Favorite: The Other Side by Kim Holden

This was the best book I read this whole year! Without the doubt! 

I don't know how Kim Holden does it. How she writes these amazing books with important messages? Few years ago I got Bright Side from a friend and holy hell. That book broke my heart. It was really a life changing experience. Maybe I need to make a post about it, too. But back to this book.

The Other Side came out in June, I think. It was a surprise for all of us. No one knew that she was publishing a new book. I follow her on Facebook and Instagram, so as soon as she posted about her new book I found my way to Amazon and one-clicked. I do not regret that decision. The Other Side is by far the best book I've read the whole year. This book saves lives. It certainly saved my life.

Toby is a senior in high school. He is counting down days to the day he graduates. His childhood wasn't good and he tends to think that he is no good to anyone. He is a self-proclaimed asshole. He doesn't see his own worth and lives in the dark. Until one day Alice moves to same building and shines bright against his darkness. Is the light that Alice provides enough to bring Toby back from the darkness?

There is two sides in every story. You live your life and only feel and know your side of the story. Your version might be really different than other person's version of the same story. You never know what others might feel or think and you should never assume anything. Always hear both sides of the story.

The feelings that Toby has are very familiar to me. I cried so much while reading, because all those feelings felt so familiar. I actually needed to message to Kim Holden about my reading experience, because the book had a so big impact on me. She was kind enough to answer to me. The biggest thing I got from this book is that you're loved. She actually wrote that on my paperback.

If you read only one book next year, read this one. It really is worth of reading. And please remember. You're loved, even if it doesn't feel like that right now. You are loved!

There were some really good scenes in this book and I would like to leave here the ones that hit me the most.

"The most important time to listen is when words are missing, that's when hearts cry out the loudest." 

"And depression isn't about weakness, it's about battling and wanting to deaden the pain, not the person."

Once again. The best book I've read the whole year.

Reading is an escape, but so is writing

I love to read. I really, really love to read. But I also love to write.

I have been writing almost as long as I have been reading. It started with diaries, letters and another little stuff like that. When I got older I loved to write school papers. At some point I realized that it would be fun to write something of my own. I started with really short stories. But at some point I started to write longer ones. 

My ultimate goal and dream is to publish something real. For now I have only put few novellas on Wattpad. Some of them has readers, some doesn't have. The main reason why I don't actively pursue a writing career is that I'm scared. Or scratch that, I'm terrified of failure. Nothing I write never feels good enough. It all feels like rubbish. I wouldn't stand a rejection after rejection. 

I have participated on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for a few times. This year I got around 35k words on paper. It's good for me. I got the whole story done. Now I just need to read it through dozen times and decide whether to delete it all or not. 

One of my friends sent this quote to me a while ago. It kind of makes to keep trying. Not to give up. But maybe I settle for writing this blog for now. There might come a time when I feel comfortable to try publishing, but it's not now.

If you want to check my stories you can do it here. I don't promise anything though. And most of them aren't in English. Writing in English is so hard. I think about grammar and context all the time. I make mistakes, a really dumb ones, almost in every sentence. But I love to read in English, so maybe someday I can write something understandable in English, too.

I don't know how real authors feel about themselves and their writing. Are they happy with their writing? Do they second guess anything? The world is changing and self publishing is pretty easy these days. You need to rethink how you define who is an author and who isn't. Is everyone who has published, whether it's through publishing house or self publishing, an author? Yep, I know about indie authors. This is just me thinking.

Plus, let's face it. An author world can be very cruel. There are witch hunts, public battles between authors or authors and readers. I don't know if I am strong enough for all that. Readers can be cruel. It's true that you don't need to like every book out there, but it doesn't mean that you can be a bitch to someone just because a certain book wasn't your cup of tea. So, yeah. For now I just stick with writing for Wattpad and this blog.

If you decide to check my stories on Wattpad I would be thankful. If you don't want to look them up, it's fine too. They're not for everyone. 

The book was better

All those books made to movies. Why?

I understand that movie business is huge. They want to make money. I understand that too. And I can say that I'm an adult and I know that it's kind of impossible to transform the whole book to movie. I get it why they re-write it. I promise that I do.

BUT that doesn't meant that I need to like it. There aren't many movies that are as good as the book they're based on. And even fewer are better than the book. Honestly, I can say that only Bourne -movies are better than the books. And that's mainly because the books are written a long time ago. And yeah, because of Matt Damon.

I know that not many shares these opinions with me. But hey, that's okay. 

I rarely watch movies, but of course I have seen many movies that are based on books. The Hunger Games, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, The Maze Runner, The Duff, Harry Potter, The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You, Everything Everything, Nerve, Lord of the Rings, Ready Player One.... but in my opinion all these were better on book. 

