Review: The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book by E. Lockhart

The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book by E.
Lockhart
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 256 | 224
Format: e-book
Ratings: ★★
Note: 
We received these books from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

I’ve been seeing this series floating around Goodreads with a ceramic frog on the cover, and since then, I’ve been intrigued. After writing about such strange teenagers in We Were Liars, I wanted to see how E. Lockhart portrayed an average teenage girl.

The answer?

Extremely stereotypically.  Continue reading “Review: The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book by E. Lockhart”

Review: London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning

26177619London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning
Genre: 
Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 272
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★★
Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

I was first drawn to this book because of it’s short timeline. It takes place over one night, and that would probably mean it would be a quick, fun read that could entertain me for a few hours. And I was right! London Belongs to Us is snappy and fast paced, the perfect read to start a summer of reading contemporary books. Continue reading “Review: London Belongs to Us by Sarra Manning”

Review: Paperweight by Meg Haston

24917415Paperweight by Meg Haston
Genre: Contemporary with Mental Illness
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 287
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★

Paperweight follows Stevie who is admitted to a rehab centre for eating disorders. Twenty seven days after she arrives it will be the first anniversary of her brother’s death, and to honour his memory, because she feels entirely responsible, she wants to kills herself. Heavy stuff, right? (Trigger warnings: self-harm, eating disorders, volatile relationships, manic-pixie-dream-girl.)

I’ve never read anything about eating disorders before and, if I’m being 100% honest, the topic scares me. I had the opportunity to review Paperweight when it first came out, but I declines thinking that because the subject matter wasn’t for me, I wouldn’t enjoy the story. I WAS WRONG. So wrong that it needs to be capitalised, underlined, and in a different colour.   Continue reading “Review: Paperweight by Meg Haston”

Review: Moth Girls by Anne Cassidy

27766357Moth Girls by Anne Cassidy
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 304
Format: ARC e-book
Rating: ★★★★

I was sent Moth Girls by Hot Key Books in exchange for my honest review.

WOW. Just wow. I was drawn to this book like a moth to a flame. Anne Cassidy has created a story which is compelling, character driven and impossible to put down. I wasn’t expecting much from Moth Girls after having read so much in this genre last year, but I was completely blown away by how beautifully this story was crafted and how invested I was in these characters. I just could not stop reading. Moth Girls follows Mandy five years after two of her friends Petra and Tina are presumed dead after sneaking in to a old house owned by a reclusive man. She blames herself for what happened to the girls and has struggled to let them go, and move on with her life. Until the house is being knocked down and it looks like one of the girls isn’t gone after all.

Continue reading “Review: Moth Girls by Anne Cassidy”

Review: Monsters by Emerald Fennell

25399706Monsters by Emerald Fennell
Genre: 
Horror
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 288
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ???
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

I’m having a little trouble giving this a rating. Because I don’t normally dive into the horror genre, (I’m more of a murder mystery person, but an actual murder person) I don’t know where to rank the book. It was certainly creepy, and horrible, and unfortunately not very enjoyable, BUT if you like the horror genre, you’d probably like this book??? It was an interesting introduction to horror, but firmly cemented that it’s not for me.

Let’s discuss for a minute. Continue reading “Review: Monsters by Emerald Fennell”

Review: Sophie Someone by Hayley Long

25382680Sophie Someone by Hayley Long
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 254
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

Plot
Sophie Someone 
is a book about a girl. The story is relatively short and only has one major plot point, of Sophie trying to discover her identity, but what really makes this book interesting is how it’s told. Sophie is Belgian, and in order to get across the language barrier, Long used different words to communicate Sophie’s not-entirely comprehensive understanding of English. For example, fax meant fax and freckle meant friend. To begin with, this was hard to understand, and sometimes difficult to figure out what the real term was. Like, apocalypse meant apartment. I think the rule was the first one or two letters gave a clue to the word Sophie was trying to convey. Sometimes, it was ironic, like a teacher was called a torturer, or The Daily Mail was the Daily Malice. Without realising it, Sophie was giving a kind of social commentary!

I guess I’m not really sure what to say about this book. Overall, I’d give it 2.5 starsIt’s something you have to read to understand! If you’re in the mood for a simple story, something that won’t take too long to read, but might take longer than usual because of the odd language use, then this is definitely the book for you!

Review: Fish Out Of Water by Natalie Whipple

22402516Fish Out Of Water by Natalie Whipple
Genre: 
Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 322
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

I picked this book up on a whim because of the quirky cover, and I usually trust whatever Hot Key Books publishes. They know what’s good. I was also really in the mood for a nice contemporary romance, which was exactly what I got.  Continue reading “Review: Fish Out Of Water by Natalie Whipple”

Review: Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall

25326323Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall
Genre: Gothic, Paranormal, Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 258
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book was so addicting and there was no way I could put it down when it really got going. Five kids on a camping trip to an ancient burial ground? Sign me up! I’d describe this book as soft core paranormal, where the majority of the story is contemporary with a hint of mystery.

Continue reading “Review: Black Cairn Point by Claire McFall”

Review: All Of The Above by James Dawson

23156540All Of The Above by James Dawson
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: ?
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This is the first James Dawson book I have read, and his stuff seems pretty hyped, so I was excited. After reading the acknowledgments I found that this is different to the majority of the stuff he’s done before, apparently he does more horror(?) but All Of The Above was refreshing with it’s realism and what makes it even better was the protagonist was completely unapologetic for how crazy her life was. If I could use a meme to describe this book it would be: ‘sounds fake, but okay.’ It’s so jam-packed with teenager-y themes that it feels a little overwhelming at times, but I guess that’s life.

Continue reading “Review: All Of The Above by James Dawson”

Review: Birdy by Jess Vallance

25948719Birdy by Jess Vallance
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Hot Key Books
Pages: 263
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I received this Birdy from Hot Key Books in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, so this book is one of those unsuspecting stories where you start and think, ‘okay, yeah, I could get into this!’ and as you go things become more and more unsettling and you curse the fact that it’s slow paced because what is even happening?!

Continue reading “Review: Birdy by Jess Vallance”