REVIEW: Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield

Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield absolutely broke me.  I thought that I was emotionally prepared to handle this book, as I knew beforehand that it covered quite a heavy subject matter, but ... no. I wasn't.  I was completely knocked over by this book. In short, I was destroyed. But only in the best possible way.  Because while this book is heavy, it is heart-breaking and achingly sad ... it's also really beautiful. And hopeful. And that more than anything shone through as I was reading this book.

Paper Butterflies is June's story. And she tells the story in her own, flicking between chronological events as well as some time in the future where it feels like these two parts are distinctly a before and after but we're not sure what has happened in between.  And right from the first page, I fell in love with June. I felt for her, sure.  Lisa Heathfield dunks us immediately into a horrible situation as June has already started learning ways to survive her horrible childhood home with her father who isn't able to believe his new wife and stepdaughter can be so cruel and inhumane to June. We read of incident after incident of horrible child abuse against June. We witness numerous ways in which June faces acts of absolute cruelty.  But June finds comfort and hope in little things, big things, her friendship with Blister, the boy in the woods. But with that hope can June find freedom?

As I said, June broke my heart. And Lisa Heathfield so skillfully dismantled my heart. I'm not always so 'happy' when authors choose to describe child abuse/cruelty in as much detail as Lisa Heathfield does in Paper Butterflies but at the same time I also appreciated the fact that the author describes psychological abuse as well as other forms of abuse other than a standard form of psychical abuse. I think that a lot of child abuse narratives focus too narrowly on one type of abuse that it was interesting to read of other forms.

I think one of the reasons this book made such an impact on me personally is how rage-inducing several elements are. Obviously that June suffers at the hands of those meant to protect her. But also how little help or support June has available to her. Her father doesn't or chooses not to see. But so do teachers and other adults in June's life that are meant to be there for her.

Another reason I loved this book so much are the relationships. Obviously June and Blister's is the emotional heart of the novel. Blister and his family provide a ray of light in June's life that was very much necessary. I half fell in love with them all as I was reading. But aside from this simple friendship I also found all of the other, more complicated relationships to be fascinating as well, particularly June and her step-sister.

Paper Butterflies is such an incredible book, one that will stay with me for a very long time. It's painful and beautiful all at the same time and if you're up for it, I say give this one a chance.

Mini-reviews: How They Met, Two Boys Kissing and Every Day by David Levithan

Today I thought I might do something a little bit different and give you a mini-tour of some books I've read this year by the same author. I've been a big fan of David Levithan for awhile but I hadn't really been keeping up with some of his latest titles. And I'd been feeling bad about it, especially as so many people raved about them.  So here we go...

How They Met and other stories by David Levithan

I started off with How They Met which is a short story collection about love.  There are 18 stories and the thing that I love most about this collection is how varied the stories are.  They're all about love, yes, but so many different types of love. There are gentle, sweet stories.  There is all-consuming and passionate stories. Some are sad, some are just beautiful.

I have to be honest, the reason I finally picked this collection of short stories up to read is because I had read David Levithan's short story Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat which appeared in the anthology Love Hurts by Malorie Blackman. I read that and I thought, wow this is a well-put together story and had great characters and a central relationship.  And that was the push that I needed.

And I really do love the mixture of stories that appear.  I love that some of the stories are just at the beginning of a love story in which there is fizzle and chemistry and others are in that comfortable we've been together ages middle and some show that some people aren't quite meant to be together.

I loved all of the stories (except one) and I loved the not knowing that happened whenever I started a new story.  At times I didn't know the gender of the main character for each story and I was surprised at least once when a straight couple appeared instead of another wonderful LGBT couple that I (wrongly) assumed all the stories would be about.  But what didn't surprise me was the stunning use of language in all of these stories. David Levithan has the gift of really beautiful writing.

What a lovely, romantic collection of stories!

Next, I read...

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Oh wow, Two Boys Kissing.  I did initially pick up this book to read almost immediately after receiving a copy for review but I put it down again because those first 50 pages or so had such beautiful, emotional and honest passages in it that I knew I wanted to take my time with this book and savour the gorgeous and lyrical writing style of David Levithan.

And Two Boys Kissing was such a wonderful, emotional book to read.  The title led me to believe this book would feature on two very specific boys but it is not just their story.  It's the story about two boys kissing and another two boys who are just getting to know each other. It's about two boys who have been together for awhile and are comfortable in their relationship. It's about a boy who is struggling and feels very alone.  It's about all of these boys and it also feels very much about gay teenagers in general.

I loved the fact that this book is narrated by the ghosts of gay men who had died in the AIDS epidemic. Especially as these narrators seem to highlight the similarities and differences from the boys in the stories to their own experiences. It felt like witnessing how far we've come in terms of gay rights and also how far we still have to go.  It was interesting and really effective means of narration.  Two Boys Kissing was an achingly beautiful book.

After loving Two Boys Kissing, I decided to finally pick up...

Every Day by David Levithan

I think I had the highest expectations for Every Day.  I'd heard such high praise for it and that sort of hype usually intimates me.  Which is definitely why I waited so long to read it.  And while I think it had some really interesting things to say ... I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped.  I think I only rated this book three stars.

The reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought is because of the relationship between A and Rhiannon.  I wasn't fully convinced.  I thought that the L word was used too quickly. I thought it felt very selfish to basically hijack other people's lives in sacrifice to this relationship.  Even the ending felt weirdly off and more manipulative than I wanted it to be whereas I'm sure other readers felt it more emotional than it was.  What I felt about A and Rhiannon was mostly disappointment and for that I feel a little bereft.

But I did enjoy everything else.  I loved the realisations A shared with us about the experiences of living in different bodies. In particular, I enjoyed seeing the high level of diversity.  A jumps into white bodies, POC bodies, straight bodies, LGBT bodies, bodies from all economic backgrounds and abilities. Different sizes and shapes, behaviours and also differing levels of mental health.  And I really loved the inclusion and representation of so many different types of people. I loved the message of loving people as opposed to loving genders and how A isn't tied down by either gender or sexuality.

The story line regarding Kelsey and her depression and the way in which A (and Rhiannon) were there to help was amongst my favourite and I also thought the day that involved addiction was particularly harrowing.

There are so many great ideas here that it didn't matter that much to me that I didn't particularly love the romantic elements of the book. I will still be hugely excited to read the upcoming sequel to this book and also absolutely anything else that David Levithan writes!

What's your favourite book by David Levithan? Have you read either of these three books?

REVIEW: The It Girl by Katy Birchall

I recently read and really enjoyed The It Girl by Katy Birchall. I was lucky enough to hear a little bit about this book from the author at a recent book event and it was really interesting to listen to Katy talk about her own personal experiences that went into writing this story and how she went about it.  She also read aloud an excerpt and it was absolutely hilarious. So I was always going to be excited to read it.

