Review: I'm From Nowhere by Suzanne Myers

A few weeks into her sophomore year at Ventura High School in California, everything is about to change for Wren Verlaine. It's always been just Wren and her mother, Hannah, but when Hannah receives a reporting assignment that sends her to Greenland for six months, Wren is shipped off to Hardwick Hall, an old, prestigious boarding school back East.

For every ice queen like her suitemate Honor, who looks right through Wren like she doesn't exist, there's also a rower with adorably crinkly eyes (that would be Nick) or a friendly and funny fellow musician (like Chazzy). But just as Wren finally starts to settle in at Hardwick, clues begin appearing about the one secret her mother has ever kept from her—the identity of her father—and what Wren ultimately discovers threatens to turn her and her new world upside down.

I'm From Nowhere was a cute little book that didn't go too deep into anything but was quick enough to read that you don't feel like it's reaaally missing much. The book is about Wren, who is sent to Hardwick, a boarding school where her mother went, and between making friends and enemies, she learns the truth about her mother's past. There was nothing particularly special about this book - the book was predictable and it didn't really throw any curveballs - but I managed to read it in a few hours. It's the type of book that you can put down for a tea break, but you still want to pick it back up.

I felt a little bit like the characters weren't given much development, they just were. They all served a purpose in the book but there is no background into how they became who they are. Why is Honor so cold? Why is Nick so flirty? How come Chazzy is so eccentric? Rather than really engaging with any of them you just sort of get pulled along for the ride. At the same time, despite this, the characters didn't feel all that flat (aside from Honor and her father, they fell flat for me), so it isn't like I didn't like them. 

When I was reading I'm From Nowhere I knew that I wasn't reading anything special - it was clear that this book wasn't going to stick with me and that it would just fade into the pile of books I'll read this year, but I also knew that I was enjoying it, and in the end I think that is what this book gives. A little bit of mindless reading in a sea of hard-hitting contemporary books.

Book released 26th January 2016 by Soho Teen

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

That blurb fails to mention that this is Snow White... with dragons. 

Let me just repeat that. Snow White. Dragons. Let me just leave that there. I was not expecting dragons, I am not complaining about those dragons. I love dragons. In fact, Kol may just be my favorite dragon in the world and Lorelai was just as good. If this book has anything to hold itself up its the characters - Lorelai was strong and stubborn, a lot like Celaena from the Throne of Glass series. I really loved the two of them and their story.

All the other characters were also brilliant Leo and Gabril and even Irina was one of my fave evil queens in the YA bookosphere (she doesn't beat Levana, but she's up there). The characters and their individual personalities and their dialogue were just so well done - it's a talent that Redwine definitely has.

It would be a lie to say that this book was perfect - sometimes I got confused by the dragon hearts side of things and the ogres and the fact that Lorelei had powers without having a proper teacher. It wasn't without it's plot holes, but despite that I simply couldn't put that book down.

Overall The Shadow Queen was a great book with brilliant characters and a fantastic storyline. There were plotholes and there are better fantasy books out there this quarter, but it was still great! Plus.. dragons.

Book released 16th February 2016 by Balzer + Bray

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.

But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.

With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

I'm sure that the second book in this series will be absolutely action-packed, but Reign Of Shadows was 300 pages of set up. I loved the world set up in this series - the darkness engulfed world and the mysterious princess who has been hidden away for years and has just learnt of her true heritage. it was an attractive concept, but unfortunately this book was just a set up, it didn't have any of the action.

I struggled with Luna as the main character - she was so naive, made stupid decisions and I couldn't connect with her. She didn't come across as a strong protagonist, though Jordan was trying to make it so by giving her the enhanced senses that she did have but that wasn't enough for me. As for Fowler, he was very gruff and rough, but I did actually like him, he was heroic and caring in his own way. The relationship was okay, but I wasn't particularly cheering for it.

The main problem that I had was that this world was developed but nothing was explained. What are the Dwellers? What happened with the eclipse? I don't understand why a full length book left so many things unexplained.

