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.

Unrivaled (Beautiful Idols #1) by Alyson Noel

Unrivaled (Beautiful Idols #1) by Alyson Noel

Published by: Katherine Tegen

Genre: Young Adult Romance, Young Adult Contemporary

Tagline: Welcome to the party

Rating:****

The book follows a few characters on their endeavour to win a competition. Through this, the reader encounters the mean ad celebrity filled streets of Los Angeles and there's a mystery/thriller as a famous actress goes missing.

So my main thoughts of this book was how much I wasn't sure if I didn't like it or not. Torn between wanting to stop reading it for fear of losing my sanity - it got to the point I was contemplating trying it later, or continuing it so I might just discover what the hell was going on.

However things did pick up. Thank god for that! But the sad news was that it picked up too late. For me, I became interested as the novel ended because that was when the true thriller/mystery aspect kicked in.

(A free copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.)


Unrivalled can be purchased from all retailers, or on Amazon UK now.

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.

Jesse's Girl (Hundred Oaks) by Miranda Kenneally

Jesse's Girl (Hundred Oaks) by Miranda Kenneally

Published by: Sourcebooks Fire

Genre: Young Adult romance, contemporary, music

Tagline: One day will change the beat of her heart

Just to let you all know, Hundred Oaks is the universe in which most of Miranda Kenneally's books are set in. She's very similar to Sarah Dessen who writes her book in the fictional town of Colby.

Jesse's Girl is a very short book. I was able to read it within the space of an hour which pleasantly surprised me. The books focuses on the life and aspirations of talented but unknown musicican Maya Henry who's supposedly amazing at guitar. Maya is a very typical musical orientated teen who knows what she wants and works very hard but she needs a little more confidence to go solo.

Her school has a shadowing day where classmates follow a person who practices their dream job and Maya manages to shadow Jesse Scott who is a huge country/rockstar. Oh and I forgot to mention the book is set in Nashville.

So she follows Jesse around who acts like a complete tool and then extremely nice. He's wary but so is she. It's weird how alike the duo can be but we all know where it'll end. 

--

I wasn't too sure about this. I loved other Hundred Oak books because they were quick easy simple summer reads but this felt different. I wasn't too sure she felt authentic enough as a protagonist yet at times she felt just right. It's strange. 

Jesse's Girl can be bought from Amazon UK and Amazon USA

Redeemed (book #12) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Redeemed (book #12) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Wow this book was such a fail. I was really annoyed with the weak and really unimaginative ending. Obviously Kalona gets Nyx back and his brother is a jerk we all hate but Zoey Redbird should have died! The prophercy stated she'd die but nope. She does this pitiful dramatic I'm going to die act and speech but never follows through. Such a shame.

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

As a fan of Brown's novel I was immediately drawn into Jersey and related with her over her sibling issues, family life etc. The tornado was written beautifully, my attention was caught and I almost shed a tear at the way she refused to leave the ruin that was her home. I knew (Spoiler) her sister and mother had died but I thought that Jane her friend had too. I was kept guessing on that and she turns out to be alive (yay!) but Jersey's life doesn't go too well. I felt awful when I read about Clay and his family, I honestly thought Terry would make her feel better by almost being some kind of maternal figure, same with the grandparents but nothing was resolved enough to give them that chance to.

What I didn't understand was why Brown chose to drift over the passsing over of Jersey from paternal grandparents to the maternal grandparents. It was too rushed, the details breezing over my head and in the end I didn't feel satisfied as a reader. As an author I just wanted to rewrite the ending and extend the novel to give it more of a spark but one day maybe I'll write a novel like this.

The Words We Use are Black and White by Simon Holloway

The Words We Use are Black and White by Simon Holloway

'On essaie de trouver les couleurs qu'on a reve.' - Jacques Brel In Evian, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lucy sells tickets at the cinema. In the hills above the water, her brother believes himself happily married to a woman he once tried to find by swimming across the lake. Their childhood friend, Fabrice, is returning from the quiet confusion of Canadian trees and the brief memory of his girlfriend in Toronto. Into this relative stillness comes Alain, escaping Geneva's necessity of human contact. But a budding relationship between Alain and Lucy forces them all to reconsider the ways in which they try to talk to each other. To the songs of Jacques Brel and with the lake as a constant presence, Lucy, her brother Jean-Luc, and Fabrice struggle to make themselves heard among the clamour of failing words and misconceptions, leading to potential crises for them all. This interwoven story of love, family and our inability to make ourselves understood leaves you wondering if language can ever be more than guesswork, and if so whether anyone can ever be heard. And for Alain, tangled somewhere in the middle'

So I have a number of notes on my kindle about this novel and overall I found it a really enjoyable read and that's not because Simon is my lecturer. The book itself is easy to read, to follow and is set in some really beautiful clear places. An example would be 'The lake is clear. At it's edge you can see small catfish and perch flit about in the shallows, praying for bands of well-wishers to cast out yesterday's bread' For me this created a beautiful image in my mind because it captured a side of Lucy that I hadn't yet encountered. Also Lucy has to be my favourite character in the novel! She's so gone with the wind it's just wow.

The whole book has examples that I could gush and gush about, I wasn't expecting this when Simon gave me a copy but I'm really glad I read it, I think I might even buy a paperback of it because it's so good. I can't fathom more words to explain the story except suggest that you should read this book.

