Review of The Rites and Wrongs of Janice Wills by Joanna Pearson

For anyone who's ever survived a rite of passage or performed a mating dance at Prom...
The Japanese hold a Mogi ceremony for young women coming of age. Latina teenagers get quinceaneras. And Janice Wills of Melva, NC ... has to compete in the Miss Livermush pageant.
Janice loves anthropology--the study of human cultures--and her observations help her identify useful rules in the chaotic world of high school. For instance: Dancing is an effective mating ritual--but only if you're good at it; Hot Theatre Guys will never speak to Unremarkable Smart Girls like Janice and her best friend, Margo; and a Beautiful Rich Girl will always win Melva's annual Miss Livermush pageant.

But when a Hot Theatre Guy named Jimmy Denton takes an interest in Janice, all her scientific certainties explode. For the first time, she has to be part of the culture that she's always observed; and all the charts in the world can't prove how tough--and how sweet--real participation and a real romance can be.

Funny, biting, and full of wisdom, this marks the debut of a writer to watch.

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The idea of this book really appealed to me, I didn’t know much about Anthropology but I love High School stories like this one and figured it would be a great thing to read. Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this one. I didn’t love it and I wouldn’t go as far as to say I loved it, it was just ‘meh’. Not really memorable enough. Even as I type I’m forgetting lot of stuff about it.

The idea of the story is pretty basic: Anthropology student wants to create an awesome paper for some Anthro thing, so she can try and get a scholarship in some college because the one near to her just isn’t good enough. She works out that the best way to do this is to enter her town’s pageant competition so she can see it from the pageant contestant’s point of view, that way she can study them better and make her paper super super awesome. Along the way she realises that her friends are better than she realised and she need to appreciate them more and everything ends up with shiny happy rainbows.

Except Janice is really, really mean. And pretty shallow too. She cares more about her stupid Anthro paper than her friends and for some reason got it into her head that she’s amazing at Antro and bla bla bla. Now, the real problem is that when she realised how mean she was being and changed, I didn’t particularly like her character then either. I guess we just weren’t destined to be friends.

The Miss Livermush pageant. Oh lord. The cheesiness of this name never failed to irritate me. The entire book is centred around this pageant and yet when they finally started the pageant there wasn’t really much there. It was over pretty quickly.

The book itself is written like this: Anthropology Observation #33333388822: Yada yada yada (instead of chapters, which I really liked, it was cute). Then while I was trying to read the story, a few random facts would be thrown at me, mostly ones that I could leave out of the story and not notice the disappearance. I think they were just thrown in to bulk up the story.

3/5

Received free from a blogger who has closed their site, in exchange for an honest review. So naturally I nicked my review back off her because she was rude to me.

Review of The Death Cure by James Dashner

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.

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I grabbed The Death Cure almost as soon as I'd finished The Scorch Trials – can you blame me? Amazing cliff hanger ending. As with The Scorch Trials, the story picks up where we left off – with Thomas stuck in the white room, unable to get out. Two weeks (or so) pass before they decide to let him out again, and he's almost driven mad by the smell of himself... well he hasn't washed in weeks! Thomas is sent back to his friends and they're told that they're going to get their memories restored to them.

This back follows the same pace as the other two – lots of action, lots of suspence. I was never quite sure what would happen next. An old friend turns up later and all our questions are answered. Or are they? You see, I was disappointed in this book. I spent all year last year waiting to read it and yes, I put it off once I'd got it because I knew it would be amazing. It is. But. There were still unanswered questions. Once the Glader's memories are restored – we learn nothing of their memories. I was really looking forward to this, getting the know them, finding out who they were before WICKED. Another problem I had were what the rest of the group were actually doing while Thomas was locked away. It seemed that he never bothered asking. Brenda, one of my favourites in the last book, seemed to age 10 years mentally and I felt like she was Thomas's mother rather than potential love interest. The rest of the characters are pretty much the same at least!

There was one scene in this book that was definitely a heart breaker, trust me. I strongly believe that Thomas made the right decision but my, it was painful. I feel slightly choked up thinking about it! The title is actual my favourite thing about the book, as well as the ending. You won't understand what the title actually means until you've read the whole book, which I thought was really clever. Made me smile when I closed it!

4/5

Review of The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani

After her father loses his job, Sonia Nadhamuni, half Indian and half Jewish American, finds herself yanked out of private school and thrown into the unfamiliar world of public education. For the first time, Sonia's mixed heritage makes her classmates ask questions—questions Sonia doesn't always know how to answer—as she navigates between a group of popular girls who want her to try out for the cheerleading squad and other students who aren't part of the "in" crowd.

At the same time that Sonia is trying to make new friends, she's dealing with what it means to have an out-of-work parent—it's hard for her family to adjust to their changed circumstances. And then, one day, Sonia's father goes missing. Now Sonia wonders if she ever really knew him. As she begins to look for answers, she must decide what really matters and who her true friends are—and whether her two halves, no matter how different, can make her a whole.

