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Top 5 Feminist YA by Holly Bourne, author of Am I Normal Yet?

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Am I Normal Yet? is the first book in a trilogy about a group of girls who set up their own feminist campaign group called ‘The Spinster Club’. I think YA gets a bad rep when it comes to feminism. So many people keep bleating out the dreaded words ‘Bella’ and ‘Swan’ – like Twilight isn’t a) TEN years old, and b) Not the only YA book out there. In fact, YA have LOADS of incredibly feminist books, and here are my top 5.

1) The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Most people know E C Lockhart for her haunting We Were Liars, but I have to say I actually preferred this book. Frankie is very much in love with her new boyfriend, but she can’t understand why she isn’t allowed into his secret boys-only club at their top private school. So she infiltrates it…

Why it rocks:
Frankie is the very definition of ‘kick-ass’ – you spend the entire book wishing you could be her. This book has incredible insight into the thirst of power, the complexities and contradictions of being a teen feminist who also wants a boyfriend. A top-notch quirky teen feminism manifesto!

Favourite quote: “It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can’t see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow. It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people.”

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YA Starter Kit

So you may be new to reading YA, or just looking for some awesome book recommendations… Today I’m going to help you add LOTS and LOTS of books to your TBR piles!

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Undone by Cat Clarke will give you ALL THE FEELS. It made me cry so much and I loved every single second of reading it. It’s a must have on your shelf because it has LGBT themes, deals with grief and loss, and also has a brilliant plot!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is a favourite YA book of mine because I read it right when I was getting serious about reading YA. It’s about werewolves which may seem cheesy after Twilight but it’s such a refreshing urban fantasy novel that you can become invested in easily.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor has SO many fans. I still haven’t read the second or third books in the trilogy, but I really enjoyed the first instalment when I read it a few years ago. It’s completely unpredictable so it’s a very exciting reading experience!

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson is one of my favourite books of 2015 so far and is about imitations of the Jack the Ripper murders happening in London. Rory, the main character, is American and starts at a boarding school in London just as the murders start to happen. I LOVE this series a lot and can’t stop recommending it! SO, SO fantastic!

Trouble by Non Pratt is about teenage pregnancy and it’s written perfectly. I enjoyed it so much and can’t wait to read Non’s next book, Remix, as I loved Trouble so much.

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We Were Liars….It really is best to lie about this book because the least you know about it the better! It took the book world by storm last year, and I still can’t believe the shock ending! I really didn’t expect it at all.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is one of my all-time favourite books and perfect for people who love sites like Tumblr and are involved in Internet culture. It’s about a girl called Cath who, alongside her twin sister, is starting college. Cath writes fan fiction on a book series very similar to Harry Potter!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas is a favourite fantasy book of mine and centres around Celaena Sardothien, an assassin who is chosen by the prince to enter a competition to become the King’s Assassin. READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!

Have a Little Faith by Candy Harper is hilarious and is a relatively short book too! It’s very true to a British teenager’s life and I adored it.

Every Day by David Levithan tells the story of A, a person who wakes up in a different body each day but, one day, A finds that there’s someone they just can’t let go of. It’s unique and David Levithan writes so beautifully.

Which books would you add to my list? Have you read any of these?

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My Adaptation Wishlist

With books such as The Duff and Paper Towns being adapted into films this year, I’ve been wondering about some of the books I’d love to see on the big screen.

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The Rain by Virginia Bergin is an incredible dystopia about killer rain. A meteor means that all of the water on Earth becomes contaminated. Just one drop will kill you! I think it would adapt amazingly into a film because the book seems so realistic – it’s as if you’re actually experiencing it! When I was reading it, I was scared to go out in the rain and even drink a glass of water! That’s how much it affected me.

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Throne of Glass is one of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read. It would be a fantastic adaption because it’s thrilling and Sarah J. Maas writes so vividly that it wouldn’t be hard to bring to life. Celaena Sardothien, the protagonist, is one of my favourite characters because she’s the kind of character that all of us feminists wish for all of the time.

