Tag: book blog

Review: Songs About a Boy (#3) by Chris Russell

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

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Just as Charlie allows herself to succumb to Gabe’s charms, the explosive revelation about her mother’s death threatens to pull them apart. Meanwhile, a media circus has exploded around the future of Fire&Lights – when they announce a US tour to show the world that they are stronger than ever, Charlie gets the opportunity to accompany them. New York City, here she comes! But it’s not all fun and games. Charlie is still feeling all kinds of awkward around Gabe and knowing that her mother’s last days were in America touring with her band, Charlie uses the opportunity to uncover some more truths about her mother’s death.
As Fire&Lights try to win over the world again, and as Charlie and Gabriel uncover the true story that links their pasts, will Charlie finally be able to follow her heart?

I can’t believe the thought ever even crossed my mind to dismiss these books as cheesy, trashy fanfic. They are so much more than that. I picked this 400+ page book up on Sunday night, and I had finished it by Tuesday. For me, that’s absolutely insane. And I’ve not exactly been at home all that time – I’ve been looking after the flat, going out and going to uni. But this book just absolutely flew by for me, and whenever I had a spare minute I would pick it up and dive right in.

That being said, I can’t totally dismiss the cheese or the trash. Because honestly, it does have those elements. It’s a bit like looking back on High School Musical. You can’t believe how cheesy it is, but you would watch it with your girlfriends any day of the week. It’s unrealistic, dramatic and far fetched. But goshdarnit, it is good.

This is for sure a complete guilty-pleasure read, but I can’t deny that it’s very well written. Every single character in this book holds their place and has a lot of depth, and that’s just so hard to do! To be able to build such individuality into so many people – especially the band, the management team and even Melissa’s family – is so impressive.

Being 19, I’m definitely way out of the target audience for this series. But the 13 year old inside me couldn’t put this down, and made me reminiscent of the simpler way I used to read. It’s perfect nostalgia for those years, of loving the sweet teenage relationships and band obsessions.

Unfortunately, I can’t put enough emphasis on the far-fetched concept of this book. Charlie is a 16 year old girl flying around the world photographing a band, with little to no equipment or professional photography training. As I’m studying photography at uni, this was a little hard to get out of my mind. No one around me would even dare to dream of having an opportunity like this, and most of those people are already starting their professional careers.

Overall, I would definitely say go for these books! Just make sure you clear your mind beforehand, and understand that this is going to be a drama-filled, unrealistic but wonderful rollercoaster. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review12 Comments

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Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid’s voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy’s bidding but only for a terrible price. This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, all of them lavishly illustrated with art that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.

This book is absolutely stunning. I can’t believe it’s taken me until now to read this, but I find short stories so hit and miss! Some (*cough* Tales of Beedle the Bard *cough*) can be blatant gimmicks. And others, like this, can be downright beauty.

I am so, so happy that this one fell into the latter. All 6 of these stories are based on classic fairytales, but with a new and fresh take set in the Grisha universe. I haven’t actually read the Grisha trilogy yet, but I loved Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom! What I love about this book is you don’t actually have to read any of Bardugo’s books to understand any of the tales.

“They pray that their children will be brave and clever and strong, that they will tell the true stories instead of the easy ones.”

I actually can’t chose a favourite of these stories, because they’re all so beautiful in their own ways. Ayama and the Thorn Wood, The Witch of Duva and The Water Sang Fire definitely all stood out for me though! I love how each story took up around 50 pages, and I think having that time and space is just crucial for the reader to know the character enough to connect fully to the story.

I can’t write this blog post without telling you all about the incredible illustrations that come with the hardback edition I own! Round every single page there’s a band of illustrations which build up as the story progresses. For example, in one story we start with a fox, and slowly the band builds up until we have trees and other forest creatures around the perimeter of the double-page spread. I can’t even begin to explain the beauty here, the amount these drawings add to each story and make them feel like fairytales.

“They pray for sons with red eyes and daughters with horns.”

I honestly have so much to say about this book that I’m going to have to stop myself from rambling and just say this. Leigh Bardugo, you have done short stories right. I have never experienced a novella quite like this one. It stands out in the fairytale experience, and it took me to many different worlds between the pages. I found it perfect for this festive time of year, so comforting and interesting. I’m sure these stories are ones I will come back to many times again!

