Book Review: Doppelganger

Title: Doppelganger
Author: Milda Harris
Year of publication: 2012
Summary:  Citrus Leahy is having a really bad day. First she's late to school. Then she runs into the girl who drives her nuts because she always calls her Orange instead of her name. To cap it all off, when Citrus finally makes it to class, she sees herself already inside. 

Wait. What? Citrus Leahy has a doppelganger! It's probably aliens taking over the world and her life has just turned totally upside down. Goodbye, normal. Hello, paranormal! Luckily, her crush Aedan has the exact same problem!





Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Doppelganger seemed like an intriguing and fun read, that ultimately fell short of expectations. This one is a hard one to review because honestly, there wasn’t much I liked.

The main character, Citrus, was horribly annoying. I guess I could say that the voice of the novel was unique or interesting, but it wasn’t in a good way. Citrus is an airhead and a motormouth - everything she thinks could be condensed in about half time, ridding the novel of the unnecessary rambling and maybe making her connection to the other characters more memorable. It was easy to forget she cared about anybody but herself and Aedan with all the dribble in the way.

All of the people in the novel felt two dimensional - they were nowhere near fleshed out enough, and came out bland and dry with no real flavor attached. I struggled through a lot of this book, there was just nowhere near enough of anything to keep me turning the pages.

The above paired with the author’s writing ability, was a recipe for disaster. Too many adverbs, not enough detail, and words/actions that repeated over and over again. To top it off, the story ended without any real explanation, on a cliffhanger to boot - albeit a bad one, as I have no desire to read on to find out what happens.

Overall, I’d give this story two stars as it was only just bearable. If you’re looking for a story about doppelgangers, there are much better ones out there so keep looking.

Rating: 2/5 stars
★★✰✰✰

Book Review: Appaloosa Summer

Title: Appaloosa Summer
Author: Tudor Robins
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Meg Traherne has never known loss. Until the beautiful, talented horse she trained herself, drops dead underneath her in the show ring.

Jared Strickland has been living with loss ever since his father died in a tragic farming accident.

Meg escapes from her grief by changing everything about her life; moving away from home to spend her summer living on an island in the St. Lawrence River, scrubbing toilets and waiting on guests at a B&B.

Once there, she meets Jared; doing his best to keep anything else in his life from changing.

When Jared offers Meg a scruffy appaloosa mare out of a friend’s back field, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change both of them by the end of the summer.


Review:  **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Appaloosa Summer delivers a light, charming, read that is suitable for both Middle-Grade and YA readers. The horse-training and casual running of a B&B was on point, and the atmosphere of the story was beautiful. Tudor Robins clearly has extensive knowledge of both subjects, as well as the Wolfe Island/Kingston area.

I liked the main character, Meg, a lot. She was somewhat sparky, and her journey through her grief was believable, and definitely not rushed through and forgotten about. She felt like a real teenage girl living on her own for the first time, even if it was only for the summer. Her relationships with the other characters were palpable, and reading through her life was an enjoyable experience.

I enjoyed Jared’s character too. It was great having a love interest in the story who did not solely exist to add romance to the novel. His grief and story felt real, too, and I identified with his fear of leaving the island. As someone who suffers from anxiety, it was great to find it in another character without it taking over the whole novel.

I would have enjoyed having more of Slate in the story. I felt like we didn’t really know her that well although she interacted with Meg via text through a lot of the novel, but my personal head-canon due to the last couple of chapters is that she is totally queer (or at least that Lacey is), and as a queer person myself, I would have enjoyed potential confirmation of the fact.

I only really have minimal complaints about this story. One would be the lack of action in the story, another would be how that at points the characters felt very two dimensional, and the last would be how the timing of the story really wasn’t clear. At the beginning, I thought the story was taking place at the end of a summer, but instead it was the opposite.

