50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @The Butterfly Reads and I and focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc). Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!
Today's Topic: Favorite Book Starting With A/Z
A:
I have so many favorite books that start with A so I decided to go with one that I don't get to shout praises of often enough :)
Standalone
Released: 2014
Rating: 4.5 stars (my review)
Blurb:
"From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another."
Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another."
I read this a while ago and absolutely loved it. The first time I read it, I wasn't super enamored with it but when I read it the second time, I started to see all these patterns and threads emerging. It's a book that I could reread over and over again and still cry every single time. Close seconds include A Monster Calls, A Madness So Discreet, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and And Then There Were None.
Y:
Clearly when I picked this topic, I wasn't thinking practically. At present, I haven't read any books that start with Z so I'm going with the next best thing: Y!
The Young Elites #1 (trilogy)
Released: 2014
Rating: 4 stars (my review)
Blurb:
"I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.
Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.
Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.
Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.
Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.
It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt."
Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.
Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.
Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.
Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.
It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt."
You may remember this from my 'A Beginner's Guide to 'New' YA Fantasy' post that went up a couple weeks ago. This is one of my favorite YA fantasies (honestly, it's perfectly for all the Slytherin's out there) mostly because it perfectly showcases the concept 'morally grey'. Definitely don't read this if you're looking for a pick-me-up! I'm so fascinated with psychology and how the human mind works so I love any book that takes a deep dive in why we make the decisions we do and what happens when those decisions lead to a dark place.
Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? What are your favorite books from the opposite sides of the alphabet? Make a post and link up down below!
Next Week's Topic: Favorite Book With a Short/Long Title
I loved All the Light We Cannot See! It was so beautifully written and I don’t usually read outside of YA so it was a good change for me :)
ReplyDeleteI thought so too! It's just so lovely. It was a good change for me too. I'll go on these long YA kicks and sometimes I need to break it up a bit and this was the perfect book to do that! Thanks for stopping by, Emily!
DeleteMy OH has got All The Light We Cannot See and I think I remember he loved the book. Must get around to reading it myself!
ReplyDeleteI hope you love it as well when you get around to it! I think it'll be right up your alley :) Thanks for stopping by, Stephanie!
DeleteI wasn’t enamored with All The Light We Can Not See either. Maybe I should try it again. This time in print format. I did audio last time.
ReplyDeleteAw, I'm sorry to hear that, Jenny. Then again, it's not for everyone :) Still, if you do decide to give it another go, I hope you enjoy it more than the first time! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteThe Young Elites... I loved that book but I've still never finished the series... I'm such a fail as a blogger I swear.
ReplyDeleteUghhh that's the story of my life! I was just talking to one of my bookish friends IRL and they were raving about the Unwind trilogy (soon to be a six-part series) and I realized that after reading the first book and loving it, I never wrote a review for it or finished the series! Sometimes I could really kick myself. Thanks for stopping by, Carrie!
DeleteGreat choices! I haven't read either of these, but they are both books I would like to read. All the Light We Cannot See, especially. Have a great week, Laura!
ReplyDeleteI hope you love them when you get around to them, Wendy! So many great books, so little time :) Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI read my first Marie Lu book recently but haven't rad The Young Elites. Looking forward to it though!
ReplyDeleteI hope you love it as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by, Greg!
DeleteLaura! I'm still behind. Still catching up. This year has been manic! I'm glad I've made it back here though finally! Now just to try to keep up a bit better. Both of these are on my TBR. I've only read Batman by Lu which I didn't love but I do want to try something else!
ReplyDeleteHaha I completely understand :) For once in my life I'm caught up but I don't think it'll last... I highly recommend that series! It's really dark, but really good :) Thanks for stopping by, Di!
DeleteI haven't read either of these, but both are on my TBR. I'm especially excited for The Young Elites, because I adore morally gray characters and anti-heroes, and a friend who read it said this would be right up my alley. Great post, Laura! :)
ReplyDeleteRight?? I also LOVE anything that has the words 'dark' or 'gray' in it :) I look forward to your thoughts when you get around to it, Vera!
DeleteAll the Light We Cannot See is a great book club book which is what I read it for. The short chapters were really great to me and made it felt like the plot sped along. Its too funny that you haven't read a Z book... actually I've only read 2 Z books! You're too cute though... The Young Elites was a great Y book though! I want to read that series... I read the Legend one instead.
ReplyDeleteIt is really great for that, isn't it? I was supposed to read it for a book club but I couldn't wait and read it the month before we were supposed to... Oops? Haha that's two more than me! Oooo the Legend one was interesting! I really liked it for the most part (THAT ENDING THO). Thanks for stopping by, Dani!
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