Unstacking The Shelves (2)

(Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews)

Please read!

Un-Stacking The Shelves is my version of Stacking the Shelves. It's dedicated to removing the books from my shelves, not adding to them and so the books mentioned below are the ones I read this week.

Although I still bought some books this week...

(Any comments telling me to enjoy my new books will be deleted as spam.)

Last week I noticed that Waterstones in Bradford has a twitter account announcing that they're the most beautiful bookshop in the UK. Well, Bradford is practically next door to my city and only a bus ride away so I immediately planned to go. I went this Wednesday and it was so worth it. 

Apart from a gorgeous bookstore that is a converted Wool Exchange (apparently), and it just happens to have an upstairs cafe, Bradford is filled with many, many charity shops - which means even more books to rummage through. Needless to say I did pick up quite a few! Here's the pictures I took of the Waterstones:

The outside is just as beautiful as the outside. Who would think that this was a bookstore?

Taken from the upstairs cafe. Not going to lie, most of this trip was spent walking in circles because it's just so beautiful!

The important bit - the teen section! If you look really carefully you might spot some John Green books.

This gigantic statue is also present. Want an idea of size? Look at the height of the bookshelves behind him. Apparently his name is Richard Cobden and he was an English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman.

Books Read This Week

Fall For Anything - Courtney Summers (5/5)

Dollhouse - Anya Allyn (5/5)
Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge (4/5)
Adaptation - Malinda Lo (5/5)
To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han (3/5)

Don't forget to leave your STS link!

Review of Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

Format: eCopy (for review)
Genres: Mystery, Historical, Paranormal,
Pages: 416
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Release Date: 08/05/2014
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Book Depository ¦ Amazon UK/US ¦ Goodreads

The first things to shift were the doll's eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swivelled, until their gaze was resting on Triss's face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak. 'What are you doing here?' It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. 'Who do you think you are? This is my family.'

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out. Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late...

The Cuckoo song is a strange tale of fantastical beings, strange occurrences, buried secrets and ultimately, family relationships of all shapes and sizes. Triss wakes up after nearly drowning on holiday and immediately feels out of place, the pages of her diary have been torn out and she can't quite remember things, such as where her bedroom is. Worse, her sister is screaming that she's not Triss and nothing she does can satisfy the hunger she has.

This is a seriously weird, creepy book. Seriously. It starts off creepily. It ends creepily. With various pieces of creepy weirdness just scattered around everywhere. This is a book where I was never quite sure what would happen next and it was always the least expected thing - dolls screaming and poking the main character with pins, giant falling scissors, the main character crying spiderweb tears.

Surprisingly, despite all the creepy weirdness, I actually found Triss's family the strangest, except for Penn. They expected Triss to look and act a certain way, kept her close and seemed most content when Triss was ill, so they could look after her. She has an odd relationship with both her mother and father as while they do keep her close, they're quite distant from her. Penn was the most interesting character in the story for me and watching her and Triss grow closer as siblings really made me invested in the story.

I did wonder how we would keep the story going as I discovered the mystery before half the book had been read and while there was still a lot more story to to read and lots of events happening, it did feel slow in places. The part of the story Triss was called by a slightly different name and it really got on my nerves for a while to be honest but I can't really explain why. It was just irritating.

This is a great fantasy read, albeit a really weird read, that I can definitely see on my shelves. I've never read anything like it, Frances really does have a very vivid imagination! There's subtle things on the cover that really make sense once you've read the book too, I really liked that. I will definitely be reading more of the author's books, I've already added one to my Goodreads shelf!

Giveaway: The Rule of Claw by John Brindley

Look at this shiny thing and my cat. It could be yours! This is seriously cool hardback copy of The Rule of Claw, a book I recently reviewed as 5 stars. You can see my review here. 

 I'm keeping the cat though. Sorry. (International giveaway)

Format: Hardback
Genres: Apocalyptic, Survival,
Pages: 352
Publisher: Orion Children's
Release Date: 03/03/2008
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Amazon UK/US ¦ Goodreads

We enter a futuristic world and meet a band of sixteen year olds who were abandoned in isolation at an early age. They're educated partly by gleaning facts from the few books in their possession, but primarily through their experiences of survival which features death and danger. A new threat emerges when the teens transcend their own rules and eat animal flesh. Ash, the leader, is kidnapped and becomes a pawn in the power struggles between the formidable raptors. In these beautiful beasts, she glimpses new forms of evolution which make her consider her own humanity. Soon she learns the frightening truth of their origins. And realizes the dangerous implications for herself and her friends.

