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Book Review: The Unpredictability of Being Human by Linni Ingemundsen

Title: The Unpredictability of Being Human

Author:  Linni Ingemundsen

Published: December 28th, 2017

Publisher: Usborne Publishing

Find the Author: Goodreads 


Disclosure: I was sent this ARC from the Publisher in exchange for a review. As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.


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Meet Malin, a fifteen-year-old who sees the world differently. Malin knows she couldn’t change much about her life, even if she got to play God. Her dad would still yell all the time – especially as Malin is still friends with Hanna, the girl she met shoplifting. Her mum would still say a glass of wine is good for her heart – and Mum needs it, with Malin’s brother, Sigve, getting into trouble all the time. And Malin would still be Malin. Because she can’t be anybody else. 


In a voice bursting with immediacy and truth, Malin shares the absurdities of growing up and fitting in as her family struggles with the buried pain of mistakes made and secrets kept.


Profound, compassionate and as funny as it is dark, Malin’s story is an offbeat examination and celebration of the brutal, bizarre and beautiful unpredictability of being human.


If you love the freshness and honesty of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the emotional depth of John Green, and the irreverent wit of Little Miss Sunshine, push this to the top of your TBR pile. 

First Thoughts…

The first thing that crossed my mind when The Unpredictability of Being Human appeared in my lap was that it had that certain je ne sais quoi. It reminded me of something John Green might write, but with a spirited twist. I was so eager to get into this but I was swarmed with TBR books around the holidays that I didn’t get a chance to read this until early February! 

My Review…

Malin, straight away, is quite an unusual main character. Her point of view and inner monologue on the world is striking, bordering on painfully honest. She sounds much older than her age, fifteen, throughout her POV. Malin’s family are a huge part of her troubles and bigger picture on life. There’s the situation surrounding her Mom’s drinking, her Father’s temper and brother’s troublesome behaviour. These things make Malin overwhelmed by these trusting, innocent ways to cope with not being able to change what her life is. 
What’s different about The Unpredictability of Being Human is that there is no solid plot. But in that way, it’s even more interesting, if that makes sense. It’s a crack into the universe inside Malin’s mind and a teenage life. And just a glimpse into her world is bittersweet, relateable and addictive. She’s to-the-point and there’s no messing about with her thoughts on everyday life, so there’s that same, definite maturity to her point of view that definitely made me feel like I was reading about someone a few years older (but not in a bad way). 
Overall, I flew through the pages SO FAST. I think it was over three nights that I read this before bed and it was such a refreshing, slice-of-heaven that I think it’s one of those books I could pick up again in months time and re-read. The writing does take some time to get used to in Malin’s ways of talking to us as readers, but it’s honestly such a great read that I can’t think of anything that was negative about The Unpredictability of Being Human. If you love feel-good YA or similar to the John Green demographic, you’ll adore this book. Amazing read – four stars!

Have you read The Unpredictability of Being Human?

Let me know what you thought in the comments, on Twitter or Facebook!

happy reading!
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Book Review: “Isla and the Happily Ever After” by Stephanie Perkins

+ Plot references, no major spoilers – but be warned that hints are given away. If you haven’t read ISLA yet, be warned that this review will give away references to the previous books: ANNA and LOLA. +

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 14th, 2014
Published by: Dutton (US) Usborne Publishing (UK)


I bought this book myself! As always, my reviews are fair and non-bias. 


The café is boiling. The atmosphere is clouded with bittersweet coffee.
Three years of desire rip through my body and burst from my lips: “Josh!”
His head jolts up. For a long time, a very long time, he just stares at me.
And then…he blinks. “Isla?”

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on brooding artist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and Barcelona, this is a gorgeous, heart-wrenching and irresistible story of true love, and the perfect conclusion to Stephanie Perkins’s beloved series.

I am going to say it now: THIS SERIES IS THE BEST EVER. I didn’t even have to read Isla to know that, because it’s pretty known in the YA literature genre that Stephanie is one of the most amazing authors out there. Isla was very highly anticipated for me (and about a million others!) so when it was next in my TBR pile I tore it open and read it in a very short amount of time.
Isla is a hopeless romantic stuck in a very realistic world that seems to shut down her feelings for Josh (from Anna and the French Kiss, remember?!) and she feels like every time she ran into him last year, she made a huge fool of herself and that he probably thinks she’s insane. So when she spots him back in Manhattan over the summer, she’s not quite over some side-effects of a dental appointment and fears she’s made things even worse. 
But little does she know, things are actually about to fall right into place. 
When they meet again, Josh and Isla are thrown into a roller-coaster of missed opportunities that both of them were too blind to see before. Josh thought Isla was taken and Isla thought Josh didn’t have a clue she didn’t exist. But now things are out in the open, it gives them a future neither of them imagined could exist. One that is maybe, just the beginning of everything. 
In Anna, we went to Paris, then in Lola, we went to San Francisco – now, in Isla, we’re in three of the most beautiful places on earth. Paris, Barcelona and New York. Those cities were the pages of Isla and Josh’s love story, while they were writing it together. Stephanie Perkins shows us yet again how to give us a realistic, heart-breaking, joyful and enchanting story that I’ll remember forever. I was ecstatic to see my favourite characters return from the previous books for the most amazing twist in the story I hadn’t even imagined in my book-loving dreams. 
Overall, anyone who doesn’t own this series is missing out on something absolutely mesmerizing and awe-worthy. I couldn’t put it down, and even if I had to, the story never stopped in my head. Isla’s story is now my newfound favourite novel of this series, but also, maybe of all time in Contemporary YA lit. It blows the competition out of the water with the charismatic, real characters and plots to make your heart race. Anything less than 5 stars wouldn’t be acceptable – this is THE book of the year!  
Totally worth waiting for.
I’m torn between the very last line of the series and a part that I was not expecting at all with some surprise characters. If you’ve read Isla, you could probably figure this out!

One word: EVERYONE.

Have you read Isla and The Happily Ever After?


What did you think?


Tell me in the comments, on twitter or by using the hashtag #IslaAndJosh


happy reading!

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