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REVIEW: Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

Posted on 18 August, 2014

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I’ve wanted to read Lobsters ever since hearing about it at the start of the year. I absolutely adore contemporaries (hence my blog name!) and so I think I’ve always known how much I would love Lobsters.

Hannah and Sam, both in the summer before university, have one thing in common: they have yet to lose their virginity. Their summers are filled with adventure, antics and a quest to find ‘The One.’

If I could describe Lobsters in one word I would label it ‘awkward’ in the best way possible. Teenage life is awkward, which makes it such an amazing portrayal of teenage life. Nothing in Lobsters is sugarcoated which means that Ellen and Ivison have written a book that reads very much like a memoir.

Lobsters is a ‘read it one sitting’ type of book that you won’t be able to put down. I know I couldn’t!

A funny and realistic take on a romantic teenage summer, Lobsters will make you want to squeal, scream in frustration and go out and find your own lobster.

Hannah and Sam were both extremely amazing characters who I felt so connected to. Told in dual narrative, it was a very rounded perspective of teenage life because we got both a male and female viewpoint. I also loved both equally, which is a nice change because I usually find that I prefer one to the other in dual narratives.

I loved Lobsters, which has quickly become a favourite summer read of mine! Highly, highly recommended!

REVIEW: Starring Kitty by Keris Stainton

Posted on 13 August, 2014

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Do you know that feeling when you read a book and you’re a bit numb after reading it because you have no feelings on it at all? I hate that feeling. I hate pouring my time into a book, only for it not to deliver anything at all.Luckily, Starring Kitty made me feel the complete opposite.

Starring Kitty is pretty much one of the best books you could ever wish to read, and I don’t ever say that lightly. Instead of writing five pages worth of comments, I’ve decided to do a graphic to explain just how perfect Starring Kitty is.

In my head, I have a checklist of things that make a book absolutely perfect, and I know many people have something similar. Above is a not so cool version of the thing in my head.

Number One: Diverse Characters

Check one for Starring Kitty! Diverse characters is something I expect in all novels because we live in a world where THERE IS MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF PERSON WALKING DOWN THE STREET. We have racially diverse characters, illness is portrayed perfectly, and even more that I’ll leave a surprise for you if you haven’t read it.

Number Two: Loveability

Yes, I totally just made that word up, but I’m hoping you understand what it means. For a book to become a favourite of mine and one I will love unconditionally, it has to be so loveable it feels like my own child. Check two for Starring Kitty! It has a quality that just makes it amazing, which I’ll discuss in further points.

Number Three: Feminism

It’s pretty much a given that if a book has a feminist character(s) then I will love it and rate it five billion stars. It’s something we still don’t see enough of and I really want that to change. It’s so important that young girls read books with characters that they can admire and aspire to be like, and feminist themes and characters are the best of the best.

Number Four: Realistic Situations

Being a teenager myself, I often struggle to find books that feel like the things going on are actually happening to teenagers, and are realistic enough that you don’t have to think twice about them. I felt like Starring Kitty could happen to me – the school experiences were similar to my own, the friendships similar to my own. I’d even go so far as to say it is THE MOST realistic novel I’ve read about characters my own age.

Number Five: LGBT

This is one I don’t want to make too much fuss about because, you know what? It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to compare the romance in Starring Kitty to a non-LGBT one because that wouldn’t make any sense. I love how it felt normal, as it should do. It just felt right, and I loved that!

Starring Kitty can be read by absolutely anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, or usually read books like it. You will instantly fall in love with it, just as I did.

Book Review

REVIEW: The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry

Posted on 3 February, 2014

After it popping up quite a lot and being rather intrigued, I decided to buy The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry. Being around ninety pages, it’s an incredibly quick read, and I managed to zoom through it one morning.

The Library of Unrequited Love tells the story of a French librarian who opens her section of the library one morning to find someone who has been locked in overnight. Written in second person perspective to this person, the narrator discusses her love of books, her problems with the library system, and shares her attraction to one library visitor in particular.

The Library of Unrequited Love is, of course, a book that will be loved by book lovers. There are many passages throughout the book I wanted to highlight and scribble over but it would probably pain me to do so because I hate to treat books in such a way. Even though the narrator isn’t in her dream section of the library, her passion for books really shines through. It’s one of the things I loved most about the book, and really stood out.

Something striking about our narrator is her bitterness. It was nice to read about a character who had such strong opinions about things as this really helped connect reader and narrator. This connection was very important, as there are a few gaps in the reader’s knowledge of our narrator, her name being one of those things. I think this worked in the books favour though, so it’s not a bad thing. It’s what makes the book so unique.

I’m not sure why I only rated the book three stars. The rating is not a true reflection of my feelings towards the books, because I could have given it five stars. There was just something stopping me from giving it five, or even four, stars. Rating does not equal enjoyment, though, so please remember this.

For such a short book, there was so much emotion and feeling packed in. It’s not a book I’m going to forget in a hurry. The length of the book was something I particularly liked. It wouldn’t be the same if it were drawn out for hundreds of pages.