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Review of The Rule Of Claw by John Brindley

Format: Hardback
Genres: Apocalyptic, Survival,
Pages: 352
Publisher: Orion Children's
Release Date: 03/03/2008
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Amazon UK/US ¦ Goodreads

We enter a futuristic world and meet a band of sixteen year olds who were abandoned in isolation at an early age. They're educated partly by gleaning facts from the few books in their possession, but primarily through their experiences of survival which features death and danger. A new threat emerges when the teens transcend their own rules and eat animal flesh. Ash, the leader, is kidnapped and becomes a pawn in the power struggles between the formidable raptors. In these beautiful beasts, she glimpses new forms of evolution which make her consider her own humanity. Soon she learns the frightening truth of their origins. And realizes the dangerous implications for herself and her friends.

I'm going to raise my hand now I tell you all that I judged this book by it's cover and I am ashamed of myself. My cover isn't quite like this cover. My cover is a hardback and it's gorgeous - no dust jacket, just a green cover with gold writing printed on to it, not yellow like in the image. But here's the cool part. It's a scaly green cover. So with a title like The Rule Of Claw and a scaly green cover, I thought this was a Middle Grade novel about dinosaurs.

It's not. In fact it's a very clever, apocalyptic Young Adult novel involving human and animal mutations, religion, evolutions and some seriously nasty gigantic leeches which will literally sucker themselves onto you and not let go until either you or it is dead. It's like the Harry Potter/Voldemort thing. Only gross.

The kids in the ASP camp use a shorter language than ours but it's easy enough to understand. I liked this attention to detail as the adults left the kids in the camp a long time ago plus there's this freaky evolution thing going on, so it makes sense that their language will have changed over time. Ash is their leader and for most of the book, the main character. Sometimes it switches to a different character.

There's a sense of danger running all the way through the book. I never got a sense of safety and Ash was always moving somewhere else or finding herself in terrible situations. Somehow along the way she makes unusual friends of both the Rodents and the Raptors (there's sort of dinosaurs in this). I liked that for once, the idea of the future wasn't a Dystopian society with fancy vehicles and rules. In this, there are no rules. Everything is constantly shifting and changing and there are no leaders, just different groups of animals and humans trying to survive a changing world.

I guarantee, if you choose to read this it will be one of the most unusual books you have read. I highly recommend it. It's also a standalone novel, despite having a sequel the sequel features a different main character and is just set in the same world.

Top Ten Reading Rooms That Will Make You Drool

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

I want a home library. You want a home library. Everyone wants a home library. Likelihood is, none of us have a home library as cool as these though. I've labelled them all with one word under the image so you can easily talk about them in the comments. My favourite is corner and when I get it (not if), I will never leave. Never.

Cabin

Nautical

Window

Corner

Modern

French

Ladder

Minimalist

Stacks

Space

Which one is your favourite? Don't forget to link to your TTT!

Many Covers Monday - Confusing Covers

Today's Many Covers Monday is dedicated to covers from another mothers. No, that's quite right. These are covers that look exactly like other covers, often to the point that I think it's one author and it isn't and I then sit confused for hours.

I actually wrote this post a month ago and scheduled it and since then have added another 3 sets of covers that I'm completely confused by...

My face when I see a book which I think is another book.

Jennifer E. Smith's books are almost iconic now. The black and white cover with a couple snuggling together, with a big happy black and white font except for one word... so I was pretty surprised when I saw the cover to the left and realised it wasn't one of Jennifer's books.

The couple are so happy they don't care they're about to be squished by a giant moon. Bless.

There's no denying it - The Fault In Our Stars is an iconic cover, recognisable for a distance of 50 miles away (scientific fact) and will continue to be for decades to come.

So I shouldn't have been surprised when other covers followed suit by basically copying the minimalistic style and font. Ketchup Clouds never used to look like that and if you go into your local bookstore, especially if you're in England, hit the teens section. Pick up John Green, David Levithan, Liz Czukas and Annabel Pitcher. I promise you, they'll look like a set and all the fonts will match.

If you want the font all for yourself to do whatever it is you want to do with it, search for eraser font. It's very close to the TFIOS font.

 You should have seen the glare The Jewel got from me.

While the cover does have it's differences, there's something about it's font, the title and the cover in general that, if lined up with The Selection series, would match almost perfectly.

 Pearl came out just a few months after Matched and I remember a few people talking about the similarities. I've read both of these and can tell you that these stories are in no way alike. Perhaps it was just a coincidence... perhaps we'll never know... *spooky noises*

The Vixen was released almost the same time as Anna Godbersen's Bright Young Things. Anna previously had a ton of success with her Luxe series and clearly Flapper's publisher wanted to get in on the act.

But I can't be mad because flapper style is THE BEST yo.

 Want to sell a book? Stick an action figure on it.

So that wraps up my post! If you've spotted any others let me know in the comments.

Next week: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Weir

Review of Workhouse: Victorian Girl's Diary by Pamela Oldfield

Format: Paperback
Genres: Historical
Pages: 176
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: 03/11/2008
Find The Author: N/A (Author passed away)
Amazon UK/US ¦ Goodreads

It's January 1871 when Edith, the sheltered daughter of a wealthy widow, pays her first eventful visit to the workhouse for the poor. There she meets Rosie, a rebellious, quick-tempered orphan who is always getting into trouble. Edith soon finds herself drawn into Rosie's wild schemes and both their lives are never the same again.

