Category: Reviews by Maddie

Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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12578077Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Published by: Entangled
Pages: 335
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

So many people on BookTube rave about the writing and books of Jennifer L. Armentrout. I was super intrigued to pick up the first in the Lux series, ‘Obsidian’, to get a taste of the author and see what all the fuss is about. As is usually the case with hyped books, I was disappointed. Continue reading “Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout” →

Review: Trouble by Non Pratt

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18138917Trouble by Non Pratt
Genre: Contemporary
Published by:
Pages:
Format: E-Book
Rating:
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

Trouble, as you can probably tell from the excellently designed cover, is about pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy. I’ve only ever read one book that deals with this topic before, ‘Someone Like You’ by Sarah Dessen, and I think I was a little too young to appreciate it. So, I was really excited to read about this new and interesting topic and how it would be dealt with, especially since on the blurb it says the pregnant girl, Hannah, is only 15. Note: In the UK it is illegal to have sex before the age of 16. If sex occurs with a minor, this is statutory rape and a criminal offense. PRISON WORTHY. Non Pratt, therefore, was writing about a difficult situation. How did it play off? Well…  Continue reading “Review: Trouble by Non Pratt” →

Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

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1Lorali by Laura Dockrill
Genre: Mermaid
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 208
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

Mermaid fiction + Summer = The perfect read. I was beyond excited to read another YA about mermaids, as ‘Deep Blue’ by Jennifer Donnelly fell a little below the mark. I knew what I wanted from this book, and Dockrill certainly delivered, I couldn’t put it down! Warning: there will be an excess of exclamation points in this review! (!!!)
Continue reading “Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill” →

Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

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1These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Genre: Sci-fi, Romance
Published by: ?
Pages: 374
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Authors | Amazon

With this review, I’m just going to dive right in with my feelings.

Romance
Normally, I’m down for a good love-hate relationship. Good example: Bea and Ben from Much Ado. Unfortunately, I could probably use Lilac and Tarver as my bad example. In the first chapter, I thought all was well. They were both instantly attracted to each other, and I was looking forward to a no-nonsense romance. The next chapter was just full of social prejudice and judgements based on class, I couldn’t handle it. Neither character could admit to liking one another because they either thought they weren’t good enough, or it would be unacceptable in their social circle. Gah, I just could NOT put up with it. If they’d communicated their internal issues, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Having to read half a book with sentences like ‘I wanted to slap her. I wanted to kiss her,’ and ‘I know what we could do in one bed’, made me feel extremely uncomfortable.
Continue reading “Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner” →

Review: Vivian Versus America by Katie Coyle

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20929586Vivian Versus America by Katie Coyle
Genre: Apocalyptic
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 288
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

So, the first book in the series ended in a bit of a cliffhanger. Such a big part of Vivian’s life was revealed that would alter what she did from now. I’m not going to spoil anything, however, so don’t worry. I just wanted to talk about what a successful, if slightly repetitive sequel this was!
Continue reading “Review: Vivian Versus America by Katie Coyle” →

Review: Vivian Versus The Apocalypse by Katie Coyle

Published on by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

17825130Vivian Versus The Apocalypse by Katie Coyle
Genre: Alternate Universe, Contemporary (sort of?), Apocalyptic
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 288
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

I’ve had ‘Vivian…’ on my Kindle for a while, but only when my library got the sequel did I have the motivation to read it. It seemed like a really interesting read, with a completely unusual premise, and it didn’t disappoint in that respect!

Plot
In the book, America has been overridden by a new religious belief that’s radical and somewhat dangerous. Vivian does not belief, but her parent do, and when the ‘Reckoning’ occurs and her parents disappear, Viv and her best friend Harp set out  on a road trip across country to find some answers.
Continue reading “Review: Vivian Versus The Apocalypse by Katie Coyle” →

Review: I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

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23573418I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson 
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Walker Books
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

Apart from the horrific mustard coloured cover, I was really intrigued by ‘I’ll Give You The Sun’. The title was ambiguous enough to not give any of the story away, and it’s about twins, which is always a bonus for me. So, I dived straight in and was not disappointed! I was a little scared, seeing as one page of the book is just ‘In a set of twins, there is one angel and one devil’ in really big font, but after reading the book in its entirety, I realised I’d taken that out of context, and all was going to be A-OK.

Seeing as the book is told from both Noah and Jude’s perspective, I’m going to split up my review as such:
Continue reading “Review: I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson” →

Review: Whatever Love Is? by Rosie Rushton

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12405172Whatever Love Is? by Rosie Rushton
Genre: Classic Retelling
Published by: Piccadilly
Pages: 210
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon
As part of my Mansfield Must-Haves, I picked up the 21st Century retelling from my local library. Reading retellings is a great way to dive into the world of classics, and gaining a basic understanding, as much as a literary web series is!

Continue reading “Review: Whatever Love Is? by Rosie Rushton” →

Review: Goose by Dawn O’Porter

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gooseGoose by Dawn O’Porter
Genre: Contemporary, Coming Of Age
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 280
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

I initially picked up ‘Goose’ because one of the main characters discovered religion, and I was interested in reading about that subject matter, as I think religion isn’t really something that’s dealt with a lot in the YA genre. Also, the characters were about to go off to university, and it was supposedly a tale of friendship. Being in that situation myself, I was looking forward to a possibly very relatable read. But, alas, if this book wasn’t under 250 pages, I wouldn’t have finished it. Here’s why. Continue reading “Review: Goose by Dawn O’Porter” →

Review: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

Published on by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

22465605Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Putnam
Pages: 273
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

I was super duper excited to read the sequel to ‘Rebel Belle’, which I gave 5 stars because I loved it so much! ‘Miss Mayhem’ contained all the same elements of the first book, which was enjoyable, but did fall into the trap of second-book-syndrome. I was a little disappointed with how things ended, (thank goodness this is a trilogy!) but let’s talk pros and cons!

Continue reading “Review: Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins” →