Renée reviews: On the other side.

On the other side, by Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Before I start let me clarify that no, this is not, yet another youtuber writing a book. Even though technically it is, this one is different. 

For those of you who don't know Carrie Hope Fletcher, who's known on youtube by the username 'Itswaypastmybedtime', is an amazingly creative person. And I don't mean this in the 'she's just your average vlogger' way. Carrie is the kind of youtuber you would want as your big sister. She's just so nice and warm and kind and cheerful. I absolutely love watching her videos. But then, Carrie told her audience she was writing a book. Honestly, I hated this idea, because every youtuber had written a book or was writing one. Then I borrowed the book from a friend of mine and that opinion changed. Completely.

On the other side is so well thought out, it has an amazing story line, and some magical twists you might not expect whilst reading the story. The story in itself is already truly magical. It's an easy read, yet conscientiously it keeps you thinking, a lot. I didn't mind this though, because the book was so well written and the characters had such interesting backstories.

And then, Carrie, also doesn't shy away from including a LGBTQ+ character and relationship. This kind of felt a bit overdone, you know as if she felt like she had to make it a very big deal, but then again, it still is a very big deal as LGBTQ+ characters and/ or relationships are still overlooked. Come one guys it's 2016.

Anyway, I will show you the blurb: 

Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open.

Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow, some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love. . . 

Carrie wrote this beautiful magical love story, that might as well have been made up by Disney (Disney, take notes). She adds some subtle magical twists that will change the atmosphere of the story completely, yet the story wouldn't have been as amazing without them. Her playful writing makes sure you're unable to put away the book before it's finished, and although it may seem an easy read it sure gives you a lot to think about. The story tells you to pursue your dreams and do not ever let go of the things you love because someone tells you to. Live your life to the fullest and make sure that in the end you can't say 'I wish I had,' or 'I wish I had done'. Life is to precious to waist and one should enjoy every moment that is given to them on this tiny orb in this infinite universe.

When reading the book you might notice some things that will give away the fact that this is Carrie's debut novel. It doesn't change the fact that the story is amazing and so are the characters and the cover. This book is very promissing and I cannot wait to find more of Carrie's work waiting for me at Waterstones. The novella she wrote as an addition to this book is already looking at me longingly from my bookshelves, waiting for me to pick it up and start reading. 

So would I read this book again, yes absolutely.

Would I recommend this book to others, also yes, absolutely.

Now if you have become rather curious to the specifics of the story line and to find out more about the story I will put a link to the Waterstones webshop here: Waterstones, On the other side - Carrie Hope Fletcher.

I hope I have given you a new book to add to the list.

Lots of love, 

ThatDutchGirl

ps. I do recommend you buy the hardback one as I fell in love with the way it looks and it just gives you this old fashioned hardback feel which is so nostalgic......

(Source: Waterstones)

Renée reviews: P!aTD and TØP.

Hey guys!!

Soooo guess who I saw live recently???? (clue is totally not in the title)
Yes, all of you are right. I went to see Panic! at The Disco and Twenty One Pilots in concert!!!!! And the best thing about going to see them was being able to spend a day in Amsterdam and purchasing some new books at Waterstones. So keep your eyes open for a lot of new book reviews in the near future!

Whilst waiting in line we met up with some other friends of ours and like that we waited for the doors to open, in the pouring rain. I've never been happier with bringing an umbrella than I was that night, even though I could barely unwrap my fingers as they had turned to icicles. When the doors opened, the madness began. Everyone obviously wanted to get indoors so they wouldn't get soaked more. For standing in line pretty late we still found some amazing spots in the audience. A classmate of mine had seen Panic! live before and told me that it's a band you just need to have seen live and she wasn't bragging. 

Jesus Christ, Brendon Urie you are amazing. The way he performed, the lightning, the entire show, how good he sounds live. It was perfect. Halfway through the concert I looked at my friends and we decided that Brendon Urie is god on earth. He's literally perfect AND he can do anything. He played piano, sang beautifully, outplayed the drummer. What can't he do?!?! The Panic! concert is one of the best ones I've gone to so far. He sang all the songs I needed him to sing and barely missed a note. I have no words for the amazingness of this concert. Brendon you are God and you did not dissapoint! Panic! at The Disco shows you how a live concert should be and there are lot's of artists who could use panic! as an example to up their own concert game. Besides the amazing show Panic! delivered, the opening act was pretty amazing as well. 
A band called Tigertown, it's like a cheerful version of Halsey. I truly recommend you look them up and give them a listen! You'll hear Tigertown more often in the future, I promise you that! A perfect opening for a perfect show. Panic! at The Disco and Tigertown, thanks for the amazing evening!

