The Overflowing Library

Review: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

2012-02-14T00:00:00.002Z

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivy
Published by Headline

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

***

Despite loving the cover of the snowchild and therefore wanting it from the moment I saw it I was somewhat reluctant to start it as I was worried it'd be slow and that I'd get bored and give up part way through. I am delighted to say what once I did start all these such ideas were proved to be unfounded and I found myself completely and utterly engrossing in the story of Jack and Mabel.

The story is an unusual one. The main characters are a childless couple in their 50s and follows their story as they struggle to survive through the harsh winters of Alaska. What I found as I read this book was how completely fascinated I was with their story and seeing how they got on and how they survived every day. The book was so beautifully written that it was effortless to read.

The main story focuses on a snow child the couple make which later comes to life and then visits Jack and Mabel all through the winter months. Through her visits you can see the change in Jack and Mabel's relationship which is really sweet.

I'm purposely not going to go on for long as I will spoil the book but needless to say this is a book I would recommend. It has brilliant characterisation, a fantastically beautiful and moving storyline and is superbly written. Not one to be missed.

Review: Under the never sky by Veronica Rossi

2012-02-13T09:00:00.001Z

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Published by Atom

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

***

I have been waiting for this book for what seems like an age. The ideas behind it sounded awesome and I literally couldn't wait to get stuck in.

I must admit up until about 100 pages in I was fully prepared to give up on this book. I was bored and I was struggling to keep on top of what was happening because I found the story telling clunky, the ideas hard to get my head around and the voices between the split narrative not distinct enough. That said once I got a bit further I started to get into it a bit more and by the end I had enjoyed what I had read so while I'm not convinced this was a great standalone novel I have high hopes the series as a whole could be good.

In the end the thing that kept me reading was the relationship between the two main characters Aria and Perry. After a while of being together they both soften towards one another and start working as a team. It is then through this working together you start to see their different worlds through the other one's eyes and it starts to make sense. You also start to root for them as a couple and that makes the story much more interesting to follow. Once you get into that you start to understand a bit more of the whole world set up and start to unravel all the little details that build up the world they are in and understand why things as they are.

All in all not my favourite book of the year but a series I hope will be awesome.

Review: The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

2012-02-12T00:00:00.000Z

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
Published by Penguin

Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about, the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it.

***

This is probably going to be less a review and more a "why I love Sarah Dessen's books".

Sarah Dessen's books are the book equivalent of spending a day curled on the sofa in your pjs drinking hot chocolate because btoh make you feel warm and cosy. Yes her books aren't hitting drama or gritty but that's not what I expect when I start reading them. I love that they are usually upbeat on the whole (albeit a bit tinged with sadness) with awesome characters that you can warm too and most importantly a gorgeous boy or two to swoon over.

This book is not exception. You meet macy. Macy has had a hard time of it. Her father died in circumstances which left her feeling guilty about it. Her mum has totally shut down and become a workaholic, she's stuck doing a job she hates with colleagues which are nasty to her and her perfect boyfriend is a total arse.

Things start to get better when Macy starts working for Delia and her catering company. through it she meets Kristy, Wes, Bert and Monica. Through them she has a whole new social circle and starts to see that life can actually be quite fun.

As always with a Sarah dessen the storyline is a little bit predictable: Girl meets Boy/ likes boy/ can't be with boy/ something happens to keep them apart/ everything works out ok, but as I said before it's almost this predictableness that I love and the feeling that I know exactly what I'm getting.

A perfect girly read for that lazy weekend!

Bookcase Showcase: Author JD Sharpe

2012-02-11T00:00:00.019Z

Books are a huge part of who I am today.

I owe them a lot.

My friends from Riot Communications, who run an arts publicity business, were making a video for a World Book Day project. They asked if they could feature me in their video and show how books offered me opportunities and shaped me. I was incredibly flattered to be asked and said of course because books do open doors and it is important to get that message out there. This is the super video they came up with: http://vimeo.com/thecurvedhouse/riot.

So, books are super important to me, and I have very kindly been invited to talk a bit about what I have on my bookshelf. This is kind of awesome but I am moving in March so a lot of my books are packed up. Still, I have a few books out on the shelf and so I’ll talk through them.

My first shelf is what I call my writing shelf.

It has practical things on it like a dictionary and atlas. I also have a big encyclopaedia of mythical beasts which I found super helpful when writing Oliver Twisted as the world that Oliver lives in is populated by strange and terrible creatures.

I have three volumes of Arabian Nights, see here to find out why! I have books about plot building, dialogue and character crafting. These are especially helpful if you are feeling blocked and need a creative jumpstart or food for thought.

I also have a book here called The Child that Books Built, which is just a beautiful piece of writing. I urge anyone who has a love of children’s books to read this.

I also have a collection of books from my childhood. These are a selection of my favourite books – a kind of paperback built talisman that is there to inspire me when I’m feeling stressed or stuck.

These books are:

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Five Children and It E Nesbit

Goodnight Mr Tom Michelle Magorian

Ruby in the Smoke Phillip Pullman

Children of the Dust Louise Lawrence

I have a book by Stephen King up here as well because I think he rocks and is a master storyteller! My lovely cloth bound edition of Wuthering Heights is there because I love this book and this format. It also reminds me that books need to be beautiful and well-crafted inside and out.

Right, now for my second and third shelves!

The second shelf contains some of the books I used to research Oliver Twisted. So we have a collection of Dickens’s novels, retellings, horror books and historical fiction.

One little gem here is Apprentices London by Leon Garfield. I found this book in a second hand shop in Hay and found it very helpful when it came to immersing myself in a Victorian world. Leon Garfield, who is a Carnegie winner, was a great fan of Dickens and that is clear on every page of this book. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was also very atmospheric and great research for the time period that Oliver Twisted is set in.

You’ll also see that I have The Zombie Survival Guide. This was the other side of my research. If I was going to have a cast of creatures who had escaped from another realm and invaded Victorian Britain, then I wanted to do as much reading about them as I could before adding my own flourishes, inventions and new mythologies. I loved the ideas of zombies, and wanted them in the book, but the word ‘zombie’ sounded far too modern for Oliver Twisted and so I created the name woe-begottens.

On the other side of the shelf, I have books that I have actually written! So Oliver Twisted is there in all of its read and black glory, as is The Book of Wonders which is my fantasy middle grade novel that is being published by Harper Collins in the US and came out three weeks ago. There is also a sampler of writing from Egmont’s new imprint Electric Monkey. And a Beast Quest that I worked on.

The third shelf is dedicated to my other love - travelling. The books here are all places I’ve been to or that I’m planning to go to apart from the Trekking Everest book, which belongs to my husband! I first went backpacking in 2002 and I caught the travel bug and never wanted to get a cure.

Thanks for having me as a guest post today!

Review: Desert Angel by Charlie Price

2012-02-10T09:00:00.000Z

Desert Angel by Charlie Price
Published by Corgi

Nowhere is safe...
Angel is on the run. Her mother is dead, her body buried in a shallow grave by her latest boyfriend, Scotty, a ruthless, illegal hunter who is prone to violence and who wants Angel dead before she can talk to the police.
Angel has lived through more than a young girl should have but she's determined to stay alive.
But in the scorching heat of the open desert, where can she hide?

***

I was looking forward to this book for a while but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

From reading the synopsis I thought it the story would be one of hunting and survival Katniss Stylee using the bare essentials scavenged from the land. I actually think this was really misleading as it reality Angel finds people to take her in and help up out. Yes I know she is only 14 and actually more realistic that this would happen but it certainly wasn't as exciting.

I also found the police to be an odd force in this one. They are confronted with a girl who tells them such a story as Angel does they they don't help her even if it were to the point of putting into some kind of care.

All in all this wasn't the book I expected and sadly didn't do it for me

Review; Hollow Pike by James Dawson

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000Z

Hollow Pike by James Dawson
Published by Indigo

Something wicked this way comes... She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her. Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you? Not until you're alone in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps... Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps.

***

Hollow Pike is a fantastic read from an awesome debut author which I thoroughly recommend. In this review (fan girl rave) I will tell you exactly why it is so entirely awesome and why you need this book in your life and probably do this without telling you too much about the storyline or plot so I don't spoil it for anyone

The first reason why I loved this book was because it is uniquely different. It is an odd mix of a contemporary mixed with a horror/thriller than probably shouldn't work but it does so well. I loved how it switched between the very funny to the very dark

Another reason why this was fab this because James can really write girls well and I've never come across a male author who has managed to do this until now. He has this insight into the female mindset which comes across brilliantly in the comments made by the main character which I know for a fact I have thought of or said myself when in a similar situation.

This book is both sarcastic, witty and just down right funny in places. There were so many bits in the book where I was giggling out loud at the things the characters said or did especially when they were arguing.

The characterisation within this book was awesome. I loved the heroes of the piece and hated the nasty girls. I loved the secondary characters just as much as the main ones especially the quirky headteacher who I thought was just brilliant and again someone who made me giggle. James also knows how to write gorgeous boys. I completely got why Lis fell for Danny entirely because I did too.

I particularly loved that this book had gay characters that weren't just used as a gimmick to show how p.c/hip the author is. Another YA author who writes a certain overlong and drawn out vampire series makes me angry with her portrayal of gay characters by making them so over the top camp and by pointing them out all the time like they are a circus freak act. I loved that in Hollow Pike the gay characters were just there and they were quite rightly ordinary teenagers. I love that normalcy and think that in this book teenagers who are gay / might be gay have some kind of example to look to to see that actually being gay isn't an issue. Finally gay teenagers have got role models within British YA fiction.

One thing this book also does when is that it highlights the utterly devastating affect bullying in all its various forms can have on a young person's life. Again this is an issue that really can't get mentioned enough to raise awareness and to ultimately try to combat it within society.

All in all a fantastic debut which I thoroughly enjoyed and could not put down. I loved it entirely and would recommend it wholeheartedly to others. Go buy it in February because it is awesome!

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE

Review: Twelve minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000Z

Twelve minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge
Published by Nosy Crow

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she’s the real author. One day a letter she receives from the governor of the notorious Bedlam madhouse plunges her into an adventure more terrifying than anything she ever imagined…

***

Twelve minutes to midnight was an enjoyable read set in Victorian England with a lead character who I adored.

Penelope is an orphan living in Victorian London. She took over the running of the Penny Dreadful after the death of her father and is its main editor and contributor (under a pen name) and is fast becoming London's most popular author with her frightening tales. In order not to be found out she hires an actor to play her pen name and keep up appearances with an ever increasingly nosy press who want to know everything about the new up and coming author.

The main story sets off when a letter is received from Bedlamasking for help in solving a problem they have. Every night at twelve minutes to midnight all the patients start writing utter gibberish on the walls which thoroughly confuses everyone and they want to find out why it is happening. I won't tell you what the gibberish consists of but to say it is very clever in what it is made up of.

I loved Penelope as a character. She is clever and feisty and not at all afraid of getting involved like her male counterparts and gets frustrated when society holds her back. She is very much like a young Sally Lockhart and I loved following her story.

The main story is really interesting. I loved how all the big names from Victorian literary society popped up and the pace of the story once it kicks off is really fast meaning you don't have a split second to get bored.