And The It Girl didn't disappoint when I read the full story. It was funny and sweet and had a really great message about friendship and being okay with you are and how there are more important things that popularity or fame.

The It Girl tells this story together with emails and voice mails about a 14 year old girl called Anna and her life in London with her father and her dog, called Dog. It sort of starts out as Anna has started a list of her aims in life. And these goals include training Dog to high five but also to figure out stuff so that she isn't such a social outcast in the things that she does. This is sort of eclipsed half way through the novel when she finds out that her father is currently dating a rather famous actress and the media dub Anna an 'it girl' and Anna really struggles with this new fame and attention that she is receiving.

I love stories like The It Girl. It's been done before, with The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot and Geek Girl by Holly Smale.  This fairy tale story of a normal girl thrust into the spotlight is an interesting and always fun story line annd Katy Birchall's story is just as entertaining. Anna's story is filled with hilarious and embarrassing moments. It starts off with Anna coming home from school after accidentally burning the most popular girl at school's hair and some rather frantic interactions between her and her best friend.

And some of the real strong points in the novel were Anna's friendships and her relationships with the people in her life. Particularly that of her relationship with best friends, Jess and Danny. But also her relationships with boy her mother and father. And also this burgeoning relationship with her future step-sister and actual It Girl, Marianne. I thought this relationship between Anna's mum and dad was wonderful and very unusual.

I really loved Anna as a character. She's awkward and nerdy and she's still figuring stuff out.  She has an idea at the start of the book of what she wants out of life and friendships and relationships and because of this she makes some mistakes and bad choices along the way. I liked that about her and I liked how she developed over the course of this book.

The It Girl was all kinds of funny. I recommend that you pick it up for that reason alone but hopefully you'll also take away from this book some amazing characters and friendships and a rather lovely message. Really looking forward to book 2 now!

REVIEW: Me and Mr J by Rachel McIntyre

I really enjoyed Me and Mr J by Rachel McIntyre. I find myself weirdly attracted to story lines that feature student/teacher relationships.  I'm not even sure what that says about me, but I'm just going to go with it and say I really like the complications and emotions that go along with this type of forbidden relationship.  And I think the bullying aspects of the book were well done too and I liked that this book two main story lines really tie in well with each other.

Me and Mr J is a story told in a diary format from 15 year old Lara.  Things are not so great in Lara's life at the beginning of the story as her best friend has moved away, her dad has lost his job and the fact that Lara is being bullied at school because of her lower income and her mom's job as a maid.

I really liked Lara right from the start. I think she has a great voice and I loved how while she didn't always stick up for herself she at least never felt embarrassed about her family's circumstances or about her mother taking on cleaning jobs.  I like that instead of complaining about her lot in life, she does her best to take on jobs herself in order to maintain her hobbies while things are tough at home. She's got a good relationship with her Nan and I quite liked that.

I think Lara's family circumstances were quite hard to read as were a lot of Lara's thoughts on her bullying, and, of course, the actually accounts of bullying which start with name-calling and humiliation in front of others and escalates over time to physical and sexual assault.  There's quite a lot of victim-blaming from Lara throughout the first 2/3 of the book which was really uncomfortable to read and one of my main issues with this book is that Lara isn't specifically told or comes to any strong conclusion herself about her lack of blame in 'bringing it on herself.' I did want that to be a little bit clearer.

And this escalation in bullying, I think, is what brings Lara into feeling how does about her teacher.  With everything in Lara's life very difficult, with her bullies tormenting her at every turn, her family falling apart and the added stress of bearing the brunt of her parent's frustrations, Lara blossoms under any praise or nice word from her new, young, fit teacher. I thought it was interesting how the author illustrates Mr J and the circumstances in which he comes to this place in which he is potentially involved with a student on a romantic level.

The first half of the book seems to really focus on the bullying in Lara's life and the second half seems more concerned with the student/teacher relationship.  While I felt like both of these story lines were well introduced and discussed I did want a little bit more closure and discussion regarding Lara's bullying as I mentioned and, in particular, Lara's relationship with her parents and the way that I felt Lara was let down by both her parents.  I think I wanted the conclusion of this book to be a little bit more in depth to all the relationships and topics brought up.  But overall, I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was hard-hitting and thought-provoking and it really hit me on an emotional level! One to watch out for...

REVIEW: Twinmaker by Sean Williams

Guest review by Kulsuma

I couldn't wait to start reading Twinmaker by Sean Williams because not only was the blurb gripping, but Scott Westerfeld recommended it. I really enjoyed The Uglies series and it seemed to me that Twinmaker might have some things in common with it. Set in the future, Twinmaker is set in a world where the use of revolutionary technology has made life so much easier. A technology called D-MAT means that people can transport from one place to another in the world almost instantaneously making cars, planes and trains useless. Fabbers can make clothes and food for everyone on the planet; no more hunger, no more need to work. The implants which give you access to the Air ensures you can update the world on your status instantaneously.

When Clair’s friend Libby reveals she uses a meme called ‘Improvement’ which promised to remove any flaw she wishes, namely the birthmark on her face, Clair is worried because Improvement is illegal. However, before Clair can actually find out if Improvement worked on Libby, Libby leaves and only turns up for short periods throughout the book and Clair is unable to work out if Improvement has indeed worked on her friend. She recruits the help of an ‘Abstainer’ (a person who refuses to use any of these modern technologies because of possible effects). Through trying out to find out the truth about Libby, Clair puts herself in danger and before long, she is on the run, cutting ties with the world she has known her whole life.

Twinmaker was a long, highly complex book in terms of the amount of technology discussed as well as story threads. It took some time to get into the book. The beginning put me off as it featured Clair disrespecting her friendship with Libby by cheating with Libby’s boyfriend, Zeppelin. Furthermore, I didn’t feel as though Clair and Libby’s friendship was shown enough at the beginning for me to want to know if Libby would be okay. However, the story soon picked up and became packed full of fervent action; hardly stopping for pause. I really enjoyed all the action and guessing what would happen next. The story was full of twists and turns and had a high body count.

I really liked Jesse and Q; a mysterious character who contacts and helps Clair from a distance at the beginning of the story and who Clair, along with the reader, desperately tries to figure out. Improvement, Clair finds out, is bad but there are those who will stop at nothing to ensure Clair doesn’t find out the whole truth and publicise the matter. What really redeemed Twinmaker in my eyes was the ending, which was simply incredible. The last hundred pages were so well-written and full of so many revelations that I can’t wait to read the next book, Crashlanders to find out what happens next.

Intriguing! Thank you, Kulsuma! 

