Book Review | The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke

Title: The Lost and the Found

Author: Cat Clarke

Series or standalone: Standalone

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary/Mystery

Publication Date: 2nd July 2015

Format: ARC

Source: Publisher (Quercus)
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Goodreads

LOST. 
When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister. Faith’s childhood was dominated by Laurel’s disappearance – from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister. 
FOUND.
Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans’ old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound. Faith always dreamed of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that’s lost can be found again…

What a rollercoaster! I didn't go into this book with many expectations so I was extremely surprised to come out of the reading experience gushing about how good this book was. I'll start of by saying that my biggest fear is being kidnapped so I probably shouldn't read books like this, but for some reason I find them so fascinating. I loved that this book followed what happens after Laurel is found and how she and her family copes with the adjustment and also with the police trying to track down the man who took her. It was so interesting to see how Laurel coped with being put back into the real world.
At about the half way mark, I honestly couldn't stop flipping those pages because I just HAD to know what happened. The mystery aspect was fantastic and gripping and was super intriguing the whole way through. I did guess the twist at the end though which was a bit disappointing, but I love how the author did it (if you've read it, you'll know what I mean). 
The thing that stopped me from giving this a full 5 stars was that I really wanted an epilogue. LIKE, JUST A COUPLE MORE PAGES PLEASEEEEE THAT WOULD BE GREAT. 
I loved the rawness of the emotions from the family members and all in all I just feel like this book was really well done. I highly recommend it!

Book Review | The Flywheel by Erin Gough

Title: The Flywheel

Author: Erin Gough

Series or standalone: Standalone

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: 1st February 2015

Format: Paperback

Source: Publisher (Hardie Grant Egmont)

Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Delilah’s crazy life is about to get crazier. Ever since her father took off overseas, she’s been struggling to run the family’s cafe without him and survive high school. But after a misjudged crush on one of the cool girls, she's become the school punchline as well. With all that’s on her plate she barely has time for her favourite distraction – spying on the beautiful Rosa, who dances flamenco at the tapas bar across the road.
Only her best friend Charlie knows how she feels about Rosa, but he has romantic problems of his own. When his plan to win an older woman’s heart goes horribly wrong, Del is the only one who can help Charlie stay out of jail. 
All this leaves Del grappling with some seriously curly questions. Is it okay to break the law to help a friend? How can a girl tell another girl she likes her without it ending in humiliation and heartbreak? And – the big one – is it ever truly possible to dance in public without falling over?

Thank you so much to Hardie Grant Egmont for sending this book my way! The Flywheel follows Delilah as she struggles with a lot of things while her father is away on holiday - she is struggling with her sexuality, managing the family cafe, balancing school, bullying and a whole range of other things. I'm so glad more and more books are being released that revolve around LGBTQ characters. It's so important because this is what society is like today and I believe that new literature should definitely reflect that! I also want to mention that this book is a part of a program run by Hardie Grant Egmont called 'The Ampersand Project', where they find YA novels by unpublished writers and publish them. This is their second time doing this and I just want to say that I think it's so great for the publisher to give more opportunities for Australian debut authors! 
I found this book to be really relevant for High School students, as it focuses on some really important topics revolving around friendships, sexuality, bullying, family issues and how different families from varying ethnicities are. It teaches a lot of important lessons and is so realistic and relatable. I think this is one of those books that should definitely be on display in school libraries for teens to read because you never know, it might be exactly what they need to find acceptance in who they are and other answers to certain issues they may be relevant in their lives. 
Personally, there was something lacking for me, and I have a feeling it's to do with my age. A lot of the issues being dealt with in the book were things that aren't relevant for me anymore. I can still appreciate it for what it is though. 
It was a great story with lovely quirky characters and I'd definitely recommend it! I gave it 3.5/5 stars!

