Title: Twister
Author: Juliette Forrest
Genre: Children’s Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4/5
Synopsis: Goodreads
Buy Book: Amazon
Tag: books read
REVIEW: THE HAZEL WOOD – MELISSA ALBERT
REVIEW: SOLITAIRE – ALICE OSEMAN
REVIEW: TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN – JOHN GREEN
REVIEW: EVERLESS – SARA HOLLAND
REVIEW: ONE OF US IS LYING – KAREN M. MCMANUS
Title: One Of Us Is Lying
Author: Karen M. McManus
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5
Synopsis: Goodreads
Review: I spent a lot of time picking this book up and then walking away from it for a good few weeks before finally deciding to take the leap and purchase it and I’m so glad I did!
Five students in detention however, only four leave alive. After the death of the school gossip, Simon, the four students that were in the room with him soon become suspects in the investigation into his death, turning all their lives upside down as secrets about their past start to come out during the questioning. Would Bronwyn, Cooper, Addy and Nate really go as far as to kill someone just to keep their secrets, well, secret?
‘One Of Us Is Lying’ is basically a modern day “The Breakfast Club” but there’s a death during detention which makes it that bit different. Each of the characters are similar to the characters in “The Breakfast Club” but at the same time have their own uniqueness at as well. Nate and Bronwyn were my favourite characters in the book and personally I found them to be two of the strongest characters as well and couldn’t wait to read each of their parts. The rest of the characters I found to be pretty bland except Cooper who I was surprised about with his twist but at the same time also not surprised (if that makes sense???)
I disliked how much this book dragged on and the fact there were so many irrelevant characters that I just couldn’t connect with and felt like they added nothing to the story at all and because so many characters were being introduced and then brought up again every so often I found myself occasionally getting confused. Although I’ve said the book does drag a little, I must admit that there is plenty of things happening that makes it hard to put this book down. I really want McManus to do a book just purely about Bronwyn and Nate because they were two characters I adored and I loved Bronwyn’s sister as well as Nate’s Bearded Dragon, Stan. I loved how strong minded Bronwyn was and how she dealt with being investigated for a murder, she literally never let anything get her down and she tried to fix everything for everyone without actually harming anyone.
This book was exactly what I was expecting in almost every way, although I definitely didn’t see the twist in the book coming at all and the last 100 pages or so were a wild ride which I loved! If you’re looking for a new contemporary, murder mystery then I do highly recommend you check this book out!
If you’ve read this book already, then I’d love to hear what you thought of it so let me know in the comments!!
March Wrap-Up
Hey guys, so it’s been a few weeks since I was last active due to work so I apologise for this post being so late. Although I’ve been working, the travel has given me a lot of time to read so I read most of the books I wanted to read last month!
Personal Recap
As I was saying last month, I got a new job and although I’ve only been in it for a few weeks I absolutely love it! I never realised how rewarding it could be working with kids and how good it feels to help them with things. Also, I know this didn’t happen in March but last Tuesday I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!! I’m actually so happy that it’s over and done with and now I can go anywhere I want without having to worry about travel. I passed first time too!
Bookish Recap
I mentioned at the start of the post I had read most of the books I wanted to read in March so I’m happy about that. The only ones I didn’t get to start was The Shadowhunters series,’ so that is going to take up all of April (I’m not going to make an April TBR post because of this reason).
Books I Read
- The Show – John A Heldt
- Burning Bright – Chanda Stafford
- Dead House – Dawn Kurtagich
- Beautiful Broken Things – Sara Bernard
Books I Recieved
- Beautiful Broken Things – Sara Barnard x2 (one signed)
Books I Bought
- Lady Midnight – Cassandra Clare
- Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
- Flawed – Cecelia Ahern
- Beautiful Broken Things – Sara Barnard
Reviews Posted
- The Show – John A Heldt
- The Dead House – Dawn Kurtagich
- Beautiful Broken Things – Sara Barnard
- Burning Bright – Chanda Stafford
So there we have it, my March wrap-up! Hopefully this month I’ll be able to finish all my Shadowhunter series books!
How did you guys do in March? Let me know in the comments or link me to your post! 🙂
Review: Burning Bright – Chanda Stafford
Title: Burning Bright
Author: Chanda Stafford
Genre: Young Adult
Format: E-book
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis: Goodreads
Buy Book: Amazon
Review: This book surprised me in a good way. I wasn’t sure what to expect but after reading two of Stafford’s other books I knew it was going to be good either way.
‘Burning Bright’ tells the story of Sam Grey, a teenage girl who comes from a broken home with abusive foster parents who only took her in for the money. When Ben Ramirez’s family move to her town and open a cat sanctuary, she meets Solomon, the Bengal Tiger and soon finds out they have a lot more in common than people would think.
When I started this book I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to carry on reading as I wasn’t really gripped with the story but the more I read, the more I got attached to the characters and wanted to find out what the future held for them. Sam story is a heartbreaking one and the more you find out about her, the more you feel for her. Ben was a character I was very unsure of at the beginning but the more we get to know him the more likeable he becomes and it’s clear how much he cares for Sam.
Chanda Stafford did a fantastic job of developing the characters throughout the story and there wasn’t any time where it got too much. The only thing I didn’t really like was Emily, I felt she was pointless in the story because we didn’t get much background on her or how her and Sam became friends. Other than that I did enjoy the book.
