Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

My rating: 2 of 5 stars




I have a feeling I'm not going to be very popular by posting this review, everyone seems to love this book so far and I feel more disappointed in myself and my tastes than the novel or the author. Code Name Verity is one of those books that are the reason why I created the shelf its-me-not-you. I mentioned this very recently in my review of The Book Of Blood And Shadow and it is also similar to the experience I had trying to read The Book Thief and Feed. I just found 90% of the book long-winded and unnecessary.

The novel opens where the narrator has been captured by the Nazi opposition during WWII. She is given paper to tell her story and she does so through the eyes of her friend Maddie. Different, definitely. Maddie's story is told in various anecdotes, a technique I've already failed to appreciate in The Book Thief but I suppose the intention was to subtly build up a picture of both girls' pasts and their friendship. This book is not very plot-focused or fast-paced, it's about conversations and people and female pilots during the second world war, which would all have been great if it had been balanced out with a touch of drama.

I cannot tell you just how much I wanted to like this. It's about women's involvement in the war and us Northern girls - two topics that don't get nearly enough press. But, for me, there was just too big a focus on piloting and aircraft and I'm sorry but I struggled to care. If you read the author's note at the end she will tell you that this book is actually meant to be about pilots:

"This book started off rather simply as a portrait of an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot. Being a woman and a pilot myself, I wanted to explore the possibilities that would have been open to me during the second world war."

And not enough else was brought in. There's only so many descriptions of a pilot's job I can sit through before I start to snooze, each to their own but flying planes has never been an interest of mine. The best parts of this book were the touching ending and the fact that the narrator is delightfully unreliable (I love them, I do! Eugenides, I miss you...) but I needed more. All I really want is for a book to rouse some passion in me, whether it be excitement, sadness, anger even... I felt nothing.

Don't Breathe a Word by Holly Cupala

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars




I did that stupid thing where I don't check what a book's about before I start reading it with Don't Breathe a Word. The synopsis on the back of the paperback I have is quite ambiguous but it looked like a relatively short, interesting read. I began to be concerned when I realised it was another tale about abuse, I would never have started it so soon after a powerful novel like Split had I known.

However, Don't Breathe a Word is actually a completely different type of novel. Split is very realistic, brutal, in-your-face and painfully honest. It is also the significantly better book of the two. This novel, on the other hand, felt somewhat dreamlike. Joy's narrative alternates between the past and the present, the reasons for her decision to run away are introduced gradually in random flashes of memory. The writing is prettier than that in Split and I liked reading it, but it wasn't as powerful or meaningful for me either.

I'm starting to lean too much towards the negative here and I don't mean to, I rounded it up to four stars for a reason. Because this book isn't just about abuse, it's about the troubles faced by the 1.6 million runaways in the United States every year. How the majority of them will be assaulted in one way or another in their first month of living on the streets, and how many end up selling sex to buy food and clothes. Several colourful and intriguing characters are present in this novel, each with a different story and a vibrant personality. May, a girl who through struggles and heartache discovers she has talents beyond what she can offer with her naked body. Santos, the boy with the secrets and a pet ferret, who sneaks away in the evening and comes back with haunted eyes. And Creed, the musician who speaks to Joy's soul with his guitar.

And my comments about the writing were not supposed to be negative, take a look:

"At home, they'd clipped my wings and then caged me so I couldn't fall. Here, they bandaged one another's broken wings, helped each other fly."

I think the factor that most let down this story and made it 3.5 stars was the ending. Split does not have a perfect ending and some opportunities are missed, but Swati Avasthi recognises that in real life things don't always go the way you want and not everyone gets a happily ever after - and that's kinda the beauty of the novel. Don't Breathe a Word feels like a rushed super-happy conclusion, everyone's problems get solved within a few pages and the only unhappy one was the bad guy. I don't want to be left heartbroken, but the too-perfectness of it took something away.

Also, I think I should stop reading afterwords. I get choked up at nearly every single one, even when I've spent an entire emotional novel not shedding a tear.

Legend by Marie Lu

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




So I finally decided to pick this up after sifting through all the reviews and reading positive after negative after positive after negative, sometimes I guess you just have to see for yourself. And Legend was all right, pretty good when compared to some of the crap I've read recently, it just wasn't anything particularly spectacular either. That being said, I'm still probably going to read the sequel because I seem to have come down with that annoying disease known as "caringaboutthecharactersitis".

In my opinion, this book was significantly better than Delirium, Matched, Shatter Me, Dark Inside, Pure and Article 5. It stood out amongst other members of the overcrowded dystopian genre, but that was mostly because a lot of the others are so atrociously bad, rather than this being overly mind-blowing. It was fun, though, easy to read, quite entertaining, I don't have any regrets about reading it.

