This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer Smith

Bookish Mardi: A Book Review of 

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer Smith 

"How are you supposed to find what you're looking for if you're not convinced it's even out there."
 - Jennifer E. Smith

Book :

This is What Happy Looks Like 

Author: Jennifer E. Smith Publisher: Poppy

Publication Date:

April 02, 2013

Pages: 416

Format: 

Trademark Paperback

Source: Bought




Book Summary

Graham Larking and Ellie O'neill meet - albeit virtually- when graham accidentally sends Ellie an e-mail about his peg Wilbur. The two seventeen-year-olds  strike up an email relationship, even thought they don't know each other's first name.

In a witty and unforgettable;e correspondence,  Graham and Ellie share details  about their lives, hopes, and fears. But they don't tell each other everything: Graham doesn't know the secret hidden in Ellie's family tree, and Ellie is unaware of Graham's life in the spotlight.

When Graham seizes and opportunity to spend in Ellie's tiny hometown of Henley, Maine, he takes their relationship from online to person. But can two people from such different worlds be together despite  the odds stacked against  them? (Source : Jennifer Smith)




Cee's Musings and Reflections

www.pixgood.com

Happiness. Such a very broad yet beautiful notion to chew over, but does it really have its own face? If so, that leaves me wondering if how handsome he might be. Kidding around. ^_^ But then, it really got me questioning how does it look like?

How does happy look like?

Seems like a tough question to answer, right? So for the meantime, I'd like to leave that for you to mull over as to how does it looks like to you.

Let's first try to get into the minute, if they seem to be, details I noticed as I did lavish the book page by page:

          a. the book starts with an email, a wrong-sent email of which I found it quite appealing as it as it seems to be the same spell cast to the readers by Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele;

          b. and so the first two chapters become so enticing and page-turner;

          c. the Male main character, Graham, stalks the female main character just like Christian Grey, himself, again;

          d. the main characters have been exchanging their emails without them knowing their names;

          e. Ellie sees right through Graham's eye just as how Anastasia to Christian's and Allyson to Willem's;

          f. having a novel being anchored to classical novels becomes a mainstream, this to has been anchored to a novel written by Herman Melville, Moby Dick;

          g. "freckles on her nose" phrase has been used more than three times;

          h. the -teen chapters took my feeling of giddiness, probably because they no longer exchange emails, which right away made me think it'll end in just a plain-vanilla way;

          i. when the story has regained its spark, i right away thought to myself how wrong I was of saying it's a bit boring

          j. for me, the ending is satisfactory, and I like the way it ended

So going back with how does really happy look like. If I were to associate "happy" or "happiness" into a person, I may say it would surely be a multi-faced individual. The rationale is as simple as this, my version of happiness may not be the same version or your happiness so is yours to mine. However, it comes in varied means.  Sometimes happiness comes in a pack of candy, in a bunch of books, in a bouquet of flowers, in a simple "I love you", in the warmest hug, in the sincerest apology, by watching a movie or a sunset or even just waking up each day. 

It is indeed not a difficult question however when answered the list can go from one specific place to the farthest one. Yes! not a difficult question but requires a thorough thinking as to what one's own happiness is/are. 

Albeit there are so many grandiose ways that can make one happy, simple and little things can also paint happiness to a lot. And so I'd like you to take a glimpse of what really happy looks like for me with my all-the-time buddy. :)

 So to us What Happy Looks Like. . . 

. . .being together since 2007

. . . church vsiting

. . . first flight together

. . . first flight together 

. . .  Boracay first-timers 

. . .  fish-feeding

. . .  snorkeling

. . . exploring this one among the many islands of Boracay

. . . preparing for the Island hoping 

. . .  beach bumming

. . .  geeting giddy for the night parties

. . .  pasalubong-buying :)

. . .  taking-off for a zipline adventure

. . . pedalling in the aquatic bike 

. . . kayak-riding

. . .  infinity pool + sunset

. . .  infinity pool swimming 

. . . pirate adventure

. . . Rome-visit "kuno"

. . . eye-to-eye looking

. . . above anything else, i think one among the many spices that can greatly make "happiness"  happy is LOVE. :)

 Remarkable Lines from the Book

. . .  a very witty and unique introduction of a story :)

"There were places in the world where a movie shoot was nothing more than a nuisance, a bothersome interruption of real life." 

