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Lucy Powrie

UKYA

REVIEW: Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood

Posted on 15 April, 2013
Summary from Goodreads: 

Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists.

When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth?

When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself.

Infinite Sky is a family story about betrayal and loyalty, and love.


I would like to thank Sophie from So Many Books, So Little Time for sending me this book. Thank you!


In this deep and heartfelt novel, Flood appeals to the readers emotions and sends them on a whirlwind journey of discovery.

When a family of travellers move into the paddock behind Iris Dancy’s farmhouse, she is immediately transfixed. Who are these people, and why does her dad hate them so much?

This book deals with tough subjects such as prejudice and discrimination and I think those subjects were dealt with in a very good manner. The hostility that was aimed towards the characters was disgusting, but very well written.

It’s very hard to read this book and not get hit by a wave of emotions. Iris, our main character, is very mature and has to deal with a lot of hard issues in this book. She was a likeable character and I really did want to read more about her.

I was expecting that there would be a heavy romance in this book but there actually wasn’t. I thought this would be something that I would hate because I love romantic novels but, instead, it was full of these incredibly sweet moments and I don’t think you could say that this is a romance novel.
This was actually a good thing because it meant that the reader was able to focus on the bigger points in the novel, which there were plenty of.

Trick was a very interesting character. I felt like we got to know him, only for him to do something which would change my opinion of him. I don’t mean that in a bad way because I liked him throughout but his character was constantly developing, which was a nice thing to see.

I read this book within a day and couldn’t put it down. It was an emotional and thrilling read and I’m looking forward to seeing more from this debut author in the future.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Page Count: 288 pages
Format: Paperback ARC
Acquired: Sent to me from Sophie from So Many Books, So Little Time
Publication Date: February 14th 2013

Book Haul

Letterbox Love (6)

Posted on 14 April, 2013
Letterbox Love is a UK based feature where book bloggers showcase the books that they received that week, be they eBooks, paperbacks, hardbacks or any other format. It is hosted by Lynsey from Narratively Speaking.

This is my book haul for the past two weeks because I was incredibly lazy and didn’t feel like posting one last week.  I’m really pleased with the books I did receive in these past two weeks, even though I haven’t received as many as I do some weeks.

Library Haul: 

The Demon Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan- I haven’t read anything by this author before but think her books are quite similar to those written by Cassandra Clare so I’m hoping that I’ll enjoy this one.
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr- I’ve been wanting to read this for ages but haven’t managed to get it until now. It seems like a really good contemporary and I really need to start reading more contemporary because it’s one of my favourite genres AND my blog name is Queen of Contemporary!
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories- I really don’t know what I’ll think of this book but Cassandra Clare wrote a part of it so I couldn’t refuse it!
Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott- I’ve wanted to read a book by this author for a while now and so I’m really glad that I’ve got hold of this.
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs- This isn’t a book that I’ve wanted to read for ages but it looks really good and I’m hoping to read it very soon.
To-Review:


Parallel by Lauren Miller (ARC)- This popped through my letterbox on Friday, much to my surprise, and I’m really looking forward to reading it. Thank you, Scholastic!

Sort of bought:


The Great Gatsby by F. Schoot Fitzgerald- Technically, I didn’t buy this: my mum did. I’ve decided to ‘steal’ it off of her though because it looks really good and I’m going to try and read more classics.

What did you receive this week? Link back to your own posts and I’ll check out your hauls! 


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Embracing My Inner Geek (7)

Posted on 13 April, 2013

Embracing My Inner Geek is a featured hosted by me which I created so that I can geek out once a week on the blog without people thinking I’m weird (I am, by the way!).

This week I’m going to be talking about the effect of the geek badge. In my first ever Embracing My Inner Geek post, I talked about the geek badge that I received from HarperCollins. 
I’ve been wearing the badge whenever I go out for about two months now and so have two of my friends and today I’m going to talk about peoples reactions to the badge and my response to it. 
One of the most common questions I get asked when people see the badge is:
‘You’re a geek?’

