REVIEW: The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson

I adore Maureen Johnson, it is true. I think she's funny and slightly crazy and every book of hers I've read I've really enjoyed. I look forward to her books and I'm excited to read them just as I was with The Last Little Blue Envelope. But while this book is just as funny and entertaining as 13 Little Blue Envelopes and I loved the fact that we finally get answers to what was in that final letter, I also felt like there was something lacking in it. And that is a shame.

The Last Little Blue Envelope is the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, in which Ginny Blackstone travelled around Europe, doing tasks that her Aunt Peg set out for her in a series of letters written before Aunt Peg died. This trip and these letters were great for Ginny, they allowed Ginny to have this crazy adventure and ask questions about her life and her future, and find out more about her eccentric aunt. But just as the trip is ending, before the last letter is read, her bag is stolen and Ginny never gets to hear Peg's final words of wisdom and advice.

Now it several months later and Ginny is preparing for university. She's trying to answer college essays and really struggling to return to normality. So when a stranger emails her regarding her stolen bag and the last letter from Aunt Peg, Ginny jumps on a plane and finds herself at the start of another Peg-induced adventure. This time though, she has the mysterious Oliver to deal with as well as her almost-boyfriend and his possible-current-girlfriend. Things could not be more awkward. And also fun!

I do really love travel within stories. Ginny and her group of companions go on this fun journey into France and Ireland in search of Aunt Peg's final piece of artwork. There have to deal with boats and being crammed into a little car. There's some breaking and entering going on and a lot of specualation and concern about travelling with a complete stranger. There's plenty of awkwardness to deal with as Ginny's love interest from 13 Little Blue Envelopes is there with another girl.

All in all, it's a very fun read. I'm certainly glad that this story's loose ends are tied up and that we could spend a bit more time with this great characters. Even though Keith is a bit of an ass, and we know almost nothing about Oliver until nearly the end, there is still quite a few emotional bits to the story and enough travel-related zaniness to keep me smiling throughout. I can't even pinpoint exactly why I didn't connect as much with this book as with 13LBE, but even so, I'm not sorry that I picked this book up!

Finding my feet with poetry

When I was younger, somebody gave me a book of children's poetry as a present. And for a challenge to myself, I tried to memorise as many of the poems as I could. It was fun, but it didn't really inspire me to love poetry or seek more out in any way.



And though I loved Shel Silverstein and the works of Dr Seuss as much as the next child, poetry was always a thing I just never really got. Occasionally as I grew older, I'd try to read more of it because I thought I 'should.' After I read The Bell Jar, I started reading some of Sylvia Plath's poetry ... I tried Emily Dickinson and The Romantics. Nothing really seemed to stick in my head and I couldn't really grasp or understand. I just figured that poetry and I would just never get along.

But that isn't really the case. When a poem or poetry is inserted into the narrative of a book, sometimes I really love it. And giving the poem meaning in this way, I've found that there are some poetry now that I love so wholly and completely that I can no longer really say that poetry and I don't mix. I thought today, I would share the stories that have helped me along finding my feet in poetry.


The Outsiders by SE Hinton - The book I immediately thought of when I was planning out this blog post was always going to be The Outsiders by SE Hinton. I don't think there's ever been a book more influential to me than The Outsiders. I've read the book dozens of times and it never fails to make an emotional impact. I sob like a baby every single time I read it. Always.

And it's the first book that I really remember in which a poem is added to the story in a meaningful way. And that poem will stay with me until forever. I remember picking up a collection of Robert Frost's poetry after I read The Outsiders and while the rest of his poetry flew over my head entirely, I also found Stopping By Woods and The Road Not Taken to be poems that I could relate to. Nothing Gold Can Stay will always be my favourite though.

And while I couldn't love The Outsiders anymore than I do, I also mostly enjoyed the film version too.



Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.


Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - When I was in my first year of high school, I admit, I was pretty crazy about Romeo and Juliet. The story of star-crossed lovers and that tragic turn of events really went along with my overemotional hormones at the time and I really believed that love had to be epic or broken or hopeless in some way for it to be real. My love for R+J was helped along by the film version starring a certain celebrity crush but even before that, I'd already memorised long passages of the play, just for fun. I was like that then. I'm still like that.

And after reading and enjoying one Shakespeare play, I figured why should I stop? I carried on reading more, but it sort of stop and go. I especially loved Shakespeare's sonnets, and even more so when a sonnet appeared in an episode of My So-Called Life. Jordan Catalano discussing the meaning of love and poetry and Shakespeare? Swoon-fest.



Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.


I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - I can't remember now if I had to read the entire book as required reading for a class or if it was just an excerpt. Either way, I was never the type of student to just settle for reading a section of a book instead of the whole thing. And I took one step farther and picked up the next several volumes of Maya Angelou's autobiography. I still have copies of them somewhere, though I don't think I've ever read them all.

I really love the lyrical way in which Maya Angelou writes and the way in which she speaks. I've recently read and loved her Letter to My Daughter and I think it's a beautifully written book. I've only ever read a couple of Maya Angelou's poems. Her famous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, obviously, as well as one or two more. But I really, really love Still I Rise. I read it and I feel like rising myself and I feel ... hope for better things.