The main characters are far less annoying than some I've had the displeasure of encountering in this genre. They're not that original or inspiring but they're the kind of carbon copies I don't mind seeing so much. She is self-reliant and can kick ass without the sexy love interest's assistance. He's kind, considerate and brave. The chemistry between them never seems forced, despite it being yet another "they felt drawn to one another" scenario. Somehow it doesn't matter that much here.

The world building is the weakest part of the novel, something that seems to apply to most new releases in the dystopian genre. A fact which is strange when surely the whole point of a "dystopia" is the world the characters interact in. But whatever, I will begin to sound like a broken record. It does get better towards the end of Legend with clues being introduced about the time before the Republic existed. This gives me hope that Marie Lu is simply withholding her world building to prolong the reader's interest, but I just hope that I'm not left hanging on this matter at the end of the second book too.

Another thing I didn't like - because I couldn't believe in it - was all the huge leaping to conveniently accurate conclusions. The protagonists would look at an unbelievably small piece of evidence and manage to solve an entire mystery out of it. I wasn't convinced, I don't care how smart you are, you would not have gone from A to B like that. You just wouldn't.

Though this isn't going to make it onto any of my "favourites" lists, I'd recommend this book to a lot of people. Those who keep loving trashy dystopias with a forbidden romance story, those who liked any of those books I listed in the second paragraph. Those who look for light entertainment rather than deep meaning or fantastic writing in their books. I conclude that Legend is not that bad, it'll probably be a hit with anyone who isn't getting tired of reading poorly constructed dystopia after poorly constructed dystopia.

Hush by Eishes Chayil

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




I was going to go to bed and write a review in the morning but I can't sleep because this book has affected me so much. I'm really quite disturbed and upset by this so if you're looking for something light and easy: stay away from Hush.

The first piece of advice I would give someone who's going to read this book is to stick with it. I normally find that my initial instincts are correct when reading a novel, if I struggle to get into it in the first few chapters I often never do. However, though I was immediately turned off by all the confusing Jewish terms I'd never heard of and found it difficult to connect with the story and narrator at first because of this, I quickly got used to it and Hush turned into a novel I won't be forgetting any time soon.

This book is about a strict Jewish community where keeping up appearances is what matters most and what happens behind closed doors stays there unless you want to bring shame upon your family. What I didn't know at first is that Eishes Chayil grew up in such a community and has experienced the lifestyle first-hand, the story is actually loosely based on what she witnessed herself as a child (read the afterword). I recently keep finding these novels where the author really knows what they are talking about and it does make all the difference to the story, everything is more detailed, more easily imaginable.

The story reminded me a lot of Speak, but it was more frustrating, more upsetting even, because the protagonist and the victim wanted and tried to speak out. They told people they should have been able to trust - parents, teachers, etc. - and were told to be quiet, were accused of lying because the truth would mean scandal for the family. I was horrified by how many adults failed a nine-year-old girl, how if they'd just put the child's pain before their desire for a squeaky-clean reputation she would still have been alive. Parts of this book felt like the narrator and myself were screaming at the other characters who just put their fingers in their ears and refused to listen.

This is a sad, sad book about guilt and misunderstandings, and those things you tell yourself you don't understand but fear you understand all too well. There's a letter near the end of the book written by the protagonist to her friend who died and it's one of the saddest things I've ever read. I could cry again just thinking about it. The reason this got four stars instead of five is because there were a few parts in the middle that could have been cut out or shortened (like the beginning of Gittel and Yankel's married life) and because I wasn't keen on the beginning. But these are small matters and I highly recommend this book to anyone who isn't afraid of an emotionally challenging read.

There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I didn't get it.

This is the third book I've read by Meg Rosoff, fourth if you count my failed attempt to start Just in Case. What I've discovered to be most true about Rosoff's novels is that reading and liking one is far from a guarantee that you will enjoy the rest - or, in fact, any of the others - so I cannot offer words like: "if you enjoyed How I Live Now (etc.) this will be your kind of book". This novel is a million miles away from anything Meg Rosoff has previously written, and generally quite different to anything I've ever read.

My brother gets annoyed with me because he says that I have to have a reason for everything. That I expect books to have a point, to make a statement, and to leave me with an important message that makes me think for a while afterwards. This is only partially true - I love a bit of fun nonsense like Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, but I think if a book takes on a subject like God and creation and the reasons for bad stuff happening in the world then there should be something important that the author wants us to take from it. To put it simply, I wanted more from this book. I don't think there was a hidden message and if there was I didn't get it.

There's always the chance that this book was too deep for me and that special metaphorical something-or-other went straight over my head. But, for me, this book was simply about an horny teenager who got the job of God because no one else wanted it... which would actually explain a lot. This horny teenager falls in love with a zoo-worker called Lucy, he has an assistant who can't stand him and a mother who has lost his beloved pet in a poker game. It's so ridiculously bizarre that I kept waiting for it all to come together and symbolise genesis or some interesting philosophy... or just, you know, something. I'm clueless as to what the point of this book was.