I received an e-copy of this book from Chanda in exchange of an honest review. Thank you again for allowing me to read your book.
Review: Beautiful Broken Things – Sara Barnard
Title: Beautiful Broken Things
Author: Sara Barnard
Genre: Young Adult, Mental Health, Realistic Fiction
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Goodreads
Buy Book: Amazon
Review: This book captures female friendships absolutely perfectly. You have the confident, outgoing one, the sensible one and finally the quiet, shy one. Now I know not all friendships have someone that fits these descriptions but for me and my friends, we did (I’m the quiet, shy one unfortunately).
I honestly can’t describe how much I loved this book. With what I had heard about it, I knew I was going to enjoy it but I just didn’t realise how much I actually would fall in love with the story and characters. Sara Barnard did such a fantastic job of creating such a realistic story about three teenage girls who struggle with new relationships and the strain it can have on lifelong friendships. One of the reasons I loved this book so much is because there was no cliché romances that you’d normally expect in a YA novel and it made me happy because I’m starting to get tired of reading the same kind of thing over and over again. Caddy was such a relatable character for me and I seen so much of myself in her. Although she was unsure about Suzanne at first she soon became the one Suzanne would turn to when she needed someone and when things were getting tough which is similar to something that’s happened to me in the past. At first I was unsure about Suzanne because like Caddy, I didn’t want the relationship between Rosie and Caddy to change but like any friendship you have, it does change as you grow up and meet new people plus the more we got to know Suzanne the more I got to love her and sometimes I could see part of myself in her too.
I loved how realistic this book was, especially when dealing with Mental Health. Suzanne comes from a troubled background and I felt that Miss Barnard did an amazing job of showing how a mental health illness can affect not only the person suffering but the people around them who love and care for them which is not often shown in a lot of YA books that do focus on Mental Health. As someone who suffers from mental health issues myself, it made me realise just what I put my friends and family through when I was at my lowest point and I know now that any time I feel like that again, I can think of this book and know that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and I’ll always have people around me who love me.
‘Beautiful Broken Things’ is such a heartbreaking but stunning story about the complications and struggles all friendships go through. It will stay in my heart for a long time and I’m so glad I had the chance to read it. If you get the chance then PLEASE get this book whether it be from a library or you buy it because I can promise you won’t regret it.
After buying this book, I came home to find a copy waiting for me that I had surprisingly won so thank you to Maximum Pop for sending me a copy to review!
February Wrap-Up
Hey guys, so I’ve been inactive throughout February as it’s been a rather crappy month for me and I’ve not really been in the right frame of mind to be posting a lot. I’ve also done a lousy job of reading all the books I planned on getting through and have only read three this month (that’s including the one I was almost finished at the end of January). So in all it’s been horrible.
Personal Recap
So last month I mentioned that I had been job hunting and that I had received a second interview for a job as a support worker in after school care. I’m pleased to say that I got the job and I’m currently awaiting a start date! I’m honestly so excited to finally be able to do something I’m good at and hopefully will enjoy. Other than that, I’ve not really done much else apart from go to lots of gigs and I also went to Birmingham for a few days which was quite nice.
Bookish Recap
Like I said at the start of the post, my reading was awful in February. The only books I got through were;
- Even Angels Fall – F.L Darbyshire
- Seed – Lisa Heathfield
- Fallout –Gwenda Bond
‘Seed’ has genuinely became one of my favourite books now that I’ve had time to think about the book, plot and characters. Everything about it was just so unique and different from anything I’ve read and I still love how realistic Lisa Heathfield made it seem.
Books I Received:
- Solitaire – Alice Oseman
Books I Bought:
- I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai*
- Waiting For Callback – Perdita & Honor Cargill
- Faceless – Alyssa Sheinmel
- Kindred Spirits – Rainbow Rowell**
- Spot The Difference – Juno Dawson**
- The Lie Tree – Frances Hardinge
- How Hard Can Love Be? – Holly Bourne
Reviews Posted:
Part of the reason I never did much reading in February is because I wasn’t really enjoying ‘Fallout’ but I felt like I had to finish it because I had been asked to review it for a website. It took almost the full month just to read that one book and it made me realise that with how I’ve been feeling mentally the past few weeks it’s best I no longer take review requests for a while. I’ve got so many books that I’ve bought over the last year and a half and I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet because I had a huge list of books to review and I’m using a lot of time reading some books that I’m not even enjoying when I could be reading something else. I tried to organise the requests I got better this year and it was all right in January but more have came through than I expected and it’s starting to stress me out a lot and if I don’t do something now, then the list and my mental health is just going to get worse. As of today, I will no longer be accepting review requests however I am more than willing to host blog tours and giveaways for any authors/publishers etc. I do apologise to you all but at the minute I have to put myself first and plus I don’t want to start hating something I’m passionate about.
So there we have my February wrap-up guys. I am gutted to be taking my review requests down but for now it’s probably the best thing to do. I’ll still be posting reviews of the books I’m reading so it’s not as if that will be stopping. It will just be books I’ve bought to enjoy that I review instead.
How did you guys get on in February? Let me know in the comments or even link me to your post!!
Kirsty Reads 