From The Review Pile (53)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Rules Of Summer!

This is a book that I was sent quite a while ago but unfortunately never got around to reading - however, after revisiting the synopsis, I know that it's something that I could potentially find really, really good! I love the sound of this one, so I will have to remember to get to it sometime soon!

Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin

352 Pages

Published 23rd May 2013 by Atom

THE RULES OF SUMMER is about two 17 year-old girls living in the same beachfront mansion in East Hampton for the summer, one “upstairs” (the daughter of a very blue-blooded family) and one “downstairs” (the niece of the family’s housekeeper.) Isabel is the privileged daughter who’s used to having guys fall at her feet. Rory is the no-nonsense girl from a small New Jersey town who’s always been the friend, never the girlfriend.  Besides becoming each other’s unlikely allies, both Rory and Isabel have a summer romance that will change her life.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Hardback, 368 pages

Published 10th Jan 2012 by Puffin Books

Shelves: adult-fiction, awful-cover, books-i-own, contemporary, medical-conditions, read, read-in-2013, realistic-fiction, title-appeal, young-adult

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

The Fault in Our Stars is a book that was all over the media last year. Although I wouldn't particularly class myself as a 'fan' of John Green, I have enjoyed some books written by him and I did pre-order the book after hearing about it. I received the book as soon as it was released, yet it has still taken me this long to pick it up - 2013! Finally, I decided to see what all of the fuss was about...

I started the book with the thought that it was going to be the best thing ever, as I know so many people who have raved about it. Unfortunately, whenever I do this, most of the time I'm disappointed. I wasn't completely disappointed with this book, but I was disappointed in the sense that I must've missed something - some impact that this book has on others that it hasn't had on me. I did feel several things during reading, the most prominent emotion being sadness - yes, I did shed a few tears, but I also felt a sense of hope. On the subject of emotion, I did admire the way that Green put across each individual character, showing that each did have different thoughts, feelings and ways of dealing with cancer.

I find it hard to review 'cancer books' because understandably, it is a sensitive subject for a lot of people. I like reading these books because I'm curious, I'm interested, I'm an emotional person who wants to connect with the characters. There seem to be a lot of books like this one on bookshelves at the moment, and perhaps that is why this one didn't hit me as hard as it could have - I don't feel that Green really did anything spectacularly shocking or high-impact. The one 'twist' that Green did include wad still not all that unexpected, it was something that was in the back of my mind as a possibility all of the time - however, it shows that Green did well when I still shed a tear when it happened.

I didn't connect all that much with the characters at the beginning - they seemed standard and it took me a while to like them. I particularly had a fondness for Isaac, a teenage boy who also participated in group therapy with Hazel and Augustus.  I did like the characters the more I read though and I did really enjoy seeing their interactions together. Green did succeed in showing these individuals for who they are, rather than their illnesses. It felt somewhat precious to see them interact, play video games, worry about relationships, just be themselves and not let their illness bother them in that moment. 

Hazel and Augustus were the most important characters in this novel, as they meet at a support group and become very close friends. I liked Augustus very much - he was the typical atypical or 'quirky' love interest. I could understand their attraction to each other, it wasn't out of the blue and they obviously connected. It did take me a while to like both of these characters though, as often I just couldn't believe what they were saying. Green seems to be trying to be pretty 'deep' or philosophical in this book, but, for me, it didn't work out - the things that Augustus and Hazel talked about seemed too philosophical for sixteen year olds, sure they had probably been through a lot but it doesn't mean that they'd talk like they do in the book - some of the conversation felt a little forced. I do like Green's style of writing, his phrases, but sometimes it does seem a little too pretentious for YA characters. 

A lot of the deeper discussions that Hazel and Augustus had were about Hazel's favourite book, An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten. It was a good catalyst for conversation between the couple and they even ended up visiting Amsterdam, attempting to meet the author. I really enjoyed going with Hazel and Augustus on their trip and meeting the author. It was quite a different experience and felt slightly more apart from the rest of the story, I really felt that it stood out and not only was it an achievement for Hazel and Augustus, it was also one for me, the reader, as at that point I was sucked into the story and really started to enjoy it.

