Book Review – ‘Awaken’ by Jaime Guerard.

Book Review – ‘Awaken’ by Jaime Guerard ~ 5 Stars!

Wow! What an incredible read! The storyline was fascinating and I really connected to the characters (especially Collin #TeamCollin fangirl right here).

Jaime Guerard’s writing style was electric and I found myself reading for hours at a time before realising it was about 3am. Bre was a wonderfully complex character, and from the start I found myself wanting the best for her, first when it came to her relationship with Josh and then when it came down to her wanting to spare the feelings of Austin when she fell in love with his brother.

The characters had amazing depth and I loved seeing how their relationships with each other formed. The relationship that Bre had with Austin was beautifully written and I felt so heartbroken for Bre that she was caught in the middle of two men who she really loved. Austin had been there for her after she’d broken up with her boyfriend, and showed her that she deserved to be treated better in life, and their friendship was so strong that I felt bereft knowing I don’t have a friend who I am so close to. That Austin believed Bre, even when any sane person probably wouldn’t believe that she could see the future before it happened, was something that really strengthened their bond. However, when the story began to suggest that Austin and Bre should be together, I couldn’t identify why that made me feel awkward. When Collin arrived however, I really began to see that whilst I love Austin, and his relationship with Bre, I saw him more as a brother and confidante, and couldn’t really see the two of them in a romantic relationship.

Collin was a great character and when he first arrived in the book I immediately felt that with him Bre could reach her full potential. Whilst with Austin she would be safe and happy, with Collin she could reach for the stars so to speak.

The character of Eve was one that really drew me in. I loved the way her storyline added in a psychological thrill to the mystery Bre was trying to unravel, and I can’t wait to see more of her character in the next book.

The last book that I became so engrossed in the drama action scenes was ‘The Hunger Games’ and I can only compare my feelings when reading ‘Awaken’s’ car-chase scene with the thrill and adrenaline that I had whilst reading ‘The Hunger Games’ action sequences. I was literally on the edge of my seat, and everytime the car bumped, I’d tense up as though I too was in the car. Extroadinary story telling!

Overall, this was a fantastic debut, and I can’t wait until the next book is released as ‘Awaken’ had an evil cliffhanger!

5 stars and a definite recommended read.

Book Review – ‘The Sea of Tranquility’ by Katja Millay.

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 Book Review – ‘The Sea of Tranquility’ by Katja Millay ~ 100 Stars!

The Sea of Tranquility has been sitting on my Kindle for far too long. Everyone has been raving about how brilliant it is, so I made myself a deal that I would wait until I’d finished University to read it so that I could really throw myself into the story without any distractions.

I can quite honestly say that ‘The Sea of Tranquility’ is one of the best books I have ever read, if you know my love for Harry Potter and I say that this book was up there on my scale of 1 to amazing, then you’ll know just how much I loved it (a clue: it was a lot). It is very rare that you read a book that speaks to you in such a way that you feel as though your heart and soul is being scrutinised as you turn each page. Reading Nastya and Josh’s story was very much like that. It was a beautiful reminder that no matter what you are going through, there is someone who will be there for you. It was so true to real life and that made the journey all the more wonderful. Everything about this book was pure genius and it was one of those stories that will stay with me forever.

Katja Millay’s writing style was beautiful and so clever. When we first meet Nastya, her narration is short and to the point. Her sentences are rarely longer than a few words, and straight away I knew we were being introduced to a character who was deeply emotionally scarred. I was so deeply engrossed in Nastya’s inner turmoil, that I didn’t even notice the most defining thing about her. It was stunningly clever writing, and I honestly had chills as I read.

“I am so sorry. You must be Nastya.”

This time I nod.

“You don’t talk.”

The transition of the style of Nastya’s monologue’s was incredibly moving to see, as she grows stronger in herself, and finds herself a home and family with Josh and Drew that her descriptions become more colourful, her sentences longer, and the blunt, daggered tone that we first saw from her became softer and gentler.

I loved the relationship Nastya had with both Josh and Drew. At first I was expecting to greatly dislike Drew, having the suspicion that his respect for Josh wouldn’t be enough for him to stay away from Nastya, so I absolutely loved how Drew, whilst still flirting and generally being his typical male self, really wanted the best for Josh and Nastya. The way Drew seemed to see himself as Nastya’s older brother was wonderful to read. In these kind of books we often get swept up by the main romance of the story, but Nastya and Drew’s relationship was a beautiful reminder that true friends will be there for you, no matter if they are your boyfriend, brother or friend. The Leighton’s kindness to Nastya, by inviting her to Sunday dinner was a real golden lining in Nastya’s world. She is so submerged in pain and rage and anger at what another human being did to her, that she found it hard at first to accept the selfless generosity and kindness that the Leighton’s gave her.

