My Friend Explains Books to Me

Hey guys! I’m actually really excited about this post. I mean, I always enjoy writing blog posts but this one was a lot of fun. I’m excited for you guys to read it so let’s just get into it. I can’t be the only one who feels the need to tell everyone they know whenever they read a good book. It’s just being polite, right? Otherwise they could miss out on an awesome book because you didn’t tell them about it. Well, my best friend Ashley is far less grateful for this habit of mine than she should be. But hey, it’s not my fault that she’s lame and doesn’t read. It does mean that explaining the synopsis of every even slightly decent book I’ve read to her is more annoying than helpful though. Luckily for this post, that’s never deterred me. I figure at least half the time she just ignores me, so I decided to put this theory to the test.

The other day Ashley and I were playing in the pep band at a school basketball game and I asked her to tell me the synopses of certain books based on the book covers. The books I chose were books I really like and have definitely told her about in depth before. Shockingly enough, pep band isn’t the best time to make a voice recording to later type out the transcript. Who would have guessed? I did eventually finish deciphering the recordings though, and let’s just say the results didn’t prove my theory wrong lol.

Also before we get into Ashley’s first synopsis I would like to note that anything in italics are my thoughts while I was writing this. I ended up having a lot lol.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

When I told Ashley about this book: I read this book last spring and remember raving to her about it and basically explaining the entire plot to her because I knew she’d never bother to read it herself.

So you have this prince, and he’s not the nicest fellow and he’s kinda cruel-hearted, but that’s okay because in this novel, the award winning novelist Holly Black tries to show how this cruel prince has goodness in his heart. Wow. So far, she’s established that there’s a cruel prince and read that Holly Black is an award winning novelist off of the cover. She definitely remembers what this book’s about. (She totally doesn’t.) He just needs to meet his true love to change his heart. To make things more interesting, the cruel prince’s parents aren’t exactly the best people. Okay, so far she hasn’t said anything technically incorrect… That’s what led to him being so cold-hearted. All the toxicity in his life. You see, his dad is involved in affairs that aren’t with the cruel prince’s mom. Wow. Thanks for defining an affair Queen.

His true love, happens to be a horse riding, horse loving girl- she doesn’t just ride the horses she loves the horses. She has so much love for these horses and her life is filled with love and kindness and joy. Oh gosh. Here we go... When she meets the cruel prince she’s just so amazed at how cruel people can be. They meet in the woods while he’s riding a horse but he’s just impressed by her horse riding skills. He thinks that’s cool so like, you know? I really don’t. And they talk a lot, they go on adventures, other important plot points occur, but pretty much they end up together and either she changes him or he changes her. You’ll have to read the book to find out! Girl, you haven’t read the book.

Actual Synopsis

When Jude was seven, her parents were murdered and she and her sisters were raised in the High Court of Faerie. However, as much as she wants to belong in Faerie, the fey won’t let her forget about her mortality. Many of them are cruel to her, especially Prince Cardan. She is determined to gain her own place in the Court, but to do so she must stoop lower than ever before and risk her own life.

Yeah, so shockingly, The Cruel Prince isn’t about a prince who’s scarred by his father’s numerous affairs falling in love with a horse girl. I mean, not everything she said was wrong, but like, the majority was very wrong. Considering this was the easiest one, I think this post’ll be pretty entertaining.

Ashley’s Response

Oh! So he is cruel! Yes Ashley, you got that the cruel prince was cruel and a prince. It’s not just a metaphor! That’s interesting. I like mine more though.

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

When I told Ashley about this book: I told her about this book after I read it three years ago and was totally obsessed with it for a solid month.

Okay, so you have four students—well actually, you have five—and they go into detention. Yes… And one of them, her name is Addie, and she’s a beauty queen. Yes…The other four also have personalities. I’m pretty sure one of them’s some sort of creepy type dude. Creepy type dude? You know, he’s the type of person that they’d first suspect. Anyways, one of them goes to the bathroom or something and is found dead, so these four that were also in detention are now suspects. Yes! And you know, one of them is lying about not being the murderer.

Actual Synopsis

Five high schoolers go into detention but only four come out. Simon, the creator of the school gossip app, died during detention and his death was no accident. The following day he had scheduled to post gossip about each of the other four students, giving them all a motive. Suddenly, they’re all suspects and all of their secrets come to light.

Ashley actually killed it on this one. The only part that was incorrect was that the student that died didn’t go to the bathroom. He was actually poisoned, but other than that everything else was correct. I mean, her explanations of the characters, especially the “creepy type dude” which I assume was supposed to be Nate, were a tad questionable but technically not incorrect, so she gets the point for this one!

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

When I told Ashley about this book: I’ve told her about this book several times, but mainly after I read it two years ago.

So this is definitely historical fiction. No it isn’t. It’s by Jan Gangsei. It’s just about World War—the number doesn’t need to be specified—I feel like it does. but it’s just about a World War. There’s this boy who is escaping from a concentration camp. The story’s just about his struggles with escaping and his journey in escaping.

Actual Synopsis

16 year old Addie Webster shockingly resurfaces eight years after she was kidnapped. Many things have changed in those eight years, most notably, her father is now the president of the United States. Some find her timely reappearance suspicious. Her childhood best friend, Darrow is elated to have her back, but soon a security advisor blackmails him into spying on his old friend. Is there more than meets the eye, or is Addie just an innocent victim in all of this?