REVIEW: Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt

I really enjoyed Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt. As a massive fan of Laura Jarratt's previous novels, Skin Deep and By Any Other Name, I was always going to be excited to read the author's latest... and while I don't think that Louder Than Words hits the same emotional high as I've experienced with the author's previous stories, I did still find it really addictive reading and incredibly interesting.

Louder Than Words is mostly told from the perspective of Rafi, a teenager girl who has selective mutism, which means that she hasn't spoken in many years.  Instead of words spoken out loud, Rafi really does better expressing herself with the written word.  And while Rafi is keen to point out at the beginning of the novel that this is her brother Silas's story, it actually feels like a combination of stories of all three main characters, Rafi, Silas and Josie, and it was nice to see contributions from Silas and Josie throughout the book.

Rafi was a really wonderful narrator, warm, funny and relatable.  My heart really went out to her right from the start as we learn more about what selective mutism is and how it has affected her life and her family's life. At all times throughout this story I really wanted Rafi to be happy and okay with who she is.  I wanted to get to the bottom of what has caused Rafi's problems with verbal communication and I wanted to see her take steps towards happiness and I loved seeing her progression with this in her friendship with Josie and during therapy sessions.  Rafi's story takes up the bulk of this book and it was definitely my favourite aspect of Louder Than Words.

Josie's story, however, while still really interesting takes up less page time.  I loved her though.  I think she was a wonderful friend to Rafi and she was pretty great at seeing through things.  We meet Josie right at the beginning as she's dealing with rumours spread by her ex-boyfriend and is being bullied and ostracised by her friends and classmates.  In some ways, Josie is the catalyst of the entire story as she is the person who spurs Rafi into action with her speech and in Josie's defense Silas gets involved in something bigger than himself.

Silas is the character that was most intriguing to me.  While we see through Rafi's perspective and get her thoughts and feelings through her narration and while we see snippets of Josie through brief Pinterest quotes, we only ever see Silas in the first person through a handful of letters that he's written to his father.  I found this really intriguing and I loved the format and structure of the book in this way.  I really loved Silas.  At the beginning of the story, he was an amazing support network for Rafi and he really looked out for her.  However, once we met Lara and started having feelings for her, he seemed to change and his priorities and interests expanded to more ...dubious activities. I do love that an aspect of political activism has been included in this book.  I'd really like to see more included in YA fiction as I think it's something that teenagers should have their eyes opened to from a young age.

All in all, Louder Than Words was a fascinating book for me.  I thought it was made up of some amazing characters, each with their own really emotional relationships.  In particular, I love the sibling relationship between Silas and Rafi and also the strong friendship between Rafi and Josie.  I thought both were really important to the story and were very well written.  I'm really happy to have read this book and can highly recommend it! Will certainly be looking out for more books in the future by Laura Jarratt...

Why selective mutism? by Laura Jarratt

I'm incredibly happy today to be taking part in the blog tour for Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt.  Laura Jarratt is a UKYA author who has quickly become one of my favourites. I really love her stories and Skin Deep and By Any Other Name have been firm favourites of mine. Louder Than Words looks set for the same.

If you'd like to know more about Louder Than Words or Laura Jarratt, do visit the following websites:

Laura Jarratt ... Laura on Twitter ... add Laura's books on Goodreads

Why did you decide to write about selective mutism?

In short, I didn't. I had a concept in my head of a girl who was the youngest of an incredibly gifted family and in my early ideas she’d stopped talking because everyone around her was so gifted and clever that she felt anything she had to say was worthless. That idea sounds more like the way Rafi's mutism used to be thought of, when the term used was elective mutism.

“Elective mutism is the former name for selective mutism. Elective mutism was defined as a refusal to speak in almost all social situations (despite normal ability to do so), while selective mutism is considered to be a failure to speak in specific situations and is strongly associated with social anxiety disorder. In contrast to selective mutism, someone who is electively mute may not speak in any situation, as is usually shown in books and movies.

Elective mutism is often attributed to defiance or the effect of trauma.” As I researched more up to date information about the conditions, I realised selective mutism fitted Rafi's personality far better and the way in which she describes how she came to stop talking should reflect that it wasn't a conscious choice for her but a kind of phobia that built over time. In Rafi's case, she became so disconnected that she developed a much rarer condition called progressive mutism, where the sufferer doesn't speak at all. I read a really helpful blog from the parents of a sufferer about the same age as Rafi on how their daughter’s condition had progressed and how it was affecting her life. There wasn't any technical information I didn't know presented there but it’s important to be able to connect with the feelings of the family around the sufferer as well as the sufferer themselves. Rafi's mother often shows great frustration with her and it’s easy to lose patience and empathy with her, but dealing with a child with this condition can be very difficult for parents too and there’s a palpable sense of failure that comes through from their parents when they’re blogging or on help forums. I think what you see in Louder Than Words is very much Rafi's anger and frustration with her mother, and a mother that she feels lets her down. When you look beyond that, and the fact that of course Rafi is writing this in first person, you will see tiny hints that maybe she doesn't have the full picture quite sorted yet. It’s also important to remember that Rafi is a fourteen year old girl, with all of the baggage that brings in a mother-daughter relationship. Looking back on myself at that point, I wouldn't say that age wasn't a high point in me and my mother’s understanding of each other. We’re very close but when I was fourteen I remember having those feelings of how she didn't understand me at all, and I certainly didn't understand her when I look back with adult eyes.

Louder Than Words isn't an issues book about selective mutism. It just happens that Rafi has this condition, in the same way you could meet someone at the bus stop with it. People with all kind of differences are out there in society with all the maelstrom of normal life going on around them, and that’s what I like to reflect in my books.

Ditching the Parents in YA by Catherine Bruton (I Predict a Riot Blog Tour)

Today I have the great pleasure of hosting Catherine Bruton on my blog today with a lovely guest post as part of the I Predict a Riot blog tour.  I Predict a Riot is Catherine's third YA book and this time she's written a book inspired by the London riots.  

I love this guest post about absentee parents! Do share in comments your thoughts on this subject. And if you want to find out more about I Predict a Riot or about Catherine Bruton, do visit the following websites...

Catherine Bruton ... Catherine's blog ... Catherine on Twitter ... Catherine's books on Goodreads 

Ditching the Parents in YA 

by Catherine Bruton

What is the single most important ingredient in YA/teen fiction? Yup - absent parents!

That’s it, if you want a good story, you have to get rid of the grown-ups. You can kill them off, ship them abroad, lock them in attics, or in offices....

Or emotional distance works as well as physical distance – they can be depressed, workaholic, or just emotionally disengaged. Anything so long as they are generally ... well, not around. Get rid of the oldies and you create the ideal circumstances for stories to occur!