Accompanying the question is a disdainful look and the person asking it will usually not wait for a response. And people wonder why I have a problem with the population of my school year! 
Most often I give the person asking the question a withering glare and tell them that, in fact, I am a geek and very proud of it. This is extremely true.
One of the things that annoys me the most is when people say that I’m weird or strange because I like books.
‘Books?’ they say, ‘why would you like books? That’s like liking homework!’

And my reply? I like reading just as many people like listening to music or watching television. I hardly ever watch television and, even though it is on, I would rather read. To me, reading is something that helps me escape and forget and so it really is a great therapy. I don’t make fun of people for playing sports or sitting in front of a games console, so why should they make fun of me?
Now I’m going to write something that is really rather annoying and irritates me a great deal. This is one of the worst things I’ve been told and I just ignore it because it really is stupid.
‘You see this book in my hand? I’m going to burn it!’

Really? Do you think I care? No. I don’t. The person that said this actually waved the book in my face and so I just turned away and thought very bad thoughts afterwards. GO TO THE NEVERNEVER AND GET LOST, PLEASE! 
I have had some good reception to the badge, too, and it’s been noticed by my friends, teachers and all sorts of people. When I first started wearing it, people were asking me where I got them from, if they could have one, and were just generally intrigued.
I really don’t regret wearing them and like wearing it around. It really is part of me now and I wouldn’t take it off for the world!
And on that note…
Don’t forget to wear your geekery like a badge! 
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DISCUSSION: My Favourite Love Interests

Posted on 12 April, 2013
I must now admit something: I’m in a bit of a blogging slump. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted at all this week and I feel really bad about it but I’ve been struggling to write both reviews and discussion posts and so I decided to not worry about it for a few days. It’s safe to say that I did worry and I’m hoping that writing this post will get me back in to the blogging spirit. 

If you follow me on Twitter or have read some of my past reviews, then you will know that I have a lot of crushes, and all of them are on fictional boys. Today, I’m going to be talking about a few of them and I’m hoping that writing something fun like this will really help me get out of my slump.

So first off I must start by saying that I have a massive list of my book boyfriends and there are over 50 names on there. This makes my friends laugh an awful lot. I’m going to pick out some of my favourites here but I’m happy (very happy!) to discuss more in the comments below or feel free to send me a Tweet and I’ll be happy to reply.

Sooo….The list!

1. Yul from the Stonewylde series by Kit Berry- *swoon* Yul is literally one of my all time favourite characters and, although I don’t know many people who have read this book, two of my friends have and I’ve had to tell them to back off. They now think I’m crazy (I think they already did!).

2. Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare- I’m obsessed with these books at the moment and I’ve been constantly talking about them. That means that I’ve been fangirling and swooning over Will all week and my friends have to tell me to shut up. I will marry him one day!

3. James Carstairs from The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare- Jem is one of the sweetest boys I’ve ever read about; he’s just so chivalrous! I just want to hug him because, really, you can’t do much better than him.

4. Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare- Have you noticed a recurring theme here? Cassandra Clare writes about the most amazing fictional love interests (it pained me to write fictional then) and so it really is no hardship to add them all to my list. Jace is a very sexy Shadowhunter.

5. Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- Augustus. Wow. What can I say?! He made me laugh, cry, and want to run and just fly. Does that sound weird..? It doesn’t to me!

6. Perry from Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- I envy Aria. Seriously, WHY DOES SHE GET TO HANG OUT WITH PERRY WHEN IT SHOULD BE ME?!

7. Noah Shaw from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin- WHY?! Why did I ever pick up this book?! There’s no going back! Nights laying awake thinking of Noah will follow…I’m warning you!

8. Etienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins- Another swoonworthy guy right here! Move over, Anna! HE’S MINE!

9. Ian and Jared from The Host by Stephenie Meyer- I’m putting these two together because this book features a very interesting love square (is that what you call it?! I don’t know!). I love them both so much!

10. Tamani from the Wings trilogy by Aprilynne Pike- TEAM TAMANI, FTW! WOO! If you want sexy faeries THEN READ THIS RIGHT NOW!

11. Maxon from The Selection by Kiera Cass- Words cannot describe how much I love Maxon (I can hear you shaking your head! Of course they can, Lucy, is what you’re saying, that’s what words are for!). But I’m hoping that adding him to this list will be enough.