There is one exception and it's not even a movie. The 100. I really, really love the tv show. Even Murphy has grown on me, because hello! "I can worry about more than one thing at once, it's called multitasking." That's like my life philosophy. There is one thing I want to transfer from books to TV show and that's the relationship between Clarke and Bellamy. I am on #teamBellarke and I am not even sorry about it.

What else? I am glad that there are movies out there that are based on books. Maybe some people will read the book after seeing the movie. And we all know that you can never read too much.

My reading habits

Is there any? What kind of books I like? Read this post and find out.

I have been reading as long as I can remember. When I was a kid I read books by Enid Blyton or Babysitter's Club series. I remember reading Nancy Drew. 

When I got older I started to read YA and NA -books. I liked the romance and crime books. I think I was something like 14 or 15 years old when I found this book with really interesting title  "I'll be seeing you" (actually this title sounds better in my first language). I got the book and read it. I liked it a lot! 

After that I got obsessed with "Queen of Suspense", Mary Higgins Clark. Still this day my favorite book by her is "Pretend You Don't See Her". I have read that book at least dozen times. I love her older books. The newer ones are not the same quality. But still, she is one of the authors who have shaped my reading habits.

At some point I read only crime books written by Nordic authors. I read books by Anna Jansson, Liza Marklund, Leena Lehtolainen, Ilkka Remes, Mari Jungsted... There was a time when I had read every book by every author I liked in that genre. I haven't read crime books for a while, maybe now's the time.

Then there was a time when I read only dystopian books and it didn't matter whether it was NA, YA or anything else. I have read tons of trilogies; Divergent, The Hunger Games, The 5th Wave, Uglies, Delirium, Under the Never Sky, Matched, The 100, The Maze Runner, Anyone?... Then there are standalones like The City of Woven Streets, Memory of Water. I still love a good dystopian book! I can't wait to get new Anyone? -book on my hands. 

For a few last years I have been reading mostly romance books. There are tons of subgenres. I love enemies-to-lovers and friends-to-lovers kind of books. I have tried reading Reverse Harem (not my thing), MM (the ones I have read have been good), billionaire, MC, age gap and so on. You name it and I have probably tried it. 

Reading is an escape to me. A way to reboot myself. I get to live in another world for a while. I get to feel all the things, I can be sad or happy or devastated or joyful. Reading is something that everyone should try. If you think that reading is boring you haven't find the right books. World is full of books. There are books out there that are made for you.

I can not choose one favorite book. I can not choose ten favorite books. My favorite books are different every time. So many thing influences to my choices. My mood, time of the year, the genre.. But I promised that I'll post some of the books I like in here. I have already posted about two books.

If I want to teach something to kids, it's the habit of reading. There are so many things you can experience through books. You learn so much about life and about yourself and people around you. 

Favorite: #Nerd by Cambria Hebert

This was a total surprise book for me. I bought it without reading the blurb and I did not regret that decision!

I have two copies of this book, one for Kindle and a paperback. I bought an e-book first and when I fell in love with Rimmel and Romeo I decided to buy a paperback. This seems to be a habit to me. I feel like I should operate differently.

Someone recommended this book to me when I asked for college-romance. That was all I knew before I started reading. But I love to dive in blind. It's the best way to start reading.

#Nerd takes a place in Alpha University. Rimmel is a good student, not so outgoing. Romeo is THE GUY, the one that everyone loves. Every girl wants to hook up with him. He has a reputation. Romeo needs a tutor to keep his grades up, Rimmel is the doing the tutoring. She really doesn't want to, but she has no other choice.

There is a dare involved. There are secrets, insecurities, mistakes and animals. Rimmel is adorable, she is clumsy and Romeo knows what he wants, he doesn't care what others think.

I don't know what to say about this book. I could see why they acted the way they did. This book made me believe to true love. It exists, right?

I don't know if this was supposed to be a standalone, but there are sequels to this book. #Hater and #Player are about Rimmel and Romeo, but then are books about their friends. These books are all about family and love. 

Favorite: The Deal by Elle Kennedy

The Deal by Elle Kennedy is one of my all time favorities.

I read this book for the first time in early 2016. After that I've read The Deal so many times that I've lost the count. It's one of my favorite books to reread. Whenever I don't know what to read I read The Deal. 

I have two versions of this book, the original paperback and e-book. I've read mainly e-book, because it's always with me. But the paperback is full of notes and it's heavily underlined. I am usually against "ruining" the actual books, but this one is a whole another thing.