The Heir and The Spare (Untitled #1) by Emily Albright

Published by: Merit Press

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Rating: ****

American Evie Gray has finally achieved her dream. To be able to attend Oxford just like her mother did before she tragically died. But there is more to the story. Directed throughout her life by mysterious envelopes written by her mother, Evie finds herself in the same school, and friendship circle as the spare heir to the British throne, Edmund. The two dance around the city of London and surrounding cities as they try to figure out what exactly Evie's mother wants, and whether there is such a thing as fairytales.

My first impressions of this book were quite dismissive. It felt too cringeworthy, especially after the Kate and Wills story but now that I have read this, I can honestly say that it definitely isn't as bad as I thought.

Starting with Evie's brief moving into her student digs at Oxford, she is immediately befriended by fellow students and meets the mysterious Edmund (who looks familiar but not). The book quickly introduces the reader to all of what they need to know about everyone whilst setting up the romance pretty quickly (and rather solidly.)

The Heir and The Spare can be purchased from Amazon now.

City Love by Susane Colasanti

City Love by Susane Colasanti

Published by: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre: Young Adult romance, Contemporary

Tagline: Look up. Anything is possible.

First of all I want to say that this book was absolutely breathtaking and captivating. I don't think a book has affected me so much in my life before. It made me feel as if I was in every scene of the books, as if I was part of those girls and experienced everything they did. And as someone considering the future, it definitely made me think about emigrating to New York so thank you Ms Colasanti for a beautiful and magnificent book!

But now back to the book!

City Love is split between the lives of three very different girls from different lives who share an apartment before starting college or university in the city. The reader is introduced to Sadie, Darcy and Rosanna in very different ways but you get to know each girl in how that happens. 

Sadie is the first person we meet. She's that friend we all have, the ready to be completely in love and totally optimistic about everything. I genuinely liked Sadie because of these characteristics. Of course I felt a bit off about how damned happy she could be but she's literally like a puppy. Adorable and one of the best and loyal friends you could have.

Then there's Darcy. Darcy is the opposite of Sadie with her fast attitude and at first, laziness. We discover this is jetlag because she's from Cali. But she's not who we think she is. She's been burned and so this explains everything about her. Yet there's so much more to the complex puzzle that makes her who she is.

Rosanna is the last girl to introduce and probably my favourite. She's the poorest student out of the three, and the one who is very realistic. She so desperately wants to help everyone and anyone but needs to help herself. She has so much weight on her shoulder, so many problems to tackle and solve that when she meets someone who can actually treat her right, she's very uncertain of what to do. 

It's a fantastic book that explores the magical city of New York and it's allure. We all fall more in love with the city through each character and their experiences. We all want to move there and experience almost the same things as the girls do but this is the exciting part about New York. The reason there are so many books and films set in and around the city. We all just want to fall in love and this is the city to do it in.

City Love is available to buy from Amazon UK and Amazon USA now.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I hope this book is book one of a series. I really hope so because I've not read a book like this in a long time. There was an alternating point of view each chapter but between the two leading characters and I found Tahir did both perfectly. Yes there were parts I got a little bored but I wasn't bored enough to stop reading it, it was just kinda slow. But the ending makes me really really really hope there's a sequel in the works!

Also this is the book everyone is talking about.