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Young Adult
Showing posts with label Young Adult. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 March 2021

Feature | 10 Young Adult Books Being Released in 2021 I'm Looking Forward To

We may be a few months into 2021 already but here are some Young Adult novels to look forward to!

The beginning of the year is always exciting for me because we have another whole year of books coming out, ready to be eagerly devoured by readers.

Despite the urgh of 2020, 2021 is looking mighty fine because of all these epic books coming out! I've been checking out articles and Goodreads Lists over the last few weeks to remind myself of what I'm meant to be excited about, and thought I'd do a bit of a roundup of 10 Young Adult novels I'm looking forward to this year.


1. Rule of Wolves (King of Scars, #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Talk to anyone I know and they're telling you how much I love this universe that Bardugo has created. Rule of Wolves is the second in the King od Scars duology, following one of the characters in the Shadow and Bone series. I really enjoyed King of Scars, so can't wait for Rule of Wolves comes out!

Release date: 30 March

2. Chain of Iron (The Last Hours, #2) by Cassandra Clare

Another Cassandra Clare book you say? Sign me up! If you've been around Blogger's Bookshelf for any length of time then you'll probably now just how much I enjoyed her books. The first in this series, Chain of Gold was out in March 2020 after a delay, and I loved the characters and the general vibe of this book a lot more than her previous Shadowhunter series. Needless to say, definitely looking forward to Chain of Iron!

Release date: 2 March

3. Lore by Alexandra Bracken 

So here's the thing. I review books for publishing companies, which means I often get books before they're on the shelves. Lore by Alexandra Bracken was out in January but I scored it in December and it was brilliant. I so loved the combination of our world and Ancient Greece. I'm a big classics fan, so it was a great combo!

Release date: 5 January

4. The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson 

We're big fans of Maureen Johnson here at BB. Most of us who have read her Truly Devious series have loved it. The Box in the Woods follows on from the Truly Devious series, though doesn't follow the same storyline. As far as I can work out, it follows Stevie, the main character, as she heads off somewhere where she stumbles upon another murder. Cue murder solving and brilliance. Here for it!

Release date: 15 June

5. Heartstopper: Volume Four (Heartstopper #4) by Alice Oseman 

The world doesn't deserve Alice Oseman. Her stories are pure gold and the Heartstopper graphic novel series is no different. This is such a great series and I'm so looking forward to number four!

Release date: 13 May

6. Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give #0) by Angie Thomas

Another book that's already come out, Concrete Rose by the phenomenal Andie Thomas follows Star from The Hate U Give's father as he battles his way through high school as a young father. It's another great story from Thomas, which such important messages. While I didn't love this one as much as THUG, it's still a brilliant read and I highly recommend it, especially if you read and loved THUG.

Release date: 12 January

7. Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales 

To be completely honest, I didn't know this book was being released until I was putting this post together. But I read Sophie Gonzales' book Only Mostly Devastated and really enjoyed that. I haven't read anything else by Gonzale's and this one looks like a lot of fun. Also, Goodreads tells me it's 'Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before' so you know, that sounds great.

Release date: 9 March

8. Blade of Secrets (Bladesmith #1) by Tricia Levenseller 

Daughter of the Pirate King (and it's sequel) by Levenseller is such a great book. I enjoyed it so much so when I saw that another one of Levenseller's books was being released this year, it was a quick addition to my Goodreads' Want to Read list. 'A teenage blacksmith with social anxiety accepts a commission from the wrong person and is forced to go on the run to protect the world from the most powerful magical sword she's ever made.' Yup! Let's gooooo.

Release date: 4 May

9. Any Way the Wind Blows (Simon Snow #3) by Rainbow Rowell

When an author says 'there won't be a sequel' and then you're blessed with two ... ! All heavens come at once. However, I suspect this will be the last one. But Rainbow Rowell is finally releasing Any Way the Wind Blow which is the third (and final?) instalment of the Simon Snow series. Check out our reviews of Carry On and also Wayward Son. 

Release date: 6 July

10. Bridge of Souls (Cassidy Blake #3) by Victoria Schwab

Okay, I cheated. Bridge of Souls is a middle-grade book but I love this series by Schwab! It's so sweet and entertaining at the same time and there so many ghosts in it it's brilliant. This is the third and final instalment of the Cassidy Blake series, and while I'm looking forward to reading it, I also don't want it to end.

Release date: 2 March

Young Adult Releases in 2021: The Shoutouts

What books are you looking forward to this year? 

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Wednesday, 23 September 2020

Long Way Down | Jason Reynolds | Review

Long way down

Set just a couple of days after his older brother Shawn is shot and killed, Long Way Down tells the story of fifteen-year-old Will as he steps onto an elevator with Shawn’s gun tucked into his waistband, planning to kill the boy responsible for his death. As Will travels from the 7th floor down, he is confronted by the ghosts of people connected to him and his family, each one helping him to work through his feelings and reflect on what he plans to do next.

This book had been on my TBR for quite a while, having heard amazing things about Jason Reynolds’ writing, this award winning book in particular. Written in verse and told mostly over a 60-second elevator ride, the book explores Will’s thoughts and emotions in a unique way and shows just how much can happen in such a short space of time.

I was so captivated by Will’s story that I read the book in one sitting, and then re-read it in one sitting again the following month. Whilst only a short read, Long Way Down is a beautifully written, intense and powerful book that I would highly recommend to everyone. It has a very raw quality to it and you can feel the mixed emotions of Will shine through in Reynolds’ writing as the character struggles with his decision to avenge Shawn’s death.