Which is actually a problem for many stories set in contemporary settings. I blame ‘helicopter parenting’ for this (helicopter parents are the ones who hover obsessively over their children, micro-managing their every move – you know the ones I mean!). Generally parents nowadays don’t seem to let their kids run feral in quite the same way that happened in my Seventies childhood. So how on earth are our characters going to get up to the sort of shenanigans that make great fiction?

This is why the summer holidays are so important. The magical combination of sunshine, boredom, parental end-of-tethers and ‘childcare issues’ make for a glorious cocktail of freedom, not experienced at any other time of the year. Just think of some of the great ‘Summer holiday books’ from The Famous Five through To Kill a Mockingbird to The Go Between or Joanna Nadin’s recent Eden – basically, six weeks with no school and anything can happen (in real life as well as on the page, I might add)!

Which is why all three of my recent teen/YA novels have been set (or partly set) during the summer holidays. A time when parents loosen the reigns, boredom becomes the mother of invention, plans are hatched and rules seems somehow less applicable. Given those ingredients, things are bound to kick off!

And in I Predict a Riot, they really do – with explosive (and fatal) consequences. I Predict a Riot was inspired by the UK riots that took place in the summer holidays in 2011. It’s about three kids from very different backgrounds set out to make a movie and end up involved in a riot in a summer that will change their lives forever.

And it’s not just heat and boredom and fear that drag them into the riots. Absent parents are definite theme in all three of my books, and they are a key factor in the plot of I Predict a Riot. Maggie’s mum is a local MP – she’s a career driven workaholic who’s never really around for her daughter – or particularly interested in her. Maggie’s parents have just split up and her dad has moved to New York. Maggie blames her mum for the split and can’t forgive her. But when she really needs help, will her mum be there for her?

Meanwhile, Toke’s dad is a member of a notorious North London gang. Determined not to let Tokes get caught up in gang culture, his mum has run away. She and Tokes are in hiding, and she has to work three jobs just to try and survive. If Tokes dad finds out where they are he’ll drag them back to the old life Tokes is desperate to escape. But can he ever really leave his past behind?

And Little Pea’s mum knocks him around. She lets her boyfriends do it too – Little Pea has the bruises and the cigarette burns to prove it. According to Little Pea, his mum thinks he has the devil in him. She’s sent him to be exorcised loads of times but it doesn’t work. And his dad? Little Pea has no idea who his dad even is. Little Pea is the kid everyone has given up on – abused by his mum, neglected by society and pushed around by the notorious Starfish Gang and their ruthless leader, Shiv, he is lawless, immoral, untrustworthy, clever, funny, brilliant, maddening, tragic and ultimately heroic.

So far so good, but we writers of contemporary YA have another problem when it comes to ditching the grown-ups – and I blame modern technology! The advent of mobile phones, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all mean that parents are able to keep closer tabs on their offspring than ever before. Which may be a good thing in real life (I’m a mummy – I’d have my babies electronically tagged or permanently attached to me by an invisible e-umbilical cord if I could!) but is not so conducive to good fiction.

Which is why I had to get a bit tech-savvy in I Predict a Riot. Tokes was easy – he can’t afford a phone. But Maggie is high – tech. She’s filming events on her camera phone, uploading them onto her laptop remotely by Cloud (I know – get me! Luckily, I have some clever tech-geek friends who help me figure all this out cos it’s pretty essential to the plot). Little Pea knows how to hack into phones – and he’s also a pickpocket so when Maggie’s phone goes missing – along with all the compromising footage she’s taken of the Starfish Gang – it’s pretty obvious who has it.

Little Pea is a tech junkie – blue snarfing (look it up – it’s a real word) and helping co-ordinate the riots plans by BBM (based on events in the real riots). But when they try to stop a stabbing and Maggie’s phone gets broken, the three teens are not only out of touch but in serious danger. Now they actually need their parents but it seems like they are totally on their own.

Of course, the thing about absent parents is you can’t keep them out of the picture forever. And I Predict a Riot is as much about complicated family relationships as it is about friendship, first love and coming of age. Tokes can’t just run away from his past – he has to confront his Dad in order to make his own choices. And if Maggie can’t learn how to forgive her mum, how is she ever going to forgive herself for causing the death of her friend? And Little Pea’s mum – is she abusing him like he claims? Will she hand him over to the police? Or will she see the good in her ‘devil child’ in the end?

Someone asked me recently why I have so many bad or absentee mums in my books. I had to think for a moment but she is right – I do. First of all, I have to say that my own mum is the sweetest, kindest, loveliest mum in the world, so it’s not based on personal experience. Possibly some clever shrink would say I’m working out my anxieties on the page about whether I’m a good enough mum myself (best ask my kids the answer to that!).

But perhaps the answer is simple. As far as I can see, absent parents are the key to action filled YA plots – but if you want to pack an emotional punch too – you may need to bring the oldies back in from the cold!

So, do you agree? Can you think of great YA in which parents are very much around? Or in which their absence is totally immaterial? Answers on a postcard, please! Or in the comments below!

REVIEW: Arclight by Josin L. McQuein

Guest review by Kulsuma

I was really excited to read Arclight by Josin L. McQuein because I do love post-apocalyptic fiction and sci-fi. Arclight started with a bang; there was so much action that I was wrestling between a feeling of suspense and ‘What’s going on?’ Luckily, some questions are answered relatively quickly, but in another sense, I felt disconnected from the story.

Marina, the protagonist, has no memory of who she is, where she’s from, anything. She was found in the Grey; the boundary between the Arclight where it’s safe and the Dark which creatures called the Fade inhabit. When the story starts she’s been living in the Arclight for a few months and is alienated from the other students and detested in the case of one boy, Tobin, whose father was killed rescuing Marina.

After the fast-paced beginning, the action slowed down. The middle was sedentary but luckily, the ending was where it picked up. Besides Marina and the two love interests, none of the other characters were particularly memorable.

I really enjoyed McQuein’s writing style. I love reading stories in first person, present tense. However, apart from the great writing, I found it hard to connect with Marina. I never got to know anything substantial about her. I felt rather indifferent in the end. Even when she learns the truth about her past, she doesn’t find out about what she was like as a person, about those important to her and so on.

There are two love interests, but I didn’t know enough about either one to have a favourite. Finding out the truth about Marina and the Fade were the reasons I carried on reading the book. The Fade were an interesting and well-formed idea and should definitely have had more page time.

What disappointed me the most was the ‘twist’ towards the end because it could have been resolved much, much sooner and saved a lot of confusion, heartache and pages. Actually, I wouldn’t call it a twist as much as done for the sake of convenience. Also, I had some unresolved question about the villain. The ending was satisfactory but didn’t leave me with a feeling that I have to read the sequel, Meridian.

Thank you for that interesting review, Kulsuma!

