BOOK REVIEW | 'Dry' by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman (****)

Hey guys, and happy Thursday! Today I am happy to be bringing you another book review, this time Dry by father and son duo Neal and Jarrod Shusterman. I have read the first two books of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy and am eagerly (note: chomping at the bit) awaiting the final book - so I was super excited to hear about this book.

Also - a father and son writing a book together! How cool is that?!

I was kindly sent Dry by Walker Books in exchange for an honest review :)

Dry is a powerful, suspensful, rip-roaring novel that is terrifingly too close to reality. California's water has run out. The 'Tap-out' is here. It started slowly at first - short showers, no sprinklers, no overindulgence. Now indulgence is a thing of the past. The water is gone, and Alyssa finds herself suddenly with the responsibility of her and her brother's lives, when her parents leave in search of water, and don't come back. It is on their journey that Alyssa sees for herself what desperation can do to humanity, and how hard it is to remain humane.

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...

When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman.

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.

Until the taps run dry.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

This story really put things into perspective for me. The idea having something we need so much, yet take so much for granted, suddenly being taken away... it was sometimes too hard to read about. Make sure you read this book with a tall cold glass of water! It is undeniable that Shusterman is a master storyteller, and now it is clear that his son holds the same power! Everything from the plot to the characterisation was perfectly crafted, alongside the undertone that we as the readers should take everything in this book very seriously. We are holding onto our planet by a thread. Everything is dangling on a knife edge. If we don't protect our planet, it will no longer continue to protect us.

I loved Alyssa, and felt like she was a very realistic depiction of a teenage girl. I have read reviews where readers have criticised her for 'making poor choices' and... what? I would like to see what these people would do if they were in the same position. I, for one, would not have survived as long as Alyssa, Garrett, Kelton and Jacqui. I thought this group had such a great dynamic and all the intricacies in the group were so well described. I think the different narratives definitely added to this - it was really interesting to read about their different reactions to the horror that they were faced with. The authors did a particularly good job (as Shusterman does with Scythe) at showcasing the various moral difficulties to the reader, and revealing the philosophical aspects. 

Alyssa and Jacqui were by far my favourite characters, and I found their 'frenemyship' facinating. Shusterman is really good at writing female characters. The dialogue was characteristically Shusterman-sharp, and the plot brilliantly fast-paced. As I could have expected, there was a plot twist near the ending, and everything ended up coming together in a way better than I could have expected.

Once again, Shusterman has proven his mastery in storytelling, and now we know that his son can step up to the plate as well! I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for them...

Buy Dry here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dry-Neal-Shusterman/dp/1406386855

Check out Neal Shusterman here: http://www.storyman.com

Check out Jarrod Shusterman here: http://www.walker.co.uk/contributors/Jarrod-Shusterman-22189.aspx

Until next time :)

BOOK REVIEW | 'Chinglish' by Sue Cheung (****)

Hey guys, and happy Monday! Today I am very excited to be reviewing an excellent book I read over Easter (please excuse my late blogging, it's been a hectic couple of months!) But this past weekend was the first calm weekend in a while, and what better way to spend it than blogging! 

This year has seen the UKYA industry thinking a lot about #ownvoices and diversity in its books. It's something I'm really passionate about, and there are so many books I have on my TBR and wishlist that are written by and champion BAME voices. I want to make a conscious effort to diversify the books I read, not only because these books are bloody brilliant regardless, but because it's so important to familiarise yourself with different cultures and backgrounds to your own.

Along these lines, I was super stoked to receive a review copy of Chinglish by Sue Cheung, kindly gifted to me by Andersen Press. This book sounded so interesting and I couldn't wait to read it, and I'm pleased to say I was not disappointed. Chinglish follows Jo Kwan and her new life in Coventry - it's 1984, and Jo is growing up in a crazy world with her crazy family. Her brother was sent to live with her grandparents (Jo doesn't know why), and that's not the only thing that's bothering her. This was meant to be a new start, but her family's new flat is right above the Chinese takeaway her parents run. Jo's new school has it's fair share of bullies, but her art classes keep her sane. Can Jo achieve her dreams even when it feels like everything is getting in her way?