Overall, The Fault In Our Stars is a book that I did, for the most part enjoy and  I would recommend it to others. I do wish that the characters and structure were a little more unique from all of the other YA out there right now, but Green did do a decent job. I'm very pleased that this book has got more people reading and I will certainly try to read more of Green's work in the future.

Angelfall (Penryn & The End of Days #1)

Angelfall (Penryn & The End of Days #1) by Susan Ee

Paperback, 272 pages

Published May 23rd 2013 by Hodder and Stoughton

My shelves: angels-demons, apocalyptic, better-than-expected, books-i-own, dystopian, fantasy, horror, really-good, sci-fi, series-or-companions, young-adult

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

If I'm being honest, I was a little weary of reading this book. It seemed to appear from nowhere, it was first self published and it was only available as an eBook for a long time. Sure, none of these things mean that it will necessarily be bad, but it didn't endear me to the idea of Angelfall - I'm one of those people who likes physical books. When I heard that it was finally being made into a paperback, I was delighted! I found that it was a real treasure and in fact far better than many other post-apocalyptic young-adult books that have been commercially released recently and in the past few years. It is evident that Ee has a talent for writing and it felt as every word had been carefully thought out and was important in this book.

The story does feel slightly commercial in the way that I feel as though it will appeal to many people. It seemed like an amalgamation of factors from other released books, but adapted. I certainly don't mean that this feels like a copy of other books, but that it does certain familiarities to several other things that I have read. However, the story is new, fresh and exciting. I have never read a book about Angels that has gripped me or that I have enjoyed as much as I did with this.

From the first page, I got thrown into the post-apocalyptic setting which was both fascinating and frightening. Ee has done a wonderful job of making everything seem very vivid and as though we are seeing things through Penryn's eyes. The writing and emotion feels authentic, raw and bold. From start to finish, the book is very eventful and had me on the edge of my seat. There was a certain addictive quality, just wanting to know where Penryn would take us next and what she would see. Most of what Penryn does see is gruesome and Ee creates some extremely macabre, horrifying and unsettling scenes.

Nothing seems to stop Penryn from the search for her family. We are given a strong protagonist, a fantastic heroine. Around her are many more curious characters, including her abducted sister, Paige, and Penryn's mother, who is mentally unstable and claims to talk to demons - these both seem to be especially complex characters that I'm interested to watch develop. Raffe, the angel that is alongside Penryn for the majority of this book, is shown to have ethereal beauty and a strong personality, without any flowery writing, which was refreshing. The relationship between Penryn and Raffe was interesting to read about, as Raffe is essentially one of the enemies, simply by being an angel. I found Dee and Dum to provide some joviality to the harsh background of the apocalypse and I absolutely loved them.

There are a few things that if revealed would have helped me to understand things more, such as a little more information about the mythology and the reason of the apocalypse, but this is the first in a series and so I hope that, and assume it will be, explained further on in the next books which I simply can't wait to be released!

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday (52)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.

These memes are a replacement of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox.

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday make a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

Wow - I certainly didn't expect to get all of these through the post this week! Once again, I've been pleasantly surprised with a whole load of exciting books, all with very different looks and premises, but each sounding very interesting in their own way. I'm a very eclectic reader - I like a variety of things to read, and I've certainly got that here!

The books that I received this week were Angelfall, Stray, The Moon and More, Dusk, The Savages, Friday Brown, Gloss, All Our Yesterdays and Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop. Phew!

Have a lovely weekend!

From The Review Pile (52)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Split Second!

This is a book that I was sent quite a while ago but unfortunately never got around to reading - however, after revisiting the synopsis, I know that it's something that I could potentially find really, really good! I love the sound of this one, so I will have to remember to get to it sometime soon!

