Book Review: Renegades

                                                                  Renegades Review

Renegades is set in a world were some people were born with superpowers and through out most of human history those people were discriminated against and treated poorly because of their differences that all changed a few decades before the story began when Ace Anarchy overthrew the government and allowed people with powers to take over society. Ace never put together any new form of government in place after he overthrew the old when which to a lot of angry violent people with powers to develop into gangs and the world descended into anarchy for about a decade under the rule of various villain gangs until a group of super heroes known as the renegades defeated Ace and the various villain gangs.

The story of this novel follows Nova who is the niece of Ace whose parents and baby sister were killed by a villain gang and she blames the renegades for not being there to protect her parents and for making people rely on them when it's impossible for them to protect everyone and since Ace was the one that ended up saving her in the end she sides with the villains known as the anarchists. Nova along with several other members of the anarchists are planning a way to kill the members of the council who were the original members of the renegades and current leaders of the country so that they could live freely again and because they dislike the way that they are currently running things. Since Nova was too young to be an active villain during the age of anarchy no one knows who she is and this allows her to infiltrate the renegades to learn their secrets so that the anarchists could stand a chance at defeating them.

Our other main character in this story is Adrian Everhart who is the adopted son of two members of the council and his mother was a super hero during the age of anarchy before she was murdered by someone during that time. Adrian has the ability to make is drawings come to life and he is a member of the renegades and while he believes in the renegades mission of protecting all of their countries people he also thinks that the rules that the council have put on themselves has kept them from stopping villains before they hurt innocent people, in general Adrian also thinks that the renegades were meant to be superheroes not politicians. Adrian has decide to create an alter ego for himself so that he can stop villains without following protocol.

Nova ends up joining the renegade team that Adrian is the leader of and despite both of them having secrets that they are keeping from most people in their lives they began to become close to each other and develop feelings for each other. Nova ends up questioning how right her mission is when she sees how sincerely Adrian and his team cares about protecting people and Adrian allows himself to fall pretty hard for Nova despite having secrets that he should be more worried about protecting and he's a bit too trusting of Nova who he barely knows.

Overall I loved this book, it had a complex world that had a complex history and a flawed system of government that was still trying to figure out how to run itself after a period of anarchy. I thought that the characters and the story were great and the amount of secrets that the characters kept from each other put quite a bit of tension into the story. I thought the possible romance between Nova and Adrian was sweet and interesting. Please tell me your thoughts about this book in the comment section below.

Book Review: This is What Happy Looks Like

                                          This is What Happy Looks Like Review

This is What Happy Looks Like is about how a girl named Ellie O'Neal who lives in a small town in Maine who after a mishap with an email for a boy named Graham's pig walker is sent to her the two begin emailing back and forth which leads to them developing a friendship and an interest in becoming something more than friends. When a movie is filmed in Ellie's town she soon learns that the boy she has been emailing with for the past view months is a popular upcoming actor Graham Larkin who most girls her age would love to date. Graham who has already figured out who Ellie is seeks her out and introduces himself as the boy that she's been emailing with for last several months and asks her out on a date since she's one of the only people he has developed a genuine connection with since he has became famous. Ellie is reluctant to date Graham because her mom had an affair with a married politician which resulted in Ellie's birth and paparazzi constantly following her and Ellie around until she ran away to Maine. At first Ellie decides to give Graham a chance and as she gets to know him better she falls even harder for him but after almost being seen with him by the paparazzi she decides that protecting her mother's reputation and her father's identity is more important than her feelings for Graham.

For most of the summer while Graham is in town Ellie spends her time avoiding him even though she really wants to see him again and Graham spends his time hoping that he'll see Ellie again but since he respects that she doesn't want to deal with the downsides of dating a famous person he keeps his distance from her as well.  Graham is somewhat used to people who aren't famous not wanting to be around him anymore since he started his acting career since his old friends grew apart from him and his parents feel uncomfortable with dealing with anything to do with Hollywood so Graham doesn't think to question the reason that Ellie doesn't want to be with him. Eventually Ellie admits that she does want to try and have a relationship with Graham and she also tries to meet her father.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed both Ellie and Graham's characters and I enjoyed the relationship that they had with each other. I thought that the book let the parents off the hook a bit too easily towards the end of the novel but other than that I really loved this book. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section.

