"Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer

**Spoilers!**

In the book, Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer, she continues to expand the story and world she set in Cinder, the first book in the Lunar Chronicles. Scarlet focuses on a retelling of the "Little Red Riding Hood" fairytale, introducing Scarlet Benoit, a young woman whose grandmother has mysteriously disappeared. Soon, Scarlet realizes that this mystery is much larger than just her grandmother, and enfolds years of agression and tension built up between Earth and the Lunars, as well as the one person who could stop the threat of war. The missing Lunar, Princess Selene.

I finally read it! Yeah me!

So this book has been sitting on my Nook for weeks, and last week, I finally started to read it. I was so excited, and the book lived up to my expectations greatly.

As I mentioned in the first Lunar Chronicles book, the books are futuristic retellings of some of the most familiar fairytales, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. One of my favorite part of these books so far is the imaginative setting revamp. The world of the five nations in future-Earth is so vivid and well planned out. The prejudices, actions and thoughts of them as a society have been really thought out and still resonated clearly in Scarlet, which was interesting. I thought maybe because it was a whole different country, and each country was so large, the cultures would vary largely country to country.

One thing I did want to learn a little more about was France, specifically, in the book. We learned a lot about New Beijing in the first book, and had vivid imagery to go along with the new culture we learned about. Though this book was still descriptive, I wanted to learn more about Paris, farmland area France, and customs of the French in this universe.

Another thing I wanted to see, though less of, is the Wolf-Scarlet romance. I enjoy the relationship, and it was fun to see grow, and I have nothing against it, it was a little cheesy to see the last couple scenes with them and even the middle of the book. They barely know each other, but almost seem ready to get married. I get that the Prince Kai-Cinder relationship couldn't continue as a key plot point, but it kind of set the mood of the story. This is a series about girls not obsessed with love, ready to do what is important overall first. Scarlet is a strong character, but how fast she changes from not trusting Wolf, at all, to being head-over-heels for him, seems completely out of the character established at the beginning of the book. The Wolf and Scarlet relationship made this feel a little bit like Twilight. Oh no!

Overall, I still loved the book, and would recommend it to fans of the Hunger Games, fairytales, and sci-fi. Please, if you find this interesting, read the first book first. It won't make much sense otherwise!

"Breathing Underwater" by Alex Flinn

**Spoilers!**

Breathing Underwater is the story of Nick, a seemingly perfect and popular high school student who is charged with a restraining order on his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin. But why? Nick doesn't think he did anything wrong. He just taught her a lesson. The book chronicles his journey to his anger management classes that will "help him", and overall just his journey to redemption.

I enjoyed this book a lot. My favorite moments were the letters, and seeing how bad the abuse got in the relationship. I couldn't really imagine anyone besides some alcoholic father (like Nick's dad) abusing anyone, but this really shows me that abuse can happen for lots of reasons, and isn't always the reasons we think. I also was surprised about the relationship itself, and gave me an insight to an abusive relationship. The book showed me a lot about the kind of people who get caught in relationships like this, people like Caitlin who don't think they're good enough because of someone (Caitlin's mom), who think the person will be their only hope at a relationship. Also it was interesting that Nick didn't think he was being that harsh, or that we was wrong. It made me really worried for others who are in situations like this, and how they might not even know what they're doing is wrong.

Also is made me sad that Caitlin's or Nick's friends didn't try to help Caitlin when they saw something wrong about the relationship. I think if I ever saw a friend in trouble I would have to tell them, even if it meant losing a friendship. 

Overall, this book was really interesting and emotional to read, and I enjoyed it. The movement to Nick's "redemption" was well written, as Alex Flinn is awesome. Read it!

Update: "Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok

Girl in Translation is the story of Kimberly, a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong who moves to New York City with her mother.

So far, I'm pleasantly surprised by Girl in Translation. Usually, I'm not the greatest fan of historical fiction (even though this is not that far in the past) or immigrant stories. I usually feel like they're too played out and a lot of the time, not that well written. It's really hard to relate to these characters because of their situation for me, which makes me not enjoy the book as much.

In Girl..., possibly because of the relative modern-ness of the story, I can pretty easily relate to Kimberly as a character. She is a smart, aware character who still has normal wants as an eleven or twelve year old, but is not taken over by these actions. She knows the importance of family, another thing I like about Kimberly.

Also layers of the story are interesting. Kim wants to be accepted by her peers at school and in the factory, but her strong Chinese upbringing is keeping her from totally assimilating. She also wants to please her traditionalist Chinese mother, but at the same time it's hard to do that when you're trying to become more American so you can do well in school and make new friends, even talk to your crush. Kim is a torn character, and I can't wait to watch her as she grows and sees which path she takes.

I was also interested in the Aunt's role in this. Kim's Aunt, Paula, seems very reluctant to help her sister and her niece, for reasons that have been hinted at, but not totally explained. The customs of the Chinese don't let Kim's mother complain about her sister not helping them as much as was promised, but I want to see if the sheer terribleness of Kim and her moms condition makes Kim's mother break away from their customs for a little while.

Update: "Maus I..." by Art Spiegelman

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History is a book chronicling the true story of the author's father's life during the Nazi occupation of Poland and the Holocaust during World War II.

I love this book so far. I really can't wait to read the next on, and I'm sad that I'm almost done with this one. The art is so detailed and enthralling, and the story is so real. The illustrations make obvious symbols that somehow don't make the story as disturbing, but still holds that terrible truths behind it.

For example, the clear "cat and mouse" illustrations represent the way the Nazi's came after the pretty much helpless Jews. They played with them when they were around them like a cat plays with it's prey. This symbol, and others like it, make the story have a deeper meaning, but also, in my opinion, make the book slightly less disturbing for younger readers who may not be comfortable with the Holocaust in detail.

The animals playing the parts of humans also make the book easier to read and follow for younger readers like me, and engaging. Though I think I would be able to understand the plot okay, the physical change in appearance helps me distinguish and label characters in the story.

I would like to know why the other nationalities and ethnicities are represented as such. Like why are the Poles pigs? Was there any specific reasoning, like with the cats and Nazi's and Jewish people as mice (or rats, I can't really tell). I also thought I saw a frog and a lizard in a scene where a party was happening. Maybe more animals will be featured in the next book, or at the end of this one. Until then, read on!

"The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight" by Jennifer E. Smith

**Slight Spoilers!**

I thought the book The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight was a cute book. It had enough emotions and development that it was realistic and that you could relate to the characters, but I wouldn't call it my favorite book.

First of all, it was only set over a day, which is okay, I guess, but it just made the book go by faster for me. It's not like it had timeline issues, but it was just really a quick read for me.

It was a fairly straightforward book too, and didn't have a lot of deep symbols, and didn't deal with issues that are hard to wrap my mind around. I did like that Smith did include issues in the book, like Hadley dealing with her parent's divorce and her father's remarriage, and Oliver's issues with his parents. It wasn't just a random love story with no point.

I predicted almost of all that was going to happen, but was slightly surprised at her losing Oliver after she arrived at Heathrow, which was nice. I mean, obviously, they end up together at the end, or else why would they be kissing on the cover (besides the little airport make-out)? I recommend this to people who want a quick, cute read about true love. Sarah Dessen fans??