Category: Book Review

Review: The Last Summer of Us by Maggie Harcourt

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Limpet, Steffan and Jared. Three best friends crammed into a clapped-out rust bucket of a car on a whirlwind road trip to forget their troubles and see out the end of the summer. But no matter how far they drive, they can’t escape the hidden secrets and slow-burning romance that could upset the balance of their friendship – perhaps forever.

There are two things I love a lot in YA – the first is road-trips, the other is romance. Another favourite is Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt, and I ordered this book as soon as I finished that one.

He smells of beginnings.

I love the romance in this book. It’s so slow-burning that I didn’t know what was going to happen, and that was great. I love the anticipation of not knowing, and finding out what was going to happen at the very end.

Beginnings set in motion a long time ago and overlooked.

I found this book a lot different to Unconventional. The whole voice of this book is completely different, but I actually liked that! I love the way Harcourt could write about such meaningful and serious subjects while keeping the story and experiences lighthearted.

Beginnings which no number of endings could bury.

This book is a good all-round contemporary. It has all the ingredients for a great YA – good characters, strong writing, some great experiences and coming-of-age topics. It tackles deep subjects like grief yet shows romance, friendship and family.

I only had one issue with this book – the plot development. Maybe it’s just me, but it felt like a weird mixture of being both slow and fast-paced. I felt like the book went quickly but for a long time we weren’t really heading anywhere. But I have to say, I think that might be what Harcourt was aiming for. And getting to the end, everything became clear. I kind of understood.

★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

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Sixty years after a virus has wiped out almost all the men on the planet, things are pretty much just as you would imagine a world run by women might be: war has ended; greed is not tolerated; the ecological needs of the planet are always put first. In two generations, the female population has grieved, pulled together and moved on, and life really is pretty good – if you’re a girl. It’s not so great if you’re a boy, but fourteen-year-old River wouldn’t know that. Until she met Mason, she thought they were extinct.

Doesn’t this sound like such an interesting read? Unfortunately, I was disappointed once again. Part of me thinks I may be getting a little critical of books as I’m reading more, but this one actually doesn’t have good reviews – and for good reason.

I had a lot of issues with this book. Some of them were just writing, language and plot holes. Some are deeper than that.

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this one. I guess with the simple things. This book just felt lacking – and I think that might be in plot. I believe dystopia should be interesting and fast-paced…and Who Runs the World? just wasn’t. I felt bored, and I didn’t feel motivated to read. I felt disconnected from the characters and the story. The writing was incredibly simple, and I honestly felt like River was treated like a child, acted as a child and thought as a child.

Another thing I found confusing was the tense. River constantly referred to the Granmumma speak as ‘text talk’, which I think meant it was 2 generations in front of the present day? But similar to how I found Ink by Alice Broadway, the town felt really behind. Yes, we had trains and hotels and (I think) phones. But then the only news we heard was through word-of-mouth, and TV’s and video games were all seen as old fashioned. It just seemed weird to me.

But unfortunately my issues with this book also grew deeper. In my viewpoint, this book was sexist. It basically said that men are directly connected to rape and murder. It told the main character to cover up so she could avoid being raped. It portrayed men in a very negative light and really didn’t show much progress throughout the story. Yes, the final few chapters started to turn things around…but it wasn’t really enough. The views of men in this book were just inexcusable.

★★

-Beth

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Review: The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

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Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

As I enjoyed Everything, Everything so much, my friend Chloe offered The Sun Is Also a Star for me to borrow. I agreed delightedly, and I wasn’t disappointed.

“Stars are important,” I say, laughing.

Let’s start by saying this is definitely my kind of book. It’s beautiful and poetic, which hidden meanings and uniqueness and some astonishingly lovely quotes. I knew I was going to love it from the very first page.

Before I start, I just have to mention the extraordinary diversity in this book. A Korean-American boy and Jamaican-American girl meet and fall in love. They both come from backgrounds where they have encountered difficulties because of their nationalities, but this book shows the progress we are making in this world.