The novel seemed to try to be an odd combination of Monty Python-style blasphemy and Douglas Adams' humorous philosophy. The former I absolutely love and grew up on and was probably the reason that this book did give me a few laughs, especially near the beginning. The latter I still struggle to understand. Adams is the kind of author who I occasionally love to quote - about dolphins, creation, etc. - but really don't enjoy reading that much.

I decided to read this after I noticed it got a starred review on Kirkus that promised interesting questions like "if life were without flaws and no one ever changed or died, what role would God have?" And sure, it delivered the questions, but made no attempt to answer them... sorry, but I can come up with plenty of these questions myself. It's the discussions and possible answers that I wanted to read.

If you're looking for a bit of strange, British humour (yeah, I know Rosoff is from Boston, but she moved to the UK in 1989 and it looks like we got to her) and philosophy, then you might actually like There is No Dog. But I, for one, would suggest you get your fix from an author who does it best and leaves a lasting impression - and I love him! - Stephen Fry.

Split by Swati Avasthi

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars



Split was somewhere between 4 and 5 stars for me, so I'll go with 4.5 because I can't make my mind up. I spent most of the novel thinking I would give it 5 stars, but there was something a little unresolved for me. Okay, a lot unresolved, but DO NOT read this if you haven't read the book: I wanted their mother to find a way out, I understood that this book's message is that it's not as simple as that, I understand why she struggled to leave him, how her life had been shaped around her husband and their violent existence... but I wanted the final message to be that it was possible, even though it was difficult. I didn't like how the ending seemed to be an acceptance that some people are just doomed to stay with their violent partner for the rest of their life. But, apart from the stuff in that very spoilery spoiler, this was an unbelievably powerful novel. It does what so many other books have tried to do but the writing, the characters, the emotions running wild in this book... they all contributed to make it stand out amongst stacks of stories about domestic violence.

The story opens where Jace Witherspoon has finally left home, his mother, and his abusive father behind. He wants to start a new life with his older brother - Christian - who ran away years before and hopes his mother will eventually break away and join them. But Christian's life is very different now and he is reluctant to ever go back to the way things were before, not to mention the fact that Jace isn't being entirely honest, a lot has happened since Christian left and he isn't too eager to share a lot of it. Can Jace and Christian build a new life as brothers and put their violent upbringing behind them? Or will Jace's secrets bring the past crashing down onto the two of them?

What Swati Avasthi has here that gave her the ability to write such a stand-out novel, is years of experience dealing with just these kind of people, relationships and abusive partners/parents. It shows, it really does. A lot of authors try to answer that question: why does an abuse victim still stay with their partner? Most of them fail because it's not a simplistic answer, you need to take a deep look into these relationships, see how the victims become psychologically changed to believe that they somehow deserve it, that they cannot cope with any other way of living, that the good times are worth the bad. I don't pretend to be an expert on domestic violence, but I knew someone who was in this kind of relationship and people always say "I just don't understand why they don't leave", "it's pretty simple, if someone hurts you, they don't love you, so you walk out the door". I've seen it first-hand and what they don't know is that the victims are being damaged far more psychologically than they are physically. You cannot tell someone to snap out of a mental disorder, and it is a very similar kind of thing. The routine of violence becomes so embedded into them that they start to just accept it. It's sad but true and Swati Avasthi is one of very few authors who shows this.

But this isn't just a novel about domestic violence. It's a novel about how people can change their lives for the better, how with work you can choose to move on from your past and re-create yourself, how you do not have to let the bad stuff that has happened define you. It's about fear. Fear of another person, fear for another person, fear of yourself and who you might be turning into, fear of making the people around you just as screwed up as you are.

Moving and unforgettable.

Nomansland by Lesley Hauge

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Warning - I gave away some spoilers while ranting

Well, um, I have no idea why this book was written. And this is just one of those books that definitely requires an explanation, it is quite clearly not for basic entertainment value... there's a message in there somewhere, I'm sure of it, a message that's all about women and men and feminism, the way we live now and the way we could live. I'm just not sure what that is. In fact, "not sure" seems too mild a phrase, to say I haven't got a clue would be more appropriate.

Furthermore, Nomansland read like a short story that someone had desperately tried to stretch into a full-length novel and failed miserably at it. There is only one important chapter in the whole book - the one where the girls find the house from "the time before" - and the rest appears to be just filler, shock tactics, and some of the worst world-building I've ever read. This novel could be set at any time, even in our present time, it could be set anywhere in this world or another. The world is there to form a weak backdrop against some sketchy feminist discussions ramblings.

I admit I read this because I thought The Gate to Women's Country would be too hardcore for a sci-fi wuss like me and saw this as the young adult alternative. So there's this land (somewhere, at some time) whose population is made up entirely of women, I would tell you how this happened and where the men went if only I knew the answer to that myself. But anyway, they are trained warriors, an idea I would very much like to comment on but risk giving away spoilers so I will restrain myself. They are also taught to accept that the lives they live, no matter how stressful, are better than the way things were "before". Before what, one can only imagine.