Around 17.00 we went to stand in line for the Twenty One Pilots concert. The first fans, the real die-hard fans, were already waiting in line before Panic! at The Disco had finished the night before. Just like yesterday we went in line pretty late, and I also had to go out of the queue again to change my insulin pump. Just as last year at the Twenty One Pilots concert, I had to change my insulin pump, oh the diabetes memories. The friend I went to TØP with last year couldn't stop laughing when I told her, mostly because for some reason every time I plan to do something with her my insulin pump gets jealous and decides it needs attention. 
Anyway, even though getting in line pretty late, we still found some really good spots. In all honesty I did prefer the small venue they played last year, but even in a bigger venue like the Heineken Music Hall, they did not disappoint. Where last year it was still quite small and cosy, as far as it can get cosy at a TØP concert, this year they had a massive light show and just a show around it. The songs were mostly the same as last years as there hadn't been a new album in the main time but that made it very sing-a-longable. 

 This concert was the first where I felt like I could completely let go of whatever was holding me back. I jumped to the music, sang a long as loud as I could, and I even cried when they started playing the Pantaloon. My favourite TØP song ever!!!! Let's be a little more honest, I just cried throughout the mashup they played of their first album.

To make the night just perfect, their opening show was Bry, a pretty well known youtuber. His jokes, sense of humour and amazing music was a great opener. And maybe he doesn't fit the TØP perfectly, who cares. His music is amazing, he's a great person and I loved every song he played. So to me he was the best opening for TØP I could have whished for! During the show, their USA opening act came on stage as well. And it was flipping CHEFSPECIAL one of my favourite Dutch bands. Although they didn't preform, I cried then too. Josh from the Cheffies went into the hamsterball and went crowdsurfing. It was amazing.

TØP what a show, amazing guys, amazing songs, amazing show. I definitely don't regret going to see them a second time and when they come back next year I might even go for a third time!

Yes these two concerts absolutely made my year, they made up for a lot of the bad things that happened in 2016 and gave me new energy to survive the rest of 2016 as well. Panic! at the Disco, and Twenty One Pilots, thank you for coming to Holland and giving such amazing shows! You made my year and allowed me to make some new amazing memories with some of my friends! Bry and Tigertown, thank you for being to amazing opening acts and I wish you all the best in the future, may they be very bright!

That's it for now.
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
  

Renée Reviews: Me before You.

Hey there!

Back to books. Not too long ago I realised I had officially finished all the books in my personal book collection. Needless to say this led to a bit of a personal crisis, especially once I checked my bank account. Multiple trips to the charity shop later I still didn't have any new books. This is the part where my bookaddicted friend comes in. We are basically a library for one another and at that point a library was what I needed. So she lend me two books, one of which I'll review today. She lend me 'You're the one that I want' by Giovanna Fletcher and 'Me before you' by Jojo Moyes. 

(source: https://penguinblog.co.uk)

I'll review 'You're the one that I want' another time, for now let's focus on 'Me before you'. The first bit I read was the summary part on the back. This bit already drew me in and I couldn't wait to actually start reading the book. On the first few pages of the book I had were some reviews. I’m still not sure if reading the reviews before the book was a particularly good idea but at least it prepared me for the tears that were to come. On the other hand I already kind of knew what was going to happen, a thing I started denying as I was reading the book.

Because I don't want to spoil to much I'll just show the bit on the back of the book. You know, to give you an idea what the book is about without all the spoilers I might have given in my extreme enthusiasm. 

"Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. 

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time."

If this doesn't get you hooked, maybe what I'm about to tell you will. Whilst reading 'me before you' I realised just how much I needed a book like this at the moment. A book with a great story line, just a tiny bit cliché, written from different points of view, really very interesting characters, and tears, lots and lots of tears. I love a book that can make me cry, not a very hard job, but crucial to a good book in my opinion. 

This is one of those books that you can't seem to put down, you just want to keep reading and find out what will happen next. You feel like you need to know what decisions will be made, what plot twists might be about to happen, etc. However as the end of the book came, I was torn. It was a tough dilemma. On the one hand I really wanted to keep reading even though I was so scared of being right about the ending (which I was), but on the other hand I just didn't want it to end. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Lou, Will, Nathan, Treena, even the mums and dads, their lives ,their stories, their thoughts, and adventures. I just didn't want to lose them.