Definitely a book I would recommend. I am already excited about getting the next instalment.

Review: The other life by Susanne Winnacker

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000Z

The other life by Susanne Winnacker
Published by Usborne

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life. 98,409,602 seconds since the heavy, steel door had fallen shut and sealed us off from the world

Sherry has lived with her family in a sealed bunker since things went wrong up above. But when they run out of food, Sherry and her dad must venture outside. There they find a world of devastation, desolation...and the Weepers: savage, mutant killers.

When Sherry's dad is snatched, she joins forces with gorgeous but troubled Joshua - an Avenger, determined to destroy the Weepers.

But can Sherry keep her family and Joshua safe, when his desire for vengeance threatens them all?

***

The Other life is set in the near future. After an outbreak of Rabies people were made to live in underground bunkers to keep them safe on advisement from the military. That was over three years ago. Sherry and her family have since run out of food and have decided to risk leaving their shelter for the first time in order to survive. They have no idea what might be waiting for them when they do.

After Sherry an her family leave the safety of their shelter the story really starts to kick out. The pace is fast throughout and often the passages are quite tense especially when the weepers are involved. From the moment Sherry's dad is grabbed you never quite know what is going to happen. For me the thing I found most disturbing was the fact that you didn't really know what the deal was with the weepers and they were really a bit too horrible for words.

My favourite bit about this book was how the scenes of today were broken up with small flashbacks to Sherry's normal life and it really highlighted how crazy her life had gotten since leaving the shelter.

For me I found the storyline a little bit weak in that I didn't really feel drawn to any of the characters which meant I wasn't all that fussed if they got weepered and I found the way Sherry is written to be a little but younger and innocent than I would have expected.

The twist at the end is a huge one. The ideas behind it are really interesting and although I can't imagine exactly where the author will take the story next I can see the over arching idea could be huge.

Review: Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

2012-02-06T09:00:00.004Z

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
Published by Simon and Schuster

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all...

***

Someone Else's Life was described to me as a Jodi Picoult novel for Young Adults and that description is totally spot on. It has the all the same qualities of a Jodi novel and was a brilliantly awesome read.

I loved several things about this book

I loved Rosie as a main character and really warmed to her quickly. She has dealt with so much in her recent past and as the differing revelations are unveiled the emotional stresses put on her start piling up thick and fast. Seeing how she deals with them was absolutely fascinating. It wasn't just Rosie, all the different characters you meet have their different personalities and quirks which I loved.

This book was brilliant at pulling out all the stops when it came to the twists and turns in the plots. There were several times when I was stunned by the latest revelation or by what had just happened. This meant I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next and therefore meant I finished it in one sitting in a matter of hours.

Katie's book was wonderfully raw and emotional throughout which I think was the real strength of the book and was the main reason why you were drawn completely into the world of the characters.

All in all a brilliant book which kept me hooked from the first to the very last page. I am so excited to see what Katie writes next.

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE 2012

Bookcase Showcase: Author James Dawson

2012-02-04T00:00:00.014Z

Probably not the best thing to admit as an author, but I actually keep very few books at home! Number one, I love library books and number two, I’m always passing them on in a ‘YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK’ fashion.

Looking at my bookcase, it should be pretty clear that I genuinely love YA fiction. Before I wrote it, I read it – and I think as an author you have to. You have to know what’s hot (and what’s not), you have to work out what has made a smash hit so successful. You can see various Hunger Games and Twilight entries on the shelves!

Some of them, of course are personal favourites. First up, on the middle shelf, you’ll see my Philip Pullman collection. Clockwork is my favourite book of all time – it’s truly ingenious, and only 90 pages long! His Dark Materials were also life changing for me, in that, along with Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses saga (top shelf), these were the books that made me want to write for young adults.

From where I am now, I think I’ll always want to write for teenagers (famous last words). I love the pace and edginess. It’s a genre that defies genre and is limitless as far as I’m concerned. There are YA books that are challenging readers in a way that ‘adult’ books don’t – see Cat Clarke’s Entangled or John Green’s Looking For Alaska for example.

On the bottom (and top) row, you’ll see the ‘new’ king of YA, Patrick Ness. His voice is so clear, and so right for his characters – there’s almost a teenage bashfulness to his writing that I love. The Chaos Walking trilogy broke my heart, made me laugh aloud on tubes, made me so angry I wanted to slap Todd around his face…superb! There’s a reason he wins all those awards, and he will hate me for saying all that I suspect.

Every bookshelf needs a ‘comfort food’ book, and mine are the Tales of the City books by Armistead Maupin. I got back to these when I get bouts of insomnia. They so remind me of when I left the north and fled to Brighton. These San Franciscan coming-of-adulthood yarns encapsulate that time in my life, and the characters feel like old friends.

Finally, if you look on all three shelves there’s a number of ghost and horror stories: Point Horrors, Dark Matter, Tales of Terror, Dead of Winter, Jekyll and Hyde, The Small Hand, Carrie, Something Wicked This Way Comes…no great surprise that I should end up writing horror stories, really. I love to be scared – I always have. Nothing is better than getting goosebumps when reading alone in bed at night…

Thanks for letting me share my collection with you! What am I missing out on? I’m sure readers have plenty of suggestions!

Review: Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe

2012-02-03T09:00:00.000Z

Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe
Published by Egmont

“FLESH, the woe-begotten moaned at Oliver, baring teeth which were ragged and black.

“FLESH,” came another moan, and he turned to see two more woe-begottens behind. They began to shuffle towards him, barefoot – toes blue from cold, arms outstretched.

The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul

***

Oliver Twisted is a reimagining of Oliver Twist. It's set in Victorian England ut features Zombies and werewolves and soul stealing demons.

I must say I was worried that this book would be like those Pride Prejudice and Zombie books where the orignal books just has things added in but this certainly wasn't the case which I was pleased about.

Oliver is still the sad little orphan we have all grown up knowing about, even if like me you haven't read the book, but he's got these magical powers he hasn't quite got to grips with yet and isn't quite sure whether he is good or evil.

The book would be a good one for reluctant boy readers because it is horribly gory throughout with some wicked descriptions which they would love (even if it was a bit more than I could handle at times) and a really fast paced. It also made a good effort of keeping the language in keeping with the style of the original.

All in all an enjoyable good which would be perfect for introducing teenagers to the works of Dickens.

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE

Review: This is not Forgiveness by Celia Rees

2012-02-02T09:00:00.006Z

This is not forgiveness by Celia Rees
Published by Bloomsbury

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.

***

This is a Celia Rees book like no other. Everything you've come to expect from her writing, every preconceived idea you have about what her work is like completely forget when you start this book.

The book starts quite dramatically by giving you the end of the story first and then working back through the series of events that led up to that final scene explaining and delving into what happened and why. The story then is split between first person narratives of the three main characters: Jamie, his older brother Rob and Caro. Each of their voices within the story are very different from each other and distinct in their own way which is something I really loved about this book. All too often you read books with split POV and you lose track of which person it is who you are hearing from because they are so similar.

The main plotline of this story really gets under the skin of what it means to belong and also deals quite sensitively with the on-going trauma service men and women can face as a direct result of serving their country in the frontline. It also gets quite well into the mindset behind the type of person who would willing sign up for one of the forces and what motivates them to do so. I found the parts of the story from Rob's point of view really insightful and downright disturbing when you saw what a continued emotional impact his experiences had on him as a direct result of him putting his life on the line for his country. His story was raw and a little bit too realistic to make for comfortable reading.

I loved the main character of Jamie and the contrast being his personality and that of his brother's. He is so naive in comparison viewing the world with untainted eyes often taking things as they coming and wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Caro was also an interesting character and a real product of her upbringing when you looked at her interactions with other people. If nothing else you get from her the value of family and the gap that not having one (or not having one who i actually around and interested) can have in a person's life and how that changes their outlook on life.

The story itself twists and turns along its merry way until it comes back round full circle. I liked how it kept me guessing about how and where it was going to go even though I already had an idea about the ending.

A book that I enjoyed and a surprisingly different offering from an author I thought I knew so well.

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE 2012

British Books Challenge: February Review Link up

2012-02-01T00:00:00.043Z

Welcome to February's review link up post

In January I read the following British Books:
Twelve Minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge
Hollow Pike by James Dawson
Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (American author living in UK and book first published in UK)
Day Light Saving by Ed Hogan

The winner of the January prize Pack is Laura aka Sister Spooky

Below is a Mister Linky for you to add your February British Books Challenge reviews. Please remember to put in the exact URL of your review and not just your blog address.

Before you link up your review make sure you have signed up for the British Books Challenge on the original sign up post here

THE PRIZES

Prize Pack:

This month's prize pack is from Indigo / Orion Children's Books which will be won by one of the participants for their reviews linked below. The prize pack will contain copies of the following British Titles:

Hollow Pike by James Dawson

By Midnight and Darkness Falls by Mia James

The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish

Dark Parties by Sara Grant

Dark Warning by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick

One winner will be picked at random from the linked up list below so the more reviews you do the most chances you will have to win.

First to review prizes
I will also have a selection of books available each month for those people who link the first reviews each month. This month I have available

~~2 copies of One seriously messed up week in the otherwise uneventful life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson~~

~~1 copy of Code Name Verity by Elizbeth Wein~~

~~1 copy of Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe~~

~~2 copies of Advent by James Treadwell~~

If the titles above are still uncrossed and you are in the UK please contact me as soon as you linked your review with your address and the title you'd like and I'll get it posted out to you.

January Review

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000Z

I have never done a month in review post on my blog but I thought I'd try it out and see how it goes ...

Books read in January
BZRK by Michael Grant
Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe
The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Desert Angel by Charlie Price
Slide by Jill Hathaway
The truth about forever by Sarah Dessen
Hollow Pike by James Dawson
The Fault in our stars by John Green
12 minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
Starters by Lissa Price
The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jessica Rothenberg
Legend by Marie Lu
Daylight Saving by Ed Hogan
The Look by Sophia Bennett
Every other day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Choker by Elizabeth Wood
Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton

Favourite Books read in January

Hollow Pike by James Dawson.
I literally devoured this book in the space of a few hours. I loved every page and cannot praise it highly enough

(Close runners up would have been Chris Edge's 12 minutes to Midnight and that John Green book everyone is talking about!)

Favourite Book released in January

The Court Painter's Apprentice by Richard Knight

I will admit I love Catnip who publish this book. All their books are fantastic, well written and just plain awesome. This is no exception.

(close runner up would have been Phil Earle's Saving Daisy)

Bookish highlights of the month

Going down to London to the RHCB Bloggers Brunch and just as excitingly meeting Non (Catnip's editor) for book chat with several of my favourite blogging people afterwards.

Getting the British Books Challenge off to a flying start (sign ups are still open if you want to join in)

Strangley enough I would also say a highlight for me was dropping In My Mailbox as a feature. I do still love it and looking at everyone's posts but I've found that I've been losing my entire life to blogging and dropping IMM has given me my weekends back and means I can schedule well in advance which suits my working hours quite nicely.

