*Melts into a puddle of happiness*

Wallflower
By Holly-Jane Rahlens


I am completely in love with this book. That’s a good way to start this off, yeah?

Molly Beth Lenzfeld is stuck. She is stuck in a crack and counting down the days until she leaves. It’s three weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and sixteen year old Molly is ready to leave Germany, and return to her home in New York. Things change, however,  when, on a pilgrimage to her deceased mother’s birth home in East Berlin, she meets Mick, an East German acting student. During the next four hours they delve into the maze that is the  East Berlin Underground system and travel its complex network of trains. In this time, Molly, a self-professed wallflower discovers a new side of herself and the Germany she thought she knew.

Wallflower is a very short read (only 150 pages!). I think it only took me a couple of hours, and it was completely worth the time. It’s beautifully written with a heavy emphasis put on the senses, especially smell. Everything is described in such detail that the book plays like a movie in your head. (At least it did in mine.) It’s such a brilliantly conceived and executed story, and the usage of the four hours in which the story takes place is perfectly timed. It moves at a fast and engaging pace but still takes time to dwell on the little details that make it so vivid and realistic.

Aside from being a beautiful love story (and don’t let that deter you- it’s not your average sappy run-of-the-mill romance) It also provides a very good, accurate insight into post-Wall Berlin. The historical context is masterfully woven in around the story so that it doesn’t feel like a standard setting or a history textbook.

Wallflower is now most definitely on my favourites list. It’s such a beautiful book. I may have cried a little –okay a lot- at the end. Not because it’s sad but because it ends so beautifully.

Euh… Ahem… I should probably stop before I start crying.

Feisty Chick-O-Meter: 10/10

Age rating: 15+

Rating: 10/10

Book or audiobook: Book

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Length: 150 pages

Obsession level:  10/10

The one when I made a movie

Veronic Mars: The Movie
Starring: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Enrico Colatoni

Okay, so maybe the title’s a bit misleading, but hear me out. Remember that time I wrote about the Veronica Mars movie? Well, then I went and watched it.

And oh, my god, I loved it.

It’s ten years after the television show aired, and Veronica’s just about to finish law school. About to start completely new, she is dragged back into the life of a private eye that she had tried to leave behind. When her old high school flame, Logan Echolls’ pop star girlfriend is murdered, and he’s the main suspect, Veronica must return to her corrupt home town of Neptune, California. But as she tries to exonerate him, she gets pulled in deeper than she ever could have anticipated.

I was apprehensive, but it did not disappoint.  The movie was very faithful to the original series, with a very good and realistic plot arc. The acting was consistently good across the board as were the characters, who were incredibly believable as ten-years-later manifestations of the characters. The dialogue was very tight and consistent with the TV series, full with the trademark Veronica Mars wit and sarcasm. I think that it also holds up as a stand alone movie, however as a fan of the series, I was very happy to catch all the inside jokes and references to the TV show.

I don’t know if I can think of anything negative to say about it. It was over all very well executed and made me incredibly proud to have played even a small part in it coming to pass.

So binge watch the TV Show, and then go see the movie.

Feisty chick-o-meter: 10/10
Age rating: 14+
Rating: 10/10
Number of explosions: ... I don't think there were any...

Length: 107 mins