REVIEW: Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

Guest review by Hayley

Writing about ‘Charm & Strange’ by Stephanie Kuehn is a pretty difficult task, I can definitely see what the author was trying to achieve here, but at the same time I couldn’t say I really enjoyed a moment of it. I’m sure this book wasn’t written to be enjoyable but I couldn’t say I found it very compelling or gripping either.

The story revolves around Andrew an incredibly complex and difficult teenager who is convinced he has inherited a dark curse that has been passed down through his family. The book flips back and forth between what is happening with Andrew as he navigates his prestigious boarding school life and his strange and tangled past.

Although I am usually drawn to difficult and troubled characters I didn’t really warm to Andrew so I found it difficult to feel connected to the story as it unfolded, and mostly felt disdain towards him and his behaviour.

Another reason this book is difficult to review is because there are some huge revelations which, while hinted at throughout the book are only fully revealed at the end, making it impossible to really discuss what ‘Charm & Strange’ is REALLY about.

At times I was reminded of ‘Liar’ by Justine Larbalestier, a book I read a few months ago with a similarly troubled narrator who can’t really be trusted to tell you the truth. Maybe that was one of my problems here, the story felt familiar and I knew I’d read better versions of it before.

I would still be interested in reading more books by Stephanie Kuehn but I hope that any subsequent books would be more compelling and less ambiguous with character development I could appreciate more.

Thank you, Hayley, for that interesting review!

Summer Hairstyles by Ellie Phillips (Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics Blog Tour)

Today I am very happy to introduce both Ellie Phillips, the author of Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics (sequel to Dads, Geeks and Blue-Haired Freaks) to the blog today along with Sadie Nathanson, the lovely star of the series to talk about summer hairstyles.  I have to admit, I quite fancy that two-strand braid.  

But for now, I'll leave you in the capable hands of Ellie and Sadie, and if you'd like to know more about Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics or about Ellie (and Sadie!) please do visit the following websites:

Ellie Phillips ... Ellie on Twitter

Summer Hairstyles

by Ellie Phillips and Sadie Nathanson

In my new book ‘Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics’ the main character, Sadie Nathanson, is on a mission to win The Thames Gateway Junior Apprentice Hairdresser (or Barber) of the Year Competition.  So, as she’s the expert, I thought I’d get Sadie to talk us through what’s happening with Summer Hair 2013;

“Okay, just so you know; I am a total hair geek.  My cousin Billy is a geek fullstop; guitars, World of Warcraft – you name it he’s obsessed, so I reckon it’s something in the genes, right? 

Anyway, being a hair geek the first thing I think when I see someone is ‘okay – what’s with the hair?’ And that can be anybody; Barack Obama, The Queen, that woman opposite me on the bus, nobody is exempt from my scrutiny so watch out…. 

So, Summer Hair 2013: 

First impressions: it’s looking big and shaggy.  The word is ‘natural’ this summer. There’s ombre, shaggy bobs and my weird boss, Dariusz, says that twisting is very now.

If you’re a long-term hair geek like me then you’ll notice that ‘natural’ is a big contrast to that dead straight hair I was still doing last year – which personally I thought made some people look like drowned rats. 

My stand-out favourite trends are these:

1. Khloe Kardashian’s ombre – the lighter tones at the end of her hair are natural and sun-kissed looking

2. Ashley Roberts’s shaggy bob – it’s perfectly tousled – but not too perfectly – remember ‘natural’ is the word du jour.

3. If you’ve got long hair (my Cleopatra bob’s almost grown out) then you might be on the look out for a new twist.  The trend that came up last year, and which is still around this summer, is literally a ‘new twist’; – the two strand braid.  With the ‘two-strand’ you twist both sections three times before wrapping the hair over and securing at the bottom. 

And, as it’s summer and ‘natural’ is in I’d say that flowers are definitely a must. I’ve done a heap of clients this last month going to festivals who’ve left the salon looking like a right bunch of hippies. 

If you’re deciding on a whole new look then I can tell you some useful stuff about face shape, because, GOLDEN RULE; certain styles fit certain faces, dontcha know.

The client I worked on at Aunt Lilah’s salon last Saturday (yawn) had a triangular face!  Triangular!  THAT is a CRIME AGAINST HAIRDRESSERS.  You have to narrow the forehead and widen the chin – I did a side-swept fringe – total genius.

But what about other face-shapes;

Round faces need to be balanced out – so fringes help

Long faces look good with the opposite to long and straight hair – so curls and blunt fringes really break it up – even a visible side or messy bun can soften a long face

Heart shaped faces (similar to triangular) but sweeter – a jaw length style compliments the cute pointy chin thing, and a fringe that’s cut longer at the sides is also a winner but I can’t tell you for why – I’ll have to check that out with Dariusz when he’s not scowling at me and flinging hairpins around.

Square faces can come across as a bit masculine – so if you don’t want to look like Arnie Schwarzenegger, get some layers quick!

And finally – the oval face – my total dream; you can more-or-less do anything.  The advice is “don’t cover up” – so no heavy fringes or brushed forward styles.  I should say, that as this last bit of advice is from Aunt Lilah who still cuts ‘The Rachel’ on half of her clients, you may want to ignore it completely!   Happy Summer Hair guys!”

Thanks for that Sadie and Ellie! Ellie has created a special hair quiz - Are you a sister of the scissors or a manic panicker? Check it out and let us know how you score!

REVIEW: Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics by Ellie Phillips

There is so much to love about Sadie Nathanson and this series! I thought Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics by Ellie Phillips was a really fun and cute book that had me rooting for Sadie, smiling at her crazy family and becoming more interested in the complexities of hair. 

It's hard to say what I love the most about this book.  I love Sadie very much. I love how into hair she is and that hair is something she openly admits to be geeky and passionate about.  I've never been that fussed about hair - mine or anyone else's, but Sadie's enthusiasm for it makes me change my mind about it.  She's really committed to being the best with hair that she can be and I find that a really admirable trait.

The other thing about this series that makes me love it so much is Sadie's bizarre family.  I love how her and her cousin, Billy, are so close that they're more like siblings than cousins. I love the extended family with her Aunty Lilah and Uncle Ze.  I love that Abe has been taken into the fold and that though while they all bicker and get all up in each other's business, that when it comes down to it, they're all there for each other too. I love big supportive families like Sadie has and I wish there were more of them in YA literature! 

In Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics, Sadie is dealing with lots of different things.  She's applying for a hairdressing competition that has her stressed out. Especially after a dye job in her aunt's salon goes wrong and Sadie is fired.  Without an apprenticeship at a hair salon, Sadie will never be able to enter the competition. I love the steps that Sadie takes in order to fix this problem and I love all the new characters that we meet, especially Dariusz and his 'brrrush'!

