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Sunday, 22 May 2016

Finding Audrey | Sophie Kinsella | Review

This book has been on my radar for a while, and when it came out in paperback and it caught my eye whilst shopping once, I knew I had to pick up a copy. Two days to read the book, so what did I think?

Audrey suffers from an anxiety disorder, and it disrupts her daily life. She's making progress with her therapist Dr. Sarah, but then Linus turns up, her brother's gaming teammate. Audrey feels able to talk to Linus and open up with him in a way she's never been able to before. Their friendship deepens and Audrey's recovery speeds up as well. Their new relationship might not just help her, but might help her entire family too.

A lot of YA novels are choosing to write about mental illness or feature a character who suffers with a mental illness. I think this a great thing; it's only ever good to get more people talking about something that affects so many people (1 in 4 people in the UK at least according to Mind). But it's even better when a book is able to do it in a good way. Finding Audrey does it in an amazing way.

Audrey's a really great character, written about in that way where you can empathise with her even if you don't understand her struggle completely, something I'm finding a lot of lately with really good books, especially on mental health (another example of this in mental health books would be with 'Under Rose Tainted Skies' by Louise Gornall.)

But, and I think this is really important, the book isn't exclusively about mental illness. It's a part of who Audrey is, but it's almost like the book is attempting to pull the sunglasses off of Audrey, if you'll pardon my excuse at a pun there. It's also worth remembering for mental illness in general too that a mental illness is only one of many parts that make up a person, and that's well represented in this book.

It depicts the everyday reality for those that do suffer with a mental illness in such an amazing way, showing readers how difficult it really can be, and I hope that this book will help a lot of readers gain a much deeper understanding for how difficult mental illness can be, but also how there can be an end to it.

Plus, Sophie has a great writing style. It may be her first YA novel, but I sincerely hope she chooses to continue writing YA. I'm sure we'd all welcome another YA from her.

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Thursday, 18 June 2015

Features | Top 5 beach reads

Source: http://dreamatico.com/beach.html

I may be a bit premature with this post since it is only June, but it feels like summer is finally here and so I wanted to make a summer themed post! I get bored quickly of sunbathing, so when I go to the beach a book is a must, but I want to be a fairly easygoing book. Here are some of my favourite stereotypical chick lit beach books.

1) Confessions Of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
I have to be honest, I have a bit of a soft spot for Sophie Kinsella books, but I think this one will always be my favourite. The main character, Becky, is extremely relatable, if a little stereotypical and the situations she finds herself make for some hilarious reading. Its very easy and quick to read, making it perfect for a relaxing holiday read.

2) An Offer You Can't Refuse by Jill Mansell
The concept behind this book is amazing. Lola, the main character,is offered £10,000 by her boyfriend's mum to break up with him, and due to personal circumstances she has to accept. The book follows what happens years later when her ex unexpectedly comes back into her life. I fell in love with all the characters in this book, particularly Lola, and there are quite a few plot twists along the way, making for a very enjoyable book.

3) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I'm not going to go too much into this because I feel like everyone already knows about or has read this book. If you haven't however, you definitely should. I love the fact that the author incorporated the idea of fanfiction into it as well, it makes the book feel very modern and also makes the main character, Cath, very relatable, as we all know what it feels like to fangirl over something.

4) The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Whilst I think everyone and their cat has probably seen the film version of this, but a lot of people don't know that it was originally a book. To me this seems like kind of a shame, as its actually a pretty decent book. It follows Andy on her first job as a personal assistant to the editor of a fashion magazine. Her boss, Miranda Preistly, turns out to be not quite what Andy was expecting! If your in to rom coms then this would be a good book to check out,

5) Every Day by David Levithan
If the above books don't appeal to you and you want something a bit more serious then this one might be for you. I have been waiting for an opportunity to slip this into a feature post because I absolutely love this book. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is the best book I have read this year. Every day, A wakes up in a different body. This has never been a problem before, but this changes when she falls in love. Not necessarily what I would consider a stereotypical beach book, but I didn't want this post to be completely full of chick lit/ rom com style books, and this is something a bit different.

