NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL

Continuing with my attempt to write books review, here is my next choice:

NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL

Genre: Young adult

Author Siobhan Vivian

Published: 2010

“Natalie Sterling wants to be in control. She wants her friends to be loyal. She wants her classmates to elect her student council president. She wants to find the right guy, not the usual jerk her school has to offer. She wants a good reputation, because she believes that will lead to good things.

But life is messy, and it's very hard to be in control of it. Not when there are freshman girls running around in a pack, trying to get senior guys to sleep with them. Not when your friends have secrets they're no longer comfortable sharing. Not when the boy you once dismissed ends up being the boy you want to sleep with yourself -  but only in secret, with nobody ever finding out.”

This is my first book written by Siobhan, and definitely is not going to be the last one. Honestly I don´t know why I waited so long to start reading her work, seriously what is wrong with me!!!!  Anyway, in this book, the author surrounds us with an adorable written, fresh and intense at the same time, displaying us common high school issues but with a different perspective.

Nathalie the main character is the classic good girl, good daughter, excellent student with a future already planned. However, she wants to forget, she wants to be loved, she wants to be free, those controversial feelings, in addition with her high sense of prejudice and its enormous stubbornness will cause her more problems that she could have never imagined.

The interesting fact is that losing control could happen to anybody, all of us have a braking point and when we get there, when we want to run away from all pressure, the overwhelming felling can be a bad adviser, leading us to take the wrong decisions.  

The story is developed with a good speed, keeping the reader exited wondering what coming next, nevertheless at the end, I felt a conclusion sort of abruptly, leaving me with questions without answer, which is good thing after all, because the book woke up the desire to read more works by the author. 

Definitely Not that kind of girl is the class of story to lift the mood making you sigh.

BEST PHRASES:

“I felt overcome with the freedom of feeling, the feelings I´d worked so hard to hide”.

“Not matter what the future held, new friends, new boyfriends, new directions – I knew we´d be in each other´s lives forever. “

Note: Image is taken from www.google.com

"PROXY"

Author: C. Alexander London

Published: 2013

Genre: Dystopia

I have never written a review before. Despite the fact that I like to read...a lot... and writing even more. Therefore it is time to start it and for my first shot I´ve chosen proxy, a dystopian novel by C. Alexander London.

Proxy story is developed in a futuristic world where technology is mixed with humanity, where a wide separation between upper and poor social class exists. The members of the first one called Patrons, live in a very comfortable part of the city, they have everything, even a proxy, who is always somebody from the poor social class with some debt, and the way to pay is receiving the punishment given to their patrons for wrong behavior, therefore when a patron do something wrong his proxy must to pay.

In that twisted society we have two boys; Knox the patron, privileged rich, extremely gorgeous, sarcastic, and totally conceited, who has never known how difficult the world can be; and Syd, his proxy, who has spend 16 years paying for his patron´s wrong behavior, but, just two more years and he is going to be free, the arrival of that moment is the only thing that holds him…Syd suffers in silence but his waiting patiently to be free.

However, one day something goes wrong Syd´s patron made a terrible mistake, he committed a crime and Syd is sentenced to die, therefore and ironically with his patron help, now he is running for his life. 

For me, Proxy is a different book from all others relate to the same genre, full of emotion, innocence, passion and an interesting view of the cruel reality about what is right and wrong. This story can look very simple, nevertheless as you progress in reading, this becomes complex in the best sense, being noticed the progressive growth of emotions between characters, with exasperated action and suspense.

Since the beginning I fell in love with Syd, smart, sweet and lovely teenager always a fighter, who despite everything he had endured, he continues believing in a better future, in the power of kindness and friendship. With Knox I loved his wits and confidence in himself but most of all I loved how he experiment new emotions and feelings, helping him growing as a human being.   

