Book Review: The 100 (The Hundred #1) by Kass Morgan

Title: The 100 (The Hundred #1)
Author: Kass Morgan
Pages: 277
Publication: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Summary taken from goodreads: 

In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late. 

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.

3 STARS - I LIKED IT ENOUGH

MY REVIEW: 

I really liked the beginning where everyone's dark secrets were slowly brought up. It was a great way to hook readers in, and the slow revealing of secrets made the book equally compelling and hard to put down even with it's rather slow pace.

However, I had a few problems with the book. At first, I thought that the frequent flashbacks in every chapter were a little annoying, but before I knew it, I grew used to and started expecting them to occur whenever there was a scene change. Also, I grew really tired of Glass and Luke's relationship; there's only so much lovey dovey ooey gooeyness that I can take when you don't even really see how or why they go together so well.

I was also disappointed with the 100 kids sent back on Earth. I expected something like LORD OF THE FLIES: a slow anarchy that has them reverting to their true base natures. Instead, I only read about relationships. I mean, come on! There was so much potential with a character like Graham there!

Most of the characters bothered me. Sure, I sympathized with most of them, but they're all so self-absorbed that they don't care about anyone but themselves or their significant others to the point that everyone around them gets hurt because of it.

Even with all of these negatives, I did like the writing and the setup or else I would have felt thoroughly disappointed with the book. In addition, the ending wasn't a bad place to leave off with, although I felt like it wasn't that shocking.

When you can't hold it in anymore

For a while now, I've been wanting to say "I love you" to David, but I kept on chickening out, saying that it wasn't the right time or moment. I finally said it last week during our three month anniversary after a few failed start-ups, lol.

I guess I should give a little backstory to why this was so momentous for me. A week or so after our first month anniversary, David asked me how I felt about "I love you," and I told him that it was too soon, that I had commitment issues, so if he said it to me then, I wouldn't have been able to say it back to him. He was understanding and said that that was why he asked me how I felt about it and left it at that.

I was a little freaked out at his question because I couldn't understand how you could love someone so quickly. I mean, sure, we dated for almost two months before we got together, but that really just gave him three months to come to that conclusion. And he said that to him, love is based on trust, so he already trusted me a lot pretty early on.

Since I've never been in love before, I asked my sis and friends about how and when they knew they were in love with their boyfriends, and what Krista said really stuck with me. She said that she knew that she was in love with Eric because she kept on wanting to tell it to him, especially when they were saying their goodbyes during phone calls. She said that she just kept on wanting to tell him it, and I guess that's kind of what happened to me.

For the past few weeks, I just kept on wanting to tell David that I loved him randomly whenever we were hanging out or on the phone, but I kept on chickening out because I wasn't totally sure if I did love him or not. I talked to Cam, Meethu, and Shelle about it, and they gave pretty much the same advice: that I don't have to rush saying it since we all knew that David practically already said it and that I shouldn't say it unless I really meant it.

And I randomly started noticing how attractive he was? Like, I never really paid that much attention to his physical features other than his height since it's kind of hard to miss, lol, but lately, I would randomly notice that he would be exceptionally good looking? Lol, I don't know; I would just be caught by surprised by how hot he looked randomly. I guess that's mainly because I usually see him act like a goofball, so seeing him as anything else was a surprise. XD Coupled with my growing obsession with his scent (it's so addicting!) and sudden want to see him as much as possible, I kind of knew that saying "I love you" was inevitable.

So I held it in until I couldn't stand it anymore, lol. I didn't really get to say it to him on his birthday since we had a lot going on that night, but I guess I realized it that night that I really did love him, so I planned on telling it to him the next day, which was our three month anniversary. My teacher had canceled class since he was going to be out of town, so my last class on that Friday was at 10, so I went to his house afterwards to hangout until one when he had to go meet up with Shena for a volunteer event.

We ended up watching a movie and eating lunch before he was supposed to leave, but he was going to carpool with Daniel there, and he didn't answer David's text until one, so they decided to just go straight to the festival after Daniel came over around two. In the time that we were waiting for Daniel, David and I were just hugging goodbye, and I kept on trying to tell him the words but chickening out.