Hope everyone's having a great summer!
Katie x

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Tuesday, 16 June 2015

News Round Up: All Hail Chris Riddell

I think by now everyone has heard the news that Chris Riddell was formally announced at a very prestigious ceremony at the British Academy For Film And Television Arts in London last Tuesday as the new Children's Laureate for 2015-2017, taking Malorie Blackman's place which she held from 2013-2015. I was lucky enough to be at the ceremony last Tuesday and met Chris Riddell with my colleagues from The Guardian Children's Books Team, and he proved to me that anyone can draw. In his interview with the site, he said, "It’s a big honour... I am completely serious about what an important role it is - talking about children’s books and our brilliant legacy of children’s literature in this country and to represent writers and illustrators and readers. I want to have a lot of fun." The full interview with The Guardian (one of the first in the world!) can be found here!

However, no Children's Laureate comes in without another going out, so what were the reactions to Malorie Blackman ending her two years in the role? I think the tweets should speak for themselves...

Even though the Children's Laureate announcement has probably been the biggest piece of news from the last month, what else has been happening in the world of books?

Hot Key Books has announced that E. Lockhart shall be touring the UK and Ireland from the 18th-24th June, to celebrate the release of How To Be Bad! On the 18th June, she kicks off her tour in Dublin at Easons on O'Connell Street. Then, on the 20th June she visits Waterstones branches in Oxford, Bath, Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham. On the 21st she visits Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle. On the 22nd she visits Glasgow, on the 23rd it's Dundee, but visiting schools, and on the 24th she concludes her tour in London. To find out more about her tour click here!

It may not count as book news, but did you know that Oxford University Press has made the hashtag it's word of the year? It's reason for doing something that's been met with a bit of criticism? It's excessive usage in the 500 Words competition. OUP also noticed in the Radio 2 competition entries that the words Facebook, email, mobile, iPod, mp3 and tablet have fallen out of usage. They also found that gender stereotypes were conformed to (girls were more likely to talk about cupcakes but boys were more likely to talk about farting, for example), and that more than half of the top 20 words used were influenced by social media, with Zoella ranking in the top 20. Read more about the findings here!

So what incredible books have been released in the last month?

Endgame: The Calling by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton (paperback, hardback was out last year!)
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Lone Wolf by Robert Muchamore
Theodore Boone: The Fugitive by John Grisham

And that's it from me for this month! Join me in welcoming Chris Riddell as the new Children's Laureate and my next round up is in July! See you then!

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Wednesday, 14 May 2014

The Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp | Poppy Dolan | Review

*image via GoodReads

Molly's little brother Sam is stuck in a love rut. He's tries so hard with women but falls short. Luckily Molly is willing to lend a helping hand and as she waves her metaphorical dating wand, she lands Sam the girl of his dreams and helps him keep the girl too!

Thanks to Sam's success, Molly's single, male friends are soon lining up for her magical dating makeover and, along with her two friends, her entrepreneurial brain gets to work to create The Bad Boyfriend's Bootcamp. But fixing other people's problematic love lives is only half of the story, Molly also has to deal with her successful entrepreneurial mother, a grim looking overdraft thanks to her past failing businesses, and her own lackluster love life.

So what’s my verdict?

As seen in the title, the plot line for this novel is pretty predictable from the get go. Molly herself is a character I've seen in from this genre of book before, she’s a little hopeless with her life lacking in direction despite being the daughter of an extremely successful businesswoman mother. I often found myself frustrated at how shortsighted and selfish she was being, but luckily this is picked up as a major flaw in her personality by her friends as the book goes on.
Her two friends she ropes into the Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp business plan, Josie and Rachel, make nice additions to the story and I actually found myself wanting to read more about their back stories during the novel.

As I've mentioned plotwise, the novel is pretty formulaic right down to the elements of second hand embarrassment, best friend/close family fights, and happy ending romance.
Despite this, the writing was fun and there was a few pretty recent pop culture references that made me chuckle. If you're after something quick and easy to read, this one's for you.