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.


Matched by Ally Condie - Reading a book like Matched sort of opened my eyes to how much I've always taken poetry for granted and how little I've read of it or cared for it. But the idea of a society in which everything is restricted, only being allowed access to 100 poems or songs or paintings made me feel there isn't enough air in the room.

Reading this book made me think I really wanted to read more, experience more, see what I was missing out on. Because I'd never read this Dylan Thomas poem before. And I love it. I love the repetition and the emotion of it. I love how rebellious it feels and fits perfectly into this story of a girl trying to rebel against the suffocating society she lives in.


Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas -

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


Regeneration by Pat Barker - Reading Regeneration by Pat Barker, the first in a trilogy of books about World War I, and I was inspired. Not only did I want to read the poetry of Wilfred Owen and other WWI poets, I wanted to read more generally about WWI, I wanted to read about psychology and how it's changed over time. I wanted to find out more about the changing attitudes towards homosexuality, I wanted to know about working women during WWI. I just wanted more.

I've never read a book before that has been as inspiring and interesting as Regeneration by Pat Barker. This time period had never appealed to me before, I'd never considered reading war poetry and then this book, this story, came along and whacked me upside the head. And I immediately went out and I read war poetry. And I found myself moved to tears. Especially when reading the following poem.



Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen -

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.

Do you have a favourite poet or poem? How do you feel about poetry?

REVIEW: The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi

Guest review by Jenni from Juniper's Jungle

I'd never read anything by Tony DiTerlizzi, but I loved the premise for The Search for Wondla so I thought I’d give it a go. The story is about Eva Nine who has been raised solely by robots and artifical lifeforms. She’s dreamt about what’s outside her very small world, but when she’s forced out into it by an attack on her sanctuary she finds that the outside world is a scary place when you’re all alone. Enter Rovender and Otto, two very different beings who join her on her search for the mythical Wondla.

Eva Nine is an amazing character, she’s determined and focused yet vulnerable. She has to cope with so much happening to her, she’s only 12, and yet she just keeps going. I loved the way she and Rovender related to each other, they’re both new to each other’s world which allowed for wonderful world building that never felt clunky or like it was too much exposition.

And what a world it is that DiTerlizzi creates, by the end of the book I was completely in awe of it. In addition to the physical world that the book is set in I loved all of the other features. The technology that Eva Nine has is amazing, as a geeky reader I found it really exciting reading about all of the different things she had. I found that I could easily imagine how a lot of the technology could come to exist in the future.

The further I got into the book the more I became completely caught up in what I was reading. I found that I became completely attached to the characters, as they were put through so much upheaval I found myself really worrying about them. At one point I even had a little cry despite the fact I was reading the book on the train.

The last few chapters of the book are really exciting, and then there’s a great big cliffhanger to finish. I know I’m going to be eagerly awaiting the next book, and in the meantime I’m going to be catching up with The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Great review, thank you Jenni!

In My Mailbox 48

Welcome to another edition of In My Mailbox. IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren in which bloggers get the chance to share with their readers the books that have recently come into their possession. I really love this meme and I look forward to seeing all my favourite blogger's books each week. Thank you to Kristi for hosting something that is such fun!

Here are the books that I acquired recently... (quite a few of them were picked up in February, I'm still working through a bit of backlog!)


Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby - Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.

I was really happy to hear from the author on this one. It really looks like a fun book to read and I shall be getting to it very shortly!

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Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber - Perry Stormaire is a normal high school senior– he is busy applying to college and rehearsing with his band –until he agrees to go to the prom with the Lithuanian exchange student who is staying with his family. It turns out that Gobi Zaksauskas is not the mousy teenager that she seems but rather an attractive, confident trained assassin. Instead of going to the prom, Perry finds himself on a wild ride through the streets of New York City as Gobi commandeers the Jaguar his father lent him for the prom in order to take out her targets. Perry learns a lot about himself – and ends up with some amazing material for his college application essays.


This book just seems absolutely crazy. I cannot wait.

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BZRK By Michael Grant - Time is running out for the good guys. But what happens when you don’t know who the good guys really are?

Noah and Sadie: newly initiated into an underground cell so covert they don’t even know each other’s real names. Trained for combat on the nano level, they are thrust into a war they can barely grasp.

Vincent: feels nothing and cares for no one. Fighting a personal battle with Bug Man, the greatest nano warrior alive.

The Armstrong Twins: wealthy, privileged, fanatical. Are they the saviors of humanity or authors of the darkest conspiracy in history?

On one side: Charles and Benjamin Armstrong’s Nexus Humanus. On the other: a group of teen hackers who call themselves BZRK.

Twenty-first-century warfare that takes place on the macro and nano level for the highest stakes: humanity’s free will.

It’s time to choose sides.

This book turned up unexpectedly, and I'm curious to read a book by Michael Grant. His other series completely passed me by.

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Torn by Amanda Hocking - Acknowledging that she was different from everyone else wasn’t difficult for Wendy Everly – she’d always felt like an outsider. But a new world and new family is a hard for any girl to accept easily.

