While The Others Sleep

While The Others Sleep by Tom Becker

Paperback, 250 pages

Expected Publication: 4th March 2013 by Scholastic

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, cover-appeal, historical, horror, medical-conditions, mental-health, read-in-2013, supernatural, young-adult

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

When Alfie Mandeville's insomnia threatens to embarrass his wealthy family he is sent to Scarbrook House, a sanatorium for wealthy children. Troubled by the eerie atmosphere and skittish patient, Alfie's condition gets worse, not better. He falls under the spell of the charismatic and cruel William Travers, who seems to delight in bullying the other patients. A mysterious sighting by the water tower in the woods stirs up turbulent memories of Alfie's time in India. And as he lies awake one night, Alfie is haunte by visions of a strange creature moving through the darkness at the edge of the patients' beds. Are his tired eyes hallucinating, or is starting to lose his mind? When Alfie learns that the creatures are hunting a demon escaped from the depths of Hell - and that the only protection against them is to be asleep - suddenly insomnia becomes the most dangerous condition of all... WHILE THE OTHERS SLEEP is a gripping psychological thriller - don't read it alone at night!

While The Others Sleep is not a book that I had heard much about before I received it in the post, and I still haven't heard all that much about it now that it's been released, which is a real shame. This book is very different to most of the young adult literature which is offered today, and I mean that in a very positive way!

As soon as I read the blurb of this book, matched with the creepy cover, I was so eager to read it. I'm not a massive fan of horror, but I'm majorly intrigued by old sanatoriums and psychiatric hospitals, so the setting couldn't have been more perfect for me! The setting of a Victorian sanatorium filled with lots of troubled children was both captivating and slightly scary. I thought that the description of the sanatorium was brilliant, emphasising the eerie feel of the place. The book isn't laden with heavy historical facts and the writing isn't  at all complicated, but the historical era that this story is set in undoubtedly allows a rather nightmarish atmosphere. 

I really enjoyed seeing how this book progressed and how the patients at the sanatorium interacted with each other. It did take me a little while to get used to the several characters that were mentioned, as I did find it a little difficult remembering who was who at first. There are several strong characters, though I didn't feel particularly enamoured to any of them - thankfully this didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book. The two characters that I was most interested in were Alfie, the protagonist, and his friend Selena. I personally thought that Selena was a much more intriguing character than the others as it was clear she and Alfie had a somewhat complicated history. We do get to learn about her, but I would still liked to delve even deeper into her mind. For me, Selena was the highlight of the book.

I liked Alfie as a character, though I admit that I didn't love or connect with him. I did go through a range of feelings towards him as the story developed and changed. I am quite torn about the revelation towards the end of the book, the 'twist', which is why I haven't given this book a higher rating. Though it was a good idea and clever on the author's part, I think that it made the rest of the book feel a bit underwhelming and as though we didn't truly get a good idea of Alfie. The ending of the story offers more action and a faster pace than the rest of the book and I'm sure it will to appeal to many.

Overall, I found While The Others Sleep to be a very well written book and also a refreshing, non-stereotypical approach to the young adult genre. If you're into psychological thrillers or horror, I'm sure that this will be a treat. Even if you're not particularly into thrillers, this would definitely be a nice change to your usual reading choice. Becker looks to be like a very promising author and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Paperback, 496 pages

Expected publication: 19th September 2012 by Scholastic

My shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, fantasy, ghosts, magic, magical-realism, mythology, read-in-2012, series-or-companions, supernatural, title-appeal, to-read, too-much-hype

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

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

The Raven Boys has probably been one of the most hyped up books this year. As it is being released this week, I thought I had better pick it up and see what the fuss was about! I must admit that I wasn't a fan of Shiver or Linger, though I haven't yet enjoyed any shapeshifter book. Due to the different storyline of this book, I decided to give it a go, despite my reservations.

The Raven Boys tells a story of Blue who lives with her psychic mother and aunts. Blue visits a graveyard on a special night where she can see all of the people who are going to pass over to the spirit world during the next year. There, Blue sees a boy, named Gansey and seems to have a special connection with him. She is told it is because she either murdered him, or he was her true love - she has been told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. The story sounded interesting enough - I am very interested in the paranormal and once I got into the book there was also a lot of talk about ley lines, something that I find fascinating.