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...

It is difficult trying to talk in our family cos: 

a) Grandparents don’t speak English at all

b) Mum hardly speaks any English

c) Me, Bonny and Simon hardly speak Chinese

d) Dad speaks Chinese and good English – but doesn’t like talking

In other words, we all have to cobble together tiny bits of English and Chinese into a rubbish new language I call 'Chinglish'. It is very awkward. 

Jo Kwan is a teenager growing up in 1980s Coventry with her annoying little sister, too-cool older brother, a series of very unlucky pets and utterly bonkers parents. But unlike the other kids at her new school or her posh cousins, Jo lives above her parents' Chinese takeaway. And things can be tough – whether it's unruly customers or the snotty popular girls who bully Jo for being different. Even when she does find a BFF who actually likes Jo for herself, she still has to contend with her erratic dad's behaviour. All Jo dreams of is breaking free and forging a career as an artist.

Told in diary entries and doodles, Jo's brilliantly funny observations about life, family and char siu make for a searingly honest portrayal of life on the other side of the takeaway counter.

Chinglish is one of the best #ownvoices stories out there in UKYA right now. Chinglish was belly-achingly funny, heartbreaking, tender and unflinchingly honest all at the same time. I couldn't put it down; I cared deeply for Jo, and loved hearing about her life through her diary entries (often accompanied by wonderful sketches). From the 2011 consensus 0.7% of people living in England and Wales are chinese, but I feel like the British Chinese are astonishingly under-represented in books, movies and TV (particularly YA!) So Chinglish was a really interesting read for me, and it was great reading about this perspective. 

Jo was a great protagonist and the way she presented her life was extraordinarily and vibrantly detailed - from the descriptions of her eccentric family (and various animal lunacy, including exploding goats) to 1980s Coventry. I particularly enjoyed her interactions with her sister, Bonny, and her friend Gurdeep whose parents run the corner shop. I also adored Tina, because who doesn't need a friend like her?! 

Chinglish is an unapologetically honest account based on the author's own life, and this is perhaps why the story is told so well. It opened my eyes up to a world very different from my own, and this just goes to show why it's so great to champion diversity in books. This novel had everything in it - characters that jumped off the pages, heartache, humour and a good sprinkling of reality - this is life as real as it gets. There are plenty of upsetting moments, but I was so relieved about the way the book ended.

I'm really excited to see what Sue Cheung does next - Chinglish like a tall glass of water, and is exactly what the UKYA genre so desperately needs right now. 

Pre-order Chinglish here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chinglish-Sue-Cheung/dp/1783448393

Check out Sue Cheung here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1083757/sue-cheung.html

Until next time :)

MR TODD BLOG TOUR | 'Mr Todd's Reckoning' by Iain Maitland | The Simple Reason Why It's Easy To Write Evil Characters...

Hey guys, and happy Friday! Today I am thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Mr Todd's Reckoning, a brand new book by Iain Maitland. This book promises to be delightfully creepy and is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat! Back in 2017 I read and adored Sweet William which is another crime thriller by the same author, and this book promises to be just as tense and electrifying!

Check out the blurb here...

Norman Bates is alive and well… He's living just next door

Behind the normal door of a normal house, in a normal street, two men are slowly driving each other insane. One of them is a psychopath.

The father Mr Todd is at his wits’ end. He’s been robbed of his job as a tax inspector and is now stuck at home... with him. Frustrated. Lonely. Angry. Really angry.

The son Adrian has no job, no friends. He is at home all day, obsessively chopping vegetables and tap-tap-tapping on his computer. And he’s getting worse, disappearing for hours at a time, sneaking off to who-knows-where?

The unholy spirit in the safety of suburbia, one man has developed a taste for killing. And he’ll kill again.