The fact that the book is written in verse and also cleverly structured using the different floors of the elevator ride to introduce different characters worked brilliantly. Black and white illustrations by Christ Priestley were also a fantastic addition and really contributed to the haunting feel of the story. I’ve found a 5-star read in Long Way Down and can’t wait to read more of Jason Reynolds’ work.
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Friday, 4 September 2020

Loveless | Alice Oseman | Review

It was all sinking in. I'd never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean?

Eighteen year old Georgia has never been in love. In fact, she's realising, she's never even had a crush. But Georgia loves romance. She's a connoisseur of fanfiction and romcoms and she knows that one day she'll fall in love and have that big, romantic love affair, just like the ones she's read about. Everyone meets the right person for them eventually, right? Plus, Georgia's new uni roommate, Rooney, seems to have no trouble finding people she fancies, and she's more than happy to help Georgia put herself out there.

The thing is, the more Georgia does put herself out there, the more she starts to wonder if there really is a right person for everyone. What does it mean if Georgia doesn't fall in love? What if she can't? Between arguments with her two best friends, Pip and Jason, trying to help Rooney with her doomed Shakespeare Society, and now trying to figure out an extremely important part of herself, Georgia's first year of university isn't exactly turning out the way she expected. 

In many ways, this is a classic coming of age story, full of teen drama, existential doubt, longing, and everything else we're used to from a story of a young person trying to figure out their place in the world. The difference with Loveless is that this is the first novel I've read where the main character is figuring out that they are asexual and aromantic. Of course, one story can never encompass the many different experiences of people who share a common identity, but I feel sure that many young asexual and aromantic people will see themselves reflected in Georgia, possibly for the first time, and perhaps feel a little bit less alone than Georgia does in certain parts of her story.

Georgia makes mistakes over the course of the novel, of course, and she learns a lot about herself and the people around her, to the backdrop of a slightly strange Shakespeare production, esteemed university traditions, and rather a lot of Scooby Doo references. Georgia, along with her new and old friends, Jason, Pip, Rooney, and the older and more confident Sunil, go through a few problems together, but their love for each other is what gets them through. In Georgia's story, Oseman captures both the loneliness that can come from figuring out who you are and the joy that comes from being around people you love. In the end, Georgia knows that as long as she has good friends, she will never be loveless.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.
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Wednesday, 19 August 2020

10 Things I Hate About Pinky | Sandhya Menon | Review

*Review copy provided by Netgalley and Hodder & Staughton


Samir has his summer planned out perfectly, with a dream internship at a top law firm. Pinky is set to spend the summer as she always does, at her family’s holiday home in Ellingham catching up with her cousin Dolly. But when an unexpected incident leads to tension between Pinky and her parents, and Samir’s internship falls through at the last minute, Pinky hatches a plan.

Pinky is a proud activist, confidently fighting for a whole range of different causes, living life in the moment and often getting into trouble, much to the disapproval of her mother. Samir on the other hand, lives his life to a rigid schedule and loves to make lists, so much so that he writes one every single day. Although they share mutual friends, the pair have next-to-nothing in common so naturally Samir is shocked when he receives a text from Pinky inviting him to spend the summer with her and her family in Ellingham. But with his summer plans shattered and a potential internship at Pinky’s mothers law firm on the table he decides to hear her out. The catch? He must pretend to be Pinky’s boyfriend for the summer.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky has everything you could want from a fun summer read... including an opossum named Drama Queen! Obviously this book follows the popular fake relationship trope and whilst the fact that it also turns out to be a hate-to-love tale was predictable, this wasn’t in a bad way. It was enjoyable to see how Pinky and Samir would figure out that their relationship wasn’t quite as fake as they had planned, and to find out if/when/how Pinky would discover Samir’s not-so-kind list entitled ’10 Things I Hate About Pinky’.

Parents can often be absent in YA novels but the addition of different family dynamics, including Pinky’s strained relationship with her mother, was an interesting theme throughout the novel. I really liked how passionate Pinky was about trying to save the butterfly habitat that meant so much to her and her family and the way Samir began to become more adventurous over the course of the summer. I also liked a lot of the supporting characters including Dolly, and think it would be interesting to have another book in the series focusing on her story.

One of the things I enjoyed most was the setting of Ellingham. The way it was described allowed me to vividly picture the house and areas such as the butterfly habitat which sounded beautiful, and it was easy to see why Pinky and her family would choose to spend their summers there.

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Friday, 26 June 2020

Melt My Heart | Bethany Rutter | Review



Lily Rose loves her own fat body, but she can't shake the idea that no one would ever choose her over her gorgeous twin sister, Daisy - not when they could have the thin twin. That is, until she meets Cal...

This is Lily's summer of new things. It's her last summer in the lovely seaside town she grew up in before she leaves for university in the autumn and, although she should be excited, she can't quite bring herself to be. She's spending the summer working with her best friend, Cassie, at Cassie's parent's ice cream stand; doing one new thing every day to prepare herself for the shock of moving away; and she's met a cute boy, Cal, who for once actually likes her rather than her twin sister, Daisy. But that's exactly what starts to cause problems. How can Lily tell Daisy that she's dating Daisy's crush? And why isn't she as into Cal as she should be? 

On top of that, results day is looming, and with it the end of the summer and the biggest new thing, leaving behind Lily's beloved home, the streets of which are being covered in hateful anonymous posters; Daisy, who isn't happy that they'll be attending different universities; and Cassie, the only person Lily ever really wants to spend her time with. Then, of course, there's the fact that Lily is keeping a secret. One much more important than dating Cal. She's not actually sure she wants to go to university at all.

