Tag: YA

Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

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Under the NeveUnder the Never Skyr Sky by Veronica Rossi
Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance
Published by: Atom
Pages: 374
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Series: Through The Ever Night (#2) | Into the Still Blue (#3)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

This book has definitely made its way on to my favourite shelf (the hypothetical one on GoodReads because this is actually Bee’s book!) ‘Under the Never Sky’ definitely fulfilled the expectations I had for it after seeing that people were labelling this series as addictive as a class B drug.

Continue reading “Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi” →

Review: Blood Wars by Brenda Pandos

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BloBlood Warsod Wars by Brenda Pandos
Genre: Supernatural
Published by: Obsidian Mountain Publishing
Pages: 96
Format: E-Book
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I didn’t actually realise that ‘Blood Wars’ was a continuation of a series that Brenda Pandos had already written called ‘The Talisman Series’, so in that respect, I can’t write a lot about this book because it wasn’t the first time readers were supposed to have met the characters or the situation.

However, the events of the series were explained throughout in bite sized chunks that didn’t make the continued series feel to laboured. I was able to grasp what was going on fairly quickly and didn’t have too many questions. Good.

The plot unfolded quickly, with motives behind each character’s actions easy to understand. The relationships between the characters, especially Julia, Phil and Nicholas were obvious, which was definitely a great thing, as I hadn’t read the series. Personalities were simple to read as well, which made this book an effective short story.

I’d definitely call this book a short story, as it was under one hundred pages, but no less enjoyable than a three hundred page book. If anything, I enjoyed it more because it was too the point. With a short story, there’s not a lot that you, as the reader, feel needs to be cut out because of irrelevance. Everything was relevant, everything was explained: the perfect package.

The book completed one of its functions in making me want to read the original series, although I’m pretty spoiled on what happens! 🙂 One of my only complaints, as an unqualified reader, was the lack of vampires. More vampires. (Of course, that was the plot for there to be no vampires in a previous vampire world, but more subtle hints of their continuous existence would have been nice!)

Overall, I’d give this book 2 stars, because it did have substance, but having not read the original series, I could not become as attached to the characters and the romances as I’d have liked to. Also props for the dramatic cover. Blood red was a nice touch.

Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

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The Rosie EThe rosie effectffect by Graeme Simsion
Genre: Contemporary, Adult
Published by: Penguin
Pages: 411
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★★
Series: The Rosie Project (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I finally did it! It feels like I’ve been reading this book for ages and now it’s finally over. Am I relieved? Maybe.

I really did enjoy ‘The Rosie Project’, the first book in this series. It was different, fresh and new (and one of the only new adult books I’ve read so I didn’t have much to compare it too!) But this book…well, it didn’t spend five years in the making.

Things I loved about this book include:
– Don’s consistent personality: just because he got his Rosie happy ending didn’t mean he lost any of the quirkiness he had before Rosie.
– The introduction of George, Dave and Sonia: lovely additional characters, who all helped Don grow as a person in some way.
– The gradual progression of the relationship between Don and Rosie: Data – check. Marriage – check. Pregnant – check.
– Some humorous episodes, like the Plane Incident: sometimes I wonder how Simsion researched these things….

Things I didn’t love about the book:
– How one person’s opinion defined Don’s capability to be a father.
– The distance between Don and Rosie that did not coincide with a year of marriage.
– The web of deceit that was created: it felt kind of like a Shakespeare play, complete with pretending to be someone else!
– Rosie’s inability to accept Don for who he was and actually pay attention to all the effort he was making to improve his chances of being a good father, no matter how many court trials were drawn up against him.

That’s a pretty balanced list! (and definitely something Don would appreciate.) There were a lot of elements within the book that reminded me of ‘The Rosie Project’ and showed great continuity between the characters. I was a little confused, in ‘The Rosie Project’ to how long Don and Rosie were actually together (it turned out to be six months or something!) and a year of marriage on top of that did little to show how much they understood each other.
I guess that’s the problem with loving someone who is so different from you. Sometimes you won’t see eye to eye. I just wish that Don and Rosie were able to reach more of a compromise, rather than doing what Rosie wanted the majority of the time.

I’d recommend this book to people that liked the first (we all know how risky a sequel is!) and to anyone that’s interested in reading about a more adult relationship. Overall, I’d give this book about 3 stars, because the negatives drew a lot from the positives.

(The UK haven’t got a very interesting cover for this series!)

Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

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me earl and the dying girlMe and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Genre: Contemporary, Humor
Published by: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 295
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

To like this book, I think you have to really enjoy certain types of humour:
a.) Self-depreciating – the main character, Greg, cannot accept a compliment and loves to make comments along the lines of ‘goodness, I hate myself”
b.) Gross – was it Jesse Andrews mission to reference stomach bile as many times as possible
c.) Sexual – ew.

Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of these, at all. I found the things that Greg said, that were meant to be funny, not hilarious at all. However, I did enjoy the blunt way Greg had no self belief about ‘his’ book. It made me keep reading, just to prove to him (and myself) that I could.

As far as characters go, Greg, Earl and Rachel were fairly two dimensional. Greg makes a point at the end how he didn’t really get to know either of his friends, but was this just a cover up for plot-holed writing? I didn’t connect with any of the trio and I especially think Rachel should have played a bigger part in the novel. But, I guess she’s just labelled ‘the dying girl’, so at least she serves a purpose.

The minor characters within the book felt very forced to fit certain stereotyped groups (though I have a feeling that was Andrews’ intention.) My favourite character was probably Greg’s mother but only because she reminded me of my mum occasionally.

Did I just stick it out with this book because it was under 300 pages? Maybe.

One advantage to this book is that it does what it says on the tin…or cover. You get Greg (me), Earl and a dying girl but literally not much else. Greg struck me as someone I would not like to be friends with, but also gave me an epiphany. I usually describe myself, as does Bee, as ‘the funny one’ in social situations. We’re a witty duo that thrive from laughter. However, Greg made me realise that there’s so much more to me than that. Greg doesn’t have any true friends because he relies to much on his humour and social invisibility. I have a lot of friends, but not just because I can crack a joke or two. There are other, better, qualities that people admire about me (hopefully) that make them want to be my friend and Greg’s depreciation made me appreciate that my personality doesn’t rely on one trait to be well liked.

Woah, that was a tangent. Normally I’d try and write more about a book that 400 words, but I’m going to leave it there. I’d give this book somewhere between 2.5-3 stars. (2.75 stars?) because it just really wasn’t my cup of tea (although I don’t drink tea, so the phrase should be ‘this wasn’t my flavour of water’ and if you say water has no flavour, go to Cornwall.)

Review: Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

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Do21074867n’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal
Published by: Orchard Books
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Don’t Even Think About It is about a group of students, from the same tutor group, that all develop telepathy and subsequently have to deal with that. They all have secrets that they don’t want shared, and they all have things they’d rather not hear. Lies can’t go unnoticed, and opinions can’t be hidden.

It’s hard to explain the narrative, because although it was third person, it was also collective. In the beginning of the book I found this strange because I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, however once it had been explained as ‘if you can read each others thoughts it’s hard to know the boundaries of your own mind, and where your thoughts end and the next person’s start, it worked extremely well. I liked the majority of the characters, but would have liked to have read about some of the lesser characters too who also had telepathy. One of  my favourite story lines was Tess’ and Olivia’s because they both really grew as characters and their development was enjoyable to read. I also had a fondness for Pi’s story, because suddenly her intelligence doesn’t mean as much when everybody can just read her mind and copy her answers, and I really liked to read about how she dealt with the situation.

I loved how everyone’s thoughts were believable for their age group. The teenagers’ thoughts were pretty much along the lines of what I imagine other teens thinking, the adult’s thought, maybe not so much, but I think there needed to be that distinction between the age groups so the adults generally thought of more explicit things. Each of the main character’s thoughts were an extension of their personality as well, which might sound like a weird comment to make, but considering the majority of the conversations happened in listed italics the thoughts needed to be easily connected to the characters who were speaking.

Mackenzie’s was probably one of my least favourite story lines, which was a shame, because she had quite a significant role in the novel, but I just couldn’t connect to her attitude or character. I was intrigued by characters like Brinn and would definitely like to hear more about her, and others like Nike, in the sequels.

The pacing was quite slow, but everyone had to come to terms with their new super powers, so that’s understandable, but the drama was what made me keep reading! So much drama! At literally every corner something is happening to at least five of the characters that you can’t help but want to read. It was like reading one big book of gossip, rumours and opinions. Amazing.

Overall, I enjoyed Don’t Even Think About It, but I would’ve liked even more action from the sort of government agency and even more teamwork from class 10B.

Review: Shipwrecked by Siobhan Curham

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Shipwrecked bshipwreckedy Siobhan Curham
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, Contemporary
Published By: Electric Monkey
Pages: 342
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon
This was book I picked up from the library, for no other reason than it was new. I was the first to get it out (always an achievement) so now, I’ll share my opinion.

