/Con | Butterman (Time) Travel Inc: P.K. Hrezo: At times when I am still trying to figure out what to rate a book, or, more likely, questioning my decision on what I already rated it, I will use a Pro/Con review. So it all boils down in my indecisiveness to ruling the pros and the cons of the novel, and most likely, this helps me work through my (obvious) issues, at least for the moment. Things are black and white, clear as day, and informative for people who are wondering if that particular kind of book would be good for them.

Vlog Style | : Recently, I started doing book reviews on my YouTube Channel, and it is a lot harder than you would expect. Without a synopsis someone can read/refer back to, you have to get into what the story is about, which is extremely hard for me because I don't know if I'm making the person clueless as to what I'm talking about, or actually translating the premise across. Something I do love is the fact that someone can see/hear your emotions. If you hate the book, your tone and body langauge will convey that. If you love it, they will be freaked out by how much you're fangirling, and maybe, be so inspired that they want to read this book as well. Because of the way some of my favorite BookTubers review books, I am so much more inclined to pick the book up when I see the excitement and gleam in their eyes.

So there you have it. There are multiple ways to review books, and in the beginning, all you can really do is try out these different styles. Express your thoughts whatever way you want to, and if you can articulate your feelings, whether by being informative, humorous, or a combination of both, you will feel great for spreading your love of book to another human.

The Beauty Of The Internet | One Year Blogoversary Celebration (3)

The other day, my old-fashioned Taiwanese father asked me what I could possibly be doing that would require spending so much time on the computer/internet. I told him (again) that I had a blog and a YouTube Channel that needed my attending to it. He asked, "Why don't you just take a break while in this transition period of moving?" Then he proceeded on a miniature lecture in regards to cyber-bullying, video game obsession, and general addiction to the internet.

I NEED the internet!

As you can see, he is on the opposing side to the internet, World Wide Web (yes, he does still call it that) usage debate, especially when it comes to teenagers using and (in his opinion) abusing it. To sum up a long story, I lost the argument, because we are both stubborn people who are firmly set in our respective "internet versus no internet" ways. Because, "When I was a boy, I didn't have shoes." Yet, as everyone knows, times have changed.

I am here to state my argument on why internet is one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread, and how it has helped me throughout my life, with reasonings ranging from plain laziness, to convenience, to coping.

Oh, Yes, You Are Internet

I've always been that girl that was somewhat.... different. I may not have aquarmarine hair and horns (I just finished reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone), but I do love writing, reading, and just plain sitting around to think about life. My interests are different from my friends, my way of approaching problems. Therefore, while my friends love and respect me for who I am. I put up with them discussing anime while they tune out my fangirling.

This is totally me!

Yet, as a person that would like to discuss her interests with the people around her -I say discuss because my desire to socialize with people is pretty minute- I always wanted to meet and talk to someone who was like me. Someone I could have stimulating conversation with about Joya de Arena, Ravka, and Adaralan. Someone I could swoon with over the hottest boys of Young Adult Fiction.

Be my friend?

The internet, has given me those people. I am able to communicate with people I never would have otherwise. People from Australia. People from England. People of different races, different ages, different backgrounds. Tall, short, white, black, all of the above. I have gained some invaluable friendships and common bonds between people who live on the other side of the country.

Most commonly, in the news, you will hear horror stories about cyber bullies that have invented different online identities and have done a lot of damage because of it. For my personal situation, it's the exact opposite. I act the way I act when I'm among my friends, and the way I act is different. At the end of the day, when I come home and log onto social media, or begin to compose a blog post, I become purely who I am. All of this word vomit and ramblings go on a direct journey from my brain to my fingers.

The internet is a glorious place, and I have carved out a little section of my own. Those twelve-hundred something twitter, three hundred Instagram, three hundred blog followers are something I can call my own. I have worked hard, whether its formulating my thoughts on the newest New York Times Bestseller, or adding a vintage filter and setting up the proper angles for a Bookstagram photo, or coming up with something witty in less than 140 characters.

Through blogging/vlogging, I have had some astounding opportunities. I own books that won't come out for the next four months. I am up to date on the biggest trends and franchises. I have learned self-discipline, prioritizing, and time management from a 100% self-imposed hobby. I have created a brand and a name for myself.