Book Review: The Raven Cycle: The Raven King

                                                     The Raven King Review

The Raven King is the final book in The Raven Cycle series and in this book our main characters have to face the fact that Gansey is destined to die in the near future, finally find Glendower and figure out how to stop a demon that's destroying everything magical. Most of the book has to do with everyone trying to find Glendower as fast as they can because they want to use the wish Glendower will give them in order to bring back Gansey after he dies because they figure while it's foretold that Gansey has to die that doesn't mean he has to stay dead. Adam also tries to figure out a way to use Cabeswater to save Gansey.

Meanwhile there's a demon that is destroying everything it's path that is controlled by Piper Greenmantle and the demon is causing Cabeswater to die and is affecting Ronan's dreaming abilities which leads to him and Adam working together to figure out a way to stop the demon and save Cabeswater. It is discovered that in order to stop the demon someone has to willingly die on the ley line and Gansey figures that it should be him that dies to stop the demon since he's already suppose to die and he's always wanted his life to mean something. Gansey then spends the later half of the book coming to terms with the fact that he's going to die soon and admitting to himself that he'd rather not die but he figures that this is the way that things were always meant to play out. While our main characters still continue to find other ways to stop the demon in the end they have no other option but they hope that they'll be able to bring Gansey back.

Overall I like this book but I felt like not that much really happened in this book and that we spent way too much time with Piper and nowhere near enough time with our main characters that I really wanted to have a more satisfying ending for. While I enjoyed the moments we got between Blue and Gansey and the relationship that started to develop between Adam and Ronan I felt like neither relationship got the attention that they deserved in the final book of the series which disappointed me greatly. Now that I've finished the series I can say with certain that I prefer the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by the same author, which I know is an unpopular opinion but I feel like that series did better by the main characters and mythology behind the series. Please tell me your thoughts about this book or series as a whole in the comment section down below.

Book Review: Be More Chill

                                                      Be More Chill Review

Be More Chill is about an unpopular high school student named Jeremy who is someone that is terribly awkward and he takes what other people think of him harder than most in fact he keeps track on a spread sheet of all the embarrassing things that happen to him which just makes his social life even harder than it has to be. Jeremy has a hopeless crush on Christine who he is in drama club with but has no idea how to get her attention. Jeremy learns from a fellow classmate that there's this pill that is a mini computer that is called a Squib that you can get that will tell you how to be cool and get girls to like you which he ends buying and following the advice of in hopes of getting Christine to like him.

Jeremy ends up following the advice of his Squib which does help him to become more popular and does give him the chance to hook up with some girls but isn't much help when it comes to Christine. The Squib ends up causing problems for Jeremy when it comes his relationship with his parents and his best friend Michael  mostly because the Squib's idea of being cool involves being asshole to most everyone especially if the Squib considers them to be uncool which is part of the reason the Squib is little to no help when it comes to Jeremy trying to get Christine in fact listening to Squib ends up causing Christine to not want anything to do with him.

Overall I really liked this book it had an interesting idea and it did a good job of blending the normal high school stuff with the Sci Fi elements. I feel like I would've like this book if I hadn't listened to the cast recording for the musical that is based on this book because the musical was a lot more dramatic which makes the book feel anti climatic in comparison which isn't really a fair comparison since the book came out first. The musical had the Squib be an outright villain which gave the musical much higher stakes, the friendship between to Jeremy and Michael became much more strained in the musical and I also found Christine's character to be so much more likable in the musical. Overall a good book but I think the musical really improved the story. Please tell me your thoughts about this book or the musical in the comment section down below.

TV Review: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?

                                     What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? Review

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim is about how Kim Mi so the hyper competent secretary to the workaholic slightly narcissistic vice chairman  Lee Young joon has decided to quit her job after working for Young joon for the last nine years since she has been able to have a life for herself while working for him since she always had to be on call in case he needed her. Young joon doesn't want Mi so to quit because he has come to depend on her both as a secretary and as someone he depends upon emotionally even though he is oblivious to this fact even while he's offering to marry her in a desperate attempt to prevent her from leaving him. Mi so agrees to stay at her job until she finishes training in her replacement and sees through an opening of an art center that they have been working on together, Young joon decides to use this time to convince her to stay at her job by offering her money, trying to be a better boss and offering to date her so that she wouldn't have to quit in order to start dating.

As the series goes on Young joon realize that the reason he's so desperate for Mi so to stay is because he has romantic feelings for her which leads to him trying woo her because he actually wants to date her and Mi so it seems also have feelings for him but she a little less sure of it a relationship between the two of them could work out. There's a plot thread through out the series that deals with Mi so trying to find a boy that was with her when she was kidnapped for a few days when she was really little who turns out to be Young joon but because of some family issues Young joon's family is pretending that his brother was the one that was kidnapped instead of him despite Young joon having both physical and emotional scars from ordeal where his brother does not. The lies about Young joon and his brother leads to Mi so and the brother briefly connecting and almost dating but in the end Mi so decides that Young joon is the one wants before she even figures out the truth behind the switch.