So onto February ... I have a very very exciting prize pack available for February British Books Challengers and will be picking the winner for the January Prize Pack winner tomorrow so add any last links you have asap.

Please also note that if I go a bit AWOL over the next few weeks it's because I am in the middle of marking GCSE scripts for one of the exam boards to really tight deadlines so I might not appear again until half term!

Review: Night School by CJ Daugherty

2012-01-30T09:00:00.000Z

Night School by CJ Daugherty
Published by Atom

Allie Sheridan's world is falling apart. She hates her school. Her brother has run away from home. And she's just been arrested.

Again.

This time her parents have finally had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to a boarding school for problem teenagers.

But Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. Its rules are strangely archaic. It allows no computers or phones. Its students are an odd mixture of the gifted, the tough and the privileged. And then there's the secretive Night School, whose activities other students are forbidden even to watch.

When Allie is attacked one night the incident sets off a chain of events leading to the violent death of a girl at the summer ball. As the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, Allie must learn who she can trust. And what's really going on at Cimmeria Academy.

***

Night school is one of those books I wanted from day one just because of the cover. Turns out the bit inside is pretty awesome too.

Night School revolves around the story of Allie. She's been bad ever since the incident with her brother acting out in anyway she can. Her parent's have finally had enough and shipped her off to boarding school. This boarding school isn't like the ones you hear about. It is super strict, yet the staff go by their first names. It runs in the summer and has more secrets than you can shake a stick at. Allie starts out determined to hate it but actually she starts to find that things aren't all that bad and that she actually is quite liking the change.

The thing that got me the most with this book is that you spend a lot of time knowing that something is going on but not being completely quite sure about what that something might be. All you know is that someone isn't quite telling you truth which means you are never sure who to trust all the way through the book. I'm not going to tell you what's going on (even if I could I'm not fully sure myself yet) but I was so pleased to see this wasn't yet another vampire book which I think readers could assume it might be from the title

Apart from Allie, who I loved as a character, I think I loved Carter the most as a character. He is so mysterious in the way he treats Allie at first but also a bit of a hero at the same time. I can't wait to see more him in the future.

When events and revelations kicked off boy did they kick off. The actions scenes were pacey with lots of things happening in a bit of a whirlwind leaving you a bit breathless at times. The scenes at the summer ball were really surprising (I would have never guessed how events unfolded) and so many story arcs have been opened up. I was left at the end with the feeling that not many of my questions had been answered but also the need to know even more. I certainly hope book 2 starts to answer some of the questions for me.

All in all a brilliantly enjoyable read. I shall look forward to book 2 eagerly

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE

Bookcase Showcase: Author Phil Earle

2012-01-28T00:00:00.029Z

We’ve three alcoves in our house that are rammed full of books.
Two which house the humdrum, run-of-the-mill novels that are apparently very good for adults to read. Apart from a few choice authors, I can’t say I pay that much attention to them.

This is the only bookcase that counts in our house.

The one with the good stuff in it.
The one where the kids and YA novels live.
It used to be bigger, until our third child was born, then I lost a shelf to jigsaws and games. A sad day it was, as I chopped out books that in reality I wanted to keep.

It’s still a collection I’m proud of, a mass of dog-eared proofs from my time working for Ottakar’s Bookstores, first editions that I had signed, and a number of titles that I’ve been lucky enough to work on whilst at Random House and Simon and Schuster.

I thought I’d show you the first books that appear, the “A’s”, as that’s where Mr Almond lives. Without ‘Skellig’ I would never have started writing for young adults. I re-read it frequently, just to remind myself how good it is.

I’m lucky enough to have a signed first edition as well. A treasured possession.

Further along the top shelf are Kevin Brooks’ books, another reason I write for teens. When I first read ‘Martyn Pig’ it was a revelation. I couldn’t believe the risks he took as a writer. It’s a bravery I try really hard to capture in my books, but I have a long way to go to match the great man…

The award for the most battered and loved book on my shelves is definitely ‘You Don’t Know Me’ by David Klass. One of the best first person YA narratives I’ve ever read. I was lucky enough to meet him when I was a bookseller. A lovely lovely guy, who scribbled this in my proof…

One of the things I’m proudest of in terms of work, was being a small part of the David Fickling Books team. David is an incredible editor, with a hit rate unmatched by anyone else in publishing. To be allowed to read ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, ‘Before I Die’ and ‘Solace of the Road’ by Siobhan Dowd, before they were released was a huge honour. David also produces gorgeous proofs, and I’ve squirreled them away on the shelves.

It’s impossible to say which is my favourite book on the shelves. It changes with every passing day, but if I had to save one book from a fire, I think it would be my HB copy of ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak.

I absolutely love that book and to work on it was a ridiculous pleasure.
We were lucky enough to meet him when he came over, and I can’t help looking at the signed title page without a huge stupid grin on my face

Hope this has been interesting, cheers for bearing with me…

Review: Seizure by Kathy Reichs

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000Z

Seizure by Kathy Reichs
Series: Virals #2
Published by RCHB

Ever since Tory Brennan and her friends rescued Cooper, a kidnapped wolf pup with a rare strain of canine parvovirus, they've turned from regular kids into a crime-solving pack. But now the very place that brought them together - the Loggerhead Island Research Institute - is out of funding and will have to shut down. That is, unless the Virals can figure out a way to save it.

So when Tory learns of an old Charleston legend about a famous she-pirate, Anne Bonney, whose fortune was never found, she can't believe her luck - buried treasure is exactly what she needs to save the Institute on Loggerhead! Trouble is, she and her friends aren't the only ones looking for it. And this time, the Virals' special powers may not be enough to dig them out of trouble . . .

***

Seizure is the second book is the Virals series. It was simple and easy read which meant I didn't need to concentrate all that much to follow the plot and could therefore read through it really quickly despite its huge size.

The virals are a group of teenagers who have abilities caused by being infected with some crazy wolf / supernatural DNA. In this book they are still getting to grips with what they can do and what it means for them to have their powers.

The group is led by Tory who is a headstrong tomboy. I find myself relating to her quite well as she is quite clearly happy to be considered one of the boys and quite happily leads them in whatever quest they are following.

The storyline of this book followed the viral's quest to find the long lost treasure of Anne Bonney, a pirate who lived in around the area. I quite liked the storyline (even though it was a bit cheesy) as they links to history and the use of historical documents was really good. A brilliant way to get youngsters excited in old manuscripts and the history around them.

My only complaint is this book did seem a bit contrived and quite predictable. I do wonder how long the series is going to be strung out for and hope it isn't one of those series which isn't strung out as long as possible as part of a money making scheme.

All in all a book worth the time and effort to read and especially good if you want something light hearted, pacey and engaging with likable characters.

Review: The unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

2012-01-26T09:00:00.009Z

The unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Published by Simon and Schuster

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

***

The unbecoming of Mara Dyer was uniquely different read and the main thing I liked about it was throughout 90% of the book you weren't quite sure what was going on.

At the very start of the book Mara is involved in an accident which kills three of her best friends and leaves her in a very fragile state. To try to help her recover the family decide to move across the country to start afresh somewhere new.

After the move Mara is faced with the usual "new girl at high school" problems of fitting in. She runs foul of the local popular girl and struggles to make friends as a consequence. One of the only people to pay attention to her is Noah, the mysterious hot boy at school which makes her even more unpopular even though his attentions aren't all that appreciated.

Mara's new life is strange. Things happen to her and she see things that aren't really there. She appears to be seeing her dead friends and quite rightly she starts to think she is going completely mad because she knows logically that these things can't be happening but she also knows that they are completely real to her when they are. I actually really liked this about the book as it keeps you guessing about what type of book it actually is and what in fact is actually going on all the way through.

I must say towards the end of the book things to become a lot clearer and the explanations for how things turn out is nicely done and not something I would have guessed. While tying up the first book nicely it does set the scene for the rest of the series quite nicely and has left me wanting more.

All in all an interesting and unique read which I enjoyed. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes next.

Random House Bloggers Brunch

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000Z

On saturday I was lucky enough to go the the RHCB Bloggers Brunch. As always it was a fantastic morning because of all the exciting future releases they teased us with and because it was another chance to see all my lovely blogging friends.

Now I was going to do a whole break down of all the exciting books they teased us with but in my truly chaotic I lost the piece of paper somewhere between London and Cromer with all the titles and details on. So instead I am going to give you a heads up on the titles they spoke about which I am most excited about

Wonder by RJ Palacio

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

I actually read this one back over Christmas and it is fantastic. I would recommend it to everyone.

Starters by Lissa Price

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .

I finished this one this week and I loved it. I can't wait for Enders, the sequel, to see what happens next.

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

I can't wait for this one as it looks excellent

Witch Struck by Victoria Lamb

Meg Lytton has always known of her dark and powerful gift. Raised a student of the old magick by her Aunt Jane, casting the circle to see visions of the future and concocting spells from herbs and bones has always been as natural to Meg as breathing. But there has never been a more dangerous time to practise the craft, for it is 1554, and the sentence for any woman branded a witch is hanging, or burning at the stake.

Sent to the ruined, isolated palace of Woodstock to serve the disgraced Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and half-sister of Queen Mary, Meg discovers her skills are of interest to the outcast princess, who is desperate to know if she will ever claim the throne. But Meg's existence becomes more dangerous every day, with the constant threat of exposure by the ruthless witchfinder Marcus Dent, and the arrival of a young Spanish priest, Alejandro de Castillo, to whom Meg is irresistibly drawn - despite their very different attitudes to her secret.

Thrilling and fast-paced, this is the first unputdownable story in a bewitching new series

The Historian in me is very very excited about this one!

Review: The future of us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000Z

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Published by Simon and Schuster

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.

***

I'm the first to admit when I started this book I wasn't a Jay Asher fan. I hated 13 reasons why but I loved this book.

The story follows Emma and Josh. Emma gets a computer and on her first time online she opens up facebook featuring herself 15 years in the future. At first they think it is a joke but as they delve deeper and as their day to day actions change details in the future things start to get more complicated. They both start to ponder about what they should know about their future and how much they ought to influence their future by changes they make in their day to day life.

I loved the idea of this book mainly because I think 16 year old me would have loved a glimpse at my life now via facebook. As someone who remembers life before the Internet I thought the story was spot on ... night sat by your landline waiting for a phone call and then the excitement of your first computer even though in comparison they were agonisingly slow.

I loved Josh as a character and thought he was really sweet in his teenage way. I did struggle to warm to Emma in the same way because I found her to be a little bit shallow in the way she viewed the world.

The only thing I didn't like is how distraught the pair got about children / not having children as things changed on facebook. I don't necessarily think having a family is the be-all-and-end-all for most teenagers nor is it a sign "you've made it".

All in all a book with an original idea that I really enjoyed.

A bit of a rant ....

2012-01-23T00:00:00.008Z

I'm not one for ranting on the whole. I like a quite life but there's something about blogging that has been winding me up of late and I need to get it out ...