Overall, I will read the second as I love the way it's been set up and I want some answers, but don't go into Reign of Shadows expecting something super exciting and action packed - you will be let down.

Book released February 9th 2016 by Harper Teen

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Shelf Spotlight and Week in Review (23/1/16)

Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews.

NG/Edelweiss

        

The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy - August 2nd by Simon and Schuster books for Young Readers

Flawed by Cecilia Ahern - March 24th by HarperCollins Children's

The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin - January 26th by Simon Pulse

In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey - February 2nd by Lyrical Press

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This week on the blog:

10th JANUARY

Review: Other Broken Things by C. Desir (B)

12th JANUARY

Review: Shade Me by Jennifer Brown (C)

14th JANUARY

Review; All The Rage by Courtney Summers (A+)

17th JANUARY

Review: Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace (B)

19th JANUARY

Review: Little White Lies by Brianna Baker & F Bowman Hastie (C-)

22nd JANUARY

Review: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell (A-)

Review: Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

For as long as she can remember, Gwendolyn Allister has never had a place to call home—all because her mother believes that monsters are hunting them. Now these delusions have brought them to London, far from the life Gwen had finally started to build for herself. The only saving grace is her best friend, Olivia, who’s coming with them for the summer.

But when Gwen and Olivia are kidnapped by shadowy creatures and taken to a world of flesh-eating sea hags and dangerous Fey, Gwen realizes her mom might have been sane all along.

The world Gwen finds herself in is called Neverland, yet it’s nothing like the stories. Here, good and evil lose their meaning and memories slip like water through her fingers. As Gwen struggles to remember where she came from and find a way home, she must choose between trusting the charming fairy-tale hero who says all the right things and the roguish young pirate who promises to keep her safe.

With time running out and her enemies closing in, Gwen is forced to face the truths she’s been hiding from all along. But will she be able to save Neverland without losing herself?

All of these Peter Pan retellings coming out next year are soooo exciting. If Unhooked is any representation of how the rest are going to be, it's going to be an absolutely brilliant year.

From the start of this book I knew it was something very special. It immediately reminded me of Splintered by A.G. Howard with the Mother being a little crazy (except maybe not) and the daughter having to live with that. Then, Unhooked changed settings into Neverland and it really came into it's own - this book takes everything you know about Neverland and Peter Pan and Hook and flips it entirely on it's head. Pan isn't what he seems and Hook (aka Rowan) is one of the most swoonworthy heroes in the book. The romance developed at a really natural pace and I supported it so much!

Maxwell writes so well and I was absorbed in this beautiful, dangerous world that she wrote. I was on the edge, wondering who was the good and who was the bad and how things were going to work. Maybe the ending was a bit safe - a bit of a cop out - but the climax was brilliant and I loved how it went. 

Gosh, seriously, Rowand and Gwen and Pan and Olivia and all of these people here... this was such a brilliant book weaving such a gorgeous story and I enjoyed it so much. I cannot wait for the other Peter Pan retelling, but I do have to wonder if any of them will stand up to this one. 

Book released 2nd February 2016 by Simon Pulse

Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review: Little White Lies by Brainna Baker and F. Bowman Hastie III

Seventeen-year-old honors student Coretta White’s Tumblr, Little White Lies—her witty thoughts on pretty much . . . everything—has gone viral. She’s got hundreds of thousands of followers; she’s even been offered a TV deal. But Coretta has a secret. She hasn’t been writing all her own posts. Stressed from the demands of the sudden attention, she hired an expert ghostwriter, forty-one-year-old Karl Ristoff, to keep the Tumblr going. Now consumed with guilt, she confesses.

Almost instantly, she suffers a public humiliation. The TV deal disappears. Her boyfriend breaks up with her. Then Karl is thrust into the limelight, only to suffer a dramatic fall himself. Together, they vow to find out who is responsible for ruining both of their lives, and why. But in order to exact justice and a wicked revenge, they must first come clean with each other.

I agree with the other reviews of this book. Little White Lies has quite a lot to offer, but to really connect with it you need to really suspend your disbelief. Coming from a reviewer that loves fantasy and super-hyper contemporary books that might sound a little weird, but Little White Lies issues sit in the fact that it sells itself as a realistic book but it is anything but.

