Review of 'The One Memory of Flora Banks' by Emily Barr

I read so much good YA fiction earlier this year, and (finally) writing up some of the reviews for them is making me want to read all the rest of the YA on my shelves. The One Memory of Flora Banks isn't a book I'd heard much about before I read it, but the cover is so pretty that I couldn't not pick it up.

This book tells the story of Flora Banks, a teen suffering with severe amnesia as a result of a brain tumour. She remembers nothing day-to-day, and has had the same best friend since before she was ill: Flora remembers her, just like she remembers her parents and brother, though sometimes this (and everything else) takes a little coaxing. She wakes up every day not knowing who she is, or being able to trust that she'll remember enough to be safe.

And then one day she kisses a boy, and the next day she remembers. It's SUCH a breakthrough for Flora, and would be great if it wasn't her best friend's boyfriend (the girl that's stuck by her side through everything). And, if she could remember that her bestfriend is pretty pissed off and won't want to answer her calls that would be pretty good too. However, now Flora has hope, and she heads off on an adventure in search of the boy who she thinks will unlock her memories for her. 

This book really reminded me of Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, but I much preferred this book. I felt as though it taught you a lot about amnesia, why it happens and its different types. Flora as a main character was written so well, and I felt that it was important that the book was from Flora's point of view: when she was confused, so were you. I've given this four stars because there were points where I wanted the plot to move along a bit quicker, and a few moments that I found quite jarring. Overall, it was a good YA about family and friendship, growing up and first crushes and I think it encapsulated those things really well in quite a short (300-odd page) book.

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Review of 'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry

It kind of seems as though 2019 might be the year of literary fiction for me? I'm actually reading books that have been brought out ~fairly~ recently (aka in the past five years) and they are real adult lit fic? Am I alright?

For real though, this is a genre I've largely steered clear of in the past just because other ones interest me more. Now that I've got my teeth sunk in a little though there are SO MANY that I want to pick up and give a go. 

The novel kicks off with a mysterious death of a man, which is later attributed to be caused by a mythological beast named the Essex Serpent. The main story then starts with the death of Cora Seaborne's abusive husband. Set in 1893, Cora lives in a time where she couldn't leave this man, and inwardly rejoices that he's lost his hold over her.

Desperate to leave her boring, restrictive life behind, Cora takes her son Frances and his governess to Essex, to be a little removed from the hustle of London life. She is an inquisitive woman, who places reason and science before religion. When a couple of friends suggest that she stay with a priest and his wife and children so that she can find out more about this Essex Serpent, Cora is a little apprehensive, but decides to go for it.

The book questions the boundaries between fact and fiction, faith and science, and where the boundaries lie between morality and immorality. Cora's own sense of what is right is put in jeopardy by her desires, and she loses sight of the strange behaviour of Frances. On the surface, he's a naughty little boy who won't do what he's told, but deep down he's a little troubled, and much more interesting than at first glance.

I've given this a 3/5 stars, because although it's a very good imitation of a Victorian novel (my fave), and at times I felt as though I could be reading an Austen novel, there were some jarring anachronisms that totally took me out of the world of the book and made me remember that it is a modern novel. 

I did love the questioning of where the boundaries lie between being masculine and feminine, and I felt this was a real strength. However, the plot was spread very thinly throughout the book. I feel as though it might have worked a little better being 50 or so pages shorter, but I can see that the level of detail was part of the aura of it being a Victorian-esque novel.

I've heard so many people rave about this, and maybe if I'd gone in without this idea in mind it might have come across a little better! 

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Review of 'All the Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven

It has been a few months since I've read this, but all the plot strands and my FEELINGS came rushing back to me as soon as I picked the book up again. Although I think that speaks for itself a little bit, I'm going to hammer home the fact that I adored this book and it surpassed all the expectations I had for it. 

Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at their school. Finch is well known at school for struggling with his mental health, being a bit rowdy and all in all a little out of the ordinary. Violet on the other hand spends all of her time desperate not to be noticed. When Finch realises he's not alone up there, he coaxes Violet off the ledge, and lets everyone think that she came up to the bell tower to save him to stop rumours spreading.

