Review of 'The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas

I've been thinking about this for a while and I'm just struggling to put into words how absolutely incredible this book is, and how much you all need to read it. It's the most important book that I've read in 2017 and everyone absolutely needs to get their hands on it. It really gets to the nitty gritty about race issues in the States, and exposes them in a way that I've not really come across anywhere else.

Starr Carter, the book's protagonist, is a 16-year-old African American schoolgirl who witnessed the shooting of her best friend when she was 8. When she gets a lift home from her childhood best friend Khalil, she doesn't think that this is the second day she's going to see someone get shot. Khalil and Starr get pulled over by a cop and when Khalil moves towards the passenger side of the car to see if Starr is okay, the cop shoots him repeatedly. 

In the following days and weeks, Starr is totally bowled over by the fact that this cop isn't straight up arrested for murdering her friend in front of her. Soon she starts to question everything. She goes to a private school where the majority of students are white, and doesn't want to speak up there. At school Starr is a different person, one who doesn't talk in the same way as she does with her family and friends from her neighborhood. She starts to wonder whether she's betraying her own identity by dating a white boy from the school. 

As riots break out over the town for Khalil's murder, Starr is forced to question her own identity and the justice system of the country she lives in.

It's an absolutely astounding book, and I'll honestly be buying any future novels Angie Thomas brings out because this was beyond insightful and powerful and heartbreaking.

Re-reading 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' by J. K. Rowling

I couldn't not pick this quote out really, could I? Every time I read it I have a little chuckle because book Dumbledore and film Dumbledore definitely do not say this in the same way. I can't believe I've re-read the first four Harry Potter books now, and I'm almost ready to start the fifth. I have to admit, I've been putting off number 5 for a little bit because the Goblet of Fire is just one of the best, and the Order of the Phoenix has always been my least favourite. And it's so goddamn long. BUT. I've found that reading these as an adult I'm loving different things, so I'm hoping that I'll find the Order of the Phoenix a lot better than I did as a kid.

Anywho, this is the last book of the whole series that I've read quite a few times now. It's the first time that I've cried at Cedric's death because that was just not fair and I'm still raging about it. I loved the fact that all four contestants really came together to help each other out (in a roundabout way), and the kindness that Cedric and Harry showed each other was just heart breaking in the end. The other bit that my feelings totally couldn't handle was when everyone that Voldemort had killed emerged from his wand to help Harry. I. Just. Can't *weeps*. 

The one thing that's really been bothering me whilst I've been rereading the whole series, and especially this one, is that J.K. pairs Ron and Hermione up in the end. And I'm sorry but he's an absolute prick to her. He constantly mocks her for anything that she feels passionate about, he doesn't think she's attractive enough to find a date and he only finally starts to respect her at the end because Krum has a massive crush on her. I mean??? Hermione could do SO much better, and end up with someone that treats her with an iota of respect and cares about what she cares about? Ron's a pretty nice character aside from this but I just can't get over it. 

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Review of 'Too Damn Nice'* by Kathryn Freeman

I always find that as Winter draws near I'm wanting to read more and more chick lit books. There's just something so cosy and joyful about them, you know? This is my favourite that I've read in a few months. I like my chick lit to take on some darker themes, and challenge some serious issues in society. I feel as though it's important to tackle taboo areas, and make sure that chick lit is a little educational, as well as comforting. 

Too Damn Nice really seems to have hit the nail on the head in terms of the context of the time I read it. It's all about a woman in the entertainment industry who's molested by a man she trusts, and she's outed by the media as being a slut. At the moment, with the 'MeToo' campaign, and the discovery that Harvey Weinstein is a sexual predator, more and more women in the industry are coming forward to talk about the harassment they've faced on their way up the ladder.

In the book, Lizzy Donavue makes news across America as her (ex)partner releases a video of her having a threesome with him and another man. As she's about to become the face of a perfume called 'Innocence', she's terrified that her career is in tatters. What makes it worse? She doesn't even remember the incident taking place. Lizzy's ex threatened her with the video, but she never believed that he would release it if she didn't pay him ... sadly she was wrong.

After locking herself away in her apartment, her brother's best friend Nick Templeton is the only person who steps in to help her. The worst thing about this? He's a painful reminder of the fact that she's lost her parents, and her brother is in a coma; something she still blames herself for. Bookish and shy, Nick's the opposite of model Lizzie, but he's always had a soft spot for her. 

Whisking her away from a toxic environment and back to England, Nick's intent on saving Lizzie. But there are some painful memories for both of them back in the UK. Can they make something work between them in the face of their history?

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