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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The Boy Most Likely To - Huntley Fitzpatrick

The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Image result for the boy most likely toBlurb (on back of book): The romantic companion to My Life Next Door—great for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han. 
Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house
Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To . . . well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.
For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard.
Told in Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns.

 MY OPINION: ***

This book was so cute and was a great representation of the struggles of teenagers as well as parents. In this case, we had teenage parents. Kind of.

I read My Life Next Door towards the end of last year but somehow didn't make the connection between characters until around 50 pages in so I'm dumb.

This book centers on Tim and Alice, two characters that I vaguely remember. Tim is a recovering alcoholic, recovering drug user, and a teen dad, something that he doesn't find out until about halfway through. His baby, Cal, was apparently from a one-night stand that he no recollection of whatsoever with the good girl, Hester. Alice dates and drops her boyfriends all the time and has become a sort of replacement mom to her seven siblings (yes, seven!).

I was reading back through my old review and realized that I always liked Tim. There's that. In this book, from what I remember, I am positive that Tim grew and matured a lot. He is not a high, drunk, helpless teen but instead learns responsibility and parenting and what it means to be a good person. He really 'shapes up' not only for Alice but for everybody else around him. His dad is really awful to his son, though, and I wish that parents didn't act like that.

I don't remember how I felt about Alice but from this book, I didn't really love her as I probably should have. Something about her just ticked me off. She was so overbearing, bossy, and overly independent. I understand that she thinks she needs to take care of her family while also balancing all of her boyfriends that she runs through every other day, but really, if she had just taken some time for herself, she definitely would have been less annoying.

My biggest problem with this book was the chemistry between Alice and Tim. I sensed none of it. Obviously, I knew they were going to start a relationship and it was definitely complicated and realistically portrayed but in the very beginning, I felt no chemistry between them. Tim calls her "Hot Alice" and she doesn't want to date him because he is younger than her and is a high school dropout who used to be addicted to drugs and alcohol and had nothing going for him. Suddenly, they're in love.

I don't know how to feel about that. I wasn't a huge fan of their relationship in the beginning but by the end, I really started to appreciate them more though I still felt a vague sense of a lack of chemistry between them. Things progressed so quickly that it was hard to notice the little changes between them that make for a good romance novel.

However, I did enjoy this book. The characters were painfully real, the plot was thematic though cliche, and the idea behind it was unique and poignant. I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for a cute/complicated romance novel. Beware of swear words, though.

Main Character: Alice, Tim
Sidekick(s): Nan, Jase, George, Harry, Cal, Hester, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, parenting, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.

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