Geek Girl

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By Holly Smale, published by Harper Collins

Geek Girl

“My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek.”

Harriet Manners is the geekiest girl of the school. She gets picked on by mean girl Alexa, and ‘GEEK’ graffitied on all of her property. One day, she is forced on a school trip to a fashion show with her best friend, who dreams of getting spotted and becoming a model.

But when Harriet herself in spotted instead, she jumps at the possibility of changing her lifestyle. It will mean stealing her best friends dream, lying to her mother, flying to Russia, and more. But wouldn’t it be worth it to become popular, and change from being a geek? With the support of Geeky-stalker-boy Toby and Harriet’s easily excitable, very enthusiastic father, she embarks on a hilarious journey to pursue a modelling career. Can she make it, and impress super-cute model boy Nick?

This is going to be one of the hottest debuts of the year, I just know it!

The story follows Harriet as she gets a crush on a cute model boy, struggles with bullies and friendships, and experiences the ups and downs of being a (pretty clumsy) model, ultimately discovering that it’s fine to be a Geek. It’s a hilarious, brilliantly written novel which also reflects on the teenage life of the author: As Holly Smale got scouted herself as a teenager!

Harriet is a brilliant main character, your stereotypical, clumsy geek who knows more than enough facts. I fell in love with her story right from the beginning! I actually think she was a bit like me; being called ‘ginger’ when she has Strawberry-blonde hair, amongst many other things. I really related to her, which was great. The other characters were awesome too; all of them funny, but I think my favourite has to be Harriet’s agent (Who reminded me of Louis Spence)!

I really loved this. It’s a brilliant story; comedic yet full of heart and personality, a great read for young teenagers, and young adults alike!

Overall, a stunning first novel from a new author who definitely has a great writing career ahead of her. I couldn’t believe this was her first book, and I can’t wait to see how the sequel turns out!

*Note- look out for the geek girl blog tour, with great, geeky posts appearing on lots of YA blogs, including mine! My post will be on the 26th of February.*

Unremembered

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By Jessica Brody, published by Macmillan

Unremembered (Unremembered, #1)

“The only thing worse than forgetting your past… is remembering it.”

Sixteen year old Sera is the sole survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the ocean. She wakes up, nicknamed Violet for her purple eyes. She can’t remember anything at all, and she has no family looking for her. Then a mysterious boy called Zen arrives in her hospital room, and tells her that she is called Sera, that she needs to remember that she is part of a secret scientific experiment, and that she is not to trust anyone.

She is adopted by two foster parents and their son, Cody, but upon incidents that make her seem ‘supernatural’ and ‘like a robot’ to the people around her, she decides that she must uncover her real identity and sets off on a dangerous journey with the help of thirteen year old Cody to try and remember her past life. On the way she meets Zen again, and another mysterious person. Who can she trust in this new dangerous world? What is Diotech and what did they do to her? And is she falling for Zen? Read this great book to find out!

I absolutely loved this. It’s everything I hoped for; a lot of gritty action, a brilliant main character, a sci-fi based storyline, and a little bit of romance, too. Unremembered is full of exciting, and unpredictable plot twists which kept me on the edge of my seat whilst reading; and the plot in general really was brilliant. I ended up reading this in about a day, but I wish it could have been a little longer (There will be a sequel though! Yay!) .

Sera made a great leading character, and so did Zen, the love interest. I liked the ‘undying love’ between them, how she had had her memory wiped of him so many times but he was still determined to make her remember him again and never stopped loving her. I also found Cody, the thirteen year old foster brother, one of my favourite characters-He’s just so cool, a nerdy boy with a serious crush on his ‘amnesiac supermodel’ step sister!

…And now we come to the ending. THE ENDING. Possibly one of the most frustrating, most effective cliff-hangers of all time. It absolutely terrified, upset, and excited me, and now I am eagerly awaiting the publication of the sequel!

*QUICK UNRELATED NOTE- Yep, this is my third post in the space of about half an hour. I’m off ill with a cough, and sorting through forgotten, unfinished reviews and posting them! woo!*

The Beautiful and the Cursed

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By Page Morgan, published by Hot Key Books

Ingrid Waverly and her sister Gabby move to Paris with their mother, escaping the memories of the accident Ingrid caused- setting fire to a house. They had sent Ingrids twin, Grayson, ahead of them to France to scout out a new home. They arrive at an eerie looking Abbey guarded by stone gargoyles but Grayson is nowhere in sight. Locals say he went missing. like the french girls who have been kidnapped.

Determined to find their brother, Gabby and Ingrid begin a search, but stumble across a scary new side to Paris. The gargoyle which sits on top of their abbey was once a human; Luc; and was turned into a beast, who is sentenced to protect whoever shelters within the abbeys walls. Also, Demons exist- and so does an ‘Alliance’, who pledge to protect people from the Demons. On their search for their sibling, Gabby will fall in love with Detective Nolan, and Ingrid with their Gargoyle Luc, but can they protect each other, and save Grayson, on top of stopping the evil force behind the kidnappings?