12. Four from the Divergent by Veronica Roth- Woo! I love Four but so does my friend so we’ve had quite a few arguments over him.

I also wanted to include Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood (The Infernal Devices, Cassandra Clare), Hale (Heist Society, Ally Carter), Ash (The Iron King, Julie Kagawa JUST FOR YOU, EILEEN!), Patch (Hush, Hush, Becca Fitzpatrick), Corndog and Henry (Catching Jordan and Stealing Parker by  Miranda Kenneally), Kaspar (The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs).

Who are YOUR favourite love interests? 

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Embracing My Inner Geek (6)

Posted on 6 April, 2013

Embracing My Inner Geek is a weekly post featured on Queen of Contemporary where I ramble about random and geeky stuff.
This week I’m going to be sharing something so amazing that I’m going to be grinning to myself whilst writing this post. 
This is also something that I watched about twenty times on the day of its release.
It is….
The City of Bones trailer! 

Here are my thoughts:
I am so impressed with this trailer. I’ve recently become obsessed with all of Cassandra Clare’s books and so I couldn’t help but squeal when I saw that this trailer was being released.
I’m so happy with the cast and I think Lily Collins is the perfect Clary as well as Jamie Campbell Bower being the perfect Jace. I think the TMI fandom should be so proud to have such amazing people working on this movie because it has really done it justice.
Now, on to the trailer itself…

I love Hodge’s voice over. Even though I’m too busy staring at the screen to pay proper attention, I think it works really well.
Lena Headey as Jocelyn Fray is also really good and I’m going to write a bit more about her and the Shadowhunter’s accents a little later on in this post.
I’m really not sure about the casting of Luke because he really doesn’t look like the Luke I have in my head (that sounds really weird!) but I’m sure this won’t be a major issue for me.
The first look at the Shadowhunters sets me squealing and they look just like I imagine. The costumes are so creative and I think Cassie Clare’s vision has been brought to life. Jamie wielding that seraph blade (I’m assuming it’s a seraph blade?) is another thing that I go a little crazy for.
‘You’re not a mundane.’ OHMIGOD! That line also makes me squeal. Have you noticed a recurrence here?
I love that we get to see a demon because this was one of the things I was a little worried about but I was disappointed that Jace killed it and not Clary because I think that was something that added to her character in the books.
And now I must mention how much I loved Isabelle in this trailer. Even though we didn’t hear any of her dialogue, we got to see such a big part of her personality and, by this point in the trailer, I’m jumping up and down in my chair. She has so much sass!

I know I’ve heard different, but I like the fact that the Shadowhunters are British. This may be because I’m from England myself so I’ve always read it in my own voice. I don’t think this will be a problem for me but I can see why it might be for some people. Personally, I don’t think the Shadowhunters from Idris would have either an English or American accent because they don’t live in either place. I do, however, think that Alec and Isabelle would have an American accent because they grew up there.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

You might have also noticed that Embracing My Inner Geek now has a new header which was designed by the lovely Emma from Never Judge A Book By It’s Cover and The Graphicness. Emma also designed my header and blog button and I would like to thank her for being so fab!

Don’t forget to wear your geekery like a badge! 

UKYA

REVIEW: The Hit by Melvin Burgess

Posted on 4 April, 2013
Published By: Chicken House
Page Count: 303
Publication Date: 4th April 2013
Aquired: Through publisher for review
Format: ARC paperback
Summary from Goodreads: 

Take it. Live it. F*** it.
A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It’s the ultimate high. At the ultimate price.
Adam is tempted. Life is rubbish, his girlfriend’s over him, his brother’s gone. So what’s he got to lose? Everything, as it turns out. It’s up to his girlfriend, Lizzie, to show him…



The Hit is all about revolution, rebellion and revolt. With its amazing premise, it’s no surprise that this was a book that I really enjoyed reading.
Death. It’s a drug that will give you the best week of your life and then kill you. So why take it? What’s the point? After a famous singer takes Death and then drops dead on stage, a rebellion starts and then people find themselves taking this lethal drug. Adam and Lizzie find themselves in the middle of the revolt and they then find that their lives are changing. But then Adam takes Death. Will he realise his mistake before it’s too late?