You see, Violet's had a tough time of it recently. After losing her sister, she's struggling to know who she is, and what she wants to do. Finch and Violet are paired to work together on a school project, and it helps her more than she ever imagined. Violet's survivor's guilt is extreme, and Finch helps her to see the brighter side of things, but things aren't going so well for Finch. Suffering with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, he sets out on a downward spiral that only Violet even begins to comprehend.

I won't lie, I spent the last 100 pages of this book crying. I mean full on weeping. Ironically I picked it off my shelf because another book looked 'too sad', but I did read this when I had the flu so maybe that's partly responsible for the heartbreak?

There were SO many things in this book that I feel are really important to include in books, especially YA books that are likely to be read by young people who may be struggling with their mental health:

1.) Friendship is important, and it can help (or it can hinder). You're never alone no matter how much you think you are.

2.) Bipolar disorder is not rapid: you don't necessarily switch moods over and over again instantly every day, like how it's often portrayed. Through the dialogue that Finch has with his counsellor, we learn a lot about being bipolar, how it can affect people differently, and ways to cope with it.

3.) There are chapters from Finch's perspective. We're not outsiders looking on to a third person character that sits in the background with a mental illness: Finch is at the very heart of it, and we even get insights to his diary and deepest thoughts on his struggles.

4.) There's no easy cure. No matter how much you love someone or how much you try or how much they try, mental illness can warp things and make everything very difficult.

5.) There is a barrier between young adults and adults in their community (their parents, teachers etc). I hope that one day this softens, especially in the UK with the whole ideal of the 'stiff upper lip'. Teens are expected to just deal with life when hormones and school pressures make it almost impossible.

There are so many more points I could pick out but I already feel like I've spoken too long on this! If you haven't guessed already, I'm going to give this 5 stars because it was just ... wow.

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Review of 'Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl' by Tracy Quan

Today is a day for endless cups of tea because wow the need for caffeine is real. But, I'm here and still catching up on 2018 reads, edging closer and closer to finally being able to review things straight after I finish them (the idea at this point seems absolutely unattainable, but it'll happen). 

The life of a call girl in literature is, in my opinion, explored in a way that's both not very thorough and also, probably not very accurate. Call girls tend to be used as a foil to highlight certain aspects of someone else's character (e.g. making us realise a guy is a cheat on his wife), or they turn up as a murder victim. But there aren't many occasions where the main character in a book is a call girl, or at least, I haven't come across it very often.

Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl is written by Tracy Quan, an ex-call girl turned novelist, who uses her experiences to really tackle stereotypes around sex work. The main character of the book, Nancy Chan, is a prostitute who largely has sex with older gentlemen. She's reached a stage in her career where things are a little easier money-wise, but as she's getting older she's starting to face the idea of a future away from sex work. There's one other driving force for this: her fiancee Matt who has no idea what her real job is.

I found it pretty hard to engage with this book, and from the reviews I've read of it, it seems as though a lot of other people feel the same. The language is quite cold and distant, where it would work so well as a book filled with emotion. The stories she tells offer an interesting insight into life as a call girl, but don't delve into her feelings about it. 

A good portion of the book is based around her lying to her fiancee about what she does, and it's not told in a way that's justified: the protagonist knows that what she's doing is wrong, but she's stringing this poor guy along leading a double life. The ending is also very abrupt: we never find out what happens with her deciding whether or not to tell him, and it all just tails off randomly.

I'm giving this three stars because it did offer an interesting insight into life as a call girl, told by someone who knows what she's talking about, but the whole idea of a plot or any kind of narrative flow seems to have been a bit lost along the way.

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Review of 'The One We Fell in Love With' by Paige Toon

I've said it before, but I'll say it again now, chick lit is my guilty pleasure. It was something that I gave up reading entirely when I was studying English at uni because wow the judgement would have been extreme, but as soon as I finished my degree it's all I read for months.

Now it's something that I love to dip in and out of. There's something so comforting about the format of it, where you know things will (99% of the time) end up right in the end, and sometimes I really need that rose-tinted look into the world. 

The One we fell in love with is Angus, the classic boy-next-door who moves in to the house next to three identical 17-year-old triplets. Who are stereotypically beautiful: slim, blonde haired, and green-eyed. What a day for him! 