★★★★★
5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back where his story began, in Florida. Except now Miss Peregrine, Emma, and their peculiar friends are with him, and doing their best to blend in. But carefree days of beach visits and normalling lessons are soon interrupted by a discovery—a subterranean bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe.
Clues to Abe’s double-life as a peculiar operative start to emerge, secrets long hidden in plain sight. And Jacob begins to learn about the dangerous legacy he has inherited—truths that were part of him long before he walked into Miss Peregrine’s time loop.
Now, the stakes are higher than ever as Jacob and his friends are thrust into the untamed landscape of American peculiardom—a world with few ymbrynes, or rules—that none of them understand. New wonders, and dangers, await in this brilliant next chapter for Miss Peregrine’s peculiar children. Their story is again illustrated throughout by haunting vintage photographs, but with a striking addition for this all-new, multi-era American adventure—full color.

I really enjoyed the Miss Peregrine’s original trilogy and it was awesome to have something so refreshing and different without taking too much away from the story! Before I start, I feel like I should tell you guys that I read the first 3 books like 2 years ago? And I was so worried that I wouldn’t understand the story, having forgotten most of the plot of the first 3 books. But even though this book starts right after Library of Souls, I had absolutely no trouble picking up the story. It’s different enough to be able to grasp it right away and I loved that!

“All my life, normal people had mostly baffled me-the ridiculous ways they strove to impress one another, the mediocre goals that seemed to drive them, the banality of their dreams.”

So much felt unique about this book. I felt the same way with the first 3, but it feels even more enhanced with this one. Taking the Peculiars to America seemed like the perfect way to go, and it was so fun to read about them in the modern world. There are endless scenes that could be great to tackle in this world, and I think Riggs handled them brilliantly.

It was so authentic to read about the children becoming more independent in the modern world, and wanting to explore more on their own. They seemed to really grow in this book and I loved how sweet the story is.

“The way people rejected anything that didn’t fit their narrow paradigm of acceptability, as if those who thought or acted or dressed or dreamed differently from them were a threat to their very existence.”

The only small niggle I had with this book is it felt a little…slow at times? I don’t know, there just seemed to be large gaps in the plot where it could have just been summed up in a couple of sentences. But I have to say, it didn’t detract from my experience too much, because I felt like I could flick through quickly and still enjoy the slower parts.

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: The Art of Harry Potter by Marc Sumerak

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

 

I got this beautiful book for my birthday from my other half and I decided to properly read it! It’s one of those books that you would usually flick through occasionally, but I felt like reading it was so satisfying and wonderful! I’ve been a big Harry Potter fan since I read the books earlier this year and watched the movies soon after. This book was the perfect way to delve even deeper into the world.

Chapter One: The Wizarding World contains beautiful scenes of the Muggle world, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Wizarding homes and even the Quidditch World Cup!

This was, by far, my favourite chapter in this book. Seeing so many incredible views of the world were just breathtaking. The paper is glossy and shows colours so well, each picture giving off such a rich and lifelike feel.

Chapter Two: Wizards, Witches, and Muggles. This chapter includes Hogwarts students, the Order of the Phoenix, Hogwarts staff, dark forces and even goes into detail about the Triwizard tournament.

Character sketches include in a location, concept sketches, outfit planning and studies. They are, again, beautiful, and it becomes evident how hard the staff worked on getting every little detail just right.

Chapter Three: Magical Creatures includes those such as companions, dragons, house elves, Forbidden Forest dwellers and dark creatures.

This topic also happens to contain my favourite page in the entire book – the patronus of Severus Snape. The glow that seems to shine from this page is just incredible, and I had to include a picture above to show you all. I also includes the funniest page – a study of different House Elves! They were never used in the movie but they made me and Josh laugh out loud.

Chapter Four: Artifacts includes so many items, such as wands, brooms, Quidditch items, dark objects, Horcruxes, portraits and items from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

Again, you can really see the detail when flicking through these beautiful, complicated studies of seemingly trivial items. The thing that really hit me, when reading these chapters, was the amount that makes up this magical world. Such small items require work, and make the world what it is.

The last chapter is a more shocking one, Graphic Art of the Wizarding World. This includes book covers, Quidditch posters, documents, blueprints magazines and newspapers, food and drink and even potion bottle labels!

I have to say, this one surprised me. What might seem trivial turned out to be the beating heart of this world. These things are the foundations that the Wizarding World is built upon, the glue that holds it together. And they are absolutely beautiful and full of colour and detail.

Overall, I found this book pure comfort. It felt so relaxing to be able to be in this world once more, but in a fresh and different way. It’s the perfect book to read in bed on a quiet evening.

It’s absolute beauty. It’s breathtaking magic.

