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Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

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You know when you read a book and you feel so satisfied when you’re reading it because you know how good it is? This is how I felt when I was reading The Square Root of Summer! Every single word of it was brilliant and I’m so glad that I read it. 

In this perfect summer read, Harriet Reuter Hapgood mixes contemporary with a sci-fi/time travel twist. It has everything needed for a beach read, whilst also being exciting and fast-paced. The Square Root of Summer tells the story of teenager Gottie Oppenheimer who is struggling with the death of her grandfather, Grey, as well as dealing with a secret-breakup. This summer, past and future collide as the boy who broke her heart returns, as well as Gottie’s old best friend, Thomas.

I fell head over heels in love with the characters. Harriet’s ability to make each one feel individual and real made them so enjoyable to read about and I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know more about Gottie and the other characters. I always use an indicator of “Would I want to be friends with these characters?” to see how much I loved a book and I would LOVE to hang out with Gottie and her friends.

One of my favourite touches in the book was Gottie’s German mannerisms and sayings. Her dad being German, I liked how this was shown to have developed her character and was also fun for an ex-German-learner to read about. I love special touches!

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The feelings of grief that Gottie feels – towards losing her grandfather and her break up – came to life on the page and I felt that I could empathise with her because her feelings were written so subtly but also so realistically – the plot isn’t inundated with Gottie’s emotions but they are ever-present and help to expand the narrative.

It was super amazing to read about a female character who is interested in science. It can be particularly hard for girls in STEM subjects, as I’ve learnt from experience, so to read about the physics was great and I hope it inspires other girls to take an interest in science.

Harriet certainly proved with The Square Root of Summer that she can WRITE! It felt so well-crafted and I 100% believed everything that was being written, even though it does stray into science fiction and magical realism grounds. I loved how, even though the time travel was there, it was almost as if I could feel the summer heat when I was reading it and it had the contemporary feel that I love.

The Square Root of Summer is a title I’m going to be shouting about all summer. It’s a standout debut that you can’t help but love and I hope that readers love it just as much as I did.

Read this if you loved…

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The time travel and science elements of All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

The feeling of summer and romance in The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Book in a Tweet:

 @hapgoodness has written one of my favourite books of the summer – time travel, summer romance and brilliant characters – what’s not to love?!

 

Have you read The Square Root of Summer? What did you think about it? Let’s chat!

Discussion Points:

  • If you could travel back to one point in your life, where would it be and why?
  • What other time travel books have you read and loved?
  • What are your favourite summertime books to read?
Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: Nightwanderers by C.J. Flood

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It has been three years since C.J. Flood’s award-winning debut novel, Infinite Sky, was released, which I described as “deep and heartfelt“. In Nightwanderers, Flood returns with her signature emotional read to deliver a book that is guaranteed to grip readers long after they’ve put it down.

Nightwanderers is a story of friendship and family, centred around the protagonist, Rosie, and her best friend Ti. Rosie and Ti have been best friends for years and are inseparable, but when Rosie betrays Ti, things start to change. What starts is a chain of events that will test not just their friendship, but their family ties too.

Perhaps the thing I loved most about Nightwanderers was the emphasis on friendship over romance. Whilst there are undertones of romance, the focus was mainly on Rosie’s relationship with Ti and the other friendships she builds over the course of the novel. Flood cleverly highlights the different dynamics that different groups of friends share, and uses this to further the strains put on Rosie and Ti’s friendship.

Usually in YA books, it can be typical to kill off parents, or to have them disappear altogether, but one of Nightwanderers’ strengths is how parent-child relationships are weaved into the narrative. They play a major role in the book and drive the story forward through their interactions; it was refreshing to read about and really made the book.

Flood builds on the beautiful, stand-out voice she created in Infinite Sky to create impact and an emotional connection that is very rarely achieved so thoroughly.

I am excited to see where Flood’s writing career takes her next and will be awaiting her next book with baited breath. Nightwanderers is a stunning UKYA novel that will capture the hearts of everyone who reads it, and I hope it paves the way for more friendship and family based novels.

25437747Ideal for fans of…

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard – for how important friendship is.

 

Book In a Tweet:

Not all friendships are good for you, but sometimes you’re good for each other. Nightwanderers was a very magical read.

 

 

Have you read Nightwanderers by C.J. Flood? If so, let me know in the comments what you thought of it! If not, tell me about a character you’d love to be best friends with.

Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne

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I love that moment when you read a book and you keep glancing at the clock, seeing how many more pages it’s possible to squeeze in because you love it so much and can’t bear to stop reading it. How Hard Can Love Be? was definitely one of those books for me. I was hooked from the moment I began and can’t stop thinking about just how brilliant it was, even a few weeks after reading it.

The sequel to Am I Normal Yet?, How Hard Can Love Be? tells Amber’s story. After not seeing her mum for two years, Amber is heading off to California to spend the summer holidays with her. However, there are a few downsides: her mum’s new husband, working with extremely excitable kids in a summer camp and she’s in a totally different country without her best friends… Great, right?

