Month: April 2017

The Raven Boys. Book Review #15

On By paperbackpeteIn PeteLeave a comment

Hello fellow book lovers!

Hopefully you all had a wonderfully relaxing Easter break last weekend and you got to spend it with the ones you love and the book/s you love too!

Today I want to give you my take on what has became one of the most popular series in all of YA.

The Raven Boys is a Young Adult magical realism story following Blue Sargent, the daughter of a small town mystic who can see the dead and read the future. Her whole life Blue has been surrounded by people who could do things that didn’t make sense but for some unknown reason she has never been able to do those things herself. That all changes when on an annual visit to her local graveyard on one of the most magical days of the year Blue sees the ghost of a boy she will soon come to know very well, he just so happens to be a raven boy.

With true love curses and trees that can talk this book explores being independent, being wealthy, being different and being young.

There was always so much talk about The Raven Boys in the YA world and I’d heard loads of good things so I decided last week that now was the time to finally pick up this story. It did not disappoint. Aside from being, genuinely very well written one of the biggest things about this book that really jumped out to me was how completely stranded I was within the plot. I mean this in a positive way, of course. Before going into TRB I had a very solid image in my mind about what I thought it was going to be like and instead what I got was something entirely different.

I am a sucker, like many of us, for stories about high school and all of the usual dramas that surround the most momentous time in our lives that we call being a teenager. However, The Raven Boys in a pleasant shock did not build itself up on being a book about being an angsty adolescent with a dark secret and a splash of unrequited love. The boarding school that the Raven Boys go to in the story is an important element but it isn’t shoved in our faces and generally not a lot of time is spent there. The focus of TRB is on the characters and the multitude of events that unfurl around them not the usual cliches of who likes who and will you go to prom with me? I guess what i’m trying to say is that in this book youth is done in a tasteful way.

Not just youth but wealth too. Often in young adult books our protagonists posses some superpower that makes them unique enough for us to care about reading their story. TRB is no different, Gansey has his insatiable curiosity, Blue has her mysticism and Ronan has his money. Stiefvater somehow manages to weave a web of magic and folklore into every day realistic problems that normal people face like family and acceptance. The affluence of the Raven Boys, to me was one of the most intriguing of all of these real life problems. I have always found the young and wealthy to be some of the most interesting characters and Stiefvater paints the effects of wealth, in this book, in a way that feeds that interest profoundly. It can be very easy for normal people like you and me (I apologise if you are a millionaire) to romanticise wealth and picture it as an everlasting comfort blanket of excess. However in TRB, in the most raw and honest way, Stiefvater assures us that its not all rosy in the nicer part of town.

I could of talked about this book all day if I didn’t have an English essay due tomorrow so I’m just going trust that you all are clever enough to go out and buy this masterful piece of literature. The hype around this story exists for a reason- its because its good.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth

ARC Review: All the Good Things by Clare Fisher

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review10 Comments

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Goodreads | Amazon

Twenty-one year old Beth is in prison. The thing she did is so bad she doesn’t deserve to ever feel good again.
But her counsellor, Erika, won’t give up on her. She asks Beth to make a list of all the good things in her life. So Beth starts to write down her story, from sharing silences with Foster Dad No. 1, to flirting in the Odeon on Orange Wednesdays, to the very first time she sniffed her baby’s head.
But at the end of her story, Beth must confront the bad thing.
What is the truth hiding behind her crime? And does anyone-even a 100% bad person-deserve a chance to be good?

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Penguin UK in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my views in any way.

Note: This review will also be published on June 23rd as part of the All the Good Things blog tour.

The easiest way I can describe All the Good Things is raw. This is pure, honest feelings. There is absolutely no filter, and I loved it.

Beth is the perfect protagonist. She tells her story in a great way – and I loved the use of flashbacks to all the different parts of her life. The cast of characters is large, and I actually enjoyed that. Most of the time I find it easier to focus on just a couple or small group of main characters, but this time, it worked. I knew who everyone was, why they were there and what they added to the story. And that’s the other great thing – all of the characters fitted. All of them worked well together, and they were all needed to complete the story.

The story Beth tells is one of the most difficult I have ever read – but at the same time, I couldn’t stop reading. I became very attached to Beth, the damaged soul she is, and I wanted to know she would be okay.

The writing is extremely clever, in that we get to know Beth before finding out about this ‘bad thing’. In fact, we know everything about her and her life before this ‘bad thing’, and it works so well.

This stopped the judgement surrounding people in prison. It stopped the way we feel towards people who have committed crimes this serious, because we, strangely, were forced to understand. We were forced to relate. The fact that Fisher could do this in words baffles me. I look up to her and respect her as an author, because she did something beyond belief.

I love the lead up to the big ending in the story. The book follows a series of sessions Beth has with her counselor, Erika, in which she writes a list of all the good things in her life. With each point on this list, another part is added to the story.

So…did I guess the ending? I have to admit, I did. Not completely, but it was like this thing in my head was nudging me, going ‘it could be this, it could be this’, and it was right. But, the same as Beth, I didn’t want to accept the fate. And, the same as Beth, I ignored the nudging. This means the book works whether you guess the ending or not – because you still don’t want to face it, and you still want to find out what really happened.

