All Posts By

Lucy Powrie

MINI REVIEW: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Posted on 6 September, 2013

[book-info]

I thought Code Name Verity was hard-hitting, but Rose Under Fire was painful in comparison. The companion novel to the award-winning success of Code Name Verity was just as good and maybe even more emotional.

Set in part in the brutal concentration camp of Ravensbrück, Rose Under Fire follows the life of American pilot and recreational poet Rose Justice.

I really liked Rose and found her story a very sad one indeed. The one problem I did have with her was that she wasn’t as easy to connect to and invest in as the main characters of Code Name Verity and I think this was because we got to see a lot of their history and background.

The treatment that Rose received whilst in Ravensbrück was appalling and we only got to see her side of things. To think of the things that other people had to face is just awful to think about. The rabbits, especially. It made me feel sick to think of the things that they’d been through.

Rose Under Fire was written beautifully. I cannot fault Wein’s ability to draw me in and make me unable to put her books down. This was glued to my hand and I longed to be reading it when I wasn’t.

I can’t wait to see what’s next from Wein because this really was a treasure to read. Highly recommended!

Side note: Only a mini review today because I’ve already posted two reviews this week and I went back to school yesterday. Thank you!

Book Review Uncategorized

REVIEW: United We Spy by Ally Carter

Posted on 5 September, 2013

I’ve loved Carter’s books since before I started blogging, when I didn’t really know what I was picking up. I’d go into a bookshop and pick up anything I liked the look of with no preconceptions or presumptions. I didn’t know of the hype surrounding these books until I started seeing them pop up wherever I went and then, when I finally became a part of the blogosphere, I realised that these books have a special quality that people gobble up in handfuls.

United We Spy is the last book in the Gallagher Girls series and I was very worried about reading it beforehand. How could I say goodbye to this series that I have loved so dearly? The events of the last book meant that I knew this was bound to be dramatic, but I’d forgotten just how action-packed these books are.

In United We Spy, we see the familiar array of characters embark on their last semester at the Gallagher Academy, which, I must tell you, made me feel very nostalgic! It seems like yesterday I was reading my way through the first book, and then the second and third and fourth and fifth. I felt all the emotions when reading this. Even after finishing, I’m still clinging on to the world fiercely. It’s definitely not a series I’m going to forget in a hurry.

Cammie still had to overcome the issues that she was left to face after the events of the last book and we see her develop even more in this one. She has to deal with some really hard stuff and is thrown into lots of difficult situations but it seems like she always comes out stronger.

I really loved seeing Bex, Liz and Macey again. Liz was as nerdy as ever but also has to face her own demons, as do Bex and Macey. The girls are all so loyal to each other which is very admirable. I’d love to be friends with them!

United We Spy was a brilliant conclusion to a much-loved series and I’m so sad that I won’t be anticipating another book in this series any more. At least we have the Heist Society novels to keep us busy!

Blog Tour Uncategorized

United We Spy Blog Tour ~ It’s All About Bex

Posted on 3 September, 2013

I’m very excited to be on the United We Spy blog tour today! My review will be up on Thursday, but for now I have a post all about one of my favourite characters in the Gallagher Girls series, Bex Baxter.

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever.

Why do I like Bex? I think that’s a very good question. I’m going to try and answer this question as best I can today in this post.

Bex is certainly a very memorable character. She was one of the first characters that popped into my head when I was asked to write this post and my favourite secondary character from the series.

Bex really adds humour to the books, with witty lines and her so-cool attitude that makes me want to either be her, or be friends with her. And she’s English, which makes her all the more relatable. We could even talk about the weather!

Bex is also extremely loyal to her friends. It’s a quality that I greatly admire because it’s not always that you find someone who would do anything for you. If anybody is in trouble, you will find Bex rushing to their side. Where can I buy a Bex?

My favourite Bex quotes:

“The only way Bex would miss this would be if she were unconscious. And tied up. And in a concrete bunker. In Siberia.”

“Most little girls in England grow up wanting to marry
a prince. Bex grew up wanting to kick James Bond’s butt and assume his double-0 ranking.”

“‘Well…” [Liz] said, stumbling over the obvious, “Bex has always been kind of rules-optional.”

“Bex was a natural born spy.”

“Bex was the bravest person I knew. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. It is the honest truth. And I knew a lot of seriously brave people.”

“Bex had spent six hours on a private jet, but her cappuccino-coloured skin was glowing, and she looked as if she’d walked out of a skincare commercial.”

You’ll notice that a lot of these quotes are written in third person and I think this demonstrates the point that Bex is dearly loved. Her parents care about her, the Gallagher Girls do and readers love Bex, as shown in this post here. If you haven’t read these books yet, you need to so that you can find out for yourself just how much of a bright character Bex is.

Have you read the Gallagher Girls books? What did you like most about Bex?

Book Review Uncategorized

REVIEW: All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

Posted on 2 September, 2013

All the Truth That’s in Me was a captivating and original novel. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Berry’s novels after reading this.

