The Foxhole Court

I don’t even know where to start. This book is nothing at all like I expected, but in the best way possible. It’s better than anything I could’ve imagined, even though it’s filled with topics I would usually avoid. Sport? Gangs? Not my cup of tea. The one area I was thrilled to read about was the gay romance, but (unless I’m completely idiotic) I didn’t see a single moment that hinted towards anything romantic between our main character and anyone else in the novel. This isn’t necessarily an issue, but this book was always advertised to me with that as a large part of the plot, so I was disappointed to see that it wasn’t actually a main focus.

Despite this, I loved every single page of this book. I got to the third chapter and I was sold on every character’s story and where they were headed. I’m not usually a character-driven reader at all, but the lives of these characters are so complex and the relationships are (even now) one big mystery. I still have some questions about some characters and some of the links are still confusing to me, but I’m sure as I read on they’ll become more obvious.

One element I never expected to enjoy was Exy, the fictional sport created by the author. To begin with I actually thought it was a real sport (sums up just how clueless I am), but after some research I realised it was completely fake. Which is crazy, because as I was reading I think I actually began to understand the rules and how the sport is so crucial for some characters. The descriptions of the matches enraptured me and the history behind Exy is so elaborate, it’s so easy to be absorbed by this story.

I understand that a lot of the elements in this book probably don’t make sense and are actually very unrealistic (see this spoilery Goodreads review). But this just made me love it more! A world where anything seems possible, yet is so closely linked to our world – it almost feels dystopian, except it’s too normal to really recognise much difference? I don’t know if I’m making sense but maybe you’ll know what I mean if you read it. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK.

Author: Nora Sakavic
Title: The Foxhole Court
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary
Published: January 2013

Star Rating: ★★★★★

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The Hate U Give

I know I’m months late to the game with this book – everyone and their nan must’ve heard about The Hate U Give by now – and I know most of those people have already written or spoken about just how great it is and how you should read it, but I still have to tell you myself.

The Hate U Give is, on the surface, about a 16-year-old girl called Starr, who witnesses her unarmed, black best friend get shot by a cop and the repercussions of the tragedy. Though, at it’s core, THUG is about so much more – racism, police brutality, the fight for justice, grief, ignorance, love and family. This book will break your heart and make you angry at the world, but it spreads a message everyone needs to hear.

“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

It took my some time to get into the book – the pacing and writing style was off somehow for me at the beginning. I don’t know if maybe I was expecting to read the first page and instantly see what all the hype was about (which is very unrealistic and never happens, I know), but it took me a while to really be absorbed by the world and the story. However, once I found that pivotal moment where my entire existence became focused solely on this book and reading until the end, you bet the book didn’t leave my hands (unless you count gushing to my friends on Snapchat) until I’d seen how Starr made it through and what she was going to do next.

This book will make you angry. So, so angry (but in the best way?). I agree 100% with every other review that says this book is important, relevant, powerful and inspirational. You see a 16-year-old and her family go through an unfair and unjust fight, where almost everyone seems to be against them, and yet they still make it through and are an inspiration to every reader.

You find yourself invested in a world that too easily translates into our own. The message of this book is paramount and explicit. The fight for equality is no where near over. Everyone has a voice – it’s just how you make your’s heard.

Author: Angie Thomas
Title: The Hate U Give
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary
Published: February 2017

Star Rating: ★★★★★

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We Come Apart

by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

This book was so sweet! Honestly I didn’t think I would like it that much but it’s a great contemporary with just enough action to keep it exciting. It deals with a lot of important topics (immigration, racism, friendship and abuse) so it could be a very heavy and hard-to-read book, but I thought the character development and verse-style layout was perfect to keep a balance of serious topic and fun book. It has the same layout as One by Sarah Crossan (one of my favourite books of 2016) which reads so quickly, so I was finished in a couple of days! I am a huge fan of Sarah Crossan and loved reading from a new author, so will be looking out for any of Brian Conaghan’s books in the future.

You can’t help but feel for Nicu and Jess, and their personal struggles. It was fascinating reading from Nicu’s perspective – from fitting in at school and learning English to dealing with his parents expectations and his arranged marriage. I didn’t know anything about Romanian culture before – it’s so different from how I live and what’s expected of me. Jess’s struggles with her friendships in this novel are really interesting, and you get to see her grow so much as a character. Her family issues are also very realistic and I think will be very easy for a lot of people to relate to. It was different and actually quite a special book, where the relationship was so raw and the character’s were quite naïve, yet I got the impression that they think they know everything.

It’s not exactly what I’d call a happy ending but I feel satisfied and sure that Nicu and Jess will be okay and that they’re doing what is best for them!

4 stars!

 

Disclaimer: I was sent this book on a read-to-review basis from Bloomsbury Childrens and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

REVIEW: One by Sarah Crossan

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a blog post. Just before my long break from posting, I was usually posting twice a week, which I was really proud of and excited about. But after a while, it began to feel like a chore to write a post at least once a week and I just started to hate it. I haven’t felt like writing in a while, but I recently read a book that took me completely by surprise, and I absolutely had to write at least a little something about it.