However, although the triplets may look the same, they're all so very different, and problems really start for their hormone-filled teen years when all three of them fall in love with him. The book starts when Phoebe (the most conventionally attractive of the three, personality-wise) is about to get married to Angus. She saw him first, and that was that. 

The book explores how loving the same person changes the relationships between the sisters, and what happens when the adult sisters find each others' diaries ... 

I really didn't like the whole premise of the book if I'm honest, and I think it feels fairly clear to the reader that the author is churning out a book every year. The idea that three sisters with very different personalities could all fall in love with the same guy just completely turned me off from the book because 1.) would that really ever happen? and 2.) you wouldn't just allow the first one he met to have 'dibs' on him. The whole book is based around this idea that Angus met Phoebe first and ended up with her (when they weren't the best match) and not one of the other two because of that, and I just? Is that really how things happen? Did no one step in to tell him he had the wrong girl?

I will say that the writing was good and the novel got better as it went along, and there were some parts I genuinely enjoyed. It was also a nice quick read, so it's not something I regret reading, and I'll be trying another one of the author's books to see if this just had a bit of a strange premise, as it's what really put me off!

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Review of "Apple Tree Yard" by Louise Doughty

I went through a tough spate of reading not-so-great books in Autumn, and upsettingly this falls into that bracket. I'd not come across Apple Tree Yard before it was next in line for my book club read, and I had to pick it up. There's a BBC series on it that I'm pretty sure I won't watch, *but* I have heard good things about. 

Apple Tree Yard is a hybrid between a crime fiction novel and general adult fiction. Yvonne Carmichael, our protagonist, has a love-filled but uneventful marriage. Her kids are grown up and she's never quite reached the peaks that she imagines in her career as a scientific researcher. Everything plods along until she meets a stranger, and begins an affair with him. Yvonne doesn't know who he is: she doesn't even know his name, but she suspects that he may be covert for a secret (government agency) reason.

As the novel progresses, Yvonne's life is split in two: her peaceful home life, and the one she's really interested in. When her two worlds collide in a tragic way at a party for scientific researchers, Yvonne's life becomes harder and harder to control. All along, we know that the present Yvonne is on trial in the docks, but the author keeps you guessing right up until the end to show you what for.

This novel comes with a big trigger warning for rape/sexual assault. The scene that contains it is very graphic, and the aftermath of the character deciding whether or not to report the rape can also be triggering. 

The novel started off, and continued, very slowly. I'm not sure if it was a lot shorter originally, and had been padded out as the author made edits, but it really did drag in my opinion. However, all the layers of description and backstory probably made it a pretty good choice for a TV series.

The rape and aftermath were probably the strongest part of the book. It really looked into why someone might not report a rape, what kind of things you might bring into question surrounding it, and how hard it is to recover from sexual assault. Although it would have been less upsetting if the scene had been described less viscerally, it does highlight how horrifying it can be, and strips away the suggestion that it's always a woman's fault.

I really wanted to enjoy this, and there were parts that made it an interesting book. I'll be giving it 3 stars because it was thought-provoking, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

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Review of 'Complete Ghost Stories' by Charles Dickens

I'm a big Dickens fan - there's something about his work that just soothes me. I'm not sure if it's sinking back into another era, or the masses of adjectives, or the fact that once I start one of his books I'm in it for the long haul. Maybe a combination of all of these reasons. Back around Halloween (yep, still super behind on these reviews), I plunged into this to see what Dickens' ghost stories were like, especially A Christmas Carol.

I won't lie, I was left a little disappointed. Although the content was fab because duh Dickens, the way it was put together was less so. I expected to be reading a collection of standalone short stories, but maybe the word 'complete' should have warned me: about two thirds of the collection were extracts from full on novels. Which made for some very confused reading. I think it's hard enough to keep up with the vast numbers of characters he includes in his writing, but then taking little chunks out of the book made it just impossible to keep up with because you were bombarded with them in such a short space of time. It just really didn't work for me.

However, this is something that would be useful if you're looking into Victorian ghost stories and monsters. It's something that I'd personally love to learn more about (I so want to read some penny dreadfuls), but I'd be happy to not have them all crammed into a volume like this. 