Overall, this book was harrowing, but it needed to be. It was real. It was human. It showed a very important thing – we are complicate creatures. We are all different, and we are not defined by one single thing.

A beautifully written debut, and one I would thoroughly recommend to all readers.

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
5 out of 5 moons

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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ARC Review: Out of Heart by Irfan Master

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

Disclaimer: I have been provided with a proof copy by Hot Key Books in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my review or opinion in any way.

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Donating your heart is the most precious gift of all.
Adam is a teenage boy who lives with his mum and younger sister. His dad has left them although lives close by. His sister no longer speaks. His mum works two jobs. Adam feels the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
Then his grandfather dies and in doing so he donates a very precious gift – his heart.
William is the recipient of Adam’s grandfather’s heart. He has no family and feels rootless and alone. In fact, he feels no particular reason to live. And then he meets Adam’s family.
William has received much, but it appears that he has much to offer Adam and his family too.

To put it simply, this book is unlike any I have ever read before. The writing is unusual, the characters are different, the setting is one not often used and the whole concept is one I would love to see more of.

I love the mixture of writing – it was extremely clever in structure. We jumped from different characters viewpoints, between prose, story and sketches. This book really stands apart in many ways, and above all, it intrigued me.

We dive right into the story, and I will admit that it confused me slightly. To be thrown into a characters life is a lot to take in – and I didn’t understand everything straight away! But the pure difference of this book made me want to carry on and find out more about the people this story follows. I wanted to understand.

On the subject of the confusion, I’d say that’s the only bad part of this book. Although much of it becomes clear as the story unfolds – some things were a little misty. One that stood out to me, for example, was the age of William. I thought he was not much older then Adam, and then I found out he was around the age of Adam’s parents. I liked this feature a lot, as it showed the unimportance of age, but I wish it had been clearly stated earlier in the story.

This book holds a lot of meaning. It talks about things many YA novels don’t – abuse, depression, illness, mental health and race. I love the way this book explored nationality and I felt some of it directly related to situations in some communities here in the UK.

I felt Adam’s story really demonstrated the need for equality, and I wish we had more of that. It really struck a chord with me, and reminded me the real importance for stories like this to be told.

A lot of things in this book felt important. The need to stand up for others and stand together. The longing to support others in their times of need. The need for love among those who are quiet, who are loud, who are different in appearance and age and backgrounds and personality and race. The need for love among all.

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
4 out of 5 moons

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.
Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

This book is everything I have ever stood for. Everything I fight for. I feel as though Poston has ripped my heart out and scattered it among beautiful pages. It’s as though she described me better than I could ever describe myself – in a book.

This novel shows that fandom is real, and it can change your life. It captures the very essence of a con – that feeling of walking into a room and knowing everyone is just like you.

It demonstrated that no one can define who you are – except yourself. That bullies can come in every form and in places where you feel safest, but at the same time, not everyone is like that.

It showed the true meaning of words…and it showed that long distance relationships are manageable and can work, if you only remember to never miss a goodnight.

And it showed something I believe is even more important than anything else in this book. It showed that no matter who it is, what they do and wherever they are in the world – any two people can fall in love. Even through late night texts.

As you can tell, I related to this book on an infinite number of levels. I feel like talking about different things about this book would be pointless. Because everything – the plot, the characters, the writing, the concept – worked. This book is just…more than that. It’s more than picking apart the building bricks of it, because it’s just perfect. It’s just simply incredible. I don’t want to ever let this story, these characters, this fandom, go.

In fact, I think it’ll stay in my heart forever.

Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Wink Poppy Midnight. Book Review #14

On By paperbackpeteIn PeteLeave a comment

Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a dazzling weekend. Its been uncharacteristically warm in England over the past few days and I’ve been lucky enough to get away from studying for a few precious hours and actually enjoy it.

This post, I want to talk to you all about one of the most unusual books I’ve ever read.

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke is a magical realism YA novel that follows a trio of characters all shrouded with mystery and darkness. Wink is weird, Midnight is torn and Poppy is beautiful. The three teenagers, over the course of the summer become intertwined in ways they could’ve never imagined and a single act lays the path for secrets and lies that soon spin out of control.

So the first thing I’d say about this book is to go into it with an open mind (as you should with all stories) although especially with this one. In the frankest way possible Wink Poppy Midnight is strange, like really really strange. The plot, whilst on the surface appears to be very We Were Liars-esque (Which I didn’t mind), is nothing of the sort. Certainly I have never read anything like this before and I do not believe that I ever will. It would be easy to look at this book and think it to be just another one go those samey samey-mysterious-and-abnormally-good-looking-teenagers-kill-someone-in-the-middle-of-what-was-supposed-to-be-the-best-summer-of-their-lives-and-form-a-bond-like-no-other troupes but really there is a lot more depth to it and numerous quirky lines and lovable scenes. I won’t give away any spoilers but I will tell you there is a twist and ,just like the entire book, its a weird one.