I really liked the characters in this book. Our main character, Blue had just the right amount of sass about her - despite living in a psychic-dominated house, Blue knows who she is - she is certainly an individual, with her own thoughts and beliefs. She isn't close-minded which was great. The family around her are interesting and definitely individual too, with quite vibrant personalities. After seeing Gansey, a Raven Boy, at the graveyard, Blue wants to discover more about them.

The Raven Boys are a group of boys who attend Aglionby, a private school. In the beginning, I think that they were made out to be your stereotypical rich and somewhat snobby private school kids - to me, that didn't come across very well but then again I was a private school kid myself. As the book went on, it turned out that the Raven Boys aren't really that stereotypical which I was thankful for. I really come to love Gansey and Adam, I felt I understood them well. Actually, I really enjoyed reading about all of The Raven Boys - the group of boys were certainly likeable and all so very different. They absolutely made the story for me, I could read about them all day. They had history behind them and each had an interesting one at that, particularly Adam and Noah. 

Even a few days after finishing this book, I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it. I certainly enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Shiver and Linger. The storyline is quite complex and it was vastly more impressive than The Wolves of Mercy Falls books. I enjoyed the idea, the twists and turns, but for me, Stiefvater's writing was not completely enjoyable. The book dragged on quite a lot and it was a bit confusing at points - though a lot of the detail was understandably necessary to contribute information to the story. Truly, I found things to be a little disjointed and distracting - it wasn't a book that I was eager to keep returning to and it did take me quite a while to read. 

I think a lot of people will certainly enjoy this book - it does have positive points and I would like to read more of the series just to find out more about our Raven Boys. I am glad that I picked this one up as I've certainly seen a different, more impressive side to Stiefvater than I previously saw in her earlier books. Even if you haven't been pleased by her previous work, I would urge you to try this one out.

From the Review Pile (18)

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!

-----------------------------------

This week, I'm going to showcase The Raven Boys!

There has been so much hype surrounding this book and I really, really want to read it to see how I find it for myself. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of Shiver and Linger, but I'm hoping that this one will be better! I will certainly have to read this one soon.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Paperback, 496 pages

Expected Publication 19th September 2012 by Scholastic

Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.

Determined to find out the truth, Blue becomes involved with the Raven Boys, four boys from the local private school (lead by Gansey) who are on a quest to discover Glendower – a lost ancient Welsh King who is buried somewhere along the Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey her true love? She can’t imagine a time she would feel like that, and she is adamant not to be the reason for his death. Where will fate lead them?

Blood Red Road (Dustlands #1)

Blood Red Road (Dustlands #1) by Moira Young
Paperback, 492 pages


Published June 2nd 2011 by Marion Lloyd/Scholastic

My shelves: apocalyptic, awful-cover, books-i-own, dystopian, fantasy, if-i-were-a-boy, read-in-2012, sci-fi, series-or-companions, too-much-hype, young-adult

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

In a lawless future land, where life is cheap and survival is hard, Saba has been brought up in isolated Silverlake. She never sees the dangers of the destructive society outside. When her twin brother is snatched by mysterious black-robed riders, she sets outon an epic quest to rescue him. The story's searing pace, its spare style, the excitement of its fabulously damaged world, its unforgettably vivid characters, its violent action and glorious lovestory make this a truly sensational YA debut novel.

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

Blood Red Road is a book that I've been meaning to get around to for a while. Seeing as the second instalment of the series is being released soon, I thought that it was about time that I gave it a go! I have seen nothing but glowing reviews for this dystopian book and I had high expectations. Thankfully, the book was very  impressive and definitely had an individual edge to it.

This is described as a dystopian book. It centres around a girl called Saba and her desperation to find her kidnapped brother, Lugh. We don't know much about anything at the start, and have no idea why Lugh has been kidnapped, but as we go on an adventure with Saba to find her brother, the story develops and we get to learn more about the disappearance. 

What I really loved most about this book was the writing style - I had heard that the dialect was a little 'strange' in this book and I was worried that I wouldn't 'get it' or get used to it - however, I thought it was fantastic! It was not difficult to read at all - after only a few pages I was absorbed into the writing style and had a firm grip of Saba in my mind. The dialect was endearing and undoubtedly added to both Saba's character and the building of the world around her. Her phrasing was ideal for her character and simply felt so authentic.