As you well know some bloggers get free books. Some of us get a lot of free books and I know 99.9% of us are very excited to receive them and grateful for every one that turns up at our door. I personally have read such a range of titles that I would have never otherwise read if I hadn't had them for review and discovered some real gems. I read a hell of a lot and try my hardest to review whatever I have as quickly as I can (well as quickly as one would expect with a job like mine). There are times however when I get a book which isn't really me and even then I'll give it a go and if it still isn't me I'll pass it onto another blogger who has mentioned they would like to read it or take it into school for the library or one of kids I teach would love reading. Either way I am always grateful for whatever I receive.

However lately I have been getting really annoyed with people's attitudes towards what essentially are freebies. I went to an author event last year where we were given goodies bags and whilst stood in the signing queue heard a girl moan very loudly "Oh God I'd never read that what the hell am I going to do with it" in front of the staff who had organised the goodie bags and the publicists who had provided the contents. I've seen similar comments in IMM where the person has basically bitched about receiving books they didn't want and not just this isn't really my sort of thing comment. (please don't mistake me for moaning about people who write a bad review - that it something totally different and something I do myself and expect others to do too. The people I am ranting about haven't even opened the first page)

I also get really annoyed about people who start blogs just for books. I certainly didn't do that (I won't lie and say that it isn't nice because in all honestly it is epic and I love it). They post IMM showing hundreds of books (well maybe not hundreds) that they have received from publishers but then they never review any of them and just fill their blog with memes. This is then made worse because I then see them on twitter and the such like asking for even more books. One of my blogging friends made a good point in saying if you've set up a book blog just to get free books you clearly don't get the point of book blogging or how much time and effort is put in by bloggers, authors and publicists alike.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that books are precious and not everyone gets them for free. Proofs actually cost the publishing house a lot more to produce than finished copies because the print run is much smaller (which is why we don't always get them in the UK). You are not entitled to free books because you have set up a blog. You receive them because the publishing houses know you put the time and effort in to promote books and trust that you'll do your best to review what you can of what they send you to help to generate enthusiasm and buzz about their titles and reading in general.

Rant over!

Bookcase Showcase: Author Sara Grant

2012-01-21T00:00:00.000Z

Like many writers, I’m a bibliophile. I buy more books than I could ever possibly read. I try to limit myself to buying another book only when I’ve finished reading one, but with my lack of self discipline and so many truly amazing books getting published...it’s a losing battle.

I recently turned the guest bedroom in my three-bedroom flat into a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves, but I’m already doubling stacking books. I’ve banished my husband’s sports biographies and collections of crime thrillers to one shelf.

Most of the books in my bookshelf are young adult novels or related to research for future books. I like to read in the age range and genre I’m writing. I think it’s important to know what’s out there. I’ve spent a few years obsessed with dystopian novels. I do try to mix in other genres, age ranges (including adult fiction) and nonfiction. I pick up hot-off-the presses hardbacks and classics that have yet to make it on my reading list. After all you never know what will inspire you.

I have a special shelf for all the books I’ve purchased that are waiting, begging to be read. As you can see from the photo, I have about fifty books lined up – and this doesn’t include the ones on my Kindle.

Another shelf is packed with the books I have created and edited in my role as senior commissioning editor at Working Partners. I’ve worked on everything from Rainbow Magic to Confessions of a First Daughter to a series we pitched as James Bond meets David Beckham called Striker. At Working Partners we develop the idea, create the storylines and find people to write the books. It’s been amazing to work on such a diverse range of projects.

I have one shelf dedicated to my friends’ novels. I was lucky enough to attend Goldsmiths College’s masters program in creative and life writing. A number of tutors and fellow classmates now have written wonderful novels. What a thrill it is to buy and read their books.

This bookshelf also is filling up with books written by my friends in the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Many of them have been featured in Undiscovered Voices anthologies. My friend and children’s book editor Sara O’Connor and I created this anthology to help unagented and unpublished members ‘get discovered’. We worked with SCBWI British Isles and Working Partners to make it happen. I’m very proud of this initiative. From the first two Undiscovered Voices anthologies, 13 of the 24 selected authors have had their novels contracted for publication and most have signed with agents. It’s how I got my agent and ultimately my first book deal and I want to continue to help other writers achieve their dreams of publication. We are hard at work our third Undiscovered Voices anthology (www.undiscoveredvoices.com). I’ve left plenty of room for Undiscovered Voices 2012 success stories.

So....enough of this writing, I need to get reading!

Review: Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

2012-01-20T09:00:00.008Z

Saving Daisy by Phil Earle
Published by Puffin

Losing love, fighting guilt, seeking hope.

Daisy’s mum is gone. Her dad refuses to talk about it and as far as Daisy’s concerned, it’s all her fault…

Saving Daisy is a powerful and moving story that follows the life of Daisy Houghton who first featured in Phil Earle’s critically acclaimed debut, Being Billy.
As Daisy struggles with misplaced guilt over her mother’s death, she turns to extreme and violent measures and soon her life starts spiralling out of control. This leads to tragedy and suddenly Daisy finds herself left all alone. But sometimes the kindness of a stranger can turn things around. A stranger who desperately wants to save Daisy – if she’ll only let herself be saved.

***

Saving Daisy is one of the books I have been looking forward to for month now and I am pleased to say it lived up to all expectations and I enjoyed it as much, if not more than, I enjoyed Being Billy.

The thing I loved about this book the most was Daisy. She is so brilliantly raw and realistic. I could see so much of her in kids I teach. She's this fragile bundle of emotional damage wrapped up in an overwhelming amount of guilt. As you follow her through all the various things she goes through your heart goes out to her and you just want to pick her up take her home and wrap her in blankets, feed her chocolate and tell her everything will be ok.

Daisy's life turns upside down after the accident, which she feels completely responsible for, and leaves her totally alone. After a stint in hospital she ends up in a home for other teenagers with issues. The characters you meet are larger than life and the way in which they react to and interact with Daisy are brilliantly entertaining to read about.

Once at the home Daisy meets Ade and she slowly becomes the adult that finally starts to get through and starts to help saving Daisy from herself and finally starts to bring her round to the idea that all the things she blames herself were not actually her fault. I loved that she had real insight to help Daisy having lived a turbulent younger life herself.

A brilliant read with a main character which your heart goes out to. A real emotional ride which touches you and tears you between feeling heartbroken for daisy through to feeling warm and fuzzy inside for her as things finally work out. Highly recommended.

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE 2012

Review: Darkness Falls by Cate Tieran

2012-01-19T09:00:00.005Z

Darkness Falls by Cate Tieran
Published by Hodder

I'm still here. Still immortal. The eagerly anticipated sequel to Immortal Beloved, the deeply alluring gothic romance.

Reyn: the thorn in my side, nightmare of my past, destroyer of my family, constant irritant of my now . . . and the one whose fevered kisses I had relived over and over as I lay exhausted and unable to sleep.

And yet night after night, he--who has kicked down hundreds of doors--had not brought himself to knock on mine.

Are you dizzy from being flung into my world like this? I feel the same way every morning when I open my eyes to find I'm still me, still here

***

Darkness Falls is the sequel to Immortal beloved and a completely different read from book one.

The thing I love about this series is Nasty's narrative. The way she is written is so entertain and actually really comical in places as she talks away to herself about the things going on around her.

I enjoyed the first part of the book finding out more about River and her commune and Nasty's place in it but I actually loved it even more once Nasty got out and back with Incy and she glams right up in all her gorgeous clothes and really lives it up. I loved getting that insight into the girl she used to be.

As with the first book I love getting the glimpses into Nasty's past through the flashbacks.

It's not until Incy and Nasty spend a bit of time together that you start to see that things aren't all that right with Incy. You get to see the dark side of him that is hinted at at the very start of the series in more detail and that's when things start to really kick off.

The last section where every thing comes to a head is where all the action is and was the part where I literally couldn't put the book down because I needed to know what happened next.

The ending of the book was really sweet setting up the story ready to go into the final book. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens in the last instalment.

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000Z

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Published by Penguin

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

***

Cinder is a retelling of the fairytale Cinderella and does it's own interesting take on the story we all know so well.

Cinder is a cyborg. She was adopted at a young age by her father who since died and left her under the guardianship of her stepmother who treats her like a slave and home and expects her to work long hours as a mechanic to bring funds into the family home whilst her sisters don't have to lift a finger.

I really loved Cinder as a character and the spirit she had. I thought she was both clever and witty and I loved seeing how she was quite happy to get on with her life and deal with the rubbish that was thrown her way as she is considered to be a second class citizen. I loved how she was totally underwhelmed when she met the Prince who came to her to get a job done and I loved seeing their relationship develop over the course of the book.

The storyline involving the plague that was devastating the city was really interesting when you saw just how utterly helpless the city was and how scared people were in the face of all the problems. It also helped to develop the relationship between Cinder and her sister Peony which is something I actually loved about this book.

I must say I did guess the twist pretty soon on as I think the way the story was written it was obvious things were going to turn out how they did.

A huge story arc set up and a huge cliffhanger... hoping there is a sequel to tie the story as I was left a little bit unsatisfied as it felt like not all that many of the questions the book posed were answered.

Review: Smoulder by Brenna Yovanoff

2012-01-17T09:00:00.009Z

Smoulder by Brenna Yovanoff
Published by Simon and Schuster

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

***

I don't think I could sum up this book even if I tried or compare it to anything else on the YA market. It is really uniquely strange in a twisted and quirky way. If you love Dark fiction you will be hooked.

From the outset this book is so weird. The setting of pandemonium is really quirky and the character are are half demons and act like it. There is no holding back at all when they do all the horrible things you'd expect half demons to do to one another

The main story follows Daphne as she goes out into the world to find her brother Obie. On the way she meets Truman and from there on out they go together to try and to get to the bottom of his disappearance.

My favourite thing about this book was the demon baby with metal teeth. She was both alarmingly odd and wonderfully cute and by far my favourite character.

I really struggled with the split narrative on this one. I understood where I was when Daphne was speaking but got totally confused when it switched to the third person following Truman. I actually felt for me it spoiled those sections for me and stopped me fully engaging in the story.

I did enjoy the pace of this book once the story got going and especially towards the end but did wish things had happened a bit sooner.

So while I don't think this was totally the book for me I do think if you are into the genre you will love it.

Review: Fated by Sarah Alderson

2012-01-16T09:00:00.009Z

Fated by Sarah Alderson
Published by Simon and Schuster

What happens when you discover you aren't who you thought you were? And that the person you love is the person who will betray you? If your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

When Evie Tremain discovers that she’s the last in a long line of Demon slayers and that she’s being hunted by an elite band of assassins –Shapeshifters, Vampires and Mixen demons amongst them – she knows she can’t run. They’ll find her wherever she goes. Instead she must learn to stand and fight.

But when the half-human, half-Shadow Warrior Lucas Gray - is sent to spy on Evie and then ordered to kill her before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy, their fates become inextricably linked. The war that has raged for one thousand years between humans and demons is about to reach a devastating and inevitable conclusion. Either one or both of them will die before this war ends.

If your life becomes bound to another’s, what will it take to sever it?

***

My initial reaction when I started this book was WOW. So completely different from Sarah's first book and yet full of all of the things that made me love Hunting Lila.

