Review: PLEASE REMAIN CALM by Courtney Summers

Title: Please Remain Calm
Author: Courtney Summers
Series: This is Not a Test #2

Why I read it: This is Not a Test was on my top books I read in 2014 list. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? If you love dark contemporaries and/or zombies, go read it right now. One of the most beautiful, heartbreaking books I've ever read. You can read my gushing review here. So when the e-novella sequel came out, I immediately downloaded it...and then chickened out of reading it. I had to psych myself up for a couple of days before I was brave enough to read it through in one sitting. (Also on an unrelated note: Courtney is a marshmallow, and is totally the reason I started watching Veronica Mars. So if you haven't started that yet, either, GO DO IT. One of my new favorite shows.) (This may be the longest paragraph I've ever written for the "Why I read it" section...)

Thoughts: For as long as my "Why I read it" section is, this may be the shortest review I've done so far. I don't want to get into spoiler territory, because really, This is Not a Test and Please Remain Calm really need to be read to get the full feel of it. The feeling you get after reading these books is not easily explainable via review.

What I will say, is that Courtney Summers truly excels at pulling heart strings. Making you feel like the world is bleak and awful and nothing good, and then providing you a tiny glimmer of hope. And the nine times out of ten, she pulls that glimmer away from you. And you want to scream and cry and rail against the world for doing this to you, but it is one of the most exquisite feelings of heartbreak.

That's what Courtney Summers does. This book is short, and easily digestible in one sitting. In fact, that's how I recommend it. Because you can't stop turning pages, racing to the finish line, desperate to see how it all turns out.

Just like This is Not a Test, Please Remain Calm is fast-paced, character driven, and heart-wrenching. Highly recommend. Cannot recommend it enough.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Tell me: have YOU read this e-novella sequel yet? What were your thoughts? Were you as emotionally distraught as I was? Let me know in the comments below!

Top Ten Tuesday (7): Movies to Get You in the Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish!

So not all of these are strictly Halloween-themed because some are just straight-up horror films, but I do what I want! Scary movies always get me in the Halloween spirit. :)

Disclaimer: Not all of these movies are "great" movies, critically at least. Some of them are definite guilty pleasures. But I GREATLY enjoy all of these! Also, it was really hard to narrow this down to just ten. So I fudged a little...

10. The classics: Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. I'm lumping these all together because it's hard to put one slasher flick over the other, but these are all such classics in their own right! So I just HAD to include them. 

9. Stay Alive. This is super corny, but I still love it for some reason. It's just fun, and seeing Frankie Muniz in a scary movie? PRICELESS. 

8. The J-Horror craze: The Ring and The Grudge. For both of these movies, I love the originals AND the American remakes. After these movies came out, my mom and I got really in J-Horror for a while, and every time we were at Best Buy, we bought all the Asian horror films we could find. Some were great finds, and some were so not great, but these are the two that started it all! 

7. Zombieland. Zombies are like my FAVORITE paranormal creature. (Seriously, I own more zombie books than any other creature.) And this one has it all. Awesome zombies, tons of humor, clever dialogue, and a little bit of heart. SO GOOD. 

6. Thirteen Ghosts. I know this didn't get great reviews, but this is another one that I can watch all the time. Matthew Lillard is fabulous, and the ghosts are super awesome. And bonus: the DVD has a special feature that explains the backstory of every single ghost. Which is so awesome. 

5. Paranormal Activity. All of them. The first one, especially, was super original. It's a fairly short movie, but almost nothing happens for almost the entire movie. And then all of sudden, all hell breaks loose. And it is fantastic. And the sequels are more of the same, so it gets a little less original every time, but they're still a lot of fun. 

4. The Cabin in the Woods. JOSS WHEDON. Need I say more? Yes? Okay. This is a fantastic scary movie, but it TOTALLY turns the genre on it's head. It's scary but it is HILARIOUS. And full of attractive men. (Okay, so I'm a little shallow. It's fine.) 

3. Scream. This is a modern classic, and I still love it. Even though I know who the killer is and I've seen it a million times, I will watch it pretty much every time it's on TV. Because it's still that good! It manages to be a really great horror film while being super satirical at the same time. 

2. Oculus. This is a brand-new favorite of mine, but MAN, did this movie just get under my skin. It has the scare/jumpiness factor, but for the most part, it's a slightly quieter horror film. So much of the scary is psychological, and the non-linear structure is SO COOL. Like nothing I've seen before, and the second it ended, I knew it was one of my new favorite scary movies that I can watch over and over again. 

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is one movie that is basically a must-watch for me for both Halloween AND Christmas. It's definitely part of my childhood, and it just wouldn't be either holiday season without this movie. So it gets the number one slot! 

Tell me: what are YOUR favorite Halloween or scary movies? Let me know in the comment below! 

Review: THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers

Title: This is Not a Test
Author: Courtney Summers

Summary: It's the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won't stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn't sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she's failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she's forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group's fate is determined less and less by what's happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life--and death--inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to? 

Why I read it: I've heard so many great things about Courtney Summers books, and especially This is Not a Test. So when I made my rather large Book Outlet order and saw this on the site, I knew I had to pick it up. Since it's got zombies, I decided it would be a perfect October read!

Thoughts: I totally understand why everyone loves Courtney Summers so much.

I had high expectations for This is Not a Test, and it fulfilled every one of them. This book has been described as The Breakfast Club with zombies, and I can see that. I've also heard from many a reviewer that this is not really a "zombie book." It's more like a contemporary that just happens to have zombies in it. I honestly think it's a bit of both. I'm having a really hard time putting my feelings into words here.

I really can't go into too much detail on plot or characters because it's a book best read blind. Read it without knowing too much, and just let the words speak for themselves.

However, I do love the characters. All six survivors in the high school, Sloane included, have such a variety of motivations and personality quirks that make them all different. And none of them are purely good or bad. Courtney's teenage characters are extremely realistic, each one having both their own strengths and flaws.

And the writing is marvelous. As I said above, I think this is both a contemporary book AND a zombie book. The heart of the book is the character development for all six characters--especially Sloane--but that doesn't mean that Courtney skimps on the action scenes. Every time the main characters interacted with the dead had me on the edge of my seat.

After I finished this book, I had to go back and read the last few pages again a few times, and really let it all sink in. This is definitely one of those books that make you think, and it's so wonderful and heartbreaking.

Oh, and Courtney is releasing an e-novella sequel in January, titled Please Remain Calm. I am literally jumping up and down in anticipation of another glimpse at this world.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Tell me: have YOU read This is Not a Test? What were your thoughts? 

AND have you read any other Courtney Summers books? If so, which was your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!