New Books! #2

New books this week…

Bought this week:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. The mortal series has always looked awesome, but I’ve never ever ever read a book from it. Now, with the City of Bones movie coming out this year, (like Warm Bodies in last weeks post) I had to buy it!

Tempest by Julie Cross. The cover looked cool, and so blurb was cool. So… BOUGHT.

Currently Reading:

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. I’d seen this before mentioned on a couple of blogs, and from the cover it looked SO GOOD. I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reading copy of it in the post a few weeks ago- hooray! It’s brilliant so far- review up soon…

The Fault in Our Stars

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By John Green, published by Penguin.

The Fault in Our Stars

Hazel was diagnosed at thirteen with the incurable Stage IV thyroid cancer, and was ready to die at fourteen. However, a medical miracle that only works in 30 percent of people shrunk the tumors in her lungs, leaving her with more years to live, and an oxygen tank to help her breathe. When she takes part for the first time in a cancer support group at her local church, she meets the handsome boy Augustus Waters, who had his leg amputated to get rid of his sickness. Hazel reminds Augustus of his sadly passed away girlfriend, and the two soon develop a relationship which will change both of their lives forever…

I’ve seen this book everywhere. Literally, everywhere. I wanted to see what The Fault In Our Stars was about, and why it had won so many awards, so I bought a copy, and it literally blew me away. It’s one of the most emotional, and one of the most witty books that I have ever read; many points made me laugh or cry. The story is heartbreaking… and heartwarming at the same time.

Hazel made a great protagonist. She was haunted by the chance of death, yet her spirits were high and she cracked lots of jokes. Her story was a really sad one which really makes you think about how hard it must be for other people suffering with terminal illnesses. So was Augustus’s story, that pulled at my heartstrings too. They both came together in the most coincidental way, and their love story was a roller coaster ride, and extremely well written. It was a real test of true love.

The ending was one of the saddest endings I have ever read in a book – it was powerful, brought tears to my eyes, and all too realistic. It was thought-provoking and unexpected for me, although I knew something horrible would happen to either lover.

All in all, this was a great introduction for me to john Green’s award winning writing. The Fault In our Stars is definitely now in my top-five-best-books-EVER. It is a thrilling read full of humor and tragedy, for YA’s and adults alike. I can’t wait to read another book by this author!

The Savages

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By Matt Whyman, published by Hot Key Books

The Savages

“They’d love to have you for dinner…”

Sasha Savage lives in a family who all follow a strange tradition. They look like a normal family; Her shopaholic mother Angelica, rather strict father Titus, baby Katya, and rather nasty brother Ivan. But inside their house, away from prying eyes, they’re modern day cannibals! They don’t eat it all of the time, but human flesh is their favourite meat. When Sasha gets a new boyfriend though, the family discover that he is handsome, charming, and… a vegetarian. Sasha decides to try a month skipping meat from her diet, which, obviously, is a huge thing to keep a secret in a house of cannibals.

Whilst Sasha is swapping meat for tofu, a curious detective is getting his nose stuck where it shouldn’t be. Will he discover the secret cannibalism of the Savage family, and what lengths will he go to in order to find the truth?

This. Book. Was. AWESOME. I loved it so much, and read it in quite a short space of time. It was one of the books that really stood out to me at the Hot Key bloggers lunch the other week. It was really funny, most of the humor quite dark. An unmissable, unique family drama, with great and unpredictable plot twists. I loved how it was a normal drama, with teenage love, and rebellion, but with the twist of a cannibal family which really livens the story up.

I loved all of the characters, especially the Savages- the typical yet different family. I think my favourite character, after teenage Sasha, was Ivan. He really was a nasty piece of work- sticking thumb tacks in school lunches and lacing Sasha’s (vegetarian) boyfriend’s tea with chicken stock cubes (Hahahaha)- he reminded me a little of the girl, Wednesday, from the Addams Family! The detective was funny, too, because of his obsession with fast food and how it always seemed to get in the way of his investigations.

Overall, I really, really love The savages. It was hilarious and scary all at the same time, and a really great read from an author I’d love to hear more from. An essential read for young teens and upwards!

Matched

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By Ally Condie, published by Razor Bill (Penguin)

Matched (Matched, #1)

“Watched by society; trapped by rules; freed by love?”

Cassia lives in a dark vision of the future where The Society rule everything- they decide who you will marry, how many kids you will bear, when you will die… even how much food you eat. They dictate over everything.

When Cassia is matched to her lifelong best friend, Xander, she is given a special card which she can slot in to a device to see pictures of him. But upon viewing his profile, a different face appears… Ky, another friend. While she tries to get to the bottom of why he was accidentally put as another ‘Match’, she will uncover dark, sinister secrets about The Society, and fall in love with Ky… what will happen after she has fallen in love with the wrong person?

