REVIEW: Red Ink by Julie Mayhew

Guest review by Kulsuma

The synopsis for Red Ink by Julie Mayhew is great. Fifteen year old Melon’s mother is killed when she is run over by a bus and Melon now has no family to speak of. I picked up this book to see what Melon would find out about herself after her mother’s death, what family she might find and how she would deal with having a name like Melon. The story is told in a non-linear fashion; showing flashbacks to when Melon’s mother was still alive. Also, time and again, we are told ‘The Story’; the story of how Melon got her unusual name. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this story as much as I wanted to.

From the beginning, we know that Melon’s relationship with her mother wasn’t the most loving. However, I wanted to see if any explanation would be offered through the flashbacks as to why that was. In truth I didn’t enjoy Red Ink because it was a story about the relationship between a mother and a daughter but Melon’s mother never redeemed herself in my eyes.

They simply didn’t understand each other. There were too many lies between them. Melon herself didn’t seem to forgive her. One scene which really stuck with me was when Melon asks her mother once again why she called her Melon and her mother simply laughs at her, asking if she was being teased at school because of it. I couldn’t understand this puzzling behaviour; why would a mother find her child being teased about her name so amusing?

When the ‘true story’ comes out, it is shocking and sad, but not unexpected. However, Melon’s reaction to it was over the top. Furthermore, the ending left much to be desired. I didn’t think it was a ‘happy ending’ at all. What had Melon learnt on her journey? What had she learnt from her mother’s story? Nothing, it seemed. I didn’t enjoy Red Ink because I didn’t understand Melon’s motives for some of the decisions she makes, particularly at the end.

Overall, while I didn’t enjoy this story, I believe there are many people who will. The writing was beautiful and vivid but on the whole, I didn’t love the story.

Thank you for that, Kulsuma!

REVIEW: Anything To Have You by Paige Harbison

Anything To Have You by Paige Harbison is not being published here in the UK until February of 2014, but I just couldn't wait to read it.  It sounded really good - the story of two friends who are torn apart over a boy.

And Anything To Have You started off really well.  I had high hopes that it would be a story with characters and relationships and situations that I'd really fall for.  I can't really work out where this book went wrong but I did finish it feeling a little bit flat. While it is an interesting concept, at times, I felt like the non-linear narrative and the lack emotional highs distracted me from really connecting to this story.

Natalie and Brooke have been friends forever. Brooke is the popular, party-going girl and Natalie is her quiet and studious friend who is more comfortable curled at home with a movie. When Brooke convinces Natalie to come to a party things start to unravel. Because Natalie wakes up having not remembered a large portion of the previous evening ... and she wakes up in bed next to Aide, Brooke's boyfriend. 

Two boys fighting over a boy isn't a new concept for a book and as it should be, a lot of the narrative is focused on the strength (and cracks that have appeared!) of the friendship between two girls. The story is told in five parts, alternating between Natalie and Brooke's point of view and jumping backwards and forwards in time in order to share key scenes in Brooke's relationship with Aiden and of the friendship between Natalie and Brooke.

I really liked Natalie and Aiden's characters. I thought they were nice and friendly and relateable and it is quite easy to tell how much they care for one another.  It took longer to warm to Brooke because of her sometimes selfish and self-obsessed behaviours. And I liked that the mystery of what happened between Aiden and Natalie took awhile to be revealed.  Like I said though, the jumps in time between junior and senior year and the change in perspective between Brooke and Natalie made me lose the flow and emotional build-up and that meant that big reveals that should have been more shocking or emotional didn't quite work.

I do love that Paige Harbison took things to a darker more mature place with this book - drugs, sex, alcohol, everything else. Even though I only rated this book three stars there is still quite a lot of promise there and I will still look out for future books by Paige Harbison!

Mini-review Monday (Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, Silent Saturday by Helen Grant, All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry)

It's getting towards the end of the year and as I've been looking through all the books I've read this year and compiling the lists of my favourites of the year  .... I'm also looking at the book I haven't yet reviewed this year and that's making me feel sad.  There are so many books I've read and loved this year that I haven't yet reviewed or raved about. I really wanted to redress that balance slightly by giving you three mini-reviews in a vlog-format today.

Here are my reviews of Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, Silent Saturday by Helen Grant and All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry. Enjoy.



Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Are there any books you've read this year that you loved but haven't yet reviewed that you'd like to? Let me know!

Top 5 Books I Didn't Read in 2013

I've had a pretty good reading year this year. At the time of writing this post I've read 209 books. That's not bad. And at the same time, I've never had a year like 2013 in which I've been so constantly and consistently in the middle of a reading slump. I've barely read a quarter of what I'd normally read in the past two months. And there are definitely big blockbustery type books that I've managed to not read at all.  And now that we're coming to the end of the year and we're all thinking about the books we loved the most I feel like this is the time of year that I feel a little left out.  Because I have no idea yet of what I've missed out on by not reading the following books... 

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Yes! I still have not read this book. I downloaded it onto my Kindle a week after publication because I thought that spoilers were inevitable. I still remain spoiler-free however. And while I did start reading this book, I only got about 5% in before I felt my concentration wandering.  There's something a bit off about this book. Perhaps the format or the perspective? But I just wasn't initially connecting to the story and couldn't force myself to continue reading when I wasn't enjoying. I still want to know what happens and find out what's got everyone acting crazy. Just not this year, possibly.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Wow, did this book have heaps of hype surrounding it! I bought this book on a whim shortly after it was published and since then the book has remained untouched on my TBR shelves. I just cannot bring myself to read a book when I have such high expectations of it. I just can't imagine loving any book or story as much as I think I should after everything I've heard about this one. Maybe it'll surprise me when I do get around to it, but I figure I'll need plenty of time to forget how much everyone raved about this one.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

I started this book awhile back and it took my breath away. I was very wrapped up in and everything about it was moreish. I wanted to know more about the characters and their relationships. It was all very addictive and I can fully understand the wonderful things I've read about this book. I get why it is so loved. But because of personal reasons, I had to put this book down and I haven't yet returned to it. I hope that when I do, I'll still love it as much as I was the first time around.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Gah! It feels like everyone I know has read and raved about this book already. It's not even published in the UK as yet (ebook aside!). Because of peer pressure, I couldn't wait for the UK publication and I downloaded this book onto my Kindle. I can't quite bring myself to read it as yet though. I know that it'll be like when I read Eleanor and Park - I'll think to myself 'I can't possibly love this as much as everyone says I will' ... and then I read it and I did. Still, I'm saving this one for a special occasion. Sometime when I really need cheering up and only Rainbow Rowell's amazing voice and characters will be able to do the trick.

 More Than This by Patrick Ness

Why haven't I read this book? I don't really understand. I love Patrick Ness. I love the cover. And I love the premise of this book. I really want to know what the whole mystery of it is about! What is it about? I have book an ebook and a hardcover of this book ... and yet I still haven't yet read either. Somebody be very convincing and maybe I'll read this by the end of the year.



Other titles that probably should have been added to this list? The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Scarlett by Marissa Meyer, Requiem by Lauren Oliver and The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa.

Are there any big titles that you missed out on reading this year?

REVIEW: My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron

My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron is a New Adult book following a similar cast of characters to that of My Favourite Mistake.  I remember having issues with My Favourite Mistake when I read it but nothing major enough for me to not read the sequel. Unfortunately, not many details of the My Favourite Mistake stayed with me and it took far longer than necessary for me to realise that the Hunter and Taylor being mentioned in this book were the two main characters from that book. Whoops. 

Let me start with the few niggles that I had with this book.  I'm not a huge fan of the 'New adult' label. I really don't think that the label or subcategory is needed at all. Especially in cases such as My Sweetest Escape. The big thing with new adult is supposedly this unique age range in which people are going off to university and making their way in the world that is somehow different and more mature than when younger teenagers find their own identities and so on in high school.  I felt like some minor aspects of My Sweetest Escape could have been changed and the entire story could have been told in a high school environment. There wasn't enough of university life or being independent that I felt warranted a new adult label other than mentions of sexual activity.

The second thing I slightly rolled my eyes at was this combination of virgin girl and experienced boy. Why is this ever necessary?! (answer: never.)

My Sweetest Escape tells the story of Jos, a freshman at university who has been forced into switching schools and living in a house with her older sister, Renee and Renee's flatmates - Hunter and Taylor, Paul, Darah and Mason, all characters (I'm assuming as I don't quite remember them all) from My Favourite Mistake. This forced move is down to Jos's partying and wild behaviour following some traumatic event that her friends and family know nothing about. This is another aspect of the story that I found slightly irritating. Jos is 18 and yet Renee treats her like she's ten years younger than she is and continues to treat her like a child even after Jos displays absolutely zero wild or bad behaviour. The mind boggles.

