REVIEW: Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse

I was really looking forward to reading Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse. About a girl who has just one more week of living in Tokyo before moving back the US for good. In that time she falls out with her friends, works out some family issues, falls in love and says good bye to a city she adores.

I'm a huge fan of Japan and I was always going to be excited to read a book which felt like it might be a love letter to Tokyo ... and Seven Days of You definitely did feel like that at times.  I loved reading about Sophia and her friends traipsing around Tokyo, hanging out, seeing the sights, visiting their favourite places one last time.  I kind of loved them travelling around on public transit and stopping in convenience stores to pick up their favourite Japanese snacks and stuff. It was all so mundane but those details were what I loved the most.

I found it slightly weird that none of them seemed to speak Japanese and none of the characters were Japanese at all? Minor quibble though, I suppose but it just felt like ...is this realistic, or nah?

I particularly liked the family strife. With the dad in Paris and having another family and the back and forth about whether or not Sophia would live with him.  Also, Sophia's sister is definitely a highlight for me.  But I think the main emotional thrust to the story revolves around the romantic dramas.  With Sophia's unrequited crush on David and this thing that resurfaces once former friend and crush, Jamie comes back to Japan.

I really did enjoy this book ... but for whatever reason, the way it was written? my own personal preference? I didn't feel myself being as emotionally affected to the highs and lows of this story.  I wanted to be fully on board with everything that happened and riding that emotional wave along with Sophia ... I just wasn't.  Still, solid read.

REVIEW: Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

I was really looking forward to reading Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger and I think what really attracted me to the book, aside from the author and how much I've enjoyed her previous books, is that there's a person of colour on the front cover. Love that. It was pointed out to be at a recent Twitter chat and that very fact made me bump this book up my virtual-TBR pile. (Hurrah diversity!) 

I didn't know very much about the book before I started reading. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that it's very much a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac but I didn't properly read the blurb! I love mistaken identity stories and this one with its modern technology and catfish thing should have been right up my street. But for some reason I felt a little bit distant from everyone. I didn't really connect with Sonny and Amy's relationship or Sonny and Ryder though I wanted to for both relationships. I thought they were cute but we never really reached that point where I was super invested in their dramas or problems.

But that isn't to say that I didn't really enjoy this book or that I didn't race through it in almost a single sitting. I did. I just wasn't as fully there as I'd hoped. I did feel very emotional sometimes, mostly to do with Sonny's family and home situation and the fact that the Rushes take her in so completely and without question. But then, that's something that just gets to me every time, no matter what.

There are a lot of mentions of Wesley and Bianca from The DUFF in this book and that was lovely to see. Both how their relationship is going several years on but also how nice Wesley is with his sister and as a friend to Sonny. There were also some cameo appearances from other Kody Keplinger stories but, if I'm honest, they felt a little out of place and like they were shoe-horned in for the sake of it and threw me more out of the story. But then, I do also like how some books are interconnected in these small ways. 

So, sort of a mixed review for this book. I did enjoy it! I liked how the fall-out from Sonny and Amy is at the heart of this story as opposed to Sonny and Ryder. More wonderful stories about female friendship, please.

REVIEW: The Memory Hit by Carla Spradbery

I really enjoyed The Memory Hit by Carla Spradbery. It was a tense, pacey read and I loved how the characters interacted and how all of the different story lines merged together. Admittedly, story lines involving drugs and memory aren't my favourite and I was hesitant to read this book, I am still really glad that I did. I loved the way this book managed to surprise me. Both in terms of twisty plot line but also how dark it went.

The Memory Hit by Carla Spradbery is the story of two main characters, Jess and Cooper after both have pretty intense experiences on New Year's Eve. Jess ends up in a house fire after discovering her best friend and boyfriend have been cheating and that her boyfriend has been dealing drugs. And without having any time to adjust to that new scenario, her best friend is in hospital badly injured.  Meanwhile, Cooper is attacked and ends up on the bad side of local drug dealer and is forced into coming up with way more money than would be possible with their family's limited income.

I really liked Jess and Cooper as narrators. Occasionally the narration drifts off into other perspectives and I found these fairly short chapters from another point of view jarred me out of the story but at least they were infrequent and I felt like Jess and Cooper did well to invest me emotionally throughout. The fact that these two are exes made everything between them super intense and I loved that between them. But I also just really liked them as individuals.

Jess is one of those strait-laced girls whose main focus is very much on good grades and this whole thing with her boyfriend and her best friend really sends her for a loop. She becomes very intent on finding out answers for all the questions raised by the texts she's seen on her boyfriend's phone and the things that Cooper has experienced. The whole idea of Nostalgex was intriguing. A drug that simulates past memories and helps clarify things and contort the memories into different ways. And Cooper was just lovely. Obviously a boy who has made plenty of mistakes but you can tell he's still a good guy. Especially by the way he treats his sister and how he shoulders the burden of keeping them both afloat after they fall on hard times.

