Out of touch with reality,
losing any sense of harmony,
avoiding all signs of your duality.
Seeking your love so foolishly.
Overlooking your lies and my own dignity,
desperate to keep our unity.
No matter what I do I’m met with your hostility,
hoping to retrieve your attention at any opportunity
but gaining it doesn’t seem to be my ability.
J.M. Barrie once said “Let no one who loves be called altogether unhappy. Even love unreturned has its rainbow.” In this context, Barrie is giving a positive outlook and new perspective to unrequited love. Furthermore, this quote shows how much unreturned love can have delightful moments and a marvelous ending. Not only do those “rainbows” represent all the good things and enjoyments of love, but also the reason why someone falls in love in the first place. In a comparative sense, a lot of Shakespeare’s plays involve unrequited love, some with “rainbows” and others with deadly, horrid storms. William Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, vividly shows the theme that unrequited love is not as hopeless as it seems at the beginning through the diction of Helena and Demetrius.
To start, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, gives the background of a girl named Helena who is in love with the gentleman Demetrius. In a like manner, they both have a sort of unrequited love. However, Demetrius is in love with Hermia, a girl who is already taken, and refuses to even look at Helena. Although Helena constantly shows her love for him, he constantly pushes her away. Throughout the entire text, Helena will complain about her love life, saying things such as “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;/And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind…” (I, i, 234-235) When Shakespeare uses a reference to Cupid, the god of love, and portrays them as “painted blind,” it makes the reader sympathize with Helena and her unrequited love, as she was constantly weeping over love. Altogether, Shakespeare used this specific wording because the god Cupid was a part of Athenian culture and represented love so it was able to communicate how strongly Helena loved Demetrius and how much it hurt to get rejected by him.
This just goes to show how unrequited love can hurt sometimes. However, there are some happy moments of determination. For instance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream includes Helena saying “Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex./We cannot fight for love, as men may do;/We should be wooed and were not made to woo./I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,/To die upon the hand I love so well.” (II, i, 240-243). Isolating the phrases “we can not fight for love” and “I’ll follow thee and make a heaven of hell” shows that the author wanted the reader to feel uplifted through Helena’s willingness to find her own happiness. In short, Shakespeare used this one line to show that Helena didn’t care how much she was pushed away, she would find her contentment in love and above all else, she refused to stop loving even when it hurt.
Ultimately, Shakespeare gives Helena the result she had wished for at the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This can be seen when Demetrius says, “The object and the pleasure of mine eye,/Is only Helena” (IV, i, 173-174). When the author uses the phrasing “the pleasure of mine eye” and “only Helena” it makes the reader thrilled at Helena’s fortunate turn of events, as this can be seen as a confession of love. In brief, the author utilized such words to show the extent of Demetrius’s love and that he is completely over Hermia.In the end, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare thoroughly portrays the theme that unrequited love isn’t always as hurtful as it seems through his usage of phrasing and language. Moreover, Shakespeare creatively puts together the story of Helena and Demetrius who both have unrequited love and end up with a happy ending. Although they may not have had a happy beginning with Demetrius constantly rejecting Helena, Helena perseveres and stays strong with the belief that she will find her happiness. As a concluding thought, when does someone decide to give up on a love and move on, or is it worth it to pursue someone forever even if it seems hopeless?
“YOU DID WHAT AGAIN?!” Jeanette yelled at Avery, who just said a crucial thing.
“I-I saved Holly from falling off the tree…” Avery smiles nervously at her best friend, who was furious at Avery.
“Do you know what you just did?! He must have been watching you guys too! What if he suddenly got amused to you instead of Holly? You’re going to die faster than the book says if you do that!” Jeanette screams her head off as she tries to think of the best possible solution to set Holly and the prince back together.
A few hours later, Avery leaves her best friend, (who currently needs to cool off her steam), to find a place to practice her swordfighting.
“Hmm.. Whats a nice place in this school ground that no one goes to?” Avery thinks to herself as she continues to walk around the school grounds. While she was walking, she noticed that the academy was bigger than she thought- there was a building for each major. Since she was a freshmen this year, all the freshmen were only allowed to go to the main building for their classes because they didn’t have majors yet. As soon as she walked behind the infirmary building, she sees a big field of grass and trees.