Tucholke’s use of language is so beautiful and perfectly poetic that the line between realism and magic is often blurred. Whilst reading this book I was never sure if any the characters were going to momentarily conjure fire at their fingertips or shift into a bird; I like this detail very much. If you don’t decide to read this novel for any other reason please do just for the stunning prose.

The characters, in their names and their back stories, were each a delight to read. The dialogue between the cast was so sharp and quick that it felt like I was reading a real teenager conversation. The only way I could describe my love for them all was that it made me feel nice and warm inside.

There are many who criticise this book for being too strange or too ‘out there’ but to that I say nah. Weirdness should be celebrated and thats what this book does, it teaches us that its ok to be different whilst giving us a cracking mystery to solve along the way.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Keep on reading!

And thanks again Beth.

Review: Ink by Alice Broadway

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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Every action, every deed, every significant moment is tattooed on your skin for ever. When Leora’s father dies, she is determined to see her father remembered forever. She knows he deserves to have all his tattoos removed and made into a Skin Book to stand as a record of his good life. But when she discovers that his ink has been edited and his book is incomplete, she wonders whether she ever knew him at all.

I know I’m a bookworm and this shouldn’t be a big deal – but I finished another book! I’ve had less college work to do recently, so it’s been a good time to delve into a few new reads.

To sum up Ink in 3 words, it would be: I liked it. I didn’t love it and I’m not going to rave about it, but it was a good, solid debut that may bring me back to reading Broadway’s other novels!

I’ll take you through a few things I liked and didn’t, probably in sections as I found a lot to talk about with this one.

To start with, the setting was…weird. It felt really mixed up. I imagined the people to be living in old-style houses, almost Tudor. But then I imagined some of the public buildings as extremely modern. It just fit – and it’s not the only thing that felt off.

Image result for tudor street

A lot of this book felt mixed up. For a start, there was no media (TV, radio, or even a newspaper) mentioned, but they had advanced methods of tattooing and a phone-line). Literally all of the information we heard about was through other people.

The clothes seemed to change a lot, too. Our main character would be wearing gray, baggy outfits while her best friend would be adorning smart business clothes.

The writing was good, but didn’t feel quite mature enough for a YA read. You could tell this book was a debut – but it wasn’t a bad read because of it.

I liked the characters – but something felt strange about them too. It’s clear our main character, Leora, is very naive about the world, yet she still felt very ‘censored’. I feel this a lot with YA novels that don’t include swearing – and I definitely felt it with this one. For me, if you’re going to target a book at teenagers, you shouldn’t refrain from swearing and using bad language.

The best thing by far about this novel was the plot. It felt extremely complex but simple in another way. I felt the confusion for and with Leora, but I didn’t feel confused about the backstory or anything similar. The only complaint I have is that all the action came towards the end of the novel, and the middle felt a bit…flat. Literally, Leora just thinks for the majority of the book. But carry on if you’re reading, because the ending does make up for it!

Talking about the ending – that was another thing I loved. Once I got to around page 280, I couldn’t put this book down. I felt so much tension portrayed through the words, I just needed to know what was happening.

So overall, a good read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I just wish we had a little more explanation in some areas!

☽ ☽ ☽
3 out of 5 moons

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Blog Tour: My Name Is Leon

On By Beth JonesIn Blog TourLeave a comment

Thank you to Penguin Random House for letting me take part in this tour!

So readers, I am proud and happy to welcome you to my very first blog tour. Hopefully it is the first of many! Before we start, I received a copy of this book from the publishing company for review, but all of my opinions are my own.

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A brother chosen. A brother left behind. And a family where you’d least expect to find one.

Leon is nine, and has a perfect baby brother called Jake. They have gone to live with Maureen, who has fuzzy red hair like a halo, and a belly like Father Christmas. But the adults are speaking in low voices, and wearing Pretend faces. They are threatening to give Jake to strangers. Since Jake is white and Leon is not.

As Leon struggles to cope with his anger, certain things can still make him smile – like Curly Wurlys, riding his bike fast downhill, burying his hands deep in the soil, hanging out with Tufty (who reminds him of his dad), and stealing enough coins so that one day he can rescue Jake and his mum..

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book about adoption/fostering, and I was a little apprehensive as it’s been so long. But I actually really enjoyed this one!

The plot…is steady, easy to follow and flows very well.

The characters…are touching. I loved Leon – and that the book was from his POV. His tender love for his family runs throughout this novel and it shines through to make this book what it is.

The writing…is amazing! I know I would struggle to write from a child’s viewpoint, but Kit De Waal really pulls it off.

Something I liked…this book…it really makes you feel for the characters. They are young, and therefore I felt so much sympathy for them – more I think than if it was in the POV of an adult.

Something I disliked…honestly, I can’t pick out anything. In it’s own right, this book is amazing. It’s not something I’d usually choose, but I’m very glad to have read it!

My thoughts…My Name Is Leon gives you everything you could ever want from a book. It’s emotional, extremely touching and it makes you think. I’d definitely recommend it!

My rating is…

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
4 out of 5 moons

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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