Reading Soundtrack:

A Change Would Do You Good: Sheryl Crow: Dress You Up: Madonna; Don't Make Me Over: Dionne Warwick; Work B*tch: Britney Spears; I Get It: Kate Voegele; Glitter In The Air: Pink; Open Your Eyes: Snow Patrol

For lovers of

Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell and ‘How to lose a guy in 10 days’

This post was written by regular reviewer Ria, get to know her here.

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Saturday, 13 July 2013

Blogger’s Bookshelf Review Round Up #9

*all images via GoodReads

Another month over, check out what you missed below…

Alone by Robert J.Crane | Review by Anjali

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella | Review by Laura

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen | Reviewed by guest blogger Lulu

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks | Reviewed by Niina

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor | Reviewed by Ria

The Elite by Kiera Cass | Reviewed by Erin

Blackbirds by Chuck Wending | Reviewed by Niina

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace | Reviewed by Lucy

Harry: A History by Melissa Anelli | Reviewed by Ria

Shallow Pond by Alissa Grosso | Reviewed by Erin

Our bloggers also updated us on how they’re getting on with their 2013 Reading Goals.

They also clued us in on where they would like to be spending their perfect fictional Summer holiday in our 'Wish You Were Where?!' group collaboration post!

Next month we're revisiting May's subject of book covers. Previously we gathered your opinions on how important book covers are and what influence they have on your reading choices.

So, for August's post we want you to let us know what your....

favourite book covers are!

Let us know you opinions by email, tweet us or on our GoodReads page!

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Monday, 17 June 2013

I've Got Your Number | Sophie Kinsella | Review

Not only does Poppy loose her engagement ring but she also looses her phone. Talk about having a bad day! No things start to look up when she finds someone else's phone in a bin - working completely fine. So finders keepers as the saying goes. Now as she's desperately searching for her ring, the owner of the phone desperately wants it back. Could this be the start of an interesting friendship?!

Now this book was on my list of books I vowed to read this year, and I was extremely eager I pre ordered it from Amazon and as soon as it arrived I started reading it. I was immediately hooked!

Poppy is a brilliant character who made me laugh so much through this book. She however is not the only interesting character in to pop up. Poppy is engaged to Marcus who was a character I loved to hate. Whilst on the other end of the phone is Sam who from very first contact I was both interested and intrigued by. The conversations between characters were realistic and amusing and much like conversations I have between my own friends.

The story continues, the chaos carries on and the relationships tangle. Like many chic-lit stories there is two guys and one girl and the whole way through the reader is left thinking, who is she going to end up in? I won't give it away - don't worry. However what I will say is that it was a brilliant way to make a decision!

Now if you've read a Sophie Kinsella book before this is definitely one for you, and if you haven't.... where have you been!?!?! Go and get this one, download it or whatever because I'll definitely be reading it again in the near future.

This post was written by regular reviewer Laura, get to know her here.
Image from Goodreads

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Monday, 10 June 2013

Billy & Me | Giovanna Fletcher | Review

Billy & Me is the story of Sophie May, a young girl from the English countryside who lives a quiet life with her mother. It’s a quiet life but Sophie’s happy enough. A buzz soon spreads around the sleepy village that Hollywood will be paying a visit to film an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, complete with hot teen idol as the film’s lead. Not that Sophie cares much, she too busy helping run Tea On The Hill, a small cosy tea shop owned by an ever loveable old lady named Molly. In stumbles a boy named Billy Buskin. He’s tall, dark, handsome, utterly charming and of course sweeps Sophie up her feet. Turns out this Billy kid is none other than that teen heartthrob everyone is talking about.

It’s not only Sophie who’s swept up in this small town romance; Billy is quite taken with Sophie and decides to whisk her away from the calm of her country town to the bright lights of the big city of London. Every girl’s dream right? But Sophie’s apprehensive, there’s a little dark in her past that she’s not quite ready to let go of or let the world know about yet.

The rest of the story takes you Sophie coping with the harsh realities of being in the public eye, being away from her family and friends and the strain it takes on her relationship with Billy. A shock to the system wraps up the ending, testing Sophie’s inner strength and pushing her emotions to the limit.