Showing posts with label loved. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loved. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

For the Record by Charlotte Huang

For the Record by Charlotte Huang


Published by: Delacorte books for Young Readers
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: ****
Tagline: Standing out isn't the same as fitting in

Chelsea, the newest frontwoman for known band Melbourne, has just begun a new life. Previous to joining the band she was just a contestant on some talent show reminiscent of X-Factor or Britain's got talent, etc etc. 

Melbourne have been on the music scene for a few years. They're famous for their old singer Hollis who after leaving the band for mysterious reasons or rather to just go to Vassar. Forced to take Chelsea on, they're about to embark on a US tour that will teach her so much more about the world. 

But as usual there's a romance in the book. A few to be rather honest. 

What comes with fame is the arrival of celebrities into Chelsea's life. One celeb in particular is a young teen heartthrob who makes her feel so good at first until the relationship becomes a little weird. (My words). I wasn't too keen on her romantic endeavours. They felt so forced, so wrong but maybe that was how Huang was writing it to be like.

I did enjoy the book. It was a quick read, something I devoured on the train and made me feel a bit better before I had my dissertation presentation. 

For the Record can be bought from Amazon UK and Amazon US now.












Thursday, 26 November 2015

Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak

Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak


Published by: Albert Whitman and Company
Genre: YA, contemporary, romance
Rating: ****

Burn Girl is the type of book I read every summer purely because it provides a getaway from reality. It's like reading Sarah Dessen, everybody reads Sarah Dessen in their lifetime because she writes wonderful stories about characters who are different and have pasts or troubles that they need help or support with.

Arlie's scarred. Her face is disfigured thanks to her stepfather and his accomplices when they blew up a Meth lab. Her mother has just died of an overdose, yet Arlie suspects there's more to the story and to top it off, she's being forced to live with an Uncle she didn't know existed until now. 

Her new school isn't kind. What school is? But Arlie gets by through her best friend and the kindness of her newly discovered Uncle. But that isn't enough turmoil for the poor girl. Instead the dreaded stepfather returns claiming her mother owed him money and now Arlie has inherited the same debt and must pay it off.

But what can a sixteen year old do? She's got no job or access to the kind of capital that the stepfather wants. In the same time as his reappearance, she's got her own problems like school, boys and her home life. The poor girl is so traumatised that she can't even taste or smell, and it's all this idiot's fault.

It's a tough cookie of a story and maybe that's why I liked it so much. Mikulencak writes a very gritty and interesting story that put me in Arlie's perspective and admire how she overcame a lot in what could be considered a short period of time. A very strong lead indeed.

Burn Girl can be bought from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Where She Went (If I Stay #2) by Gayle Forman

Where She Went (If I Stay #2) by Gayle Forman


After reading If I Stay I had to read the sequel. I had to find out what happened to Mia and Adam and what had become of her since that accident.

I was amazed and a little skeptic to read it from Adam's point of view, especially when you really fall for his character in If I Stay because how could you resist him? But still he's such a great character and I enjoyed seeing the accident through his eyes and the aftermath of it. I was super shocked to see what had happened to Mia but it made sense, Gayle Forman really made it connect to the first whilst still making it  a brilliant sequel. If someone asked me which I prefer the most, I would say both. They're equally attention grabbing and beautiful books that made me cry and laugh and wish for what Adam and Mia have.


Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Point of Retreat (Slammed #2) by Colleen Hoover

Point of Retreat (Slammed, #2)Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5/5

so here I am sniffling at a beautiful book with absolutely no idea what to say except how much this book made me smile and live the little things. Stars are the best things ever and Hoover captured them in the most memorable way

View all my reviews

Slammed (Slammed #1) by Colleen Hoover

Slammed (Slammed, #1)Slammed by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

brilliant. just brilliant.

View all my reviews

Friday, 23 May 2014

5 titles I'm reading (and recently read) that you should read

1.If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

"My emotions swirl like leaves caught in the breath of a dust devil, and the only thing I can seem to hold onto is the anger"
Carey is keeping a terrible secret. If she tells, it could destroy her future. If she doesn't, will she ever be free?

For almost as long as she can remember, Carey has lived in the heart of the woods with her drug-addicted mother and six-year-old sister, Jenessa.

Their mother routinely disappears for weeks at a time, leaving the girls to cope alone. Survival is Carey's only priority - until strangers arrive and everything changes..

I found this book on display at my local Waterstones. Picking it up, I was immediately attracted by the plot and kind of thought it to be a crime novel but it was going to be bought regardless. Turns out I had a good hunch as the book turned out to be amazing, I just loved Murdoch's writing style and how you as a reader were placed into the storyline so gently. I cried and laughed and I just attached to Carey and Jenessa and even the other characters. I honestly cannot stop recommending this book.

2. The 100 (The One Hundred #1) by Kass Morgan
"Orange streaks appeared in the blue, like an oboe joining a flute, turning a solo into a duet. That harmony built into a crescendo of colors as yellow and then pink added their voices to the chorus. The sky darkened, throwing the array of colors into even sharper relief. The word sunset couldn't possibly contain the meaning of the beauty above them, and for 
the millionth time since they'd landed, Wells found that the words they'd been taught to describe Earth paled in comparison to the real thing"
In the future, humans live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.

Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again

So I found this by coming across the tv series (Which is really good but not entirely to the book as expected). But I love both. The novel is more down to earth and less about boys and love, instead it shows how our Earth has evolved, there's a lot more description that is beautiful (My above chosen quote) but altogether Clarke is a nicer person, well okay, she's a lot more harder and well a teenage girl in the book (She doesn't love blank!) but the show is good too. I don't know what more to say because if I carry on, I'll probably give a lot of spoilers too. But The 100 is on tv Wednesday nights on CW (Gossip Girl, 90210 etc) and the book is available everywhere now!

3.The Program (The Program #1) by Suzanne Young
"If it's meant to be, you'll find each other again."

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them

To be honest I haven't actually finished this book, I'm 5-10% done with it but I have a feeling that when I get past the first few chapters it might get better. Who knows? But it is a great plot and story. 

4. The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2) by Michael Crichton



"All your life people will tell you things. And most of the time, probably ninety-five percent of the time, what they'll tell you will be wrong"
It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park. Six years since that extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end - the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public.

There are rumours that something has survived.

So I bought this late last year when filming a project for uni. Since then it's been under my bed until yesterday when I thought what the heck, I'll read it. I haven't read the first nor bought it so I'm probably making a mistake here but yeah. I've reached the first eighth of the book and it seems quite good. As I've seen the films I have a brief knowledge of what's happening/what happened in the first book but yeah. Geology seems quite cool right now (That's a joke by the way)

5. Slammed by Collen Hoover (Currently Reading - 50% read as of this morning)
"Sometimes life gets in your way. 
it gets all up in your damn way. But it doesn't get all up in your damn waybecause it wants you to just give up and let it take control. 
Life doesn't get all up in your damn way because it just wants you to hand it all over and be carried along."
Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.


Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart


I've had a lot of reservations about this book/series. Hoover seems like a good author, I've researched around her books wanting to read them but not knowing if I should. Slammed is one goodreads continuously recommended me and so here I go.

So far it's really good but I'll let you know how that goes when I've read it.