YA – Page 51 – Heart Full of Books

Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Published on October 26, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of BooksLeave a comment

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Little Brown Books
Pages: 354
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon
Wait, there’s going to be a movie?! How very ‘The Spectacular Now’.

There were a lot of things about this book that really jumped out at me. I love the title, how to the point it is. You definitely know what you’re getting with this one. I love the addition of pictures. That extra element just adds originality to the story but also enhances it so much. It definitely wouldn’t be the same without the beautiful pictures.

The novel follows Min, short of Minerva, Roman goddess of knowledge, as she explains the stories behind all the items she put in a box to deliver to her ex-boyfriend, Ed. Min is “different”, but only to someone who’s life is filled with basketball games and getting drunk at house parties. Ed is “different”, but only to someone who loves old movies and sitting in coffee shops. The point is, Min and Ed were two very different people and therefore not suited to each other in the eyes of their unsupportive best friends.

But if someone tells you you’re not right for someone, you’re going to do all you can to prove you are, right? Somehow, Ed changes when he’s with Min and I really liked how he was willing to change and try new things but I hoped that the developments he made with Min, such as not using ‘gay’ to describe things (urgh, those people actually exist) would translate into his basketball life. They didn’t. Away from Min, he was still the same guy with a string of angry ex-girlfriends who were more than willing to be his shoulder to cry on.

Min’s relationship with Ed, very realistically, alienated her from her friends, which is never the right thing. She didn’t grow as Ed did, but she definitely matured. I loved her realisation at the end of the relationship that there was nothing ‘different’ about her, and that was just a label given to her by ignorant teenagers that were to involved in their own lives to be bothered about anyone that didn’t resemble their personality. (I like to think of this book as a book about doomed romance but also a social commentary.)

I particularly enjoyed the beginning of the book, when Ed was innocent and so was Min. The way their relationship blossomed was lovely, if a little bit fast paced but I guess that’s the cliche of young love. However, once you get to know Ed, you realise he is the ‘jerk bastard prick’ that Min describes him as.

I thought that the actual break up was slightly anticlimactic. I wanted their to be a huge fight, with not just Min arguing at Ed. She, at the very least, needed to punch the guy for what he did. Two punches, even. Heck, she needed to invite her friends to help her beat him up.

Overall, I’d give this book four stars. The pictures and short chapters helped to push me through the novel in a very addicted fashion, as well as helping me to guess what was going to happen next. Daniel Handler’s irregular writing leant itself well to the style of this book: a long and slightly rambling explanation of a teenage break up from the girl’s perspective. I’d be really interested to read this book also from Ed’s perspective, with different items, but only to a certain extent because he was a dick.

I think this book definitely did its job, because if that was what a break up felt like, I never want to love.

Review: Rogue Wave by Jennifer Donnelly

Published on October 25, 2014January 26, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books3 Comments

Rogue Wave by Jennifer Donnelly
Genre: Supernatural, Adventure, Romance, Middle-Grade
Published by: Disney Press
Pages: 320
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Series: Deep Blue (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Most importantly, what a beautiful cover.

‘Rogue Wave’ had a lot to prove as the sequel to ‘Deep Blue’, a book that became less impressive as it continued on. ‘Deep Blue’ ended at a very climatic battle, with the six mermaid friends swimming into a mirror in order to escape from the hands of the enemy. I thought we would be instantly thrown back into the action at the beginning of this novel, but was severely disappointed.

The book began with the six mermaids having parted ways (when previously they’d been told they were strongest when together) and only three out of the six mermaids had a prominent role in this story; Sera, Neela and Ling. Becca, Ava and Astrid were hardly mentioned, and since we didn’t really get to know them at all in the first book, I was frustrated that they were still minor characters. Heck, calling them minor characters is an overstatement: they were basically non-existent.

I was especially surprised that the mermaids had split up to go on their quest, because, yes it would be quicker if they went their separate ways, but the blurb promised me an adventure with all six mermaids. There was no way I wasn’t going to be put out at their absence if I was expecting them all to be equally present.

