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Showing posts from 2015

Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Title:  Carry On Author:  Rainbow Rowell Series:   n/a Pages:   517 Publisher:  Macmillan Children's Books Date of Publication:  8th October, 2015 Source:  Bought Synopsis from Goodreads:  Simon Snow just wants to relax and savour his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his room-mate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you're the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savour anything. My Thoughts: Before I start this review, I feel I should explain how this book came about. Rainbow Rowell's novel Fangirl is about, you guessed it, a fangirl called Cath who

Book Review: Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

Title:  Night Owls Author:  Jenn Bennett Series:   n/a Pages:   272 Publisher:  Simon and Schuster Date of Publication:  13th August, 2015 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: Feeling alive is always worth the risk. Meeting Jack on the Owl—San Francisco's night bus—turns Beatrix's world upside down. Jack is charming, wildly attractive...and possibly one of San Francisco's most notorious graffiti artists. But Jack is hiding a piece of himself. On midnight rides and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who this enigmatic boy really is. My Thoughts: I didn't really know anything about Night Owls when it dropped through my letterbox, but after a few weeks when reviewers had started to read it, I began to see it everywhere. I'd seen comparisons to Graffiti Moon which I actually didn't enjoy that much so I was slightly apprehensive, but I'm happy to tell you guys that I really enjoyed Night Owls . It portrays being a teenager a

Book Review: How To Be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle

Title:  How To Be Bad Author:  E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle Series:   n/a Pages:   288 Publisher:  Hot Key Books Date of UK Publication:  4th June, 2015 Source:  Bought Synopsis from Goodreads: When you're tired of being good, sometimes you gotta be a little bad ... Jesse, Vicks and Mel couldn't be more different. Jesse, a righteous Southern gal who's as thoughtful as she is uptight, is keeping a secret that she knows will change her life forever. Vicks is a wild child: seemingly cool, calm and collected on the outside, but inside she's furious at herself for being so anxious about her neglectful boyfriend. And Mel is the new girl in town. She's already been dismissed as just another rich kid, but all she wants is to get over some of her fears and find some true friends. But for all their differences, the girls discover they've got one thing in common - they're desperate to escape. Desperate to get the heck out of Niceville and

Book Review: Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

Title:  Am I Normal Yet? Author:  Holly Bourne Series:   Normal Trilogy, #1 Pages:   434 Publisher:  Usborne Date of Publication:  1st August, 2015 Source:  Bought Synopsis from Goodreads: All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list… But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love? My Thoughts: Ever since I read a proof copy of Soulmates back in 2013, I've been a big fan of Holly Bourne. I devoured Soulmates in only one day despite it's 500 pages, and The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting was probably one of my favourite reads last year. Therefore I was super excited to get

Book Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

Title:  Lorali Author:  Laura Dockrill Series:   n/a Pages:   208 Publisher:  Hot Key Books Date of Publication: 2nd July, 2015 Source:  For review via NetGalley* Synopsis from Goodreads: Colourful, raw, brave, rich and fantastical - this mermaid tale is not for the faint-hearted. Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn't exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from. Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human. But along with Lorali's arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory's bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their

Book Review: Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill

Title:  Only Ever Yours Author:  Louise O'Neill Series:   N/A Pages:   390 Publisher:  Quercus Date of Publication:  3rd July 2014 Source:  Library Synopsis from Goodreads: In a world in which baby girls are no longer born naturally, women are bred in schools, trained in the arts of pleasing men until they are ready for the outside world. At graduation, the most highly rated girls become “companions”, permitted to live with their husbands and breed sons until they are no longer useful. For the girls left behind, the future – as a concubine or a teacher – is grim. Best friends Freida and Isabel are sure they’ll be chosen as companions – they are among the most highly rated girls in their year. But as the intensity of final year takes hold, Isabel does the unthinkable and starts to put on weight. .. And then, into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride. Freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend,

Book Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Title:  The Madness Underneath Author:  Maureen Johnson Series:   Shades of London Pages:   290 Publisher:  HarperCollins Children's Books Date of Publication:  26th February, 2013 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: When madness stalks the streets of London, no one is safe… There's a creepy new terror haunting modern-day London. Fresh from defeating a Jack the Ripper killer, Rory must put her new-found hunting skills to the test before all hell breaks loose… But enemies are not always who you expect them to be and crazy times call for crazy solutions. My Thoughts: (This is a review of a reread, because being the terribly inconsistent blogger that I am, I never actually reviewed this when I read it the first time round. Soz about that.) So the  Shades of London series has been in my favourites ever since I first read the first book, back when it came out. In preparation for reading The Shadow Cabinet , I decided to reread The Madnes

Blog Tour Review: Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines by Katy Cannon

Title:  Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines Author:  Katy Cannon Series:   Companion to Love, Lies and Lemon Pies Pages:   368 Publisher:  Stripes Publishing Date of Publication:  2nd February 2015 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: Grace: This was supposed to be Grace’s starring year, until she opened the door to a family secret that changed everything. Now she’s stuck making costumes in Sewing Club and watching someone else play the lead role – unless she can find a way to win it back. Connor: Far from home and exiled to a new school, all Connor wants is to keep a low profile and get through the year. But agreeing to help his step-dad out with the school play means he’s soon caught up in Grace’s schemes. Grace had a plan for this year – and it didn’t involve learning to sew. But being out of the spotlight isn’t the disaster she imagined, even if Connor is convinced she’s still a diva extraordinaire. Can Grace prove she’s really changed and save th

Book Review: All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Title:  All Fall Down Author:  Ally Carter Series:   Embassy Row, #1 Pages:   320 Publisher:  Orchard Books Date of Publication:  5th February, 2015 Source:  NetGalley for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row. Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved. My Thoughts: I am a huge fan of Ally Carter, as you probably know if you've been following me on Twitter and on the blog at all since last summer when I first read I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You . I'