Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Maybe everything that had happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It's possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.'

One Saturday morning the world wakes to discover that the rotation of the earth has begun to slow. As birds fall from the sky and days grow longer, people start to flee - but there is nowhere on earth to escape to.

Julia is already coping with the disasters of everyday life. And then there's Seth: tall and quiet and always on his own; the skateboarding boy who knows all about disaster. As the world faces a catastrophe, Julia and Seth are facing their very own unknown.

Why this didn't quite do it for me

I heard lots of wonderful things about this book. I was so excited when it turned up in the post at the start of December and picked it up immediately to read.

However something about this book just didn't do it for me. It took me four days to finish a reasonably small book which is never good sign and by the end of it all I bothered to write on goodreads about it was "Not sure I was all that impressed with this book sadly enough." I think it is really telling that just over a month after reading it I can tell you next to nothing about it.

For me I never found myself connecting with any of the characters and I didn't believe in the world setting all that much which meant I didn't get invested in it at all over the course of the book and by the time I finished it I wasn't all that fussed with the entire thing.  

Juvie by Steve Watkins

Heart-wrenching and real, Juvie tells the story of two sisters grappling with accountability, sacrifice – and who will be there to help you after you take the fall. An unflinchingly honest, and ultimately hopeful, view of life in juvenile detention.

Heart-wrenching and real, Juvie offers an unflinching and poignant view of life in juvenile detention, and will appeal to fans of TV shows like Orange Is the New Black. Sadie Windas has always been the responsible one – she's the star player on her basketball team, she gets good grades, she dates a cute soccer player and she tries to help out at home. Not like her older sister, Carla, who leaves her three-year-old daughter, Lulu, with Aunt Sadie while she parties and gets high. But when both sisters are caught up in a drug deal – wrong place, wrong time – it falls to Sadie to confess to a crime she didn’t commit to keep Carla out of jail and Lulu out of foster care. Sadie is supposed to get off with a slap on the wrist, but somehow, impossibly, gets sentenced to six months in juvie. As life as Sadie knew it disappears beyond the stark bars of her cell, her anger – at her ex-boyfriend, at Carla and at herself – fills the empty space left behind. Can Sadie forgive Carla for getting her mixed up in this mess? Can Carla straighten herself out to make a better life for Lulu and for all of them? Can Sadie survive her time in juvie with her spirit intact?

I have mixed feelings about this book.

In some ways I loved it. I really liked the main character and I found the position she found herself in really fascinating. I found myself wanting to know more about her life and the decisions she had made to bring her to the position she currently was in. I loved how the story was told in flashbacks and enjoyed uncovering the story as I went along

However for me I wanted so much more. I felt very much like it was cut short and I was left with loads of questions about how things would turn out for the main character long term. I also wanted more from the other characters especially the sister who was being protected to see the impact having someone take the blame for her had and whether it was worth it.

All in all a nice read which I happily read and didn't want to put down but I wanted so much more 

UKYA Book Blogger Love

I have been blogging for a good long while. Over the past years the UK blogging scene has grown and grown and become massive. As far as I'm concerned that can never be a bad thing because it means more and more people are talking about books. Yay for books.

I love the UKYA book bloggers in particular. It's nice to go to events and see the same people and I love that I now have a fabulous group of friends who I can chat with endlessly about books with either in person at said events or online. For me my lovely blogging friends like Sarah, Lyndsey, Carly, Michelle, Sammee Laura, Sophie, Raimy, Viv, Darren, Jesse, Andrew along with many many others make this crazy thing I do worthwhile on days when I feel overwhelmed with it all and if I had to give up blogging tomorrow I'd be OK with it as long as I kept them (don't worry I'm not going anywhere).

I still get so excited to see my reviews in print in bookshops. Indeed a favourite past time of mine is the "hunt the quote" game where I spend time in local bookshops looking for titles I am quoted in. Equally just as excited to see people I know quoted.



I get so incredibly excited to see people I've met through blogging get book deals. Liz, Non and Nicole are the ones who spring to mind (although I'll publish and think of others) and I am also so so excited for them and can't wait to share the love for their titles far and wide.

I love working with publicists and authors about their various titles and I get so so excited to be able to read a book months before it has come out. Signed books still make me squeal with delight. Seriously you want to impress me? Just send me a signed book (as a side note special mention has to go here to David Fickling Books and their extra extra special proofs ... you know how to make a girl feel loved!).