★★★★★
5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review3 Comments

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I always have an issue reading small books/novellas and add ons like this. They’re tiny, they’re not ‘full’ books. Do they count towards my Goodreads goal really? But now I’ve hit my 50 book goal for 2018, I thought I’d go through the books on my shelves that aren’t necessarily ‘full’ books.

My boyfriend brought Tales of Beedle the Bard with him when we moved in together and it fits perfectly on our Harry Potter shelf! It was such a cute little read that probably took me less than an hour overall.

“No man or woman alive, magical or not, has ever escaped some form of injury, whether physical, mental, or emotional.”

I really enjoyed reading these little stories, and having Dumbledore’s notes at the end of each one really helped understand the meaning behind each one. They really reminded me of Aesop’s Fables, which I loved as a kid. I loved how each story had a real moral.

“To hurt is as human as to breathe.”

But unfortunately, it’s not all rosy. I did enjoy these stories, but they felt sooo far apart from the whole wizarding world. Dumbledore connected them to a degree, but I still felt like they were just a bit..gimmicky? I’m all for add-on Harry Potter books like The Art of Harry Potter, but this felt a bit thrown together to please the fans and give them something new. But really, who am I to complain? Because as Adam Silvera said when I saw him at a talk a few weeks ago, I am so much of a Potterhead that I would even read Dobby’s story if J.K. Rowling wrote it.

★★★
3 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review4 Comments

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Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.
Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is?

If there are two people who are destined to write together, it’s Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. They go together like salt and pepper, and I love what came out of their partnership in What If It’s Us!

I’m a big fan of both authors and I felt their characters complimented each other perfectly, but still had their own voices. I could just about feel the differences between the way both characters were written that gave them each a unique feel.

“I barely know him. I guess that is every relationship.”

I loved the plot! I remember Adam talking when I met him last week, and I know him and Becky really wanted to write about the difficult parts of relationships as they develop and not just the getting together part. I loved how this book tackled the struggles and not just the Broadway worthy scenes, and it made this book so relatable.

Arthur and Ben were just the cutest, but they were so flawed too! There were parts when I couldn’t help but feel like both of them were just being assholes, but that’s the charm of these characters. They’re so real, they mess up, they accept it, they move on.

“You start with nothing and maybe end with everything.”

I also loved the side characters, friends and family! Not enough YA includes intimate family scenes and I love how their whole lives were included, as well as scenes at home. There’s a specific scene including both of Arthur and Ben’s parents, and it was so heartfelt and lovely.

The only slight issue I had with this book is that it took a long time for me to get into. Maybe 100/150 pages in I got it, but when I did get into this book I couldn’t stop reading! It took me almost a week to read 100 pages, and then a couple of days to read the last 300. So I’d definitely say it’s worth the wait.

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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ARC Review: The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review1 Comment

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Part ghost story, part Nordic thriller – this is a twisty, tense and spooky YA debut, perfect for fans of CORALINE and Michelle Paver.
Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma’s cabin and became blind in one eye.
Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor – only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose.
Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in . . .
Set in the remote snows of contemporary Norway, THE TWISTED TREE is a ghost story that twists and turns – and never takes you quite where you’d expect. 

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

The Twisted Tree was the perfect book to read this week around Halloween! The story follows Martha, a girl who can read people by touching their clothes. She travels to Norway to visit her grandmother, who she later finds out has recently passed away. In her abandoned cabin, she finds an interesting boy hiding. Together, they will find themselves in the midst of some eventful, and creepy, times..

I really enjoyed this book and I’m so glad I read it in October. I found this read so interesting and unique, and I loved the Norse mythology and Norwegian setting. Both things are ones that I don’t often see in YA, and were great to read about.

“You write the story of you every day with your thoughts, words and deeds.”

I loved Martha as a main character, and the female power in this book! Martha talks a lot about her ancestors, and it was awesome to read about the strong link between Martha, her grandmother and her ancestors before then. Martha was perfect as the heroine of this story. She was scarred, struggling and dealing with so much. I loved her flaws, and it was so interesting (and felt realistic) to read about her struggles with having a visual impairment.

“You create yourself. You get to decide your story. No one else. You.”

This book is urban fantasy, set in the real world, and I found that just brilliant. It was awesome to feel the genuine struggle of Martha and Stig coping with their struggles in the real world. I also loved reading about Martha’s mum and the rest of her family. It added an extra depth to the story that was lovely to find out about.

So overall, this book was a really good read perfect for Halloween! Look out for it on January 10th!

