My Kind of Crazy - Robin Reul

Goodreads summary:

Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can’t quite seem to catch a break. It’s not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells “Prom” in sparklers on her lawn…and nearly burns down her house. 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank’s dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him—and his “work.” The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.


My review:

4/5

Talk about a successful read! This was a fun, surprising and interesting book that made me forget all about the real world while I was lost in its universe.

The first thing I noticed about it was how realistic and authentic it was. Instead of reading about an attractive and popular character who's lucky in life, we discover a boy who lives a bit like an outcast, talking to a few people and trying to be unseen by his father most of the time. He doesn't have much luck at all, especially when the only time he's trying to be noticed by someone, a girl he wants to go to prom with, he sets her lawn on fire. I thought it was quite funny, but I could also relate a lot, because who hasn't tried to do something unexpected and ended up ruining it entirely? Hank's reaction was also realistic, which made me like him immediatly. While I can't really say this about everyone in this book, he never pretended to be anyone else and seemed to accept who he was more than most teenagers I know, which I appreciated even more, since his authenticity and sincerity made him easy to seize. 

I know this novel might sound like your typical funny, quirky and cute YA story, it's far from that. It deals with a lot of issues, like mental health, but also ones that we all experience, like lack of communication with relatives or stereotypes. It was very well done and I learned a lot from it. I loved how there was never a "bad guy" in the end, because misunderstandings happen more frequently than we think and it's more realistic like that. I was happily surprised by the absence of the typical cheerleader/jock who's a bully but everyone seems to love anyways (I don't know about you, but while tons of YA novels have these characters, I've never met such stereotypical people), because it seems like all the characters in this book are more than they appear to be (just like most human beings).

I had a really nice time reading this book and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a lot of people!

(Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane

Goodreads summary:

The year is 1954. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new ­partner, Chuck Aule, have come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient. Multiple-murderess Rachel Solando is loose somewhere on this barren island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant surveillance. As a killer hurricane bears relentlessly down on them, a strange case takes on even darker, more sinister shades—with hints of radical experimentation, horrifying surgeries, and lethal countermoves made in the cause of a covert shadow war. No one is going to escape Shutter Island unscathed, because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.


My review:

5/5

READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. 

Believe me when I say that I'm not a fan of mystery novels. In fact, I'm the kind of idiot who's blind to every single clue and who'd rather just wait until the mystery is solved instead of thinking about who might be guilty, because when I do, I always end up being completely wrong. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy mysteries, but they're just not the kind of book I would pick up. However, I am incredibly glad I read this book for one of my classes. IT'S INSANELY GOOD! It freaked me out a little bit (read: a lot), but it's so different from the light and fluffy books I have been reading over the past few weeks, with their predictable endings and the giddy feeling they left me with, that I was speechless. 

I really liked the history behind the characters. From the very beginning, I wanted to know more about them, even though it had nothing to do with the plot. As horrible as they were, the patients' crimes created an amazing atmosphere that seriously scared the crap out of me. Also, the WWII references and memories made me shudder and feel very compassionate, because it's so different from what I'm used to and I completely understand how having lived through this could make your life difficult (understatement of the year). From what I've read, mysterious characters are a must for thrillers, and I can assure you that this book had exactly this. 

There are vivid descriptions in this novel that made me want to crawl under my sheets and never come out again. Everything about the island's atmosphere sounds like my worst nightmare, from the storm when they get there to the patients they keep inside. Mental issues are incredibly scary in this novel, especially as the story goes and you start to doubt yourself. The occasional murder story, dream or horrible description made me shudder and even more paranoid than I already am, but it made the story richer and scarier. It's a good thing I had to read this quickly, because I couldn't have handled going to bed so scared without having finished this novel. 

The plot is definitely the most amazing part of this book. I couldn't believe what I was reading and I had to stifle a gasp more than once because of how surprised I was. Every conviction I had was basically crushed, which is something I'm not really used to with my lack of mystery reads. We've been analyzing this book in class and I discover tiny details that make me want to scream at myself for having been so stupid. If I could re-read this, I would definitely do it right now, because I wish I could see every single clue I missed. I did go back once in a while during my time reading, because I wanted to see if some details were linked to other events. Again, as someone who almost always reads books that are the opposite of thrillers and mystery novels, it felt very different to me, which I loved. I can't believe a mind such as Lehane's exists, because there is some crazy stuf in this novel, but you can be assured I will read some of his other books as soon as I can. 

I can't wait to watch the movie now, because I've seen the trailers and it looks at least as dark as the book. I'm so excited! I swear, this book might've turned me into a mystery nerd now, because all I want to do is solve a mystery. That's never going to happen, but I still like the feeling. 

I very highly recommend this book. I think anyone would enjoy it, because it's far from my usual taste in books and it's now one of my favourites. Please pick this up, you might be surprised (in a good way!).