She then spots a very tall, beautiful blossom tree and starts climbing it with her sword. When she sat down, she was amazed by the view.
“Wow the sunset is beautiful.” she says as she smiles, “Then it is decided. I will practice here.” As she kept looking at the sunset, she was reminiscing about what has happened since she got the book.
“Thanks to that book, I am now closer with my brother and Damien. I also haven’t fallen in love with the prince, thank goodness. I need to know who wrote this book though..” She thought to herself as she looked off at the sky and started to doze off to sleep.
CAST:
Emma Roberts as Claire
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque as Hailey
Sara Paxton as Aquamarine
Jake McDorman as Raymond
Ariana Kebbel as Cecilia
Claire and Hailey are best friends. Hailey only has five days left because she is moving to Australia for her mom’s work. A violent storm sweeps through their beachside home and one day they find a mermaid named Aquamarine in the pool of their beach club. Although the girls start off afraid, that soon turns to curiosity as they want to get to know Aquamarine more. Seeing as it’s getting late, the girls leave, but with a promise to meet Aquamarine a the pool the next day.
When they come back the next day they find that she is in the beach shop in human form. Aquamarine even flaunts her new butt, to the girls’ disgust. When asked how she became human, Aquamarine says that she can turn “human” as long as she doesn’t get wet during the day. (This must have been where H20: Just Add Water got the idea from.)
Aquamarine tells Claire and Hailey that she actually came to land by choice; she came for love. She has no experience with it, but desperately yearns for it. She made a deal with her father to escape an arranged marriage: if she finds love in 3 days, she won’t have to face an arranged marriage. She picks Raymond, the hot lifeguard, to be the one that she falls in love with after seeing him for the first time. If the girls succeed in helping her get Raymond to fall in love with her, she’ll in turn grant them one wish. Seeing this as an opportunity to stay together, they agree to help.
Aquamarine spends her nights in a water tower because she needs to be submerged in water at night. Cecilia is a rival for Raymond’s love. Basically she wants Raymond, but Raymond’s not interested so she is upset. In the end, she pushes Aquamarine into the ocean in a fit of rage. Aquamarine’s father created a whirlpool to bring her back and in the fray, Raymond saw her tail. Claire and Hailey jump on a buoy to try to get Aquamarine back and offer to give her their wish. Raymond decides that he needs more time to fall in love with her and promises that he’ll wait for her to come back in the future. Claire and Hailey keep their wish, but choose to save it for the future.
Aquamarine is a really good movie. Yeah, it was cheesy a times, but in a market that is so starved for mermaid content (shows, movies, and books alike) this was a good move. This movie is from my childhood and I decided to watch it again after so many years and it did not disappoint. 10/10 would recommend you to watch the movie. It
has such a good message that you don’t need a guy to save you, sometimes all you need is the power of friendship. As cliché as that sounds, the message is really true and is something that we all need to reminded of at times.
*WARNING* THIS BOOK INCLUDES SENSITIVE TOPICS LIKE EATING DISORDERS, SEXUAL ASSAULT, MINOR DEPRESSION, AND FRIENDSHIP TRAGEDIES
(This book, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, is incredibly moving and I loved every second of it).
Annabel Greene is the image of perfection.
That is, when she’s modeling.
In real life, though, things aren’t so great.
Six months ago, she was sexually assaulted by her best friend’s boyfriend, and her best friend (whose name is Sophie), walked in on it. She thought that Annabel and Will (the boyfriend) were hooking up and she completely blamed Annabel, banishing her from her life. She hasn’t told anyone about that night.
And before that, her older sister Whitney developed an eating disorder. It could’ve been stopped, if only her mother had listened to Kirsten (the oldest Greene sister) when she said something was wrong with Whitney. (And Kirsten is not one to hold back from words; she said it about ten times). It could’ve been stopped, if only Whitney would have told people what was going on. Now she’s been in therapy for quite some time, and Annabel’s worried she won’t be the same.