Split Second by Cath Staincliffe

323 Pages

Published July 2012 by Robinson

A winter's evening and a trio of unruly youths board a bus and gang up on teenager Luke Donnelly, hurling abuse and threatening to kill him. The bus is full but no one intervenes until Jason Barnes, a young student, challenges the youths. Luke seizes the chance to run off the bus but his attackers follow. 
Andrew Barnes is dragged from the shower by his wife Valerie: there's a fight in the front garden and Jason's trying to break it up. Andrew rushes to help and the assailants flee. Jason shouts to his father to phone an ambulance - Luke is badly hurt. Minutes later Jason collapses in their living room, he has been stabbed. The blow proves fatal. 
Valerie and Andrew are devastated by the loss of their only child, and react in very different ways to their grief. Valerie wants justice, revenge even, but Andrew is desperate to find some meaning in Jason's sacrifice. Luke survived the assault thanks to Jason's actions, but is in a coma. 
As his marriage disintegrates, Andrew secretly visits Luke and his mother Louise and a fragile friendship develops. Meanwhile the press begin to paint a picture of Luke as a less than innocent victim and raise questions about the cost of Jason's heroism. 
One of the offenders confesses to the attacks and shows remorse while the others plead not guilty. Conflicting accounts emerge during the trial. With some parties prepared to lie, the matter of uncovering what really happened is far from straightforward, and the jury's verdict hard to predict. A novel that explores the issue of whether to intervene or look the other way and the fall-out from either decision. 
" Split Second" tackles questions of bravery, fear and kindness and depicts the human impact of violent crime.

Boy Nobody (Boy Nobody #1)

Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff

Hardback, 352 pages

Expected Publication: 23rd May 2013 by Orchard Books

Shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, if-i-were-a-boy, read, read-in-2013, series-or-companions, title-appeal, young-adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target. 

When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.'

Firstly, I'll admit that when I saw the cover for Boy Nobody, I wasn't sure it'd be for me - it looked like a boyish action book and I don't usually enjoy those. However (and more importantly), I read the blurb and found myself intrigued - there was something about this book that made me want to pick it up and see what really was inside, whether or not I'd like it. I never actually expected to like this book as much as I did - it's definitely set to be a huge hit!

Boy Nobody is about a boy who doesn't really have much of a stable identity as he is always moving, always changing who he is in order to complete missions for The Program, an undercover organisation. Boy Nobody is brainwashed, he has been taught to be secretive, he is precise, consistent, he knows how to handle himself and perhaps most importantly, he knows how to kill. Although he may be under control of The Program, underneath it all, Boy Nobody is a kid. Underneath these protective layers, he is a person, with his own thoughts feelings, it's important to remember that, and Zadoff certainly reminds you of this throughout the book in subtle ways, despite the book mainly giving straight forward facts.

When we meet Boy Nobody, he's in a new town, attending a new school and awaiting missions from his handlers. The two handlers he has are known as his 'Mother' and 'Father' and they are perhaps the only people that Boy Nobody has a bond with. He doesn't have any friends or family, and it's unlikely, in his profession, that he'll have any in the future. Zadoff is clearly a very smart writer, looking back on this book, there is quite a lot going on. We are given a very clear vision of Boy Nobody's new town, I had a real feel for all of the places he visited and I felt as though, with our protagonist, I should be on the lookout for the small things. Everything and everyone seemed suspect, but also seemed so realistic. I really had a good feel for what our main character was going through, my heart racing and breath quickening at certain moments.

For those who like action, there's a fair amount of it in this book, but I think that even more will be explored in the following books! This has built a fantastic foundation for the story. I personally loved the suspense side of this book, I really didn't know what was going to happen most of the time which is rare in a lot of books these days, especially YA. I also was intrigued by the emotional undertones, or lack thereof - we found out that Boy Nobody was taken under The Program after his real parents died, but why? What lead to this? What is the Program really doing? This book is a portal to so many different things - I really can't wait to learn more.

