Tag: young adult fiction

Review: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

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Second Chance S12296601ummer by Morgan Matson
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 468
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I love Morgan Matson’s writing style. I will put that out there to begin with, and I strongly suggest that if you are yet to read any of her works, then start with Amy and Roger so that you can enjoy the true joys of cameo mentions. Unfortunately I read her novels out of sequence so I missed the little gem that is Amy and her boyfriend’s (squeal) mention.

I don’t know why, but I didn’t have high hopes for Second Chance Summer, and all I can say in response to past Bee is ‘WHY?’ I think it was mostly because the blurb makes a truly beautiful story sound cliche, when it wasn’t. It so wasn’t.

What I wasn’t expecting from Second Chance Summer was cancer. What did her dad have? Cancer. The terminal kind. I thought I would be prepared for his death, because the whole summer trip is prefaced in the very first chapter that her dad only has three months to live – it’s not a spoiler, it really isn’t – but I was wholly unprepared for it to actually happen. I legitimately cried for the entirety of the last fifty pages. There were sad tears, there were happy tears, and my were there a lot of them. The only problem I had was that Taylor, our main character, didn’t know when to say ‘I love you’ to her father, and I was shouting at her ‘You don’t need a reason to say it! There is no wrong time to tell someone you love them’ and because of this the ending was even more poignant.

But I’m getting  ahead of myself. Let’s talk about Taylor. Taylor, Emily and Amy. I would like all three of them to be my best friends. Taylor is lovely, even though she has a propensity from running away from her feelings, and from bad things. Which is a problem when she has such a wonderful love interest, Henry. Henry is outdoorsy, but vulnerable and, let’s face it, pretty much perfect. Their relationship is tense, because Taylor ran away at a crucial moment in their past. Like in Morgan Matson’s other novels, backstories are interspersed throughout, but nothing feels forced, everything is gently woven together so that the reader can begin to fit the pieces together. Normally, I’m not a big fan of backstories, but Morgan Matson somehow makes them work AND feel natural.

I loved reading about the Taylor’s progression. She’s back at her old holiday home after being away from five years, and she had to reignite the friendships she once had with pretty much everyone. Character development is also another thing Morgan Matson does excellently. Every time Taylor overcame a previous anxiety or regained a relationship with someone from her previous time at the Lake, I was so happy, and kept me reading. I  did not want to put this book down.

I also loved the minor love story arcs, like Lucy’s and Taylor’s brother’s they complimented the main love story and…there are no words to describe how amazing this book is. No words. I feel like I could spiel about Second Chance Summer for the next five hours, going into every plot point, but this is a review, not a five thousand word essay. To sum up, I gave SCS five stars, because it seriously deserves them.

Review: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

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NIN2Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Genre: Contemporary
Published by: Knopf Books
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I picked up Nick and Norah mostly because it was only 188 pages long, and I needed a quick read to get that satisfaction of actually reading something. And I was pleasantly surprised! I wanted something light and fun that I could just pick up and put down. I needed good writing to make up for some of the most recent books I have read that I have not enjoyed, and I thought Nick and Norah was a safe bet.

I got way more than I anticipated. I was hooked from the first page. Nick was probably my favourite out of the two because Leviathan’s writing style was so poetic and beautiful. Everything was so circular and clever and I loved every minute. Norah’s perspective was also really wonderful, and I liked how free and teenager-y the dialogue was. I believed that the characters were real people. There was swearing, there was sexual references, and it felt real. Nothing about this book glamorised teenage-hood, and that was partly what made this books so enjoyable.

I liked that it was just about these two characters who were so unique, but also so similar. There was quite a cast of characters, but they felt like they were significant, not just written for the sake of being written. The plot was very simple – two teenagers who spend a day together, and try and get to know each other whilst also trying to get over someone else – but it was executed well.

I wasn’t really a fan of everything Norah said, and sometimes their conversations seemed a little forced, but I suppose they were meant to. What I can’t believe, most of all, is that this book was written in 2006 and yet I’ve barely heard anything about it! I known they made a movie adaptation, but after watching the trailer and thinking “that’s not how it goes!” I don’t think I’ll be watching it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist  and would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick read that will make them laugh and get lost in the story. I think I’ll give the book 3.5 stars, because I did enjoy it, but the middle dragged on a bit and I think the resolution could almost have come a lot earlier in the story line. But it was only 188 pages, so I can’t complain too much!

Spoiler Review: Waterfall by Lauren Kate

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19401029Waterfall 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: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpartick

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Black Ice by Becc16059938a 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: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

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Push10194514ing 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

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Since You’ve18189606 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!

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: 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: The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

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The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Published by: Scholastic
Pages: 295
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

A lot of people seem to be comparing The Iron Trial to Harry Potter, and I can see the obvious correlation: two guys, one girl. Girl is super smart. Protagonist is clueless about magical world. It’s a school. There is magic. But apart from that…it couldn’t be more different. Essentially it’s still about a boy who is pulled into the magical world and expected to fight an enemy, whilst also making a bunch of friends and befriending some animals, but we all know that’s a winning formula, so why can’t it be successful again?

One of my favourite things about this book is how misleading the cover is. On the cover we have the trio; Call, Aaron and Tamara – Aaron being in the middle – but he’s not the protagonist! How great is that? I won’t draw on Harry Potter too much for comparisons – only a few more I promise – but it’s like reading HP from Ron’s perspective. Don’t get me wrong Callum is still super important to the plot line too, he’s the one that knows nothing, so we need to follow his journey specifically so that we can learn about the Magisterium as he does. Also, there is quite a twist at the end that I was not expecting at all, but I suppose if I’d been putting two and two together from the beginning I might have been able to figure it out. However, that’s why it’s so impressive, because you’re too distracted by all this new magic and a new school to learn the rules of, that you forget to read between the lines.