On top of that, Annabel has no close friends anymore, and therefore no one to sit with at lunch. So she sits up against the school wall, in between her ex-best friend Clarke Reynolds and the intimidating new kid Owen Armstrong, who’s always listening to music.
Then one day, after being shamed in the parking lot in front of everyone by Sophie, and she’s busy hiding (and retching) in the bushes behind the school, a hand is held out to Annabel. Owen’s hand.
Slowly, as the two become friends, Annabel realizes that maybe there’s more to Owen than she first assumed.
For starters, he has a fashion-obsessed younger sister, Mallory, who loves Annabel’s modeling work; the music he listens to is nothing like what she expected (you were expecting hard, angry, punk or metal from the tall, intimidating loner? Try chants, protest songs, and anything techno); he has air time on a local radio show; he was once in (juvenile) prison back in his old state for getting in a fight with a kid (okay, maybe that part’s not so surprising); and his parents are divorced- his music being the only thing that got him through.
And one more thing about Owen Armstrong: he’s dead honest.
He’ll tell you exactly what he thinks (nothing offensive unless you ask a question that requires a slightly offensive answer, but he’ll still do it nicely) and will never hold things inside.
Annabel is quite the opposite.
And yet, they’re adorable together! (If you can look past their constant arguments about techno music, that is.)
Owen makes Annabel feel different. He treats her differently, in a good way, and no one else has ever done that before. It makes her want to open up to him, because he’s the one person that makes her feel truly happy.
But she doesn’t. She can’t. She doesn’t have the courage to tell Owen about that night six years ago, or at least what actually happened.
But still! They have great times together, including kissing in a car wash. (It’s cuter than it sounds.)
But then everything comes crashing down. Annabel leaves a concert with Owen and then blows him off the following day, refusing to tell him what happened. (Hint: it has to do with Will.)
So now Annabel is without Owen. It’s even more tragic than it sounds. Believe me.
What does she do? She listens to the burned CDs Owen gave her. (Burned meaning he put essentially illegal copies of songs onto blank CDs- it was a popular thing back then.) (The book was published in 2006.) When she gets to the final one, titled Just Listen, it’s static. Literally static. It’s a blank CD. She realizes why Owen left it blank and heads to the studio to find him. She plays the CD for him amidst an argument and he doesn’t get it. She walks out after telling him, “Don’t think or judge. Just listen.”
And what’s more, there’s now a trial for Will Cash. Turns out, Annabel wasn’t the only one he assaulted. Owen, who told Annabel he’d go (she called him and told him everything and they made up and it’s all good), wasn’t there. And Will Cash had a black eye. When the trial ends and Will is charged, Annabel finds Owen outside. He apologizes and yes, he punched Will. Because of what Will did to Annabel. Isn’t it sweet?? And then, of course, she says it’s all fine and they kiss and then the end.
Just kidding, haha, not the exact end. There’s an epilogue. But I spoiled so much here that I think I’ll leave that for you to read, if you do read this.
Anyway. This book was incredible, though I must admit it took me a while to read because some parts dragged on and I got distracted… but it’s an overall great story. It’s very easy to imagine something like this happening in real life, which is always a good aspect to a story. I found it, for the most part, entertaining. However, for people who would rather not read about sensitive topics such as the ones in this book, it may not be the best choice for you. The characters were rather well developed; however I would have liked to know a little more about Owen’s background and Sophie’s background to understand their characters and their actions a bit better. The cursing level is medium-high, because the F word was used a few times, along with some other curse words, but it was definitely not frequent. If I gave this book a number rating it would probably be an 8 out of 10, because I certainly loved the story and the overall idea, but I found some parts a bit uninteresting and it dragged on a bit. So, to conclude, this book is for older audiences who aren’t incredibly sensitive (due to the sensitive topics here) and would like a book that may take a bit to read but is well-written and (for the most part) entertaining.
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West is one of the most adorable books I have ever read.
Lily Abbot is the “weird girl.” She’s not mainstream, shops at thrift stores and makes half her clothes, has approximately only one best friend, carries around a notebook everywhere, and was given the unfortunate nickname of “Magnet” by her number one enemy, Cade Jennings. All she really wants is to be a songwriter- she writes lyrics in her notebook. But she can never finish a whole song. Music is one of the few ways she can connect to people.
