The one - Review

The one by Kiera Cass

The selection book three.

Available now 

What's it about?

THE SELECTION changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. Now, only one will claim Prince Maxon’s heart.

For the four girls who remain at the palace, the friendships they’ve formed, rivalries they’ve struggled with and dangers they’ve faced have bound them to each other for the rest of their lives.

Now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realises just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

My review

A great end to a great series, The one was another enjoyable read from Kiera Cass.

Whilst I think the ending was always obvious, it was still a great journey getting there and meeting all the great characters in the world of The selection. The final book still sees twists like the others as the tension ramps up in both the competition and with the rebels. America is still making herself stand out by sticking to her beliefs, a trait I've always admired in her, she's willing to risk herself and her place in the competition rather than go against her morals which in the end, I think only endears her more to Maxon and the public. I've really enjoyed the story as a trilogy and each book individually as I felt they all had something to add. By the end of The one I found everything was wrapped up nicely, I wasn't left with any niggling questions and personally I was happy with how things ended for everyone. I also found The one to be a more emotional read than the previous two books as well, maybe because I was feeling the end of a series loss but there really are some big moments that will bring a tear to your eye or having you saying 'awww' and by the last pages I was happy for everyone but sad to say goodbye at the same time. The selection has been a wonderful series to read and was written beautifully, I enjoyed the competition, the emotions and of course, the pretty dresses. I hope whatever Kiera Cass creates next will be just as wonderful as this trilogy was.

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Take back the skies - Review

Take back the skies by Lucy Saxon

Take back the skies book one

Available now 

What's it about?

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .

My review

I was so excited to read Take back the skies so its extra saddening that I was disappointed by this book. It really was the story that saved it for me, had the book gone through a couple more rounds of edits to better polish up the writing, it could have been a brilliant novel. But unfortunately it came off glaringly obvious that this was someone's first attempt at writing a book, all the characters spoke exactly the same and overuse of the words 'murmured' and 'queried' drove me to insanity, sometimes its okay to just use 'said' or 'asked'. There was also a pretty lacklustre love story, I couldn't buy the whole hot and cold angle the author was trying to work because most of their exchanges were the same argument, they hardly actually talked and got to know each other so it was particularly hard to swallow when, after only knowing him for about two weeks, Cat quite literally described Fox as the love of her life, she barely even knew him.

So many times I came close to abandoning this book but at the same time I was compelled with a need to find out what the hell was going on and see what was going to happen next because writing aside, the author came up with a damn good plot, honestly I in no way guessed what was really happening and was just as shocked as Cat when we found out and the ending was another shock too. Although things often seemed to be a bit too easy or coincidental for our little gang, I did enjoy watching them try to uncover and end a government conspiracy, they were good people with their hearts in the right places and I liked them all a lot. Boy drama aside, Cat is one tough girl with a lot of bravery.

So despite my disappointment I came away intrigued enough to carry on reading the series with the hope that the authors writing will mature with more practice. I'm interested to see more of the world that Lucy Saxon has created as I feel we've only scratched the surface on all the places in Tellus.

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Nail your books (14)

'Nail your books' is a feature where I share book inspired manicures that I have done.

It has been so long since I've done some book inspired nail art but here's a mani I did last week based on the cover art for Lucy Saxon's Take back the skies

What do you think?

The giver - Review

The giver by Lois Lowry

The giver quartet book one

Available now

www.harpercollins.co.uk 

What's it about?

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

My review

The Giver was actually first bought to my attention when I saw the trailer for the movie as soon as I saw it was based on a book, I knew I had to read it, even more so when I found out it was being described as the first dystopia book, a genre that I love!

Considering the book was originally published in 1993, because of the setting, it doesn't feel dated at all, I really enjoyed it. Jonas lives in a seemingly perfect world, where everyone gets on and is happy, or so it seems until it occurs to him to look closer and he realises that actually, no one has a choice, there's no colour or feelings to his world, people almost act like robots in the way they are controlled without realising it. I really felt connected to Jonas as we see the world as he first perceives it when the story starts and then as he discovers the hidden depths and what could be, I felt his outrage and dismay at feeling like he couldn't do anything about it but needed to.