To start with, I was really excited by the concept, Coretta seemed like a really entertaining person and I did really enjoy reading her thoughts on the world. The issue started when Coretta's blog blows up after one or two posts, without her even really passing it onto anyone. That was my first problem, but I read on from there.

My other main problem came with Karl - he was different to how I expected and I couldn't help but see him as a sad, lonely old man and he became the villain to me - posting things that Coretta asked him not to, nudging himself in so this became the Karl show and stealing Coretta's thunder. I couldn't help but feel for the girl. I connected with Coretta, but not with Karl. 

The whole book just seemed really crazy, like the authors gave up on making it realistic and instead tried to make it as dramatic as possible. It may work for other readers into that sort of thing, but for me Little White Lies fell quite flat.

Coretta was the saving grace of this book, and had the blog developed slower and Karl not been invited to write on the blog I could have really enjoyed reading about her. Unfortunately, it didn't work. This book tried to be much more than it was and that was a lot of the issue.

Book released 9th February 2016 by Soho Teen

Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review: Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Holy smokes... Shallow Graves was not at all what I was expecting, but it was something completely different and brilliant. Shallow Graves was fast paced from the start, throwing the reader into the action and making you chase to catch up to the goings on. Never did this seem like a bad thing, instead, it meant that the pace was fast and the book was addictive. Yes, there were parts where the pace did drop, but it never seemed slow.

I spent much of this book happily confused, and by the end I still had to ask myself what had happened for the last 300+ pages. This book was equal parts humor, paranormal and mystery, with a little horror thrown in for good measure (this is, after all, a thrilling zombie book). Yes, there were things that could have been better explored, but I think that exploring things better would have made this book drag so I'd like to think this was a conscious decision on Wallace's part.

Breezy as a character was brilliant, she was calm and cool, not at all like a lot of hysterical YA protagonists. Her internal monologue was entertaining with a dry, sarcastic humour you totally wouldn't expect from a zombie. She's well adapted to her situation, which seemed unrealistic but it worked.

The supporting characters, though they were few, were great - Zeke and Jake and their brownie under the stairs - seriously, these two were amazing. I want a book just about the two of them and their life!

Overall, Shallow Graves was a comedic, dry horror that kept a good pace and was written in such an entertaining voice. Plot wise, I wasn't completely blown away but every other aspect of this book made it more than worth a read. 

Book released 26th January 2016 by Katherine Tegen Books

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: All The Rage by Courtney Summers

Kellan Turner is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. But when she speaks up, she is branded a liar. Telling the truth has cost her everything, because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town.

But when news of Kellan assaulting another girl gets out, the cost of staying silent might be more than Romy can bear.
All The Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.

I have been so looking forward to writing my review for All The Rage, but when I actually sat down to write it I found it difficult to find words to describe this book. The idea of being shut down when you are trying to tell the truth, a dangerous truth - possibly believed, but still ignored for the sake of the reputation of a pervert - is such a strong one, and no matter how many books I read that deal with this subject I never quite get over the way that it affects me as a young woman.

Courtney Summers is such a talented author, putting in the amount of drama and detail that make her books feel so much more than just teenage drama, All The Rage was no exception to that. In fact, I think this was the most meaningful book I have ever read by Summers - Romy was such a real character and the truth about what happened to her was so raw and honest. I just couldn't put this book down despite the tears in my mind and the fact that it actually hurt to read at times. Yet Romy doesn't hide away, she puts on her makeup and her nail varnish and she faces the world, the painful accusation and the names that she is called in the school hallways.

I'm not as good with words as so many other bloggers, and their reviews capture the power of this book so much more eloquently than me, but I hope my words make anybody with any doubts read this book, because not only is it painfully gorgeous, it's also immensely powerful.