The big event of this book is when a group of girls stumble across some objects from "before". These objects include magazines, barbie dolls and make-up. They are astounded at the shiny images of women, some unbelievably skinny, when they are muscular and hairy. The clothes and shoes they find seem ridiculous. It is noted how the barbie dolls prove that the women of "the time before" walked permanently on tiptoe. Whether you agree with the ideas portrayed or not, it seems rather clear what the author's intention is with this, right? Basically, poke fun at modern society with it's stick-thin models and obsession with beauty to the point of having painful "spiked" shoes. Uh, no, not quite...

Because this novel's evil bitch character is determined to never return to these ways of the past, she sees these women as weak and submissive to the patriarchal society, the story of genesis as a way for men to hide their fear of their own lust behind the forced subservience of women, and she sees that those who disagree are punished in a variety of disgusting ways. So... confusing. And underneath it all there is an uprising brewing, girls who have not fallen for her lies and wish to escape Nomansland to the world outside. So is the message that the society we live in is actually good? That we should stick with the skinny models and make-up and beauty pageants?

Who the hell knows? Lesley Hauge, just what is your point?

I admire any author who tries to incorporate feminist philosophy into their writing, it doesn't get enough publicity, but I can't figure out what this wishy-washy message is trying to say to me. I almost miss Kristin Cashore, at least I knew what she was going on about, even if her message was scarily radical most of the time and not what I agree with. I won't give away the ending to Nomansland, but I will say that it only confuses me even more and I wonder if Ms Hauge even knew herself what she wanted to say with this novel.

Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973 by John Barnes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




This book is a real melting pot of emotions. It reminded me very much of another favourite of mine - Sorta Like a Rock Star - in the way it created such a detailed, sad and often amusing picture of a teenager's life and how it pretty much just sucks a lot of the time.

I like teen problem novels that know how to be funny but still make the desired emotional impact as well. Karl Shoemaker lives with his alcoholic mother who steals his hard-earned money and sometimes even locks him out of the house all night, he's had to live this life ever since his dad died. He works five different jobs, has to put up with over thirty cats that like to do their business in his bedroom, all whilst struggling to cope with his raging teenage hormones (i.e. his constant erection). Due to his screwed up life, he has to attend a therapy group for troubled kids at school, a group which the kids have affectionately named "The Madman Underground".

All the characters are different, interesting, insane, indeed there is no one who escapes insanity in John Barnes' novel. There are some rather gross, shocking and disturbing scenes, upsetting things that happen or almost happen that had me on edge - but this all just adds to the book's unique charm. Plus, even the sad and disgusting stuff tends to have some humour to balance it out.

I really enjoyed Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance 1973 and was pleased with the conclusion and the journey made by Karl's character. It's so refreshing to have such an endearingly honest and funny narrator, it made the novel the perfect combination of serious and entertaining. If only there were more books like this.

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

My rating: 2 of 5 teacups


I imagine that The Book Of Blood And Shadow will impress most of my friends, it just so happens that this is one of those books that appears on occasion which is well-constructed, well-written, clever and absolutely nothing that I want to read. I've seen this before and will surely see it again in the future, thankfully I'm getting better at spotting them early on - the only reason I finished this book was because it was provided by UK book tours for review purposes.

The story is about Nora who tries to solve the mystery around her friend's death and prove her boyfriend's innocence by travelling to Prague and following the clues from centuries-old manuscripts that lead her into a world of secrets, lies and conspiracies. It's just a shame that, for me, this was nowhere near as exciting as it sounds.

Though the books are nothing alike, the reading experience I had with The Book Of Blood And Shadow was almost identical to the ones I had with The Book Thief and Feed. This could be a good indicator of whether or not you should read this book. If you liked those two I just mentioned - and I know most people did - then you may have more patience with a novel like The Book Of Blood And Shadow. It is equally long-winded and spends a lot of time with the characters and the world before any of the main plot gets going.

Did you enjoy those discussions about politics and occasionally medicine found in Feed? Did you like the numerous flashbacks and stories throughout The Book Thief? Or did you grow tired of them like me? You see, Mira Grant, Markus Zusak and Robin Wasserman are all great writers in the very technical sense but I think they lose something from the story in being so... well, that's just how I see it. It's easy to be drawn in by them at first because you immediately recognise that they are talented at writing, the characters are always well-developed from the start. I like the characters, I like the writing, and I wait and wait for the story to get interesting but I'm often bored.

