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Showing posts with the label Standalone

#readFreshers: BACK TO CAMPUS

Hey guys! Welcome to my stop on the Freshers blog tour. This book is hilarious and so much fun and I'm so excited to have Tom and Lucy on the blog today! Here's Tom and Lucy's offering for today! As soon as we started writing FRESHERS, we knew we wanted to go back to York university.  We spent three years there between 2001-2004 (Lucy) and 2002-2005 (Tom), and we knew that if we wanted to write a realistic campus novel, we had to go back to the campus we'd once called home. So, back in February 2016, we did. Here's a photo of Lucy reminiscing outside the big central hall building (which features quite a bit in FRESHERS).  While we were on campus, we managed to sneak into our old corridors and have a look around, and it was comforting (and horrifying) to find out that students today are still as gross as we were back in 2001/2002. The corridors were sticky and smelly, and the kitchens were basically pasta-sauce-spattered bomb sites. We also s...

Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Title:  When Dimple Met Rishi Author:  Sandhya Menon Series:  n/a Pages:   384 Publisher:  Hodder Paperbacks Date of Publication:  1st June, 2017 Source:  Publisher via NetGalley Synopsis from Goodreads: The arranged-marriage YA romcom you didn't know you wanted or needed... Meet Dimple. Her main aim in life is to escape her traditional parents, get to university and begin her plan for tech world domination. Meet Rishi. He's rich, good-looking and a hopeless romantic. His parents think Dimple is the perfect match for him, but she's got other plans... Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways. Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Jenny Han and Nicola Yoon, WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI is a frothy, funny contemporary romance set at a coding convention in San Francisco over one exciting summer. Told from the dual perspectives of two...

Book Review: And Then We Ran by Katy Cannon

Title:  And Then We Ran Author:  Katy Cannon Series:   standalone Pages:   352 Publisher:  Stripes Publishing Date of Publication:  6th April, 2017 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: A road-trip story about following your dreams and embracing the unexpected. Megan knows what she wants out of life and she intends to get it, whatever her parents say. Elliott has given up on all his plans for the future – but then Megan bursts into his life with a proposal that could change it forever. Together they embark on a road trip to escape their hometown and chase their dreams. But life is a journey and not even Megan can control where theirs will lead… My Thoughts: I was a massive fan of Katy's first two books, Love, Lies, and Lemon Pies , and Secrets, Schemes, and Sewing Machines when I read them a few years back, and so I was very excited to read this new release, and it didn't disappoint ! I read it quickly and...

Book Review: The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Title:  The Square Root of Summer  Author:  Harriet Reuter Hapgood Series:   standalone Pages:   336 Publisher:  Macmillan Children's Books Date of Publication:  5th May, 2016 Source:  Publisher for review* Synopsis from back of book:  This is what it means to love someone. This is what it means to grieve someone. It's a little bit like a black hole.  It's a little bit like infinity. When the fabric of the universe surrounding Gottie's sleepy seaside town begins to fray, she is hurtled through wormholes to the past. To last summer, when her grandfather, Grey, died. To the afternoon she fell in love with Jason, who wouldn't even hold her hand at Grey's funeral. To the day her childhood best friend, Thomas, moved away, leaving her with a scar on her hand and a gap in her memory. This summer, although Grey is gone, Jason and Thomas are back, and Gottie's past, present and future are about to collide - and be c...

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 ...

Book Review: Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Title:  Let's Get Lost Author:  Adi Alsaid Series:   ~ Pages:   352 Publisher:  Mira Ink Date of Publication:  1st August, 2014 Source:  Publisher via NetGalley for review* Synopsis from Goodreads: One girl could change four lives forever… Mysterious Leila, who is on the road trip of a lifetime, has a habit of crashing into people’s worlds at the moment they need someone the most. There’s Hudson, who is willing to throw away his dreams for love. And Bree, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. Elliot who believes in happy endings…until his own goes off-script. And Sonia who worries that she’s lost her ability to love. Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. But Leila’s trip could help her discover something bigger — that sometimes, the only way to find what you’re looking for is to get lost along the way… My Thoughts: I was super excited to read Let's Get Lost , as it is...

Book Review: She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

Title:  She Is Not Invisible Author:  Marcus Sedgwick Series:   ~ Pages:   354 Publisher:  Indigo Date of Publication:  3rd October 2013 Source:  Birthday gift Synopsis from Goodreads: Laureth Peak's father is a writer. For years he's been trying, and failing, to write a novel about coincidence. His wife thinks he's obsessed, Laureth thinks he's on the verge of a breakdown.He's supposed to be doing research in Austria, so when his notebook shows up in New York, Laureth knows something is wrong. On impulse she steals her mother's credit card and heads for the States, taking her strange little brother Benjamin with her. Reunited with the notebook, they begin to follow clues inside, trying to find their wayward father. Ahead lie challenges and threats, all of which are that much tougher for Laureth than they would be for any other 16-year old. Because Laureth Peak is blind. My Thoughts: Before She Is Not Invisible , I'd never ...

Book Review: Phoenix by SF Said

Title:  Phoenix Author:  SF Said Illustrator: Dave McKean Series: Standalone Pages: 496 Publisher:  David Fickling Books Date of Publication: 1st August, 2013 Source:  Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads: THE SUPERNOVA IS COMING . . . ONE BOY ALONE CAN SAVE THE GALAXY! Lucky thinks he's an ordinary Human boy. But one night, he dreams that the stars are singing - and wakes to find an uncontrollable power rising inside him. Now he's on the run, racing through space, searching for answers. In a galaxy at war, where Humans and Aliens are deadly enemies, the only people who can help him are an Alien starship crew - and an Alien warrior girl, with neon needles in her hair. Together, they must find a way to save the galaxy. For Lucky is not the only one in danger. His destiny and the fate of the universe are connected in the most explosive way . . . My Thoughts: I really enjoyed Phoenix  and I thought it was great. I didn't know too much ...

Book Review: The Hanged Man Rises by Sarah Naughton

Title:  The Hanged Man Rises Author:  Sarah Naughton Series: Standalone Pages: 234 Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Books Date of Publication: 28th February 2013 Source: Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads: When their parents are killed in a fire, Titus Adams and his little sister Hannah are left to fend for themselves in the cruel and squalid slums of Victorian London. Taking shelter with his friend and saviour, Inspector Pilbury, Titus should feel safe. But though the inspector has just caught and hung a notorious child-murderer, the murders haven't stopped. Now everyone is a suspect, even the inspector himself, and unless Titus can find a way to end the killings, he will lose all that is dear to him. For this evil cannot be contained, even by death. My Thoughts: I haven't read a historical book for a while, so I was really excited to get started with The Hanged Man Rises , and it was great to read something different. It was a quick, fun read ...

Book Review: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Title:  Paper Valentine Author: Brenna Yovanoff Series:   Standalone Pages:  304 Publisher:  Simon and Schuster Children's Books Date of Publication:  3rd January 2013 Source:  Publisher* Synopsis from Goodreads:  The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor's peaceful suburban community is killing girls. For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian's ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah's just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn't there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobb...