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She Is Not Invisible

By Marcus Sedgwick, published by Orion.

She Is Not Invisible Goodreads Synopsis: Laureth Peak’s father is a writer. For years he’s been trying, and failing, to write a novel about coincidence. His wife thinks he’s obsessed, Laureth thinks he’s on the verge of a breakdown.He’s supposed to be doing research in Austria, so when his notebook shows up in New York, Laureth knows something is wrong.

On impulse she steals her mother’s credit card and heads for the States, taking her strange little brother Benjamin with her. Reunited with the notebook, they begin to follow clues inside, trying to find their wayward father. Ahead lie challenges and threats, all of which are that much tougher for Laureth than they would be for any other 16-year old.

Because Laureth Peak is blind.

My Review: She Is Not Invisible is one of those books that was stuck in my head for ages after reading the last page. It was such a beautiful, gripping story, and I just wanted to read it over an dover again! Marcus Sedgwick creates such magical, mesmerising stories, and She Is Not Invisible is definitely one of his best yet.

The idea for this story is so original! It’s one of those rare ideas that you come across, that’s never been done before. It doesn’t seem to have taken any inspiration from anything, making it so unique in a world where a lot of books are following genre trends at the moment. Laureth’s dad has disappeared, and Laureth has run away to New York, taking her little brother with her for guidance, as her mum is away and doesn’t believe he’s in danger… and Laureth is blind. I don’t think I’ve ever read a story where a blind character has taken the lead role before, aside from in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. One of the reasons that I loved this story is because of the main character, as I admired her bravery to set out into an unknown world!

The main theme of the book was Coincidence, which was a very individual theme. I’ve never read a book based around something like Coincidence before, and wasn’t sure how it would go. It was so clever! One of the things this book had me wondering about after I’d finished was whether coincidences were real… and whether the stuff in Laureth’s dad’s notebook could come true… *shiver*

One word to describe the plot? Misleading. There were loads of twists and turns to this book that I was not expecting! The story was complex, but not confusing, and a really enjoyable read. I was on the edge of my seat, totally hooked on the story as Laureth and Benjamin were searching their way around New York, with a notebook full of terrifying notes on a cult with ties to mysterious coincidences. I was so scared for the characters, and very interested about the places they were led to- Edgar Allan Poe’s house, for one! I could also visualise them really well in New York, as I’ve been there before, and so it was really easy for me to slip into their shoes. Even if you haven’t been there, Sedgwick’s writing will transport you into their world, and make you feel like you don’t want to come out.

Laureth, as I’ve already said, was a really brave character. I know that Marcus spent a lot of time with blind peoplee, so he could get experiences correct. I’m pretty sure he got it spot on. It was so interesting to be in Laureth’s shoes, to imagine what it was like to travel halfway across the world to find a father when you’re only relying on four senses. Not only was she brave, but she was also very realistic. Benjamin was, too; her little brother who she took with her! He was so sweet and obeying, and I just loved him to bits. Both of them were so great! (Also, there’s a pretty funny background to Laureth’s name- Marcus, is that how you came up with it??).

Ah, I’ve ranted on too much about this! So I’ll wrap up now, but I could go on forever about this book… Overall, it was an amazing read, and very unique, too. A thrilling search for a lost father, who’s obsessed with an idea for a story? It was just so great! Laureth was a brilliant leading character who anyone will connect to. She Is Not Invisible is written so well, and I definitely think this book’s going to be big. Sedgwick fans, grab a copy now! Or if you’re someone looking for a read that’ll blow you away, you go grab a copy now, too! (: (Bonus: the cover is really pretty) It’s hard to compare this to anything… I can’t recommend this enough.

My Rating:

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I received a copy of She Is Not Invisible from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Geek Girl: Model Misfit

That Burning Summer

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By Lydia Syson, published by Hot Key Books.

That Burning Summer Goodreads Synopsis: Romney Marsh, July 1940. When invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it’s Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy’s brother Ernest’s curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear.

In one extraordinary summer the lives of two young people will change forever, in a tense and gripping historical drama from Lydia Syson, the author of the acclaimed A WORLD BETWEEN US.

My Review: That Burning Summer definitely lived up to my expectations! I loved Lydia Syson’s A World Between Us and it’s felt like an age, waiting to read her next book, because I was so excited for it! We’ve moved away from the Spanish civil war, onto the Second World War as the backdrop for this book, and it was just as intriguing. As well as a really interesting time period for the book, I also loved it because it was set in a place I’ve visited a few times- Romney! I’ve been on holiday a couple of times round there, so I could envision it in the World War quite well, which I think made me enjoy reading it a lot.

The writing was just beautiful. I was transported to the world so easily, and didn’t want to pull myself out of it. I read huge chunks of this in school at my library… multiple times I was almost late for class, because I just couldn’t stop reading! It was written so well in third person, though I think first person would’ve suited this book well, too. Between every few chapters, there was an Rule from a guidebook on what to do should the enemy invades. I really loved having those extracts in there, as it compared to what Peggy was doing for the fallen flyer. Well, it was the opposite really, but technically he wasn’t the enemy!

Peggy was such a great main character. She was a believable teenager, and I adored the love story between her and Henryk, the pilot who fell out of the sky. I think I loved her because even though she had no proof that Henryk was who he said he was, she would still help him by stealing food from her own farm, when they needed it. I also adored her little brother! Ernest was such a sweet little kid, and he played an unexpected part towards the ending, involving a pretty shocking birthday present for a twelve year old.

Henryk was also a really great character. We only really get to know him through his conversations with Peggy, that take up a lot of the book, as he’s hiding out in the Church. His story was heart-breaking and makes you want to go jump into the story and give him a hug. Lydia Syson has created a book that’s like a window into the lives of people in the second world war. I felt like I was there, living through what Henryk did!

Overall, That Burning Summer was a second brilliant YA novel from one of my favourite historical fiction authors! It was set in a time period that I really love learning about, so that attracted me to it, and Lydia’s created yet more unforgettable characters that I enjoyed reading about so much. The ending was very satisfying and sweet, and left me imagining for days about how Peggy and Henryk were getting on. One word to describe this? Unputdownable. It was such a great read, that I’m definitely going to be recommending to anyone I know who likes historical fiction!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of That Burning Summer from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #26

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I normally have pretty small book hauls… but this one’s pretty big, mainly thanks to the Bath Kids Lit Fest, which meant I was scouring Bath bookshops and swapping with Lucy; and the Waterstones Piccadilly event I went to on Wednesday, where the lovely Debbie swapped some books with me!

Bath weekend book haul:

Blood Red, Snow White

Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick: I absolutely love all of the Sedgwick books that I’ve read so far: And this has been the top of my to-hunt-down-list for his titles I haven’t yet got. I’m so glad I found this, in a lovely, huge, Oxfam bookstore in Bath! I’m also really hoping to go to an event with Marcus at the end of October. Fingers crossed! (:

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: This looks like a really magical read! I loved the pretty cover, and I’ve seen it on a lot of blogs and I’ve also seen a lot of great reviews of this in various places. Though really I mainly bought it because of that mysterious blurb and gorgeous cover. (ALSO, MORGENSTERN IS A SURNAME IN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS. This bears no relation to that. But that’s such an awesome surname).

Shipwrecked

Shipwrecked by Siobhan Curham: I’ve loved Siobhan Curham’s previous two books so much, and the only times I’ve ever seen this in bookshops is when I’ve had no money! Thankfully I spotted this in Waterstones in Bath as Lucy pointed it out to me. Hooray!

Swapped with Lucy:

Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1)

Across The Universe by Beth Revis: The majority of reviews I’ve seen for this have been raving about its amazingness. I’ve had my eye on it for a while, and also the cover is so stunning! The very awesome Lucy bookswapped this with me. So thank you, Lucy!

Die for Me (Revenants, #1)

Die For Me by Amy Plum: Another gorgeous looking book! I hadn’t heard of this previously, but I swapped with Lucy for this, too, as I went and read the synopsis on Goodreads and it doesn’t sound like anything I’ve read before. Thanks again, Lucy! 😀

Swapped with Debbie:

Siege

Siege by Sarah Mussi: I met Sarah at a Hot Key event for her book, Angel Dust. I only recently discovered what else she’d written under different publishers: And I’ve been wanting to find a copy of this for ages! It seems like my kind of twisted book, and I’m really excited to start this. Thank you, Debbie!

The Future of Us

The Future Of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler: I really loved Thirteen Reasons Why, when I read it last year. This seems like a very different concept to that: but a very interesting one, too! Imagine going online in the 90’s to find your Facebook profile in the future… oh, that would be awesome. I’m very interested to read this! Thank you again, Debbie! 😀

Bought/Received:

Zom-B Baby (Zom-B, #5)

ZOM-B: BABY by Darren Shan: Oh, how I adore this series! Gory and terrifying and twisted and… oh, I could rant on about these forever. I’m so glad my dad went out and bought the newest one for me! (Thank you dad :D) I was really intrigued as to how the killer babies that haunted B’s past dreams would play a new role in this. I only got this a couple of days ago, but as it’s quite short and I really couldn’t wait any longer, I devoured it today and loved it. Review soon!

Have you read any of the books above? What books did you buy or receive this week? Leave a comment! 🙂

Mini Reviews: All Our Yesterdays and Doll Bones

September’s books, and October’s to read list!

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Gah! I nearly forgot to write this post. Anyway! I guessed that this September I’d only have read a couple of books, as I’d be starting and settling into year nine as a GCSE student (Yep, a year early. Eep.). Turns out, that I got quite a lot read! I’ve read so many great books this month- but there were a couple that I didn’t really like. Click on the covers of the books to bring you to my review of that book, if I have written the review yet (Which is only a few of them. I must catch up on my reviewing)!

Read In September:

She Is Not Invisible That Burning Summer Because It Is My Blood (Birthright, #2) The Name On Your Wrist The Boy with Two Heads Model Misfit (Geek Girl #2)
Fearsome Dreamer (Fearsome Dreamer, #1) The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish MirrorMask

To-Read In October:

There are too many books now, on my TBR pile, to list a few! So, I’ve decided to take a picture of the top of my TBR- though I also have two storage boxes collectively full of about forty books, too. Eek. There’s no way I’m going to get through all of these books, pictured, anyway!

Also, I just had a look at the picture and aside from two that I received from Lucy, these are all books I have brought over the last three quarter of September. I BUY TOO MANY 0_0.

Click on the image for a closer look!

So, those were the books I read last month, and the books I want to try and read this month! (: I’ve read a lot of great wrap-up posts already, like Charli’s, but if you think I’ve missed yours leave a link in the comments, or comment with your favourite thing you read in September! (:

Bath Kids Literature Festival!

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If you can’t read the text I put on these pictures in the post, click on the pictures for a close up (:

Last weekend, (or, well, for the last two days :P) I was lucky enough to have a two-day holiday in Bath, because the Kids Lit Fest was starting! I was really excited to go to a couple of events, though a little disappointed because a lot, like Holly Smale’s event, were on weekdays and so I wouldn’t be able to get to them.

We (brother and I) were booked into two events, a Dave McKean talk (Dave is an artistic director, and amazing illustrator, famously of Gaiman titles!) and a horror writing workshop with Alexander Gordon Smith (who’s actually called Gordon, so I’m calling him that in this post), and we were planning on seeing Charlie Higson but his event sold out quickly, as he’s just released THE FALLEN!