I really wanted to get him to say "I hate you" since we also say that to each other whenever we tease each other, and the other person would usually say "I like you, too" in response, so I wanted to say "I love you, too" instead this time, but I couldn't get him to say it! So instead, I was like, "Hey... I hate you," lol. And I'm not sure if he said, "I like you, too" or "I love you, too" because it really sounded like he said "love," but by that time, I had hid my face against his chest, so my hearing could have been worse. But yeah, in response to that, I kind of mumbled, "Yeah, I love you, too" against his chest. I'm not sure if he heard me or if he wanted to make sure he heard me correctly, because he was just like, "What." And I was embarrassed and didn't want to say it again just yet, so I said, "What" as well, lol.

I kind of forgot what happened after that other than the fact that we changed the topic, but we eventually ended up laying back on his bed with him on top of me. When he started to tickle me again, I told him that I took back what I said earlier, and he was like, "What did you say earlier? I like you?" Since his ear was closest to me, I said "that I love you" into his ear, and he was just like, "What?" again, the dork. I then had to say "I love you" to his face before he said it back to me. Then we cuddled for a little bit more.

He eventually told me that he thought that I wasn't going to say "I love you" because of my commitment issues, and I was just like, "But I like you," which ended the conversation, lol. Then I told him that he wanted to say the words too soon, which was why I told him that I wouldn't be able to say it to him at the time, but I was interrupted halfway through that by Daniel knocking on the front door.

Instead of getting up to answer the door, David decided to keep me pinned down for a minute and shower me with kisses first, so I guess that was his reaction to the news, lol.

Even though we got to see each other all weekend, we were always around others so we haven't had time to finish our conversation, and to be honest, I'm not even sure if we will since we usually forget or don't have much time for deep conversations. I dunno, I'll prolly bring it up eventually since I don't anymore misunderstandings happening, lol.

But yeah, I'm really glad that we finally said it because it's just one more thing to tease him with, lol. That, and it's nice to tell it to him randomly to catch him off guard. XD

What's been up lately

I've been really busy lately because of classes, clubs, and friends. I had a midterm to study for, a take-home test to work on, a project to finish, and an assignment that I still need to finish by Tuesday that took up a lot of my time. 

And because I decided to become more involved in clubs this year, they're also taking up a lot of my time. I decided to be in the homecoming performance with MTB, which means coming to practice on Wednesday and Friday nights at eight. I also decided to help out with MViet this year, which means having officer meetings on Monday nights at six or seven and general meetings on Thursdays at six, and I still have to make a flyer and ticket design for an upcoming event by Tuesday. And I also decided to help bring STC back since it pretty much died off last year when the old adviser decided to postpone officer elections until the upcoming year since we only had one nomination for each position, and it turns out that we're going to be having meetings on Mondays at 4:30. Not to mention, Marc and I are volunteering for this group called Real Impact to help gain experience and get an internship with them this summer, so I'm really busy with clubs. D: The earliest I've been home for the past two weeks was probably 7:30.

Trying to make time to see my friends also takes up a lot of my time. Since I barely see them anymore this semester, I try to hangout with at least one of my friends every week, usually Friday, to catch up and chill. Last Friday, I hungout with Cam, and we went around Macon taking pinhole pics for my class. This past Friday, I hungout with Meethu and went to Mercer Madness. Shelle and Kyle came down this weekend so I invited David over to hangout, and Luke and Meethu also ended up coming over as well later on Saturday night, and we ended up playing Never Have I Ever, lol. 

The first round was pretty PG, so the next round ended up being a couples R-Rated version of the game since each couple was bound to both get a point taken off for each statement. In the end, we started off with five fingers for each couple, and Shelle and Kyle were the first couple to get out since they did the most things that we could think of while David and I won since we haven't done much stuff, lol. Then we played Ever Have I Ever, which was the opposite of Never Have I Ever, where people had to state things that they've actually done, and we did that as a couples R-Rated version as well since we were out to ruin friendships and learn so many things about each other, lololol. Yeah, David and I got out first. -__-" Then our parents came home so we ended up going into the game room to chill for a bit before going to my room to watch gross things on YouTube before Luke and Meethu had to go home since it was 11:30. David left, too, since I didn't want my parents to think that he was spending the night again. 