Melt My Heart is a story of self-discovery. Over the course of one summer Lily is confronted with a lot of truths to face and decisions of how she will deal with them, and although these choices may overwhelm Lily, the narrative doesn't feel bloated or overly complicated. Each piece of Lily's summer weaves together to show the ultimate lesson she must learn, that she needs to trust her own feelings. Readers who enjoy coming of age stories will find a lot to love in watching Lily grapple with both the new things she chooses and the ones that surprise her, and although the ending seems to come quickly, it is anything but unsatisfying.

As with the protagonist of Rutter's last book, No Big Deal, Lily is fat, and although she has insecurities related to that, which are exacerbated by her skinny twin sister, Daisy, making comments she doesn't always realise are hurtful, Lily never considers losing the weight, and the narrative never suggests that she should. The only thing Lily needs to change is to trust herself more, and once she does, she finds rewards that any reader will agree she deserves. This is an ideal book for teen readers who are still discovering themselves, as that is exactly who Lily is, confident in some ways, but still growing in many others. Once again, Bethany Rutter has created a protagonist who feels like a real teenager, with all the confusion, pain, and joy that entails.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley for review. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.
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Friday, 29 May 2020

Feature | P.S I Still Love You by Jenny Han - Book and Netflix Movie Thoughts


It took a while, but I finally read P.S I Still Love You, by Jenny Han. *applause*


I read To All the Boys I Loved Before back in 2018, and Sophie and I watched the movie and chatted about the book and film on our podcast. TATBILB was really enjoyable (both book and movie, actually), but I didn't get round to reading P.S I Still Love You until this month. A few hours after I finished reading the book, I watched the movie. And I have thoughts.

Spoilers are likely in this post! You've been warned!

The book


While P.S I Still Love You was a good story, I didn't like it as much as I did To All The Boys. I remember liking Peter way more in the first book than I did in book two, but I really liked John Ambrose McCLaren in P.S I Still Love You. So that was an annoying internal conflict. But as the story went on, I did find myself rooting for Peter over John. Which I think was how it was meant to be, so I guess that's good?

My main gripe with the story is that the part that I really enjoyed the most was when the group of friends (and ex-friends) get together to open their time capsule they buried under Lara Jean's neighbor's tree house (which is getting taken down in the near future). After opening the time capsule that they buried about 5 years prior, they decide they should play a last game of Assassin. The game goes like this: everyone puts their own name into a hat, and everyone draws a name from the hat. Whoever you draw, that's your target, and you need to place two hands on their shoulders to get them out. You then take the name that they had, and try to get that person out. Each person's home is safe house, as is school. The last person standing gets to have one wish granted from anyone in the group.

I love the idea of this game! I really wish that the game was something that ran through the entire story, rather than starting half way through and ending with about a quarter of the book to go. It's a concept that I think could have made the book a lot more quirky and fun. Not that it wasn't fun, but it would have made it that little bit more entertaining.

Having said that, I did really like the addition of John Ambrose to the story, and some of the side stories that were going on, like Gen's family troubles, Lara Jean visiting Stormy at the Belleview retirement home etc. Overall, I did enjoy it (probably a 3.5 - 4 star), but not as much as TATBILB.

The movie

Having the book fresh in my head (like I said it was mere hours later that I watched the film after finishing the book) is something that rarely happens in my life. At the end of 2019 I read Let it Snow and then watched the movie that week, but other than that I can't think of anything recently that I've done this with. I think doing this - finishing the book and then really soon after watching the movie - has it's pros and cons. But that's a post for another day, perhaps. 

P.S I Still Love You the movie was a lot of fun. But there were so many things that were different to the book. To name a few: the way John Ambrose McCLaren re-enters Lara Jean's life is different than in the book. He still writes her back after he gets the letters from the first book, but then he shows up to volunteer at Belleview. In the book, he's Stormy's great-grandson (by marriage), so he meets Lara Jean when they're both their visiting her. In the book, John gives Lara Jean the snowglobe, in the movie she chooses it at a fair that she's at with Peter (also new to the movie). In the movie Gen and Lara Jean chat in the treehouse, which was a nice addition I have to say, and while their friendship isn't really restored, it seems more on the right track in the movie than in the book. Also in the book, the Covey family gets a dog, and he's not in the movie. I could go on with the differences, but I won't.

But I will say: the Assassin game they played in the book and that I enjoyed so much wasn't in the movie at all. I understand that they can't put everything in, but now all I want is to see Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher and Lara Condor running around the town trying to tag their friends. I think that would be awesome, and would make for some brilliant hilarity.

I do also want to mention there were some things in the movie that I'm discovering were pulled from book three, Always and Forever, Lara Jean, which I started after watching the movie. 

Verdict? 


So all in all: I liked the book. I liked the movie. But I would have like the movie more if I hadn't read the book. And I would have like the book more if it involved the Assassin game more. 

Obviously, if you've read and enjoyed To All the Boys I've Loved Before, then do pick up this one. 

What are your thoughts about the book vs movie? Let us know!

Movie image: IMDB | Book image: Goodreads
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Saturday, 25 April 2020

Features | 3 Great Young Adult Novels Released in 2020 So Far

One of the things I'm very fortune to be able to do is review books for a couple of publishing companies here in New Zealand. This means that I'm often getting books either a little bit earlier than the public, or just as they are released. I've never been more up to date with Young Adult books (published by those that I work with anyway) before, and have really been enjoying reading books in the months they're released.

I thought I'd share just a few of books that I've read and really enjoyed which have been published in the last four months. Perhaps you've already read them, or perhaps they're on your TBR list. Either way, do let us know in the comments!


