Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Release date: 15th May 2014

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Reason for reading: the twist! the twist!

Add it on Goodreads

Goodreads synopsis:

We are the Liars.

We are beautiful, privileged and live a life of carefree luxury.

We are cracked and broken.

A story of love and romance.

A tale of tragedy.

Which are lies?

Which is truth?

My thoughts:

 We don’t know much as the story starts. We know something happened to Cadence two years ago, on the island where her family spends their summers. We know she can’t remember what it was. We see Cadence struggle with debilitating headaches, see her life fall apart around her, and see her slowly, painfully, attempt to piece it back together. Cadence is the very definition of unreliable narrator; she barely remembers that whole summer, let alone the event that triggered her memory loss. Cadence returns to the island two years after the incident to discover the truth of what happened there; the truth so awful she forgets it whenever she is told it. 

The awkward, grasping feel of the present on the island is interspersed with Cady’s idyllic, dream-like recollections of summers past and with whimsical fairytale retellings. An interesting narrative style that left me feeling as though I was constantly teetering on the precipice of a massive revelation; dangerously close to a horrible truth, yet a touch too far away to see it clearly. The overall effect is unique and very haunting, wrapped up in the most luscious and elegant of prose. 

Cadence, the Liars, their families and the island were all described so vividly they felt tangible. I was completely enthralled by them all and their ridiculous, privileged, appearances-are-everything existence. You should hate them, or feel sorry for them, but I was addicted. I couldn't get enough of them. The more Cadence told us, the more I wanted to know. 

The ending did come as a massive shock because I was just so immersed in the world of We Were Liars. It's the kind of ending that makes you wonder how you missed it, makes you want to go back and read it again to catch the clues, makes you wish it wasn't so. But you shouldn't read this for The Twist, or because of how hyped up it is, read it because it is beautiful and painful, because it is love and loss and because it will make your heart ache. 

TL;DR: A beautiful, haunting story told in beautiful, haunting prose. Don't try to figure it out, just enjoy it.

Review: Trouble by Non Pratt

Trouble by Non Pratt

Release date: 06/03/14

Publisher: Walker Books

Reason for reading: received a proof, UK author, intriguing premise, loved the cover

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Waterstones | Hive

Goodreads synopsis:

Hannah’s smart and funny ... she’s also fifteen and pregnant. Aaron is new at school and doesn’t want to attract attention. So why does he offer to be the pretend dad to Hannah’s unborn baby? 

Growing up can be trouble but that’s how you find out what really matters.

------------- 

The first thing that struck me about Trouble was how genuine the teenage voices felt. Immediately I could imagine that these characters were real people somewhere, and this was their story. Trouble touches on a lot of things that affect teenagers: sex, unplanned pregnancy, alcohol, reputation, bullying, yet it managed to avoid being an ‘issues’ book. At the heart of it, Trouble is a story about a 15 year old girl that falls pregnant, but for me the shining star of this book was the dynamic between Hannah and Aaron, which unfolds in the most brilliant and organic manner.

Hannah isn’t quite the girl everyone thinks she is, but when she falls pregnant, people aren’t that surprised. She is known for ‘sleeping around’ after all. Aaron is the new boy at school and a bit of an enigma and, for some reason, he offers to pretend to be the father to Hannah’s baby. The amount of personal growth in this novel is pretty outstanding. Both Hannah and Aaron experience a lot over the course of the story, but beyond the things that happen to them is the amount they learn from those things and how they’re changed. By the end of the novel they’re both stronger, better people and that’s accomplished in a way that is painful for everyone involved, but is also incredibly moving, heartfelt and genuine.

The whole cast of secondary characters is wonderfully detailed, from Hannah’s darling little sister to the people that become her true friends to Aaron’s unlikely companion Neville. While Trouble has a lot of seriousness to it, there’s also a lot of humour and completely touching moments, and a lot of those come courtesy of these secondary characters. This might be Hannah and Aaron’s story, but it wouldn’t  be the same without everyone that’s a part of their lives along the way.