I feel like there is so much to talk about with The Memory Hit. I loved the family relationships and the complicated mess of being exes and ex-friends after a break-up and the twisted family histories that crop up, both with Cooper and Leon, the drug dealer.  I loved Jag and Cooper's friendship in particular. I thought it was interesting to see one of the characters succumb to the temptation of Nostalgex.  The person behind it all was an absolute surprise to me and there were a couple of really gruesome deaths that felt a bit shocking. I loved that darkness. I just really found this book to be really entertaining throughout!

REVIEW: Tease by Amanda Maciel

Ooh, Tease by Amanda Maciel was a really challenging, thought-provoking book about bullying. It takes a concept that's been done before and looked at it differently and I thought it was a really interesting approach. 

This is the story of Sara, a teenage girl who is facing criminal charges for her part in the bullying that leads another classmate, Emma Putnam, to commit suicide. Tease is told in two parts: The months leading up to Emma's suicide in which we see Sara and her best friend Brielle harass and bully Emma relentlessly both in person and online and we also see several months of Sara's experiences as she's dealing with lawyers and her therapist leading up to the trial following Emma's death.

I found reading Tease to be very difficult at first. The first 100 pages or so really made me angry as the main character has absolutely no remorse at all for her actions, she's adamant she didn't do anything wrong ... and once I got over my rage at how self-centred Sara is, I realised that Sara's attitude about her part in things might have been one of the author's points and I began to look at the novel in a much different way.  And while Tease felt really uncomfortable reading and while I didn't agree that Sara was blameless, I could sometimes see where she was coming from and how there were more sides to this story than just two mean girls picking on the new girl. 

The thing that stuck out for me the most is that both Sara and Brielle lack any form of empathy.  Sara sees the world at the start of this novel only able to view how things affect HER and she doesn't seem to see that the things she says and does have an impact on other people, and in this case specifically how her comments and behaviours have had an big impact on Emma's life and her well-being. I think that's pretty key to Sara's behaviour and attitude. 

Another point that Sara raises throughout Tease is that she believes she's not at fault any more than everyone else who has ever said mean things about Emma or people who call each other out on the sexual identities in a negative way.  I found this really interesting.  Because we can see in Sara's interactions with her friends, and in particular, Brielle, that words like 'slut' and 'whore' and other derogatory terms are thrown around with abandon and Sara sees this as acceptable behaviour because it's all just joking around and not serious and everyone says these things and everyone has to put up with this sort of language and name-calling anyway. So taking this one step further, she doesn't quite get the distinction between 'friendly' banter and the extreme bullying that takes place regarding Emma.

And the fact that Sara doesn't know this shows a real lack of education from parents and teachers and the whole education system, surely.  I found it really upsetting that the (fictional) high school this all takes place in supposedly has an anti-bullying policy in place but it is so ineffective that is laughable ...and also heart-breaking.  Because as Sara returns to school after Emma's suicide  Sara faces some of the same isolation and name-calling that Emma went through and it's all so realistic but also very sad because what does bullying someone who has bullied others actually achieve? I think that Emma and Sara are both let down by the system. And that also furthers Sara's point that her behaviours reflect a socially constructed environment in which bullying and name-calling are the norm and nobody quite gets where the boundaries or limits are?

While I never actually liked Sara as a character, I did like the way that Amanda Maciel paints her.  Sara isn't a bad person: she deserves second chances and happiness just like the rest of us and I think that was also an important message.  Sara did terrible things but that doesn't mean that she's a terrible person or that she needs to carrying around the 'bully' label forever. 

I found Tease ultimately to be incredibly thought-provoking and interesting.  I think it's a book that is challenging to read and will provoke strong reactions amongst its readers. I think that's really good and I hope it opens up different conversations about bullying and prevention and where to go from here.  

REVIEW: Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

I was really quite intrigued to read Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly.  The author's previous work included Revolution and A Northern Light, which either was nominated or won the Carnegie medal.  Deep Blue is a big departure from these historical based stories and instead we have the first book in a four book series about mermaids.  Mermaids. There is something pretty intriguing about oceans and the unknown but I can't say that mermaids have ever really captured my attention... until now. 

First off, I think the cover for Deep Blue is gorgeous. I love the colours and the general tone. And if you haven't already seen the book trailer for this book, I recommend that you seek it out and watch it as I think the visuals are just stunning.

For me, the first half of Deep Blue is stronger than the second.  We start the story with our main character, Seraphina, introducing herself and also this world that she lives in.  She's at the start of an important ceremony in which she must prove herself worthy to be her mother's heir and also become betrothed to Prince Mahdi. I really loved the first few chapters of the book as we learn more about Sera and see her interacting with the other mermaids and things. I think her personality and her character really shines through right from the start. 

