Goodreads has been recommending me this novel for years. Once again, they were right about what kind of book I enjoy.
Under the Never Sky turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me. On beginning the story, the writing style seemed simplistic and the plot, very foreseeable. Once I accepted these factors of the story however, it was quite an enjoyable journey. I ended up becoming more attached to Perry and Aria (and their relationship) than I anticipated.
I think that perhaps if I had read this story a few years ago, as an early teen, maybe I would have enjoyed it more.
I would recommend to those who enjoy futuristic fiction (it's almost dystopian but I'm not sure it's quite dark enough to earn that title). The concept of the story was good, the worldbuilding well written. Overall the story was incredibly easy to read and enjoy. I probably will read the following books, but I'm not in a desperate hurry to do so. This story does lack a certain addict-ability factor in that way.

I have heard many good things about Rupi Kaur. So, blindly, I decided to dive into one of her books. I picked this one for no particular reason other than I could remember the title better than Milk and Honey.
Loved it. I now see why most of the female population has only good things to say about this author.
The writing was emotional and raw. All written in poetry, but able to convey the same feelings as a novel. There were some deep subjects in here I wasn't expecting to read about (for example, centuries old female infanticide issues in India) but somehow those shocking aspects of this story gave it layers, depth that only added to the overall thought-provoking piece of writing that it is.
Another great thing about this book: It's super short. I've been needing to whizz quickly through a book to get out of my reading slump recently, and this little book was just what I needed.
My favourite part? Probably when Kaur attacks the moneymaking beauty industry that survives by making every girl ever believe that she is not enough. We are enough, and the poetry reinforces that beautifully.
I don't want to give this book back to the library.

Sarah Crossan is an auto-read author for me. I get genuinely excited every time she writes something new.
Moonrise is eye-opening. Educating. Shocking. And it needed to be written.
As usual, she's written this novel in verse. It's as painstakingly beautiful as always. I'm going to admit it: I cried.
I love a book that makes me cry the way this one did - it was unstoppable, totally unavoidable, because for me this story was such an emotional journey for me.
I do hope that Sarah Crossan's next work will be more lighthearted... I've got to admit that I miss her cutesy stories about big problems with happy endings.
But even though this one was a bit darker than the last, I'm fairly sure that I will be reading her next release, whatever it is.

this was so fantastic.
if i'm honest, i wasn't expecting much from this book. i'd never heard of glenda millard and the cover didn't intrigue me too much. and when i started, i was thoroughly confused for the first six pages.
this is the wonderful story of alice. she's an amazing character with such a beautiful point of view. this novel deals with big problems like abuse, disorders, wars and broken families. but it does it gently, softly, and really makes you understand the subject matter and how the characters feel.
what i particularly liked about this book was that the author doesn't exactly explain her writing. alice's point of view is written with no capital letters and an unusual amount of full stops. and manny's point of view is written very properly with formal language. she never explains why she writes this way, but leaves it to the reader to work out as the story progresses. sometimes the way a character will describe things or react to things is unusual, but it adds to the weight of the story. it makes you understand the character more, because you can feel how they are feeling. you are being shown, not told - and that is the way a book should be.
guaranteed, there will be people who don't like this novel and say that it's "too confusing" or "there's no plot".
but that's their fault for not reading it properly to be honest.
this novel is beautiful, quiet and loud at the same time and even had me on the edge of my seat for the end of it. i personally loved this story.

This book left me with one clear thought: What was the point in that?
It's not a bad book. But it's not great, either.
I found it to be incredibly reader-friendly. Due the fact that it was written in verse, it was a quick read which I was able to fly through. That was nice, since it wasn't hard to start reading and get back into the story.
I feel like the main characters, Jess and Nicu, could have done with some more character development. Jess at times came across as annoying - the way she would never do anything about what happened right in front of her. I still felt when the story was finished that this problem hadn't been fully fixed.
And Nicu, at times, came across as very very childish and simple, even a wimp. I understand the way his story was written, deliberately with bad grammar to show his language barrier, and that was very cleverly done (because I've learnt a language I could understand frequently the grammar mistakes he was making). At times, though, it was overdone. I felt like the authors were trying to make you feel sorry for him, to the point that it was over the top.
And as for the other characters - well, they didn't really even exist. When the story started, there was good characterisation all round, but every other character seemed to be forgotten about as the story progressed.
And then, of course, the ending. The unfinished, disappointing ending. I'm not going to say anything, other than I was hoping for a better ending.

Wow.

