We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

3 stars

“There is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.”

The first time I read this, I'd just turned 14 and I'd gotten this book for Christmas from my Nan and Pop. I fell in love with it and I guess, I kind of am still in love with it but I am willing to see the flaws in it now. I think that's a sign of growing as both a reader and reviewer. I used to find myself very blind sighted by my love of a book but now while generally I can still manage to keep my reviews positive for the most part, I can acknowledge the flaws as well.

I gave it the tiniest book review ever. This was stunning, I'm not going to tell you what happened because you don't want to know but it was just stunning. It definitely is stunning, I can't possibly deny that and I think it's the best word to use for it. It is such an interesting book and it just isn't what you think .

I am in love with the concept of the plot. I've never read anything like it, so I tend to think it is ridiculously interesting. I have about a million and one questions for E. Lockhart about this book and I feel like each answer would just give me a thousand more. I am immensely curious about We Were Liars. It is just beyond me how someone could weave ab plot as complex as that. 

I'm not a huge fan of the Sinclairs, they are entitled and bratty. Especially the aunts. Although, I don't think that's a problem with the writing but more of an intentional thing. I did genuinely like Mirren, I wish we got to see more of her but I guess that would defeat the book. Cadence sort of annoyed me, especially in summer fifteen. I thought she was a bit thoughtless, although that could be intentional too. 

For me, this was one of those books I thought about for days after I first read it. My mind was just completely boggled and I just wanted to know more about it. Although, now I find myself a bit more at peace with the book. I feel less inclined to discover more about the book since I feel half the mystery of it would be lost. I'm happy not knowing what E. Lockhart's intenions were and what she was thinking. I think We Were Liars is kind of subjective, it really depends on the reader. Also, I did notice while rereading that E. Lochart has a very distinct writing style. I always think it's interesting when I can begin to see distinctness in authors writing. 

Anyway, to finish it off. I do honestly love it. I'm only giving it three stars because I think it's subjective and the reason I love lies behind the whole concept and maybe not with a lot of other things. It's a dark read and I tend to enjoy dark reads.                

My Favourite Reads of 2016

I read a lot of reading in 2016 (and still more to go) and I discovered so many amazing books, if I could I'd include all of them but I had to be rather exclusive with this list. The making of the list involved a lot of pointed staring at my bookshelf and sighing as I remember how many great books I read this year. Anyway, here is my list of favourite 2016 reads that I spent a painstakingly long time trying to compile. In no particular order.

1. When We Collided by Emery Lord
I really adored this. It was like the All The Bright Places of 2016, at least that's what it reminded me of. All The Bright Places was one of my favourite reads of 2015 and they follow similar issues so of course, I compare them. I loved Vivi and I loved Jonah and the ending made me really sad but it felt right. I really want Jonah and Vivi to have the best. You can read my full review here.

2. Carol by Patricia Highsmith
I remember this was the first time I'd ever read anything like this. I was amazed for days after reading this. I just couldn't get over it. It was filled with tension and the feel of the times. It was such a renewing reading experience. I felt more aware almost after reading it and it still sticks with me after all this months. I loved it.

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
This was like nothing, nothing I've ever experienced. This was the first time I've ever loved a book so much I wanted to flip it over and start all over again the minute I finished. It took me immense self control not to do that because I had a huge stack of books waiting to be read. For weeks, I just wanted to read it again. It was beautiful and put me into a mini slump because I only wanted to read this book. I will never get over this and it's probably just behind Harry Potter on my favourite reads ever list. That's a hard task. You can read my full review here.

4. The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub
Ugh, even thinking about it gets to me. It was so good. When I saw it in Target and realised it was Australian, I knew I had to buy it. I've got to support my aussie authors right? But I didn't think much of it at the time. By the time I put this down, I was just sat there gaping. It was fantastic, like Looking For Alibrandi level fantastic. Better. I was not expecting it, I thought it would be a light fluffy book but it was absolutely not. You need to read it.

5. Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
This was just the cutest. This is on my list because it was one of the cutest books I've read this year. And, you all know I love fluff. I would read pages and pages of pure Simon and Blue fluff (please make that a thing). It was cute but it also revolved a lot around coming out which as a straight, cis person, is a process I'm not entirely familiar with and Simon had a lot of thoughts on it. Which I thought were all really thought provoking, like when he said things about how you're constantly coming out when you do things out of the ordinary. Which is something I think we can all understand, it took something that not everyone experiences and related it to something everyone experiences and can relate to and I think that was a good tool in bringing together an understanding. It was a great book, love, love, love.

6. Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
This was my all time favourite fantasy/scifi/whatever you want to call it read of the year. So good! I was really worried about it because it was so hyped but it was so great and I'd recommend it to anyone. It completely changed my opinion on the scifi genre. It was so unique all the way down to the formatting.

7. To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Another one that was just so cute and pure. I can't believe I missed this somewhere along the line, where has this been the past 16 years of my life?? I needed it. I can't imagine going back to a life pre-To All The Boys. So sweet. Such swoon. Much fluff. It is honestly my dream book. My favourite trope paired with the cutest narrator of all time. Too much good.

8. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
This gave me a huge book hangover. I put it down and my head was just spinning. That plot twist was amazing. It's not often that you get plot twists like that in contemporary so I was actually really shocked. I was so nervous through the end of the book about what was going to happen. I'm still not over it. I immediately walked my parents through the whole book when I finished sobbing over it. I did not expect something so big and beautiful to come out of a small, compact little book like that. You can read my top quotes here.

2016 End Of Year Survey

Alright, I've seen this on so many blogs this last week and I thought it was totally awesome. I decided I needed to do it. I love the idea of being able to reflect on the reading year with something like this. Of course, all credit goes to The Perpetual Page-Turner. With no further ado, let's dive right in.

2016 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 86
Number of Re-Reads: 20
Genre You Read The Most From: I'd have to say fantasy.

Best in Books
1. Best Book You Read In 2016? The Book Thief
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? Six Of Crows. Please don't hate me, I was in a bit of a slump when I read it and had other things on my mind. I plan on giving it another go asap.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  Shatter Me. I wasn't a fan and I was expecting to love it. I was a bit disappointed by it, it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I actually can't really think of one. Although, I've been petitioning for my mum to read You by Caroline Kepnes ever since I read it and she said she'll try it when she finishes her other book.

 5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016? I haven't read many sequels or enders this year. This year was the year of beginning new series, next year will be the year of finishing said series. I know almost everyone has said A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas but I really haven't read that many. And, I've got to admit. It was pretty fantastic. As for ender, I'd have to say Champion by Marie Lu. I've actually only finished off three series this year.

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016? I'm really loving Nicola Yoon. I adored Everything, Everything and I just ordered The Sun is Also a Star. I think she's really great.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? You by Caroline Kepnes. I never read thrillers because they just aren't my kind of thing but I'd seen so many people rave about You that I had to read it and it was really good.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? I'd have to say Illuminae. I'd like to say I read it all in one sitting but I actually had to read it in two. I didn't think I'd be able to fly through it like I did since it's quite and intimidating size but it really was unputdownable.

 9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? So many. You might know, I love rereading. I definitely know I want to reread Six Of Crows and All The Light We Cannot See because I don't think I was in the right headspace to really enjoy either of them.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016? There were so many beautiful covers. I think I'm going to go with This Savage Song. It was just so pleasing to look at.

11. Most memorable character of 2016? Joe Goldberg from You. I don't think I could forget him, he was so creepy and really opened my eyes to how some people can be.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016? I think I'd have to say All The Light We Cannot See, it was written like a poem. Absolutely gorgeous.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016? You was incredibly thought-provoking.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read? The Book Thief, definitely.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016? “Just because you can’t experience everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experience anything.” From Everything, Everything. That book had a lot of quotes about live that had me thinking.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016? Shortest was Defective by B. Austin and longest was A Game of Thrones, of course.

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most: The Book Thief. I couldn't believe that ending.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!): Lara Jean and Peter K. Love them. I love them so much.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year: Noah and the rest of the raven boys. You can tell they all really cherished Noah. Also Blue and Noah.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously: Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven. So gorgeous. Made me love Jennifer Niven more than I already did.

21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: A Court Of Thorns and Roses. There was so much pressure to read ACOTAR so I just caved in and read it.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016? Ugh, but there's so many. I'm going to have to pick either Gansey from The Raven Boys or Noah Shaw from Mara Dyer.

23. Best 2016 debut you read? I can't think of any that I've read this year.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? I thought Cinder had a pretty good world building.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. Simon was so funny and the story just made me smile.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016? It's embarrassingly easy for a book to make me cry. The biggest ones were The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub, The Book Thief and Me Before You.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? The Yearbook Committee, for sure.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? The Book Thief

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016? Miss Peregrine for sure. Such unique story telling and I've never seen anyone incorporate photographs into a novel like that. It weaved a beautiful story.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? The Crown by Kiera Cass.