Trouble manages to be totally unflinching, yet avoids being cringey. It has one of the most realistic sex scenes I’ve ever read in a book and yet it was not at all uncomfortable to read. Everything about the plot was pitch perfect, from the various reactions to the pregnancy from the people in both Hannah and Aaron’s lives, to the events that unfolded and the twists and turns along the way. There wasn’t a moment that lead me to think “that’s ridiculous” or “she would never say that”.  

TL;DR: Trouble is like a UK combo of a Hannah Harrington novel mixed with a Kody Keplinger one. Full of wit and authenticity, Trouble is a book that really touches on what it means to be a teenager. It’s full of messiness, sadness and anger, but also humour, warmth and charm and it is absolutely wonderful. 

Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale

 

Geek Girl (Geek Girl #1) by Holly Smale

Release date: 28/02/13

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books

Reason for reading (see personal aside in review)

Goodreads

Buy: Waterstones | Hive

Goodreads synopsis:

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. 

She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. 

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did. 

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

-------------

My thoughts:

Personal aside: Geek Girl was one of those books I looked at and thought “not for me”. I saw all the raving reviews, saw it in shops everywhere, had people tell me how awesome it was and still I thought Not For Me. Then I met Holly, briefly, at a launch party a few months ago. She told me she liked my satchel (even though hers is a much nicer colour and has her initials stamped on it) and I thought “oh she’s really nice (and also very pretty) maybe I should actually read her book?” Then, the next day, it was the Kindle Daily Deal and I am not one to mess with Fate (even though I don’t *actually* believe that Fate exists) and so I bought it and I read it and I laughed at it and I loved it. And I really need to stop with this Not For Me thing because I KEEP being proved wrong and I both love and hate that.

Geek Girl is one of the funniest books I have read in ages. I was reminded of reading the Georgia Nicholson books as a teenager and having my sister tell me off for keeping her awake at night from laughing. I know that Geek Girl would get the same response. It was one of those books I couldn’t read on the tube, I had to save for when I was at home, because I knew I would laugh and totally embarrass myself in front of stoic morning commuters.

Harriet is the sort of character you can’t help but love. You have those “oh, Harriet” moments, where she does or says something and you kinda facepalm yourself like “whyyyyyyyyy” but she is just so completely loveable.  She is sweet and funny and slightly immature and naïve and yes, very, very geeky. I loved all the little facts and lists and asides in the book that helped to build Harriet’s character and add to the overall quirky charm of the book.

All the characters are well-developed and diverse and very, very witty. I think Wilbur was my favourite. Him and my boyfriend should get together to exchange ridiculous pet names. I really liked the strong family presence in this book; especially the relationship between Harriet and her stepmother Annabel which was healthy and sweet and caring. It was nice to have a positive portrayal of a stepmother/daughter relationship. Friendship is another major theme in this book: not only the importance of it, but how fragile and easily broken it can be, yet also how easily it can be mended. These are probably two of the most important aspects of the book which I liked because as a teenager, they are two of the biggest aspects of your life. The other major theme of Geek Girl, for me, was identity. In terms of self-identity, of how others see you, of how different people can see the same person in completely opposite ways. Figuring out who you are and how you want to be and feel and think is a really central aspect of being a teenager and I felt that Holly Smale really nailed that. I totally bought Harriet thinking that becoming a model would completely revolutionise her life: would make her cool and sassy and popular and admired, because haven’t we all thought that at some point during our teen years? I felt like Geek Girl was saying that no matter what, you are you and some people won’t like that, but as long as you’re happy with yourself and as long as you have people who love you, that’s totally okay. I think that’s an important message.  

In some ways, the events of Geek Girl were over the top and a bit mad and not always entirely realistic, but I know that some of them did actually happen in Holly Smale’s life and I honestly didn’t mind that it was all a bit bonkers because it was funny and charming and a really enjoyable book to read.

TL;DR Geek Girl is a hilarious and eccentric story with a loveable cast of characters and a very charming, very British feel. It, and Holly Smale, well deserve the oodles of sales and award nominations. 