And I am very excited to have Iain Maitland himself on my blog today to talk about why it's easy to write evil characters, and why as a reader it's easier to sympathise with them than you might expect... 

I write dark literary thrillers that feature evil characters – Raymond Orrey in Sweet William, Mr Todd in Mr Todd’s Reckoning and a serial killer in Gayther & Carrie (the first in my detective series out early next year).

The books go to some dark places not just physically - into cellars and forests and other creepy locations - but also deep into the minds of the characters themselves. You get to share their thoughts and feelings, actions and reactions – you experience the journey that they take into mayhem and murder.

Now this might disturb some readers – but it doesn’t faze me at all. That’s because none of these characters see themselves as evil. In fact, if you were to ask them, they’d all see themselves as good, decent people. 

Raymond Orrey in Sweet William just wants to snatch his son back from foster parents and run away to the South Of France to live happily ever after. He thinks he’s the best dad in the world. He’d do anything – just anything – for his little boy.

Mr Todd has a clearly defined view of what’s right and what’s wrong in this world. He sees himself as a good guy and it’s those around him who are bad people. Everything he’s done – and is going to do – can be justified.  

It’s the same with the serial killer in Gayther & Carrie. He culls - as he views it – bad men; the baddest men of all. In fact, he considers himself a hero, someone who is on a mission to rid the world of these ‘baddest of bad men’.

That’s the thing, you see – what you and I might see as evil might be viewed quite differently from inside someone else’s head. And that makes it relatively easy to write – it’s just a matter of rationalising what they think and do as being perfectly normal. 

Take Raymond Orrey from Sweet William for example – he’s just escaped from a psychiatric unit to go and find his toddler son who’s being looked after by what he believes are cruel and uncaring foster parents. What will he do if those parents get in his way? What would you do if you thought your child was suffering? 
        
It’s the same with the serial killer in Gayther & Carrie 1 – he knows bad men who do bad things to children. No-one else seems to be doing anything. Nobody else seems to care. They seem to be turning a blind eye. He – alone – can stop this. Should he save the children? What would you do – turn away?


Mr Todd is an intelligent, thoughtful and reasoning man. As the book starts, I rather think that you will like him, sympathise with his situation and empathise with his feelings. Of course, that may change as the book progresses into the darkest places. You may by the end perceive him to be evil personified. But he doesn’t and that, perhaps, is the most frightening thing of all.

Thank you so much, Iain, for appearing on my blog!

Make sure you guys check out the rest of the spots on the blog tour <3

Buy Mr Todd's Reckoning here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Todds-Reckoning-Iain-Maitland/dp/1912235455

Check out Iain Maitland here: http://www.iainmaitland.net/home

Check out my review for Sweet William here. 


Until next time :)

5* BOOK REVIEW | 'What Red Was' by Rosie Price

Hey guys, and happy Wednesday! Today I am delighted to be bringing you a review of a brilliant book I read recently, What Red Was by Rosie Price. I had seen a lot of buzz around this book on twitter and I was so pleased when I saw that proof copies were available - this book doesn't come out till May, and I couldn't wait until then!

What Red Was is a novel about the various intricacies and complexities of entering into adult life, and living with trauma when you feel like you don't have a choice but to remain silent. It is a novel about heartbreak and the scars, physical, mental and emotional, that such trauma leaves. But What Red Was is also a book about breaking away from that which harms you, and taking ownership of your past pain and looking towards the future.

I was kindly sent a copy of What Red Was by Vintage Books in exchange for an honest review :)

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...

‘Kate Quaile,’ he said. ‘I like your name.’

Kate frowned. ‘How do you know my name?’

Through their four years at university, Kate and Max are inseparable. For him, she breaks her solitude; for her, he leaves his busy circles behind. But loving Max means knowing his family, the wealthy Rippons, all generosity, social ease and quiet repression. Theirs is not Kate’s world. At their London home, just after graduation, her life is shattered apart in a bedroom while a party goes on downstairs.

