May 24, 2015 – My Tiny Obsessions

>>>>> Nº 15 on My 2015 Reading Challenge – A popular author’s first book <<<<<

Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor.

Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

I knew that this book was going to be full of “fells” but wow… I didn’t quite expect this. I’m officially of the opinion that Rainbow Rowell is extraordinary and quite possibly a mind reader and a time-traveler… otherwise, I cannot explain how well she can describe the feelings of two 16 y.o., or how she can create these adorably flawed characters with whom I identify a lot.

I’m not going to talk about the story, because it’s a “simple” love story about two teenager who don’t quite fit in. But it’s much deeper than that, and you should definitely read it… like, NOW!

Rainbow’s books always have a specific characteristic that sets them apart from every other book. With Fangirl it’s the bits of chapters and fanfiction between Cather’s story, on Attachments it’s the e-mails between Jennifer and Beth in the middle of Lincoln’s live, here is the fact that we have both the point of views of Eleanor and Park! There’s this bits and pieces that are just so adorable to read from each other’s POV!

Now it will be a little SPOILERY!

That ending! OMG, I knew something happened, because since the first page we know that they’re no longer together, but wow, man, wow! A whole year going by without Eleanor contacting Park is heart wrenching!

And the postcard?! Oh my, I smiled like a silly girl. I know that most people want the postcard to say “I Love You”, but I don’t. I think that Eleanor’s first ILY should be said personally. I hope the card said “Nothing ever ends”, it would mean that she never actually forgot, it would mean that she read the comics and thought about him, it would mean hope. Maybe it said something along the lines of “I’m coming” or something like that, or maybe (and this is my favorite) it just said “Eleanor & Park”!!! Either way, there’s hope, and I cried and I loved it so damn much!

Soon I’ll have to re-read all of her books, because my favorite order is all scrambled up! Although I’ll give a higher ranking to Eleanor & Park than I did to Fangirl, it doesn’t mean that I loved it more, because I identified much more with Fangirl…

Rating: 5 Stars

So, I know I’m a bit late with this… the season finale was already a while ago – and I had Arrow up to date – but I’ve been mulling over about what to say about it.

First off, it’s not exactly news about now, but this 3^rd season was definitely not up to par with the previous ones. After giving it a bit of thought I figured out some stuff that did not work for me, which not to say that I didn’t enjoy this season – I did – but not as much, and here’s why: too much Olicity angst!

I feel I should clarify that I’m a totally Olicity fan, I ship those 2 hard! But the episodes were way too much about them, whether together or apart, and it just didn’t work. Stephen and Emily have amazingly undeniable chemistry, so it’s always fun to watch them together… however it’s not great fun that they kept angsting about not being together for most of the season. After Oliver’s decision on the first episode, I wished that they had talked about it – while obviously still loving each other – but not actively mentioning the problem at almost every single episode. It got tiring.

Other things that’s been largely talked about was the Hong Kong flashbacks. Here, I have to be honest, I liked the storyline. I wished it had taken less time, because the story was not that complex, but still I liked it, mostly because it introduced my favorite character from this season: Tatsu! I really liked Tatsu and Maseo, and I cried hard when she killed him… oh, the tears! I wished their story had ended differently, but I’m kind of glad that it didn’t. I also enjoyed immensely when Tatsu joined “Team Arrow” in Nanda Parbat and I wished that she had stayed with them, her skills would come in handy.

Speaking of Nanda Parbat, we spent quite a few episodes with people flying in and out of there, but where the hell is it?! Because my first instinct would be to say that it’s somewhere in Asia, where you can get to and from in about a couple of hours flying?!

Laurel… until the middle of the season my dislike for her was at a high, as always, but then, I don’t know, she became cool… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m really liking Laurel right now. She stood up to Oliver and her father, she learned a lot from Roy and the team, she bonded with Felicity and she actually started to have a purpose on the series… well done! And, I really like her with Nyssa (and I wanted Nyssa to stay…).

Other character that I didn’t care about before and now I do, is Thea. She grew up a lot – and I’m not only talking about her fighting skills. I’m just sorry that now that she’s ready, she doesn’t have Roy with her… oh, I’m really gonna miss Roy – by the way, he was amazing this season.

Quentin Lance… WTF man?! The last third of the season I just wanted to throw him out of the window. I mean, I get it, what Laurel and Oliver did was wrong, they should have let him know about Sara’s death, but his behavior?! No excuse for that! He kind of redeemed himself in the last episode, only for them to let us know that he was drinking again?! Oh man… this sucks!

About Ray, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about him in the beginning, I mean, he liked Felicity and Felicity belongs with Oliver. Still, he grew on me. He’s funny, smart and a damn good person…

… which leads me to one of my biggest problems with the last couple of scenes from the last episode, in which, in front of everyone – including Ray – Oliver declares himself to Felicity and asks her to go away with him. I’m OK with the content of the scene – though I might argue that Oliver goes from 80 to 8 in less than no time. What I’m not OK with was the lack of respect it showed towards Ray, from Oliver and Felicity, because PDA with your new boyfriend while your ex watching is not cool… especially considering that the man just gave you his company (not that you know, but still…).

Also, I felt that Oliver just spent the whole season repeating the same mistakes on a loop. After 3 years, I would expect him to trust his friends more and not go around doing things by himself and trusting the wrong people.