Review: Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
Release date: September 2012 (paperback)
Publisher: Headline
Source: Purchased
Reason for reading: Love the premise, seen really good reviews

Goodreads description:

They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. 

Who I could have been.

Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time. 

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge.

My thoughts:

I really didn't know what to expect from this book when I started to read it. I'd seen the really good reviews and the award nominations but I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I also felt kinda bad because I read Heart-shaped Bruise after reading Shadow and Bone which I LOVED and I felt like HSB wouldn't be able to match up.

But it did. It was so wonderful. You know when you start a book and you just know that you're going to love it? That is exactly how I felt reading Heart-shaped Bruise. Emily Koll was so captivating. Her voice just leapt out of the page. I loved how the fact she was writing in a notebook, never sure if someone would actually read it, made it feel so much more personal. Like you were the only person to read her story.  Emily was so full of life, of vitality, even though she judged herself so harshly. I felt like, because she was so hard on herself, I didn't have to be. I didn't have to hate her, or be shocked by her or resent her, because she did all that herself. It was so easy to empathise with her, to like her, which isn't really something I expected. I actually really liked Emily, loved her even, despite what she'd done. I totally got why she felt she had to ruin Juliet's life, like, she had to hate someone and she couldn't hate her dad because she loved him, so she hated Juliet. She needed someone else to experience that moment of  realisation that a person you trusted and loved wasn't who you thought they were. It was kinda tragic because all the way through her retelling of her story you can see how it COULD'VE gone; how her life could've been if she didn't have such a need for revenge.

I've read a couple of books where the main character has done something horrible and they skirt around it, hinting at it without actually telling you what happened, and I can find the whole thing quite frustrating and not particularly enjoyable. I find myself reading the book simply to find out what happened rather than because I actually want to. This didn't happen with Heart-shaped Bruise. I enjoyed every minute of reading it, every snippet of information Emily gave me, every snarky comment and beautifully-constructed sentence. I didn't feel like she was keeping secrets from me because she wanted me to read the whole of her story, but because she didn't want to think about them long enough to write them down until she really had to, but that the secrets were always there, at the back of her mind, permeating every thought. 

Heart-shaped Bruise is so fantastically written which is something I love in a book. The prose was beautiful and evocative and Emily felt so vibrant and real. There was a level of dark humour to the story that I didn't anticipate being there, but it really worked with and added to the story. I was initially disappointed by the ending, but once I thought about it I knew that ending it any other way would do the story, and Emily, and injustice. 

TL;DR: Heart-shaped Bruise is a darkly funny, intimate tale of a bit of an anti-hero dealing with the consequences of her actions.

Review: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3) by Ally Carter
Released: 7th February 2012
Publisher: Orchard Books (UK)
Source: Bought
Reason to read: Erm hello? Hale? Ally Carter? Need I say more
Rating: 5/5 

**This is the third book in the series meaning the synopsis and review will have spoilers for the earlier books**
 
Goodreads description:

Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting—or stealing—whatever they want.

No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale’s family, all bets are off when money is on the line. When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there’s no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won’t let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother’s will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company’s fortune. So instead of being the heir—this time, Hale might be the mark.

Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that first, she has to decide if she’s willing to save her boyfriend’s company if it means losing the boy.

My thoughts:

If you're a regular reader of my blog you will (hopefully) be aware of how much I love Ally Carter. I literally only started reading her books last year, but they're so fun and so amazing. The plots are just...well, we'll get onto that.

Perfect Scoundrels had the feel of a Heist Society book; but with much more serious themes running through it. This didn't lessen the impact or enjoyment for me at all, these books usually do feel a bit more serious because so much is riding on the success of their job and so much can go wrong, but this one felt so much more personal. With Hale's grandma and the effect that has not just on Hale but Kat and their friends. 

