REVIEW: Cleo by Lucy Coats

When I first heard about Cleo by Lucy Coats, I was really excited. The idea of a book telling the adventures of a young Cleopatra? That's pretty exciting.  And I think there is a lot of possibility in this idea as well, especially as very little is known of young Cleopatra's life.

It took me awhile but once I worked out where things were different to my expectations, and to separate my expectations from this book, I was able to enjoy it a lot more.  This book's main character, Cleo, is a young Egyptian royal growing up in the Pharaoh's court. Her voice and character and whole demeanor isn't quite what I had in mind for a young Cleopatra. Teenage Cleo in this book is a little bit whingey and sulky and she drags her feet a little bit with the tasks she has been assigned. She seems a rather reluctant hero but I think this was mostly to balance out the 'chosen one' pressure that surrounds Cleo. I also had problems with the fact that book is set in a particular time period and yet feels like the main character is very modern in the way that she speaks. She isn't quite the person I imagine her, in my head, to be because I'm stuck on her being a young Cleopatra but this Cleo is years from being the grown-up, put-together woman from history. And that's okay.

I quite liked Cleo. We begin this story with a big loss: Cleo's mother dies at the beginning and that puts Cleo into a very vulnerable position with her sisters who are set on taking over as joint Pharaohs and Cleo knows that she must survive. In order to do so, her and her body slave (and best friend) Charm flee to another part of Egypt and take up in a Temple of Isis before returning many years later to do Isis' will.

One of the major themes running throughout Cleo is the idea of faith and a belief in gods and goddesses of this time period. I really enjoyed Cleo's questioning of her faith and of this religion and the ways in which this plays a huge part in her life. I think religion plays a part in many young people's lives and it is quite interesting to see it fully explored in this book.

At its heart, I think of Cleo as an action adventure story.  Cleo is tasked with retrieving an artifact in order to restore the goddess Isis as a major presence in Egypt and to restore the balance of power and goodness in the Pharaoh's court. Cleo does this in opposition to her two Evil sisters and under great danger. But she does have the support of her best friend, Charm, some loyal guards and the help of super-spy and hot Librarian boy, Khai.  While Cleo and Khai's relationship is slightly in the insta-love domain, I loved that he is a librarian and has a great love of books. It's always nice to see two people falling in love over a shared love of books. And I also really liked Cleo and Charm's relationship. Theirs is a relationship that I fully felt invested in throughout the story and I'd love to see more of them in future books in this series.

While I did have some issues with this book, I also really enjoyed it. I flew threw it pretty quickly and not only did I want to know more about Cleo's story, I also wanted to know more about the actual Cleopatra and also the environment and situations that she might have faced in her actual life. Cleo was a fun book!

REVIEW: Dead Silent by Sharon Jones (Poppy Sinclair, #2)

Oh wow, did I love Dead Silent by Sharon Jones. I knew I would - I adored the first book in the series, Dead Jealous, and I really fell in love with the two main characters, Poppy and Michael. I'm really starting to believe that YA murder/thrillers are my absolute favourite types of books to read at the moment and that is based on the strength of books like Dead Jealous and Dead Silent.

I think the thing that I loved the most about Dead Jealous was the setting of the story in a pagan festival. I loved the idea of Poppy Sinclair questioning and exploring her beliefs at the same time as investigating the death of a teenage girl.  And in the same way, I thought the setting of Dead Silent on the campus of Cambridge University was amazing, especially with it snowing. I really felt like I was there alongside Poppy and Michael.

Dead Silent takes place over a few days as Michael and Poppy visit for a university interview for Michael who is applying to one of the Cambridge's colleges. Poppy tags along to visit her slightly estranged father who is the university chaplain. I had vague memories from Dead Jealous about Poppy's father and what he did for a living but I really found it fascinating to learn more in this book. Especially as a dead body appears in the chapel and blame rests squarely on Poppy's father.  Because of her father and because Poppy just can't seem to help but get involved and find out things, Poppy begins her detective work.  And in doing so, she finds out more about university secret societies and about angels and long-standing grudges and her father's personal and romantic history and I thought I knew who had done it and yeah.  Didn't get that right at all.  It was exciting to see all the twists and turns and to see how everything linked together in the end!

Poppy Sinclair is by far one of my favourite characters in any book I've read recently.  She's smart and stubborn and she's really not afraid to tell things straight.  I love her strength and her humour. And while I absolutely ADORE her relationship with Michael, it's Poppy herself who has my heart. And I love Michael more because of how much he cares for her.  Michael and Poppy are wonderful in this book.  They've been going out for 4 months and things begin to get more ... physical in this book which had me laughing at loud at just how impossibly cute these two are with each other. There's obviously strong bond between her and Michael but that is not the case with Poppy and her father. It was nice to see them open up more about their relationship and how the trust between them had been damaged.

