Review Time!! Unwind by Neal Shusterman

From Goodreads

Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

I went partially insane buying books these last two weeks guys. This is just one of the books I picked up, but at is point I think it’s going to be a favorite for January. I rated Unwind 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I was so blown away by this book. Neal Shusterman uses some intense social issues such as abortion rights, and social responsibility to create the society of Unwind. The protagonist, Conner, lives in a world where parents have the choice to Unwind their children anywhere between 13 and 18 years of age. Unwinding is basically a complete organ donation. Every part of an Unwind is saved and used for people who need them after accidents, due to disease, or birth defects.

The Good:

This was one of the most original story concepts that I have read in a while. I was completely freaked out by the idea of unwinding. I found myself thinking about every bad thing I had ever done and wondering if I was at risk of being unwound. I loved how Shusterman touched on many issues through the different reasons people chose to have their child unwind. His belief about Americas social welfare system is one of the many subjects touched about in this book. Besides uwinding the other law that has come into effect in this future world is Storking. This means that if a baby is left on your doorstep and you did not see who did it then it is now your legal responsibility. One particularly tragic flaw in this storking system is illustrated by Conner, the main character, but I won’t ruin it for you.

If you’re like me, then you see a movie in your head when you read a book like this and boy did I get scared sometimes. During one particularly important scene towards the end of the Harvest Camp scenes I found myself so disturbed that I literally had to put the book down for a day and just think happy thoughts.

The Bad:

The history of this future society does slowly make its way into this book but I do wish that it would have come sooner. Most of what you find out about the war and how unwinding and storking came to be is very vague. I was especially disappointed by the explanation of how the two sides of the war came to agree on this crazy unwinding idea. It just could not have been that simple and I would love a whole book on just the history of this world because I am left with an insatiable curiosity!!

Overall:

In the end guys this is a 5 star book for me even with a few minor let downs here and there. I would completely recommend this book to anyone looking for a really engrossing read. I will say though that some of the emotions brought on by this book and some of the questions it evokes can get a bit mature. Definitely recommend this  for anyone of unwinding age and above.  

My Late New Years Resolutions

Now into this second week of the new year some people have already begun to struggle with their new years resolutions. I am kind of a late bloomer this year so I only came up with my resolutions recently. As you can probably guess, my main resolution this year was to start my blog. Finally, I have accomplished something! After three years of saying I would do this, but never taking the time out of my always insane schedule, I can't even express my joy. Whether or not anyone is actually reading this right now is besides the point (although it would be nice). So far so good, on the resolutions.

In addition to this blog I did make some other resolutions and I thought I would share them with you because sometimes it's good to put your promises in writing.

1. Start a blog-  Once again thank-you Internet for existing and you wonderful people for reading my rambles.
2. Read 50 books- I spoke in my last update about how I have been obsessively watching everyone's reading challenges on Goodreads. My challenge last year was ridiculous (100 books) and my actual number was just embarrassing  This year I set my challenge for 50 books, still difficult but hopefully I don't  embarrass myself once again. *prays to book gods*
3. Take pride in my appearance- On a typical day you will find me sitting on my school desk (falling asleep) with my hair in a bun and no makeup on, clearly wearing the first thing I found that morning. Well, I decided that this year I should make more of an effort to pick out my clothes ahead of time, make coffee, and do my makeup. This one is important to me because I will be finishing high school soon and I don't want to continue this lazy trend all through college. 
4. Have a nightly routine- You could consider this a part of number three but I'm not going to. In addition to being better about my mornings, I want to improve my nightly routine. No more falling asleep with makeup on, passing out doing work, and overall just not taking care of myself. I want to plan when I go to bed, take a shower, wash my face, and tuck myself under the covers. This may be the last item on my list but it just might be the most important. 

Overall, just like everyone else, I want to improve my life this year. In other years, I have skipped on writing new years resolutions because they are cliche and never work. Now, I have realized that no one can decide what you are capable of but yourself. If I say that I want to accomplish something, or make a change than it's on me to do it. Only you can create your own reality so I'd like to make my 2013 pretty dang amazing.

What about you? Any new years resolutions that you would like to share or just thoughts on resolutions in general. Comment! 

On Shell Soon - Updates/ What to expect this week

Hello there!

First of all, I hope everyone had a happy and productive first week of the new year. I am very proud of myself this week and have made quite a few decisions about this blog. I do plan on doing these weekly updates of just what I am reading and what post you can expect soon to be here. These will also serve to kind of keep me up-to-date because I don't plan on making any promises I can't keep.



This week  I finished reading Matched by Ally Condie and will be posting a review of that within the next few days. I did leave my star rating and initial reaction of it on my Goodreads if you would like to check that out and more.


Click this link if you would like to stalk my bookshelves or we could just agree to be friends. I would really like that too .-. My Goodreads



Speaking of Goodreads, I have been obsessing over everyone's 2013 Reading Challenges. It is so fun to see how much all your friends are planning on reading for this year. I have also even enjoyed seeing the general Goodreads communities Reading Challenges and it's awesome to see everyone pumped about reading and being really supportive. Many of my favorite Booktubers have recently posted videos talking about their 2013 reading goals. I will be writing a few 2013 reading resolutions myself plus my overall feelings towards the annual Reading Challenge.

Expect both of these things by the end of the week. Until next time!

Here are a few of my favorite 2013 reading resolutions videos:

Road block #1 – The Fear Hamsters/ How do you read again? .-.

Hello there!

Being that this is my first official post I thought I should try to do something really amazing. This, of course, lead me to sit at my desk and stare at the computer screen for about a century with nothing to show but a headache. Since my original AMAZING PLAN was a no go I decided to do the next best thing, be honest. The honest truth is that I am completely terrified of my bookshelf right now.  As I embark on my book journey this New Year I find myself at my very first road block.

 I wonder, does anyone else get stopped by the fear hamsters from time to time? As for me, I am peeing my pants and hiding in a corner right now. I feel as if I have forgotten how to read and if I pick up a book then it will explode in my hands. Never before in my entire life have I been so scared of doing something that I love. How can I feel so terrified of something that used to bring me such joy? My head has been spinning its gears all night to try and figure out why I feel this way and finally when I woke up this afternoon I came upon a solution.GUILT. Maybe it seemed obvious to you but to me this was a total shock. Guilty, I feel so guilty at having put my passions aside for so long and I’m scared of having to play catch-up with the person I used to be. Its horrible to feel this way but thankfully I know that I don't have to be alone here. My goal with this blog is to make friends and indulge my passions. Just like any other socially awkward teenager, making new friends is not my strong suit but I have hope. As for the fear hamsters, I suppose I’m going to have to drown them out and just jump head first into my first read of 2013. Hopefully I remember how to swim.

Comment down below if you have ever been visited by the fear hamsters or if you would like to be my new book friend. Both would be wonderful.  .-.