Saturday 29 November 2014

BOOK REVIEW | GIRL ONLINE BY ZOE SUGG

Title: Girl Online
Author: Zoe Sugg
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Format: Paperback
Source: Penguin Teen Australia
Genre: YA Contemporary
Goodreads

This review is spoiler free! :)

Blurb: 
Penny has a secret. Under the alias GirlOnline, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love--and capturing every moment of it on her blog. But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny's cover--and her closest friendship--forever.

Plot: ★★★★★
I really wasn’t expecting much going into this as it’s by a YouTube vlogger, but I was so genuinely surprised and how much I loved this book! Keep in mind, it is written for young teens, so yes, it may be a bit predictable, but it was so much fun to read. It follows a 15-year-old girl who finds happiness in blogging about her life, her panic attacks and a beautiful boy she meets on a surprise trip to New York. What she doesn’t expect is for this boy to have a secret and for this secret to threaten her blogging life.
I love this book because it incorporates really important things that young teens (and anyone really) can relate to, such as anxiety, cyber bullying, travel, homosexuality, family issues, friendship, death etc. The list is endless! I think this is what made me love this book so much, because it wasn’t just a pointless, fluffy read. It actually had substance that could really help young teens if they read it. Along with this, the plot line is so adorable and fun that it felt like my heart was singing when I read it!

Characters: ★★★★★
So well developed and realistic! I adored the characters so much and they’re so relatable to teens out there in real life! The main character is adorably clumsy and hilarious and I just love her so much. Every single character had a story and you can just tell by reading about them that they’re all so well developed and thought out.

Writing: ★★★★.5
I feel like this section would have gotten 5 stars if I was still a young teen (as much as I wish I was!) But as I mentioned previously, it was a little predictable and at some points there would be an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence that I felt shouldn’t be there, but that’s honestly it!

Romance/Feels: ★★★★.5
OH MAN. So many. All over the place.

Ending:
★★★★.5
I docked half a star because I wanted a little bit more of an ending (don’t get me wrong – it has an amazing ending!) but I just felt like there could’ve been a small extra chapter where things were wrapped up a little more.

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★★
I honestly just adored this book so much and will be recommending this to anybody and everybody! I’ve already recommended it to so many people at work and they’ve bought it, so don’t let the fact that ‘Zoella’ wrote it put you off. It really is an extraordinary book.

Rereadability: FOREVER AND EVER.


Final Rating: 4.75 stars!

Sunday 23 November 2014

Book Review | Forgotten by Cat Patrick


Title: Forgotten
Author: Cat Patrick
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Genre: YA Contemporary/Magical Realism
Goodreads

Blurb:
I remember forwards. I remember forwards, and forget backwards. My memories, bad, boring, or good, haven't happened yet. So I will remember standing in the fresh-cut grass with the black-clad figures surrounded by stone until I do it for real. I will remember the funeral until it happens - until someone dies. And after that, it will be forgotten. Here's the thing about me: I can see my future, but my past is blank. I see the future in flashes, like memories. I remember what I'll wear tomorrow, and a car crash that won't happen till this afternoon. But yesterday has evaporated from my mind - just like the boy I love. I can't see him in my future. I can't remember him from my past. But today, I love him. And I never want to forget how much.

Plot: ★★★★.5
The main character of this novel has no recollection of her past as her memory resets every morning at 3:44am. She can, however, see the future, so she’s very confused when her boyfriend (who she has to write notes about every day so she doesn’t forget him) isn’t in her memories of the future. The storyline was so fascinating! I couldn’t put this book down because I just wanted to know what caused her memory to reset? What secrets are people holding from her? Honestly the plot was great and so different than anything I’ve ever read before!

Characters: ★★★★.5
I loved the characters so much and it was so interesting reading from the perspective from a character who can’t remember things and you start to question things about certain characters and oh mannnnn. I honestly loved the characters they were excellently done.

Writing: ★★★★
The writing style made this book just fly by! It was so addicting and really easy to read. It flowed really well and I loved how the author included some of the notes that the main character had written for herself.

Romance/Feels: ★★★★
I love the love interest! I wish I knew more about him though because you don’t really find out all that much. There were definitely some feels though because you find out some pretty crazy stuff!

Ending:
★★★★
I feel like the ending could have been dragged out a bit more. It ended so quickly and wrapped up in such a small number of pages! I just want more!

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★
I loved this book and the idea was so unique to me. I definitely recommend this one to YA lovers who like a good mystery!

Rereadability: Maybe!


Final Rating: 4.17 stars!