So when she writes some lyrics from her favorite band on her Chemistry desk and finds them continued the next day, she sees this as an opportunity of a sort.
Lily and her Chemistry pen pal begin exchanging letters. Very personal, heartfelt, often funny letters. She begins a quest for her letter-writer, and is convinced that he’s her crush, cute senior Lucas, who spends most of his time alone with earbuds in.
When she’s out of school, her home life is crazy. Her mother is a jewelry maker, her father a furniture designer, and she has two crazy younger brothers (one of which is so cute he gets away with everything) and an older sister who shares Lily’s room. And then, throw in the rabbit that her mother decided to bring home. It’s a complete mess. To escape it all -school, her family, Cade– she plays her guitar and attempts to write songs.
Somewhere along the way, she realizes that she’s kind of falling for this letter writer, whose home life is worse than hers but he always laughs it off. She even begins to -*gasp*- write a song about the guy. She doesn’t even know who he is! And she’s found that her greatest inspiration, the thing that makes her write lyrics easily, is the letters.
But then –oh, the horror– she discovers that CADE IS THE LETTER WRITER. CADE. JENNINGS. And yes, I just sorta spoiled that, but you find out halfway through the book, and it’s crucial for me to spill so I can finish this review.
Suddenly, Cade is everywhere in her life -he’s her brother’s baseball coach, and he comes to Thanksgiving dinner at Lily’s house on an invite from said brother, and she has to give him an “apology man bracelet” because of said Thanksgiving- and Lily’s not sure if she likes it or not. Yes, he’s attractive, but he’s not the same person to her in real life as he is on paper. She’s deeply conflicted.
To make matters worse, when she tells her best friend Isabel, she finds out that Isabel had known that it was Cade! She knew! This, of course, makes Lily mad because not only did Isabel know that it was Cade but Isabel suggested that maybe Lily liked Cade. So, insert short-lived but dramatic friend argument, and then throw in a broken guitar. (A broken guitar is like my worst nightmare, btw, so reading about one was just tragic).
So what does Lily do?
She spills it all out in a letter.
To Cade.
She keeps telling herself to stop, to end it, because she’s supposed to hate the guy, not fall for him. He’s the mainstream one and she’s the weird one. They can’t work together. And yet… they do.
When Lily goes to retrieve a letter from her teacher’s desk (yes, she was technically breaking into her teacher’s classroom and then was going to steal from him), she finds Cade already in the room and he admits that he knew it was her ever since he had gone to pick up her brother for baseball. He proceeds to recite the letter that he had written (the one Lily was going to retrieve) and ends with one of the greatest P.S.’s ever: “P.S. I like you. A lot.”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m gonna leave it at that. Do they end up together? Read the book. Does she get a new guitar? Read the book. Does she finish that song about him? Read the book. Are they the cutest couple in the history of adorable books? I’ll answer that one: yes, because it was totally unexpected (well, sorta), they have a cute height difference (height differences are everything), they seem like they’re unfit for each other but they’re actually perfect, and there are some super cute scenes that had me going “aww” out loud.
If you’re looking for a really adorable quick book that’ll take, say, a week to read, this is the one. Cursing level: low; a few minor curse words here and there. The plot was engaging, and the characters were well-developed. This book will have you laughing, almost crying, and “aww”ing out loud. And, as a plus, it’s about music (fictional bands, I’m pretty sure, but it’s still about music), which gives it bonus points from me. This is a must-read book, and I’d recommend it for anyone who loves adorable YA romances, music, slight mystery (she does have to figure out who the letter-writer is, after all), and compelling yet quick reads. Seriously. If that sounds like you, go pick up this book!
P.S. I like this book. A lot.
book pages
“Rats. This is the last person I want to see.“
“Thank you for picking up my books. But you really shouldn’t have helped me because I am fully capable of picking up myself,” Avery says as she sees other students staring and whispering.
“It was really no bother to be honest. I simply just picked up books,” Prince Matthew chuckles, “may I ask what your name is for the future?” At that second, Avery’s eyes beamed in confusion.