Sera, Neela and Ling (and I assume the other three) are trying to find talismans that link to their Antlantian ancestors in order to defeat the villain of the novels and reclaim their realms. The third person narrator lent itself well to this story, as we were able to focus on both Sera and Neela as they were split up. Overall, I preferred Sera’s part of the story. Although a lot of what happened to her was very convenient (Oh no, I’m going to be attacked by death riders, oh look, there’s a secret safe house! Oh no, this ghost woman is going to kill me, oh look, this diamond is helping my life force! Oh no, my true love is a horrible person, oh look, he loved me all along!) there was a lot more adventure compared to Neela, who spent most of her sections just running away from different threats – and when she did do something adventurous, like defeat a sea dragon, it was only dwelled on for about a page of the novel. Brilliant.

This book was just as pun-y as the last and especially liked the use of transparensea spells (how many transparensea pearls are there? Are they hard to find? If so, the stock must be seriously low) to get out of tricky situations. I definitely think that this book was better than the first as there was a lot more going on, however, it didn’t feel as bitty as the last book. Everything had some sort of purpose, which would later be explained and the ending wasn’t ridiculous.

If this is a trilogy, I think the next book as been well set up, and I look forward to finding out how Becca, Ava and Astrid did on their half of the quest. (A lot of days seemed to pass in this book and I found the time scale quite hard to follow between Sera and Neela, so hopefully that will also be resolved)

My expectations for this series is for it to only get better, as there is a battle coming up, and with the combined powers of the six mermaids, it’s such to be exciting. Overall, I’d give this book three stars, because the book didn’t deliver what was promised on the blurb and the convenience of the story drew away from the action and suspense. Definitely recommended to girls age 10-12!

Review: Kitty Hawk and the Tragedy of the R.M.S Titanic by Iain Reading

Published on October 23, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of BooksLeave a comment

Kitty Hawk and the Tragedy of the R.M.S Titanic by Iain Reading
Genre: Adventure, Mystery
Published by: Amazon
Pages: 320
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Ever since I watched the 2007 Emma Roberts movie ‘Nancy Drew’ last month, I’ve been desperate to read a detective story. Kitty Hawk definitely fit the bill! I loved the idea that Kitty was a girl flying solo around the world, an Amelia Earhart heroine. It was all so original and well thought out – I couldn’t believe how it all came together.

I have to admit that when I read this book, the suspense of the mystery was just added to by having my Kindle read the story aloud. It was great to get to listen to the adventure as well as read it.

So, the story starts off with Kitty endorsing free sushi in a sumo-wrestler’s costume, and if that doesn’t completely drawn you in I don’t know what does! She is approached by a cute guy, Andrew, that acts as her love interest, to solve a mystery, as she’s built up quite a reputation for herself. (This is the fourth book in the series and I did not read books one, two, or three. However, this did not hinder my enjoyment of the novel at all, or ruin the plots of the previous books!) The mystery is all to do with the honour of a family, who’s reputation as been sullied because of the events of the Titanic disaster.

If there was one bad thing about this book, it was that it took a while for the minor characters to explain different parts of the backstory to Kitty. I’d say at least 25% of the total book is spent learning about different key events. (If ever I have to write an essay on The Titanic, Egyptian Hieroglyphs or Jack the Ripper, this book had it covered.) This did inhibit the flow of the novel, causing me to be able to split it into multiple sections instead of a continuous storyline. On the other hand, I loved the change of locations between London and Dublin.

