The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m
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Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction/Contemporary

Image result for since you've been goneBlurb (on back of book): It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.
On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?
Apple picking at night? Okay, easy enough.
Dance until dawn? Sure. Why not?
Kiss a stranger? Um...
Emily now has this unexpected summer, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected), to check things off Sloane's list. Who knows what she'll find?
Go skinny-dipping? Wait... what?

 MY OPINION: *****

Yay, my first read of July was epic!

I LOVED reading this book. It was definitely interesting and a really good read.

This book is about a girl named Emily who is a little quiet and relies on her best friend, Sloane, for everything. This fact really annoyed me: I am a quiet person but is it really that hard to ask for something from someone? I think that Emily needed to learn that she doesn't need to rely on someone else to do all the talking.

Emily's character really got on my nerves. She was dependent on everyone else and she never did things on her own until the end. Then she started to change her character but her new self wasn't much of an improvement if you're thinking about how much my thoughts for her changed.

Sloane: another character I disliked. She was too independent and jumpy, always doing things without thinking in my opinion. She needed to take a deep breath and think. She was too much of a go-getter and maybe even a bad girl.

Now, Frank and Collins were definitely my favorite characters. I loved Frank especially! He was so sweet, kind, and just awesome! I loved how he was made out to be a really smart, overachiever who was all organized and everything. But when you really get to know him, you see a different guy who I actually liked better. Collins was also pretty awesome. He was always throwing himself in front of girls and failing and getting rejected. He was hilarious and I loved the guy!

Dawn. Didn't hate her, didn't love her. She was just a character there that seemed more like a replacement for Sloane and someone to give Collins his happy ending. The fact that she got mad at Emily at the ending made me super angry.

I really enjoyed reading about all of the different ways that Emily fulfilled her tasks and how Frank managed to help her.

I hated Lissa because she was in the way of my Frank x Emily shipping! When they broke up, I was like "YESSSS" and screaming. I completely saw that coming. When Emily ran away from Frank when he was trying to tell her, I knew that was what he was going to say and that she was just being a jerk and that she was all confused. That part was really obvious.

 I liked the ending when Emily and Sloane reunited. That was really sweet though I didn't enjoy the presence of Sloane.

 I also didn't enjoy reading the flashbacks but they did help to give more information, though they could have been briefer.

The romance between Gideon and Emily made my stomach twist. They were such a good couple despite the way they met, but it ended horribly. Again, that was Emily's fault. Just because her best friend breaks up with her boyfriend doesn't mean that Emily has to do the same thing to Gideon, especially when Gideon didn't do anything wrong.

At first, when I met Sam, I thought he was pretty cool but as I got to know him via flashbacks, he was terrible. A jerk, an idiot, whatever you want to call him. That's what he was.

THE SHARPIE TATTOOS WERE ADORABLE AND AWESOME.

"The marker strokes felt feathery and light against my skin... he pulled my arm a little closer toward him and away from me... Gideon's head was bent over my arm as he worked, and I couldn't help but notice the texture of his dark hair... I pulled my hand back to see what he had done... cherries from the sign... One of the cherries was saying something... Don't worry, Emily! We're not sad!" -Page 62
The reason behind the cherries is that Emily saw a depressing sign with cherries and other fruit and she remarked that it looked sad and everyone looked at her like she was crazy except for Gideon, which was so SWEET.

Okay, okay, I know this has gone on for far too long, so I would recommend this book to YA romance lovers and adventure readers.

Main Character: Emily
Sidekick(s): Frank, Collins, Dawn, Sloane, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, disappearing, etc
Realistic Fiction/Contemporary Elements: This book was all very real to life.

PS Sorry for the repost!

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