An Abundance of Katherines - John Green

Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Cover

The red cover! It's so pretty! I just loved the cover I had. Not too much, but still pretty. I really enjoyed having this book for a little while (library). I love the red, it makes it shine brightly.

Colin Singleton

While reading other reviews, I found out that many people thought Colin whined too much. I can definitely see where they're coming from, and I can usually spot a whining character very well, but I actually really liked Colin. He was fresh and felt very new to me, and he was a realistic whiner. Yes, he did whine, but no, it wasn't annoying. He just broke up with K-19, so really, what did you expect. 

Other than that though, how can this guy meet so many Katherines? I don't even know 19 people with the same name, so how even can someone fall in love with all of them. Katherine isn't even a name you see that often, but all right, I was willing to let it slide. 

Colin is a very reasonable person. Even though he's a child prodigy and, while I'm smart, I'm not, I could relate to him. I did get tired of his anagrams, however, but they were nice in the beginning.

Hassan (a Muslim character bless)

I liked him. I genuinely did. I liked most characters in this book, actually. I loved how they made him Muslim (I know very little about the Islam, but I do not wish to offend anyone). There isn't much recognition for Islamitic people. And while he stayed true to his beliefs, he was also described as any other atheist or non-orthodox kid. I am glad John Green studied about Islam before writing something either ignorant or just plain wrong (again, I am not a Muslim, so I know very little). 

I'm also glad John made him a bit bigger than other characters I've seen in different books. Hassan is a very humble but reasonable guy. The little fight between Colin and him I liked as well. Hassan is a great character, and more important than most people think he would be. 

Lindsey Lee Wells

What a lovely girl. I sound like a grandma, but it's true. She seems like such a sweet person. Also, that emo phase, I couldn't stop laughing. I love how when she just met Colin and Hassan, she was described as a stereotypical popular girl, but gradually, you started to realize she hadn't been. I believe that meeting her really made Colin happy, made him ''normal'', like he wants to be so deeply. Lindsey was a great character, and again, reasonable.

The Plot (what plot?)

The only, but only sad thing about this book, was that it didn't have much plot. It was pretty much all over the place, and besides the growth of the characters, there wasn't much chance. The weird thing though, was that it didn't bother me. I couldn't stop reading this book. It was a real page-turner, so to say. Some people may be irritated by this, though. 

Just a little warning, this book contains a lot of Maths. I would recommend only reading this if you know at least a bit of Maths. Not that it's really important, but I think it'll be a better experience because of that.

Overall, I was surprised by this. I really didn't like Paper Towns. This was something else, way lighter than most of Green's work. It's a great coming-of-age story, I recommend reading this, but opinions on this book are very diverse, so there is a high chance you might not like it. I loved it, 4,5/5 stars because of the little plot.

Dominique

Title: An Abundance of Katherines (English), 19 Keer Katherine (Dutch)

Author: John Green

Publisher: Speak

Age range: 12+

Price (Paperback): $7,99

Pages (Paperback): 272

Silber, Dream A Little Dream - Kerstin Gier

Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute....

Cover

The Dutch cover is pretty cool. It's not that beautiful, but has some nice references to the book (which you'll find out by reading the book). I think it's Liv on the front, trying to find her door. The key is probably a sign to what happens at the end of the book, but I'm not entirely sure.

Liv Silber

Liv didn't really catch my attention. She was reasonable, sarcastic and easily caught of guard. While sarcasm is all my thing and I liked it on her, I couldn't really see myself in her. She wasn't one of those boy-obsessed girls, until she found Henry. She was a little awkward, that being one of the things I liked about her. I don't know why I feel nothing special with her. She's a great character, but is not the best in the book. Because this is the first book, I forgive her, but I hope she'll become more badass later on in the trilogy.

Henry?

Henry was not the best male character in this book. In fact, when I found out he was falling in love with Liv, I didn't even want it. To be honest, I like her with Grayson more. It might sound weird, but I have a feeling she's not going to end up with him, definitely considering Grayson's girlfriend Emily is not at all romantic. He has some secrets he won't tell anyone. As long as he doesn't tell Liv about those, I'll not trust him. Trusting certain characters in a book, and definitely in a book like this, needs to be done slowly. I hope he reveals his secrets in the next book.