I kept meaning to buy this, as it looked like a really good YA book, and the reviews said so too. I read it in a day, and really loved it! Ally Condie has generated a dark, dystopic world… where everything is perfect to the citizens, but really it’s sinister underneath. It’s imaginative, and futuristic. My only problem is some parts weren’t explained; like the device called ‘the port’- I really had no idea what that was. However, the plot was clever, with the events exciting and at points, terrifying.

I really liked the character of Cassie, but I think she could have been a bit more rebellious. She was a great narrator and adventurous, but not exactly Tris from Divergent. The two love interests were great, too- I loved both of them and there was a lot of visible rivalry, which I liked and it made the love triangle very effective.

Overall, it’s a really great dystopic read, full of futuristic visions and battles for love, great for teenagers. I’ll be picking up the sequel soon.

Geek Girl Blog Tour!

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I got an email with the cool looking banner for the Geek Girl blog tour today. I’m not clever enough to paste it on the side of my blog as a widget though… so I’ll just post it here. Be sure to check out all of the posts, starting today! I’m guessing you’ll just google up the blog names, as the addresses aren’t on there.

Warm Bodies

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By Isaac Marion, published by Vintage (Also coming out as a movie in a few days).

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)

“Who says romance is dead?”

R is a Zombie in a crumbling world, living in an abandoned 747 at a zombie infested airport. He can remember nothing at all about his life before his death, only the beginning letter of his old name, but he can think, and talk… kind of. He craves brains, like every other zombie. They crave them because they can live the memories that they hold.

One day on a hunting trip with his pal M and some other undead, he eats the brains of a boy called Perry, and experiences Perry’s memories of his girlfriend, Julie Grigio. Finding Julie, he takes her as a hostage to his airplane home, planning to feast on her insides later. But Julie has triggered something inside of him, and his emotions are changing. He is in love with her, but it’s not that simple. This love is reigniting life inside R, and he’s getting warmer. As he hides inside the hideout of the remaining humans, he and Julie are about to uncover something big- something that could change the apocalyptic wasteland of a world forever…

Move aside, vampire romance novels. It’s zombie romance time.

This was, by far, one of the most intriguing books I have ever read. It’s not really a romance, despite the reviews saying it is. In fact, they kiss once. At the end. Yes, he is in love with her, but none of this was lovey-dovey, thankfully! I was more interested in the zombies and the apocalyptic story line… which was brilliant. It was perfectly executed, and imaginative. It had its scary points, and its funny points!

R was a brilliant main character. He was funny, and full of personality. I thought that the whole idea of a zombie narrator was strange at first, but I really, really loved it. Julie made a great character too- a broken girl with a haunting past who is the light that begins to cure the zombies. She was outrageous, adventurous, and seriously cool.

Their journey together was so fun to read, and I really recommend it! This was, by far, one of the best zombie reads I’ve ever encountered, and I now really want to read more from Isaac Marion, and watch the film (Although, of course, the films are NEVER as good as the books).

One Crow Alone

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By S. D. Crockett, published by Macmillan.

One Crow Alone (After the Snow, Book #2)

“A winter’s day has become a winter’s nightmare…”

Teenage Magda Krol is living in her quiet, Polish village until strange men arrive. She hides in her cellar, and upon emerging realises that they were not thieves, but people evacuating the village because of the harsh weather! She ventures across the frozen wasteland to the next village, in the hope of getting on the next evacuation truck, when she encounters Ukrainian boy Ivan. Together they smuggle themselves onto a truck bound for London, where they will search for Magda’s only remaining relative; her mother. But London is a whole lot worse than Poland…

*REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS :)*

I really loved S. D. Crockett’s first book, After The Snow, and I loved this one just as much. Although I expected the sequel (Well… technically this is a Prequel) to be about the further adventures of Willo and Mary- but it wasn’t. In fact, they only had three short chapters in total. The whole of the book was about a minor character, Magda (Willo’s step-mum), from ATS. It was unexpected, but great to delve into a story of a different character. It’s was really great to see how she accidentally fell into Willo’s future.

The character of Madga was great; she made for a really adventurous, determined protagonist! She was really love-able, and I was rooting for her, hoping that she would find her mother, all the way through the book. I also really liked Ivan, the love interest- although when he decided to run off and leave Magda alone my mind really changed about him. He was portrayed as quite caring, and always stuck by Magda’s side- so it kind of confused me as to why he left for no given reason. The way all of Willo’s family fell into the story at the end was absolutely brilliant, and quite unexpected, too!

As for the plot, it was great, and I really enjoyed the adventure and action. It was dark and scary, and all about hope, survival, and loss. There was even an essence of romance in there too! I was also given a much better insight into S. D. Crockett’s dystopic world, actually giving us the date in which it’s set (late 2030’s and onward!). Overall it’s a really great, thrilling read from an author I love. Highly recommended!