If you're okay with long sentences, a little too much of the stuff that we don't really care about like translations - or maybe that's also just me? - and the kind of story that doesn't hit you like WOWSHAZAM but creeps in slowly and steadily until you realise "oh yeah, so something seems to be going on now..." then this is your kind of book. Sorry, I'm not selling it too well, am I? I probably shouldn't be too negative as I am confident many of my friends on goodreads will love this kind of story. It's just way too slow and hard-going for me.

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

My rating: 4.5 of 5 teacups



I owe a huge thanks to Courtney Summers for giving me a second chance to read and review this after my netgalley rejection. It made my day and I'm so glad This Is Not a Test was all that I'd hoped it would be.

I'm going to say what I said at the start of my reviews or before I started reading: Feed, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Other Life and even the one I was sure would be the exception to the rule - The Reapers Are the Angels, and that is that zombie novels have never been my thing. I've searched and searched for that one book that would allow me to share in my friends' love for novels of the walking dead, brain-eating variety. This is the first - yes, the very first - book about zombies I have enjoyed. Ah, but then I suppose this isn't really that much about zombies.

As with Courtney Summers' other novels, this is mostly a book about people, about survival. Summers does survival tales best, it doesn't matter whether the threat is zombies, grief or a bunch of bitchy teenage girls, every situation is equally poignant and Summers never fails to leave a lasting impression.

This is the tale of a group of teenagers who barricade themselves into what was once their high school as the zombie apocalypse descends outside. Each character has something important to offer this novel and, for me, when you can make this kind of statement it puts Courtney Summers up their with the few others who have this rare talent - Melina Marchetta, Megan Whalen Turner, to name a couple. And on top of that, they all have a story, they are all fighting something that goes beyond the realm of living corpses, and this is what I like most about this novel. In most zombie stories, people fight until they die and maybe one or two survive... but Courtney Summers remembers that, even in the apocalypse, living is about more than just not getting eaten and perhaps sometimes there are scarier things out there than those zombies, and even death.

Also, it is worth noting, I have always said that zombies do not scare me at all. When watching horror films, if zombies manage to get any kind of reaction from me it's usually amusement at their silly moans. But this was one hell of a creepy novel. I'm not sure why this book managed to give me chills when so many others failed, but I admit it, I was freaked out, and not always at the zombies.

My only criticism will not be a problem for some people. In fact, you may find it positive. Summers' endings are always sharp, brutal, effective but sometimes a little too abrupt for me. The ending to this will leave you thinking, wondering... you will undoubtedly be affected by it. But, for me, there was a lack of closure that I felt I needed from a novel I'd become so emotionally invested in. Otherwise, this was a fantastic novel and I knew Courtney Summers wouldn't let me down. I will read everything she writes, no question.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My rating: 1 of 5 teacups




This is not a dystopia, it is a romance. This is not a novel, it is a collection of similes and metaphors, most of which do not make sense. I originally gave Shatter Me two stars because that's my sort of kneejerk reaction to books I don't like, but after thinking it over for a while, I can't recall anything positive about it that would justify a rating of more than one star.

You're probably assuming - correctly - that I went into this book with low expectations. This is completely true. Any so-called "dystopia" with a runway model on the front cover leaves me feeling sceptical. However, I was also prepared to allow myself to be surprised; a lot of my friends loved this and one of the biggest criticisms didn't actually bother me - purple prose. I think there's a fine line in writing between the pretty and the purplish and different readers will define it in their own way. For example, some reviewers thought that Lips Touch: Three Times was just a mess of bloated purple prose, whereas I thought it was one of the most beautiful books I read last year. I have a high tolerance level for flowery writing. But...

Shatter Me's numerous metaphors, similes, and endless descriptions just didn't make sense. What is this?:

"Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into semblance of something too passive to punch."

I just... WHAT??? This is one example floating around in there, but every second sentence is like this! That's not even mentioning the annoying strike-outs. Trust me, no really, trust me, I thought people were being overly picky when they said the crossed out sentences were annoying. I actually thought it sounded interesting, unusual, especially because the whole thing is meant to be wrote in a notebook and I cross stuff out in mine all the time. But you have no idea how bloody annoying this is to read. All the effin' time. People didn't exaggerate: it will most likely drive you crazy.

However, there was one thing that for me was even more annoying than the descriptions, the similes, the strikes, and that was the stupid repetition thing: "and then and then and then..." Again, if it had been used once, or sparingly even, then it wouldn't be so bad. I may have thought it was an interesting literary technique. But Shatter Me had way way way too much of everything (see what I did there?).

And story? What story? *sigh* It's about time we just opened up an entirely new genre called "Dystopian Romance" or alternatively "Romantic Dystopia", though I don't wish to be pessimistic, I'm pretty sure half the new releases of 2012 will make it into that category. If there was a story then it drowned amidst the waves of overenthusiastic and flowery prose. This reminded me of Article 5 in that the dystopia was there to make the romance interesting. One was certainly there to complement the other, but it was the wrong way around.