Hale was so different in this book and in light of what happened you cannot blame him. We got flashes of the old him, sure, but you could see the strain of everything that was happening taking its toll on Hale and it was so tragic. Partly because we lost the laid back, perpetually amused boy that we love, but mostly because Kat lost him. Kat, who was finally starting to recognise and accept her feeling for this boy, and suddenly he's not that boy anymore. He's lost to a world she doesn't fit in with, a place she cannot follow him to. It was good to see, in a way, because you could tell how much she truly does care for Hale that she was so scared of losing him, would do anything to save him. I love how at the end Kat gives him a choice. This wont make too much sense to you till you've read it, but I love that she does it, and the way that she does it. 

The plot met the level of  awesome I have come to expect from Ally Carter. Her plotlines are always so intricate and so well formulated so things are revealed at the right times for maximum impact. Things are kept from the reader, have to be, for the reveals to pack the sort of punch they pack, but you don't tend to care because you are so wrapped up in what's happening. I am always in awe at how Ally Carter manages to pull her plots off, it's almost like her pulling off her own heist, everyone has to be so precise and so delicately planned. I loved how everyone got involved in this, normally Kat and her gang are trying to keep their cons secret from the Bishop family, but this time it was special. We had Uncle Eddie, we had Kat's dad, we had EVERYONE. Even people we hadn't really met before. I loved how the Bishops closed ranks around Hale, that at a time when his own family were being fake and selfish, his adopted family were doing whatever they could to save him.

Kat was so mature in this one, I feel like sometimes she lets her emotions cloud her judgement and she did a little bit still, but it was mostly her fear of what would happen to Hale if he discovered certain things. I felt like she went into this much less stressed, much more balanced because they just had to do this for Hale, there was no time to worry about it.

You could feel the desperation a touch in this book, not just for a con to succeed but for them to have THIS con succeed, beat THIS villain, to save THIS boy and his company. It really added to the atmosphere of the book, to have this tension there. I felt so much more invested in this story because it was so much about Hale. Before, I always wanted them to succeed for them, but now I wanted them to succeed cause it was ABOUT Hale. It was so important to them and to me that everything worked out, and that connection really added to my experience of the book.

Ally Carter has fast become one of my 'must-read' authors and I really cannot express the excitement I felt at the prospect of, and whilst reading, this book. If you haven't picked up an Ally Carter book yet for whatever reason, I urge you to do so!

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Released: April 2012 (UK)
Publisher: Orion (UK)
Source: Secret Santa Gift
Reason for reading: It sounded super cute and I got it as a gift
Rating: 5/5

Goodreads description:

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused," then dead.
"I love you, Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

My thoughts: 

Eleanor & Park was one of the most poignant books I've read for a while, it really affected me while I was reading it; I really felt for the characters and their situations.  I was expecting this book to be much cuter and lighter than it was, so whilst it was a surprise it was by no means a disappointment. 

The story centres of course around the two characters Eleanor and Park, who meet when Park has to share his seat on the bus with Eleanor, the fashionably-challenged new girl at school. I really liked Park, I totally got his reasoning for wanting to stay out of the line of fire when it came to the popular kids. He wasn't popular, he wasn't unpopular and he wasn't a target. He wanted to stay that way and you could totally get that. And you could see how he thought that being friends with the weird new girl would rock the boat too much. He does struggle between what he wants and what he thinks he should want, should do. When it came to Eleanor it was him doing most of the chasing; it was him who expressed his feelings first and most frequently, him who initiated and maintained contact initially and it was so sweet. 

I really liked Eleanor; yeah she was prickly and defensive at times, she didn't give much away, but there's a reason for that, her home life. Eleanor had one of the saddest stories I've read about for a while and it just really struck a chord with me. I wanted her to end up happy and with the sort of life she deserved more than anything. I wanted to like, buy her some nice clothes and some comics and some batteries for her walkman. I wanted to take her away from her life; anything to make her happy.  I really liked how jaded and realistic she was when it came to her and Park's relationship it was an interesting development and it lined up with the sort of life she'd had so far and how her expectations and opinions had been affected by what had happened to her. 