But don't feel as though I absolutely hated the book despite how many criticisms this review contains. There were definitely aspects of the book that I did enjoy. It was interesting to see Jos's friendship forming with a fellow classmate, Hannah and their Buffy watching marathons. I quite enjoyed Jos's relationship with her sister, Renee as well and how much Jos changes from being very closed off at the start and how living with a bunch of caring people who adopt Jos into their 'family' makes her more open.

And while I'd have much preferred to see how much Dusty had changed from his bad boy past to that of his present state, I did think he was quite sweet. There was definitely lots of likeability and personality coming from Dusty and it was nice to see Jos and Dusty trying to resist their attraction to each other.  My Sweetest Escape was a very cute and easy contemporary romance to read. I read it very quickly and while I did want it to be more it was still a satisfying read.

My Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Today's topic is those books we're planning to read over winter... I'm not going to lie, I've been in a massive reading slump over the past two months and I've struggled to read anything at all. So I'm posting this list but without any expectations whatsoever that I'll be reading any of them...

Feel free to share your own links or book choices in comments, I love hearing from you!  My list is as follows and is in no particular order.

Panic by Lauren Oliver

One of the top books sitting on my bedside table is Lauren Oliver's latest that is not published in the UK until next March.  I have begun reading it already but my brain works in a funny way. Even though I was loving the book and reading it very quickly, as soon as even the faintest thought 'perhaps I should be reading one of my other review books before this book published in March' appeared, I couldn't quite finish it. Which is pretty dumb, I really want to finish this book because I really want to know what happens! And because Lauren Oliver.

Trouble by Non Pratt

This book is one of my absolute most anticipated read of 2014 and I've had a copy for awhile and it is still (mostly) unread.  I had started this book awhile back but as soon as I felt the smallest inkling that I might be headed towards a reading slump, I put it down.  I didn't want this book to be fall victim to a slump.  I was hugely enjoying the characters and Non's writing style before everything else got in the way. Plus, what a great cover!

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

I was a big fan of The Maze Runner when I read it awhile back so I jumped at the chance of reading the first book in a new series by James Dashner! I'm still very excited to read this book especially as it is a thriller about hacking and gaming and virtual reality! It sounds like so much fun. Plus, film adaptation next year!

Tinder by Sally Gardner

Ooh, isn't that a very eye-catching cover? Tinder isn't very long and it is a fairy tale retelling, which is one of my absolute favourite things to read lately so I have no idea why I have not yet read this one! I think I just need one free afternoon with a solid block of time to devote to this book. I think I'm in for a treat...

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves is the second book in a series. I am wary of reading second books in the series lately as I've been very disappointed with them of late.  I bought The Dream Thieves as soon as it was published and I look at my TBR shelves and it seems to be taunting me... I just need it to be as amazing as The Raven Boys was. Someone tell me that it is amazing?

Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper

I went through a phase when I was in middle school in which I solely read books about Native Americans. I went through dozens of books and I was thrilled every time I picked one up. I feel the same having picked up Ghost Hawk recently. I've only dipped briefly into Susan Cooper's books before but I am quite excited to read her latest! 

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle 

This is the only re-read on my list and I'm reading it for both my IRL book club AND for the Bookish Brits December book club discussion post. If you are also reading this book to get you into the Christmas spirit, you might also want to visit the Bookish Brits channel for our discussion video which is going up on the 24th of December!  It'll be a lot of fun to return to these super cute Christmas stories!

The Savages by Matt Whyman

Ooh, I've had a copy of The Savages unread on my shelves for far too long. I love how very different this book sounds and I've loved reading many positive reviews of it recently.  Nothing says 'Christmas dinner' better than a cannibalistic family, right?

Dark Satanic Mills by Marcus and Julian Sedgwick

I'm not the biggest reader of graphic novels around but I'd like to be. I've loved the few graphic novels that I have read and I'm definitely on the look out for more. I also really adore the writing of Marcus Sedgwick so this collaboration between him and his brother sounds like the perfect choice to read over the coming months!

