If you missed our review of the first three episodes, you can see that here!
Firstly, these episodes were a definite improvement on the last set. The character interactions were better, and more focus was placed on Simon and Alec, in general, who we think are the strongest characters in the show. Of course, that doesn’t mean we didn’t cringe at a thing or two, so without further ado, here’s our breakdown of episodes four to six! Continue reading “Review: SHADOWHUNTERS Episodes 4-6”
Review: Book Of Lies by Teri Terry
Book Of Lies by Teri Terry
Genre: Paranormal
Published by: Orchard Books
Pages: 352
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★★.5
Note: We received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I really love Teri Terry’s writing. The Slated Trilogy was such a standout read for me in 2013, and the whole series brings a new voice to the dystopian genre. Then, last year, I read Mind Games, which had the same techno-fantasy vibe as my favourite book of all time, Fearsome Dreamer. So, I had expectations when it came to Book Of Lies and they were definitely met! It was a great reading experience, and really made me appreciate the previous books of Terry’s I’ve read. Continue reading “Review: Book Of Lies by Teri Terry”
Review: Dreaming of Antigone by Robin Bridges
Dreaming of Antigone by Robin Bridges
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Kensington
Pages: 304
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★.5
Note: We received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
I waned to read this book mostly because of the beautiful cover, but also in hope that it would help me understand the Antigone story a lot more. Dreaming of Antigone follows Andria and her heart-broken family. Her sister, Iris committed suicide six months before the events of the novel and Andria suffers from seizures resulting in an overly protective mother. The premise sounded really intriguing and I was looking forward to that “heartfelt and emotional” journey promised by the blurb on the front, but I don’t think it lived up to my expectations. Luckily, unlike like the Greek tragedy that Andria relates her life to, there is a happy ending, otherwise it would’ve been too depressing!
Continue reading “Review: Dreaming of Antigone by Robin Bridges”
Review: Head Over Heels by Holly Smale
Head Over Heels (Geek Girl #5) by Holly Smale
Genre: Contemporary, FUN
Published by: HarperCollins
Pages: 416
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★★★★
Series: All That Glitters (Geek Girl #4)
Note: We received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
Head Over Heels is one of our most anticipated releases of 2016, and if you known us, even just a little bit, you know we LOVE the Geek Girl series. It’s one of the best things to come into existence because I think there’s a Harriet Manners in all of us. She’s such a relatable and funny character, you can’t help but fall head over heels for her. SO, we had great expectations for the fifth book, and BOY were they met! Let’s fangirl about it! Continue reading “Review: Head Over Heels by Holly Smale”
Review: Red Witch by Anna McKerrow
Red Witch by Anna McKerrow
Genre: Supernatural
Published by: Quercus Books
Pages: 416
Format: ARC e-book
Series: Crow Moon (#1)
Rating: ★★★
Note: We received this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
I jumped straight into Red Witch after finishing Crow Moon. Once again, I knew practically nothing about the sequel and was pleasantly surprised to find it was from Demelza’s point of view. I thought she was an under appreciated character in the first book, but her POV meant that I lost the small connection I had with the characters from Crow Moon. I’ve just read 400 pages of Danny, at least tell me what happens to him and Saba! Red Witch did pretty much everything I felt was lacking for the first book, so now we have a pretty interesting climax ready for the third and final book in the series, which I will definitely be reading! There will be spoilers of Crow Moon in order to talk about the events of the second book, so if you haven’t finished Crow Moon, I highly suggest you do that first.
Review: SHADOWHUNTERS Episodes 1-3
We know we’re jumping on the Shadowhunters bandwagon pretty late, considering 10 episodes have already aired, but we wanted to make sure it at least has some positive reviews before we started watching. That, and we prefer to marathon TV shows and waiting a week in between episodes is just too painful, so we’ll be doing our reviews in three episode chunks.
Okay, so first we’ll start with a movie/TV show comparison – it’s hard to resist! Continue reading “Review: SHADOWHUNTERS Episodes 1-3”
Reviews: World Book Day Books for Older Readers
Both of these stories were available for £1 on World Book Day, March 3rd, and are still available as e-editions.
Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Romance
Published by: Pan Macmillan
Pages: 63
Rating: ★★★
This was a classic Rainbow Rowell story in that the romance was adorable, and follows the same kind of fangirl culture, similar to Fangirl itself. Elena, our protagonist, decides to camp out in front of the movie theatre a few days before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She’s already bought a ticket online, but it’s the ritual of devotion to the franchise, no matter how unnecessary. Gabe and Troy are the only other people in the line. Not only is this a romance story, but a story about being a fan of something, and how we need to show the world we like something, especially online. Gabe even has this little speech about nerd/geek culture and how it’s cool to be part of a fandom nowadays. We could both talk for a long time about fandom culture, so we won’t, but just know it sparks some interesting thought.
The scenario was really unique and the characters were witty. It was something you could enjoy for an hour, and be sucked in by.
The one thing that niggled at us both was the convenience of the relationship between Elena and Gabe. It turned out that they both knew of each other before the line, as if that would make up for the shortness of the story. It just felt a bit incomplete.
Spot The Difference by Juno Dawson
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 84
Rating: ★★★★
This book was really refreshing because the main character, Avery, had acne. I’ve never seen that dealt with as a serious topic in a book before, which seems ridiculous because a lot of teenagers suffer from it, and if not from full blown acne, then definitely from the odd pimple or two. The plot revolves around Avery getting some treatment for her spots and becoming beautiful as they disappear. Because of this, she is accepted by the most popular crowd (which really brings to light how superficial popularity is in high school.) While this is happening, there’s an election for head boy and head girl, and Avery is persuaded to go for it.
There were some really lovely messages in this book, about loving the skin you’re in, and being true to yourself, and having loyalty to the people who have been with you through thick and thin. Although the story line could be predictable (because the adoption to the popular crowd is a trope) the characters and their actions were believable, so we didn’t mind.
This story could be read by every person in secondary school, because the characters feel a little ageless. They could be in Year Seven or Year Eleven, and the same dynamic would apply.
Overall, Spot the Difference worked excellently in a small number of pages. It could have been a much longer book, but it was just really concise and wonderful. We loved the humour and the positivity about being yourself, so this was definitely a favourite of the WBD books we’ve read.
Review: Crow Moon by Anna McKerrow
Crow Moon by Anna McKerrow
Genre: Magical-realism
Published by: Quercus
Pages: 384
Format: e-book
Rating: ★★.5
Crow Moon is a UKYA book about a Greenworld and a Redworld, that’s pretty much all I knew before reading. Also, the cover is absolutely beautiful, but completely misleading. Just like Half Bad by Sally Green, Red Witch explores a magical witch land through a male protagonist. I never really connected with the voice, maybe because I prefer female protagonists, but something was definitely hindering my enjoyment and access to the story.
Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Genre: Time Travel, Romance
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 486
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★
Note: We received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Passenger was one of Sarah‘s most anticipated releases. We couldn’t really say the same, as it’s no secret we didn’t enjoy The Darkest Minds. Nevertheless, this book had a lot of hype in the BookTube community (it’s been floating round on the internet since BEA 2015!) and the premise sounded super fun. Unfortunately, we weren’t too impressed with the execution of the idea, so let’s talk about it!
Review: Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield
Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Electric Monkey
Pages: 320
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★
I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
I read Seed at the beginning of the year, and loved it, in a really creepy, I can’t put this down kind of way. When I saw Paper Butterflies, I knew I was interested enough in Lisa Heathfield’s writing style, and ability to give her plots so much suspense, I had to request it. The blurb made the book sound really interesting, about a girl called June who finds a best friend, Blister, and they have lots of fun together. I should have known that this blurb was too good to be true. There was also a hint of an evil stepmother, but the evil was certainly not exaggerated. Kathleen was the most evil woman I’ve ever read about and made this book extremely difficult to enjoy. The rest of my review is going to be a rant about my feelings, because I really don’t know what to say about this one. It’s certainly unique, but in a good way? Maybe. Continue reading “Review: Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield”
Heart Full of Books 