Yeah, Ashley was completely wrong on this one. Like, nothing she said was correct. Also I’m starting to get worried about her considering we’re both taking an AP history class yet she can’t tell me any specifics about the generic World War she described.

Ashley’s Response

Oh! Yeah, I’ve definitely heard you talk about that before.

Kalahari by Jessica Khoury

When I told Ashley about this book: I raved about this book to like everyone I was even slightly acquainted with after I read it in seventh grade. That would’ve been about three years ago now.

Pretty much, this family is taking this trip to Africa and there are all sorts of animals like lions because there’s a lion on the cover. Way to use those context clues Queen! I mean, everything else you said was wrong, but the lion was right! Then, like half way through a bunch of science experiments start happening. They start conducting these experiments and you know, some of them go wrong because of all of the heat in the desert. And the cold nights in the desert.

Wow. Ashley did pay attention to our science unit in second grade about the desert. I mean, the weather changing was like a whole standard, so I have to give her credit for that, especially after I made fun of her for not knowing history. That being said, these sound like the dumbest scientists ever. The temperature changes really mess with the… science solutions so a lot of things blow up, there are forest fires, Forest fires? In the desert? the lion population starts to decrease, and yeah.

Actual Synopsis

Five teens who were going on a safari become stranded in the Kalahari Desert. Sarah, daughter of zoologists, is in charge of keeping everyone safe and alive, even as she deals with starvation, dehydration, and a growing crush. They come across a terrifying lion that tries to attack them. Not only does it attack them unprovoked, there’s something else strange about it: it’s completely silver. Metallic and terrifying, the teens soon realize something much more sinister is going on.

Once again, Ashley was not correct. Are you shocked? Cause I’m not. But hey, she was closer this time so that’s good! That being said, I’m still concerned that she thinks the Kalahari Desert is full of forests that the lions depend on for survival lol.

Ashley’s Response

Yeah, she didn’t have anything to say after this one cause she still didn’t remember it lol.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

When I told Ashley about this book: I texted her about it briefly when we were deciding what book to read for our English class’ dystopian unit this year. It was really brief. I think I told her about it prior to then though.

This is a coming of age book about this girl who, you know, she has a really good young life until her parents die in a car crash. That does happen in like every YA novel ever, so it’s a good guess. Too bad it doesn’t happen in this one. Then she has to learn to be independent. She learns that the world isn’t as easy as she thought it was and she can’t always depend on others and she has to be herself. Wow we’re just learning all the life lessons in this book. Through this journey she makes new friends. She joins school clubs. She learns how to drive and she gets a job so she can buy a car to drive. We’re really just going through all the coming of age tropes, aren’t we?

Except, she fails her driving test, but during Driver’s Ed, she meets a guy. She doesn’t like him very much. They’re always fighting. Ooh, enemies to lovers perhaps? But soon they just stop fighting and they start dating. Wow. What a healthy relationship! In the end, it turns out that her mom was just in a coma, so her mom comes back. What? She was unaware that her mom was in a coma instead of dead? How does that happen? Her mom’s just really proud of the growth her daughter has made. It’s a happy, warm reunion and the daughter says to her, “Oh mom, if only I had became less dependent earlier on. Then maybe none of this would have happened.” Wow. That’s… depressing.

Actual Synopsis

In a dystopian version of the United States, love is a deadly disease. Luckily, the government has developed the Cure to prevent people from falling in love. Everyone has the procedure when they turn 18. Love killed Lena’s mother and she can’t wait until she’s old enough to get the Cure. That is, until she meets Alex, an Invalid who lives in the Wilds. The Wilds are unregulated areas in the U.S. that aren’t controlled by the government.

Umm, so I guess you could give Ashley credit that this was a coming of age novel, but that’s literally all that was correct out of her very lengthy and thematically confusing synopsis. Like I’m sorry hun, but the book you described sounds really sad and mildly pointless. Basically, she doesn’t get the point for this one.

Ashley’s Response

Oh was this the book you did for your English presentation? We did English presentations last month on a dystopian novel of our choice, but I did mine on At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp. That book is also really good but it’s about teens that are abandoned in a juvenile detention center during a pandemic. In other words it has no similarities other than also being a dystopia to Delirium. Thanks for paying attention to my presentation Ashley!

Since You’ve Been Gone

When I told Ashley about this book: After I read it at the end of sixth grade. We’re currently sophomores in high school.

These two girls are best friends but one of them dies. Umm, no. I can’t tell you which one. But don’t fear, she left behind a bucket list. The other friend sets out to complete the bucket list in honor of her friend. Yeah! Then the other friend isn’t dead by the end of the book. Cause she wasn’t to start with lol.

Actual Synopsis

Emily and Sloane are best friends. Sloane makes Emily go out of her comfort zone and have fun. Right before summer begins though, Sloane and her family disappear out of the blue. All she leaves behind a bucket list with thirteen tasks to push Emily to try new things. She goes on a journey to complete all the tasks on the list to bring her friend back.

Okay so other than her dying, Ashley hit the nail on the head on this one. She definitely gets the point although I’m genuinely confused how she remembered this one and not Delirium which I told her about like 2 months ago lol.

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So in total, Ashley got 2/6 of these synopses close enough to correct. That’s 33%, which is actually lower than I was guessing, so I mean congrats to her for doing even worse than I anticipated lol. All jokes aside, Ashley and I had a lot of fun making this post and I hope you enjoyed reading it too. As always, I hope you’re having a great day and this post finds you well!