The beauty of it all is that ANYONE can do this, with basic computer skills/access and adequate knowledge of a language, someone who has never had a voice before.... now does. Even if one person reads your blog post and comments, you will know that you have effected someone in some small way. They took time out of their day, to read/watch the content you have worked so hard to produce. They may share it with their friends, or think about what you have said throughout their day. 

With this technology, human interaction is no longer limited to being face to face. And is something done over a computer screen really less meaningful than something done in person? If it's possibly to quote unquote "fall in love with" a celebrity that you have never met and willl most likely never have a real conversation with, why is it not considered as real of a connection with someone you have talked to, shared with, and confided in, and the only operative factor is the fact that this happened online.

Of course, life is not a box of choclates and there are PLENTY of safety precautions/issues with the internet, but if you use it in a safe, responsbile manner, it can be a wonderous thing that has forged bonds, connections, and relationships that would never have happened. People you may never have crossed roads with before are now small parts of your life.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these GIFs, nor do I claim to.

{Book Review} The Rose Master: Valentina Cana

Rating: 72%
Series: None
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult, Fiction,
Publisher: REUTS Publications
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Page Count: 200
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads ~ Amazon

Goodreads Synopsis: "Cano does a fine job of setting mood and atmosphere, and her characters dance around one another with relentless industry and brooding allure, fighting their inevitable attraction." — Publishers Weekly

---

The day Anne Tinning turns seventeen, birds fall from the sky. But that's hardly the most upsetting news. She's being dismissed from the home she's served at since she was a child, and shipped off to become the newly hired parlor maid for a place she's never heard of. And when she sees the run-down, isolated house, she instantly knows why:

There's something wrong with Rosewood Manor.

Staffed with only three other servants, all gripped by icy silence and inexplicable bruises, and inhabited by a young master who is as cold as the place itself, the house is shrouded in neglect and thick with fear. Her questions are met with hushed whispers, and she soon finds herself alone in the empty halls, left to tidy and clean rooms no one visits.

As the feeling of being watched grows, she begins to realize there is something else in the house with them--some creature that stalks the frozen halls and claws at her door. A creature that seems intent on harming her.

When a fire leaves Anne trapped in the manor with its Master, she finally demands to know why. But as she forces the truth about what haunts the grounds from Lord Grey, she learns secrets she isn't prepared for. The creature is very real, and she's the only one who can help him stop it.

Now, Anne must either risk her life for the young man she's grown to admire, or abandon her post while she still can.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Who Would I Recommend This To?

Fans of the Madman's Daughter Trilogy (Megan Shepherd), Cruel Beauty (Rosamond Hodge), Beauty and the Beast, and Jane Eyre

Background & Backstory

I'm going to admit that my requesting of The Rose Master by Valentina Cana on Netgalley was a COMPLETELY click-happy decision. I remember being apprehensive because it wasn't an ARC coming out, but one that was already out in the general public. Yet that cover that was so beautiful and so relevant (thankfully) to the story just drew me in and made me request the book.

I was not actually planning on reading this book at this point in time either because I had just finished a blog tour book, it was pretty late, and sleep seemed like a good idea. Yet I was on a reading high and wanted something to quench my thirst, so I flipped through my Netgalley books (you know, so I can get my ratio higher than the pathetic 25% it is now), and The Rose Master just jumped out at me.

What Was My Reaction Upon Finishing?

*round of applause for a standalone book well written and wrapped*

Jane Eyre/Beauty and the Beast Retelling: Everyone knows the story of Beauty and the Beast and has read or at least watched the movie (*raises hand*) Jane Eyre. I was extremely surprised to see how accurate that "X meets X" comparison was. We had the creepy mansion with a brooding (somewhat stern in appearance) master of the house who had a dark past wrapped up with magic and roses. We had the gradual storyline of master and servant falling in love in the English countryside. Despite these strong elements taken from both stories, Cana did them justice with her execution and unique flare with which she wrote the plot.