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Ah, it's great to read a book with a main character who isn't a White American! Sonia is a character that a lot of teen girls can relate to as well - she's having to move to a new school, try and fit in and she's trying new things - tougher stuff like questioning who she is and her religion and simpler things, like eating ham for the first time. She makes friends with a popular cheerleader, Kate, who introduces Sonia to her way of life, which isn't as strict as Sonia's and this causes Sonia to rebel against her parents rules at times. Kate and Sonia lead very different lives and it was interesting to see Kate's in comparision with Sonia's, as Kate's lifestyle is one I'm used to reading about in Young Adult books. Although not a long book and not filled with action and suspense, The Whole Story of Half a Girl is a novel that makes you think about different ways of life. It also covers tougher subjects such as depression, which us always hovering in the background. Another thing that interested me was the different reactions to Sonia herself - a lot of the students asked questions, asking if she's Indian, which Sonia doesn't really know yet. One person got it mixed up with Native American! Sonia never quite fits in, which bothers her but in the end she learns that it doesn't really matter anyway.

5/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Review of The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Sequel To The Maze Runner
  
Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more variables. And no more running. Thomas was sure that escape meant he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

In the Maze, life was easy. They had food, and shelter, and safety . . . until Teresa triggered the end. In the world outside the Maze, however, the end was triggered long ago.

Burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate, the earth is a wasteland. Government has disintegrated—and with it, order—and now Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.

The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

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The Scorch Trials sees us thrown right back when we left off – Thomas and the rest of the Gladers have apparently been rescued by some resistance or other and are now in a safe house. They wake up the next day, to find their rescuers hanged, Theresa taken and replaced with a Aris. After talking with Aris, they learn they they are group B – group A being almost identical to theirs, except they're girls. When they leave the room however, they find the bodies suddenly gone and the walls bricked shut. And that's just the start of the weirdness...

The first scene in the house is my favourite throughout this book, it's really surreal and I had no idea what would happen next, which turned out to be a rather amusing rat faced man in a white suit. Now, you trying picturing Professor Snape in a suit and not laughing. Because that's exactly how I pictured this guy. Don't get too attached to him though, he's only around to tell the Gladers that their next trial is to walk 100 miles across The Scorch, in two weeks, to a 'Safe Haven'. Of course, that would be boring if it wasn't for the Cranks, really crazy diseased people – a few who like noses...

Minho and Newt are my two favourite characters as they really keep the group going. I have difficulties connecting with Thomas due to not really knowing who he is, which I'm hoping will be cleared up in The Death Cure. Of course, Theresa is an immensely difficult character to like in this book and I was never quite sure if she was telling the truth or not. The new character, Aris, past the house we never really get to know properly which is shame. Then there's the problem of not wanting to get too attached to any of the characters – as they're being killed off left right and centre!

Although the story is slow going once they reach The Scorch, there's loads of action and plenty of twists and turns that kept me reading as much as possible. WICKED throws as much as it can at the Gladers and I was never quite sure (still aren't) of who to believe. I worked a couple of things out but mostly I'm more confused than when I started reading! I really hope The Death Cure ties up all the loose ends and answers all the questions I have, I have very high hopes for it.

5/5

Received free from Chicken House in exchange for an honest review

Review of Still Waters by Emma Carson Berne

Hannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He’s leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they’ll never forget. 

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living there, even though it's been deserted for years. And Colin doesn’t seem quite himself. As he grows more unstable, Hannah worries about Colin’s dark side, and her own safety. 

Nothing is as perfect as it seems, and what lies beneath may haunt her forever.

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My overall thoughts of this story were that the characters where stereotypical and annoying, the plot was weak as a chocolate teapot and the house should be dustier. But, I loved this book. I've always had a weak spot for horror movies, the cheesier the better – so it's no wonder I loved this so much! The setting was wonderfully creepy and easy to imagine which really helped with my enjoyment of the story.

The characters don't have the most developed personalities, particularly Hannah, but I didn't mind that so much. There was always a sinister edge to Colin, even at the beginning of the book and I enjoyed reading on to see what he'd do and see if there was an explanation for why he was acting so weirdly. Hannah herself is not used to lying to her parents and worries about her little brother, who is staying at a friends house while she's gone. She also doesn't think to pack clean bedding, a blow up mattress or a bag of food, despite the house being empty for ten years.

The plot is quite weak, basically Hannah has difficulty telling her boyfriend Colin those three little words and he's going away to college in a few days. She decides to do something out of character – she packs her bags, lies to her Mother about where she's going and takes Colin away for a dirty weekend (only without the sex) at Connors parent's old vacation spot, Pine House. Almost as soon as they set off for Pine House, Colin starts acting weird, acting odder and odder the longer they're there. Of course, Hannah being as naive as she is, questions this, but doesn't do anything about it.

The descriptions of Pine House, however were very descriptive and I could picture it clearly. I never understood why everything didn't have a thousand layers of dust over it but that's low budget horror movies for you! Wait...

