Review: Mirrored by Alex Flinn

Mirror, mirror in my hand…

Beauty is the key to everything. At least, that’s how it seems to Violet—ugly, bullied, and lonely. To be beautiful, in her eyes, is to have power and love. And when Kendra, the witch, teaches Violet how to use magic, she may finally get what she wants.

For Celine, beautiful since birth, her looks have been a hindrance. She discovers that beauty is also a threat—especially to her stepmother, Violet, who doesn’t want anyone sharing the attention she worked so hard to get and who will do anything to be the fairest of them all.

But beauty isn’t only skin deep and love isn’t based on looks alone. And though Violet and Celine may seem to be completely opposite, their lives are almost… mirrored.

I've been really struggling with Alex Flinn recently - I just didn't enjoy Towering and now that I have finished Mirrored I feel let down again. Was Beastly just a fluke? I really enjoyed that book, but no other books by Flinn have really lived up to my expectation.

I just struggled to get into Mirrored - Violet's story at the start seemed completely necessary but it also dragged, I like that we got to know the characters of Violet and Greg and Jennifer, because it gave the bad guy a face and personality and a reason behind her evilness, however I just didn't feel like I connected with any of the characters at this part.

The pace did pick up a bit with Celine, the beautiful daughter of Violet's first love. At first Violet is a loving stepmother to Celine, but then things change. Celine gets beautiful and Violet is threatened, leading her to become abusive towards Celine. I really liked Celine's character, she is nice but also spunky, however her bit was too short and then the next chapter began too soon.

Goose, the narrator of the third part and I guess the love interest of Celine, was a great character. He makes up for his diminutive size with his caring personality and his heroics, but as much as I liked his character I didn't really enjoy reading from his POV - maybe it's because the pace dropped again but this last part sort of died for me.

The saving grace is the appearance of Kendra - this story gives you an idea into why she is the way she is, and also shows you a more caring, motherly side of Kendra.

Overall, Mirrored is a typical book by Flinn, with simplistic writing and a basic plot but not much else to offer. I felt disappointed by Mirrored, because whilst I finished the book, I didn't feel much after I closed it.

Book released 15th September 2015 by Harper Teen

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

Review: The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal.

Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional-soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

Then Maggie's whole world is turned upside down. Somehow, incredibly, she can see again. But only one person: Ben, a precocious ten-year-old unlike anyone she's ever met.Ben's life isn't easy, but he doesn't see limits, only possibilities. After awhile, Maggie starts to realize that losing her sight doesn't have to mean losing everything she dreamed of. Even if what she's currently dreaming of is Mason Milton, the infuriatingly attractive lead singer of Maggie's new favorite band, who just happens to be Ben's brother.

But when she learns the real reason she can see Ben, Maggie must find the courage to face a once-unimaginable future... before she loses everything she has grown to love

I'm not really sure how to categorise The One Thing - is this a book about magic (no)? Is it contemporary realism (no)... what do I tag this review with?! Let's just go with fantasy and contemporary and hope that nobody questions my decision...

I struggled with this book at the start, because I didn't know how to take it. I like things to sit in boxes and as far as genres went this book was in a non-definitive grey area. That being said, as soon as I cast this out of my mind I really started to enjoy the book. Maggie was such a great main character and whilst I had my issues with her, I did enjoy following her story. My key character, though, was Ben - he may not have spoken like a 10 year old, but he was witty and clever with the ability to become a child at times. I read this book for Ben and it was because of him that I ended this book with tears in my eyes.

Now back to Maggie - Maggie is a teenage girl, and despite the fact that she is blind she behaves exactly like a teenage girl, mood swings at all. I sweetened to her later in the book but at the start she was very difficult to connect with. I still felt iffy about her scenes with Mason towards the end (despite him being the love interest and me being a biiiiig romantic) but I'll let that pass because the story of this book is so good.

The story focuses on Maggie finding her thing - it used to be football, before she was struck down ill and became blind, now she has nothing, until she meets Ben. It's a brilliant storyline and the friendship between Maggie and Ben really made me like Maggie - that kid was a shining light that brought out the best in everyone.

It's hard for me to review the plot because it isn't a big part of this book - this is more a development arc for Maggie as a person than a story with ups and downs, instead I can say that despite this, The One Thing was an immersing read that had me sobbing by the end.

Just... give it a go - You won't have any regrets.