"Maybe there was something safe in not knowing, something that made it feel like all mundane questions you were usually required to ask were not all that important after all."

". . . you could tell a lot about someone by the way they carried a secret - by how safe they kept it, how soon they told, the way they acted when they were trying to keep it from spilling out." 

"Being famous was like carrying around some kind of magic key; you could say something stupid or boring or you could say nothing at all, and all the girls still liked you."

"Looks like the wrong kind of bait can get the right kind of fish." - Graham's Dad

". . . it seemed impossible to work up to the big kiss when none of the preceedingly moments had been explored yet."

". . . chemistry wasn't something you could just create anyway." - Graham

"Childhood memories were like airplane luggage; no matter how far you were traveling or how long you needed them to last, you were only ever allowed two bags. And while those bags might hols a few hazy recollections - a diner with a jukebox at the table, being pushed on a swing set, the way it felt to be picked up and spun around - it didn't seem enough to last a whole lifetime."

"Secrets never stay secret for very long."

"How are you supposed to find out what you're looking for if you're not convinced it's even out there?"

"Most fortunes don't ever come true."

Graham: "How can you know it makes you happy if you've never experienced it?"
Ellie: "There are different kinds of happy. Some kinds don't need any proof."

"Aren't movie stars supposed to be reckless and irresponsible?"

"The circus probably never thinks the towns where they stop are boring either."

. . .  and here goes their corny joke. hahahah!

"The geography of the thing wasn't the point; it didn't matter where they were:there was still too much space between them."

"No matter how long it's been or  how far you've drifted, no matter how unknowable you might be, there were at least two people in the world whose job it was to see you, to find you, to recognize you and reel you back in. No matter what.

". . .  growing up was really nothing more than growing away: from your old life, from your old self, from all those thingsthat kept you tethered to your past."

". . . that was the thing about best friends; all the petty grievances and minor complaints were left behind as soon as something more important came along."

"There will be no miracles." - Ellie's Mom

"There was a miracle. We just didn't know it yet. The miracle was you." - Ellie's Mom

"Even in that diner, there must have been a sense of possibility. You just had to know where to look. Even a dirty window or stale apple pie could be a kind of miracle."

"I might not have a white horse, but I do have a portly pig." - Graham

". . . in a place filld with so many wonders, it would have still been possible to appreciate something as remarkable and ordinary as all this." 

Thank you for the time you've spent going over this blog post! Keep updated for more of Jennifer Smith's books will soon be reviewed. *_*
- Cee Brensan

Quotes from Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Bookish Mardi: Quotes from Just One Year  by Gayle Forman 

"You have to fall in love to be in love, but falling in love isn't the same as being on love." - Gayle Forman

Book / Series:
Just One Day #2

Original Title:
Just One Year

Author: Gayle Forman

Publisher: Speak

Publication Date: 
October 10, 2013

First Publication:
Januray 01, 2013

Pages: 336

Format: 
Trademark Paperback

Source: Bought

Book Summary
Just One Day. Just One Year. Just One Read.

Before you find out how their story ends, remember how it began....

When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to find a girl named Lulu. They shared one magical day in Paris, and something about that day—that girl—makes Willem wonder if they aren’t fated to be together. He travels all over the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to reconnect with her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question if the hand of fate is as strong as he’d thought. . . .

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents that happen—and the happiness we can find when the two intersect. (Source: Goodreads)

Remarkable Lines from the Book

"When at home, I was in better place;
but travellers ,ust be content."
- William Shakespeare's  As You Like It

"Some things are impossible to tear yourself away from." - Willem

Photo from Web

"Accident - how I found her. Accident - how I lost her. You have to give the universe credit, the way it even things out like that." - Willem

"You meet people, you part ways, sometimes you cross paths again." - Willem

"If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep." - Sebastian of Twelfth Night

Photo from Web

"Accidents. It's all about accidents." - Willem

". . . the universe operates on the same equilibrium, theory as markets. It never gives you something without making you pay for it somehow." - Willem

