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Date: 1/12/18
This week I read Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.  So far I have been enjoying this book and the characters. Usually it is hard for me to continue book with character I cannot relate or if I am constantly cringing at their actions. The one action that the main character, Maddy, has done that I am unsure of, was/is her attempt to run away from the confines of her home and illness. Although her action/attempt of running away brought me uncertainty, I still understand why she did it. I think her running away will impact the book because Maddy will finally have independence, take risks, and find out more about her weird illness. This book has the theme of love bringing risk as well as being the reason you take risk, which is something that can closely connected to the real world. The book also discusses illness and how you are treated differently because of disease. In the rest of the book, I hope the two main characters, Olly and Maddy, will have a relationship that develops and can become an official relationship. I also suspect that her illness is not fully true because she has never gotten sick from leaving her house and touching Olly. I believe Maddy's mom faked the illness so Maddy would never have a reason to leave the house and get hurt like her brother and dad did from a car accident. I also hope this truth comes out true and the mom's real intention come up to the surface.

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Date: 12/16/18
At the end of this week I began reading Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. I started reading this book because it is a book my friend, Stephanie, owns and she recommended this book to me. This book is definitely more my taste than the previous book I read, The Absolutely True Diary of  Part-Time Indian. This book is more my taste because it has a lot of romance and I guess 'girly' elements, although judging from the cover (which I know I am not suppose to), the book seems pretty cheesy. I am only a couple of pages into the book, so I cannot confirm whether or not the book is in fact cheesy. Something I enjoy about this book is that there is some Spanish sprinkled throughout Alex's point of view, or the male lead's point of view because he is Hispanic. I predict that the main characters, Alex and Brittany, will have a few run ins before they become chemistry lab partners (a fact I know from reading the blurb).  This book can be related to the real world through its elements of love, forbidden love, rich vs. poor, gang activities, and family life. I also predict that the truth about Brittany's not so prefect, privileged life, will come out before the book ends and while Brittany is barely starting to date Alex. I also predict that Alex will help Brittany through her struggles of family image because he understands what it is like to not have a perfect family and life.

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Date: 12/8/18
This week I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I choose to read this book because we read an excerpt from this book in class and this book is written in a male perspective. All the books I have read this year aside from Helium by Rudy Francisco have been written from the perspective of a female, so I wanted to try something different. I think because this book is written in a male perspective, it is less interesting and it has taken me a while to finish this book. Usually romance and I guess more girly topics and themes are what attract my attention to a book, and this book does not really have those themes/topics. This book can be connected to the real world because it talks about the struggles of Native Americans and life on a reservation, as well as trying to establish a life outside a reservation. Obviously there are Native Americans who have to depend on a reservation in order to have shelter, health services/insurance, and jobs in present day. Opportunity on a reservation is limited, and your only chance of success is if you leave the reservation, but you could face backlash from the Native American community when doing so. Since I have yet to finish The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I predict Junior will look back on his life and he will not regret going to an all white school outside the rez, but he might have trouble balancing his identity inside the rez and outside the rez.

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Date: 11/17/18
This week I finally finished Wildcard by Marie Lu and this weekend I read Helium by Rudy Francisco. I saw this book of poetry on my friend's snapchat story back in September and kept a mental note to read it. I also was familiar with the poet because of his poem we analyzed in class titled, "My Honest Poem", which is included early on in this book. I always enjoy books of poetry because there are relatable, and even though this book is from a male poet, I can still relate to his work. His poems are usual pretty short, but there were a couple that took up some pages. The author advocates for many things in this book. From more personal things, like how he is not much of a love poet, to larger ideas like love is painful, a theme that carries on for many poems. I enjoyed this and it grabbed my attention with all the themes, metaphors, and moments for comedic relief. Rudy talks about childhood experiences, general experiences that can happen to anyone, his take on love, his weaknesses/insecurities, and his dreams. This book of poetry fits into society because it discusses common conflicts like conflict between one's self, or internal conflict, and it discusses conflict between two people in a relationship. This book has helped me reshape my ideas of the future and adulthood. Just because a person is a grown up does does not mean life is going to be perfect, love is complicated and struggles with your identity are common. Sometimes we learn lessons the hard way, but no the less we have grown because of them.