All the Truth That’s in Me is a historical novel about a girl called Judith who is left with no tongue after an accident that left her best friend dead and Judith missing for two years. Unable to tell about what happened to her, Judith lives as the town’s pariah. Nobody talks to her and her only comfort is in a boy called Lucas who she secretly watches. When events drag up the past, will the truth finally come out?

Although you may think it’s hard to get to know a character who doesn’t talk, I felt immensely sympathetic towards Judith. I would hate to be treated as an outcast like she was. We got to know her through flashbacks of her life before the abduction and in the way the novel is written. There was this innocence to her that made me want to jump in to the novel and give her a hug. She hadn’t had any love in her life for a long time and had faced horrible prejudice.

There’s something about close-knit communities that makes me love a book even more. When I read something like this, I realise how important a good setting is. Berry has created a world that I want to live in. The town’s people were quite hard off, yes, but they lived in such a simplistic way. They didn’t have to worry about their cars breaking down or that their WiFi wasn’t fast enough. It was living day by day and taking things as they came. We could really take note of how they lived now.

Written in second person as a note to Lucas, something that I loved, we grow to know both Judith and Lucas. The characterisation was done really well, not only with the main character, but all of the secondary characters, too. I loved Maria and Judith’s brother, although her mother deserved a good slap sometimes.

In terms of the mystery, it was a little predictable. That said, some things were revealed that left me gasping in shock and it did keep me on the edge of my seat. I finished it really quickly- it’s not a long book, by any means- and was satisfied by the pacing and effect.

I would highly recommend this, especially if you want something a bit different to read. I loved it and would happily read it again. Berry has created a thrilling tale of romance, mystery and the story of girl that doesn’t belong.

UKYA Uncategorized

August Wrap Up (2013)

Posted on 1 September, 2013

August has been a really good month for me. I’ve been off school for the month and have got lots of reading done. In one week, I even read eight books! Wow! I’m trying another format for this months wrap up post so I would love to hear your feedback.

This month I’ve read:

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon; The Elites by Natasha Ngan; The Duff by Kody Keplinger; The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa; The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa; Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire; The Distance Between Us by Kasie West; Losing It by Cora Carmack; Faking It by Cora Carmack; The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle; All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill; The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan; Keeping Her by Cora Carmack; All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry; Shadowhunter’s Guide: City of Bones by Mimi O’Connor; Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend by Louise Rozett; Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein; Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein; United We Spy by Ally Carter.

..That’s nineteen books in total!

Next month I’m hoping to read:

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher which looks fab! The cover is absolutely gorgeous, too.

Night School by C.J. Daugherty because I need to read more UKYA.

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones for the same as above.

Things happening in September:

The second UKYA chat is planned for Friday 13th September at 6:30 PM BST. I’d love to see you all there! Anyone can join in, you don’t have to be a blogger. Authors, bloggers and readers come along for a chat! I have a lot of fun things planned.

I’m busy planning the UKYA author blog tour in November and lots of other upcoming UKYA events. Very exciting!

Best books of August:

1. Losing It by Cora Carmack

2. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

3. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

How was your month? Let me know below!

Blog Tour UKYA Uncategorized

The Super Secret Project REVEAL!

Posted on 31 August, 2013

If you follow me on Twitter, then you may have heard me mention the super secret project that I’m planning. I’ve kept things under tight wraps, until now when I’m going to reveal what it’s all about!

I’ve been working this week to get as many authors as possible on board and now that I’ve reached the number of people that make the super secret project able to happen, I can finally start getting other people on board.

So… Drum roll please!

The super secret project is going to be a blog tour full of guest posts, giveaways and interviews from UKYA authors, lasting the whole month of November. In that month, I’ll be staging Twitter chats and lots of fun little events within it. There are some very awesome authors signed up and I’ve spent this week dancing around my house every time I get an email.

I have over thirty authors signed up, with blogger emails being sent out anytime soon. I still haven’t had replies to all the emails, so I’m hoping I’ll get even more people on board.

Here is the tour banner, and I’ll be creating more for sidebars when I have all of the dates sorted out. Your sidebars will all be very pretty when I’ve finished with you!

I can’t wait to share more details with you soon, because this is a project I’m so enthusiastic about. Getting more people to read UKYA is something I’m very passionate about and I know all of the authors on the tour have amazing books.

Tell me your thoughts below! Are you looking forward to November?

UKYA Uncategorized

I Am a Book Addict…

Posted on 30 August, 2013

If you’ve read a few of my book hauls, then it’s no secret that I seem to get loads of books each week. Why? Because I am a major bo0k buying, borrowing and requesting addict. When it comes to books, I have absolutely no self-restraint whatsoever.

