Category: Reviews by Bee

Review: My Favourite Manson Girl by Alison Umminger

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28231373My Favourite Manson Girl by Alison Umminger
Genre: Contemporary, Coming of Age
Published by: Atom
Pages: 288
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★★
Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Somehow, this book was so much more and so much less than I was expecting, which seems like a bit of a weird statement to begin with, but bare with me. I was expecting the ‘researching the Manson murders’ to be a bigger thing that it was. I was constantly expecting a new murder to take place, which just shows how I’ve come to expect things from this genre, when what I should actually be doing is expecting surprises. So, although My Favourite Manson Girl was not the books I was expecting, I really enjoyed the gritty realism and conflicting emotions of Anna’s life. In America the book is titled American Girls  and I think all the images that come that are a lot more accurate than My Favourite Manson Girl, because I was constantly expecting some Nancy Drew mystery to pop up.

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Review: Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah by Erin Lange

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25582820Rebel, Bully, Geek, Pariah by Erin Lange
Genre: Contemporary, Adventure, Thriller
Published by: Faber & Faber
Pages: 359
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★

I’m pretty much a sucker for anything that tries to be The Breakfast Club. TBC is one of my favourite movies and The Breakfast Bunch episode of Victorious is probably one of the most beautiful episodes of any TV show ever. So, four kids whose personalities you don’t think will mix end up running for their lives together? Sounds like my jam. But here are couple of reasons why it failed to live up to my expectations, even thought it was still a fun and exciting read.

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Review: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

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15937108Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Genre: Contemporary, Middle-Grade
Published by: Puffin Books
Pages: 380
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★

I’ve seen this book in quite a few libraries recently, and I never bothered to pick it up until now because the cover seemed a little odd, and I thought because it was middle-grade that I wouldn’t enjoy it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I should know better than to judge a book by its cover, because Counting By 7s is a story I won’t be forgetting any time soon.

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Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

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234034021A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Published by: Titan Books
Pages: 386
Format: e-book
Rating: ★★★★
Series: A Gathering of Shadows (#2)

Oh goodness. This book was AMAZING. *round of applause* THIS is what fantasy is SUPPOSE TO READ LIKE. No flimsy faux-badass girls, but an actual bad-ass girl. Lila and Kell will steal your heart and once you read A Darker Shade Of Magic you will never want to go on adventures with any one else. I read a chapter sample thing ages ago, but couldn’t really get into it. Now I’ve read the full book I realise that’s because there’s so much world building and gradual character introductions that it does take some dedication before you can really get into it, but if you stick with it you will get out what you put in!

This is not the kind of book you can read quickly, it’s the kind that needs to be savoured and loved till the final page and beyond.

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Review: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

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26042228The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Scholastic Press
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★

I’ve heard a lot about this author in the past, and I thought it was about time I read something by her. Everyone was hauling her latest book at BEA/BookCon this year, so it seemed like the perfect time. Now, everybody loves Speak and Wintergirls best, but this was one of the only LHA books my library had, so why not go for one that nobody talks about!  I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. I enjoyed the writing style, but the story wasn’t was I was expecting int he slightest. From the blurb it sounded like a mystery/ thriller but instead I got something completely different.

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Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

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18196040The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
Genre: Realistic Dystopian
Published by: Indigo
Pages: 424
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5

I was super excited to get my hands on The Walled City considering Wolf by Wolf was one of my absolute favourites of the year. However, this book has showed me that just because you gelled with an author on one of their books, doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to like them all. I put my distaste of this book mostly down to the subject matters – it’s not exactly what I would describe as enjoyable.

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Review: Far From You by Tess Sharpe

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20517739Far From You by Tess Sharpe
Genre: Mystery, Romance, LGBTQ
Published by: Indigo
Pages: 343
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★

Upon first picking up Far From You, I thought I was about to read another YA thriller mystery similar to all of the ones I’ve read in the past year. (I don’t know how I’ve read so many, it’s just happened!) When I mentioned this book in a library check out haul, someone told me it was so much more than my mystery/thriller assumptions, and I’m really glad I gave it a chance. Because what I was not expecting was the LGBTQ aspect, and without it this would’ve been a very cliche story.

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Series Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

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https://heartfullofbooks.com/2016/06/13/series-review-across-the-universe-by-beth-revis/
https://heartfullofbooks.com/2016/06/13/series-review-across-the-universe-by-beth-revis/
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Across the Universe, A Million Suns, Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Genre: Sci-fi, Romance. Published by: Razorbill
Pages: 398, 404, 369 respectively. Format: e-book
Rating: ★★.5

The Across the Universe series seemed to be one of the staples of everyone’s shelves on the booktube community when we first joined almost three years ago. And I’m sure the majority of you will have heard of this series, if not for it’s content, then for the widely contested cover change. DUN DUN DUN. Not many people are talking about this series anymore, but we decided to give it ago anyway, because if it was popular once, then maybe it could be again. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be the case. The whole series is very typical of what the YA market was like a a few years ago. Full of adventure, insta-love, and poorly explained enemies. Had we read it when it was first popular maybe we would’ve enjoyed the series, but instead we found ourselves slogging through for the sake of this review.

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Review: Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

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17616412Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan
Genre: Contemporary, Magical Realism, Romance
Published by: Penguin
Pages: 358
Format: Paperback
Rating: It varies, but ★★★.5

When it comes to David Levithan I find that his co-written works are always the best, and Invisibility continues to prove this theory right. I absolutely loved the first 150 pages or so. They were so well written and I was completely absorbed by the characters and the situation. However, I do agree with the majority of the other reviews that this book lost its way in the middle, and began to feel like something completely different. Still, I really liked the magical-realism element, and I think you can explain away the majority of the strangeness to the situation. It’s still worth giving a go, and here’s why!

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Review: The Last Star by Rick Yancey

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24955557The Last Star by Rick Yancey
Genre: Dystopian
Published by: Penguin
Pages: 338
Format: e-book
Rating: ★★
Series: The 5th Wave (#1) | The Infinite Sea (#2)

I feel like the world has been waiting a long time for this finale to drop. The 5th Wave was such an action-packed story but the second left a little something to be desired, and I’m really sorry to admit that the third book took it down another notch. Not gonna lie, but this was kind of a mess. After the wait I was expecting something spectacular! With an awesome ending and satisfying closure on the whole things, but once again, I was left feeling disappointed. Here’s why:

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