The book is blurbed to be about a group of dancers that get shipwrecked on a deserted island, which definitely means it isn’t really deserted, and their struggle to be rescued. The fact that they are dancers is almost (or completely) irrelevant to the plot and the books is also described as Gossip Girl meets Lost. Having watcher neither of these shows, I found it super helpful. I can guess that Gossip Girl is about superficial Barbie girls and Lost is about getting stranded on a not-s0-deserted island.

The only character I really liked in the book was Grace, the protagonist, which I guess is lucky since I couldn’t escape her point of view like I can escape Jason’s in the Heroes of Olympus. She was very witty to begin with and I could relate to her on some level, unlike the rest of the characters who seemed very self absorbed.

I don’t really understand how timid girls are always best friends with the party girls in books. It seems completely unrealistic to have a best friend that you have so little in common with, and then get upset when you don’t stay friends forever because you’re so different. That was definitely something that bothered me, and I couldn’t have been more happy when Grace decided to befriend the less annoying people she was shipwrecked with.

On that note, I did like the romance between the Spanish tour guide, Cruz, and Grace. It was very sweet, especially when it turned out Cruz could speak English and they could communicate with something other than sign language. I’m pleased that Grace found her dream boy on the freaky island – at least someone was happy.

Creepy things kept happening to the shipwrecked dancers, that were very anticlimactic in my opinion, but hinted at the existent of a supernatural force (no doubt it was evil.) It certainly managed to scare the two girls Jenna and Cariss, and their lapdogs Todd and Ron into leaving the island with no survival back up plan.

I felt like a lot of what was happening on the island could have been told definitely within 300 pages. All the events felt quite repetitive and drawn out which made the book feel like it was going on forever when, really, the dancers were only stranded for around four days.

There is a sequel, which I will read if my school library gets it, because these aren’t books that I’d invest in myself. Everything started to come together a bit at the end, but had the similar anticlimactic feel as the rest of the book. Overall, I’d give this book 3 stars as it was enjoyable but not really something I’d normally pay attention to. There’s a lot that could be done with the sequel, so I look forward to seeing what happens next….on the island. (There’s a lot of dramatic chapter endings, of course.)

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

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Half B71STxe1DUVL._SL1500_ad by Sally Green
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Published by: Penguin
Pages: 395
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I think everyone has already made this joke, but Half Bad wasn’t half bad. I bought this book because I’d seen a few people haul it on booktube, but mainly because it was being sold for £3. I’m not the kind of person to give up a bargain, and for such a hyped book, it seemed like a great price. However, I was surprised with the tone of the novel – it was a heck of a lot darker than I was expecting, and a lot more graphic. I’m using the term graphic loosely as there isn’t any nudity or violent gore, but quite a large helping a torture, which, surprisingly, isn’t all that fun to read, even if I did only buy the book for £3.

I struggled to finish Half Bad, but was intrigued enough to continue to the end. I don’t think the cliff-hanger was enough to make me want to continue the series, because I really didn’t connect with the characters, or the world, particularly. I doubt that I will be picking up Half Wild, but if it’s only £3 then you never know.

I very much enjoyed the first section, due to the fact that it was written in second person. Granted, it did make it that bit more gruesome considering the fact we were locked in a cage, but I was excited by the prospect of reading in this perspective. My enjoyment soon dwindled when I discovered that the world I was reading happened to be a particularly ruthless one. Just because I didn’t enjoy Half Bad is not to say that anyone else will dislike it, in fact, before writing this review I read many five star reviews, and agreed with the majority of their points. It just transpired that Half Bad wasn’t for me.

Nathan Byrne is our main character, and he is the son of a Witch and Black Witch, which is unheard of, so the Council are extremely cautious and keep a close eyes on Nathan. The problem is, they’re prejudiced and don’t think that Nathan, even though he’s living with his family of Whites, is going to end up being a Witch Witch himself. An important quote to remember at this time would be “The wand chooses the wizard, Harry.” Everyone around Nathan tells him that he’s going to be a White witch, he can fight the evil darkness and he won’t turn out like his father, and to be quite honest I’m surprised that no one else saw Nathan’s true identity sooner.

My favourite character was probably Annalise and I liked much prefered the story when Nathan was younger, except for the fact that he kept getting beaten up, of course. There was a lot of family history to do with the Black Witches that was slightly confusing, and I did get lost at some points and had to refer back. On the other hand, I liked characters like Ellen and Gabriel who were introduced later on in the plotline, and would probably only read Half Wild just to read more about them.

What I wasn’t expecting, that made me keep reading, was just how much adventure there was. Towards the end, it became very much about trying to survive, and the back alley streets and apartment were reminiscent of one of my favourite books ever, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Suffice to say I enjoyed these bits best.