My favourite scene was probably the jet-ski chase, which made the front cover of the novel. It was fast paced and full of tension, although the action was sparse because I think this book was more about thinking than doing. I didn’t really understand how old Kitty Hawk was meant to be throughout this series, as Andrew is described as a man, yet he becomes her sort-of-boyfriend. I’m guessing she’s about eighteen, because she can jet around the world by herself with no-one questioning her ID. When reading this book, I kept thinking of the Professor Layton games, because pictures, maps and diagrams are given in this book so the reader can try and puzzle out the mystery as Kitty does. That’s an aspect that really sets this book apart from the rest, along with the research material that is found at the back of the book which explains the inspiration for the events that transpire in the book and real Google searches!

Overall, I’d give Kitty Hawk four stars, because I did enjoy it immensely, however, the pacing was slow in many places which led me to put the book down and put off picking it back up again. I’d recommend this book to anyone that loves Nancy Drew, but wishes Nancy was targeted at a young adult audience!

Spoiler Review: Waterfall by Lauren Kate

Published on October 23, 2014January 26, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books5 Comments

Waterfall by Lauren Kate
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Published by: Random House
Pages: 400
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★
Series: Teardrop (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I have absolutely no idea what happened in this book. There were about seven different ideas all crammed into one, that made everything too convenient for my liking. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first book, but I somehow managed to enjoy the sequel even less.

Firstly, what ever happened to the romance between Ander and Eureka? Did the entirety of the first book mean nothing? We start with one boy and end with another, and I was completely confused about how cold hearted, and selfish Eureka must have been to do what she did. I couldn’t connect with her one bit, and when you don’t like the main character, it’s pretty hard to enjoy their story. On that note, Eureka turned into something beyond my imagining in Waterfall, I thought she was slightly annoying in Teardrop with her mellow drama, but she just took it to the next level. It’s not often that I’m harsh with a book, even if I don’t like it, but I honestly just didn’t like what Eureka became – a murder, manipulative, and unthoughtful. Eureka even got to the point where she seemed to delight in torturing others, which didn’t bode well with me at all.

Another problem I had was that the characters just don’t mourn the deaths of loved ones for nearly long enough. In fact, they almost seem to wipe their hands of them after ten seconds, and then don’t give them another thought. The only exception to this was Diana, Eureka’s mother, who we are constantly reminded of. That, and Brooks, who doesn’t die, but Eureka is always thinking about him, and how Atlas possessed his body – so I guess if I’d just put two and two together I may well have saw the ending coming.

The idea of everybody having a ‘quirk’ annoyed me, because it was just so convenient, and seemed like a cop out. I loved that Claire had a special power in Teardrop, and I wanted it to be explained in this mystical way where maybe she would be connected to the tearline, but no. It turned out everybody has a quirk and they all seem to just magically appear when they’re in Solon’s caves. I liked the amethyst witches – or whatever they were called – and I would love to read something where they are the main characters, because they kept the plot going, and made the story interesting when Eureka was in Solon’s cave and not really doing anything, other than feeling sorry for herself. I was amazed at how little happened in the beginning, and even the middle, but then ALL THE THINGS happened during the final sequence when we were in Atlantis. There was so much more mythology and things to wrap our heads around, and I was just so confused.

I just need a minute to shuffle my thoughts about the ending, because, seriously? When Eureka’s possessing Atlas’ body she’s so overwhelmed with the fact that she’s a boy, she pees. What? And then this other woman, who is Eureka’s ‘mother’ and Brooks all just fit inside the body as well? The only thing I actually liked about this book was the very end. Eureka can finally be happy because she died and is with Brooks – at least I thought she died, and I thought she was with Brooks. If this wasn’t the end of the series, then I have absolutely no idea what could happen next. From the ending and the fact that Eureka. Dies. I think this has to just be a duology. The fact that I didn’t really mind when Eureka died, showed that I couldn’t connect with her, it wasn’t like the Divergent series where every single death hits you.

In conclusion, I am incredibly sorry if this review lacks any coherency, but my thoughts are just so jumbled after reading Waterfall, I really don’t know what to make of it. What I can tell you is that I would only reward this book ONE star. I can’t give it a two star rating, because that’s what I gave Teardrop and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that I liked this even less. I’m not going to go so far as to give this no stars , because the final final final chapter – or maybe just the last page – made up for all my dislike, because I could finally be at peace with Eureka’s story, and she could be at peace also, because – wait for it – she died.

