Perfect Fifths: A Novel (Jessica Darling)

We are perfect in our imperfection.

I just spent my afternoon reading reviews on amazon.com about “Perfect Fifths” by Megan McCafferty and how it should really be named “imperfect fifths”. I strongly disagree on all the bad rating this book received, I thought it was simply brilliant like the rest of this series.

This is probably my favourite series ever and I haven’t come across yet to a character that is as real as Jessica Darling, outspoken, snappy, somehow cynical but also caring, Jessica is as real as one of us. On the other side Marcus is very close to ideal, a self confident non materialistic dreamer who writes lyrics and the same time has the typical appeal of a very bad boy.

Maybe because I love books that rely on dialogues, maybe because I truly believe Megan McCafferty is an amazing  writer, maybe it’s the fact that I developed a huge crush on Marcus Flutie since Sloppy firsts (yeah he would be my favourite fiction male character)  but I think this was a brilliant book.

Clever and enjoyable.

A great end to a great series. I recommend it for every girl who enjoys an interesting conversation.

My grade: 5/5 PLUS!!!

Em

The Last summer (of you and me) by Ann Brashares

Is the plot really important in a book? Maybe for some readers it is, I usually expect a great plot from a crime novel but most of the time what really matters to me is the atmosphere, the dialogue, the overall feeling that a book is able to convey in my day.

I will soon turn 29 and I haven’t read the sisterhood series by Ann Brashares yet, I recently read The Last summer (of you and me) and I loved it (literally couldn’t put it down).

A brief regarding the plot: the book takes place in Fire Island and it develops around three characters: Riley, 24, who has never fully made the transition to adulthood, gifted in sports she has remained close to her childhood world; Paul has been Riley’s best friend, her match in physical activities and something of an older cruel brother to Alice; Alice, is Riley’s younger sister and a more complex character whose magic develops through the story. Paul and Alice fall in love and the first part of the novel is about them. Immersed in their pleasures, Alice and Paul don’t spend much time considering Riley. However, when Riley becomes suddenly  ill, Alice  is  overwhelmed by guilt. She rushes from the island to the hospital to find Riley with congestive heart failure. Here, Riley extracts a promise: Alice will not tell Paul about her damaged heart. By the end, the characters have suffered losses, and their links to their childhoods have been discarded; they can no longer inhabit the Fire Island they knew, except in memory.

I read a few negative reviews about this book, in my opinion it’s a “must read” , Brashares has a way of writing that makes you feel involved at many different levels. You really get attached to these characters and feel as if you know them. I was left with wanting more.

A quote from the book: some people has no magic

My grade: 4/5

Em