As this is apparently book one in a series, I would expect for the action to pick up substantially in the next in order to keep the pages turning, and perhaps a little more drama as Appaloosa Summer was virtually free of it. Overall though, it was a worthwhile read, solid enough to make me want to read book two whenever it comes out, and earn itself three stars.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: Strings

Title: Strings
Author: G. Miki Hayden
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: In Strings, Robert, an ordinary boy, finds himself in a newly chaotic world. Buildings move when and where they please, and time jumps around according to no known laws of physics. For Robert, getting to his regular school in the morning is impossible, and as for getting home... But Holden, a boy he and his friend Nila meet in a cave, offers them a string. No, not twine—a string of the kind that forms the universe. Teeny and tiny, and invisible to the naked eye, this string will take Robert and Mila to their homes and way beyond, to other dimensions.

Robert doesn’t intend to save the world or to do anything except get by as best he can. Yet despite his hope to remain uninvolved, those he meets and where he goes draw him to participate. Robert’s companions on the journey through the multiverses include: the boy genius, Holden, who will defeat the alien Flatlanders at all costs; Nila, the girl next door, who doesn’t live next door just yet; Mr. Marvin, the clueless physics teacher, who considers the discrepancies they encounter to have a logical explanation; and Alfred Einstein (no, not Albert), more a nemesis than a companion, who still spends a lot of time traveling with the others. Hop on board an elusive string and see what the higher dimensions have to offer


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review** Strings tells the whimsical tale of Robert, who lives in a chaotic world where the buildings move around as they please. It wasn’t always like this, six months ago everything was as it should be, but now…

Beautifully crafted and wonderfully strange, this book reminded me a lot of Coraline, by Neil Gaiman in the way that it was written. Sometimes it was a little confusing in the way that it was written, but I think it added to the unusual genius of the story. Although it was a fantasy, it was written with such confidence, as if the author had been there herself and firmly believed in the existence of the worlds visited.

In my opinion, this was definitely more a middle grade novel than a YA one, but readers of any age will be wonderfully entertained either way as this story has enough detail and depth to draw any dreamer in. The characters are fantastic, each with a distinct flavor of their own to get used to.

Highly recommended, fans of Lemony Snicket, Dianna Wynne Jones, and Madeleine L'Engle will be delighted with G. Miki Hayden’s debut novel. A great addition to anybody’s bookshelf, and well worth a read.

Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰

Book Review: Turning on a Dime

Title: Turning on a Dime
Author: Maggie Dana
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Two girls from two different centuries and the horse that brings them together.

Teenage equestrian Samantha DeVries wants to be the first African American to ride in the Olympics. Her father, a successful trainer, pushes Sam to excel, while Sam’s academic mother tries to instill a sense of heritage in her headstrong daughter who’d rather be riding horses than studying history. But Sam’s beliefs and her carefully constructed world shatter like a jelly jar when she travels through a time portal and lands in the canopy bed of an 1860s Southern belle.

Even more surprised by Sam’s unexpected arrival is Caroline Chandler. She’s a tomboy who wears breeches beneath her crinoline and rides horses bareback, much to the dismay of her critical mother.

But neither girl has time to fret over petticoats and prejudice. The Civil War is raging, and soldiers from both sides are stealing horses. At risk is Pandora, Caroline’s beloved mare. Without her, Sam’s future Olympic horse, Nugget, might not exist in the present.

Neither will Sam if the slave catchers grab her.


Review:  **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Maggie Dana delivers a smooth read, and a light story in Turning on a dime. It is more of a middle grade or childrens book than YA, and this is reflected in the prose and short chapters, but overall it is still a very good read.

The characters were well rounded and interesting - both girls were tomboys, which I appreciated. They also had fire in their blood, and fought back against the various antagonists at every turn, never taking no for an answer.

Sam’s room was legitimately my ultimate fantasy as an eight year old child. I was pretty much horse crazy and if my family had had the funds, it would definitely have showed.

