The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Ezra Faulkner believes that everyone will have some tragedy in their life that marks the start of your life. Ezra's tragedy was getting into a car accident after finding out his girlfriend cheated on him. Ezra was a star at his high school. Top tennis player, and popular. His accident ended his tennis career and completely changed the corse of his life. He makes new friends, joins the debate team and even gets a new girlfriend. But everything still doesn't play out the way he thinks it would.

This book was surprising, you don't really know what to expect with this book. There's absolutely no predicting with it, no guessing. Which makes it really hard to say much about it, so I've turned to others. In a few reviews they mention how this book is funny but not easy to laugh at. I agree, there were many parts that made me laugh out loud and it's not like the book ended unhappily. But it was just a very weird story line and I still don't know what to think of it.

I don't know who to recommend this book to. It's kind of a mix between Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and We Were Liars because Ezra has a very similar voice to Greg from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, he has similar feelings, opinions, and acts very similar in some ways. But this book also has a sort of tragedy aspect to it like We Were Liars and that's why I'd compare the two. Honestly, I don't really know but look, I've filled 3 paragraphs.

Books like this:
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney
My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi

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Me & Earl & the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Greg has managed to make it to his senior year in high school completely invisible. He has one friend and that's Earl. Earl and Greg make movies together that nobody is ever allowed to see. Everything is fine until one day Greg finds out that his childhood friend, Rachel, is dying of cancer. Greg's mother forces him to hang out with her and cheer her up. Eventually Rachel decides to stop treatment and let things run it's corse. This is when Earl and Greg decide to make her a movie. This movie brings Greg out of his veil of invisibility and into the spotlight, and the movie isn't even good.

This book is told by Greg and he constantly talks about how he hates writing it. Greg's voice is relaxed and nonchalant. He goes back and forth from him telling the story to the story being told in script form. Many people, myself included thought that this book was absolutely hilarious. Which is true! Greg is a typical teenage boy out of touch with his emotions and at times obliviously in denial, but that's what makes this book so good! 

I recommend this book to people who liked The Fault in Our Stars but could have done without the romance. What Earl and Greg do for Rachel is sweet but there's nothing romantic about it. Every time you expect something romantic to happen it doesn't. The story is great and funny, but don't expect it to be romantic at all. It's a perfect read for non-romance lovers and I'd say from ages 13 and up.


Books like this:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- but with less romance
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider- the main characters have a similar voice and view

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There's also a movie but I haven't seen it so I can't compare the two...

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

The Perfect Storm is a book written with stories, dialogue from interviews and memories, plus lots of research. This book not only tells the story of the storm that took down the Andrea Gail of the coast of Nova Scotia but it also shows what the life of a fisherman typically is like. Sebastian Junger starts on shore, explaining everything the crew did, what they each were like, how they all felt and what they had to come back to. He also talks about swordfishing in general, and different facts about the ship; all sorts of technical stuff. You'll then move on to the perfect storm, the one that joined together and struck all at the 'perfect' time.

This book was wonderful but also a little heartbreaking. No one truly knows what happened on the Andrea Gail, neither it nor the crew were ever found. All this book can do is tell you what might have happened. What I liked most about this book was that it did have a lot of information about the storm itself as well as other storms throughout history that are like it. The reviews on this book are almost all praising. It's just all around a good book.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories of the sea or is curious about what it can be like. The ocean is a marvelous and mysterious thing, and this book truly shows that. 

I have never read another book like this but my pal Goodreads recommends:
The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw
Ten Hours Until Dawn by Michael Tougias
South by Ernest Shackelton

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Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Step into the life of Louie Zamperini, a trouble maker to war prisoner. This book starts with Louie as a young boy and continues through his journey through life. This book shows what he went through during WWII as a bombardier as well as getting captured by the Japanese and surviving through POW camps. I read this book for school but I'm glad I had to. I would have never come to this on my own but I loved it and am glad I read it. I recommend this book to people who like reading about world war two or just war in general. It's filled with facts but told through personal stories that make it easier to read.

Books like this (according to goodreads)
In Harms Way by Doug Stanton
The Heart and The Fist by Eric Greitens 
An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson 

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Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

Lucy’s mom is a hoarder, like a get on the show "Hoarders" kind of hoarder. Lucy doesn’t tell anyone about her mom and hasn’t her whole life. None of her friends have ever been to her house and the only people who know is her and her siblings. This secret has been kept for a long time until Lucy is faced with a problem where she might have to tell everyone. But still she fights and works to keep it hidden. This book was emotional, controversial and in some way gross. It is wonderfully descriptive and mainly takes place in Lucy's head. If you don't know what living with a hoarder is like this book is so descriptive you practically live it yourself. It takes place in only 24 hours and the pace is perfect. I recommend this book to people who like deep topics, ones that you have to be brave to really delve into. This book is not for the faint of heart or sensitive people. It's dramatic, descriptive, and so deep.