Most of the weekend we spent exploring Bath, because it’s a really awesome place. There are some photos I took on here 🙂 On the Saturday, we went to the Holburne Museum, where our events were, and were really disappointed to be told that Dave McKean couldn’t get to the venue as there’d been an incident on the motorway and there was no way he could get around it. So, we had brought too many books down to get signed for nothing, but oh well! I’ll have to catch him at another event. (I am 100% SURE that the accident happened because we walked under a ladder earlier in the day but no one believes that. Hmph.)

On the Sunday, I did the horror writing workshop! I had heard about Gordon’s books in the past, but never read one, so I didn’t know too much about the author/books. However, it was a brilliant event, and definitely made up for the one I missed! After telling us a couple of stories, of inspirations for his books (One involved a very funny expedition to an abandoned house!), Gordon started us on worksheet-packs we’d been given. They were really great! The sheets were all about developing our biggest fears into stories- because if you use something that really terrifies you, you’ll definitely convey that terror into your writing! There were also the tasks of What If- Where everyone had to put their fears into a question: What If a creepy doll you were given was possessed, and intent on destruction? was one of my wacky ones. We did some character profiling too, where we fleshed out some characters for our stories. Unfortunately, as we had all been doing so much discussing, we didn’t quite get to finish everything! However, the course was amazing. I took away a lot of writing and structuring tips from it, and even a short story idea that I started writing on the train home (:

After the workshop there was also a signing. My brother and I bought the first two copies of Gordon’s FURNACE series (Though I really wanted The FURY but it was sold out 😦 Oh well, I shall hunt it down.), and had them signed, which was awesome! Here’s me with Gordon, right:

HOW DID I FORGET?! I met Lucy from Queen of Contemporary! 😀 We met up in the Waterstones at Bath to swap books (I got two awesome ones, I’ll put my Bath book haul in this week’s haul, by the way), and she’s as awesome in real life as she is in bloggyworld. I think my parents had thought I’d be there for about five minutes, but… uh… we may have fangirled over every book individually in the YA section for forty minutes. But… details. It was awesome meeting her! I’ve tried to save this picture but silly PC won’t let me. I’ve tried to be techy and embed the tweet with the picture here… but it didn’t work. So I gave up.

All in all, the Bath Kids Lit fest was really great, even though I only got to go to one event; but it was so great! The weekend was really cool and I bought a lot of really pretty books, which I’ll post about on Saturday. If you’re looking for a lot more coverage on the festival, I know that Lucy is going to a lot of the events over the whole festival, and she’s interviewing authors too, so go check her site out!

The Fallen

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By Charlie Higson, published by Puffin (Penguin).

The Fallen (The Enemy #5) Goodreads Synopsis: First the sickness rotted the adults’ minds. Then their bodies. Now they stalk the streets, hunting human flesh.
The Holloway crew are survivors. They’ve fought their way across London and made it to the Natural History Museum alive – just. But the fight will never end while the Enemy lives, unless there’s another way. . .
The kids at the museum are looking for a cure. All they need are medical supplies. To get them means a journey down unknown roads. Roads where not only crazed, hungry sickos hide in the shadows.
SUDDENLY IT’S NOT SO CLEAR WHO – OR WHAT – THEY’RE FIGHTING.

My Review: about a week before I read this, I read The Sacrifice (the previous book) and I was blown away by its sheer gory amazingness. I thought to myself “Nope. There is no way that The Fallen could top it.”
And then it did. So I was wrong.
Firstly, I was a bit worried because this book revisits Maxie, Blue, and the Holloway crew. They’re my favourite characters of the series! However, they’ve been pretty absent in the last couple of titles. I was a little worried it’d take me too long to get use to reading about them again.
Again, I was so wrong!