I really, truly love this series to bits. I love the characters, the relationships.  I love the murder solving aspects and I'm always hugely surprised by the outcomes. I especially love witnessing Poppy explore her own beliefs.  And I cannot wait to see more of Poppy Sinclair! Definitely do go out and find copies of both Dead Jealous and Dead Silent if you haven't already.

Waiting on Wedneday (16)

Hello, Wednesday! I decided to take part in Waiting on Wednesday again this year.  I've decided to spotlight plenty of UKYA books that are being published this year... This meme is hosted weekly by Breaking the Spine. What book are you waiting on Wednesday?

Dead Silent by Sharon Jones 

When Poppy Sinclair and her boyfriend visit snowy Cambridge, she doesn't expect to discover the body of a student - arms outstretched in the act of smearing bloody angel wings on the chapel's floor.

Suddenly, Poppy is faced with the possibility that the one closest to her heart might be the one committing the most malicious of crimes.

Dodging porters and police, dreading what she might find, Poppy follows the clues left by a murderer bent on revenge...

Long-hidden secrets are chillingly revealed, an avenging angel seeks forgiveness and red-hot vengeance must be quelled in the amazing new Poppy Sinclair thriller.


Dead Jealous, the first book in the Poppy Sinclair was one of my favourite books that I read in 2013 and I am incredibly excited to get back to these characters.  I'm really loving this crime thrillers and I can't wait to see what this new Poppy story will bring! Orchard Books are publishing this one on the 6th of February. Mark your calendars, I already have!

Which book are you waiting on today?

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? 

Sharon Jones (Celebrating British authors)

Today and (hopefully!) every Sunday until the end of the year, I'm hoping to tell you a little bit about some of the amazing UKYA authors that I've discovered this year. They aren't all 2013 debbuts but they are all authors that I've read for the first time this year. I hope that you'll become just as excited about them and their stories as I have been! First up, is Sharon Jones...

I don't remember how I heard of Sharon Jones before her debut book, Dead Jealous, was published (in July of this year by Orchard Books). But I know I've been following her on Twitter for ages... Sharon's absolutely lovely and I was always very excited to read her stories.

There's just something about YA psychological thrillers that has captured my attention of late. Those two words 'psychological thriller' send a little thrill through me.  And especially books like Dead Jealous, which I think was done incredibly well.  There's so many elements of Dead Jealous that I utterly adored. Let me count the ways...

1) I love that this book is about an atheist at a Pagan festival. A Pagan festival! I've never come across anything else like it in YA and it feels wonderfully different and refreshing to come across something original like that. I also enjoyed seeing how Poppy deals with and questions her (and those around her's) beliefs. Religion and spirituality are themes in YA books that I find particularly interesting to read about and again, I love that we're introduced to belief systems that myself and other readers may not know much about.

2) I've written before how much I like love stories involving best friends. I fell in love with my best friend so I'm drawn to similar stories. In this though while Poppy is in love with her best friend, Michael, he has a girlfriend who is not Poppy. Ah, unrequited love hurts like a bitch and all of those painful, jealous feelings are present in this book.

3) I loved the mystery element to this book. I loved trying to puzzle together what happened to Beth, this girl that Poppy meets and bonds over the fact that they're both in love with people who don't return the feeling, and then Beth ends up dead the following morning. There's an entire festival of people available as suspects in what Poppy feels is murder. And while the local police are ready to call it a day on the investigation, Poppy won't let it go. She goes out of her way to ask questions and place herself in some tricky situations. I'd love to have Poppy as a friend, I think that'd be ace. And I wasn't anywhere close to guessing beforehand what had happened to Beth. I had my suspicions and they were of course, all wrong. This book had great twists and reveals and I was on the edge of my seat!

4) In fact, all of the characters in this book are wonderful. I loved seeing all the complexity to each of the characters. This story is told with a dual-perspective between both Poppy and Michael and I kind of fell in love with them both. But so many of the other characters stole a bit of my heart too, especially Bob, Tariq and Kane.

5) And I think the final and most wonderful thing about this book is that it is the first in a series about Poppy Sinclair! The next book, Dead Silent, is being published in February of 2014 and I couldn't be looking forward to it any more than I already am! Even though *bites nails* I'm worried about what might happen to some of my favourite characters...

So, Sharon Jones and Dead Jealous. Definitely an author and book that I'm THRILLED to have discovered this year. Have you discovered Poppy Sinclair as yet?!

If you're interested in finding out more about Sharon Jones or Dead Jealous, please do visit the following websites:

Sharon Jones ... Sharon's Blog ... Sharon on Twitter ... Sharon on Facebook ... Dead Jealous on Amazon ... Dead Jealous on Goodreads

You can also read my review of Dead Jealous and read an interview with Sharon Jones on the Author Allsorts. 