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Cruel Summer is a murder mystery novel set in Spain. I had absolutely no idea who the murder was throughout reading and when it was announced I was so shocked! I think it would work well as a TV series because it’s so gripping that you wouldn’t be able to help tuning in every week as more and more things happen.

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We Were Liars was the book of 2014. It ripped out the hearts of the many people who read it, and it had me in shock months after I put it down. It would make for such an exciting film, with the family politics, amazing setting of the island, and the twists and turns in the plot. It would be so exciting!

What books would you like to see adapted in the future?

Book Review

REVIEW: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

This review is being written five minutes after finishing We Were Liars, so please excuse my thoughts which will probably be all over the place and incoherent. This book is absolutely crazy.

I should probably first of all mention that this book was a 3.5 star read for the majority of the book, but I can’t rate it anything but 5 stars after finishing because OMG. It blew me away!

Here are some reasons you should read We Were Liars:

  1. Family politics mean a really interesting read, and there is a lot of it in the Sinclair family.
  2. It’s VERY different to anything you’d usually read.
  3. The hype? It’s for good reason. This book is awesome!
  4. TWISTS, MAN. THOSE TWISTS MESSED WITH MY HEAD.

I don’t want to give anything away, because there’s a lot I could reveal. I feel as if any tiny thing I reveal could be classed as a spoiler of epic proportions so I should probably just say – READ WE WERE LIARS! It isn’t everyone’s type of book and I know not everyone has enjoyed it, but give it a chance and I think you’ll love it.

I think one of the most appealing things about We Were Liars is I don’t think there’s another book even remotely similar to it out there at the moment. You can pick it up knowing you won’t have read anything quite like it before.

If you like your mental state, read We Were Liars. Nobody is supposed to be sane!

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Top Ten Tuesday (3) – Top Ten Most Unique Books I’ve Read

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, a new topic is chosen and people are allowed to make their own lists.

Despite really liking this week’s theme, I really struggled to find books to feature. There are so many ways to interpret the word ‘unique’ so the books I’ve chosen to feature are for many different reasons.

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I don’t think I’ll ever read such a unique and original book as Every Day. Its concept is phenomenal and I can’t think of a better person to write it as David Levithan.

More Than This by Patrick Ness is also a book with a breath-taking concept. I wish I could read it again for the first time because I can remember the feeling when I first read it, and how blown away I was by it.

I can’t write this list without talking about Harry Potter, can I? It screams ‘unique.’ The world, the way it is written, the dedication of the fandom. Will there ever really be a book quite like it again? I doubt it.

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This Star Won’t Go Out (I write this wearing my TSWGO t-shirt) is totally unique, not just because it’s non-fiction, but because of how it affected me. It’s such an emotional book and that’s what makes it so special. It’s real life and honest.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart has to be unique because THAT. ENDING. I’m still reeling, over a week after reading it. I don’t think I can risk saying any more, but, yes, I haven’t read a book quite like it before!

I love Vivian Versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle because it seems very straight-forward but so much happens. I can’t wait for the sequel!

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The Library of Unrequited Love is a very small book, less than 100 pages, but so much is discussed within so few pages. It’s also translated from French, and set in France, which I think adds to its originality.

I think The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer trilogy (or the two books is it so far) win the prize for the biggest change from a first book to its sequel. I can’t wait for the final book because I know there’s going to be a lot going on.

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Dreaming of Amelia is written in the form of exam papers, which I thought was such a great idea. All of Jaclyn Moriarty’s books are written in a quirky style – as letters, emails etc. – and I think this is my favourite of hers.

Magus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry is unique because of its setting. There will never be another Stonewylde for me. If I could live in any fictional world, I would live there; it is the place I imagine when I close my eyes, and the place I dream of when I sleep at night.

That’s my list! What would be on yours?