Together with the hairdressing competition, there is drama concerning Billy and his band, insecurities over her relationship with Tony and Sadie's half-sister appear out of the woodwork!  I feel like some of the drama and conflict could have gone a little deeper but I didn't mind so much because of what a great character Sadie is and because of how great her family dynamics are portrayed. I desperately want to attend Friday night dinners with Sadie and her family!

REVIEW: Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham

Guest review by Kulsuma

I really enjoyed Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham. Fourteen year old Georgie tries to enjoy summer as much as is possible with an overbearing stepfather, weak mother and no one who listens to her. Though she isn’t given permission to go to the local drama workshop she desperately wants to go to, Georgie risks her stepfather’s fury by going anyway, taking her little sister with her who she is meant to babysit for the whole of the summer. The most surprising thing that happens in her summer though is when she emails the one person she idolises... and they email back!

Told entirely in email exchanges, Georgie forms a slow and steady friendship with someone who she at first believes is Dylan Curtland; an actor from a famous soap. While the mystery of who Georgie was really was corresponding with, I thought the story might take a sinister turn, but surprisingly it didn’t. It turns out that it’s Dylan’s mother, Nan, than has been emailing Georgie and the two form an unlikely friendship, offering advice and support to each other as they go through tough times.

Dear Dylan was a very quick read. The use of only emails to tell the story made the story fly by. The story really gripped me; Georgie going to her drama workshop, her turbulent friendship with her best friend, her first romance and the most interesting aspect of the story; domestic violence. Such a tough subject to write about but Curham wrote the scenes perfectly through the eyes and with the innocence of a fourteen year old.

Georgie grew throughout the story through hard lessons and with the help of Nan who offered sage advice at a time when she didn’t have any other adult to turn to. It is because of her unique friendship with Nan that Georgie’s life changes in the end. Overall, Dear Dylan was a wonderful, unique and refreshing story.

Sounds lovely! Thanks Kulsuma

Non-linear plot structure - what is it and why? Blog Tour for By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt

I'm really pleased today to be taking part in the blog tour for Laura Jarratt's By Any Other Name. Laura Jarratt is quickly becoming a favourite author after just two books. I really loved Skin Deep her debut book out last year and I really loved her second offering By Any Other Name. I loved how both books had fantastic characters and relationships and the way in which identity plays a part in both.

Laura Jarratt is here today talking a bit about the unusual way that By Any Other Name was written in, a non-linear plot structure. This guest post is really quite interesting, especially for those of you out there who are both readers as well as writers! I hope you'll enjoy reading it and leave Laura and I a comment below with your thoughts!

If you'd like to know more about By Any Other Name or Laura Jarratt, please do visit the following websites:

Laura Jarratt ... Laura's blog ... Laura on Twitter ... Laura on Goodreads

 

Non-linear Plot Structure – what is it and why?

by Laura Jarratt

Yes, I said ‘Eh?’ too the first time I heard the term. Basically it means you don’t progress through a book in a simple sequence of one event to the next to the next chronologically in time. In other words, time will be out of sequence and there will be flashbacks to previous events.

A lot of beginning writers, myself included with my first book, pick up the idea from writing blogs that flashbacks are a bad idea. I want to dispel that straight away. They’re not – there is advice out there against them but it’s misinterpreted like Chinese Whispers. It should go something like: don’t use a flashback too early in a novel to give information to the reader that they don’t need to know yet. This avoids the common info dump in the first chapter and also avoids slowing up the reader’s connection the characters in the here and now by pulling them away from that too quickly.

Q: So when do you use a flashback?
A: When you want to dramatise a scene. When you want to show and not tell. And timing is everything. When you meet a new friend, you don’t immediately tell them your entire life history in your first conversation, do you? So why do that to a reader? Let them find out organically, naturally, when it becomes relevant.

By Any Other Name relies strongly on the use of flashbacks to unfold the plot and keep the reader in the dark about what really did happen to Holly for a significant part of the book. So how does a writer set about doing this? I would love to tell you I planned it all out in advance with a diagram and sweated over just what went where until I had events mapped out to my satisfaction, and then I sat down to write the book. Unfortunately I just can’t write like that so I make life difficult for myself with a book like this. I fumbled my way through, finding the plot as I went by simply writing. I knew I was going to use flashbacks as a tool so every now and again I would think ‘Hmm, probably need one about here, but what bit do I want to reveal now?’ That was, alas, as organised as I got until the first draft was done.

But then, with a working first draft, the structuring work really starts. I make a very short summary on a flow chart of what each chapter is about/its purpose in moving the plot forward e.g. ‘establish Katie as a character/ show Holly’s relationship with her family’ would be one early summary. By Any Other Name has two timelines of flashbacks running concurrently – the ‘since witness protection’ flashbacks and the ‘leading up to witness protection’ ones, and the latter don’t always go chronologically either but jump around a bit. Every time one of these appears on the flow chart, they get shaded with a highlighter depending on which category they fit into. Once that’s done, I look over the whole and examine the balance. That’s when chunks start moving around or new pieces get inserted – some flashbacks were written to go into the earlier parts of the novel that weren’t there in the first draft and some original scenes were deleted as they slowed the book up too much. I’ve used this technique a few times now to go from draft to draft and it really helps pin down
why a chapter needs to exist, otherwise I could just waffle on with some nice scenes that don’t really take the plot anywhere. Warning: cutting your own scenes is really hard – you will do it but not enough and this is why editors exist, to point out where you’ve been slack with pace etc.

You could do this with lots of aspects of your book. People who write fanfic, for instance, tend to be good at putting chapter hooks in at the end of each section because they want the reader back for the next part, but it’s easy to get lazy about that over the course of a whole book so you could use the flow diagram method to look at the balance of hooks: softer endings. Or you could follow your character arcs through to show how they’ve grown as people. Basically it works really well to help you eliminate your weaker areas so if you’re writing a long fanfic with multiple episodes or you’re trying to write a book, it might be worth seeing if this helps you too.

REVIEW: By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt

I really loved By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt. I had high expectations for it after reading Laura's Jarratt previous (and also standalone) book last year, Skin Deep.  I love especially how both books deal with identity in different ways.  Jarratt is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors due to her wonderful characters, interesting stories and beautiful way of writing.  I eageraly await any future books by the same author!

I haven't read many books involving witness protection, but I really love the issues that go along with such a premise.  There's a tension that arises from keeping something important secret, shutting off the life you led before and the person you once were.  Such is the case for 15 year old Holly who had to choose her own name out of a baby book after witnessing a terrible event and being placed in witness protection.  There are frequent flashbacks throughout the story that begin to build a clearer picture of what Holly went through and who exactly she is hiding from.