The one real saving grace was A Christmas Carol. The Muppet's version is one of my favourite Christmas films, and it was great to see how they'd stayed so close to the book and completely strayed from it in other parts. And the biggest shocker? There's only one Marley! If you don't know the tale of A Christmas Carol, it tells us of a grumpy old man called Ebenezer Scrooge who hates Christmas, until four ghosts visit him in the night determined to change his mind.

I honestly couldn't give this anything above 2 stars, and I just wish I'd read A Christmas Carol as a standalone book!

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Review of 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater

It's no secret that I love YA fiction, and fantasy makes up such a decent amount of the YA fiction I love to read. I saw a few tweets the other day about how YA shouldn't be classed as a genre in itself because it's so diverse, and I really think that's right: there's such a wealth of great young adult fiction out there, and it ought to be respected. 

Anyway, I bought Shiver because the cover was beautiful and it reminded me of a book I'd read as a teen with a similar cover. I'm a sucker for good cover marketing, especially now that I work in publishing and know how much effort and thought can go in to them.

Grace lives in a small American town, which is pretty normal if you ignore the wolves skirting around the edges of it hidden in the forest. When Grace was a child she was dragged into the forest by a pack of wolves and almost killed, but rather than fearing them, she feels a deep affinity to one wolf in particular who saved her. 

Each year she spends her time looking out for 'her' wolf, and spies him watching her back from between the trees. Grace is fully obsessed with the wolves, and she'd do anything to (safely) reach out to them. But when a boy is attacked, and another one goes missing, Grace is forced to face the fact that there might be something more sinister than she ever thought going on with the pack ...

This is the first in a trilogy that I'm determined to make my way through. Although the writing was a little simplistic, I really enjoyed the plot of the book, and I want to see where it goes next. This was such a great read for October when things are getting a little spooky, and I might save the next one in the set until that time this year to fully embrace the season!

This is a great YA read for those interested in fantasy and people that enjoyed the Twilight series.

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Review of 'A River in Darkness' by Masaji Ishikawa

It's rare that I'd suggest that everyone needs to read a particular book, but I'm doing it with this one, because it is just SO important. 

In 2018 I made my reading much more diverse, not only in terms of genre and the age of the book, but also in terms of authors from diverse backgrounds (working class/female/LGBT/non-English nationalities and races, as well as your 'typical' cis-white male author). It's something that I feel very passionately about (you need to put your money where your mouth is to encourage diverse publishing), and that I'm hoping to expand upon in 2019.

A River in Darkness is so important because the author completely put his life at risk by publishing the book, which is his tale of escape from North Korea. Masaji Ishikawa was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Korean father. Growing up in the last 1940s and early 1950s, Ishikawa and his family (his three sisters and parents) were treated as lower class citizens because of their dual race. With an unhappy home life, Masaji's father believes the propaganda being spread by Kim Il-Sun (the leader of North Korea at that time), that returning to (North) Korea would mark a return to paradise.

Having been promised that they will be treated as a higher class of citizen, the family are shocked when they arrive to a muddy, old-fashioned village. Ishikawa's mother is treated as the lowest citizen, and is not allowed to speak Japanese. His father is forced to become a manual labourer, and Ishikawa is bullied at school for his race. Forced to learn Korean rapidly, the family struggle to fit in.

The story goes on to talk of Ishikawa's hardships that lead well into his adulthood in North Korea, and of the extreme state that the country was in at the time. Ultimately he successfully escapes, risking everything in a time of desperation. The book is a cry for help to change the state of the country, and for Masaji to be reunited with his children, and I hope that one day he'll get his wish.

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Review of 'Cranford' by Elizabeth Gaskell

I didn't realise we had another classic coming so soon, but I really went through a ~phase~ in September/October (and yes, I am still this behind on reviews even after cramming so many in over the past week or two!). Elizabeth Gaskell is an author I came across whilst studying at uni and I'm so glad I did because her books are incredible, and Cranford was no different. 

Published in novel form in 1853, the book is set in the fictional village of Cranford. The twist is that it's a matriarchy, poking fun at all the elements of the restrictive patriarchy of Gaskell's contemporary world. The book was initially published in serial form, and it's clear as each chapter is almost a short story of its own within the context of the town.