The ending was as daft and cheesy I expected but it was all good fun! Had a few good chase scenes and a Goonies moment (you'll know the one if your a fan). Plus a lake, a storm, pitch black darkness, running around deserted woods, a creepy almost-deserted village and a graveyard! Not to mention the family secrets...

4/5

Review of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Orphan Hugo Cabret lives in a wall. His secret home is etched out in the crevices of a busy Paris train station. Part-time clock keeper, part-time thief, he leads a life of quiet routine until he gets involved with an eccentric, bookish young girl and an angry old man who runs a toy booth in the station. The Invention of Hugo Cabret unfolds its cryptic, magical story in a format that blends elements of picture book, novel, graphic novel, and film. Caldecott Honor-winning author-illustrator Brian Selznick has fashioned an intricate puzzle story that binds the reader like a mesmerist's spell.

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I read this book a couple of years ago and completely fell in love with it. The grainy illustrations, the rich black borders, the amazing smell coming from the book all completely won me over and it's stood proudly on my shelf ever since. Today, I decided to pick it back up again, partly due to wanted to give it its deserved review and partly because I'm going to see the movie in a couple of days and want to have the overall story fresh in my mind when I pick the movie to pieces and point out exactly what they did wrong.

Admittedly, this book isn't for everyone. It's told in the style of a simple child's bedtime story, with a twist in the tale and a happy ending, of course. The character development isn't crazy and the overall feel is very simplistic, but I quite enjoyed that. Too much character development wouldn't have worked well the story and as 70% of it is pictures anyway, I'd rather Brian Selznick took the time to tell us more of the story, rather than describing the exact colour of Hugo's trousers.

The story in the background of this is the beginnings of Cinema, and throughout the book there's pictures from scenes of old movies, a guy hanging from a clock and the famous train one. You know the one.

The story is set in France, so there's a lot of places and names I have difficulty pronouncing, but as far as I remember from Anna and the French Kiss, the French are heavily into their movies so naturally France is a good place to set this book. There's not a whole lot of France to see though, as most of this story is set in a train station, where Hugo lives. As the story progresses, we find out how he ended up living in the train station as well as many other secrets.

Final thoughts: This is a great book if you're looking for a quick read, despite the sheer size of it (over 500 pages). I'd definitely recommend it to people who like illustrations like me, as the illustrations through this are mesmerising and beautifully drawn. I admit, I did almost shed a tear when I finished the story, as I was enjoying it so much!

5/5

Review of The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Imagine if she hadn't forgotten the book. Or if there hadn't been traffic on the expressway. Or if she hadn't fumbled the coins for the toll. What if she'd run just that little bit faster and caught the flight she was supposed to be on. Would it have been something else - the weather over the Atlantic or a fault with the plane?

Hadley isn't sure if she believes in destiny or fate but, on what is potentially the worst day of each of their lives, it's the quirks of timing and chance events that mean Hadley meets Oliver...

Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. 

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To start with, I shall make two statements. I loved this book more than Anna and the French Kiss. I will gush a lot. So now you're prepared for all the gushing, I'll dive right it. This book was amazing. I can't pinpoint exactly what made it so amazing but I know Oliver helped. He's British, funny, a gentleman and has ACTUAL FEELINGS. A YA boy with a actual feelings! Amazing.

Right, that's enough gushing. I was expecting the majority of the book to be set on the flight to London, so I was surprised when Hadley and Oliver suddenly started getting off the plane. The book would have been weird if it was all about the plane though, as I wouldn't have read about Hadley seeing her Dad, which is supposed to be the focus of the story (although I only cared about Oliver). When she got off the plane and Oliver did what he did (WOW) and then suddenly disappeared, I was like, NO! Where has he gone? Are we going to see him again? I genuinely started panicking a bit as the story progressed and the story didn't seem to be heading in an Oliver direction. I'll let you find out for yourself if it does.

I just diverted straight back to Oliver there, didn't I? As you can guess from the cover and blurb, Hadley and Oliver fall in love quite quickly and I was worried this would be quite unrealistic. It really wasn't though, right from the beginning when Hadley first has an argument with a lady about her bags, you can see just how well they fit together and this continues on the plane ride.

As a side story, that's actually meant to be the main focus at first, Hadley's Dad has moved to England and is getting married to a new woman. Hadley feels deeply betrayed by her Dad and when he was at home, he was the perfect Dad, as shown in flashbacks every so often. He read her nearly all the classics, and he gave her one classic that she hasn't read yet – Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. Hadley plans to shove this in her Dad's face as soon as she gets to England, of course.

The main theme of the book is basically 'What If?' If Hadley hadn't have missed her flight by just four minutes, she would never had met Oliver and quite frankly, the story as a whole would be rubbish.