I honestly believe that this is one of the best books of 2013 so far - it is so refreshing to find something different, interesting and so gripping! Once you pick this book up, it's really hard to put down - there are just so many more things to know and I can't wait to find out more in the next books. Whether you're a girl or a boy, 12 or 21, this isn't a book to be missed, it's sure to have you hooked.

Stacking The Shelves and Showcase Sunday (51)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.

These memes are a replacement of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox.

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday make a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

What a week for new books! I received four books this week, one adult and three YA books, all of which sound absolutely amazing - I seriously have no idea which one to pick up first! The adult fiction I received was Dot and the young adult books were Invisibility, Nowhere and the much raved-about The 5th Wave.

Have a great weekend, all! 

Anthem For Jackson Dawes

Anthem For Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

Paperback, 240 pages

Published 1st January 2013 by Bloomsbury

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, young-adult, title-appeal, realistic-fiction, read-in-2013, medical-conditions, contemporary 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future. A moving story of first love and a remarkably powerful debut novel.

Anthem for Jackson Dawes is a book that I was very pleased to receive for review - it really sounded like something I'd enjoy. Though the subject matter is rather difficult, I do enjoy reading about real life issues and I was interested in seeing how this YA book turned out. Teenage cancer  has been explored in several extremely popular books, namely The Fault in Our Stars, Before I Die and My Sister's Keeper, so Bryce really had to try hard to give us something new and something with a strong emotional impact.

This book is definitely a hard one to review, which is partially due to the content. In general, I thought that this was a good book which was well written. However, as the book is relatively short at 240 pages, there was not all that much depth to the story or characters. This is a book revolving around young cancer patients, but most respectfully, the characters are the stars of the book - not the illness. I thought it was great that Bryce managed to really emphasise the personalities of the kids. Of course, the characters were all in hospital for a reason - they all had some form of cancer. Bryce is clearly a careful writer - she writes what is necessary, what is suitable for the age group she is writing for. The writing is soft but concise. Personally, I would have preferred some more depth to the book, more detail, more interactions, I especially wanted to know more about the characters, how they really felt. 

Our main character is Megan Bright, a teenager with a cancerous brain tumour. Understandably, Megan is not happy being in hospital, let alone in the children's ward. She feels lonely and she worries about her friends, whether or not they will keep in touch with her or not whilst she's sick. There is only one older teenager on the ward, the upbeat, sociable and caring Jackson Dawes. When they first meet, Megan isn't all that nice to Jackson even though he's only trying to be nice. It could come across as a bit 'bratty', but to be honest, I think I would be the same in her situation - she's scared. Jackson and Megan certainly don't click straight away, but as Megan succumbs to his friendship, it's clear that they are a lovely couple of friends. Though it's suggested that it's a romance between the two, I just saw it as a special connection, a friendship.  

As you can imagine, this book isn't full of joy, though it's not deeply depressing throughout there is an undertone of melancholy. There are a lot of 'extra' upsetting moments dotted throughout the book, as well as many feelings of uncertainty. Unfortunately, for some reason the book didn't hold the emotion that I really wanted - it wasn't raw, intense or passionate enough, it just didn't grab me in the way that some other books have. Maybe it's because, although I liked them, I didn't relate all that much to Megan or Jackson. Maybe it's the lack of depth or detail. I'm not entirely sure. 

Overall, Anthem for Jackson Dawes is a well executed book and one that is more friendly towards younger young adult audience. I am very impressed with Bryce's writing and particularly enjoyed her description of the new cancer unit in the book, based on a unit in my home city. Bryce has done really well and I would certainly like to see more from her in the future.

From the Review Pile (51)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase The Sweetness of Forgetting!

I've been reading some pretty 'heavy' books lately with serious issues, so it would be nice to read something a little easier on the soul! I'm sure that this book isn't all happiness, but with the mention of Paris and star crossed lovers, it certainly can't be all that bad!