I would have appreciated more about Sam’s dad, and maybe some more dialogue between them as at the beginning of the story it kind of led on that it would be about them and various issues to do with Sam’s Olympic training.

Another thing I thought the novel was kind of lacking in were scenes between the two girls. We missed a good chunk of their friendship developing, only to have the author give us snippets of things that had happened - like the two girls playing Angry Birds on Sam’s iPhone. Sometimes a lot of time passed between chapters, which was a little detrimental as I felt we missed out on integral development between the characters.

But overall, the story was light and charming, and would be a good addition to any middle schoolers bookshelf, especially if they love horses as much as the main characters do. Kudos, Maggie Dana, you’ve got a blue ribbon here.

Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰

Book Review: Frenemy of the People

Title: Frenemy of the People
Author: Nora Olsen
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: Clarissa and Lexie couldn’t be more different. Clarissa is a chirpy, optimistic do-gooder and a top rider on the school’s equestrian team. Lexie is an angry, punk rock activist and the only out lesbian at their school.

When Clarissa declares she’s bi and starts a Gay-Straight Alliance, she unwittingly presses all of Lexie’s buttons, so Lexie makes it her job to cut Clarissa down to size. But Lexie goes too far and finds herself an unwitting participant in Clarissa’s latest crusade. Both are surprised to find their mutual loathing turning to love.

A change in her family’s fortunes begins to unravel Clarissa’s seemingly perfect life, and the girls’ fledgling love is put to the test. Clarissa and Lexie each have what the other needs to save their relationship and the people they love from forces that could tear them all apart.


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Frenemy of the People was such an adorable, light read. I wasn't so sure I would like it at the start - the first chapter felt clunky and claustrophobic but it got progressively better from the second chapter out.

The story did have it's flaws though. The characters were unique - but yes, they had their initial stereotypes, even if they quickly became so much more. Clarissa was such a naive airhead in the beginning of the story, reminding me a lot of Bianca Stratford a la 10 Things I Hate About You, but like Bianca she slowly revealed that she did indeed have a brain in there, even if her moods gave me whiplash sometimes, and her view on homeless people was kind of disgusting.

Lexie was pretty brash, and said a lot of things that could be interpreted offensively. Such as: "You just realised? How do you really know? Have you ever even kissed a girl?" Look… Lexie, you’re gay. You should know what it feels like when people say this to you. You do not need to have kissed or done anything else with a girl to know you are gay or bi or pan or queer or whatever. It’s about attraction. Most of the time though, Lexie takes it upon herself to be educated about why what she has said is offensive.

I identified strongly with Clarissa's fears after Lexie asked her how she really knew [that she was bi]. Being told by somebody in the LGBTQ+ community that you have to have kissed a girl to really know you like them is a really harsh blow, especially if you've been told the same thing by people outside the community previously.

That being said though, you should probably not go up to random strangers and ask them for a kiss.

And you should definitely not throw rocks through bank windows, or bulldoze houses, no matter how angry or in love you are. Seriously, don't. You will wind up in jail. I can't believe neither of the girls really got busted for either of their actions.

I can't believe Lexie's parents didn't forbid her from going to homecoming after what she did, either. I get that her parents are not really good ones, but still, sheesh. That's being awful lenient considering their daughter drove a bulldozer into a house.

Overall, the novel really was charming though, especially Desi. It definitely is the type of story that leaves you smiling for ages afterward, and I think that this one deserves a wider audience than what it currently has. Actual rating = 3.5 stars, but rounding down for the sake of uniformity.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰

Book Review: The Culling

Title: The Culling
Author: JC Andrijeski
Year of publication: 2011 (Netgalley says 2014)

Summary: Jet is a 19-year-old skag, one of the humans still living free on Earth following an invasion of creatures called the Nirreth. Squatting in the ruins of Vancouver, Canada, Jet and her family eke out an existence underground, hiding from the culler ships. No one knows where the ships take the people they grab, but they never return. When a culler finds Jet, she may discover the truth the hard way.


