Distant Waves

Distant Waves: A Novel of the Titanic by Suzanne Weyn
Paperback, 320 pages

Published March 1st 2010 by Scholastic

My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, cover-appeal, ghosts, historical, read-in-2012, sci-fi, young-adult, scholastic

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Science, history, and romance intertwine in Suzanne Weyn's newest novel. Four sisters and their mother make their way from a town in New York to London, becoming acquainted with journalist W. T. Stead, scientist Nikola Tesla, and industrialist John Jacob Astor. When they all find themselves on the Titanic, one of Tesla's inventions dooms them...and one could save them.

My thanks go to Scholastic for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I saw the cover and the tagline of this book and immediately wanted to pick it up. Whilst I haven't read all that much, I have really enjoyed the historical fiction that I have read. The tagline of this book tells us that it's a novel of the Titanic, and so I though that would certainly capture my interest. In fact, the book only partly (and quite briefly) takes part on the Titanic. This didn't actually bother me at all as I did enjoy the rest of the setting of the novel, primarily in a place called 'Spirit Vale', where many spiritualists reside. I do feel as though some people may think that the tagline is a little misleading - you should expect a lot more from this book than a trip on the Titanic.

I don't think that this was really a novel of the Titanic - it was more a novel of science and spirituality, set in a historical period, featuring some well-known historical figures. A lot of the novel centres around our protagonist, Jane, and her family's abilities to communicate to the dead, especially her mother, Maude, who is a medium and her two twin sisters, Amelie and Emma. I personally find mediums and spirituality very fascinating and that may be why I enjoyed this book. There was a lot of foreshadowing though, and of course we know what happened to the Titanic, and so this left little room for suspense. There is romance between a few of the characters, which adds something enjoyable to the story, but it did seem a little too rushed by the end. 

The debate between characters as to whether or not this spiritualism was fakery or whether it was genuine, and the change of these opinions throughout, was fascinating. Distant Waves did have a somewhat paranormal feel to it and I would imagine that it would appeal to some young adult paranormal fans, though I did feel that the writing and plot itself is more geared more towards middle-grade children.

As I have mentioned, this book would fit into the historical fiction genre and some of the main characters that are mentioned were indeed real - examples include Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan-Doyle and Houdini amongst others. I think that readers could gain some knowledge of these figures from this book as it does incorporate some facts about them and what they were famous for - the only problem is that many things that they're associated with are fictitious (and situations did seem slightly ridiculous at points) and so it could be hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Of course, this book could hopefully give a starting point for more research into these people.

Weyn also incorporated mentions of some other important historical points, such as women's suffrage and civil rights, as well as making allusions to the upcoming Great War. Unfortunately, it was as all of these comments were made in passing and sometimes it was as though Weyn was trying to cram in all mentions of these events for the sake of it - it felt a little forced. It may have been better if these points were developed.

This was a reasonably enjoyable, quick read but it felt rushed at the end, which was a shame. It wasn't particularly emotional and it didn't have enough suspense for me, but it was enjoyable enough. I think that I may have enjoyed this more if I was a little younger than I am now and that this would be a particularly good book for middle grade children who have an interest in history and/or science. 

Here is the official book trailer for Distant Waves.

This is Not Forgiveness

This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees
Paperback, 280 pages

Expected Publication: February 2nd 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

(First Published September 5th 2011)

My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, contemporary, death, 
mental-health, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, young-adult

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Everyone says that Caro is bad ...but Jamie can't help himself. He thinks of her night and day and can't believe that she wants to be his girlfriend. Gorgeous, impulsive and unconventional, she is totally different to all the other girls he knows. His sister, Martha, hates her. Jamie doesn't know why, but there's no way he's going to take any notice of her warnings to stay away from Caro. But as Jamie falls deeper and deeper under her spell, he realises there is more to Caro - much more. There are the times when she disappears and doesn't get in touch, the small scars on her wrists, her talk about revolutions and taking action, not to mention the rumours he hears about the other men in her life. And then always in the background there is Rob, Jamie's older brother, back from Afghanistan and traumatised after having his leg smashed to bits there. Jamie wants to help him, but Rob seems to be living in a world of his own and is increasingly difficult to reach. With Caro, the summer should have been perfect ...but that isn't how things work out in real life, and Jamie is going to find out the hard way. This taut psychological drama is the brilliant new novel from acclaimed Celia Rees.