". . . a lone man with a one-way ticket is always an object of suspicion." - Willem

"Sometimes the wind blows you places you weren't expecting; sometimes it b;oes you away from those places, too." - Willem 

"I'm so conversant in every kind of small talk, but I find myself at a loss for words when it comes to my mother." - Willem

"It was the third time in twenty-four hours that I'd seen her when I walked into that train's cafe car, I remember feeling a jolt. As if the universe was saying: pay attention." - Willem

"The universe, I knew, loved nothing more that balance."  - Willem

"I wonder, as I have so many times, how long it took her to think the worst of me when she already had thought the worst of me." - Willem

"Sexual activity releases serotonin, which increases feelings of well-being. It's simle science."  - W

"I find myself wishing for the anonymity of the road, where you had no past and no future either, just that one moment in time. And if that moment happened to get sticky or uncomfortable, there was always a train departing to the next moment." - Willem

"So you're comparing love to a stain?" - Lulu 

". . . all of life boils down to mathematics, that there's a numeric principal or algorithm to describe every event, even the random ones (chaos theory!)." - W

"I'm already paying the price, so I may as well do the crime." - Willem

"Time is so fluid." - Jacques

Photo from Web

"There's a difference between losing something you knew you had and losing something you discovered you had. One is a disappointment. The other is truly a loss." - Willem

"So many girls. Why am I trying to find just one?" - Willem

"I's flattered lots of girls, many who deserved it, many who didn't. Lulu deserved it, she deserved so much more flattery than being called an accident." - Willem

"No matter what you is; only matter what you seem." - Jose

"It's the little details that tell the big stories." -  Tor

". . . it's a big ocean. It's an even bigger world. And maybe we've gotten as close as we're supposed to get." - Willem

". . . whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." - Kate

"Appearances can be quite deceiving, you know." - Kate

". . . you don't ever find things when you're looking for them. You find them when you're not."- Kate

"Nothing happens when without intention." - Willem

"Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock, or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn't even show you the door, and you have to build it  yourself. But if you keep waiting for the doors to be opened for you. . . you'll have a hard time finding single happiness, let alone that double portions." -  Kate

"Doubt is part of searching. Same as faith." - Kate

" A truth and its opposite are flip sides of the same coin." - Saba

". . . when life gets tenuous, something small might do it." - Yael

". . .sometimes I think that guilt and bitterness may be Yael's and my true common language." - Willem

"What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Willem

". . . all of life's questions can be solved through mathematical principle." - Willem

"When you make such a large withdrawal of happiness, somewhere you'll have to make an equally large deposit. It all goes back to the universal law of equilibrium." - Willem

"It always seemed the exact right way to describe how things felt with girls - that wind and exhilaration, the hurling, the wanting, the freefall. The abrupt end." - Willem

"Dare to dream. To dream is the ultimate dare." - Prateek

"Girls have always been the best distractions. Until a girl became the thing I needed distraction from." - Willem

"Misery loves company." - Jules

"It's a story we repeat because it's a history to see repeated." - The Seder

"Choose something you feel? Be who you are, not who they want you to be. Go big or go home?" - Kate

". . . something tells me if it matters, maybe it shouldn't be easy." - Willem

". . . performing is so much more than speaking limes. It's about communicating with our audience through every gesture, every word unsaid." - Willem

"Sometimes it's easier to be someone else." - Willem

"I'm always losing things, and then I find them again in the strangest places." - Daniel \

"I have nothing but time in my life, but never enough of it when I need it." - Willem

"Wouldn't you want to know? That in some little way, something random you did had such an impact on someone's life? What do they call that? The Butterfly effect?" - Marina

". . . sometimes you escape one prison only to find you've built yourself another one." - Willem

"I'm not sure it's possible to simultaneously love something and keep it safe. Loving is such an inherently dangerous act. And yet, love, that's where safety lives."  - Willem 

"Love is not something you protect. It's something you risk." - Willem

"Some things you don't know you want until they're gone. Other things you think want, but don't understand you already have them." - Willem 

***

Thank you for reading! Keep updated next Tueday.

- Cee Brensan ^_^