Nastya’s relationship with Josh was such a beautiful journey that had me crying, smiling, laughing, sobbing and just generally an emotional wreck. Their connection because of the trials of their past was heartbreaking, and it was wonderful to see how they both opened up to each other in ways that they couldn’t to anyone else.

“There’s no reason to keep hiding in the bathroom. Hide here. There’s a force field, you know.” He lowers his voice when he says it, like he’s telling me a secret and then just barely hints at a smile that no one but me would catch before he puts it away and sobers, adding quietly, “No one will bother you.”

There story was a rollercoaster ride, but one that had true meaning in its ups and downs. The scenes when we saw them together, when in Josh’s garage, eating ice cream, wishing with pennies at the fountain, was perfection. Even the scenes when they are arguing or furious with each other, I never felt that it was uncalled for. Everything was placed perfectly.

Let’s just say that after reading such utter perfection, I put my Kindle down and had a long cathartic sob. It was such an incredible piece of writing that took me on a wonderful journey through the highs and lows of life and reminded me to be lucky for what I have, and to never take advantage of it.

And the ending line, wow! Let’s just say that summed up the whole novel in two words. Go and read it to find out what those words were.

A stunning piece of perfection is the only way I can describe this book. I can’t wait for it to be released in Paperback, because this is definitely one that I will be rereading for the rest of my life.

It seems kind of devastating that I can only rate this 5 Stars! In a perfect world, with a scale of 1 to 100 stars, this would rate at 100.

You can pre-order a Paperback copy of ‘The Sea of Tranquility’ here:

UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Tranquility-Katja-Millay/dp/1476730946/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369071694&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sea+of+tranquility

US Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Tranquility-Katja-Millay/dp/1476730946/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369071694&sr=1-1&keywords=the+sea+of+tranquility

Book Review – ‘On Demand’ by Justine Elyot.

Book Review – ‘On Demand’ by Justine Elyot ~ 3 – 3.5 Stars.

I had read so many good reviews for this book and was really excited to read it as it had an average rating of 4.02 stars on Goodreads, and everyone was raving about it. Maybe it was because of the high expectations I had for this book that made it not quite reach the mark. It’s difficult for me to describe what I thought about this book. There was nothing wrong with it per se, as it was a well written fun read, that was just what it said on the tin. The author’s writing style was good and I liked how the little glimpses we were given into not just the main character Sophie’s life, but some of the guests at the hotel.

However, it might have been just me, but I felt the story didn’t flow so well, as the story constantly jumped from describing the lifestyle of one character to another which left me unable to connect to any of the characters as they were only met briefly. As this was a book set in a hotel, I can understand that it might have been the author’s intention to do this, to emphasise the ever busy and changing hotel lifestyle, but for me I felt this detracted from the main characters and their own inner thoughts.

The main character Sophie has an infatuation with her manager Chase and whilst she does end the book happily with another man, I didn’t feel that Sophie’s feelings for Chase were resolved. Neither was there any indication given on what Chase thought of Sophie. I thought the relationship between Sophie and Lloyd seemed quite rushed and very out of place as there wasn’t any lead up to it, in fact I hardly recall Lloyd even being mentioned in any important context before the group night at the pool. A bigger build up of their relationship would have probably drawn me into the story more easily, as well as making me sympathise with Lloyd more and not feel like Sophie ended up with the consolation prize because Chase didn’t want her.

Despite this, I thought it was a well written, intriguing story that I would recommend to others who enjoy this genre of book.
I’d definitely read from this author again as her writing style was great, but due to the problems I felt it had with story flow and the way the characters stories were not resolved, I couldn’t quite give it 4 stars.

3 – 3.5 stars.

Book Review – ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins.

Book Review – ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins ~ 5 Stars!

So when everyone was getting all excited for the release of ‘The Hunger Games’ film, I was sitting there thinking ‘OH GOD NO!’. From what I heard it was going to be the ‘New Twilight’, and quite frankly, I couldn’t think of anything worse. Whilst the Twilight books were quite good, the films were the worst things I had ever seen in my life, and I couldn’t bare to think of another seemingly good book go down the drain.