Book released 8th September 2015 by Disney-Hyperion

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

Review: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

Yessss! Finally a book that is body positive, sex positive and doesn't dump on anyone's views at all.  This is what I have been looking for all these years! Dumplin' is literally a book that I have spent years dreaming of and every time I thought I had found it, it goes and ruins it for me. A book which is about accepting yourself for who you are and not changing for anyone but yourself, but also portrays the MC as a real person, who has real emotions and comes to accept herself. A book which has a larger protagonist accepting that big is beautiful, but also that skinny is beautiful too, and that the most beautiful thing a girl can be is confident. A book which is sex positive, that says that if you feel ready for it, go for it, but also that it isn't something that should just be taken lightly.

Dumplin' is a brilliant book. It's sassy, it's sweet, it's sexy and it gave me all the feels. Julie Murphy writes a fantastic character in Willowdean - she is utterly relateable and also isn't the most perfect human in the world. It has backing characters that are great and romantic moments that had me ee'ing as I read them.

However there were some parts of this book that I felt let down by - mainly the Mitch part, because he is a perfectly decent human being but WIlllow just leads him on ad uses him as her fall back bae - I try to tell myself that this just represents Willow as a real human as capable at making stupid decisions as the rest of us, but I can't buy into that. It just annoyed me that a book so concerned by putting forward good messages sends forth this message that girls can just use boys however they like.- imagine the reaction as the dynamic been the same with genders reversed!

That being said, I did massively enjoy Dumplin' - I think every female young or old, big or small should read this book. I know it made me feel this surge of confidence simply by reading and I think it would do the same for all women. A brilliant book by an amazing author. 

Book released 15th September 2015 by Balzer + Bray

Book received for review for the author/publisher

Review: Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

Sonny Ardmore is an excellent liar. She lies about her dad being in prison. She lies about her mom kicking her out. And she lies about sneaking into her best friend's house every night because she has nowhere else to go.

Amy Rush might be the only person Sonny shares everything with - secrets, clothes, even a nemesis named Ryder Cross. Ryder's the new kid at Hamilton High and everything Sonny and Amy can't stand - a prep-school snob. But Ryder has a weakness: Amy. So when Ryder emails Amy asking her out, the friends see it as a prank opportunity not to be missed.

But without meaning to, Sonny ends up talking to Ryder all night online. And to her horror, she realizes that she might actually 'like' him. Only there's one small catch: he thinks he's been talking to Amy. So Sonny comes up with an elaborate scheme to help Ryder realize that she's the girl he's really wanted all along. Can Sonny lie her way to the truth, or will all her lies end up costing her both Ryder and Amy?

Lemme put this out there: I loved The Duff. The book was amazing and even the film, whilst not completely faithful to the book, is a fave for me. I loved it.

I also enjoyed Lying Out Loud. Did I enjoy it as much as The Duff? Not at all. Where The Duff was sassy and funny and cute, Lying Out Loud felt strained and pushed, like Keplinger was trying to channel the same style as The Duff but couldn't find it in her. I struggled to connect with Sonny or Ryder and I totally felt sorry for Amy.

I think because Sonny is a compulsive liar, I really didn't connect with her. I felt like I couldn't trust her, and despite the fact that she is nice and funny, I couldn't blame Amy or Ryder for reacting to her the was they did - Sonny wasn't an honest, good person.

But then I also blame Amy, for being the doormat that she was and letting Sonny get away with the things she did... and Ryder didn't really have a personality for me - he just served a purpose and that was all, so there was no connection there.

I felt that the story was predictable and despite the fact that Keplinger is clearly a brilliant writer, it didn't completely shine in Lying Out Loud.

That being said, this was the type of book that I could read in an afternoon and not have to be massively invested into. It's a cold autumn night book, and that was what I needed when I read this. Had I picked this book up expecting something deep and super meaningful I would have been disappointed, but I didn't so I guess I can say that despite it's flaws, I did enjoy this book.

Book released 28th April 2015 by Scholastic

Book received for review for the author/publisher

Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

The thing that I love about this book series is the fact that Marissa Meyer manages to write different characters and different romances with her own style without it feeling like all of the characters are some variation on the same. Scarlet felt different to Cinder and Cress, dear Cress with her idealistic views and childish ways, is different to them both. 

I feel like I'm betraying Cress and Thorne if I say this here, after all this is their book, but Scarlet and Wolf are my fave Lunar Chronicles couple and I felt so heartbroken for the two of them in this book, I also loved the fact that we get to revisit Cinder and Kai in this book - Cress and Thorne are cute, but their romance doesn't develop in the same way as the first two couples and I didn't feel as invested into them.