“Sure, but why not more poems about the sun?

I loved many things about this book. The characters merged beautifully, especially coming from different backgrounds. I loved the plot, and the way we saw the story progress in only a day. I loved the detail, and the fact this book left nothing to the imagination. I felt like I knew Natasha and Daniel and their feelings inside out.

I also love the unique chapters (talked about in more detail below), and the insight we had into the characters years in the future. In some books, you will leave a character wishing you knew where their lives were leading. I felt like this in Everything, Everything, and it was very refreshing to have something so different.

The sun is also a star, and it’s our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two.”

The only negative thing I have to say about this one is I found it a little confusing to get into. Yes, this book focuses on Natasha and Daniel, but it also distributes random chapters about anything from fate to love to eyes to a random minor character. At first, I kind of didn’t see the point, and I just wanted to get back to what was happening with our two lovebirds. But as the book progressed, I could see the importance. I wanted to know the story of the minor characters, and it made the book different.

In YA, we usually focus on just the main characters and their viewpoints, but this book offers the feelings behind everything. One of the chapters (as mentioned above), was entirely about eyes and the connection two people feel when looking into each other’s eyes. It was only a couple of pages long, but it was utterly beautiful. I wish I could write something like that.

[Spoiler] The only other thing I didn’t like is the similarities between the plot development of this story and Everything, Everything. It’s kind of hard to explain, but basically two people fall in love, meet complications, struggle with their families and other aspects of their lives, go on an adventure together, are separated and finally meet again. [End of spoiler]

★★★★

P.S. A great read if you love the work of: Jennifer Niven, Rainbow Rowell, Emery Lord, Jenn Bennett and Crystal Sutherland – to name a few!

P.P.S. The way they made this cover is incredible! I would love to re-create it.

-Beth

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Review: Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review7 Comments

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Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.
Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.
Whip-smart and blunt, Mara narrates the end of their world as she knows it while trying to make it to graduation in one piece. It’s an explosive year punctuated by romance, quarantine, lifelong friendship, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bloggers, ice cream trucks, “Snooze Button™,” Bon Jovi, and the filthiest language you’ve ever heard from the President of the United States.

Can I mention something that annoyed me before I even started this book? My edition of this book has a quote from John Green printed on the cover – “Truly the smartest and funniest book about spontaneous combustion you will ever read”. Well that’s not a big statement, because it’s probably also the only book about spontaneous combustion I will ever read.

Otherwise, this book sounded awesome. Such a cool concept, fun and humorous. I expected (and wanted) it to be so good – which is maybe why I was so devastatingly disappointed.

While reading this book, the first word I thought of to describe it was ‘honest’. Because that’s what it is. The story is about a senior class full of students that blow up. And by blow up, I mean combust in a bloody mess that ends up over the walls, floors and fellow students. The first time this happens, the reader may be a little shocked. And then it happens again, and again, and you get used to it.

Mara is possibly the most honest and sarcastic narrator I have ever known. Is that a good thing? Not necessarily, and not always. Unfortunately it made me feel a little disconnected with her and therefore her story, where there could have been the possibility to really feel emotional with her situation.

Mara unfortunately wasn’t the only issue I had with this book. Another was the plot, which felt so slowwww.

Like, this book really dragged. It’s a long book anyway (well, anything over 300 pages is long to me), but I just didn’t feel motivated to read it. It just felt boring. Maybe if I’d been worrying about Mara and her destiny (or even another character), I’d have felt differently. But honestly, I didn’t care what happened. I didn’t care if her boyfriend or best friend or even her herself blew up.

I also disliked the ending. It seemed confusing and pointless. I felt like I was completely back where we started. Like what? I want clarification. I want to know what happened, and if anyone found out anything. Not some kind of poetic bullsh*t from someone otherwise portrayed as sassy and cold-hearted.