5/5

Review of The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

Kestrel Hath's schoolroom rebellion against the stifling caste system of Aramanth leads to explosive consequences for her and her family: they are relegated to the city's lowest caste and are ostracized. With nothing left to lose, Kestrel and her twin brother, Bowman, do the unthinkable: they leave the city walls. Their only hope to rescue the rest of their family is to find the key to the wind singer, a now-defunct device in the city's center, which was once the course of happiness and harmony in Aramanth. But the key was given to an evil spirit-lord, the Morah, in exchange for the Morah's calling off its terrible army of Zars. Armed with desperate bravery, wits, and determination, Kestrel, Bowman, and a tagalong classmate set off to find the key. Along the way they meet allies and foes, but in order to succeed in their quest, they must face the most sinister force of all: the powerful Morah.

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The Wind Singer was my first ever taste of Dystopia, and possibly YA as well. I've never forgotten it and ever since I've been addicted to Dystopian novels. As it's been a good ten years since I last read it, I wasn't sure what to expect, as other books I loved as a kid didn't seem so good after a second reading. I remembered very little of the plot too – past the colour system and Pinpin's first test, I couldn't remember much of the story.

Thankfully, I thought The Wind Singer was pretty awesome Fantasy/Dystopia, with a very prominent fantasy feel. The world outside the Dystopian city is not Dystopian but there's definitely fantasy elements. It's aimed more towards Middle Grade than Young Adult, with more fun than you would normally expect from a YA book and a much happier ending. The story is told from several characters viewpoints, so when the Twins and Mumpo were in the desert, you could see what was happening back in Aramanth, from Ira and Hanno Hath's eyes. During this, I loved Ira Hath's small rebellion, and read a quite a few pages to my partner. The read some more when the narrative switched to Hanno Hath!

When I originally read The Wind Singer, Mumpo greatly annoyed me and I often found myself wishing his character wasn't in the story at all. However, now I'm older I found myself sympathising with the character and wanting Kess and Bowman to be friends with him, as he was clearly a bit special! Kess and Bowman are equally string characters but in different ways. They can speak to each other telepathically, but this isn't touched upon much in The Wind Singer, so I'm hoping that we'll know more in the next. In addition, Bowman seems to be able to connect with other's emotions and almost read their minds in a way, a skill which often proves useful. Pinpin may be a character that others will recognise – apart from the biting there is a definite resemblance to Sunny from A Series of Unfortunate Events (both books were published around the same time).

The first book in a trilogy, The Wind Singer is a great start and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book! Filled with daring escapes, terrifying Zars and a Dystopian city, The Wind Singer is a book that I'll likely not forget quickly! And even better is that you can finish the book and not feel as if you have to read the second as there's no cliffhanger ending, in my opinion.

5/5

Review of Tempus by Tyra Lynn

According to Albert Einstein, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. He might have been right.

Seventeen-year-old Jessie McLeod is used to getting glimpses of the past when she touches objects in her dads antique shop, but she's not used to the past looking back. Especially when the past is a gorgeous guy and she is dressed like a slob.

Shocked and intrigued, Jessie becomes obsessed with trying to catch another glimpse of that perfect face. When thoughts of him invade her sleep, the dreams seem so real that she wakes with the feel of his lips lingering on her skin. Soon after, however, the one guy she thought she’d never date suddenly asks her out. Either something strange is going on, or all those years of using furniture cleaner finally caused brain damage.

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Tempus is a really cute romance story about 17 year old Jessie who lives in a small town with her Dad. They both have a love of antiques and run an antiques store in town. Jessie has another reason to love antiques though – when she touches old objects, she sometimes gets a glimpse into the past, of previous owners of the objects. Despite this, she's a pretty average teenager – at the beginning she decides to go out, buy herself some new clothes and get her hair done. Then she discovers that her childhood crush is love with her and we I guessed where the story would be heading – but I was wrong! Shortly after this Jessie's dad buys her a mirror and when she touches it she sees a glimpse of a boy – who sees her too.

Odd things keep getting odder throughout the book and I got more confused as it went along! One minute Jessie's with Steve, the next she's with Gabriel, whoops, time rewound, the day you just read about is no more. This was a lot of fun though, trying to keep up. I will admit though, that I was... bored in places. The story seems incredibly long and it seems as if every time Jessie sees Gabriel there's a need for a 20 page long conversation about Time Travel.

Their relationship is very sweet though. I loved Gabriel, who definitely wasn't a cardboard cutout, unlike (sorry) Steve! I never got who Steve was, apart from a bit creepy. One telephone conversation about a young Jessie in a pink dress had me shuddering slightly. There's something weird about that guy. Back to Gabriel and his pirate shirt. I love me a guy in a pirate shirt. The romance between them was perfect and compulsively readable. The ending was absolutely amazing and left me with a soppy smile on my face!

4/5

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Heart of the Huntress by Tess Oliver

Sequel to Camille

Seventeen-year-old Camille Kennecott has finally found true happiness. Her twin sister, Emily, has returned home after years of self-inflicted seclusion within the austere confines of Bethlem Hospital. Nathaniel Strider, the boy who has captured Camille’s heart, has tamed the beast within him and joins her whenever he is not living his dream as a sailor on the open sea. And her guardian, Dr. Bennett, has graciously carved out a space in his scientific laboratory for Camille to spend her day experimenting with herbal remedies.
When Dr. Bennett receives a plea from a colleague to visit Transylvania and help deal with the werewolf problem, Camille is thrilled at the prospect of traveling to this exotic place. But the darkest form of treachery has boarded the ship with them, and it is not long before Camille faces the chilling possibility of losing everyone she’s ever loved.