I can only think of a handful of UKYA books that are set outside of the UK, so it was so good to discover the US through How Hard Can Love Be?. It made me feel so English and it was extremely nice to read something that didn’t feel stereotypically English – not all of us sound posh and drink tea! Amber made me appreciate my little English quirky things and I’m sure US readers would feel the same about the other characters in the book. There’s something to please everyone!

One of my favourite things about How Hard Can Love Be? was of course the feminism. Despite being thousands of miles apart, not even a vast ocean can separate the Spinster Club and there was still lots and lots of Evie and Lottie, who we met in Am I Normal Yet?, in the book. You would think that because romance is quite a big plot line in the book that it might detract some of the feminism, but I found quite the opposite. How Hard Can Love Be? proves that you can be in a relationship and be a feminist at the same time and I think this is a side to a lot of feminist books that we don’t see. I LOVED it!

Where Am I Normal Yet? talked about OCD and anxiety, How Hard Can Love Be? discusses alcohol abuse and how this affects a mother-daughter relationship. We often see in YA a lack of parents, but Amber’s parents were at the forefront of How Hard Can Love Be? and this was very refreshing to read.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are LOTS of Harry Potter references in the book, which put a big smile on my face because I love Harry Potter and I know Holly does too. The enthusiasm for Harry Potter certainly came through!

I adored How Hard Can Love Be?, despite my lack of sleep after not being able to put it down. Holly Bourne is one of the most talented YA writers of the moment and I cannot wait to read the next instalment to find out what happens to the Spinster Club. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

You’ll Love This If…

You’re a hardcore feminist who wants to read about feminism in PRACTICE.

You squeal every time you see a Harry Potter reference.

You’re a human being. It’s as simple as that. (Although I’m sure you can read it to pets and they’ll enjoy it too.)

Who would you invite to your Spinster Club if you had one? Have you read How Hard Can Love Be or Am I Normal Yet?

Book Review UKYA Uncategorized

REVIEW: Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

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Beautiful Broken Things is the extraordinary début novel from Sara Barnard that showcases what everyone loves most about UKYA fiction.

Caddy and Rosie have been best friends forever, despite them going to different schools. Then Rosie introduces Caddy to a new girl at her school, Suzanne. Suzanne is everything Caddy is not – adventurous, daring and reckless. But she also has a past. Her arrival shakes everything up and threatens to change Caddy and Rosie’s lives. Will it be for the better?

The YA world desperately needs more books with friendship at the centre, so Beautiful Broken Things arrived at just the right time. The relationship between Caddy, Rosie and Suzanne feels so alive and real that when you read it you feel as if you’re a part of it too. It shakes you up and makes you evaluate your own friendships and how important they are.

Beautiful Broken Things is without a doubt Suzanne’s story. Without her, the basis of the book would be lost, but it’s told from Caddy’s perspective. It was refreshing and offered a different side to the story that is typically told, and it added a whole new dimension. I was very impressed by this!

Sara Barnard discusses themes of abuse and mental health sensitively and realistically. Although hard to read at times, I felt for Suzanne and her situation and I was glad that no sugarcoating happened.

I can’t wait to see what Sara Barnard writes next. If it’s half as good as Beautiful Broken Things, it will be amazing!

You’ll Love This If…

You’re looking for a truly gripping tale of a friendship that doesn’t feel like a far-off fairytale.

You love UKYA!

 

What books have you loved that talk about friendship? Have you read Beautiful Broken Things?

Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: The Sleeping Prince by Melinda Salisbury

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If you’ve been reading Queen of Contemporary for a while, you’ll know how much I loved The Sin Eater’s Daughter and so I was incredibly excited to read the sequel, The Sleeping Prince. It’s always nerve-wracking to start a sequel, but especially so when you have such high expectations. Luckily, The Sleeping Prince didn’t disappoint!

The Sleeping Prince starts where The Sin Eater’s Daughter left off, but this time we get to see the story from the eyes of Errin. Left with the task of looking after her sick mother after the death of her father and her brother Lief’s disappearance, Errin has to resort to making illegal herbal cures to get by, and the threat of the Sleeping Prince looms ever closer…

In this stunning sequel, Melinda Salisbury continues to surprise readers with her imaginative plot and characters who you instantly fall for. It’s impossible not to be in awe of the way that Melinda writes, so intricately and with such prowess.

It was particularly refreshing to have the second book in a trilogy narrated by a different character than the first book was. It meant that so much more of the world could be seen and, although it did take me a while to get used to Errin, I grew to really love her by the end of the book.

The Sleeping Prince blew me away. It has definitely earned Melinda Salisbury a place with the likes of Sarah J. Maas and Maggie Stiefvater for best YA fantasy. It was beyond worthy of my first five star rating of 2016.

You’ll Love This If…

20617636You’re a fan of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

You want a book that you become invested in from the start and find it impossible to put down. Seriously, I stayed up way too late reading it!

You like your books packed with lore and mythology, with gorgeous maps to go with them and a world seeped in history.