I first encountered the My Story series when I much younger and loved the books I read. I believe at the time there were only five or so published. Although these are short novels and written by very different authors (including Chris Priestly!), the historical descriptions are very vivid and the characters are easy to connect with and understand their situation, despite them being from an era we've never lived in. Now there's lots and lots of books for nearly every period of history, told from both girls and boys points of view. They're just as good as I remember and I highly recommend them!

This story is told from the point of view of Edith, who lives in the year 1871. We follow her through a very eventful year of her life, when her mother first starts taking Edith with her to visit the workhouse she's dedicated her life to. I got a very vivid image of life in the workhouse and none of the sickness, death or dire conditions were glossed over. At the start of the story Edith is a lot more vain but by the end she becomes a true spokesperson for the poor and attempts to help them live a much better life.

Edith often talks about an inmate she feels close to, a girl called Rosie Chubbs, who Edith describes as a 'wild creature'. Despite the harsh conditions and constant  punishments, Rosie never lets the workhouse beat her down and battles against the Master alongside Edith and Edith's mother.

These books are somewhere between an MG and a YA, so there's usually a happy ending, which I like. I hate feeling depressed at the end of a book! It ends very well, with happy enough endings for most of the characters, but not all, sadly.

Stacking the Shelves (12/04/2014)

Hosted by Tynga's Reviews

Three books received this week! I recently read The Rule of Claw and City of Screams is a companion novel to that, so I had to have it, of course! 

I'm currently on a Courtney Summers binge and I now own all of her books, except This Is Not A Test, which I read on my kindle app, so I need to buy a real copy of that.

I do already have a paperback copy of Fangirl (and I loved it) but I wanted a hardback too, because US Hardbacks are seriously nice.

There was supposed to be one more book here, Jenny Han's To All The Boys I've Loved Before, but the Royal Mail didn't deliver it and won't let me pick it up for 2 days. It's a complete shambles at the sorting office and I'm seriously annoyed because I was going to start reading that today.

Question of the week: What was your least favourite book so far this year?

(Mine was Love Letters To The Dead)

Giveaway: Divergent Movie Poster (Int)

I recently went to see A Long Way Down which was originally written by Nick Hornby and starred Pierce Brosnan. Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul. It was a really, really good movie and I highly recommend it!

While I was there I spotted something pretty cool in the postcard section, folded Divergent mini posters. So I quickly glanced around and grabbed 6. As you do. I have 5 to give away, so if you want one you're in with a good chance!

I call it a mini poster but it's actually about the size of two A4 sheets of paper I'd guess? Here's some pictures and stuff of it:

It's really cool, they're all folded up and have an excerpt from the book.

It is a good sized poster folded out. Sorry, the book is MINE.

To be in with a chance of winning just enter the rafflecopter thing. There's a free entry if you can't be bothered with the extras. I know I can't sometimes.

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Review of Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

The US Cover is much nicer.

Format: eCopy (received for review)
Genres: High School, Romance, Paranormal
Pages: 338
Publisher: Orchard Books
Release Date: May 1st 2014
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Amazon UK/US ¦ Goodreads

This is the story of how we became freaks. It's how a group of I's became a we.

When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn't expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friends. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. None of them will ever be the same. 

Don't Even Think About It is a cute, funny story about growing up and all that entails in high school, only with a twist - when the class of 10B go to get their flu shots, they become telepathic, hearing everyone else's thoughts. At first this seems terrifying until they understand what's going on, then fun. However they get a lot more than they bargained for and have to deal with the consequences of past lies from both themselves and their parents.

This feels very much like a High School movie to me and has all the elements of one - romance, crushes, exam stress, life stress, weight issues. I found the story quite enjoyable and it was easy to lose myself in it. There are quite a lot of characters in this, which are all easy to distinguish which is which - which is unusual for me (so much which). The romance between nearly every character did seem to be the secondary focus after the ESP itself. The story itself is best described as 'cute'. It's a fluffy read and I didn't worry about any of the characters during it because I knew it just wasn't that sort of book.

I didn't like a few things in the book. In places it was a bit too cute at times and a bit too simply written. At the beginning there was a bit too much telling instead of showing and in other places I did feel like the idea of having the point of a view as a collective was forgotten about and then wedged in. I really didn't like Tess's mom constantly thinking the normal sized Tess was 'too fat' and should 'lose a few pounds' constantly. It wasn't seen as a horrible thing, just a parent thing and I found it shocking.

I did enjoy this book very much, it just had a few problems that I can't overlook which is why I gave it three stars. That isn't a negative review. I didn't know until the end of the story that this is the start of a series and I am definitely interested in reading the sequel at the moment, although I'm hoping the cover is a bit less... pink. If you're a fan of high school dramas or just want a fun fluffy read, I recommend this!