1. The Vanishing Deep, by Astrid Scholte

"Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet, its people had to learn to survive living on the water, but the ruins of the cities below still called. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn't food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister's life. For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn't a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe: Her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents. Tempe wants to know why.

 But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn't want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn't commit. Elysea wants her freedom and one final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents' death and mend their broken bond. But they're pursued every step of the way by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea's time is up--and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed."

After reading Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte last year and absolutely loving it (must read it again!) I knew that The Vanishing Deep was going to be a good one. The Vanishing Deep was such a great concept. The description does a great job at giving you the low down on the setting and over all plot so I won’t go into it too much, for fear of giving anything away. Like Four Dead Queens, Scholte’s second book was a combination of great characters, imaginative settings, wonderful plot lines and even surprising twists. If you’re up for “a story of sisterhood, love and loss, and the lengths we will go to for the people we care about” then this is for you.

*Not the actual cover. Also look at that sad post damage! * cry *

2. Yes No Maybe So, by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

"Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state candidate - as long as he’s behind the scenes. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

 Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is cancelled, her parents are separating and now her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing - with some awkward guy she hardly knows ...

 Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer - and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural crush of the century is another thing entirely."

 I think I’ll read pretty much read anything by Becky Albertalli; her books are always a fun read. I’ve never read anything by Aisha Saeed before, but now I want to look into what else she’s written. Yes No Maybe So was co-written by the two authors, with each taking a character, alternating chapters.  It wasn't quite as sweet as Simon vs the Homospaiens Agenda or What If It’s Us, but it was still a fun read.


3. Only Mostly Devastated, by Sophie Gonzales 

"When Ollie meets his dream guy, Will, over summer break, he thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After. But once summer’s ended, Will stops texting him back, and Ollie finds himself one prince short of a fairytale ending. To complicate the fairytale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country—Will’s school—where Ollie finds that the sweet, affectionate and comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted—and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.

 Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship. But as Will starts ‘coincidentally’ popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, Ollie finds his resolve weakening.

 The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.

 Right?

 Right."

In many ways Only Mostly Devastated was your classic Young Adult romance novel. Teens meet, fall in love, but oh no something/s happen and it’s not all roses, but don’t worry, it all works out in the end. It was very predictable, but that worked okay for this story I think. I really enjoyed reading Only Mostly Devastated and managed to read it in just a few hours. The side-characters were your classic American high school stereotypes, with a few additional surprises and twists thrown in to zhoosh it up a little bit.

What books have you enjoyed so far this year?

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Friday, 1 November 2019

Wayward Son | Rainbow Rowell | Review



The story is supposed to be over.

 Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after…

 So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch?

 What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light…That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West.

 They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place…

 Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over – but your life has just begun.

This was the sequel we knew we wanted but thought we'd never get. It's the continuation to a story we thought we wouldn't see again.

Carry On was supposed to be a stand-alone novel when Rowell released it back in 2017, but here we are, two years later with a sequel in our hands. I really enjoyed Carry On and the world and magic and characters that Rowell created (you can check out the review I shared here on BB, or head on over to Sophie's review for a slightly different opinion), so picking up Wayward Son was a dream.

The story continues, with Simon and Baz now out of school in the real world, with Watford School of Magicks behind them. Penny is with them in England, while Agatha has skipped the country and is living in America. On a sudden whim, Penny gets Simon, Baz and herself plane tickets to America where they plan to surprise-visit Agatha. However, like you'd imagine, it doesn't all go to plan, and the three end up running into vampires at a Renaissance Faire, being chased down by a Normal, loosing their magic across the country, and discovering that Agatha might not actually be having the time of her life.

This was such a fun story! It's quite a bit smaller than Carry On, and quite a different feel. Moving from a British boarding school of magical education to the wide open spaces of America's highways is going to be a different story, but it was just as brilliant as the first book, if not more so.

As soon as I started reading I was reminded of each character's personalities and quirks, but the additional people that they meet in the US were their own kind of crazy (in the best way). If you've read Carry On then I probably don't need to tell you to pick up Wayward Son, but if you haven't read either, then they are a really fun read, full of magic, friendship, love, monsters and floral suits.

Rainow Rowell also dropped the news this past month that there was going to be a third book! From a stand-along to a trilogy! It's called Any Way the Wind Blows and while there's no word on when that'll be released, I hope it's sooner than two years away.

Have you read Wayward Son? What did you think? 
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Friday, 4 October 2019

The Upside of Unrequited | Becky Albertalli | Review


"Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

 Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

 There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?"

After reading (and loving) Simon vs the Homo-sapiens Agenda last year, Leah on the Offbeat this year, and also What if It's Us (co-written with Adam Silvera), Becky Albertalli's The Upside of Unrequited had been on my list of books to check out. I managed to score the audio-book from the library and listened to it on a solo road trip I did recently.

I didn't love this book as much as any of the others she's written, but it was still an enjoyable story. Molly was a fun character but she was a little bit too obsessed with boys and crushes and falling in love and girl! Just cool it a little! There's a lot of that throughout the book, and at times it did get very old very quickly (one of the reasons I didn't give this a higher star rating).

But there are wonderful things about this book too. Molly and Cassie are twins to mothers, who have a baby brother too, and a somewhat complicated family (though aren't everyone's?). Their friends are wonderful in their own ways, and the love interests are sweet and quirky, too. As Molly tries to figure out if Will is actually flirting with her (and tries hard to ignore Cassie pushing her towards him in a 'you guys need to go out!' sort of way), and how she feels about her co-worker Reid, the story follows her over the course of a summer as she celebrates milestones with her family, watches her sister fall in love, and wrestles with all the weird and wonderful aspects of being 17.