DNF Book Review | Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood

Title: Inherit the Stars

Author: Tessa Elwood

Series or standalone: 1st in a series

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Publication Date: 8th December 2015

Format: eARC

Source: NetGalley 

Goodreads

Three royal houses ruling three interplanetary systems are on the brink of collapse, and they must either ally together or tear each other apart in order for their people to survive.
Asa is the youngest daughter of the house of Fane, which has been fighting a devastating food and energy crisis for far too long. She thinks she can save her family’s livelihood by posing as her oldest sister in an arranged marriage with Eagle, the heir to the throne of the house of Westlet. The appearance of her mother, a traitor who defected to the house of Galton, adds fuel to the fire, while Asa also tries to save her sister Wren's life . . . possibly from the hands of their own father.
But as Asa and Eagle forge a genuine bond, will secrets from the past and the urgent needs of their people in the present keep them divided?
Author Tessa Elwood's debut series is an epic romance at heart, set against a mine field of political machinations, space adventure, and deep-seeded family loyalties.

I'll just start off by saying that I didn't finish this book. I only got 25% of the way through before I decided I didn't want to continue. I won't go too into depth because this book is yet to be released so I'll just quickly state the issues that I had with it. Young Adult Sci-Fi is one of my absolute FAVOURITE genres and this sounded absolutely epic, but as soon as I started reading, I knew this book wasn't going to be for me. 
The lack of world building and descriptions of the planets/worlds was astounding. There was hardly anything for me to form even a snippet of an image in my head. 
It was also really obvious that this was heading into a VERY romance heavy novel, so if you were looking for more of an epic sci-fi story (like I was) then maybe give this one a miss.
I also wanted more of the sci-fi elements, but there wasn't any apart from the fact that it's set on different planets, but when they travelled between planets, there was no mention of how they got there and how the heck they managed to get from one solar system to another in like, a day. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? WHERE IS THE SCIENCE? WHERE IS THE WORLD BUILDING? WHERE ARE THE DESCRIPTIONS? There were none and I'm very disappointed. I realise that as the book continues, it could have improved but to be honest I just wasn't enjoying it at all. 
I didn't rate it because I don't feel like that's fair because I didn't finish it, but based on the first 1/4, I'd give it a 1.5 star rating. 

Mini Review | This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

Title: This Raging Light

Author: Estelle Laure

Series or standalone: Standalone

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: 22nd December 2015

Format: eARC

Source: NetGalley & HMH Books for Young Readers
My Rating: 2/5 stars

Goodreads

Can the best thing happen at the worst time?  Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page. 

I won't go too into depth with this review as this debut novel won't be released until December, but I certainly have a few things to say about it! First of all I just want to thank NetGalley and HMH for this eARC! Already, this book has been receiving some praise so I was excited to see what it was all about!
It follows the main character as she tries to hide the fact that her mother left town and she's now the only carer for her 9-year-old sister. Their father is mentally unstable and they don't know where either of their parents are and are scared of coming clean for fear of being separated and put into foster care. 
I loved the idea of this novel as it sparks some really strong emotions and questions. However, I was a bit let down by this book.
The writing was beautiful and metaphorical, but I found many other aspects of the book to be quite bland. I found that I didn't really connect to the characters or the story at all until one point that had me almost choking up at the kindness of some people. Other than that, I found it to be very predictable and some big aspects of the plot I found kind of unnecessary to the overarching theme and storyline. 
I also have a huge problem with unresolved plotlines, and this was one of those, so be aware of that if you are like me and always need a complete resolution.
In the end, I didn't really find it that memorable or amazing, but it is a nice, hopeful little contemporary that might interest some of you!

Book Review | Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout

Title: Hello, I Love You

Author: Katie M. Stout

Series or standalone: Standalone

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: 1st July 2015

Format: Paperback

Source: Bought 

Goodreads

Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.
She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol. 
Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.