Your Blogging/Bookish Life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2016? I've discovered a mass of new blogs this year. But, in terms of good content and being a lovely person. Emily @ Paperback Princess really stands out to me. I also love Ava @ Bookishness and Tea. She writes fantastic posts about diversity and all other things book related. And, obviously Cait @ Paper Fury has posts that always leave me with a smile on my face. I could go on to name various others but I'll leave it at three for the moment.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016? For some reason, I love my The Bane Chronicles review. I just think it reads very easily and I'm quite happy with it. It's also quite straight to the point which I really like since I have a habit of rambling in reviews.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog? I love my bullet journal post. Mostly because I used a lot of pictures and I'm horrifically lazy and hardly use pictures on my blog.

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)? I haven't actually participated in any events this year. I've only been blogging for about six months so I'm still learning about all those things.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016? Best moment was probably just when I started my blog. I was really happy and excited and I'm thrilled that I decided to start blogging.

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year? Probably trying to find a ratio of exam study and reading/blogging.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)? For some reason, people loved my September wrap up.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? There isn't really a post that comes to mind.

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? Probably the whole bookish community. I hadn't known they'd all existed. It's great, I get recommendations and I get to chat to people about books. 10/10

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? I don't like reading challenges so I don't typically do them. I had a goodreads goal set last year and I got stressed out about meeting it. My only goal was to read more books than I did last year which was only 67 so I've topped it by about 19, if my counting is right.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017? Salt To The Sea. I will make sure I get to it next year. I've already got it waiting in a cart so I can get it as soon as possible.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)? Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab.

3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017? Our Dark Duet

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017? I have a lot of goals but I'm really just hoping to make it to 1 year of blogging, to be completely honest. I won't have a huge amount of time on my hand so here's to hoping it's enough.

6. A 2017 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone: None.

My Best Friend Is A Goddes by Tara Eglington

5 Stars

"But just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean you should throw it away."

I flat out love this book. I can relate so strongly and I love it. It is intense and angst filled and everything friendship is like as a teen. This is going to be a long review because I have a lot of my own personal stories to add. This is what I love about Australian YA, it is so relatable.

Emily and Adriana are in year 10, which I just finished so trust me, I have a lot of anecdotes. Honestly, sometimes during this book I was Adriana and sometimes I was Emily. I was Adriana in the way that I am awkward and introverted and have a best friend who can talk to anyone. I'm Emily in that I struggled with my best friend finding new people to talk to who didn't particularly like me. Relatability adds so much to a story.

Also, it gave me so much nostalgia as it had so much formal talk. Mine was only 15 days ago exactly. Not that I'm counting. And it was the best night of my life. For those of you who don't know, it's a formal you do in year ten. You dress up and get driven in a nice car and you go with a date if you're lucky enough to secure one. It's super exciting and it is the night you're looking forward to since year seven. Adriana and Emily were so sweet with the promise to go with each other, I love it. See, at my school it wasn't that uncommon to go without at date but I had this image in my mind that I would have a hot date. Before year ten even began all the hot dates had been scooped up. So, I went with a couple of girl friends and a guy friend. Super nostalgic for any Aussie girl.

This book perfectly captured the intensity of year ten. Every tiny thing felt like the world was ending and it was honestly insane. But, that was what year ten was like. Or at least, my experience of it. It was like if you bottled year ten and made it into a book. This book was the essence of year ten. I think this book is something all girls around my age should read.

It put things into a perspective the way it went into the years after as well. It showed how things are so big but then are few years on it's just not. Which is why I think it's an excellent book for teens. Another reason it's a great book for teens is it talks about ugly and pretty and how these things can define you but also don't define you at all. I think it juggles a lot of good topics.

Also, on the boy situation. Holy moly, I could sympathise. It really put into perspective the kind of sacrifices you should make when it comes to boys and friendship. Honestly, if I were Emily, I would've come clean about it from the beginning but I can understand where she was coming from. Emily was doing things to protect her friendship but she was also hurting herself and I think that was a really difficult situation to be put in.

I could feel this book pulling at my heart constantly. I tended to lean more towards Emily's side but gosh, towards the end my heart was breaking for both of them. I was kind of proud of Adriana for doing what she did, though. This book really got to me and I think it was because of how close it hits.

It was such an addictive read and it definitely made me think about a few thinks from a moral outsider's standpoint. It had a huge relatability factor. I think it was fantastic and I think you should definitely read it.