It's a fun book, but like I said, definitely not a favourite from Albertalli. There is, however, a Simon cameo in this book (which I didn't realise until after I read it - like, duh, Anjali, come on), and it's kiiiiiinda a spoiler, so if you haven't read Simon vs the Homo-sapiens Agenda, I would suggest you play it safe and read that first.
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Friday, 6 September 2019

Dumplin' | Julie Murphy | Review


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. 
While Dumplin' has been out since 2015, it was only this past month that I got around to picking it up. Perhaps I was prompted by the Netflix movie and wanting to see that but read the book first, or the fact that I was given Puddin' by Julie Murphy and wanted to read Dumplin' before getting stuck into Puddin' (although I don't think it matters if you read them in order). Whatever the reason, I finally picked it up.

This was a really sweet book, and the description above pretty much says it all. Dumplin' was a fun read, and overall I enjoyed it. There were definitely parts that I was really annoyed about (Willowdean has long periods of not talking to two different characters, and the reasons behind her decision and anger were a touch on the ridiculous side), and there was a whole thing with 'mums' in the book that I got super confused about when both the author and the characters are American (and so therefore say 'Mom'). That was, however, until I did some Googling and discovered that a 'mum' is a Texan homecoming thing, and not just the British spelling of 'mom'.

While the book had it's moments of ridiculousness, it also had plenty of 'naw' moments and you were definitely cheering for Will the whole time. I can safely say that I can now watch the film.

Have you read Dumplin'? What did you think? 
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Friday, 23 August 2019

We Were Liars | E. Lockhart | Review


The perfect pick for August's Book Club Theme: A book with water on the cover! 

 In We Were Liars, Cadence Sinclair is the eldest granddaughter to a millionaire, and heir to his a private island, where she and her extended family spend every summer. Each year Cady goes to Beachlands; she and The Liars - her cousins Johnny and Merrin, and friend Gat - swim, explore, go in the boats across to the town, play with the younger children, avoid family fights and spend time between the family houses on the island. One year, 'Summer 15' - the summer they were all 15 - Cady awakes on the beach in nothing but her underclothes. The following months, Cady asks her mother just what happened that year- why she was alone on the beach at night, wearing barley anything, why her head hurts so much - and each day her mother tells her, but each day she forgets. Her migraines take over her life, and while the doctors give her medicine for them, they can't find the source, and put it down to head trauma from her accident.  

The following summer, Cady goes on a trip around Europe with her father, missing her time with her friends on the island. 'Summer 17', she returns to the island with her mother, only to find her grandfather's house gone, a huge fancy one in its place. While the Liars comment on her change of hair, and worry about her headaches, they are the same to Cady despite them not returning her emails for the past 2 years. The summer continues, her friends seeming to go off a lot without her while she wallows in her bed, clutching her head in pain.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I feel I can't say too much without giving crucial parts away, but it was full of interesting characters and personalities, first loves and heart aches, full of insanely-rich-family drama, and adventures around what sounds like an amazing island. It was well written (and well read), from the perspective of Cadence, and the only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating was because I called what happened long before Cady did, and I felt like the end chapters were a bit too drawn out.  

If you're after a story about family, friends, love and adventure, manipulation and lies, complete with a thousand questions about what really happened to Cady the Summer of 15, then grab a copy of this book. Considering it won the Goodreads Choice Aware in 2014, you know it's going to be a good one, right? 

Have you read We Were Liars? 

Photo by Jingda Chen on Unsplash; Book cover from Goodreads
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Friday, 16 August 2019

A Sky Painted Gold | Laura Wood | Review


As Lou is swept into the Cardew siblings' dazzling world of moonlit parties, unrivalled glamour, and whispered secrets, can she stay true to her self... and her heart?

Lou has always been fascinated by the grand Cardew house, standing empty on the small island across the causeway from her tiny Cornish village. So fascinated, in fact, that she often walks, or swims at high tide, across to the island to pick apples from the orchard, or, more recently, to sneak in through a broken window and read Agatha Christie novels from the house's vast library, or to write her own detective stories in her notebook. With the Cardew family never visiting their Cornish home, Lou has found it the perfect place to get away from  her many siblings for a few hours, and enjoy the quiet of the big house. Until, of course, the Cardews return, and Lou is almost caught redhanded.

Luckily for Lou, the Cardew siblings, Robert and Caitlin, don't seem to mind that she has been breaking into their house, and she soon finds herself in their inner circle, invited to all of Caitlin's grand parties, and even with her own bedroom in the house. Caitlin and Lou fast become friends, but things are more difficult with Robert, the lord of the house, who Lou finds more than a little rude. Lou is charmed by the house and by the Cardews' life, and it isn't long before she finds herself spending more time on the island sunbathing with Caitlin and bickering with Robert, than she does back at home with her newly married sister, Alice. As the summer goes on, Lou has to face the fact that eventually Caitlin and Robert will return to London, and she'll need to decide what her life will look like when those grand parties end.

A Sky Painted Gold is a perfect summer read. Lou's story is filled with the kind of glamour you might expect from a novel that takes place in a grand house in the 1920s, but it also has the heart and depth to back up that shining facade. Lou sees her sister Alice, happily married to her childhood sweetheart and, worried that that is the path expected of her too, throws herself into the escapism of the Cardews' lives, but, of course, she eventually learns that throwing these lavish parties is a kind of escapism for Caitlin too. Lou is sympathetic and, at times, naive, but she cares so deeply for the people around her that this, in turn, makes it impossible for the reader not to care about her. Even as Lou begins to worry that she might be little more than a novelty among her new friends, she still only wants to help them, even as it starts to damage her relationship with her own sister.