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Culling presented as an exciting, diverse, new dystopian series with a kick-ass heroine who wields a sword. Unfortunately, in reality The Culling was anything but.

The prose was clunky and repetitive (the amount of times someone hardened their jaw, chuckled, or folded their arms, especially in the same scene, was super annoying) and it also contradicted itself time and time again. There is no real flow to the story - any time we start getting somewhere another info dump is forced upon us, instead of being weaved into the story. The author also spends far too much time telling, rather than showing, and they use broad descriptors such as; Japanese-style, Indian, and Native American, instead of anything with actual depth.

Another fault is with the characters - the main character, Jet, specifically. Jet has lived as a skag all her life, is supposed to know the rules, and at the beginning of the story she is presented as having good knowledge of the Nirreth and being street smart and savvy. Quickly, the reader finds out that this is a load of crock as Jet is kind of dumb, sacrificing her safety for a bit of alone time. She also seems to forget everything she is supposed to know about the Nirreth until whoops, it's too late. To add to insult, Anaze says further into the story that, "Jet is the smartest person he knows, except for his dad" -- uh okay, we've seen absolutely zero evidence in the story so far, but hey, whatever floats your boat dude.

Something that bothered me also was that we didn't seem to get a proper description of the main character anywhere. All I remember from the story was that she has long, black hair. The covers are not much help either, depicting two completely different girls - though as a general rule I don't think we should be relying on the cover to tell us what the main character looks like.

Andrijeski also has a habit of not mentioning things that may have been integral to understanding the story until later. Towards the very end of the book, Anaze and Jet are talking and he mentions something about how she acted in the raids... maybe this should have been said earlier, to give us more information on Jet, instead of randomly thrown in like the author has written the book off the top of their head and then not gone back to edit or flesh out the story and the characters more.

Add in a pointless love interest in the form of Anaze, who we only get scant bits of information about in the narrative, as if Jet doesn't really care about him too but in the end it's basically announced that no, they are totally besties, and also, he's in love with her. Plus Jet's pretty much total amnesia re: her brother who is only mentioned maybe a handful of times in the story, and we have a doozy here. The characters are horribly constructed and so is the story. Not even the scant action in the book with the dinosaur is enough to save it. Maybe if the author went back and did a total rewrite of the story, taking out the pointless information dumps early on and spreading out the necessary bits, as well as building upon the characters, this mess would be salvageable, but as it is it's just barely readable.

I'd give this book zero stars if I could, that's just how bad it is. As Andrijeski is seemingly a seasoned author, I don't have much hope for any of their other books, and I don't think I'd recommend this one to anybody.

Rating: 1/5 stars

★✰✰✰✰

Book Review: Salt & Storm

Title: Salt & Storm
Author: Kendall Kulper
Expected publication date: September 23rd, 2014
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island’s whale men safe and prosperous at sea. But before she could learn how to control her power, her mother, the first Roe woman in centuries to turn her back on magic, stole Avery away from her grandmother. Avery must escape from her mother before her grandmother dies, taking with her the secrets of the Roes’ power.

When Avery awakens from a dream foretelling her own murder, she realizes time is running short—for her and for the people of her island, who, without the Roes, will lose their ships and the only life they know.

With the help of Tane, a tattooed harpoon boy from the Pacific Islands, Avery plots her escape from her mother and unravels the mysteries of her mother’s and grandmother’s pasts. Becoming a witch may prevent her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers it will also require a sacrifice she never expected—one she might not be able to make


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Kulper's debut novel, Salt & Storm, is as smooth as poetry, silk, and Lindt Chocolate. This book is definitely one of the best of 2014 and will stand up strongly on Best-Of lists. I'm not a big fan of Historical Fiction, but this was a dream to read from the very first page.

