“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
Rating: 8/10"I don't tel her that just because the tears have mostly dried up, it doesn't mean I'm better," "But I guess if they knew me, they'd hate me too." "Except this isn't a book — it's my dark and stormy life." "Red met me; he likes me. And in order to keep things that way. I'm going to stay far away from him as possible." "I have answers now, and they're not all as magical or interesting as I once thought they would be." "I smile in spite of myself. He's paying attention to every word I say." "I don't want James to know that what's actually wrong is that he saw it. He saw my sadness." "He did come just to see me. Heart fluttered, heart sank." "I don't want him thinking I'm a total shipwreck. Even if I am." "When the rigging vibrates, it creates this sound that I've always thought of as the boat wind chime." "He's here, in the moment, and he's okay. So I can be okay too." | Clem is overcome with guilt. In the past few weeks before leaving for an entire summer vacation out on her family's sail boat, she lost her best friend and what seems like the rest of the school as well. Everyone turned on her for one mistake. So she sets off, mad at herself, mad at her friends, mad at the world and what she's been going through. But it's mostly guilt. And she refuses to let herself off the hook and begin to heal. Until she meets a boy her age taking the same summer sailing route. He's dealing with some stuff as well, and as Clem begins to spend more and more time with him, she begins to finally live again. This story was just average to me. It was cute, but I didn't have that feeling of wanting to finish it as soon as possible and see how everything turned out. I also think the reason Clem's friends were mad is kind of dumb. Literally nothing happened. And you can't help how you feel about someone. It wasn't Clem's fault she fell for Ethan. If anything, Ethan was the jerk! He led her on and totally sold Clem out when they eventually did get caught (after doing nothing!). He's the one Amanda should have dropped. I understand why Clem wants Amanda back as a friend, but I wouldn't be so quick to forgive Amanda if she finally forgave Clem but was still with Ethan. But then again, things are always clearer on the other side, right? Then there's James. He was the reason Clem finally began to forgive herself and realize that life moves on and sophomore year wasn't the end of her life. There were better things waiting for her on the water and all it really took was being offline for a bit to figure it all out. Although i don't understand why they had to be offline when they were still close to land pretty much all the time? Did 3G and its equivalents not exist in 2012? (They did.) Olive also helped with the process. Her constant nagging and never-give-up approach to life really pushed Clem to finally get over what she did. If Olive hadn't been so persistent, things might not have turned out the way they did. Ruth and George were also a perfect example of things maybe not working out great at first and that it might take some time to finally be truly happy. George had a pervious loved one but finally found his way to his one true soulmate. So overall, the story was just average to me. There were some fundamental story flaws I couldn't get past to bump it to the next level, but it was cute and a good read nonetheless. "Honey, we're old," she says to Olive. "Something else'll get us before skin cancer does!" "If 'true love' and 'meant to be' are clichés to be used, Ruth and George are the people you'd use them about." "She'd hold up the biggest fish and pretend that she'd just caught it. Dad would beam at her like he was so proud, and she'd laugh and laugh." |