Park was such a cool character, a big fan of comics and music, he was worried about being too effeminate because he wasn't all manly and he didn't like sports and he actually liked wearing eyeliner. He wasn't the sort of son his Marine father could associate with. I liked how it was him who made the first step with Eleanor, pretty much all the steps really, and how he was so in touch with his feelings and so idealistic and so sure of what he wanted. He did struggle with the concept of Eleanor at first. He liked her but he was scared of her not being accepted by people at school and his family and it was so sad to see that struggle, to see him fight to overcome his preconceptions.

The word for this book is definitely bittersweet. Everything about it was so cute but so desperately sad at the same time. There was the initial excitement of the start of their relationship; that bit where you're in tune with each other and yet so aware at the same time, of yourself of the other person, of the space between you. The evolution of their relationship was just so perfect, so sweet yet so riddled with the sort of issues it would be riddled with.

The ending, wow. It happened pretty quick, but it had to really. I loved the uncertainty of it and the desperation of both Eleanor&Park, for various reasons. It was a very open ending, but I like to think we got enough clues from it and throughout the book to deduce what happened.

TL;DR: Eleanor&Park is a bittersweet tale, riddled with difficulties and obstacles but portraying a beautifully desperate sort of love. I highly recommend it. 

Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Easy by Tammara Webber
Published: 3rd January 2013 (UK edition)
Publisher: Peguin (UK)
Source: Bought for kindle
Reason for reading: Everyone and their dog has read it and loved it.
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

Jacqueline seems to have a knack for making the wrong choices. She followed her boyfriend to his choice of university, disregarding her preference. Then he dumped her. She chose a minor she thought she could combine with her music studies, but she's falling behind. And then, leaving a party alone one night, she is attacked. If it wasn't for the timely intervention of a stranger, she would have been raped. Now she must make a choice - give up and give in, or toughen up and fight on. Only the support of the man who is tutoring her and the allure of the guy who saved her from the attack convince her that it's worth fighting on. Will Jacqueline now have to make a choice between them too? And can she make the right decision? It's not easy . . .

My thoughts:

You know those books that you read, and you don't really expect anything from them and then BAM they're amazing? That was Easy for me. I read it in December after hearing about how amazing it was for 6 months, after having it on my kindle for six months, and I read it on a whim because I was in need of a change from all the fantasy I'd been reading.  It was exactly what I wanted to read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Jacqueline was a fantastic character. Her break up had really knocked her for six but I thought she dealt with it so well, I think skipping ONE class for two weeks is a pretty together-reaction to be honest. I have the utmost admiration for how she dealt with her situation, all the way through the book she was so strong and level-headed, despite everything that happened. It's kinda cool in a way to see books about people who are recovering from their first long-term serious relationship, cause at my age that's something I think I can associate with a  little better than a lot of YA where it's younger teens just getting into that same relationship. I definitely think Jacqueline dealt with it better than I did anyway!

Lucas was such an appealing love interest, he managed retained certain 'bad boy' elements such as how inscrutable he was,  his artistic streak, his good looks, emotional drawbacks, whilst thankfully lacking some of the more negative elements that often come with these characters now; the descructive behaviour and habits, the instability, the often abusive treatment. It was great to see a character who was both appealing and stable, the sort of person you'd actually want as a boyfriend. I loved how he continued to look out for Jacqueline and how their relationship progressed.

The relationship itself was so cute and normal, but so intense at the same time, on a really good level. It wasn't all about love at first sight but you could feel the attraction between them and it actually gave me like, butterflies in my stomach sometimes, reading the interactions between the two of them as they danced around the tension, and then eventually gave into it. It felt so organic, it was a perfect recreation of a new relationship I thought.

The book did deal with some pretty heavy issues, with the attempted rape of Jacqueline early on, and the continued harassment she experienced as well as the eventual climaxes of that particular plot point. This was handled so well by the author, it wasn't played down but it also wasn't so dramatic, by which I mean the character's reactions to everything weren't too over the top, and the whole story wasn't filled with so much angst you could practically swim in it. I did feel at some points that character's reactions were fairly textbook responses, because the author was clearly making a point about rape, about how a lot of people get raped by those they know and even trust, about how victim-bashing is unacceptable, and whilst I do feel those points needed to be made, especially in a YA book, I did feel the author's voice and influence coming through at certain points. 