This book sounded so promising! It has been compared to Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins except set in Korea and features a hot KPOP star! UMM SIGN ME UP! But unfortunately, I was really disappointed with this book. The idea was so great and had just enough originality to separate itself from Anna and the French Kiss, but essentially, a quite few things let it down for me.
Firstly, I found the main character to be EXTREMELY unlikeable. She was rude, really nosey, judgmental, a little bit racist and extremely insensitive. She was so horrible to her new friends' brother and it wasn't even for a good reason! She would just straight up insult him just because he wasn't paying her the amount of attention she wanted. She also complained a lot and insisted on asking really personal questions to these people she hardly knew, in a blunt and insensitive manner. I just couldn't find any redeeming qualities about her to be honest. She did start to get better towards the end of the book, but I just really didn't like her.
Another thing I really didn't like (and is something that I have seen in quite a few YA novels) is that she purposefully lied to Jason and said that she basically didn't give a rats arse about him (when she clearly did). WHY HIDE YOUR FEELINGS? OR IF YOU MUST HIDE THEM, AT LEAST DO IT WITHOUT HURTING THE OTHER PERSON BY INSULTING THEM. It just didn't make any sense. 
I also feel like even though KPOP and Korea are super important parts of the story, they weren't explored hardly enough. I honestly struggled to picture Korea just from the descriptions in the book and found myself googling what it looks like and I would've loved to delve further into KPOP but it's only briefly mentioned here and there. 
I definitely wanted more of a backstory on other characters such as Yoon Jae. And I'm sad that what happened with Sophie and Tae Hwa?? I wanted more of a resolution with them!
The things that I really enjoyed about the book were definitely the supporting characters, especially Sophie. She was so cute and fun and a lovely person to read about, in contrast to our main character, who acted like a spoiled brat the majority of the time. I also thought that there were definitely some really cute parts of the book, but I definitely wanted more of them! 
Overall, I would recommend this for a light and fluffy contemporary, but keep in mind that it has a really frustrating main character and lacks some other elements that I mentioned above. 
I gave this 2 stars!

Mini Review | When You're Back by Abbi Glines

Title: When You're Back

Author: Abbi Glines

Series or standalone: Book 12 in the Rosemary Beach companion series

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

Publication Date: 30th June 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

Source: Bought 

Goodreads

The future is bright for Reese Ellis. She has Mase Colt-Manning, the man of her dreams, and a family she didn’t know existed until her long-lost father arrived on her doorstep in Rosemary Beach. After growing up with a cruel mother and abusive stepfather, Reese is eager to get to know the caring and charming man who wants to be a part of her life. Everything is finally falling into place.
While Reese is visiting her new family in Chicago, Mase spends time with his “cousin,” Aida, who has worshipped him since childhood. Though they’re unrelated by blood, Mase and Aida have been raised to think of each other as family. But when Reese returns, she can tell something isn’t quite right with Aida, who clearly resents Reese and excels at manipulative little games. And though Mase is unsuspecting, Reese knows Aida doesn’t love him like a cousin should...


Okay here's the thing. I LOVE this series to death even though it's not a literary masterpiece or anything. I love these books because I love all of the characters so much and the same goes for this book, except this book lacked other things for me. Usually throughout these books, there is a main plot-line going on regarding the two main characters of the story, and I felt like the actual plot of this book didn't happen until 70% of the way through the book. The rest was just sex. So that was disappointing. But when the story actual starting developing and things started to happen, I was like YES THERE'S THE ABBI GLINES I LOVE WHERE WERE YOU GURL? So usually I rate these books really high because the blend of character development, the plot and the sex are all usually balanced perfectly, but in this one they weren't. Also, another thing that might bother some people (but didn't bother me that much coz I realise these books are pretty unrealistic in terms of the love story) was that some of the things that came out of Mase's mouth just weren't things that normal guys say. The things he says are just too romantic and cheesy and I really don't think guys in real life talk like that (at least, my boyfriend doesn't talk cheese to that extreme) but I still love it because I love these characters and this series is my guilty pleasure sooooo yeah just some quick thoughts about this book! I still absolutely adore this series and I realise that it isn't for everyone!

I gave this 3 stars!