Despite Higson’s series having so many gangs, so many main characters, it was surprising how quickly I adjusted to the change (In The Sacrifice, it was about completely different people!). That was great, because I then got really absorbed into this story.
The Fallen has, probably, the best story line in the series so far! It was brilliant… And genius, in terms of how things all connected from The Sacrifice to The Fallen. If you’ve been reading this series so far, you’ll know that Sam and Ella are brother and sister, searching for each other, but both secretly think the other is dead. Well… The Fallen’s ending, including those two people, will make you cry and want to throw the book at at wall. CHARLIE HIGSON, YOU JUST DEMOLISHED MY HOPES AND DREAMS. I will say no more.

Whilst some of the Holloway crew and some of the Natural History Museum gang search to find equipment to make a cure, they encounter lots of bloody zombies on the way. As that’s going on, back at the museum two kids have gone missing and something-or someone- is murdering children slowly and building up to something big. The whole plot was very unpredictable, and it was possibly twice as gruesome as the rest of the series. Yay! Also, the origin of the disease that zombified the world was revealed in this book- and… Just… wow. honestly, I was not excepting that, and it was revealed in a very clever-and twisted- way.

Maxie was my favourite character from the first book. I think I loved her even more in this one, even though the focus on her wasn’t entirely huge. Another character I adored was Lettis. Eccentric name, loveable new character. She was a scribe who recorded the journey that she and the other people looking for a cure made. A chunk of the novel was of her diary entries of the journey and… They were just heartbreaking and extremely emotional. All of the characters, who I won’t go further into, we’re really relatable: one of Higson’s series’ strong points is that the character are so realistic that you can really relate to any of them.

Overall, The Fallen was an absolutely brilliant instalment of The Enemy series. It delved into the previously unanswered mysteries of the disease with shocking plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. It revisited some of my favourite (who I thought had been abandoned) characters, which I loved! The plot was extremely terrifying and so if you thought the previous books were bad, then think again. If you love gore, though, read on! This story was much darker! Every horror fan needs to read this series. It is just amazing. Enough said- go grab a copy!

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Fallen from the publisher via an agency. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #24

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A couple of very exciting books arrived this week, I’m looking forward to all of them! Thanks to Ebay and Orion! (;

Received in Post:

She Is Not Invisible

She is not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick: I’ve read about six of Sedgwick’s books and I absolutely adore his writing.When this arrived I did a little happy dance. She Is Not Invisible doesn’t seem very much like his other books, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be in for a very unique read- as the concept seems very original! Thanks to the awesome Nina Douglas for this! 🙂 The book is just beautiful. Marcus even replied to Ruby (Feed Me Books Now!!!) and I saying ‘don’t judge it by its quality, judge it by its spine width’ on twitter, when we were fangirling over the cut size of the book (Yes we are booknerds. Ssh.).

MirrorMask: The Illustrated Film Script The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish

The illustrated MirrorMask Script and The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean: As part of the Bath Kids Lit Fest starting very soon, next week I’m off to Bath to meet Dave McKean as he does a talk! My Dad’s been scouring the internet for copies of his books with Neil Gaiman as we’ve only borrowed them from libraries, before! I read the picture book of MirrorMask and it is just… perfection. I read TDISMDFTG (too lazy to write that ridiculously long title!) and loved that, too. I’m really looking forward to meeting this awesome person (and get these beautiful books signed :3)!

Did you buy or receive any books this week, and what ones? Or have you read any of these before? Leave a comment!

An Interview with… Gina Blaxill!

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I’m so lucky to have interviewed one of my favourite crime authors, Gina Blaxill! I’ve been a fan of her books for about a year-ish, now, having read her first two crime thrillers for teens last October and absolutely loving them. I didn’t know until a couple of weeks ago that Gina had a new title out- and I was so glad I got to read a copy. I really wanted to interview Gina on her newest book, Saving Silence, which I reviewed yesterday on my blog, and she was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions! So, here’s a little bit about this author, and an interview with some really great answers about her new thriller for teens (complete with pictures- of the setting and Gina’s awesome writing shed):

Gina Blaxill is 27 and lives in North London. She has an English degree from Cambridge University and now works in schools liaison, helping teenagers puzzle out the mysteries of higher education. Between the ages of 11 and 15 she wrote an epic 36 part story featuring over 1,000 characters – she still remembers most of their names! Apart from Saving Silence she has two other novels published with Macmillan, Forget Me Never and Pretty Twisted, which is an e-book bestseller.