Books like this!
We Were Liars by E.L. Lockhart
Cut by Patricia McCormik
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Fracture by Megan Miranda

Delaney Maxwell died. There’s no other way to describe it. Her heart stopped and her body shut down bust somehow after about 30 minutes of CPR she came back. Ever since she came back she gets strange pulls and sensations that she can’t control or explain, and she doesn’t know if it something she should be scared of or something to embrace. I'm not going to lie, this isn't one of my favorite books. It's good but it was also very confusing, I never really could tell where the author was trying to go. I just found out that there is a sequel and that does make a lot more sense. Even though I didn't particularly like this book I am curious to read the sequel. I honestly don't know who to recommend this book to, and it's not because it sucked it's just because it's really hard for me to even explain what it's about. So I'm just going to leave you with some books I think that are similar to it.

Books like this!
Every Day by David Levithan
Just One Day by Gayle Foreman

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Until I Die by Amy Plum

Kate and Vincent can finally be together, with no threats, like they've wanted all along. But they soon realize that there is one thing that they can’t get around, and that's Vincent's fate. Kate can’t handle death all of the time after her own parents death, but that’s Vincent’s lifestyle, he is drawn to dying for other people. Another part of who Vincent is is that he's immortal, there's not much they can do to get around that; someday Kate will die and Vincent will still roam the earth for years later. Vincent promises Kate that he will try his best to live a normal life but then a new enemy arises. This is a classic "second book" but still just as captivating and thrilling as the first. This book does bring you deeper into the history and lore of the revenants.

Books like this!
Fallen by Lauren Kate
Dearly Beloved by Lia Habel

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You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn

Miles grew up admiring her cousin Laura, always feeling like she is living in her shadow but she honestly doesn't mind. They were as close as sisters, but when Laura commits suicide Miles is alone and goes into a downward spiral filled with cigarettes and alcohol. Her friend tries to help her but she just keeps shutting everyone out. But when she realizes she has more support and isn’t as alone as she thought, she is able to rebuild her life in unexpected ways. This book is filled with characters that you'll just fall in love with!

Books like this!
Cut by Patricia McCormick
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

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We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This story begins with a beautiful, rich family, with their own island. Cadence loves going to her family’s island in the summer. Her and her 3 other cousins call themselves the liars and the island is the only place they get to hang out together. She goes to the island every year but then some accident happened that she doesn’t remember and she’s not allowed to go back. This books is captivating and mysterious. It's very powerful and well crafted. My favorite thing about it is the back, it says that if someone asks you how it ends lie, and that's exactly what you should do!

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Cut by Patricia McCormick

Callie cuts herself, never too deep just enough to feel the pain. She gets put into Saint Pines, a treatment facility, when her parents decide they don't know how to help her. Callie has nothing to do with anyone at the facility, she just keeps to herself. But throughout the story she slowly opens up and even starts to make friends. Callie wants to get better and go home but she doesn't think she can stop cutting. I'll admit this book was a little different and strange. Having dealt with this sort of stuff it was a little rough at some points for me to read. This book is very controversial, as is this topic in society today, so there are a lot of mixed reviews on this book. I think that you should read this book if you're curious about cutting, depression or these kind of treatment facilities. I will warn you if you have a history of cutting this could be a very triggering book for you, as it was for me.

Books like this!
I'll admit, I've never read a book like this but Goodreads suggests:
Cutters Don't Cry by Christine Dzidrums
The Luckiest Girl In the World by Steven Levenkron
Scars by Sheryl Rainfield

Check it out!

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

Brie literally died of a broken heart. I'm not even kidding. Trust me, when I read the back of this book I laughed and was really worried it'd be totally lame because dying of a literal broken heart? Really? I picked it up and started reading it, it starts out very confusing but all in all it did surprise me. When Brie crosses over to ‘the other side’ she meets someone named Patrick, and he helps her out and tries to help her understand everything. All Brie wants to do is go back to her old life and when she finds out she can at least go and see her family of course she wants to! Patrick takes her to see her family she finds out that they are falling apart. Brie tries to find a way to help them and get the happily ever after she always wanted. To my surprise there are so many wonderful reviews about this book, I'm not surprised because I thought it sucked I just always find books that have shitty reviews and didn't think this would be any different. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good broken heart story. I will warn you though, this one may have a twist! Overall this was a very good book.