WHAT RED WAS explores the effects of trauma on mind and body, the tyrannies of memory, the sacrifices involved in staying silent, the courage of a young woman in speaking out. And when Kate does, this question: whose story is it now?

Right from the first page, I was hooked both on the voice and the writing. Oh gosh, the writing. The writing had both the candidness and effortless style of Sally Rooney's Conversations With Friends and the lyrical griminess of Kate Tempest's The Bricks That Built The Houses. Price's book reminded me of both these novels, yet it is so completely different. I think it reminded me of both of them purely because I loved them all for the same reasons. Mainly that they are so good at portraying convincing, authentic female characters, and allow them to run free with their own destiny. But also because the writing is just so gorgeously complex, yet so simple, packed with detail that makes you feel as if you are there.

Price is a master of creating characters that refuse to remain on the page. Every single character existed for a reason, and the relationships that were explored in the novel were so complex and interesting to read about. I haven't read a lot of books where the kind of relationship Kate and Max is explored, and I must admit I went into this story expecting something totally different from the relationship in the novel. But What Red Was is a breath of fresh air, and Price avoids all clichés and easy narrative fillers. The result is a vibrant, brilliantly contemporary story that richly explores life after university, the full and terrifying immersion into adulthood, and the new ways that you have to navigate the world and the people around you.

I think the rape was really well dealt with in the story, and although it was by no means the centre point of the novel, for me the narrative was very clearly split into 'before' the rape and 'after' the rape. This unflinching way of presenting life after that kind of trauma was so profound, and I haven't come across it dealt as sensitively or unapologetically in a lot of books. Price is undoubtedly on the come up as one of the new, fresh voices of our generation, and we're lucky to have her. She captures life in your 20s as the bewildering, disconcerting, excessive time that it is. 

Buy What Red Was here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Red-Was-Rosie-Price/dp/1787301389/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=what+red+was&qid=1552759076&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Check out Rosie Price here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1083829/rosie-price.html

Until next time :)

5* BOOK REVIEW | 'Proud' by Juno Dawson (and various)

Hey guys, and happy Wednesday! Today I am excited to bring you a review of a fabulous book I read recently, Proud, which is an anthology of poetry and stories written by a variety of awesome creatives, compiled by Juno Dawson (Queen of Teen 2014). It's a smart, moving, funny, celebratory book that recognises LGBT+ voices and puts them at the forefront. It is a truly fantastic collection and I'm so glad this book is getting the attention it so rightly deserves.

I was kindly sent Proud by Stripes Books in exchange for an honest review :)

Check out the blurb here...

A stirring, bold and moving anthology of stories and poetry by top LGBTQ+ YA authors and new talent, giving their unique responses to the broad theme of pride. Each story has an illustration by an artist identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Compiled by Juno Dawson, author of THIS BOOK IS GAY and CLEAN.

A celebration of LGBTQ+ talent, PROUD is a thought-provoking, funny, emotional read.

Contributors: Steve Antony, Dean Atta, Kate Alizadeh, Fox Benwell, Alex Bertie, Caroline Bird, Fatti Burke, Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Frank Duffy, Simon James Green, Leo Greenfield, Saffa Khan, Karen Lawler, David Levithan, Priyanka Meenakshi, Alice Oseman, Michael Lee Richardson, David Roberts, Cynthia So, Kay Staples, Jessica Vallance, Kristen Van Dam and Kameron White.

Following A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, winner of the YA BOOK PRIZE SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2018

I was expecting huge things from this anthology, since the publicity for the book began well over a year ago. It's safe to say I was not disappointed! Most people who know me know I love short stories, both reading them and writing them. They are a challenge, and the process is so different from reading or writing a novel. In my creative writing classes at uni we were basically fed MFA stories for the three years, so it's refreshing to read something a bit different, a bit less, shall we say pedantic. Proud is just one of those collections that explore every human emotion with heaps of understanding and compassion. It is a book that prioritises celebrating, and that is why I loved it.

