Review: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (#3 in the Grisha trilogy)
Format: eBook
Published by Indigo on 19th June 2014
Pages: 368
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 
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The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as Alina begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction - but claiming it could cost Alina the very future she is fighting for.

Thrilling and beautifully written, a stunning conclusion to the trilogy in my opinion and far better than the first two books. I know that not many people will agree with me, but damn, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Although I liked the first two books okay, I wasn't head over heels in love or anything – until this book happened to me. I wasn't expecting to be blown away because the first two hadn't impressed me hugely, but blown away I was.

Review: Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Format: Hardcover
Published by Dutton Juvenile on 15th May 2014
Pages: 307
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

I'd been waiting for Nina LaCour to write a romance with two girls since I read Hold Still back when it came out (and loved it), so I did a happy dance when I first heard about Everything Leads to You and saw its gorgeous cover and intriguing blurb. But guess what? It turns out that the romance wasn't the best thing about this book. In fact, I was possibly a little disappointed by the romance, but more on that later. Why did I like this book so much? Because Emi's world, the world of set design, was simply enchanting.

Review: Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas
Format: Paperback
Published by HarperTeen on 11th March 2014
Pages: 336
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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Despite what her name might suggest, Heart has zero interest in complicated romance. So when her brilliant plan to go to prom with a group of friends is disrupted by two surprise invites, Heart knows there's only one drama-free solution: flip a coin.

Heads: The jock. He might spend all night staring at his ex or throw up in the limo, but how bad can her brother's best friend really be?

Tails: The theater geek...with a secret. What could be better than a guy who shares all Heart's interests—even if he wants to share all his feelings?

Heart's simple coin flip has somehow given her the chance to live out both dates. But where her prom night ends up might be the most surprising thing of all...

Well, this was a quick and fun read! I wasn't blown away, but it was an enjoyable way to pass a couple hours, and the voice was a delight, funny and engaging.

Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (#2 in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy)
Format: eBook
Published by Hodder & Stoughton on 8th November 2012
Pages: 528
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating:
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Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living - one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers' arms to take their turn in the killing and dying.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon's secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel - a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.

This started out kind of slow (all the jumping around many different POVs took some getting used to), and then it just sort of... exploded.

It took a while for me to adjust to how much more... expansive this feels in comparison to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and how much darker and more harrowing it is. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was about love. And this series will surely always be about love, and the things that love can achieve. But where Daughter of Smoke and Bone showed the brighter side of things, and was filled with sweetness and joy and happiness and hope, Days of Blood and Starlight introduces the reader to despair, and grief. The landscape of the book is bleak. There is so much death, and pain, and horror. This book shows us how complicated everything really is. It lays bare the realities of war. The despicable lengths that both sides, chimaera and angel, will descend to.

Review: Amy & Matthew by Cammie McGovern

Amy & Matthew by Cammie McGovern (also known as Say What You Will in the US)
Format: Paperback
Published by Macmillan Children's Books on 27th March 2014
Pages: 336
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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This is the story of Amy and Matthew. It's about being different. It's about feeling alone. It's about finding each other. It's about falling in love.

I don't know whether I just read this book at the wrong time or what, but I feel like any thoughts I have about the book are sort of swamped in a haze. I just can't seem to figure out how I feel about it.

I was really drawn to this book at first because Matthew has OCD and the whole premise of this story made it seem like it was the closest I was going to get to reading a book about a girl who falls in love with a guy who suffers from anxiety. (As I've said before, my boyfriend suffers from anxiety.) In the end, I figure the world kind of still needs another story like that, because this one didn't quite work out for me.

Review: Dr Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

Dr Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos
Format: Hardcover
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on 5th March 2013
Pages: 310
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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“I hate myself but I love Walt Whitman, the kook. Always positive. I need to be more positive, so I wake myself up every morning with a song of myself.”

Sixteen-year-old James Whitman has been yawping (à la Whitman) at his abusive father ever since he kicked his beloved older sister, Jorie, out of the house. James’s painful struggle with anxiety and depression—along with his ongoing quest to understand what led to his self-destructive sister’s exile—make for a heart-rending read, but his wild, exuberant Whitmanization of the world and keen sense of humor keep this emotionally charged debut novel buoyant.