Oh, and one more thing. All the feels? Really? For non-readers of this book, Mara talks about this novel she wrote including a main character called Xaiver or something. Not only is All the Feels the name of a published book by Danika Stone, it also includes a character called Xander.

So what did I like? Well, I guess I kept on reading, so Aaron must have done something right. I also liked the concept and the original idea. I just feel like Aaron took too much of a risk, and in the end it didn’t pay off for me.

★★

-Beth

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Review: Release by Patrick Ness

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review14 Comments

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Inspired by Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume’s Forever, Release is one day in the life of Adam Thorn, 17. It’s a big day. Things go wrong. It’s intense, and all the while, weirdness approaches…
Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything. It’s a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won’t come out of it unchanged. And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course.

To describe my thoughts about this book in one line is easy. I don’t know what half of this book is.

Before reading this book, I’d heard it was a contemporary with a weird fantasy story weaved in between. That sounds strange, right? Well, it is.

If you’ve read The Rest of Us Just Live Here, you’ll know that book kind of includes the same thing. It almost shows parallel universes – or snippets of something – kind of like the Upside Down from Stranger Things. But The Rest of Us Just Live Here just makes so much more sense.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked this book. I’d even go as far to say I loved it. But at the same time, I was left wondering what the hell is going on.

The story follows Adam Thorn, a gay son of a preacher who is working through a lot of emotions, loss and struggles all over the course of one day. I really liked Adam. I felt I related to him from the start, and I felt his story was a really important one.

I also love that this book was told over the course of a day. It suits the length of the book, and it felt almost like a dawn-to-sunset journey. It also adds to the impact of the amount that one life can change in just one day.

Overall, I loved what Ness did with Adam. He showed raw emotion and struggle which the reader really connects to. The settings work (and kind of intertwine with the weird fantasy parts), the characters are very powerful, and even the sex was tastefully done.

But I still have this snag. Because I don’t get the fantasy. I don’t even know how to explain it.

Basically, it’s briefly mentioned that this fantasy story is one about a meth addict murdered by her boyfriend at a lakeside. This lake (I believe) is the same one mentioned in Adam’s story, and the murdered girl was someone from a party or school or something? But I don’t quite get it. I don’t get how it fits. I felt like Ness tried some kind of higher-being writing that was meant to be deep and meaningful but just ended up leaving me in a confused daze. I even felt like skipping these parts just to get back to Adam, and for that reason I probably didn’t take it in as much as I could.

But – and this is where I have such mixed feelings – I just loved Adam. His story felt so important, like it was just begging to be told. And his character is one we really need in YA right now. And even though I felt like the start of the book was a little slow, the ending made up for it.

So this definitely isn’t my favourite of Ness’s. The Chaos Walking trilogy firmly holds that spot. But it was still an enjoyable read overall, and one I would recommend – just watch out for confusion.

★★★★

-Beth

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Book review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review20 Comments

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My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Before I start: This review is spoiler free! You can carry on at your leisure.

To celebrate the US release of Everything, Everything, here I am with my book review!

Wow. I don’t even know where to start. Let’s just say this was a refreshing read after Thirteen Reasons Why. It was just what I needed – to find my love for books again.

“I was trying so hard to find the single pivotal moment that set my life on its path. The moment that answered the question, ‘How did I get here?’

Let’s try and break this up into a manageable review, and stop my head spinning around and around at the emotions I feel towards this book.

I always say the best books are the ones that make you feel everything. And this book did. I felt everything along with Maddy – I laughed at Olly’s sense of humor, I felt despair at her condition and the restrictions it included, I felt joy at her sense of adventure, anger at the plot twist and finally, hope.

That is what I loved most about this book – among many other things – the emotions. The journey. The sheer inability to guess what was going to happen.

But it’s never just one moment. It’s a series of them. And your life can branch out from each one in a thousand different ways.