This series also has several other romantic subplots that revolve around other works at the company such as a relationship that develops between Mi so's replacement secretary Kim Ji a and one of the hardest workers in the company Go Gwi nam who pretends to be wealthier than he is which Ji a figures out and because of her keeping his secret the two become closer until they fall for each other. There's also the relationship between Bong Se ra and Yang Cheol which is very cute since they have contrasting personalities with Se ra being quite loud and attention grabbing and Cheol being quiet and more subtle in his affection.

Overall I really loved this series it was really sweet and cute the leads were great both together and a part and made a terrific couple. This series was a lot of fun to watch and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys romcoms. Please tell me your thoughts on the series in the comment section below.

Book Review: Holding Up the Universe

                                                  Holding Up the Universe Review

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven who also wrote All the Bright Places which was one of my favorite books I read last year and this book is about Libby Stout who was once the fattest teen in America who is returning to school for the first time in years after loosing some of the weight and Jack Masselin who is a fairly popular and he has face blindness which he keeps a secret from everyone in his life. Shortly after Libby goes back to school Jack ends up grabbing her because he feared that one of his friends would do something worse if he didn't and Libby punches him which lands both of them in detention for a few weeks. Jack ends up telling Libby about his face blindness and he tells her he's sorry and the two of them quickly become friends.

After being friends for sometime Libby ends up encouraging Jack to actually go to see a doctor about his face blindness and Jack encourages Libby to make her own choices about whether or not she wants to get tested for the condition that ended up killing her mom. Jack and Libby end up confiding in each other more than they do anyone else and the two of them end up developing romantic feelings for each other which leads to them starting to date. While Libby and Jack enjoy being with each other they find that social pressures and their own insecurities to be something that prevents them from being completely comfortable in their relationship with each other.

Overall I really liked this book it had two great main characters that you felt for and understood where they were coming from even when you didn't like the choices that they made. I really loved the relationship that developed between Jack and Libby and I liked how they were able to be honesty with each other and encourage the other to be braver. I also felt like this book was just as well written as the author's previous book and I can't wait to read her next book once it comes out. Please tell me your thoughts on this book in the comment section below.

Favorite Songs From Every Show Nominated for Best Musical Tony Award: Top 5 Songs From South Pacific

This is part of my series of posts about my favorite songs from Musicals that were nominated for the Best Musical Tony award and in this post South Pacific which won the award in 1950 while being the only musical that was nominated that year. South Pacific is a show that is much more book based than Kiss Me, Kate was which I think probably makes the show as a whole a lot stronger since there's so much more going on in this show. This show is one that has a lot going on with it being set in the South Pacific during World War II and dealing with matters of race rather directly. One thing I feel like I should note is that while I loved Mary Martin's voice who played Nellie I find that I didn't like Ezio Pinza's voice who played Emile which is something that is reflected in my song choices.


1. I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair: This song about Nellie saying that she's going to end her relationship with Emile since she believes that he isn't as serious about their relationship as she is one that I find to be delightful both because of her beautiful voice and because it's actually quite good relationship advice to end a relationship if you believe that you and your man have different priorities and it also shows that ending a relationship can be viewed as a good thing.
 2. A Cockeyed Optimist: This is another song that shows off Mary Martin's beautiful voice and it establishes Nellie's character by her telling us that she's optimist which she doesn't view as a bad thing but pretty much everyone around her does. I especially love the line that she's Stuck like a dope with a thing called hope and I can't get it out of my heart, this song does a good job at making me like her character right away.
3. A Wonderful Guy: This song is a love song sang by Nellie shortly after she almost ended her relationship with Emile but have now instead decided to marry him. In this song Nellie addresses how it's a bit silly of her to be so in love and so sappy about it but she is both of those things and she wants to share that fact with everyone around her right now since she's just so in love and so happy about it which is just such a sweet song to listen to.
4. Younger Than Springtime: This song sang by Cable about how he is falling in love Liat a young local island girl is one that is incredibly sweet and is great song that shows they emotion of someone falling in love at first sight which is something I find very romantic in musicals.
5. You've Got to Be Carefully Taught: This song sang by Cable about how people are taught be to hate be taught to people for being different than you are and that these viewpoints are ones that often comes from ones parents makes this song one that shares the show's messages about race which was something that wasn't often talked about so directly like this at the time which I think makes this song an important one.