I really felt all of Sera's anxieties at the start of this novel. She's worried she's not good enough for her mother, or Prince Mahdi, or good enough to rule in her mother's place. And to make things even more stressful, she's been having these nightmare visions of an ancient evil that is coming and through them she's been getting clues that reveal her own importance and involvement in stopping this.

I really felt like there was a lot of great characters and relationships at the start of Deep Blue. It felt exciting and addictive and I was very quickly pulled into Sera's head and her world. Her fight with Mahdi really broke my heart as did everything that happened at the ceremony.  My heart was in my throat, I was on the edge of my seat. It was all so tense and wonderful.  Which is why it was disappointing that that same level of paciness and tension did not continue to the second half of the book in which Sera travels to gather the other mermaids  needed to battle the evil thing that is threatening the waters and everything living in it. 

While I can see that being the first book in the series there has to be lots of groundwork put into place, I thought that the second half felt a little limp and lacking in comparison to what I thought was a great and strong opening. I wanted more from the second half and I can only hope that some of the childish mermaid terminology is dropped in the future books in the series and that we see more character development from the other mermaids.  Though I definitely want to know more about Sera and Mahdi.  I almost cried at the end of Deep Blue when this wasn't resolved!

All of my criticisms aside, I really enjoyed Deep Blue and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. I can definitely see a lot of potential in these characters, in this world and in this story line. I'm looking forward to it.

REVIEW: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mylnowski + UK/Ire Giveaway!

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski is SUCH a fun book to read!  I'd read Sarah Mlynowski's previous book, Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done, and thought it was really cute so I was very much looking forward to more stories by the same author.  I was definitely not disappointed with Don't Even Think About It. 

This book centres around a core group of high school students in the same homeroom who have all received a flu jab. Flu jab? Sure, you'd expect some minor side effects but these 20 or so students are in for a much bigger surprise when one of the side effects turns out to be telepathy. 

Honestly, I hope that I'm not going to be really tedious in this review but this book is so much fun.  I love the premise.  It's about a bunch of teenagers who* can read minds.*  I think what's great about this book, besides how awkward and hilarious some of the situations that these characters get themselves into, is that the telepathic powers that they all get only seem to amplify the drama and secrets and emotion that most teenagers go through.  I think everyone at some point in time would really want to know what other people are thinking, especially if it concerns you. And while a lot of fun is had and I really loved to see how one particular character grows in confidence there are also other situations in which telepathy might not be such a good thing (like when you can hear your parents having sex!).

There is plenty of drama and secrecy going on here. There's also rifts in friendships and romantic relationships. There are some tricky moral dilemmas about test taking, but there are some rather heartbreaking truths to be learned about family and I love the way some of the characters really thrive with their new found powers and for others, telepathy seems to be the biggest curse of all.

I was a little bit unsure about the structure of the novel beforehand and I think it's worth mentioning briefly. The perspective of the book is told from the point of view of all the students affected by the flu jab collectively. I thought perhaps this hive mind perspective might mean that there was less emphasis on separate characters and that I would struggle to connect to individuals. But Sarah Mlynowski really surprised me with this.  Despite everyone telling the story, it does focus on certain characters as they go through more emotional story lines with the added commentary from some of the others. I was surprised but even in this way there were definitely characters that I was rooting for throughout and story lines that really got to me.

I think this book has a lot going for it.  I was so amused and horrified by so much of the book that it kind of took me by surprise how emotional it actually is.  By far my favourite story lines involved the Tess who had a crush on her best friend, Teddy ... only to find out that he mostly thinks about his crush on a different girl. And also the Mackenzie who cheated on her lovely, long-term boyfriend, Cooper, and was wracked with guilt for weeks before he found out.

I'm reliably informed that this will be the first book in a series and I am incredibly excited to read more!  I thought this book was told with a lot of humour and heart.  It was a very quick, fun read but with some added depth to it as well.  I really connected to all of the characters and I think it'll be great to see different sides to some of the other characters that we only briefly meet in this book. Bring it on!

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This review is part of the Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski blog tour! Please do check out the other blog tour stops for more fun and awesome things.  --->

And because I love both books so much and because those folks at Hachette Towers are so darn awesome, I have a UK/Ireland GIVEAWAY for you of  Don't Even Think About It and Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done... Just leave a comment below with some means of contacting you and you're in it to win it!

If you want to know more about Don't Even Think About It or Sarah Mlynowski, please visit the following websites:

Sarah Mlynowski on Twitter
Books With Bite
Books With Bite on Twitter

Don't Even Think About It is published in the UK TODAY so definitely keep an eye out for it. I really do recommend it!