Also... kissing when you are fleeing for your lives?? I'm sure this is not the correct way of things, right? And yet it occurs in way too many young adult books. I'm like: "run, run, run!" but the characters are too busy swapping saliva. I must be old-fashioned in my thinking that staying alive is kinda important.

There are a lot of things that, had they been there, could have convinced me to up this to two stars. One star ratings make me feel sucky. But I'm sorry guys, I wasn't even entertained. The beginning was intriguing but there was so little plot beyond the romance that it quickly became tedious. I hated the prose, I felt nothing either way for the characters, this series ends here for me.

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

My rating: 4 of 5 teacups




A.S. King: "Everybody Sees the Ants originated from an idea that we are all prisoners. An idea that bullying is a widely ignored form of torture. An idea that only we can choose to escape from our own prisons. An idea that no one can take something from us if we don't give it."

This is a very powerful novel. It is a story for everyone because it's true that everyone has to had to face some form of shit in their lives in one way or another. Every day all over the world people are being hurt, sexually abused, put down, bullied... friends and family members die, or change, or leave, or join the army and never come back. This book is Lucky Linderman's story.

Lucky Linderman is a boy who has been bullied constantly since he was seven, a boy who's grandad never returned from Vietnam and who's dad never got over it. His mum spends her time swimming to avoid facing their dysfunctional homelife, his uncle has numerous affairs while his aunt battles her need for pills, and Lucky escapes to the only place he can be the man he's always wanted to be: his dreams. At first glance, Lucky Linderman is probably nothing like you, his life may even sound to you like any typical piece of melodramatic fiction... but as this novel progresses you will eventually see how all of us have a little bit of Lucky inside, no matter how well we hide it or how well we've managed to cope with it.

For me, Everybody Sees the Ants wasn't quite as powerful as Please Ignore Vera Dietz, mostly because it didn't break my heart. It is also much stranger, more unique in style and execution, some people may be put off by this. But still, in my opinion, this book is for everyone. For all of us. Because whether or not we can relate to Lucky's individual story doesn't matter so much. We've all experienced life's crap at times. When someone has hurt us, humiliated us, when we've lost someone or a relationship has broken down, when things didn't work out like we'd hoped they would, and when our family and friends couldn't understand. The ants are our worries, our fears, our failures, our insecurities, and when it all comes down to it, we've all seen the ants.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

My rating: 4 of 5 teacups




When I finally found a spare two minutes to sit down and start reading this book, I suddenly ended up drawn in for a couple of hours discovering that Dairy Queen is just as ridiculously funny, silly, and heartwarming as everyone had told me it was. And strangely inspirational too - I love anyone who dares to break the mold, especially young females who challenge gender stereotypes and go their own way.

I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of chick lit novels, so I should warn you that this would probably never have got five stars from me, and the fact that it got four stars should not be taken lightly when I'm dishing it out in this genre. This book has all the elements you could want from a light-hearted, teen read: a funny, likeable and slightly snarky protagonist, cute boys, some family troubles - nothing too heavy, romance, friendships, insecurities and overcoming them... this stands out for me amongst others of its kind and I will give it the best compliment I can by saying that if you're a fan of Louise Rennison, E. Lockhart and/or Stephanie Perkins, I can see no reason why you wouldn't love this.

D.J. Shwenk is a great character. You know why I think she is such a great character? Because she does sport and farming - two things that interest me about as much as Kim Kardashian's "novel" - and yet she still manages to keep my attention from the very first chapter. It takes A LOT to literally make someone laugh out loud while reading, as in, to actually pause and giggle stupidly to oneself and think if Big Brother was watching right now I would be arrested and locked away forever (am I paranoid? are these weird thoughts?). Anyway, this novel does this repeatedly and I'm glad I didn't read it in public.

I put this book off for two reasons, 1) I never thought I would enjoy a book about either sport or farming, never mind both! And 2) I've been busy reading the dark, disturbing, depressing, supernatural and fantasy books, which is all very well but sometimes we need a little bright happiness from our novels. This delivers, trust me, this delivers.

The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan

My rating: 4.5 of 5 teacups


I never imagined I would enjoy this as much as I did. This book has been on my mental TBR list long before I even had a goodreads account, basically because it seems that everyone who reads it recommends it to me and yet it's taken me so long to get around to it. I would guess The Raging Quiet struggles to find an audience when historical fiction is not a very popular YA genre to start with, and the ones that are feature corsets and affairs - like an 18th century Gossip Girl. Just to note, technically this is also a fantasy novel because Torcurra is fictional, but apart from place names there's no reason why this couldn't be regular historical fiction.

One of the first things I noticed and loved about this novel was the setting. It's a very cold, dark, pastoral and gothically beautiful place. It reminded me a lot of Wuthering Heights with that sense of isolation and wilderness, I loved how completely imaginable it was without even having to be big on the descriptions.