Just as a side note, I may well come back an edit this review after I’ve had some time to let my feelings simmer down.

Review: Fire in the Woods by Jennifer M. Eaton

Published on October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

We were given this book for review courtesy of Month9Books in exchange for an honest review.

Fire in the Woods is about a girl called Jess, who gives on an army base. A UFO has crashed nearby, causing chaos very close to home. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Jess stumbles across a hot guy, called David, in the woods who isn’t exactly normal. Turns out, not normal means alien, and both Jess and David have to work together to try and get David back home without the forces of the US military raining down upon them. Sounds tricky? Well…a bit.

First of all, we really, really enjoyed the beginning of the novel. The fact that Jess’s passion as a photographer was what led her to David, instead of being a girl seeking adventure was original and creative. Jess did not have the annoying traits of a dystopian protagonist, for example being dead set on self sacrifice, and was therefore an easy character to like and read.

The pacing of the novel was slightly irregular, with surges of action happening throughout, although the beginning of the novel was quite slow going. It took about 40% of the book for Eaton to set up the plot for the rest of the book, and to build the preliminary relationship between Jess and David (which did come across as insta-lovey, but if someone walked into my life resembling Jake Abel, I also wouldn’t hesitate to get as close to them as possible, as quickly as possible.) Plus, this book is the beginning of a quartet, so we can forgive any fudged over explaining within the debut novel. The one thing I was really impressed with was the reasonability of the whole plot. I’ve seen ‘Paul’, I know the military would be down for an alien goose chase. I though the descriptions of the aliens and their motives were realistic and complet fire in the woods ely not cliches (at least I wasn’t rolling my eyes because David’s skin was green – it was actually purple.)

I found myself a little lost once Jess and David had barely escaped from the hands of David’s captors, after the Walmart scene. A lot of things happened and I wasn’t sure about the direction Jess and David were going in (both figuratively and literally – they had to go north at some point!) And when we reached the climatic scene towards the end of the novel where David was ‘rescued’ by his own species and the ultimate face off occurred between the military and the aliens, Bee and I were both confused. First, they hated each other, then they were going to work in harmony, then more hate, more harmony, some plots for the destruction of the human race that came to nothing, then were back in action, then stopped, then continued. I wasn’t surprised that Jess blacked out. Was the constant change of plan making her head spin as much as mine?

I’m hoping that the final decision between the humans and the aliens, and what the aliens plan on doing to the humans is clear in the next book ‘Ashes in the Sky’, otherwise, I’m going to have to make a flow chart of events or something.

Overall, we both really enjoyed this book. It slightly reminded me of ‘Scarlet’ by Marissa Meyer because of the tension between David and Jess, knowing their relationship can only last so long, and of course, the train scene. The action, although very quick to transpire, kept me wanting to read on and wanting to know the outcome of David and Jess’s romance. The book started so strong, which was excellent, but then lost its touch a little towards the end as more things started to happen. For that reason, we’ve decided to give ‘Fire in the Woods’ 3.75 stars.

Thank you so much Month9Books for the opportunity to read this amazing debut! We can’t wait to read what happens next in this alien adventure.

Enter to Win:

· One of Five (5) Digital Copies of Fire in the Woods by Jennifer M. Eaton (INT)

· One (1) gorgeous necklace [The pendant is 1.75 inches, and the chain is about 26 inches long]

Winner will be drawn November 7, 2014

ABOUT JENNIFER M. EATON: Corporate Team Leader by day, and Ranting Writer by night. Jennifer M. Eaton calls the East Coast of the USA home, where she lives with her husband, three energetic boys, and a pepped up poodle. Jennifer hosts an informational blog “A Reference of Writing Rants for Writers (or Learn from My Mistakes)” aimed at helping all writers be the best they can be. Beyond writing and motivating others, she also enjoys teaching her dog to jump through hoops—literally. Jennifer’s perfect day includes long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but her greatest joy is using her over-active imagination constructively… creating new worlds for everyone to enjoy.