And, another thing I liked reading about, was the French culture. As the book has been translated from French to English, I think the culture was shown more than if it had been written in English and not been translated. In the past, I haven’t enjoyed books that have been translated so I was pleased to see how well this was translated.

I really think you should all read The Library of Unrequited Love. It won’t take you long and is a lovely book to curl up with on long, winter nights.

Book Review

REVIEW: The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Posted on 2 December, 2013

What can I say about The Darkest Minds that will sum up its total awesomeness? I was a little worried about starting it because of how much hype surrounds it, but I wasn’t let down at all and I ended up loving it.

When kids starting coming down with IAAN, and then dying, the remaining children are left with supernatural powers. When Ruby wakes up on her tenth birthday, she has changed, and a freaky accident leads to her being sent to one of the brutal rehabilitation camps. There the kids are sorted into groups and barely survive. Every day brings another struggle. At sixteen, Ruby manages to escape, but is life outside of the camps any easier?

It’s so easy to get lost in the world created in The Darkest Minds. I was so invested in the lives of the characters that I felt what they were feeling. My facial expressions must have been a sight to witness when I read this because the imagery used makes everything feel very realistic. Not to mention that I’m the same age as many of the characters so, if this was real, I would be in the same situation. Let me tell you that I would not survive a day.

The camps reminded me a lot of Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War and there were many similarities – the human testing and the harsh work, for example. I can’t imagine being put into one of the camps, helpless and frightened. The camp that Ruby was in, especially, was extreme and I would have been petrified.

Speaking of Ruby, I loved her. She had so much on her shoulders and I think she’s a truly admirable character. I really want to be best friends with her! Bracken has made her character development very interesting. She comes across as a clueless and naïve young girl but there’s a lot going on beneath the surface that we don’t realise. This is the strongest character development I think I may have ever read and Ruby’s arc was so complex. She goes on one heck of a journey throughout this book and I liked that we got to read about her when she was much younger too.

On to the secondary characters… Zu was such a cutie. I’d really like her to be my sister because she’s one of those people who are just so huggable. I’m really curious as to what will happen to her in the next novel and I’m really looking forward to reading more about her.

Chubs is another character who had such a solid character development. There were so many different layers to his character and all were explored in such depth.

I loved Liam so much. Another character who you got to know so well and I became so invested in him. His and Ruby’s chemistry was so believable and it makes me squeal just thinking about it. I LOVED every scene he was in.

I cannot stop gushing about this book. I really hope it’s published in the UK soon because we’re seriously missing out. Bracken has a rare talent that you don’t see very often and I can’t wait to read more by her.

Book Review UKYA

REVIEW: More Than This by Patrick Ness

Posted on 23 September, 2013

More Than This is the first of Ness’ books that I’ve read and, understanding the hype that comes with his books, I was very nervous about starting this.

The novel starts with the main character drowning. That may seem like a spoiler, but it’s not. When Seth drowns, he wakes up in an empty world; he is the only person there. It just so happens that the place he wakes up is the English town in which he moved from after a horrific incident happened to his younger brother, Owen. Where is he?

More Than This is very hard to put into one genre. I would describe it as a futuristic psychological science fiction thriller because it’s a mish mash of lots of different elements. It worked surprisingly well and I was glad that it didn’t get confusing.

Seth, the protagonist, really grows throughout the novel. His arc is particularly notable because he goes on such a journey. We see him open up and really come into himself. His situation is difficult and Ness has written such an emotional and true character.

I’m trying not to spoil anything in this review because so much goes on throughout the novel that could spoil things later on. I was kept guessing and then Ness would throw something at you that sent you reeling. I think I had whiplash whilst reading this!

I really loved the writing style. Written in third person with flashbacks from before Seth’s death, More Than This wouldn’t have worked any way else. The flashbacks were revealing but didn’t give away too much and having it written in third person meant that you weren’t always stuck in Seth’s head.

I really enjoyed More Than This and will be posting something to do with it next week. It’s something different to the norm and I’ll definitely be recommending it now. It’s not often that you read a book that you completely fall in love with, but this is one of them.

Book Review UKYA Uncategorized

Review- Tapas and Tears by Chris Higgins

Posted on 24 August, 2012

I really enjoyed this book. I had started to read this a few months ago but, having a few books on the go at the same time, never really got past the first chapter. This time though, I was determined to finish it and went in with an open mind. Once you get in to it, you really start to enjoy it, as I found. I couldn’t put it down!

The characters in it are well thought out, and the book is written in Jaime’s point of view. You see her go from, as her mother calls her, Wilma Worryguts, to bold and brash Tira, which actually means ‘Shoot’ in Spanish. I really love it when you see a character develop, and this is certainly what we see.

The plot is really good. It has a bit of everything: drama, arguments and, also, romance. The romance in this book, however, is not the typical one you see in most books. The character of Pablo is planned carefully. Chris Higgins allows you to fall in love with him, but also allows you to feel what Jaime and Concha feel for him as well.

I really love the cover on this book. It’s quite simple but I think I like it more than the other, much older, covers on Chris Higgins’ books. The others were quite girly, having sparkles on them, and I think this takes interest away from boys, who might also enjoy these books.

On the whole I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone interested. It is quite an easy read and doesn’t need a lot of thought.