Book Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

Hey guys!

So in this week's blog I'm going to be talking about Everything Everything, the book turned movie that I recently read by Nicola Yoon. I had mixed feelings about the book and I'll tell you why further on!

Overview

Everything Everything is about a girl called Maddy who is pretty much allergic to the World. She can't go outside and her mother, her doctor, is extremely over protective and she even has a nurse called Carla at the house to make sure Maddy is always monitored. This made me quite suspicious but I don't want to spoil anything!

However, a boy called Olly and his family move next door to Maddy and they soon start messaging and falling in love. Without her mum knowing, Maddy has Olly round her house - after decontamination of course - and they bond to such a degree that Maddy decides he's more important than living and runs off to Hawaii with him. Don't ask...

Review 

So as I said before, I had mixed feelings about this book because it was so far fetched - not only the disease but also the fact she runs off to Hawaii... I think the only thing that saved this book was the ending.

Maddy falls in love with the nearest guy and then run away together on holiday for a few days after she knows she has a deadly disease. First of all, this is selfish to do to her mum after the trauma she's been through with her husband and son dying. Second of all, who goes on holiday with a stranger? Third of all, how can she have all this money to go away?!

Anyhow, I think it was too far fetched; of course there are people who are affected like Maddy, but writing a book about disease and romanticizing illness is just...well... sick. It reminded me of All The Bright Places, which I couldn't stand. I definitely do not like all these new books romanticizing illness and diseases. It is not romantic. It is not an ideal or a fantasy or a fairy tale.

However, the ending made slightly more sense to me but there was so much that was already bizarre, that it felt stupid to add yet another wacky idea. I thought the writing was quite bad, I didn't warm to any of the characters and after being trapped her whole life, you would think Maddy would be more fascinated with the World when she finally ventures into it.

I haven't seen the film yet but I hope its a hundred times better than the book. Please tell me what you thought of the book below!

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A Trip to France

Hello!

Oliver and I have been planning to go to France for a while for my 18th birthday. So Oliver bought our channel tunnel tickets, booked our hotel and off we went!

We drove to the tunnel after Oliver finished work and we spent thirty five minutes traveling underground (which I was overly nervous about for no reason). Oliver's uncle and aunt own a home near the Somme so we traveled late to stay with them. After a long drive with Oliver driving on the other side of the road for the first time and his mum hilariously slipping over and giving us a laughing fit, we spent the night with his family.

In the morning, after having real French croissants, Oliver drove us to Paris in one piece (apart from a huge lorry nearly squashing us, we managed to survive).

Once we arrived at our Ibis hotel, we settled in and got ready to go to the centre of Paris. We weren't even a two minute walk to the station so we managed to get there in under forty five minutes.

Once we got there, we came out right in front of the Arc de Triomphe and then made our way to the Eiffel tower. It wasn't too far to walk and all the buildings and restaurants were so pretty and elegant.

Once we were in sight of the Eiffel tower, I couldn't quite believe it was that! It looked so different to the photos I have seen. We took some pictures and then couldn't resist the smell of churros or chichis as they are called in France (I love that word now!). We had churros and Nutella before Oliver dragged me very reluctantly to see how much tickets were to go up the tower. I have a fear of heights so looking up made me feel ill!

When we got through security, we were expecting the tickets to cost 30$ each but they only cost 5$ as we were classed as juniors (16-24)!

I refused to get the elevator so we headed up for a long long long walk to the second floor. We stopped on the first floor where I had my first ever espresso, which I may add, was awful. But we went to the second floor as the summit was closed. We spent a while gazing at the city and it even became dark. We walked back down to the first floor and to my dismay the stairs were closed so I had to get the elevator which I hate!

But afterwards, I was rewarded with a McDonald's on the Champs Elysees. And then we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night watching Revenge before we had to get some rest to go to Disneyland the next day.

So after a well rested night and still feeling tired in the morning, we left early and headed to Disneyland. We managed to get in early and completed two rides within an hour.

I managed to go on Star Wars Hyperspace and Rock'n Roller Coaster (I hated that one). We also went on It's A Small World, Crush's Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Carribbean. I did, however, refuse to go on Twilight Zone as it looked terrifying!

I think the worst rides were Big Thunder Mountain, Rock'n Roller Coaster and Crush's Coaster.

My favourites were probably Pirate's of the Carribbean and Star Wars Hyperspace as they were more tame than the others!

We went and had some pizza for lunch and did some Disney shopping where Oliver bought me Minnie ears and a Minnie cuddly toy.

We had to catch the tunnel afterwards so we rushed out of Disneyland and back home to bed at 11PM. But the funniest thing that happened that day was when our croissants got hard in the heat in the car and instead of taking it with us or putting it in the bin, I flung it like a frisbee out of the car window.

So there you have it! Our two day holiday in France was amazing and I can't wait to go back again.

My favourite parts of the trip were going up the Eiffel tower, seeing the Disney castle and having a lot of laughing fits with Oliver.

Have you been to Disneyland? If so, let me know what your favourite ride was!

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