Marriage is bemoaned, and any woman that wants to marry, or worse, gets married, is left out of the loop of social gatherings. The women of Cranford never want men, or more men, to live within the walls of the town, and feel genuine horror at the thought of a woman being 'lost' to marriage. 

A satire in nature, the book is an incredible insight into what Victorian English society was like, and what some women thought of it. Victorian fiction is absolutely my favourite epoch (the Bronte sisters give me life) and I just loved every refreshing moment of this. If you're a fan of Victorian fiction, or want a humorous look into society at the time, then I'd definitely recommend this!

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Review of 'The Couple Next Door' by Shari Lapena

We're moving away from classics for the moment and on to one of the very few thrillers I read in 2018. I went through a big crime thriller phase a couple of years ago, but I feel as though that's ebbed off a little into the realm of an occasional thriller that never leads me to a full blown obsession. Perhaps 2019 will hold more, but I'm not so sure.

Anyway.

Anne and Marco head to their neighbour's house for dinner one evening. With their babysitter cancelling at the last moment, they have no choice but to leave their six month old daughter back in her crib next door, as their neighbours have made it very clear that it's an 'adults only' affair. The parents head back alternatively every half an hour to make sure Cora's still safely sleeping, and keep a baby monitor on them. But, when they head home just after midnight (with a pretty upset Anne due to the flirting between Marco and the woman next door), they notice the front door is ajar, and all of their worst nightmares come true: their baby is gone.

As the police bring in the cadavar dogs, no one is exempt from suspicion, and no one knows whether Cora is safe or not. With wealthy parents behind Anne, the couple put up a £3 million reward for the safe return of their daughter. The issue is, that either the baby-snatcher was a very lucky opportunist, or he's someone close to the couple who knew their whereabouts. Were the grandparents looking for an opportunity to finally show Anne that lower class Marco isn't to be trusted? Were the neighbours so angry about the new (loud) baby next door that they'd do something unforgiveable? Could Anne and Marco fake their grief and snatch her themselves?

I can 100% understand why this book was as hyped up as it is. I loved every minute of it. The whole premise reminded me a little of the Maddie McCann story, and it was interesting to see how everyone really does come under suspicion, and how invasive the media are.

The book had me suspecting all of the main characters at some point, and a lot of them more than once! The twists in it were epic, but so believable, and I came out of it trusting no one and utterly shocked. I've heard mixed reviews of The Stranger in the House, Lapena's second novel, but even if it's half as good it'll be worth reading!

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Review of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' by George Orwell

Aaand here's the next classic in this little string of ones that I ended up reading all in a row. I'm pretty proud of getting my act together and posting my sixth review in short succession on my big catch up stream. What's Twixtmas for if not to get up to date on everything you've been ignoring for months?

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been on my to-read list since, well, when I started my English lit course and everyone was horrified I hadn't picked it up. 6 years on from then, I finally got around to it, and I'm so glad I didn't put it off any longer. I LOVED this book, and I can finally see why it's a must-read, so basically if you haven't picked it up yet, then go go go.

The story is told by Winston Smith, a citizen living in Britain, which is now part of Oceania, one of three major international powers (the other two being Eastasia and Eurasia). He doesn't remember a great deal of what came before the state of the world that he lives in, only that it wasn't always how it is now. Separated from his parents, Winston as an adult lives alone in a small apartment. He is woken up for work every morning by an oversized TV screen that watches his every move. Orders are barked at him through the screen, and he must always be diligent to avoid being seen as an opposition to Big Brother and the party. 

Big Brother is a person that no one ever sees, but he controls every part of every day. Anyone might be a spy, so one can never speak out against the ruling party. Winston is (somewhat) lucky to not be a member of the proles - the poorer people cast out of the hub of the city and neglected - but he's curious to find out more about the memories he's lost.

You see, Winston's job is to be one of the many people who go back through old media records and update them in accordance to the party's current legislation. If they decide to be at war with Eurasia, then they must always have been at war with Eurasia, and Winston has to amend any newspaper clippings, pamphlets or books that suggest otherwise. This leads him to realise that no one's memory can be relied upon, and that there is no real historical 'truth' in their world. 