The tale is about two outsiders - Marnie and Raven - and how they come to develop an understanding of one another. Marnie arrives in Tocurra with her new and much older husband who she has married to save her family from poverty and who also tells her she will "learn to like it" after he more or less rapes her. Raven is the village madman - believed so because he is actually deaf - and the locals attempt to whip the demons out of him. Marnie first comes under suspicion of foul play when her husband falls to his death, a suspicion that only grows when her and Raven develop a sign language to communicate by. And trust me, this isn't the time or place to be suspected of witchcraft.

This is a novel that will tear up your heart and send your emotions into overdrive. It's horrifying to read some of the things done to young women who were accused of being witches, this book may be labelled "fantasy", but the rituals are entirely real. It's frustrating too, so many times I wanted to yell at the unfairness of it all - imagine an infected wound being a symbol that God is marking your guilt of witchiness!

But, in the end, this is also a very sweet and touching novel about two people who don't fit in finding their own little world together, their own way of living that suits them both, others be damned. I was moved by it and I think it will be hard to find a reader who isn't.

Not That Kind Of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

My rating: 3 of 5 teacups


In short, this book is about high school, sexuality, girl power, challenging the "slut" idea... to say I wanted to love it would be an understatement. This book gets right down to the issues I am interested in and I appreciate any attempt to remind young men and women that, at the end of the day, most of us just really are that kind regardless of gender or sexual preference. As long as it's done with safety and consent, I don't think teen sex is a bad thing.

And I would love, I repeat love, to give Siobhan Vivian the benefit of the doubt and assume I know exactly what she was trying to say with this book, and yet I would be lying if I said I was actually sure. In fact, I'm slightly bewildered by all the mixed messages flying around in this novel and I'm tempted to go search out some author interviews to see if I can shed some light on Ms. Vivian's point here.

At the beginning, the protagonist - Natalie - reminds me of the radical feminism that destroyed the US in The Handmaid's Tale. She believes that when girls wear revealing clothing to get boys' attention they are objectifying themselves, she also notes from experience how boys can ruin a girl's reputation if they become too involved. She seems to believe that the only way a girl can stay independent and focused on education/careers is to avoid boys completely during high school. Natalie also regards another girl's behaviour as slutty when she does a sexy dance routine in the hallway.

This other girl - Spencer - is the complete opposite. She believes slut-shaming is sexist and that girls should be allowed to express their sexuality anyway they want. I'm rather inclined to agree, and yet the moral of this story regarding Spencer's behaviour doesn't seem to be a positive one - a naked photo of her gets sent around the school. I feel like I'm back in the land of Ten Things We Did again, where the author seems to be making an important statement about female sexuality and then she just goes and throws a spanner in the works.

One small thing that annoyed me was the sudden rush to forgive Mike Dombitz. Everyone seemed to suddenly believe that he'd been treated unfairly even though he was the one who started all the disgusting, petty crap. I thought Spencer's revenge was brilliant and not too far at all. Though I will say now we're onto the subject of male characters, I think they are very lacking. The only remotely nice guy is Connor - who seems way too good to be true, by the way - and the rest are sex-obsessed monsters. It doesn't seem to matter whether you're on the anti-slut-shaming or the anti-sex side, men are still evil and none of them are good enough for any woman, ever. Natalie believes they are nasty and all want to control her, Spencer believes that they are nothing but sexual beings that women need to manipulate with their own sexuality. Woah girls, I adore the "love thyself" message but I don't condone the "hate men" message, I don't think that's what being a strong, independent woman is about - these things actually give feminism a bad name.

I do think that the author was trying to pull these two types of feminism together - Ms strong and independent, and Ms pro-sexuality - to combine the two and show that in reality you need to find some kind of healthy medium. I think she's right about that. I also enjoyed this book immensely, I was hooked on the characters, the interesting ideas presented, the romance... but in the end, the message was just a little too sloppy for me. I think I know what Vivian wanted to say, but it was far from clear. For that reason, this book gets 3 stars from me.

Review: The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

My rating: 2 of 5 teacups


Before I picked this book up, I had so many great feelings about it. Partly because of all the dazzling reviews it has received from my most trusted GR friends, and partly just because it is sold as exactly the kind of urban fantasy I love: strong heroine, hot supernatural men, "cataclysmic civil war" between the fae... I admit that I was excited enough to buy this book before reading the 4/5 star reviews.

Okay, so what exactly was my problem? I exhale a great big shuddering sigh as I say - for the umpteenth time - this was just never anything special to me. This genre, the urban fantasy genre, is easily one of my favourites when I find a book/series that really appeals to me; they have a way of dragging you into their world and making you care about the characters and lust after the hunky men. But countless times I come across the same old pattern. The Shadow Reader will undoubtedly be loved by hardcore UF fans who actually read these books for that same old pattern that I mentioned. Some people love this format and I'm sure that's why books continue to be written in a very same-y way.