Book released 28th January 2016 by MacMillan Children Books

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Shade Me by Jennifer Brown

Nikki Kill does not see the world like everyone else. In her eyes, happiness is pink, sadness is a mixture of brown and green, and lies are gray. Thanks to a rare phenomenon called synesthesia, Nikki’s senses overlap, in a way that both comforts and overwhelms her.

Always an outsider, just one ‘D’ shy of flunking out, Nikki’s life is on the fast track to nowhere until the night a mysterious call lights her phone up bright orange—the color of emergencies. It’s the local hospital. They need Nikki to identify a Jane Doe who is barely hanging on to life after a horrible attack.

The victim is Peyton Hollis, a popular girl from Nikki’s school who Nikki hardly knows. One thing is clear: Someone wants Peyton dead. But why? And why was Nikki’s cell the only number in Peyton’s phone?

As she tries to decipher the strange kaleidoscope of clues, Nikki finds herself thrust into the dark, glittering world of the ultra-rich Hollis family, and drawn towards Peyton’s handsome, never-do-well older brother Dru. While Nikki’s colors seem to help her unravel the puzzle, what she can’t see is that she may be falling into a trap. The only truth she can be sure of is that death is a deep, pulsing crimson.

Ahhh Shade Me, one of the most difficult books I have had to review - it was such a tearing book because it had all the makings of brilliant mystery crime books, like The Body Finder. It also had many things that made me less than convinced about it. I've loved Brown's other gritty books and this had her characteristic writing style, which I loved - it may be a new area for Brown but she sticks to what she knows; suspense, emotion and strong female characters. 

The thing is that in making Nikki a tough character, she also instilled some traits that were less than desirable - Nikki came across as thinking that nothing was out of her depth and that she could single-handedly solve a crime case. This involved putting herself in some stupid situations, making some idiotic decisions and withholding important information from the authorities. Some stupid decisions that she made? Getting involved with the brother of the victim and aimlessly believing he had nothing to do with it... also, sleeping with the same boy in the home of a potential suspect (or something like that). I mean... uhhh... what?

Despite all of the obvious flaws, I still managed to get through Shade Me in one sitting, and I was super frustrated when all of my questions weren't answered at the end. I did enjoy the book, despite some (many) things that I was wary over. The parts where Nikki's synesthesia comes into it were really engaging and whilst I won't say it was anywhere near a brilliant book, I still can't deny that I will be reading the rest of the series....

Book released 19th January 2016 by Katherine Tegen Books

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Other Broken Things by C. Desir

Nat's not an alcoholic. She doesn't have a problem. Everybody parties, everybody does stupid things, like get in their car when they can barely see. Still, with six months of court-ordered AA meetings required, her days of vodka-filled water bottles are over.

Unfortunately her old friends want the party girl or nothing. Even her up-for-anything ex seems more interested in rehashing the past than actually helping Nat.

But then a recovering alcoholic named Joe inserts himself into Nat’s life and things start looking up. Joe is funny, smart, and calls her out in a way no one ever has.

He’s also older. A lot older.

Nat’s connection to Joe is overwhelming but so are her attempts to fit back into her old world, all while battling the constant urge to crack a bottle and blur that one thing she's been desperate to forget.

Now in order to make a different kind of life, Natalie must pull together her broken parts and learn to fight for herself.

I've never read anything by Desir so I didn't know what to expect going into this - from that blurb it could be great or awful. I actually really enjoyed Other Broken Things. Natalie is a brilliant character - she was tough and sarcastic, but that was just as much a defence mechanism than her personality. The idea of Joe being an older guy was a little bit gross for me (Joe is much older than 17 year old Nat), but the relationship itself was absolutely brilliant. I really enjoyed the way the relationship developed and how it ended.

This book isn't just about Nat's relationship with Joe though, it's her relationship with her parents - her Dad more bothered about his reputation than Nat's health and her mother too weak to stand up to him. The way this peaked and the way this ended was the only possible way it could have been. I also loved Nat's personal development, the way she comes to terms with her wrongs and her reality and she grabs it by the horns and makes things right. This was a really meaningful book to me - you don't have to be an alcoholic to relate to this book.

