The Room (Jonas Karlsson)

Release Date: January 15th 2015 

Synopsis:  
A quirky and unsettling tale, of dark humour and strange realities, about a bureaucrat, an open plan office and a secret room..
The Authority looks favourably upon meticulousness, efficiency and ambition. Bjorn has all of this in spades, but it's only in the Room that he can really shine. Unfortunately, his colleagues see things differently. In fact, they don't even see the Room at all.
The Room is a short, sharp and fiendish fable in the tradition of Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Charlie Kauffman. If you have ever toiled in an office, felt like the world was against you or questioned the nature of reality then this is the novel for you.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
This is nothing like I usually read and I was positive I wasn't going to enjoy it that much. I was right and so wrong at the same time.
On one side, the characters were all detestable and extremely unreliable narrators, but I absolutely loved every minute of this book.
A little introduction in the beginning of the book compares the style of 'The Room' to that of Kafka, and I totally agree. It has the same gift of being able to mess with your mind, leaving everything out of place, while making you question everything you thought was true and everything you believed in.
It points a finger at the reader directly, making sure we see our own faults in these flawed characters and that makes us uncomfortable, the best kind.It's a psychological journey through a story were nothing is certain and, by the end of the book, we get to take our own conclusions, based on what we got out of it. That's the magic of books of this kind (and books in general, but this one takes it to levels is almost impossible to describe).
Honestly, I read this in a day. It kept me wanting more, I couldn't think about anything else but to know how it ended, even though I knew, deep down, that the ending would only raise even more questions, as it did.This was just an immensely mind blowing, surral and desconcerning story that deserves to be read by everyone.

We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a true story (Josh Sundquist)

Synopsis:   
Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend. For twenty-three hours. In eighth grade.
Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?
The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
My first impression when I started reading this was An Abundance of Katherines meets The Fault in our Stars meets What's your number?
Overall this was immensely quirky and adorkable and funny and, most of all, inspirational to levels it's almost impossible to describe.
I could honestly feel every word, every emotion Josh Sundquist wrote, and the fact that this is non-fiction makes makes my heart skip a beat, although it can almost be read as a young-adult contemporary fiction novel. It was brilliant.
I completely fell in love with the story and the author's voice, his way to look at things, how he looked at his disability, the way he interpreted his girlfriend-less years, the conclusion he got to in the end and, most of all, his heartwarming ending that makes you believe that, in the end, if it's meant to be, it will happen, one way or another.
Honestly, through most of this book, I just wanted to hug him and tell him we could totally hand out sometime. I was so invested in all of this I watched almost all of Josh's videos on Youtube. I wanted more.
In conclusion, this was probably one of the cutest books I will read this year. It was perfection of a memoir, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to feel happy. I have no doubt that We Should Hang Out Sometime is going to make every day better and make you feel warm and complete inside.

Kinski (Gabriel Hardman)

Synopsis:  
A salesman's self-styled mission to save a puppy from its neglectful owners escalates into a righteous crusade in this quirky crime thriller written and drawn by GABRIEL HARDMAN (Hulk, Heathentown, Planet of the Apes). Collects KINSKI #1-6

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
Honestly, I didn't know exactly what I was going to find in this graphic novel. They are always an adventure. I knew this one was about a dog, and that was as much convincing as I needed.
I must say I read this in 15 minutes. It was just fast-paced, full-on classic graphic-novel goodness. I had a really nice rhythm and flow, and you could totally just look at this as one small story that completely stays with you.
That being said, it was a very bizarre and interesting story, to say the least. It revolves around a cute black puppy, but it's so much more than that in so many ways. It's more of a character study and a fascinating journey through the subconscious of this man and his love for Kinski.
I think this is an extremely metaphorical book and the art portrays that in a way that is almost impossible to describe.
Finally, although I did find the plot to be a bit confusing at times, the full picture is so much more important and I can only say that not everyone is going to enjoy it: we have to see the deeper meaning of Kinski as a whole and I found that a beautiful part of the reading experience.

Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly (Stephen Graham Jones and Paul Tremblay)

Synopsis:  
Things Mary doesn't want to fall into: the river, high school, her mother's life.
Things Mary does kind of want to fall into: love, the sky.
This is the story of a girl who sees a boy float away one fine day. This is the story of the girl
who reaches up for that boy with her hand and with her heart. This is the story of a girl who
takes on the army to save a town, who goes toe-to-toe with a mad scientist, who has to fight a plague to save her family. This is the story of a girl who would give anything to get to babysit her baby brother one more time. If she could just find him.
It's all up in the air for now, though, and falling fast. . . .
Fun, breathlessly exciting, and full of heart, Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly is an unforgettable ride.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
This was nothing like I expected it was going to be, but maybe it was even better.
The book in general was very strange, and you could sense it growing into something a whole lot stranger, and I loved it. It was exactly the kind of thing that I loved to read at the time that I did.
The plot was so fast-paced: there was never a boring moment because something was always happening.
From the very beginning I felt such a connection with Mary, the main character: she was extremely relatable and funny and I think I marked like 10 pages, just with her jokes. I mean, she calls her religious family members 'muggles'...
I really loved 'Floating Boy' and his story. He was adorable and that made this story adorable and I was either laughing at Mary's jokes or aww-ing at 'Floating Boy'. Same goes for Mary's little brother and his newly-found appreciation for the whole floating thing.I also thoroughly enjoyed the religious characters, the Claremonts, and Mary's idea of them. It was an unexpected addition to the story and it was one of the main sources for the humour in this book.
And although, like I mentioned before, this is a very funny book, it was also serious. Through jokes and anxiety attacks we got to see just how far the floating virus had gone.
With all of that, I would say this was quite predictable, but it wrapped up really nicely and I believe younger reader would find this extraordinarily entertaining.

Henni (Miss Lasko-Gross)

Release Date: January 20th 2015 

Synopsis:  
In a fantastical world where old traditions and religion dominate every aspect of life, lives a girl named Henni.
Unlike most in her village, Henni questions and wonders what the world is like as she comes of age.
Striking out on her own, Henni goes out in search of truth, adventure, and more!
Written and drawn my Miss Lasko Gross (A Mess of Everything and Escape From Special), Henni is a commentary on, religion, coming of age, and being yourself.

Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review. 
The first thing that needs to be mentioned about Henni is the art, the illustrations, the color-scheme. Everything was so fascinating and completely set the tone for the entire story.
This was certainly a very engaging read, and to me it felt very personal. I connected with the main character, Henni, immmediately... she starts questioning everything, if what she is taught to believe is really all there is, and then leaves on a journey to find out the truth about the world and herself.
All through the story we get valuable life lessons. We can't help but wonder what we truly believe in, what is the right thing, and if it is our right to impose it on everyone else.
This touches very real and present themes that still exist all around us, in our so called 'modern society', in a very philosophical yet simple and understandable way.
I found this to be a genuinely inspirational journey about staying true to your beliefs and fighting for what you think is fair and right.
I definitely recommend this, especially for younger readers, particularly young girls starting to question their place in society.