The Fireproof Girl
By Loretta Lost
(Sophie Shields #1)
Published on September 29, 2016
New Adult, Action, Romance
Trigger Warnings: Violence, Sexual Assault, Rape, Suicidal Thoughts
Abandoned at birth, Sophie Shields grew up in abusive foster homes, escaping into books and computers for solace. When the constant danger became too much to bear, she ran away, thinking she could survive on her hacking skills alone.
That was until she met Cole Hunter. He became the only person she could trust: her family, her friend, her partner-in-crime. Her everything. After struggling through college and starting their lives together, she believed that nothing could ever tear them apart.
Until it did.
And she’ll do everything in her power to fix what is broken. If it isn’t too late…
———
When Cole was nine years old, he watched his whole family burn to death in a house fire. Fueled by years of obsession, he started one of the world’s leading architectural firms, with a mission to design homes resistant to fire, earthquakes, floods, and every threat known to man.
Sophie was his secret weapon. She was his purpose. Since they were teenagers, he was determined to build a better life for her, so she could finally be safe, and they could be together.
But disaster has always followed Cole around, ripping away everything he loves. This time, if he isn’t careful…
His enemies might just take him down.
The Art of Escaping
By Erin Callahan
Publication on June 18, 2018
320 Pages
Young Adult, Contemporary
This book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
Seventeen-year-old Mattie is hiding her obsession with Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich from everyone, including her best friend Stella. When Stella takes off to boarding school for the summer, all of Mattie’s anxieties bubble to the surface, leaving her feeling adrift. To distract herself, she seeks out Miyu, the reclusive daughter of a world-renowned escape artist whose life and career were snuffed out by a tragic plane crash.
With Miyu’s help, Mattie secretly transforms herself into a burgeoning escapologist and performance artist. Away from the curious eyes of her peers, she thrives in her new world of lock picking, straitjackets, and aquarium escapes. But when Will, a popular varsity athlete from her high school, discovers her act at an underground venue, she fears that her double life is about to be exposed. But instead of outing her, Will tells Mattie something he’s never told anyone before and the two of them find out that not all secrets can remain secret forever.
Told through the perspectives of the witty main characters, this funny and fresh debut explores the power of stage personas and secret spaces, and speaks to the uncanny ways in which friendships transform us.
Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based meme hosted by the amazing Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. If the meme sounds familiar, it was formerly hosted by The Broke and Bookish.
My "to-re-read" shelf on Goodreads is pretty much bare with a mere 12 books. Personally, I am not a huge fan of re-reading. In the end, the act of reading a story for a second or third time mostly seems like a waste of time to me when there are plenty of other books I need to read. If I had all of the time in the world, then I would gladly re-read to my heart's desire. Unfortunately, my reading time is limited and I like to dedicate that time to exploring new worlds.
Despite my stance against re-reading, there are only a handful of books that I would never consider re-reading.
Love, Simon is a movie about choices. It's about choosing to be yourself over the image of yourself that society want you to be. Choosing to make mistakes, but also choosing to fix them. Choosing to come out into a hostile world but also choosing to be optimistic. Love, Simon gives the power of choice in a world that wants to shove everyone in the same societal norms.
Love, Simon also gives the audience the choice to see a movie that will change their lives.
There are a ton of movies with straight main characters. We don't need another one, but Hollywood has kept that standard in place because it believes that is what the audience wants. The cycle is perpetuated since Hollywood only gives us the same white-washed hetero films, tricking itself into thinking that is what the audience wants. However, the audience does not really choose unless there are other options. Picking between an apple and another apple is not a choice because you still end up with an apple regardless of your "choice". So, picking between one straight male-dominated movie and another straight male-dominated movie is not a choice for us either, just another resigned conclusion to see the same actors and storyline over and over again.
Love, Simon breaks this cycle by offering a fresh, diverse, and normal look into life as a gay teenager. While the necessity of this movie has been argued (mostly by those living under a rock without actual knowledge of the real world), Love, Simon is, more importantly, the movie that our generation WANTS.