While I enjoyed delving into this world, I wish the book had been longer because there was room for more, particularly when Jonas starts his training with The Giver, I'd really have liked to have seen some more of that and had a bit more explanation on how its possible, but a year is passed along in a few chapters, presumably to hurry the book along to its exciting ending.

That aside though, The giver was a gripping read with some great world building, a lead character I'm looking forward to seeing more of as I feel he has a lot more growing to do and its started off a series with promise, thankfully the other three books are out for me to get my hands on as soon as possible so I can find out what Jonas does next.

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Showcase Sunday

Hello all! So it's the end of another month and here are all the books I got in May! I was going to vlog but I'm just not feeling up to it today so here's a picture.

For review

Take back the skies by Lucy Saxon

The rain by Virginia Bergin

Dangerous creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Breakable by Tammara Webber

The winners curse by Marie Rutkoski

Trust games by Simon Packham

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld and 

Right click by Lisa Becker

Bought

Half bad by Sally Green

The silver linings playbook by Matthew Quick

Prince of shadows by Rachel Caine

The accidental life of Jesse Jefferson by Paige Toon

Two boys kissing by David Levithan

Raginginstar by Moira Young

Judgement day by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen

After the end by Amy Plum

The taking by Kimberley Derting and 

Salvage by Alexandra Duncan

Gift

The giver by Lois Lowry

Won

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

What did you get?

Love letters to the dead - Review

Love letters to the dead by Ava Dellaira

Available now 

What's it about?

It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain - he died young, and so did Laurel's sister May - so maybe he'll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart... it's like she can't stop. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it's like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time - and how her family has shattered since May died.

But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can't keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won't be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny.

My review

This book was so much more than I was expecting, it really was. From the description I knew it wouldn't be all sunshine and roses as it's about a young girl coming to terms with her sisters death, not that I'm opposed to 'sad' books, and the way that its written in letters to dead people sounded really interesting, especially since I'd not long finished The perks of being a wallflower when this book was bought to my attention which is also written in the same format.

Anyway, so yeah there are sad moments but its not all doom and gloom, I really wasn't expecting some of the turns it took in the end, the truths that come out and how Laurel does eventually have to grow up. I really liked her right from the start, in her letters she's always completely honest about her feelings, about how she hopes she will make friends at her new school and that she wants people to like her, I liked her candidness. She does indeed grow up by the end of the book and it feels natural as it happens because of all that she's been through and is going through now.

Love letters to the dead is a brilliant and moving debut that will have you up at night thinking 'just one more letter before I go to sleep.' Laurel writes to several dead celebrities during the course of the book and she explains her reasons for each one, they're not just random big names the author has chosen but rather, people that have become special to Laurel, either from the love of a movie or a song or because she actually feels close to them by comparing parts of her life to theirs. I liked the way her letters also included tidbits of their lives so I could really understand why she was writing to them and felt like I knew them the same way she did.

It's a brilliant book and I look forward to more from this author in the future.

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Dangerous creatures - Review

Dangerous creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Dangerous creatures book one

Available now

www.penguin.co.uk 

What's it about?

A new series returns to the world of Beautiful Creatures. Some loves are cursed...others are dangerous.

Ridley Duchannes will be the first to tell you that she's a bad girl. She's Dark. She's a Siren. You can never trust her, or even yourself when she's around. Lucky for her, Wesley "Link" Lincoln can never seem to remember that; quarter Incubus or not, his heart is Mortal when it comes to Ridley. When Link heads to New York City to start a music career, Ridley goes along for the ride-and she has her own reasons. As if leaving small-town Gatlin for the big city, trying to form a band, and surviving life with a partially reformed Siren isn't hard enough already, Link soon learns he has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay.

