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readsandthoughts

Reads and Thoughts

Ola! I'm one of those crazy girls who is overly addictive to books and reading. I'm weird around books and tends to read them abnormally fast. And I'm a hopeful romantic who is a firm believer of Happily Ever Afters.
Keep Holding On - Susane Colasanti Seeing is believing. What’s in front of you is not necessarily entire story.

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One of my most anticipated book release for 2012!! I'm pretty much excited for this one since I'm really a great fan of Susanne Colasanati's works and I'm really looking forward for another empowering and giddy story from her.

Noelle's life is crappy. It's about survival. Her mother neglects her and she's been bullied on her school every single day. If it’s not about her clothes it's about the fact that she doesn’t have a real lunch and if it’s not about those things it’s about one or other things that bullies can come up with. She feels worthless and she even hides her life from her best friend. She turns down Julian, the guy she had a crush on like forever, thinking she doesn’t really deserve him. She sticks with a guy who wants to keep her a secret because she believes she’s worthy of it.

But when everything seems to make sense to Noelle and her classmates bullying takes dramatic turn, she realizes its time to stand up for herself. No one should ever feel worthless ever again.

When your heart is shattered into a million pieces, all you can do is try to keep holding on. You breathe. You try to fall asleep. You try to not think about him.

A very unique and a one of a kind book from Susanne Colasanti. Just Wow. This is so deep and very moving and empowering to all. This is really different from other novels of hers that I've read. Aside from the cover which really caught my attention, there are several more things about this book that I really liked.

Straight to the point. No dilly-dally-ing. Short and simple. This is how this book works and I liked it for that. No more unnecessary things tackled. Although this a very short read, all subjects such as bullying and neglect are presented and were given a closure and resolution towards the end.

Bullying is the main subject of this book. I know at least once in our life we've experienced being bullied; it may be by our brothers or sisters or cousins or classmates and even our own friends. This is a serious offense to some but others just take it very lightly and do it because it seems natural. It’s a very deep subject but this story conveys the message of stopping it in a lighter tone.
Neglecton the other hand, is another subject tackled on this book. The story conveys us the message that at whatever point of a person's life, he/she still needs a parent or a guardian to take care of him/her and not just with their basic needs but for emotional support as well.

The characters of this book represent the story real well.
Noelle is just a teenager who want to live each day at a time and wanted to survive high school and go out to college. I loved how her character developed each day. The fact that she is afraid to do something about her circumstances is enough for me to be proud of her. She's been through a lot and it’s not easy to go against the people who are also against you. Though the way she gets her courage may be a little tragic, I liked the fact that she stood up to everyone at the end and decided to have a fresh start with everything on her life; Not only with her friends but with her mother as well.

Julian, Simon and Sherae are very much helpful for Noelle. They're there whenever she's been through something. Julian may seem to be passive at first but then I loved the way how things work for him and Noelle towards the end. Simon is the one who is never afraid to be his own self despite what other people might say. I think he's really one of the people who saved Noelle from being suicidal and depressed and stuff. Sherae - Noelle's best friend. She's also been through a lot. Her friendship with Noelle was amazing and I'm really glad they're there for each other when things got out of hand and that I think that is the real magic of great friendship.

An empowering and moving book. People who have the ability to make a stand should also read this one to raise the advocacy of stopping bullying and neglect which is the main thing about this book. If you're expecting a book of sappy love stories and stuff I could definitely say this is not for you, but if you're looking for something nice and easy and something that can move and open your eyes to several things with regards to life then this is definitely the one for you!