From the very first page the pace of this book is awesome. The story jumps straight into the action and doesn't let up until the very end. I loved this as it meant I didn't have a second to get bored which meant I just wanted to keep reading page after page until I got to the very end as I just needed to know what was going to happen next.

I also loved that this book was very much a novel in itself. What I mean by that is often with a "first-in-the-series" book you get lots of backstory and setting up of the series but often not much happens. This certainly wasn't the case and while you were left wanting more as a reader I was happy that I had got somewhere and some way into the story and that at least some of the questions I had whirling around my head were at least partially answered.

Fated is a bit like a take on Buffy at first glance. A Teenage girl called Evie is destined to save humans against the demons ... sorry Unhumans ... who is sent a mentor to watch over her and train her so she can become the ultimate Unhuman killer. She is kick-ass and sassy and quite happy to speak her own mind and of course there is a gorgeous boy involved who isn't quite what he seems. Don't get me wrong it isn't a blatant rip off and the story does it's own thing in a variety of different ways. I liked the most (History Geek alert) how Evie's extended family tree was interwoven into the backstory. I also enjoyed Sarah's take on the Unhumans that were after Evie and how they were her own unique take on the average demons you come across in novels.

Another thing I love about Sarah's books so far is how she writes her characters. Evie is instantly someone you can get behind and warm to as you follow her story. I love how she is trying her best to get by in a world where she really hasn't been given a break without whinging but by doing something practical to get herself sorted. I also loved Lucas as a character because he was both gorgeously hot (wait to you get to 'that' scene) but I also seeing how conflicted he was in the way he lived his life.

All in all this novel was a brilliant read with interesting characters, engaging ideas and a fantastically pacey storyline which will make you want to carry on reading page after page. Bring on the rest of the series!!!

READ IT FOR THE BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE 2012

Bookcase Showcase: Author Cate Tieran

2012-01-14T00:00:00.022Z

Today it's the turn of author Cate Tieran on bookcase showcase

This is the bookcase in my office. You can see some of my collection of Dorothy Dainty children's books from the early 1900s (top right). Top left we have my Barbara Hambly books--a great fantasy writer whose writing has been very influential for me. Some favorite romances, lower right. Self-help/psychology books, lower left--helping me understand the human mind and emotions. Bottom shelf, photos of my kids and a picture of my dad from the 1930s. Books on New Orleans, my hometown. Little clay animals made by me and my brother when we were little, supplemented by little clay animals made by my younger daughter when she was little.

This is a glass-fronted barrister bookcase that was my grandfather's, from the early 1900s. He was a judge in New Orleans and had two of these bookcases in his law office. I have one and my brother has one. This holds weird medical books, my Barbara Pym novels, and a bunch of travel books. On the bottom shelf are Russian history books and some novels in Russian from when I was in college.

This is the messy hall bookcase. It's 80% children's books, many from my childhood and some from my kids' childhoods. The other 20% are a few mystery/spy novels and some of my husband's guitar or motorcycle or sailing books.

This is the other end of the messy hall bookcase. (Yes, the floor is brick. Kind of weird.). On the very bottom shelf is a set of The Books of Knowledge from 1913. They're really cool to read through--had bits of everything and reflected the world at that time. On the shelf right above that is a set of the Childcraft books from the 1960s. I read these over and over when I was little. I've moved and packed and carted these books around my whole life. A house with no books is a sad, desolate place.

Review: India Dark by Kirsty Murray

2012-01-13T09:00:00.011Z

India Dark by Kirsty Murray
Published by Templar

Melbourne, Australia, 1909: faced with the prospect of employment in either the match factory or the jam factory, 13-year old Poesy Swift auditions for a children’s theatre company that specialises in popular music-hall songs.

Before she knows it, she’s on a two-year tour through Asia. At first it’s all an adventure, but by the time they reach south India, many of them have been disciplined by the manager and their performances hide enormous turmoil backstage. At the end of their last show, all but two of the children turn on their minders and go on strike, then walk out into the hot Madras night.

***

India dark is a nice little novel set in a historical setting which was an engaging read and would be perfect to give youngsters a real feel for the British Empire around the turn of the century.

The story follows Poesy and Tilly two girls who are part of a travelling act who are enroute to America performing along the way to any audience that will have them.

The thing I really enjoyed about this book the most was that you got a real sense of period from it and a real feeling of life in the far reaches of the British Empire at the turn of the century. I loved the bit where the cholera outbreaks came along and the feeling of sheer helplessness that ensued in that time as they really didn't know to do to sort it.

The main storyline when the scandal hits the troop is really interesting and got me thinking when you saw the way in which it was dealt with.

I must say the only thing I didn't like about this book was the split narrative because I felt the two girl's voice's weren't distinctive enough which meant I lost track of who I was listening to which was very confusing.

All in all a satisfying little read which was enjoyable and interesting.

Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda

2012-01-12T09:00:00.010Z

Fracture by Megan Miranda
Published by Bloomsbury

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?

I really enjoyed fracture and loved that it was different to other YA books I have read of late. There is nothing worse than reading what seems like the same book over and over again and in this case this certainly didn't happen.

I really warmed to Delany as a character as she comes to term with the fact that she managed to live when she should have died. Seeing that inter-turmoil was really touching.

I loved that you are never quite sure what is going on with the ability (if you can call it that) that Delany aquires after her accident. I loved how it kept you guessing all the way through about what was actually going on

I loved loved loved Decker, Delany's best friend. He was the wonderfully gorgeous boy next door and I loved seeing his relationship with Delany and how it developed throughout the book. The constrast between that relationship and the one Delany has with Troy is stark. I actually hated him quite a bit and just wanted the creep to slink off to wherever he came from.

Spine chilling and creepy this is a awesome read which I totally recommend.

Fifteen Days without a Head: Blog Tour

2012-01-11T09:00:00.004Z

What’s in a name?

I’ll happily admit that I’m a sucker for an intriguing title. Who wouldn’t want to pick up a book called Pardon Me, You’re Stepping on my Eyeball! (Paul Zindel), Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Bryan Lee O’Malley) or The Knife of Never Letting Go (Patrick Ness)?

Anybody who follows my regular blog posts will have seen mention of Calvin and Hobbes more than once, but I do so for good reason. Not only are Bill Watterson’s stories and artwork sublime, his titles are tantalisingly good: Revenge of the Baby-sat, Scientific Progress goes ‘Boink’, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, One Day The Wind Will Change … I could go on.

However, it is important that a title has some meaning and connection to the story, and not just bizarre for the sake of it; you’d be making a promise to the reader and then failing to deliver. Robert Cormier had a journalist’s eye when it came to naming his books: The Chocolate War, I am the Cheese, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway – all great books, with intriguing titles that mean something. Often it is only half way through, or at the end of the story, when the full impact of the name becomes clear and the title itself provides a final payoff or twist.

I’m always interested to find out the story or reference behind a title. For instance, Philip Reeve found the name Mortal Engines in Shakespeare’s Othello. A Darkling Plain, the final book in the series, is a phrase in Matthew Arnold’s poem, Dover Beach. Shakespeare provides a wealth of title material – Something Wicked This Way Comes from Macbeth, is one of my favourites, and gave its name to a 1962 Ray Bradbury novel, a number of songs, even a Derren Brown stage tour. I probably don’t need to point out that the title of this post is a quote from Romeo and Juliet.

Reaction to the title 15 Days Without a Head, has been mostly positive. People are usually intrigued to find out what the story is about. Some laugh, some frown, some misunderstand and think it’s a book about zombies! But there’s always a reaction – and people remember it.

When I started the story, I didn’t have a title though – it came out of the writing. The first scene I wrote placed two brothers in a kitchen. When one of the boys opened a cupboard, I discovered at the same time as he did, that there were cockroaches living in there. I thought it worked quite well, so did some research on roaches. When I found out that a cockroach can live for days without a head, the cartoon light bulb came on over my head and I knew I had my title. I liked the way the title suggested things being out of control, of metaphorically losing your head. At the same moment, it occurred to me that it might be fun if my main character’s surname was Roach. As the story developed, I realized how apt this was, considering the theme of survival running through the book.

Even though the chapter headings in 15 Days Without a Head are days of the week, I had a lot of fun coming up with twists on the names – trying to think of variations that would be appropriate to what happens in the chapter. For example, Lieday (a variation on Friday), was the title of the chapter when Laurence actively starts to deceive the world about the situation he and Jay are in.

My next book is called Waiting for Gonzo. I’ll leave you to ponder what that one might be about!

Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000Z

The Book of Blood and Shadow
Published by Atom

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

***

The Book of Blood and Shadow is a brilliantly different offering in the YA and a uniquely offering which the thing I enjoyed most about it.

The story follows Nora as she finds herself unravelling a long buried mystery with frightening consequences.

I liked the whole premise of the book. The mystery is unveiled through a series of letters which Nora translates from Latin written by a girl 500 years ago. I loved this idea and seeing how the story and the letters were interconnected even though at times I felt it slowed down the pace of the story somewhat.

I loved the setting of the book and enjoyed seeing Prague through Nora's eyes. You got a real feel for the place through the description and I actually really want to go there myself now.

There were loads of twists, turns and double crossings in this book. There were several bits within the book when I something was revealed I didn't expect to and I was stunned as I really didn't see it coming. I won't even begin to go into the plot or I might spoil something.

A book for you if you want to read a completely different YA novel which is pacey with engaging and interesting characters.

Bookcase Showcase: Julie Cross author of Tempest

2012-01-09T09:00:00.006Z

My bookcases, of course are filled with YA books. But actually, the shelves are new for me. Up until a few months ago I always gave away the books that I bought just because I didn’t really have enough space to keep all of them. I also have over a 100 books on my Kindle and those include some of my more recent favourites.

As you might be able to tell from the photo, my Harry Potter books are slightly abused. That’s only because this is my all time favourite series ever. I’ve read each book probably ten times. They’ve been everywhere with me—tossed in suitcases, the bath, the pool, beneath piles of laundry on my bedroom floor, under my pillow.

Girlie YA romance is very dominant on my shelves. I love Ally Carter’s spy girl books and I’ll read anything Courtney Summers writes. Same goes for Sarah Dessen. Basically, I read just about everything fifteen year old girls are reading right now.

Bookcase Showcase: Robin Wasserman

2012-01-07T00:00:00.008Z

I'm pleased to have Robin Wasserman guest posting on Bookcase Showcase as part of her blog tour for the publication of her new book The Book of Blood and Shadow

The first thing you need to know about me is that when I was growing up, I was only allowed to buy books on special occasions. My father believed that only suckers bought books when the library was giving (okay, lending) them away for free. So even though I read several books a week when I was a kid, I barely owned any of them. It meant the ones I did own were special—not to mention reread over and over again, because in an emergency situation (ie no new library books on hand) they were the only thing in the house. And for a long time, even after I grew up and no longer had to play by my father’s book-buying rules, I stuck with the habit of only acquiring books that I knew I was truly going to love.