The Roe family history enticed from the very first paragraph. Avery's memory of tying the winds with her grandmother was a treat to read, drawing me into the story immediately, and making Avery's hatred for her mother's actions believable and cuplable from the get go. It also fueled a sense of urgency in me that Avery get to her grandmother, leaving me whipping through the pages and sending me reeling when she was rejected.

Tane was an interesting twist on the usual love interest, fully fleshed out with a backstory of his own. Sure, he was tall, dark, and mysterious, but for once I am not complaining. I did find myself wanting to know more about the island he was from and the traditions of his people, though Tattoo magic seems intriguing and now that [SPOILER] Tane's dead I really, really, hope it somehow makes an appearance in the next book.

I'd also really like to see more of Avery's mother in the next book, if there will be one. The journey from loathing her to liking her was quite a ride in Salt & Storm, as was the reverse for Avery's grandmother.

Did I mention that this book broke my heart a little? Because it did, even though I saw it coming, even though I knew that Tane would somehow die. I really cannot sing this book's praises enough. Mystery, heartbreak, intrigue, and magic - Kulper's debut has it all, all sewn perfectly together. What more could you ask for?

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: Remember Me

Title: Remember Me
Author: Melanie Batchelor
Year of publication: 2014
Summary:  Jamie Richards has lost a lot. Her father died four years ago and her mother is consumed by her career. Jamie finds an escape through her artistic passion and her first love—the one person who hasn’t abandoned her, Erica Sinclair.

Overwhelmed by their own harsh realities, Jamie and Erica create a world of their own in an abandoned park—a place they call “Wonderland.” Jamie idolizes Erica until the two grow closer, and she realizes that her ideal image of Erica is nothing shy of fiction. When cracks beneath the exterior become more prevalent, Jamie begins to question the love she thought she had for Erica, and if that love was ever reciprocated.

And then it happens. A shocking event occurs that changes Jamie and Erica’s relationship forever. Jamie knows that there’s no escaping this reality—she’ll have to find a way to move forward without hiding behind her sketchbook.


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Remember Me is a book written entirely in verse, which I did not know going into the story. Usually I don't read books like this, finding a better story weaved in regular fiction - however Remember Me is an exception.

Remember Me was the sort of book that was better because it wasn't perfect. Sometimes the words seemed clunky, or there wasn't enough explanation, or it just plain would have read better as a short story. Overall though, the raw honesty and emotion of Batchelor's work sent me into tears more than once. The parts about Jamie's dad were absolutely gripping. I don't know if the author has experienced such a loss in her life or not, but she was absolutely spot on there. Jamie's grief felt tangible and was absolutely flooring.

Batchelor's debut is a job absolutely well done, especially at such a young age. The story read very well, with a few exceptions - I would have liked more information on Asher, Chris, and the days between Erica's suicide and the end of the book. But perhaps in this book, less is more as it makes the story a bit more memorable.

Overall, I'd give the book 3.5/5 stars as a whole, rounding up to 4 and would definitely read more of Batchelor's work in the future

Rating: 4/5 stars

★★★★✰

Book Review: Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel

Title: Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
Author: Sara Farizan
Expected Publication Date: October 7th, 2014
Summary: High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia's confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own


**Copy kindly provided by Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.**


Review: Farizan's second novel is a great addition to the growing list of LGBTQ+ YA fiction. Our protagonist Leila, attends a prestigious high school where she is already different because of her Persian heritage - if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard.

The novel itself was a mostly light, funny, and well written read that never felt stilted or contrived. Farizan does a great job weaving the tale with an equal measure of hopeful, humorous, and heartbreaking moments - at some points, it was enough to bring me to tears.

Leila is a great protagonist and believable teenager with a true-to-life voice. Scenes with her family were some of my favourite of the book. Her parents were not absent, like so many of them are in YA fiction. They felt real and vivid, and I could tell they loved their daughters very much.

The tech trio were some of my favourite characters of the book - I kind of wished we'd got more of them sooner. They were quirky, in a good way, and kind of reminded me of the three fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty.

