Rating: 10/10"I know you always think I'm so strong, but that's because I do all my crying and whining in front of mom. I like that you think I'm above all that girly crap, even if I'm not." "Also, you have really nice abs. What kind of core conditioning are you doing?" "Jordan kept fairly quiet, but seemed unable to stop himself from touching every item on the shelf like a four-year-old." "If you want to know what a guy is really like, my best advice for you is to pay attention to what he does, not what he says." ""I just wanted to watch and see what normal looked like." "I've decided that you are most definitely smarter than me. And I really, really hate knowing that." "Because I was pretending to be someone's girlfriend, it was easier to be bold now, kind of like wearing a costume." "My chest was still rising and falling, post-treadmill style." "I have a crush on you. And I really don't know what to do about it." "If it wasn't hard, then success wouldn't feel nearly as great." "Then he broke our very important rules and kissed my cheek. 'Just this one.'" | I'll preface this review by saying I'm writing after my third time reading Letters to Nowhere. So if that doesn't give you a good indication of how much I like this story, I don't know what more I can do. I was a gymnast for more than 10 years, so I automatically love all books having to do with the sport. However, just because the story's got gymnastics in it doesn't get an automatic 10/10 from me. That has to be earned. This story is actually about so much more than just gymnastics. It more of a story about loss, overcoming hardship, finding love and working hard to achieve your dreams with gymnastics on the side. But I partly love it so much because I can really relate to Karen and what she's going through at least in the gym. I know how hard it is to be a competitive gymnast. While I wasn't anywhere near her skill level, I know about the dedication and hard work and perseverance that goes into being an athlete in one of the hardest sports in the world. I'm also able to judge the accuracy of the gymnastics bits of the story, and let me tell you — Julie Cross got it right! There are small things here and there that are different, but since the majority of readers won't be former serious gymnasts, that's OK with me. The story in and of itself is unique. Throw out the gymnastics parts and I can't think of another novel that has this type of storyline, which is another thing I really enjoy about it. It's different and not the same old "best friends fall in love" or "opposites attract" type thing just told in a different way. Karen loses her parents and no only has to deal with her grief but also her training, moving in with her coach and falling for his hot son. Jordan starts off as kind of a jerk, but then you get to know him more and realize he's going through the same things as Karen and you begin to love him more and more. They really are perfect for each other, and are able to help each other through the hard times and the great ones. I almost forgot about the letters, which is funny because it's what the title of the book and whole series is about! That part was just fine to me. I could take it or leave it. However, it was important to the storyline of Karen coping. She needed a place to put her parents to deal with their deaths, and writing letters, to them to make it seem like they were still there, to work out her problems. I can't say enough good things about this story and Cross as an author. As someone who's read her other realistic YA novels as well, she really knows how to think of a completely out-of-this-box storyline and run with it, creating a fresh story from the pieces. "At some point, though, it really doesn't matter what they think. He is who he is and they either have to accept that, or not." "It's totally possible that I might totally be in love with you." "Let's not do that anymore. The thing where we think stuff and we don't say it, okay?" "I smiled up at him. 'Second confession?' He stared at me for a long five seconds. 'I love you.'" "Nervous Jordan just might be my favorite version of him." |
“Reading brings us unknown friends” ― Honoré de Balzac
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“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.”― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell
“If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.” — François Mauriac
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” — John Locke
“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” — Aldous Huxley
“A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.” — Lemony Snicket
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”— James Baldwin
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”— Mortimer J. Adler
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”— Carlos Ruiz Zafón
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”— Diane Duane
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“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” -Mark Twain
AuthorRecent book-loving, cat-loving graduate who just wants something fun to pass the time. Archives
February 2016
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