Maybe the reason for that is that Cress felt to me like a weaker character than Cinder and Scarlet and as much as I liked her - she was so cute - she wasn't as kick ass as the other girls. She is lonely, and totally has a crush on Carswell Thorne even before he comes into her life, but this made me wonder whether her feelings were really developing from that at all.

I also feel like the plot in Cress slowed down a bit - I was still absolutely gripped but not as much as I had been for Cinder or Scarlet. Marissa Meyer's writing was as amazing as before, but the plot slowed down a bit, which unfortunately dampered my enjoyment a teenie bit.

That being said, Cress was a thoroughly enjoyable read, with great characters both new and old. Whilst the pace drooped a little, I know it will pick up in Winter and I cannot wait to get started on that!

Book released 4th February 2014 by Feiwel and Friends

Review: Dead Ringer by Jessie Rosen

From the moment Laura Rivers steps foot into Englewood High, she notices the stares—and they aren’t the typical once-overs every pretty new girl endures. The students seem confused and…spooked. Whispers echoing through the halls confirm that something is seriously off. “That new girl looks just like her,” they say.

It turns out Laura has a doppelgänger, and it isn't just anyone—it's Sarah Castro-Tanner, the girl who killed herself by jumping into the Navasink River one year ago.

Laura is determined not to let the gossip ruin her chances of making a fresh start. Thanks to her charming personality and California tan, she catches the eye of Englewood’s undisputed golden boy, Charlie Sanders, and it’s only a matter of time before they make their relationship official.

But something is making Charlie and his friends paranoid—and Laura soon discovers it has to do with Sarah Castro-Tanner.

What really happened to Sarah? Why is Charlie unraveling? And how does Laura Rivers fit into it all?

After all, she’s the dead ringer for a dead girl.

No... No... No!

Do you know what I hate? When a book is set up really well, and I'm getting really invested into the plot, then all of a sudden this big twist that the whole narrative has been leading up to hits and it completely blows everything that I have started to enjoy about the story out of the water and I'm left staring at the left over pieces of a story that could have been so much more.

When I first started Dead Ringer I struggled, I felt that the writing style was overly simplistic and I struggled to be absorbed into the storytelling. Still, I persevered, because that blurb promised me brilliant things so I wanted to see where it was going. We meet Laura, a relateable girl who moves to a new school and meets the most popular guy in town - the only thing is that she sort of looks like someone who died two years ago. I say sort of because even some of the characters say that Laura only slightly resembles Sarah (dead girl), so by this point I'm getting a bit interested but also not getting connected.

Then the proper story begins, and we realise that Laura's new boyfriend and his best buds had something to do with Sarah's death, and somebody knows... 

So the story starts to get interesting, then Rosen throws in this totally crazy twist that is supposed to be unexpected and really shock you into reading more but all it did was made me roll my eyes and sigh because it suddenly created hundreds of massive plot holes. After that, the book was ruined, the story became completely out there and not at all enjoyable and I was just waiting for the climax to happen  so that it was over... then it ends on a crappy cliffhanger and I was not a happy Jade!

This book had so much potential - and Rosen as a writer for YA readers does too, if she learns to show and not tell all the time - but it was just such a let down. If the twist had been something semi-believable that had me reeling, I would have really enjoyed this book... but it wasn't, so I didn't, and that is all I can say.

Book released 11th November 2015 by Full Fathom FiveBook received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review

Review: NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

"No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better."

Teenagers at Wisconsin's Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes.

This book is just Joelle Charbonneau all over, and I love it.

Fr once, I appreciate the fact that an author has managed to take the point of view of a lot of characters and tie them together in a way that is both fluid and non-convoluted. I loved how well Joelle managed to create this confusion and resolve it all towards the end. Okay, so the ;big' reveal actually was a bit anticlimatic to me and took an edge off this book, but what happened in the 95% up to then was so much better and I would definitely need to read the sequel. I can't believe how much I was gripped by NEED.

I felt so sorry for Kaylee in this book, it seemed like everyone and everything was against her. She's ostracised for wanting her brother to survive, things are just going right between her and the guy she loves but is he really all he seems? There is a whole lot going against the girl and I loved how she stood against it even in the worst of times.

The story was nail-biting, heart-pounding mystery, suspense and action. These characters have their interactions caused needlessly by NEED and from start to finish I was gasping, guessing and clenching my fists in surprise and fear..

Overall, NEED was a fantastic book by an author that is solidifying herself as a favourite for me. Fantastic writing, dimensional characters and a gripping storyline. NEED will probably one of my favourites of 2015.

Book released 3rd November by HMH Books for Young Readers

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