This ultimately resulted in me reading a chapter, pausing to do some laundry, reading another chapter, tears rolling down my cheek, pausing to go to the loo and to dry my tears, reading another chapter, and more tears falling on the pages of the book. Eventually I had to put the book down as I had places to go. Once I found the time and courage to actually continue reading and I ultimately finished the book, I was an emotional mess. Tears and snot everywhere, ugly crying involved. My bed had turned into tissue mountain. It really wasn't charming. This sad, crushed mood followed me around for the next few days. After a couple of days I have now decided I'm going to reread the book. I'm three chapters in again. Rereading books isn't really my thing so that says a lot about the book. Let's just forget about me rereading the complete Harry Potter series multiple times.

So yeah, now I'm just waiting for the movie to come out on June 3rd and I cannot wait. The movie trailer looks so promising and the movie has Jenna Coleman in it!!! (Which kind of interferes with my Doctor Who schedule....)

If you have never heard of the book before, I really recommend you check it out! If you're not much of a reader and want to skip to the movie right away, that's fine too! I'll add the movie trailer Here for everyone who's interested.

To cut myself short: 'me before you' is absolutely amazing and I couldn't possibly recommend it enough. The author Jojo Moyes, did an incredible job and she has made a lot of people cry like a baby. Lots of credits and love for her!

Lots of love (and some tears),

ThatDutchGirl96

Renée Reviews: All the bright places.

Hey there!

Since I haven't done a book review in quite a while and my eyes have been reading more than a few books in the mean time, I thought why not inform you guys about the books I've been reading. Which is exactly what I'm going to do! 
Just a little side note here: I'm sorry if I accidentally spoil a book for you in one of my reviews, please don't kill me.....

So welcome to my new series: "Renée Reviews"! Because obviously everything that involves more than one blogpost needs a ridiculous name. 

Let's get started. All the bright places an amazing book by Jennifer Niven. 
"When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the 'natural wonders' of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself - a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink."

The book is (obviously) about Theodore Finch and Violet Markey. As is written on the back of the book: "Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kills himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Whereas Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death."

Theodore, better known as Finch, meets Violet on the ledge of a bell tower. To add a certain cliché factor to this book Finch is this weird guy that doesn't really have any friends and Violet is or was this very popular girl with a lot of "friends". As you can read in the summary above they pair up for a project and it's this project that changes their world. 

Now all of this might sound like your average chick flick book, or at least that's what my first opinion of the book was before I started reading it. Whilst reading it however, I discovered there was so much more to it than just your cliché story. The book is written from both Finch's and Violets perspective which allows you to learn so much more about both characters. You delve into their past and present, their thoughts, feelings (for each other), fears and struggles. This was just one of the many things I liked about the book as I love books that give you an in depth view of the characters. The book takes you along on their project to discover the 'natural wonders' of their state, this project gives you more insight on them as persons and their relationship as well. 

It's pretty easy to read which makes it easier to get into the story. Where I was a bit reluctant to start reading the book at first, you know due to the whole cliché girl book thing, I started finding it more and more difficult to put the book down as the story continued. As the book goes on you want to know more about the wonders they visit, the time they spent together, everything that goes on in their heads and all the other things they face in the book. Where you see Violet grow throughout the book you will see that Finch is slowly starting to fall apart.

The book portrais the symptoms, thoughts and feelings of someone suffering from mental illness in an amazing way. Everything about it sounds very familiar to people that suffer from mental illnesses in real life. Then there is Violet who is still mourning her sisters death, another important issue portrayed in a great way.  

At the end of the book I was devastated, which is something I feel at the end of many books. I felt like I had gotten so close to Violet and Finch and their problems throughout the book that it wasn't easy to say goodbye. To close the book and put it back on the shelf. The book itself was still physically there but it felt like a whole world had disappeared the moment I closed the book. The story of Violet and Finch living on only in my head, in my head and the heads of thousands of others all over the world.

I would definitely recommend you all read this book! It's easy to read, it has a great story, very interesting characters and it's written in a way that keeps you from putting the book down. For everyone searching for a great book I would say, go to a nearby bookshop, purchase this book and dive into Violets and Finch's world.

(source: www.goodreads.com)