But anyway, a friend bullied me into it, and I downloaded Hunger Games on my kindle.

It was devoured in the space of 24 hours and then Catching Fire and Mockingjay were immediately downloaded and yet again devoured in the space of 48 hours.

Suzanne Collins’ writing style is electric, and I honestly could not put this book down. What I loved most is that Katniss is not your typical heroine. She isn’t a particularly nice person when it gets down to it. She is loyal to her family, and to her that is all that is important, which is a wonderful trait for her to have, particularly given the dangerous and poverty stricken life she lives.

Peeta was a wonderful character that I took to straight away. Whilst it is probably true that Gale would be better suited to Katniss in temperament, I really loved how strongly Peeta felt for Katniss, and how he was willing to give up his life to keep her safe. They were complete opposites, but they seemed to fit perfectly, like two sides of a coin. Katniss’ returning feelings for Peeta were wonderful to read, as we know that she does not love him in the same way, yet that is OK. We know that Katniss would never fall in love easily. She is too stubborn and level-headed to believe that love would help her in any way, so it was wonderful for her to realise that love does exist and that maybe she could one day be capable of giving it.

The story of the capitol and the games was tragic. It gives us a reminder at just what the future could hold for the planet, should repression of rights continue as it is in some countries. How far will the leaders of the world go in a bid to maintain order? A thoughtful and quite frankly scary idea, but so cleverly put into writing.

5 stars and a definite recommended read!

Book Review – ‘Evan Elemental’ by Crystal Groszek.

Book Review – ‘Evan Elemental’ by Crystal Groszek ~ 5 Stars!

I won an ebook of Evan Elemental in a giveaway and as it was a new book and hadn’t had any reviews I went into reading it completely blind. It’s very hard to explain how I felt when I read this book as I felt so many conflicting emotions at once, and the fact that at some points in the novel I really didn’t like the main character because I expected so much more of her, really made it clear to me how invested I was in the story. Overall the only word I can think to describe this book is ‘WOW!’

Brilliant job Crystal Groszek.

The story drew me in right from the word go as we see that Evan loses her parents in a car crash and is then told that she must live with her Grandmother. The prose which talked of Evan’s everyday life after the crash, walking from one activity to another in a zombified state really pulled at my heart. The author made no attempts to make Evan instantly likeable instead focusing on the numb grief which is all that Evan can feel. It was such a refreshing change from seeing characters walking around with a brave smile on their face and refusing to cry. As a teenager, Evan should cry and accept that not everything will be fine, and I really embraced her character for doing that.

This book might not be appropriate for some readers as it depicts drug use among teens which I was a bit wary about when I first read these chapters. I couldn’t really understand why Evan was smoking weed when I would have thought she’d want to make her parents proud of her, but then I have never lost a parent so I can’t say I’d never act this way in that situation. It was a strange story for me to read, as I think it is a realistic depiction of teenagers actions today, whether drug taking is as an experiment, part of a rebellion, or just to distract from emotional pain.

Another reason I liked this book was that I really didn’t like the main male character. This might sound ridiculous, but whenever I read a young adult/new adult book, I always seem to fall in love with the male boyfriend. This was a refreshing change as I really had a bad feeling about Lex. I didn’t like his attitude, possessiveness, jealousy and the way he continually lied to Evan. I really loved Anders, a young man who Evan had a friendship with when they were much younger, but who Evan doesn’t remember. I really connected with his character and can’t wait for the next book in the series so that I can see if their relationship develops romantically as I hope it does. This book gave little focus to their relationship, only throwing in little hints, which I hope I correctly guessed mean we shall see more of Anders and Evan in the next book. I’d also like to see Evan start to realise that Lex isn’t actually the best thing since sliced bread, and I’d like for her to understand that she shouldn’t accept the dominating way he treats her. Maybe it was just me that felt so unsure of Lex, but it didn’t at all detract from how much I loved the story as, if anything, it had me even more excited about how their story will progress.

This was a wonderful, thought-provoking read, and I loved the fantasy element to it which makes the mystery of the story even more exciting. However, do beware as there is an evil cliffhanger at the end.

5 stars and a definite recommended read.

Book Review – ‘Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire’ by Paul Ramey.