“Future? Pftt, I guess it won’t hurt to say my name. It is not like we are going to meet again.” Avery gave a fake-smile back at the smirking prince.
“Thank you for asking, Prince Matthew,” Avery bowed down and continued talking with a fake-happy tone, “my name is Avery M’Engeline. You may call me Avery.”
When Avery looked back at the prince, she saw his face smirking even more than before. But this smirk was different- it looked devilish as if he was planning something horrible.
“Please just call me Matthew.” He lifts her chin up all of the sudden so that Avery was closer to his face, “and you don’t need to bow down at me. But may I request that next time you talk to me, please look at my eyes. You were avoiding my eyes when you were talking as if you were afraid of me.” He smirks and lets go of her chin, leaving Avery’s chin red from the sudden heat of his hands.
“I will see you later, Avery,” He winks at her as he continues to walk through the hallway, leaving Avery dismayed.
“How did he see through my fake smile! I thought it wasn’t obvious!” Avery screamed internally.
“W-What just happened?” Liam, who was watching the whole thing, turned his hands into fists.
“Where on earth is Damien? He should be protecting you at all costs! Even if he was the prince-” Liam was about to continue, but Avery stopped him.
“Brother- he just simply touched my chin. That is it. Besides I gave Damien an errand to do,” Avery gave a small smile to Liam. As they were talking, people around them, started to whisper.
“Who does she think she is?”
“That’s the infamous witch from that small town. I heard she seduced all the boys in the town.”
“Dude, is the Prince trying to make a move on her?”
While people were gossiping, Avery excused herself from Liam to walk to the dorm and inform her best friend, Jeanette, of what just happened.
“I can’t believe he said those words to you,” Jeanette screamed after hearing what happened, “wait a second, now to think about it, in the book the prince was crazily amused about Holly, who was climbing trees because he never seen someone do that before. He was locked in his room doing his studies twenty-four seven and was easily bored. Don’t tell me-” She stops talking and looks at Avery.
“Based on the book, the prince never would dare to even look at people in the eye as he past in the hallway. He would also certainly not help them out either,” Jeanette crossed her arms as she turned frustrated, “why is this starting to differ from the book?”
Here’s my review of What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter! This is a relatively new book and I’m so glad I picked it up to read!
Overview: Kels Roth is a Twitter star with a blog that matches books with cupcakes. Her online best friend is Nash Stevens, who creates a web comic series called REX. But in real life, Kels isn’t Kels- she’s Halle Levitt, an awkward girl with a book-famous grandmother and parents who make documentaries. When Halle and her younger brother Ollie stay with their grandfather while their parents are in Israel filming, Halle is forced to enter another school- again. But it’s different this year. Because she meets Nash. In real life. While Nash is falling for Kels, Halle is falling for Nash. Halle waits and waits for the perfect time to tell Nash that she IS Kels, but it doesn’t exactly end up being “perfect.”
Characters:
Halle Levitt/ Kels Roth: narrator of the book; YA novel enthusiast; great baker; older sister of Ollie
Nash Kim/Stevens: just as much of a book nerd as Halle; comic artist; does track (although that doesn’t play much of a part in the story)
Ollie Levitt: Halle’s brother; baseball prodigy; super social, unlike Halle
Gramps: Halle and Ollie’s grandfather; at the start he’s different from what Halle remembers him as but quickly changes back to normal Gramps; absolutely loves Hanukkah
Grams: Halle and Ollie’s deceased grandmother; the reason Halle started her blog, One True Pastry; a book editor
Others to remember: Molly, Sawyer, and Autumn (Nash’s friends); Elle, Amy, and Samira (Halle’s online friends)
Rating, Review, and Recommendation: I love this book!! The whole story line is super intriguing, and it’s well-written. If any of you have an online identity, you’ll find it easy to relate with Halle. Even if you don’t, you’ll find she’s still super relatable. The romance between Nash and Halle was excellently developed, making it seem real. I’ve had it for three days and I’m almost done it; it’s a quick read that’s super engrossing. I love Halle’s enthusiasm for reviews, cupcakes, and books, but it’s very easy to get mad at her for not telling Nash she’s Kels! Ollie is absolutely hilarious, and Gramps is sweet and sarcastic. Nash and his friends seem like a great bunch, and Nash’s backstory about his brother just might make you cry. It’s an engaging story that will keep you wondering: “when will Halle confess to Nash?” Everything ends happily, which means the book immediately earns extra points from me! As far as rating goes, I’d rate it as 9 and 3/4 out of 10 (yes this is a Harry Potter reference). It gets this score because there were some parts the book could’ve gone without, and I found it easy to get mad at the characters, but then again that’s just me. I’d recommend What I Like About You to any fans of YA realistic fiction/romance. Given the detail of the kissing scenes and the language use, I’d say it’s for ages fourteen and up. I feel like, even if you’re not a big romance reader, you’d still enjoy this book. And it might leave you craving cupcakes, fair warning.