Leaving behind the mysterious country of her birth, she is determined to fit back into normal life. But the world she’s left behind won’t let her go that easily. Kidnapped and imprisoned by her true family’s enemies, Wendy soon learns that the lines between good and evil aren’t as defined as she thought. And those things she’d taken for granted may have been lies all along. With the help of the dangerously attractive Loki, she escapes back to the safety of Förening – only to be confronted by a new threat.

It’s time to make a choice – can she put aside her personal feelings for the sake of her country? Torn between duty and love she must make a choice that could destroy her one chance at true happiness.

Sadly, my wonderful guest reviewer, Carrie, did not much care for the first book in this series, so it is not likely that this book will be reviewed!

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Skinned by Robin Wasserman - Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular -- until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life.

Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime -- for which they must pay the ultimate price.

Robin Wasserman is an author I'm fairly new to, having only read my first book of hers at the beginning of the year. I loved it so much though that I started looking out for more. Hopefully Skinned will live up to expectations :)

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Beads, Boys and Bangles by Sophia Bennett - Crow is in designer heaven; Nonie's caught the eye of a gorgeous boy; Jenny has a new play. But poor Edie's in trouble ...the rumours are that slave children in India have been making their high-street collection. It's up to the girls to save their fashion dream.

This is the second book in the Threads series, the first of which I read last year and LOVED! I love the combination of friendship and fashion with something a bit more serious.

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The Sky Always Hears Me; and the Hills Don't Mind by Kristin Cronn-Mills - Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town in Nebraska. But after she discovers that the one person in the world she trusted most has kept a devastating secret from her, Morgan must redefine her life and herself.

This book has been on my wishlist for absolutely ages so I was very excited to have the chance to read it. ...I think I was expecting something different but now that I've read it, I can't explain how it was different to what I thought. Still, very enjoyable book and I shall attempt to form my thoughts better into a proper review!

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Drive By by Jim Carrington - 'That was brilliant,' Jake says. 'That was without doubt the most satisfying moment of my entire life.'

When Johnny, Jake, Drac and Badger take the law into their own hands and give an irritating neighbour a drive-by soaking, life feels good. Then something terrible happens as a result and Johnny's guilty conscience won't leave him alone. But are the weird things that start happening really just a result of his overheated brain? Or is the old lady coming back to haunt him?

Is it ever possible to get away with murder? It's a good question. One that Johnny needs to think about. Hard.

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Gladiator: Street Fighter by Simon Scarrow - It is settled. The boy is in your charge. You will train him to fight.

He must be able to use the dagger, throwing-knife, staves and his bare hands.

One day young Marcus may well become a gladiator in the arena.

But you must also teach him the ways of the street.'


Now a member of Julius Caesar's palace, Marcus's training continues in the city of Rome. The streets are plagued by vicious gang war attacks, and Caesar must employ his own gang leader, who learns of a plot to murder him.

Only Marcus can go in undercover. But he's in terrible danger. If the rival gang discover him the price will be fatal. Julius Caesar's isn't the only life at risk . . .

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I'm curious to see where the story will go from here...

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Nine Uses For an Ex-Boyfriend by Sarra Manning - Hope Delafield hasn’t always had an easy life.

She has red hair and a temper to match, as her mother is constantly reminding her. She can’t wear heels, is terrified of heights and being a primary school teacher isn’t exactly the job she dreamed of doing, especially when her class are stuck on the two times table.

At least Hope has Jack, and Jack is the God of boyfriends. He’s sweet, kind, funny, has a killer smile, a cool job on a fashion magazine and he’s pretty (but in a manly way). Hope knew that Jack was The One ever since their first kiss after the Youth Club Disco and thirteen years later, they’re still totally in love. Totally. They’re even officially pre-engaged. And then Hope catches Jack kissing her best friend Susie…

Does true love forgive and forget? Or does it get mad… and get even?

I do so love Sarra Manning! I've already this one and while it is entirely different than I was expecting, I still really enjoyed it.

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Illegal by Miriam Halahmy - If Jemma had lived, none of this would have happened. I'd have been too busy to get dragged into this filthy, illegal business...

Since Lindy's baby sister died, her family have been caught in a downward spiral. Her brothers are in prison and her parents have given up. Soon Lindy is out of her depth too, caught in the centre of an international drugs ring, with no way out. Then Lindy finds help from an unexpected ally: weird, mute Karl from school, and together they plan a daring and desperate escape. But when you're in this deep can you ever be free?

Touching, surprising and painfully honest, Illegal is the second in a cycle of three novels by Miriam Halahmy, and the follow up to her acclaimed first novel, Hidden.

I really loved this author's first book in the cycle, so I'm looking forward to Illegal. I think it's a really striking cover as well!

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Partials by Dan Wells - Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.

This is the book I'm reading at the moment and I'm really enjoying it!

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The Prince Who Walked With Lions by Elizabeth Laird - A sweeping epic about a prince torn from his mountain home. Based on a true story.