The plot in terms of Jacqueline's journey to move on from her relationship, her interactions with her tutor and attempts to get her life back on track were really great to read. Her email exchanges with Landon in particular made me squeal a little when reading they were just so cute and flirty. Jacqueline is a fantastic role model, something I don't feel happens enough in YA nowadays. She was strong without being hard and detached like the heroines of dystopian novels I love so much, and she wasn't a pushover, willing to  do anything for the first guy who shows her attention. She was a normal girl, living her life and how she got everything back on track and reclaimed the power made me feel kinda proud and satisfied.

TL;DR: Easy is a perfect specimen of college-age, more mature YA. It has that realistic feel you get from a book that has less constrictions placed on it because of the market it is aimed at, but it also didn't go too overboard with the drama like others I've read. If you're looking for one of these mature YA reads, this is the one to go for. It's an easy choice to make. (sorry) 

 



 

Review: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
Release Date: 5th Otober 2012 (UK)
Publisher: MIRA (UK)
Source: Netgalley
Reason for Reading: It's Christmassy!
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.


My thoughts:

I'd been slogging my way through Game of Thrones (which I still haven't finished, I love it, but it just seems to last for ever...) and was in the mood for something a little lighter. This was Christmassy so I thought, I will give it a go! I love David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy so much so I figured it was a fairly safe bet, and I was totally right.

I loved how the Christmas setting made me feel really festive, though I was a little sad a large body of the story happened just after Christmas, I guess it needed to for everything not to feel so rushed. I love the idea of Christmas in New York, so the setting was a huge bonus for me.

I think I liked Dash a little more than Lily,even though he's a Christmas hater. He was mildly sociopathic, rather intelligent and pretty funny. Yeah okay, so maybe very few teenagers use huge words, but there are some out there that do (and I have known a few of them) so I can excuse that. Cause I know they exist.Lily I did like cause she was so exuberant and enthusiastic, and yes she was a little naive but I found that okay, she had been extremely sheltered her entire life. But I definitely found Lily's narrative the funnier of the two, especially her mentions of her 'Shrilly' alter ego. I actually laughed out loud, in public, several times which is always highly embarrassing.

**Somehow, my review managed to get deleted after this point, before or after I posted it I don't know, but I can't remember what I put exactly. Note to self: back reviews up somewhere**

I loved the story, the idea of a part treasure hunt, part game of dares, part confessional. It was cute and funny and really worked in a city like NY. I didn't find it over the top or unrealistic at all which was good.What I mostly loved was how down to earth both characters were about the outcome of the game they were playing, about the reality of their relationship. Neither of them acted as though they'd met their soul mate, or were madly in love. They questioned whether they'd actually work in person, work as a couple when all they knew of each other was contained within the pages of a red moleskin. They didn't hit it off immediately and were both very restrained which I really liked. It was also great to see an initial attraction based not off looks but off the intellectual stimulation and ideas and secrets and confessions shared in the notebook. I loved that it was a clear example of personalities winning out over anything else.

My one issue with it was down to what I have dubbed 'John Green Syndrome'. Whilst not as bad as a JG story, this book definitely had an element of that pretension and faux-philosophy I sorta resent. I hate the profound statements, the comments about life, the universe and everything. I find it fake and totally unnecessary, hence the dropped star from me.

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is fun, it's festive and it's a fantastic read. Perfect for the holiday season.

Review: Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik
Released: 2nd August 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 3/5

Goodreads description:

At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Cast in point:

- As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school - not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects.
- As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn't exactly on everyone's must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list.

When Elise's beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince's best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long.

My thoughts:

I am a tiny bit obsessed with Pride and Prejudice. Last year, I went through this phase of watching the film (the Keira Knightley one, not a fan of the BBC adaptation...I know, you're all looking at me like I've just kicked your child right now) every single night for about a month. Not kidding. Every.Single.Night.  So when I saw a book that's a modern retelling...it had to be mine. 

