Nineteen, Twenty-one

 This is a short completed manga with a short 21 chapters. 

It is about a girl named Yun-lee who got in an accident and can't remember the last two years. She is in college classes and feels very behind with no friends. She will soon be 21 and must be an adult, but she doesn't feel ready. One day on her lunch break she runs into a boy, named Ju Dong-hwi, who feeds stray cats which is something she also does with her lunch money. They have lunch and he tells her about all the other stray cats he takes care of. He is 19 and plans on working all summer, taking care of the cats, and to go on a trip before he has to become an adult and get a real job. 

Theirs is a cute little story. She finally finds a friend and is able to find a place where she feels it's okay to be. Their mutual love of cats and looking out for their wellbeing was sweet. It was also nice to see that the neighbor lady who originally didn't like having all the strays around changes her toon just because Yun-lee is kind and asks her if she needs help with her gardening. In small, simple ways she is able to make a difference in the community around her. 

I also really liked that it was short and complete. Sometimes it's nice to have a long drawn out story with a great plot and fascinating characters, but other times it's nice to have something short, simple and sweet. Still with good characters and arcs but completed. 

If you're looking for a light read, it was really sweet. 

The Moon And More

Sarah Deaden is really good at writing young adult romances while also hosting life on the page.

The Moon And More is about Emaline and her romantics summer on a beach. Unlike most vacationers, Emaline works at the beach in Colby at her families business renting beach houses for the typical vacationer. New people come in and out of the renting houses all the time, but one house is being rented for two straight months--a very odd occurrence--while they work on a documentary about a man who is just a regular laundromat business man,  right?

Not only are these new people but Emaline's father is making a visit for the summer. He relations wither father have always been strained with his life being so very different than her and her mother's and the rest of her blended family. Her summer is full of boys, family, film, and work to, hopefully, the Best Summer Ever.

I like the way Sarah Dessen writes her books. It is fun to see hints of previous characters from previous books, familiar places, as well as life--not only romances that bloom throughout its pages. There is romance through all of her books,  but there are also bigger questions being asked as well. Bigger situations that exist around her characters more than just, "Does that guy like me?"

Here dealing with a flaky father, disloyalty from a boyfriend, leaving for college, work, a new guy who knows she's too good for her little town, and finding time to watch out for her half brother, Emaline has a lot on her plate. Like real life. I very much enjoy that. And what is great is that Sarah Dessen makes it flow. She makes the chaos of life flow in her stories so then we don't get lost as readers.

There was some language and there was talk of sex though nothing graphic (in the end, I don't really know if it was all that needed. There didn't seem to be much of a purpose to it, which I feel there needs to be in it is put in there).

I was a good book and well done. 

*Spoilers from here on*

The characters here, though there are many, are developed and all have their own story,  their own reasons for being themselves. Benji and Morris are probably my favorite characters. Mainly Morris because of how much growth and development he has throughout the story and how much he is willing to change. He is willing to put Daisy's good ahead of what he wants even though she is very much willing to keep things going. The fact that he made assistant instead of Theo made my day (literally, though it's kind been a bad day). Going from lackless and pretty much unmoving on the job to scrambling for an art show was awesome. He had a very good story arc. He was also pretty cool with Benji, who was probably the real man (at age 10) of the story. 

I also really liked that Emaline doesn't "end up" with any of the guys. She left Luke for good cheating  on her and didn't go back to him by the end of the story, which was a big relief to me. Then there is Theo. He was new and invited her to push herself and try new things, he wasn't a prince charming character either (which Sarah Dessen doesn't really write, no one is perfect in her books). He definitely had his flaws and in the end they overcame how "good of a pick" he was for her. His Best Ever's would probably get on my nerve along especially when making a spectacle in front of people in public places. She felt very much embarrassed as would almost any girl. He also seemed far more excited to for work and hanging out with Clyde (his interviewee) more than he actually did with her unless it was his Best Ever events. That is no kind of thriving relationship. 

I guess Emaline kind of chose Benji at the end of it. If you had to pick one. 

The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen

The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen is a ghost story without ever using the word "ghost."

Wes is a media major assisting his friend who is producing a small film for their college summer school class. They go to a seance to hopefully see a ghost or something spooky. What they don't realize is that they actually spotted one. Annie bops in and out of 1840 New York to the present in hopes that she can find out what happened to her and her family and, more specifically, what happened to her cameo that her beau gave her that has gone missing. Wes and very few others can actually see her and search to find out what happened.

The story is cut into three parts: Wes, Annie, and West/Annie. As Wes figures out that Annie is a ghost we jump to her story and what happened throughout the week before her demise. But as she flashes back to the past, she's able to change things, or is she? She acts differently around others and they, in turn, respond differently. She is able to find new clues to her past and what happened.

I think the book is well written, but for those who don't care for heavy description, be ready to skim/skip parts. It if full of heavy description. Though interesting to see what it is like to walk the streets of present-day New York through the eyes of someone who hasn't seen buildings higher than three stores. That was fun. I liked the difference of views that were subtle throughout the story. When we are reading through Wes' point of view, it is different with different things emphasised than it is through Annie's. She focuses on the "cushioned chair" or small delicate things, whereas Wes sets his focus like you would a camera. I thought that was well done. It also definitely showed what it is like to be in a nineteen year old boys mind.

The transition between the two times was easy to see, though sometimes a bit long in description.  I understand that sometimes that transition can be sticky, but she Katherine Howe did it well.

Um... aside from that, it took me awhile to get it finished. I found it easy to put down and I knew what was going to happen well before it did. I finished it because I wanted to see how it was going to end and if I was right--which I was. It's not one that I'd be eager to pick up again, but it was alright.

I'd suggest this for a light read if someone wanted it.