My thanks go to Bloomsbury for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have only read one other book by Celia Rees, Blood Sinister, when I was quite a lot younger, but I still connect Rees with historical and some horror stories. This book is very different from the subjects and style of what Rees has written in the past and I thought that it was quite ambitious.


The story revolves around three people - Jamie and Rob, who are brothers, and a girl who comes into both of their lives - Caro. Jamie is supposedly your typical teenage boy, who gets a little bit obsessive with Caro, and considers them to be in a relationship. At points, I found his  focus on Caro to turn him into quite a weak-willed character. Often, he put Caro before anything or anyone else, and didn't seem very grateful to others who tried to befriend or help him. He only seemed to take Caro into consideration. 
Caro herself is a very dark and mysterious character. Although she has a luxurious lifestyle to fall back on, she doesn't let this change her. I did enjoy learning about the rebellious, anarchist and very political side of Caro, I found it to give her a lot more complexity and it gave me some insight into her personality. However, Caro, in general, is not very likeable. She seems dangerous and has a bad attitude - this may have made her appeal to the men in the story, but it certainly didn't make her appeal to me. 
Rob, Jamie's brother, could have been the most interesting character for me. He is back in England after being rather severely injured whilst fighting in Afghanistan. For the most part of the novel, we find out about him through transcripts of his online video diary. His dialect felt very authentic and his attitude really reflected his personality as well as how it changed due to fighting in a  war. Whilst the basis was there, I think Rob could've been developed into a much deeper character. He was obviously very troubled, but with some research from the author, the portrayal of psychological effects could have been even better.
Martha is a fourth character who is featured in this book, but we do not read from her point of view. She is Jamie and Rob's sister and is obviously very opinionated when concerning her past with Caro. I think that she also could have certainly contributed more to the story as she was a strong character.


One of the main things that bugged me from this book was how the teenagers were portrayed. A lot of the book, at the beginning, focused on teen culture in a negative way. The book was full of swearing, alcohol, drug abuse and sex - it seemed like the characters lives revolved around these things and as I don't really have an interest in that lifestyle, I couldn't connect with them and found it to be a little immature - I would not recommend this for younger readers. At some points, I thought that these subjects actually distracted from much more important issues that could have been discussed.


The attempt to be political was interesting though, especially the parts about the Red Army Faction. I have studied the Baader-Meinhof, a group of urban guerrillas who disrupted Germany's system in the 70's, and found them very interesting. I was shocked and pleased that Rees included them in this book and did add a little bit of history to her story - this actually made the book a lot more enjoyable for me as it was fascinating to see how Caro almost idolised this group and how they influenced her. 


This book definitely has a very powerful start, but from thereon in, it does slow down and then pick itself up again and again - at points, it almost felt rushed. I do think that the ending somewhat redeemed this book, and I did enjoy it. This book was definitely mixed for me though, as I've described. It was still a quite quick read, introducing some important issues and it did have some substance.

Celia Rees will be doing a blog tour starting tomorrow (Monday 30^th January – Friday 10^th February) to promote her new book This is Not Forgiveness!

Click here for for full details.

This is Not Forgiveness will be published in paperback on Thursday 2^nd February in the UK. The eBook is available now!

In My Mailbox (9)

In My Mailbox (IMM) is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren

In My Mailbox is a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

These are all of the books that I received or bought this week!

 I received some amazing ARC and review copies of books from some fantastic publishers this week! I received Code Name Verity and Oliver Twisted which will be being released this February. They both sound very interesting. I received The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian which I has been on my wish list for such a long time, so I'm hoping that will live up to my expectations! Cinder, Between and The Book of Blood & Shadow are relatively new releases over here in the UK and I am super excited to get them read - I've heard some fantastic things about them and the ideas behind them are great!