So last week at school I was having my usual busy day of doing stuff constantly and in the 5 minutes I got to myself at lunch my phone buzzed with a tweet to tell me I had made the longlist of the new UKYA blogger awards . I literally had no idea what to do with myself at this point. Not many people in my real life get blogging or my bookish ways and I ended up just hopping around like a crazy thing in my stock cupboard for a bit. I honestly never thought that I would ever end up on a lost like this and I am so honoured that people within the publishing world think highly enough of my crazed rambling to notice my blog let alone put me forward for something like this. I was equally so so so excited to see so many of my bookish friends on the list too because they are all just fabulous. I'm not really sure what the process is with the next stage. If I reach the shortlist I am probably going to end up back in that stock cupboard sobbing to myself a little bit. I'm not even going to consider beyond that yet because I can't even visualise it in my brain at the moment.

As well as the UKYA Blogger awards Faye from Bookish Brits is hosting her own awards for book bloggers here which you can vote on now.

My lovely friend Laura has written a post here about UKYA love (henceforth inspiring this little ramble) as has my equally lovely friend Carly here. Go Check them both out.

Can't wait to read

Another month and another load of books I cannot wait to read

Cleo by Lucy Coats

Her precious mother is dead - and it isn't an accident! The young Cleopatra - Pharaoh's illegitimate daughter - must flee the royal palace at Alexandria or die too. As her evil half-sisters usurp the throne, Cleo finds sanctuary at the sacred temple of Isis, where years later she becomes initiated into the secret Sisters of the Living Knot. But now Isis's power is failing, Egypt is in danger, and Cleo must prove her loyalty to her goddess by returning to the Alexandria she hates. She must seek out the hidden map which is the key to returning Isis's power - on pain of death. But will she be able to evade her horrible sisters? And will she find dreamy Khai, the über-hot Librarian boy she met as she fled Alexandria years before? Cleo's powerful destiny is about to unfold...

The history geek in me is super excited about this.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

I have loved Kasie's previous books and I cannot wait for this one.

We are Made of Molecules

Thirteen-year-old Stewart is academically brilliant but socially clueless.
Fourteen-year-old Ashley is the undisputed “It” girl in her class, but her grades stink.

Their worlds are about to collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. Stewart is trying to be 89.9 percent happy about it, but Ashley is 110 percent horrified. She already has to hide the real reason her dad moved out; “Spewart” could further threaten her position at the top of the social ladder.

They are complete opposites. And yet, they have one thing in common: they—like everyone else—are made of molecules.

I've heard so many good things about this book from so many people whose opinions about books I agree with so I can't wait for this book purely based on their recommendations.

Liberty's Fire by Lydia Syson

Paris, 1871. Four young people will rewrite their destinies. Paris is in revolt. After months of siege at the hands of the Prussians, a wind of change is blowing through the city, bringing with it murmurs of a new revolution. Alone and poverty-stricken, sixteen-year-old Zephyrine is quickly lured in by the ideals of the city's radical new government, and she finds herself swept away by its promises of freedom, hope, equality and rights for women. But she is about to fall in love for a second time, following a fateful encounter with a young violinist. Anatole's passion for his music is soon swiftly matched only by his passion for this fierce and magnificent girl. He comes to believe in Zephyrine's new politics - but his friends are not so sure. Opera-singer Marie and photographer Jules have desires of their own, and the harsh reality of life under the Commune is not quite as enticing for them as it seems to be for Anatole and Zephyrine. And when the violent reality of revolution comes crashing down at all their feet, can they face the danger together - or will they be forced to choose where their hearts really lie?

Another author whose books I love. I have found of late that there's not been a huge amount of decent historical fiction out there but Lydia always delivers something clever and thoughtful which is well researched. 

For Holly by Tanya Byrne

Lola Durand hates her stepmother. It's a cliché but it's true.

Lola Durand can't get through to her father. He never wants to talk about the things that matter: why they had to move to Paris, why he had to marry evil Agatha, and how they can get through the heartache of her mother's death together.

If he won't listen, she'll show him. She'll show him the truth about his new wife and then her life can go back to normal, just the way she likes it.

Lola Durand knows a secret about her stepmother. She's going to share it.

I love Tanya's books. They are a perfect example of what I adore about UKYA. I cannot wait to read this.
 

Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss

Grappling with grief is hard enough without repeat visits from the deceased. Pearl deals with death, life, and family in this haunting, humorous, and poignant debut.

The world can tip at any moment…a fact that fifteen-year-old Pearl is all too aware of when her mom dies after giving birth to her baby sister, Rose.

Rose, who looks exactly like a baby rat, all pink, wrinkled, and writhing. This little Rat has destroyed everything, even ruined the wonderful relationship that Pearl had with her stepfather, the Rat’s biological father.

Mom, though…Mom’s dead but she can’t seem to leave. She keeps visiting Pearl. Smoking, cursing, guiding.

Told across the year following her mother’s death, Pearl’s story is full of bittersweet humor and heartbreaking honesty about how you deal with grief that cuts you to the bone, as she tries not only to come to terms with losing her mother, but also the fact that her sister—The Rat—is a constant reminder of why her mom is no longer around.

Why this book is worth a look ... 

I received a copy of this book almost a year ago and didn't get very far with it at all. The print in the proof was particularly small and I must admit I got fed up with it but had always intended on picking it up again because I had heard so many good things about it. I finally got round to reading it over the Christmas holidays and was so glad I did

For me this book sums up what loss feels like. It looks at the story of a teenage girl who has just lost her mother and you follow her story as she comes to terms with it in the months that follows. What really got me was the way in which she transferred anger onto her new tiny sister and almost how she became so shut off from the rest of the world as a result of all those things she was feeling since losing her mother. For me it felt so real and I can see why it has had the rave reviews it has had.

A really sweet and heartbreaking read which packs a real emotional punch.

Captive by AJ Grainger

I open my eyes. The cell is flooded with sunlight; the window is a slice of pale blue. Dust particles dance in the sparkling light, pirouetting in a golden line from the window to the opposite wall of the cell, where they seem to converge into shapes. It is like looking into a kaleidoscope.

Dad isn't here. No one is, but me.
Robyn Knollys-Green is an A-list celebrity, famous for being the daughter of one of the world's most powerful men. But not even the paparazzi can find her now.

Robyn begins to realise that she is trapped in a complicated web of global corruption and deceit - and that the strange, melancholy boy who has been tasked with guarding her might not be an enemy after all . . .

Why you should check this book out ...

I must say I have been very excited about reading this book since it came onto my radar and I couldn't help but pick it up as soon as it dropped through my letter box and found myself finishing it within a matter of hours.

This is a perfect read for fans of Sophie McKenzie in that it feels similar in how it deals with the thriller aspect of the story. It is fast paced and exciting. It leaves you with lots to think about and makes you not want to put it down until you've finished it in its entirety. 

I really liked the main character Robyn and seeing her story unfold and I liked getting that different insight into the running of a country from someone living inside that bubble. It also really showed the vulnerability that must be felt by those in charge on a daily basis where whatever they do they'll be criticised even when they what they are doing is for the best for the country as a whole.

All in all an exciting debut which has got me excited for more from the author.

Vendetta by Catherine Doyle

When it comes to revenge, love is a dangerous complication.With a fierce rivalry raging between two warring families, falling in love is the deadliest thing Sophie could do. An epic debut set outside modern-day Chicago.

When five brothers move into the abandoned mansion in her neighbourhood, Sophie Gracewell's life changes forever. Irresistibly drawn to bad boy Nicoli, Sophie finds herself falling into a criminal underworld governed by powerful families. As the boys' dark secrets begin to come to light, Sophie is confronted with stinging truths about her own family, too. She must choose between two warring dynasties - the one she was born into, and the one she is falling in love with. When she does, blood will spill and hearts will break.

Why this book had potential ...
 For me Vendetta was an interesting read. I didn't love it but it certainly has potential as a series.

Vendetta is the story of Sophie, an ordinary girl who meets a gorgeous boy whose family has just moved in locally. Problem is there is more than meet the eye to these boys and the more that Sophie finds out about them the darker things become and the more she starts to find out about the hidden past of her own family.

I did like Sophie as a character. I loved that she worked part time. All too often in books the main teenage character just seems to have money thrown at them but not in this case. I want more of this in YA please.

I won't go into plot because whatever I say will spoil the book. I did enjoy the story overall and found myself getting into it more and more as the story went on. I did however find myself getting a little bored at the start and found it a bit too slow to get going.

All in all while it didn't blow me away I'd certainly be interested in following the story on further in the future and I am looking forward to things kicking off now the story has been set up.