New Books!

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Okay, so lots of blogs put up pictures of their newest books on their To Read pile. So I’ve decided that at the end of every week I can, I’ll do a little blog with the book I’ve received/bought this week!

Received in the post:

One Crow Alone

One Crow Alone by S. D. Crockett. I loved S. D. Crockett’s first book, After The Snow, and can’t wait to read this one, based on the minor character of Magda who didn’t get much of a mention in ATS.

Bought today:

Warm Bodies Matched - Matched

After seeing the Warm Bodies movie posters everywhere I can’t wait to see the film, but the books are always better than the motion pictures to me, so I had to pick up a copy! Also, I’ve always wanted to read Matched and never gotten around to it, and now there’s a whole trilogy of them, I thought I’d better get my butt into gear and start reading it.

Look out for reviews of these three soon! 🙂

How to Fall

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By Jane Casey, published by Corgi.

How To Fall

“Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes it kills…”

Sixteen year old Jess Tennant moves to a holiday home by the sea with her mum, to escape London for the summer. It’s Jess’s mother’s old hometown, where her side of the family still lives… except for one member.

Freya is Jess Tennant’s never-met-before cousin, and she died under mysterious circumstances a year before, plunging to her doom on the rocks after falling from a clifftop. When Jess begins her summer, she’s already turning heads in the town- she looks exactly identical to her cousin. Confused at the dismissal of her cousins death as ‘accidental’ she delves into an investigation, forming a list of suspects and determined to discover whether the death was suicide, murder, or if it really was an accident. Suspects include the mean queen of the town Natasha, and even the boy next door, Will. Along the way she’ll get tangled up in other situations too, one involving falling in love with Will.

How did Freya really die? And what lengths will Jess go to in order to find out?

I picked this book up this morning, and as soon as I began reading I couldn’t stop. Despite the huge amount of pages (just over 400) I read this book pretty quickly, and loved every second of it! Jess was a really great character; and I loved her from the start. She made a great narrator… She’s the twenty-first century, female version of Sherlock Holmes- inquisitive, determined, adventurous; the perfect detective! The other characters were absolutely brilliant too.

I loved the plot; it was a classic whodunit? story line with a twist of love thrown into the mix. There were lots of plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. I found myself guessing ahead, trying to work out who was the killer, and in the end I had gotten it totally wrong! The ending was really shocking, yet satisfying. The hint of secret love and teenage rivalry made the story more exciting than it already was, as the reasons behind Freya’s death all came down to the dating side of things. The story was realistic; with a strong essence of the extreme consequences of bullying.

Overall, I seriously enjoyed it and recommend it to any young adults, and of course to crime fans in general. It’s brilliantly written, and a really great, thrilling read!

The Quietness

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By Alison Rattle, published by Hot Key Books.

The Quietness

The eldest child of a poor family living in the slums of London, Queenie, dreams of a better life with more money. When she finds an advertisement for a job working at the house of two sisters, Mrs Waters and Miss Ellis, she runs away from home to begin work as a carer for the many babies that the two sisters own. The babies came from women who had no husbands and did not want to be looked down upon in society, so hid away for months in the Waters and Ellis house, gave birth, then carried on with their lives leaving the child behind. All the while, babies are slowly disappearing, with Miss Waters claiming that they have been adopted. But Queenie is getting suspicious, and is determined to track down the truth of the baby farm.

In a higher-class part of London, a girl of the same age as Queenie called Ellen is living a lonely life inside of a house in which nobody cares about her. When her handsome cousin Jacob comes to stay after the death of his mother, Ellen begins to feel less lonely. But after a huge betrayal from Jacob, Ellen is about to fall into Queenie’s life in the strangest way, and together they will solve the crime behind the ‘baby farming’, become the greatest of friends, and discover something that will change their whole lives forever…

***WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW BELOW!!***

I really enjoyed this! I wasn’t sure I’d really get into the story; I don’t read historical fiction much; but I really got hooked on it, and couldn’t stop reading. I liked the switching of the narratives every other chapter, and how the two girls come together and discover they are related under coincidental circumstances. Both teenagers came from very different, very interesting… at points frightful backgrounds, and I loved reading about them. I think that, after reading the authors note, the story became so much more real. Alison Rattle said that she had stumbled across the characters of Miss Waters and Miss Ellis and their crimes of Baby Farming whilst researching for something else. It was really shocking to hear that the events in this book were actually based on something that had really happened before!

The whole crime conspiracy building throughout the book kept me guessing about the ending, and when it came to the final pages I was shocked at the unpredictable closing paragraphs. It really tugged at my heartstrings- the unfortunate death of my favorite character (I’m not saying any names!).

Overall, The Quietness made for a really riveting, well written read. Highly recommended for YA’s and Adults alike!