Saskia was a real piece of work. The worst part of her character was that there really are girls like that in real life, and they will play with your heart. I kind of wished we'd gotten more closure on what happened to her, maybe seen some justice getting served... but the sad part is that in reality, the bully often does get away with it, especially if you go to a less-than accepting school and you happen to be part of a minority group.

Leila's coming out scene was painfully real. As I read it, I felt that familiar bubble of nausea in my stomach that seems to be present whenever I have to come out to somebody, whether it be a new friend, or a family member whom I haven't seen in years. It was absolute torture waiting for Leila's mom to tell the rest of the family. I felt so on edge reading through that part of the book, I know how Leila felt.

Overall, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel was a great read that gets bonus points for actually making me shed tears. I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down. It's a step up from the usual selection of YA LGBTQ+ fiction, and stands firm with other releases from this year so far. I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone - it's well worth the read and Farizan does a great job with it.

Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰

Book Review: Breaking Free

Title: Breaking Free
Author: Winter Page
Year of Publication: 2014
Summary: Raimi Carter is finally a girl, just like she always knew she was meant to be. At a new school where nobody knows she’s had gender reassignment surgery, she hopes to finally live the normal life she’s longed for, happy in her own skin.

Life is great until she discovers a dangerous bully is blackmailing head cheerleader, Clare Strickland, threatening to reveal her secret: she’s gay. As Raimi fights to free Clare from his clutches, the two girls move beyond friendship. But secrets from their pasts and their own fears of coming out tear them apart—maybe forever. Baring their souls to each other could cost them everything. For two girls trapped and desperately in love, only strength, courage, and trust in each other will help them break free and claim their future

Review:  **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.**

Ah, where do I start with this one. The synopsis promised an interesting read - Raimi Carter has just started high school after two years of being home-schooled, and then finally gender reassignment surgery.

Listen, there aren't enough books in the world dealing with LGBTQ+ issues, especially Young Adult ones. Most books in the YA section of a bookstore are about cis/het individuals, who are more often than not, white. I've learnt to take what I can get regarding LGBTQ+ fiction - problematic relationships, bad writing, horrible characters, stereotypes galore... but gosh, I don't think I have ever read something this bad that wasn't written by a twelve year old on a fanfiction site.

I really, really wanted to enjoy this book, and I did... for the first two paragraphs, and then it all went downhill from there. Raimi is clearly the epitome of a Mary Sue - literally perfect at everything and oh-so-beautiful. She also looks down upon her peers and judges them, even though she herself would not want to be judged. The characters are little more than caricatures of stereotypes, which was evident from the moment Raimi's Spanish and Calculus teachers were introduced, and it did not get any better as we met the supporting cast.

The book didn't seem all that realistic, either, as Raimi has already had surgeries and hormones that usually are expensive and also generally illegal for minors. I get that this book was written by somebody still in high school, so I'm trying not to be too harsh. Page can spin a story, but I just think they need more practice and life experience, as evidenced by the events of the story and the horrible ending - which was way too sudden, and also, did I mention, horrible?

I think with a few re-writes and a good editor, this book could be really good and Page shouldn't be discouraged by the bad reviews. Rome was not built in a day and neither were best sellers. My advice to Page would be to keep going - there is potential for a great story here.

Rating: 2/5 stars
★★✰✰✰

Book Review: Everything Beautiful

Title: Everything Beautiful
Author: Simmone Howell
Year of Publication: 2008
Summary: I believe in Chloe and chocolate. I believe the best part is always before. I believe that most girls are shifty and most guys are dumb. I believe the more you spill, the less you are. I don't believe in life after death or diuretics or happy endings. I don't believe anything good can come from this.