Winston manages to keep his budding concerns at bay until he meets Julia. Together they start to question the party, and what's worse, outright defy it. Soon there's no going back for Winston, and everything he's ever held true comes under fire.

This book was so incredible, and yet so terrifying. It's a dystopia that's almost become true. Our electronic devices do listen in on us (have you ever spoken about something out loud only for it to pop up as an AD on Instagram??), and we are manipulated by the media to think what others want us to think. It speaks about the rhetoric we're faced with every day being pushed to the extreme, and it made me consider how scary it is that so many people tune into a show called Big Brother.

Everything about this book was powerful, and so thought-provoking. From the revolutionary 'manual' at the centre, to the writing style, to the absolute shocker of an ending, this is firmly one of my favourite books of the year and one that I know I'll re-read in the future to get even more out of it.

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Review of 'Everything Everything' by Nicola Yoon

Happy New Year everyone! I've spent some time attempting (help) to start catching up on these reviews tonight, so here I am, post-midnight trying to scramble some thoughts together. We're onto our fourth review of the big bunch now and I'm starting to get to grips with sorting these all out.

Everything Everything is something I just *had* to read as soon as I saw the movie trailer come out. The film looked incredible, but I'm less sad I didn't see it now that I've read the book ...

Madeline's got a disease that makes her allergic to, well, pretty much everything. Forced to stay inside a home with filtered air, and seeing only her mother and her nurse Carla, Maddie's mostly content with her life. Until Olly moves in next door. With his dark, brooding looks, Maddie's drawn to him, and connecting over IM only brings them closer. The problem is that Olly (and Maddie) wants more, but they can't have it. As their lives intertwine, they begin to realise that maybe everything's not what they thought ...

I'm honestly excited to see what Nicola Yoon brings out next, as although I didn't deeply enjoy this, it is her debut novel. I loved the idea of the story, but I felt as though there were flaws in it (pointing these out will totally spoiler the book, but there were definitely some holes that made everything a little sketchy). I really wanted to not be right when I thought I guessed the ending, because it just seemed so unbelievable, but I was disappointed there too. 

As YA books goes, I think this was bordering on teen fiction. Whilst there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, I just felt a little too old for it. I'd recommend this for teen fiction rather than YA fans.

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Review of '13 Minutes' by Sarah Pinborough

I warned you all that these reviews would be coming in fast (mostly because I've actually counted up how behind I am and wow I have two days to not be). This book was kindly given to me by my friend Aimee over at Aimee Raindrop Writes because she knew how much I wanted to get my hands on it!

I've not read masses of YA fiction this year (something that'll be firmly on the agenda for 2019), and this was one I thoroughly enjoyed. Sarah Pinborough's an author that I'm firmly interested in getting to read more of, and I'll be trying to pick up a few of her adult thrillers too.

Everything in Becca's world is going swimmingly. That is, until her ex-best-friend Natasha is pulled from a river, having been dead for 13 minutes. No one knows how Natasha ended up there, especially as she's the most popular girl in the school. But, open waking in her hospital bed, she asks for Becca. Soon Becca's embroiled in a search for the truth of how Natasha ended up in the river, and there are some twists no one was expecting.

I read a book around this time last year with a fairly similar storyline, and I was so gutted as it meant that I guessed a few of the important twists and turns in the book. BUT, there were some things I really didn't see coming, and it was a thriller I couldn't put down. 

I'd recommend this if you're a fan of YA thriller fiction, as it is a great read that I loved getting through.

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Review of 'Ink' by Alice Broadway

It's gotten to the part of the year where I need to start cramming all of the reviews that I'm way behind on into the next few days to try to start 2019 as on track as possible. New year, new me and all that jazz eh?

So here's the first instalment to the big run, and I hope you're as excited as I am! Even with this being a kindle read, the cover still had me blown away with how beautiful it was, and now all I need is this and the second in the trilogy, Spark, in a physical copy to look beautiful on my bookshelves. 

Ink tells the tale of Leora, a girl living in a world where everyone's life stories are told on their skins. For every significant life event, you get marked by an expert tattooist, and your tattoos are all created in the style of your personality. Leora's recently lost her father, and when his skin book (a collection of all the tattoos on his skin) is weighed to see whether he's been a good or bad person throughout his life, Leora discovers that a tattoo of his has been removed.