Blood Family by Anne Fine

I've heard really wonderful things about Anne Fine, but I'm not quite sure that I've yet read anything by her.  Blood Family actually intimidates me a little bit though I don't know why. I know that this book might be a little harrowing and emotional to read but those are also my favourite type of books to read! I'm sure it won't be long before I get to this one!

What books are at the top of your Winter To Be Read pile?

REVIEW: Dusk by Eve Edwards

Guest review by Kulsuma

I really enjoyed Dusk by Eve Edwards. It is the first in a two part series. It takes place during the First World War and follows our two main characters, Helen and Sebastian, from 1914 to 1916. Written in a non-linear fashion, we are immersed in horrific battlefield scenes and the grim reality of nursing near the front line. Helen is a young, independent girl who doesn’t really believe in her own strength, courage and beauty because of her abusive father. Sebastian is the charming, dashing young artist who falls for her. The time they have together is short before they are ripped apart by fate.

While the non-linear narrative might not appeal to everyone, I thought it was fantastic as it showed a contrast between ‘then’ and ‘now.’ It aided in showing how quickly times changed. Though Helen and Sebastian’s first meeting is somewhat awkward, their second meeting is the start of a beautiful relationship. Helen was a great character; she was down-to-earth, level-headed and a hard worker. Sebastian loves art, but when his brother is killed in the war, it is the catalyst that makes him sign up.

Interspersed with scenes of Helen attending to patients with ghastly injuries and Sebastian advancing the line excruciatingly slowly and with heavy losses, are flashbacks to how their relationship developed. As the story continues, there is increasingly more about social classes and family heritage; it is not just the physical distance that separates Helen from Sebastian. Furthermore, I enjoyed reading Helen’s sister’s story. Flora is a young, confident and beautiful girl, but when she falls in love with an officer from the navy, events quickly take a turn for the worse.

Dusk was a well-researched, well-written historical book. It presented what was happening in the trenches during the War realistically; futile, grim and desperate. I liked Helen and Sebastian. I would have liked to have seen more of the development of their relationship. Other than that, Dusk was a wonderful story and I look forward to reading the sequel, Dawn.

Wonderful review! Thank you so much, Kulsuma! 

REVIEW: Junk Miles by Liz Reinhardt

Junk Miles by Liz Reinhardt is the second book in the Brenna Blixen series. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Double Clutch.  I liked the main character, Brenna, and the way in which she struggled between cultures having just returned to the US from living abroad in Denmark, and also how she chose to split her high school schedule across a normal school and a technical college. Her life is further complicated in the first book because she fancies two very different boys - Saxon and Jake.  Because Brenna does make a decision about her romantic life at the end of Double Clutch I was worried that subsequent books in the series would take a very dramatic turn in order for there to be continued conflict. I'm happy to report that Junk Miles never took a turn for the silly or over the top dramatics. 

In fact, I really liked the way that Junk Miles played out. I found g Brenna's openness and honesty really refreshing and I loved exploring Saxon as a character more.  If you haven't read Double Clutch as yet, here is where the spoilers come in. You've been warned!

Brenna chooses to be with Jake over Saxon and at the start of Junk Miles, she's ridiculously happy with Jake and with their relationship.  Except that she's really not. And it takes a surprise trip to Paris with her mother (and with bad boy Saxon!) for Brenna to realise that there are aspects of her relationship with Jake that make her feel uncomfortable.  And there's still all that pent-up attraction and strong feelings she has for Saxon that Brenna has no idea what do with. So, she breaks up with Jake (over the phone!) and impulsively jumps into a thing with Saxon. There are probably ten billion better options to go for than the choices Brenna makes but I kind of got where she was coming from. The rest of the book sees Brenna dealing with the aftermath of her break-up with Jake, getting to know Saxon better and mulling over what craziness she let in that would explain her behaviour.

Saxon is a wonderful character - obviously good-looking and charming and involved with some suspect things but he's also really vulnerable and sweet. He's really broken up with the state of his family and over the ruined state of his relationship with his former best friend/half-brother, Jake. While I didn't much for his character in Double Clutch in this book my mind was completely changed about his motives and about his feelings for Brenna and Jake.

