Saturday 25 October 2014

Series Review | Tomorrow Series by John Marsden

Title: The Tomorrow Series
Author: John Marsden
Series: Series (7 books)
Publisher: Pan Macmillan 
Format: Paperbacks
Source: Bought/Gifted
Genre: Young Adult War/Apocalyptic/Dystopian/Cultural (Australia)
Goodreads


Plot: ★★★★★
This story is the top selling series for Australian teens and I can totally see why. 5 friends decide to go on a camping trip during the holidays, but when they come back, everyone’s gone. Everyone is being held against their will in the showground and it appears that another country has sent its military forces to take over Australia. What happens next is a story of survival, war, friendship and love. I’ve honestly never read anything like this before. Most apocalyptic stories involve aliens and stuff, but this is a full on war where Australia is being taken over by another race. The plot was so original to me and so well executed. Absolutely fantastic!

Characters: ★★★★★
Over the time that I read all 7 books I grew so attached to the characters and their stories. Everyone is so different and flawed and I love how Marsden shows the effect a war can have on a bunch of teenage kids. It’s life changing and traumatic and he really shows this through the way the characters develop and learn to survive.

Writing:
★★★★
The only reason I docked a star here is because people from other countries who are reading the series may not understand a lot of the Australian references. A couple of them I didn’t even understand because I live in the city! However, I love the way that Marsden wrote the story. It was so realistic. I feel as though this is what would actually happen to a group of teenagers in a war.

Romance/Feels:
★★★★.5
SO MANY FEELS. Obviously there isn’t a huge amount of romance, but Marsden does explore first loves, romantic feelings and sex in a really realistic way. I felt so attached to the characters, and therefore when things happen, I got feels straight in the heart.

Ending:
★★★★.5
I’m not going to spoil anything here, but just know that it’s a really realistic ending! Both happy and sad. Overall, I think it works really well.

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★.5
I absolutely loved reading these books. They gave me so much to think about and how much we take for granted. I definitely recommend this series to anyone because it’s absolutely brilliant in every way!

Rereadability: I will definitely be rereading these in the future. I feel as though they’ve had a huge impact on me as a person.


Final Rating: 4.58 stars!

Book Review | Caribbean Cruising by Rachel Hawthorne


Title: Caribbean Cruising
Author: Rachel Hawthorne
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Avon
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Goodreads


Plot: ★★
The plot was very unoriginal and extremely predictable. It follows a girl who goes on a cruise for her mothers wedding and it just so happens that her new step-dad has a godson who is on the cruise to look out for her. She has a list of things she wants to do on the cruise and the main one is to lose her virginity and kiss lots of guys. I bet you can guess what’s going to happen, can’t you?

Characters: ★★
Very bland and unoriginal. The main character is your typical YA contemporary character who is innocent, yet playful and fun. The new friend she makes on the cruise is a huge party girl who has no other side to her at all. To be honest I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters.

Writing:
★★
The writing certainly wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing or beautiful either. It just was.

Romance/Feels:

Unfortunately I had little to no feels on this one! I saw everything coming from a mile away and because I didn’t form a strong connection to the characters, I didn’t get any major feels.

Ending:

I couldn’t believe how this ended. The two that get together claim their love for each other after knowing each other for 10 days. It was the most abrupt, cliché, insta-lovey, cringe-worthy ending I have ever read. Definitely not my favourite ending.

Overall Enjoyment:
★★
It was kinda cute, especially if you’re reading this on a cruise or by the pool, but otherwise it definitely fell flat for me.

Rereadability:
Definitely won’t be rereading this one!


Final Rating: 1.67 stars to be exact!

Friday 24 October 2014

Book Review | The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight



Title: The Statistical Probability of Love and First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Poppy Hachette Little Brown and Company 

Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Goodreads


Plot: ★★★.5
This novel follows a 17-year-old girl who is flying across the world to London for her Dad’s wedding. At the airport, she meets a hunky English guy and they hit it off straight away. Then things unfold once the plane lands in London!
I really enjoy the simplicity of the plot. It took place over 24 hours, so this made the book fast paced and a cute, quick read. The plot wasn’t anything majorly special, but it was enough to keep me interested the entire way through. Sometimes a quick, short, light read is exactly what you need.

Characters: ★★★
I really enjoyed the main two characters, even though there wasn’t much character development or a lot of background information to get to know the characters. This was understandable as the book takes place over 48 hours but I didn’t feel as though any of the characters were unique or overly interesting.

Writing:
★★★.5
The writing style is simple, yet it flows nicely. I was entertained the entire time I was reading the book and the writing didn’t seem juvenile or forced.

Romance/Feels:
★★★
I did get some minor feels while reading this book, but nothing that majorly tugged on my heart strings!

Ending:
★★★
A cute, happy ending.

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★
Overall, it was a cute, light read, I recommend this to anyone who is going on a holiday and will be spending some time in an airport and/or on a plane. It made the experience of reading the book pretty cool. I also recommend it to anyone looking for a light, romance book with family themes throughout.

Rereadability: To be honest I won’t be rereading this book. It was cute, but not enough to be one of those books that I’ll read again in the future.


Final Rating: 3.17 stars!

Sunday 5 October 2014

BOOK REVIEW | ON THE ISLAND BY TRACEY GARVIS-GRAVES

Title: On the Island
Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Genre: New Adult Survival/Contemporary
Goodreads

BLURB:
When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day.

T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments -- instead of his friends. 

Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and T.J. just want to survive and they must work together to obtain water, food, fire, and shelter.

Their basic needs might be met but as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.'s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.

THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FREEEE :)

Characters: ★★★★★
Throughout most of the book, we only hear from the two main characters as they’re stranded on an island, but this in no way made this boring. These characters were so well fleshed out I felt like they were real people. The other characters that we see in the other parts of the book all felt so real as well and they all had their own characteristics that made them them, if that makes sense. They’re all so wonderfully written, that’s all I can say!

Plot:
★★★★★
I LOVE survival stories and this is definitely my favourite as of this point in my life. It follows Anna, a 30 year old teacher and T.J., a 16 year old boy in remission. As a summer job, T.J.’s parents have offered Anna a heck of a lot of money and a place to stay at their holiday house in the Maldives if she tutors T.J. throughout the holidays so he can catch up on all that he’s missed while he was sick. Problem is, they’re on a very small plane when the pilot has a sudden heart attack and they end up on a deserted island. I LOVE THIS PLOT LINE. IT’S PERFECTION AND THE WAY IT WAS EXECUTED WAS JUST PERFECT.

Writing:
★★★★★
Absolutely brilliant. I could not put it down! It was written so beautifully and in a way that had me so attached to the characters. Perfect.

Romance/Feels:
★★★★★
SO GOOD. Obviously it’s a bit of a forbidden romance as there’s a HUGE age gap, but something’s bound to happen if they’re by themselves on an island for a long amount of time (this isn’t a spoiler, it’s in the blurb). I cried when I first read this book. I had SO MANY FEELS.

Ending:
★★★★★
So perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better fleshed out ending. I won’t say anymore because spoilers, ya know?

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★★
One of my favourite books of all time that I still think about months after I’ve read it. I enjoyed every single sentence of this book!

Rereadability: I intend to reread this book SO MUCH throughout my life! I’ve already read it twice now!


Final Rating: 5000000 stars!