This tiny red bookshelf, which once belong to my father and began its life in his childhood bedroom, came with me when I moved into my first apartment, and it’s been with me ever since. And in that first apartment, my entire book collection pretty much fit on these three shelves. (Suffice it to say I’ve now expanded. A lot.) To this day, no matter how many other bookshelves I add (again: a lot), this is where I keep my oldest and most treasured books: some that used to be my favorite, some that are held together with scotch tape and memories, some that just stay there because that’s where they’ve always been, and a couple (like that Jay McInerney collection in the bottom righthand corner) that got stuck there by some random well-meaning apartment tidier who apparently didn’t understand my system. And a few of them are the touchstone books of my life that I still reach for when I need to be reminded of why I love to read and why I bother to write.

That’s what I’d call It, at the center of the middle shelf. This Stephen King epic (now ragged and covered in years of masking tape) has been with me since middle school, when I used to read it approximately one a month to convince myself that evil, whether in the shape of a killer clown or a nasty gym teacher, could be triumphed. It was my survival manual, and I still read it every now and then when I need a bravery boost. (Just below It is King’s The Stand, which I love almost as much, but that one I got out of the library – probably five or six times. I didn’t own it until a few years ago when I got bored in an airport and decided it was finally time.)

Next to It is Jitterbug Perfume, the Tom Robbins book (first of many I would read, and read, and read again) I discovered in eleventh grade. It blew my mind. For the next couple years, I was my own personal Tom Robbins fan club. I read everything he wrote, I tried desperately to write like him, I used a ponderous-sounding quote of his in my yearbook profile. (Not this one, although maybe it should have been: “Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.”) I was devoted. I don’t even remember how I found Jitterbug Perfume, since at the time I was reading almost nothing but science fiction and horror, but that book showed me a new way to think about words, not to mention about the world.

On the other side of It we have Ender’s Game, the Orson Scott Card book about a smart, nerdy, unpopular kid who’s undervalued by his peers until he goes on to save the world. No comment as to why I might have carried this one around like a safety blanket in my day.

Most of the other other books (except for Dancing on My Grave, in the lower left hand corner, a deliciously melodramatic memoir about the horrors of professional ballet that someone lent me at summer camp one year—and never got back, because I became so obsessed with the story that I took it home with me) come from the summer between sophomore and junior year of college. As I said, I read mostly sci-fi and horror in high school. When I got to college, I discovered everyone else seemed to have spent their formative years reading Tolstoy and Shakespeare and a bunch of contemporary authors I’d never even heard of. I felt like an idiot. An uneducated idiot. So the summer after sophomore year, which I spent all alone in New York, with nothing to do but sit on park benches and read, I decided to remedy the problem.

I set out to read at least some of the books I’d missed…and to my shock I discovered it was possible to love a book even if it didn’t have aliens or time travel or quantum leaps. (Though those are still a plus.) This was the summer I fell in love with Philip Roth, William Styron, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Joseph Heller. (Neither Tosltoy nor Doestoyevsky, though as you can see from the thick tomes on the second and third shelf, I tried my best.) I read and swooned over Bright Lights Big City (the best book to read when you’re on your own in NYC for the first time), Darkness at Noon, In Cold Blood—and while I borrowed some of them (cf that tattered copy of Goodbye, Columbus on the far right) from my parents’ basement, most of them I didn’t. That summer, I did the unthinkable: I started buying books.

I haven’t stopped.

Review: The Court Painter's Apprentice by Richard Knight

2012-01-06T10:00:00.000Z

The Court Painter's Apprentice by Richard Knight
Published by Catnip
Read it for The British Books Challenge

The Court Painter's Apprentice is a wonderful little book which is beautifully told and featuring one of the most amazing twists I think I have come across in a long time.

I think Catnip's editor is spot on when she compares the writing style in this book to being like early Pullman titles. It has brilliant characterisation and a fab storyline which immerses you in the historical period in which it is set.

The story follows Johann a young boy with a talent for drawing and painting as he goes on a journey of a lifetime. He is the boy of an inn keeper who is spotted for his talent by the King's Court Painter who takes him on as his apprentice.

His life an as apprentice is an interesting one to follow. You see him as he learns the business from the bottom up and follow him on journey to the King's court to assist his master whilst he paints the King and his family. As time goes on and Johann starts to paint his own portraits you start to see how he has a special twist to his talent. As people start to notice this gift his work becomes more and more popular to the point where he gets the attention of the king himself. He then receives the honour of being asked to produce a portrait of the Prince for The King. Johann takes up the challenge which gains him even more admirers but still doesn't understand the implication of his gift.

The final section of the book is when the story twists after Johann challenges himself to do a self portrait. I won't go into what happens but will tell you that it was very creepy and a little unsettling. The best bit though was I could have never guessed how the book was going to go.

Definitely a book I would recommend and certainly one to look out for when it comes out in January.

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

2012-01-05T10:00:00.010Z

The Statistical Probability of Love in First Sight
Published by Headline

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

***

The Statistical Probability of Love at first sight is one of those books which a pleasure to read for several reasons. Firstly the writing style flows well meaning you can zip through page after pages without realising it, secondly the characters are interesting meaning you want to know more about them and finally the storyline is both engaging and just a little bit heartwarming leaving you with a wonderful sense of calm and warm-glowly-ness when you're done with it.

The first half of this book follows the story of Oliver and Hadley as they meet and share a flight to London. I loved this part of the book and seeing how their relationship started under such random circumstances and seeing how they connected almost instantly. Once the story gets going you starts to get under the skin of Hadley much more in the first part of the book and start to feel for her as you see what heartache she has been under over the past few years since her family split apart. The flight ends and both Oliver and Hadley go their separate ways

The second section of the book follows Hadley's story from here on out. I'm not going to get into what happens for fear of spoiling the books for someone else but I will say I loved how it twisted and turned and really enjoyed following the story which was heartwarming and heartbreaking in different ways.

A prime example of excellent romantic contemporary fiction and a novel I will be fully recommending to others.

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000Z

Tempest by Julie Cross
Published by Macmillan

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveller. Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

***

The press release for this one was bang on when it compares this book to the time travellers wife. I started it with the same feeling of confusion but suddenly everything clicked into place and I got it and thought it was awesome.

Tempest was a brilliant story for several reasons.

I really enjoyed reading a YA paranormal romance novel from a male POV as I can't recall any other, at least what I have read recently, which do just that. It made for a refreshingly different read.

The books is really strong in the way it builds up the relationships around Jackson. I loved the ones between Jackson and Holly, Jackson and his twin sister Courtney and the one between Jackson and his best friend Alex. I loved them all in different ways and thought they were all both touching and poignant for a variety of reasons.

As this book isn't out for ages I won't tell you too much about the plot or give you any spoilers but I will say that I loved the world and reasoning and why-for's built up around Jackson and his time travelling abilities. I am really looking forward to seeing where the story goes next especially after the heart wrenching ending which has left me desperate for more.

An awesome book which is going to be huge when it is released in 2012 and one I will be recommending thoroughly to others.

Books I have previously Loved: The Sally Lockhart series by Philip Pullman

2012-01-03T10:00:00.000Z

The Sally Lockhart Series by Philip Pullman
Read it for The British Books Challenge

These posts let me ramble on about books I've never going to have time to reread but ones I want to tell you all about because I love them.

If I dare to say it I think I loved Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series more than His Dark Materials. They appea to the historian in me as you get a real sense of the world in which Sally lives in whilst reading them. I loved finding out more about the world of Victorian England and found myself immersed in Sally's day to day life.

What I particularly love about these books is how brilliant Sally is as a character. She is so fesity in a world in which she is expected to be meek and mild. Whilst I loved the whole series for me the third book is where she really comes into her own. I loved seeing how she dealt with seemily impossible situations when all of the odds were stacked against her.

The fourth book is more of a spin off than anything else but again it appealed to the history geek inside of me set in 19th century (almost) Germany. Having spent many a year studying the political ins and outs of that era I loved the little micro history you got through it.

All in all a series which is well worth a look. Even the TV series with Billie Piper was pretty good (despite the questionable casting in places)

Books 1 Ruby in the Smoke
Book 2 Shadow in the North
Book 3 Tiger in the Well
Book 4 The Tin princess

Review Fifteen days without a head by Dave Cousins

2012-01-02T10:00:00.001Z

Fifteen days without a head by Dave Cousins
Published by OUP
Read it for the British Books Challenge

Fifteen Days without a head was one of those books that I read without really knowing what it was about and without any expectations about what it had it store for. I was blown away by it and loved reading each and every page and am looking forward to reading more of the author's work in the future.

If I had to compare this book to anything else out there I would say the closest comparison is Phil Earle's Being Billy because while the storylines were different they had the same feel about them as they are both about a teenage boy living on the edge of the system trying to find his way in the world.

I loved the main character in this book just a little bit too much. From the first moment I met Laurence I wanted to pick him up and take him home and mother him far too much. Despite being only 15 he has taken the weight of the world on his shoulders taking care of his mum (and her drinking problem) and his younger brother. It all gets all that bit more complicated when his mum suddenly disappears and suddenly Laurence has to deal with the household on his own without any income coming in it feed himself or his younger brother.

What really resonated with me in this book was the feeling of sheer hopelessness he was dealing with and how some people in positions of authority who should have been helping really weren't. Not because they disliked Laurence but more because they didn't have time to listen to him properly and take the time to understand why he was struggling as he was. The scene with his head of year really stuck with me as the teacher had his obligatory "chat" about Laurence being late but didn't take the time to really see the wider picture which really made Laurence's life even more difficult than it already was.

What I also loved about this book was the relationship between the two brothers and how mature Laurence was towards J and how he went out of his way to give J the childhood he himself had missed out on. The book was also fantastic at contrasting the awfulness of the Roach boys' day to day existence with some brilliantly funny passages which kept me giggling throughout the entire book.

A new author to watch out for and a fantastic debut novel.

British Books Challenge: January review link up post

2012-01-01T00:00:00.041Z

So here we are ... the first 2012 British Books Challenge sign up post of the year. Below is a Mister Linky for you to add your January British Books Challenge reviews. Please remember to put in the exact URL of your review and not just your blog address.

Before you link up your review make sure you have signed up for the British Books Challenge on the original sign up post here

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE READ THE BOOK IN 2012 FOR THE BOOK TO COUNT TOWARDS YOUR 2012 BRITISH BOOKS CHALLENGE TOTAL.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE YOUR BOOK MUST BE BY A BRITISH AUTHOR (OR AN ADOPTED BRITISH AUTHOR)

THE PRIZES

There are going to be 2 types of prizes each month:

Prize Pack:
There is going to be a prize pack each month.
This month from Random House Children's Books which will be won by one of the participants for their reviews linked below. The prize pack will contain copies of the following British Titles:

Long Lankin by Lindsay Barraclough
The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
The Haunting of Charity Delafield by Ian Beck
The History Keepers by Damain Dibben
The Kissing Game by Aidan Chambers
One winner will be picked at random from the linked up list below so the more reviews you do the most chances you will have to win.

First to review prizes
I will also have a selection of books available each month for those people who link the first reviews each month. This month I have available

~~10 copies of This is not forgiveness by Celia Rees~~
~~5 copies of Wink Murder by Ali Knight (this is an adult title)~~
~~2 copies of Daylight Saving by Ed Hogan~~
~~1 copy of Night School by CJ Daugherty~~

~~If the titles above are still uncrossed and you are in the UK please contact me as soon as you linked your review with your address and the title you'd like and I'll get it posted out to you.~~

If you need ideas for books to read for the Challenge look at this page on Teenage Fiction for all ages. It highlights all the releases in the UK in January with the British ones highlighted.