I do wish things had become better resolved in this book though. I think the resolution and forgiveness of what went down with Jake and Brenna was tied up a bit too neatly and things weren't as properly addressed as I'd have liked them to be. I kept waiting for this big heart-to-heart between Jake and Brenna that just never happened. And I wish more focus had been on running/cycling/motor cross like in the first book. Still. I'm excited to read the next book following Jake, Brenna and Saxon, Slow Twitch. Hopefully the problems I had with Junk Miles will work themselves out in that. 

I'm really surprised by how much I've enjoyed this series!

Top 5 Surprising Reads in 2013

Tis the season for all of the top lists of 2013 ... and here is a video that I did for Bookish Brits this previous Monday on my wedding anniversary. It was quite a fun video to film (wearing my actual wedding veil that I wore 13 years ago!) I wish I'd done an outtakes video for this one as I came up with some great lines ... 'These books were all surprising to me because I'd never read them before' was a good one. I actually meant that I hadn't read any of the AUTHORS previous to these books but I did have to hang my head in shame during the editing process.

What are your most surprising reads in 2013? 

November in Review

November was a very busy month for me (as it always is!) and still I was very surprised by how little I managed to accomplish both reading and blogging-wise this month. I don't think that December will be any less busy, but we shall see. Sorry that this blog post is a little late in coming to you!

Books Read in November 2013:

As Delightful As A Carrot by Keris Stainton
All I Want For Christmas by Esme Taylor
Santa Baby by Ali Cronin
Storm and Stone by Joss Stirling
Pawn by Aimee Carter
Keeping Her by Cora Carmack
Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Nikki Sheehan
Ricochet by Becca and Krista Ritchie
Just One Year by Gayle Forman
Vengeance by Megan Miranda
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

   
Total: 11

Total for 2013: 207

Can you really call that 11 books? It's really 7 books plus 3 novellas and 1 shortish ebook of children's quotes. Whatever. Still not an amazing reading month. Things have really slowed down in that department lately and if I'm honest I was surprised that I made it into the double digits this month. 

And while I enjoyed most of the books I read this month, a couple of them were disappointing. I went into three of these books with really high expectations and for the most part, they didn't really deliver.  What a shame. 

What was the best of the bunch though?

November Book of the Month:

Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Nikki Sheehan

Expect a review of this book soon but I really loved it. I loved how different it felt when I was reading it. I love that it is a book about imaginary friends but also about friendship and about families and sticking up for others. Plus I cried.  This book is being published next year by OUP, so keep an eye out for it!

Books reviewed in October:

Finding Your Inner Cherokee by Siobhan Curham
Pawn by Aimee Carter


Guest Reviews

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

As always, thank you to my lovely guest reviewer, Kulsuma, for all of her wonderful reviews! Because I haven't been reading very much, as you can see, I also haven't been reviewing much either. Let's see if I can change that around a bit if not by the end of the year then perhaps in 2014!

Non-review posts during November:

Image and anxiety in Crash Into You by Katie McGarry
Anti-bullying Week
November Book Club: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

A lot of  my time and energy at the moment has gone into promoting and making videos for my collab books channel, Bookish Brits. Do check us out :)

 Bloggers on bullying: My experiences
Netgalley November Goals
Jewellery Inspired by Books at Luna's Little Library 
Litograph posters, t-shirts and tote bags
Here we go again

A handful of other blog posts on a variety of topics.

Things I'm Drawn to in YA
Top Ten Favourite Reading Memories

I spent a lot of time on both of these posts and I'm sad that they didn't get more comments! :(

UKYA in 2013

UKYA in November

Finding Your Inner Cherokee a guest post by Siobhan Curham

I really wanted my blog to be all about the UKYA in 2013 but these past few months it's been more important to get ANY posts to you let alone on a specific topic. But I hope to bring you more UKYA next year.

If you are a UKYA author with a book published this year or next year, please do get in touch about being interviewed or guest posting here on Fluttering Butterflies! I'd love to have you.

Bookshelf Requirements

Philip Pullman (Maya from The Book Nook's Bookshelf Requirements)

This feature is sorely lacking participants. Please do get in touch either via comments, twitter or email if you'd like to take part in Bookshelf Requirements.

British Books Challenge update in November

As Delightful as a Carrot by Keris Stainton
All I Want For Christmas by Esme Taylor
Santa Baby by Ali Cronin
Storm and Stone by Joss Stirling
Who Framed Klaris Cliff? by Nikki Sheehan

Total in November:5
Total in 2013: 58


Not bad going for British books this month. Ali Cronin is British, right?