A crow is the sign of a traitor, and is used for only the most severe of crimes. Once you're marked, there's no going back, and you will be struck off the remembrance list once you've passed away. Leora's understanding of who she is and who her family are is turned upside down in a life that's already changing rapidly. It's down to Leora to see that her father gets remembered, and to find out the truth about whether his skin book is missing a little something. 

I loved this so much that I immediately downloaded the sequel, Spark, and I'm beyond excited for the third installment in the series to come out. You can bet it'll be making its way right onto my kindle. I've never read anything with a similar idea, and I love/am terrified by the idea that people could see everything about you on your skin. This is a fantasy world that I am so intrigued by and I'll be sharing my review of Spark soon!

Have you read Ink? Did you enjoy it?

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Review of 'Fierce' by Gin Phillips*

It's rare that I sit and read a book in one sitting. If I don't like a book, it's hard to force myself to read it all, and if I like it, I want to treasure the story and make it last a little longer. Fierce is a book that's designed to be read in one go, as the story takes you through an intense tale of one afternoon. I gave this a good go, but after reading two-thirds of the way through I put it down for the day because it just wasn't gripping enough for me to get through the whole thing (and if I'm honest, I can't really think of a book that would be, so there's no shade being thrown here).

Fierce tells the story of Joan's and her four year old son Lincoln's disastrous trip to the zoo one Sunday afternoon. It's their favourite place to spend time together, until they hear shots fired. Two gunmen are making their way around the zoo and Joan has no idea where's safe. She calls her husband, and keeps in touch with him over the phone, but as it starts to get darker she fears that the phone light will attract the armed men, and abandons it in some bushes. 

Joan will do anything to protect her son, even if it means making questionable choices to leave others behind. But as Lincoln gets more tired and upset and loud, Joan realises that they need to do something drastic, because they can only hide for so long ...

This was quite a gripping read in some places, but I just felt as though it was missing that big twist that shocks you and changes the force of the novel. There were quite a few parts where I felt the narrative dragged, and there wasn't enough action to rectify it. It was definitely readable, and I'm glad to have pushed myself out of my comfort zone by trying to read it in one sitting, but I'm not sure if it's something I'd recommend.

*This book was gifted to me, but as always my words and opinions are my own*

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Review of 'The Word for World is Forest' by Ursula K. Le Guin

Sci-fi is not a genre I delve into very often at all, but maybe I need to start switching that up because I adored this book. Or maybe I just need to start reading more books by Ursula K. Le Guin. I think I'll have to do both just to work out which one I really need to do *shrugs*.

The Word for World is Forest is a short novella, and something I could see myself reading over and over again because there was just so much crammed into this little book. It's all about humans' colonisation of the planet Athshe where they enslave the peaceful native population. The Athsheans are treated in a disgusting manner, beaten and raped and generally mistreated.

The Athsheans love their planet and treat it with respect, whilst the humans are cutting down the trees on the planet for logging. They've already destroyed Earth and haven't learnt their lesson. As the book progresses, we understand more and more about the brutality of the colonisers, and how their destruction seeps into the culture of the Athsheans.

This book carried strong notes of militarism in it as well as the negative impact of colonisation on native populations. It is reminiscent of the horror stories that have emerged over the years regarding the European settlers who descended upon the Americas. The novel is told from different perspectives both on the human side and the Athsheans. It is easy to see how the humans have been swept up in their ideals: they genuinely believe that the Athsheans are a lesser breed and that their lives are worth as little as cattle, simply wanting to wipe them out to make way for more humans. 

This novella is something that was just incredibly powerful. I think Le Guin has a powerful way with words that encapsulates so many of the wrongs that happen in our world, presenting it in a science fiction format. I loved the vastly different culture of the native Athsheans, who sing and dream and never kill one another. I would definitely recommend, especially if you're a newcomer to the genre like I am!

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Review of 'The Boleyn Inheritance' by Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory is my to-go gal for historical fiction, and at this point it feels as though reading anybody else's is a bit of a betrayal. I just adore her writing, and always find myself absolutely swept in her characters, their plotting and the absolute STATE that was English monarchy during and around the Tudor period. 