James Whitman is a teenage boy who loves Walt Whitman. He loves poetry and photography and trees and birds. He hugs trees to make himself feel better. He suffers from anxiety and depression and has an imaginary pigeon as his therapist. His parents are abusive, and his sister no longer lives in the house with them, ever since she got into a fight at school and was expelled and subsequently kicked out of the house. He wants his sister back.

This book is about James trying to get his sister back. Trying to figure out what exactly happened that led to her getting expelled. Trying to understand her more, and realising they have more in common than he'd thought. And that everything is more complicated than it seems.

It's about James dealing with his anxiety and depression, confronting the problems in his life, learning to stand up for himself and for his sister.

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige (#1 in the Dorothy Must Die series)
Format: Paperback
To be published by HarperCollins on 3rd July 2014 (first published on 1st April 2014)
Pages: 464
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 
Purchase from: Amazon (UK)
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I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. But I never expected Oz to look like this. A place where Good Witches can't be trusted and Wicked Witches may just be the good guys. A place where even the yellow brick road is crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and I've been given a mission:

Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.

Steal the Scarecrow's brain.

Take the Lion's courage.

And then—Dorothy must die.

**Thanks HarperCollins for sending me a free review copy!**

I thought this book was fantastic and so much fun to read.

I have to say though, the blurb is a tad misleading. You know all that stuff down there with the mission and all those parts to it? "Remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage"? That's not really a big part of this book. I'm thinking it more generally describes the series as a whole rather than this book in particular. But, that said, this is still an eminently enjoyable book in its own right, and as long as you don't go into this book expecting everything in the blurb to happen, you're going to be fine.

Mini-review: I Don't Want to Be Crazy by Samantha Schutz

I Don't Want to Be Crazy by Samantha Schutz
Format: Paperback
Published by Push on 1st August 2007 (first published on 1st July 2006)
Pages: 288
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Memoir
Rating: 
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The harrowing, remarkable poetry memoir about one girl's struggle with anxiety disorder.

This is a true story of growing up, breaking down, and coming to grips with a psychological disorder. When Samantha Schutz first left home for college, she was excited by the possibilities – freedom from parents, freedom from a boyfriend who was reckless with her affections, freedom from the person she was supposed to be. At first, she revelled in the independence... but as pressures increased, she began to suffer anxiety attacks that would leave her mentally shaken and physically incapacitated. Thus began a hard road of discovery and coping, powerfully rendered in this poetry memoir.

I'm finding this book very difficult to review, for some reason.

It's not an easy read either. It's a verse memoir documenting one girl's life as she leaves home for college and how she begins to suffer from anxiety. I Don't Want to Be Crazy traces Samantha Schutz's through her college years, from just after she finishes high school, to when she's got one of her first jobs after college.

It shows us Samantha as she keeps trying, time and time again, with therapists and medication, to recover from anxiety; she thinks she gets better but the anxiety resurfaces, worse than before, and grips her again. It's a very intense read. There are detailed descriptions of what anxiety attacks are like for her. It's terrifying and sad and, as the blurb promises, "harrowing". Because recovery isn't a smooth process for her, or for most people suffering from mental illnesses. It's awful and scary to be confronted with the reality of that, of how you take medication and then stop taking it for months and think you're better now only to plunge into even worse anxiety attacks than before.

I felt very empty and depressed reading it. I've always known that this is the reality of things, but to read about it, about one girl's real struggles with anxiety, was really tough. I feel like it's a very important book though, to help and to inform, because a lot of people don't realise that this is how severe anxiety can really be. How it can really take over your life and make you unable to carry on as normal. If you're seeking to understand anxiety more, this is a good read. It's very well-written and the ending is a glimmer of hope. But yeah. It's a heavy read. Very real and devastating at times. Only read if you're prepared for the reality of the way things are.

Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (#2 in the Grisha trilogy)
Format: Paperback
Published by Indigo on 6th June 2013 (first published 4th June 2013)
Pages: 386
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 
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The Darkling cupped my cheek with his hand, and when he spoke, his voice was almost tender. 'This is just the beginning,' he whispered.

Alina thought she could run from her past and escape her destiny. She can't.

Mal hoped he'd done enough to protect the girl he loved. He hadn't.

The Darkling, more powerful than before, is hungry for revenge. He needs Alina.

Soon Alina must choose between her country, her power, and the man she loves – or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

**I won this through Goodreads First Reads.**

A bit better than the first book, I think, but it's still not quite amazing yet. Looking forward to Ruin and Rising though!