Anne Tinning: She was not a protagonist who blew me way by any means, but she did hold her own in the story and was likable despite not having any apparent kick-ass qualities about her. She had just enough spirit to head a household (in terms of servantry) and just enough vulnerability for her character's arc to develop throughout the course of the novel. She reminded me a lot of Jane Hawking (I just watched The Theory of Everything) in the way that she took charge and took care of Lord Grey in the motherly/wifely duties of the time period.

Strong Magic System: The Rose Master was surprisingly short, and while not much time was spent describing/dwelling on magic and how it worked in the story, it was well developed and I had a clear understanding of it despite the overall book's short length. I do however think the story might have been better if the strange elements of the story did not have explanations, but were left a little more unexplained without the magic incorporated into the story to make it more mysterious.

Cover: This will basically be feels-filled about how much I love this cover. It has so much poetic justice and different symbolism in the book that is visually stunning. There's the raven and the skull, and the rosessm abd the bleak, desolate background. The font is just so cool, and  this cover is perfect for the story.

Ending: It wasn't until the very end of the book that I realized this was a standalone. Of course, there will always be threads left untied by the author, but I was shocked with how nice and neat everything came toogether. There could defintiely be a companion novel, but the ending was so perfect.

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Another Book By Valentina Cana?

40%

I'm aware that Cana has other books published, but I'm not DYING to research them because of how much I liked The Rose Master and how satisfied I was. Yet if a promotional opportunity arises for another spooky/gothic thriller written by her, I will definitely read or promote it.

Conclusion: The Rose Master was well-written, beautiful, with a subtle romance, and solid ending.

Once You're Known.... There's No Going Back | One Year Blogoversary Celebration (1)

Welcome to my first day of blogoversary shenanigans. Aka. "Sofia thinks she can actually write advice when she has no idea what she's doing herself. 

" Those five words mean a lot to both me and my brand. They're in my Blog/BookTube Channel URLs, they're what people refer to when wanting to contact or mention me, and I've been addressed to as "Loving the Language of Literacy" by quite a few spam-filled review request emails.

Why Loving the Language of Literacy?

Despite being the self-proclaimed "Queen of Backstories," my reasons for this name aren't long and dramatic. On Friday, December 6, 2014, I made the conscious decision that reviewing books JUST one Goodreads wasn't enough. I needed to kick it up a notch and create my own blog name. Right now, I'm just thanking the heavens that my amateur blogger mind did not choose "Sofia Li" as my name. 

My Goodreads Reviews

What I did want, originally, was an alliteration, USING my last name. Of course, my first name would have been more convenient, but I learned within the first thirthy seconds of my thesaurus searching that there were a heck of a lot more literary-related adjectives starting with the letter "L" versus the letter "S." 

I know right *flips hair*

I think I searched up "Random Blog Name Generator" or SOMETHING like that, and found a website that gave me a bunch of random adjectives/synoyns. So through around 15 minutes of avid investigating, I came up with "Loving," "Language," and "Literacy." What I figured out at this point, was that adding my last name somewhere in there (most likely, Li Loving the Language of Literacy) would make an already too-long blog name.... too long. Therefore, Loving the Language of Literacy was born. 

Are You Happy With This Blog Name?

To be honest, I am. I completely lucked out on this aspect of blogging, as I am still loving the language of literacy a year later. This love proved to bbe extra handy when it came time to creat my BookTube Channel, because all I had to do was usee the same name, that I was already known by and had already created a brand for. Literally, my ONLY regret is that Loving the Language of Literacy is a heck of a lot to type out. Plus, it proved challenging when trying to create my brand elsewhere. 

Why Would I Advise a *Slightly* Smaller Blog Name, Character/Word Wise?

Amy Poehler says so too! PS: I just read her memoir :)

When you're tryign to create a brand, you want it to be consistent amongst ALL of the social medias. This includes Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. This proved to be the biggest problem with Twitter and Instagram, because, as you know, there are character limits on Usernames. Loving the Language of Literacy is THIRTY-ONE characters long. Waaay too long for a Twitter/Instagram Handle/Username. Plus, it is a pain in the you-know-where to try to fit into character-limited tweets. Plus, if you're lazy like me, you don't want to write all of that out each and every time you sign up for a blog tour. 

I've Already Made My Brand Known & My Blog/BookTube Channel Name is Too Long, How Do I Make My Brand Consistent?