Can you link the book name and author then your blog name in brackets when you link below eg Fated by Sarah Alderson (kirsty @ the overflowing library)

Bookcase Showcase needs you to guest post

2011-12-31T00:00:00.004Z

Are you an author, blogger or publicist?

Do you have a fantastic book collection?

Would you like to show it off?

I am looking for people to guest post on Bookcase Showcase. All you need to do is email me a few pictures of your book collection along with a little bit of commentary to explain the way they are organised, what your favourite are etc. Have a look through the previous bookcase showcase guest books which have been featured every saturday since June to see examples of the types of posts featured.

If you are interested please email me at kirstylouiseconnor (at) hotmail.com or contact me on twitter @overflowingklc

2011 review

2011-12-30T00:00:00.102Z

2011 Overview

The Blog .....
This has been my second year blogging and I have enjoyed it as much as the first

Best bits of my blogging adventure so far has been
All my blogging friends. You guys make it awesome: Sarah, Lyndsey, Lynsey Emma, Clover, Carly, Liz, Caroline, Andrew, Jesse, Vicki, Viv and Cicely. What did I do before I had you guys to chat to about books??

Spending the night at Alnwick Castle. Defnitely one of the best trips I have ever been on ... I had high tea with the Duchess of Northumberland , dinner in a tea house and slept in a castle.

Meeting all the wonderful authors I met this year including: Lindsay Barraclough, Will Hill, Malorie Blackman, Harriet Castor, Paula Rawsthorne and Cassie Clare.

The Books ...

BEST BOOK READ IN 2011:

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
This book is just so harrowing yet beautiful at the same time. It is also really informative and has a really poignant story to tell.

MOST DISAPPOINTING BOOK READ IN 2011:

Crossed by Ally Condie
I so wanted it and when I finally did it was sooo dull.

MOST SURPRISING BOOK READ IN 2011:

The Worry Tree by Marianne Musgrove
Just such a beautiful book that I hadn't heard about before and really should have. As always another Catnip title that blew me away.

BOOK I WOULD MOST RECOMMEND IN 2011:

VIII
The historical fiction book I've always wanted to read. Amazing!

BEST SERIES OF 2011:

Eve Edwards Tudor series starting with the other countess
I love this series. It's Tudor yet modern at the same time. Love it.

NEW AUTHOR OF 2011:

Lindsay Barraclough author of Long Lankin
Long Lankin was so creepy and so good and Lindsay is so lovely

MOST UNPUTDOWNABLE BOOK OF 2011:

The truth about Celia Frost
Read it in a matter of hours. Loved it. Really pacey with loads of twists

MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2011:

Lola and the door next door
So excited to get this as I'd preordered the moment I finished Anna

BEST COVER OF 2011:

Haunting of charity delafield
It is gorgeous. I could just sit and look at it for hours

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK OF 2011:

The Statistical probability of Love at First Sight bu Jennifer E Smith
Cheating I know as a Jan 2012 release but it is so cute.

BOOK I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T READ UNTIL 2011:

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper
I love Mary Hoopers books yet I had this sat on the shelf for at least a year? Why? It was awesome

Blog hop winner is ....

2011-12-29T00:00:00.008Z

Darren

Congratulations!! Enjoy Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Waiting on Wednesay: Everneath

2011-12-28T00:00:00.001Z

Just look at the cover and tell me you don't want this ...

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Published by Simon and Schuster

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Book Break ups 2011

2011-12-27T00:00:00.083Z

I wanted to do a brief post to sum up all the books I have started this year but didn't review because I didn't finished them ...

Destined by PC Cast
I finally claimed my reading life back and gave up on this series. I hate the characters. I hate the made up non-swear words, I hate the pop culture references, the gay reference (because they are so stereotypical and I reckon actually quite offensive rather than the enlighten the Casts are going for)

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
I wanted to love this beautiful book because it looks so pretty on my shelf. In reality it was so bad I wanted to cry. A clear buffy rip off

The Last days by Scott Westerfeld
I love Scott Westerfeld but I couldn't just get into it.... I'm hoping to give it another go at some point.

Mist by Kathryn James
A bit too fairyesque for my liking even though it was written beautifully.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Another case of me and fairy books not getting on

Misfit by Jon Skovron
I couldn't deal with the first person narrative in this one. It drove me crazy after page 3

The Scorpio races by Maggie Stiefvater
I really wanted to love this one and hoping to have another go at it at some point.

August by Bernard Beckett
I really struggled to get into this as it felt more adult than young adult and I found I got bored.

Dreaming Anatasia by Joy Preble
The Russian Historian in me wanted to love this one. Unfortunately I just didn't click with the main character

Torment by Lauren Kate
Got bored. Gave up easily. Hoping Hadley will read and review it for me as he loved the first book.

David by Mary Hoffman
This one felt too much like work so I got bored and gave up

Flawless by Lara Chapman
Another one where I really didn't care about the main character so lost interest quickly

Liar by Justine Larbelestier
I actually hated the main character in this. I wanted to stab her with sharp sticks

Invincible by Sherilynn Kenyon
I was just utterly confused and I think I needed to read her adult series to get it as my friend who is a uge fan of her took it from me and loved it

Montacute House by Lucy Jago
Another one that felt too much like hard work so I got bored

Chime by Franny Billingsley
I don't know why but I just didn't like this one

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
I have learnt that Fairy books and I do not like each other. I learnt it whilst reading this book!

British Books Challenge 2012: A reminder!

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000Z

Dear all...

Please remember to sign up for the British Books Challenge 2012. I'm hoping this year will be awesome and I have some fantastic prizes lined up for participants

Go here to sign up

Happy Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.002Z

I hope your day is relaxing and book filled!

Bookcase Showcase needs you!

2011-12-24T00:00:00.000Z

Review: Dark parties by Sara Grant

2011-12-23T00:00:00.005Z

Dark Parties by Sara Grant
Published by Indigo

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most

Dark parties is one of those books which will totally surprise you as it twists and turns in its narrative leaving you unsure at first about what kind of book it actually is.

***

Neva is one of those characters you are meant to fall in love with meaning you want to get behind her and her cause completely which I totally did. She lives in this 1984esque world where people are controlled by the government in their every waking moment. History has been rewritten, people go missing never to be spoken of again and the youth of the protectosphere are encouraged to procreate like crazy to build up a dwindling population.

Neva and her friends don't buy into this idea. They know there is lots that the government isn't telling them and are determined to find out more at the risk of being arrested or worse becoming one of the missing themselves.

The main plot of the story follows Neva as she tries to find out more about the world she actually lives in. She risks everything to do so and ends up in several situations which are extremely nasty and unplesant and the price she pays for trying to uncover the truth is extremely high. There are several scenes which are truly horrific and show the complete power of the government over the people who live under them.

The end of the book adds in several twists which I never saw coming and whilst ends the story quite nicely leaves lots of spoce for more books to follow on from it which I hope do follow in the future.

Review: Torn by Cat Clarke

2011-12-22T00:00:00.001Z

Torn by Cat Clarke
Published by Quercus
Challenge: BBC

Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt.

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…

Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.

Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love.

***

Cat Clarke is one of those authors who I absolutely love as it is completely effortless to read her fantastic books because the characters are well written, the story flows brilliantly and is engaging from the very first word right through to the very last.

The main storyline follows a group of girls who are involved in a prank gone wrong and looks at how they try to cover up the horrific consequences of it. What I found harrowing about this book was that the storyline was realistic in that you could see how it might actually happen and how it was eye opening to see how easy it was for some of the characters to be involved in such a horrible thing and go about covering up without any outward remorse.

The storyline reminded me of the film 'The Hole' which is based on a book by Guy Burt and just like that film I loved the message the story had about both the different ways people deal with guilt and the price of popularity and friendship.

Alice is an interesting character as she is instantly likable and easy to relate to throughout the story. I found it interesting to see how she dealt with the aftermath of the accident and found myself empathising with her. I did like seeing the background to the relationship between her and Tara and how telling their story was about the lengths people go to to be popular.

All in all a crackingly good read which I enjoyed thoroughly and would completely recommend to others.

Midwinter hop: Signed ARC of Daughter of and Bone by Laini Taylor giveaway

2011-12-20T18:00:00.003Z

I am very excited to be hosting a giveaway for my one of my favourite books of 2011 on my first ever hop giveaway hosted by I am a reader not a writer and Oasis for YA

Up for grabs I have a signed UK paperback ARC of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Please note this ARC was one sent to me for review and has been read by me once but is still in fantastic condition because I love my books dearly and take care not to bend the spine or damage them in anyway. It was hand signed by Laini at the UK blogger event held by Hodder which one of lovely blogger friends went to.

The giveaway is international. You don't need to be a follower but you get an extra entry if you are. Please fill the form in below to enter. I am asking for addresses up front to make it easier for me to get the prizes sent out. I will not use your address for evil and will delete all stored information as soon as the competition is finished.

If you are visiting The Overflowing Library for the first time please check out the British Books Challenge 2012 here

To see all the other blog hop giveaways look at all the links below

The declaration series by Gemma Malley

2011-12-20T00:00:00.016Z

I wanted to do a bit of a showcase of books I read before I started blogging and loved but will probably never have the time to reread anytime soon so on the odd occasion one of these posts pop up ...

I read the declaration by Gemma Malley and loved it. For me it does everything a good dystopian book should do (this was even before I knew such a thing as dystopian existed). Anna is a surplus. She lives in a world where no one dies but as a pay off no one is allowed to have children. Anna's parents however were selfish and did so anyway and had to be punished for doing so. As a consequence Anna has spent her life in an orphanage like institution treated by the staff like she is the lowest of the low. It isn't until one night that Anna finds out everything isn't quite like it seems and her whole world is turned upside down.

The thing I loved about this book was that it actually could, in the not so distant future, happen. It makes a good comment on our health care system, on the role of big corporations and government intervention into the daily lives of citizens.

The book itself was also brilliant because it read like an awesome stand alone but actually then sparked off two more books which I enjoyed just as much.

A brilliant series which I would highly recommend.

British Books Challenge 2012: Recommendations

2011-12-19T00:00:00.001Z

I thought I would do all those of you thinking of joining up for the British Books Challenge a post about my favourite British Books to give you some ideas about what you could read if you sign up for the challenge.

So in no particular order (because I love them all) here are some of my favourite British Authors

Stolen by Lucy Christopher.
I read this before I started blogging and loved it. The whole concept was totally unique and I loved getting under the skin of the main characters.

The Declaration by Gemma Malley
Another one I read before blogging and loved it entirely. Yes I will admit a lot of my intial love for this book came from falling in love with the cover but the stuff inside is just as good

Before I die by Jenny Downham
This is one of the very few books that has made me cry because it's beautiful. I was also epically excited as it has scenes set in Cromer which the geeky part of me loved!

Long Lankin by Lindsay Barraclough
This is one creepy book written by one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. Loved every page.