Then, today, I went to temple with Shena, and after doing the usual circle ceremony and lunch, we played games until the monk taught us the next two steps in Tai Chi. Then we went to go look for the pond that was half a mile away in the forest. Shena and Daniel had gotten halfway there with the monk last week, so they thought that they could make it this time with GPS, but that did not happen, lol. We walked around the forest in a C shape, so we ended up near the highway by the time we gave up an hour and a half later. 

I was a bit disappointed that we didn't find the pond after all of the effort we put into our adventure, but it was still fun. It reminded me of the time Krista and I decided to explore the forest at the edge of the farm that I used to live at in Taylor County and how we got lost on the way back for a little bit, lol. All of that exercise definitely wore me out though. I was falling asleep on the drive home and was super exhausted for the rest of the day until I took a shower an hour ago, lol.

But yeah, that's what's been happening lately. I barely get on the computer for anything other than homework and checking my emails lately, which is why it's even harder for me to remember to blog. 

Oh yeah, and I started reading manga again, so I've kind of just been reading that in my free time, which is probably not good, lol. I'm finally getting around to finishing reading Maid-sama! since I found out that it's been completed last year. :D It's so good!

Periods suck.

I've had my period since the summer of sixth or seventh grade, so I've had my period for quite a while now, and I still hate having it every month. For the past couple of years, it's been getting worse for me, which really sucks.

I used to never get period cramps until starting the past two or three years. At first, I had no idea what was going on until my sis suggested that it was cramps, but it was such a foreign thing to me since I had never experienced it until then, that I really hated it. Luckily, my roommate gave me some Midol a few months after I started getting cramps since she has really bad cramps as well, so now I can usually handle them. I guess another good thing is that I only get cramps on the first day of my period, so I don't have to worry about being in pain for the rest of my period.

Another symptom that's recently starting to happen to me is getting migraines during my period. For the past few months, I would randomly get mild migraines that would last for a couple of hours. It's really annoying. :(

Everything about having periods make me so tired and lazy. I don't want to do anything productive, especially during the first few days of my period. Like, I was supposed to meet up with Krista and her bf today at the fair since I haven't seen her in ages, but I woke up feeling terrible because of my cramps, and I don't know if I'm getting sick or not, but I was sneezing like crazy before alternating between having a runny and stuffy nose. So yeah, I felt really gross and anti-social, so I had to cancel plans. Luckily, we're gonna try to see each other tomorrow if I feel better.

I'm still seeing David later today since I feel a bit better and because I really need an accountability partner to make me do homework so that today doesn't become a total waste because of my period. He was originally supposed to come over after I came back from the fair today to do homework together since we both have so much to do (that was why he wasn't going to the fair with me earlier today), and it's already 4:30, and I still haven't done anything productive besides folding laundry. D:

But yeah, here are some videos about why having periods suck. :P

Superwoman is one of my favorite YouTubers I started following over the summer, and she totally explains how it's like for a girl on her period, lol. Her first video was so popular that she made another one. XD



And then ASAP Science had a collab with her to answer the question if it was true that periods make women moody, which was very informative.



So yeah, get edumacated and think about this:

Such a busy Fall Break :'D

I'm going on a triple-date at the fair today, lol. It's with Meethu, Luke, Shelle, Kyle, and David, which is really funny because the last (and only) time Kyle and David met Luke, they totally loved him, so they're both excited to see him again. Basically, the three musketeers are being reunited, and the girlfriends are just gonna be watching them be goofy together all day. XD

But yeah, David's going grocery shopping with his family in Atlanta until around 3-4, so we're not going to the fair until then and are probably going to stay until the fireworks at night. I think Shelle said that they start at 11, so I'm not totally sure if we'll stay for that long, but either way, I know that I'm going to be exhausted by the time we go home.