Learning of this character limit tragedy early on, I decided to use my other name that I was known by on some small, dusty corners of the interwebs. @sslluvsbooks Having a short & sweet username, maybe with your name (SSL are my initials), what your brand specializes in (books), and maybe a verb (luvs) helps a ton.

Why Might You Want To Be An Independent Blogger, At Least When It Comes To Your Brand?

Or a Man... If that's what you are

I am in no way trying to insult you, I was so close to making hte same mistake myself, but DO NOT, I repeart, DO NOT, add the words "book" or "read" to your blog name. There are too many of us out there with htat, and you will be indistinguishable from everyone else, plus your lack of creativity (something I am fully guilty of) will show. Three of the most popular, most distinct bloggers/vloggers out there are Nose Graze, Parajunkee, and PolandBananasBooks. With those three names, would you guess, in a million years (minus the books) that any of these channels/blogs have anything to do with books? No, you don't. Wile this might slightly hurt your SEO at first, in the long run, it will make you distiinguishable on the interwens, and even at real-life events (not that I know what those things are).

Why May You Want a Brand Name That Is Related, But Does Not Spell Out What the Majority of Your Content is About?

Post ALL of the Things!

The answer to this is simple - You may want to post something non-book related. Maybe you want to post about a really great race you had, or your latest writing project, or your newest vegan friendly recipe. Having a flexible blog name gives you the freedom to expand a little, if wanted. Of course, if your blog has the words "cooking" and "food" in it, and you start posting about pro-wrestling, you might want to consider starting a new blog because the two audiences don't mingle too much. Lately, I have become so thankful for Loving the Language of Literacy because it doesn't spell out books or reading. Language and Literacy have positive connotations that could relate to writing, so I feel the freedom to post about my NaNoWRiMo Adventues, school assignments, and random writing pieces I want to share with the world.

Of course, these are all pure ramblings from someone who is, in no shape or form, an expert when it comes to brand name-site traffic correlation. This is just my two cents on the matter and my personal experience. 

Fun Fact: When I was first considering creating a BookTube Channel and when pondering what I would name my blog if I had to start all over, I considered changing my name to "The Language of Liteture." This sounded so much more posh and professional, yet it's probably a good thing I chose not to change it for SEO reasons AND because of hose posh it sounds. "Loving the Langauge of Literacy" has a nice sound that rolls of the tongue, "The Langauge of Literature" sounds a bit too uptight, which is the opposite of how I want to come off to people. I want to be a reprieve from school, not an annoying reminder taht it exists. Plus, the word literature is somewhat exclusive to books and the written word. The word "literacy" is about competence with reading and writing. So in the end, I am basically saying the most unoffensive, but still snarky way possible, "I Only Love People Who Are Competent In Language And All Of You LOL-ers need to take a hike." 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Double Negative: C. Lee Mckenzie

Rating: 69%

Series: None

Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult,

Publisher: Evernight Teen

Publication Date: July 25, 2014

Page Count: 258

Format: eBook

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

Barnes & Nobles | Amazon | Goodreads

Synopsis: “My life was going, going, gone, and I hadn’t been laid yet. I couldn’t go into the slammer before that happened.” Hutch McQueen. 

 Sixteen-year-old Hutchinson McQueen is trapped between an abusive mother and an absentee father. Shackled by poor vision and poor reading skills, he squeaks through classes with his talent for eavesdropping and memorizing what he hears. After another suspension from school and suffering through one of his mother’s violent attacks, he escapes to a friend’s house that turns out to be a meth lab. The lab is raided and Hutch lands in juvenile detention. When the court sentences him to six months in a new juvenile program, he meets a teacher with Alzheimer’s who will change his life and hers. 

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

In my other life--the one before I began writing for teens and younger readers--I was a teacher and  dministrator at California State University, San Jose. My field of Linguistics and Inter-cultural Communication has carried me to a lot of places in the world to explore different cultures and languages. I can say, “Where’s the toilet?” and “I’m lost!” in at least five languages and two dialects. Go ahead. Pat me on the back. My idea of a perfect day is one or all of the following: starting a new novel, finishing writing a blockbuster novel, hiking on a misty morning trail in the Santa Cruz Mountains, saying Namaste after a great yoga practice, sipping a cappuccino topped at a bustling café, reading in front of a fire with snow outside, swimming in an ocean someplace. I've just set out my perfect life. Day after day after day.