Book Review – ‘Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire’ by Paul Ramey ~ 5 Stars!

‘Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire’ was such a delight to read! A lot of the time with short books I feel like the story and character development can be rushed in order to keep to a lower wordcount, but Paul Ramey wrote this book expertly, with the storyline and character development perfectly balanced!

The storylines alternated between the 1700s and the present day, and the manner in which it was done was brilliant as it didn’t detract from the present day story, instead giving you another small clue to solving Edgar, Corinthian and Shelby’s present day mystery.

I loved that Edgar is not your typical teenage hero, and for that reason I found myself really connecting to his character. It was nice to see a fifteen year old boy who wasn’t worried about school, girls or social status, but was enthused by historical research, and had a goal that he wanted to achieve. This really made him stand out from his peers, and it was nice to see that not all teenage boys are as arrogant as the ones I used to go to school with. I also chuckled reading some of Edgar’s narrative about Shelby, both bewildered and taken with her female charm. It was a refreshing change to see the strange creatures that men see in women.

Shelby is a brilliant example of a young girl who I’d have wanted to be friends with in school. The way she started off by teasing Edgar for his fashion sense and constant presence in the local library made me laugh. A classic example of how girls act when they don’t want to seem too obvious! I loved how fiercely loyal she was to Edgar when her friends teased him, and I whooped with delight when she put them in their place.

“We’ve already kissed,” Shelby boasted defiantly. “Last night, in fact. I don’t know where he learned to kiss like that, but he’s pretty amazing. You two don’t know what you’re missing.”

You go Shelby! Loving a bit of girl power!

Corinthian’s character was also great fun. I liked seeing how fond he was of Edgar, but how little things made us begin to doubt him. Despite some of the bad things he does, I really felt sorry for him. His whole life had been consumed by his desire to find the lost grimoire and when he fails, it makes you wonder what he will do with his life.

The storyline of the healers and witches was one that I always find thought provoking. Being Pagan myself it breaks my heart to see how these people were treated all because of their desire to help heal the sick. It is often a common reaction to place blame with the church, so it was a wonderful change to see how the reverend was not involved in the witch hunting, and saved the woman he loved despite the fact that it was against the teachings of his religion.

A wonderful, fun, thought provoking read. A definite recommended read and 5 stars!

Book Review – ‘A Place Called Here’ by Cecelia Ahern.

Book Review – ‘A Place Called Here’ by Cecelia Ahern ~ 5 Stars

I always struggle to get into books by Cecelia Ahern, mainly because of the very tragically realistic personalities she gives to her characters, making them not unlikeable, but not really someone who’s morals and behaviour you’d necessarily connect to. But knowing this, I pressed on, and am so glad I did, as the treasure that is this story soon arrived.

This story, speaks in some way, to everyone. Don’t we all always wonder where things go when you can’t find them? Maybe it annoys you for a little while, and then you just sigh and accept that you probably left in somewhere else. But what would it be like if you couldn’t just let go?

This book not only brings in an element of fantasy, but it cleverly deals with harsh real life issues despite its disguise within a fantasy storyline. People go missing, and whilst we may be able to accept that we have lost a pencil or a sock, people whose family members or friends have gone missing never have that closure, and reading the chapters where we see the family left behind, and their attempt to move on in life was heartbreaking.

I also liked Jack Ruttle’s storyline and it was wonderful to see how his story entwined with Sandy’s experiences with those who had gone missing in their new home. Whilst their families at home cannot move on without closure, the missing persons accepted that they had to move on and make a new life for themselves.

I also loved the imagery of the porch light being turned on as a way to guide lost ones home, and it made me realise that despite this being a work of fiction, this happens around the world everyday.

Moving on to the storyline, I loved how the story wasn’t obvious from the blurb. When I started the book, from reading the blurb I was prepared for Sandy and Jack to end up together, but from the first few chapters I knew that I couldn’t have been more wrong. I loved Sandy’s romantic storyline with her school counsellor Gregory and how her obsession with knowing where lost items go impacts their relationship. It is a brilliant link to real life, where OCD affects not only those with the condition, but those around them too. I loved how Sandy was determined to keep going to the OCD classes, so that she felt like she deserved being with Gregory.

A wonderful heartwarming story which really touched me. I definitely recommend reading, and I although I found it difficult to get into at the beginning, I loved this story and it is definitely one of my favourites of Ceceila Ahern’s

5 Stars!