One by Sarah Crossan is a novel I didn’t ever expect to love. I didn’t even expect to like it, to be honest. I’d seen it on a few people’s TBRs on Goodreads and in a few YouTube videos, so enough to know of it but not enough to know what it’s actually about, apart from an occasional one-sentence synopsis.

I went into the library at my college to just fill up some spare time, and obviously had to look at the Young Adult Fiction section. I recognised a few authors, but nothing really stood out as a book I thought I would get me out of my recent reading slump. That was, until, I picked up One and decided to flick through the pages. It was then, that I realised the book was written in such a unique way: short paragraphs or sentences in one or two, rarely ever more, page chapters, almost poetically. It looked like a book that I could read maybe a couple of pages a day to slowly get me out of my slump. Boy was I wrong – you read the first chapter and you’re hooked until the end.

The synopsis I’d heard was something along the lines of, “conjoined twins Tippi and Grace don’t like being stared at, they just want friends and a ‘normal’ life, but they have a heart-wrenching decision to make”. I don’t think I have ever read a book where the main characters have a physical disability (shame), let alone a book where the main characters’ disability is almost the entire storyline (the shamiest of shame). Looking back, I don’t know why I ever thought this book would be boring and hard to get through. That I wouldn’t be interested because I couldn’t connect with the characters or understand how they were feeling. Crossan does such a brilliant job of helping you understand the most important details of a conjoined twin’s life and making you see the world as they do. I will forever admire these characters and the real people they were inspired by.

It’s almost a shame how quickly I read this book. Obviously I was loving it as I sped through, but now it’s over, I definitely want to buy my own copy and reread it. I have never felt so emotional when reading a book – I don’t cry at books, ever. And yet, there I was bawling my eyes out with that tight-chest feeling you get when something really freaking hurts. You can guarantee I will be making all of my friends read this book, and I expect they’ll love it just as much as I do. genuinely cannot recommend One enough.

Star Rating: ★★★★★

REVIEW: With Malice by Eileen Cook

I rarely write reviews of low-rated books, but to be honest, that’s because I’m usually quite good at picking up books that I’m really interested in so rate highly. The premise of this book sounded so clever, but I was actually really disappointed and frustrated.

This book claims to be ‘a chilling psychological thriller’ and yet I’m sat here thinking about how it didn’t have much of an impact on me at all. I went in expecting mystery and excitement and even some awful things to happen but I just feel very dissatisfied. It’s not to say the book was absolutely awful – I liked the way the chapters alternated between pieces of evidence and the current timeline of Jill’s life, and also some of the plot twists were unexpected. But for the majority of my reading experience, I was just reading a slow-paced book where not a whole lot happened, almost all of the characters annoyed me, the majority of ‘big reveals’ were quite predictable and the ending was such a waste. There was so much potential for a mind blowing conclusion. Instead, I feel deflated and annoyed that what could have been an incredible mystery, was written with such a mediocre ending.

Spoilers below:
I would’ve much preferred a dramatic reveal of what actually happened leading up to the accident, not a dream which may or may not have been Jill’s imagination trying to fill in blanks. Did she mean to kill Simone? Did she even kill Simone? We’ll never know, and that might just kill me.

Author: Eileen Cook
Title: With Malice
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary
Published: June 2016

Star Rating: ★★☆☆☆

REVIEW: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

A huge part of why I loved this book so much is that I felt like sometimes Lennie was explaining everything I couldn’t. Having lost someone incredibly important recently myself, I empathised with Lennie and found myself on many occasions thinking “this is exactly what I want to say”. It’s a story that teaches you to appreciate what you need and appreciate what you want if you’re lucky enough to have it.

The romance in no way took away from Lennie grieving her sister’s death.  Yes, at times, Lennie and Toby were an uncomfortable situation, but if that is how they choose to deal with their emotions, I don’t think we are fair to judge. Saying that, I completely, undeniably, 110% support Lennie and Joe Fontaine. I think Joe was the perfect mix of dreamy and realistic – lovely, talented and always sweet and understanding with Lennie, yet still knew where he stood about the things that really mattered to him.

Honestly, I wish I’d read The Sky is Everywhere before I read I’ll Give You The Sun, Jandy Nelson’s second YA novel. I think I might’ve thought a bit differently if I read them in chronological release-date order and didn’t have IGYTS, one of my favourite books ever, to compare it to. I also have to admit that the reason I decided to pick up the book recently was because of the cover for Zoella’s Book Club edition. Though I don’t really understand the book club, I am absolutely in love with the sky and adore this cover so much!

Saying that, I did really love this book and there is now a special place in my heart for Toby Shaw and Joe Fontaine.

Author: Jandy Nelson
Title: The Sky is Everywhere
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Published: March 2010

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

REVIEW: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

I really couldn’t get into this book to begin with, hence how long it took me to actually get through it. I’d say I was about 2/3 of the way through when I finally got excited and wanted to find out what happened to Lara Jean, Josh and Peter.

I felt like the voice of Lara Jean was much younger than 16, as though you could tell it was an adult trying to imitate a teenager, judging by the way it was written. I also found it really hard to connect to her character and invest myself in her struggles. That being said, if you stripped Lara Jean away from the drama, the book was a lot of fun.