The thing that makes me hesitant to give this book a high mark is the relationship between Joe and Nat, namely the age difference. I think Desir really tries to make it natural but I think it may have worked if Joe was a little younger and Nat a little older. As it was, it was creepy - I liked the dynamics of what the relationship meant to them both, but the age difference was difficult to get past. 

Book released 12th January 2016 by Simon Pulse

Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Shelf Spotlight + Week in Review (9/1/16)

Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews.

NG/Edelweiss

    

Seven Ways we Lie by Riley Redgate (8th March, Amulet Books)

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis (March 8th, Amulet Books)

Hurricane Kiss by Deborah Blumentha (May 1st, Albertt Whitman)

Firstlife by Gena Showalter (Feb 23rd, Harlequin Teen)

      

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor (March 1st, HMH Books for Young Readers)

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro (March 1st by Katherine Tegen)

Down with the Shine by Kate Kayus Quinn (April 26th, HarperTeen)

Eleven Things I Promised by Catherine Clark (April 5th, HarperTeen)

Behold the Bones by Natalie C. Parker (February 23rd, HarperTeen)

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This week on the blog:

MONDAY

Review: What We Saw - Aaron Hartzler (A-)

TUESDAY

Top Ten Tuesday - Bookish Resolutions

WEDNESDAY

Review: Sword and Verse - Kathy MacMillan (A+)

Sign Ups - Clean Slate Readathon

THURSDAY

Blood, Ink and Fire by Ashley Mansour (D)

Review: Blood, Ink & Fire by Ashley Mansour

Imagine a world without books…
In the future, books are a distant memory. The written word has been replaced by an ever-present stream of images known as Verity. In the controlling dominion of the United Vales of Fell, reading is obsolete and forbidden, and readers themselves do not—cannot—exist.
But where others see images in the stream, teenager Noelle Hartley sees words. She’s obsessed with what they mean, where they came from, and why they found her.

Noelle’s been keeping her dangerous fixation with words a secret, but on the night before her seventeenth birthday, a rare interruption in the stream leads her to a mysterious volume linked to an underworld of rebel book lovers known as the Nine of the Rising. With the help of the Risers and the beguiling boy Ledger, Noelle discovers that the words within her are precious clues to the books of the earlier time—and as a child of their bookless age, she might be the world’s last hope of bringing them back.

'Meh' is an apt word for this book. It was very meh. There were a lot of good things and a lot of bad things.

The book started well, I got the feel of Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky at the start and I was really absorbed in it, but by the time the second part came around (33%) I was sort of wishing the book was a lot shorter. Mansour was a great author, but the plot itself dragged for me, I wasn't absorbed in the romance (Ledger was an enigma and Noelle had very little development), it happened way too quickly I felt like the characters didn't have individual personalities and this made it difficult to connect with any of them.

I felt like there was quite a lot of infodumping - one of my pet peeves in YA books. I like when information comes to the reader naturally in a way that you barely even notice it's happening, not when it's thrown at you. 

In all, I think that Blood, Ink and Fire was a very slow read. I didn't really connect with the characters and I couldn't really engage in the story - there were a few plot holes as well that I just didn't get over.

Book released 1st December 2015 by Upturn Publishing

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Sword and Verse by Kathy McMillan

Raisa was just a child when she was sold to work as a slave in the kingdom of Qilara. Despite her young age, her father was teaching her to read and write, grooming her to take his place as a Learned One. In Qilara, the Arnathim, like Raisa, are the lowest class, and literacy is a capital offense. What’s more, only the king, prince, tutor, and tutor-in-training are allowed to learn the very highest order language, the language of the gods. So when the tutor-in-training is executed for teaching slaves this sacred language, and Raisa is selected to replace her, Raisa knows any slipup on her part could mean death.

Keeping her secret is hard enough, but the romance that’s been growing between her and Prince Mati isn’t helping matters. Then Raisa is approached by the Resistance—an underground army of slave rebels—to help liberate Arnath slaves. She wants to free her people, but that would mean aiding a war against Mati. As Raisa struggles with what to do, she discovers a secret that the Qilarites have been hiding for centuries—one that, if uncovered, could bring the kingdom to its knees.