Saba herself is not perfect and not entirely confident, but she is who she is. She is a very strong, determined character who knows what she wants and needs to do. I loved that Saba never seemed to let things get her down, though she did, naturally, still react to them. I will admit that I did go on a sort-of roller coaster with Saba though, as at points I did sometimes feel a little angered by her, particularly by her actions/feelings towards her sister. Throughout her journey through the Dustlands on her search for answers, we also meet several other characters, most of them being necessary but some also felt a little 'throw-away'. However, for the most part it was interesting to see who and why she met certain people. There is a bit of romance in this book and though I didn't particularly dislike it, it was a little bit strange for me - it didn't flow well. I can see the slight connection between Saba and the daredevil boy she meets, Jack, but I just didn't feel it very strongly.

Even after a week of finishing this first book, I am still struggling with knowing how to rate this one. I have decided to go with 3.5 stars, which to me is a very respectable rating. However, I do think that this book is deserving of more stars just for the way it was written - although most elements of the book were fantastic and the author, Young, is obviously talented, there was still something that this book lacked for me... I can't pinpoint it, but for some reason it wasn't a book that I was absolutely hooked to. I do, however, agree that it should be (it is) an award winning book. I did feel as though the book dragged a little and I was disappointed by the twists and turns in the second half of the book as I was expecting something a little more intriguing, more surprising.

As I've mentioned, I think that Moira Young has a wonderful talent for writing and this is a book that stands out of the young-adult dystopian crowd. It is different and  impressive. I can totally understand why there are so many positive reviews of this book, though it was slightly lacking for me. I do look forward to reading Rebel Heart, which is coming out soon, and despite some reservations, I would recommend this to adventure-loving young adults.

Sean Griswold's Head

Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt

Paperback, 274 pages

Published 2011 by Scholastic

My shelves: books-i-own, contemporary, currently-reading, medical-conditions, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, young-adult

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object—an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold-Gritas—it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking—er, focusing on—Sean Griswold . . . all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

In this sweet story of first love, Lindsey Leavitt seamlessly balances heartfelt family moments, spot-on sarcastic humor, and a budding young romance.

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK 

I hadn't really heard much about this book before I actually picked it up - I haven't actually read any reviews for it yet and I wasn't all that sure what it was about. The book does have a fluorescent pink, in-your-face cover though - so guess why I picked it up? I'm really glad that I did decide to get this book though, as I really enjoyed it.


This story is narrated by Payton Gritas who has just discovered that her dad has multiple sclerosis (MS) and is trying to come to terms with it. She has been forced to visit the school counsellor for help, who gives her an aim of choosing a 'focus object' and putting all of her thoughts into that. After much deliberation, Payton decides that her perfect focus object is something that she has had to look at for most of her life - the head of the boy who sits in front of her in class, Sean Griswold's head. Yeah, I know what you're thinking - how random... but actually, it kind of works!


I think the real strength of this book lies in the characters - they are so vivid! Payton's personality really beams through the paper and although she isn't overly or particularly emotional, she is open throughout the book and you can tell what she's feeling not just through her narration, but through her actions and behaviour. I really loved her as a protagonist and I really warmed to everyone she met too. I didn't think that there were any poor characters in this novel, though the friendship issues between Payton and her best friend, Jac, seemed a little unrealistic and so a little annoying. There were definitely points where I wanted to put my hands through the pages and give some of the characters a good shake! 


I absolutely adored Sean. As Payton extends her 'focus' exercise further, both we and Payton get to know more about Sean. He is not your popular high school jock and he is quite mysterious - we don't know much about him at the beginning. Sean is so caring and a little bit misunderstood. I think that a lot of you who read this book will really fall in love with him - he is extremely sweet and caring, with his heart definitely in the right place. Though neither Sean or Payton are perfect, they compliment each other superbly. It is great to see how their relationship helps them explore their lives in a way that is beneficial for them both. 


Though there is a very serious underlying issue in this book - Payton coming to terms with her father's diagnosis of MS, the book isn't much of a tear jerker - it is emotionally poignant at just the right moments, but reading the book certainly doesn't depress you. There is a lot of humour throughout and the personalities of the characters are generally quite fun! I think it is fantastic when a book can deal with a serious issue, but also not get too bogged down by it. I would definitely recommend this book, and hope to see more people pick it up!  