Riley Rose doesn't want to be at Spirit Ranch Holiday Camp. Riley wants to be partying with her best friend Chloe at the beautiful Ben Sebatini's house. She has a plan to get away from the jumpsuit-wearing counsellors, the feel-good mantras, do-gooder campers and the monotonous schedule of team-building exercises and outdoor activities.

But is everything at the Spirit Ranch as it appears? What secrets are waiting for discovery in the abandoned Fraser house? And why doesn't anyone want to talk about the accident that landed the mysterious Dylan in a wheelchair last year?


Review:  Everything Beautiful kind of snuck up on me. I hadn't really planned on reading it, it was really just a random grab at the library. I don't even know if I can really say what kept me reading this one, there was just some undercurrent of magic in Simmone Howell's writing, I guess.

The characters in this are beautiful, and so is the backdrop. Riley Rose was kind of like biting into a Kinder Surprise for the first time. I knew I would like it, but I just wasn't aware of how much. She was snappy, sassy, and the kind of girl I'd admire from afar in real life.

The book takes place at a Christian camp, but it really isn't about religion. It's more about spirituality, selfishness, being a teenager, and hope. The characters are vivid, the voice of the novel is fresh, funny, and refreshingly honest, and I am so glad that I randomly picked up this book at the library one day. This is definitely one of those books that will stick with me for a long, long time.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: John Dies at the End

Title: John Dies at the End
Author: David Wong
Year of Publication: 2007
Summary: STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

Review: John Dies at the End is the type of book that will make you pee your pants laughing, and simultaneously scare the crap out of you. Like with all books, I read it fairly quickly, but it stuck with me for nights afterwards...

It was recommended to me by a friend, one who does not read often, so I knew it had to be good if he went back for seconds or thirds. I was hooked from the first paragraph, and found myself awake into the small hours of the morning, trying to cram as much of it into my mind as possible before sleep.

I can't find any fault with this book, I really can't. It's an intriguing and mesmerizing mix of fear and humor that asks questions that stick with you for months afterward. The prose, the characters, the plot... I am in love, and it is only fitting that I give this book five stars.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: Adaption

Title: Adaption
Author: Malinda Lo
Year of Publication: 2012
Summary: Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.


Review: Overall, Adaption was a good read. The characters were good, the story was good... it just wasn't as great as I thought it would be. It was very loosely wound, and though I read it in basically no time at all it never kept me on the edge of my seat. For as many pages as there was, there really wasn't enough steam.

Reese and Amber's relationship kind of read a little like one out of a Julie Anne Peters book - I just wasn't entirely convinced. It all seemed a little contrived, as much as I wanted to be totally on board with it and shipping it like crazy. Her relationship with David felt a little more real, though I think I like them better as friends.

I kind of wished there was more about the aliens, maybe a little spookiness, and perhaps a little more description. I'm hoping Inheritance will be better, maybe more fast paced.

Recommended for: Fans of Julie Anne Peters, LGBTQ+ Teens

Rating:  3/5 stars
 ★★★✰✰

Book review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Year of Publication: 2011
Summary: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill.

Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

 Yet she spares Cas's life.


Review: Okay, firstly for all the things I didn't like about this book, I do have to say parts of it genuinely gave me chills. The author spins a good story, one that kept me turning the pages. Most of the problems I had were with the characters, namely our protagonist, Cas.

Cas came off as extremely arrogant, making a lot of observations of people that never really shone through in the story. A lot of the background characters felt like they should have been fleshed out more - they never lived up to Cas's judgement of them, which by the way, jumped from place to place without even so much as a wink from the ones he was judging. Seriously, it kind of gave me whiplash.

A lot of the dialogue and interactions between the characters felt a little choppy, especially towards the beginning, though towards the end they did get a little better. To be honest, I didn't really give a hoot about most of the people the book centred on, with the exception of Cas's mom, I guess.

Nevertheless, it was still a pretty good read, and I am hoping the issues I had with the characters are resolved in book two, which I am looking forward to reading. Overall, I'd give this book a solid three stars.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