Your newest novel is based in an area with a lot of crime. particularly gang crime (The McAllister twins): why did you decide to write a novel with themes of London gang culture?

I wanted to write something that genuinely felt real, like it could actually happen. I also wanted to write about something that might affect teenagers, rather than about teenagers getting accidentally caught up in adult crime. Gang crime is a huge issue that affects lots of teenagers with loads of really interesting themes – identity and belonging and friendship to name a few, themes I think relate to teenagers in particular. I was lucky that I didn’t grow up with gang culture around me but for many of the young people I’ve met across London it’s something they have to deal with every day to a lesser or greater extent.

Did you always want, since wanting to become an author, to write crime/thrillers, and for teenagers?

I definitely always wanted to write for teenagers.I love teenage fiction and I just don’t have anything interesting to say to adults! My teenage years were not at all dramatic but I think it’s a really interesting period of life, when people are discovering exciting new things and figuring out who they want to be.

I actually ended up falling into writing crime thrillers. When I wrote my first book Pretty Twisted I didn’t realise I had written a crime novel! However it makes a lot of sense because I’ve always loved crime novels and crime dramas.

What was your main inspiration for Saving Silence?

My starting point was the idea that someone might do a good deed that had bad consequences. I wanted something really dramatic at the beginning too, so both those ideas turned into Imogen saving Sam’s life. Obviously I then needed an explanation for why someone would want to try to kill Sam and that became the rest of the book. I also really wanted to write something set in a part of London where kids have to be tougher and more streetwise – somewhere that felt claustrophobic and potentially dangerous.

Do you base any of your characters on yourself or other people that you know?

I usually don’t – not consciously, anyway! It’s not that I’m a boring person but I think characters like me would be a bit rubbish in a crime book because they would be sensible and just go to the police ! I do try and give all my important characters a little something of me – like Imogen I like to get things done without fuss and like Sam I enjoy baking. However, I did base Nadina strongly on a lovely girl I met through my day job at a college in Hammersmith – I gave her the same name, appearance and from what I could tell a similar personality. I hope the real life Nadina doesn’t mind being put in a book! I also based some of Ollie’s background, loosely, on a kid in an episode of World’s Strictest Parents, so character inspiration can strike from odd places.

There’s a bit of a romantic twist, especially at the ending, to Saving Silence. Were you always going to include it?

This is a good question! Originally there was less romance in Saving Silence . I think I got so caught up with
plotting and atmosphere that I forgot about it a little – my bad! Both my editors, very wisely, pushed me to up the

romance a little and I’m glad I did. The development of the characters’ relationships and the ending just feel right, and a lot of the romantic twists and turns just ended up happening naturally – I never really planned to end up with a love triangle, for instance.

Finally, do you have any ideas for a fourth book, that you can share with us?

Nothing’s set in stone for the fourth book and I might change my mind and go with a different idea! However the idea I’m working with at the moment is about a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, and revolves around one of them having been abducted.

Ooh, can’t wait to hear more about this idea if it goes forward! Also, I would write this in a picture caption, but stupid WordPress won’t let me caption things for some reason… So can we just take a moment to admire this writing shed/author habitat above. I WANT ONE.

Finally, thanks so much to Gina Blaxill for answering my questions with some really great answers- I really enjoyed reading them and hope everyone else will too. You can check out my review of SAVING SILENCE by clicking HERE, and you can also hear Gina read the first chapter HERE!