So why has it taken me so long to get round to reading it? After all, it’s been on my TBR since release. Honestly, the hype put me off. That might sound ridiculous – but I was in a bitter post-TFIOS stage and I didn’t want to read anything with too much hype because I thought it would all disappoint me.

How wrong could I possibly be? Instead of hating this book, it’s become my favourite of the year so far. It might even stay there for my end of year summary.

Maybe there’s a version of your life for all the choices you make and all the choices you don’t.”

So..why? Becuase I just felt like everything in this book fit together. It had everything. It had characters I understood and felt a connection towards. It had perfect – yet cliche – romance. It had lovely, flowing, poetic writing that didn’t feel over the top in it’s beautiful quotes. It even had an amazing plot, with a plot twist I didn’t see coming.

Last but not least – a shoutout to Nicola Yoon for that plot twist. Unfortunately, good plot twists are few and far between in contemporary romances. If they do occur, they’re usually pretty safe and predictable. But Yoon took a risk with this one, and it paid off.

How I admire her for creating such a wonderful novel.

I give this book (undoubtedly)….

★★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review23 Comments

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Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

I could very easily say I hated this book – but I won’t. I can’t say I hated it. However, I will admit that it made me very angry, because it all felt so wrong to me.

I ranted a lot while reading this book – as everyone who has talked to me recently will know! I will admit I was wrong on one part though. I felt like this book doesn’t depict feeling suicidal very well – but people who have been through similar situations to Hannah said they felt like they related to her thoughts and feelings. So for that, I will say I was wrong. And the fact this book helped and related to people is an amazing thing.

Now onto my rant! I didn’t hate this book – but disliked it enough to list 13 reasons why I disliked it! Before I start, I have two notices.

  1. This post is kind of inspired by this post by Emma Reads!
  2. Please understand this is my personal opinion. I am not trying to start an argument or offend anyone! If you loved this book, I’d just avoid the rest of my review.

13 Reasons Why I Didn’t Like Thirteen Reasons Why

#1 – The melodramatic person that is Hannah Baker

Okay, I will admit I did find this different as I carried on – and towards the end I kind of started to understand a little more. But some of the little things that happened just seem so petty to me. But it might be wrong of me to criticise that – I know little things can affect me badly and I know it can be awful for people who go through that over and over again.

#2 – What she did to poor Clay

Yes, some of these people maybe did deserve what Hannah did *cough* Bryce *cough*, but not all of them. I don’t think even most of them would have deserved something as bad as what Hannah did – but Clay is definitely didn’t. He felt like it was his fault – even though Hannah says it isn’t – and yet she still put him on the tapes. She still made the poor guy, who was just too shy and too scared to make a move…and put him through all that.

#3 – Other teenagers feel like sh*t too!

A very important thing here. I’m pretty sure that at some point, teenagers have a low point (or more, or even many). We’re all vulnerable, emotional and have a lot going on. IT’S NOT JUST YOU, HANNAH.

#4 – Triggers

I know the adaptation of this book has given people panic attacks. I know it has trigger warnings, and that’s a good thing. But it doesn’t stop people watching it. It doesn’t stop people (even kids who are watching it because their friends watched it) seeing these graphic, awful images and having panic attacks because of it.

#5 – She doesn’t help herself

I know a lot of people find it hard (and scary) to get help. I totally understand that. But I just wish she had gone for help earlier. I wish it had been portrayed in a better light, and she had realised that poor Mr Porter just wanted to help.

#6 – People may care, but they don’t always notice

Hannah constantly blamed other people for not realising how she’s feeling. Ever occurred to you that having your hair cut doesn’t show that? That giving away a bicycle might just show that you’re a nice person?

Also, all teenagers have troubles. A lot of them are completely and utterly wrapped up in that. But it doesn’t mean they don’t care. It doesn’t mean they don’t want to help.

#7 – “I’m f*cked up, so I’ll just f*ck everyone else up too”

It’s obvious that Hannah feels like she’s been screwed over by everyone in some way – but her way of dealing with it is making other people feel the same way. Making other people feel like it’s their fault for your death. Putting it bluntly – how screwed up does that sound?