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

3.5 Stars

“It’s interesting how fuming, or anger in general, is such a physical process, like a wave washing up on a beach and then receding.”

I love this book, I do, it holds a lot for me. First, it's Australian which gives it many relatable points and the main character, Amelia is 15 turning 16 which gives another small handful of relatable points. Amelia's first job is at Woolworths which is honestly, my dream first job (I actually heavily looked into applying earlier in the year) which gives another lot of relatable points. So, what can I say? I heavily relate to this book. Which is why I picked it as a reread.

Aside from being relatable I like that the topic is something untouched almost. Especially the way it ends which not to spoil it, I like because never will a 15 year old and a 22 year old work together. No way. So, I like that the book tells it how it is. Crushes are hard and they won't always work, it's the worst thing about them. And, Amelia is only 15, she'll have plenty more to come. I like that this book knows that Amelia isn't going to go off and marry Chris and have six babies and live on a farm.

I like the dual perspective, I think it's important because it put's so much emphasis on the differences in lifestyle and why there is no way in hell that they'd work. Chris has sex and drinks a lot while Amelia goes to school and tells her best friend Penny all the tiny details. It definitely proves to the reader that they aren't suitable. I know when I first read Love and Other Perishable Items, I was totally rooting for them to end up together until I read Chris's diary entries which totally made me see how much six years actually is. Still, I felt so sad for Amelia because I can almost feel the pain first hand.

Amelia totally reminds my of myself, annoying as she can be but I guess that's how the world sees us 15 year olds. Whingey and annoying which honestly, I won't deny. But, she is so real. Such a real character, and I like that a lot. Having real characters that you can see yourself in really helps you get into the story.

I would absolutely read this again. Love it, a fine piece of Australian writing right here. You may not hold as much affection if your from somewhere that is not Australia because then it may lose a good few relatability points but I still think even without I'd love it. Definitely not a point well discussed in contemporary (although, when I was younger I did read this great Jaqueline Wilson book similar). I think you'll like it if you like contemporary but if you only dabble in contemporary, you might find it a wee bit more difficult to like.

What I Got For Christmas 2016

A small disclaimer to begin with, I'm in no way trying to brag or show off. I'm just very genuinely excited about what I got for Christmas this year. I love to read these kinds of posts and I love to write the things that I love to read. We'll obviously start with the books I got this year. So please get cosy and I am super cosy with worlds fattest cat in my lap.

From my parents, I got the whole Throne of Glass series in hardcover excluding Throne of Glass because I already had that. My Mum thought it would be nice because she knew how long it would take me to accumulate the whole series on my own and the more I think about it, the smarter I think it was. It would have taken me forever. I'm already half way through Crown of Midnight and loving it. Also from my parents, a small collection of Beatle related books. I got The Beatles Book which I'm loving so far. I got Shout! and John by Cynthia Lennon which I'm extremely intrigued about. Plus a couple of Harry Potter related books. It was great and I can't wait to read all of them.

From my extended family, I got quite the collection. If my list is correct, I got:

• The Young Elites by Marie Lu
• My Best Friend is a Goddess
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyers
• Heartless by Marissa Meyers
• Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
• Tales From The Shadowhunter Academy
• Three Dark Crowns by Kendra Blake (THE HARDCOVER WITH THE GORGEOUS DECKLED PAGES OMG)
• The Night Circus
• The Memory Book

I'm really excited about these. I know Scarlet and Heartless will be good and lord knows I'm a sucker for a shadowhunter book. My Best Friend is a Goddess looks like a really fun book too, and I think it's an Australian author but do not quote me on that. I've obviously really done my research for this post. Anyway, super excited to read the lot of them. You'll have to watch out for reviews.

I also got a bit of cash so I did order just a few new books for myself. If I remember correctly I ordered, If I Was Your Girl, A Torch Against The Night, Library Of Souls, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, and The Sun Is Also A Star. All of which I'm very excited to receive because I know I'll love them all.

Now, onto a few non book items. I got a few nice summer clothes with I absolutely love. In fact, I have a pair of really cute shorts on right now and I am in love with them. I usually hate shorts but these are so comfy and not too short and they actually look really nice too. I got some white sheets for my bed because they're always handy to have and now I can actually rotate between sheets which will be fantastic. I got a couple seasons of Friends on DVD plus the fourth Sharknado movie because I love Sharknado. I got a couple of bath things from Lush which is awesome because we only have one store in the state and I've never been there. I used the bath bomb yesterday and it was kind of fun although the glitter despite making me feel like a princess makes me worried. Glitter in a bath seems too much like I'm asking for an infection. I also got The Great Australian Bake Off cook book which has so many fun recipes that I can not wait to test out for myself. I love the Bake Off. Plus a few other small bits and bobs.