The variation in this book was wonderful. There is representation for almost every aspect of the LGBT+ community and each story or poem was brilliant in its own way. Reading Proud is quite an emotional rollercoaster, to be honest, as you will go from a highly emotional story to one that is so moving your heart could burst, to one that makes you snort with laughter on a packed train (yup, that happened). I loved that the stories and poems had accompanying artwork - my favourite had to be Alice Oseman's penguin artwork! As for my favourite stories, I adored 'Penguins' by Simon James Green, 'The Instructor' by Jess Valance, 'Almost Certain' by Tanya Byrne and 'I Hate Darcy Pemberley' by Karen Lawler. I also loved the poem 'How To Come Out As Gay' by Dean Atta (this one should be on a billboard). All of these pieces were so different but they all completely gripped me and rendered me a complete emotional wreck at the end of them!

I adored how unapologetically loud this book is (and I'm not just talking about the cover!) Proud is a glittering, flag-raising, fist-in-the-air celebration of difference and being yourself, refusing to be sidelined by anyone who doesn't respect that. Juno Dawson's introduction really put this book into perspective for me, and emphasised even more how desperately we needed this book, and still need more books like it. I am hoping for another anthology, but either way, I am hopeful for the future, in the way the YA publishing industry is creating books like these. Forever may that continue.

I was so stoked to be part of the Proud blog tour a couple of weeks ago, where I chose my favourite LGBT+ YA books, and explained how they helped me become a better ally. Check that post out here. 

Buy Proud here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proud-Various/dp/1788950607

Check out Juno Dawson here: https://www.junodawson.com

Until next time :)

5* BOOK REVIEW | 'Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee' by Jeff Zentner

Hey guys, and happy Friday! Today I am thrilled to be sharing with you a book review of a brilliant YA book I read last month. As soon as I read the blurb for Jeff Zentner's new book, Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee, I knew it would be just my kind of book. I'm happy to say I was not wrong! 

Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee follows best friends Josie & Delia, otherwise known as Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, as they are on their Friday night local cable television show, where they showcase the very best of the cheesiest, strangest horror movies they can find. No matter what else is going on in their lives, this show is routine. The one thing that will never change. Or so Delia thinks, until Josie is offered a place at college and an internship at a mainstream TV network. To make things even more complicated, there is a boy involved. Can Josie and Delia's friendship survive? Or does the end of the show mean the end of everything? That's how it feels to Delia. 

I was kindly sent a review copy by Andersen Press in exchange for an honest review :)

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...

A contemporary novel about two best friends who must make tough decisions about their futures - and the TV show they host - in their senior year of high school.

Every Friday night, best friends Delia and Josie become Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, hosts of the campy creature feature show Midnite Matinee on the local cable station TV Six.

But with the end of senior year quickly approaching, the girls face tough decisions about their futures. Josie has been dreading graduation, as she tries to decide whether to leave for a big university and chase her dream career in mainstream TV. And Lawson, one of the show's guest performers, a talented MMA fighter with weaknesses for pancakes, fantasy novels, and Josie, is making her tough decision even harder.

Scary movies are the last connection Delia has to her dad, who abandoned the family years ago. If Midnite Matinee becomes a hit, maybe he'll see it and want to be a part of her life again. And maybe Josie will stay with the show instead of leaving her behind, too.

As the tug-of-war between growing up and growing apart tests the bonds of their friendship, Josie and Delia start to realize that an uncertain future can be both monstrous...and momentous.

I looooved this book from beginning to end. I love old horror films that are kinda crappy - but in the best possible way. I love them because they're not bad enough to be unenjoyable and the special effects aren't good enough for them to be properly scary. This book felt like a love letter to these films, and to be honest a love letter to anything that people treasure because it makes them feel a little better about whatever might be going on in their life. For Delia this is exactly the case, and she was so easy to relate to because I'm sure we all have that one thing that may seem dumb or irrelevant to other people, but for us, it's our lifeline. It was this element to the book that just made it so heartwarming and comforting to me. 

Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee is so unique yet had the warmth and relatibility of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. Like Fangirl, Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee is all about following your passions, however niche, and navigating the sometimes thorny world of friendships and moving into adulthood. The writing was gorgeously conversational and descriptive; I was practically living in Tennessee the two days I spent devouring this book. The characterisation was also particularly strong; my favourite characters were Delia and Arliss, but to be honest the interactions between all the characters were great to read. I looooved the romance in the book (not going into detail because of spoilers) but it was so nice and wholesome and I just wish all YA authors wrote romance like Zentner. 

I thought the action that took place near the end of the book was a little ridiculous, and I know other readers struggled with this part, but I was so invested in the story and with these characters that I went along with it. There is so denying that Jeff Zentner is a master storyteller, and can perfectly capture what it feels like to be a teenager when it feels like everything around you is changing, and you'll be the one left behind. The ending of the book was perfection, and I could easily read another hundred books about Josie and Delia.  

Buy Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rayne-Delilahs-Midnite-Matinee-Zentner/dp/1783447990

Check out Jeff Zentner here: https://www.jeffzentnerbooks.com

Until next time :)

BOOK REVIEW | 'Glass Town Wars' by Celia Rees (****)

Hey guys, and happy Monday! I am pleased to be back today with another book review, this time of Celia Rees' Glass Town Wars, a speculative YA novel with plenty of twists and suprises. As you may have guessed from the title, the world at the heart of the story is inspired by the Brontë's juvenilia, and it was this that made me desperate to read this book (everyone knows how I feel about the Brontës!).

I was kindly sent this book by Pushkin Press in exchange for an honest review :)

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...

'A beautifully crafted, multilayered story with a gripping adventure at its heart' Melvin Burgess

All these Glass Town intrigues. No matter how long you'd been absent, how far you'd travelled, once you were back, it was as though you'd never been away.

Tom and Augusta are from different places and different times, but they meet in the virtual world to combine forces in battle, to save a kingdom, escape a web of deceit and to find love. In a place where fictions can be truths and truths fictions, learning who to trust is more than friendship, it is about about survival.

Glass Town Wars, inspired by the early writings of the Brontës, is a captivating, magical novel by the renowned Celia Rees.

As soon as I started reading, I was gripped by the writing and this world that Rees conjured right in front of my eyes. This is Glass Town as you've never seen it before: neither ancient nor modern, gritty, intriguing, always glittering. I particularly loved the different parts to the book; the fantasy-esque part where war is on the horizon, the part in the hospital where Tom is in a coma and is being used as a guinea pig for a new gaming device, and Emily Brontë's life in Haworth, where she exists in a place that is permanently in between reality and fantasy. These three parts to the novel brought everything together in a way that was so compelling. I couldn't help but imagine how pleased Emily Brontë would have been to see the world she errected on paper as a child, perceived as a futuristic video game; a cutting-edge life-threatening experiment.

The imagination behind this book was astonishing, at some parts to the point that I got quite lost. As with the original Glass Town stories, the number of people involved and the relations between them was quite confusing at times, though the ending of the book made all of that make sense to me. I think the interweaving stories and intricacy of the storylines only added to the vast complexity of this book, and made this an incredibly rich reading experience for me. Even if I couldn't always keep up with the storyline, this didn't take away from the richness of the story and the detailed, decadent world of Glass Town, a world that I was swiftly swept into. And the descriptions of Emily furiously scribbling her stories onto paper while waiting for the bread to rise only made this frantic, fast-paced world seem all the more realistic. Glass Town Wars is a fantastic adventure story written by a prolific, brilliant author. But what I thought was most skillful about this book was that the story was still, somehow, Emily's. 

Buy Glass Town Wars here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glass-Town-Wars-Celia-Rees/dp/1782692223

Check out Celia Rees here: http://www.celiarees.com

Until next time :)