By Any Other Name is Holly's story as her and her family move away and start again in another town, in another school.  Holly really struggles with who she is in so many different respects.  I love how Laura Jarratt plays with identity in this book.  Is a person who she is because of her name?  Her personality traits?  Can she become somebody else by making different choices and taking on different roles?  It was interesting seeing how Holly views herself differently because of what other people think of her and her family's circumstances.  Other characters show Holly different elements of identity - from a soldier's sense of masculinity being threatened by injuries but also how friendships and family connections are important and shape the choices we make in creating our own identities.

Holly's little sister was a wonderful addition to the story.  I loved seeing how the behaviour that comes along with her autism is seen by other people.  Snap judgements being made before someone knows the whole story.  These sort of judgements based on assumptions played a big part in Holly's relationship with Emo Boy and I thought it was lovely to see the two of them progress from hatred and mistrust into friendship and a bit more...

And while I absolutely loved and wanted to soak up all of these different aspects of identity, a topic that I love reading about, By Any Other Name also ramps into a really tense thriller as everything that Holly and her family have fled from creep back into their lives in a very dangerous way.  While the beginning of the book is a bit slower in pace with it's character-driven storyline, the last third of the book nearly took my breath away with all the action and danger.  By Any Other Name is a story that really grabbed me and kept me flying through the pages right from the beginning! I highly recommend that you pick up this book.

REVIEW: Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham

I really, truly loved Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham.  There is much to love about this book, with it's wonderful characters, it's emotional storylines involving both bullying and connecting with estranged family members and also about a girl writing a book about her experiences with figuring out who she is.  It's a story told with lots of humour and heart and I loved every page of it.

Claire Weeks is a having a bit of a rough time of it lately.  Her best friend has upped and moved away leaving her to the mercy of mean girls at school who make fun of her because of her limp.  Her mum and step-dad don't really understand or listen to her and her little brothers are only 7.  But when an unexpected birthday card arrives from her real father, who abandoned her and her mum when Claire was little, everything changes.  Suddenly, Claire is faced with lots of new developments - a father she never knew and the knowledge that she was once called Cherokee Brown.  And with that name seems to spark the hope of a brand new identity.  Claire can choose to be better, cooler, stronger as Cherokee together with the support of her musician father and his young boarder, Harrison.  

I thought Cherokee's relationship with her father was very sweetly written.  There's a lot of doubt throughout if he'd really stick around this time and be the kind of dad that Cherokee needed and I'm happy with the events that did occur!  I loved seeing Cherokee change over the course of this novel.  The structure of the book is wrapped around this creative writing book that Cherokee has found to help her write the story of her life.  There are character interviews and plenty of advice on writing an interesting story that really seem to relate well to the dramas that happen in Cherokee's actual life.  This emphasis on writing was really good, especially as it really seemed to benefit Cherokee as she was going through some confusing times. 

At the start of Finding Cherokee Brown, you can really tell that Claire is a bit knocked down by the bullying she receives at school, her loneliness without a friend.  And slowly, you can see how Cherokee begins to assert herself more, her confidence is boosted and she is finally able to stand up to her bullies in a really amazing way that had me fist-pump in celebration!

What a wonderful book this is! I happily recommend it!

My Big, Fat, Slightly Obsessive American Halloween by Rusty Fischer (Blog Tour for Zombies Don't Cry)

I have the great pleasure today of being part of the blog tour for Zombies Don't Cry by Rusty Fischer.  Zombies Don't Cry is a hugely fun take on zombis.  I love zombies so I was very excited to read this one.  My review will be up soon!

Before I hand you over to Rusty, who is here today talking about Halloween, here is the description of Zombies Don't Cry from GoodReads:

Maddy Swift is just an ordinary girl, until the fateful night when she is struck by lightning and wakes up face down in a puddle. Then it's goodbye to all things Normal – such as breathing and having a heartbeat – and hello to yellow vision and a whole new Afterlife.

Turns out there’s a lot more to being a zombie than shuffling and groaning, but surviving school as one of the living dead requires a totally different set of skills. And things don’t get any easier when Maddy realises that she’s not the reanimated student at Barracuda Bay High . . .

To find out more about Zombies Don't Cry or Rusty Fischer, please visit the following websites:

Zombies Don't Blog ... Rusty on Twitter ... Rusty on Facebook

 

My Big, Fat, Slightly Obsessive American Halloween

By Rusty Fischer, author of Zombies Don’t Cry

When the folks at Electric Monkey asked me to compare Halloween in American with October 31st in the UK, my first thought was… I’m not exactly the right American to ask.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Halloween, but maybe just a little…too… much. I mean, I’m pretty sure most US citizens don’t start listening to scary movie soundtracks in mid-September, or Google “Help! I’ve finally run out of candy corn” in late August.

In fact, my Halloween pretty much starts the minute kids go back to school in the States, which is generally mid-August. That’s when they start replacing the big wall of backpacks and school supplies in the back of Wal-Mart and Target with plug-in jack ‘o lanterns (yes, I own two, don’t judge) and blinking witch’s hats (nope, don’t own any).

I’m not a big Halloween decorator, but a lot of folks here are. People go all out by turning their homes into haunted houses, complete with big, gassy fog machines that you can buy, complete with refillable fog juice, whatever that is, pretty much in any drug store in town from September on.

They have Halloween megastores, too, that open for a few months just to sell giant coffins with pop-up vampires or life-size zombies for hundreds of dollars.

And costumes. Tons of costumes. People go all out with their costumes, particularly the sexy nurse, sexy candy striper, sexy maid variety. Adults have costume parties. I’ve never actually been to one, but I hear they’re cool.

Kids get dressed up, too, and go trick or treating, which is basically where they knock on doors, shout “Trick or Treat” real loud and people give them candy to make them go away.

Folks spend a ton of money on candy here. Fancy trick or treat bags are huge, too. We used to just get them for free at the grocery store when I was a kid a hundred or so years ago, but now they blink and are shaped like ghosts and pumpkins and some even have straps like backpacks with drawstrings at the top to hold more loot than ever.

We live on a street with very few kids and the last few years I’ve bought twenty bucks worth of good candy, we’re talking like Snickers and Milky Way bars and Baby Ruths. And every year, the same three thugs show up – they’re about 15, which is WAY old to trick or treat anyway – around 9 o’clock which is also pretty late for trick or treaters.

Their costumes are lame and my wife is convinced they just get bored and say, “Hey, let’s go con those two suckers out of a Milky Way bar or two.” Which is exactly what happens; they show up just as I’m about to dig into my fourth scary movie of the night and I just want them to go so I hand them the bowl and say, “Play nice and split it amongst yourselves.” Then a feeding frenzy begins but I don’t care because by then I’ve shut the door and turned out the porch light.