“I only met Holly.” Avery says bluntly.
The next following day, all the classrooms were in an uproar because Prince Matthew attended school.
“Hey, have you seen the Prince yet?” A random girl asks another girl, as Avery passes them across the hallway. Unlike the rest of the girls, Avery wanted to avoid Prince Matthew as much as possible.
“Hey, Avery! How is school going for you so far?” Avery’s brother, Liam, surprise-attacked Avery from behind. Avery let out a small scream for a second and drops her books that were in her hands.
“Oh my goodness, you scared me,” Avery sighs as she starts to knell to get the books. When she was about to pick them up, someone else did it first.
“Here you go. You sure are clumsy,” a low voice said as he chuckled.
“Huh? Who does this guy think he is?” Avery thought at that exact moment.
“Thank y-” Avery was about to thank this stranger who picked up her books but instead, froze. As Avery looked up at the boy, she saw the person she didn’t want to meet the most. The one who will kill her- Prince Matthew.
The most surprising thing that Avery thought was that the red velvet book described Prince Matthews so perfectly- he had wavy hair like Damien, except his hair was blonde. He also had very unique round red eyes that were so shiny, that Avery could see her own reflection through his eyes.
After realizing she was staring, Prince Matthew smirked at her.
“Rats. This is the last person I want to see.“
“Oh my I totally forgot! My name is Holly! What is yours?” The girl asks.
“This is bad. BAD bad BAD BAd sjhdifhsofhioshohds” Avery thought to herself, “Wait where is the Crown Prince? Was he supposed to save her?! Ah I skimmed through this part in the book because I was more worried about my downfall!”
After a deep sigh, Avery replied, “Avery.”
“That’s a beautiful name,” Holly says cheerfully with another smile.
“I understand why Holly was the Heroine. Holly’s smile would make anyone smile back because she is super soft and sweet- the opposite of me.” Avery thought as she smile back one more.
All of the sudden, Avery hears a rustle in one of the bushes and suddenly gets up. Thinking it must be the Crown Prince, she quickly said goodbye and ran back to the entrance of the garden. There, Jeanette stood pacing back and forth.
“Avery! Its been like two hours! I seriously thought I lost you!” Jeanette starts crying as she was hugging Avery.
“Well did you see the Prince Matthew and Holly?” Jeanette asks.
“I only met Holly.” Avery says bluntly.
Prince Matthews POV:
“AHHH!”
I quickly picked up my pace to where the screaming girl was. I was just admiring the flowers in this garden and trying to get away from all the crazy girls who kept trying to come at me until I heard that girl’s scream.
“This better be worth it,” I say under my breath as I continue running to the girl. When I finally came across her, she was barely hanging on to a tree branch. But before I could save her, another girl came into rescue and caught her. Unfortunately, she fell along with the girl.
As soon as this happen, my body just automatically hid behind a bush. S
“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” The girl from the tree asks the savior.
“W-Why the heck were you on a tree if you couldn’t get down from it?” The savior says bluntly the thing I wanted to ask too.
After a few small talks, the girls finally exchanged names. I don’t understand why I was hiding and listening on their conversation but that girl intrigued me.
“Heh- Avery…”
CCPL Writers' Block 