Book Review | Puddle Jumping by Amber L. Johnson

Title: Puddle Jumping
Author: Amber L. Johnson
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self Published
Format: eBook
Source: Bought on iBooks
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Goodreads

Blurb:
When it comes to love there’s no such thing as conventional. 
Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special. 
Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating. 
Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident prone nature and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out. 
When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls. 
Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.

Plot: ★★★★★
What a beautiful story! It’s a simple, 130 page book told in the perspective of a girl writing about her experiences falling in love with a boy who has autism. There needs to be more books like this in the young adult genre because here’s the truth – people have autism, people have disabilities and people have mental illnesses, so why are we ignoring this in the YA genre? I’m glad we’re finally not ignoring it and this book is just perfect in the way that it tells a story that’s so realistic in our world today. The storyline is just the girl saying what her and this boy have gone through and how they fell in love and all the hardships that they face. That’s it. But boy, it’s more than enough for this beautiful story. That’s all it needs to be because the rest just falls into place and it’s perfect.

Characters: ★★★★★
We need diverse characters and this is exactly what Amber L. Johnson has brought to the table with this novel. Her characters are brilliant and she’s obviously well researched on Autism Spectrum Disorder and she really brings her characters to life through having this diversity. Brilliant!

Writing: ★★★★★
It’s not a long novel, and it doesn’t have to be, because everything that needs to be said was said and it’s perfect. The story is told so effortlessly and that’s what I love about it, it just is what it is.

Romance/Feels: ★★★★★
So many feels. I just love these characters to death and I love how this story teaches people to be patient with others and to not judge before knowing them and it’s just UGH.

Ending:
★★★★★
Beautiful. Perfect. Effortless. (Did I say these already? I’m not sure)

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★★★
YOU SHOULD GO AND READ THIS RIGHT NOW. IT’S WONDERFUL.

Rereadability: Definitely!


Final Rating: 5 stars!

Book Review | They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire

Title: They All Fall Down
Author: Roxanne St. Claire
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
Genre: Young Adult Mystery/Thriller
Goodreads

Blurb:
Every year, the lives of ten girls at Vienna High are transformed.
All because of the list.
Kenzie Summerall can't imagine how she's been voted onto a list of the hottest girls in school, but when she lands at number five, her average life becomes dazzling. Doors open to the best parties, new friends surround her, the cutest jock in school is after her.
This is the power of the list. If you're on it, your life changes.
If you're on it this year? Your life ends.
The girls on the list have started to die, one by one. Is it a coincidence? A curse? Or is the list in the hands of a killer?

Time is running out for Kenzie, but she’s determined to uncover the deadly secret of the list...before her number’s up. 

Plot: ★★★★
The storyline is basically a young adult version of Final Destination! I was anticipating this book for the longest time because DOESN’T THAT JUST SOUND SO AWESOME AND INTRIGUING AND OH MAN.
It was definitely really interesting and exciting to read about, but it wasn’t my favourite read. Every year at this particular high school, a list of ‘hotties’ goes up and if you’re on the list, you’re a shoe-in to be popular. The main character finds out she’s 5th on the list, even though she thinks the list is bogus. Then the mysterious accidents start happening and one by one, number by number, the girls on the list die, and she has to find out what’s going on and how to stop it before it’s her turn! DUN DUN DUNNNNN. Sound good? Yeah, I thought so. I was definitely biting my nails while reading this one because I just HAD to know who was behind this and the answer to this question was certainly shocking!

Characters: ★★★
I honestly thought the characters were just meh. I found that they didn’t have much depth to them, as they weren’t really the emphasis of the story (obviously the mystery was but it still would have been nice to delve deeper into the characters).

Writing: ★★★
Again, I thought the writing was just okay. I also found a couple of blunders in there like in one scene, the main character lost her phone, then in the next scene she was pulling it out of her pocket and using it? I thought her phone was lost? WHAT?

Romance/Feels: ★★★
The love interest was interesting enough, but I thought it lacked a lot of things. I suppose with everything going on there wouldn’t have been much time to form and relationship and stuff but I just felt like it was nothing special to be honest.

Ending:
★★★
Very interesting ending, but I still have so many answers! I want to know what happens next and I’m thinking that there HAS to be a sequel because there is still so much left for the main characters to do!

Overall Enjoyment:
★★★
It was definitely an enjoyable read, but the only thing I really felt drawn to was the initial premise, but I don’t think the story itself really lived up to it unfortunately!

Rereadability: Don’t think so.


Final Rating: 3.17 stars!