★★★★
4 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Floored by Various Authors

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s losing her sight but won’t admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn’t be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.
And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.

I read a preview of this book at YALC last year, and I loved it. This is genius. A mixture between the darkness of One of Us is Lying and the great hopefulness of The Breakfast Club. I knew, after reading that preview, that I would want to read more. So when I saw this book was out, I eventually picked this up.

I’m glad I picked this one up, but I’m not sure if it lived up to the preview for me. I enjoyed it, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“Maybe disappointment does lie in the gulf between what you would do for someone and what they will do for you,”

I just wish this was a mystery! If it wanted to be the lightness of The Breakfast Club, why did someone die? If you’re bringing so much darkness into the story, why not make it more interesting and bring a mystery element into it. Why not make us question why the guy died when they were all in the lift? Bringing that suspense would have worked so well with a book like this.

But I have to say, that was probably my only issue with this book. Other than that, I’m so impressed with how 6 different authors can come together and make such a compatible novel. It really worked, and the story flowed so well. I also loved that this book was set in the UK! It’s not often I read a contemporary set in my own country, and it was awesome. I’ve actually been to these places!

“but she knows then, in that moment, as she’s looking out of the rain-speckled window at the black, black sky, that she needs to stop focusing on what she’s willing to do for other people and start focusing on what she’s willing to do for herself.”

I also felt like having the 6 different characters worked well! Each of them had their own personalities (some more dominant than others) and I really liked them all. Overall, I have to say I did really enjoy reading this book. It’s quick and fun, and if that’s what you’re looking for then this book is definitely for you. But if you’re looking for something darker and more of a mystery, please go for One of Us is Lying instead!

★★★★
3.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review6 Comments

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Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.
At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.
They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

I honestly don’t know what to think of this book at all. It was so weird that I couldn’t relate it to anything else, therefore I couldn’t work out whether I really liked it or not! It’s like reading a very confusing classic – you don’t understand it but there’s just something…magic about it.

““Do you have darkness inside you?”
“Yes,” Tony said.
“And do you want to be rid of it?””

I unfortunately didn’t find any kind of pull or drive with this book, and that’s what I hated. It took me like a week to get through the whole thing? I think it’s because there was so many characters and unfortunately I didn’t feel necessarily close to any of them. I do love how this book was written in a lot of other ways, though. It had that very Stiefvater feel about it, and I couldn’t help but feel the words were laced with magic.

“This is a harder question to answer than one might think at first blush. Almost no one would think it’s correct to answer this question with a no, but the truth is that we men and women often hate to be rid of the familiar, and sometimes our darkness is the thing we know the best.”

And I would have to say the same about the locations! Stiefvater has this way with writing about locations that I’ve never seen before in YA. I was very torn between being very confused and feeling detached, then I would reach a beautifully written and fall a little bit in love.

As you can tell, I’m completely all over the place with this one. it has a kind of lovable factor about it, but I can’t put my finger on why.

★★★
3 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

On By Beth JonesIn Book Review2 Comments

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The stunning sequel to Gayle Forman’s international best seller, If I Stay – Now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz. If you had a second chance at first love …would you take it? It’s been three years since Adam’s love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it …and three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future – and each other. Told from Adam’s point of view in the spare, powerful prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Sure, I enjoyed this book. I’d go as far to say I liked it. But loved it? Eh. Unfortunately, this book felt so flat and unoriginal to me. I actually really liked the concept of If I Stay, just because it’s not very often we’ll see a book written from the perspective of a ghost girl. But I felt like I’d read Where She Went way too many times before.

“But I’d do it again. I know that now. I’d make that promise a thousand times over and lose her a thousand times over to have heard her play last night or to see her in the morning sunlight.”

I really liked reading this from Adam’s perspective – it shook the series up and really worked. But I have to say, I had some problems with both characters. I didn’t appreciate how Mia treated him and I didn’t appreciate Adam’s attitude to most things, to be honest. I know we’re all flawed, but if so then this should have been more realistic overall and less like a fairytale. I felt flickers of emotion and warmth towards the couple, and I am happy with how it ended, but in the end I could have probably put this book down and never picked it back up again. It was predictable, and I just didn’t feel invested in the story.

“Or even without that. Just to know that she’s somewhere out there. Alive.”

Having said all this, I did enjoy reading this book. It’s quick to read and heartfelt from both characters. I did connect and feel emotion for them in parts, but overall I just felt…mediocre.

★★★
2.5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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