There is romance of more than one kind in this story, and Wood addresses many of the issues that faced young people of Lou's time, and still do today, but ultimately this is a true coming-of-age story, and amongst the fun and the frivolity and possible falling in love, Lou must really decide what she wants her life to be. She cannot party with the Cardews forever but she does not necessarily want to follow Alice down the aisle right away, either, and if there is one thing she learns from the Cardews it is that she can only put off thinking about it for so long. It is a delight to read about Lou's summer with the Cardews, truly a summer of self-discovery, and it is certainly a story that I will read again and again.
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Friday, 2 August 2019

No Big Deal | Bethany Rutter | Review


'It's not my body that's holding me back. I think it's more of a problem that people tell me my body should hold me back.'

Emily Daly is seventeen years old. She is funny and smart, she likes fashion and music, and she is fat. Emily likes her body and doesn't see why anyone else should have a problem with it, but Emily's mum is obsessed with dieting and desperate for Emily to join in with her newest diet plan, no matter how much Emily refuses. Although Emily knows she doesn't need to lose weight to be happy, doubts begin to crawl in when a boy rejects her at a party, seemingly because of her size, and are intensified when her best friend, Camila, a fellow fat girl, returns from holiday newly confident and newly thin.

Then there's Joe. Joe who likes the music Emily likes, and is possibly the cutest boy Emily has ever seen, and seems to like spending time with her too. Is it possible that he might like her the way she likes him? No matter how confident Emily is, it isn't always easy to ignore the fact that so many people seem to think she'd be happier if she lost weight, or the worry that Joe might not like her unless she does. With this new world of dating comes new insecurities, and the biggest challenge of all - remembering to love herself too.

No Big Deal feels like a UKYA classic in the making. It has the humour, heart, and authenticity that readers can expect from a contemporary YA story set in the UK, and a protagonist it is impossible not to root for, with a cast of friends and family to back her up. It is a fairly short read, with the pace to match, and will, I suspect, be read and re-read again and again by its fans. As a protagonist, Emily is a breath of fresh air: confident, self-assured in her own beliefs, but still with the realistic wobbles that all teenagers, no matter how confident, can certainly relate to. No Big Deal deals with important themes but, perhaps more importantly, it does so in a way that feels fun and, at times, intimate, in a very good way. It would be difficult for any adult to read Emily's story and not remember what it felt like to be seventeen, or for any seventeen year old to read it and not relate to some of Emily's struggles.

Rutter addresses a lot of issues facing teens, and everyone else, in No Big Deal, and, at times, yes, a few of these conversations can seem to have little to do with the plot at large, but they are important conversations to be having, not just for young people, and it is no small thing to see them had in a book for teenagers, at the heart of which is a simple message of loving, respecting, and trusting oneself. No Big Deal is the book I wish I had had as a teenager and Emily Daly is a protagonist all readers should look forward to meeting. The real triumph of No Big Deal is Rutter's ability to reach out, through her words, and tell the reader that they are not alone, and that they do not need to change for anyone. A message we all need to hear once in a while.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley for review. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.
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Friday, 5 July 2019

The Kingdom | Jess Rothenberg | Review


Welcome to The Kingdom... where 'Happily Ever After' isn't just a promise, but a rule.

The Kingdom is a place where dreams come true. A futuristic fantasy theme park where extinct animals are brought back to life and the park's Fantasists, seven beautiful, lifelike, android princesses, are programmed with only one goal in mind: to ensure the happiness of the park's guests. Ana and her Fantasist sisters know all about how terrible the world outside The Kingdom is, so they understand how important their role is in brightening the lives of those who visit them in the safety of The Kingdom, but things are starting to go wrong. Some of Ana's sisters are starting to malfunction, and before long Ana begins to wonder if she is too. Ana starts to feel things she hasn't been programmed to feel. In particular, she thinks she may be falling in love with Owen, one of the park's human employees.

So how is it that Ana comes to be accused of Owen's murder? As the trial unfolds, Ana is not the only person being judged. Can Ana be guilty of murder if she is only able to do what she is programmed to do? How much responsibility does The Kingdom hold if it has created girls who can murder of their own free will? Were Ana's sisters malfunctioning at all, or did they simply understand something that Ana didn't? And can dreams really come true in a place that hides so many dark secrets?

The Kingdom tells Ana's story non-chronologically, skipping between transcripts from Ana's trial, news reports, and Ana's memories of the events leading to her alleged killing of Owen. At times, this method can be a little confusing. As Rothenberg saves all of the important details to be unfolded and revealed at precise moments, it does mean that it takes a while for enough of the details to fall into place so that the reader can actually figure out what's going on. However, it also means that details can be saved until the exact moment when they will have the most impact, and in that regard Rothenberg absolutely nails it. More than once I found myself wide-eyed as another piece of Ana's puzzle slotted into place.

The layers of this story perfectly match the layers of mystery and deceit at the heart of The Kingdom, and Rothenberg definitely takes the reader on a theme-park-worthy journey through Ana's story. As Ana starts to peel back the layers of lies and cruelty that she and her sisters have been exposed to, often without their knowledge, it is almost impossible not to feel those betrayals as a reader too. Ana is an interesting protagonist, not least because her very existence raises the question of what it means to be human. This is the story of Ana discovering the world and not only the darkness hidden from her, but the light too. First, she falls in love with Owen, even against her programming, as he helps her to understand the truth around her. Then, as she uncovers these truths, Ana must face the idea that Owen has been hiding things from her too. In the end the question is, did betrayal make Ana a killer or did The Kingdom make her everything that she is, whatever that may be?