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Just before I started blogging about books, I stumbled upon a book called Camille. I hadn't read a book by a Self Published Author before but I loved the idea of it and started reading it anyway. From the first page it had me completely hooked, and I left a rather rubbish 5 star review (well, I was new to the blogging world!). Turns out, shortly after my happy babbly review, Camille became more popular in the blogging world but even after a year, there was no sequel to be seen! But I can happily say that now, there is one and it is definitely worth the wait.

Heart of the Huntress picks up a few months after Camille left off. I'm happy to say that a new character joins the team - Camille's sister, Emily. I loved Emily's character through this as I felt like I could relate to her more, particularly her sarcastic streak! She definitely is the star of the show in my eyes and I'm glad Tess brought her out of Bethlem. Of course, Camille, Dr Bennett and our older Artful Dodger, Nathaniel are back too. Having been at sea for a while, Nathaniel's naturally gained some muscle but he's still the Nathaniel we all know and love. Camille herself is up to her usual tricks, dressing as a boy to go out and buy food for her family and worrying constantly, whilst Emily is busy painting and Dr Bennett is... writing about Lycanthropy or something.

This time the scooby gang are off to investigate some strange werewolfy goings on over in Transylvania, asked over by three rather odd seeming Taksony Brothers. Camille and Emily happily prepare for the trip, not knowing what lies ahead – lies, storms, lashings, separation - and a little bit of seasickness!

The second half of the book seemed to be a slightly slower pace but much more enjoyable. I enjoyed the introduction of two new characters and learning the Taksony Brother's secrets! The ending was very quick paced yet still managed to squeeze some humour in somehow and as usual, the ending left me wanting more! So I think Tess will be pestered for a third book... perhaps having Emily's point of view this time?

5/5

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review

Review of The Crimson Shard by Teresa Flavin

A visit to a private London museum takes a sinister turn when fifteen-year-old Sunni Forest and her friend Blaise are lured through a painted doorway into the past. As a clandestine, eighteenth century world of art theives, forgers and bodysnatchers closes in on them, they must take their chances on the treacherous streets of the city. Can they evade their captors and keep an ancient secret from falling into the wrong hands? And will they find the key to unlock the only way home - before it closes forever?

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I found a copy of The Blackhope Enigma last year and immediately fell in love the cover. To my delight, the story was just as good, leaping through many magical paintings and meeting a whole host of strange characters! In this story, set about a year later, Dean doesn't make an appearance (yey!) but Sunni and Blaise are back and visiting London's many museums. Why, I'm not quite sure. I may have forgotten that detail.

When we meet them, Blaise has persuaded Sunni to visit a painter's house on Phoenix Square, with every room painted to look lifelike but with very little real furniture inside. Their tour guide, Throgmorton, introduces them to each room - and his pretty daughter Livia. Once they reach the top of the house though, Livia lures Blaise through a painted door - and Sunni has no choice but to follow. They find themselves trapped in the 18th century, complete with a room full of orphans, recreating paintings all day.

Sunni and Blaise's relationship definitely develops well throughout the story and you can see the beginnings of a relationship there, which wasn't touched upon as much in the first book. I like the idea of seeing them grow up as well as having adventures, traveling around time and paintings! I'm very glad Dean wasn't in this, as his character wouldn't have worked at all within the story and just have been in the way, more than anything. I would like to see him in the next book though. Assuming there will be one.

I felt that this book was much slower going than the last one, with much less twists and turns. Sunni and Blaise have to plan their way out of Throgmorton's grasp slowly, and it's quite a way through the book that they manage to escape into the streets than the blurb suggests. Still, this is a great story and certainly paves the way for many more interesting adventures!! I think it would have been more fun for them to go through many painted doors into different centuries, rather tan being stuck in just one. I have a feeling that this may be written about in a later book.

4/5

Received free from Templar in exchange for an honest review

Review of This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees

Everyone says that Caro is bad . . . but Jamie can't help himself. He thinks of her night and day and can't believe that she wants to be his girlfriend. Gorgeous, impulsive and unconventional, she is totally different to all the other girls he knows. His sister, Martha, hates her. Jamie doesn't know why, but there's no way he's going to take any notice of her warnings to stay away from Caro.

But as Jamie falls deeper and deeper under her spell, he realises there is more to Caro - much more. There are the times when she disappears and doesn't get in touch, the small scars on her wrists, her talk about revolutions and taking action, not to mention the rumours he hears about the other men in her life.

And then always in the background there is Rob, Jamie's older brother, back from Afghanistan and traumatised after having his leg smashed to bits there. Jamie wants to help him, but Rob seems to be living in a world of his own and is increasingly difficult to reach.

