34. Eleanor and Park

Eleanor, also known as Big Red (she’s apparently a redhead), is the new “new girl” at Park’s school. I’m pretty sure everyone wants a newcomer to be a hottie, a total babe but Eleanor wasn’t that type – not even close. She was the total opposite. She was awkward and big. She wears clothes girls her age won’t even dare, like large men’s shirt + weird long necklaces + scarves around her wrists. Oh my!!! Fashion suicide... but it’s not like she has a choice because she clearly doesn’t have a single one. BECAUSE SHE’S NOT RICH BUT BROKE. Very. And there’s nothing she can do about that. Yet.

She lives in a tiny house, a block away from Park’s, with her siblings, their mother and their stepdad. Well, Eleanor doesn’t really think of him as her stepdad, they really aren’t close, not after what he did to her a year ago.

On her first day on her new school, she had Park as his seatmate on the bus. Again, she didn’t have a choice; nobody wants to sit beside her. Since then they’ve been seatmates.

Park is half Korean, half American. Her father went to Korea during world war; he met Mindy (Park’s mom) there and brought her home with him. Since then, they’ve been madly in love with each other. Park is so into reading and music. Those are the things they have in common.

One day, while Park was reading on the bus, he was so sure Eleanor was reading his comics as well. He didn’t want to be rude so he’d sometimes look up to her before he flips to the next page. And that’s how it all started...

A lot of things could really happen in a 20 or 30 minute ride on the bus. You could either hate the person forever or you could learn to get to know her, sometimes you’d fall in love with her soul and then you’ll get to see her differently. Like Park to Eleanor.

Park is a sweet, Asian kid. He thinks holding Eleanor’s hand is like holding a butterfly or a heartbeat. He doesn’t like Eleanor, he needs her. Eleanor, on the other hand, thinks he lives for Park. She isn’t even sure she still breathes when they’re apart.

Ahhhhhh!!!! It feels good to be young and in love...... but it’s another thing when you’re young but (not)free and very much in love. They were young but old enough to know that first love might never work but desperate and very much in love enough to try and work things out. I seriously hope they would eventually find their way back into a love that is innocent and true. My heart aches for Park.

Eleanor and Park is one of those books you’d love to read when it’s raining... because of the ending. (but you’ve gotta figure that out yourself, of course) It’s entertaining, very light but very full. It’s mainly about high school romance, how it starts and how it ends. If you miss your high school sweetheart, you’d want to spend a few hours reading this and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. 

Love,

M x

33. This is What Happy Looks Like

If you want to take a day off from the very cruel summer heat, go to the nearest bookstore and grab this book!!! 

I loved The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and since this is another Jennifer E. Smith novel, I just had that sudden impulse to find a copy, sit in a corner and just read. 

This is What Happy Looks Like is every teenage girl's dream...

a very popular young actor falls in love with a small town pretty girl (with a twist) + random things = love story. 

It all started when G accidentally sent an email to the wrong address. Apparently, the owner of that address was online so they exchanged emails for a bit. Then the next day, then the next day, then the next... Thing is, E didn't know it was G all along. She doesn't know what his name is, he doesn't know what her name is. 

This book also is like a ticket to a red carpet premiere into the lives of famous movie stars. We have this illusion that being a celebrity is the happiest thing in the world but reading from G's POV proves that there's so many disadvantages as to being the center of the public's eye -- and one is, the word privacy doesn't seem to exist anymore. G, being the most famous movie star, feels like nobody knows the real him except E and that even to his own family, he feels like a stranger.

Apparently, E isn't the typical teenage girl. She knows what her priorities are. She was basically unperturbed by stars in her town until she finds out who exactly her email buddy is. But the fact that she isn't a fan of his made her actions understandable and her character very likable. 

Nothing really serious happened in the whole story. It's just a very cute and sweet love story about two teenagers who, although they live in both ends of the world, found their way towards each other -- all because of an honest mistake. It's very realistic and I bet somewhere out there, this is actually happening. 

"She was thinking of those words they’d sent sailing across the country, each e-mail a kind of poem containing the very best versions of themselves. Maybe seeing him here was nothing more than a simple addendum to a conversation that had been going on for months now. If the time before she’d known him had been a kind of prelude, then maybe this was all just the postscript."

Love,

M x 

32. The Time Traveler's Wife

There are things in life that we simply can’t explain, not because we don’t want to but because we just can’t find the exact, appropriate set of words that will give these things such fair dealing. I guess what I’m trying to say is... love is love.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a story about a little girl’s faith in the most powerful word I know, love. She was just playing in the meadow when a man appeared in the clearing. She was scared but she helped him. He said he’s a time traveler  she didn't know what to do, she didn't know whether to believe him or not but she listened... she listened to what he was saying. The man kept on appearing, always naked; she made it a point to always leave a box full of clothing and food. She was falling in love with the man who was old enough to be her father.

One time, she went to a slumber party. Her friends decided to play on the Ouija board and when it was Clare’s time to ask, the Ouija said his name’s Henry, her husband.

From then on, she’s been waiting for the right moment, the chance to finally meet the man she’ll spend the rest of her life with...

Somehow, right in the middle of an ordinary life, you find yourself a fairy-tale worth sharing. This is Clare’s fairy-tale.  She went through a very overwhelming, crazy roller-coaster ride with Henry and she knew things might go the wrong way but she didn't care, she chose to step inside and enjoy the ride. She just wants to spend the rest of her life with the man she adores, the man she loves. Theirs is a love that can withstand the test of time.

Love can be very tricky at times. You’ll never know when it'll hit you or how but once it finds its way to you, there’s nothing you can do. The road may be a little rocky, the cliff may be a little too high but the thing is, you just have to take a leap. You just have to have faith in fate. Take a chance. It feels so good to be in love and be loved but if it’ll never work out like Henry and Clare's? Who cares, right? It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved, after all.

“There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.” 

Love,

M x