For me, I made the inevitable comparisons to the Fever series and this novel just couldn't compete at all. I'm still waiting for a fae novel that can and I've been starting to believe I won't ever find one. Mckenzie is definitely a strong heroine, but at the end of this book she doesn't feel as well-developed to me as Mac did halfway through Darkfever. The thing I loved most about Mac is that she was a normal young woman, in fact she first appears far more ditzy than most. She doesn't stroll in, sword swinging, and she hasn't been trained for the situation she finds herself in. And yet, she shows that even the ditziest, blondest young women can turn kick-ass if the moment calls for it. This is one thing I love about that series which is very difficult to find in others. PNR heroines are often sappy and pathetic, UF heroines tend to be factory-manufactured warriors. I want to see regular girls and women - like myself - showing that they don't need super powers to be awesome.

I didn't even bother comparing either Kyol or Aren with Barrons because they are a million miles apart in every way. But looking at them on their own they still seem to be rather boring, Kyol's the nice guy and Aren's the bad one. Mckenzie has known (and secretly wanted) Kyol for years, she has known (and secretly wanted) Aren for a couple of weeks. Guess who she chooses here?? Yet another Twilight-style love triangle it would seem. ZZZzzzz....

Yes, so sorry to the people who loved this, I'm not sure why I feel guilty for not loving it too, but I do. The only thing I will say in its favour is that this book reminded me how much I need to re-read the Fever books, so I thank Sandy Williams for that.

Review: Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

My rating: 4 of 5 teacups


I didn't really think I'd like this book, I have to admit. I was curious about it after reading Tatiana's review, but this novel has been described as all the things that usually bore me to death: gentle, subtle, subdued, quiet... I've read these kinds of stories before that are meant to be all about the realism with little excitement, sadness or anything particularly noteworthy - I have always found them dull. Until now.

The realism in Bunheads really works to its advantage and makes the story more meaningful. This isn't an over-dramatised tale of death and romance, there's no blood and no gore, it's just a novel about ballet dancing in its barest form and I was surprised to find that this was more than enough. The characters were more real because of it and I found myself totally immersed in the obsessive and ridiculously competitive world of ballet.

I think it must be to some extent semi-autobiographical - or parts of it at least - because the author herself spent many years training and working as a ballet dancer. I'm glad I read this beforehand as it helped me believe in what I was reading about. I think the author's ultimate goal with her choice to write a rather quiet, understated story about real life in the ballet world, was not to draw the reader's mind away from some of the horrors that are part of every ballet dancer's life.

If this novel had been written about murder, sex and backstabbing it would no doubt appeal to a wider audience and sell far more copies, but it would also have made the small details about the rigourous dieting and exercising take a back seat. Things like the way the dancers are constantly being weighed, the way it is practically forbidden to grow breasts, the long, exhausting hours they have to put in when there's no guarantee they'll ever make the big parts... these would all have gone unnoticed. I, for one, am glad the author wrote this story the way she did and I will be on the look out for her future works.

Review: Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

My rating: 2 of 5 teacups


I realise it was probably a mistake to read another angel book so soon after finishing Angelfall, but it was amongst the gushing reviews and comments on the aforementioned that I read about these two books sharing a similar theme. This theme being that, rather than having pretty, sparkly, heaven-sent angels, the authors used the more traditional, violent creatures who have come to earth in order to take over. However, this is where the similarities between the two novels end.

Angel Burn has a much heavier focus on romance. In fact, the majority of the book is taken up by the development of the relationship between the male and female protagonists who are, of course, drawn to each other from the very beginning. I cannot help but be annoyed when the heroine pauses in life-threatening situtations to ogle this novel's piece of man candy. Is this normal behaviour? Surely myself and Penryn cannot be the only ones to prefer survival?

Naturally, they are already eternally, unconditionally in love by the novel's half-way marker. I also would guess that the equivalent of about sixty pages in total is given to Willow and Alex's kissing sessions. Way too much of this rather large book was about the romance. And what was the plot, exactly?

Like Article 5, like The Other Life, the bad guys are not actually that important. They are merely the tool needed to get the two lovebirds on the run together and allow for the road trip romancing to take place. Unlike Angelfall, the angel mythology is so underdeveloped. This could quite easily have been a book about vampires, werewolves, aliens - take your pick. You'd only have to change a few words and phrases here and there.

Perhaps it would not have been so bad if the romance hadn't been so damn corny as well. I'm not totally immune to the charms of a sexy guy in a leather jacket and the call of a touching romance, but this pulled some scenes that I'm pretty sure only Disney can get away with. You know what I mean, one of them is lying on the ground and no, please no, you can't be dead... I love you and then their eyes flicker open! Oh, please.

If you're a hardcore PNR fan or haven't already read way too much annoying paranormal novels then this could be for you. If you've read Angelfall recently, though, I recommend waiting a good while before reading this because, in my opinion, it pales in comparison.