The British Army is circling the stronghold of the King of Abyssinia. Under orders from Queen Victoria, its mission is to rescue the British Envoy, held prisoner.

Watching with terror and awe is the king's young son, Alamayu. He knows that his father is as brave as a lion, but how on earth can he and his warriors stand against the well-equipped foreigners? As battle rages, everything that Alamayu fears comes to pass. The fighting is cruel and efficient. By the time it is over, Alamayu is left without parents, throne or friends.

In a misguided attempt to care for him, the British take Alamayu to England. There he is befriended by the queen herself and enrolled in Rugby College to become a 'proper' English gentleman. What the English see as an honour is, to this lonely Ethiopian prince, a horror.

This is Alamayu's story, seen through his eyes: the battle, the journey to England and the trauma of an English public school as he comes to terms with the hand that fate has dealt him and tries to build a new life.

Historical fiction isn't normally my sort of thing, but I'm curious to read more by this author!

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Fateful by Claudia Gray - A tragic tale about falling in love on the world’s most infamous ill-fated sea voyage as heroine, Tess, discovers darker secrets that lie beneath the doomed crossing… and a hidden brotherhood that threaten to tear her lover from her forever.

The RMS Titanic is the most luxurious ship ever built, but for eighteen-year-old Tess Davies it’s a prison. Travelling as a maid for the family she has served for years, Tess is trapped in their employ amid painful memories and family secrets.

When she meets Alec, a handsome upper class passenger, Tess falls helplessly in love. But Alec has secrets of his own… and soon Tess is entangled in a dangerous game. A sinister brotherhood that will do anything to induct Alec into their mystical order has followed him onboard. And Tess is now their most powerful pawn.

Tess and Alec fight the dark forces threatening to tear them apart, never realising that they will have to face an even greater peril before the journey is over…

New York Times best-selling author Claudia Gray delivers adventure, dark paranormal suspense, alluring romance, and a truly surprise ending, set against the opulent backdrop of the Titanic's first — and last — voyage.

I was a bit skeptical about a book involving both the Titanic and werewolves, but I was intrigued enough to read through this one pretty quickly. Werewolves really are my favourite paranormal creature! :) Review soon!

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Falling Fast by Sophie McKenzie - When River auditions for a part in an interschool performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds herself smitten by Flynn, the boy playing Romeo. But Flynn comes from a damaged family—is he even capable of giving River what she wants? The path of true love never did run smooth . . .

This is real life, not a rehearsal...

I've already read this book and really enjoyed it! Nice, quick read.

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Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie - When Theo discovers the father he thought died when he was a baby is still alive, he's determined to find him. The clues lead him to lonely Rachel, who has problems of her own, including parents who compare her unfavourably to her long-dead sister. But when Rachel and Theo are attacked by men from RAGE - the Righteous Army against Genetic Engineering - they are rescued by strangers and taken to meet a mysterious figure who leads them to make startling discoveries about their identities, which will affect their past, present, and future in dramatic and life-altering ways...

I've only started reading books by Sophie McKenzie recently and I'm really enjoying them! I'm really hoping to enjoy these two.

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Blood Ransom by Sophie McKenzie - The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Blood Ties by the bestselling Sophie McKenzie. Clones Rachel and Theo now live thousands of miles apart. They keep in touch, but things just aren't the same. When Rachel discovers that evil scientist Elijah is still working in secret for a section of the government and about to murder Daniel, she sets out to rescue the little boy, but her plans backfire with disastrous consequences. Theo sets off to find her.

The sequel to Blood Ties. I'm trying to write this really quickly so that I'm not spoiled in any way by reading that synopsis!

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The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting - In the end, all that’s left is an echo.

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice.

When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye...

YAY! Another Body Finder book. I'm absolutely in love with these series, I adore Violet and Jay. I've already sped through this one and really liked it. Review coming soon!

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And those are the books I've picked up recently! Any suggestions on where to start?

REVIEW: The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

I was very pleasantly surprised last year when I read The Dark Divine, so I was very much looking forward to reading the sequel, The Lost Saint by Bree Despain. I found myself being really easily drawn into this story and into these characters... And The Lost Saint turned out to be just as good as I'd hope it would be, in fact better! This series just improves and I am dying to find out what happens next.

I have a bit of a soft spot in general for werewolf stories, but I also really loved the characters and the twisty-turny storyline, questioning the motivations of the different characters and how I just felt uncertain about what would happen next. I was a little unsure about where The Dark Divine had finished when I started this book, but as soon as I started reading, a lot of the confusion and questions disappeared.

This book follows on shortly after the events of The Dark Divine. Grace's father has left in search of finding Grace's brother, Jude. Grace and Daniel have been left trying to sort out their changing relationship as Grace has been infected with the werewolf curse and Daniel feels as though he can no longer protect himself or Grace. When Grace recieves a phone call from Jude and other strange things begin occurring, Grace feels as though she has no choice but to train as hard and as long as she can in order to become a Hound of Heaven in order to face what's coming. To do this, Grace turns to mysterious stranger, Talbot, as she delves farther into the dark world of Urbat and other demons.