And! Don't forget to watch the fab book trailer, which I've only just found:

REVIEW: Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

I couldn't sleep recently and I thought to myself 'maybe if I read a few pages of a book, my eyes will feel tired more naturally' ... not so when I picked up Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones to read. Right from the first page - as we are introduced to our main character, Poppy Sinclair, at a pagan festival in which another girl turns up dead - I was absolutely hooked! I couldn't put the book down for anything until I was finished and had uncovered all of this book's secrets. 

I love YA thrillers. I want to see more of them, especially if they are written anything at all like Dead Jealous.  As I was reading more and as Poppy collects more little clues and details of Beth's death, I found myself overly suspicious of absolutely everyone. I was convinced that the murderer would be this person for awhile and then another and that it for sure had to be this other person.  And of course, I was completely wrong and the ending was a total surprise. I loved that about this book!

And beyond loving Poppy as much as I did for her determination and doggedness when it came to solving this mystery, I also really loved all of the other characters that we are introduced to.  Especially Kane and Tariq and Bob and for how much better we are able to understand who they are as people and of their motivations.  But the stars of the show had to be Poppy and Michael and their relationship together.  Poppy and Michael made my heart ACHE all the way through.  As the narrative is split between the pair of them we are able to see how much Poppy's feelings for Michael have grown and how keeping this secret from Michael is changing who she is as a person. And at the same time, we can see the strength of friendship from Michael's point of view and his willingness to drop everything to make sure Poppy is safe and well spoke absolute volumes. I cannot wait to read more of what becomes of their friendship.

One of the main draws for this book is the pagan festival which is the main setting throughout the book.  There's just something very refreshing about reading of this festival and of the festival-goers that attend and of the things they believe in and practice that is just a bit different from what I'm familiar with and it's different than what I'd normally come across in a YA novel. I wish more differences were celebrated in the same way! Give me different perspectives please! All the details of a hand-fasting ceremony and tarot readings and Native American sweat lodges were really fascinating and made this novel stand out for me just that little bit more.

I was also really glad to read of a book that dealt with faith in the way that Dead Jealous did. It's not a huge part of the story, but there was enough of it there for me to really appreciate the position that Poppy is in.  She seems to be dealing with her father leaving, her near-drowning accident the year before and with her unrequited feelings for her best friend, Michael. And all of these things together mean that she's lost faith in these things she's been brought up around. She's also a little bit bitter and angry in regards to all of the emotional baggage that she's carrying around. 

What a fantastic book Dead Jealous is! Amazing characters, wonderfully different setting, a thrilling murder mystery and some relationships that really made me feel connected to the story! Highly recommended.

REVIEW: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

Reviewed by Carrie from Teabelly

I wasn’t expecting to overly like I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have Kill You by Ally Carter. I mean, just look at that title. It was going to be silly and cheesy and I probably wouldn’t like the characters all that much, but maybe it’d be a cute enough way to pass the time. Oh I do like being wrong about books.

I’d Tell You I Love You is set in the world of the Gallagher Academy. On the outside it’s a private school for over privileged girls, on the inside you have to be careful what you touch, lest poison gas suddenly erupts from a statue. See, the Gallagher Academy is a school for spies. Cammie ‘The Chameleon’ Morgan is in her third year and about to take Covert Operations. Cammie’s mother is the headmistress of the school, also a spy, and they came here after Cammie’s father died during a mission. Cammie is known as The Chameleon due to her uncanny ability to disappear in plain sight.

On her first mission for covert ops, Cammie meets Josh, an ordinary boy from the town near to where the Academy is based. Of course, Josh can never know who Cammie really is, but she likes him and, more importantly, he seems to like her. Cammie’s friends Liz and Bex decide to do a background check on Josh, to see if he’s not actually been sent to infiltrate the Academy though Cammie. And hijinks ensue. Hijinks including Liz and Bex abseiling down the side of Josh’s house while he’s right there under their noses, and intricate plots to help Cammie go on dates.

This book is incredibly good fun, it had me chuckling quite a lot over what Cammie and her friends got up to, and I loved all the characters. Cammie narrates as if she’s writing a report on a mission, and there are fun notes dropped in like ’18.30 hours: The operative realised it’s almost impossible to look pretty and/or seductive if you SERIOUSLY have to go pee.’ Cammie is funny but also smart, and loyal to her friends. She’s also hurting after the loss of her father and starting to realise the effect this has had on her and her mother. And also how dangerous spying can be. Is a life in the field really what she wants? Josh is a part of her escape from that life, if only for a little while.

Even though it’s a book about teenage spies, the things that happen to the girls are relatable. I also like that a new girl appears on the scene, but that storyline doesn’t go where you necessarily thought it would. For a book about girls living in close quarters, there are very few ‘bitchy’ moments, and mostly they’ve got each other’s backs. As you would expect from spies I suppose. Still, it’s always nice to see books that don’t go the easy or obvious routes. I’d definitely recommend this one, and will happily continue with the series.

Thank you for that Carrie!