I’m not saying they don’t deserve it. Some of them maybe do…but then there’s others, who maybe were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I just don’t feel like they deserve that.

#8 – Suicide is not an adventure. It is the end of an adventure

I hate the way suicide is shown in this book. At all. The whole cassettes and map thing makes it look like a twisted kind of treasure hunt. Real life just doesn’t work like that. It’s not a game, but I feel like the way it is connected to a kind of hunt isn’t a good thing.

#9 – There are two – or thirteen – sides to everything

Yes, I’ll admit that Hannah went through some tough sh*t. She didn’t deserve any of it. But what about Mr Porter, for example? He might not have been able to chase after her because he could have been fired. It might have looked wrong. He tried everything to try and help her, and he got pushed away.

#10 – So much blame

Sometimes, everyone has to accept they did something wrong. They could have asked for help. And I know this is a hard thing to get around, but sometimes life just happens and you can’t always control it. Hannah didn’t only put blame on other people, but she put blame on herself.

#11 – Where the f*ck are the parents?!

I like that this book is about how people do care, even when you don’t think they do. But I hate the fact that the parents are hardly mentioned at all! I’m sure they played a big part in Hannah’s life, and I wish I knew how they missed her. I wish Jay had shown us that your parents would find it hardest to heal. He missed such an opportunity there.

#12 – Get help.

As I said above, I know it’s hard to get to help – but this book puts the counselor in a bad light. It puts asking for help in a bad light, and that is something I think YA books about mental health should never do.

#13 – SUICIDE IS NOT THE ANSWER

I might be wrong, but I felt like this book almost recommended suicide as the answer. Instead of asking for help or telling people that you feel down or even suicidal, ending it all is the easiest way. I understand some people feel that way – but I feel like this book could have shown a much better message. It could have discouraged suicide. Hannah could have found help, and it could have shown that help is available. That help is right.

So after all that, let’s end on a good note. First of all, well done if you managed to get through all that. Anyway, the good note is:

  • I do think this book gave one good message. The fact that it did make me think about how actions can have an influence on people, and their mental health. It did make me think about my own actions. I just don’t think that message was portrayed in the right way.

I give this book….

★★

-Beth

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Review: Lorali by Laura Dockrill

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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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 own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?

Disclaimer: I received this book from Hot Key UK in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my views in any way.

This book reminded me very much of Ink, for a good reason and a bad reason. The good reason was the uniqueness. There is no denying I have never read a book like Lorali, or met characters like the ones in her world.

The bad reason, however, is the confusion. I liked the uniqueness, but you can go too far…and unfortunately, I feel like Lorali did.

Creating a whole new concept in YA is a brave thing – and I can say Dockrill did that. But even though the concepts for both Lorali and Ink are both good, they weren’t carried out in the right way.

For a start, the world of mermaids is a concept hard to get your head around, especially in this book. I think part of the problem was the writing – it felt so debut-y. And pre-teen-y. The language just didn’t seem right. Even though I enjoyed the different way Rory sounded in his writing, it came across as immature.

I also disliked the ending, which felt like it cancelled out some of the book for me. I won’t say anymore because of spoilers, but it kind of felt like she lost a lot of the things she gained by ‘surfacing’. Okay, I’m going to stop moaning in a second! The last complaint I have is the amount of different characters in this book. Oh, it confused me so!

Onto the good stuff. I think the concept salvaged this story more than anything else. It’s unique, it’s different, and a lot of people will love it. There are not many mermaid themed books, so this one definitely creates something fresh and interesting. I also can’t say I disliked the book while I was reading it. Sure, I found a lot wrong…but I didn’t hate the actual process of reading it.

So overall, mixed feelings. It’s been a tough choice, but I am going to carry on with the series and read Aurabal if I can! Even though I didn’t like the main ending, the epilogue has actually drawn me in.