I really loved the sequel. It's very action-packed as Grace and Talbot take on some truly terrifying enemies as part of Grace's new training. There's lots of fighting and blood and killing of demons, all done in the name of good, apparently. I loved finding out more about Urbat and demons and I was lapping up all the details about this new world. I felt really sorry for Daniel and Grace, as their relationship really took a hit in this book. There are so many things they have kept secret from each other, that it allowed somebody like Talbot to sneak in and threaten what they have. I really wanted to shake both Grace and Daniel, make them become more open and honest with each other, but at the same time, I loved Talbot's character. He's older and has a very dangerous and sexy vibe to him.

I also quite like that Grace is able to open up, finally, to a friend and have somebody else to talk to. Grace makes a lot of decisions and choices in The Lost Saint that as a reader I felt very uncomfortable and uncertain about, but this is not one of them. Every girl needs a best friend to be there for her. Grace really struggles within herself in this book. She wants to do right and fight evil with her new-found super powers and all, but at the same time she is at risk of losing herself to the wolf.

I was on the very edge of my seat reading this book, all the way up to the very exciting finale. Dying to read the next book now! What a great sequel and a fab series!

I got all my (literary) sisters with me...

Growing up, the thing I wanted most was a sister. Natural, really, as I mostly grew up without a mother or any close female relatives. I really wanted someone about to talk about girly things with. Boys, clothes, that sort of thing. My single father really wasn't big on 'girl stuff.'

It didn't help that my best friend from when I was pretty little had four sisters. I so desperately wanted just the one, and felt she was being absolutely greedy having four. They fought and bickered constantly of course, but they still had each other's backs. I guess, more than wanting a sister, I just wanted a normal family where something like that is normal. Perhaps in my head, I'm fantasising about sisters like the Brontes, in which we all shared something in common and produced fantastic stories. But I'm sure even those three bickered like anything.

Anyway, I've been reading some fab books lately about sisters and thought I'd talk about them today.


I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - I came fairly late to reading I Capture the Castle. It was only a few years ago that I read it for the first time. Afterwards I absolutely kicked myself for taking so long with it. I really loved the story of unrequited love and how everything gets so mixed up. But I also really liked the relationship between Cassandra and Rose. I love the quirky setting of the novel and getting into the head of Cassandra. This book is so charming and addictive to read. It's emotional and just plain fab, this one. One I really must reread soon.


Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Another absolute classic book about sisters. I know everyone is supposed to hate Laurie towards the end of Little Women when he ends up with horrid Amy, but I always kind of related to him. I could understand how he might want to be part of this family so desperately that he'd end up with even the annoying little sister. I read this book when I was really little and even I wanted to be part of this family.

To act in Jo's plays and hear Beth play the piano. To write for the family paper and give away our food on holidays. I think it'd be fantastic.


The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway - This is the book that really inspired this post. I read this book and thought 'ME, PICK ME' to be the fourth sister in this story. I'd even fit in, as I was born in July, I could totally change my name to July and rock it with these cool sisters. It's a book about sisters who have great dialogue with each other know so many embarassing and awkward details about each other ... but it's also a book about sisters with SUPERPOWERS.

Ahhh, I'm absolutely bursting from the awesome of this book!


A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis - And for something a little bit different, but no less amazing, we have this first book in the Kat Stephenson series. It's in this first book that I really ADORE the Stephenson sisters the most. They have such great interactions with each other and really support and encourage each other when things go bad but also fight with each other to want and expect more for all of their siblings. I loved that about them. I loved that each of the Stephenson sisters is different in their own special way but they all love and respect each other's differences anyway.

Aww, I'd love to be an honourary Stephenson sister!


Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay - This is the first book in the series about the Casson family, and the only book that I've read about them. I mean to change that fact very soon. There's something very likeable about the characters in this book, that when I read it, I wanted to join their family immediately. I wanted to feel part of this family and I will definitely be looking out for the rest of the books in the series.

There is, I believe, one boy in this family of sisters, but the dynamic between all of them seems to be really interesting and heart-warming.


The Look by Sophia Bennett - And this is the latest addition to my list of favourite sisters in (mostly) YA literature! Ava and Ted Trout go through so much together throughout this book. And right from the start, I loved the two of them together. You could tell from the first page how much Ted must have adored her big sister to be convinced to go busking in a crowded London street and humiliate herself in such a big way! How does that even happen, I'm still laughing!

And then Ava is diagnosed with cancer and everything falls apart. Ted starts in on modelling as something to do to cheer up her sister from the rough cancer treatments. And they have some really painful and sweet moments together. Specifically a shopping trip that ends up in a hair salon that had me silently crying as I turned the pages. Such a lovely story about sisters.

Do you like reading about sisters? Do you have some favourite literary sisters that I haven't mentioned?

REVIEW: Between by Jessica Warman

Guest review by Carrie from teabelly

Between by Jessica Warman is a wonderful read about a girl trapped between life and death. It’s one of those books that sucks you in and keeps you reading, usually long after you should have turned out the light and gone to bed.