Offical Blurb of Fire in the Woods When a plane crashes in the woods near Jess’s home, the boy of her dreams falls out of the sky—literally. But David’s not here to find a girlfriend. He’s from another planet, and if Jess can’t help him get back to his ship, he’ll be stuck on Earth with nothing to look forward to but the pointy end of a dissection scalpel. But her father runs their house like an army barracks, and with an alien on the loose, Major Dad isn’t too keen on the idea of Jess going anywhere. Ever. So how the heck is she supposed to help the sweetest, strangest, and cutest guy she’s ever met? Hiding him in her room probably isn’t the best idea. Especially since her Dad is in charge of the squadron searching for David. That doesn’t mean she won’t do it. It just means she can’t get caught. Helping David get home while protecting her heart—that’s gonna be the hard part. After all, she can’t really fall for a guy who’s not exactly from here. As they race through the woods with Major Dad and most of the U.S. military one breath behind them, Jess and David grow closer than either of them anticipated. But all is not what it seems. David has a genocide-sized secret, and one betrayal later, they are both in handcuffs as alien warships are positioning themselves around the globe. Time is ticking down to Armageddon, and Jess must think fast if she’s to save the boy she cares about without sacrificing Earth—and everyone on it.

Review: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpartick

Published on October 12, 2014January 26, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

Black Ice by Becc 16059938 a Fitzpartick
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 400
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book was completely not what I was expecting. In many ways it reminded me of Gone – you know, that movie with Amanda Seyfried? I’m not the biggest fan of thrillers, and Black Ice was the first one I’ve read, so it was exciting in that sense. Black Ice also happens to be the October Booksplosion book of the month, and I am definitely interest in watching the live show discussion, because I have a feeling there are going to be some pretty diverse opinions.

The main problem I had with this book was how weak the main character, Britt, was. I know that was kind of the whole point of the plot, but I’ve read weak girl gets saved by handsome stranger before. What I wanted to read was more along the lines of kickass girl who says she’s been preparing for backpacking trip actually turns out to be good and gets herself out of the situation without the need to some guy. That would have been a very different story. Britt wasn’t unlikeable, but she was super dependant on other people and although she was supposed to have changed by the end, I didn’t really get that. Yes, she was brave, but she was still naive.

I liked guessing who the real bad guy was, but found myself disappointed when my suspicions were actually true. I wanted to have believed one thing and then be told it was something completely different. In retrospect, I guess it was sort of predictable. I was making assumptions about the real bad guy from the very beginning, and even said to Maddie that I thought it was him – and what do you know? It was.

I often have trouble ascertaining the length of time that these kind of books are supposed to take place. What I thought was over a week, turned out to be four days! Four days! That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as ‘we were trapped in the forest for two weeks.’ However, other than that I didn’t really find that I had a problem with the pacing. I mainly wanted to keep reading so that I could find out who the killer was. I’d gotten 60% through and they’d already been kidnapped and someone had been murdered and I thought, ‘what else could possibly go wrong.’

The romance element was okay, but perhaps unnecessary. I did really like the dynamic between Britt and her love interest, but she was too quick to judge him and I found myself rolling my eyes quite a bit at her actions. She was too caught up in trying to love Calvin, her ex, and I was just screaming ‘why why why’ at her. Move on! Because he obviously has.

I liked the slow reveal, and though that the ending was satisfying. Just the right amount of closure I needed, even if it was a bit mushy and really changed the tone of everything that came before it. I can’t say that I’ll be reading any more thrillers in the future, but Black Ice was certainly an experience, and despite feeling on edge the whole time, and despite my harsh judgement I did enjoy it, and would give the book about three stars. Especially considering I don’t have any other thrillers to compare it to. However, I definitely prefer Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush!

