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: 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: These Gentle Wounds by Helene Dunbar

These Gentle Wounds by Helene Dunbar
Format: Paperback
Published by Flux on 8th May 2014
Pages: 307
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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Sometimes I wish I’d lost a leg or something. Everyone can understand that. They never get it when what’s been broken is inside your head.

Five years after an unspeakable tragedy that changed him forever, Gordie Allen has made a new home with his half-brother Kevin. Their arrangement works since Kevin is the only person who can protect Gordie at school and keep him focused on getting his life back on track.

But just when it seems like things are becoming normal, Gordie’s biological father comes back into the picture, demanding a place in his life. Now there’s nothing to stop Gordie from falling into a tailspin that could cost him everything—including his relationship with Sarah, the first girl he’s trusted with the truth. With his world spinning out of control, the only one who can help Gordie is himself... if he can find the strength to confront the past and take back his future.

Helene Dunbar's debut novel deals with a pretty important subject. Gordie has suffered from PTSD ever since the day when he was ten and his mum tried to kill her kids, including Gordie, by driving them in her car with her into the river. Gordie's father was abusive, and something had happened the night before that drove Gordie's mother to want to kill her children. Gordie survived, but the rest of them did not. Kevin, Gordie's half-brother, hadn't been in the car, because they don't share the same father. So after the 'incident', Gordie goes and lives with Kevin and Kevin's father, Jim.

I was really glad to see a novel about a teen who suffers from PTSD; it spreads awareness and shakes the misconception that PTSD is something only soldiers suffer from, and I hope that some teens who are suffering from PTSD can find this a helpful read. But unfortunately I didn't love this book as much as I hoped I would.

Review: Blue by Lisa Glass

Blue by Lisa Glass
Format: Paperback
To be published by Quercus on 5th June 2014
Pages: 375
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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Surfing is sixteen-year-old Iris's world, and when the ultra-talented Zeke walks into her life, it soon becomes her passion.

Over one amazing summer, as she is drawn into his sphere, she experiences love, new friendships, but also loss, with an intensity she never dreamed of.

But is Zeke all he seems? What hides beneath his glamorous and mysterious past? When Iris decides to try for her own surfing success, just as her ex-boyfriend comes back into her life, she will test her talent, and her feelings for Zeke, to the limit...

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

I'm sad to say that this book and I just lacked book chemistry.

I'm sad because as I was reading, I kept thinking, "I should be really enjoying this! Why do I just feel kind of meh about it?" I still can't really understand why, but I think sometimes it's really just down to the simple thing of book chemistry.

Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Format: Paperback ARC
Published by Headline on 10th April 2014
Pages: 337
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Rating: 
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Owen lives in the basement. Lucy lives on the 24th floor. But when the power goes out in the midst of a New York heatwave, they find themselves together for the first time: stuck in a lift between the 10th and 11th floors. As they await help, they start talking...

The brief time they spend together leaves a mark. And as their lives take them to Edinburgh and San Francisco, to Prague and to Portland they can't shake the memory of the time they shared. Postcards cross the globe when they themselves can't, as Owen and Lucy experience the joy - and pain - of first love.

And as they make their separate journeys in search of home, they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world.

**Many thanks to Headline and Bookbridgr for providing me with a review copy!**

Why did you let me down after such a promising beginning, book? *sadface*

So, before I explain why this book disappointed me, I have to say: I really liked Smith's writing for the most part. I know some would find it too earnest and kind of really cheesy, and yeah, admittedly that's true, but that's something I don't have too much of a problem with. I have a sweet tooth when it comes to fiction too, so I enjoyed Smith's writing, syrupy sweet and pretty like bright-coloured candy, soft and melt-in-the-mouth.

No, the writing wasn't what I had a problem with. I just did not like the story.

Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Format: Paperback
Published by Walker on 27th March 2014 (first published on 25th March 2014)
Pages: 320
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 
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Love makes us such fools.

Pain in love appears to be a Roux family birthright, and for Ava Lavender, a girl born with the wings of a bird, it is key to her inheritance. Longing to fit in with her peers, Ava ventures away from home, ill-prepared for what awaits her in a world that does not know whether to view her as girl or angel.

Ava's quest and her family's saga build to a devastating crescendo until, on the summer solstice, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air and Ava's fate is revealed.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender has an absolutely gorgeous cover that really captures the atmosphere of the book for me. The paperback even feels lush to the touch. The inside cover is so beautiful:

I just love that bright yellow and all those feathers! The font is just so lovely too.

This book is written in such a captivating style, with a heavy dose of magical realism at the centre of it. I was mesmerised from the beginning. For a book that contains some pretty brutal subject matter-- death, violence, rape, abuse-- it had a hauntingly dreamlike quality to most of it. Everything is a little strange, as the title promises; not everything is beautiful, but there are certainly beautiful moments along the way. The writing style itself is definitely, achingly beautiful.

Review: Twixt by Sarah Diemer

Twixt by Sarah Diemer
Format: eBook
Published by Muse Rising on 9th April 2013
Pages: 238
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 
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No one sleeps in Abeo City. The lost souls gather indoors at night as Snatchers tear through the sky on black-feathered wings, stalking them. But inside the rotting walls of the Safe Houses comes a quieter, creeping danger. The people of Abeo City have forgotten their pasts, and they can trade locks of their hair to sinister women known only as the Sixers for an addictive drug. Nox will give you back a single memory--for a price.

Like the other lost souls, Lottie wakens in this harsh landscape and runs in terror from the Snatchers. But she soon comes to realize that she is not at all like the people of Abeo City. When she takes Nox, her memories remain a mystery, and the monsters who fill the sky at night refuse to snatch her. Trying to understand who she is, and how she ended up in such a hopeless place, Lottie bands together with other outcasts, including a brave and lovely girl named Charlie. In the darkness, and despite the threat of a monstrous end, love begins to grow. But as Lottie and Charlie plot their escape from Abeo City, Lottie’s dark secrets begin to surface, along with the disturbing truth about Twixt: a truth that could cost her everything.

I was looking forward to reading Twixt since I remember that I read The Dark Wife a couple years ago and enjoyed it, but I think Twixt failed to measure up to the The Dark Wife.

The prose in Twixt is lyrical, but unfortunately I don't think the writing style worked for the story that was being told. I think a sparser style would have helped to build up the atmosphere and tension much better. As such, I think the pace was slowed by the descriptive prose. That's not to say there weren't moments when the lyrical prose was fitting and beautiful, but I felt the narrative was weighed down by the style a lot of the time, making the first half drag on a bit too much.