Bookaholics book club: someone else's life

29 Feb 2012

UK vs. THE WORLD! (14)

UK vs. The world is a weekly meme I made up lol.

It's simlair to UK vs. US except the UK covers are battling it out with their foreign counterparts from all over the world, because who doesn't love judging books by their covers!

UK vs. Germany

By midnight by Mia James

Ravenwood book one.

('Die Schule der Nacht' translates to 'School of night' - According to Google translate.)

Mist: Both of these covers are interesting, I love the colours of each, in the German cover I love the castle and the lightening in the back but I love the font and the models hair of the UK cover, I'm totally torn, if only the two could be mixed together lol

Ninfa: I've always like the UK cover, the dark blue colours and the model is just so pretty. I like the castle in the German cover but there's something weird about the amount of folds in the models' neck Xp You'd think they'd photoshop that a little better...So UK wins, though it would have been cool if they'd added the castle in that one as well.

UK vs. US

Someone else's life by Katie Dale

Mist: 100% UK win for me here, I love the font and the little doodles around it and it's interesting that the girl is sitting on a chest of drawers, her lovely red dress also stands out really well against all the blue. The US cover is nice but sooo boring, it's something I've seen before and doesn't interest me in the story.

Ninfa: The UK cover is really fun and different although I have to say, the title looks a little busy for my taste. I still prefer it to the US cover though. The US is a little boring for me, although I like the model and her sad expression, I feel the UK cover conveys more of the story, with the girl sitting on the chest of drawers, the diary, the photo and the childlike drawings all give me clues to what the book could be about and make it really interesting. There's not much to go on with the US cover, so it's a UK win!

Which do you prefer?

13 Feb 2012

Someone else's life - Review

Someone else's life by Katie Dale
Available now.

What's it about?
When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all...

My review

I'll admit it, I was attracted to this book because of that gorgeous cover! It just looked like something I would enjoy so I didn't even read what it was about, I just picked it up when I saw it instore. Ok, so I know that's not the best method for choosing books and it's backfired on me in the past but luckily this wasn't one of those times.
I hadn't meant to start the book right away but I needed something to do on the bus journey home so I read a few pages then went back to it at home when I'd finished my current read and I'm so glad I did, it was hard to put down!
I was hooked straight into Rosie's world full of spilling secrets and revelations, the book was full of surprising twists that made it so hard to put down I finished this almost 500 page book in two days, which is quick for me!
I really liked how it switched off between characters so I knew what each party was feeling and I think I fell a little bit in love with Rosie's boyfriend Andy.
I also learnt a lot reading this book, before picking it up I knew nothing about Huntington's disease except for the name and this book is full of facts without it feeling like a science lesson so I was also left enlightened when I was done.
More than once I had to hold back the tears throughout this rocky, sometimes heartbreaking adventure and I was anxious to see the outcome, I was really happy with the way that it ended though.
I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next after reading this beautiful book.

My thoughts on the cover
Well I've already said I think it's gorgeous, even though there's a lot going on it doesn't feel to busy for me, I love the quirky picture of the girl sitting on a chest of drawers and the scribble over the top of the image to make it lighter, the contrasts of the blue and red are also really pretty.

Sorry, I don't have any favourite quotes, I wasn't planning to review this book since it was a personal read so I didn't take any notes but I loved it so much I just had to share it.