The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristen Harmel

432 Pages

Published 1st April 2013 by Quercus

The North Star Bakery has been in Hope's family for generations, the secret recipes passed down from mother to daughter. But at thirty-six and recently divorced, with rebellious daughter Annie and elderly grandmother Rose to care for, Hope is less than enthusiastic about carrying on the family legacy. When the bakery runs into financial trouble and Rose takes a turn for the worse, Hope's delicate balancing act is in danger of crumbling entirely.

Then Rose reveals a shocking truth about her past and everything Hope thought she knew about her family and the bakery is turned upside down. At her grandmother's request, Hope travels to Paris, armed only with a mysterious list of names. What she uncovers there could be the key to saving the bakery and the fulfilment of a star-crossed romance, seventy years in the making.

The Hit

The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Paperback, 303 pages

Expected Publication: 4th April 2013 by Chicken House

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, if-i-were-a-boy, let-down, read, read-in-2013, realistic-fiction, suicide, too-much-hype, young-adult

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Take it. Live it. F*** it.
A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It's the ultimate high. At the ultimate price.
Adam is tempted. Life is rubbish, his girlfriend's over him, his brother's gone. So what's he got to lose? Everything, as it turns out. It's up to his girlfriend, Lizzie, to show him...

I absolutely loved reading when I was very young, but when I went to high school things changed and I found myself rarely reading until the age of 18! However, there was one book during that period that I did read, one that was recommended to me by a teacher and it was a book that quickly became a favourite. That book was Junk by Melvin Burgess, a young adult story based around drugs. When I heard about The Hit, another book with a storyline based around drugs, I was full of excitement - could it possibly be better than Junk? 

I absolutely loved the idea of this book. Burgess has created a fictional drug called, quite simply, Death. If you take Death, you will have a euphoric week, everything feels great, but at the end of this week, you will die. There is no antidote to the drug, so once you take it, there is no going back. The Hit is set in the future in the UK, it's not an unrealistic future but it is a dark and difficult time with people struggling to live well. After a very popular singer takes Death, the drug becomes popularised and is handed out to rioting crowds of people. Death is the most interesting concept in this book, making you ask yourself, would you take it? I wanted some morality, some gritty issues, something that could draw me in and make me want to know everything about this drug, but unfortunately, I didn't really get that. 

This book isn't really about Death, it actually takes a bit of a back seat. Mostly, this is a book about Adam and Lizzie getting in trouble with a (Death) drug dealer - cue lots of chasing and violence. I'm sure there will be some suspense for some people, but frankly I didn't care enough about the characters to be sitting on the edge of my seat. The slightly more political side of this book, the group of protestors named The Zealots was slightly more interesting - I liked reading about them, but again, I'd have liked to have learned more about them.

The story revolves around our protagonist, Adam, who decides to take Death. I didn't particularly like Adam, I didn't like his 'bucket list' and found him to be somewhat selfish and superficial - lets just say that if he was a real person, I wouldn't want to be friends with him.  His girlfriend, Lizzie, fell just as flat as Adam, I just found them both uninteresting. The story itself would've felt a lot stronger if the characters had stronger personalities. The only character that I felt vaguely interested in was Christian, a very powerful, but also very ill man. Christian was a brilliant villain, he was psychotic and fixated on damaging people's spinal cords, attempting to paralyse them if they don't do what he wants - it sounds extremely vicious and it was, but for me it was good to actually feel something (even this repulsion!) when reading this book. 

Overall, The Hit was unfortunately a big disappointment for me. I did read the whole thing as I hoped for more information regarding Death and yes, I did want to find out the outcome. Mostly though, I read the whole book because I refuse to not finish a book I've started. I can't say that it was enjoyable, but it certainly wasn't the worst book I've read. The concept was brilliant and I just wish that the execution had been better. If you do want to read a good book by Burgess, just pick up a copy of Junk which is, in my opinion, far superior to The Hit.

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday (50)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.

These memes are a replacement of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox.

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday make a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

I received two books for review this week! The first was Heaven - I have the first books in this series and since they look so appealing, I'm surprised I haven't picked them up yet! I also received a book that I hadn't heard of before, but I think it sounds great - Rules Of Summer.