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Date: 11/11/18
Another week and I am still reading Wildcard. It has taken me a while to read this book because it simply has not been as attention-capturing as the first book, Warcross, and I have not had much interest to read this past week. This book is definitely been less climatic and exciting as its prequel , but I am still reading to figure out how it all ends. The truth behind Zero/Sasuke has been revealed even further and it was not too shocking. I was definitely surprised that Emi and Hideo shared a romantic moment in the middle of the book because things had been tense between the two, as they were not sure if they were working against each other or not. This book relates to the real world because power and leadership can lead to many corruptions. Abuse of power is prevalent today with presidents, CEO, etc. Also just like in this book, people fear death and will go to great lengths to protect even if it is unethical. Dana Taylor, an antagonist, was an executive director for an Institute and abused her power to try and cheat death, using unethical methods like kidnapping a young Sasuke. This book teaches you that the bad in this world could be doing evil things because they genuinely believe it is what society/the world needs, and they truly believe is good. Also the book advocates that their is not always a clear black and white, good and evil, and you as a human have to decide who you fight for and against.

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Date: 11/4/18
This week I am reading Wildcard, the sequel to Warcross, by Marie Lu. This book has the same element of virtual reality found in the prequel, but now it is a negative that is threatening to dominate the world. I can personally relate to this book because Emi tries to gain her independence again and has trouble figuring out to trust. Sometimes I might have trouble figuring out who to trust and who is loyal, especially if I just met them. This book fits extremely well into our society. Technology has an immense influence on everyone in the world. We rely so much on technology, and use the internet as an escape. But sometimes technology does more good then bad, and in Wildcard, technology can literally control people's minds. Something that shocked me in this book was the identity reveal of Zero, the antagonist. The reveal was a bit anticlimactic but the true identity was shocking because the person was thought to be dead. There are also still a lot of unanswered questions from the first book and the identity reveal adds to the questions
. This so far has less romance then the  first book, but I am still interested in the book because of the chance that Emi and Hideo will get back together. I am hoping that Emi teams up with Zero to save the people from the mind controlling affects and also that Hideo and Emi get back together because it was a cute relationship.

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Date: 10/28/18
This week I read two books, The Selection and The Elite by Kiera Cass. This series is somewhat similar to the other books I have been reading because a major element is the romance and there is also a love triangle like there was in the Shatter Me series.  I definitely find the main character, America, relatable because she is a simple girl who goes through a major life change and has to grow from it. America sometimes feels stuck with her change, being her entrance into the selection, but she has to accept her new future. I also am scared of change and try to ignore it, but I cannot grow and better myself and future if I do not accept the inevitable. The setting of the book can be related to the world now because both books are set in a society/government with caste systems. Now in most modern countries there is not set castes and its rules,but in history there was castes, for example, the Indian caste system. Even without a caste system, the U.S. and other countries face inequality and discrimination just like Illea, where the two books are set. I have no complaints about the first book, but the second book, The Elite, kind of frustrated me. There were times when America was tired of the selection, of fighting for the prince's heart, and the chance of becoming a princess. In these moments, she was planning on leaving but the prince persuaded her to stay. This was something I did not like because I felt it would have been easier for America to return home and grow on her own, then continue on a path of uncertainty. As for my prediction and thoughts on the next book, I thinks she will end up with prince once for all, but there is a conflict that will emerge once they are almost done reconciling.

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Date: 10/21/18
For the past week I have been venturing in the science fiction novel Warcross by Marie Lu. This book has kind of been a challenge for me. The book is not written in a way hard to understand, like with large words, but some of the concepts are a little off putting. I usually do not go for book that have gaming in theme, so when Lu gets very descriptive about the Warcross I sometimes get lose and lose interest. Many people recommended the book to me so that is why I decided to read it even if it is not a typically genre for me. This book can be compared to the real world because our society and the society in the novel both have a heavy presence of media, video games, and virtual reality. However, the technology we currently have is so where near as advanced as the technology of Warcross. My novel follows a young adult named Emi Chen, who I have had trouble relating to, but it does affect my  reading in a negative way.   Emi's life is like the rainbow at the end of the storm situation, and the author seems to advocate  for that success you can achieve once you hit your all time low. Furthermore, Emi has rainbow hair, so maybe my opinion about her life situation is correct. A lot of people can relate to Emi because she has been through a plethora of financial struggles, something I have not necessarily dealt with. Lastly, what has been keeping me interested in the book has been the slow-growing romance between Emi and Hideo.