Sweet mother of fantasy worlds, what an amazing setting. Holy father of intelligent protagonists, thank you for giving me Raisa. Seriously, I cannot express in the English language how much I loved Sword and Verse. This, and The Imposter Queen by Sarah Fine have joint responsibility for renewing my faith in Young Adult fantasy as a genre. Sword and Verse  just blew me away.

Can I just say READ IT over and over again and call that a review? No? Okay... let me just tell you why you should read it:

Sword and Verse is one of the most well-imagined, well-developed and well-executed piece of young adult literature I have read in a very long time. The world was so exquisite in the descriptions and the characters were just so well developed. The romance was infuriating in the best way possible and the action was gripping. Raisa is one of the best YA heroines I have read in so long, not only is she actually intelligent and not the naive airhead we so often get in this genre, she is also tough and sly. She does get hurt though, and I like that - she is driven and strong-willed, but she is just as vulnerable as the rest of us when it comes to heart break.

Ahhh, heartbreak... Mati! Stop breaking my heart... he was just so swoonworthy but I was so frustrated with his sometimes. You could tell that he truly cared for Raisa but at the same time he didn't always do what was best for her - the whole relationship put her at risk and he didn't seem to consider that. Still, the ending was exactly how it should have been so I can't complain.

The book is a standalone, but a sort of sequel from another character's POV is in the works and my only hope is that it wraps up a couple of the loose ends and fills the void I already feel as I don't have any other opportunities to read MacMillan's exquisite writing at the moment... just write more things, please.... quickly?

Book released 19th January 2016 by HarperTeen

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Top Ten Bookish Resolutions of 2016

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

This Week's Topic

Top Ten Bookish Resolutions for 2016

So that's my Top Ten! What's on your list this week?

Also don't forget that you can win the book of your choice in my New Year, New Books giveaway - check it out here

Review: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

There have been many books released recently which focus on sexual assault and race where he girl is blamed/branded a liar and the popular guys get away with it - What We Saw, All The Rage, Every Last Promise. Some were done well and others not so well, What We Saw doesn't quite stand up to how much I was affected by All the Rage but it still stands out in the genre.

I don't know if it's maybe because the author is a male and that makes the tone somewhat different, but this book actually affected me - it's written in a female's point of view and the descriptions of the way Stacey was treated is totally unflinching - the fact that it's seated in a real life case just makes it even more raw - this is a story about victim blaming that actually means something. This is a girl who is close to somebody who may have been involved looking for answers and doing the right thing. Kate could have been part of the victim blaming culture but she isn't, even though it may have been easier for her to.

In fact, the only reason that I am not giving this five stars is that I read All The Rage by Courtney Summers and that was just a little bit more affecting. Still, it can't be overlooked that this is a very important book, with a very important message.

Book released 22nd December 2015 by HarperTeen

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: Boy 23 by Jim Carrington

Boy 23 isn't in My Place any more. He can't see The Screen, he can't hear The Voice. Boy 23 is alone.

One dark night, Boy 23 is thrown in the back of the van and driven out of My Place - the only home he has ever known. He is abandoned in a forest with a rucksack containing the bare essentials for survival. Before the van drives away, a voice tells him he must run as far as he can. His life depends on it. Boy 23 has never known another human. Boy 23 has never even been outside. So who is he? Why do people want to kill him? And more to the point, who is the voice that wants to save him? 

Sometimes, you'll find a book like Boy 23 which has such a unique feel to it that there are only two ways to take it: you can either really love it, or it can be such a big disappointment. For me, it was the latter.

I felt that the book had quite a lot to offer and I really was quite excited by the high pace that the book started with. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with Jesper, the main character, and the plot seemed very slow and draggy for the vast majority of the book that I'll admit, I was skimming. The language and slang used in the book made it quite difficult to be absorbed and this just added to my difficulties.

Overall, I didn't particularly enjoy reading Boy 23 - I finished it, but I skimmed a lot of it.

Book released 19th November 2015 by Bloomsbury

Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review