Immortal Prophercy (The Immortal Prophercy Saga #1) by Samantha Adams and Kay Fry

Immortal Prophercy by Samantha Adams and Kay Fry

I am a sucker for books with beautiful dresses. An example would be the Luxe series by Anna Godberson which are beautiful and incredible books! This book started a little iffy, I carried on reading it in hopes it would pick up and it did. 

My first imrpession was that it was set in the past, Victorian or Georgian time but it was actually set in the present which didn't click with me until James appeared. Either way it works to be set in either time period. It's one of those books that you can still like. 

I really really really enjoyed this book. It was different from vampire books, I even told my friend that when she asked is it vampires in an exasperated way and then understood that it was Twilight/Vampire Diaries or another cheesey tale of vamps. Instead it's more mature (as mature as you can get with a guy being your soulmate and over two hundred years older that your grandmother) but subtle in it's very wide field. Adams and Fry describe their vampires simply and it's enough to make you read on.

We Were Liars by E.Lockhart

We Were Liars by E.Lockhart

It's been so long since I read an E.Lockhart book that I floundered for so long about if I should get this or not. Louise ended up buying it and then told me to start reading it...So I did after a few months. Yes I am late jumping onto the bandwagon but bloody hell this book blew my mind. It was so unsuspecting, it comes across as a summer holiday for rich kids gone wrong in that Jenny Han secret way. But the last two chapters decieve you and pull the wool from your eyes when you discover the big secret and my is it good!

The book series that doesn't stop growing!

There's always that one series you and your book bff love to hate and for Louise and I that's the Selection series by Kiera Cass.

My reviews love it, I did love it but now I love to bash it! Yes I am talking about outgrowing that series that you start as a naive teenager and end it as an adult or something like that. Nah the series just makes me tick.

“Which do you fight for?"
"Actually, I'm here by mistake." 
"Mistake?" 
"Yes. Sort of. Well, it's a long story. And now ... I'm here” 
― Kiera Cass, The Selection

Okay so this is a small quote I found to support myself here. America, the protagonist, enters what we know as the bachelorette and the prize is to marry a prince! It already sounds so wonderful and we've all seen a episode of the bachelorette or beauty and the geek right? So you can guess the amount of bitchiness that would go on in such a competition. The girls in this are all set apart by class structures. It's really just Hunger Games in the fight to win and survive except if they get sent home, they're still alive and booted to a higher class so it's a win-win situation. However there's a message in the books that I don't believe in. Since when is it okay for a boy, a man to say I love you to a girl, to make her think she's going ot be his best friend and eventually make her queen of their fictional land and then turn around and treat her like rubbish by leading on another girl all because she used to love another guy. It's a stupid and horrible message for girls everywhere and it makes us girls seem like we're just silly little barbie dolls all ready to be seen and not be heard.

Recently the series just published the supposedly last book in the series which was titled The One. As you can guess, it was meant to be the last of the series where we'd finally discover who will marry the prince and live happily ever after but it still contains trivial parts that made me laugh and regret pre-ordering the book. Now I've just discovered she's publishing not one but two more books in the series and that makes me sad. I just want it to be over and I can't not read these sequels, I need them in order to carry on laughing and joking about the series with my book bff

Unraveling (Unraveling #1) by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling (Unraveling #1) by Elizabeth Norris

Buying a new ereader meant I could start getting through the mountains of arcs I have and this was one of them that I chose. Just so you know this book was first published in 2012 but I was shocked to read in my edition the amount of spelling mistakes, although I may have recieved a bad copy from pre-publish etc. 

The plot is brilliant, I was really invested into it until the last 100 pages, maybe more. Norris had clearly created a book that made the author feel like this could actually happen but the ending just seemed super rushed, almost as if she just wanted it to end and I found that part really boring. I know I'm supposed to read to the end but I ended up skimming it.

ARC Replies and possible insight into the Writing industry

As an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) reviewer, I generally get sent books and I choose which ones I want to read and I selected Appaloosa Summer which was a fairly lovely and simple summer read. (My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/971715104?book_show_action=false)

But what I didn't expect was to recieve such a lovely email back from the author herself. Sometime soon I will be starting to contact and post interviews, advice and more from published (Contracted, self pulished and one day the bigger housed) authors in the world.

The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

it's between 3.5-4 star mainly because I don't actually know how to describe how I feel after reading this book

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

The Lost World: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton




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Slammed (Slammed #1) by Colleen Hoover

Slammed by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

brilliant. just brilliant.

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The One (Selection #3) by Kiera Cass

The One by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After Amazon fudged my order up, I've only just got this. What a book! I'm a bit annoyed that some parts don't add up and the quick character growth (more like bipolar behavior) but yeah totally called that ending

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Racing Savanah by Miranda Kenneally

Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I actually loved this

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Shattered (Slated #3) by Teri Terry

Shattered by Teri Terry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

by far one of the most gripping and interesting ya novels I've read. So glad for Louise telling me to read it as I'd dismissed it so many times before but after reading it, I'm just not sure what could compare to such a brilliant storyline

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The Lady of The Rivers (The Cousins' War #3) by Philippa Gregory

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

quite enjoyable after all

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Avoiding Alpha (Alpha Girl #2) by Aileen Erin

Avoiding Alpha by Aileen Erin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

okay I received an arc of this and it honestly made my day to receive it because I loved the first. This one carries on from the first and was full of cutesyness and a good entertaining story. Admittedly it was quite short a book (or maybe it was how I devoured it) but it honestly entertained me and I can't wait for the third book to come out in October!!

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