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley for review. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.
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Friday, 7 June 2019

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy | Mackenzi Lee | Review


Felicity Montague must use all her womanly wits and wiles to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor - even if she has to scheme her way across Europe to do it.

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is the sequel to Mackenzi Lee's incredibly popular novel, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, (you can read Anjali's review of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue here) and it is every bit as exciting and endearing as its predecessor.

A year after her brother's unintentionally eventful grand tour, Felicity Montague is more determined than ever to follow Monty's example and live her life on her own terms. For Felicity this means studying medicine, opening her own practice one day, and very definitely never getting married. Unfortunately, living life on her own terms is far easier said than done. No matter how many medical schools Felicity applies to, the answer is always the same: women simply are not permitted to study medicine, and none of the men in charge seem particularly keen to change that. To make matters worse, the baker Felicity has been working for while trying to make her case to be allowed to study medicine has a question of his own and it's one that Felicity really doesn't want to answer.

At last though, it seems Felicity might have a chance to follow her dreams. An old friend is marrying a doctor Felicity greatly admires and she's had a tip that he might be more open to the idea of a woman working alongside him. There are only two problems with her plan. The first problem is that Felicity can't afford to go to Germany for the wedding. The second problem is that she hasn't spoken to Johanna in years so she isn't actually invited. The first problem seems to be solved when a mysterious young woman from Scipio's crew offers to pay Felicity's way if Felicity allows her to come, disguised as Felicity's maid, and Felicity is sure the second problem will be solved once she arrives on Johanna's doorstep. Unfortunately for Felicity, these soon turn out not to be her only problems.

Felicity Montague's character is perfectly summed up by the moment in the first chapter of this novel, in which she has just finished sewing up a wound on a man's finger and then been proposed to, and her first reaction to the proposal is to think that she would rather be tending to the finger again. She is a woman who doesn't quite fit in with the role society wants her to take, not least because she has no interest in marriage or romantic relationships at all, and her determination to be accepted into medical school, of course, lands her in plenty of trouble. Felicity makes plenty of mistakes along her road to what she thinks she wants, particularly taking the mysterious young woman, Sim, into Johanna's home without truly knowing her motives for wanting to be there, and underestimating Johanna herself because of her love of pretty things.

Felicity is, at times, stubborn, selfish, and difficult, and it is extremely refreshing to see a female character allowed to be those things. Of course, she learns her lessons in the end, but the place from which she starts makes watching her learn them, and watching her friendship with Sim and Johanna blossom, incredibly joyful. This is a novel that champions girls who know who they are and aren't afraid to show the world, even when the world doesn't like it. It also has pirates, magical sea creatures, adventure, intrigue, and a very large, very friendly dog. What's not to like?

If you enjoyed The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, you are sure to love The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, and if you haven't read either yet, I highly recommend you change that!

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Friday, 17 May 2019

Love Lie Repeat | Catherine Greer | Review


Three girls, loyal to each other - that never happens. All the groups of three implode eventually. Two in, one out. Change. Betrayal. Again. And again.

But not us. I make sure of it. I make Ash and Ruby see that our power is in our three-ness. We can do what no other trio can.

Together, we’re strong.

Thick, thin, boys, mothers, divorce, other girls, secrets, lies, all of it.

I'll keep us together.

Watch me. - Goodreads

I gave this book a three-stars which sort of feels like a cop-out for me not deciding how I really felt about it. It was good, but not excellent. It was intense, but not thrilling. It was complicated, but at the same time simple. It was everything a three-star book could be.

The story follows Annie, a troubled teen who has a tense relationship (or lack-there-of) with a father who left her family and now has a young pregnant wife; a weird power-heavy relationship with her two 'best friends' (who are 100% more like frenemies the whole book); and an almost controlling relationship with Trip, the eventual love-interest.

As the story unfolds, we follow Annie through these relationships as she gives us hints and clues as to what this hidden secret is on the fringes of each interaction. There's something she's hiding, something in her past which has shaped her and thoroughly influenced who she is today, and we get these bits of information every now and then so we can try and piece together what's going on.

The characters in this story weren't enjoyable ones (though perhaps that's the point). They're grappling with ridiculous troubles 16-year-olds shouldn't have to be grappling with, they're vindictive, scheming little so-and-sos, and I didn't really care for any of them.

Yet somehow the story was gripping, and I read this book in one sitting. As you can probably tell, I'm torn about this book. Was it good? Sure, it was a decent story and I liked reading it. Would I read it again? Probably not. Would I read another book by Greer? Yeah! Sure would. This was her debut novel, and for a first book it's pretty good.

Have you read Love Lie Repeat? What did you think? 
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Friday, 3 May 2019

One of Us is Lying | Karen M. McManus | Review


One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them. - Goodreads


Earlier in the year, Sophie and I were given a Penguin Turning Pages box, which had a bunch of bookish goodies in it, a book (Invisibly Breathing, by Eileen Merriman) and the 2019 Penguin Teen Superproof. The Superproof had the first few chapters of 10 upcoming Penguin titles hitting the shelves this year, and one of them was Two Can Keep a Secret, by Karen M. McManus. The first few chapters intrigued me, so I added it to the TBR list and then discovered that she had written One of Us is Lying. While they're not connected stories, as we wondered they were, I still wanted to read One of Us is Lying before reading Two Can Keep a Secret, just in case. You know how it is.

I really enjoyed this book! Goodreads says it's a combination of Pretty Little Liars and the Breakfast Club, and I couldn't agree more. The whole story alternates between the four main characters' perspectives (obviously not Simon, because he dies in the first chapter), as they try and unravel what might have happened to Simon. Everyone is a suspect, everyone has secrets, and no one knows what's really going on.

