Books

July 28, 2014: What Real Love Looks Like

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is the type of book that will kill you.  In my lifetime I have had an unlimited amount of feels, but never did they feel this real.  The two main characters are Eleanor Douglas and Park Sheridan.  Eleanor is a Caucasian chubby red head girl, and Park is a scrawny half-Caucasian and half-Korean boy.

This description is already anti-cliche Hollywood and overall society.  When we think of a raw love story, we think two people that society would deem perfect; we think about beautiful people...... not negotiable beautiful people.  This novel completely proved me wrong.  A love story can be any shape and size, and can still be beyond perfect.  

Rainbow Rowell paints a vivid picture of the ups and downs of love in a way that we can all relate, even if we haven't known love yet.  This unconventional story strings along controversial issues and how teens are forced to deal with them.  I highly recommend this for everyone, especially those who are sick of the same types of characters like me.

Here is the Goodreads Book Summary:

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Similar Books: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, If I Stay by Gayle Forman