Let’s just take a minute to appreciate the fact that Call is hindered by his mangled leg. This book dealt with prejudice extremely well, and I really enjoyed having a character that wasn’t emotionally scarred, but physically scarred. (A bit of emotional scarring was thrown in for good measure) He has to deal with the idea of holding his friends back because he can’t do everything as well as they can. Obviously he can do that and much more, and I’m seriously interested to see how he deals with his leg as the series continues and the adventure becomes more strenuous. The trio isn’t you’re average rag-tag group of three, they are apprentices of the Magisterium and they are awesome.

At some points it seemed as though the authors were really trying to differentiate The Iron Trial from Harry Potter by making the school system so very different. Even going as far as to say that instead of being called first years they are Iron Years and the prefix to the ‘years’ will change to other precious metals as they progress through the school. The whole idea of the bracelets to indicate which year the pupils are in was ingenious. I can totally see future The Iron Trial cosplayers brandishing their cool bracelets. You’ve got a wand? Well look at my bracelet. I would like one, please.

I loved how different the school system was, the ‘classes’ are really small, so I feel that we’ll get to know every secondary character equally. My favourite character is probably Celia, because although she was part of the secondary group she was still adorable, and I’m really looking forward to her developing relationship with a certain someone. On that note, I thought that everything was perfect for a twelve year old perspective, Cal still made some silly mistakes, and the characters didn’t really have strong romantic relationships with each other yet, and that’s possibly the most exciting aspect to this series. We’re going to get to watch a whole new set of characters grow up and see how their relationships change.

Some parts of the plot were slow, but as seems to be the way with Cassandra Clare’s writing especially, the last ten per cent was a rapid adventure of shock and mystery. I’m not too disappointed by the pacing, on the other hand, because we needed that world building, especially considering our characters live underground. The description of the underground caves was so beautiful, and enchanting. I’m looking forward to more areas of the caves as the characters progress.

I’m not entirely sure how the rest of the series will continue, because I feel like we’ve already been given the biggest plot twist and surprise. Yet, this does make me even more excited to get my hands on the next book, because what could possibly come next after a wonderful first book?

(Spoiler) Review: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

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My Life Nex12294652t Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Published By: Speak
Pages: 394
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I can’t believe I was so disappointed with this book after seeing all of the four and five star reviews, and although I wasn’t sure whether or not I was actually going to review this book, I guess I better explain myself.

First of all, I don’t think there was any character development. She didn’t really make up with her best friend, and she doesn’t resolve her bad relationship with her Mum, but hey, at least she got into the family she’d been spying on for the past ten years, right? No! She moves house at the end of the novel, so she doesn’t even get to stay near the Garretts anymore! And will their relationship stand up after the move? I don’t know, but her mum’s partner did almost kill Jase’s dad and tried to keep it a secret from him. Who wouldn’t want to stay together if that was their relationship?

But I’m getting ahead of myself- I know, let’s turn this into a bullet point list.

  • The first 250 pages approximately are all about Samantha and Jase building up to having sex. This is one hundred per cent not the focus that I wanted this novel to have. I’m not complaining about the fact that there was sexual content in this novel, because it’s about teenagers, and teenagers have sex. It’s gotten to the point in the contemporary genre that if sex isn’t mention or there isn’t some kind of sexual content then it’s regarded as ‘not realistic.’ Whether you believe in that or not, is for you to decide yourself. To conclude this point, although I thought it was realistic, it was completely unnecessary. I bought this book to read about family, not about two teenagers and their intense hormonal desires.

I will pause the list to include this disclaimer: I did not hate this book. I might have some pretty strong opinions on it that other reader’s may not agree with. I was reading this book with my friend Holly and I always find that when I read a book with the specific intention of reviewing it, I tend to pick up more points and dislike more things. On with the bullet points.

  • The relationship with her mother. I just wanted to shake Samantha and Grace and tell them that some simple communication skills would have solved all of their problems. This is the part where I really felt sympathetic to Sam, because she had a Mum who just wouldn’t sit down and actually listen to her. I was seriously expecting them to have a big heart to heart like the characters in Just One Day, but they didn’t – leaving this big gaping hole in their relationship and as a reader I want that hole sewn up!
  • More communications issues: the best friend. If they talked to each other, calmly explained what was going on, and made sure to tell the truth then absolutely everything would’ve been fine. I thought Nan had a massive over-reaction to Samantha not saying anything about Jase. I mean, come on. He was forbidden, she didn’t want the secret to get back to her Mum, and surely her friend could understand that. I also thought the cheating subplot could have been explored a lot more, it was one of the first inclinations that this book was going to be about more than sex. Sidenote, I really want to know what Nan is short for!
  • Considering this book was sold to me on the basis that it centered on a family, I was disappointed with actually how little time we spent with them. Sam babysat for the Garretts which was the only real time where we got to see all the kids, and I loved how each of them interacted differently with Samantha, but personality wise I with Fitzpatrick tried to make them as individual as possible. It was very reminiscent of Cheaper By The Dozen. I think I would like to read a YA book where the main character is part of a big family, because I felt we lost some of the family dynamic seeing it from Sam’s point of view.
  • Finally, I hate to say it but Clay might have been my favourite character because I hated him sosososo much. Why does this make him my favourite, you ask? Because he was probably the only character that I had any strong feelings about at all, even if they were negative, and he was the villain! I just didn’t connect with any of the other main characters.

 This has been a bitterly honest review, but I just felt like I needed to express my opinion. I’ve read some other reviews and I think that My Life Next Door may well be a Marmite book. You either love it or you hate it, and I’m afraid to say that I’m leaning closer to dislike. Not hate, but just some healthy dislike.