The Hunger Games

I don't think I've actually mentioned it much on this blog before (I first read the books two years ago, pre-blog), but I absolutely love The Hunger Games and last night I went to see an advanced screening of the film. It was officially released in the UK today though and so I thought it was time for a Hunger Games post!

It was amazing - It wasn't as good as the book (I think that'd probably be impossible to achieve) but it was definitely very impressive and I am already counting down the days for Catching Fire to be released - it's safe to say that I wasn't disappointed! The cinematography was really different and edgy - I loved some of the effects, especially during the tracker jacker scene. It felt as though we were right there in the Games.

There were a few differences from the book which was to be expected - I was waiting for some things that didn't actually appear in the film and some things were slight altered (such as the mockingjay pin story), but that wasn't a massive problem. I think that having read the book gave me much better insight into the story and how the characters felt, but that's not to say that the actors didn't do them justice! 

I think that the whole cast was absolutely fantastic in both their appearances (the costumes and make-up were great) and their acting skills - Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was incredible - she had just the right amount of raw emotion and attitude. I loved Haymitch, his humour was fantastic!

There were some really sad parts - especially during Rue's scene, but more so for me at the beginning. I found the first scenes to be heartbreaking (though this was probably a mixture of my excitement overwhelming me too!) - all of the characters connected so well together, just like in the book. I loved how Katniss and Peeta's relationship was portrayed on screen and I think that it made me like them together a lot more than I did at first, their chemistry was great.

Overall, it was really, really, really enjoyable and I urge you all to go and see it, but of course - read the book first! Here's the details of it:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Paperback 454 pages

Published January 5th 2009 by Scholastic
(First published September 14th 2008)

Description via Goodreads

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

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.

The Vampire Stalker

The Vampire Stalker by Allison van Diepen
Paperback, 250 pages

Published November 3rd 2011 by Scholastic

(First published June 1st 2011)

My shelves: books-i-own, fantasy, read-in-2012, sci-fi, 

vampires, young-adult, 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

What if the characters in a vampire novel left their world--and came into yours?Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he IS Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book and is in hot pursuit of a wicked vampire named Vigo. Together, Amy and Alexander set out to track Vigo and learn how and why Alexander crossed over. But when she and Alexander begin to fall for each other, Amy wonders if she even wants him to ever return to the realm of fiction.

The premise of this book is absolutely fantastic and I'm sure that a lot of readers will be able to answer with a definite yes to this books tagline - 'Ever been in love with a boy in a book?' - I know that I can. If you like vampires and/or you've ever had a crush on a fictional character, this is something that you might enjoy.


Full marks to the author for the idea of this book, it sounds really interesting and did make me pick up this book immediately. There were a few issues that I had with the actual contents of the book, though, and I do think that it could have been executed slightly better. Saying that, the book itself is only 250 pages and so I think that van Diepen has done a good job of getting  what she did into this relatively short story and I'm sure it'd have been better if it was a longer read. It is a fun, light read and not at all tasking.


For me, the most interesting part of this novel was seeing how Alexander adapted to his new, modern surroundings. The scene was set well and the descriptions were good. It did seem as though the Otherworld characters did adapt exceedingly quickly to all of the new technology, though. I was impressed with how the 'fictional characters coming to life' situation was explained through some scientific theories. Van Diepen did a good job of putting a story-inside-a-story with the Otherworld characters and I think that the idea of the Otherworld story would appeal to a lot of fans of the paranormal genre.


I did like our protagonist, Amy, as she seemed to be realistic and level headed. Alexander certainly came across as charming and I can definitely see the appeal that he could have on readers, but I wasn't completely enamoured with him. As separate characters, they are  interesting and have good potential, but when they were together, it all felt a little awkward. Of course, it would be slightly awkward if you were suddenly faced with your fictional crush in the flesh, but their chemistry just seemed to be lacking and unnatural. There was not much progression in their relationship - Alexander hardly seemed to know Amy - and it all felt a bit whirlwind.


I will admit that I was disappointed with the ending. Whilst it was predictable, It felt like it was a sudden decision it felt untrue to what would've actually happened - it just seemed the easiest way for things to be wrapped up.


Although this book wasn't perfect, it was a very quick read and was enjoyable for the most part - it's not something that I regret reading. I think that a lot of vampire fans will enjoy this book and I'd be interested in reading more books from van Diepen in the future.