I found this book by accident, but it captivated me from the first page, leaving me with no tears to the last…

One of its best phrases: 

“No such thing as a destiny… It´s your future… choose”

Also we have the sequel “GUARDIAN” published on 2014:

In this book, we can see how the world has changed in the few weeks followed by the events happened in proxy. One interesting thing is the introduction of a new wonderful character named Liam who bewitched me with his most pure sense of fidelity and loyalty.

There is not so much that I can tell about Guardian without spoiler the entire story, nevertheless I can mention the perfect way how London explain the horrors caused by highly radical solutions, which are as dangerous as the problem that pursue to resolve, and the way how idealistic concept can destroy the society when people forget the humanitarian aspect. 

One of its best phrases: 

“The kiss was no longer than a second but in that second, any walls between them fell.”

Note: The images were taken from www.google.com

INMIGRANDO A UN NUEVO PAÍS... ALGUNAS IDEAS PARA SOBREVIVIR AL CAMBIO

Como todo nuevo inmigrante he debido aprender a adaptarme a una diferente cultura, nuevo idioma y asumir un nuevo estilo de vida. Durante todo el proceso he recibido muchos consejos de “que hacer y qué no”, algunos bastantes buenos, otros terminaron en el último rincón de mi mente para no recordarlos más. Lo cierto es, que pudiera escribir un libro con todas las recomendaciones ofrecidas por quienes se consideran expertos en materia de inmigración.

Sin embargo para mí, los verdaderos consejos no son los relacionados con la practicidad o con el dinero, con dónde vivir y la búsqueda de trabajo, no; para mí los verdaderos consejos son aquellos provenientes del alma, invitándote a aceptar tu nuevo mundo.

Entonces, sin querer parecer una experta, aquí les comparto algunas ideas que me ayudaron a aceptar el cambio.
1.- Reconoce y acepta la dificultad del proceso; pues inmigrar es absolutamente complejo, por lo tanto es un poco inocente pensar en que se va a llegar al país de las maravillas con todas las oportunidades en la puerta del aeropuerto.  Ciertamente las oportunidades existen de sobra, sin embargo es necesario salir a buscarlas, atrapándolas cuando pasen frente a tu rostro aprovechando cada una de ellas.

2.-  Toma tiempo para pensar en ti; Qué deseas hacer tú?, Cuáles metas persigues en ese nuevo país? En quién deseas convertirte?. Muchos inmigrantes pensamos en la estabilidad económica de la familia, vivienda, auto, y demás aspectos materiales, sin embargo eso no es suficiente, pues la calidad de vida empieza desde el interior del ser humano.

3.- Abraza la nueva cultura; muchos inmigrantes dejan su mente en su país natal, rechazando todo lo nuevo y esperando que su vida transcurra sin mayores transformaciones, pues lamentablemente eso no suele ocurrir así… Rechazar el nuevo hogar, sus tradiciones, cultura idioma, sólo genera frustración e impotencia, alargando la nostalgia y evitando el disfrute de las nuevas maravillas por descubrir.

4.- Llora a la familia y amigos dejados en el camino, añora tu vida pasada, vive el recuerdo con melancolía, para luego abrir tus ojos y mirar a tu alrededor, pues el mundo está repleto de personas fenomenales y de seguro encontrarás toneladas de ellas dispuestas a entrar en tu vida para quedarse.

5.- Y por último, escucha la opinión y consejos de todos, pero no aceptes ninguno como cierto…Cada quien tiene derecho a vivir su propia experiencia, pues las emociones y sentimientos aunque similares difieren de cada individuo, por ende, crea tu propia idea de lo que es mejor para ti, tú y solo tú sabes lo que necesitas.

En consecuencia, puedes tomar como consejo lo aquí escrito, o no, eso depende de ti, lo transcendental es reconocer  “la inmigración” no solo como un cambio de dirección, si no como un completo “makeover” de la vida…Por la tanto… has que valga la pena.

Nota: Imagen tomada de www.google.com
Copyright imagen: Quino