This isn't good because I need to write a 5-6 page paper by Monday morning. I've only just decided on a topic and got some information to write about. D: Granted, I only started researching a topic last night, but omg, I told myself the last time I basically pulled an all-nighter writing a paper that I wasn't going to do this again for the next paper we had. And I pretty much am going to have to because I've been so busy and social. ;A;

In addition, I have to finish another two assignments for my Instructional Design class for Tuesday and have a Typography midterm on Wednesday. I think I might have an Instructional Design midterm on Thursday as well. DDD: This upcoming week is going to suckkkk.

I said that about every week for the past few weeks, lol. But it's true! There's just so much homework and projects due, and not enough time and motivation. :c

Even though it's Fall Break, I definitely do not have enough time to do all of my homework and catch up with classes like I thought I would. I've been hanging out with people too much and not doing enough homework. For one, I basically spent the whole day with Shelle on Thursday since she came home Wednesday night, so I didn't get any homework accomplished until late at night after she left to go back to Atlanta.

On Friday, I had already made plans for David to come over after he dropped off his sis at school, so my morning and afternoon was busy with him before he left since my mom said she'd come home early. I got some homework done in between that time and after dinner, when Krista called and we used Google Hangout to videochat and catch up since we didn't have much time on the phone the other day. Then, I went out on a double-date with Shelle and Kyle to finally go watch The Maze Runner, which was really good. Afterwards, Shelle told me that the parentals left to go to the farm, so David ended up spending the night and leaving around 8:45 this morning.

And after I dozed around for another hour, I finally got up and started working on my paper before taking a break and deciding to blog about everything, lol. So yeah, know you can see why I'm going crazy thinking about all of the things I need to do this upcoming week since I have terrible time management skills.

We also have temple tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to skip in order to finish my paper and start working on my assignment since Temple usually lasts from 8:30-4, sometimes an hour or two later, and I will be too tired to want to write a paper after all of that. 

Oh look, it's lunch time. I guess I'll extend my break a little longer. :P

Kpop Appreciation Post: VIXX, Crush, B.A.P, Beast, f(x)

I thought I was pretty caught up with the Kpop scene, and yet there are still so many comebacks that I have yet to listen to. -__-" I'm so behind now because of school. D:

I've never really paid much attention to Crush before, but I really like his newest song "Hug Me". The beat's really good and so is his voice. I like how his voice goes through such a wide range and still go so well with the song.



Even though he constantly says "hug me" in the song, I'm pretty sure he means more than just that, judging from the tension-filled dancing at times to the lingering caresses of inanimate objects, lol. Either way, not a bad music video for such a good song.

B.A.P came out with a slower, more romantic song called "Where Are You?" recently. I usually lament on how I usually prefer their more badass concepts, but I actually do like this song since it's so cute and sweet. XD



And the mv just showcases how adorable they all are! Makes me have B.A.P feels all over again, especially for baby Jello, lol.

Beast's song, "Good Luck", is also pretty catchy. I like the how their voices go in and out. Lol, I don't know how to describe it. The chorus keeps on getting stuck in my head. XD

 

I like their dance stage? Whatever it is, I like the tile floor and lights and how they reflect off of each other and make everything even more geometrical, lol. Not really sure about the plot of this mv, but hey, I'll take it over all of them falling for the same girl. :P

And I can't forget to mention f(x)'s new song, "Red Light", now can I? :P I didn't really like it that much the first time I listened to it, because it reminded me of SNSD's "I Got a Boy" in the fact that it felt really disjointed at first, but the more I listened to it, the more it grew on me. The beat really did hook me in, lol.



Not really sure what the mv's supposed to be about, but they all looked really awesome in it, and I liked the dance. And their outfits look pretty cool! 

Books I Want to Read This Month

These last few months have been a fail in the reading department. My fall break started today, and I'm already busy every day this weekend, so I'm not even sure if I'll have time to read in addition to doing all of my homework. D:

1. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
2. The Young World by Chris Weitz
3. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
4. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
5. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
6. Underdogs by Markus Zusak
7. Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher
8. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter
9. Pawn by Aimee Carter
10. The Geography of Me and You by Jennifer E. Smith
11. Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
12. Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
13. Nevermore by James Patterson
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth
15. Insurgent by Veronica Roth