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The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

The Notebook is a beautiful story told by a man named Noah. Noah and his wife are both in a nursing home when the book takes place. Noah's wife Allie has dementia and can't remember who Noah is, but Noah goes to her everyday and tells her their story. The book starts off with Allie coming back to town and going to see Noah, it had been years since they saw each other. Allie was married and Noah had just bought the house he promised long ago to fix up for her. And just like that the story of Allie and Noah is told. With flashes of present and past this story is a whirlwind of love and sadness. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good romance, like full out no other stuff in between romance. 

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The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

Hannah and Zoe are best friends, they always have had each other. Zoe thinks she was abducted by aliens and that they are calling back to her. She tells Hannah that she needs to leave New Jersey, so as Zoe's lifetime best friend Hannah gets in her car with Zoe and they leave. Zoe wants to teach Hannah about all intangible things and get her to have more in her life. Hannah just wants to help Zoe but she's run out of way to help her. I recommend this book to someone who likes road trip adventures and some slight tragedy. Zoe and Hannah's adventure is suspenseful and crazy, this is a completely exhilarating read. 



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It's All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick

Caitlyn is your classic good girl. She had never had alcohol, kissed a boy, or done anything fun or crazy. Caitlyn was asked to keep her cousin, Heller, on track before her movie opening. Heller is a wild card and brings out the worst in Caitlyn. Heller has to spend a day with a girl who has cancer, but she has other plans for how the day is going to go. After a long chain of events Caitlyn is in jail with her ears pierced and a tattoo. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good adventure tale of teens gone crazy. 


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Every Day by David Levithan

A is someone new everyday, until one day he wakes up someone named Justin. Justin is not the greatest to his lovely girlfriend but A gives her a great day, one that A will never forget. A falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon, and continues every day as a new person and tries to find her. Being someone new everyday makes it hard for A to form a relationship with her but he begins to find a way. This story is confusing but still fairly riveting. I recommend this to anyone who also loved the Fallen series, this story reminds me of that. If you like tragic romance and some adventure then you might like this book.

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Looking For Alaska by John Green

This story starts with a boy named Miles who wants to go to the same boarding school his dad went to. His parents are letting him but are going to miss him. At his new school Miles makes new friends, starting with his roommate the Colonel. 'The Colonel' introduces Miles(aka Pudge) to a girl named Alaska. Alaska captivates Miles and he falls in love with her. Between pranks, drinking, kisses, and still making it to class this book is filled with laughs and even cries. It was a great read and totally worth it. I would recommend this to anyone high school aged or older, its mature with content(not great for younger kids). 

Give it a look!

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Part two of the thrilling story of Katniss Everdeen, with so many twists and turns to come. With the Hunger Games over Katniss finally has a chance to some what return to normal. But everything is about to change when the newest Hunger Games is announced. Instead of the normal, chose one boy and one girl from each district, and it causes a shocking twist. This continuation of the Hunger Games series is very exciting and suspenseful. If you loved the first on you'll love this one :)



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Letters from Peyton by 11tay99 (watt)

 Letters from Peyton is a great short story that makes a good quick read. Peyton is just a normal girl who happens to get brain cancer. Through letters to god (although this isn't a religious story) you learn about Peyton's diagnosis, and treatment. She falls in love with a boy named Cody and although it is short lived it is cute and sweet. Even though this story is short it is well developed and thought out. I am a sucker for sudden tragic endings and this has just that. If you don't like sudden or tragic endings this is not the story for you. It is a great story and a fast read. 

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

High School can be pretty tough, as many of you may know, especially if you don't have many friends. When Melinda was at a party one summer she ended up calling the cops when it got out of hand, this caused her friends to unfriend her and everyone else at school to hate her. Something bad happened to her at that party that continues to haunt her throughout the book. Spiraling into depression Melinda continues to try to keep the truth buried but it slowly seeps it way out. I recommend this to someone who likes sad, struggling books. It really is hauntingly beautiful and truly makes you think.




You should read it!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

"May the odds ever be in your favor..." as is the motto of the annual Hunger Games of Panem. Sadly, the odds aren't in Katniss Everdeen's favor when her younger sister Primrose gets chosen to be in the Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers in place of her sister, to save her life. Out of all 12 districts in Panem there are two children chosen to go to the Capitol and fight to the death in an arena, while being broadcasted on live television. By volunteering for her sister Katniss has to go to the Hunger Games. The book describes the events leading to the Games, what happens in the Games, and after. It is action packed, and completely suspenseful. I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like violence, especially with kids. 



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