With Caro, the summer should have been perfect . . . but that isn't how things work out in real life, and Jamie is going to find out the hard way.

As I heard it, this is not Celia Rees as I have ever seen her before. I've been reading her books for years and this book could have almost have been written by a different Author - no Vampires, no Historical, no Witches? I had to have a copy of this and I admit, I practically dived on Bloomsbury when I heard there was a limited amount of copies. The book didn't quite live up to it's hype, but that's okay, I was expecting that.

The story follows three characters, all who get a say at some point. There's Jamie, who seems to be the main character but Caro, an easily influenced political activist, really steals the show. Rob, Jamie's brother has recently come home from Afghanistan and his mind is probably more injured than his body.

This Is Not Forgiveness is like a grown up Stargirl (Jerry Spinelli). Caro is obviously Stargirl, only much less likeable and not to put too fine a point on it, a huge slut. Leo and Jamie seem alike to me too, in the sense that both characters become obsessed with Stargirl/Caro. Rob? Nah, no-one in Stargirl I can compare him to!

There was another character that caught my attention and that was Jamie and Rob's sister, Martha. She added a lot to the story and I think she could have replaced Rob easily. During the aftermath of the big event that happens at the end of the book, I would have loved to have known her thoughts and what she was doing.

The plot didn't really thrill. To be honest I was almost bored, waiting for something to happen, after reading the beginning I could slowly piece together what was going to happen. Actually, at the beginning it took me a few chapters to work out which character was which. The story just sort of plods along, mostly centered around Jamie's obsession with Caro. He quite annoyed me with how she would tell him to drop everything and he would, no question, which seemed quite naive. I never got a feel for Rob's character and I'm not sure what drew him to Caro. The story picks up a little in places, telling you of Caro's past or Rob's thoughts in Afghanistan (which were chillingly brilliant). But when I got to the end, it felt quite rushed and cheesy, almost. I wanted fireworks, but I got a sparkler instead.

3/5

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Review of Hana by Lauren Oliver

In the world of Delirium, love is a disease. And like all eighteen-year-olds, Lena and Hana must take the cure.At the start of their last summer of freedom, they were the closest of friends. Until Hana made a decision that tore them apart . . . In Delirium, we heard from Lena. Now, Hana gets to tell her side of the story. And nothing is what we first thought. Hana is a powerful, moving and beautifully told original eBook short story, with a shocking twist that will leave you with your heart in your mouth.

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I spent quite a bit of work trying to get Hana, as I don't currently have a bank card and needed to pay with Paypal. I felt it was worth it though – I loved Hana's character in Delirium and was desperate to read the story from her own point of view. Of Lena and Hana's friendship, Hana was clearly the stronger half at the beginning, but drifted away from Lena as the story progressed so I was also curious to see if we'd find out what happens to her.

In Delirium, Lena paints Hana as the ultimate friend – they've known each other since they were children, they go running together as much as possible and when Hana needs to visit Alex, Hana covers for her and occasionally joins her, and the team play hide and seek and scrabble. However, the Hana we meet in this short story is a very different person, with thoughts and feelings that are not very likeable at all. Whereas Hana in Delirium accepts Alex and becomes friends with him, this Hana is really jealous of Lena's relationship and does something that, in my opinion, is one of the most overused clichés in Dystopian novels, which annoyed me even more.

And if that wasn't annoying enough, this seems to be half the book – the other half is dedicated to shoving in a couple of chapters of Pandemonium – and Lena's not doing great. She's doing so badly in fact, that she seems to have developed OCD. It appears to be split into two – now and then. I'm not sure what the point of this is, but it does seem to be the one intriguing part at least!

Overall, a rather disappointing purchase. The whole short story seems to be designed to put people off buying Pandemonium, with cliché after cliché. A couple of gay characters are randomly written in, as if to try and appeal to the gay community too. As there are no gay characters in Delirium, this just furthered my annoyance...

3/5

Review of The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she’s decorating a cake. Unfortunately, everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant, and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.
But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all her problems - only her dad’s about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of a perfect family will be dashed. 

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When Sheridan Wells was younger, her mother left suddenly without warning. Now, she's 15 – but still believes that her mother loves her wants to come back. When she's not searching for her mother on the internet, she's known as Cake Girl – as she makes beautiful cakes. This is unsurprising – her Mother, Father and Nanny all cook something, Nanny and her Mother also did cakes but her Father cooks... other food... anyway, when she hears the announcement that her Father has got himself a TV Show – and wants to move to New York with her, she decides to try and bring her mother home. Later on, this leads to some unexpected consequences for Sheridan, but also helps her move on with her life.

I got pretty much what I was expecting from this – a fluffy contemporary read about a girl that makes cakes and does not want to move away from home. I enjoyed watching Sheridan grow up in the end, and make the right decisions for once! The community Sheridan lives in seems to be quite close, which I liked but I did find that some of the characters were lacking a personality, which was a bit odd.