Review: A Little Something Different by Sally Hall

Published on October 12, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books2 Comments

A Little Something Different by Sally Hall
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Swoon Reads
Pages: 273
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

What’s not to love about this book? I completely adored it and am going to spend the next four hundred words fawning over it.

The premise of the novel is that it’s a love story, between Lea and Gabe, told from basically everyone’s perspective expect Lea and Gabe’s. This includes a squirrel and a bench. A BENCH. An inanimate object has a part to play in Gabe and Lea’s love story. Genius.

Although there are fourteen different perspectives, all of them completely work and all of them I loved, which is odd because I normally have a favourite when it comes to multiple points of view. If I had to pick one, it would probably be Victor, a student in Lea and Gabe’s creative writing class that wishes the two of them would get together already so he wouldn’t have to deal with the sappy looks they give each other. Lea and Gabe are both his NO-TP and his OTP, I think.

I think it’s such a beautiful idea that people in all different kinds of situations can be invested in two people and want them to get together. It makes me think if teachers really do ‘ship’ their students together, or whether waitresses do create their own couples from their customers.

Of course, this really was the worst book if you get annoyed when characters can’t make the moves on each other. I did find myself, at points, being like ‘Gabe, just say you like her!’, ‘Lea, just kiss him!’. But this wasn’t a game of Sims. I couldn’t control their actions and for that I am glad, because otherwise the book would have been very short and Lea and Gabe would have got married.

They really were perfect for each other. I have nothing bad to say about them because it was literally the most ‘aw’dorable book I’ve ever read. Ingenious, humorous, real. Brilliant, beautiful and original. Higher praise could not be given.

My dream is to buy hundreds of copies of this book and then throw them into the streets for people to read and feel happy as a result. Right now, I smiling as I write this review, just thinking about what happened in the book and how darn cute it all was.

My only problem with it, and this isn’t really a problem, is that it could have been looooonger. I would have definitely appreciated another fifty pages discussing Gabe and Lea’s relationship since they got together, but I guess that’s what fan fiction is for.

Overall, I’d give this book 5 out of 5 stars, because it just impressed me so darn much. I’d recommend it to fans of Rainbow Roweel and Morgan Matson – this is exactly the time of book that would fit in between ‘Fangirl’ and ‘Amy and Roger’s Epic Retour’.

Review: Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle

Published on October 10, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Macmillian Children’s Books
Pages: 309
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I requested this book on NetGalley because I thought it would be like ‘Hidden Gem’ by India Lee, as it was about a girl that became a movie star, (except Gemma became a popstar.) I kind of YA ‘Hannah Montana’.

This book definitely delivered on the promised ‘love’ of the title. The main character, Paige, gets to co-star with two guys, Rainer and Jordan, both of whom she falls in love with (although at different times.) We all know how hard it was for Bella to pick between two equally hot guys (and my guess is that Jordan is Edward in this scenario – the forbidden love) so as you can imagine, it was equally hard for Paige.

Can anyone imagine having two guys after them? The only time I’ve had two guys even talking to me was when I represented North Korea at a Model UN conference, and that was just to give me war threats. Paige doesn’t know how well she has it.

I did enjoy the book, in a cheesy ‘this is sweet’ kind of way, when it was easy to guess the outcome and the inevitable turmoil the protagonist would feel. However, this book really lacked in actual plot line. Apart from the romance, not much else went on, and if something fun was introduced in the plot (like a good ol’ book signing) it was skipped over in favour of a long car journey to the beach.

I felt that some of the things that happened to Paige, for example about half way through the book she nearly gets killed by a huge wave whilst swimming in the ocean, seemed out of place. Sure, it caught my attention, but I wasn’t expecting to have to contemplate death in the middle of a sappy romance book.