I thought LaZebnik did a fantastic job of capturing the sisters...though she left Mary out for some reason, the other 4 were fantastically similar to the Bennett sisters. I really liked Elise, I think Elizabeth would've approved of her attitude and outlook.At times she did let her insecurities get to her, more so than Lizzie would've, but I figured this was appropriate for the time, I think even Lizzie Bennett would've felt somewhat intimidated in the situations Elise found herself in.  Her relationship with Webster was so close to that of Mr Wichkham, and the whole situation with him was given a modern twist that really worked, yet stayed true to the spirit of P&P. I thought Juliana was really similar to Jane, in terms of her personality and attutide towards Chase (MR Bingley) and the two sisters who were Kitty and Lydia were pretty much perfect.

In fact, I thought overall it was a fantastic modern interpretation. I felt the plot and the characters were brought bang up to date, and for the most part it followed the story faithfully without being a word for word rewrite, which I liked. The only aspect I struggled with was the parents. The elder Bentons were....odd. They had the whole 'don't quite fit in with society air' that worked, but while Mrs Benton was obsessed with the idea of her daughters getting boyfriends just like Mrs Bennett is obsessesed  with her daughters getting husbands....she was also strangely strict about the weirdest things like no cellphones, what her daughters wore etc, and the combination of the two characteristics felt bery jarring. I also wasn't a huge fan of Mr Benton which is a shame as I love Mr Bennett.


The romances were where everything fell a little flat for me. The relationships in P&P were so complicated, many layered and involving so  many factors, and I didn't feel that aspect was fully replicated in Epic Fail. The relationship between Juliana and Chase started out well, it had the same sweet feel from P&P, but it was just a little too simple and easy for my tastes. The relationship between Derek and Elise was equally promising at first. Derek seemed like he would be a wonderful Darcy, brooding and moody and rude, but I missed the chemistry between them that I felt should have been there. 


I felt Epic Fail was a little too short to truly capture the nuances of P&P. Whilst I really enjoyed this super-cute, lighthearted and humourous read, I think I would've enjoyed it more had it not tried to emulate such a fantastic story. While Claire LaZebnik did a fantastic job of bringing the plot up to date, certain elements did fall just a little flat for me.

Today Liz is posting her review of The Debutantes!

Contemporary Summer Interview: Ally Carter

I am SO excited for today's post...we have an inteview with one of mine and Liz's favourite contemporary authors...Ally Carter! Ally very kindly answered the questions we sent, so thank you so much =]

-------

Hi Ally! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some interview questions for us, we’re both huge fans of your books and we really appreciate it.

First up…just how exactly do you go about researching how to rob an art gallery?

Well, I have a huge advantage in that I get to plan both the heist and the security system.  Robbing an art gallery is far easier when you get to play both sides.

On the topic of research, a lot of the information in both the Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series seems totally genuine (in terms of spy techniques etc) how much of this is real and how much did you invent for the purpose of the books? 

I tried to get all of the theories as close as possible, especially in the first couple of books when I was setting up the school and establishing the world.  I have never been trained as a spy (obviously) but there are a lot of declassified training manuals and other things, and I drew upon those heavily.  The very specific things (like names of devices or maneuvers) are generally made up, but the overall principles are as close as I could make them.

We’ve both read GG5 so we obviously have to ask….any hints/teasers for GG6??

I’m really excited to write GG6, I can tell you that.  When I was working on GG5 it felt very much like I was setting up a GG6 to do list.  When the book ends, Cammie knows a lot about the past, but she also has a very clear sense of what she’s going to have to do in the future.  Some people need saving; some people need taken down.  And she’s going to try to do all of it.

With GG6 being the last of the series, do you have any other projects you can tell us about?

Nothing that I can talk about just yet, but I do have a lot of ideas.  I’m just going to have to really think hard about which one is the right one to tackle as my first post-GG project.

If the characters of Gallagher Girls and Heist Society ever met, what do you think would happen?