I do love a good short chapter and there are plenty of those in Half Bad. They make the action seem quicker and the slow parts seems quicker too. I find that when I’m not really in the mood to read it’s always nice to have short chapters so I can get that sense of achievement a lot quicker. Overall, I’m glad that I read it and gave it a chance, because the build-up and suspense was excellent – perhaps a bit long winded, but it got to the exciting bits eventually – but it just wasn’t the type of witch book that I enjoy. Not enough magic in my opinion! I think I’ll just wait for the rest of the series to be released so that I can gauge other peoples opinions on whether or not I should continue.

Review: Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

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Dangerous CreaturesDangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Genre: Supernatural, Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Little Brown Books
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

It’s been a little while since I’ve read ‘Beautiful Redemption’, the last in the Caster Chronicles series. OK, it’s been eight months, so it was safe to say that I found myself to be quite lost at the start of this book, especially since I wasn’t willing to pay £1.99 or so for the novella ‘Dangerous Dream’ that came before this full length novel.

Nevertheless, I powered through. Was it the right decision?

Yes?

When authors come out with a new series, featuring the same characters of their previous series, I just have to read it. You know, for a sense of closure. Even if I didn’t completely fall in the love with the predecessor series (and believe me, I didn’t) I still feel the pressure to continue reading the authors’ works. And, if I was unwilling to pay £1.99 for a novella, I sure wasn’t paying £7.99 for the novel.

Perfect solution: a library read. Should I take it as a good or bad sign that I was the first to take this book out?

On with my opinions.

Despite my initial confusion, I managed to get into the story. Ridley and Link were going to New York. As a couple. Or not a couple? Are they a couple? (I hate non-explicit romances.) But already thinks were looking dangerous for the two of them, and my enjoyment of the book. (Did you see what I did there? Heh.)

My pet peeve is when authors have characters that are described to have ‘a terrible secret’ or ‘a hidden past’. The clichés just come rolling in and even though the descriptions are meant to be ambiguous and develop intrigue in the reader, it makes me roll my eyes, sigh and not care. Sorry. Not sorry.

Apparently, Ridley went to Europe and got herself in trouble (because trouble follows that girl like a creepy stalker). You know what else she got?

Another love interest.

Love triangle? Yipee!

This was about as unnecessary as when John was introduced as a rival to Ethan. A good YA book can exist without a love triangle. But, let’s be honest, did Link really deserve Ridley? Weren’t they only together for the convenience of Ethan and Lena? Ridley breaks hearts and doesn’t care. I got the same feeling with her and Link, that there was no real love there.

The plot I found confusing to follow and hard to really like. I didn’t feel like I connected to any of the characters, or understood any of their feelings. Maybe it’s just because I wasn’t that invested in the ‘Caster Chronicles’ but halfway through I wondered why I’d bothered reading it. That sounds bad.

On a positive note, I did like the setting. It had a very ‘Percy Jackson’ feel, using existing issues within a landscape and linking them to the existence of a supernatural world. It was very succinct and easy to imagine.

But when it comes to the villain…is anyone else confused? I thought Abraham died. (Let’s not even mention the garden shears ridiculousness. If only Harry Potter had had some garden shears the night Voldemort came knocking.) Dead is dead, right? So, what’s going on? What’s the threat? The undead?

???

And if I thought the garden shears were the last straw, what about the ending? Now I’m going to have to read the next book in this series (my guess for the title is ‘Dangerous Darkness’ – ooh, how suitable.) It felt like Ridley and Link’s relationship was resolved for the sake of it, not because of any evidenced feelings. Still, Garcia and Stohl have done what they set out to do: made me what to continue reading.

And isn’t that what its all about?

Overall, I give Dangerous Creatures 2.5 stars. Room for improvement. Lots of room.
I promise to use less question marks in my next review.

Review: Day 21 by Kass Morgan

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Day 21

Day 21 by Kass Morgan
Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance
Published by: Little, Brown Books
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Series: The 100 (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘Day 21’, like ‘The 100’, had a lot going for it. Sarah, the super-fan if you remember, was of the opinion that the two books should have been combined into one. On that note, I agree with her. As I read the books so quickly one after the other, like with the ‘Shatter Me’ series by Tahereh Mafi, I found it hard to separate what happened in each book. Neither stands out to me as a showstopper, more of a signature bake. (Excuse my profound love for The Great British Bake-Off)

So the ending of ‘The 100’ set us up for a wild ride in ‘Day 21’. Unfortunately it felt like the ride was closed for repairs. The concept of other humans, on an Earth that was strongly believed to have been uninhabited, was not played up to its full potential. Sure, the humans were a threat, but we all saw that coming. OK, they didn’t have to kill someone to prove that they were dangerous but I certainly expected the other humans to play less of a background role.