This book is full of twists and turns that kept me reading on. THE HIT isn’t something that I’d usually read but I was surprised to find that I really liked it.

Burgess has thrown the reader into a world where there are riots, crime and the people have had enough. One of the worrying things was that this world was not actually that far from our own. Burgess has taken the bad aspects of our world and put them altogether. The worldbuilding was one of my favourite things about this novel.

I think having this written in third person really added something because it meant that we got to see a wider part of the plot.

Adam was a really interested character and, although I didn’t agree with all of his actions, I did like him as a person. Throughout the book, we really see him mature. Some of the changes that he goes through are rather sad because they aren’t done by choice but thrown at him.
Lizzie was also a really good character and I found myself warming to her instantly. Although, just like with Adam, I didn’t agree with some of the things she did, her actions always added to the plot and kept me wanting to read on.

I really loved the ending. There were so many sub-plots so I was never sure of how it actually would end; I was really worried that I would end up crying. Luckily, I wasn’t in need of tissues but I still felt pretty emotional and a wave of relief rolled over me.

This book kept me gripped and it’s something that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for something a little different and exciting.

UKYA

March Recap and April Goals

Posted on 2 April, 2013
March has been a really good month for me and I’ve read so many amazing books. 
Here is the list of this months books:

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The Prince by Kiera Cass
Numbers by Rachel Ward
Nobody’s Girl by Sarra Manning
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Changeling by Philippa Gregory
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Hit by Melvin Burgess
Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt
Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders
Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse
Infinite Sky by C.J. Flood
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt
So in total I read 19 books! I think this has been my best month yet and I’ve loved nearly every single book that I picked up. 
I’d like to thank my librarian, Tracy, for all her recommendations, Sophie from So Many Books, So Little Time for sending me Infinite Sky to read and also to Chicken House for sending me The Hit. 
Although there is a clear favourite this month, I’m going to be picking out my five favourite books because I read so many that I loved. I’ve been reading so many five star books and so it’s really not fair if I only choose one!
1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare- This definitely beat all of the other books by miles because it was truly amazing. It made me laugh, cry and scream in frustration which made me vulnerable to some odd looks whilst reading!
2. Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt- This was originally going to be my favourite book of the month but was overtaken by Clockwork Princess right after. I really couldn’t put this down and have since read and loved the author’s second novel, By Any Other Name, although I don’t want to add two books by the same author.
3.The Host by Stephenie Meyer- I finished this two days ago- the last day of March- and, just as above, I couldn’t put it down. I originally wasn’t going to read it but then changed my mind and I’m now waiting to see the film.
4. Nobody’s Girl by Sarra Manning- This was a fun read that I picked up one night after school and I read it within a few hours. I was completely captivated by it.
5. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas- This was my choice of book for my book club and I really enjoyed it. I’ve never read a book quite like it and loved the world that was created.
Last month I said that I wanted to reach 190 followers by the end of March and I’m actually at 185 right now. I thought that I’d be very upset by this but, actually, I’m not. I’ve eased up a little bit and have decided to take a more relaxed approach with blogging because it should be something I enjoy, rather than finding it a chore/ finding it competitive. 
So for this reason, I won’t be making any massive goals this month. 
April Goals:

1. Experiment a little bit- I really want to just post when I feel like posting and not worry about how many times I post each week. There may be times when I post every day, and there may be times when I post twice a week but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
2. Read ten books- I might be able to push this a little higher but lately I’ve been enjoying reading for fun and so I want to continue doing this.
3. Read more UKYA- I did read quite a bit in March but I want to start prioritising more and I think UKYA will be top of my list.
4. Have a really good blogoversary- My blogoversary is coming up on April 20th and so I’m going to start planning out this week so that I’m prepared.
What did you achieve in March? What are you hoping to do in April? 
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SPOILER REVIEW: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Posted on 1 April, 2013

**THIS IS A SPOILER REVIEW. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK**

Summary from Goodreads:

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy

Tessa Gray should be happy – aren’t all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa’s heart, will do anything to save her.