Sheridan herself is a character that will grate on a lot of reader's nerves. Despite her age, she's spoilt rotten by her Father, who she seems to think is the bad guy and she is obsessed with finding her Mother – despite everyone else knowing that her Mother clearly doesn't want her any more. The only thing Sheridan gets from her Mother is a birthday card every year, which she reads over and over again. I couldn't help but think that Sheridan would have benefited if her Father had never given her the birthday cards and had told Sheridan the truth about her Mother ages ago. The other characters in this, other than the ones lacking a personality did seem rather cardboard, jealous cheerleader type, best-friend-who's-a-boy-and-fancies-her, etc.

For a first novel, this isn't too bad and I certainly enjoyed reading it! I would love to read a sequel though, as the potential move to New York doesn't happen, at least not in this book anyway. Even if a sequel doesn't happen, I hope Christina writes more books, as I expect her writing will improve over time. Less aggravating main characters next time please!

4/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Review of Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Some secrets shouldn't be kept...

Up until three months ago, everything in sixteen-year-old Camelia's life had been fairly ordinary: decent grades; an okay relationship with her parents; and a pretty cool part-time job at the art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes anything but ordinary.

Rumored to be somehow responsible for his ex-girlfriend's accidental death, Ben is immediately ostracized by everyone on campus. Except for Camelia. She's reluctant to believe the rumors, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. She's inexplicably drawn to Ben...and to his touch. But soon, Camelia is receiving eerie phone calls and strange packages with threatening notes. Ben insists she is in danger, and that he can help--but can he be trusted? She knows he's hiding something... but he's not the only one with a secret.

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I decided to read this quite suddenly and I'm really glad that I did. It's quite a quick read, only took me about two hours and I read all of it in one sitting. I hadn't read the blurb before hand so I had idea what to expect from it but I was pleasantly surprised with a unique storyline and engaging characters.

The story is really suspenseful. I love whodunnits, so this instantly appealed as soon as I realised what was going on. I did guess 'who did it' very easily but I love being right so this was problem for me! The gifts and phone calls were a little stereotypical but I loved that we could get into the killer's head, with a few scrawled notes from them scattered throughout the book. This has a nice mix of paranormal, suspense and contemporary – somehow managing to have an equal balance all the way through, with the anticipated cheesy chase scene at the end, which was a little shorter than I expected. Trust is the main theme in this, as she's getting all sorts of creepy letters – and coincidentally a new boy has arrived in town, one she's in love with - problem is that there's rumours he killed his previous girlfriend by throwing her off a cliff. I did think Ben should have understood why she found it difficult to trust him, considering I doubted she could have gone to the Police as they would have locked Ben up straight away, regardless of evidence.

The reason why I've taken a star off was because I felt that the Author was trying too hard to appeal to Twilight fans. Right at the first chapter, Ben pushes Camelia away from a speeding car and then later becomes her lab partner. All the way he does a Cullen too. 'You can't go near me... I'm dangerous.' 'But I love you!' I didn't notice this too much during the story and only realised about the dangerous thing as I'm writing this review, however.

I'm not sure about the sequels. Book 5 is about to be released soon and personally, I would prefer this as a stand-alone. From reading the blurb of book 2, it doesn't sound particularly appealing as the plot is ripped straight from New Moon (I'm not kidding, go read it!). I will try it though, just to see.

4/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Review of Velvet by Mary Hooper

Velvet is a laundress in a Victorian steam laundry. With both her mother and father dead, she is an orphan and has to rely upon her own wits to make a living. The laundry is scalding, back-breaking work and Velvet is desperate to create a better life for herself. Then Velvet is noticed by Madame Savoya, a famed medium, who asks Velvet to come to work for her. Velvet is dazzled at first by the young yet beautifully dressed and bejewelled Madame. But soon Velvet realises that Madame Savoya is not all that she says she is, and Velvet's very life is in danger...  

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Having read Mary Hooper's books before, I knew I'd probably love this but find a lot of faults with it. I eagerly read it anyway, as all of Mary's books are amazingly researched and the environments rich and easy to imagine. Mary's characters are very vivid too, I had no problem deciding on which actor each character looked like! 

This particular novel is about the spiritualism craze between 1900 – 1901 and is of course, fantastically researched. I learnt some great things about the different tricks that mediums used to fool their audience into believing that there really was a spirit, formed out of ectoplasm, standing right in front of them. 

The story takes a darker turn when Velvet visits a baby farm and learns of the true horrors of those farms. Velvet is quite an innocent character, despite being quite headstrong too. She falls in love too easily and is quick to believe explanations that anyone else be suspicious of, or see fault in. Things seemed too easy for Velvet, right at the beginning she's moved up in the world, then even further when she happens to get Madame Savoya's laundry. I highly doubt it would happen that easily and would have preferred Velvet to experience more hardship than the couple of nights on the streets, as this seemed very unrealistic, especially as there was a line of girls outside the laundry waiting for a job for days and days. I suppose that's a bit cruel of me! 