Liv's Family

Because Liv is pretty sarcastic and her sister Mia is also, it was great to see a sister-relationship in the book. I'm not that close with my sister, so reading about siblings is always nice. Liv and Mia look out for each other, and tell each other stories about their days. Their mother doesn't look after them all too well, and is really loose with her curfew and that kind of stuff with them, but was still a great mom. Florence gradually turned into a real sibling, and Grayson was also trying his best. I believe Liv's mom (Ann) getting together with Grayson's/Florence's dad (Ernest) really made them happier. Lottie, her nanny, was just right. She was there to fill the gaps Ann had made, and Liv and Mia were also really close to her. Cause Lottie's German, you also learn some more about Germany. I'm learning German in school atm, so it was so funny to recognise words. Lottie stands up for what she believes, and is also a wreck when it comes to men.

Secrets

There were so many secrets in this book still needing to be revealed. Apart from Henry's secrets about his family and past, there is also this sort of Gossip Girl, Secrecy,  knowing all of the school's student's secrets. I might have a clue about who she/he is, but with Kerstin you can never be sure. I love these secrets, cause because of these I'm looking forward to reading the next. All this demon talk and a girl being psychotic was also really interesting and kept it a nice read.

Storyline/book itself

There wasn't many action in this book. Even though I love Kerstin's writing, I didn't feel like it was that special. I liked reading it and I'll start reading book 2 soon, but it's not my favorite book ever, while Ruby Red definitely was. I expected more, and maybe I shouldn't have. The ending, however, was a little unexpected, but it didn't blow me over. I hope I'll start to like this series more by the second book, since I think the idea about dreams is amazing. The male character wasn't that strong, I didn't really fall in love with him. Kerstin's amazing writing skills were still there, but just not as strong as in here previous books.

Overall I have mixed emotions about this. I'm looking forward to book 2 at least. I liked it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I feel so bad right now, but I'm giving it 3.5/5 stars. Please know that this is just my opinion, and you don't have to agree with it.

Title: Silber (German/Dutch title)/Dream A Little Dream (English title)

Author: Kerstin Gier

Series: Silber (book 1)

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Price (Paperback): $6,60

Pages (Hardcover): 336

Dominique

Silber 3 - Kerstin Gier

Liv Silber has three problems. One: she has lied to Henry. Two: her dream adventures are becoming more dangerous. Three: Liv's mother and Grayson's father want to marry in the summer. While Arthur has unraveled the secrets of the dream world and thus can do irreparable damage, Anabel is currently also trying to make their lives horrible. But what can they actually do? Liv must put a stop to their action and meanwhile try to not lose her boyfriend.

{note: I didn't read the entire book, this review contains strong language. This is actually not a full review, but also a way to show why I'm always taking a hiatus.. because of books like this one.}

Cover

Love the German cover with this book. The Dutch one is aesthetically pleasing as well. I saw another Dutch cover today, and I loved that one too. The covers for these book series were really good, that's one thing.

Liv the Virgin

God, she was so immature again. I really do not like her. She was so childish, so goddamn childish. I prefer myself a main character with whom I can grow, if you get what I mean, coming-of-age characters, but Liv is definitely not one of them. She whines a lot, is so insecure that it makes me want to kick her ass, I disliked her so much.

Her humour, however, is the only really good thing about her, but I couldn't find much of that in this book, which was sad.

Henry the Naive Shit

I've never liked Henry. I always preferred Grayson. I still can't see why Kerstin chose to pair Liv up with him. He doesn't have much appeal (like Ruby Red's Gideon), he was just, average? I also really didn't see how he couldn't have noticed that Liv was still a virgin. She was so awkward about it (a bit of awkward is understandable, but this was too much), she didn't want to talk about it and she literally pretended like she had sex with a boy who was actually a fucking dog, sorry for my language. The rest of their relationship was cute though.

When I was about 170 pages in, I realised that this just wasn't going to work. This book got me in such a reading slump and I just decided to read the last 50 pages and just give it back to my library. I still wanted to make a 'review' for this because I really needed to let my frustration loose. I do not recommend starting these series. They're honestly just not that exciting. I love Kerstin Gier, don't get me wrong, I've read Ruby Red and I want to read more of her, this is just not a book for me.

Needless to say, I think I'll give the book about 1,5/5 stars. It's completely acceptable for you to not agree with my opinion, but please respect it. I really wanted to love this book, I just couldn't.

Dominique

(I'm reading 'An Abundance of Katherines' now ! I'm out of my reading slump and I'm back !)