Move over, sparkly vampires- the magic gargoyles have arrived! This book was amazing. As soon as I saw the cover I knew this was going to be a great, Gothic read. It was thrilling from the beginning, with scary murder cases and supernatural secrets and evil demonic hell-hounds… So much awesome stuff. There was so much action, so much drama, packed into the pages, and I loved it.

I thought that the main focus would be on Ingrid, seeing as that’s the character on the cover, and even though most of the limelight was on her, her sister Gabby was also a main character. I loved Gabby and Ingrid, they were great protagonists; brave, courageous, adventurous 19th century girls. Luc made a great character too; a Gothic, half human gargoyle sentenced to protect the people that live in the abbey but accidentally falls in love with the eldest girl? How cool!

I didn’t think there was going to be a love triangle, but then one was introduced on the last few pages which was really unpredictable. I’d like to see it develop a bit more in the sequel out soon (The Sweet and the Savage), but I hope it won’t overpower the action!

A Month with April-May

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By Edith Bulbring, published by Hot Key Books

A Month with April-May

‘Life is not a bowl of cherries. Suck it up.’

April-May February is the unfortunately named daughter of two recently split up parents. When she joins a new school, she instantly gets on the wrong side of her teacher! She wears bright stripy socks, and the wrong bag- which means trouble when her evil teacher miss Ho sees! April-May makes friends with the mouth breather Melly, but soon loses her clothes to a homeless person and joins Seb and his gang, when she gets all mushy lovey dovey feelings for him…what ever will happen next?

Watch out Georgia Nicholson… there’s a new comedic girl about! I found this book brilliant; it’s packed full of laughs and tears (Mostly from laughter, but from sad bits too)! It’s one of the funniest books I’ve read in a while. I really loved the character of the April-May February; her story is a funny one but it pulls at your heartstrings, as she tries to ignore her parents’ dilemmas and tries to become a normal girl in her crushes’ gang. Although quite short, this book was awesome and comical. I would recommend it to any teenage girl; you’ll really love it! I can’t wait to hear more from South African bestseller Edith Bulbring in the near future!

Red Ink

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By Julie Mayhew, published by Hot Key Books

Red ink

“Sometimes lies are safer than the truth…”

Fifteen year old Melon Fouraki is the daughter of a beautiful Greek woman, and an unknown father. When her mother is hit by a bus and killed, and the memories of Maria Fouraki are slipping away, the only thing Melon has to remember her Mother by it The Story, a tale her mum wrote about her childhood.

Melons’ Aunt Aphrodite is unlikely to be jumping on a plane soon to look after her great niece, so Melon is stuck living with the much-disliked Paul, who was her mothers fiance until she died. The story follows Melon as she discovers that some things her mother had told her were not real, and that her mum, Maria, was not the person she seemed…

This story really was amazing! I didn’t know what I would make of it when I began reading; but I was hooked after a few pages! It was beautifully written, and packed with emotion and heartbreak. The story dealt with love, loss, superstition, and family secrets- and it made for a really sad (but at parts, witty) tale. Melon made a really great narrator with a huge personality.I love the style of writing: One chapter would be at the present, then the next would flash back to before her mothers death.

The ending was very, very, unexpected. And shocking. But I liked it all the same- Now I want to read on about Melon’s future!  I can’t wait to read more from Julie Mayhew, this debut novel was excellent- I think I just might have to go and hunt down some of Julie Mayhew’s short stories now.

Ferryman

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By Claire McFall, published by Templar.

Ferryman

“Life, death, love– which would you choose?”

Teenage protagonist Dylan is on a train, heading north form Glasgow to finally meet the father that see hasn’t seen in over a decade. But the train crashes in the middle of a countryside full of hills, and when Dylan emerges from the wreckage, the only person she can find is a mysterious looking boy sitting up on a hill. She will soon learn that she has actually died in that train crash, and that she’s emerged into a wasteland full of demons called wraiths who wish to fest on her pure soul, and that the mysterious boy is called Tristan. He is her ferryman; a person who guides souls through the wastelands into the unknown afterlife. As they embark on the terrifying, wraith-infested journey, Dylan finds herself falling in love with her ferryman, Tristan. Life, Death, Love- what will she choose?

This is one of the books that seriously stood out to me during the bloggers brunch event the other weekend. I just couldn’t wait to read it, and ended up reading it in just under a day. I literally could not put it down! It’s a terrifying, downright scary story, with a strong essence of forbidden love. The characters were just brilliant, I  grew to really love Dylan, as it was quite a while into the book (about 60 pages) before she actually died. I got to know her whole back story, and what made her how she is, which I wasn’t expecting, but enjoyed. The setting was so imaginative; a really original take on the afterlife. There was not one point in the book that I didn’t like. It was just so awesome.

