A Lite Too Bright by Samuel Miller

"the curse of feeling everything,

is that you're painfully aware when you feel nothing."

Alright folks, this book blew me away, but before I jump into anything, let me just say that since this book has been out for like two weeks and there are a lot of people who haven't read it yet, I'm going to stay away from spoilers. So, if you haven't read it yet, keep reading so I can convince you to read it. 😊

(Disclaimer: I might be slightly biased because I've been a big fan of the author for like 6 years but I promise I'm not too biased... this book is just really freaking good, okay? Okay.)


A Lite Too Bright is a debut novel about Arthur Louis Pullman the Third. He's eighteen and everything about his life has just changed, and not for the better. His grandfather, Arthur Louis Pullman, was a very famous author who suffered from Alzheimer's during the end of his life. Five years ago, Arthur's super famous and super mysterious grandfather turned up dead in Ohio after disappearing from his home in California. How did that happen? Nobody knows and nobody but our buddy Arthur III seems to care. After Arthur finds a poem that his grandfather wrote, he takes a road trip (if it's by train, is it a train trip?) throughout the country trying to find answers about his grandfather's past. 

My synopsis skills aren't the best, but the point is Arthur goes on an epic adventure, and along the way he meets a ton of cool people who help him piece together things about his grandfather's past, while the reader simultaneously tries to figure out Arthur's own past that he seems to be running from. 


ALRIGHT, now I get to fangirl. I can't believe this is a debut novel, because it does not feel like one at all. I was reading a lot of reviews on Goodreads before I actually read the book, and everyone kept calling it "ambitious," which I didn't really understand until I picked up. Oh MAN, I get it now! It is, in fact, ridiculously ambitious, and it is executed extremely well. First of all, every character we meet feels very three-dimensional and developed, which is hard to do when we know so many of the characters for such a short amount of time. And our protagonist, Arthur, is so complicated and intricate, and you just want to know everything about him. I loved unraveling mysteries piece by piece by getting to know these characters, and there's still so much about them that I haven't unpacked yet! AGH, the characters are great. 

Something that continued to blow me away was throughout the novel, there were poems, journal entries, and newspaper clippings that were found along the way as clues to the next stop of Arthur's journey. The use of these things and the way they were woven into the narrative is honestly so genius and it adds so much to the story, and also, all of the poems were just so freaking beautiful and important and I love them. 

The entire novel is just so intricate, and the voice of the author really comes out. His writing style is so distinct and poetic and lovely and I'm obsessed with it, oh my goodness. 

ALSO, THE END IS JUST WONDERFUL. IT MADE MY HEART WARM AND HAPPY. AND I FELT LIKE THERE WAS A MIC DROP WHEN I CLOSED THE BACK COVER. 

I think that's all I've got for now. Seriously, read this book, it won't disappoint you. If it does, let me know why and we can duel it out or something. 😄
This was phenomenal, I'm giving it 5 stars. 

^^ Arthur (and also me) trying to figure out all of the clues about his grandfather 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I thought this would be the perfect book to start my blog with because it is the first book I really fell in love with! I haven't read it in years, and I just reread it for a class and WOW, THE NOSTALGIA. 

There's a bunch of things that I want to point out, so here we go! (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)

First of all, this book is SCARY. It sounds weird, but I kind of forgot that this book is about KIDS KILLING EACH OTHER. And people cheering them on. AGH. Reading the reaping scene for the first time in years, putting myself in the shoes of these kids... it was heart breaking and horrifying. For anyone but maybe the kids from Districts 1 and 2, getting your name picked is a death sentence. And most of the other tributes are portrayed as villains, which makes sense, but they're still just kids that were (for the most part) forced to be there and ahhh, I'm sad. And they only got a few minutes to say bye to their families. And the poor parents that have to watch their kids die! Okay, this is getting sad, I'm gonna move on. 

The characters in this book are great. First of all, obviously PEETA IS WONDERFUL. 😍 I now remember why I loved him so much. He is so caring, selfless, and funny and AHH, I LOVE HIM. And he's smart! He plays everyone in the Games so he can keep Katniss safe (and fights Cato so she can get away, aww) and he figured out how to kill Cato in the end when Katniss couldn't, which was pretty awesome. (And also very sad, because it was like the worst death in the book, but anyway...)

Katniss can be annoying because she gets annoyed with Peeta, which upsets me, but, given the circumstances, it does makes sense. I love Katniss, though, because she is UNBELIEVABLY smart. Everyone talks about how she outsmarts the Capitol in the end, which, of course, is awesome, but she is able to catch Haymitch's signals throughout the Games to get more sponsors, which I LOVED. Also, though there isn't a long list of people she truly loves, when she loves someone, she LOVES them and will do anything for them, which is a great thing to see. And yeah, obviously she's a great hunter and she's super kick-butt and she takes no crap which is also awesome. 

The dynamic between Effie and Haymitch is so fun to watch and I low-key ship it, it's fine. I love their character development, even through just the first book, and it's just great how much they end up caring about Katniss and Peeta. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON CINNA, WOW, WHAT A GUY. I love him. He's great. 

Also, I just feel so bad for Peeta because he's liked Katniss for literally forever and he starts the star-crossed lovers act thing for the Games but LIKE. Katniss knows that she needs to keep up the act to get sponsors so she does all the lovey dovey stuff for the cameras (also she's starting to think that maybe she likes him but she's not exactly sure?) and PEETA DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS ALL FAKE UNTIL LATER, MY POOR BABY. 

Anyway, those are my stream of consciousness thoughts about the characters in The Hunger Games. It was great, I give it 5 stars. 

^^ Katniss looking for Peeta by the river after the announcement is made that there can be two victors