Disclaimer: I recieved this book from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Who Would I Recommend This To?

Fans of The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

Books with lots of character development and rich plots

Background & Backstory: 

I'm going to be honest here - I signed up for this blog tour without fully reading the synopsis. I skimmed through the parts about abuse, poor vision, and arrest, then signed up. I'm a sucker for a good book with a male protagonist who overcomes obstacles with the help of a charming femalen who provides new insight and perspective a boy who hasn't had many opportunities would appreciate. For some reason, my brain completely skipped the "Contemporary, Fiction" without the word "Romance" included in the listed genres. Plus, my brain seemed to skip the part of the synopsis saying, "teacher with Alzheimer’s who will change his life." 

Therefore, when I started reading, I was a little taken aback and disappointed there wasn't any brilliant female lead who swept Hutch off of his feet - both mentally and physically. Then I went back and (carefully) read the synopsis, and sent my brain down another track that knew what I would be reading. Yet, (Spoiler Alert) I ended up liking the book.

What Was My Reaction After Finishing?

Satisfying

Let me tell you three qualities in a book that I normally dislike, but it turned out that they enhanced the book: Slow Pacing. Characters who make seemingly stupid decisions. A protagonist who isn't the brightest. 

Slow Pacing: My #1 Turnoff because I'm an impatient 21st century teenager that needs instant gratification NOW. I have to admit that this is a factor that made me want to DNF Double Negative for the page 80-150 range. In the case of a book being well-developed, sometimes, slow pacing is required.High fantasy novels have the worldbuilding excuse, yet we don't always assume that YA contemporary novels have a development excuse to slow things down. There were a lot of factors in Hutch's character that needed to be shown and not told.... in the medium of whole scenes versus figurative language. We needed to know about past events that made Hutch the way he was AND the current events that continue to steer him in the wrong direction since readers would wonder what was taking so long for the plot to thicken otherwise. The payoff of the slow pacing was especially wonderful in the end when we got to see the finished product of that period of Hutch's life.

Stupid Decisions: This aspect goes hand in hand with the slow pacing. Everyone knows that people get the way they are because of the people around to influence them. Hutch's dad wasn't there, his mom was an irresponsible alcoholic, his friends dealt in drugs, and he had no one aorund to tell him what is right orsupport him in his endeavors. I would say that was an instant recipe for a flawed character. As much as we would all like to believe that Hutch was a wonderful person that could be great DESPITE of his upbringing, the reality is that not many people can actually be this way and he didn't have the exposure or ddesire to go further in life.

Not The Sharpest Tool In The Shed: As a grammar nazi, I struggle when a charcter speaks in a dialect used by people who are seemingly uneducated. Hutch kind of killed me with all of the double negatives (a huge part of the story and the perfect title) and what could be considered "ghetto" talk. The decision to not tell anyone about his vision problems made everything worse for him and held him back tremendously in the group of generally "bad" kids he hung around.

The Absence Of Romance Can Be A Good Thing: There was this girl named Liz in the story and she was considered hot. At his first encounter with her, Hutch wanted to get to know her better, and maybe go around to all of the bases with that hot bod. Yet, her impact on him as a character was not necessarily positive and I was glad when her relationship with Hutch wasn't gone into more detail and petered out. I thought she would have been THE good influence on him, but that was not the path Mckenzie chose for her.

But Wait.... There's More: Hutch's strategy was having this side character named Nyla read him the lengthy passages that were required of him. Nyla was such an interesting character because she was someone Hutch had known for a long time, and she was bullied by everyone. She had an intricate backstory about her being overweight and I thought it added a lot to the plot and an another example of the crushing environment Hutch was submerged in.

How Likely Is It That I Will Read Another Book By This Author?

50%

I think I would only read another book by Mckenzie if I was in the mood for another story with similar themes and character arcs, but don't completely count me out either.

Conclusion: Even though I didn't get what I expected, I was pleasently surprised with the story in terms of character development and all of the strikes against the book that I ended up enjoying.