I’ve always had some collecting addiction. When I was younger, it was Sylvanian Families. I was a massive collector and my room was FULL of them. Then it’s slowly turned to books, especially over the last year or two. Particularly last year, I went through a stage where I read a book a day and so I was constantly buying. That was when I hadn’t heard of TBR piles though…

This is my main shelf. My favourites are in the middle, my UKYA books at the bottom and the top shelf contains all the other books that don’t fit on my middle shelf. I’m planning on swapping things around soon because it needs clearing a bit. I really love my shelves and didn’t put them up until May this year. But because I’m so short, I need to stand on my bed to reach the top shelves sometimes, which can sometimes get annoying. Originally I only had the middle shelf and my UKYA shelf, but I then needed to upgrade to another shelf so I could fit all my books on.

This is the main part of my TBR pile. It’s organised by genre, but some of them are just randomly on there. I’ve bought the majority of them, quite a lot this year, although some go back as far as last summer. It’s so daunting because I have no idea when I’m going to get around to reading them all but I also can’t bear to get rid of any of them. I also have sequels to the first books on there, when the first is still unread. I need to stop buying books!

This is the other section of my TBR pile- my UKYA TBR. I know that at least one of these stretches back to two or three years ago which is VERY scary! I need to organise this better somehow because I often overlook it for my other TBR section. Some of these books look so good and I want to read them so bad. I WILL read them soon!

I also have multiple copies of some books, and I often get asked why when I post book hauls and videos to my YouTube channel. Sometimes I’ll find my favourite books for cheap in charity shops and so I can’t resist buying them and I’ve been given books sometimes, too.

I have three copies of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: one copy was my original, another was a copy that my grandma read and decided to give to me, and the other I found in a charity shop. One of them is a slightly different edition to the other two so I don’t feel that bad…

These are my copies of the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry which is probably my favourite series of all time. They were first self-published so I have a self-published version of the first copy and then two of the traditionally published copies. I sadly don’t have multiple copies of the second and third books but I’d love to get hold of the self-published editions from somewhere. I then have a paperback and hardback of the fourth book and two copies of the fifth. One of the copies of the fifth book hasn’t been read and is my baby. I won’t bend the spine and hardly ever touch it for fear that I’ll damage it in some way. Most of the copies are signed, apart from four because I’ve met the author twice now. I bought the other four after I’d met her.

I think it’s clear that I need to stop buying books and need to clear out some of my books to allow room for new ones. I am going to have to go on a book buying ban but it will probably pain me to do it.

I want to see your shelves now! How big is your TBR pile? Are you a book buying addict? Tweet me a picture using the #bookaddictsunite hashtag!

Book Review

REVIEW: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terril

Posted on 29 August, 2013

All Our Yesterdays is a thrilling take on the time travel novels that are becoming increasingly popular, especially with programmes like Doctor Who being watched by millions across the world. Hey, I was even on the bandwagon once. I’m not a huge fan of these types of novels, though, so I was very wary to begin with. I’ve never really felt love towards them and I’d rather avoid them than sit through one, gritting my teeth the whole time. Yet, there was something about All Our Yesterdays that captivated me and made me want to read on. Maybe I can find something to like about this genre after all…

The thing that sets All Our Yesterdays apart from other novels is that it’s very much scientific based. This is no magical telling of people who disappear to another time. I must admit that I’m an all-round nerd (maths being the exception) and so I loved reading the scientific references and gave a smug smile every time I understood something. These references help explain the idea behind the time travel and I preferred this to the “magic” that happens in a lot of them.

I really liked how the two different timelines came together and connected. It made the novel so much easier to understand and follow. This could have been so confusing but Terril added enough information, without info dumping, I must add, so that the reader was able to understand how the novel worked and how the characters thought.

I preferred Em’s timeline to Marina’s; the characters were more mature and had a purpose whereas Marina’s timeline was simply there to fulfil the plot. This isn’t something that annoyed me though, because it was simply a fact.

Em and Finn were so driven and intent. It was hard not to like them because their characterisation was written perfectly. I loved how we found out more and more about their lives as the novel went on, through both their eyes and Marina’s. Their lives were believable and so full of emotion. It was interesting to see how much the characters had grown up from one timeline to the other and how each event changed the other person.

Marina was a bit of a spoiled brat but as the novel progresses we see her come into her own and develop. At the end of the novel, I found that I had come to really admire her. If there was more characterisation on her part to start with, I would have liked her a lot more. Finn in this timeline hadn’t really changed but this was something that I really liked because it showed us who he was as a person and offered a comforting familiarity.

I think the secondary characters in Em’s timeline needed a bit more attention paid to them. The Doctor especially, because I didn’t really clue on as to who he was until far later in the book and I still didn’t understand who some of the people were then.

I felt that the ending was a bit rushed and messy. I wanted something a bit more because there’s fast paced and then there is so fast that you don’t really understand what’s going on. It was okay, but just so confusing.

I really enjoyed All Our Yesterdays and am looking forward to seeing what’s to come of Terril.

Older Posts

Newer Posts