0.4 by Mike Lancaster
I'm not a huge Sci Fi fan but I loved this. Really creepy and highly unnerving.

The truth about Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne
Another author that I met and who was lovely. I loved this books because it was really pacey and had loads of fantastic twists.

VIII by Harriet Castor
I loved this book because it is the type of historical fiction book I have wanted someone to write all my life (even though I didn't know it until I read it)

Someone else's life by Katie Dale
A new one for me. This is out in 2012 by a debut author. I got it and read it within the space of a few hours because it was awesome.

I also could have added the epicness which is Harry Potter, His Dark Materials and the Noughts and Crosses series to this list but I'm assuming that I'd be going some to find someone who hadn't read or at least knew how awesome they all were.
To sign up to the British Books Challenge 2012 go here
To see a larger list of books by British authors go here

In my mailbox (72)

2011-12-18T11:20:00.001Z

I got some fab books this week

Saving Daisy by Phil Earle (UK paperback)
I am so excited about this one as I loved Being Billy. Just about to start it later today.

Night School by CJ Daugherty (UK paperback)
This one looks awesome

Variant by Robson Wells (US paperback)
I've heard good things about this one so looking forward to it

Stolen away by Alyxandra Harvey (UK paperback)
I loved Haunting Violet but am worried about thsi one because I really don't get on with fairies

While you are visiting don't forget to sign up for the British Books Challenge 2012 here

Bookcase Showcase: Maria Teresa Fortes da Luz

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000Z

My name's Maria Teresa Fortes da Luz and I'm a Portuguese girl who loves books.

I've ordered my books by genre, sometimes by age but always using my heart. Half of my books are in English because I don't trust translations, I think most of the times they ruin the original book.

As you can see I am a Stephen King fan. But I'm also a Fleming fan, a Gaiman fan, an Austen fan, an Alice Hoffman fan... Portuguese authors are amazing too: Jose Saramago, Fernando Pessoa, Eça de Queiros, Julio Dinis, Manuel da Fonseca, Fernando Namora.

I love horror, romance, crime, erotica, espionage, fantasy, I love reading, exploring new worlds, books are my passion. I like to read them but I also like to look at them, that's why I don't like to have books in front of books.

Just a note: My bookshelves tell little stories through toys, miniatures, boxes, feathers, random memories, old gifts. The pictures were taken in my bedroom.

YA fiction

2011-12-16T00:00:00.008Z

I'm going to be honest. I had planned to do a lovely post discussing the merits of YA fiction vs adult fiction but in the craziness that it the end of term my brain has turned to mush. I'm hoping after a week or so of sleep and a few days of doing nothing school related it'll go back to normal.

So in the interest of being lazy I am going to point you to these two articles on Strange Chemistry's blog (New YA imprint coming from Angry Robot in 2012)

The first is here which is a post featuring some bloggers favourite books of 2011 in which I talk about the awesomeness which was Ruta Sepetys Between Shades of Gray.

The other is a post by Amanda in which she talks about what YA fiction is which I found really interesting. Find it here

Enjoy!

Review: Trapped by Michael Northrop

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000Z

Trapped by Michael Northrop
Published by Atom

The Breakfast Club meets The Blizzard of the Century: A young adult suspense novel from PW Flying Start author Michael Northrop.

Scotty and his friends Pete and Tommy are among the last kids waiting to get picked up at their high school. The snow has been coming down for hours, and it's starting to look like no one is coming for them. As the snow piles higher, their teacher Mr. Gossell leaves them behind to seek help--and disappears into the drifts outside. Now the seven remaining students are on their own, with no food and no electricity, facing a night of sleeping on classroom floors. Will their friendships survive the night . . . and will THEY?

***

Trapped is one of those books I have been waiting to get my hands on for ages and I wasn't even sure if it was coming to the UK when one arrived at my house unexpectedly this week.

The best thing about trapped is the feeling of sheer clausaphobia you get when reading it. The story is the one of 7 teenagers who find themselves trapped at their school in a horrific snow storm and follows them as they find ways to survive the ordeal. As the story goes on you can see how difficult it is from them to live in such a confinded environment deaaling with the conditions they are faced with.

I liked that with such a small cast of characters that you started to get to know some of them really well especially Scott who narrated the books.

For me however I think I was expected a bit more to happen in Michael Grant 'Gone' style especially as the press release compared it to Lord of the flies. I found that the characters just accepted their lot a little bit too easily and just sat around waiting for someone to rescue them. Don't get me wrong there were exciting moments but not really enough to make this a wow novel for me.

Could the book have gone further? Yes certainly to my mind but it was certainly entertaining enough for me to consider reading more from the author in the future

Waiting on Wednesday: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

2011-12-14T00:00:00.004Z

I can't wait for this one ...

Code Name Verity, which will publish in Spring 2012,is the story of two young women from totally different backgrounds who are thrown together during World War II.

Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, the other a wireless operator with the WAAF. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted friends.

But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. Almost immediately she is arrested by the Gestapo, and it seems her mission may be over before it's even begun. The story begins in "Verity's" own words, as she writes her account for her captors...

Elizabeth Wein is a member of the Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots. She was awarded the Scottish Aero Club's Watson Cup for best student pilot in 2003 and it was her love of flying that partly inspired the idea for Code Name Verity.

Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

2011-12-13T00:00:00.007Z

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
Published by Simon and Schuster

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. Two weeks before the most important violin competition of her career, she has bigger things to worry about—like growing out of that suffocating “child prodigy” label, and not disappointing her mother. But it isn’t just the wrong time. It’s the wrong guy. Jeremy is Carmen’s most talented rival, and according to her mother, he’s only interested in one thing: winning.

He isn’t the only one.

Carmen is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to control performance nerves. But what started a year ago as an easy fix is now a hungry addiction. Her mother insists now is not the time to quit, but Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of doing what she’s told.

When the darker side of the classical music industry and her mother's ambition collide, Carmen must choose between her career and her love for music.

***

Virtuosity was a different read for me. It is told from the point of view of Carmen a brilliant young violinist who is preparing for the competition of her life. She is in the competition to win and the only person that stands in her way is the very talented, very British Jeremy King.

I found Carmen to be a very hard character to relate to. Her world view and entire existence is based around her musical career which is is both important to her but probably more important to her mother. Everything thing in her life revolves around her career and being the best she can be.

The relationship between Carmen and Jeremy is very odd. They should both hate each other because they are in direct competition but they also have so much in common with each other. The relationship between them builds really quickly and through it you can see how dysfunctional the relationship between Carmen and her mother really is.

The storyline itself was interesting but I felt it didn't really go anywhere as such which is something that I don't like in books. Granted there were some twists and turns that were interesting but not enough to keep me fully interested.

All in all a book with enough ideas to keep me interested enough to finish but not one I'll be worried about rereading

British Books Challenge 2012

2011-12-12T00:00:00.005Z

Have you signed up for the British Books Challenge 2012 yet??

If not go to here and join up to support our awesome British authors in 2012

In my Mailbox (71)

2011-12-11T00:00:00.015Z

I got a couple of fab books this weekend ...

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Penguin)
This sounds odd but good

The unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (S&S)
I've heard mixed things about this one but I love the cover so very excited to give it a go

Don't forget to sign up for the 2012 British Books Challenge while you are visiting! (see link under my header and just above where the posts start)

Bookcase Showcase by Blogger Rebecca Books

2011-12-10T00:00:00.021Z

Hello blogosphere! I'm Rebecca from book blog, Rebecca-Books (http://rebecca-books.blogspot.com). I follow this feature mostly because I'm curious about what other bloggers/authors read or what they're shelves look like - sad, but true. So I was delighted to have the chance to do a post for this feature, so thank you to Kirsty for that.

Anyway, enough of my jibber jabber - here are my shelves.

First and foremost, I must say I am only 16 years-old and I have this strange, quite annoying fear - I hate buying books unless I know what they're like. Basically, I don't like the feeling of buying a book for like £7.99 and then find out, it's not all that great. This means a lot of the books I buy are from authors I trust or ones that through my blogging experiences, have seemed worth the money. It also means a lot of my books are from charity shops - but oh well! It's cheaper and although, sometimes smelly, they are clean books.

I have two stand alone book shelves (below) that live in the entrance to my room so get a lot of things dumped on them. Both are from the wonderful wonderland of IKEA (Love that place).

My books aren't ordered alphabetically or anything, just with the same author together like below with Sarah Dessen and Anna Godbersen. My favourite authors that have multiple books are nearer the top of the bookshelf, mostly because it's easier to see them from my bed. Sometimes in the mornings I just lie in bed and stare at my bookcase, looking at all the spines, it's nice actually to see your own mini library.

So yes, Sarah Dessen, Anna Godbersen, Patrick Ness and Mary Hooper are just some of my favourite authors - would definitely recommend them!

Then, at the bottom of the left bookcase, there is a small collection of stand alone books I have read with my treasured copy of Noughts and Crosses which has been read frequent times and I got signed by Malorie Blackman herself when she came to my local library in the summer. She is a lovely person and I would recommend this series too. Very, very good.

Now, we move onto the right hand bookcase. Again, the top shelf has some more of my favourite books by Eva Ibbotson, Eve Edwards, Gayle Forman, Cora Harrison and of course, Anne Frank. I haven't read The Other Boleyn Girl yet, it's my friend's copy that I kind of left there. In regards to the car, that was from a Christmas cracker last year that I kept. There is a slight theme on this shelf - they're mostly all historical fiction which is one of my favourite genres. I love the thought that what I'm reading could have actually happened in reality.

Next, we come to my 'To-be-read shelf'. These are a selection of books that I am eager to read but haven't got round to reading them yet. There are other books I haven't read on the other shelves like What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen, but these books are ones where I can't fit them with other books by that author or are just stand alone books. A lot of these have been charity shop buys (e.g. The Lovely Bones) or found in a second hand bookshop on my travels (e.g. Peter Pan). I love old books, or ones that have been published before I was born. I don't quite know why but I love anything old and vintage looking. Also, at charity shops and second hand bookshops, they sell books very cheap so it's worth paying the money, even if you don't like the book in the end.

A few of these books have been sent to me after winning competitions as a blogger. Like most book bloggers, I love getting books in the mail, that thud through the letterbox when you think 'YES, that is my book!' and the anticipation to read it...I love it and makes book blogging worth while.

That is the end of my main bookshelves by my door. I have a wardrobe with shelves that has other books which are either longer series like The Roman Mysteries or they are some books from my childhood that I don't quite want to throw away yet. There are some books that I bought for exams at school like Of Mice and Men and Pride and Prejudice. I liked these books, but well, when you analyse every single page for a 6 page long essay, you start to hate them a tad.

And then, finally, the place where the book I'm currently reading lives. It is right by my bed so I can reach over easily to get it. I also have a Kindle and at the time of taking the pictures, I was charging it hence the Kindle on top of my current book. It's a bit of a mess but everything I need is on there.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking at my book shelves as much as I did making this post. I, like most book fans, wish I could have a whole wall devoted to books...but alas, I don't think my parents would be as appreciative of that. Maybe when I'm older...

Thank you again to Kirsty for letting me guest post!