The Boleyn Inheritance is a bit of a follow-on from one of Gregory's most famous works, The Other Boleyn Girl. It's told by three different narrators: Anne of Cleves, Jane Boleyn (married to the late George Boleyn, brother to Anne) and Katherine Howard. It takes us from the aftermath of the death of Anne Boleyn up to a post-Katherine Howard court.

I've always overlooked Anne of Cleves as being a bit of a 'boring' blip in the life and times of Henry VIII. She's the one that he accused of catfishing him with a prettier-than-life portrait just FYI. Gregory brings her to life, recounting her absolute terror of being thrust into a position from which no one has escaped with their life and dignity intact.

At the same time, little Kitty Howard (who's very much not innocent to the wiles of a sexual woman) begins to turn her charm on the King. Whilst he's beginning to see himself as who he really is through the eyes of the court (an obese ageing man, with an awful odour from the festering wound on his leg), Kitty lures him into the belief that he's still as fit as he was as a young King. Men are  delightful aren't they?

Soon the court is in turmoil, as the King's favour swings away from Anne of Cleves to the young, beautiful Katherine Howard. But what will happen when the King's innocent young rose turns out to not be as blemish-free as he once imagined?

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Review of 'Severed Heads, Broken Hearts' (AKA 'The Beginning of Everything') by Robyn Schneider

Robyn Schneider is fast becoming one of my favourite authors of 2018. I stormed through this and Extraordinary Means in record time and now I think I need to read everything she's ever written? These YA books are exactly what I look for in the genre: there's romance, humour, and most importantly, a taboo/important topic is discussed throughout. In Severed Heads, Broken Hearts it's all about disability and your identity.

Ezra Faulkner had everything going for him: varsity tennis captain, hottest girlfriend in the school, and lunch at the popular table. That is until one tragic night ruins everything. After catching his girlfriend cheating on him, he storms out of a party and winds up in the ER after being hit by a drunk driver. 

Suddenly, Ezra's lost everything that he thought made him 'him'. His leg is too damaged to play tennis anymore (possibly forever), he no longer has a girlfriend, and he none of his former friends understand the trauma that he's suffering with. 

Ezra is convinced that everyone has one traumatic moment in their life that defines them. For his childhood best friend, it was catching a severed head on a theme park ride after someone stood up mid-ride. From that point on, Ezra merged into the popular group, whilst his old friend became 'the weird guy that touched a head one time'. Now however, they're back together, and Ezra begins to learn that maybe trauma can't snatch your whole identity from you.

This was such a heartwarming read, and Schneider really manages to capture the essence of what it's like to be a teen scared of rejection and disapproval and bullying. It was something that I was excited to sit down and read every time I picked it back up, and it really was hard to put down again.

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Review of 'Birds Art Life Death' by Kyo Maclear

It's rare that I pick up a memoir-style book, or anything that loosely rings of the word 'non-fiction' (although, are biographies ever not really fiction?). Birds Art Life Death is a book I stumbled upon and I'm so glad I did.

Kyo Maclear finds herself lost in the big wide world after the loss of her father. As she becomes a father-less daughter, she also comes across the biggest writing block of her life. Suddenly she's not who she thought she was, and she can't get back. At a point of desperation, she turns to another kind of artist, a bird watcher in the city who lets her accompany him on his twitchy trips.

The book is split up into the different seasons of the year, and, like avian migration, Kyo's path changes with each different season. She takes time out of her hectic life to sit at peace with nature, and she begins to benefit from this.

I found this book so utterly comforting that I can see myself coming back to it time and time again. I read it way back in April, when it felt like Winter might never shift, and it was a much-needed reminder that seasons change, just like people do. Nothing is static. 

Maclear has such a poetic way with words, making this a fab book to dip in and out of, without feeling as though you needed to catch up on what was going on. It made me more conscious of the world around me, and I even found myself listening out for the sound of bird calls!

I would definitely recommend this, especially for those who struggle with anxiety, and find that sometimes books can flare it up.

This will be heading up on my Depop soon, so head over there and have a look at the books I'm selling!

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