 

 

 

Have you read The Sin Eater’s Daughter or The Sleeping Prince? Let me know your thoughts!

Book Review

REVIEW: All the Rage by Courtney Summers

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I have wanted to read something by Courtney Summers ever since I first heard Holly Bourne talk about how amazing her books are, but until now they haven’t been published in the UK, which is a crying shame. We’re really missing out!

All the Rage is a harrowing look at rape culture and the way we treat people who have been raped. Loosely inspired by the Steubenville case which was in the news at the time of Summers writing the book, protagonist Romy is bullied and thrown out of her social circle because nobody in the small, US town she lives in will believe that she has been raped by the “golden boy” of the town.

The plot line is extremely gripping and so unpredictable – I could have never guessed the massive twists. They had me gasping in shock because I couldn’t believe what had happened! I felt so connected to the story that the events really affected me as I was reading them and I had to read on to find out what happened.

It’s clear when reading All the Rage that Summers is a master of the writing craft. The way that she tells the story is perfect and I was hooked from beginning to end; I kept telling myself, “Just one more chapter!” and then it turned into five and six and then seven… I loved how natural it felt, as if you were in Romy’s town and witnessing the hate she received. Summers’ writing is perfect and works so well with the story; it has its own voice and comes alive with every word.

However, what Summers does best is include diverse characters that blend seamlessly into the story line. It doesn’t feel as if diverse characters are added so that they can be ticked off on a checklist, but because they’re real people too. I loved the secondary characters in this book and how they fitted in to Romy’s story – they had their own lives but also worked towards creating a bigger picture too.

All the Rage is definitely going to be my go-to recommendation for the future. I’d love to see more of Courtney Summers’ books published in the UK soon because the UK needs more Courtney Summers books! I know I’d be the first person to buy them if they were published.

You’ll Love This If…. 

25255576You’ve read Asking For It by Louise O’Neill! They tie in nicely together as they’re inspired by the same case, and the stories do overlap in places.

You’re looking for a thrilling read that you can’t put down.

You’re a feminist and want to read more YA books with feminist topics!

 

Have you read All the Rage? What did you think of it? If you haven’t read it, let me know if you’re going to!

Book Review

REVIEW: The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith

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After reading Stacey’s review of The Fox and the Star, I knew I had to read it so when I went into my local Waterstones a few days later, I bought it immediately.

I’m so pleased I saved this as my first book of the year. It was such an enjoyable book, full of wonderful illustrations that capture your imagination and make you feel as if you’re wandering the woods too with Fox. It can, and will, be loved by children and adults alike – it’s universal. As I was reading it, I could picture myself as a two year old again, being read stories and looking at the wonderful illustrations that accompanied them. IMG_2406

The way that The Fox and the Star is illustrated adds a maturity to the words and Coralie Bickf0rd-Smith has a very unique style that is instantly recognisable; she is well-known for her work on numerous covers for Penguin, including the Clothbound Classics series and the Penguin English Library series. After reading this, her début, I will definitely seek out other books that she has illustrated and she will most certainly be on my radar for future releases.

There’s also a hint of innocence in the protagonist, the Fox, that you see change over the course of the book and the journey was lovely to watch. I think this is what makes it so appealing to people of all ages: there’s a sense of dramatic irony for the adults, who know exactly who, or what, Star is, and a sense of magic for younger children who will be able to look up at the sky and see Star for themselves.

The Fox and the Star would make a perfect present for book lovers and little to-be book lovers. It’s one that I know I’ll be saving to read to my own children because the magic is still with me now, even a while after reading it. IMG_2411

Book Review

The End of an Era | The Princess Diaries: Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

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I can’t believe I got to read this book. When I finished reading The Princess Diaries series OVER THREE YEARS AGO, I never imagined I’d be reading about Adult Mia’s life. It was all my dreams come true when I found out there would be a new Princess Diaries book!!!

The Princess Diaries series was the first YA book series I ever read, so they mean a lot to me and they’re a favourite of mine. The latest instalment, Royal Wedding, was equally as amazing as the rest and, after finishing, I was left screaming, “MORE!” I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to let Mia go.

We all know the likes of Cinderella, Elsa and Snow White, but they do not compare in any way to Mia. I loved seeing her all grown up and, although she hasn’t changed since her teenage years, she has matured in a way that is recognisable to diehard Princess Diaries fans.

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I think one of the things that makes me laugh most in the books is the mentions of the films of Mia’s life. We all know the actual Princess Diaries adaptations weren’t exactly faithful to the books (I will never get over Nice Grandmere, however much I love Julie Andrews), so for Meg Cabot to mention them in the books is hilarious.

I feel as if Mia and Michael are my children who just happen to be older than me. That’s not weird, is it? I’ve grown up with them and they are the epitome of RELATIONSHIP GOALS. I just want to smoosh them and hug them.

Royal Wedding was so perfect and I can’t stop reading it over and over again. If you’ve read it, please rave with me about how good it is. I need a Royal Wedding support group.

Have you read Royal Wedding? Did you love it just as much as I did?