I really recommend this to YA horror/dark romance/dystopia  fans: It’s an absolutely brilliant debut from an author I would really love to read more from!

Back to BlackBrick

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By Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, published by Orion

Back to Blackbrick

“Just because you can’t see someone anymore doesn’t mean that they’re not a part of you…”

Cosmo is a boy in a complicated family- his brother, Brian, died at the age of ten, his mother has moved to Sydney for ‘business’, and now Cosmo lives with his Granny Deedee and Granddad Kevin. But Granddad seems to be losing his memory, and although Cosmo denies it, he knows he has Alzheimer’s Disease and there isn’t much time left before his Grandfather is moved to a special home.

When Cosmo says his goodbyes to his Granddad before moving to his Uncle’s home, his Grandfather gives him a key- a key to a strange place called BlackBrick Abbey. Out of curiosity,  brave young Cosmo takes the key and heads to the Abbey- but as he steps through the gates, he finds himself transported to his Granddad’s teenage past. He’ll discover hidden, dark secrets and lies, and some very special- and also evil– people…

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! The book pulled me in straight from the beginning, and kept me reading; I ended up ploughing through this in about a day. The main plot of the Grandfather’s Alzheimer’s made this book a really emotional roller-coaster; and I got a real insight to a family torn apart by its effects. The authors’ father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, as it says in the Authors Note, and that made the story all too real, and devastating.

As well as the emotional side, there is also an imaginative, fantastical twist which I really wasn’t expecting. Cosmo stepped through some kind of portal to about seventy years ago, and played a huge part in the teenage lives of his grandmother, grandfather, and his grandfathers’ first love. The story was really well told, with a serious time-paradox-twist but it wasn’t too confusing thanks to the fantastic, consistent narration! The ending… well… lets just say it brought a tear to my eye. Or two.

My only problem with the book is that it was, even at 230 pages, too short for me (although that was probably because I became really emotionally attached to these characters, and didn’t want to let them go)!  Overall, I think this is one of the most stunning debuts I have read so far, from an author to keep an eye on. I’m sure we’ll hear some more great titles coming from Fitzgerald!

Sister Assassin

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By Kiersten White, published by Harper Collins

Sister Assassin (Sister Assassin, #1)

“She never chose her deadly gift but now she’s forced to use it. How far would you go to protect the only family you have left?”

Meet two sisters who love each other very dearly; Fia, and Annie, who is blind. Orphaned, they are sent by their Aunt to a special Academy which claims it has the resources to help older sister Annie’s need in education due to her blindness. However, it’s not all they help with- as they are a school for extremely talented students… ‘Talented’ here meaning ‘Gifted with special, almost supernatural abilities’. Annie has the gift to for see the future and the dangers that lie ahead for those close to her in visions. The school also helps to train Fia, the younger sister, in combat. But why are they training her to kill?

Then Fia is sent to assassinate a man for a reason unknown to her, but she just can’t do it. Fia has killed two people before, and her past haunts her. She doesn’t want the weight of another death on her shoulders, and additionally she finds this ‘target’ different… innocent. But when Fia does not follow her orders from the Academy, her life and her sisters life are thrown upside down and life becomes a deadly game… Can Fia work out why the Academy wants this man killed and save those she loves?

Sister Assassin has got to be one of the most mind-blowing, exciting, books for teenagers ever! Obviously, I was hooked from the first page: Top secret mysterious organisation? Check. Superpowers of sorts? Check. Two loveable and well developed protagonists? Check! It’s a great, gritty thrill ride of a book; fast paced and tense. I liked how the narration kept changing from Fia to Annie, even though Annie’s parts were a bit lengthier at times. Despite how frustrating that got, I found that was a pretty great narrative hook. It really drew the reader in.

The ending was a bit of a ‘I NEED TO READ THIS AGAIN TO MAKE SURE I READ THAT PROPERLY’  ending. It really shocked me (I gasped out loud!)! I’ll warn you now; this story gets pretty violent and shocking, it’s not for the faint hearted!

All in all, this is a really brilliant book by an awesome author. I really hope there’s some kind of sequel in the making!

Hot Key Books/Templar Bloggers Brunch!!

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(Awesome alliteration there in the title- ‘books bloggers brunch’ 😉 )

templarbooks

 

hotkey

A massive thank you to Templar publishing and Hot Key Books Publishing for inviting me over to their awesome joint-event with food, authors, and books!

All of us bloggers sat down to two mini-talks about some of the highlights of both publishers new releases for this year, then had a yummy lunch whilst meeting fellow bloggers and authors. It was nice to meet lots of awesome bloggers, kind publishing people and some really great authors who have signed my books! Along with a couple of other books which arrived in the post for me today, I now have a lineup of about 15 books to review, including some of Templar’s’ recently published YA and a chunk Hot Key Books’s releases from February to June, and two great looking ones from Harper Collins that were mailed to me to keep me busy! Keep your eyes peeled for some reviews of these!