Sarah Crossan always gets me. Every one of her books that I've read, I've loved.
My actual rating for this one would be 4.8. That's only because I don't feel the ending explained enough or gave enough back to the reader. But surely, every good book should leave the reader wanting more, in which case One did exactly that.
With this book, Sarah Crossan has gone into the depths of contemporary that some authors wouldn't attempt. And she's done it in verse.
Grace and Tippi's story is touching in every way, there's so much to it. So much understanding of people, not of appearances. Of emotions and life.
So many subjects and issues went dealt with in these pages and so many characters were brought to life - and effectively.
I would seriously recommend this book, maybe not to younger readers, but I think it has a lot in it to teach everyone. It was an incredible story and it's definitely going to stay with me.

Wow!
I think the last time I tore through a book like this was when I read Apple and Rain, also written by Sarah Crossan.
I actually felt more inclined to cry while reading this book than when reading Thirteen Reasons Why - not what I was expecting at all.
I loved this so much.
I had read that it was written in verse, and to be honest that put me off to start with. But then I thought, why not read it?
It was beautiful.
I love reading poetry, even though I do not understand the rules of writing it. Apple and Rain gave me a new viewpoint of poetry, and this book has gone even further so that I really love it and think it is an amazing thing.
I read a book a long time ago about a Polish girl and her family moving to England but it was not as impressionable as this one. This had so much to it, even though the whole story was not told. I would have liked more of an epilogue, to be honest. I guess it was all symbolic.
It was such a lovely book. I would recommend it hands down.

I don't give 1 star to many books. Just the ones I really really dislike.
I read this book because I'd looked at a few lists of "fictional books about travel" and this one kept popping up. Everyone said it was a beautiful novel about Amsterdam. Nah. Spoiler: it was a love story, and it was a really bad one.
I really dislike when authors spend the whole book writing the characters to be awful, small-minded, annoying and then think that by adding like 5 pages of character development at the end they can turn them all into good guys. Nope. Not for me.
Every character in this story was so underdeveloped it was unbelievable. Also every bit of dialogue was forced as anything.
I scan read to get to the end, because I hate leaving books unfinished. But I'm still amazed I managed to get all the way through this book.

"She tells me words give people permission
to be their fullest self."

I absolutely loved it.
When I started this book I was sceptical, really not sure that I was going to enjoy Xiomara's way of seeing the world or that I would be able to relate to her. The only reason I picked up this book was because it has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Award this year and it didn't look like it would take too long to read.
(BTW, it didn't actually take too long to read. Once I actually got time to read it, it only took me 2 sittings).
The whole story is written in verse. Funnily enough, although that means there's less words overall, I feel like it gives this book more meaning.
Poetry is a huge part of this story. The way each 'chapter' or individual poem is constructed adds something to the story. I also appreciate the fact that I now understand the purpose of Haikus. I have read books before that explain the format, but not the reason for that format. Thanks, Acevado.
Xiomara is a young girl who is feeling trapped by her overly religious family and their rules. (I was shocked by the way some people force religion onto others and then still count it as worshipping God!) But she feels like she can't talk about that to anyone. So she bottles her feelings up into her poems.
What I really liked about this story was that it focuses on the importance of communicating well with the people around us, and especially the people we care about. It explores the effects of neglecting your family, and also the benefits of sharing all aspects of your life with those around you, in a non-judgemental way, as opposed to trying to keep parts of your life secret. It shows the effect it has on ourselves and the people around us when we embrace our interests, and try things we've never tried before.
There was a whole lot of Spanish in this book, which I wasn't expecting. Most of the time there's translations, but sometimes the author just leaves you to work it out. I was fine with this since I understood it first time round anyways, I'm not sure what it would be like for someone who hasn't ever learnt Spanish. I think it would be fine. The Spanish dotted around the poems adds a certain sense of culture to the story.
I really liked this book. It dealt with a lot of family issues which are common today and I liked the way it dealt with them. Xiomara was a strong female lead and I really enjoyed her story.

"I don't tell her it's good, even though it is.
I don't tell her it's beautiful, although it's that, too.
"That gave me chills," I say.
"I felt it here," I say.
"You should finish it," I say."

Hmmm.
Definitely an interesting book.
I'm really happy to see different cultures becoming a part of popular children's literature. It never really occurred to me while I was growing up but the majority, if not all, of the characters I read about as a child were either from America or England in most cases, and their first language was English.
So to see a children's book boldly representing some Filipino history, well, that's cool.
However, for my personal taste, the slaughtering of animals was overmentioned a bit. Also, the story itself was very very slow paced, and not many things happened.