I'm so pleased with the three swaps that I received this week! I have been wanting a copy of Bitter End for a while but it's been notoriously difficult to find in the UK. I'm interested to see how Crossed is as I read Matched and enjoyed that (though it wasn't amazing). A Strong and Sudden Thaw is a bit of a wildcard as I hadn't heard of it before accepting it, but it seems to have had some great ratings. I am so excited to read The Dead and the Gone as I loved Life As We Knew It, and I haven't heard much of The Silver Kiss, but it looks good enough!

I have the first two Thirst volumes sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be read, but when I found the Thirst No. 3 in a discount book store, I couldn't resist. I also found myself intrigued by Cuckoo when it was on the adults bestsellers chart a month or so ago and as that was there, I just had to pick that up too! I received The Tricksters free on offer, too! Two charity shop finds that I'm very proud of this week - Lucky and Gorgeous are the first two books in The Avery Sisters trilogy and I'm so eager to read them!

Follow Friday (3)

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read

The question that everyone was asked this week was:

What book genre do you avoid at all costs and why?

I don't think that there are any book genres that I try to avoid 'at all costs' - I'm generally willing to try anything once! I'm often a little wary of epic fantasies or adult science fiction as it often just makes me a bit confused and goes over my head! The thought of over-the-top romance novels (including historical), cowboys and westerns make me cringe a little, too.

I'd also avoid any non-fiction books about subjects that don't interest me, but that's not to say that I'd avoid the genre completely. I'd never read a biography about a celebrity that I had no interest in, either. I'm also not all that interested in books that are strongly based on religion. I wouldn't read any self-help book unless I really had to, I guess.

It may not sound like it but I'm not really that picky about genres and I don't make an effort to avoid anything completely. Even if it's a book that fits into one of the genres I've mentioned above, if I like the sound of the blurb, I'd be willing to give the book a go!

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1)

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veronica Rossi
Paperback, 384 pages

Expected Publication: February 7th 2012 by Atom

My shelves: apocalyptic, arc-or-review, awful-cover, books-i-own, dystopian, fantasy, read-in-2012, sci-fi, series-or-companions, young-adult, better-than-expected

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

My thanks go to Atom for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of the dystopian genre, at least of the ideas behind them. Unfortunately a lot of them can be a little poorly written and feel rushed. Thankfully, Under the Never Sky was a book with both a good idea and good writing behind it. Rossi obviously has a vivid imagination and has managed to build a complex world and group of characters. 

We are thrown into Rossi's dystopian world straight away. My only main issue with this book was that this book is quite confusing at the beginning and it wasn't until around the mid-way point that I really began to understand everything. Not everything was explained which was, in a way, good as it helped us to adapt to the terms and the world ourselves. I did find the world-building to be strong and it was very different to the world we live in now. There was a lot to take in, but it never got boring.

Getting past the start was a little slow as I did have to try and remember several people and figure out a lot of things for myself, but this certainly wasn't a slow book in terms of action though. There were plenty of twists and turns, many of which I wasn't expecting. This book managed to keep me on edge right until the end, which was fantastic and quite a rare treat! There are so many things that we find out during this first book, we are constantly discovering more. Through the actions of the characters and the events that happen around them, we get to learn more about both them and the environment around them.

The setting is extremely intriguing and I can imagine that we'll get to learn even more in the next books. The setting is in two main areas - Aria's home, Reverie, and where Perry lives, the Outside, or the outer wastelands. Reverie is least like our modern day as it is protected, generated and very modified, inhabitants included, to be at it's 'optimum', because of this, Aria is out of touch with our reality - for example, she doesn't she doesn't even know what real weather feels like. In complete contrast to Reverie, the outside, where most of this book is set, is more of a wild place where you must fend for and look after yourself. Reverie isn't completely 'normal' though, it feels like it's set more in the past, as well as some of the inhabitants having heightened power of their senses. They also live under an Aether, which covers the sky and causes constant danger. 