Elizabeth Valchar is about to turn 18 and celebrates her birthday with her closest friends on board her father’s yacht. Waking the next day Liz is annoyed by a persistent noise coming from outside the boat. No one else is awake or seems to hear it, and Liz goes out to investigate, making the shocking discovery that the noise is a body and, more horrifyingly, it is her dead body.

Liz is initially comforted by the presence of a young man who can see her, but when it becomes clear that he is also dead and someone she had had no time for in life, the comfort turns to irritation. There are also other emotions to deal with: Coming to terms with the loss of her life and the sadness that comes with that, and of those that she’s left behind; confusion as to where she is now and what’s happening; and anger at being trapped with someone who so obviously despises her. And there’s the problem of her memories, which she can fall into at any moment, watching her life play out before her, but she can’t remember the most basic things about herself, including her last moments of life.

Liz and her friends were extremely popular at school, they received some special treatment from teachers and used to make life difficult for those they deemed to be beneath them. Alex, the boy Liz is stuck with, tells Liz some home truths about her and her friends, and she gets to relive these vicious moments and see the worst of herself. But Liz isn’t just a one-dimension character. This is not a typical mean girl out for redemption tale. Liz had problems, severe ones. Her mother died when she was nine, from complications due to an eating disorder. Liz flashes back to life with her mother and sees how unhealthy the obsession with food was, and how much of it she had carried with her into her teens. Her father remarried quickly after her mother’s death, to his high-school sweetheart. With that came rumours of a continued affair and that her step-sister Josie may actually be her half-sister. None of this may seem like a big deal or a reason for her to be cruel, but there is more to it than I am laying out here, mostly because I want to avoid spoiling what is actually a very engaging, gripping story.

The characters in this book are all fully fleshed out and believable. And although Liz can be frustrating and extremely superficial, there’s so much more to her, things that are slowly revealed as you read, that you can’t help but warm to her. Her relationship with Alex seems very real too. They’re two people who have little in common stuck together, trying to figure out why, and they don’t always get on. To say that such a significant thing has happened they still focus on petty problems, and I believed that. We get insights into Liz’s other friends’ lives also, through her memories and following them around. Each time you think you’ve got them figured out, another layer is revealed, and it’s often surprising.

The only thing I could say about this book that might be slightly negative (although I didn’t think of it that way) was that the ending wasn’t surprising. The main mystery, such as it is, was resolved exactly as I expected it to be from the beginning. This didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of it, however, as the getting there was worth it. I hadn’t read any Jessica Warman books before this, but given how much I enjoyed it I would definitely look for any others she’s written. They’d be a hard act to follow though.

Ooh! Thanks for that Carrie!

Anna from Anna Scott Jots (Awesome Women)

Today I'm absolutely thrilled to present to you Anna Scott! Anna's blog is one I've only stumbled across recently and already I love it. I read Anna's posts and I'm either nodding my head in agreement all the way through or I'm hugely intrigued by whatever it is she's writing. She's a blogger, a mother, an aspiring writer and has just moved back to the UK after living in Australia for ages. I really think she's awesome!

Anna Scott Jots is fairly new, so I urge you all to go over there and subscribe/follow! It will be worth it, I promise. To find out more about Anna, please do visit the following websites:

Anna Scott Jots ... Anna on Twitter

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

Hi Clover, thanks for letting me write this post. Well, my name's Anna and I review YA (mainly contemporary) and blog about writing at Anna Scott Jots. I'm fairly new to the world of blogging, having started in August last year, and have been doing it in fits and starts since then. But 2012 will be my year of productivity!

I live in London with my husband and two daughters, having recently moved back from Australia after living there for a couple of years. I'm at home looking after the kids most of the time and I'm hoping to carve out a career in freelance writing over the next one to god-knows-how-many-years it may take me. I've been working on my first novel for the past year. It's contemporary YA and I'm on the verge of completing my first draft. (Although, to be honest, I've been on this verge for a while now...).

Did you have a role model growing up?

My pre-teen years were spent obsessing over Kylie Minogue - first when she was in Neighbours (I SO wanted to be Charlene) and then when she was Britains's favourite pop-princess (and still is, in fact). As soon as puberty hit, I swiftly realised that I was NEVER going to be a petite pop princess.

Who do you look up to now?

Ooo, tough question...Anyone who has the guts to follow their dream, I guess. Anyone who realises certain sacrifices have to be made and a lot of bloody hard work is involved in achieving said dream. Anyone who gets that it's better to have tried and not suceeded than to never have given it a bash in the first place. Now I know how bloody difficult it is to write, then anyone who has achieved the goal of even starting is a bit of a dude, in my opinion.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

The first ambition I can remember was wanting to be a lawyer. And that's 'lawyer' as in the glamourous American term, rather than the more boring English 'solicitor' or 'barrister'. This was because I had a mild obsession with the courtroom drama, Perry Mason (don't ask). As soon as I realised that the UK version had to wear wigs and cloaks to work and didn't actually do the solving of the murder mysteries, I quickly went off the idea. Other brief ambitions included police officer (again with the crime solving), and working in the Jim Henson Muppet Workshop (another odd obsession).


