Waiting on Wednesday (3)

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

Waiting On Wednesday is a meme that spotlights upcoming releases 

that we're anticipating.

The full credit of this choice should be given to Vickie @ ComaCalm as I saw this book on her WOW post last week and I honestly have had difficulty not thinking about it! As you may know, I'm interested in anything mental-health related and so this one sounds as though it's right up my street! I've been hunting for a place to pre-order it but I haven't found anywhere so far (fair enough, seeing as it's not released for more than a year, boo-hoo!), I'm just so eager to get my hands on a copy of this! 

The Program by Suzanne Young

Expected publication: April 30th 2013

From Goodreads:

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. 

With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

I think that this sounds amazing! What do you think and what are you waiting on?

The Future of Us

The Future of Us by Jay Asher, Carolyn Mackler
Paperback, 256 pages


Published January 5th 2012 by Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
(First published November 21st 2011)


My shelves: books-i-own, contemporary, magical-realism, 
read-in-2012, sci-fi, young-adult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads

It's 1996 and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Facebook will not be invented for several more years. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD-ROM with 100 free hours. When she and her best friend Josh log on to AOL they discover themselves on Facebook... fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what life has in store for them. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

My Review


I was a little weary of picking this book up after having some issues with a central character, Hannah, in Asher's Thirteen Reason Why, and not having read anything by Mackler before. However, as soon as I heard the premise of this book, I knew it was something that I just had to pick up - it sounded extremely interesting, relevant and fun.


The Future of Us is set in the 90's, when the internet is relatively new and it's a very exciting thing for our two protagonists, Emma and Josh. Using an AOL CD-ROM, they open the internet and discover Facebook, which shows them, their friends and family, fifteen years in the future. I am a 90's kid and a lover of Facebook, so these things combined meant a book that I could relate to and that I could really get stuck into. Sure enough, this novel provided me with great memories of the 90's and it really hit-home how much we have all been changed by technology.


The Future of Us definitely shows how much technology has changed and how it has affected our lives. It is definitely interesting to sit back and be shown the comparison from the 90's to now and how in such a short period of time, our lives have changed and we've become more open about displaying things on the internet. It's also fascinating to ask yourself whether or not you'd like to see yourself in the future and after reading this, I don't think I would.


I really liked Emma and Josh as they felt like very genuine people. I especially liked Josh - he was down to earth and had a well-rounded personality of someone that I'd really like to be friends with. Emma was a little annoying at points, but this aspect of her personality definitely contributed to the story and helped towards exploring more issues that Facebook could create. Their friendship, although difficult at times, certainly felt real and it was interesting to see how, together, they coped with the discovery of something so life affecting.
I did like reading about Emma's best friend, Kellan, and how Emma would deal with certain situations regarding her after she had discovered her future, but I think that it would've been nice to see how they interacted together more. Tyson, Kellan's on-off romance, was a little underdeveloped but was still a good addition to the story.


The only issue with this book was that, when Emma and Josh were changing their future, I was a little confused as to exactly how it affected the present, past and future. I don't think that this was made clear enough to the reader and so at points it did seem a little messy and it could've perhaps been handled or explored slightly better. I also think that sometimes Emma jumped to conclusions about what her future-self was thinking or feeling - though maybe this is because she was not fully aware that you can't get the whole story from a short Facebook status.


In conclusion, I really did enjoy this book and it's something that I would recommend, especially to those slightly older Young Adults who can remember the first days of the internet. This book has a unique, intriguing idea, is hugely compelling and I found it very difficult to put down.

Miracle on Regent Street

Miracle on Regent Street by Ali Harris
Paperback, 484 pages
Published October 13th 2011 by Simon & Schuster Ltd


My shelves: adult-fiction, books-i-own, chick-lit, christmas-books, read, read-in-2011, realistic-fiction, cover-appeal
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads

Evie Taylor, a girl with a big heart, gets lost in the big city. For the past two years, Evie has lived an invisible life in London. Her neighbours think she’s just moved in, her sister mistakes her for a live-in nanny, and even Evie’s manager at work can’t remember her name. But all that is about to change …this Christmas has brought a flurry of snow and unimaginable possibilities into town. Evie works in the stockroom of an old-fashioned, family-run, London fashion department store. Hardy’s is a beautiful, wood-panelled jewellery box of a building, but it’s in dire need of a makeover. One day Evie overhears that if the entire store’s takings don’t turn round by Dec 26th – 3 weeks’ time – the family who own it will be forced to sell to one of the big chains. Hardy’s is in need of a Christmas miracle. Determined to save her beloved store, Evie hatches a plan to secretly transform it into a magical place to shop again. But has the time come for her to be noticed too? When an accidental romantic encounter with handsome, enigmatic Joel gives her the chance of a whole new identity, she takes it.

My Review


Miracle on Regent Street was a light, festive read. Straight from the beginning, we are introduced to London, where Evie works and resides. The story begins on the 1st December and the atmosphere that is created surrounding the festive holiday is almost magical. Harris manages to make London come alive with her vivid descriptions of the city. The Christmas feeling is very clear too, with the sights, sounds and smells being explored throughout the book. Evie is a likeable character, as are her friends, particularly Lily and Sam. As characters, their personalities were realistic and their thought processes seemed authentic, but their actions just didn't seem very believable. Harris did well to include a strong community of different people - different in age, culture and mannerisms. For me, Lily was one of the strongest characters and I managed to get a good, bold image of her. Sam was slightly cliché, but sweet and I found the relationship between Eve and her sister to be the most interesting, relationship in the book and I enjoyed seeing it evolve.
I feel as though the main issue with this book is that it's very unbelievable. Notably, in the sub-plot, Evie pretends to be one of her co-workers and pretty much gets away with it-something which, in the real world seems practically impossible. My other concern with this book was the length. It was fairly lengthy at nearly 500 pages, and I feel as though it could've been condensed down a lot more which would've made it, in my opinion, more enjoyable.
The storyline of friendship and Evie finding her identity made for a fine plot, it wasn't very complex, it was simple and it was seasonal. This wasn't a bad book, but it was nothing spectacular.