The relationship between Lara Jean and each of her sisters, Margot and Kitty, was quite strange for me to read. I grew up with one brother who was a similar age to me, and though we were very close, we never acted the way the sisters do in this book. Maybe it was the ages or the fact it was all girls, but either way, it was quite interesting to see heir dynamic.

The ‘mystery’ of how all of the love letters got out was quite predictable, but it didn’t feel overly important to me. I was actually more interested in the interactions with each boy once they had seen the letters. The male characters were enjoyable, but I think they, along with the girls, could’ve been improved if we got to read more about their thoughts and feelings behind what they were saying.

It wasn’t one of my favourite books ever, but I think it would be a great book to read if you want something light to get you out of a reading slump.  The ending was really sweet and I’m excited to read the next book and see what I think!

Author: Jenny Han
Title: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Audience: Young Adults/Teens
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Published: August 2014

Star Rating: ★★★☆☆

REVIEW: When We Collided by Emery Lord

Going in to When We Collided, I was pretty clueless about the plot and wasn’t really expecting much, but had heard from quite a few people that it was a lovely read and definitely a big contemporary for 2016. After reading the first few chapters, I wasn’t sure what to think of the book. Yes, it was a well-written YA contemporary with fairly interesting characters, but at the beginning, it lacked the spark that gets me hooked. Little did I know that a few chapters later, I would have become fully invested into Vivi and Jonah’s relationship.

I found it a lot easier to connect with Vivi once I learned more about the character and her mental illness; it was a lot easier to understand why she did some things which I didn’t necessarily completely understand in the moment. I love that the author has a lot of experience with Bipolar Disorder so really knows what she’s talking about, and I think she makes it really easy for a reader, like me, who doesn’t know much about it at all, to understand. Vivi’s character development was excellent – it was easy to stay engaged and interested in her character until the last page.

I feel like Jonah was the perfect match for Vivi, at least throughout most of the book. No matter what he went through, and he went through quite a lot, he remained the sweet and level-headed character that Vivi needed to help balance out her excitable and adventurous personality. I just wish that he sometimes realised that he was great person and did great things with or without Vivi by his side.

I think the dual-narrative in this book was the perfect choice to show the thoughts of both characters and see what they each go through. The issues raised in this book are often avoided and not talked about, and I think Emery Lord did an excellent job of discussing them whilst also creating complex and eye-opening characters.

Author: Emery Lord
Title: When We Collided
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Published: April 2016

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett Review

Oh how this book stayed on my mind.  I liked the characters and thought the storyline was intriguing, but didn’t think much about this book whilst reading it. There was no overwhelming sensation of love or hate – it wasn’t terrible or incredible, just good.  Since then, I have often found myself thinking about something that happened in the book and have slowly realised how much I actually love it.

I think that, overall, this book tells a unique story and develops real relationships between exciting characters. You know from the detail used to describe mental illness in this book, that the author really cared about portraying mental illness, and the characters with the illness, the way she believed to be most accurate. Also, lets take a moment to applaud Jenn Bennett for writing a sex-positive YA novel and not trying to pretend teenagers and young adults don’t have sex! I was so happy with the ending, when all of the characters meet and their lives’ really start to intertwine. I do love a happy ending.

One of my biggest criticisms is the way in which the art was described; there was so much potential to create a beautiful image of Jack’s artwork throughout the city and I just didn’t feel as impressed as I probably should have been. Unfortunately, there was some serious insta-love at the beginning of the book. But I forgave the mostly-unrealistic image of falling in love just by seeing a boy in a hoodie at a bus stop, because eventually, Jack and Beatrix develop a wonderful relationship that you can’t hope but wish was your own.

Author: Jenn Bennett
Title: Night Owls
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Published: August 2015

Star Rating: ★★★★☆

 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Review

*contains spoilers*

The greatness of this book is very subtle. By this, I mean that there is not an overly dramatic argument, a boring monologue of how one friend misses the other or a seriously damaged character being shoved down your throat. There are simply two boys, best friends, who meet just like any two other boys would, that make a huge impact on each others lives without even realising it.

The sincerity of their developing relationship is my favourite part of this entire book. Throughout the novel, their relationship is an extremely important constant, yet I never stopped for a moment to consider what was really happening between Aristotle and Dante and what it meant for them. I just lived their lives’ with them and learned of their feelings as they did.

I kind of lost it when Aristotle gave into his anger and fought the boys who had hurt the one he loved. Yes violence is not the answer, but it was an incredible scene that has left a lasting impression on me. After the fight, I feel like Aristotle’s love for Dante just started shining through his hard exterior, and I couldn’t wait for the end to see if the feelings were reciprocated (I didn’t think for a second that they wouldn’t be).

It took me longer to figure out how I felt about Dante. One of the first impressions I had was that he was very sure of himself and what he wants. I was right about that, and his passion, love and determination amazed me. The depths of this character alone should be enough to make you want to read this book.

Thank you, Aristotle and Dante, for sharing the secrets of the universe with me.

Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Romance, Coming of Age
Published: April 2014

Star Rating: ★★★★★