It's a murder mystery, come teen drama, and I read it in about two sittings. I would have given it higher star rating (I went with 3.5/4 ish stars), but I called 'who done it' long before the characters figured it out, so it was less shocking when I got to the reveal. However! Still really enjoyable, and I can now read Two Can Keep a Secret knowing that if they were at all connected (still don't think they are), then it's all good and safe to read.

Rumour has it there actually will be a One of Us is Lying sequel, called One of Us is Next and it's due for publication in 2020.

Have you read One of Us is Lying? What did you think? 
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Friday, 26 April 2019

Romanov | Nadine Brandes | Review


The history books say I died. They don't know the half of it.

Following the revolution that forced her father's abdication, Anastasia 'Nastya' Romanov and her family, under the watchful eye of Bolshevik soldiers, are exiled to Siberia to await their fate, but Nastya has a secret that just might save them all. With the spell master, Rasputin dead and all other spell masters either working for the Bolsheviks or hiding from them, Nastya is the only one able to use the spells Rasputin taught her to ease her brother's pain, which is why Nastya's father trusts her with their family's final hope - a matryoshka doll given to them by the greatest spell master in Russia. When she needs it most, the doll will reveal a spell to Nastya, but until then she must keep it hidden from the Bolshevik guards.

Nastya knows she can't trust any of the soldiers, even the ones who seem to be kind. She especially can't risk any of them finding out about the matryoshka doll or the spells she uses to help her brother, but there is one guard who does not always act like the others, who sometimes seems as though he might not be the loyal Bolshevik soldier he acts like. Zash has secrets of his own, including a hidden bottle of spell ink and the way he sometimes looks at Nastya. Nastya harbours hope that Zash will prove to be a friend, or perhaps even something more, despite his Bolshevik uniform, but when the firing squad come for Nastya and her family, Nastya is crushed to see Zash holding one of the guns.

The exile and execution of the Romanov family, and the persisting rumours of Anastasia's survival, have been the subject of many stories over the years since the real life event. What Brandes's interpretation brings to this well trodden story is the addition of magic and romance in the young Anastasia's life. Anastasia, or Nastya, as she is known throughout the novel, is, in Brandes's hands, a feisty and stubborn young woman, who cares for her family above everything else. The entire Romanov family are presented in this story as a close-knit and loving family, one who any reader would sympathise with, which makes it all the more upsetting when the inevitable happens, and Nastya and her family must face their execution.

Romanov is a fantastical mix of history and magic, combining a realistic interpretation of the Romanov family's exile with a wild story of spells and spell masters. It feels, upon reading, as though Brandes has done a lot of research into the Romanov family's final weeks, which is perhaps why the first half of this story, which is more heavily based on real events, feels like a slightly different novel than the second half, which definitely takes a turn away from the realistic. This is not a bad thing, it is simply one way in which the two sides of this story play together to present a story for Anastasia Romanov that feels as though it could be true, provided, of course, one accepts that Rasputin really was a spell master and that he taught the young Anastasia a few tricks of his trade before his own execution. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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Friday, 12 April 2019

The Furies | Katie Lowe | Review


1998. A sixteen-year-old girl is found dead on school property, dressed in white and posed on a swing. No known cause of death.

After the death of her father and sister in a car crash from which she was the only survivor, Valerie is starting over at Elm Hollow Academy, a private girls' school with a mysterious past. The history of Elm Hollow intertwines with 17th century witch trials and, far more recently, the disappearance of a student who was part of a secret society that Violet now finds herself invited to. Along with her new friends, Robin, Alex, and Grace, Violet meets their teacher, Annabel, in a secret part of the school each week to learn about women of art, literature, and history, including the school's own rumoured history of witchcraft that Annabel swears isn't real.

As Violet becomes entangled with her new friends, she starts to wonder about the girl they knew before, the one who went missing, who was Robin's best friend before Violet, and who apparently even looked a little like Violet. Robin envelopes Violet in her world of drinking, taking drugs, and spending time with older, university boys, and when this new world turns on Violet, Robin promises to make it right, using one of the rituals Annabel swore would never work. Violet falls further into the dark world that her new friends inhabit, tumbling deeper and deeper into the darkness, folding herself more and more into their group, until a body is found. Then, suddenly, Violet finds herself jealous of a dead girl, and unsure whether she can trust the friends she has become so linked to, after all.

The Furies is a dark, chilling tale of the intense friendships teenage girls can form and how that intensity can go horribly wrong. Annabel's lessons are meant to help the girls find a kind of power, but the power they try to harness is not the kind that Annabel intended. The novel is told from the perspective of Violet, older, looking back on the events of her teenage years, and it starts with the image of a dead girl on a swing. This vein of horror and decay permeates throughout the story, in the descriptions of the rundown seaside town surrounding Elm Hollow, in Violet's own home, where her mother has left her sister's bedroom exactly as it was the day she died, and even in Violet's interactions with her friends, shrouded in the smoke of cigarettes and pot, and flooded with wine.

This is a slow burn of a book, things take their time to come to fruition, but this works to give the sense of unease time to truly build. The girls' exploration into witchcraft and the myth of The Furies of ancient Greece being summoned to the school weave seamlessly into the almost claustrophobic friendship between the four girls, and make it all the more powerful that the true horrors in the story are not fantastical at all, but very human, and very real. Lowe's writing is extremely atmospheric, her descriptions enough to make anyone's skin crawl. The Furies is a dark and obsessive novel, perfect for fans of The Graces by Laure Eve, but who want something even darker than that.

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.
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