I had a fantastic Christmas day even if it was the hottest one we've had in a while. I'm in love with all of my lovely things and my friends and family are in love with the things I got them. I saw a lot of family members I haven't seen in a while which was lovely and of course, I ate a lot of yummy food. I hope you all had a great Christmas with your loved ones and got spoilt. I also hoped you enjoy my more chatty kind of haul.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

3 stars

“You can't go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have is...now.”  

My fourth reread of September and it was 13 Reasons Why. I first read it when I had just turned 14, I got it for Christmas and spent all boxing day reading it. It was also my first review on goodreads (which I will add in for the sake of my updated review). I had a lot of feelings about it then and I have a lot of feelings about it now.

I loved the book but then I hated it also which makes the rating difficult but I did love it while hating it. I'm feeling very conflicted towards this book and I'll tell you why. This book was brilliantly written, it was suspenseful and I couldn't put it down. The thing that bothers me is those reasons while horrible and maybe more had happened before she moved that broke her down and made her incredibly vulnerable but I feel like some of that needs to be explained otherwise those are horrible ye I loved the book but then I hated it also which makes the rating difficult but I did love it while hating it. I'm feeling very conflicted towards this book and I'll tell you why. This book was brilliantly written, it was suspenseful and I couldn't put it down. The thing that bothers me is those reasons while horrible and maybe more had happened before she moved that broke her down and made her incredibly vulnerable but I feel like some of that needs to be explained otherwise those are horrible yet ridiculous reasons to commit suicide over. You should understand that I thought this book was fantastic and I like to not let the slightly ridiculous reasons ruin the engrossing and all round great writing so I do like to think that she was torn down before making her solution more understandable. There you go, my 14 year old self's review of 13 Reasons Why. Three paragraphs long and I can tell you, this review will be much longer. Also, I'm honestly surprised at the level of sophistication in my vocab there. I just desperately wanted to impress everyone. So, I still tend to agree with everything I said then even if a little bit of it wasn't as well said as I would have liked. I think I now have the ability to explain everything a bit more thoroughly with more reasoning. I've included my old review simply because it is a reread therefore I like to have my old thoughts neatly in with my new thoughts to see how I've grown as a reader and a person. I tend to think a lot of what you think of a book can be related to you as a person. Firstly, I really do agree with the love hate thing I talked about. I loved the book for it's writing and whatever else but I hated it for Hannah. I don't mind saying I hate what Hannah did, it was cruel, truly cruel. Sending around tapes blaming people who had the tiniest part in your own suicide in sincerely horrible. These characters will be ridden with guilt and anger for a very long time, some of them did, admittedly, not nice things but how were they to know what Hannah was going through. And to send the tapes the Clay is absolutely horrid. I don't really agree with it, yet I loved the suspense filled writing and the way I was determined to keep reading so I could discover who did what. I also think that the whole point may have been to be ridiculous, to be petty, to be whatever else. While reading it I kept thinking to myself, maybe Hannahs 13 reasons are supposed to be like this, maybe this is what Jay Asher is going for. Maybe he's making the suicide victim one of the villians of the story. I mean, I don't know but to me I kind of thought that it seemed like whatever he did was on purpose. I personally don't think it's right to blame all those people Hannah blamed. Sure, some did horrible, horrible things but also some did things that they couldn't have possibly known was going to result in Hannah's suicide. I'm a strong believer in you're the one who decides these things. No one forces you to commit suicide and even Hannah sort of said that which made me confused about why she was making the tapes. This book did enforce how quickly things can snowball out of control, though. Maybe that was the purpose of this book. To tell you how quickly things can get out of control even when you don't intend for them too. One things can quite quickly turn into the other and in the end the result can be pretty drastic and they can end in people feeling the way Hannah did. Sincerely hope no one else is experiencing this at the moment but I do think it had an important lesson of to be careful of what you say and do to others. Despite the negative things I feel about it, I still believe the writing was of good quality. It was engrossing and I think the general idea was awesome. In the end, I don't know what Jay Asher's intentions for this book were. Maybe they were like I suggested but maybe he genuinely wanted this to be what it is. Without really knowing much about intentions, I feel as though I can't judge it too harshly and in the end I did like it.