My review

If you were worried that Dangerous creatures wouldn't live up to the original Beautiful creatures series then fear not! Because it is just as good, I was hooked all the way through, and that ending, oh my god that ending!
I've always had a little bit of a nerd crush on Link so I was really excited to hear there would be a new series following him, its actually more about Ridley, who I did like also and I came to really like her in Dangerous creatures. She's so much different to Lena and Link is a lot different to Ethan so this book had a completely different tone to the others whilst still remaining true to the world. I enjoyed that it wasn't set in Gatlin, though I miss the place, it was good to expand on the Caster world, to meet some new characters and learn more about their different abilities.
As usual, Garcia and Stohl's writing blends seamlessly, they clearly both have voices that go together well so that you can't tell that the book is written by two authors and they tell a good story. The pacing was and build up was good.
Spoilers: I didn't love who turns out the be the bad guys to be honest, I'd have preferred something completely new rather than the same old bad guy because I thought it kind of took away some of the finality of the original series and it also stops it from being a series that can stand alone from that so readers looking to start with Dangerous creatures as their introduction to the Caster world will find themselves confused and have parts of the Beautiful creatures series spoiled for them. End of spoilers.
Other than that though, I loved it! I loved Link, as usual and it was great to see a new, sometimes vulnerable side of Ridley, I really feel like I know her better now. I'm not sure if the big cliff hanger ending was necessary but I guess I'll find out just as soon as I get my hands on book two... is it next year yet?


Find the authors

The caster chronicles website

Kami Garcia's website

Kami Garcia on Facebook

Kami Garcia on Twitter

Kami Garcia on goodreads

Margaret Stohl's website

Margaret Stohl on Facebook

Margaret Stohl on Twitter

Margaret Stohl on goodreads

Right click - Review

Right click by Lisa Becker

Click: An online love story book three

Available now 

What's it about?

Love. Marriage. Infidelity. Parenthood. Crises of identity. Death. Cupcakes. The themes in Right Click, the third and final installment in the Click series, couldn't be more pressing for this group of friends as they navigate through their 30's. Another six months have passed since we last eavesdropped on the hilarious, poignant and often times inappropriate email adventures of Renee and friends. As the light-hearted, slice of life story continues to unfold, relationships are tested and some need to be set "right" before everyone can find their "happily ever after."

My review

Right click is the final book in what has been a fun trilogy, for those that have not heard of these books before, they are all written in email format between five friends, and a couple of guests here and there. You may think that would mean you miss out on all the action, only hearing about events after they've happened, but it really isn't like that, the books are written so well that when the characters are retelling things, you still feel like you were there. And Lisa Becker has a great way of getting individual voices across, the emails really feel like conversations between close friends, full of inside jokes and sometimes catty sniping.

In Right click the humour I loved from the other books is still there, I love the way everyone sometimes gets off topic and starts punning, there's some real laugh out loud moments. There's also sad moments, and tense moments, and an I-almost-cried moment, Right click has it all. 

It was a great ending to the series and I'll be sad to say goodbye to Renee and co because they've been a lot of fun, I've enjoyed watching them find love and find their lives taking directions they hadn't expected. I've also enjoyed their spats, their make ups, their HA-LARIOUS misadventures and Shelley's dirty mind! I need more from this talented author!

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Savage drift - Review

Savage drift by Emmy Laybourne

Monument 14 book three.

Available now.

www.bookswithbite.co.uk 

What's it about?

The stunningly fierce conclusion to Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 trilogy.

The survivors of the Monument 14 have finally made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Dean and Alex are cautiously starting to hope that a happy ending might be possible.

But for Josie, separated from the group and trapped in a brutal prison camp for exposed Type Os, things have gone from bad to worse. Traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue or safety.

Meanwhile, scared by the government's unusual interest in her pregnancy, Astrid (with her two protectors, Dean and Jake in tow) joins Niko on his desperate quest to be reunited with his lost love Josie.

Author Emmy Laybourne reaches new heights of tension and romance in this action-packed conclusion to the Monument 14 trilogy.

My review

(Warning: Spoilers from the previous two books.)

Savage drift is the gripping conclusion to a brilliant trilogy from author Emmy Laybourne. I've really enjoyed this series and loved the slightly darker tone of the last book. Our characters might have made it out of the Greenway and into a rebuilding civilisation but their troubles haven't ended yet, they still have lots of challenges to face to try to get reunited and have a happy ending. All the way through I really didn't know if that would happen for them but I certainly had my fingers and toes crossed that they would. I also felt so bad for Astrid being pregnant in a chaotic world, the help of doctors and hospitals isn't as readily available to her as it would normally be which made it difficult for her and Dean and Jake's constant bickering didn't help either. I felt she grew a lot as a character though, as it starts to sink in that she's going to be a mother and responsible for someone else she starts to grow up but she hasn't lost any of her sass either. I love the way she puts Dean in his place when he's being particularly immature. Astrid and Dean are an unlikely couple but they really work well together by the end and I'm glad they got together.