Neither of the love interests really appealed to me as much as they did for Paige. Secretly, I think they had very similar personalities, expect one was distinctly more moody than the other. Keeping with the Twilight parallels, we can all guess that the moody one was Jordan.

I was just glad neither boy was called Jake. It’s such a classic hot-guy name.

‘Famous in Love’ really didn’t take me long to finish and left me with a unsatisfying ending. Paige ended up with the guy I didn’t want her to end up with. The romance was for his sake, not hers and that seemed completely wrong. I don’t know if this book is going to be turned into a series or not but if so, I think I’d be very interested to see how the love triangle (ugh) unfolds.

Overall, I’d give ‘Famous in Love’ 3.5 stars as it didn’t do anything to wow me, but I still enjoyed the story enough to plough through it in under a week. Now, back to Shakespeare plays for me.

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Published on October 9, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of Books2 Comments

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published by: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 392
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book has an incredibly clichéd blurb that doesn’t do the story justice. The blurb on the edition I own seems like it was created to attract the Twilight audience, so I was a little apprehensive to pick it up. I bought Pushing the Limits almost a year ago, and decided that it had been gathering dust for long enough, and it was time to give it a chance.

The story alternates between the perspectives of Echo and Noah. Echo had a troubled past, because her mother is mentally ill and her dad has replaced her mum with Echo’s old babysitter who is expecting a baby. Echo’s brother Ares dies in Afghanistan, leaving Echo with no one. Her boyfriend tried to pressure her into sex, and her friends seem too obsessed with ‘normal’ to care about Echo’s problems. Noah is a rebel, with a reputation that speaks for itself. He’s a foster kid who is trying to gain custody of his brothers after his parents died. He, like Echo, has a problem with loving others – except for his two younger brothers. The two meet because of their counsellor, who asks Echo to tutor Noah.

The first thing that I loved about this novel is how hard hitting it is. It deals with incredibly serious topics in an engaging way. I was also surprised at the shear amount of swearing, drug and sexual content considering it’s written for a primarily young adult audience. However, I think that is exactly why I enjoyed this book so much, because it was just so different from everything else I have read before.

Throughout the novel Echo is trying to work out her past, because she has supressed the memory of the night that she got her scars and this was extremely intriguing to read. As Echo learnt more and more about her past so did we. The same went for Noah and his life. Both reveals were quite slow, but not slow enough that you would get bored and put the book down. In fact, once I actually got started I found it hard to stop! I just wished that there was a bit more closure, an development on Echo’s side of the story, because I feel like her family have a lot left to work for, but I do believe that there is a sequel novella that I will have to get my hands on to fill in some of the gaps. I wanted Echo to be more forgiving; I felt like she changed a lot when she got together with Noah, I’m not necessarily saying that this was a bad thing, but I feel that we’ve only just scratched the surface of Echo’s personality and I would definitely be interested in reading more about what happens to her in the future. Noah, on the other hand, had quite a lot of closure, but again there was a shocking reveal at the end of the novel that could change everything, so I need more more more.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried at least three times whilst reading, and it was always Noah’s adorable brothers, and his relationship with them, that got the tears streaming down my face. It’s supposed to be a light contemporary, but oh no! It’s so much more than that, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading something a little bit different.

Another main point is the fact that all of the secondary characters seemed relevant to the story. They weren’t forgotten. Granted, we don’t know everything about their lives, but it was still satisfying enough to make me want to read the sequel which is from Beth’s point of view – one of Noah’s best friends – and I do believe that the third book is Isaiah’s story. Heck, I’d probably even read Pushing the Limits from Mrs Collins’ perspective and still love it. I’m invested in these characters, I’ll miss Echo and Noah, but they’ve had their sort of happy ending now, so I want to know what happens to the other misfits who deserve as much love as anyone else.

Overall, I have decided never to judge a book by its cover again, otherwise I never would have read this amazing story! I would rate Pushing the Limits four out of five stars.