I give this book…

★★★

-Beth

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Review: One Italian Summer by Keris Stainton

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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It’s been a year since Milly, Elyse and Leonie’s dad died, and a year since their last trip to Rome. Summer’s here again, and once again they are heading with their mum to Italy – but what’s it going to be like going without Dad? Rome still holds its familiar charms – the sun is still as warm, the gelato as delicious, the people as welcoming. But nothing is quite as it once was …
With grief still raw for all of them, Milly is facing the additional awfulness of having to see Luke again – gorgeous, gorgeous Luke, who she had a fling with last year, and who she made a total fool of herself with – or so she thinks. What’s going to happen this time? What’s more, things between Milly, her sisters and their mum are rocky – Leonie is being tempestuous and unpredictable, Elyse is caught up with her new boyfriend, and Milly feels like she just doesn’t know how she fits in any more.
Over one Italian summer, can Milly find a way back to the life she once had?

Disclaimer: I received this book from Hot Key UK in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my views in any way.

It’s safe to say I loved this book. It was the perfect romance/contemporary and holiday read. As I explained in my video above, I loved most aspects of this book, and they all fit so well together.

The plot flowed pretty well. A week or two is a great time frame for a holiday read, and it really made me feel close to the characters and the setting!

The setting was one of my favourite parts of this book, and it really felt like I was, as a reader, in the setting and with the characters. This reminded me of Anna and the French Kiss, which also has a great representation of the setting.

Moving onto the characters, I really liked Milly. She felt real and relatable, struggling with many different things we feel day-to-day. She was a typical teenager with a love interest, but it really kind of worked. I really like that the entire book wasn’t completely focused on romance and it allowed room for other thoughts and feelings.

Some of these were really well represented, including worrying, paranoia and coping with grief from overcoming her dad’s death. The side characters were really well written, meaning a I found out about a lot of stories within the novel without being confused!

The only tiny gripe I could pick up in this book was the slight bit of insta-love, but I can’t really complain too much. As with much of the book, the love progressed with the story and it worked too!

Overall, I really liked this book. I didn’t want to finish it, and I actually avoided reading it for a while because I didn’t want to leave this story! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves YA contemporary, romance and holiday reads.

I give One Italian Summer:

★★★★

-Beth

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Review: Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review5 Comments

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A sexy, funny roller coaster of a story about one date over one very long night in New York. Nick and Norah are both suffering from broken hearts. So when Nick sees the girl who dumped him walk in with a new guy he asks the strange girl next to him to be his girlfriend for the next five minutes. Norah would do anything to avoid conversation with the not-friend girl who dumped Nick, and get over the Evil Ex whom Norah never quite broke up with. And so she agrees. What follows is an epic first date between two people who are just trying to figure out who they want to be – and where the next great band is playing.

Before I start: You may be interested to know my Week 1 of Mental Health Month is now up on Tumblr! You can read it here.

This book is definitely sexy! I love the easy feel of this book. It’s definitely one to read if you love contemporary YA and romance!

You may remember me reading Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List and finding it a little confusing, but this one was definitely better. In both books there appear to be many different characters, but I liked how Nick & Norah had only, well, Nick & Norah.

That’s something I’d like to mention in this all-over-the-place review. I really liked the two characters. It was good to have the two viewpoints, but not confusing. I don’t think this book could work any other way!

I liked a lot about this book. The plot was good, and I liked the idea of it being panned over just a night, with all the detail included!

I also liked the writing, it was simple, and it made me feel like I knew exactly what both characters were thinking. The only downside about this book would be the actual love. This book is definitely insta-love, but maybe I should have expected that. I am definitely one to prefer people falling in love over a longer period of time, so if you do too, make sure you expect insta-love!

Overall, I liked this book. It was an easy, quick, casual and sexy read, but it wasn’t incredible. Definitely worth the read, but not one of my absolute favourites.

☽ ☽ ☽
3 out of 5 moons

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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