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Date: 9/30/18 I have finally reached the end of the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi, only to find out there is a fourth book and a fifth one expected in April of next year. This week I read Ignite Me, the third book in the series. This book has kept me interested because of the war elements. It still has a lot of romance, but now its furthering the dystopian side of the plot because Juliette has begun war with corrupted government, the Reestablishment. In the third book, it has been harder to relate to Juliette because she has become more confident in herself and she is ready to lead and have power, something that is different from my personality. I mentioned in the first blog post that Mafi would put a line through or scratch out some of Juliette’s thoughts, indicating that Juliette was insecure with what went on in her head. However, in the third book there are no words scratched out, something I predicted would happen while reading the first book. She does not scratch out her thoughts anymore because she is now more confident, secure, and less hesitant with who she is and what she wants. As far as my prediction for the next book, Restore Me, I think something terrible will occur or a tragedy will strike because the ending in this book was happy and things are going well for Juliette. Something that got a reaction out of me was the character development with Warner because he is fighting alongside Juliette, something I would have not believed while reading the first book.

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Date: 9/19/18
I am still currently reading Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi and I cannot seem to put the book down, well except to type up this blog. The content I have read in the last week has unveiled some answers to the overall plot. It all started to make sense to me as the reader because I now know the only two people who are immune to Juliette's touch, are brothers. The ending of this book has had a lot of romance, something that my personal life cannot really relate to. However, the love triangle type of romance reminds me of the tv program, The Vampire Diaries, because the main character, Elena, falls for the good boy but slowly develops feelings for the antagonist. I am still interested in this book because a war is soon to happen and Juliette’s switch in romantic feelings is keeping me at the edge of my seat. Warner, the series’ antagonist, has had a huge character development which should only continue throughout the next book, Ignite Me. I was confused about Juliette’s feelings for Warner because the author did not clarify the exact moment Juliette started seeing Warner in a positive light. The author probably did this intentionally because Juliette’s feelings were abrupt. The large idea in my book is about discovering one’s self and abilities, while trying to help a deteriorating society. This book is challenges my belief and the idea of which side is the right side to fight with or side with. The series challenges who is the evil and instead implements the idea that the evil was just wrongly guided.

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Date: 9/16/18
This week I am reading Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi. This is the second book of the Shatter Me series, and since I liked the first book, I decided to continue this series. This book is starting to remind me of Divergent because both Tris and Unravel Me’s main character, Juliette, go through a series of training and must adapt to a new environment. I am enjoying this book because it starts off so different than how the first book ended. The writer illustrated hope and excitement in the last few pages of Shatter Me, but in the second book we see new themes that show nothing is perfect and one cannot have immediate success in whatever they are trying to accomplish. I feel like I can definitely relate to these new themes shown in Unravel Me. I have gone into new projects and life situations where they seem perfect, but I soon realize I’m still struggling, or there are problems I see that start to rise. The mystery of how Juliette/if Juliette will adapt to Omega, her new home, is keeping me interested. I’m also still into the romance between Juliette and Adam, even though there are less moments between the two in the second book. I think that before Juliette can fully adapt to Omega, Warner, the series’ antagonist, will find her and capture her again. I am not happy about this prediction because Warner is not a good guy, but I am very certain they will meet again.

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Date: 9/4/18
This week I am reading Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I choose this book because Mrs. Peel recommended the series to me last year and I never got around to reading it. The book follows a girl named Juliette who has the power to kill someone if they come in direct contact with her skin, and she had been placed into confinement. When the book began, the author did not make it evident as to why Juliette was locked up, but the secrecy did not drag on too long and her lethal touch was revealed once she was taken away from the institution. I like this book because it has a little bit of dystopia, romance, and mystery, and I’ve never really read a book that contained all three genres. At times, the plot can slow down, but that’s a way of knowing something big is about to occur, “the calm before the storm”. Currently I am a little over half way through the book, and am at the part where Juliette is escaping from something and someone else. I like how Juliette is not the most straightforward, confident girl. She is quite insecure especially because her touch is lethal, and I can relate to being insecure, and unsure of myself. I also enjoy how since this book is in first person, the author will sometimes scratch out Juliette’s thoughts, because the thought is foreign to Juliette and she’s scared of thinking that way. Tahereh doesn’t erase these lines from the book, because they are important to Juliette’s development. I believe eventually she will stop hesitating or battling with her thoughts, and instead become more confident and vocal about what she truly thinks. In conclusion, I really do enjoy this book and am looking forward to seeing how Juliette’s escape goes, as well as reading the rest of the series.