Our main characters are two very different people, Aria and Peregrine (Perry). They are both very strong, bold characters and by the end, I had them very well formed in my mind. The relationship between them felt natural in their situation. The romance that built between them didn't dominate the story and it wasn't instant, which I was very glad about. It was great to see how their relationship progressed throughout their time together. Both characters go through a lot of mental changes, and Aria also goes through several physical changes. All of it felt very authentic and well thought out. There are several other characters who in this book, including Vale (Perry's brother) and his son Talon, and his friends Marron, Roar and a young boy that they found in the woods - Cinder. Cinder has such a good basis for even more development and I really hope that he is featured more in the next book(s).  

This book has very frequent twists and it's hard to review this book without giving much away, but I don't want to spoil the book if you're planning on reading it yourself, and this is something that I think you should read for yourself. I'm pleased that I've read this as it was a lot more complex than a lot of other books that are on the market today and it wasn't completely based around romance. I think that Under the Never Sky will definitely appeal to a lot of fans of young- adult dystopian stories and I would certainly recommend it. I am already looking forward to the next book in the series, Through the Ever Night, to see what I will discover!

Veronica Rossi, the author of Under the Never Sky, discusses writing her book in this short clip.

Cover Love (1)

Cover Love is hosted by Carmel @ RabidReads

Cover Love is a post in which I feature books that I believe to have cover-appeal.

 

This week I have chosen to feature the first three books of the "Riders of the Apocalypse" series as my books with covers that I love! The books are Hunger, Rage and the soon-to-be-released Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler. The style of these covers aren't something that I'd normally be attracted to, but they really work on these books. I love the colours against the dark backgrounds and the textures in the background. The strong white of the title text is very striking and I'm glad that the font is not overly decorative.

The covers are even more gorgeous in the flesh, as they have glossy covers which make the images really shine.

I've not yet read these books so I can't tell you if they reflect the stories inside very well, but they certainly make me want to pick the books up!

In My Mailbox (8)

In My Mailbox (IMM) is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren

In My Mailbox is a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

I received three signed books with some lovely messages inside from Jackie Morse Kessler this week, Hunger, Rage and the to-be-released Loss. I've heard some great things about these books and I can't wait to read them, the covers are absolutely gorgeous, too!

I've had another successful week getting review copies and some ARCs thanks to some wonderful publishers! I'm especially excited to read Masquerade, Marcelo in the Real World, A Catastrophic History of You and Me and Legend. I also received The Things We Did for Love, Girl Meets Boy, The Moth Diaries, Beautiful Malice, Distant Waves and the first two books in the Siren series - Siren and Pulse.

I made a few purchases from a discount book store this week. These are Ingo, Tide Knot, Shade's Children, The Stone Gods, Mary Poppins, Gale Force, The Fallen (2) Bind Up and Night World (3) Bind Up - I have a lot of variety to choose from there!

Some quite random finds from the charity shop this week - Son of a Witch, On the Edge, Fly Me to the Moon and Prom Nights from Hell. I also received Heist Society via swap and I bought Prozac Diary really cheap online.

A huge thank you to Quirk Books for sending me this awesome tote bag this week too, I love it and it's very spacious for carrying any new book buys... ;)

Fracture

Fracture by Megan Miranda
Paperback, 261 pages

Published January 5th 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

My shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, contemporary, death, read-in-2012, young-adult, really-good

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine 
—despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it? 
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening? 

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death..

My thanks go to Bloomsbury for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I heard about this novel, my mind likened the premise of it to Gayle Forman's If I Stay, which I didn't really enjoy, despite loving the whole idea behind it. Thankfully, in Fracture, Megan Miranda didn't let me down with her emotion-packed story.