I cannot put all of my Clockwork Princess feelings into a non-spoiler review very easily and would really like to go into a lot of detail so I’ve decided to write a spoiler review for this amazing book. I may try and write a quick review some other time but, for now, this is my Clockwork Princess review. I will be talking about all three books in the trilogy so if you haven’t read them then please don’t click the ‘Read More’ button.
Cassandra Clare ripped my heart out and then stitched it back up. But, just like if you smash a piece of glass, there are some tiny shards missing that will never be replaced. 
At the end of Clockwork Prince, I was full of despair. Although I never concluded which ‘team’ I was on, I wanted Tessa to be with both Will and Jem because I loved them both. This is one of the things I love most about the love triangle in this book; the reader feels exactly the same as Tessa. With Jem proposing to Tessa,  I knew that she wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings even though what she was feeling for Will wasn’t normal. I also knew that, if Jem were to die, Will would never want to be with Tessa. Will actually said, when conversing with Magnus Bane: “If Jem dies, I cannot be with Tessa,” said Will. “Because it will be as if I were waiting for him to die, or took some joy in his death, if it let me have her. And I will not be that person. I will not profit from his death. So he must live.” He lowered his arm, his sleeve bloody. “It is the only way any of this can ever mean anything. Otherwise it is only —”
So I was left wondering how this beautiful trilogy could ever end in a way that would satisfy readers and I’m pleased to report that I thought it was amazingly well rounded off.

I was a little wary at the start- four pages in and we’d already witnessed a death! It was clear to me that, even though she was dead, Adele Starkweather would play a big part in this novel.
The other part of the prologue shows Will and Jem’s first meeting and I was really pleased to see this. It wasn’t something I thought we would ever be able to read and yet it shows us something about Will and Jem’s relationship that is vital to the readers understanding of them. I was a little shocked at the things Will came out with in the scene but then he thought he was cursed at the time so I couldn’t really blame him.

The first chapter was full of witticisms that I have come to recognise from Cassandra Clare and I particularly loved the scene which I like to refer to as the ‘Lightworm Incident.’ Here are a few quotes from that scene:

“And indeed it was, the arrow still protruding from its wet, grayish skin, humping its body along with incredible speed. A flick of its tail caught the edge of a statue, sending it flying into the dry ornamental pool, where it shattered into dust.

“By the Angel, it just crushed Sophocles,” noted Will. “Has no one respect for the classics these days?”


“Gabriel’s green eyes sought Will. “It was demon pox, wasn’t it? You know all about it, don’t you? Aren’t you some sort of expert?”
“Well, you needn’t act as if I invented it,” said Will.”


There are various mentions throughout the book of Benedict Lightwood as the ‘Lightworm’ and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see a worm without thinking of Clockwork Princess again.

There was also some brilliant relationships between characters, excluding our main one. I loved the interaction between Gabriel and Cecily, who we saw a lot of in this novel. Cecily was a female replica of her brother and I’m hoping that we’ll get to see more of her in Clare’s future novels, so far named TLH, concentrating on the second generation of Shadowhunters.
Sophie and Gideon were also very sweet together and I was really pleased that Sophie got to Ascend because I wasn’t exactly sure of what the process would entail and so it was brilliant world building.

The way in which Clare has weaved all of her books is amazing and she is an author that I idolise for this reason.

Now, I’ve noticed that this review is getting rather long so I’ll start talking about the epilogue now. I had no idea that it would end in the way it did but I was surprisingly pleased. I was very upset, though. The main reason for this was because we, the reader, witnessed Will’s death and, even writing this now, it saddens me. I was pleased that, eighty years later, Jem and Tessa met on Blackfriar’s Bridge and got back together because Tessa truly did love both Jem and Will. I don’t think Will would be upset with this because, at the end of the day, he was willing to let Jem and Tessa get married when he was alive. He cares for them both, just as Tessa cares for Will and Jem and Jem cares for Will and Tessa.

But this still isn’t over! Even though Clockwork Princess is the last book in the Infernal Devices trilogy, we still don’t know how Jem was released from the Silent Brothers and why. I can’t wait to read City of Heavenly Fire to find out.

There’s so much more that I could have written so, if you would like to add something, then please comment below and I’ll be pleased to reply to all comments.