Being Unique Being Me Eve: Twins

Showing posts with label Twins. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 June 2018

One by Sarah Crossan

Told in verse this book is the story of conjoined twins Grace and Tippi. Aged sixteen they head off to normal high school after being home schooled but as their parents face losing their jobs and their dad relies on alcohol obviously spending money they don't have, the girls worry especially when they start collapsing...

The twins are regular in every way as they try drinking alcohol and smoking despite what is happening to their combined body.
They face a tough life decision for them which can literally lead to life or death and we see each girls dedication to the other as they prepare to face an uncertain future.

I liked they made a documentary and their sister was still driven to chase her dreams despite the twins being Grace for her.

The book was super unique being told solely on verse for the whole story, the unique concept of conjoined twin girls experiencing school for the first time and finding love and friendship many thing we take for granted with no challenges but for them we can see how everything effects them and the other one of them too. The issues are financial for the family, anorexia for their younger sister and we see the effects of them too.
It's a raw emotional read, prepare your tissues!

Thursday, 31 May 2018

The Opposite Of You by Lou Morgan

Bex and Naomi are identical twins leading opposite lives, though Bed doesn't realise this, at first. Supposed to be having an important exam, Bex sits it to realise Naomi never turned up.

Bex soon takes it upon herself to unearth her sister's secrets and find her after her parents have reported her missing to the police and Bex meets a nice friend there, Josh who listens to her troubles and they commiserate their situations together.

Naomi however, has a backstage pass to a festival though plans soon go awry upon arrival and has her stuff stolen, yet she meets a supposedly kind stranger, Max at the festival after having had her bag stolen and he gives her his and it's contents to survive off.

Bex and Naomi use their unique twin telepathy to let each other get snippets of the situations and when Naomi ends up in a bad place with a drug dealer alone in his ran down flat, it is up to Bex comes with the help of Josh and the police to find her before it's too late.

The key to the plot of the novel and the title, is that Naomi has struggled to find her own identity and her sense of self. She has a secret life of partying and dressing up and reinventing a new her all the time. Yet her sister is more down to earth as she knows she wants to be an artist, study hard and enjoy life as it flows.
We also learn of how secondary school really tore their identical twin bond as Naomi played tag along to Bex and her new best friend, Kay. Bex comes to realise as does Naomi that they are closer than they have felt in years and they can't break their unique bond and more importantly, they don't want to.

I thought it was a great unique book the way it looks into the twin bond and how each one can try to break apart but the bond in will never break and nor should it have to.

Saturday, 12 May 2018

Lucky Break by Rob Stevens

Leon's twin Lenny passed away a year ago while not looking when crossing the road, since then their mum wants to keep Leon away from anything dangerous to the point of extreme worry all day everyday for her now.

New student, Arnold provides a welcome distraction for Leon with his strange ways and regular misunderstanding a of situations. Arnold is a foster kid and left alone by his foster family whilst they go to visit sick relatives, he needs somewhere to stay and Leon helps by sneaking him into his!

Together, they wind up in a few very extreme situations from finding a wallet, helping a homeless guy, winning big on arcade slot machines, causing a fake bank job and then getting questioned by the police!

Arnold shows Leon it's okay to remember Lenny by enjoying rugby and cricket as a family as Lenny would've loved to have them playing it with him still now if he was alive still.

Leon also reveals to his over anxious mum that he doesn't need her trying to always protect him and tells of his guilt he feels from not being able to save his brother.

As a random choice of book to review, it swung it for me having cricket, death and comedy mentioned in the write up. Comedy and death in a novel could be a bad choice but here it works, Lenny was a joker and loved to have fun especially by playing cricket and we see the emotional turmoil the memories have his family in, super understandable and relatable too. Arnold provides welcome distraction and is a guy Penny would've loved to hang out with like Leon too.

A touching novel with a comedic edge!

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

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Goodreads Quotes

Eve beinguniquebeingme’s quotes

"You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."— Rosemarie Urquico

Goodreads Quotes

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