Fracture tells the story of seventeen year old Delaney after she has an accident at a local lake, where she falls to her death through thin ice and drowns, leaving her dead for eleven minutes, until she is rescued by her best friend and neighbour, Decker. The accident itself is written extremely well and I almost held my breath throughout it. Emotionally, Delaney is your average teenager in a way that means  that the reader can hopefully connect to her - she is slightly neurotic, a little angsty and sometimes a bit vulnerable, but she is still strong, sensible and caring. I found Delaney to be a very genuine, down to earth and grounded character. Delaney isn't completely typical though, as after her accident she is left with a 'gift' (or a curse) that draws her to people who are dying. It is very interesting to see how she copes with this. This ability does add a slight paranormal feel to the book but it's certainly not dominating, I would still recommend this book to those who are not fans of fantasy genres.

Through her ability to sense death, Delaney meets a guy called Troy, who has a similar ability. I didn't instantly like Troy and Miranda does a great job of giving him a sense of uncanniness - I never felt at ease with him. He is a quite mysterious character and brought a lot of suspense to the book. As the book progressed, Troy became more and more manipulative and controlling which gave me a strong dislike to him. 

Unlike Troy, I loved Decker all the way through the story, even when he was being a little awkward and had some conflicts with Delaney. I enjoyed seeing how the accident affected him and also how it transformed his relationship with Delaney. I thought that the other friends in their circle were well formed, especially Janna who was a confident, strong female which is nice to see. The characters are a typical high school group who have varied personalities and they work well together, despite their friendships having expected occasional rifts. I would've liked to hear more about them near the end of the book, even if it was in an epilogue. 

I also liked the fact that Delaney's parents played quite a large part in the book as often the parents are forgotten about in Young Adult books. Her mother's relationship with her parents often reflected her worries and concerns over Delaney.

There is a good pace that is set from the beginning of this novel, but the last chapters of this story were particularly intense and I felt my emotions changing from page to page. There were plenty of unpredictable twists throughout, but the ending was on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading. Fracture was very difficult to put down, even though I didn't want the book to finish! The ending of the book isn't works well, but it all happened a little fast for me. Most things were tied up by the end, but I think that most of the book could've been explored more. However, the fact that it was concise made the book more intense and it held my attention.

This was a really gripping read and with the quality of it, it's hard to believe that it's Miranda's debut novel. I loved Miranda's descriptive but clear, well paced writing style and I would not hesitate to pick up anything else that she offers. Although this is targeted at the Young Adult age group, I can certainly see it appealing to adult readers too. This is a book that I'd recommend to nearly anyone.

Here is the official book trailer for Fracture:

Giveaway Winners!

My International 100 Follower Bookmark Giveaway ended yesterday - I'd also like to thank you all for helping me reach the 200 follower goal during this giveaway(!!!) - andI'm very pleased to announce the three winners:

Farah (TumblingInBooks)
Kirsty (BookLoveBug)
Lisa (ShatterBooks)

Congratulations to all of you, your bookmarks will be making their way to you as soon as I receive a reply from you. Please check your e-mails for further details.


Thanksto everyone who entered!

Waiting On Wednesday (1)

In My Mailbox (IMM) is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme that spotlights upcoming releases 

that we're anticipating.

This is my first Waiting on Wednesday post, and I admit that I probably won't participate in this weekly, but only when I find a book that I'm extremely excited about.  

This week's choice is Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult. The idea of a young adult novel written by one of my favourite authors makes me unbelievably excited. I absolutely adore the books by Picoult that I have read, particularly Second Glance which had a paranormal theme to it. This one looks like it will have a fantasy element to it, so I look forward to seeing how Picoult and her daughter (Samantha) handle it.

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Expected publication: June 26th 2012

From Goodreads:

What happens when happily ever after…isn’t?

Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah.

And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom.
Delilah and Oliver work together to attempt to get Oliver out of his book, a challenging task that forces them to examine their perceptions of fate, the world, and their places in it. And as their attraction to each other grows along the way, a romance blossoms that is anything but a fairy tale.