Personal challenge to read 10 non-review books a month:

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (re-read)

Total in October: 1
Total in 2013: 48/120

Why am I still bothering with this challenge?! One book?!

What was your favourite book that you read in November? 

YA Books I'm Dying to Read in 2014

It's been awhile since I participated in Top Ten Tuesdays, but I just couldn't resist this week's theme - the top 10 books that I'm dying to read in 2014! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Head over there to find out more and check out everyone else's links!

My list is in no particular order. Feel free to share in comments your own lists or choices!

Vengeance by Megan Miranda

I'm a huge fan of Megan Miranda's and I couldn't have loved Fracture any more than I did. I loved Decker and Delaney any more than I did. And so I was SUPER excited to hear of this companion novel/sequel which will be published in February of 2014 by Bloomsbury. I'm so excited.


Banished by Liz de Jager

I do love a good book blogger turns author story. And Liz blogged at My Favourite Books for absolutely ages. I'm so excited to read her story and support her as an author.  Banished sounds absolutely incredible - it sounds like a book I'd pick up to read even if it wasn't written by a friend of mine. Plus? Much cover love! This book is published in February by Tor.


The Worst Girlfriend in the World by Sarra Manning

AHH! I'm a huge fan of Sarra Manning's. I've loved absolutely everything that she's written and her books are always very emotional and addictive. Though I LOVE her adult books very much, I am excited about this return back to YA. The Worst Girlfriend in the World is being published by Atom in May of 2014 and it sees two best friends pitted against each other in the fight to win the heart of a boy. I cannot wait.

Dead Silent by Sharon Jones

Ooh, I don't think I'm yet finished RAVING about Sharon Jones' first book, Dead Jealous. I loved Poppy and her best friend/crush, Michael. I loved all of her detective work and I love that all these same characters and murder mystery to solve is back again for another installment. This is going to be such fun, I can tell already! Dead Silent will be published in February by Orchard Books.


Clariel by Garth Nix

If, like me, you are HUGELY excited for another book set in the world of the Old Kingdom series, then perhaps you might consider joining my Garth Nix Reading Challenge 2014? Clariel will be published by Hot Key Books in the fall of 2014 (which gives you plenty of time to reread the Old Kingdom series along with me and other!)


Resistance by CJ Daugherty

Oh, I do love the Night School series by CJ Daugherty. And wow, is this cover the best in the series or what? The hair, the dress, the stormy background. I look at this cover and I am EXCITED. I want very much to return to Cimmeria Academy and see how Allie and Carter and Sylvain and everyone are getting on.  Unfortunately, Atom are not published Resistance until June of 2014. Bring it on!


A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke

Look! A new book by Cat Clarke in the new year, how exciting!  Cat Clarke is definitely one of my favourite authors. Her books are always really intense and emotional and I love reading her books and feeling all of the things. I will always look forward to a new book by her. It even makes me happy that the brief product description is a touch on the dramatic side... What does it mean?! You'll have to wait (im)patiently for Quercus to publish this book in April!


Salvage by Keren David

I do adore Keren David's books.  They feel real and honest and messy. And I'm so glad that there isn't long to wait until this book is published so I can get my grubby paws on it.  It's the story of a brother and sister who were separated as children and they are reunited as teenagers. I think it's going to be a very emotional and powerful read. It's published by Atom in January and I cannot wait!

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

I'm a big of Jenny Han's after devouring and being obsessed by the Summer series. I haven't yet read the books she's written with Siobhan Vivian so, for me, it feels like it's been far too long since I've had a Jenny Han story in my life.  And this book sounds really good.  About a girl who instead of talks openly about the crushes she'd had in her life, she's written a letter pouring out all of her feelings for them, sealed the letter and hidden it away under her bed. That is, until somehow all of her old letters have mysteriously been mailed off to all of her old crushes... *hold me* I'm too excited!

Darkness Hidden by Zoe Marriott

Oooh. I really loved the first book in this series, The Night Itself, and I'm really super excited to read more in this series. Zoe Marriott is definitely one of my favourite authors and I will always be eagerly anticipating her new books... Also, I can't wait to see what sort of cover they come up with for this book! Darkness Hidden will be published by Walker in 2014.

 What YA book/s are you most looking forward to reading in 2014?