In between Velvet's chapters, we see sessions between Madame Savoya and 'Mrs Lilac', 'Lady Blue' etc, and it quickly becomes clear that she's not as nice as she's making Velvet believe she is. 

All the way through this book, I could see exactly what was going to happen at the end, and in a way I was surprised – but not in a good way. I guessed right but when I got to the ending, it cut off. I felt as if there could at least be another chapter, as the writing is quite big. Just as I was finally starting to love the story and I wanted to find out what would happen to Velvet afterwards, it just stopped. It's a real shame because I felt that the story was just starting to pick up. In a way it was almost like the story wasn't Velvet's but about Mediums and as soon as that part was over, there was no need to write anymore!

3/5

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Review of Fracture by Megan Miranda

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine -despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

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Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

The idea of a girl surviving 11 minutes under water, and the consequences of that, was what first pulled me in and made me want to read Fracture. I was curious to see where it would go, although I guessed they would be going down the paranormal route easily enough. I was expecting it to be very similar in style to all the over YA books out there – Girl has powers/is special, girl meets mysterious new guy, girl encounters much death and destruction. Actually, when I put it like that, it is like every other YA out there. But there's something about Fracture that makes it a little bit different too.

The characters in this, apart from Delaney and Troy, really annoyed me in many places. Decker didn't annoy me as much but he did have his moments. I had difficulty understanding him. Decker is your stereotypical boy-next-door but other than that I never really 'got' his character. He was going from beating himself up to kissing some other chick to taking Delaney out to the theatre and I was waiting for him to make his bloody mind up already.

One particular character, Delaney's mother, was the reason why I have given this book 4 stars. I am sick to death of YA books with overbearing parents. If they're dead, that's fine by me because I know if they're alive I'll have to put up with constant whining from them. With Delaney's mother, she was constantly at Delaney's back, sending her back to the Doctor, shoving pills down her neck and generally making Delaney feel as though her mother wished she were dead. You just don't do that with your kids. You give them a chance to heal and you work with what you've got. If Delaney was out every night drinking then fair enough. But she just wanted to concentrate on her studies.

Troy was an excellent addition to this, and he added a darkness to it which felt quite unique. His character is one I'll still remember in a years time. He had a bit of a God Complex about life and death, slowly becoming more twisted as the story progressed and the ending was one that I didn't expect. Apart from Delaney, he was the only character that felt real, not like a cardboard cut-out.

The ending really impressed me, it was shocking and final - I was fully expecting your average 'BUY MY NEXT BOOK!' cliffhanger so the Author can write a sequel but you can read this, be satisfied that the story is complete enough and not feel as if you have the buy the sequel, assuming there will be one. At the moment I believe it is a standalone but I fully expect a sequel to turn up in the next year or so. There are tiny ends that haven’t been tied, mainly an argument between Delaney and her best friend, Janna, but I'm not sure that they even need to be tied up.

4/5

Received free from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review

Review of Double by Jenny Valentine

When the sixteen-year-old runaway Chap is mistaken for a missing boy named Cassiel, his life changes dramatically. Chap takes on Cassiel’s identity, gaining the family and friends he’s always dreamed of having. But becoming someone else isn’t as easy as he hoped—and Chap isn’t the only one hiding a secret. As he teeters on the brink of discovery and begins to unravel the mystery behind Cassiel’s disappearance, Chap realizes that he’s in much deeper danger than he could have imagined. 

After all, you can’t just steal a life and expect to get away with it.

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Double, or The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight as it is known in the UK, is a simple mystery story, told by our main character, Chap. Chap just wants a new life, and one is handed to him on a plate. I can't blame him for taking it either, he's a child of the streets, sleeping rough every night and I can't imagine how hard life must have been for Chap before someone realised he looked like Cassiel. Of course, there are some differences between Cassiel and Chap – Chap has self inflicted piercings and a scars on his face, but his new family just assume that Cassiel has had a hard life before he came back to them.

Alongside the tale of Chap's new life, we also go back into the past and see what Chap's old life was like, with his Grandfather. As the book progresses, we are presented with two mysteries – where the real Cassiel actually is and what happened to Chap to cause him to leave his Grandfather.

The story as a whole is very satisfying, all the loose ends are tied up at the end and it left me with a general feeling of satisfaction. As there are so many cliff-hangers in books these days, I really appreciate when everything is solved within one book. There's an overall feeling of suspense as Chap attempts to make his new family believe that he is Cassiel and there's a constant worry that one small move him makes will out him. One thing that did confuse me, if this had happened to me, I'd just pretend to have no memory. A lot of problems are solved within one go and it's a very likely explanation as to why he never came home. What Chap did choose to do did add more suspense though!

The mystery with the little twist to the tale was relatively easy to solve for me, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story. The writing style is quite light and flows smoothly, making the story feel like it was going faster than it was for me. The characters themselves are simple, yet very realistic and memorable, particularly Chap of course. I'm not sure if I would read this again, is my only problem. Now I've read it, I don't think I need to read it again, although I would love to read a sequel, if there was one!

5/5

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review