I get this question a lot!  I honestly don’t know.  Perhaps I will have to explore it someday.  I am sure that it would depend entirely upon the circumstances.

 Can you please make Zach (for Liz) and Hale (for me) real?? (and also a little older….)

Oh, if I could do that then you girls would have to get in line!

 All the characters in both series have vey clear-cut and diverse personalities/characteristics, how hard is it to get so much depth into characters, especially the more minor ones?

Thank you.  I think I’m at a huge advantage because I have had (so far) several books to accomplish that.  Someone who has a very minor role in book one can have more significance in book two and so on.  Everyone (hopefully) gets their time to shine.

We’re currently hosting a Contemporary YA event on our blogs, what other contemporary books would you recommend for fans of the Gallagher Girls and Heist Society books (or just in general)?

If your readers haven’t yet discovered E. Lockhart then they are seriously missing out.  Her books The Boyfriend List (and later books in the series) and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau- Banks are some of my absolute favorites and great reads for fans of my series.  I’m also currently reading Code Name Verity which a World War II spy girl story.  Super great stuff.

And finally….what’s Hale’s name??

No comment.

Thanks so much Ally!

If you're in the UK, you can win a complete set of Ally Carter books (and trust me you want to!) here. If you're outside the UK, you can win a contemp book of your choice!

Today, Liz is posting an interview with Cora Harrison, author of The Debutantes!

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Release date: July 31st 2012
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads description:

"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.


My thoughts:

I saw a couple of early, glowing reviews of this book (namely from Asher at Paranormal Indulgence) which led me to request it on Netgalley, and I’m SO glad I did.

At first I thought it might be a little stereotypical (albeit a stereotype I adore) what with the whole good girl/bad boy thing; and at times it was, but mostly it was so much more than that. There was plenty of build up to the relationship which I liked. It wasn’t just “I hate you, let’s make out”; everything developed in a very organic manner. I’ve seen some comparisons to Perfect Chemistry and whilst I can see the similarities, I personally preferred this. The relationship developed more naturally for me and Noah was a bit less cheesy.  I liked how they had an ulterior motive which drew them together, and created their relationship, I thought that aspect of it worked really well. 

Echo is a hot mess, she can’t remember where the scars on her arms came from and she resents her stepmother, feels neglected by her controlling father and is estranged from her mother. Her older brother was killed at war, and half her friends won’t acknowledge her in public because she’s so ‘weird’.  A lot of Echo’s story was a fight between what she wanted and what others thought she should want. I really identified with her need to be first in someone’s life, to be the most important thing to one other person. It’s a selfish desire but I think it’s one we all harbour.  I think she really grew as a person during the book, which was really good to see. 

I did really like Noah, I liked his attitude and how he treated Echo. I did get annoyed with him at points, because he was so naïve and unrealistic about certain things and I just wanted him to be a bit more logical and look at the situation properly. He did make the right call eventually, but I did want to shake him half the time and be like “sort yourself out, boy!”.

There was almost a mystery element to this book and I found that quite interesting for such a contemporary book.  I was so intrigued about where Echo’s scars came from, what happened to her, what happened with her mum. I thought everything was revealed fantastically, with enough build up to keep me interested but not too extreme that I was sceptical. The whole thing was quite sad really, and I definitely felt for Echo and what she had gone through.

I think the important thing in these sort of stories is to show how the 2 MC’s really help each other, how they improve each other and encourage growth and maturity without turning the other person into something they’re not, and I felt Pushing the Limits did that wonderfully. It definitely helped seeing the story from both Noah and Echo’s perspectives, although because I read an ARC the splits were really abrupt and not indicated well, so it sometimes took me a while to realise that I was reading from the other character’s POV. 

At times this was a little too intense for me in terms of plot and relationship between both Echo and Noah, but on the whole I found it totally addictive, totally intriguing and very well written. Definitely a new favourite in this genre. 

Today Liz also has a review of Pushing the Limits up, plus she's holding a giveaway for a copy ;)