Instead, we were focusing on the cyclic romances of the now 95 or so human delinquents. Excellent?

For this book, the 95 have kidnapped one of the human born. Sasha. I’d say it’s pretty convenient that she’s a girl so that Wells, our heartbroken leader, can have a love interest now that Clarke has up and left him for the allure of Bellamy. I saw their romantic involvement coming a mile off, though that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. When you’re in a kingdom of isolation, it’s better to have a soul mate.

However, the kidnapping works both ways. Octavia was also kidnapped by the Earthborns, although not many were mourning her loss after the scandal surrounding her within ‘The 100’. Of course, Bellamy gets his bravado on and has to be the hero. Clarke follows. Together they try and find Bellamy’s lost sister as well as work on trusting one another in their relationship.

When will they learn its better just to tell the truth straight away? It would lead to a lot less break-ups and inevitable make-ups.

Meanwhile, on a spaceship far, far away, Glass is encountering a lot of problems, you know, like not being able to breathe. She chooses to stay with Luke, which was cute, but then has to do something risky to get them both back to the safe side of the ship…the part with the high levels of oxygen in it. It turns out that lack of oxygen means the ship is failing (whose fault is that, eh chancellor’s son?!) and the spaceship colony is being shipped down to Earth. There’s a bit of a Titanic situation, in that there’s not enough escape pods for everyone. Glass said she’d never let go of Luke, but we all know what happens to Leo…I mean Luke.

It’s another cycle of I-love-you-now-I-don’t-love-you-oh-wait-I-love-you-again. Not great.

Now, there’s another big reveal at the end of this book to do with the connection between the characters. If you read too much into the flashbacks, then you will figure this out in about a minute. I wasn’t at all surprised by what was revealed and, therefore, it didn’t deliver the shock factor that was promised.

Overall, I’d give ‘Day 21’ 3 stars. I enjoyed it more than ‘The 100’ because at least each character’s plot line varied slightly. Maybe it’s because I read them one after the other that I became more involved in the second book? That said, if this series continues, then I would be very interested to see if it gets better and where Kass Morgan takes the 95 delinquents next.

Preview Review: My True Love Gave To Me Anthology

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My True LoMy True Loveve Gave To Me Anthology
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Anthology
Published By: Macmillan Children’s
Pages: 320
Format: ARC E-Book
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

From the two stories I’ve read from this anthology, I can just say that October 14th could not come fast enough. In the excerpt given, I got the chance to read Rainbow Rowell’s and Stephanie Perkins’ editions to the holiday short story collection, ‘My True Love Gave To Me’.

I’m guessing, because they’re romantic stories, the main characters get a kiss, but I’m hoping that someone gets six geese.

There’s nothing I love more than a good holiday themed short story. I read ‘Let it Snow’ by Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle and John Green last year and loved how the stories were all interwoven. However, with this collection I’m expecting the stories not to be connected. (12 authors in contact at the same time about their characters? A dream come true, though highly unlikely.)

I imagine the culmination of these stories happened in a boardroom, similar to ‘The Apprentice’, with Stephanie Perkins at the head of the table, delegating work to her eleven author elves that must churn out stories for Christmas.

So, Rainbow Rowell’s story was obviously written by Rainbow Rowell. There’s definitely not some Christmas ghostwriter out there, dictating what the authors write. In a similar style to ‘Landline’, the story takes place through flashbacks to previous New Year’s Eve parties. We get to see the friendship between Mags and Noel as it develops from just acquaintances to please-be-mine-forever lovers. It was adorable. I love it when a story line is quite circular, where things that were planted, earlier on in the story, grow into something constant and recurring. This was also the shorter of the two stories, but because it takes place over three years, it feels a lot longer. Heck, I would have been happy to read about Mags’ and Noel’s New Year’s Eve parties for a whole novel. Can that happen?

As for Stephanie Perkins’ edition to the anthology, I was equally impressed. It held her usual romantic and humorous style within fewer pages and managed to deliver a very satisfying story that gave my cheeks a warm glow. I loved that the main character, Marigold, and her mother were struggling with their bills and general living – it’s nice to see that these issues and real life situations are still being dealt with in short stories. Even though these stories are romantic, they are not romanticized.

Marigold and North were both adorable characters, on par with Anna and Etienne. Perkins’ characters are so quirky and loveable it’s hard not to enjoy whatever she writes.

I need more short stories from this collection ASAP. These ladies have definitely set the standards high and have done what they do best. It looks like my true love gave to me a five star book.