Review: Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Published on October 9, 2014January 2, 2015 by Heart Full Of BooksLeave a comment

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Adventure
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 449
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

If you are a frequent watcher of mine and Maddie’s videos, then you may already know that Morgan Matson is probably my favourite standalone author. Although, I would not complain if Amy and Roger got a sequel. In fact, it might be my greatest wish. Therefore, I was extremely happy when Amy and ‘her boyfriend’ – pause for cuteness overload – got a small mention. (Apparently Amy and her boyfriend are backpacking around Europe! So I would like Amy and Roger’s Epic Hike to be a thing. Please.) However, the fact that my OTP got a mention in Since You’ve Been Gone was not the only thing I likes, and it certainly wasn’t the only reason why this book was awarded five stars and made it to my favourites shelf.

Once again, Matson delivered on character development. I went from sighing at the beginning of the novel thinking ‘oh no. It’s going to be another one of those stories.’ You know the ones. The ones where our protagonist is super weak and can’t do anything on her own and so seeks out a dark, moody and protective boyfriend. I could not have been more wrong. Okay, so Emily is very weak at the beginning, but thanks to some extremely high quality character development and planning she ends up as this super awesome girl who can do anything she sets her mind to. Although, this revelation is helped by her beautifully charming love interest, it is not – I repeat, it is not – as a result of him. It’s partly to do with her, but partly to do with Sloane, who I will talk about more later.

I loved the premise of Since You’ve Been Gone, the mystery is so engaging, and the chapters with elusive titles mean you won’t be able to put this book down. If you are unaware of the premise for Since You’ve Been Gone, then I will sum it up by saying girl’s best friend abandons her leaving only a list of things that she has to complete over the summer. Some of these things are easy, some extremely difficult, and some illegal. Every chapter is dedicated to one of these things, which is quirky, but also means that you know what’s going to happen OR DO YOU? There were some items on the list such as ‘ride a dang horse, ya cowpoke’ and multiple times throughout the book Emily tries to do this but I was thinking ‘Em, ride a horse isn’t the name of the chapter, you’re not doing it yet.’ Some of the items were deliciously woven in, because they were figurative rather than literal, which I will admit led to some happy exclamations on my part when everything clicked.

There was no way that I would be able to get through this review without talking about Frank. Frank, Frank, Frank. He was wonderful, extremely nice, and extremely wonderful – twice for emphasis. Emily picks up a few friends along the go to help her with the quest, Frank being one of them. Frank is someone that Emily’s seen around school, and thinks she knows, but like most people, he is completely different outside the school environment. Emily is the sort of girl who is invisible at school and is known solely as ‘Sloane’s friend’ but would you believe it, Frank knows her name! Their relationship develops slowly, but surely, at just the right pace for a novel of its size. There was no insta-love, and their ending is as ambiguous as Amy and Roger’s, which although I really don’t like as soon as I finish the book, I love in hindsight, because you can come up with your own happy ending. Sometimes it’s nice not to have everything spelled out for you, I like to piece these things together myself.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly worried, and maybe even a little bit unnerved, by Sloane and Emily’s friendship. At first I thought that Sloane was a bad influence, and that she was just using Emily. I think it’s hard, even with best friends, to know if that person likes you and depends on you as much as you like and depend on them. That was my favourite relationship that was explored in Since You’ve Been Gone, because it showed a realistic friendship dynamic.

Although there were certain plot points that made me want to give the characters a stern talking to, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The ups and the downs, the slow and the fast paced bits; when Emily was on her own, when Emily was with Frank, when Emily was with her family and when Emily was with Frank, Collins, and Dawn. I liked the flashback elements, which was where we got to find out more about Sloane before she left, even though I’m not really partial to that kind of layout. In Since You’ve Been Gone, it worked well, and helped the flow of the story, and didn’t interrupt the pacing, every flashback was relevant.

Overall, I loved every second of it and would highly recommend Since You’ve Been Gone. I just can’t wait to see what Morgan Matson does next!