My wife isn’t big into Halloween, and none of my friends really are, either, so for me the holiday has always been a mostly solitary affair that mainly revolves around food and scary movies. Most years I’ll make a double batch of popcorn, open a fresh bottle of diet root beer, snag a bag of candy corn (do you have this, candy corn? It’s awesomely gross, FYI) and put on the scariest movies I can find.

Other years I’ll head out to a movie theater and watch whatever is playing, usually one of the Saw movies or, lately, the Paranormal Properties. I generally wear a Halloween T-shirt, one of the five-dollar ones from Old Navy.

I’m lame, I know, but this is my Halloween and that’s how I roll. So, again, I know I’m not typical of most Americans when it comes to this holiday, but I’ve tried to hit on the highlights for you. I hope this helps and, if you’re ever in the neighborhood, don’t be shy. We could go trick or treating together. That is, if I remember how and can afford one of those newfangled trick or treat bags, that is!

Yours in YA,

Rusty


About the Author

Rusty Fischer is the author of Zombies Don’t Cry, as well as several other popular zombie books, including Panty Raid at Zombie High, Detention of the Living Dead and the Reanimated Readz series of 99-cent living dead shorts.

Rusty runs the popular website Zombies Don’t Blog @ www.zombiesdontblog.blogspot.com. At Zombies Don’t Blog you can read more about Rusty’s work, view his upcoming book covers and read – or download – completely FREE books & stories about… zombies!

REVIEW: Revived by Cat Patrick

I absolutely loooooved Cat Patrick's previous book, Forgotten, and so I was always excited to read more from the same author.  And while I found the premise of Revived to be incredibly interesting, for me, it lacked the emotion that I was expecting.  While I found the book to be wonderfully readable and creepy in parts, I was hoping that I would connect better with the characters and with their relationships to the other people within the book. 

Our main character Daisy is a bit special.  Technically she died in a bus accident when she was five.  But a special and secret government agency brought Daisy back to life and has carried on bringing her back to life using a special drug.  Now, as a teenager, as she's forced to relocate and change her identity after the deaths she has been through, Daisy meets Matt and his sister, Audrey, and through knowing these two people begins to change the way Daisy views her life, her deaths and the morality of the Revive programme.

I thought Daisy was a great character.  She's been living with government agents her entire life.  And government agents who pretend to be her parents are not the same thing as actual, loving, caring and supportive parents.  Daisy is an incredibly lonely girl with only the online friendship of another bus accident survivor, to keep her going. The shared blog that Daisy and  her friend writes is one of my favourite aspects of the novel! It was fun and creative and made both characters instantly more likeable and personable to me.

The Revive programme itself, run by an unknown entity called 'God' was fairly creepy.  There isn't much information given about the programme itself or how and why it came to be, but what there is of it in the novel is enough to inject uneasiness into the tone of the story.  Obviously Daisy is under a lot of pressure to not give away the programme and her involvement in it, so I was very surprised that she tells Matt within a small amount of time. Though Matt and Daisy's relationship is sweet, I didn't find myself overly invested in it emotionally. 

I liked that this book is a standalone novel, because I think YA needs more of those.  I really liked the idea behind Revive but I felt like there could have been more said about this secret programme and I wanted more intensity and emotion between the characters and their relationships.  That aside, I still enjoyed this book and it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours!

REVIEW: BZRK by Michael Grant

Review by Kulsuma from sunshine and stardust

BZRK was my introduction to Michael Grant and I was expecting great things. It is about the battle between two sides; not only on the macro level (the physical world) but also the nano level (where nano technology is utilised within the human body) to disable the opposition. A lot of this happens simultaneously on both levels. BZRK is a very high concept novel which I can easily visualise as a movie. It reminded me of The Matrix because there is a whole world that is unseen by ordinary humans.

The storyline was enjoyable, though it did take me a while to get into it and to get used to the futuristic world, mostly because many terms had to be explained at the beginning of the story. Additionally, as there were multiple plotlines and multiple narrators, it was difficult to form emotional attachments to any one character. Many of the characters, like Vincent and Sadie seemed detached to begin with, however I grew to like them as time passed.

The characters I was interested in were Vincent because of his unusual disability; he is not able to experience pleasure and the Armstrong twins, the grotesque villains, who were something out of a nightmare. Nearly all of the characters surprise you. No one should be taken at face value in BZRK.

At first, it was hard to see how all the plotlines and the characters were linked but as I continued reading, everything began to fall into place very cleverly. As there were many points of view, I realised that the line between good and evil was becoming obscured. Both sides were committing crimes. I had a lot of questions throughout the novel, most of which were satisfyingly answered. There were some questions which won’t be answered until the sequel. However, BZRK ends superbly, leaving the reader in suspense and wanting more.

BZRK is an action-oriented novel with vivid, graphic and grotesque sequences. It is not for the faint of heart. I wished for more character introspection in BZRK as I know that would have made me care about what happened to the characters much more than I did. However, Grant did well to convey complex concepts with a large and varied cast of characters. I look forward to reading more from Michael Grant in future.

Interesting! Thanks Kulsuma

REVIEW: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

I really loved Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler!  I thought the story to be utterly sweet and heart-breaking at the same time.  I thought the format to be different and quite clever.  I thought the unravelling of this relationship gone wrong happened at just the right pace and I enjoyed the mystery of what actually happened between the two. 

Yeah, I just really enjoyed these glimpses into these teenage relationship - as a reader, I could relate to the early swoony stages of their romance but at the same time, we're thrown these little snippets of where things went a bit sour.  Why We Broke Up is quite a short story, I really flew through the pages quite quickly and this is helped by the accompanying (gorgeous!) artwork by Moira Kalman.  I thought the illustrations and the tone of the novel complemented each other really well and I couldn't see myelf enjoying the story as much without the pretty artwork! 

The story starts with a box filled with all those bits and pieces that make up a relationship - movie stubs and little notes and stolen sugar from a restaurant.  And together with all of these things is a letter from Min to Ed explaining why exactly they broke up.  I loved that this is how the story is told, both in letter format which makes the narrative feel quite chatty and personal, but also using these objects (with pictures!) to tell a story of this short-lived but quite emotional connection between two people.  We're witness to all the good stuff of getting to know each other's quirks and the introductions of our passions (classic films and basketball) but also to those little moments that don't feel quite right, the comments that are made that make us feel uneasy, that things that were chosen or done or didn't do. 

I really got a sense of the therapeutic value that Min achieves through dissecting this relationship with Ed, going over the things that were done right and wrong.  It was really bittersweet, this walk down all of the good and bad memories with Ed.  It's definitely a walk that I'm glad that I took alongside Min.  I think most of us can relate to this story of short-lived romance followed by heartbreak.  This is a really beautiful book, one I recommend!