After this phase, I longed to be a film director, but never actually told anyone becasue I thought they would laugh at me. I did secretly harbour this desire all the way through high school, but ended up succumbing to the notion that it was important that I get a boring job and a pension, so did a politics degree, for no other reason than I found it slightly more interesting than my other A-level subjects.

I never did end up with the boring job with pension - after uni, we did the classic round-the-world backpacker thing. Whilst in Western Australia, we visited a winery and I had one of those little 'moments', when you realise that someting fairly significant is happening. On returning to the UK, I applied for a job with a chain of wine merchants and within 18 months, I was running my own shop. For the most part, I adored this job - it never really felt like work, I got to act like a big kid well into my twenties, I got to travel to Chile and Italy, I got try 40-year-old whisky and vintage champagne, I even got to sell Colin Firth a bottle of burgundy!
However, after the kiddies came along and we moved to Australia and severe homesickness set in, I started to re-evaluate what I really wanted to do. The old urge to tell stories reared it's magnificent head again, but this time in the form of writing. Since then, I've been (for the most part) reading and writing every day.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

Well, obviously my mum. We have our differences - I don't really think she gets the whole writing thing - but, as much as she frets and worries about the tiniest things, she has always managed to get some perspective over the bigger issues in life and has calmed me down on many an occasion. My parents separated whe I was a teenager. A horrible, horrible time, but she always put my sister and I first and was always honest with us and never patronised, something for which I will be eternally grateful.

My mother-in-law is also a bit of an inspiration - she was a widow in her early thirties, left with very little and three children under 5, and when my husband and his siblings were at primary school, she worked two jobs, went back to high school, then university and is now the head of a special needs education unit. She is pretty amazing.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

Hard to narrow down, but my the one that's had the most impact is a non-YA one. When I was seventeen, I read 'The Woman Who Walked Into Doors' by Roddy Doyle. And then I read it again. And again. And again.

I just couldn't believe it was written by a man - he had so successfully managed to crawl under a woman's skin. Although I didn't know about 'voice' and the like when I first read it, I remember thinking this was the first time that a fully formed character had leapt out the page and really got under my own skin.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

'Desperately shy' and 'not very well'! During most of childhood and teenage years, I wanted to be invisible and for the most part, suceeded. I'm pretty sure there are only a handful of girls at my high school who might remember me. I had my little group of friends, but seemed to drift away from them towards the end of my school years and the only one I am still close to is my very best friend who I've know since we were five.

Music was a very important part of my life back then, and still is. I was a Britpop kid, religiously buying the NME every week, saving up to go and see Blur in concert, trekking to Glastonbury with my big sis to go and see Radiohead. I find myself listening to all this music again whilst I write these days - it gets me back in the teenage mind frame!

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

I think it's pretty pointless telling a teenage girl not to worry about what other people think of them. This is like telling the Prime Minister not to bother about national debt. I would just tell myself that there will eventually be a time when you don't give a crap what anyone else thinks, or at the very least, you won't be that fussed either way. And when this does happen, it's the most amazing feeling in the world. Just hang in there. Oh, and maybe ditch the red velvet bell-bottoms. That wasn't a good look.

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

Having two daughters, the old self-image thing has cropped up recently. I decided I should do something about shifting some Christmas poundage and instead of partaking of the usual sandwich at lunchtime, I decided to have to bowl of bran flakes. My eldest daughter thought this was hilarious and she had a point. This got me thinking about how my eating habits might impact on my kids - I've never been one for diets and now this an even bigger incentive not to go down this route.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Maybe a big thank you to Clover for posting this and to you for reading it!

REVIEW: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Wow. Blood Promise by Richelle Mead was nothing like I expected it to be. After the shocking event that happens at the end of Shadow Promise, I was really unsure where this series would go. And because I couldn't picture it in my head, I didn't feel as excited to read this book straight away. Several Vampire Academy fans assured me that despite the very different feel and structure of the novel (Rose and Lissa apart? no Academy? Dimitri as .. AHH! etc.), Blood Promise is still great and now that I've read it, I wholeheartedly agree.

In fact, I think what this book really needed was a different atmosphere and structure to the novel to prevent this series from becoming formulaic. And I really loved Blood Promise. I loved meeting the new characters, finding out more about different aspects of this world from the alchemists to blood-whores and also more about the abilities of spirit users, learning more of Dimitri's personal history and going on this very personal journey of Rose's as she prepares herself to do something really heart-breaking.

Blood Promise begins after the awful battle against Strigoi at the Academy. When Dimitri is turned Strigoi, Rose decides to follow him to Siberia in order to kill him, as Rose knows that's what he would have wanted. But in order to do so, Rose must drop out of the Academy and leave behind her best friend, Lissa. As she travels through Russia and Siberia, Rose meets several interesting new characters - Sydney, the alchemist and Abe, who has been hired by an unknown entity to follow Rose. I absolutely adored meeting both of these new characters and am intrigued to learn and discover more about them.