I don't want to give too much of the story away but rest assured that this is another thrilling, well paced book and you won't get any less than you did in the previous two. I was happy with the conclusion and that last scene almost had me in tears!

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Beautiful redemption - Review (Repost with Dangerous creatures info)

Beautiful redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The caster chronicles book four.

Available now.

www.penguin.co.uk 

What's it about?

Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate always dreamed of leaving the stifling Southern town of Gatlin.

But he never dreamt that finding love with Lena Duchannes would drive him away. Lena is a Caster girl whose supernatural powers unveiled a secretive and cursed side of Gatlin, so powerful it forced him to make a terrible sacrifice.

Now Ethan must find a way to return to Lena - and Gatlin - as she vows to do whatever it takes to get him back. Even if it means trusting old enemies or risking their loved ones' lives.

Can Ethan and Lena rewrite their fate and their spellbinding love story in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series? 

My review

 (Warning: may contain spoilers from the previous three books.)

Having been with this series from the beginning I was sad to see it end but excited at the same time, especially after what happened at the end of Beautiful chaos, I couldn't imagine how they would bring back Ethan and have everything work out by the end of the book.

I'll admit, I didn't love the middle two books as much as I did the first so I wasn't sure what I'd be getting with Beautiful redemption, turns out what I got was something epic! I really enjoyed every gripping moment following Ethan's journey to trying to get his life back and even a brief few chapters from Lena's perspective as she tries her best to help him.

Beautiful redemption was an unpredictable adventure that kept me hooked until the end, I think it ended - both the book and series - perfectly, despite some sad events, they felt necessary to the story and everything was in order, so to speak.

However, I wish I'd gotten around to reading Dream dark before I picked this up because there are a lot of references that I assume are to it throughout Beautiful redemption that made me feel like I'd missed something, so I would suggest reading Dream dark first.

Ethan still remains my favourite ever male lead, the things he'll go through for the girl he loves is impressive, to say the least, and he's a perfect southern gentleman, so polite and caring, he's how I'd like my son to turn out when he grows up.

The Caster chronicles has been a fantastic series and I can't wait to see what the authors come up with next, either together or separately.

My thoughts on the cover

I really like the birds eye view of the spiral staircase on this cover, its an interesting image and I like the way the green has been used and how the whole series matches together nicely.

Favourite quotes

'I love you, Ethan. I won't forget you. I'll never forget you, and I'll never stop loving you.'

'She slid into my arms, falling into sobs that beat against my chest. I don't know which one of us was crying harder. I'm not even sure we remembered to kiss. What we had went so much deeper than a kiss.'

If, like me, you're already a fan of this series, then check this out!

Dangerous creatures

The first in the spin-off series is available to preorder and will be released on May 20th 2014.

A new series returns to the world of Beautiful Creatures. Some loves are cursed...others are dangerous.

Ridley Duchannes will be the first to tell you that she's a bad girl. She's Dark. She's a Siren. You can never trust her, or even yourself when she's around. Lucky for her, Wesley "Link" Lincoln can never seem to remember that; quarter Incubus or not, his heart is Mortal when it comes to Ridley. When Link heads to New York City to start a music career, Ridley goes along for the ride-and she has her own reasons. As if leaving small-town Gatlin for the big city, trying to form a band, and surviving life with a partially reformed Siren isn't hard enough already, Link soon learns he has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay.

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of Beautiful Creatures, are back and casting another magical spell. Their signature mixture of mystery, suspense, and romance, along with a dash of fun and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.

Find the authors

The caster chronicles website

Kami Garcia's website

Kami Garcia on Facebook

Kami Garcia on Twitter

Kami Garcia on goodreads

Margaret Stohl's website

Margaret Stohl on Facebook

Margaret Stohl on Twitter

Margaret Stohl on goodreads