And at the same time, through Rose and Lissa's spiritual connection, we're also privy to the events that occurred there, mostly involving a new girl who befriends Lissa. But at the heart of Blood Promise is Rose's journey to find Dimitri. I loved how well Rose is taken in by the Belikov family in Siberia, especially Dimitri's grandmother! There's a lot of shared grief here, as both Dimitri's family and Rose start to come to terms with their loss. I love how Rose begins to see her own journey in a different light in relation to the suffering of others.

But of course, this journey has to lead somewhere. And the showdown between Rose and Dimitri was totally unexpected and intense. I was so surprised and caught off-guard by where Richelle Mead took this story. I love how unpredictable this series is, and I look forward, excitedly, to reading the rest of the series!

Sports in YA (Where is the excitement over the London Olympics?)

I'm finding it a little bit strange actually. The Olympics are being held in London and nobody I know is talking about it. Nobody seems at all excited and the only thing I ever hear about it is how on earth is London transport going to cope with so many extra people?

I think that's rather sad. I want people, especially young people, to be excited about sports and seeing the best athletes in the world right on our doorstep. Where is the excitement? I want my boys to be inspired to be more active and take an interest in something new and I'd like that excitement and encouragement to spread amongst the people in the coming months before the Olympics. Last year, another blogger mentioned something about a sports-related blogging event, but it fell through.

I think I'd still be interested in such a thing, but I'm a little scatter-brained at the moment to organise something myself. But for now, here is a list of some YA books that cover sports in some way.


Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak - I didn't think I'd like a book about boxing, but this book really surprised me. If I'm honest, I only picked it up in order to try something else by Markus Zusak because I'd failed on several occasions to get through his The Book Thief. What I found with Ruben Wolfe, is this wonderful story about brothers and family and loyalty. And boxing.

I think in the same way that you can watch Friday Night Lights without having an interest in American football, you could read Fighting Ruben Wolfe and gain something really great even if boxing is not your thing at all!


Shut Out by Kody Keplinger - I have not yet read this book, but I'm looking forward to after reading Kody Keplinger's previous novel, The DUFF. I am wondering if this book is more concerned with gender politics and relationships and less about American football, but whatever. I am still in and totally interested!

On a slightly-unrelated note, I always wanted to play powderpuff football. I never got that chance.


Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley - OK, this is getting a little embarassing, this is another book on this list I have not yet read. I really only picked up this book on the strength of another book by the same author (North of Beautiful which was, in a word, beautiful!) but it also appeals to me as the book concerns a female athlete. I think a lot of the books I've come across researching this topic mainly relates to male athletes. More with the sporty girls, I say!

And yes, of course, snowboarding will not be covered in the summer Olympics, but I've chosen to write about sports in general today! :)


The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols - I almost didn't read this book. If, like me, you are put off by the cartoony cover, don't be! Inside the cartoon cover is still a great book about facing your fears and skiing and trying to live up to and beyond other people's expectations of you. There's also some fun gender competition and a heavy dose of romance.

This book really made me happy and is another reason why I adore Jennifer Echols as much as I do.


Swim the Fly by Don Calame - When this book came out, I got very excited. I remember leaving lots of comments on how much I was dying to read it. The thing is, my father was a competitive swimmer when he was younger (butterfly was his best stroke!). He won lots of medals and trophies and almost tried out for the Olympic team before an unfortunate accident occurred. My brother and I grew up hearing all of my dad's stories about swimming meets and practices and the two of us were on the swim team as well. And not bad at it either! I feel like a lot of my fondest memories growing up happened between heats by the side of the pool.

And yet, I still haven't read this book! I want to, I think it sounds really fun and funny. And there's already a sequel to do with music and not swimming at all. I really should get going with this one!


Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt - This is a book that I've read recently and really loved. It didn't immediately stick out at me as being a 'sports book' because it contains so much else to it - a girl coming to terms with her's father's illness, teenage rebellion, stalking the boy that sits in front of her, realising that appearances can be decieving.

I really loved the heart and emotion of this book, but also that there's a fair deal of training and hard work that is put into doing this charity cycling event within the book. I think it's really interesting to do something like that, and I'm really keen to come up with something similar myself.


Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally - This is a book that's pretty high up on my to-be-read pile. I'm really looking forward to reading it as it is another female athlete sports story. That really intrigues me, especially as the book is about American football. I'm really curious to see how that element of the story is portrayed. I'm hoping that this book isn't all about the love story/competition between girl and a boy quarterback and really shows off some good sports.

I'm hoping anyway! I know lots of people read it when it was on netgalley, but I wasn't one of them. Either way, I shall be reading this one fairly shortly.


Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler - I was talking about this book with another blogger recently and it was only when I looked it up after she mentioned it that I realised this book had to do with ice skating/ice hockey. I love that there appears to be a combination of love, sports and cupcakes in Bittersweet. What an absolute great mashup of topics, I think. I'm absolutely excited to read this book. And also the other two books I own by Sarah Ockler that I have not yet read.

Ice skating and CUPCAKES. I thought that needed repeating.

What do you think? Are you excited about the Olympics? Do you have any books about sports to recommend?